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A -- Z, by Anatole Cerfberr and Jules François Christophe
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Title: Repertory Of The Comedie Humaine, Complete, A -- Z
Author: Anatole Cerfberr and Jules François Christophe
Translator: Joseph Walker McSpadden
Release Date: January 29, 2006 [EBook #17635]
Language: English
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REPERTORY OF THE COMEDIE HUMAINE
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE
"Work crowned by the French Academy" is a significant line borne by
the title-page of the original edition of Messieurs Cerfberr and
Christophe's monumental work. The motto indicates the high esteem in
which the French authorities hold this very necessary adjunct to the
great Balzacian structure. And even without this word of approval, the
intelligent reader needs but a glance within the pages of the
_Repertory of the Comedie Humaine_ to convince him at once of its
utility.
In brief, the purpose of the _Repertory_ is to give in alphabetical
sequence the names of all the characters forming this Balzacian
society, together with the salient points in their lives. It is, of
course, well known that Balzac made his characters appear again and
again, thus creating out of his distinct novels a miniature world. To
cite a case in point, Rastignac, who comes as near being the hero of
the _Comedie_ as any other single character, makes his first
appearance in _Father Goriot_, as a student of law; then appearing and
disappearing fitfully in a score of principal novels, he is finally
made a minister and peer of France. Without the aid of the _Repertory_
it would be difficult for any save a reader of the entire _Comedie_ to
trace out his career. But here it is arranged in temporal sequence,
thus giving us a concrete view of the man and his relation to this
society.
In reading any separate story, when reference is made in passing to a
character, the reader will find it helpful and interesting to turn to
the _Repertory_ and find what manner of man it is that is under
advisement. A little systematic reading of this nature will speedily
render the reader a "confirmed Balzacian."
A slight confusion may arise in the use of the _Repertory_ on account
of the subdivision of titles. This is the fault neither of Messieurs
Cerfberr and Christophe nor of the translator, but of Balzac himself,
who was continually changing titles, dividing and subdividing stories,
and revamping and working other changes in his books. _Cousin Betty_
and _Cousin Pons_ were placed together by him under the general title
of _Poor Relations_. Being separate stories, we have retained the
separate titles. Similarly, the three divisions of _Lost Illusions_
were never published together until 1843--in the first complete
edition of the _Comedie_; before assuming final shape its parts had
received several different titles. In the present text the editor has
deemed it best to retain two of the parts under _Lost Illusions_,
while the third, which presents a separate Rubempre episode, is given
as _A Distinguished Provincial at Paris_. The three parts of _The
Thirteen_--_Ferragus_, _The Duchess of Langeais_, and _The Girl with
the Golden Eyes_--are given under the general title. The fourth part
of _Scenes from a Courtesan's Life_, _Vautrin's Last Avatar_, which
until the Edition Definitive had been published separately, is here
merged into its final place. But the three parts of _The Celibates_
--_Pierrette_, _The Vicar of Tours_ and _A Bachelor's Establishment_,
being detached, are given separately. Other minor instances occur, but
should be readily cleared up by reference to the Indices, also to the
General Introduction given elsewhere.
In the preparation of this English text, great care has been exercised
to gain accuracy--a quality not found in other versions now extant. In
one or two instances, errors have been discovered in the original
French, notably in dates--probably typographical errors--which have
been corrected by means of foot-notes. A few unimportant elisions have
been made for the sake of brevity and coherence. Many difficulties
confront the translator in the preparation of material of this nature,
involving names, dates and titles. Opportunities are constantly
afforded for error, and the work must necessarily be painstaking in
order to be successful. We desire here to express appreciation for the
valuable assistance of Mr. Norman Hinsdale Pitman.
To Balzac, more than to any other author, a Repertory of characters
is applicable; for he it was who not only created an entire human
society, but placed therein a multitude of personages so real, so
distinct with vitality, that biographies of them seem no more than
simple justice. We can do no more, then, than follow the advice of
Balzac--to quote again from the original title-page--and "give a
parallel to the civil register."
J. WALKER McSPADDEN
INTRODUCTION
Are you a confirmed _Balzacian_?--to employ a former expression of
Gautier in _Jeune France_ on the morrow following the appearance of
that mystic Rabelaisian epic, _The Magic Skin_. Have you experienced,
while reading at school or clandestinely some stray volume of the
_Comedie Humaine_, a sort of exaltation such as no other book had
aroused hitherto, and few have caused since? Have you dreamed at an
age when one plucks in advance all the fruit from the tree of life
--yet in blossom--I repeat, have you dreamed of being a Daniel d'Arthez,
and of covering yourself with glory by the force of your achievements,
in order to be requited, some day, for all the sufferings of your
poverty-stricken youth, by the sublime Diane, Duchesse de
Maufrigneuse, Princesse de Cadignan?
Or, perchance, being more ambitious and less literary, you have
desired to see--like a second Rastignac, the doors of high society
opened to your eager gaze by means of the golden key suspended from
Delphine de Nucingen's bracelet?
Romancist, have you sighed for the angelic tenderness of a Henriette
de Mortsauf, and realized in your dreams the innocent emotions excited
by culling nosegays, by listening to tales of grief, by furtive
hand-clasps on the banks of a narrow river, blue and placid, in a
valley where your friendship flourishes like a fair, delicate lily,
the ideal, the chaste flower?
Misanthrope, have you caressed the chimera, to ward off the dark hours
of advancing age, of a friendship equal to that with which the good
Schmucke enveloped even the whims of his poor Pons? Have you
appreciated the sovereign power of secret societies, and deliberated
with yourself as to which of your acquaintances would be most worthy
to enter The Thirteen? In your mind's eye has the map of France ever
appeared to be divided into as many provinces as the _Comedie Humaine_
has stories? Has Tours stood for Birotteau, La Gamard, for the
formidable Abbe Troubert; Douai, Claes; Limoges, Madame Graslin;
Besancon, Savarus and his misguided love; Angouleme, Rubempre;
Sancerre, Madame de la Baudraye; Alencon, that touching, artless old
maid to whom her uncle, the Abbe de Sponde, remarked with gentle
irony: "You have too much wit. You don't need so much to be happy"?
Oh, sorcery of the most wonderful magician of letters the world has
seen since Shakespeare! If you have come under the spell of his
enchantments, be it only for an hour, here is a book that will delight
you, a book that would have pleased Balzac himself--Balzac, who was
more the victim of his work than his most fanatical readers, and whose
dream was to compete with the civil records. This volume of nearly six
hundred pages is really the civil record of all the characters in the
_Comedie Humaine_, by which you may locate, detail by detail, the
smallest adventures of the heroes who pass and repass through the
various novels, and by which you can recall at a moment's notice the
emotions once awakened by the perusal of such and such a masterpiece.
More modestly, it is a kind of table of contents, of a unique type; a
table of living contents!
Many Balzacians have dreamed of compiling such a civil record. I
myself have known of five or six who attempted this singular task. To
cite only two names out of the many, the idea of this unusual Vapereau
ran through the head of that keen and delicate critic, M. Henri
Meilhac, and of that detective in continued stories, Emile Gaboriau. I
believe that I also have among the papers of my eighteenth year some
sheets covered with notes taken with the same intention. But the labor
was too exhaustive. It demanded an infinite patience, combined with an
inextinguishable ardor and enthusiasm. The two faithful disciples of
the master who have conjoined their efforts to uprear this monument,
could not perhaps have overcome the difficulties of the undertaking if
they had not supported each other, bringing to the common work, M.
Christophe his painstaking method, M. Cerfberr his accurate memory,
his passionate faith in the genius of the great Honore, a faith that
carried unshakingly whole mountains of documents.
A pleasing chapter of literary gossip might be written about this
collaboration; a melancholy chapter, since it brings with it the
memory of a charming man, who first brought Messieurs Cerfberr and
Christophe together, and who has since died under mournful
circumstances. His name was Albert Allenet, and he was chief editor of
a courageous little review, _La Jeune France_, which he maintained for
some years with a perseverance worthy of the Man of Business in the
_Comedie Humaine_. I can see him yet, a feverish fellow, wan and
haggard, but with his face always lit up by enthusiasm, stopping me in
a theatre lobby to tell me about a plan of M. Cerfberr's; and almost
immediately we discovered that the same plan had been conceived by M.
Christophe. The latter had already prepared a cabinet of pigeon-holes,
arranged and classified by the names of Balzacian characters. When two
men encounter in the same enterprise as compilers, they will either
hate each other or unite their efforts. Thanks to the excellent
Allenet, the two confirmed Balzacians took to each other wonderfully.
Poor Allenet! It was not long afterwards that we accompanied his body
to the grave, one gloomy afternoon towards the end of autumn--all of
us who had known and loved him. He is dead also, that other Balzacian
who was so much interested in this work, and for whom the _Comedie
Humaine_ was an absorbing thought, Honore Granoux. He was a merchant
of Marseilles, with a wan aspect and already an invalid when I met
him. But he became animated when speaking of Balzac; and with what a
mysterious, conspiratorlike veneration did he pronounce these words:
"The Vicomte"--meaning, of course, to the thirty-third degree
Balzacolatrites, that incomparable bibliophile to whom we owe the
history of the novelist's works, M. de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul!--"The
Vicomte will approve--or disapprove." That was the unvarying formula
for Granoux, who had devoted himself to the enormous task of
collecting all the articles, small or great, published about Balzac
since his entry as a writer. And just see what a fascination this
_devil of a man_--as Theophile Gautier once called him--exercises over
his followers; I am fully convinced that these little details of
Balzacian mania will cause the reader to smile. As for me, I have
found them, and still find them, as natural as Balzac's own remark to
Jules Sandeau, who was telling him about a sick sister: "Let us go
back to reality. Who is going to marry Eugenie Grandet?"
Fascination! That is the only word that quite characterizes the sort
of influence wielded by Balzac over those who really enjoy him; and it
is not to-day that the phenomenon began. Vallies pointed it out long
ago in an eloquent page of the _Refractaires_ concerning "book
victims." Saint Beuve, who can scarcely be suspected of fondness
towards the editor-in-chief of the _Revue Parisienne_, tells a story
stranger and more significant than every other. At one time an entire
social set in Venice, and the most aristocratic, decided to give out
among its members different characters drawn from the _Comedie
Humaine_; and some of these roles, the critic adds, mysteriously, were
artistically carried out to the very end;--a dangerous experiment, for
we are well aware that the heroes and heroines of Balzac often skirt
the most treacherous abysses of the social Hell.
All this happened about 1840. The present year is 1887, and there
seems no prospect of the sorcery weakening. The work to which these
notes serve as an introduction may be taken as proof. Indeed, somebody
has said that the men of Balzac have appeared as much in literature as
in life, especially since the death of the novelist. Balzac seems to
have observed the society of his day less than he contributed to form
a new one. Such and such personages are truer to life in 1860 than in
1835. When one considers a phenomenon of such range and intensity, it
does not suffice to employ words like infatuation, fashion, mania. The
attraction of an author becomes a psychological fact of prime
importance and subject to analysis. I think I can see two reasons for
this particular strength of Balzac's genius. One dwells in the special
character of his vision, the other in the philosophical trend which he
succeeded in giving to all his writing.
As to the scope of his vision, this _Repertory_ alone will suffice to
show. Turn over the leaves at random and estimate the number of
fictitious deeds going to make up these two thousand biographies, each
individual, each distinct, and most of them complete--that is to say,
taking the character at his birth and leaving him only at his death.
Balzac not only knows the date of birth or of death, he knows as well
the local coloring of the time and the country and profession to which
the man belongs. He is thoroughly conversant with questions of
taxation and income and the agricultural conditions. He is not
ignorant of the fact that Grandet cannot make his fortune by the same
methods employed by Gobseck, his rival in avarice; nor Ferdinand du
Tillet, that jackal, with the same magnitude of operations worked out
by that elephant of a Nucingen. He has outlined and measured the exact
relation of each character to his environment in the same way he has
outlined and measured the bonds uniting the various characters; so
well that each individual is defined separately as to his personal and
his social side, and in the same manner each family is defined. It is
the skeleton of these individuals and of these families that is laid
bare for your contemplation in these notes of Messieurs Cerfberr and
Christophe. But this structure of facts, dependent one upon another by
a logic equal to that of life itself, is the smallest effort of
Balzac's genius. Does a birth-certificate, a marriage-contract or an
inventory of wealth represent a person? Certainly not. There is still
lacking, for a bone covering, the flesh, the blood, the muscles and
the nerves. A glance from Balzac, and all these tabulated facts become
imbued with life; to this circumstantial view of the conditions of
existence with certain beings is added as full a view of the beings
themselves.
And first of all he knows them physiologically. The inner workings of
their corporeal mechanism is no mystery for him. Whether it is
Birotteau's gout, or Mortsauf's nervousness, or Fraisier's skin
trouble, or the secret reason for Rouget's subjugation by Flore, or
Louis Lambert's catalepsy, he is as conversant with the case as though
he were a physician; and he is as well informed, also, as a confessor
concerning the spiritual mechanism which this animal machine supports.
The slightest frailties of conscience are perceptible to him. From the
portress Cibot to the Marquise d'Espard, not one of his women has an
evil thought that he does not fathom. With what art, comparable to
that of Stendhal, or Laclos, or the most subtle analysts, does he note
--in _The Secrets of a Princess_--the transition from comedy to
sincerity! He knows when a sentiment is simple and when it is complex,
when the heart is a dupe of the mind and when of the senses. And
through it all he hears his characters speak, he distinguishes their
voices, and we ourselves distinguish them in the dialogue. The
growling of Vautrin, the hissing of La Gamard, the melodious tones of
Madame de Mortsauf still linger in our ears. For such intensity of
evocation is as contagious as an enthusiasm or a panic.
There is abundant testimony going to show that with Balzac this
evocation is accomplished, as in the mystic arts by releasing it, so
to speak, from the ordinary laws of life. Pray note in what terms M.
le Docteur Fournier, the real mayor of Tours, relates incidents of the
novelist's method of work, according to the report of a servant
employed at the chateau of Sache: "Sometimes he would shut himself up
in his room and stay there several days. Then it was that, plunged
into a sort of ecstasy and armed with a crow quill, he would write
night and day, abstaining from all food and merely contenting himself
with decoctions of coffee which he himself prepared." [Brochure of M.
le Docteur Fournier in regard to the statue of Balzac, that statue a
piece of work to which M. Henry Renault--another devotee who had
established _Le Balzac_--had given himself so ardently. In this
brochure is found a very curious portrait of Balzac, after a sepia by
Louis Boulanger belonging to M. le Baron Larrey.]
In the opening pages of _Facino Cane_ this phenomenon is thus
described: "With me observation had become intuitive from early youth.
It penetrated the soul without neglecting the body, or rather it
seized so completely the external details that it went beyond them. It
gave me the faculty of living the life of the individual over whom it
obtained control, and allowed me to substitute myself for him like the
dervish in _Arabian Nights_ assumed the soul and the body of persons
over whom he pronounced certain words." And he adds, after describing
how he followed a workman and his wife along the street: "I could
espouse their very life, I felt their rags on my back. I trod in their
tattered shoes. Their desires, their needs, all passed into my soul,
or my soul passed into them. It was the dream of a man awakened." One
day while he and a friend of his were watching a beggar pass by, the
friend was so astonished to see Balzac touch his own sleeve; he seemed
to feel the rent which gaped at the elbow of the beggar.
Am I wrong in connecting this sort of imagination with that which one
witnesses in fanatics of religious faith? With such a faculty Balzac
could not be, like Edgar Poe, merely a narrator of nightmares. He was
preserved from the fantastic by another gift which seems contradictory
to the first. This visionary was in reality a philosopher, that is to
say, an experimenter and a manipulator of general ideas. Proof of this
may be found in his biography, which shows him to us, during his
college days at Vendome, plunged into a whirl of abstract reading. The
entire theological and occult library which he discovered in the old
Oratorian institution was absorbed by the child, till he had to quit
school sick, his brain benumbed by this strange opium. The story of
Louis Lambert is a monograph of his own mind. During his youth and in
the moments snatched from his profession, to what did he turn his
attention? Still to general ideas. We find him an interested onlooker
at the quarrel of Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and Cuvier, troubling himself
about the hypothesis of the unity of creation, and still dealing with
mysticism; and, in fact, his romances abound in theories. There is not
one of his works from which you cannot obtain abstract thoughts by the
hundreds. If he describes, as in _The Vicar of Tours_, the woes of an
old priest, he profits by the opportunity to exploit a theory
concerning the development of sensibility, and a treatise on the
future of Catholicism. If he describes, as in _The Firm of Nucingen_,
a supper given to Parisian _blases_, he introduces a system of credit,
reports of the Bank and Bureau of Finance, and--any number of other
things! Speaking of Daniel d'Arthez, that one of his heroes who, with
Albert Savarus and Raphael, most nearly resembles himself, he writes:
"Daniel would not admit the existence of talent without profound
metaphysical knowledge. At this moment he was in the act of despoiling
both ancient and modern philosophy of all their wealth in order to
assimilate it. He desired, like Moliere, to become a profound
philosopher first of all, a writer of comedies afterwards." Some
readers there are, indeed, who think that philosophy superabounds with
Balzac, that the surplus of general hypotheses overflows at times, and
that the novels are too prone to digressions. Be that as it may, it
seems incontestible that this was his master faculty, the virtue and
vice of his thought. Let us see, however, by what singular detour this
power of generalization--the antithesis, one might say, of the
creative power--increased in him the faculty of the poetic visionary.
It is important, first of all, to note that this power of the
visionary could not be put directly into play. Balzac had not long
enough to live. The list of his works, year by year, prepared by his
sister, shows that from the moment he achieved his reputation till the
day of his death he never took time for rest or observation or the
study of mankind by daily and close contact, like Moliere or
Saint-Simon. He cut his life in two, writing by night, sleeping by day,
and after sparing not a single hour for calling, promenades or sentiment.
Indeed, he would not admit this troublesome factor of sentiment,
except at a distance and through letters--"because it forms one's
style"! At any rate, that is the kind of love he most willingly
admitted--unless an exception be made of the mysterious intimacies of
which his correspondence has left traces. During his youth he had
followed this same habit of heavy labor, and as a result the
experience of this master of exact literature was reduced to a
minimum; but this minimum sufficed for him, precisely because of the
philosophical insight which he possessed to so high a degree. To this
meagre number of positive faculties furnished by observation, he
applied an analysis so intuitive that he discovered, behind the small
facts amassed by him in no unusual quantity, the profound forces, the
generative influences, so to speak.
He himself describes--once more in connection with Daniel d'Arthez
--the method pursued in this analytical and generalizing work. He
calls it a "retrospective penetration." Probably he lays hold of the
elements of experience and casts them into a seeming retort of
reveries. Thanks to an alchemy somewhat analogous to that of Cuvier,
he was enabled to reconstruct an entire temperament from the smallest
detail, and an entire class from a single individual; but that which
guided him in his work of reconstruction was always and everywhere the
habitual process of philosophers: the quest and investigation of
causes.
It is due to this analysis that this dreamer has defined almost all
the great principles of the psychological changes incident to our
time. He saw clearly, while democracy was establishing itself with us
on the ruins of the ancient regime, the novelty of the sentiments
which these transfers from class to class were certain to produce. He
fathomed every complication of heart and mind in the modern woman by
an intuition of the laws which control her development. He divined the
transformation in the lives of artists, keeping pace with the change
in the national situation; and to this day the picture he has drawn of
journalism in _Lost Illusions_ ("A Distinguished Provincial at Paris")
remains strictly true. It seems to me that this same power of locating
causes, which has brought about such a wealth of ideas in his work,
has also brought about the magic of it all. While other novelists
describe humanity from the outside, he has shown man to us both from
within and without. The characters which crowd forth from his brain
are sustained and impelled by the same social waves which sustain and
impel us. The generative facts which created them are the same which
are always in operation about us. If many young men have taken as a
model a Rastignac, for instance, it is because the passions by which
this ambitious pauper was consumed are the same which our age of
unbridled greed multiplies around disinherited youth. Add to this that
Balzac was not content merely to display the fruitful sources of a
modern intellect, but that he cast upon them the glare of the most
ardent imagination the world has ever known. By a rare combination
this philosopher was also a man, like the story-tellers of the Orient,
to whom solitude and the over-excitement of night-work had
communicated a brilliant and unbroken hallucination. He was able to
impart this fever to his readers, and to plunge them into a sort of
_Arabian Nights_ country, where all the passions, all the desires of
real life appear, but expanded to the point of fantasy, like the
dreams brought on by laudanum or hasheesh. Why, then, should we not
understand the reason that, for certain readers, this world of
Balzac's is more real than the actual world, and that they devoted
their energies to imitating it?
It is possible that to-day the phenomenon is becoming rarer, and that
Balzac, while no less admired, does not exercise the same fascinating
influence. The cause for this is that the great social forces which he
defined have almost ended their work. Other forces now shape the
oncoming generations and prepare them for further sensitive
influences. It is none the less a fact that, to penetrate the central
portions of the nineteenth century in France, one must read and reread
the _Comedie Humaine_. And we owe sincere thanks to Messieurs Cerfberr
and Christophe for this _Repertory_. Thanks to them, we shall the more
easily traverse the long galleries, painted and frescoed, of this
enormous palace,--a palace still unfinished, inasmuch as it lacks
those Scenes of Military Life whose titles awaken dreams within us:
_Forced Marches_; _The Battle of Austerlitz_; _After Dresden_.
Incontestably, Tolstoy's _War and Peace_ is an admirable book, but how
can we help regretting the loss of the painting of the Grand Army and
of our Great Emperor, by Balzac, our Napoleon of letters?
PAUL BOURGET.
REPERTORY OF THE COMEDIE HUMAINE
A
ABRAMKO, Polish Jew of gigantic strength, thoroughly devoted to the
broker, Elie Magus, whose porter he was, and whose daughter and
treasures he guarded with the aid of three fierce dogs, in 1844, in a
old house on the Minimes road hard by the Palais Royale, Paris.
Abramko had allowed himself to be compromised in the Polish
insurrection and Magus was interested in saving him. [Cousin Pons.]
ADELE, sturdy, good-hearted Briarde servant of Denis Rogron and his
sister, Sylvie, from 1824 to 1827 at Provins. Contrary to her
employers, she displayed much sympathy and pity for their youthful
cousin, Pierrette Lorrain. [Pierrette.]
ADELE, chambermaid of Madame du Val-Noble at the time when the latter
was maintained so magnificently by the stockbroker, Jacques Falleix,
who failed in 1929. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
ADOLPHE, slight, blonde young man employed at the shop of the shawl
merchant, Fritot, in the Bourse quarter, Paris, at the time of the
reign of Louis Philippe. [Gaudissart II.]
ADOLPHUS, head of the banking firm of Adolphus & Company of Manheim,
and father of the Baroness Wilhelmine d'Aldrigger. [The Firm of
Nucingen.]
AGATHE (Sister), nee Langeais, nun of the convent of Chelles, and,
with her sister Martha and the Abbe de Marolles, a refugee under the
Terror in a poor house of the Faubourg Saint-Martin, Paris. [An
Episode Under the Terror.]
AIGLEMONT (General, Marquis Victor d'), heir of the Marquis
d'Aiglemont and nephew of the dowager Comtesse de Listomere-Landon;
born in 1783. After having been the lover of the Marechale de
Carigliano, he married, in the latter part of 1813 (at which time he
was one of the youngest and most dashing colonels of the French
cavalry), Mlle. Julie de Chatillonest, his cousin, with whom he
resided successively at Touraine, Paris and Versailles.* He took part
in the great struggle of the Empire; but the Restoration freed him
from his oath to Napoleon, restored his titles, entrusted to him a
station in the Body Guard, which gave him the rank of general, and
later made him a peer of France. Gradually he forsook his wife, whom
he deceived on account of Madame de Serizy. In 1817 the Marquis
d'Aiglemont became the father of a daughter (See Helene d'Aiglemont)
who was his image physically and morally; his last three children came
into the world during a _liaison_ between the Marquise d'Aiglemont and
the brilliant diplomat, Charles de Vandenesse. In 1827 the general, as
well as his protege and cousin, Godefroid de Beaudenord, was hurt by
the fraudulent failure of the Baron de Nucingen. Moreover, he sank a
million in the Wortschin mines where he had been speculating with
hypothecated securities of his wife's. This completed his ruin. He
went to America, whence he returned, six years later, with a new
fortune. The Marquis d'Aiglemont died, overcome by his exertions, in
1833.** [At the Sign of the Cat and Racket. The Firm of Nucingen. A
Woman of Thirty.]
* It appears that the residence of the Marquis d'Aiglemont at
Versailles was located at number 57, on the present Avenue de
Paris; until recently it was occupied by one of the authors of
this work.
** Given erroneously in the original as 1835.
AIGLEMONT (Generale, Marquise Julie d'), wife of the preceding; born
in 1792. Her father, M. de Chatillonest, advised her against, but gave
her in marriage to her cousin, the attractive Colonel Victor
d'Aiglemont, in 1813. Quickly disillusioned and attacked from another
source by an "inflammation very often fatal, and which is spoken of by
women only in confidence," she sank into a profound melancholy. The
death of the Comtesse de Listomere-Landon, her aunt by marriage,
deprived her of valuable protection and advice. Shortly thereafter she
became a mother and found, in the realization of her new duties,
strength to resist the mutual attachment between herself and the young
and romantic Englishman, Lord Arthur Ormond Grenville, a student of
medicine who had nursed her and healed her bodily ailments, and who
died rather than compromise her. Heart-broken, the marquise withdrew
to the solitude of an old chateau situated between Moret and Montereau
in the midst of a neglected waste. She remained a recluse for almost a
year, given over utterly to her grief, refusing the consolations of
the Church offered her by the old cure of the village of Saint-Lange.
Then she re-entered society at Paris. There, at the age of about
thirty, she yielded to the genuine passion of the Marquis de
Vandenesse. A child, christened Charles, was born of this union, but
he perished at an early age under very tragic circumstances. Two other
children, Moina and Abel, were also the result of this love union.
They were favored by their mother above the two eldest children,
Helene and Gustave, the only ones really belonging to the Marquis
d'Aiglemont. Madame d'Aiglemont, when nearly fifty, a widow, and
having none of her children remaining alive save her daughter Moina,
sacrificed all her own fortune for a dower in order to marry the
latter to M. de Saint-Hereen, heir of one of the most famous families
of France. She then went to live with her son-in-law in a magnificent
mansion overlooking the Esplanade des Invalides. But her daughter gave
her slight return for her love. Ruffled one day by some remarks made
to her by Madame d'Aiglemont concerning the suspicious devotion of the
Marquis de Vandenesse, Moina went so far as to fling back at her
mother the remembrance of the latter's own guilty relations with the
young man's father. Terribly overcome by this attack, the poor woman,
who was a physical wreck, deaf and subject to heart disease, died in
1844. [A Woman of Thirty.]
AIGLEMONT (Helene d'), eldest daughter of the Marquis and Marquise
Victor d'Aiglemont; born in 1817. She and her brother Gustave were
neglected by her mother for Charles, Abel and Moina. On this account
Helene became jealous and defiant. When about eight years old, in a
paroxysm of ferocious hate, she pushed her brother Charles into the
Bievre, where he was drowned. This childish crime always passed for a
terrible accident. When a young woman--one Christmas night--Helene
eloped with a mysterious adventurer who was being tracked by justice
and who was, for the time being, in hiding at the home of the Marquis
Victor d'Aiglemont, at Versailles. Her despairing father sought her
vainly. He saw her no more till seven years later, and then only once,
when on his return from America to France. The ship on which he
returned was captured by pirates, whose captain, "The Parisian," the
veritable abductor of Helene, protected the marquis and his fortune.
The two lovers had four beautiful children and lived together in the
most perfect happiness, sharing the same perils. Helene refused to
follow her father. In 1835, some months after the death of her
husband, Madame d'Aiglemont, while taking the youthful Moina to a
Pyrenees watering-place, was asked to aid a poor sufferer. It was her
daughter, Helene, who had just escaped shipwreck, saving only one
child. Both presently succumbed before the eyes of Madame d'Aiglemont.
[A Woman of Thirty.]
AIGLEMONT (Gustave d'), second child of the Marquis and Marquise
Victor d'Aiglemont, and born under the Restoration. His first
appearance is while still a child, about 1827 or 1828, when returning
in company with his father and his sister Helene from the presentation
of a gloomy melodrama at the Gaite theatre. He was obliged to flee
hastily from a scene, which violently agitated Helene, because it
recalled the circumstances surrounding the death of his brother, some
two or three years earlier. Gustave d'Aiglemont is next found in the
drawing-room at Versailles, where the family is assembled, on the same
evening of the abduction of Helene. He died at an early age of
cholera, leaving a widow and children for whom the Dowager Marquise
d'Aiglemont showed little love. [A Woman of Thirty.]
AIGLEMONT (Charles d'), third child of the Marquis and the Marquise
d'Aiglemont, born at the time of the intimacy of Madame d'Aiglemont
with the Marquis de Vandenesse. He appears but a single time, one
spring morning about 1824 or 1825, then being four years old. He was
out walking with his sister Helene, his mother and the Marquis de
Vandenesse. In a sudden outburst of jealous hate, Helene pushed the
little Charles into the Bievre, where he was drowned. [A Woman of
Thirty.]
AIGLEMONT (Moina d'), fourth child and second daughter of the Marquis
and Marquise Victor d'Aiglemont. (See Comtesse de Saint-Hereen.) [A
Woman of Thirty.]
AIGLEMONT (Abel d'), fifth and last child of the Marquis and Marquise
Victor d'Aiglemont, born during the relations of his mother with M. de
Vandenesse. Moina and he were the favorites of Madame d'Aiglemont.
Killed in Africa before Constantine. [A Woman of Thirty.]
AJUDA-PINTO (Marquis Miguel d'), Portuguese belonging to a very old
and wealthy family, the oldest branch of which was connected with the
Bragance and the Grandlieu houses. In 1819 he was enrolled among the
most distinguished dandies who graced Parisian society. At this same
period he began to forsake Claire de Bourgogne, Vicomtesse de
Beauseant, with whom he had been intimate for three years. After
having caused her much uneasiness concerning his real intentions, he
returned her letters, on the intervention of Eugene de Rastignac, and
married Mlle. Berthe de Rochefide. [Father Goriot. Scenes from a
Courtesan's Life.] In 1832 he was present at one of Madame d'Espard's
receptions, where every one there joined in slandering the Princesse
de Cadignan before Daniel d'Arthez, then violently enamored of her.
[The Secrets of a Princess.] Towards 1840, the Marquis d'Ajuda-Pinto,
then a widower, married again--this time Mlle. Josephine de Grandlieu,
third daughter of the last duke of this name. Shortly thereafter, the
marquis was accomplice in a plot hatched by the friends of the
Duchesse de Grandlieu and Madame du Guenic to rescue Calyste du Guenic
from the clutches of the Marquise de Rochefide. [Beatrix.]
AJUDA-PINTO (Marquise Berthe d'), nee Rochefide. Married to the
Marquis Miguel d'Ajuda-Pinto in 1820. Died about 1849. [Beatrix.]
AJUDA-PINTO (Marquise Josephine d'), daughter of the Duc and Duchesse
Ferdinand de Grandlieu; second wife of the Marquis Miguel
d'Ajuda-Pinto, her kinsman by marriage. Their marriage was celebrated
about 1840. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
ALAIN (Frederic), born about 1767. He was clerk in the office of
Bordin, procureur of Chatelet. In 1798 he lent one hundred crowns in
gold to Monegod his life-long friend. This sum not being repaid, M.
Alain found himself almost insolvent, and was obliged to take an
insignificant position at the Mont-de-Piete. In addition to this he
kept the books of Cesar Birotteau, the well-known perfumer. Monegod
became wealthy in 1816, and he forced M. Alain to accept a hundred and
fifty thousand francs in payment of the loan of the hundred crowns.
The good man then devoted his unlooked-for fortune to philanthropies
in concert with Judge Popinot. Later, at the close of 1825, he became
one of the most active aides of Madame de la Chanterie and her
charitable association. It was M. Alain who introduced Godefroid into
the Brotherhood of the Consolation. [The Seamy Side of History.]
ALBERTINE, Madame de Bargeton's chambermaid, between the years 1821
and 1824. [Lost Illusions.]
ALBON (Marquis d'), court councillor and ministerial deputy under the
Restoration. Born in 1777. In September, 1819, he went hunting in the
edge of the forest of l'Isle-Adam with his friend Philippe de Sucy,
who suddenly fell senseless at the sight of a poor madwoman whom he
recognized as a former mistress, Stephanie de Vandieres. The Marquis
d'Albon, assisted by two passers by, M. and Mme. de Granville,
resuscitated M. de Sucy. Then the marquis returned, at his friend's
entreaty, to the home of Stephanie, where he learned from the uncle of
this unfortunate one the sad story of the love of his friend and
Madame de Vandieres. [Farewell.]
ALBRIZZI (Comtesse), a friend, in 1820, at Venice, of the celebrated
melomaniac, Capraja. [Massimilla Doni.]
ALDRIGGER (Jean-Baptiste, Baron d'), born in Alsace in 1764. In 1800 a
banker at Strasbourg, where he was at the apogee of a fortune made
during the Revolution, he wedded, partly through ambition, partly
through inclination, the heiress of the Adolphuses of Manheim. The
young daughter was idolized by every one in her family and naturally
inherited all their fortune after some ten years. Aldrigger, created
baron by the Emperor, was passionately devoted to the great man who
had bestowed upon him his title, and he ruined himself, between 1814
and 1815, by believing too deeply in "the sun of Austerlitz." At the
time of the invasion, the trustworthy Alsatian continued to pay on
demand and closed up his bank, thus meriting the remark of Nucingen,
his former head-clerk: "Honest, but stoobid." The Baron d'Aldrigger
went at once to Paris. There still remained to him an income of
forty-four thousand francs, reduced at his death, in 1823, by more than
half on account of the expenditures and carelessness of his wife. The
latter was left a widow with two daughters, Malvina and Isaure. [The
Firm of Nucingen.]
ALDRIGGER (Theodora-Marguerite-Wilhelmine, Baronne d'), nee Adolphus.
Daughter of the banker Adolphus of Manheim, greatly spoiled by her
parents. In 1800 she married the Strasbourg banker, Aldrigger, who
spoiled her as badly as they had done and as later did the two
daughters whom she had by her husband. She was superficial, incapable,
egotistic, coquettish and pretty. At forty years of age she still
preserved almost all her freshness and could be called "the little
Shepherdess of the Alps." In 1823, when the baron died, she came near
following him through her violent grief. The following morning at
breakfast she was served with small pease, of which she was very fond,
and these small pease averted the crisis. She resided in the rue
Joubert, Paris, where she held receptions until the marriage of her
younger daughter. [The Firm of Nucingen.]
ALDRIGGER (Malvina d'), elder daughter of the Baron and Baroness
d'Aldrigger, born at Strasbourg in 1801, at the time when the family
was most wealthy. Dignified, slender, swarthy, sensuous, she was a
good type of the woman "you have seen at Barcelona." Intelligent,
haughty, whole-souled, sentimental and sympathetic, she was
nevertheless smitten by the dry Ferdinand du Tillet, who sought her
hand in marriage at one time, but forsook her when he learned of the
bankruptcy of the Aldrigger family. The lawyer Desroches also
considered asking the hand of Malvina, but he too gave up the idea.
The young girl was counseled by Eugene de Rastignac, who took it upon
himself to see that she got married. Nevertheless, she ended by being
an old maid, withering day by day, giving piano lessons, living rather
meagrely with her mother in a modest flat on the third floor, in the
rue du Mont-Thabor. [The Firm of Nucingen.]
ALDRIGGER (Isaure d'), second daughter of the Baron and Baronne
d'Aldrigger, married to Godefroid de Beaudenord (See that name.) [The
Firm of Nucingen.]
ALINE, a young Auvergne chambermaid in the service of Madame Veronique
Graslin, to whom she was devoted body and soul. She was probably the
only one to whom was confided all the terrible secrets pertaining to
the life of Madame Graslin. [The Country Parson.]
ALLEGRAIN* (Christophe-Gabriel), French sculptor, born in 1710. With
Lauterbourg and Vien, at Rome, in 1758, he assisted his friend
Sarrasine to abduct Zambinella, then a famous singer. The prima-donna
was a eunuch. [Sarrasine.]
* To the sculptor Allegrain who died in 1795, the Louvre Museum is
indebted for a "Narcisse," a "Diana," and a "Venus entering the
Bath."
ALPHONSE, a friend of the ruined orphan, Charles Grandet, tarrying
temporarily at Saumur. In 1819 he acquitted himself most creditably of
a mission entrusted to him by that young man. He wound up Charles'
business at Paris, paying all his debts by a single little sale.
[Eugenie Grandet.]
AL-SARTCHILD, name of a German banking-house, where Gedeon Brunner was
compelled to deposit the funds belonging to his son Frederic and
inherited from his mother. [Cousin Pons.]
ALTHOR (Jacob), a Hambourg banker, who opened up a business at Havre
in 1815. He had a son, whom in 1829 M. and Mme. Mignon desired for a
son-in-law. [Modeste Mignon.]
ALTHOR (Francisque), son of Jacob Althor. Francisque was the dandy of
Havre in 1829. He wished to marry Modeste Mignon but forsook her
quickly enough when he found out that her family was bankrupt. Not
long afterwards he married Mlle. Vilquin the elder. [Modeste Mignon.]
AMANDA, Parisian modiste at the time of Louis Philippe. Among her
customers was Marguerite Turquet, known as Malaga, who was slow in
paying bills. [A Man of Business.]
AMAURY (Madame), owner, in 1829, of a pavilion at Sauvic, near
Ingouville, which Canalis leased when he went to Havre to see Mlle.
Mignon [Modeste Mignon.]
AMBERMESNIL (Comtesse de l') went in 1819, when about thirty-six years
old, to board with the widow, Mme. Vauquer, rue Nueve Sainte-Genevieve,
now Tournefort, Paris. Mme. de l'Ambermesnil gave it out that she was
awaiting the settlement of a pension which was due her on account of
being the widow of a general killed "on the battlefield." Mme. Vauquer
gave her every attention, confiding all her own affairs to her. The
comtesse vanished at the end of six months, leaving a board bill
unsettled. Mme. Vauquer sought her eagerly, but was never able to
obtain a trace of this adventuress. [Father Goriot.]
AMEDEE, nickname bestowed on Felix de Vandenesse by Lady Dudley when
she thought she saw a rival in Madame de Mortsauf. [The Lily of the
Valley.]
ANCHISE (Pere), a surname given by La Palferine to a little Savoyard
of ten years who worked for him without pay. "I have never seen such
silliness coupled with such intelligence," the Prince of Bohemia said
of this child; "he would go through fire for me, he understands
everything, and yet he does not see that I cannot help him." [A Prince
of Bohemia.]
ANGARD--At Paris, in 1840, the "professor" Angard was consulted, in
connection with the Doctors Bianchon and Larabit, on account of Mme.
Hector Hulot, who it was feared was losing her reason. [Cousin Betty.]
ANGELIQUE (Sister), nun of the Carmelite convent at Blois under Louis
XVIII. Celebrated for her leanness. She was known by Renee de
l'Estorade (Mme. de Maucombe) and Louise de Chaulieu (Mme. Marie
Gaston), who went to school at the convent. [Letters of Two Brides.]
ANICETTE, chambermaid of the Princesse de Cadignan in 1839. The
artful and pretty Champagne girl was sought by the sub-prefect of
Arcis-sur-Aube, by Maxime de Trailles, and by Mme. Beauvisage, the
mayor's wife, each trying to bribe and enlist her on the side of
one of the various candidates for deputy. [The Member for Arcis.]
ANNETTE, Christian name of a young woman of the Parisian world, under
the Restoration. She had been brought up at Ecouen, where she had
received the practical counsels of Mme. Campan. Mistress of Charles
Grandet before his father's death. Towards the close of 1819, a prey
to suspicion, she must needs sacrifice her happiness for the time
being, so she made a weary journey with her husband into Scotland. She
made her lover effeminate and materialistic, advising with him about
everything. He returned from the Indies in 1827, when she quickly
brought about his engagement with Mlle. d'Aubrion. [Eugenie Grandet.]
ANNETTE, maid servant of Rigou at Blangy, Burgundy. She was nineteen
years old, in 1823, and had held this place for more than three years,
although Gregoire Rigou never kept servants for a longer period than
this, however much he might and did favor them. Annette, sweet,
blonde, delicate, a true masterpiece of dainty, piquant loveliness,
worthy to wear a duchess' coronet, earned nevertheless only thirty
francs a year. She kept company with Jean-Louis Tonsard without
letting her master once suspect it; ambition had prompted this young
woman to flatter her employer as a means of hoodwinking this lynx.
[The Peasantry.]
ANSELME, Jesuit, living in rue des Postes (now rue Lhomond).
Celebrated mathematician. Had some dealings with Felix Phellion, whom
he tried to convert to his religious belief. This rather meagre
information concerning him was furnished by a certain Madame Komorn.
[The Middle Classes.]
ANTOINE, born in the village of Echelles, Savoy. In 1824 he had served
longest as clerk in the Bureau of Finance, where he had secured
positions, still more modest than his own, for a couple of his
nephews, Laurent and Gabriel, both of whom were married to lace
laundresses. Antoine meddled with every act of the administration. He
elbowed, criticised, scolded and toadied to Clement Chardin des
Lupeaulx and other office-holders. He doubtless lived with his
nephews. [The Government Clerks.]
ANTOINE, old servant of the Marquise Beatrix de Rochefide, in 1840, on
the rue de Chartes-du-Roule, near Monceau Park, Paris. [Beatrix.]
ANTONIA--see Chocardelle, Mlle.
AQUILINA, a Parisian courtesan of the time of the Restoration and
Louis Philippe. She claimed to be a Piedmontese. Of her true name she
was ignorant. She had appropriated this _nom de guerre_ from a
character in the well-known tragedy by Otway, "Venice Preserved," that
she had chanced to read. At sixteen, pure and beautiful, at the time
of her downfall, she had met Castanier, Nucingen's cashier, who
resolved to save her from evil for his own gain, and live maritally
with her in the rue Richter. Aquilina then took the name of Madame de
la Garde. At the same time of her relations with Castanier, she had
for a lover a certain Leon, a petty officer in a regiment of infantry,
and none other than one of the sergeants of Rochelle to be executed on
the Place de Greve in 1822. Before this execution, in the reign of
Louis XVIII., she attended a performance of "Le Comedien d'Etampes,"
one evening at the Gymnase, when she laughed immoderately at the
comical part played by Perlet. At the same time, Castanier, also
present at this mirthful scene, but harassed by Melmoth, was
experiencing the insufferable doom of a cruel hidden drama. [Melmoth
Reconciled.] Her next appearance is at a famous orgy at the home of
Frederic Taillefer, rue Joubert, in company with Emile Blondet,
Rastignac, Bixiou and Raphael de Valentin. She was a magnificent girl
of good figure, superb carriage, and striking though irregular
features. Her glance and smile startled one. She always included some
red trinket in her attire, in memory of her executed lover. [The Magic
Skin.]
ARCOS (Comte d'), a Spanish grandee living in the Peninsula at the
time of the expedition of Napoleon I. He would probably have married
Maria-Pepita-Juana Marana de Mancini, had it not been for the peculiar
incidents which brought about her marriage with the French officer,
Francois Diard. [The Maranas.]
ARGAIOLO (Duc d'), a very rich and well-born Italian, the respected
though aged husband of her who later became the Duchesse de Rhetore,
to the perpetual grief of Albert Savarus. Argaiolo died, almost an
octogenarian, in 1835. [Albert Savarus.]
ARGAIOLO (Duchesse d'), nee Soderini, wife of the Duc d'Argaiolo. She
became a widow in 1835, and took as her second husband the Duc de
Rhetore. (See Duchesse de Rhetore.) [Albert Savarus.]
ARRACHELAINE, surname of the rogue, Ruffard. (See that name.) [Scenes
from a Courtesan's Life.]
ARTHEZ (Daniel d'), one of the most illustrious authors of the
nineteenth century, and one of those rare men who display "the unity
of excellent talent and excellent character." Born about 1794 or 1796.
A Picard gentleman. In 1821, when about twenty-five, he was
poverty-stricken and dwelt on the fifth floor of a dismal house in the
rue des Quatre-Vents, Paris, where had also resided the illustrious
surgeon Desplein, in his youth. There he fraternized with: Horace
Bianchon, then house-physician at Hotel-Dieu; Leon Giraud, the profound
philosopher; Joseph Bridau, the painter who later achieved so much
renown; Fulgence Ridal, comic poet of great sprightliness; Meyraux,
the eminent physiologist who died young; lastly, Louis Lambert and
Michel Chrestien, the Federalist Republican, both of whom were cut off
in their prime. To these men of heart and of talent Lucien de
Rubempre, the poet, sought to attach himself. He was introduced by
Daniel d'Arthez, their recognized leader. This society had taken the
name of the "Cenacle." D'Arthez and his friends advised and aided,
when in need, Lucien the "Distinguished Provincial at Paris" who ended
so tragically. Moreover, with a truly remarkable disinterestedness
d'Arthez corrected and revised "The Archer of Charles IX.," written by
Lucien, and the work became a superb book, in his hands. Another
glimpse of d'Arthez is as the unselfish friend of Marie Gaston, a
young poet of his stamp, but "effeminate." D'Arthez was swarthy, with
long locks, rather small and bearing some resemblance to Bonaparte. He
might be called the rival of Rousseau, "the Aquatic," since he was
very temperate, very pure, and drank water only. For a long time he
ate at Flicoteaux's in the Latin Quarter. He had grown famous in 1832,
besides enjoying an income of thirty thousand francs bequeathed by an
uncle who had left him a prey to the most biting poverty so long as
the author was unknown. D'Arthez then resided in a pretty house of his
own in the rue de Bellefond, where he lived in other respects as
formerly, in the rigor of work. He was a deputy sitting on the right
and upholding the Royalist platform of Divine Right. When he had
acquired a competence, he had a most vulgar and incomprehensible
_liaison_ with a woman tolerably pretty, but belonging to a lower
society and without either education or breeding. D'Arthez maintained
her, nevertheless, carefully concealing her from sight; but, far from
being a pleasurable manner of life, it became odious to him. It was at
this time that he was invited to the home of Diane de Maufrigneuse,
Princesse de Cadignan, who was then thirty-six, but did not look it.
The famous "great coquette" told him her (so-called) "secrets,"
offered herself outright to this man whom she treated as a "famous
simpleton," and whom she made her lover. After that day there was no
doubt about the relations of the princesse and Daniel d'Arthez. The
great author, whose works became very rare, appeared only during some
of the winter months at the Chamber of Deputies. [A Distinguished
Provincial at Paris. Letters of Two Brides. The Member for Arcis. The
Secrets of a Princess.]
ASIE, one of the pseudonyms of Jacqueline Collin. (See that name.)
[Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
ATHALIE, cook for Mme. Schontz in 1836. According to her mistress, she
was specially gifted in preparing venison. [The Muse of the
Department.]
AUBRION (Marquis d'), a gentleman-in-waiting of the Bedchamber, under
Charles X. He was of the house of Aubrion de Buch, whose last head
died before 1789. He was silly enough to wed a woman of fashion,
though he was already an old man of but twenty thousand francs income,
a sum hardly sufficient in Paris. He tried to marry his daughter
without a dowry to some man who was intoxicated with nobility. In
1827, to quote Mme. d'Aubrion, this ancient wreck was madly devoted to
the Duchesse de Chaulieu [Eugenie Grandet.]
AUBRION (Marquise d'), wife of the preceding. Born in 1789. At
thirty-eight she was still pretty, and, having always been somewhat
aspiring, she endeavored (in 1827), by hook or by crook, to entangle
Charles Grandet, lately returned from the Indies. She wished to make a
son-in-law out of him, and she succeeded. [Eugenie Grandet.]
AUBRION (Mathilde d') daughter of the Marquis and Marquise d'Aubrion;
born in 1808; married to Charles Grandet. (See that name.) [Eugenie
Grandet.]
AUBRION (Comte d'), the title acquired by Charles Grandet after his
marriage to the daughter of the Marquis d'Aubrion. [The Firm of
Nucingen.]
AUFFRAY, grocer at Provins, in the period of Louis XV., Louis XVI. and
the Revolution. M. Auffray married the first time when eighteen, the
second time at sixty-nine. By his first wife he had a rather ugly
daughter who married, at sixteen, a landlord of Provins, Rogron by
name. Auffray had another daughter, by his second marriage, a charming
girl, this time, who married a Breton captain in the Imperial Guard.
Pierrette Lorrain was the daughter of this officer. The old grocer
Auffray died at the time of the Empire without having had time enough
to make his will. The inheritance was so skillfully manipulated by
Rogron, the first son-in-law of the deceased, that almost nothing was
left for the goodman's widow, then only about thirty-eight years old.
[Pierrette.]
AUFFRAY (Madame), wife of the preceding. (See Neraud, Mme.)
[Pierrette.]
AUFFRAY, a notary of Provins in 1827. Husband of Mme. Guenee's third
daughter. Great-grand-nephew of the old grocer, Auffray. Appointed a
guardian of Pierrette Lorrain. On account of the ill-treatment to
which this young girl was subjected at the home of her guardian, Denis
Rogron, she was removed, an invalid, to the home of the notary
Auffray, a designated guardian, where she died, although tenderly
cared for. [Pierrette.]
AUFFRAY (Madame), born Guenee. Wife of the preceding. The third
daughter of Mme. Guenee, born Tiphaine. She exhibited the greatest
kindness for Pierrette Lorrain, and nursed her tenderly in her last
illness. [Pierrette.]
AUGUSTE, name borne by Boislaurier, as chief of "brigands," in the
uprisings of the West under the Republic and under the Empire. [The
Seamy Side of History.]
AUGUSTE, _valet de chambre_ of the General Marquis Armand de
Montriveau, under the Restoration, at the time when the latter dwelt
in the rue de Seine hard by the Chamber of Peers, and was intimate
with the Duchesse Antoinette de Langeais. [The Thirteen.]
AUGUSTE, notorious assassin, executed in the first years of the
Restoration. He left a mistress, surnamed Rousse, to whom Jacques
Collin had faithfully remitted (in 1819) some twenty odd thousands of
francs, on behalf of her lover after his execution. This woman was
married in 1821, by Jacques Collin's sister, to the head clerk of a
rich, wholesale hardware merchant. Nevertheless, though once more in
respectable society, she remained bound, by a secret compact, to the
terrible Vautrin and his sister. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
AUGUSTE (Madame), dressmaker of Esther Gobseck, and her creditor in
the time of Louis XVIII. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
AUGUSTIN, _valet de chambre_ of M. de Serizy in 1822. [A Start in
Life.]
AURELIE, a Parisian courtesan, under Louis Philippe, at the time when
Mme. Fabien du Ronceret commenced her conquests. [Beatrix.]
AURELIE (La Petite), one of the nicknames of Josephine Schiltz, also
called Schontz, who became, later, Mme. Fabien du Ronceret. [Beatrix.]
AUVERGNAT (L'), one of the assumed names of the rogue Selerier, alias
Pere Ralleau, alias Rouleur, alias Fil-de-soie. (See Selerier.)
[Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
B
BABYLAS, groom or "tiger" of Amedee de Soulas, in 1834, at Besancon.
Was fourteen years old at this time. The son of one of his master's
tenants. He earned thirty-six francs a month by his position to
support himself, but he was neat and skillful. [Albert Savarus.]
BAPTISTE, _valet de chambre_ to the Duchesse de Lenoncourt-Chaulieu in
1830. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
BARBANCHU, Bohemian with a cocked hat, who was called into Vefour's by
some journalists who breakfasted there at the expense of Jerome
Thuillier, in 1840, and invited by them to "sponge" off of this urbane
man, which he did. [The Middle Classes.]
BARBANTI (The), a Corsican family who brought about the reconciliation
of the Piombos and the Portas in 1800. [The Vendetta.]
BARBET, a dynasty of second-hand book-dealers in Paris under the
Restoration and Louis Philippe. They were Normans. In 1821 and the
years following, one of them ran a little shop on the quay des
Grands-Augustins, and purchased Lousteau's books. In 1836, a Barbet,
partner in a book-shop with Metivier and Morand, owned a wretched house
on the rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs and the boulevard du Mont-Parnasse,
where dwelt the Baron Bourlac with his daughter and grandson. In 1840
the Barbets had become regular usurers dealing in credits with the firm
of Cerizet and Company. The same year a Barbet occupied, in a house
belonging to Jerome Thuillier, rue Saint-Dominique-d'Enfer (now rue
Royal-Collard), a room on the first flight up and a shop on the ground
floor. He was then a "publisher's shark." Barbet junior, a nephew of
the foregoing, and editor in the alley des Panoramas, placed on the
market at this time a brochure composed by Th. de la Peyrade but
signed by Thuillier and having the title "Capital and Taxes." [A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris. A Man of Business. The Seamy Side
of History. The Middle Classes.]
BARBETTE, wife of the great Cibot, known as Galope-Chopine. (See
Cibot, Barbette.) [Les Chouans.]
BARCHOU DE PENHOEN (Auguste-Theodore-Hilaire), born at Morlaix
(Finistere), April 28, 1801, died at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, July 29,
1855. A school-mate of Balzac, Jules Dufaure and Louis Lambert, and
his neighbors in the college dormitory of Vendome in 1811. Later he
was an officer, then a writer of transcendental philosophy, a
translator of Fichte, a friend and interpreter of Ballanche. In 1849
he was elected, by his fellow-citizens of Finistere, to the
Legislative Assembly where he represented the Legitimists and the
Catholics. He protested against the _coup d'etat_ of December 2, 1851
(See "The Story of a Crime," by Victor Hugo). When a child he came
under the influence of Pyrrhonism. He once gainsaid the talent of
Louis Lambert, his Vendome school-mate. [Louis Lambert.]
BARGETON (De), born between 1761 and 1763. Great-grandson of an
Alderman of Bordeau named Mirault, ennobled during the reign of Louis
XIII., and whose son, under Louis XIV., now Mirault de Bargeton, was
an officer of the Guards de la Porte. He owned a house at Angouleme,
in the rue du Minage, where he lived with his wife, Marie-Louise-Anais
de Negrepelisse, to whom he was entirely obedient. On her account, and
at her instigation, he fought with one of the habitues of his salon,
Stanislas de Chandour, who had circulated in the town a slander on
Mme. de Bargeton. Bargeton lodged a bullet in his opponent's neck. He
had for a second his father-in-law, M. de Negrepelisse. Following
this, M. de Bargeton retired into his estate at Escarbas, near
Barbezieux, while his wife, as a result of the duel left Angouleme for
Paris. M. de Bargeton had been of good physique, but "injured by
youthful excesses." He was commonplace, but a great gourmand. He died
of indigestion towards the close of 1821. [Lost Illusions.]
BARGETON (Madame de), nee Marie-Louise-Anais Negrepelisse, wife of the
foregoing. Left a widow, she married again, this time the Baron Sixte
du Chatelet. (See that name.)
BARILLAUD, known by Frederic Alain whose suspicion he aroused with
regard to Monegod. [The Seamy Side of History.]
BARIMORE (Lady), daughter of Lord Dudley, and apparently the wife of
Lord Barimore, although it is a disputed question. Just after 1830,
she helped receive at a function of Mlle. des Touches, rue de la
Chaussee-d'Antin, where Marsay told about his first love affair.
[Another Study of Woman.]
BARKER (William), one of Vautrin's "incarnations." In 1824 or 1825,
under this assumed name, he posed as one of the creditors of M.
d'Estourny, making him endorse some notes of Cerizet's, the partner of
this M. d'Estourny. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
BARNHEIM, family in good standing at Bade. On the maternal side, the
family of Mme. du Ronceret, nee Schiltz, alias Schontz. [Beatrix.]
BARNIOL, Phellion's son-in-law. Head of an academy (in 1840), rue
Saint-Hyacinthe-Saint-Michel (now, rue Le Goff and rue Malebrache). A
rather influential man in the Faubourg Saint-Jacques. Visited the
salon of Thuillier. [The Middle Classes.]
BARNIOL (Madame), nee Phellion, wife of the preceding. She had been
under-governess in the boarding school of the Mlles. Lagrave, rue
Notre-Dame des Champs. [The Middle Classes.]
BARRY (John), a young English huntsman, well known in the district
whence the Prince of Loudon brought him to employ him at his own home.
He was with this great lord in 1829, 1830. [Modeste Mignon.]
BARTAS (Adrien de), of Angouleme. In 1821, he and his wife were very
devoted callers at the Bargetons. M. de Bartas gave himself up
entirely to music, talking about this subject incessantly, and
courting invitations to sing with his heavy bass voice. He posed as
the lover of Mme. de Brebion, the wife of his best friend. M. de
Brebion became the lover of Mme. de Bartas. [Lost Illusions.]
BARTAS (Madame Josephine de), wife of the preceding, always called
Fifine, "for short." [Lost Illusions.]
BASTIENNE, Parisian modiste in 1821. Finot's journal vaunted her hats,
for a pecuniary consideration, and derogated those of Virginie,
formerly praised. [Lost Illusions.]
BATAILLES (The), belonging to the bourgeoisie of Paris, traders of
Marais, neighbors and friends of the Baudoyers and the Saillards in
1824. M. Bataille was a captain in the National Guard, a fact which he
allowed no one to ignore. [The Government Clerks.]
BAUDENORD (Godefroid de), born in 1800. In 1821 he was one of the
kings of fashion, in company with Marsay, Vandenesse, Ajuda-Pinto,
Maxime de Trailles, Rastignac, the Duc de Maufrigneuse and Manerville.
[A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] His nobility and breeding were
perhaps not very orthodox. According to Mlle. Emilie de Fontaine, he
was of bad figure and stout, having but a single advantage--that of
his brown locks. [The Ball at Sceaux.] A cousin, by marriage, of his
guardian, the Marquis d'Aiglemont, he was, like him, ruined by the
Baron de Nucingen in the Wortschin mine deal. At one time Beaudenord
thought of paying court to his pretty cousin, the Marquise
d'Aiglemont. In 1827 he wedded Isaure d'Aldrigger and, after having
lived with her in a cosy little house on the rue de le Planche, he was
obliged to solicit employment of the Minister of Finance, a position
which he lost on account of the Revolution of 1830. However, he was
reinstated through the influence of Nucingen, in 1836. He now lived
modestly with his mother-in-law, his unmarried sister-in-law, Malvina,
his wife and four children which she had given him, on the third
floor, over the entresol, rue du Mont-Thabor. [The Firm of Nucingen.]
BAUDENORD (Madame de), wife of the preceding. Born Isaure d'Aldrigger,
in 1807, at Strasbourg. An indolent blonde, fond of dancing, but a
nonentity from both the moral and the intellectual standpoints. [The
Firm of Nucingen.]
BAUDOYER (Monsieur and Madame), formerly tanners at Paris, rue
Censier. They owned their house, besides having a country seat at
l'Isle Adam. They had but one child, Isidore, whose sketch follows.
Mme. Baudoyer, born Mitral, was the sister of the bailiff of that
name. [The Government Clerks.]
BAUDOYER (Isidore), born in 1788; only son of M. and Mme. Baudoyer,
tanners, rue Censier, Paris. Having finished a course of study, he
obtained a position in the Bureau of Finance, where, despite his
notorious incapacity--and through "wire-pulling"--he became head of
the office. In 1824, a head of the division, M. de La Billardiere
died, when the meritorious clerk, Xavier Rabourdin, aspired to succeed
him; but the position went to Isidore Baudoyer, who was backed by the
power of money and the influence of the Church. He did not retain this
post long; six months thereafter he became a preceptor at Paris.
Isidore Baudoyer lived with his wife and her parents in a house on
Palais Royale (now Place des Vosges), of which they were joint owners.
[The Government Clerks.] He dined frequently, in 1840, at Thuillier's,
an old employe of the Bureau of Finance, then domiciled at the rue
Saint-Dominique-d'Enfer, who had renewed his acquaintance with his
old-time colleagues. [The Middle Classes.] In 1845, this man, who had
been a model husband and who made a great pretence of religion
maintained Heloise Brisetout. He was then mayor of the arrondissement
of the Palais Royale. [Cousin Pons.]
BAUDOYER (Madame), wife of the preceding and daughter of a cashier of
the Minister of Finance; born Elisabeth Saillard in 1795. Her mother,
an Auvergnat, had an uncle, Bidault, alias Gigonnet, a short-time
money lender in the Halles quarter. On the other side, her
mother-in-law was the sister of the bailiff Mitral. Thanks to these two
men of means, who exercised a veritable secret power, and through her
piety, which put her on good terms with the clergy, she succeeded in
raising her husband up to the highest official positions--profiting also
by the financial straits of Clement Chardin des Lupeaulx, Secretary
General of Finance. [The Government Clerks.]
BAUDOYER (Mademoiselle), daughter of Isidore Baudoyer and Elisabeth
Saillard, born in 1812. Reared by her parents with the idea of
becoming the wife of the shrewd and energetic speculator Martin
Falleix, brother of Jacques Falleix the stock-broker. [The Government
Clerks.]
BAUDRAND, cashier of a boulevard theatre, of which Gaudissart became
the director about 1834. In 1845 he was succeeded by the proletariat
Topinard. [Cousin Pons.]
BAUDRY (Planat de), Receiver General of Finances under the
Restoration. He married one of the daughters of the Comte de Fontaine.
He usually passed his summers at Sceaux, with almost all his wife's
family. [The Ball at Sceaux.]
BAUVAN (Comte de), one of the instigators of the Chouan insurrection
in the department d'Ille-et-Vilaine, in 1799. Through a secret
revelation made to his friend the Marquis de Montauran on the part of
Mlle. de Verneuil, the Comte de Bauvan caused, indirectly, the
Massacre des Bleus at Vivetiere. Later, surprised in an ambuscade by
soldiers of the Republic, he was made a prisoner by Mlle. de Verneuil
and owed his life to her; for this reason he became entirely devoted
to her, assisting as a witness at her marriage with Montauran. [The
Chouans.]
BAUVAN (Comtesse de), in all likelihood the wife of the foregoing,
whom she survived. In 1822 she was manager of a Parisian lottery
bureau which employed Madame Agatha Bridau, about the same time. [A
Bachelor's Establishment.]
BAUVAN (Comte and Comtesse de), father and mother of Octave de Bauvan.
Relics of the old Court, living in a tumble-down house on the rue
Payenne at Paris, where they died, about 1815, within a few months of
each other, and before the conjugal infelicity of their son. (See
Octave de Bauvan.) Probably related to the two preceding. [Honorine.]
BAUVAN (Comte Octave de), statesman and French magistrate. Born in
1787. When twenty-six he married Honorine, a beautiful young heiress
who had been reared carefully at the home of his parents, M. and Mme.
de Bauvan, whose ward she was. Two or three years afterwards she left
the conjugal roof, to the infinite despair of the comte, who gave
himself over entirely to winning her back again. At the end of several
years he succeeded in getting her to return to him through pity, but
she died soon after this reconciliation, leaving one son born of their
reunion. The Comte de Bauvan, completely broken, set out for Italy
about 1836. He had two residences at Paris, one on rue Payenne, an
heirloom, the other on Faubourg Saint-Honore, which was the scene of
the domestic reunion. [Honorine.] In 1830, the Comte de Bauvan, then
president of the Court of Cassation, with MM. de Granville and de
Serizy, tried to save Lucien de Rubempre from a criminal judgment,
and, after the suicide of that unhappy man, he followed his remains to
the grave. [Scenes from a Courtesan's life.]
BAUVAN (Comtesse Honorine de), wife of the preceding. Born in 1794.
Married at nineteen to the Comte Octave de Bauvan. After having
abandoned her husband, she was in turn, while expecting a child,
abandoned by her lover, some eighteen months later. She then lived a
very retired life in the rue Saint-Maur, yet all the time being under
the secret surveillance of the Comte de Bauvan who paid exorbitant
prices for the artificial flowers which she made. She thus derived
from him a rather large part of the sustenance which she believed she
owed only to her own efforts. She died, reunited to her husband,
shortly after the Revolution of July, 1830. Honorine de Bauvan lost
her child born out of wedlock, and she always mourned it. During her
years of toilsome exile in the Parisian faubourg, she came in contact
successively with Marie Gobain, Jean-Jules Popinot, Felix Gaudissart,
Maurice de l'Hostal and Abbe Loraux.[Honorine.]
BEAUDENORD (Madame de), wife of the preceding. Born Isaure
d'Aldrigger, in 1807, at Strasbourg. An indolent blonde, fond of
dancing, but a nonentity from both the moral and the intellectual
standpoints. [The Firm of Nucingen.]
BEAUMESNIL (Mademoiselle), a celebrated actress of the
Theatre-Francais, Paris. Mature at the time of the Restoration. She
was the mistress of the police-officer Peyrade, by whom she had a
daughter, Lydie, whom he acknowledged. The last home of Mlle.
Beaumesnil was on rue de Tournon. It was there that she suffered the
loss by theft of her valuable diamonds, through Charles Crochard, her
real lover. This was at the beginning of the reign of Louis Philippe.
[The Middle Classes. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. A Second Home.]
BEAUPIED, or Beau-Pied, an alias of Jean Falcon. (See that name.)
BEAUPRE (Fanny), an actress at the Theatre de la Porte-Saint-Martin,
Paris, time of Charles X. Young and beautiful, in 1825, she made a
name for herself in the role of marquise in a melodrama entitled "La
Famille d'Anglade." At this time she had replaced Coralie, then dead,
in the affections of Camusot the silk-merchant. It was at Fanny
Beaupre's that Oscar Husson, one of the clerks of lawyer Desroches,
lost in gaming the sum of five hundred francs belonging to his
employer, and that he was discovered lying dead-drunk on a sofa by his
uncle Cardot. [A Start in Life.] In 1829 Fanny Beaupre, for a money
consideration, posed as the best friend of the Duc d'Herouville.
[Modeste Mignon.] In 1842, after his liaison with Mme. de la Baudraye,
Lousteau lived maritally with her. [The Muse of the Department.] A
frequent inmate of the mansion magnificently fitted up for Esther
Gobseck by the Baron de Nucingen, she knew all the fast set of the
years 1829 and 1830. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
BEAUSEANT (Marquis and Comte de), the father and eldest brother of the
Vicomte de Beauseant, husband of Claire de Bourgogne. [The Deserted
Woman.] In 1819, the marquis and the comte dwelt together in their
house, rue Saint-Dominique, Paris. [Father Goriot.] While the
Revolution was on, the marquis had emigrated. The Abbe de Marolles had
dealings with him. [An Episode under the Terror.]
BEAUSEANT (Marquise de). In 1824 a Marquise de Beauseant, then rather
old, is found to have dealings with the Chaulieus. It was probably the
widow of the marquis of this name, and the mother of the Comte and
Vicomte de Beauseant. [Letters of Two Brides.] The Marquise de
Beauseant was a native of Champagne, coming of a very old family. [The
Deserted Woman.]
BEAUSEANT (Vicomte de), husband of Claire de Bourgogne. He understood
the relations of his wife with Miguel d'Ajuda-Pinto, and, whether he
liked it or not, he respected this species of morganatic alliance
recognized by society. The Vicomte de Beauseant had his residence in
Paris on the rue de Grenelle in 1819. At that time he kept a dancer
and liked nothing better than high living. He became a marquis on the
death of his father and eldest brother. He was a polished man,
courtly, methodical, and ceremonious. He insisted upon living
selfishly. His death would have allowed Mme. de Beauseant to wed
Gaston de Nueil. [Father Goriot. The Deserted Woman.]
BEAUSEANT (Vicomtesse de), born Clair de Bourgogne, in 1792. Wife of
the preceding and cousin of Eugene de Rastignac. Of a family almost
royal. Deceived by her lover, Miguel d'Ajuda-Pinto, who, while
continuing his intimacy with her, asked and obtained the hand of
Berthe de Rochefide, the vicomtesse left Paris secretly before this
wedding and on the morning following a grand ball which was given at
her home where she shone in all her pride and splendor. In 1822 this
"deserted woman" had lived for three years in the most rigid seclusion
at Courcelles near Bayeux. Gaston de Nueil, a young man of three and
twenty, who had been sent to Normandy for his health, succeeded in
making her acquaintance, was immediately smitten with her and, after a
long seige, became her lover. This was at Geneva, whither she had
fled. Their intimacy lasted for nine years, being broken by the
marriage of the young man. In 1819 the Vicomtesse de Beauseant
received at Paris the most famous "high-rollers" of the day
--Malincour, Ronquerolles, Maxime de Trailles, Marsay, Vandenesse,
together with an intermingling of the most elegant dames, as Lady
Brandon, the Duchesse de Langeais, the Comtesse de Kergarouet, Mme. de
Serizy, the Duchesse Carigliano, the Comtesse Ferraud, Mme. de Lantry,
the Marquise d'Aiglemont, Mme. Firmiani, the Marquise de Listomere,
the Marquise d'Espard and the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse. She was
equally intimate with Grandlieu, and the General de Montriveau.
Rastignac, then poor at the time of his start in the world, also
received cards to her receptions. [Father Goriot. The Deserted Woman.
Albert Savarus.]
BEAUSSIER, a bourgeois of Issoudun under the Restoration. Upon seeing
Joseph Bridau in the diligence, while the artist and his mother were
on a journey in 1822, he remarked that he would not care to meet him
at night in the corner of a forest--he looked so much like a
highwayman. That same evening Beaussier, accompanied by his wife, came
to call at Hochon's in order to get a nearer view of the painter. [A
Bachelor's Establishment.]
BEAUSSIER the younger, known as Beaussier the Great; son of the
preceding and one of the Knights of Idlesse at Issoudun, commanded by
Maxence Gilet, under the Restoration. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
BEAUVISAGE, physician of the Convent des Carmelites at Blois, time of
Louis XVIII. He was known by Louise de Chaulieu and by Renee de
Maucombe, who were reared in the convent. According to Louise de
Chaulieu, he certainly belied his name. [Letters of Two Brides.]
BEAUVISAGE, at one time tenant of the splendid farm of Bellache,
pertaining to the Gondreville estate at Arcis-sur-Aube. The father of
Phileas Beauvisage. Died about the beginning of the nineteenth
century. [The Gondreville Mystery. The Member for Arcis.]
BEAUVISAGE (Madame), wife of the preceding. She survived him for quite
a long period and helped her son Phileas win his success. [The Member
for Arcis.]
BEAUVISAGE (Phileas), son of Beauvisage the farmer. Born in 1792. A
hosier at Arcis-sur-Aube during the Restoration. Mayor of the town in
1839. After a preliminary defeat he was elected deputy at the time
when Sallenauve sent in his resignation, in 1841. An ardent admirer of
Crevel whose affectations he aped. A millionaire and very vain, he
would have been able, according to Crevel, to advance Mme. Hulot, for
a consideration, the two hundred thousand francs of which that unhappy
lady stood in so dire a need about 1842. [Cousin Betty. The Member for
Arcis.]
BEAUVISAGE (Madame), born Severine Grevin in 1795. Wife of Phileas
Beauvisage, whom she kept in complete subjugation. Daughter of Grevin
the notary of Arcis-sur-Aube, Senator Malin de Gondreville's intimate
friend. She inherited her father's marvelous faculty of discretion;
and, though diminutive in stature, reminded one forcibly, in her face
and ways, of Mlle. Mars. [The Member for Arcis.]
BEAUVISAGE (Cecile-Renee), only daughter of Phileas Beauvisage and
Severine Grevin. Born in 1820. Her natural father was the Vicomte
Melchior de Chargeboeuf who was sub-prefect of Arcis-sur-Aube at the
commencement of the Restoration. She looked exactly like him, besides
having his aristocratic airs. [The Member for Arcis.]
BEAUVOIR (Charles-Felix-Theodore, Chevalier de), cousin of the
Duchesse de Maille. A Chouan prisoner of the Republic in the chateau
de l'Escarpe in 1799. The hero of a tale of marital revenge related by
Lousteau, in 1836, to Mme. de la Baudraye, the story being obtained
--so the narrator said--from Charles Nodier. [The Muse of the
Department.]
BECANIERE (La), surname of Barbette Cibot. (See that name.)
BECKER (Edme), a student of medicine who dwelt in 1828 at number 22,
rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve--the residence of the Marquis
d'Espard. [The Commission in Lunacy.]
BEDEAU, office boy and roustabout for Maitre Bordin, attorney to the
Chatelet in 1787. [A Start in Life.]
BEGA, surgeon in a French regiment of the Army of Spain in 1808. After
having privately accouched a Spaniard under the espionage of her
lover, he was assassinated by her husband, who surprised him in the
telling of this clandestine operation. The foregoing adventure was
told Mme. de la Baudraye, in 1836, by the Receiver of Finances,
Gravier, former paymaster of the Army. [The Muse of the Department.]
BEGRAND (La), a dancer at the theatre of Porte-Sainte-Martin, Paris,
in 1820.* Mariette, who made her debut at this time, also scored a
success. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
* She shone for more than sixty years as a famous choreographical
artist in the boulevards.
BELLEFEUILLE (Mademoiselle de), assumed name of Caroline Crochard.
BELLEJAMBE, servant of Lieutenant-Colonel Husson in 1837. [A Start in
Life.]
BELOR (Mademoiselle de), young girl of Bordeaux living there about
1822. She was always in search of a husband, whom, for some cause or
other, she never found. Probably intimate with Evangelista. [A
Marriage Settlement.]
BEMBONI (Monsignor), attache to the Secretary of State at Rome, who
was entrusted with the transmission to the Duc de Soria at Madrid of
the letters of Baron de Macumer his brother, a Spanish refugee at
Paris in 1823, 1824. [Letters of Two Brides.]
BENARD (Pieri). After corresponding with a German for two years, he
discovered an engraving by Muller entitled the "Virgin of Dresden." It
was on Chinese paper and made before printing was discovered. It cost
Cesar Birotteau fifteen hundred francs. The perfumer destined this
engraving for the savant Vauquelin, to whom he was under obligations.
[Cesar Birotteau.]
BENASSIS (Doctor), born about 1779 in a little town of Languedoc. He
received his early training at the College of Soreze, Tarn, which was
managed by the Oratorians. After that he pursued his medical studies
at Paris, residing in the Latin quarter. When twenty-two he lost his
father, who left him a large fortune; and he deserted a young girl by
whom he had had a son, in order to give himself over to the most
foolish dissipations. This young girl, who was thoroughly well meant
and devoted to him, died two years after the desertion despite the
most tender care of her now contrite lover. Later Benassis sought
marriage with another young girl belonging to a Jansenist family. At
first the affair was settled, but he was thrown over when the secret
of his past life, hitherto concealed, was made known. He then devoted
his whole life to his son, but the child died in his youth. After
wavering between suicide and the monastery of Grande-Chartreuse,
Doctor Benassis stopped by chance in the poor village of l'Isere, five
leagues from Grenoble. He remained there until he had transformed the
squalid settlement, inhabited by good-for-nothing Cretins, into the
chief place of the Canton, bustling and prosperous. Benassis died in
1829, mayor of the town. All the populace mourned the benefactor and
man of genius. [The Country Doctor.]
BENEDETTO, an Italian living at Rome in the first third of the
nineteenth century. A tolerable musician, and a police spy, "on the
side." Ugly, small and a drunkard, he was nevertheless the lucky
husband of Luigia, whose marvelous beauty was his continual boast.
After an evening spent by him over the wine-cups, his wife in loathing
lighted a brasier of charcoal, after carefully closing all the exits
of the bedchamber. The neighbors rushing in succeeded in saving her
alone; Benedetto was dead. [The Member for Arcis.]
BERENICE, chambermaid and cousin of Coralie the actress of the
Panorama and Gymnase Dramatique. A large Norman woman, as ugly as her
mistress was pretty, but tender and sympathetic in direct proportion
to her corpulence. She had been Coralie's childhood playmate and was
absolutely bound up in her. In October, 1822, she gave Lucien de
Rubempre, then entirely penniless, four five-franc pieces which she
undoubtedly owed to the generosity of chance lovers met on the
boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle. This sum enabled the unfortunate poet to
return to Angouleme. [Lost Illusions. A Distinguished Provincial at
Paris.]
BERGERIN was the best doctor at Saumur during the Restoration. He
attended Felix Grandet in his last illness. [Eugenie Grandet.]
BERGMANN (Monsieur and Madame), Swiss. Venerable gardeners of a
certain Comte Borromeo, tending his parks located on the two famous
isles in Lake Major. In 1823 they owned a house at Gersau, near
Quatre-Canton Lake, in the Canton of Lucerne. For a year back they had
let one floor of this house to the Prince and Princesse Gandolphini,
--personages of a novel entitled, "L'Ambitieux par Amour," published
by Albert Savarus in the Revue de l'Est, in 1834. [Albert Savarus.]
BERNARD. (See Baron de Bourlac.)
BERNUS, diligence messenger carrying the passengers, freight, and
perhaps, the letters of Saint-Nazaire to Guerande, during the time of
Charles X. and Louis Philippe. [Beatrix.]
BERQUET, workman of Besancon who erected an elevated kiosk in the
garden of the Wattevilles, whence their daughter Rosalie could see
every act and movement of Albert Savarus, a near neighbor. [Albert
Savarus.]
BERTHIER (Alexandre), marshal of the Empire, born at Versailles in
1753, dying in 1815. He wrote, as Minister of War at the close of
1799, to Hulot, then in command of the Seventy-second demi-brigade,
refusing to accept his resignation and giving him further orders. [The
Chouans.] On the evening of the battle of Jena, October 13, 1806, he
accompanied the Emperor and was present at the latter's interview with
the Marquis de Chargeboeuf and Laurence de Cinq-Cygne, special envoys
to France to implore pardon for the Simeuses, the Hauteserres, and
Michu who had been condemned as abductors of Senator Malin de
Gondreville. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
BERTHIER, Parisian notary, successor of Cardot, whose assistant
head-clerk he had been and whose daughter Felicite (or Felicie) he
married. In 1843 he was Mme. Marneffe's notary. At the same time he
had in hand the affairs of Camusot de Marville; and Sylvain Pons often
dined with him. Master Berthier drew up the marriage settlement of
Wilhelm Schwab with Emilie Graff, and the copartnership articles
between Fritz Brunner and Wilhelm Schwab. [Cousin Betty. Cousin Pons.]
BERTHIER (Madame), nee Felicie Cardot, wife of the preceding. She had
been wronged by the chief-clerk in her father's office. This young man
died suddenly, leaving her enceinte. She then espoused the second
clerk, Berthier, in 1837, after having been on the point of accepting
Lousteau. Berthier was cognizant of all the head-clerk's doings. In
this affair both acted for a common interest. The marriage was
measurably happy. Madame Berthier was so grateful to her husband that
she made herself his slave. About the end of 1844 she welcomed very
coldly Sylvain Pons, then in disgrace in the family circle. [The Muse
of the Department. Cousin Pons.]
BERTON, tax-collector at Arcis-sur-Aube in 1839. [The Member for
Arcis.]
BERTON (Mademoiselle), daughter of the tax-collector of
Arcis-sur-Aube. A young, insignificant girl who acted the satellite
to Cecile Beauvisage and Ernestine Mollot. [The Member for Arcis.]
BERTON (Doctor), physician of Paris. In 1836 he lived on rue d'Enfer
(now rue Denfert-Rochereau). An assistant in the benevolent work of
Mme. de la Chanterie, he visited the needy sick whom she pointed out.
Among others he attended Vanda de Mergi, daughter of the Baron de
Bourlac--M. Bernard. Doctor Berton was gruff and frigid. [The Seamy
Side of History.]
BETHUNE (Prince de), the only man of fashion who knew "what a hat was"
--to quote a saying of Vital the hatter, in 1845. [The Unconscious
Humorists.]
BEUNIER & CO., the firm Bixiou inquired after in 1845, near Mme.
Nourrisson's. [The Unconscious Humorists.]
BIANCHI. Italian. During the first Empire a captain in the sixth
regiment of the French line, which was made up almost entirely of men
of his nationality. Celebrated in his company for having bet that he
would eat the heart of a Spanish sentinel, and winning that bet.
Captain Bianchi was first to plant the French colors on the wall of
Tarragone, Spain, in the attack of 1808. But a friar killed him. [The
Maranas.]
BIANCHON (Doctor), a physician of Sancerre, father of Horace Bianchon,
brother of Mme. Popinot, the wife of Judge Popinot. [The Commission in
Lunacy.]
BIANCHON (Horace), a physician of Paris, celebrated during the times
of Charles X. and Louis Philippe; an officer of the Legion of Honor,
member of the Institute, professor of the Medical Faculty,
physician-in-charge, at the same time, of a hospital and the Ecole
Polytechnique. Born at Sancerre, Cher, about the end of the eighteenth
century. He was "interne" at the Cochin Hospital in 1819, at which
time he boarded at the Vauquer Pension where he knew Eugene de
Rastignac, then studying law, and Goriot and Vautrin. [Father Goriot.]
Shortly thereafter, at Hotel Dieu, he became the favored pupil of the
surgeon Desplein, whose last days he tended. [The Atheist's Mass.]
Nephew of Judge Jean-Jules Popinot and relative of Anselme Popinot, he
had dealings with the perfumer Cesar Birotteau, who acknowledged
indebtedness to him for a prescription of his famous hazelnut oil, and
who invited him to the grand ball which precipitated Birotteau's
bankruptcy. [Cesar Birotteau. The Commission in Lunacy.] Member of the
"Cenacle" in rue des Quatre-Vents, and on intimate terms with all the
young fellows composing this clique, he was consequently enabled, to
an extent, to bring Daniel d'Arthez to the notice of Rastignac, now
Under-Secretary of State. He nursed Lucien de Rubempre who was wounded
in a duel with Michel Chrestien in 1822; also Coralie, Lucien's
mistress, and Mme. Bridau in their last illnesses. [Lost Illusions. A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris. A Bachelor's Establishment. The
Secrets of a Princess.] In 1824 the young Doctor Bianchon accompanied
Desplein, who was called in to attend the dying Flamet de la
Billardiere. [The Government Clerks.] In Provins in 1828, with the
same Desplein and Dr. Martener, he gave the most assiduous attention
to Pierrette Lorrain. [Pierrette.] In this same year of 1828 he had a
momentary desire to become one of an expedition to Morea. He was then
physician to Mme. de Listomere, whose misunderstanding with Rastignac
he learned and afterwards related. [A Study of Woman.] Again in
company with Desplein, in 1829, he was called in by Mme. de Nucingen
with the object of studying the case of Baron de Nucingen, her
husband, love-sick for Esther Gobseck. In 1830, still with his
celebrated chief, he was cited by Corentin to express an opinion on
the death of Peyrade and the lunacy of Lydie his daughter. Then, with
Desplein and with Dr. Sinard, to attend Mme. de Serizy, who it was
feared would go crazy over the suicide of Lucien de Rubempre. [Scenes
from a Courtesan's Life.] Associated with Desplein, at this same time,
he cared for the dying Honorine, wife of Comte de Bauvan [Honorine.],
and examined the daughter of Baron de Bourlac--M. Bernard--who was
suffering from a peculiar Polish malady, the plica. [The Seamy Side of
History.] In 1831 Horace Bianchon was the friend and physician of
Raphael de Valentin. [The Magic Skin.] In touch with the Comte de
Granville in 1833, he attended the latter's mistress, Caroline
Crochard. [A Second Home.] He also attended Mme. du Bruel, then
mistress of La Palferine, who had injured herself by falling and
striking her head against the sharp corner of a fireplace. [A Prince
of Bohemia.] In 1835 he attended Mme. Marie Gaston--Louise de Chaulieu
--though a hopeless case. [Letters of Two Brides.] In 1837 at Paris he
accouched Mme. de la Baudraye who had been intimate with Lousteau; he
was assisted by the celebrated accoucheur Duriau. [The Muse of the
Department.] In 1838 he was Comte Laginski's physician. [The Imaginary
Mistress.] In 1840 Horace Bianchon resided on rue de la
Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, in the house where his uncle, Judge Popinot,
died, and he was asked to become one of the Municipal Council, in place
of that upright magistrate. But he declined, declaring in favor of
Thuillier. [The Middle Classes.] The physician of Baron Hulot, Crevel
and Mme. Marneffe, he observed with seven of his colleagues, the
terrible malady which carried off Valerie and her second husband in
1842. In 1843 he also visited Lisbeth Fisher in her last illness
[Cousin Betty.] Finally, in 1844, Dr. Bianchon was consulted by Dr.
Roubaud regarding Mme. Graslin at Montegnac. [The Country Parson.]
Horace Bianchon was a brilliant and inspiring conversationalist. He
gave to society the adventures known by the following titles: A Study
of Woman; Another Study of Woman; La Grande Breteche.
BIBI-LUPIN, chief of secret police between 1819 and 1830; a former
convict. In 1819 he personally arrested at Mme. Vauquer's
boarding-house Jacques Collin, alias Vautrin, his old galley-mate and
personal enemy. Under the name of Gondureau, Bibi-Lupin had made
overtures to Mlle. Michonneau, one of Mme. Vauquer's guests, and
through her he had obtained the necessary proofs of the real identity
of Vautrin who was then without the pale of the law, but who later,
May, 1830, became his successor as chief of secret police. [Father
Goriot. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
BIDAULT (Monsieur and Madame), brother and sister-in-law of Bidault,
alias Gigonnet; father and mother of M. and Mme. Saillard,
furniture-dealers under the Central Market pillars during the latter
part of the eighteenth and perhaps the beginning of the nineteenth
centuries. [The Government Clerks.]
BIDAULT, known as Gigonnet, born in 1755; originally an Auvergnat;
uncle of Mme. Saillard on the paternal side. A paper-merchant at one
time, retired from business since the year II of the Republic, he
opened an account with a Dutchman called Sieur Werbrust, who was a
friend of Gobseck. In business relations with the latter, he was one
of the most formidable usurers in Paris, during the Empire, the
Restoration and the first part of the July Government. He dwelt in rue
Greneta. [The Government Clerks. Gobseck.] Luigi Porta, a ranking
officer retired under Louis XVIII., sold all his back pay to Gigonnet.
[The Vendetta.] Bidault was one of the syndicate that engineered the
bankruptcy of Birotteau in 1819. At this time he persecuted Mme.
Madou, a market dealer in filberts, who was his debtor. [Cesar
Birotteau.] In 1824 he succeeded in making his grand-nephew, Isidore
Baudoyer, chief of the division under the Minister of Finance; in this
he was aided by Gobseck and Mitral, and worked on the General
Secretary, Chardin des Lupeaulx, through the medium of the latter's
debts and the fact of his being candidate for deputy. [The Government
Clerks.] Bidault was shrewd enough; he saw through--and much to his
profit--the pretended speculation involved in the third receivership
which was operated by Nucingen in 1826. [The Firm of Nucingen.] In
1833 M. du Tillet advised Nathan, then financially stranded, to apply
to Gigonnet, the object being to involve Nathan. [A Daughter of Eve.]
The nick-name of Gigonnet was applied to Bidault on account of a
feverish, involuntary contraction of a leg muscle. [The Government
Clerks.]
BIDDIN, goldsmith, rue de l'Arbe-Sec, Paris, in 1829; one of Esther
Gobseck's creditors. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
BIFFE (La), concubine of the criminal Riganson, alias Le Biffon. This
woman, who was a sort of Jacques Collin in petticoats, evaded the
police, thanks to her disguises. She could ape the marquise, the
baronne and the comtesse to perfection. She had her own carriage and
footmen. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
BIFFON (Le), an alias of Riganson.
BIGORNEAU, sentimental clerk of Fritot's, the shawl merchant in the
Bourse quarter, Paris, time of Louis Philippe. [Gaudissart II.]
BIJOU (Olympe). (See Grenouville, Madame.)
BINET, inn-keeper in the Department of l'Orne in 1809. He was
concerned in a trial which created some stir, and cast a shadow
over Mme. de la Chanterie, striking at her daughter, Mme. des
Tours-Minieres. Binet harbored some brigands known as "chauffeurs."
He was brought to trial for it and sentenced to five years'
imprisonment. [The Seamy Side of History.]
BIROTTEAU (Jacques), a gardener hard by Chinon. He married the
chambermaid of a lady on whose estate he trimmed vines. Three boys
were born to them: Francois, Jean and Cesar. He lost his wife on the
birth of the last child (1779), and himself died shortly after. [Cesar
Birotteau.]
BIROTTEAU (Abbe Francois), eldest son of Jacques Birotteau; born in
1766; vicar of the church of Saint-Gatien at Tours, and afterwards
cure of Saint-Symphorien in the same city. After the death of the Abbe
de la Berge, in 1817, he became confessor of Mme. de Mortsauf,
attending her last moments. [The Lily of the Valley.] His brother
Cesar, the perfumer, wrote him after his--Cesar's--business failure in
1819, asking aid. Abbe Birotteau, in a touching letter, responded with
the sum of one thousand francs which represented all his own little
hoard and, in addition, a loan obtained from Mme. de Listomere. [Cesar
Birotteau.] Accused of having inveigled Mme. de Listomere to leave him
the income of fifteen hundred francs, which she bequeathed him on her
death, Abbe Birotteau was placed under interdiction, in 1826, the
victim of the terrible hatred of the Abbe Troubert. [The Vicar of
Tours.]
BIROTTEAU (Jean), second son of Jacques Birotteau. A captain in the
army, killed in the historic battle of La Trebia which lasted three
days, June 17-19, 1799. [Cesar Birotteau.]
BIROTTEAU (Cesar), third son of Jacques Birotteau, born in 1779;
dealer in perfumes in Paris at number 397 rue Saint-Honore, near the
Place Vendome, in the old shop once occupied by the grocer Descoings,
who was executed with Andre Chenier in 1794. After the eighteenth
Brumaire, Cesar Birotteau succeeded Sieur Ragon, and moved the source
of the "Queen of Roses" to the above address. Among his customers were
the Georges, the La Billardieres, the Montaurans, the Bauvans, the
Longuys, the Mandas, the Berniers, the Guenics, and the Fontaines.
These relations with the militant Royalists implicated him in the plot
of the 13th Vendemaire, 1795, against the Convention; and he was
wounded, as he told over and over, "by Bonaparte on the borders of
Saint-Roche." In May, 1800, Birotteau the perfumer married
Constance-Barbe-Josephine Pillerault. By her he had an only daughter,
Cesarine, who married Anselme Popinot in 1822. Successively captain,
then chief of battalion in the National Guard and adjunct-mayor of the
eleventh arrondissement, Birotteau was appointed Chevalier of the Legion
of Honor in 1818. To celebrate his nomination in the Order, he gave a
grand ball* which, on account of the very radical changes necessitated
in his apartments, and coupled with some bad speculations, brought
about his total ruin; he filed a petition in bankruptcy the year
following. By stubborn effort and the most rigid economy, Birotteau
was able to indemnify his creditors completely, three years later
(1822). But he died soon after the formal court reinstating. He
numbered among his patrons in 1818 the following: the Duc and Duchesse
de Lenoncourt, the Princesse de Blamont-Chauvry, the Marquise
d'Espard, the two Vandenesses, Marsay, Ronquerolles, and the Marquis
d'Aiglemont. [Cesar Birotteau. A Bachelor's Establishment.] Cesar
Birotteau was likewise on friendly terms with the Guillaumes, clothing
dealers in the rue Saint-Denis. [At the Sign of the Cat and Racket.]
* The 17th of December was really Thursday and not Sunday, as
erroneously given.
BIROTTEAU (Madame), born Constance-Barbe-Josephine Pillerault in 1782.
Married Cesar Birotteau in May, 1800. Previous to her marriage she was
head "saleslady" at the "Little Sailor"* novelty shop, corner of Quai
Anjou and rue des Deux Ponts, Paris. Her surviving relative and
guardian was her uncle, Claude-Joseph Pillerault. [Cesar Birotteau.]
* This shop still exists at the same place, No. 43 Quai d'Anjou and
40 rue des Deux-Ponts, being run by M. L. Bellevaut.
BIROTTEAU (Cesarine). (See Popinot, Madame Anselme.)
BIXIOU,* Parisian grocer, in rue Saint-Honore, before the Revolution
in the eighteenth century. He had a clerk called Descoings, who
married his widow. The grocer Bixiou was the grandfather of
Jean-Jacques Bixiou, the celebrated cartoonist. [A Bachelor's
Establishment.]
* Pronounced "Bissiou."
BIXIOU, son of the preceding and father of Jean-Jacques Bixiou. He was
a colonel of the Twenty-first Regiment; killed at the battle of
Dresden, on the 26th or 27th of August, 1813. [A Bachelor's
Establishment.]
BIXIOU (Jean-Jacques), famous artist; son of Colonel Bixiou who was
killed at Dresden; grandson of Mme. Descoings, whose first husband was
the grocer Bixiou. Born in 1797, he pursued a course of study at the
Lyceum, to which he had obtained a scholarship. He had for friends
Philippe and Joseph Bridau, and Master Desroches. Later he entered the
painter Gros's studio. Then in 1819, through the influence of the Ducs
de Maufrigneuse and de Rhetore, whom he met at some dancer's, he
obtained a position with the Minister of Finance. He remained with
this administration until December, 1824, when he resigned. In this
same year he was one of the best men for Philippe Bridau, who married
Flore Brazier, known as La Rabouilleuse, the widow of J.-J. Rouget.
After this woman's death, in 1828, he was led, disguised as a priest,
to the residence of the Soulanges, where he told the comte about the
scandal connected with her death, knowingly caused by her husband; he
told, also, about the bad habits and vulgarities of Philippe Bridau,
and thus caused the breaking off of the marriage of this weather-beaten
soldier with Mlle. Amelie de Soulanges. A talented cartoonist,
distinguished practical joker, and recognized as one of the kings of
_bon mot_, he led a free and easy life. He was on speaking terms with
all the artists and all the lorettes of his day. Among others he knew
the painter, Hippolyte Schinner. He turned a pretty penny, during the
trial of De Fualdes and de Castaing, by illustrating in a fantastic
way the account of this trial. [A Bachelor's Establishment. The
Government Clerks. The Purse.] He designed some vignettes for the
writing of Canalis. [Modeste Mignon.] With Blondet, Lousteau and
Nathan he was a habitue of the house of Esther Gobseck, rue
Saint-Georges, in 1829, 1830. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] In a
private room of a well-known restaurant, in 1836, he wittily related
to Finot, Blondet and Couture the source of Nucingen's fortune. [The
Firm of Nucingen.] In January, 1837, his friend Lousteau had him come
especially to upbraid him, Lousteau, on account of the latter's
irregular ways with Mme. de la Baudraye, while she, concealed in an
ante-room, heard it all. This scene had been arranged beforehand; its
object was to give Lousteau a chance to declare, apparently, his
unquenchable attachment for his mistress. [The Muse of the
Department.] In 1838 he attended the house-warming of Heloise
Brisetout in rue Chauchat. In the same year he was attendant at the
marriage of Steinbock with Hortense Hulot, and of Crevel with the
widow Marneffe. [Cousin Betty.] In 1839 the sculptor
Dorlange-Sallenauve knew of Bixiou and complained of his slanders.
[The Member for Arcis.] Mme. Schontz treated him most cordially in 1838,
and he had to pass for her "special," although their relations, in fact,
did not transcend the bounds of friendship. [Beatrix.] In 1840, at the
home of Marguerite Turquet, maintained by the notary Cardot, when
Lousteau, Nathan and La Palferine were also present, he heard a story
by Desroches. [A Man of Business.] About 1844, Bixiou helped in a high
comedy relative to a Selim shawl sold by Fritot to Mistress Noswell.
Bixiou himself had purchased, in a shop with M. du Ronceret, a shawl
for Mme. Schontz. [Gaudissart II.] In 1845 Bixiou showed Paris and the
"Unconscious Humorists" to a Pyrrenean named Gazonal, in company with
Leon de Lora, a cousin of the countryman. At this time Bixiou dwelt at
number 112 rue Richelieu, sixth floor; when he had a regular position
he had lived in rue de Ponthieu. [The Unconscious Humorists.] In the
rue Richelieu period he was the lover of Heloise Brisetout. [Cousin
Pons.]
BLAMONT-CHAUVRY (Princesse de), mother of Mme. d'Espard; aunt of the
Duchesse de Langeais; great aunt of Mme. de Mortsauf; a veritable
d'Hozier in petticoats. Her drawing-room set the fashion in Faubourg
Saint-Germain, and the sayings of this feminine Talleyrand were
listened to as oracles. Very aged at the beginning of the reign of
Louis XVIII., she was one of the most poetic relics of the reign of
Louis XV., the "Well-Beloved;" and to this nick-name--as the records
had it--she had contributed her full share. [The Thirteen.] Mme.
Firmiani was received by the princess on account of the Cadignans, to
whom she was related on her mother's side. [Madame Firmiani.] Felix de
Vandenesse was admitted to her "At Homes," on the recommendation of
Mme. de Mortsauf; nevertheless he found in this old lady a friend
whose affection had a quality almost maternal. The princess was in the
family conclave which met to consider an amorous escapade of the
Duchesse Antoinette de Langeais. [The Lily of the Valley. The
Thirteen.]
BLANDUREAUS (The), wealthy linen merchants at Alencon, time of the
Restoration. They had an only daughter, to whom the President du
Ronceret wished to marry his son. She, however, married Joseph
Blondet, the oldest son of Judge Blondet. This marriage caused secret
hostility between the two fathers, one being the other's superior in
office. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
BLONDET, judge at Alencon in 1824; born in 1758; father of Joseph and
Emile Blondet. At the time of the Revolution he was a public
prosecutor. A botanist of note, he had a remarkable conservatory where
he cultivated geraniums only. This conservatory was visited by the
Empress Marie-Louise, who spoke of it to the Emperor and obtained for
the judge the decoration of the Legion of Honor. Following the
Victurien d'Esgrignon episode, about 1825, Judge Blondet was made an
officer in the Order and chosen councillor at the Royal Court. Here he
remained in office no longer than absolutely necessary, retreating to
his dear Alencon home. He married in 1798, at the age of forty, a
young girl of eighteen, who in consequence of this disparity was
unfaithful to him. He knew that his second son, Emile, was not his
own; he therefore cared only for the elder and sent the younger
elsewhere as soon as possible. [Jealousies of a Country Town.] About
1838 Fabien du Ronceret obtained credit in an agricultural convention
for a flower which old Blondet had given him, but which he exhibited
as a product of his own green-house. [Beatrix.]
BLONDET (Madame), wife of the preceding; born in 1780; married in
1798. She was intimate with a prefect of Orne, who was the natural
father of Emile Blondet. Distant ties bound her to the Troisville
family, and it was to them that she sent Emile, her favored son.
Before her death, in 1818, she commended him to her old-time lover and
also to the future Madame de Montcornet, with whom he had been reared.
[Jealousies of a Country Town.]
BLONDET (Joseph), elder son of Judge Blondet of Alencon; born in that
city about 1799. In 1824 he practiced law and aspired to become a
substitute judge. Meanwhile he succeeded his father, whose post he
filled till his death. He was one of the numerous men of ordinary
talent. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
BLONDET (Madame Joseph), nee Claire Blandureau, wife of Joseph
Blondet, whom she married when he was appointed judge at Alencon. She
was the daughter of wealthy linen dealers in the city. [Jealousies of
a Country Town.]
BLONDET (Emile), born at Alencon about 1800; legally the younger son
of Judge Blondet, but really the son of a prefect of Orne. Tenderly
loved by his mother, but hated by Judge Blondet, who sent him, in
1818, to study law in Paris. Emile Blondet knew the noble family of
d'Esgrignon in Alencon, and for the youngest daughter of this
illustrious house he felt an esteem that was really admiration.
[Jealousies of a Country Town.] In 1821 Emile Blondet was a remarkably
handsome young fellow. He made his first appearance in the "Debats" by
a series of masterly articles which called forth from Lousteau the
remark that he was "one of the princes of criticism." [A Distinguished
Provincial at Paris.] In 1824 he contributed to a review edited by
Finot, where he collaborated with Lucien de Rubempre and where he was
allowed full swing by his chief. Emile Blondet had the most desultory
of habits; one day he would be a boon companion, without compunction,
with those destined for slaughter on the day following. He was always
"broke" financially. In 1829, 1830, Bixiou, Lousteau, Nathan and he
were frequenters of Esther's house, rue Saint-Georges. [Scenes from a
Courtesan's Life.] A cynic was Blondet, with little regard for glory
undefiled. He won a wager that he could upset the poet Canalis, though
the latter was full of assurance. He did this by staring fixedly at
the poet's curls, his boots, or his coat-tails, while he recited
poetry or gesticulated with proper emphasis, fixed in a studied pose.
[Modeste Mignon.] He was acquainted with Mlle. des Touches, being
present at her home on one occasion, about 1830, when Henri de Marsay
told the story of his first love affair. He took part in the
conversation and depicted the "typical woman" to Comte Adam Laginski.
[Another Study of Woman.] In 1832 he was a guest at Mme. d'Espard's,
where he met his childish flame, Mme. de Montcornet, also the
Princesse de Cadignan, Lady Dudley, d'Arthez, Nathan, Rastignac, the
Marquis d'Ajuda-Pinto, Maxime de Trailles, the Marquis d'Esgrignon,
the two Vandenesses, du Tillet, the Baron Nucingen and the Chevalier
d'Espard, brother-in-law of the marquise. [The Secrets of a Princess.]
About 1833 Blondet presented Nathan to Mme. de Montcornet, at whose
home the young Countess Felix de Vandenesse made the acquaintance of
the poet and was much smitten with him for some time. [A Daughter of
Eve.] In 1836 he and Finot and Couture chimed in on the narrative of
the rise of Nucingen, told with much zest by Bixiou in a private room
of a famous restaurant. [The Firm of Nucingen.] Eight or ten years
prior to February, 1848, Emile Blondet, on the brink of suicide,
witnessed an entire transition in his affairs. He was chosen a
prefect, and he married the wealthy widow of Comte de Montcornet, who
offered him her hand when she became free. They had known and loved
each other since childhood. [The Peasantry.]
BLONDET (Virginie), wife by second marriage of Emile Blondet; born in
1797; daughter of the Vicomte de Troisville; granddaughter of the
Russian Princesse Scherbelloff. She was brought up at Alencon, with
her future husband. In 1819 she married the General de Montcornet.
Twenty years later, a widow, she married the friend of her youth, who
this long time had been her lover. [Jealousies of a Country Town. The
Secrets of a Princess. The Peasantry.] She and Mme. d'Espard tried to
convert Lucien de Rubempre to the monarchical side in 1821. [A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] She was present at Mlle. des
Touches', about 1830, when Marsay told about his first love, and she
joined in the conversation. [Another Study of Woman.] She received a
rather mixed set, from an aristocratic standpoint, but here might be
found the stars of finance, art and literature. [The Member for
Arcis.] Mme. Felix de Vandenesse saw Nathan the poet for the first
time and noticed him particularly at Mme. de Montcornet's, in 1834,
1835. [A Daughter of Eve.] Mme. Emile Blondet, then Madame la Generale
de Montcornet, passed the summer and autumn of 1823 in Burgundy, at
her beautiful estate of Aigues, where she lived a burdened and
troubled life among the many and varied types of peasantry. Remarried,
and now the wife of a prefect, eight years or so before February,
1848, time of Louis Philippe, she visited her former properties. [The
Peasantry.]
BLUTEAU (Pierre), assumed name of Genestas. [The Country Doctor.]
BOCQUILLON, an acquaintance of Mme. Etienne Gruget. In 1820, rue des
Enfants-Rouges, Paris, she mistook for him the stock-broker, Jules
Desmarets, who was entering her door. [The Thirteen.]
BOGSECK (Madame van), name bestowed by Jacques Collin on Esther van
Gobseck when, in 1825, he gave her, transformed morally and
intellectually, to Lucien de Rubempre, in an elegant flat on rue
Taitbout. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
BOIROUGE, president of the Sancerre Court at the time when the Baronne
de la Baudraye held social sway over that city. Through his wife, he
was related to the Popinot-Chandiers, to Judge Popinot of Paris, and
to Anselme Popinot. He was hereditary owner of a house which he did
not need, and which he very gladly leased to the baronne for the
purpose of starting a literary society that, however, degenerated very
soon into an ordinary clique. Actuated by jealousy, President Boirouge
was one of the principals in the defeat of Procureur Clagny for
deputy. He was reputed to be unchaste at repartee. [The Muse of the
Department.]
BOIROUGE (Madame), nee Popinot-Chandier, wife of President Boirouge;
stood well among the middle-class of Sancerre. After having been
leader in the opposition to Mme. de la Baudraye for nine years, she
induced her son Gatien to attend the Baudraye receptions, persuading
herself that he would soon make his way. Profiting by the visit of
Bianchon to Sancerre, Mme. Boirouge obtained of the famous physician,
her relative, a gratuitous consultation by giving him full particulars
regarding some pretended nervous trouble of the stomach, in which
complaint he recognized a periodic dyspepsia. [The Muse of the
Department.]
BOIROUGE (Gatien), son of President Boirouge; born in 1814; the junior
"patito" of Mme. de la Baudraye, who employed him in all sorts of
small ways. Gatien Boirouge was made game of by Lousteau, to whom he
had confessed his love for that masterful woman. [The Muse of the
Department.]
BOISFRANC (De), procureur-general, then first president of a royal
court under the Restoration. (See Dubut.)
BOISFRANC (Dubut de), president of the Aides court under the old
regime; brother of Dubut de Boisfrelon and of Dubut de Boislaurier.
[The Seamy Side of History.]
BOISFRELON (Dubut de), brother of Dubut de Boisfranc and of Dubut de
Boislaurier; at one time councillor in Parliament; born in 1736; died
in 1832 in the home of his niece, the Baronne de la Chanterie.
Godefroid succeeded him. M. de Boisfrelon had been one of the
"Brotherhood of Consolation." He was married, but his wife probably
died before him. [The Seamy Side of History.]
BOISLAURIER (Dubut de), junior brother of Dubut de Boisfranc and of
Dubut de Boisfrelon. Commander-in-chief of the Western Rebellion in
1808-1809, and designated then by the surname of Augustus. With
Rifoel, Chevalier du Vissard, he plotted the organization of the
"Chauffeurs" of Mortagne. Then, in the trial of the "brigands," he was
condemned to death by default. [The Seamy Side of History.]
BOIS-LEVANT, chief of division under the Minister of Finance in 1824,
at the time when Xavier Rabourdin and Isidore Baudoyer contested the
succession of office in another division, that of F. de la
Billardiere. [The Government Clerks.]
BOLESLAS, Polish servant of the Comte and Comtesse Laginski, in rue de
la Pepiniere, Paris, between 1835 and 1842. [The Imaginary Mistress.]
BONAMY (Ida), aunt of Mlle. Antonia Chocardelle. At the time of Louis
Philippe, she conducted, on rue Coquenard (since 1848 rue Lamartine),
"just a step or two from rue Pigalle," a reading-room given to her
niece by Maxime de Trailles. [A Man of Business.]
BONAPARTE (Napoleon), Emperor of the French; born at Ajaccio, August
15, 1768, or 1769, according to varying accounts; died at St. Helena
May 5, 1821. As First Consul in 1800 he received at the Tuileries the
Corsican, Bartholomeo di Piombo, and disentangled his countryman from
the latter's implication in a vendetta. [The Vendetta.] On the evening
of the battle of Jena, October 13, 1806, he was met on that ground by
Laurence de Cinq-Cygne, who had come post haste from France, and to
whom he accorded pardon for the Simeuses and the Hauteserres,
compromised in the abduction of Senator Malin de Gondreville. [The
Gondreville Mystery.] Napoleon Bonaparte was strongly concerned in the
welfare of his lieutenant, Hyacinthe Chabert, during the battle of
Eylau. [Colonel Chabert.] In November, 1809, he was to have attended a
grand ball given by Senator Malin de Gondreville; but he was detained
at the Tuileries by a scene--noised abroad that same evening--between
Josephine and himself, a scene which disclosed their impending
divorce. [Peace in the House.] He condoned the infamous conduct of the
police officer Contenson. [The Seamy Side of History.] In April, 1813,
during a dress-parade on the Place du Carrousel, Paris, Napoleon
noticed Mlle. de Chatillonest, who had come with her father to see the
handsome Colonel d'Aiglemont, and leaning towards Duroc he made a
brief remark which made the Grand Marshal smile. [A Woman of Thirty.]
BONAPARTE (Lucien), brother of Napoleon Bonaparte; born in 1775; died
in 1840. In June, 1800, he went to the house of Talleyrand, the
Foreign Minister, and there announced to him and also to Fouche,
Sieyes and Carnot, the victory of his brother at Montebello. [The
Gondreville Mystery.] In the month of October of the same year he was
encountered by his countryman, Bartholomeo di Piombo, whom he
introduced to the First Consul; he also gave his purse to the Corsican
and afterwards contributed towards relieving his difficulties. [The
Vendetta.]
BONFALOT, or BONVALOT (Madame), an aged relative of F. du Bruel at
Paris. La Palferine first met Mme. du Bruel in 1834 on the boulevard,
and boldly followed her all the way to Mme. de Bonfalot's, where she
was calling. [A Prince of Bohemia.]
BONFONS (Cruchot de), nephew of Cruchot the notary and Abbe Cruchot;
born in 1786; president of the Court of First Instance of Saumur in
1819. The Cruchot trio backed by a goodly number of cousins and allied
to twenty families in the city, formed a party similar to that of the
olden-time Medicis at Florence; and also, like the Medicis, the
Cruchots had their Pazzis in the persons of the Grassins. The prize
contested for between the Cruchots and the Grassins was the hand of
the rich heiress, Eugenie Grandet. In 1827, after nine years of suing,
the President Cruchot de Bonfons married the young woman, now left an
orphan. Previous to this he had been commissioned by her to settle in
full, both principal and interest, with the creditors of Charles
Grandet's father. Six months after his marriage, Bonfons was elected
councillor to the Royal Court of Angers. Then after some years
signalized by devoted service he became first president. Finally
chosen deputy for Saumur in 1832, he died within a week, leaving his
widow in possession of an immense fortune, still further augmented by
the bequests of the Abbe and the notary Cruchot. Bonfons was the name
of an estate of the magistrate. He married Eugenie only through
cupidity. He looked like "a big, rusty nail." [Eugenie Grandet.]
BONFONS (Eugenie Cruchot de), only daughter of M. and Mme. Felix
Grandet; born at Saumur in 1796. Strictly reared by a mother gentle
and devout, and by a father hard and avaricious. The single bright ray
across her life was an absolutely platonic love for her cousin Charles
Grandet. But, once away from her, this young man was forgetful of her;
and, on his return from the Indies in 1827, a rich man, he married the
young daughter of a nobleman. Upon this occurrence, Eugenie Grandet,
now an orphan, settled in full with the creditors of Charles' father,
and then bestowed her hand upon the President Cruchot de Bonfons, who
had paid her court for nine years. At the age of thirty-six she was
left a widow without having ceased to be a virgin, following her
expressed wish. Sadly she secluded herself in the gloomy home of her
childhood at Saumur, where she devoted the rest of her life to works
of benevolence and charity. After her father's death, Eugenie was
often alluded to, by the Cruchot faction, as Mlle. de Froidfond, from
the name of one of her holdings. In 1832 an effort was made to induce
Mme. de Bonfons to wed with Marquis de Froidfond, a bankrupt widower
of fifty odd years and possessed of numerous progeny. [Eugenie
Grandet.]
BONGRAND, born in 1769; first an advocate at Melun, then justice of
the peace at Nemours from 1814 to 1837. He was a friend of Doctor
Mirouet's and helped educate Ursule Mirouet, protecting her to the
best of his ability after the death of the old physician, and aiding
in the restitution of her fortune which Minoret-Levrault had impaired
by the theft of the doctor's will. M. Bongrand had wanted to make a
match between Ursule Mirouet and his son, but she loved Savinien de
Portenduere. The justice of the peace became president of the court at
Melun, after the marriage of the young lady with Savinien. [Ursule
Mirouet.]
BONGRAND (Eugene), son of Bongrand the justice of the peace. He
studied law at Paris under Derville the attorney, this constituting
all his course. He became public prosecutor at Melun after the
Revolution of 1830, and general prosecutor in 1837. Failing in his
love suit with Ursule Mirouet, he probably married the daughter of M.
Levrault, former mayor of Nemours. [Ursule Mirouet.]
BONNAC, a rather handsome young fellow, who was head clerk for the
notary Lupin at Soulanges in 1823. His accomplishments were his only
dowry. He was loved in platonic fashion by his employer's wife, Mme.
Lupin, otherwise known as Bebelle, a fat ridiculous female without
education. [The Peasantry.]
BONNEBAULT, retired cavalry soldier, the Lovelace of the village of
Blangy, Burgundy, and its suburbs in 1823. Bonnebault was the lover of
Marie Tonsard who was perfectly foolish about him. He had still other
"good friends" and lived at their expense. Their generosity did not
suffice for his dissipations, his cafe bills and his unbridled taste
for billiards. He dreamed of marrying Aglae Socquard, only daughter of
Pere Socquard, proprietor of the "Cafe de la Paix" at Soulanges.
Bonnebault obtained three thousand francs from General de Montcornet
by coming to him to confess voluntarily that he had been commissioned
to kill him for this price. The revelation, with other things, lead
the general to weary of his fierce struggle with the peasantry, and to
put up for sale his property at Aigues, which became the prey of
Gaubertin, Rigou and Soudry. Bonnebault was squint-eyed and his
physical appearance did not belie his depravity. [The Peasantry.]
BONNEBAULT (Mere), grandmother of Bonnebault the veteran. In 1823, at
Conches, Burgandy, where she lived, she owned a cow which she did not
hesitate to pasture in the fields belonging to General de Montcornet.
The numerous depredations of the old woman, added to convictions for
many similar offences, caused the general to decide to confiscate the
cow. [The Peasantry.]
BONNET (Abbe), Cure of Montegnac near Limoges from 1814 on. In this
capacity, he assisted at the public confession of his penitent, Mme.
Graslin, in the summer of 1844. Upon leaving the seminary of
Saint-Sulpice, Paris, he was sent to this village of Montegnac, which
he never after wished to leave. Here, sometimes unaided, sometimes
with the help of Mme. Graslin, he toiled for a material and moral
betterment, bringing about an entire regeneration of a wretched
country. It was he who brought the outlawed Tascheron back into the
Church, and who accompanied him to the very foot of the scaffold, with
a devotion which caused his own very sensitive nature much cringing.
Born in 1788, he had embraced the ecclesiastical calling through
choice, and all his studies had been to that end. He belonged to a
family of more than easy circumstancaes. His father was a self-made
man, stern and unyielding. Abbe Bonnet had an older brother, and a
sister whom he counseled with his mother to marry as soon as possible,
in order to release the young woman from the terrible paternal yoke.
[The Country Parson.]
BONNET, older brother of Abbe Bonnet, who enlisted as a private about
the beginning of the Empire. He became a general in 1813; fell at
Leipsic. [The Country Parson.]
BONNET (Germain), _valet de chambre_ of Canalis in 1829, at the time
when the poet went to Havre to contest the hand of Modeste Mignon. A
servant full of _finesse_ and irreproachable in appearance, he was of
the greatest service to his master. He courted Philoxene Jacmin,
chambermaid of Mme. de Chaulieu. Here the pantry imitated the parlor,
for the academician's mistress was the great lady herself. [Modest
Mignon.]
BONTEMS, a country landowner in the neighborhood of Bayeux, who
feathered his nest well during the Revolution, by purchasing
government confiscations at his own terms. He was pronounced "red
cap," and became president of his district. His daughter, Angelique
Bontems, married Granville during the Empire; but at this time Bontems
was dead. [A Second Home.]
BONTEMS (Madame), wife of the preceding; outwardly pious, inwardly
vain; mother of Angelique Bontems, whom she had reared in much the
same attitude, and whose marriage with a Granville was, in
consequence, so unhappy. [A Second Home.]
BONTEMS (Angelique). (See Granville, Madame de.)
BORAIN (Mademoiselle), the most stylish costumer in Provins, at the
time of Charles X. She was commissioned by the Rogrons to make a
complete wardrobe for Pierrette Lorrain, when that young girl was sent
them from Brittany. [Pierrette.]
BORDEVIN (Madame), Parisian butcher in rue Charlot, at the time when
Sylvain Pons dwelt hard by in rue de Normandie. Mme. Bordevin was
related to Mme. Sabatier. [Cousin Pons.]
BORDIN, procureur at the Chatelet before the Revolution; then advocate
of the Court of First Instance of the Seine, under the Empire. In 1798
he instructed and advised with M. Alain, a creditor of Monegod's. Both
had been clerks at the procureur's. In 1806, the Marquis de
Chargeboeuf went to Paris to hunt for Master Bordin, who defended the
Simeuses before the Criminal Court of Troyes in the trial regarding
the abduction and sequestration of Senator Malin. In 1809 he also
defended Henriette Bryond des Tours-Minieres, nee La Chanterie, in the
trial docketed as the "Chauffeurs of Mortagne." [The Gondreville
Mystery. The Seamy Side of History.] In 1816 Bordin was consulted by
Mme. d'Espard regarding her husband. [The Commission in Lunacy.]
During the Restoration a banker at Alencon made quarterly payments of
one hundred and fifty livres to the Chevalier de Valois through the
Parisian medium of Bordin. [Jealousies of a Country Town.] For ten
years Bordin represented the nobility. Derville succeeded him. [The
Gondreville Mystery.]
BORDIN (Jerome-Sebastien), was also procureur at the Chatelet, and, in
1806, advocate of the Seine Court. He succeeded Master Guerbet, and
sold his practice to Sauvagnest, who disposed of it to Desroches. [A
Start in Life.]
BORN (Comte de), brother of the Vicomtesse de Grandlieu. In the winter
of 1829-1830, he is discovered at the home of his sister, taking part
in a conversation in which the advocate Derville related the marital
infelicities of M. de Restaud, and the story of his will and his
death. The Comte de Born seized the chance to exploit the character of
Maxime de Trailles, the lover of Mme. de Restaud. [Gobseck.]
BORNICHE, son-in-law of M. Hochon, the old miser of Issoudun. He died
of chagrin at business failures, and at not having received any
assistance from his father or mother. His wife preceded him but a
short time to the tomb. They left a son and a daughter, Baruch and
Adolphine, who were brought up by their maternal grandfather, with
Francois Hochon, another grandchild of the goodman's. Borniche was
probably a Calvinist. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
BORNICHE (Monsieur and Madame), father and mother of the preceding.
They were still living in 1823, when their son and their
daughter-in-law had been deceased some time. In April of this year,
old Mme. Borniche and her friend Mme. Hochon, who ruled socially in
Issoudun, assisted at the wedding of La Rabouilleuse with
Jean-Jacques Rouget. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
BORNICHE (Baruch), grandson of the preceding, and of M. and Mme.
Hochon. Born in 1800. Early left an orphan, he and his sister were
reared by his grandfather on the maternal side. He had been one of the
accomplices of Maxence Gilet, and took part in the nocturnal raids of
the "Knights of Idlesse." When his conduct became known to his
grandfather, in 1822, the latter lost no time in removing him from
Issoudun, sending him to Monegod's office, Paris, to study law. [A
Bachelor's Establishment.]
BORNICHE (Adolphine), sister of Baruch Borniche; born in 1804. Brought
up almost a recluse in the frigid, dreary house of her grandfather,
Hochon, she spent most of her time peering through the windows, in the
hope of discovering some of the terrible things which--as Dame Rumor
had it--occurred in the home of Jean-Jacques Rouget, next door. She
likewise awaited with some impatience the arrival of Joseph Bridau in
Issoudun, wishing to inspire some sentiment in him, and taking the
liveliest interest in the painter, on account of the monstrosities
which were attributed to him because of his being an artist. [A
Bachelor's Establishment.]
BOUCARD, head-clerk of the attorney Derville in 1818, at the time when
Colonel Chabert sought to recover his rights with his wife who had
been remarried to Comte Ferraud. [Colonel Chabert.]
BOUCHER, Besancon merchant in 1834, who was the first client of Albert
Savarus in that city. He assumed financial control of the "Revue de
l'Est," founded by the lawyer. M. Boucher was related by marriage to
one of the ablest editors of great theological works. [Albert
Savarus.]
BOUCHER (Alfred), eldest son of the preceding. Born in 1812. A youth,
eager for literary fame, whom Albert Savarus put on the staff of his
"Revue de l'Est," giving him his themes and subjects. Alfred Boucher
conceived a strong admiration for the managing editor, who treated him
as a friend. The first number of the "Revue" contained a "Meditation"
by Alfred. This Alfred Boucher believed he was exploiting Savarus,
whereas the contrary was the case. [Albert Savarus.]
BOUFFE (Marie), alias Vignol, actor born in Paris, September 4, 1800.
He appeared about 1822 at the Panorama-Dramatique theatre, on the
Boulevard du Temple, Paris, playing the part of the Alcade in a
three-act imbroglio by Raoul Nathan and Du Bruel entitled "L'Alcade
dans l'embarras." At the first night performance he announced that the
authors were Raoul and Cursy. Although very young at the time, this
artist made his first great success in this role, and revealed his
talent for depicting an old man. The critique of Lucien de Rubempre
established his position. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
BOUGIVAL (La). (See Cabirolle, Madame.)
BOUGNIOL (Mesdemoiselles), proprietors of an inn at Guerande
(Loire-Inferieure), at the time of Louis Philippe. They had as guests
some artist friends of Felicite des Touches--Camille Maupin--who had
come from Paris to see her. [Beatrix.]
BOURBONNE (De), wealthy resident of Tours, time of Louis XVIII. and
Charles X. An uncle of Octave de Camps. In 1824 he visited Paris to
ascertain the cause of the ruin of his nephew and sole heir, which
ruin was generally credited to dissipations with Mme. Firmiani. M. de
Bourbonne, a retired musketeer in easy circumstances, was well
connected. He had entry into the Faubourg Saint-Germain through the
Listomeres, the Lenoncourts and the Vandenesses. He caused himself to
be presented at Mme. Firmiani's as M. de Rouxellay, the name of his
estate. The advice of Bourbonne, which was marked by much
perspicacity, if followed, would have extricated Francois Birotteau
from Troubert's clutches; for the uncle of M. de Camps fathomed the
plottings of the future Bishop of Troyes. Bourbonne saw a great deal
more than did the Listomeres of Tours. [Madame Firmiani. The Vicar of
Tours.]
BOURDET (Benjamin), old soldier of the Empire, formerly serving under
Philippe Bridau's command. He lived quietly in the suburbs of Vatan,
in touch with Fario. In 1822 he placed himself at the entire disposal
of the Spaniard, and also of the officer who previously had put him
under obligations. Secretly he served them in their hatred of and
plots against Maxence Gilet. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
BOURGEAT, foundling of Saint-Flour. Parisian water-carrier about the
end of the eighteenth century. The friend and protector of the young
Desplein, the future famous surgeon. He lived in rue Quatre-Vents in
an humble house rendered doubly famous by the sojourn of Desplein and
by that of Daniel d'Arthez. A fervent Churchman of unswerving faith.
The future famous savant (Desplein) watched by his bedside at the last
and closed his eyes. [The Atheist's Mass.]
BOURGET, uncle of the Chaussard brothers. An old man who became
implicated in the trial of the Chauffeurs of Mortagne in 1809. He died
during the taking of the testimony, while making some confessions. His
wife, also apprehended, appeared before the court and was sentenced to
twenty-two years' imprisonment. [The Seamy Side of History.]
BOURGNEUFS (The), a family ruined by the De Camps and living in
poverty and seclusion at Saint-Germain en Laye, during the early part
of the nineteenth centruy. This family consisted of: the aged father,
who ran a lottery-office; the mother, almost always sick; and two
delightful daughters, who took care of the home and attended to the
correspondence. The Bourgneufs were rescued from their troubles by
Octave de Camps who, prompted by Mme. Firmiani, and at the cost of his
entire property, restored to them the fortune made away with by his
father. [Madame Firmiani.]
BOURGNIER (Du). (See Bousquier, Du.)
BOURIGNARD (Gratien-Henri-Victor-Jean-Joseph), father of Mme. Jules
Desmarets. One of the "Thirteen" and the former chief of the Order of
the Devorants under the title of Ferragus XXIII. He had been a
laborer, but afterwards was a contractor of buildings. His daughter
was born to an abandoned woman. About 1807 he was sentenced to twenty
years of hard labor, but he managed to escape during a journey of the
chain-gang from Paris to Toulon, and he returned to Paris. In 1820 he
lived there under diverse names and disguises, lodging successively on
rue des Vieux Augustins (now rue d'Argout), corner of rue Soly (an
insignificant street which disappeared when the Hotel des Postes was
rebuilt); then at number seven rue Joquelet; finally at Mme. E.
Gruget's, number twelve rue des Enfants-Rouges (now part of the rue
des Archives running from rue Pastourelle to rue Portefoin), changing
lodgings at this time to evade the investigations of Auguste de
Maulincour. Stunned by the death of his daughter, whom he adored and
with whom he held secret interviews to prevent her becoming amenable
to the law, he passed his last days in an indifferent, almost idiotic
way, idly watching match games at bowling on the Place de
l'Observatoire; the ground between the Luxembourg and the Boulevard de
Montparnasse was the scene of these games. One of the assumed names of
Bourignard was the Comte de Funcal. In 1815, Bourignard, alias
Ferragus, assisted Henri de Marsay, another member of the "Thirteen,"
in his raid on Hotel San-Real, where dwelt Paquita Valdes. [The
Thirteen.]
BOURLAC (Bernard-Jean-Baptiste-Macloud, Baron de), former
procureur-general of the Royal Court of Rouen, grand officer of the
Legion of Honor. Born in 1771. He fell in love with and married the
daughter of the Pole, Tarlowski, a colonel in the French Imperial Guard.
By her he had a daughter, Vanda, who became the Baronne de Mergi. A
widower and reserved by nature, he came to Paris in 1829 to take care
of Vanda, who was seized by a strange and very dangerous malady. After
having lived in the Quartier du Roule in 1838, with his daughter and
grandson, he dwelt for several years, in very straitened circumstances,
in a tumble-down house on the Boulevard du Montparnasse, where
Godefroid, a recent initiate into the "Brotherhood of the Consolation"
and under the direction of Mme. de la Chanterie and her associates,
came to his relief. Afterwards it was discovered that the Baron de
Bourlac was none other than the terrible magistrate who had pronounced
judgment on this noble woman and her daughter during the trial of the
Chauffeurs of Mortagne in 1809. Nevertheless, the aiding of the family
was not abated in the least. Vanda was cured, thanks to a foreign
physician, Halpersohn, procured by Godefroid. M. de Bourlac was
enabled to publish his great work on the "Spirit of Modern Law." At
Sorbonne a chair of comparative legislation was created for him. At
last he obtained forgiveness from Mme. de la Chanterie, at whose feet
he flung himself. [The Seamy Side of History.] In 1817 the Baron de
Bourlac, then procureur-general, and superior of Soudry the younger,
royal procureur, helped, with the assistance also of the latter, to
secure for Sibilet the position of estate-keeper to the General de
Montcornet at Aigues. [The Peasantry.]
BOURNIER, natural son of Gaubertin and of Mme. Socquard, the wife of
the cafe manager of Soulanges. His existence was unknown to Mme.
Gaubertin. He was sent to Paris where, under Leclercq, he learned the
printer's trade and finally became a foreman. Gaubertin then brought
him to Ville-aux-Fayes where he established a printing office and a
paper known as "Le Courrier de l'Avonne", entirely devoted to the
interests of the triumvirate, Rigou, Gaubertin and Soudry. [The
Peasantry.]
BOSQUIER (Du), or Croisier (Du), or Bourguier (Du), a descendant of an
old Alencon family. Born about 1760. He had been commissary agent in
the army from 1793 to 1799; had done business with Ouvrard, and kept a
running account with Barras, Bernadotte and Fouche. He was at that
time one of the great folk of finance. Discharged by Bonaparte in
1800, he withdrew to his natal town. After selling the Beauseant
house, which he owned, for the benefit of his creditors, he had
remaining an income of not more than twelve hundred francs. About 1816
he married Mlle. Cormon, a spinster who had been courted also by the
Chevalier de Valois and Athanase Granson. This marriage set him on his
feet again financially. He took the lead in the party of the
opposition, established a Liberal paper called "Le Courrier de
l'Orne," and was elected Receiver-General of the Exchequer, after the
Revolution of 1830. He waged bitter war on the white flag Royalists,
his hatred of them causing him secretly to condone the excesses of
Victurnien d'Esgrignon, until the latter involved him in an affair,
when Bousquier had him arrested, thinking thus to dispose of him
summarily. The affair was smoothed over only by tremendous pressure.
But the young nobleman provoked Du Bousquier into a duel where the
latter dangerously wounded him. Afterwards Bousquier gave him in
marriage the hand of his niece, Mlle. Duval, dowered with three
millions. [Jealousies of a Country Town.] Probably he was the father
of Flavie Minoret, the daughter of a celebrated Opera danseuse. But he
never acknowledged this child, and she was dowered by Princesse
Galathionne and married Colleville. [The Middle Classes.]
BOSQUIER (Madame du), born Cormon (Rose-Marie-Victoire) in 1773. She
was a very wealthy heiress, living with her maternal uncle, the Abbe
de Sponde, in an old house of Alencon (rue du Val-Noble), and
receiving, in 1816, the aristocracy of the town, with which she was
related through marriage. Courted simultaneously by Athanase Granson,
the Chevalier de Valois and Du Bousquier, she gave her hand to the old
commissariat, whose athletic figure and _passe_ libertinism had
impressed her vaguely. But her secret desires were utterly dashed by
him; she confessed later that she couldn't endure the idea of dying a
maid. Mme. du Bousquier was very devout. She was descended from the
stewards of the ancient Ducs d'Alencon. In this same year of 1816, she
hoped in vain to wed a Troisville, but he was already married. She
found it difficult to brook the state of hostility declared between M.
du Bousquier and the Esgrignons. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
BOUTIN, at one time sergeant in the cavalry regiment of which Chabert
was colonel. He lived at Stuttgart in 1814, exhibiting white bears
very well trained by him. In this city he encountered his former
ranking officer, shorn of all his possessions, and just emerging from
an insane asylum. Boutin aided him as best he could and took it upon
himself to go to Paris and inform Mme. Chabert of her husband's
whereabouts. But Boutin fell on the field of Waterloo, and could
hardly have accomplished his mission. [Colonel Chabert.]
BOUVARD (Doctor), physician of Paris, born about 1758. A friend of Dr.
Minoret, with whom he had some lively tilts about Mesmer. He had
adopted that system, while Minoret gainsaid the truth thereof. These
discussions ended in an estrangement, for some time, between the two
cronies. Finally, in 1829, Bouvard wrote Minoret asking him to come to
Paris to assist in some conclusive tests of magnetism. As a result of
these tests, Dr. Minoret, materialist and atheist that he was, became
a devout Spiritualist and Catholic. In 1829 Dr. Bouvard lived on rue
Ferou. [Ursule Mirouet.] He had been as a father to Dr. Lebrun,
physician of the Conciergerie in 1830, who, according to his own
avowal, owed to him his position, since he often drew from his master
his own ideas regarding nervous energy. [Scenes from a Courtesan's
Life.]
BOUYONNET, a lawyer at Mantes, under Louis Philippe, who, urged by his
confreres and stimulated by the public prosecutor, "showed up"
Fraisier, another lawyer in the town, who had been retained in a suit
for both parties at once. The result of this denunciation was to make
Fraisier sell his office and leave Mantes. [Cousin Pons.]
BRAMBOURG (Comte de), title of Philippe Bridau to which his brother
Joseph succeeded. [A Bachelor's Establishment. The Unconscious
Humorists.]
BRANDON (Lady Marie-Augusta), mother of Louis and Marie Gaston,
children born out of wedlock. Together with the Vicomtesse de
Beauseant she assisted, in company with Colonel Franchessini, probably
her lover, at the famous ball on the morning following which the duped
mistress of D'Ajuda-Pinto secretly left Paris. [The Member for Arcis.]
In 1820, while living with her two children in seclusion at La
Grenadiere, in the neighborhood of Tours, she saw Felix de Vandenesse,
at the time when Mme. de Mortsauf died, and charged him with a
pressing message to Lady Arabelle Dudley. [The Lily of the Valley.]
She died, aged thirty-six, during the Restoration, in the house at La
Grenadiere, and was buried in the Saint-Cyr Cemetery. Her husband,
Lord Brandon, who had abandoned her, lived in London, Brandon Square,
Hyde Park, at this time. In Touraine Lady Brandon was known only by
the assumed name of Mme. Willemsens. [La Grenadiere.]
BRASCHON, upholsterer and cabinet-maker in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine,
famous under the Restoration. He did a considerable amount of work for
Cesar Birotteau and figured among the creditors in his bankruptcy.
[Cesar Birotteau. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
BRAULARD, born in 1782. The head _claquer_ at the theatre of the
Panorama-Dramatique, and then at the Gymnase, about 1822. The lover of
Mlle. Millot. At this time he lived in rue Faubourg du Temple, in a
rather comfortable flat where he gave fine dinners to actresses,
managing editors and authors--among others, Adele Dupuis, Finot,
Ducange and Frederic du Petit-Mere. He was credited with having gained
an income of twenty thousand francs by discounting authors' and other
complimentary tickets. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] When
chief _claquer_, about 1843, he had in his following Chardin, alias
Idamore [Cousin Betty], and commanded his "Romans" at the Boulevard
theatre, which presented operas, spectaculars and ballets at popular
prices, and was run by Felix Gaudissart. [Cousin Pons.]
BRAZIER, this family included the following: A peasant of Vatan
(Indre), the paternal uncle and guardian of Mlle. Flore Brazier, known
as "La Rabouilleuse." In 1799 he placed her in the house of Dr. Rouget
on very satisfactory conditions for himself, Brazier. Rendered
comparatively rich by the doctor, he died two years before the latter,
in 1805, from a fall received on leaving an inn where he spent his
time after becoming well-to-do. His wife, who was a very harsh aunt of
Flore's. Lastly the brother and brother-in-law of this girl's
guardians, the real father of "La Rabouilleuse," who died in 1799, a
demented widower, in the hospital of Bourges. [A Bachelor's
Establishment.]
BRAZIER (Flore). (See Bridau, Madame Philippe.)
BREAUTEY (Comtesse de), a venerable woman of Provins, who maintained
the only aristocratic salon in that city, in 1827-1828. [Pierrette.]
BREBIAN (Alexandre de), member of the Angouleme aristocracy in 1821.
He frequented the Bargeton receptions. An artist like his friend
Bartas, he also was daft over drawing and would ruin every album in
the department with his grotesque productions. He posed as Mme. de
Bartas' lover, since Bartas paid court to Mme. de Brebian. [Lost
Illusions.]
BREBIAN (Charlotte de), wife of the preceding. Currently called
"Lolotte." [Lost Illusions.]
BREINTMAYER, a banking house of Strasbourg, entrusted by Michu in 1803
with the transmission of funds to the De Simeuses, young officers of
the army of Conde. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
BREZACS (The), Auvergnats, dealers in general merchandise and the
furnishings of chateaux during the Revolution, the Empire and the
Restoration. They had business dealings with Pierre Graslin,
Jean-Baptiste Sauviat and Martin Falleix. [The Country Parson. The
Government Clerks.]
BRIDAU, father of Philippe and Joseph Bridau; one of the secretaries
of Roland, Minister of the Interior in 1792, and the right arm of
succeeding ministers. He was attached fanatically to Napoleon, who
could appreciate him, and who made him chief of division in 1804. He
died in 1808, at the moment when he had been promised the offices of
director general and councillor of state with the title of comte. He
first met Agathe Rouget, whom he made his wife, at the home of the
grocer Descoings, the man whom he tried to save from the scaffold. [A
Bachelor's Establishment.]
BRIDAU (Agathe Rouget, Madame), wife of the preceding; born in 1773.
Legal daughter of Dr. Rouget of Issoudun, but possibly the natural
daughter of Sub-delegate Lousteau. The doctor did not waste any
affection upon her, and lost no time in sending her to Paris, where
she was reared by her uncle, the grocer Descoings. She died at the
close of 1828. Of her two sons, Philippe and Joseph, Mme. Bridau
always preferred the elder, though he caused her nothing but grief. [A
Bachelor's Establishment.]
BRIDAU (Philippe), elder son of Bridau and Agathe Rouget. Born in
1796. Placed in the Saint-Cyr school in 1813, he remained but six
months, leaving it to become under-lieutenant of the cavalry. On
account of a skirmish of the advance guard he was made full
lieutenant, during the French campaign, then captain after the battle
of La Fere-Champenoise, where Napoleon made him artillery officer. He
was decorated at Montereau. After witnessing the farewell at
Fontainebleu, he came back to his mother in July, 1814, being then
hardly nineteen. He did not wish to serve the Bourbons. In March,
1815, Philippe Bridau rejoined the Emperor at Lyons, accompanying him
to the Tuileries. He was promised a captaincy in a squadron of
dragoons of the Guard, and made officer of the Legion of Honor at
Waterloo. Reduced to half-pay, during the Restoration, he nevertheless
preserved his rank and officer's cross. He rejoined General Lallemand
in Texas, returning from America in October, 1819, thoroughly
degenerated. He ran an opposition newspaper in Paris in 1820-1821. He
led a most dissolute life; was the lover of Mariette Godeschal; and
attended all the parties of Tullia, Florentine, Florine, Coralie,
Matifat and Camusot. Not content with using the income of his brother
Joseph, he stole a coffer entrusted to him, and despoiled of her last
savings Mme. Descoings, who died of grief. Involved in a military plot
in 1822, he was sent to Issoudun, under the surveillance of the
police. There he created a disturbance in the "bachelor's
establishment" of his uncle, Jean-Jacques Rouget; killed in a duel
Maxence Gilet, the lover of Flore Brazier; brought about the girl's
marriage with his uncle; and married her himself when she became a
widow in 1824. When Charles X. succeeded to the throne, Philippe
Bridau re-entered the army as lieutenant-colonel of the Duc de
Maufrigneuse's regiment. In 1827 he passed with this grade into a
regiment of cavalry of the Royal Guard, and was made Comte de
Brambourg from the name of an estate which he had purchased. He was
promised further the office of commander in the Legion of Honor, as
well as in the Order of Saint-Louis. After having consciously caused
the death of his wife, Flore Brazier, he tried to marry Amelie de
Soulanges, who belonged to a great family. But his manoeuvres were
frustrated by Bixiou. The Revolution of 1830 resulted in the loss to
Philippe Bridau of a portion of the fortune which he had obtained from
his uncle by his marriage. Once more he entered military service,
under the July Government, which made him a colonel. In 1839 he fell
in an engagement with the Arabs in Africa. [A Bachelor's
Establishment. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
BRIDAU (Joseph), painter; younger brother of Philippe Bridau; born in
1799. He studied with Gros, and made his first exhibit at the Salon of
1823. He received great stimulus from his fellow-members of the
"Cenacle," in rue Quatre-Vents, also from his master, from Gerard and
from Mlle. des Touches. Moreover he was a hard-worker and an artist of
genius. He was decorated in 1827, and about 1839, through the interest
of the Comte de Serizy, for whose home he had formerly done some work,
he married the only daughter of a retired farmer, now a millionaire.
On the death of his brother Philippe, he inherited his house in rue de
Berlin, his estate of Brambourg, and his title of comte. [A Bachelor's
Establishment. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. A Start in Life.]
Joseph Bridau made some vignettes for the works of Canalis. [Modeste
Mignon.] He was intimate with Hippolyte Schinner, whom he had known at
Gros' studio. [The Purse.] Shortly after 1830, he was present at an
"at home" at Mlle. des Touches, when Henri de Marsay told about his
first love affair. [Another Study of Woman.] In 1832 he rushed in to
see Pierre Grassou, borrowed five hundred francs of him, and told him
to "cater to his talent" and even to plunge into literature since he
was nothing more than a poor painter. At this same time, Joseph Bridau
painted the dining-hall in the D'Arthez chateau. [Pierre Grassou.] He
was a friend of Marie Gaston, and was attendant at his marriage with
Louise de Chaulieu, widow of Macumer, in 1833. [Letters of Two
Brides.] He also assisted at the wedding of Steinbock with Hortense
Hulot, and in 1838, at the instigation of Stidmann, clubbed in with
Leon de Lora to raise four thousand francs for the Pole, who was
imprisoned for debt. He had made the portrait of Josepha Mirah.
[Cousin Betty.] In 1839, at Mme. Montcornet's, Joseph Bridau praised
the talent and character displayed by Dorlange, the sculptor. [The
Member for Arcis.]
BRIDAU (Flore Brazier, Madame Philippe), born in 1787 at Vatan Indre,
known as "La Rabouilleuse," on account of her uncle having put her to
work, when a child, at stirring up (to "rabouiller") the streamlets,
so that he might find crayfishes. She was noticed on account of her
great beauty by Dr. Rouget of Issoudun, and taken to his home in 1799.
Jean-Jacques Rouget, the doctor's son become much enamored of her, but
obtained favor only through his money. On her part she was smitten
with Maxence Gilet, whom she entertained in the house of the old
bachelor at the latter's expense. But everything was changed by the
arrival of Philippe Bridau at Issoudun. Gilet was killed in a duel,
and Rouget married La Rabouilleuse in 1823. Left a widow soon after,
she married the soldier. She died in Paris in 1828, abandoned by her
husband, in the greatest distress, a prey to innumerable terrible
complaints, the products of the dissolute life into which Philippe
Bridau had designedly thrown her. She dwelt then on rue du Houssay, on
the fifth floor. She left here for the Dubois Hospital in Faubourg
Saint-Denis. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
BRIDAU (Madame Joseph), only daughter of Leger, an old farmer,
afterwards a multi-millionaire at Beaumont-sur-Oise; married to the
painter Joseph Bridau about 1839. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
BRIGAUT (Major), of Pen-Hoel, Vendee; retired major of the Catholic
Army which contested with the French Republic. A man of iron, but
devout and entirely unselfish. He had served under Charette, Mercier,
the Baron du Guenic and the Marquis de Montauran. He died in 1819, six
months after Mme. Lorrain, the widow of a major in the Imperial Army,
whom he was said to have consoled on the loss of her husband. Major
Brigaut had received twenty-seven wounds. [Pierrette. The Chouans.]
BRIGAUT (Jacques), son of Major Brigaut; born about 1811. Childhood
companion of Pierrette Lorrain, whom he loved in innocent fashion
similar to that of Paul and Virginia, and whose love was reciprocated
in the same way. When Pierrette was sent to Provins, to the home of
the Rogrons, her relatives, Jacques also went to this town and worked
at the carpenter's trade. He was present at the death-bed of the young
girl and immediately thereafter enlisted as a soldier; he became head
of a battalion, after having several times sought death vainly.
[Pierrette.]
BRIGITTE. (See Cottin, Madame.)
BRIGITTE, servant of Chesnel from 1795 on. In 1824 she was still with
him in rue du Bercail, Alencon, at the time of the pranks of the young
D'Esgrignon. Brigette humored the gormandizing of her master, the only
weakness of the goodman. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
BRIGNOLET, clerk with lawyer Bordin in 1806. [A Start in Life.]
BRISETOUT (Heloise), mistress of Celestin Crevel in 1838, at the time
when he was elected mayor. She succeeded Josepha Mirah, in a little
house on rue Chauchat, after having lived on rue Notre-Dame-de
Lorette. [Cousin Betty.] In 1844-1845 she was _premiere danseuse_ in
the Theatre du Boulevard, when she was claimed by both Bixiou and
Gaudissart, her manager. She was a very literary young woman, much
spoken of in Bohemian circles for elegance and graciousness. She knew
all the great artists, and favored her kinsman, the musician
Garangeot. [Cousin Pons.] Towards the end of the reign of Louis
Philippe, she had Isidore Baudoyer for a "protector"; he was then
mayor of the arrondissement of Paris, which included the Palais
Royale. [The Middle Classes.]
BRISSET, a celebrated physician of Paris, time of Louis Philippe. a
materialist and successor to Bichat, and Cabanis. At the head of the
"Organists," opposed to Cameristus head of the "Vitalists." He was
called in consultation regarding Raphael de Valentin, whose condition
was serious. [The Magic Skin.]
BROCHON, a half-pay soldier who, in 1822, tended the horses and did
chores for Moreau, manager of Presles, the estate of the Comte de
Serizy. [A Start in Life.]
BROSSARD (Madame), widow received at Mme. de Bargeton's at Angouleme
in 1821. Poor but well-born, she sought to marry her daughter, and in
the end, despite her precise dignity and "sour-sweetness," she got
along fairly well with the other sex. [Lost Illusions.]
BROSSARD (Camille du), daughter of the preceding. born in 1794. Fleshy
and imposing. Posed as a good pianist. Not yet married at twenty-seven.
[Lost Illusions.]
BROSSETTE (Abbe), born about 1790; cure of Blangy, Burgundy, in 1823,
at the time when General de Montcornet was struggling with the
peasantry. The abbe himself was an object of their defiance and
hatred. He was the fourth son of a good bourgeoisie family of Autun, a
faithful prelate, an obstinate Royalist and a man of intelligence.
[The Peasantry.] In 1840 he became a cure at Paris, in the faubourg
Saint-Germain, and at the request of Mme. de Grandlieu, he interested
himself in removing Calyste du Guenic from the clutches of Mme. de
Rochefide and restoring him to his wife. [Beatrix.]
BROUET (Joseph), a Chouan who died of wounds received in the fight of
La Pelerine or at the siege of Fougeres, in 1799. [The Chouans.]
BROUSSON (Doctor), attended the banker Jean-Frederic Taillefer, a
short time before the financier's death. [The Red Inn.]
BRUCE (Gabriel), alias Gros-Jean, one of the fiercest Chouans of the
Fontaine division. Implicated in the affair of the "Chauffeurs of
Mortagne" in 1809. Condemned to death for contumacy. [The Seamy Side
of History.]
BRUEL (Du), chief of division to the Ministers of the Interior, under
the Empire. A friend of Bridau senior, retired on the advent of
Restoration. He was on very friendly terms with the widow Bridau,
coming each evening for a game of cards at her house, on rue Mazarine,
with his old-time colleagues, Claparon and Desroches. These three old
employes were called the "Three Sages of Greece" by Mmes. Bridau and
Descoings. M. du Bruel was descended of a contractor ennobled at the
end of the reign of Louis XIV. He died about 1821. [A Bachelor's
Establishment.]
BRUEL (Madame du), wife of the preceding. She survived him. She was
the mother of the dramatic author Jean-Francois du Bruel, christened
Cursy on the Parisian bill-boards. Although a bourgeoisie of strict
ideas, Mme. du Bruel welcomed the dancer Tullia, who became her
daughter-in-law. [A Prince of Bohemia.]
BRUEL (Jean-Francois du), son of the preceding; born about 1797. In
1816 he obtained a place under the Minister of Finance, thanks to the
favor of the Duc de Navarreins. [A Bachelor's Establishment.] He was
sub-chief of Rabourdin's office when the latter, in 1824, contested
with M. Baudoyer for a place of division chief. [The Government
Clerks.] In November, 1825, Jean-Francois du Bruel assisted at a
breakfast given at the "Rocher de Cancale" to the clerks of Desroches'
office by Frederic Marest who was treating to celebrate his incoming.
He was present also at the orgy which followed at Florentine's home.
[A Start in Life.] M. du Bruel successively rose to be chief of
bureau, director, councillor of state, deputy, peer of France and
commander of the Legion of Honor; he received the title of count and
entered one of the classes in the Institute. All this was accomplished
through his wife, Claudine Chaffaroux, formerly the dancer, Tullia,
whom he married in 1829. [A Prince of Bohemia. The Middle Classes.]
For a long time he wrote vaudeville sketches over the name of Cursy.
Nathan, the poet, found it necessary to unite with him. Du Bruel would
make use of the author's ideas, condensing them into small, sprightly
skits which always scored successes for the actors. Du Bruel and
Nathan discovered the actress Florine. They were the authors of
"L'Alcade dans l'embarras," an imbroglio in three acts, played at the
Theatre du Panorama-Dramatique about 1822, when Florine made her
debut, playing with Coralie and Bouffe, the latter under the name of
Vignol. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. A Daughter of Eve.]
BRUEL (Claudine Chaffaroux, Madame du), born at Nanterre in 1799. One
of the _premiere danseuses_ of the Opera from 1817 to 1827. For
several years she was the mistress of the Duc de Rhetore [A Bachelor's
Establishment.], and afterwards of Jean-Francois du Bruel, who was
much in love with her in 1823, and married her in 1829. She had then
left the stage. About 1834 she met Charles Edouard de la Palferine and
formed a violent attachment for him. In order to please him and pose
in his eyes as a great lady, she urged her husband to the constant
pursuit of honors, and finally achieved the title of countess.
Nevertheless she continued to play the lady of propriety and found
entrance into bourgeoisie society. [A Prince of Bhoemia. A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris. Letters of Two Brides.] In 1840, to
please Mme. Colleville, her friend, she tried to obtain a decoration
for Thuillier. [The Middle Classes.] Mme. du Bruel bore the name of
Tullia on the stage and in the "gallant" circle. She lived then in rue
Chauchat, in a house afterwards occupied by Mmes. Mirah and Brisetout,
when Claudine moved after her marriage to rue de la Victoire.
BRUNET, bailiff at Blagny, Burgundy, in 1823. He was also councillor
of the Canton during the Terror, having for practitioners Michel Vert
alias Vermichel and Fourchon the elder. [The Peasantry.]
BRUNNER (Gedeon), father of Frederic Brunner. At the time of the
French Restoration and of Louis Philippe he owned the great Holland
House at Frankford-on-the-Main. One of the early railway projectors.
He died about 1844, leaving four millions. Calvinist. Twice married.
[Cousin Pons.]
BRUNNER (Madame), first wife of Gedeon Brunner, and mother of Frederic
Brunner. A relative of the Virlaz family, well-to-do Jewish furriers
of Leipsic. A converted Jew. Her dowry was the basis of her husband's
fortune. She died young, leaving a son aged but twelve. [Cousin Pons.]
BRUNNER (Madame), second wife of Gedeon Brunner. The only daughter of
a German inn-keeper. She had been very badly spoiled by her parents.
Sterile, dissipated and prodigal, she made her husband very unhappy,
thus avenging the first Mme. Brunner. She was a step-mother of the
most abominable sort, launching her stepson into an unbridled life,
hoping that debauchery would devour both the child and the Jewish
fortune. After ten years of wedded life she died before her parents,
having made great inroads upon Gedeon Brunner's property. [Cousin
Pons.]
BRUNNER (Frederic), only son of Gedeon Brunner, born within the first
four years of the century. He ran through his maternal inheritance by
silly dissipations, and then helped his friend Wilhelm Schwab to make
away with the hundred thousand francs his parents had left him.
Without resources and cast adrift by his father he went to Paris in
1835, where, upon the recommendation of Graff, the inn-keeper, he
obtained a position with Keller at six hundred francs per annum. In
1843 he was only two thousand francs ahead; but Gedeon Brunner having
died, he became a multi-millionaire. Then for friendship's sake he
founded, with his chum Wilhelm, the banking house of "Brunner, Schwab
& Co.," on rue Richelieu, between rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs and rue
Villedo, in a magnificent building belonging to the tailor, Wolfgang
Graff. Frederic Brunner had been presented by Sylvain Pons to the
Camusots de Marville; he would have married their daughter had she not
been the only child. The breaking off of this match involved also, the
relations of Pons with the De Marville family and resulted in the
death of the musician. [Cousin Pons.]
BRUNO, _valet de chambre_ of Corentin at Passy, on rue des Vignes, in
1830. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] About 1840 he was again in the
service of Corentin, who was now known as M. du Portail and lived on
rue Honore-Chevalier, at Paris. [The Middle Classes.] This name is
sometimes spelled Bruneau.
BRUTUS, proprietor of the Hotel des Trois-Maures in the Grand-Rue,
Alencon, in 1799, where Alphonse de Montauran met Mlle. de Verneuil
for the first time. [The Chouans.]
BUNEAUD (Madame), ran a bourgeoisie boarding-house in opposition to
Mme. Vauquer on the heights of Sainte-Genevieve, Paris, in 1819.
[Father Goriot.]
BUTIFER, noted hunter, poacher and smuggler, living in the village
hard by Grenoble, where Dr. Benassis located, during the Restoration.
When the doctor arrived in the country, Butifer drew a bead on him, in
a corner of the forest. Later, however, he became entirely devoted to
him. He was charged by Genestas with the physical education of this
officer's adopted son. It may be that Butifer enlisted in Genestas'
regiment, after the death of Dr. Benassis. [The Country Doctor.]
BUTSCHA (Jean), head-clerk of Maitre Latournelle, a notary at Havre in
1829. Born about 1804. The natural son of a Swedish sailor and a
Demoiselle Jacmin of Honfleur. A hunchback. A type of intelligence and
devotion. Entirely subservient to Modeste Mignon, whom he loved
without hope; he aided, by many adroit methods, to bring about her
marriage with Ernest de la Briere. Butscha decided that this union
would make the young lady happy. [Modeste Mignon.]
C
CABIROLLE, in charge of the stages of Minoret-Levrault, postmaster of
Nemours. Probably a widower, with one son. About 1837, a sexagenarian,
he married Antoinette Patris, called La Bougival, who was over fifty,
but whose income amounted to twelve hundred francs. [Ursule Mirouet.]
CABIROLLE, son of the preceding. In 1830 he was Dr. Minoret's coachman
at Nemours. Later he was coachman for Savinien de Portenduere, after
the vicomte's marriage with Ursule Mirouet. [Ursule Mirouet.]
CABIROLLE (Madame), wife of Cabirolle senior. Born Antoinette Patris
in 1786, of a poor family of La Bresse. Widow of a workman named
Pierre alias Bougival; she was usually designated by the latter name.
After having been Ursule Mirouet's nurse, she became Dr. Minoret's
servant, marrying Cabirolle about 1837. [Ursule Mirouet.]
CABIROLLE (Madame), mother of Florentine, the _danseuse_. Formerly
janitress on rue Pastourelle, but living in 1820 with her daughter on
rue de Crussol in a modest affluence assured by Cardot the old
silk-dealer, since 1817. According to Girondeau, she was a woman of
sense. [A Start in Life. A Bachelor's Establishment.]
CABIROLLE (Agathe-Florentine), known as Florentine; born in 1804. In
1817, upon leaving Coulon's class, she was discovered by Cardot, the
old silk-merchant, and established by him with her mother in a
relatively comfortable flat on rue de Crussol. After having been
featured at the Gaite theatre, in 1820, she danced for the first time
in a spectacular drama entitled "The Ruins of Babylon."* Immediately
afterwards she succeeded Mariette as _premiere danseuse_ at the
theatre of the Porte-Saint-Martin. Then in 1823 she made her debut at
the Opera in a trio skit with Mariette and Tullia. At the time when
Cardot "protected" her, she had for a lover the retired Captain
Girondeau, and was intimate with Philippe Bridau, to whom she gave
money when in need. In 1825 Florentine occupied Coralie's old flat,
now for some three years, and it was at this place that Oscar Husson
lost at play the money entrusted to him by his employer, Desroches the
attorney, and was surprised by his uncle, Cardot. [A Start in Life.
Lost Illusions. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. A Bachelor's
Establishment.]
* By Renee-Charles Guilbert de Pixerecourt; played for the first
time at Paris in 1810.
CABOT (Armand-Hippolyte), a native of Toulouse who, in 1800,
established a hair-dressing salon on the Place de la Bourse, Paris. On
the advice of his customer, the poet Parny, he had taken the name of
Marius, a sobriquet which stuck to the establishment. In 1845 Cabot
had earned an income of twenty-four thousand francs and lived at
Libourne, while a fifth Marius, called Mougin, managed the business
founded by him. [The Unconscious Humorists.]
CABOT (Marie-Anne), known as Lajeunesse, an old servant of Marquis
Carol d'Esgrignon. Implicated in the affair of the "Chauffeurs of
Mortagne" and executed in 1809. [The Seamy Side of History.]
CACHAN, attorney at Angouleme under the Restoration. He and
Petit-Claud had similar business interests and the same clients. In
1830 Cachan, now mayor of Marsac, had dealings with the Sechards.
[Lost Illusions. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
CADENET, Parisian wine-merchant, in 1840, on the ground-floor of a
furnished lodging-house, corner of rue des Postes and rue des Poules.
Cerizet also dwelt there at that time. Cadenet, who was proprietor of
the house, had something to do with the transactions of Cerizet, the
"banker of the poor." [The Middle Classes.]
CADIGNAN (Prince de), a powerful lord of the former regime, father of
the Duc de Maufrigneuse, father-in-law of the Duc de Navarreins.
Ruined by the Revolution, he had regained his properties and income on
the accession of the Bourbons. But he was a spendthrift and devoured
everything. He also ruined his wife. He died at an advanced age some
time before the Revolution of July. [The Secrets of a Princess.] At
the end of 1829, the Prince de Cadignan, then Grand Huntsman to
Charles X., rode in a great chase where were also found, amid a very
aristocratic throng, the Duc d'Herouville, organizer of the jaunt,
Canalis and Ernest de la Briere, all three of whom were suitors for
the hand of Modeste Mignon. [Modeste Mignon.]
CADIGNAN (Prince and Princesse de), son and daughter-in-law of the
preceding. (See Maufrigneuse, Duc and Duchesse de.)
CADINE (Jenny), actress at the Gymnase theatre, times of Charles X.
and Louis Philippe. The most frolicsome of women, the only rival of
Dejazet. Born in 1814. Discovered, trained and "protected" from
thirteen years old on, by Baron Hulot. Intimate friend of Josepha
Mirah. [Cousin Betty.] Between 1835 and 1840, while maintained by
Couture, she lived on rue Blanche in a delightful little ground-floor
flat with its own garden. Fabien du Ronceret and Mme. Schontz
succeeded her here. [Beatrix.] In 1845 she was Massol's mistress and
lived on rue de la Victoire. At this time, she apparently led astray
in short order Palafox Gazonal, who had been taken to her home by
Bixiou and Leon de Lora. [The Unconscious Humorists.] About this time
she was the victim of a jewelry theft. After the arrest of the thieves
her property was returned by Saint-Esteve--Vautrin--who was then chief
of the special service. [The Member for Arcis.]
CADOT (Mademoiselle), old servant-mistress of Judge Blondet at
Alencon, during the Restoration. She pampered her master, and, like
him, preferred the elder of the magistrate's two sons. [Jealousies of
a Country Town.]
CALVI (Theodore), alias Madeleine. Born in 1803. A Corsican condemned
to the galleys for life on account of eleven murders committed by the
time he was eighteen. A member of the same gang with Vautrin from 1819
to 1820. Escaped with him. Having assassinated the widow Pigeau of
Nanterre, in May, 1830, he was rearrested and this time sentenced to
death. The plotting of Vautrin, who bore for him an unnatural
affection, saved his life; the sentence was commuted. [Scenes from a
Courtesan's Life.]
CAMBON, lumber merchant, a deputy mayor to Benassis, in 1829, in a
community near Grenoble, and a devoted assistant in the work of
regeneration undertaken by the doctor. [The Country Doctor.]
CAMBREMER (Pierre), fisherman of Croisic on the Lower-Loire, time of
Louis Philippe, who, for the honor of a jeopardized name, had cast his
only son into the sea and afterwards remained desolate and a widower
on a cliff near by, in expiation of his crime induced by paternal
justice. [A Seaside Tragedy. Beatrix.]
CAMBREMER (Joseph), younger brother of Pierre Cambremer, father of
Pierrette, called Perotte. [A Seaside Tragedy.]
CAMBREMER (Jacques), only son of Pierre Cambremer and Jacquette
Brouin. Spoiled by his parents, his mother especially, he became a
rascal of the worst type. Jacques Cambremer evaded justice only by
reason of the fact that his father gagged him and cast him into the
sea. [A Seaside Tragedy.]
CAMBREMER (Madame), born Jacquette Brouin, wife of Pierre Cambremer
and mother of Jacques. She was of Guerande; was educated; could write
"like a clerk"; taught her son to read and this brought about his
ruin. She was usually spoken of as the beautiful Brouin. She died a
few days after Jacques. [A Seaside Tragedy.]
CAMBREMER (Pierrette), known as Perotte; daughter of Joseph Cambremer;
niece of Pierre and his goddaughter. Every morning the sweet and
charming creature came to bring her uncle the bread and water upon
which he subsisted. [A Seaside Tragedy.]
CAMERISTUS, celebrated physician of Paris under Louis Philippe; the
Ballanche of medicine and one of the defenders of the abstract
doctrines of Van Helmont; chief of the "Vitalists" opposed to Brisset
who headed the "Organists." He as well as Brisset was called in
consultation regarding a very serious malady afflicting Raphael de
Valentin. [The Magic Skin.]
CAMPS (Octave de), lover then husband of Mme. Firmiani. She made him
restore the entire fortune of a family named Bourgneuf, ruined in a
lawsuit by Octave's father, thus reducing him to the necessity of
making a living by teaching mathematics. He was only twenty-two years
old when he met Mme. Firmiani. He married her first at Gretna Green.
The marriage at Paris took place in 1824 or 1825. Before marriage,
Octave de Camps lived on rue de l'Observance. He was a descendant of
the famous Abbe de Camps, so well known among bookmen and savants.
[Madame Firmiani.] Octave de Camps reappears as an ironmaster, during
the reign of Louis Philippe. At this time he rarely resided at Paris.
[The Member for Arcis.]
CAMPS (Madame Octave de), nee Cadignan; niece of the old Prince de
Cadignan; cousin of the Duc de Maufrigneuse. In 1813, at the age of
sixteen, she married M. Firmiani, receiver-general in the department
of Montenotte. M. Firmiani died in Greece about 1822, and she became
Mme. de Camps in 1824 or 1825. At this time she dwelt on rue du Bac
and had entree into the home of Princesse de Blamont-Chauvry, the
oracle of Faubourg Saint-Germain. An accomplished and excellent lady,
loved even by her rivals, the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, her cousin,
Mme. de Macumer--Louise de Chaulieu--and the Marquise d'Espard.
[Madame Firmiani.] She welcomed and protected Mme. Xavier Rabourdin.
[The Government Clerks.] At the close of 1824 she gave a ball where
Charles de Vandenesse made the acquaintance of Mme. d'Aiglemont whose
lover he became. [A Woman of Thirty.] In 1834 Mme. Octave de Camps
tried to check the slanders going the rounds at the expense of Mme.
Felix de Vandenesse, who had compromised herself somewhat on account
of the poet Nathan; and Mme. de Camps gave the young woman some good
advice. [A Daughter of Eve.] On another occasion she gave exceedingly
good counsel to Mme. de l'Estorade, who was afraid of being smitten
with Sallenauve. [The Member for Arcis.] Mme. Firmiani, "that was,"
shared her time between Paris and the furnaces of M. de Camps; but she
gave the latter much the preference--at least so said one of her
intimate friends, Mme. de l'Estorade. [The Member for Arcis.]
CAMUSET, one of Bourignard's assumed names.
CAMUSOT, silk-merchant, rue des Bourdonnais, Paris, under the
Restoration. Born in 1765. Son-in-law and successor of Cardot, whose
eldest daughter he had married. At that time he was a widower, his
first wife being a Demoiselle Pons, sole heiress of the celebrated
Pons family, embroiderers to the Court during the Empire. About 1834
Camusot retired from business, and became a member of the
Manufacturers' Council, deputy, peer of France and baron. He had four
children. In 1821-1822 he maintained Coralie, who became so violently
enamored of Lucien de Rubempre. Although she abandoned him for Lucien,
he promised the poet, after the actress' death, that he would purchase
for her a permanent plot in the cemetery of Pere-Lachaise. [A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris. A Bachelor's Establishment. Cousin
Pons.] Later he was intimate with Fanny Beaupre for some time. [The
Muse of the Department.] He and his wife were present at Cesar
Birotteau's big ball in December, 1818; he was also chosen
commissary-judge of the perfumer's bankruptcy, instead of
Gobenheim-Keller, who was first designated. [Cesar Birotteau.] He had
dealings with the Guillaumes, clothing merchants, rue Saint-Denis. [At
the Sign of the Cat and Racket.]
CAMUSOT DE MARVILLE, son of Camusot the silk-merchant by his first
marriage. Born about 1794. During Louis Philippe's reign he took the
name of a Norman estate and green, Marville, in order to distinguish
between himself and a half-brother. In 1824, then a judge at Alencon,
he helped render an alibi decision in favor of Victurnien d'Esgrignon,
who really was guilty. [Cousin Pons. Jealousies of a Country Town.] He
was judge at Paris in 1828, and was appointed to replace Popinot in
the court which was to render a decision concerning the appeal for
interdiction presented by Mme. d'Espard against her husband. [The
Commission in Lunacy.] In May, 1830, in the capacity of judge of
instruction, he prepared a report tending to the liberation of Lucien
de Rubempre, accused of assassinating Esther Gobseck. But the suicide
of the poet rendered the proposed measure useless, besides upsetting,
momentarily, the ambitious projects of the magistrate. [Scenes from a
Courtesan's Life.] Camusot de Marville had been president of the Court
of Nantes. In 1844 he was president of the Royal Court of Paris and
commander of the Legion of Honor. At this time he lived in a house on
rue de Hanovre, purchased by him in 1834, where he received the
musician Pons, a cousin of his. The President de Marville was elected
deputy in 1846. [Cousin Pons.]
CAMUSOT DE MARVILLE (Madame), born Thirion, Marie-Cecile-Amelie, in
1798. Daughter of an usher of the Cabinet of Louis XVIII. Wife of the
magistrate. In 1814 she frequented the studio of the painter Servin,
who had a class for young ladies. This studio contained two factions;
Mlle. Thirion headed the party of the nobility, though of ordinary
birth, and persecuted Ginevra di Piombo, of the Bonapartist party.
[The Vendetta.] In 1818 she was invited to accompany her father and
mother to the famous ball of Cesar Birotteau. It was about the time
her marriage with Camusot de Marville was being considered. [Cesar
Birotteau.] This wedding took place in 1819, and immediately the
imperious young woman gained the upper hand with the judge, making him
follow her own will absolutely and in the interests of her boundless
ambition. It was she who brought about the discharge of young
d'Esgrignon in 1824, and the suicide of Lucien de Rubempre in 1830.
Through her, the Marquis d'Espard failed of interdiction. However,
Mme. de Marville had no influence over her father-in-law, the senior
Camusot, whom she bored dreadfully and importuned excessively. She
caused, also, by her evil treatment, the death of Sylvain Pons "the
poor relation," inheriting with her husband his fine collection of
curios. [Jealousies of a Country Town. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.
Cousin Pons.]
CAMUSOT (Charles), son of the preceding couple. He died young, at a
time when his parents had neither land nor title of Marville, and when
they were in almost straitened circumstances. [Cousin Pons.]
CAMUSOT DE MARVILLE (Cecile). (See Popinot, Vicomtesse.)
CANALIS (Constant-Cyr-Melchior, Baron de), poet--chief of the
"Angelic" school--deputy minister, peer of France, member of the
French Academy, commander of the Legion of Honor. Born at Canalis,
Correze, in 1800. About 1821 he became the lover of Mme. de Chaulieu,
who was constantly aiding him to high positions, but who, at the same
time, was always very exacting. Not long after, Canalis is seen at the
opera in Mme. d'Espard's box, being presented to Lucien de Rubempre.
From 1824 he was the fashionable poet. [Letters of Two Brides. A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] In 1829 he lived at number 29 rue
Paradis-Poissoniere (now simply rue Paradis) and was master of
requests in the Council of State. This is the time when he was in
correspondence with Modeste Mignon and wished to espouse that rich
heiress. [Modeste Mignon.] Shortly after 1830, now a great man, he was
present at Mlle. des Touches', when Henri de Marsay told of his first
love affair. Canalis took part in the conversation and uttered a most
vigorous tirade against Napoleon. [The Magic Skin. Another Study of
Woman.] In 1838 he married the daughter of Moreau (de l'Oise), who
brought him a very large dowry. [A Start in Life.] In October, 1840,
he and Mme. de Rochefide were present at a performance at the Varietes
theatre, where that dangerous woman was encountered again after a
lapse of three years by Calyste du Guenic. [Beatrix.] In 1845 Canalis
was pointed out in the Chamber of Deputies by Leon de Lora to Palafox
Gazonal. [The Unconscious Humorists.] In 1845, he consented to act as
second to Sallenauve in his duel with Maxime de Trailles. [The Member
for Arcis.]
CANALIS (Baronne Melchior de), wife of the preceding and daughter of
M. and Mme. Moreau (de l'Oise). About the middle of the reign of Louis
Philippe, she being then recently married, she made a journey to
Seine-et-Oise. She went first to Beaumont and Presles. Mme. de Canalis
with her daughter and the Academician, occupied Pierrotin's
stage-coach. [A Start in Life.]
CANE (Marco-Facino), known as Pere Canet, a blind old man, an inmate
of the Hospital des Quinze-Vingts, who during the Restoration followed
the vocation of musician, at Paris. He played the clarionet at a ball
of the working-people of rue de Charenton, on the occasion of the
wedding of Mme. Vaillant's sister. He said he was a Venetian, Prince
de Varese, a descendant of the _condottiere_ Facino Cane, whose
conquests fell into the hands of the Duke of Milan. He told strange
stories regarding his patrician youth. He died in 1820, more than an
octogenarian. He was the last of the Canes on the senior branch, and
he transmitted the title of Prince de Varese to a relative, Emilio
Memmi. [Facino Cane. Massimilla Doni.]
CANTE-CROIX (Marquis de), under-lieutenant in one of the regiments
which tarried at Angouleme from November, 1807, to March, 1808, while
on its way to Spain. He was a Colonel at Wagram on July 6, 1809,
although only twenty-six years old, when a shot crushed over his heart
the picture of Mme. de Bargeton, whom he loved. [Lost Illusions.]
CANTINET, an old glass-dealer, and beadle of Saint-Francois church,
Marais, Paris, in 1845; dwelt on rue d'Orleans. A drunken idler.
[Cousin Pons.]
CANTINET (Madame), wife of preceding; renter of seats in
Saint-Francois. Last nurse of Sylvain Pons, and a tool to the
interests of Fraisier and Poulain. [Cousin Pons.]
CANTINET, Junior, would have been made beadle of Saint-Francois, where
his father and mother were employed, but he preferred the theatre. He
was connected with the Cirque-Olympique in 1845. He caused his mother
sorrow, by a dissolute life and by forcible inroads on the maternal
purse. [Cousin Pons.]
CAPRAJA, a noble Venetian, a recognized dilettante, living only by and
through music. Nicknamed "Il Fanatico." Known by the Duke and Duchess
Cataneo and their friends. [Massimilla Doni.]
CARABINE, assumed name of Seraphine Sinet, which name see.
CARBONNEAU, physician whom the Comte de Mortsauf spoke of consulting
about his wife, in 1820, instead of Dr. Origet, whom he fancied to be
unsatisfactory. [The Lily of the Valley.]
CARCADO (Madame de), founder of a Parisian benevolent society, for
which Mme. de la Baudraye was appointed collector, in March, 1843, on
the request of some priests, friends of Mme. Piedefer. This choice
resulted, noteworthily, in the re-entrance into society of the "muse,"
who had been beguiled and compromised by her relations with Lousteau.
[The Muse of the Department.]
CARDANET (Madame de), grandmother of Mme. de Senonches. [Lost
Illusions.]
CARDINAL (Madame), Parisian fish-vender, daughter of one Toupillier, a
carrier. Widow of a well-known marketman. Niece of Toupillier the
pauper of Saint-Sulpice, from whom in 1840, with Cerizet's assistance,
she tried to capture the hidden treasure. This woman had three
sisters, four brothers, and three uncles, who would have shared with
her the pauper's bequest. The scheming of Mme. Cardinal and Cerizet
was frustrated by M. du Portail--Corentin. [The Middle Classes.]
CARDINAL (Olympe). (See Cerizet, Madame.)
CARDOT (Jean-Jerome-Severin), born in 1755. Head-clerk in an old
silk-house, the "Golden Cocoon," rue des Bourdonnais. He bought the
establishment in 1793, at the "maximum" moment, and in ten years had
made a large fortune, thanks to the dowry of one hundred thousand
francs brought him by his wife; she was a Demoiselle Husson, and gave
him four children. Of these, the elder daughter married Camusot, who
succeeded his father-in-law; the second, Marianne, married Protez, of
the firm of Protez & Chiffreville; the elder son became a notary; the
younger son, Joseph, took an interest in Matifat's drug business.
Cardot was the "protector" of the actress, Florentine, whom he
discovered and started. In 1822 he lived at Belleville in one of the
first houses above Courtille; he had then been a widower for six
years. He was an uncle of Oscar Husson, and had taken some interest in
and helped the dolt, until an incident occurred that changed
everything: the old man discovered the young fellow asleep one
morning, on one of Florentine's divans, after an orgy wherein he had
squandered the money entrusted to him by his employer, Desroches the
attorney. [A Start in Life. Lost Illusions. A Distinguished Provincial
at Paris. A Bachelor's Establishment.] Cardot had dealings with the
Guillaumes, clothiers, rue Saint-Denis. [At the Sign of the Cat and
Racket.] He and his entire family were invited to the great ball given
by Cesar Birotteau, December 17, 1818. [Cesar Birotteau.]
CARDOT, elder son of the preceding. Parisian notary, successor of
Sorbier. Born in 1794. Married to a Demoiselle Chiffreville, of a
family of celebrated chemists. Three children were born to them: a son
who in 1836 was fourth clerk in his father's business, and should have
succeeded him, but dreamed instead of literary fame; Felicie, who
married Berthier; and another daughter, born in 1824. The notary
Cardot maintained Malaga, during the reign of Louis Philippe. [The
Muse of the Department. A Man of Business. Jealousies of a Country
Town.] He was attorney for Pierre Grassou, who deposited his savings
with him every quarter. [Pierre Grassou.] He was also notary to the
Thuilliers, and, in 1840, had presented in their drawing-rooms, on rue
Saint-Dominique d'Enfer, Godeschal an aspirant for the hand of Celeste
Colleville. After living on Place du Chatelet, Cardot become one of
the tenants of the house purchased by the Thuilliers, near the
Madeleine. [The Middle Classes.] In 1844 he was mayor and deputy of
Paris. [Cousin Pons.]
CARDOT (Madame) nee Chiffreville, wife of Cardot the notary. Very
devoted, but a "wooden" woman, a "veritable penitential brush." About
1840 she lived on Place du Chatelet, Paris, with her husband. At this
time, the notary's wife took her daughter Felicie to rue des Martyrs,
to the home of Etienne Lousteau, whom she had planned to have for a
son-in-law, but whom she finally threw over on account of the
journalist's dissipated ways. [The Muse of the Department.]
CARDOT (Felicie or Felicite). (See Berthier, Madame.)
CARIGLIANO (Marechal, Duc de), one of the illustrious soldiers of the
Empire; husband of a Demoiselle Malin de Gondreville, whom he
worshipped, obeyed and stood in awe of, but who deceived him. [At the
Sign of the Cat and Racket.] In 1819, Marechal de Carigliano gave a
ball where Eugene de Rastignac was presented by his cousin, the
Vicomtesse de Beauseant, at the time he entered the world of fashion.
[Father Goriot.] During the Restoration he owned a beautiful house
near the Elysee-Bourbon, which he sold to M. de Lanty. [Sarrasine.]
CARIGLIANO (Duchesse de), wife of the preceding, daughter of Senator
Malin de Gondreville. At the end of the Empire, when thirty-six years
of age, she was the mistress of the young Colonel d'Aiglemont, and of
Sommervieux, the painter, almost at the same time; the latter had
recently wedded Augustine Guillaume. The Duchesse de Carigliano
received a visit from Mme. de Sommervieux, and gave her very ingenious
advice concerning the method of conquering her husband, and binding
him forever to her by her coquetry. [At the Sign of the Cat and
Racket.] In 1821-1822 she had an opera-box near Mme. d'Espard. Sixte
du Chatelet came to her to make his acknowledgments on the evening
when Lucien de Rubempre, a newcomer in Paris, cut such a sorry figure
at the theatre in company with Mme. de Bargeton. [A Distinguished
Provincial at Paris.] It was the Duchesse de Carigliano who, after a
great effort, found a wife suited to General de Montcornet, in the
person of Mlle. de Troisville. [The Peasantry.] Mme. de Carigliano,
although a Napoleonic duchesse, was none the less devoted to the House
of the Bourbons, being attached especially to the Duchesse de Berry.
Becoming imbued also with a high degree of piety, she visited nearly
every year a retreat of the Ursulines of Arcis-sur-Aube. In 1839
Sallenauve's friends counted on the duchesse's support to elect him
deputy. [The Member for Arcis.]
CARMAGNOLA (Giambattista), an old Venetian gondolier, entirely devoted
to Emilio Memmi, in 1820. [Massimilla Doni.]
CARNOT (Lazare-Nicolas-Marguerite), born at Nolay--Cote-d'Or--in 1753;
died in 1823. In June, 1800, while Minister of War, he was present in
company with Talleyrand, Fouche and Sieyes, at a council held at the
home of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, rue du Bac, when the
overthrow of First Consul Bonaparte was discussed. [The Gondreville
Mystery.]
CAROLINE (Mademoiselle), governess, during the Empire, of the four
children of M. and Mme. de Vandenesse. "She was a terror." [The Lily
of the Valley.]
CAROLINE, chambermaid of the Marquis de Listomere, in 1827-1828, on
rue Saint-Dominique-Saint-Germain, Paris, when the marquis received a
letter from Eugene de Rastignac intended for Delphine de Nucingen. [A
Study of Woman.]
CAROLINE, servant of the Thuilliers in 1840. [The Middle Classes.]
CARON, lawyer, in charge of the affairs of Mlle. Gamard at Tours in
1826. He acted against Abbe Francois Birotteau. [The Vicar of Tours.]
CARPENTIER, formerly captain in the Imperial Army, retired at Issoudun
during the Restoration. He had a position in the mayor's office. He
was allied by marriage to one of the strongest families of the city,
the Borniche-Hereaus. He was an intimate friend of the artillery
captain, Mignonnet, sharing with him his aversion for Commandant
Maxence Gilet. Carpentier and Mignonnet were seconds of Philippe
Bridau in his duel with the chief of the "Knights of Idlesse." [A
Bachelor's Establishment.]
CARPI (Benedetto), jailer of a Venetian prison, where Facino Cane was
confined between the years 1760 and 1770. Bribed by the prisoner, he
fled with him, carrying a portion of the hidden treasure of the
Republic. But he perished soon after, by drowning, while trying to
cross the sea. [Facino Cane.]
CARTHAGENOVA, a superb basso of the Fenice theatre at Venice. In 1820
he sang the part of Moses in Rossini's opera, with Genovese and La
Tinti. [Massimilla Doni.]
CARTIER, gardener in the Montparnasse quarter, Paris, during the reign
of Louis Philippe. In 1838 he supplied flowers to M. Bernard--Baron de
Bourlac--for his daughter Vanda. [The Seamy Side of History.]
CARTIER (Madame), wife of the preceding; vender of milk, eggs and
vegetables to Mme. Vauthier, landlady of a miserable boarding-house on
Boulevard Montparnasse, and also to M. Bernard, lessee of real estate.
[The Seamy Side of History.]
CASA-REAL (Duc de), younger brother of Mme. Balthazar Claes; related
to the Evangelistas of Bordeaux; of an illustrious family under the
Spanish monarchy; his sister had renounced the paternal succession in
order to procure for him a marriage worthy of a house so noble. He
died young, in 1805, leaving to Mme. Claes, a considerable fortune in
money. [The Quest of the Absolute. A Marriage Settlement.]
CASTAGNOULD, mate of the "Mignon," a pretty, hundred-ton vessel owned
by Charles Mignon, the captain. In this he made several important and
prosperous voyages, from 1826 to 1829. Castagnould was a Provencal and
an old servant of the Mignon family. [Modeste Mignon.]
CASTANIER (Rodolphe), retired chief of squadron in the dragoons, under
the Empire. Cashier of Baron de Nucingen during the Restoration. Wore
the decoration of the Legion of Honor. He maintained Mme. de la
Garde--Aquilina--and on her account, in 1821, he counterfeited the
banker's name on a letter of credit for a considerable amount. John
Melmoth, an Englishman, got him out of this scrape by exchanging his
own individuality for that of the old officer. Castanier was thus
all-powerful, but becoming promptly at outs with the proceeding, he
adopted the same tactics of exchange, transferring his power to a
financier named Claparon. Castanier was a Southerner. He had seen
service from sixteen till nearly forty. [Melmoth Reconciled.]
CASTANIER (Madame), wife of the preceding, married during the first
Empire. Her family--that of the bourgeoisie of Nancy--fooled Castanier
about the size of her dowry and her "expectations." Mme. Castanier was
honest, ugly and sour-tempered. She was separated from her husband, to
his relief, and for several years previous to 1821 lived in the
suburbs of Strasbourg. [Melmoth Reconciled.]
CASTERAN (De), a very ancient aristocracy of Normandy; related to
William the Conqueror; allied with the Verneuils, the Esgrignons and
the Troisvilles. The name is pronounced "Cateran." A Demoiselle
Blanche de Casteran was the mother of Mlle. de Verneuil, and died
Abbess of Notre-Dame de Seez. [The Chouans.] In 1807 Mme. de la
Chanterie, then a widow, was hospitably received in Normandy by the
Casterans. [The Seamy Side of History.] In 1822 a venerable couple,
Marquis and Marquise de Casteran visited the drawing-room of Marquis
d'Esgrignon at Alencon. [Jealousies of a Country Town.] The Marquise
de Rochefide, nee Beatrix Maximilienne-Rose de Casteran, was the
younger daughter of a Marquis de Casteran who wished to marry off both
his daughters without dowries, and thus save his entire fortune for
his son, the Comte de Casteran. [Beatrix.] A Comte de Casteran,
son-in-law of the Marquis of Troisville, relative of Mme. de Montcornet,
was prefect of a department of Burgundy between 1820 and 1825. [The
Peasantry.]
CATANEO (Duke), noble Sicilian, born in 1773; first husband of
Massimilla Doni. Physically ruined by early debaucheries, he was a
husband only in name, living only by and through the influence of
music. Very wealthy, he had educated Clara Tinti, discovered by him
when still a child and a simple tavern servant. The young girl became,
thanks to him, the celebrated prima donna of the Fenice theatre, at
Venice in 1820. The wonderful tenor Genovese, of the same theatre, was
also a protege of Duke Cataneo, who paid him a high salary to sing
only with La Tinti. The Duke Cataneo cut a sorry figure. [Massimilla
Doni.]
CATANEO (Duchess), nee Massimilla Doni, wife of the preceding; married
later to Emilio Memmi, Prince de Varese. (See Princesse de Varese.)
CATHERINE, an old woman in the service of M. and Mme. Saillard, in
1824. [The Government Clerks.]
CATHERINE, chambermaid and foster sister of Laurence de Cinq-Cygne in
1803. A handsome girl of nineteen. According to Gothard, Catherine was
in all her mistress' secrets and furthered all her schemes. [The
Gondreville Mystery.]
CAVALIER, Fendant's partner; both were book-collectors, publishers and
venders in Paris, on rue Serpente in 1821. Cavalier traveled for the
house, whose firm name appeared as "Fendant and Cavalier." The two
associates failed shortly after having published, without success, the
famous romance of Lucien de Rubempre, "The Archer of Charles IX.,"
which title they had changed for one more fantastic. [A Distinguished
Provincial at Paris.] In 1838, a firm of Cavalier published "The
Spirit of Modern Law" by Baron Bourlac, sharing the profits with the
author. [The Seamy Side of History.]
CAYRON, of Languedoc, a vender of parasols, umbrellas and canes, on
rue Saint-Honore in a house adjacent to that inhabited by Birotteau
the perfumer in 1818. With the consent of the landlord, Molineux,
Cayron sublet two apartments over his shop to his neighbor. He fared
badly in business, suddenly disappearing a short time after the grand
ball given by Birotteau. Cayron admired Birotteau. [Cesar Birotteau.]
CELESTIN, _valet de chambre_ of Lucien de Rubempre, on the Malaquais
quai, in the closing years of the reign of Charles X. [Scenes from a
Courtesan's Life.]
CERIZET, orphan from the Foundling Hospital, Paris; born in 1802; an
apprentice of the celebrated printers Didot, at whose office he was
noticed by David Sechard, who took him to Angouleme and employed him
in his own shop, where Cerizet performed triple duties of form-maker,
compositor and proof-reader. Presently he betrayed his master, and by
leaguing with the Cointet Brothers, rivals of David Sechard, he
obtained possession of his property. [Lost Illusions.] Following this
he was an actor in the provinces; managed a Liberal paper during the
Restoration; was sub-prefect at the beginning of the reign of Louis
Philippe; and finally was a "man of business." In the latter capacity
he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for swindling. After
business partnership with Georges d'Estourny, and later with Claparon,
he was stranded and reduced to transcribing for a justice of the peace
in the quartier Saint-Jacques. At the same time he began lending money
on short time, and by speculating with the poorer class he acquired a
certain competence. Although thoroughly debauched, Cerizet married
Olympe Cardinal about 1840. At this time he was implicated in the
intrigues of Theodose de la Peyrade and in the interests of Jerome
Thuillier. Becoming possessed of a note of Maxime de Trailles in 1833,
he succeeded by Scapinal tactics in obtaining face value of the paper.
[A Man of Business. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. The Middle
Classes.]
CERIZET (Olympe Cardinal, Madame), wife of foregoing; born about 1824;
daughter of Mme. Cardinal the fish-dealer. Actress at the Bobino,
Luxembourg, then at the Folies-Dramatiques, where she made her debut
in "The Telegraph of Love." At first she was intimate with the first
comedian. Afterwards she had Julien Minard for lover. From the father
of the latter she received thirty thousand francs to renounce her son.
This money she used as a dowry and it aided in consummating her
marriage with Cerizet. [The Middle Classes.]
CESARINE, laundry girl at Alencon. Mistress of the Chevalier de
Valois, and mother of a child that was attributed to the old
aristocrat. It was also said in the town, in 1816, that he had married
Cesarine clandestinely. These rumors greatly annoyed the chevalier,
since he had hoped at this time to wed Mlle. Cormon. Cesarine, the
sole legatee of her lover, received an income of only six hundred
livres. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
CESARINE, dancer at the Opera de Paris in 1822; an acquaintance of
Philippe Bridau, who at one time thought of breaking off with her on
account of his uncle Rouget at Issoudun. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
CHABERT (Hyacinthe), Count, grand officer of the Legion of Honor,
colonel of a cavalry regiment. Left for dead on the battlefield of
Eylau (February 7-8, 1807). He was healed at Heilsberg, then locked up
in an insane asylum at Stuttgart. Returning to France after the
downfall of the Empire, he lived, in 1818, in straitened
circumstances, with the herdsman Vergniaud, an old lieutenant of his
regiment, on rue du Petit-Banquier, Paris. After having sought without
arousing scandal to make good his rights with Rose Chapotel, his wife,
now married to Count Ferraud, he sank again into poverty and was
convicted of vagrancy. He ended his days at the Hospital de Bicetre;
they had begun at the Foundling Hospital. [Colonel Chabert.]
CHABERT (Madame), nee Rose Chapotel. (See Ferraud, Comtesse.)
CHABOISSEAU, an old bookseller, book-lender, something of a usurer, a
millionaire living in 1821-1822 on quai Saint-Michel, where he
discussed a business deal with Lucien de Rubembre, who had been
piloted there by Lousteau. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] He
was a friend of Gobseck and of Gigonnet and with them he frequented,
in 1824, the Cafe Themis. [The Government Clerks.] During the reign of
Louis Philippe he had dealings with the Cerizet-Claparon Company. [A
Man of Business.]
CHAFFAROUX, building-contractor, one of Cesar Birotteau's creditors
[Cesar Birotteau]; uncle of Claudine Chaffaroux who became Mme. du
Bruel. Rich and a bachelor, he showered much affection upon his niece;
she had helped him to launch into business. He died in the second half
of the reign of Louis Philippe, leaving an income of forty thousand
francs to the former _danseuse_. [A Prince of Bohemia.] In 1840 he did
some work on an unfinished house in the suburbs of the Madeleine,
purchased by the Thuilliers. [The Middle Classes.]
CHAMAROLLES (Mesdemoiselles), conducted a boarding-school for young
ladies at Bourges, at the beginning of the century. This school
enjoyed a great reputation in the department. Here was educated Anna
Grosetete, who later married the third son of Comte de Fontaine; also
Dinah Piedefer who became Mme. de la Baudray. [The Muse of the
Department.]
CHAMPAGNAC, charman of Limoges, a widower, native of Auvergne. In 1797
Jerome-Baptiste Sauviat married Champagnac's daughter, who was at
least thirty. [The Country Parson.]
CHAMPIGNELLES (De), an illustrious Norman family. In 1822 a Marquis de
Champignelles was the head of the leading house of the country at
Bayeux. Through marriage this family was allied with the Navarreins,
the Blamont-Chauvries, and the Beauseants. Marquis de Champignelles
introduced Gaston de Nueil to Mme. de Beauseant's home. [The Deserted
Woman.] A M. de Champignelles presented Mme. de la Chanterie to Louis
XVIII., at the beginning of the Restoration. The Baronne de la
Chanterie was formerly a Champignelles. [The Seamy Side of History.]
CHAMPION (Maurice), a young boy of Montegnac, Haute-Vienne, son of the
postmaster of that commune; employed as stable-boy at Mme. Graslin's,
time of Louis Philippe. [The Country Parson.]
CHAMPLAIN (Pierre), vine-dresser, a neighbor of the crazy Margaritis,
at Vouvray in 1831. [Gaudissart the Great.]
CHAMPY (Madame de), name given to Esther Gobseck.
CHANDOUR (Stanislas de), born in 1781; one of the habitues of the
Bargeton's drawing-room at Angouleme, and the "beau" of that society.
In 1821 he was decorated. He obtained some success with the ladies by
his sarcastic pleasantries in the fashion of the eighteenth century.
Having spread about town a slander relating to Mme. de Bargeton and
Lucien de Rubempre, he was challenged by her husband and was wounded
in the neck by a bullet, which wound brought on him a kind of chronic
twist of the neck. [Lost Illusions.]
CHANDOUR (Amelie de), wife of the preceding; charming
conversationalist, but troubled with an unacknowledged asthma. In
Angouleme she posed as the antagonist of her friend, Mme. de Bargeton.
[Lost Illusions.]
CHANOR, partner of Florent, both being workers and dealers in bronze,
rue des Tournelles, Paris, time of Louis Philippe. Wenceslas Steinbock
was at first an apprentice and afterwards an employe of the firm.
[Cousin Betty.] In 1845, Frederic Brunner obtained a watch-chain and a
cane-knob from the firm of Florent & Chanor. [Cousin Pons.]
CHANTONNIT, mayor of Riceys, near Besancon, between 1830 and 1840. He
was a native of Neufchatel, Switzerland, and a Republican. He was
involved in a lawsuit with the Wattevilles. Albert Savarus pleaded for
them against Chantonnit. [Albert Savarus.]
CHAPELOUD (Abbe), canon of the Church of Saint-Gatien at Tours.
Intimate friend of the Abbe Birotteau, to whom he bequeathed on his
death-bed, in 1824, a set of furniture and a library of considerable
value which had been ardently coveted by the naive priest. [The Vicar
of Tours.]
CHAPERON (Abbe), Cure of Nemours, Seine-et-Marne, after the
re-establishment of religious worship following the Revolution. Born
in 1755, died in 1841, in that city. He was a friend of Dr. Minoret
and helped educate Ursule Mirouet, a niece of the physician. He was
nicknamed "the Fenelon of Gatinais." His successor was the cure of
Saint-Lange, the priest who tried to give religious consolation to
Mme. d'Aiglemont, a prey to despair. [Ursule Mirouet.]
CHAPOTEL (Rose), family name of Mme. Chabert, who afterwards became
Comtesse Ferraud, which name see.
CHAPOULOT (Monsieur and Madame), formerly lace-dealers of rue
Saint-Denis in 1845. Tenants of the house, rue de Normandie, where
lived Pons and Schmucke. One evening, when M. and Mme. Chapoulot
accompanied by their daughter Victorine were returning from the
Theatre de l'Ambigu-Comique, they met Heloise Brisetout on the
landing, and a little conjugal scene resulted. [Cousin Pons.]
CHAPUZOT (Monsieur and Madame), porters of Marguerite Turquet, known
as Malaga, rue des Fosses-du-Temple at Paris in 1836; afterwards her
servants and her confidants when she was maintained by Thaddee Paz.
[The Imaginary Mistress.]
CHAPUZOT, chief of division to the prefecture of police in the time of
Louis Philippe. Visited and consulted in 1843 by Victorin Hulot on
account of Mme. de Saint-Esteve. [Cousin Betty.]
CHARDIN (Pere), old mattress-maker, and a sot. In 1843 he acted as a
go-between for Baron Hulot under the name of Pere Thoul, and Cousin
Betty, who concealed from the family the infamy of its head. [Cousin
Betty.]
CHARDIN, son of the preceding. At first a watchman for Johann Fischer,
commissariat for the Minister of War in the province of Oran from 1838
to 1841. Afterwards _claqueur_ in a theatre under Braulard, and
designated at that time by the name of Idamore. A brother of Elodie
Chardin whom he procured for Pere Thoul in order to release Olympe
Bijou whose lover he himself was. After Olympe Bijou, Chardin paid
court in 1843 to a young _premiere_ of the Theatre des Funambules.
[Cousin Betty.]
CHARDIN (Elodie), sister of Chardin alias Idamore; lace-maker;
mistress of Baron Hulot--Pere Thoul--in 1843. She lived then with him
at number 7 rue des Bernardins. She had succeeded Olympe Bijou in the
old fellow's affections. [Cousin Betty.]
CHARDON, retired surgeon of the army of the Republic; established as a
druggist at Angouleme during the Empire. He was engrossed in trying to
cure the gout, and he also dreamed of replacing rag-paper with paper
made from vegetable fibre, after the manner of the Chinese. He died at
the beginning of the Restoration at Paris, where he had come to
solicit the sanction of the Academy of Science, in despair at the lack
of result, leaving a wife and two children poverty-stricken. [Lost
Illusions.]
CHARDON (Madame), nee Rubempre, wife of the preceding. The final
branch of an illustrious family. Saved from the scaffold in 1793 by
the army surgeon Chardon who declared her enceinte by him and who
married her despite their mutual poverty. Reduced to suffering by the
sudden death of her husband, she concealed her misfortunes under the
name of Mme. Charlotte. She adored her two children, Eve and Lucien.
Mme. Chardon died in 1827. [Lost Illusions. Scenes from a Courtesan's
Life.]
CHARDON (Lucien). (See Rubempre, Chardon de).
CHARDON (Eve). (See Sechard, Madame David.)
CHARELS (The), worthy farmers in the outskirts of Alencon; the father
and mother of Olympe Charel who became the wife of Michaud, the
head-keeper of General de Montcornet's estate. [The Peasantry.]
CHARGEBOEUF (Marquis de), a Champagne gentleman, born in 1739, head of
the house of Chargeboeuf in the time of the Consulate and the Empire.
His lands reached from the department of Seine-et-Marne into that of
the Aube. A relative of the Hauteserres and the Simeuses whom he
sought to erase from the emigrant list in 1804, and whom he assisted
in the lawsuit in which they were implicated after the abduction of
Senator Malin. He was also related to Laurence de Cinq-Cygne. The
Chargeboeufs and the Cinq-Cygnes had the same origin, the Frankish
name of Duineff being their joint property. Cinq-Cygne became the name
of the junior branch of the Chargeboeufs. The Marquis de Chargeboeuf
was acquainted with Talleyrand, at whose instance he was enabled to
transmit a petition to First-Consul Bonaparte. M. de Chargeboeuf was
apparently reconciled to the new order of things springing out of the
year '89; at any rate he displayed much politic prudence. His family
reckoned their ancient titles from the Crusades; his name arose from
an equerry's exploit with Saint Louis in Egypt. [The Gondreville
Mystery.]
CHARGEBOEUF (Madame de), mother of Bathilde de Chargeboeuf who married
Denis Rogron. She lived at Troyes with her daughter during the
Restoration. She was poor but haughty. [Pierrette.]
CHARGEBOEUF (Bathilde de), daughter of the preceding; married Denis
Rogron. (See Rogron, Madame.)
CHARGEBOEUF (Melchior-Rene, Vicomte de), of the poor branch of the
Chargeboeufs. Made sub-prefect of Arcis-sur-Aube in 1815, through the
influence of his kinswoman, Mme. de Cinq-Cygne. It was there that he
met Mme. Severine Beauvisage. A mutual attachment resulted, and a
daughter called Cecile-Renee was born of their intimacy. [The Member
for Arcis.] In 1820 the Vicomte de Chargeboeuf removed to Sancerre
where he knew Mme. de la Baudraye. She would probably have favored
him, had he not been made prefect and left the city. [The Muse of the
Department.]
CHARGEBOEUF (De), secretary of attorney-general Granville at Paris in
1830; then a young man. Entrusted by the magistrate with the details
of Lucien de Rubempre's funeral, which was carried through in such a
way as to make one believe that he had died a free man and in his own
home, on quai Malaquais. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
CHARGEGRAIN (Louis), inn-keeper of Littray, Normandy. He had dealings
with the brigands and was arrested in the suit of the Chauffeurs of
Mortagne, in 1809, but acquitted. [The Seamy Side of History.]
CHARLES, first name of a rather indifferent young painter, who in 1819
boarded at the Vauquer pension. A tutor at college and a Museum
attache; very jocular; given to personal witticisms, which were often
aimed at Goriot. [Father Goriot.]
CHARLES, a young prig who was killed in a duel of small arms with
Raphael de Valentin at Aix, Savoy, in 1831. Charles had boasted of
having received the title of "Bachelor of shooting" from Lepage at
Paris, and that of doctor from Lozes the "King of foils." [The Magic
Skin.]
CHARLES, _valet de chambre_ of M. d'Aiglemont at Paris in 1823. The
marquis complained of his servant's carelessness. [A Woman of Thirty.]
CHARLES, footman to Comte de Montcornet at Aigues, Burgundy, in 1823.
Through no good motive he paid court to Catherine Tonsard, being
encouraged in his gallantries by Fourchon the girl's maternal
grandfather, who desired to have a spy in the chateau. In the
peasants' struggle against the people of Aigues, Charles usually sided
with the peasants: "Sprung from the people, their livery remained upon
him." [The Peasantry.]
CHARLOTTE, a great lady, a duchess, and a widow without children. She
was loved by Marsay then only sixteen and some six years younger than
she. She deceived him and he resented by procuring her a rival. She
died young of consumption. Her husband was a statesman. [Another Study
of Woman.]
CHARLOTTE (Madame), name assumed by Mme. Chardon, in 1821 at
Angouleme, when obliged to make a living as a nurse. [Lost Illusions.]
CHATELET (Sixte, Baron du), born in 1776 as plain Sixte Chatelet.
About 1806 he qualified for and later was made baron under the Empire.
His career began with a secretaryship to an Imperial princess. Later
he entered the diplomatic corps, and finally, under the Restoration,
M. de Barante selected him for director of the indirect taxes at
Angouleme. Here he met and married Mme. de Bargeton when she became a
widow in 1821. He was the prefect of the Charente. [Lost Illusions. A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] In 1824 he was count and deputy.
[Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] Chatelet accompanied General Marquis
Armand de Montriveau in a perilous and famous excursion into Egypt.
[The Thirteen.]
CHATELET (Marie-Louise-Anais de Negrepelisse, Baronne du), born in
1785; cousin by marriage of the Marquise d'Espard; married in 1803 to
M. de Bargeton of Angouleme; widow in 1821 and married to Baron Sixte
du Chatelet, prefect of the Charente. Temporarily enamored of Lucien
de Rubempre, she attached him to her party in a journey to Paris made
necessary by provincial slanders and ambition. There she abandoned her
youthful lover at the instigation of Chatelet and of Mme. d'Espard.
[Lost Illusions. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] In 1824, Mme.
du Chatelet attended Mme. Rabourdin's evening reception. [The
Government Clerks.] Under the direction of Abbe Niolant (or Niollant),
Madame du Chatelet, orphaned of her mother, had been reared a little
too boyishly at l'Escarbas, a small paternal estate situated near
Barbezieux. [Lost Illusions.]
CHATILLONEST (De), an old soldier; father of Marquise d'Aiglemont. He
was hardly reconciled to her marriage with her cousin, the brilliant
colonel. [A Woman of Thirty.] The device of the house of Chatillonest
(or Chastillonest) was: _Fulgens, sequar_ ("Shining, I follow thee").
Jean Butscha had put this device beneath a star on his seal. [Modest
Mignon.]
CHAUDET (Antoine-Denis), sculptor and painter, born in Paris in 1763,
interested in the birth of Joseph Bridau's genius. [A Bachelor's
Establishment.]
CHAULIEU (Henri, Duc de), born in 1773; peer of France; one of the
gentlemen of the Court of Louis XVIII. and of that of Charles X.,
principally in favor under the latter. After having been ambassador
from France to Madrid, he became Minister of Foreign Affairs at the
beginning of 1830. He had three children: the eldest was the Duc de
Rhetore; the second became Duc de Lenoncourt-Givry through his
marriage with Madeleine de Mortsauf; the third, a daughter,
Armande-Louise-Marie, married Baron de Macumer and, left a widow,
afterwards married the poet Marie Gaston. [Letters of Two Brides.
Modeste Mignon. A Bachelor's Establishment.] The Duc de Chaulieu was
on good terms with the Grandlieus and promised them to obtain the
title of marquis for Lucien de Rubempre, who was aspiring to the hand
of their daughter Clotilde. The Duc de Chaulieu resided in Paris in
very close relations with these same Grandlieus of the elder branch.
More than once he took particular interest in the family's affairs.
He employed Corentin to clear up the dark side of the life of
Clotilde's fiance. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] Some time before
this M. de Chaulieu made one of the portentous conclave assembled to
extricate Mme. de Langeais, a relative of the Grandlieus, from a
serious predicament. [The Thirteen.]
CHAULIEU (Eleonore, Duchesse de), wife of the preceding. She was a
friend of M. d'Aubrion and sought to influence him to bring about the
marriage of Mlle. d'Aubrion with Charles Grandet. [Eugenie Grandet.]
For a long time she was the mistress of the poet Canalis, several
years her junior. She protected him, helping him on in the world, and
in public life, but she was very jealous and kept him under strict
surveillance. She still retained her hold of him at fifty years. Mme.
de Chaulieu gave her husband the three children designated in the
duc's biography. Her hauteur and coquetry subdued most of her maternal
sentiments. During the last year of the second Restoration, Eleonore
de Chaulieu followed on the way to Normandy, not far from Rosny, a
chase almost royal where her sentiments were fully occupied. [Letters
of Two Brides.]
CHAULIEU (Armande-Louise-Marie de), daughter of Duc and Duchesse de
Chaulieu. (See Marie Gaston, Madame.)
CHAUSSARD (The Brothers), inn-keepers at Louvigny, Orne; old
game-keepers of the Troisville estate, implicated in a trial known as
the "Chauffeurs of Mortagne" in 1809. Chaussard the elder was condemned
to twenty years' hard labor, was sent to the galleys, and later was
pardoned by the Emperor. Chaussard junior was contumacious, and
therefore received sentence of death. Later he was cast into the sea
by M. de Boislaurier for having been traitorous to the Chouans. A
third Chaussard, enticed into the ranks of the police by Contenson,
was assassinated in a nocturnal affair. [The Seamy Side of History.]
CHAVONCOURT (De), Besancon gentleman, highly thought of in the town,
representing an old parliamentary family. A deputy under Charles X.,
one of the famous 221 who signed the address to the King on March 18,
1830. He was re-elected under Louis Philippe. Father of three children
but possessing a rather slender income. The family of Chavoncourt was
acquainted with the Wattevilles. [Albert Savarus.]
CHAVONCOURT (Madame de), wife of the preceding and one of the beauties
of Besancon. Born about 1794; mother of three children; managed
capably the household with its slender resources. [Albert Savarus.]
CHAVONCOURT (De), born in 1812. Son of M. and Mme. de Chavoncourt of
Besancon. College-mate and chum of M. de Vauchelles. [Albert Savarus.]
CHAVONCOURT (Victoire de), second child and elder daughter of M. and
Mme. de Chavoncourt. Born between 1816 and 1817. M. de Vauchelles
desired to wed her in 1834. [Albert Savarus.]
CHAVONCOURT (Sidonie de), third and last child of M. and Mme. de
Chavoncourt of Besancon. Born in 1818. [Albert Savarus.]
CHAZELLE, clerk under the Minister of Finance, in Baudoyer's bureau,
in 1824. A benedict and wife-led, although wishing to appear his own
master. He argued without ceasing upon subjects and through causes the
idlest with Paulmier the bachelor. The one smoked, the other took
snuff; this different way of taking tobacco was one of the endless
themes between the two. [The Government Clerks.]
CHELIUS, physician of Heidelberg with whom Halpersohn corresponded,
during the reign of Louis Philippe. [The Seamy Side of History.]
CHERVIN, a police-corporal at Montegnac near Limoges in 1829. [The
Country Parson.]
CHESNEL, or Choisnel, notary at Alencon, time of Louis XVIII. Born in
1753. Old attendant of the house of Gordes, also of the d'Esgrignon
family whose property he had protected during the Revolution. A
widower, childless, and possessed of a considerable fortune, he had an
aristocratic clientele, notably that of Mme. de la Chanterie. On every
hand he received that attention which his good points merited. M. du
Bousquier held him in profound hatred, blaming him with the refusal
which Mlle. d'Esgrignon had made of Du Bousquier's proffered hand in
marriage, and another check of the same nature which he experienced at
first from Mlle. Cormon. By a dexterous move in 1824 Chesnel succeeded
in rescuing Victurnien d'Esgrignon, though guilty, from the Court of
Assizes. The old notary succumbed soon after this event. [The Seamy
Side of History. Jealousies of a Country Town.]
CHESSEL (De), owner of the chateau and estate of Frapesle near Sache
in Touraine. Friend of the Vandenesses; he introduced their son Felix
to his neighbors, the Mortsaufs. The son of a manufacturer named
Durand who became very rich during the Revolution, but whose plebeian
name he had entirely dropped; instead he adopted that of his wife, the
only heiress of the Chessels, an old parliamentary family. M. de
Chessel was director-general and twice deputy. He received the title
of count under Louis XVIII. [The Lily of the Valley.]
CHESSEL (Madame de), wife of the preceding. She made up elaborate
toilettes. [The Lily of the Valley.] In 1824 she frequented Mme.
Rabourdin's Paris home. [The Government Clerks.]
CHEVREL (Monsieur and Madame), founders of the house of the "Cat and
Racket," rue Saint-Denis, at the close of the eighteenth century.
Father and mother of Mme. Guillaume, whose husband succeeded to the
management of the firm. [At the Sign of the Cat and Racket.]
CHEVREL, rich Parisian banker at the beginning of the nineteenth
century. Probably brother and brother-in-law of the foregoing. He had
a daughter who married Maitre Roguin. [At the Sign of the Cat and
Racket.]
CHIAVARI (Prince de), brother of the Duke of Vissembourg; son of
Marechal Vernon. [Beatrix.]
CHIFFREVILLE (Monsieur and Madame), ran a very prosperous drug-store
and laboratory in Paris during the Restoration. Their partners were
MM. Protez and Cochin. This firm had frequent business dealings with
Cesar Birotteau's "Queen of Roses"; it also supplied Balthazar Claes.
[Cesar Birotteau. The Quest of the Absolute.]
CHIGI (Prince), great lord of Rome in 1758. He boasted of having "made
a soprano out of Zambinella" and disclosed the fact to Sarrasine that
this creature was not a woman. [Sarrasine.]
CHISSE (Madame de), great aunt of M. du Bruel; a grasping old
Provincial at whose home the retired dancer Tullia, now Mme. du Bruel,
was fortunate to pass a summer in a rather hypocritical religious
penance. [A Prince of Bohemia.]
CHOCARDELLE (Mademoiselle), known as Antonia; a Parisian courtesan
during the reign of Louis Philippe; born in 1814. Maxime de Trailles
spoke of her as a woman of wit; "She's a pupil of mine, indeed," said
he. About 1834, she lived on rue Helder and for fifteen days was the
mistress of M. de la Palferine. [Beatrix. A Prince of Bohemia.] For a
time she operated a reading-room that M. de Trailles had established
for her on rue Coquenard. Like Marguerite Turquet she had "well soaked
the little d'Esgrignon." [A Man of Business.] In 1838 she was present
at the "house-warming" to Josepha Mirah on rue de la Ville-l'Eveque.
[Cousin Betty.] In 1839 she accompanied her lover Maxime de Trailles
to Arcis-sur-Aube to aid him in his official transactions relating to
the legislative elections. [The Member for Arcis.]
CHOIN (Mademoiselle), good Catholic who built a parsonage on some land
at Blangy bought expressly by her in the eighteenth century; the
property was acquired later by Rigou. [The Peasantry.]
CHOLLET (Mother), janitress of a house on rue du Sentier occupied by
Finot's paper in 1821. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
CHRESTIEN (Michel), Federalist Republican; member of the "Cenacle" of
rue des Quatre-Vents. In 1819 he and his friends were invited by the
widow Bridau to her home to celebrate the return of her elder son
Philippe from Texas. He posed as a Roman senator in a historic
picture. The painter Joseph Bridau was a friend of his. [A Bachelor's
Establishment.] About 1822 Chrestien fought a duel with Lucien Chardon
de Rubempre on account of Daniel d'Arthez. He was a great though
unknown statesman. He was killed at Saint-Merri cloister on June 6,
1832, where he was defending ideas not his own. [A Distinguished
Provincial at Paris.] He became foolishly enamored of Diane de
Maufrigneuse, but did not confess his love save by a letter addressed
to her just before he went to his death at the barricade. He had saved
the life of M. de Maufrigneuse in the Revolution of July, 1830,
through love for the duchesse. [The Secrets of a Princess.]
CHRISTEMIO, creole and foster-father of Paquita Valdes, whose
protector and body-guard he constituted himself. The Marquis de
San-Real caused his death for having abetted the intimacy between
Paquita and Marsay. [The Thirteen.]
CHRISTOPHE, native of Savoy; servant of Mme. Vauquer on rue
Neuve-Saint-Genevieve, Paris, in 1819. He alone was with Rastignac
at the funeral of Goriot, accompanying the body as far as
Pere-Lachaise in the priest's carriage. [Father Goriot.]
CIBOT, alias Galope-Chopine, also called Cibot the Great. A Chouan
implicated in the Breton insurrection of 1799. Decapitated by his
cousin Cibot, alias Pille-Miche, and by Marche-a-Terre for having
unthinkingly betrayed the brigand position to the "Blues." [The
Chouans.]
CIBOT (Barbette), wife of Cibot, alias Galope-Chopine. She went over
to the "Blues" after her husband's execution, and vowed through
vengeance to devote her son, who was still a child, to the Republican
cause. [The Chouans.]
CIBOT (Jean), alias Pille-Miche; one of the Chouans of the Breton
insurrection of 1799; cousin of Cibot, alias Galope-Chopine, and his
murderer. Pille-Miche it was, also, who shot and killed Adjutant
Gerard of the 72d demi-brigade at the Vivetiere. [The Chouans.]
Signalized as the hardiest of the indirect allies of the brigands in
the affair of the "Chauffeurs of Mortagne." Tried and executed in
1809. [The Seamy Side of History.]
CIBOT, born in 1786. From 1818 to 1845 he was tailor-janitor in a
house in rue de Normandie, belonging to Claude-Joseph Pillerault,
where dwelt Pons and Schmucke, the two musicians, time of Louis
Philippe. Poisoned by the pawn-broker Remonencq, Cibot died at his
post in April, 1845, on the same day of Sylvain Pons' demise. [Cousin
Pons.]
CIBOT (Madame). (See Remonencq, Madame.)
CICOGNARA, Roman Cardinal in 1758; protector of Zambinella. He caused
the assassination of Sarrasine who otherwise would have slain
Zambinella. [Sarrasine.]
CINQ-CYGNE, the name of an illustrious family of Champagne, the
younger branch of the house of Chargeboeuf. These two branches of the
same stock had a common origin in the Duineffs of the Frankish people.
The name of Cinq-Cygne arose from the defence of a castle made, in the
absence of their father, by five (_cinq_) daughters all remarkably
fair. On the blazon of the house of Cinq-Cygne is placed for device
the response of the eldest of the five sisters when summoned to
surrender: "We die singing!" [The Gondreville Mystery.]
CINQ-CYGNE (Comtesse de), mother of Laurence de Cinq-Cygne. Widow at
the time of the Revolution. She died in the height of a nervous fever
induced by an attack on her chateau at Troyes by the populace in 1793.
[The Gondreville Mystery.]
CINQ-CYGNE (Marquis de), name of Adrien d'Hauteserre after his
marriage with Laurence de Cinq-Cygne. (See Hauteserre, Adrien d'.)
CINQ-CYGNE (Laurence, Comtesse, afterwards Marquise de), born in 1781.
Left an orphan at the age of twelve, she lived, at the last of the
eighteenth and the first of the nineteenth century, with her kinsman
and tutor M. d'Hauteserre at Cinq-Cygne, Aube. She was loved by both
her cousins, Paul-Marie and Marie-Paul de Simeuse, and also by the
younger of her tutor's two sons, Adrien d'Hauteserre, whom she married
in 1813. Laurence de Cinq-Cygne struggled valiantly against a cunning
and redoubtable police-agency, the soul of which was Corentin. The
King of France approved the charter of the Count of Champagne, by
virtue of which, in the family of Cinq-Cygne, a woman might "ennoble
and succeed"; therefore the husband of Laurence took the name and the
arms of his wife. Although an ardent Royalist she went to seek the
Emperor as far as the battlefield of Jena, in 1806, to ask pardon for
the two Simeuses and the two Hauteserres involved in a political trial
and condemned to hard labor, despite their innocence. Her bold move
succeeded. The Marquise de Cinq-Cygne gave her husband two children,
Paul and Berthe. This family passed the winter season at Paris in a
magnificent mansion on Faubourg du Roule. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
In 1832 Mme. de Cinq-Cygne, at the instance of the Archbishop of
Paris, consented to call on the Princesse de Cadignan who had
reformed. [The Secrets of a Princess.] In 1836 Mme. de Cinq-Cygne was
intimate with Mme. de la Chanterie. [The Seamy Side of History.] Under
the Restoration, and principally during Charles X.'s reign, Mme. de
Cinq-Cygne exercised a sort of sovereignty over the Department of the
Aube which the Comte de Gondreville counterbalanced in a measure by
his family connections and through the generosity of the department.
Some time after the death of Louis XVIII. she brought about the
election of Francois Michu as president of the Arcis Court. [The
Member for Arcis.]
CINQ-CYGNE (Jules de), only brother of Laurence de Cinq-Cygne. He
emigrated at the outbreak of the Revolution and died for the Royalist
cause at Mayence. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
CINQ-CYGNE (Paul de), son of Laurence de Cinq-Cygne and of Adrien
d'Hauteserre; he became marquis after his father's death. [The
Gondreville Mystery.]
CINQ-CYGNE (Berthe de). (See Maufrigneuse, Mme. Georges de.)
CIPREY of Provins, Seine-et-Marne; nephew of the maternal grandmother
of Pierrette Lorrain. He formed one of the family council called
together in 1828 to decide whether or not the young girl should remain
underneath Denis Rogron's roof. This council replaced Rogron with the
notary Auffray and chose Ciprey for vice-guardian. [Pierrette.]
CLAES-MOLINA (Balthazar), Comte de Nourho; born at Douai in 1761 and
died in the same town in 1832; sprung from a famous family of Flemish
weavers, allied to a very noble Spanish family, time of Philip II. In
1795 he married Josephine de Temninck of Brussels, and lived happily
with her until 1809, at which time a Polish officer, Adam de
Wierzchownia, seeking shelter at the Claes mansion, discussed with him
the subject of chemical affinity. From that time on Balthazar, who
formerly had worked in Lavoisier's laboratory, buried himself
exclusively in the "quest of the absolute." He expended seven millions
in experiments, leaving his wife to die of neglect. From 1820 to 1825*
he was a tax-collector in Brittany--duties performed by his elder
daughter who had secured the position for him in order to divert him
from his barren labors. During this time she rehabilitated the family
fortunes. Balthazar died, almost insane, crying "Eureka!" [The Quest
of the Absolute.]
* Given erroneously in original text as 1852.--J.W.M.
CLAES (Josephine de Temninck, Madame), wife of Balthazar Claes; born
at Brussels in 1770, died at Douai in 1816; a native Spaniard on her
mother's side; commonly called Pepita. She was small, crooked and
lame, with heavy black hair and glowing eyes. She gave her husband
four children: Marguerite, Felicie, Gabriel (or Gustave) and
Jean-Balthazar. She was passionatley devoted to her husband, and died
of grief over his neglect of her for the scientific experiments which
never came to an end. [The Quest of the Absolute.] Mme. Claes counted
among her kin the Evangelistas of Bordeau. [A Marriage Settlement.]
CLAES (Marguerite), elder daughter of Balthazar Claes and Josephine de
Temninck. (See Solis, Madame de.)
CLAES (Felicie), second daughter of Balthazar Claes and of Josephine
de Temninck; born in 1801. (See Pierquin, Madame.)
CLAES (Gabriel or Gustave), third child of Balthazar Claes and of
Josephine de Temninck; born about 1802. He attended the College of
Douai, afterwards entering the Ecole Polytechnique, becoming an
engineer of roads and bridges. In 1825 he married Mlle. Conyncks of
Cambrai. [The Quest of the Absolute.]
CLAES (Jean-Balthazar) last child of Balthazar Claes and Josephine de
Temninck; born in the early part of the nineteenth century. [The Quest
of the Absolute.]
CLAGNY (J.-B. de), public prosecutor at Sancerre in 1836. A passionate
admirer of Dinah de la Baudraye. He got transferred to Paris when she
returned there, and became successively the substitute for the general
prosecutor, attorney-general and finally attorney-general to the Court
of Cassation. He watched over and protected the misguided woman,
consenting to act as godfather to the child she had by Lousteau. [The
Muse of the Department.]
CLAGNY (Madame de), wife of the preceding. To use an expression of M.
Gravier's, she was "ugly enough to chase a young Cossack" in 1814.
Mme. de Clagny associated with Mme. de la Baudraye. [The Muse of the
Department.]
CLAPARON, clerk for the Minister of the Interior under the Republic
and Empire. Friend of Bridau, Sr., after whose death he continued his
cordial relations with Mme. Bridau. He gave much attention to Philippe
and Joseph on their mother's account. Claparon died in 1820. [A
Bachelor's Establishment.]
CLAPARON (Charles), son of the preceding; born about 1790. Business
man and banker (rue de Provence); at first a commercial traveler; an
aide of F. du Tillet in transactions of somewhat shady nature. He was
invited to the famous ball given by Cesar Birotteau in honor of
Cesar's nomination to the Legion of Honor and the release of French
possessions. [A Bachelor's Establishment. Cesar Birotteau.] In 1821,
at the Bourse in Paris, he made a peculiar bargain with the cashier
Castanier, who transferred to him, in exchange for his own
individuality, the power which he had received from John Melmoth, the
Englishman. [Melmoth Reconciled.] He was interested in the third
liquidation of Nucingen in 1826, a settlement which made the fortune
of the Alsatian banker whose "man of straw" he was for some time. [The
Firm of Nucingen.] He was associated with Cerizet who deceived him in
a deal about a house sold to Thuillier. Becoming bankrupt he embarked
for America about 1840. He was probably condemned for contumacy on
account of swindling. [A Man of Business. The Middle Classes.]
CLAPART, employe to the prefecture of the Seine during the
Restoration, at a salary of twelve hundred francs. Born about 1776.
About 1803 he married a widow Husson, aged twenty-two. At that time he
was employed in the Bureau of Finance, at a salary of eighteen hundred
francs and a promise of more. But his known incapacity held him down
to a secondary place. At the fall of the Empire he lost his position,
obtaining his new one on the recommendation of the Comte de Serizy.
Mme. Husson had by her first husband a child that was Clapart's evil
genius. In 1822 his family occupied an apartment renting for two
hundred and fifty francs at number seven rue de la Cerisaie. There he
saw much of the old pensioner Poiret. Clapart was killed by the
Fieschi attack of July 28, 1835. [A Start in Life.]
CLAPART (Madame), wife of the preceding; born in 1780; one of the
"Aspasias" of the Directory, and famous for her acquaintance with one
of the "Pentarques." He married her to Husson the contractor, who made
millions but who became bankrupt suddenly through the First Consul,
and suicided in 1802. At that time she was mistress of Moreau, steward
of M. de Serizy. Moreau was in love with her and would have made her
his wife, but just then was under sentence of death and a fugitive.
Thus it was that in her distress she married Clapart, a clerk in the
Bureau of Finance. By her first husband Mme. Clapart had a son, Oscar
Husson, whom she was bound up in, but whose boyish pranks caused her
much trouble. During the first Empire Mme. Clapart was a
lady-in-waiting to Mme. Mere--Letitia Bonaparte. [A Start in Life.]
CLARIMBAULT (Marechal de), maternal grandfather of Mme. de Beauseant.
He had married the daughter of Chevalier de Rastignac, great-uncle of
Eugene de Rastignac. [Father Goriot.]
CLAUDE, an idiot who died in the village of Dauphine in 1829, nursed
and metamorphosed by Dr. Benassis. [The Country Doctor.]
CLERETTI, an architect of Paris who was quite the fashion in 1843.
Grindot, though decadent at this time, tried to compete with him.
[Cousin Betty.]
CLERGET (Basine), laundress at Angouleme during the Restoration, who
succeeded Mme. Prieur with whom Eve Chardon had worked. Basine Clerget
concealed David Sechard and Kolb when Sechard was pursued by the
Cointet brothers. [Lost Illusions.]
CLOUSIER, retired attorney of Limoges; justice of the peace at
Montegnac after 1809. He was in touch with Mme. Graslin when she moved
there about 1830. An upright, phlegmatic man who finally led the
contemplative life of one of the ancient hermits. [The Country
Parson.]
COCHEGRUE (Jean), a Chouan who died of wounds received at the fight of
La Pelerine or at the siege of Fourgeres in 1799. Abbe Gudin said a
mass, in the forest, for the repose of Jean Cochegrue, and others
slain by the "Blues." [The Chouans.]
COCHET (Francoise), chambermaid of Modeste Mignon at Havre in 1829.
She received the answers to the letters addressed by Modeste to
Canalis. She had also faithfully served Bettina-Caroline, Modeste's
elder sister who took her to Paris. [Modeste Mignon.]
COCHIN (Emile-Louis-Lucien-Emmanuel), employe in Clergeot's division
of the Bureau of Finance during the Restoration. He had a brother who
looked after him in the administration. At this time Cochin was also a
silent partner in Matifat's drug-store. Colleville invented an anagram
on Cochin's name; with his given names it made up "Cochenille." Cochin
and his wife were in Birotteau's circle, being present with their son
at the famous ball given by the perfumer. In 1840, Cochin, now a
baron, was spoken of by Anselme Popinot as the oracle of the Lombard
and Bourdonnais quarters. [Cesar Birotteau. The Government Clerks. The
Firm of Nucingen. The Middle Classes.]
COCHIN, (Adolphe), son of the preceding; an employe of the Minister of
Finance as his father had been for some years. In 1826 his parents
tried to obtain for him the hand of Mlle. Matifat. [Cesar Birotteau.
The Firm of Nucingen.]
COFFINET, porter of a house belonging to Thuillier on rue
Saint-Dominique-d'Enfer, Paris, in 1840. His employer put him to work
in connection with the "Echo de la Bievre," when Louis-Jerome
Thuillier became editor-in-chief of this paper. [The Middle Classes.]
COFFINET, (Madame), wife of the preceding. She looked after Theodose
de la Peyrade's establishment. [The Middle Classes.]
COGNET, inn-keeper at Issoudun during the Restoration. House of the
"Knights of Idlesse" captained by Maxence Gilet. A former groom; born
about 1767; short, thickset, wife-led, one-eyed. [A Bachelor's
Establishment.]
COGNET (Madame), known as Mother Cognet, wife of the preceding; born
about 1783. A retired cook of a good house, who on account of her
"Cordon bleu" talents, was chosen to be the Leonarde of the Order
which had Maxence Gilet for chief. A tall, swarthy woman of
intelligent and pleasant demeanor. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
COINTET (Boniface), and his brother Jean, ran a thriving
printing-office at Angouleme during the Restoration. He ruined David
Sechard's shop by methods hardly honorable. Boniface Cointet was older
than Jean, and was usually called Cointet the Great. He put on the
devout. Extremely wealthy, he became deputy, was made a peer of France
and Minister of Commerce in Louis Philippe's coalition ministry. In
1842 he married Mlle. Popinot, daughter of Anselme Popinot. [Lost
Illusions. The Firm of Nucingen.] On May, 1839, he presided at the
sitting of the Chamber of Deputies when the election of Sallenauve was
ratified. [The Member for Arcis.]
COINTET (Jean), younger brother of the preceding; known as "Fatty"
Cointet; was foreman of the printing-office, while his brother ran the
business end. Jean Cointet passed for a good fellow and acted the
generous part. [Lost Illusions.]
COLAS (Jacques), a consumptive child of a village near Grenoble, who
was attended by Dr. Benassis. His passion was singing, for which he
had a very pure voice. Lived with his mother who was poverty-stricken.
Died in the latter part of 1829 at the age of fifteen, shortly after
the death of his benefactor, the physician. A nephew of Moreau, the
old laborer. [The Country Doctor.]
COLLEVILLE, son of a talented musician, once leading violin of the
Opera under Francoeur and Rebel. He himself was first clarionet at the
Opera-Comique, and at the same time chief clerk under the Minister of
Finance, and, in additon, book-keeper for a merchant from seven to
nine in the mornings. Great on anagrams. Made deputy-chief clerk in
Baudoyer's bureau when the latter was promoted to division chief. He
was preceptor at Paris six months later. In 1832 he became secretary
to the mayor of the twelfth Arrondissement and officer of the Legion
of Honor. At that time Colleville lived with his wife and family on
rue d'Enfer. He was Thuillier's most intimate friend. [The Government
Clerks. The Middle Classes.]
COLLEVILLE (Flavie Minoret, Madame), born in 1798; wife of the
preceding; daughter of a celebrated dancer and, supposedly, of M. du
Bourguier. She made a love match and between 1816 and 1826 bore five
children, each of whom resembled and may actually have had a different
father: 1st. A daughter born in 1816, who favored Colleville. 2d. A
son, Charles, cut out for a soldier, born during his mother's
acquaintance with Charles de Gondreville, under-lieutenant of the
dragoons of Saint-Chamans. 3d. A son, Francois, destined for business,
born during Mme. Colleville's intimacy with Francois Keller, the
banker. 4th. A daughter, Celeste born in 1821, of whom Thuillier,
Colleville's best friend, was the godfather--and father _in partibus_.
(See Phellion, Mme. Felix.) 5th. A son, Theodore, or Anatole, born at
a period of religious zeal. Madame Colleville was a Parisian, piquant,
winning and pretty, as well as clever and ethereal. She made her
husband very happy. He owed all his advancement to her. In the
interests of their ambition she granted momentary favor to Chardin des
Lupeaulx, the Secretary-General. On Wednesdays she was at home to
artists and distinguished people. [The Government Clerks. Cousin
Betty. The Middle Classes.]
COLLIN (Jacques), born in 1779. Reared by the Fathers of the Oratory.
He went as far as rhetoric, at school, and was then put in a bank by
his aunt, Jacqueline Collin. Accused, however, of a crime probably
committed by Franchessini, he fled the country. Later he was sent to
the galleys where he remained from 1810 to 1815, when he escaped and
came to Paris, stopping under the name of Vautrin at the Vauquer
pension. There he knew Rastignac, then a young man, became interested
in him, and tried to bring about his marriage with Victorine
Taillefer, for whom he procured a rich dowry by causing her brother to
be slain in a duel with Franchessini. Bibi-Lupin, chief of secret
police, arrested him in 1819 and returned him to the bagne, whence he
escaped again in 1820, reappearing in Paris as Carlos Herrera,
honorary canon of the Chapter of Toledo. At this time he rescued
Lucien de Rubempre from suicide, and took charge of the young poet.
Accused, with the latter, of having murdered Esther Gobseck, who in
truth was poisoned, Jacques Collin was acquitted of this charge, and
ended by becoming chief of secret police under the name of
Saint-Esteve, in 1830. He held this position till 1845. He finally
became wealthy, having an income of twelve thousand francs, three
hundred thousand francs inherited from Lucien de Rubempre, and the
profits of a green-leather manufactory at Gentilly. [Father Goriot.
Lost Illusions. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. Scenes from a
Courtesan's Life. The Member for Arcis.] In addition to the pseudonym
of M. Jules, under which he was known by Catherine Goussard, Jacques
Collin also took for a time the English name of William Barker,
creditor for Georges d'Estourny. Under this name he hoodwinked the
cunning Cerizet, inducing that "man of business" to endorse some notes
for him. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] He was also nick-named
"Trompe-la-Mort."
COLLIN, (Jacqueline), aunt of Jacques Collin, whom she had reared;
born at Java. In her youth she was Marat's mistress, and afterwards
had relations with the chemist, Duvignon, who was condemned to death
for counterfeiting in 1799. During this intimacy she attained a
dangerous knowledge of toxicology. From 1800 to 1805 she was a
clothing dealer; and from 1806 to 1808 she spent two years in prison
for having influenced minors. From 1824 to 1830 Mlle. Collin exerted a
strong influence over Jacques, alias Vautrin, toward his life of
adventure without the pale of the law. Her strong point was disguises.
In 1839 she ran a matrimonial bureau on rue de Provence, under the
name of Mme. de Saint-Esteve. She often borrowed the name of her
friend Mme. Nourrisson, who, during the time of Louis Philippe, made a
pretence of business more or less dubious on rue Neuve-Saint-Marc. She
had some dealings with Victorin Hulot, at whose instance she brought
about the overthrow of Mme. Marneffe, mistress, and afterwards wife,
of Crevel. Under the name of Asie, Jacqueline Collin made an excellent
cook for Esther Gobseck, whom she was ordered by Vautrin to watch.
[Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. Cousin Betty. The Unconscious
Humorists.]
COLLINET, grocer at Arcis-sur-Aube, time of Louis Philippe. Elector
for the Liberals headed by Colonel Giguet. [The Member for Arcis.]
COLLINET (Francois-Joseph), merchant of Nantes. In 1814 the political
changes brought about his business failure. He went to America,
returning in 1824 enriched, and re-established. He had caused the loss
of twenty-four thousand francs to M. and Mme. Lorrain, small retailers
of Pen-Hoel, and father and mother of Major Lorrain. But, on his
return to France, he restored to Mme. Lorrain, then a widow and almost
a septuagenarian, forty-two thousand francs, being capital and
interest of his indebtedness to her. [Pierrette.]
COLONNA, aged Italian at Genoa, during the later part of the
eighteenth century. He had reared Luigia Porta under the name of
Colonna and as his own son, from the age of six until the time when
the young man enlisted in the French army. [The Vendetta.]
COLOQUINTE, given name of a pensioner who was "office boy" in Finot's
newspaper office in 1820. He had been through the Egyptian campaign,
losing an arm at the Battle of Montmirail. [A Bachelor's
Establishment. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
COLORAT (Jerome), estate-keeper for Mme. Graslin at Montegnac; born at
Limoges. Retired soldier of the Empire; ex-sergeant in the Royal
Guard; at one time estate-keeper for M. de Navarreins, before entering
Mme. Graslin's service. [The Country Parson.]
CONSTANCE, chambermaid for Mme. de Restaud in 1819. Through her old
Goriot knew about everything that was going on at the home of his
elder daughter. This Constance, sometimes called Victorie, took money
to her mistress when the latter needed it. [Father Goriot.]
CONSTANT DE REBECQUE (Benjamin), born at Lausanne in 1767, died at
Paris, December 8, 1830. About the end of 1821 he is discovered in
Dauriat's book-shop at Palais-Royal, where Lucien de Rubempre noticed
his splendid head and spiritual eyes. [A Distinguished Provincial at
Paris.]
CONTI (Gennaro), musical composer; of Neapolitan origin, but born at
Marseilles. Lover of Mlle. des Touches--Camille Maupin--in 1821-1822.
Afterwards he paid court to Marquise Beatrix de Rochefide. [Lost
Illusions. Beatrix.]
CONYNCKS, family of Bruges, who were maternal ancestors of Marguerite
Claes. In 1812 this young girl at sixteen was the living image of a
Conyncks, her grandmother whose portrait hung in Balthazar Claes'
home. A Conyncks, also of Bruges but later established at Cambrai, was
granduncle of the children of Balthazar Claes, and was appointed their
vice-guardian after the death of Mme. Claes. He had a daughter who
married Gabriel Claes. [The Quest of the Absolute.]
COQUELIN (Monsieur and Madame), hardware dealers, successors to
Claude-Joseph Pillerault in a store on quai de la Ferraille, sign of
the Golden Bell. Guests at the big ball given by Cesar Birotteau.
After getting the invitation, Mme. Coquelin ordered a magnificent gown
for the occasion. [Cesar Birotteau.]
COQUET, chief of bureau to the Minister of War, in Lebrun's division
in 1838. Marneffe was his successor. Coquet had been in the service of
the administration since 1809, and had given perfect satisfaction. He
was a married man and his wife was still living at the time when he
was displaced. [Cousin Betty.]
CORALIE (Mademoiselle), actress at the Panorama-Dramatique and at the
Theatre du Gymnase, Paris, time of Louis XVIII. Born in 1803 and
brought up a Catholic, she was nevertheless of distinct Jewish type.
She died in August, 1822. Her mother sold her at fifteen to young
Henri de Marsay, whom she abhorred and who soon deserted her. She was
then maintained by Camusot, who was not obnoxious. She fell in love
with Lucien de Rubempre at first sight, surrendering to him
immediately and being faithful to him until her dying breath. The
glory and downfall of Coralie dated from this love. An original
criticism of the young Chardon established the success of "L'Alcade
dans l'Embarras," at the Marais, and brought to Coralie, one of the
principals in the play, an engagement at Boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle,
with a salary of twelve thousand francs. But here the artist stranded,
the victim of a cabal, despite the protection of Camille Maupin. At
first she was housed on rue de Vendome, afterwards in a more modest
lodging where she died, attended and nursed by her cousin, Berenice.
She had sold her elegant furniture to Cardot, Sr., on leaving the
apartment on rue de Vendome, and in order to avoid moving it, he
installed Florentine there. Coralie was the rival of Mme. Perrin and
of Mlle. Fleuriet, whom she resembled and whose destiny should have
been her own. The funeral service of Coralie took place at noon in the
little church of Notre-Dame de Bonne-Nouvelle. Camusot promised to
purchase a plot of ground for her in the cemetery of Pere-Lachaise. [A
Start in Life. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. A Bachelor's
Establishment.]
CORBIGNY (De), prefect of Loire-et-Cher, in 1811. Friend of Mme. de
Stael who authorized him to place Louis Lambert, at her expense, in
the College of Vendome. He probably died in 1812. [Louis Lambert.]
CORBINET, notary at Soulanges, Burgundy, in 1823, and at one time an
old patron of Sibilet's. The Gravelots, lumber dealers, were clients
of his. Commissioned with the sale of Aigues, when General de
Montcornet became wearied with developing his property. At one time
known as Corbineau. [The Peasantry.]
CORBINET, court-judge at Ville-aux-Fayes in 1823; son of Corbinet the
notary. He belonged, body and soul, to Gaubertin, the all-powerful
mayor of the town. [The Peasantry.]
CORBINET, retired captain, postal director at Ville-aux-Fayes in 1823;
brother of Corbinet, the notary. The last daughter of Sibilet, the
copy-clerk, was engaged to him when she was sixteen. [The Peasantry.]
CORENTIN, born at Vendome in 1777; a police-agent of great genius,
trained by Peyrade as Louis David was by Vien. A favorite of Fouche's
and probably his natural son. In 1799 he accompanied Mlle. de Verneuil
sent to lure and betray Alphonse de Montauran, the young chief of the
Bretons who were risen against the Republic. For two years Corentin
was attached to this strange girl as a serpent to a tree. [The
Chouans.] In 1803 he and his chief, Peyrade, were entrusted with a
difficult mission in the department of Aube, where he had to search
the home of Mlle. de Cinq-Cygne. She surprised him at the moment when
he was forcing open a casket, and struck him a blow with her riding
whip. This he avenged cruelly, involving, despite their innocence, the
Hauteserres and the Simeuses, friends and cousins of the young girl.
This was during the affair of the abduction of Senator Malin. About
the same time he concluded another delicate mission to Berlin to the
satisfaction of Talleyrand, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. [The
Gondreville Mystery.] From 1824 to 1830, Corentin was pitted against
the terrible Jacques Collin, alias Vautrin, whose friendly plans in
behalf of Lucien de Rubempre he thwarted so cruelly. Corentin it was
who rendered futile the contemplated marriage of the aspirant with
Clotilde de Grandlieu, bringing about as a consequence the absolute
ruin of the "distinguished provincial at Paris." He rusticated at
Passy, rue des Vignes, about May, 1830. Under Charles X., Corentin was
chief of the political police of the chateau. [Scenes from a
Courtesan's Life.] For more than thirty years he lived on rue
Honore-Chevalier under the name of M. du Portail. He sheltered Lydie,
daughter of his friend, Peyrade, after the death of the old
police-agent. About 1840 he brought about her marriage with Theodose de
la Peyrade, nephew of Peyrade, after having upset the plans of the very
astute young man, greatly in love with Celeste Colleville's dowry.
Corentin--M. du Portail--then installed the chosen husband of his
adopted child into his own high official duties. [The Middle Classes.]
CORMON (Rose-Marie-Victoire). (See Bousquier, Madame du.)
CORNEVIN, an old native of Perche; foster-father of Olympe Michaud. He
was with the Chouans in 1794 and 1799. In 1823 he was servant at
Michaud's. [The Peasantry.]
CORNOILLER (Antoine), game-keeper at Saumur; married the sturdy Nanon
then fifty-nine years old, after the death of Grandet, about 1827, and
became general overseer of lands and properties of Eugenie Grandet.
[Eugenie Grandet.]
CORNOILLER (Madame). (See Nanon.)
COTTEREAU, well-known smuggler, one of the heads of the Breton
insurrection. In 1799 he was principal in a rather stormy scene at the
Vivetiere, when he threatened the Marquis de Montauran with swearing
allegiance to the First Consul if he did not immediately obtain
noteworthy advantages in payment of seven years of devoted service to
"the good cause." "My men and I have a devilish importunate creditor,"
said he, slapping his stomach. One of the brothers of Jean Cottereau,
was nick-named the "Chouan," a title used by all the Western rebels
against the Republic. [The Chouans.]
COTTIN (Marechal), Prince of Wissembourg; Duke of Orfano; old soldier
of the Republic and the Empire; Minister of War in 1841; born in 1771.
He was obliged to bring great shame upon his old friend and
companion-in-arms, Marshal Hulot, by advising him of the swindling of
the commissariat, Hulot d'Ervy. Marshal Cottin and Nucingen were
witnesses at the wedding of Hortense Hulot and Wenceslas Steinbock.
[Cousin Betty.]
COTTIN (Francine), a Breton woman, probably born at Fougeres in 1773;
chambermaid and confidante of Mlle. de Verneuil, who had been reared
by Francine's parents. Childhood's friend of Marche-a-Terre, with whom
she used her influence to save the life of her mistress during the
massacre of the "Blues" at the Vivitiere in 1799. [The Chouans.]
COUDRAI (Du), register of mortgages at Alencon, time of Louis XVIII. A
caller at the home of Mlle. Cormon, and afterwards at that of M. du
Bousquier, who married "the old maid." One of the town's most
open-hearted men; his only faults were having married a rich old lady
who was unendurable, and the habit of making villainous puns at which
he was first to laugh. In 1824 M. du Coudrai was poverty-stricken; he
had lost his place on account of voting the wrong way. [Jealousies of
a Country Town.]
COUPIAU, Breton courier from Mayenne to Fougeres in 1799. In the
struggle between the "Blues" and the Chouans he took no part, but
acted as circumstances demanded and for his own interests. Indeed he
offered no resistance when the "Brigands" stole the government chests.
Coupiau was nick-named Mene-a-Bien by Marche-a-Terre the Chouan. [The
Chouans.]
COUPIAU (Sulpice), Chouan and probably the father of Coupiau the
messenger. Killed in 1799 in the battle of La Pelerine or at the seige
of Fougeres. [The Chouans.]
COURAND (Jenny), florist; mistress of Felix Gaudissart in 1831. At
that time she lived in Paris on rue d'Artois. [Gaudissart the Great.]
COURCEUIL (Felix), of Alencon, retired army surgeon of the Rebel
forces of the Vendee. In 1809 he furnished arms to the "Brigands."
Involved in the trial known as "Chauffeurs of Mortagne." Condemned to
death for contumacy. [The Seamy Side of History.]
COURNANT, notary at Provins in 1827; rival of Auffray, the notary; of
the Opposition; one of the few public-spirited men of the little town.
[Pierrette.]
COURTECUISSE, game-keeper of the Aigues estate in Burgundy under the
Empire and Restoration until 1823. Born about 1777; at first in the
service of Mlle. Laguerre; discharged by General de Montcornet for
absolute incapacity, and replaced by keepers who were trusty and true.
Courtecuisse was a little fellow with a face like a full moon. He was
never so happy as when idle. On leaving he demanded a sum of eleven
hundred francs which was not due him. His master indignantly denied
his claim at first, but yielded the point, however, on being
threatened with a lawsuit, the scandal of which he wished to avoid.
Courtecuisse, out of a job, purchased from Rigou for two thousand
francs the little property of La Bachelerie, enclosed in the Aigues
estate, and wearied himself, without gain, in the management of his
land. He had a daughter who was tolerably pretty and eighteen years
old in 1823. At this time she was in the service of Mme. Mariotte the
elder, at Auxerre. Courtecuisse was given the sobriquet of
"Courtebotte"--short-boot. [The Peasantry.]
COURTECUISSE (Madame), wife of the preceding; in abject fear of the
miser, Gregoire Rigou, mayor of Blangy, Burgundy. [The Peasantry.]
COURTEVILLE (Madame de), cousin of Comte de Bauvan on the maternal
side; widow of a judge of the Seine Court. She had a very beautiful
daughter, Amelie, whom the comte wished to marry to his secretary,
Maurice de l'Hostal. [Honorine.]
COURTOIS, Marsac miller, near Angouleme during the Restoration. In
1821 rumor had it that he intended to wed a miller's widow, his
patroness, who was thirty-two years old. She had one hundred thousand
francs in her own right. David Sechard was advised by his father to
ask the hand of this rich widow. At the end of 1822 Courtois, now
married, sheltered Lucien de Rubempre, returning almost dead from
Paris. [Lost Illusions.]
COURTOIS (Madame), wife of the preceding, who cared sympathetically
for Lucien de Rubempre, on his return. [Lost Illusions.]
COUSSARD (Laurent). (See Goussard, Laurent.)
COUTELIER, a creditor of Maxime de Trailles. The Coutelier credit,
purchased for five hundred francs by the Claparon-Cerizet firm, came
to thirty-two hundred francs, seventy-five centimes, capital, interest
and costs. It was recovered by Cerizet by means of a strategy worthy
of a Scapin. [A Man of Business.]
COUTURE, a kind of financier-journalist of an equivocal reputation;
born about 1797. One of Mme. Schontz's earliest friends; and she alone
remained faithful to him when he was ruined by the downfall of the
ministry of March 1st, 1840. Couture was always welcome at the home of
the courtesan, who dreamed, perhaps, of making him her husband. But he
presented Fabien du Ronceret to her and the "lorette" married him. In
1836, in company with Finot and Blondet, he was present in a private
room of a well-known restaurant when Jean-Jacques Bixiou related the
origin of the Nucingen fortune. At the time of his transient wealth
Couture splendidly maintained Jenny Cadine. At one time he was
celebrated for his waistcoats. He had no known relationship with the
widow Couture. [Beatrix. The Firm of Nucingen.] The financier drew
upon himself the hatred of Cerizet for having deceived him in a deal
about the purchase of lands and houses situated in the suburbs of the
Madeleine, an affair in which Jerome Thuillier was afterwards
concerned. [The Middle Classes.]
COUTURE (Madame), widow of an ordonnance-commissary of the French
Republic. Relative and protectress of Mlle. Victorine Taillefer with
whom she lived at the Vauquer pension, in 1819. [Father Goriot.]
COUTURIER (Abbe), curate of Saint-Leonard church at Alencon, time of
Louis XVIII. Spiritual adviser of Mlle. Cormon, remaining her
confessor after her marriage with Du Bousquier, and influencing her in
the way of excessive penances. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
CREMIERE, tax-collector at Nemours during the Restoration. Nephew by
marriage of Dr. Minoret, who had secured the position for him,
furnishing his security. One of the three collateral heirs of the old
physician, the two others being Minoret-Levrault, the postmaster, and
Massin-Levrault, copy-clerk to the justice of the peace. In the
curious branching of these four Gatinais bourgeois families--the
Minorets, the Massins, the Levraults and the Cremieres--the tax
collector belonged to the Cremiere-Cremiere branch. He had several
children, among others a daughter named Angelique. After the
Revolution of July, 1830, he became municipal councillor. [Ursule
Mirouet.]
CREMIERE (Madame), nee Massin-Massin, wife of the tax-collector, and
niece of Dr. Minoret--that is, daughter of the old physician's sister.
A stout woman with a muddy blonde complexion splotched with freckles.
Passed for an educated person on account of her novel-reading. Her
_lapsi linguoe_ were maliciously spread abroad by Goupil, the notary's
clerk, who labelled them, "Capsulinguettes"; indeed, Mme. Cremiere
thus translated the two Latin words. [Ursule Mirouet.]
CREMIERE-DIONIS, always called Dionis, which name see.
CREVEL (Celestin), born between 1786 and 1788; clerked for Cesar
Birotteau the perfumer--first as second clerk, then as head-clerk when
Popinot left the house to set up in business for himself. After his
patron's failure in 1819, he purchased for five thousand seven hundred
francs, "The Queen of Roses," making his own fortune thereby. During
the reign of Louis Philippe he lived on his income. Captain, then
chief of battalion in the National Guard; officer of the Legion of
Honor; mayor of one of the arrondissements of Paris, he ended up by
being a very great personage. He had married the daughter of a farmer
of Brie; became a widower in 1833, when he gave himself over to a life
of pleasure. He maintained Josepha, who was taken away from him by his
friend, Baron Hulot. To avenge himself he tried to win Mme. Hulot. He
"protected" Heloise Brisetout. Finally he was smitten with Mme.
Marneffe, whom he had for mistress and afterwards married when she
became a widow in 1843. In May of this same year, Crevel and his wife
died of a horrible disease which had been communicated to Valerie by a
negro belonging to Montes the Brazilian. In 1838 Crevel lived on rue
des Saussaies; at the same time he owned a little house on rue du
Dauphin, where he had prepared a secret chamber for Mme. Marneffe;
this last house he leased to Maxime de Trailles. Besides these Crevel
owned: a house on rue Barbet de Jouy; the Presles property bought of
Mme. de Serizy at a cost of three million francs. He caused himself to
be made a member of the General Council of Seine-et-Oise. By his first
marriage he had an only daughter, Celestine, who married Victorin
Hulot. [Cesar Birotteau. Cousin Betty.] In 1844-1845 Crevel owned a
share in the management of the theatre directed by Gaudissart. [Cousin
Pons.]
CREVEL (Celestine), only child of the first marriage of the preceding.
(See Hulot, Mme. Victorin.)
CREVEL (Madame Celestin), born Valerie Fortin in 1815; natural
daughter of the Comte de Montcornet, marshal of France; married, first
Marneffe, an employe in the War Office, with whom she broke faith by
agreement with the clerk; and second, Celestin Crevel. She bore
Marneffe a child, a stunted, scrawny urchin named Stanislas. An
intimate friend of Lisbeth Fischer who utilized Valerie's irresistible
attractions for the satisfying of her hatred towards her rich
relatives. At this time Mme. Marneffe belonged jointly to Marneffe, to
the Brazilian Montes, to Steinbock the Pole, to Celestin Crevel and to
Baron Hulot. Each of these she held responsible for a child born in
1841, and which died on coming into the world. By prearrangement, she
was surprised with Hulot by the police-commissioners, during this
period, in Crevel's cottage on rue du Dauphin. After having lived with
Marneffe on rue du Doyenne in the house occuped by Lisbeth Fischer
--"Cousin Betty"--she was installed by Baron Hulot on rue Vaneau; then
by Crevel in a mansion on rue Barbet-de-Jouy. She died in 1843, two
days prior to Celestin. She perished while trying to "cajole God"--to
use her own expression. She bequeathed, as a restitution, 300,000
francs to Hector Hulot. Valerie Marneffe did not lack spirit. Claude
Vignon, the great critic, especially appreciated this woman's
intellectual depravity. [Cousin Betty.]
CROCHARD, Opera dancer in the second half of the eighteenth century.
Director of theatrical evolutions. He commanded a band of assailants
upon the Bastile, July 14, 1789; became an officer, a colonel, dying
of wounds received at Lutzen, May 2, 1813. [A Second Home.]
CROCHARD (Madame), widow of the preceding. Before the Revolution she
had sung with her husband in the chorus. In 1815 she lived wretchedly
with her daughter Caroline, following the embroiderer's trade, in a
house on rue du Tourniquet-Saint-Jean, which belonged to Molineux.
Wishing to find a protector for her daughter, Caroline, Mme. Crochard
favored the attentions of the Comte de Granville. He rewarded her with
a life-annuity of three thousand francs. She died, in 1822, in a
comfortable lodging on rue Saint-Louis at Marais. She constantly wore
on her breast the cross of chevalier of the Legion of Honor conferred
on her husband by the Emperor. The widow Crochard, watched by an eager
circle, received, at her last moments, a visit from Abbe Fontanon,
confessor of the Comtesse de Granville, and was greatly troubled by
the prelate's proceedings. [A Second Home.]
CROCHARD (Caroline), daughter of the proceding; born in 1797. For
several years during the Restoration she was the mistress of Comte de
Granville; at that time she was known as Mlle. de Bellefeuille, from
the name of a small piece of property at Gatinais given to the young
woman by an uncle of the comte who had taken a liking to her. Her
lover installed her in an elegant apartment on rue Taitbout, where
Esther Gobseck afterwards lived. Caroline Crochard abandoned M. de
Granville and a good position for a needy young fellow named Solvet,
who ran through with all her property. Sick and poverty-stricken in
1833, she lived in a wretched two-story house on rue Gaillon. She gave
the Comte de Granville a son, Charles, and a daughter, Eugenie. [A
Second Home.]
CROCHARD (Charles), illegitimate child of Comte de Granville and
Caroline Crochard. In 1833 he was apprehended for a considerable
theft, when he appealed to his father through the agency of Eugene de
Granville, his half-brother. The comte gave the latter money enough to
clear up the miserable business, if such were possible. [A Second
Home.] The theft in question was committed at the home of Mlle.
Beaumesnil. He carried off her diamonds. [The Middle Classes.]
CROISIER (Du). (See Bousquier, Du.)
CROIZEAU, former coachmaker to Bonaparte's Imperial court; had an
income of about forty thousand francs; lived on rue Buffault; a
widower without children. He was a constant visitor at Antonia
Chocardelle's reading-room on rue Coquenard, time of Louis Philippe,
and he offered to marry the "charming woman." [A Man of Business.]
CROTTAT (Monsieur and Madame), retired farmers; parents of the notary
Crottat, assassinated by some thieves, among them being the notorious
Dannepont, alias La Pouraille. The trial of this crime was called in
May, 1830. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] They were well-to-do folk
and, according to Cesar Birotteau who knew them, old man Crottat was
as "close as a snail." [Cesar Birotteau.]
CROTTAT (Alexandre), head-clerk of Maitre Roguin, and his successor in
1819, after the flight of the notary. He married the daughter of
Lourdois, the painting-contractor. Cesar Birotteau thought for a time
of making him his son-in-law. He called him, familiarly, "Xandrot."
Alexandre Crottat was a guest at the famous ball given by the perfumer
in December, 1818. He was in friendly relations with Derville, the
attorney, who commissioned him with a sort of half-pay for Colonel
Chabert. He was also Comtesse Ferraud's notary at this time. [Cesar
Birotteau. Colonel Chabert.] In 1822 he was notary to Comte de Serizy.
[A Start in Life.] He was also notary to Charles de Vandenesse; and
one evening, at the home of the marquis, he made some awkward
allusions which undoubtedly recalled unpleasant memories to his client
and Mme. d'Aiglemont. Upon his return home he narrated the particulars
to his wife, who chided him sharply. [A Woman of Thirty.] Alexandre
Crottat and Leopold Hannequin signed the will dictated by Sylvain Pons
on his death-bed. [Cousin Pons.]
CRUCHOT (Abbe), priest of Saumur; dignitary of the Chapter of
Saint-Martin of Tours; brother of Cruchot, the notary; uncle of
President Cruchot de Bonfons; the Talleyrand of his family; after much
angling he induced Eugenie Grandet to wed the president in 1827.
[Eugenie Grandet.]
CRUCHOT, notary at Saumur during the Restoration; brother of Abbe
Cruchot; uncle of President Cruchot de Bonfons. He as well as the
prelate was much concerned with making the match between his nephew
and Eugenie Grandet. The young girl's father entrusted M. Cruchot with
his usurious dealings and probably with all his money matters.
[Eugenie Grandet.]
CURIEUX (Catherine). (See Farrabesche, Madame.)
CYDALISE, magnificent woman of Valognes, Normandy, who launched out in
Paris in 1840 to make capital out of her beauty. Born in 1824, she was
then only sixteen. She served as an instrument for Montes the
Brazilian who, in order to avenge himself on Mme. Marneffe--now Mme.
Crevel--inoculated the young girl with a terrible disease through one
of his negroes. He in turn obtained it from Cydalise and transmitted
it to the faithless Valerie who died as also did her husband. Cydalise
probably accompanied Montes to Brazil, the only place where this
horrible ailment is curable. [Cousin Betty.]
D
DALLOT, mason in the suburbs of l'Isle-Adam in the early days of the
Restoration, who was to marry a peasant woman of small wit named
Genevieve. After having courted her for the sake of her little
property, he deserted her for a woman of more means and also of a
sharper intelligence. This separation was so cruel a blow to Genevieve
that she became idiotic. [Farewell.]
DANNEPONT, alias La Pouraille, one of the assassins of M. and Mme.
Crottat. Imprisoned for his crime in 1830 at the Conciergerie, and
under sentence of capital punishment; an escaped convict who had been
sought on account of other crimes by the police for five years past.
Born about 1785 and sent to the galleys at the age of nineteen. There
he had known Jacques Collin--Vautrin. Riganson, Selerier and he formed
a sort of triumvirate. A short, skinny, dried-up fellow with a face
like a marten. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
DAUPHIN, pastry-cook of Arcis-sur-Aube; well-known Republican. In
1830, in an electoral caucus, he questioned Sallenauve, a candidate
for deputy, about Danton. [The Member for Arcis.]
DAURIAT, editor and bookman of Paris, on Palais-Royale, Galleries de
Bois during the Restoration. He purchased for three thousand francs a
collection of sonnets "Marguerites" from Lucien de Rubempre, who had
scored a book of Nathan's. But he did not publish the sonnets until a
long time afterwards, and with a success that the author declared to
be posthumous. Dauriat's shop was the rendezvous of writers and
politicians of note at this time. [A Distinguished Provincial at
Paris. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] Dauriat, who was Canalis'
publisher, was asked in 1829 by Modeste Mignon for personal
information concerning the poet, to which he made a rather ironical
reply. In speaking of celebrated authors Dauriat was wont to say, "I
have made Canalis. I have made Nathan." [Modeste Mignon.]
DAVID (Madame), woman living in the outskirts of Brives, who died of
fright on account of the Chauffeurs, time of the Directory. [The
Country Parson.]
DELBECQ, secretary and steward of Comte Ferraud during the
Restoration. Retired attorney. A capable, ambitious man in the service
of the countess, whom he aided to rid herself of Colonel Chabert when
that officer claimed his former wife. [Colonel Chabert.]
DENISART, name assumed by Cerizet.
DERVILLE, attorney at Paris, rue Vivienne, from 1819 to 1840. Born in
1794, the seventh child of an insignificant bourgeois of Noyon. In
1816 he was only second clerk and dwelt on rue des Gres, having for a
neighbor the well-known usurer Gobseck, who later advanced him one
hundred and fifty thousand francs at 15 per cent., with which he
purchased the practice of his patron, a man of pleasure now somewhat
short of funds. Through Gobseck he met his future wife, Jenny Malvaut;
through the same man he learned the Restaud secrets. In the winter of
1829-1830 he told of their troubles to the Vicomtesse de Grandlieu.
Derville had re-established the fortune of the feminine representative
of the Grandlieu's younger branch, at the time of the Bourbon's
re-entry, and therefore was on a friendly footing at her home.
[Gobseck.] He had been a clerk at Bordin's. [A Start in Life. The
Gondreville Mystery.] He was attorney for Colonel Chabert who sought
his conjugal rights with Comtesse Ferraud. He became keenly interested
in the old officer, aiding him and being greatly grieved when, some
years later, he found him plunged into idiocy in the Bicetre hospital.
[Colonel Chabert.] Derville was also attorney for Comte de Serizy,
Mme. de Nucingen and the Ducs de Grandlieu and de Chaulieu, whose
entire confidence he possessed. In 1830, under the name of Saint-Denis,
he and Corentin inquired of the Sechards at Angouleme concerning the
real resources of Lucien de Rubempre. [Father Goriot. Scenes from a
Courtesan's Life.]
DERVILLE (Madame), born Jenny Malvaut; wife of Derville the attorney;
young Parisian girl, though born in the country. In 1826 she lived
alone, but maintaining a virtuous life, supported by her work. She was
on the fifth floor of a gloomy house on rue Montmartre, where Gobseck
had called to collect a note signed by her. He pointed her out to
Derville, who married her without a dowry. Later she inherited from an
uncle, a farmer who had become wealthy, seventy thousand francs with
which she aided her husband to cancel his debt with Gobseck.
[Gobseck.] Being anxious for an invitation to the ball given by
Birotteau, she paid a rather unexpected visit to the perfumer's wife.
She made much of the latter and of Mlle. Birotteau, and was invited
with her husband to the festivities. It appears that some years before
her marriage she had worked as dressmaker for the Birotteaus. [Cesar
Birotteau.]
DESCOINGS (Monsieur and Madame), father-in-law and mother-in-law of
Dr. Rouget of Issoudun. Dealers in wool, acting as selling agents for
owners, and buying agents for fleece merchants of Berry. They also
bought state lands. Rich and miserly. Died during the Republic within
two years of each other and before 1799. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
DESCOINGS, son of the preceding; younger brother of Mme. Rouget, the
doctor's wife; grocer at Paris, on rue Saint-Honore, not far from
Robespierre's quarters. Descoings had married for love the widow of
Bixiou, his predecessor. She was twelve years his senior but well
preserved and "plump as a thrush after harvest." Accused of
foreclosing, he was sent to the scaffold, in company with Andre
Chenier, on the seventh Thermidor of year 2, July 25, 1794. The death
of the grocer caused a greater sensation than did that of the poet.
Cesar Birotteau moved the plant of the perfumery "Queen of Roses" into
Descoings' shop around 1800. The successor of the executed man managed
his business badly; the inventor of the the "Eau Carminative" went
bankrupt. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
DESCOINGS (Madame), born in 1744; widow of two husbands, Bixiou and
Descoings, the latter succeeding the former in the grocer shop on rue
Saint-Honore, Paris. Grandmother of Jean-Jacques Bixiou, the
cartoonist. After the death of M. Bridau, chief of division in the
Department of the Interior, Mme. Descoings, now a widow, came in 1819
to live with her niece, the widow Bridau, nee Agathe Rouget, bringing
to the common fund an income of six thousand francs. An excellent
woman, known in her day as "the pretty grocer." She ran the household,
but had likewise a decided mania for lottery, and always for the same
numbers; she "nursed a trey." She ended by ruining her niece who had
blindly entrusted her interests to her, but Mme. Descoings repaid for
her foolish doings by an absolute devotion,--all the while continuing
to place her money on the evasive combinations. One day her hoardings
were stolen from her mattress by Philippe Bridau. On this account she
was unable to renew her lottery tickets. Then it was that the famous
trey turned up. Madame Descoings died of grief, December 31, 1821. Had
it not been for the theft she would have become a millionaire. [A
Bachelor's Establishment.]
DESFONDRILLES, substitute judge at Provins during the Restoration;
made president of the court of that town, time of Louis Philippe. An
old fellow more archaeologist than judge, who found delight in the
petty squabbles under his eyes. He forsook Tiphaine's party for the
Liberals headed by lawyer Vinet. [Pierrette.]
DESLANDES, surgeon of Azay-le-Rideau in 1817. Called in to bleed Mme.
de Mortsauf, whose life was saved by this operation. [The Lily of the
Valley.]
DESMARETS (Jules), Parisian stock-broker under the Restoration.
Hardworking and upright, being reared in sternness and poverty. When
only a clerk he fell in love with a charming young girl met at his
patron's home, and he married her despite the irregularity connected
with her birth. With the money he obtained by his wife's mother he was
able to purchase the position of the stock-broker for whom he had
clerked; and for several years he was very happy in a mutual love and
a liberal competence--an income of two hundred and fifty thousand
francs. In 1820 he and his wife lived in a large mansion on rue
Menars. In the early years of his wedded life he killed in a duel
--though unknown to his wife--a man who had vilified Mme. Desmarets.
The flawless happiness which abode with this well-mated couple was cut
short by the death of the wife, mortally wounded by a doubt, held for
a moment only by her husband, concerning her faithfulness. Desmarets,
bereaved, sold his place to Martin Falleix's brother and left Paris in
despair. [The Thirteen.] M. and Mme. Desmarets were invited to the
famous ball given by Cesar Birotteau in 1818. After the bankruptcy of
the perfumer, the broker kindly gave him useful tips about placing
funds laboriously scraped together towards the complete reimbursing of
the creditors. [Cesar Birotteau.]
DESMARETS (Madame Jules), wife of the preceding; natural daughter of
Bourignard alias Ferragus, and of a married woman who passed for her
godmother. She had no civil status, but when she married Jules
Desmarets her name, Clemence, and her age were publicly announced.
Despite herself, Mme. Desmarets was loved by a young officer of the
Royal Guard, Auguste de Maulincour. Mme. Desmaret's secret visits to
her father, a man of mystery, unknown to her husband, caused the
downfall of their absolute happiness. Desmarets thought himself
deceived, and she died on account of his suspicions, in 1820 or 1821.
The remains of Clemence were placed at first in Pere Lachaise, but
afterwards were disinterred, incinerated and sent to Jules Desmarets
by Bourignard, assisted by twelve friends who thus thought to dull the
edge of the keenest of conjugal sorrows. [The Thirteen.] M. and Mme.
Desmarets were often alluded to as M. and Mme. Jules. At the ball
given by Cesar Birotteau, Mme. Desmarets shone as the most beautiful
woman, according to the perfumer's wife herself. [Cesar Birotteau.]
DESMARETS, Parisian notary during the Restoration; elder brother of
the broker, Jules Desmarets. The notary was set up in business by his
younger brother and grew rich rapidly. He received his brother's will.
He accompanied him to Mme. Desmarets' funeral. [The Thirteen.]
DESPLEIN, famous surgeon of Paris, born about the middle of the
eighteenth century. Sprung of a poor provincial family, he spent a
youth full of suffering, being enabled to pass his examinations only
through assistance rendered him by his neighbor in poverty, Bourgeat
the water-carrier. For two years he lived with him on the sixth floor
of a wretched house on rue des Quatre-Vents, where later was
established the "Cenacle" with Daniel d'Arthez as host--on which
account the house came to be spoken of as the "bowl for great men."
Desplein, evicted by his landlord whom he could not pay, lodged next
with his friend the Auvergnat in the Court de Rohan, Passage du
Commerce. Afterwards, when an "intern" at Hotel-Dieu, he remembered
the good deeds of Bourgeat, nursed him as a devoted son, and, in the
time of the Empire, established in honor of this simple man who
professed religious sentiments a quarterly mass at Saint-Sulpice, at
which he piously assisted, though himself an outspoken atheist. [The
Atheist's Mass.] In 1806 Desplein had predicted speedy death for an
old fellow then fifty-six years old, but who was still alive in 1846.
[Cousin Pons.] The surgeon was present at the death caused by despair
of M. Chardon, an old military doctor. [Lost Illusions.] Desplein
attended the last hours of Mme. Jules Desmarets, who died in 1820 or
1821; also of the chief of division, Flamet de la Billardiere, who
died in 1824. [The Thirteen. The Government Clerks.] In March, 1828,
at Provins, he performed an operation of trepanning on Pierrette
Lorrain. [Pierrette.] In the same year he undertook a bold operation
upon Mme. Philippe Bridau whose abuse of strong drink had induced a
"magnificent malady" that he believed had disappeared. This operation
was reported in the "Gazette des Hopitaux;" but the patient died. [A
Bachelor's Establishment.] In 1829 Desplein was summoned on behalf of
Vanda de Mergi, daughter of Baron de Bourlac. [The Seamy Side of
History.] In the latter part of the same year he operated successfully
upon Mme. Mignon for blindness. In February, 1830, on account of the
foregoing, he was a witness at Modeste Mignon's wedding with Ernest de
la Briere. [Modeste Mignon.] In the beginning of the same yaer, 1830,
he was called by Corentin to visit Baron de Nucingen, love-sick for
Esther Gobseck; and Mme. de Serizy ill on account of the suicide of
Lucien de Rubempre. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] He and his
assistant, Bianchon, waited on Mme. de Bauvan, who was on the verge of
death at the close of 1830 and beginning of 1831. [Honorine.] Desplein
had an only daughter whose marriage in 1829 was arranged with the
Prince of Loudon.
DESROCHES, clerk of the Minister of the Interior under the Empire;
friend of Bridau Senior, who had procured him the position. He was
also on friendly terms with the chief's widow, at whose home he met,
nearly every evening, his colleagues Du Bruel and Claparon. A dry,
crusty man, who would never become sub-chief, despite his ability. He
earned only one thousand eight hundred francs by running a department
for stamped paper. Retired after the second return of Louis XVIII., he
talked of entering as chief of bureau into an insurance company with a
graduated salary. In 1821, despite his scarcely tender disposition,
Desroches undertook with much discretion and confidence to extricate
Philippe Bridau out of a predicament--the latter having made a "loan"
on the cash-box of the newspaper for which he was working; he brought
about his resignation without any scandal. Desroches was a man of good
"judgment." He remained to the last a friend of the widow Bridau after
the death of MM. du Bruel and Claparon. He was a persistent fisherman.
[A Bachelor's Establishment.]
DESROCHES (Madame), wife of the preceding. A widow, in 1826, she
sought the hand of Mlle. Matifat for her son, Desroches the attorney.
[The Firm of Nucingen.]
DESROCHES, son of the two foregoing; born about 1795, reared strictly
by a very harsh father. He went into Derville's office as fourth clerk
in 1818, and on the following year passed to the second clerkship. He
saw Colonel Chabert at Derville's. In 1821 or 1822 he purchased a
lawyer's office with bare title on rue de Bethizy. He was shrewd and
quick and therefore was not long in finding a clientele composed of
litterateurs, artists, actresses, famous lorettes and elegant
Bohemians. He was counsellor for Agathe and Joseph Bridau, and also
gave excellent advice to Philippe Bridau who was setting out for
Issoudun about 1822. [A Bachelor's Establishment. Colonel Chabert. A
Start in Life.] Desroches was advocate for Charles de Vandenesse,
pleading against his brother Felix; for the Marquise d'Espard, seeking
interdiction against her husband; and for the Secretary-General
Chardin des Lupeaulx, with whom he counseled astutely. [A Woman of
Thirty. The Commission in Lunacy. The Government Clerks.] Lucien de
Rubempre consulted Desroches about the seizure of the furniture of
Coralie, his mistress, in 1822. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
Vautrin appreciated the attorney; he said that the latter would be
able to "recover" the Rubempre property, to improve it and make it
capable of yielding Lucien an income of thirty thousand francs, which
would probably have allowed him to wed Clotilde de Grandlieu. [Scenes
from a Courtesan's Life.] In 1826 Desroches made a short-lived attempt
to marry Malvina d'Aldrigger. [The Firm of Nucingen.] About 1840 he
related, at Mlle. Turquet's--Malaga's--home, then maintained by Cardot
the notary, and in the presence of Bixiou, Lousteau and Nathan, who
were invited by the tabellion, the tricks employed by Cerizet to
obtain the face value of a note out of Maxime de Trailles. [A Man of
Business.] Indeed, Desroches was Cerizet's lawyer when the latter had
a quarrel with Theodose de la Peyrade in 1840. He also looked after
the interests of the contractor, Sauvaignou, at the same time. [The
Middle Classes.] Desroches' office was probably located for a time on
rue de Buci. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
DESROYS, clerk with the Minister of Finance in Baudoyer's bureau,
under the Restoration. The son of a Conventionalist who had not
favored the King's death. A Republican; friend of Michel Chrestien. He
did not associate with any of his colleagues, but kept his manner of
life so concealed that none knew where he lived. In December, 1824, he
was discharged because of his opinions concerning the denunciation of
Dutocq. [The Government Clerks.]
DESROZIERS, musician; prize-winner at Rome; died in that city through
typhoid fever in 1836. Friend of the sculptor Dorlange, to whom he
recounted the story of Zambinella, the death of Sarrasine and the
marriage of the Count of Lanty. Desroziers gave music lessons to
Marianina, daughter of the count. The musician employed his friend,
who was momentarily in need of money, to undertake a copy of a statue
of Adonis, which reproduced Zambinella's features. This copy he sold
to M. de Lanty. [The Member for Arcis.]
DESROZIERS, printer at Moulins, department of the Allier. After 1830
he published a small volume containing the works of "Jan Diaz, son of
a Spanish prisoner, and born in 1807 at Bourges." This volume had an
introductory sketch on Jan Diaz by M. de Clagny. [The Muse of the
Department.]
DEY (Comtesse de), born about 1755. Widow of a lieutenant-general
retired to Carentan, department of the Manche, where she died suddenly
in November, 1793, through a shock to her maternal sensibilities. [The
Conscript.]
DEY (Auguste, Comte de), only son of Mme. de Dey. Made lieutenant of
the dragoons when only eighteen, and followed the princes in
emigration as a point of honor. He was idolized by his mother, who had
remained in France in order to preserve his fortune for him. He
participated in the Granville expedition. Imprisoned as a result of
this affair, he wrote Mme. de Dey that he would arrive at her home,
disguised and a fugitive, within three days' time. But he was shot in
the Morbihan at the exact moment when his mother expired from the
shock of having received instead of her son the conscript Julien
Jussieu. [The Conscript.]
DIARD (Pierre-Francois), born in the suburbs of Nice; the son of a
merchant-provost; quartermaster of the Sixth regiment of the line, in
1808, then chief of battalion in the Imperial Guard; retired with this
rank on account of a rather severe wound received in Germany;
afterwards an administrator and business man; excessive gambler.
Husband of Juana Mancini who had been the mistress of Captain
Montefiore, Diard's most intimate friend. In 1823, at Bordeaux, Diard
killed and robbed Montefiore, whom he met by accident. Upon his return
home he confessed his crime to his wife who vainly besought him to
commit suicide; and she herself finally blew out his brains with a
pistol shot. [The Maranas.]
DIARD (Maria-Juana-Pepita), daughter of La Marana, a Venetian
courtesan, and a young Italian nobleman, Mancini, who acknowledged
her. Wife of Pierre-Francois Diard whom she accepted on her mother's
request, after having given herself to Montefiore who did not wish to
marry her. Juana had been reared very strictly in the Spanish home of
Perez de Lagounia, at Tarragone, and she bore her father's name. She
was the descendant of a long line of courtesans, a feminine branch
that had never made legal marriages. The blood of her ancestors was in
her veins; she showed this involuntarily by the way in which she
yielded to Montefiore. Although she did not love her husband, yet she
remained entirely faithful to him, and she killed him for honor's
sake. She had two children. [The Maranas.]
DIARD (Juan), first child of Mme. Diard. Born seven months after his
mother's marriage, and perhaps the son of Montefiore. He was the image
of Juana, who secretly petted him extravagantly, although she
pretended to like her younger son the better. By a "species of
admirable flattery" Diard had made Juan his choice. [The Maranas.]
DIARD (Francisque), second son of M. and Mme. Diard, born in Paris. A
counterpart of his father, and the favorite--only outwardly--of his
mother. [The Maranas.]
DIAZ (Jan), assumed name of Mme. Dinah de la Baudraye.
DIODATI, owner of a villa on Lake Geneva in 1823-1824.--Character in a
novel called "L'Ambitieux par Amour" published by Albert Savarus in
the "Revue de l'Est" in 1834. [Albert Savarus.]
DIONIS, notary at Nemours from about 1813 till the early part of the
reign of Louis Philippe. He was a Cremiere-Dionis, but was always
known by the latter name. A shrewd, double-faced individual, who was
secretly a partner with Massin-Levrault the money-lender. He concerned
himself with the inheritance left by Dr. Minoret, giving advice to the
three legatees of the old physician. After the Revolution of 1830, he
was elected mayor of Nemours, instead of M. Levrault, and about 1837
he became deputy. He was then received at court balls, in company with
his wife, and Mme. Dionis was "enthroned" in the village because of
her "ways of the throne." The couple had at least one daughter.
[Ursule Mirouet.] Dionis breakfasted familiarly with Rastignac,
Minister of Public Works, from 1839 to 1845. [The Member for Arcis.]
DOGUEREAU, publisher on rue de Coq, Paris, in 1821, having been
established since the first of the century; retired professor of
rhetoric. Lucien de Rubempre offered him his romance, "The Archer of
Charles IX.," but the publisher would not give him more than four
hundred francs for it, so the trade was not concluded. [A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
DOISY, porter of the Lepitre Institution, quarter du Marais, Paris,
about 1814, at the time when Felix de Vandenesse came there to
complete his course of study. This young man contracted a debt of one
hundred francs on Doisy's account, which resulted in a very severe
reprimand from his mother. [The Lily of the Valley.]
DOMINIS (Abbe de), priest of Tours during the Restoration; preceptor
of Jacques de Mortsauf. [The Lily of the Valley.]
DOMMANGET, an accoucheur-physician, famous in Paris at the time of
Louis Philippe. In 1840 he was called in to visit Mme. Calyste du
Guenic, whom he had accouched, and who had taken a dangerous relapse
on learning of her husband's infidelity. She was nursing her son at
this time. On being taken into her confidence, Dommanget treated and
cured her ailment by purely moral methods. [Beatrix.]
DONI (Massimilla). (See Varese, Princesse de.)
DORLANGE (Charles), first name of Sallenauve, which name see.
DORSONVAL (Madame), bourgeoise of Saumur, acquainted with M. and Mme.
de Grassins at the time of the Restoration. [Eugenie Grandet.]
DOUBLON (Victor-Ange-Hermenegilde), bailiff at Angouleme during the
Restoration. He acted against David Sechard on behalf of the Cointet
brothers. [Lost Illusions.]
DUBERGHE, wine-merchant of Bordeaux from whom Nucingen purchased in
1815, before the battle of Waterloo, 150,000 bottles of wine,
averaging thirty sous to the bottle. The financier sold them for six
francs each to the allied armies, from 1817 to 1819. [The Firm of
Nucingen.]
DUBOURDIEU, born about 1805; a symbolic painter of the Fouierist
school; decorated. In 1845 he was met at the corner of rue
Nueve-Vivienne by his friend Leon de Lora, when he expressed his ideas
on art and philosophy to Gazonal and Bixiou, who were with the famous
landscape-painter. [The Unconscious Humorists.]
DUBUT of Caen, merchant connected with MM. de Boisfranc, de Boisfrelon
and de Boislaurier who were also Dubuts, and whose grandfather was a
dealer in linens. Dubut of Caen was involved in the trial of the
Chauffeurs of Mortagne, in 1809, and sentenced to death for contumacy.
During the Restoration, on account of his devotion to the Royal cause,
he had hoped to obtain the succession to the title of M. de Boisfranc.
Louis XVIII. made him grand provost, in 1815, and later public
prosecutor under the coveted name; finally he died as first president
of the court. [The Seamy Side of History.]
DUCANGE (Victor), novelist and playwright of France: born in 1783 at
La Haye; died in 1833; one of the collaborators on "Thirty Years," or
"A Gambler's Life," and the author of "Leonide." Victor Ducange was
present at Braulard's, the head-claquer's, in 1821, at a dinner where
were also Adele Dupois, Frederic Dupetit-Mere and Mlle. Millot,
Braulard's mistress. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
DUDLEY (Lord), statesman; one of the most distinguished of the older
English peers living in Paris after 1816; husband of Lady Arabella
Dudley; natural father of Henri de Marsay, to whom he paid small
attention, and who became the lover of Arabella. He was "profoundly
immoral." He reckoned among his illegitimate progeny, Euphemia
Porraberil, and among the women he maintained a certain Hortense who
lived on rue Tronchet. Before removing to France, Lord Dudley lived in
his native land with two sons born in wedlock, but who were
astonishingly like Marsay. [The Lily of the Valley. The Thirteen. A
Man of Business.] Lord Dudley was present at Mlle. des Touches,
shortly after 1830, when Marsay, then prime minister, told of his
first love affair, these two statesmen exchanged philosophical
reflections. [Another Study of Woman.] In 1834 he chanced to be
present at a grand ball given by his wife, when he gambled in a salon
with bankers, ambassadors and retired ministers. [A Daughter of Eve.]
DUDLEY (Lady Arabella), wife of the preceding; member of an
illustrious English family that was free of any _mesalliance_ from the
time of the Conquest; exceedingly wealthy; one of those almost regal
ladies; the idol of the highest French society during the Restoration.
She did not live with her husband to whom she had left two sons who
resembled Marsay, whose mistress she had been. In some way she
succeeded in taking Felix de Vandenesse away from Mme. de Mortsauf,
thus causing that virtuous woman keen anguish. She was born, so she
said, in Lancashire, where women die of love. [The Lily of the
Valley.] In the early years of the reign of Charles X., at least
during the summers, she lived at the village of Chatenay, near Sceaux.
[The Ball at Sceaux.] Raphael de Valentin desired her and would have
sought her but for the fear of exhausting the "magic skin." [The Magic
Skin.] In 1832 she was among the guests at a soiree given by Mme.
d'Espard, where the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse was maligned in the
presence of Daniel d'Arthez, in love with her. [The Secrets of a
Princess.] She was quite jealous of Mme. Felix de Vandenesse, the wife
of her old-time lover, and in 1834-35 she manoeuvred, with Mme. de
Listomere and Mme. d'Espard to make the young woman fall into the arms
of the poet Nathan, whom she wished to be even homelier than he was.
She said to Mme. Felix de Vandenesse: "Marriage, my child, is our
purgatory; love our paradise." [A Daughter of Eve.] Lady Dudley,
vengeance-bent, caused Lady Brandon to die of grief. [Letters of Two
Brides.]
DUFAU, justice of the peace in a commune in the outskirts of Grenoble,
where Dr. Benassis was mayor under the Restoration. Then a tall, bony
man with gray locks and clothed in black. He aided materially in the
work of regeneration accomplished by the physician in the village.
[The Country Doctor.]
DUFAURE (Jules-Armand-Stanislaus), attorney and French politician;
born December 4, 1798, at Saujon, Charente-Inferieure; died an
Academician at Rueil in the summer of 1881; friend and co-disciple of
Louis Lambert and of Barchou de Penhoen at the college of Vendome in
1811. [Louis Lambert.]
DUMAY (Anne-Francois-Bernard), born at Vannes in 1777; son of a rather
mean lawyer, the president of a revolutionary tribunal under the
Republic, and a victim of the guillotine subsequent to the ninth
Thermidor. His mother died of grief. In 1799 Anne Dumay enlisted in
the army of Italy. On the overthrow of the Empire, he retired with the
rank of Lieutenant, and came in touch with Charles Mignon, with whom
he had become acquainted early in his military career. He was
thoroughly devoted to his friend, who had once saved his life at
Waterloo. He gave great assistance to the commercial enterprises of
the Mignon house, and faithfully looked after the interests of Mme.
and Mlle. Mignon during the protracted absence of the head of the
family, who was suddenly ruined. Mignon came back from America a rich
man, and he made Dumay share largely in his fortune. [Modeste Mignon.]
DUMAY (Madame), nee Grummer, wife of the foregoing; a pretty little
American woman who married Dumay while he was on a journey to America
on behalf of his patron and friend Charles Mignon, during the
Restoration. Having had the misfortune to lose several children at
birth, and deprived of the hope of others, she became entirely devoted
to the two Mignon girls. She as well as her husband was thoroughly
attached to that family. [Modeste Mignon.]
DUPETIT-MERE (Frederic), born at Paris in 1785 and died in 1827;
dramatic author who enjoyed his brief hour of fame. Under the name of
Frederic he constructed either singly, or in collaboration with
Ducange, Rougemont, Brazier and others, a large number of melodramas,
vaudevilles, and fantasies. In 1821 he was present with Ducange, Adele
Dupuis and Mlle. Millot at a dinner at Braulard's, the head-claquer.
[A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
DUPLANTY (Abbe), vicar of Saint-Francois church at Paris; at
Schmucke's request he administered extreme unction to the dying Pons,
in April, 1845, who understood and appreciated his goodness. [Cousin
Pons.]
DUPLAY (Madame), wife of a carpenter of rue Honore at whose house
Robespierre lived; a customer of the grocer Descoings, whom she
denounced as a forestaller. This accusation led to the grocer's
imprisonment and execution. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
DUPOTET, a sort of banker established at Croisic under the
Restoration. He had on deposit the modest patrimony of Pierre
Cambremer. [A Seaside Tragedy.]
DUPUIS, notary of the Saint-Jacques quarter, time of Louis Philippe;
affectedly pious; beadle of the parish. He kept the savings of a lot
of servants. Theodose de la Peyrade, who drummed up trade for him in
this special line, induced Mme. Lambert, the housekeeper of M. Picot,
to place two thousand five hundred francs, saved at her employer's
expense, with this virtuous man, who immediately went into bankruptcy.
[The Middle Classes.]
DUPUIS (Adele), Parisian actress who for a long time and brilliantly
held the leading roles and creations at the Gaite theatre. In 1821 she
dined with the chief claquer, Braulard, in company with Ducange,
Frederic Dupetit-Mere and Mlle. Millot. [A Distinguished Provincial at
Paris.]
DURAND, real name of the Chessels. This name of Chessel had been
borrowed by Mme. Durand, who was born a Chessel.
DURET (Abbe), cure of Sancerre during the Restoration; aged member of
the old clerical school. Excellent company; a frequenter of the home
of Mme. de la Baudraye, where he satisfied his penchant for gaming.
With much _finesse_ Duret showed this young woman the character of M.
de la Baudraye in its true light. He counseled her to seek in
literature relief from the bitterness of her wedded life. [The Muse of
the Department.]
DURIAU, a celebrated accoucheur of Paris. Assisted by Bianchon he
delivered Mme. de la Baudraye of a child at the home of Lousteau, its
father, in 1837. [The Muse of the Department.]
DURIEU, cook and house servant at the chateau de Cinq-Cygne, under the
Consulate. An old and trusted servant, thoroughly devoted to his
mistress, Laurence de Cinq-Cygne, whose fortunes he had always
followed. He was a married man, his wife being general housekeeper in
the establishment. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
DUROC (Gerard-Christophe-Michel), Duc de Frioul; grand marshal of the
palace of Napoleon; born at Pont-a-Mousson, in 1772; killed on the
battlefield in 1813. On October 13, 1806, the eve of the battle of
Jena, he conducted the Marquis de Chargeboeuf and Laurence de
Cinq-Cygne to the Emperor's presence. [The Gondreville Mystery.] In
April, 1813, he was at a dress-parade at the Carrousel, Paris, when
Napoleon addressed him, regarding Mlle. de Chatillonest, noted by him
in the throng, in language which made the grand marshal smile. [A Woman
of Thirty.]
DURUT (Jean-Francois), a criminal whom Prudence Servien helped convict
to hard labor by her testimony in the Court of Assizes. Durut took
oath to Prudence, before the same tribunal, that, once free, he would
kill her. However, he was executed at the bagne of Toulon four years
later (1829). Jacques Collin, alias Vautrin, to obtain Prudence's
affections, boasted of having freed her from Durut, whose threat held
her in perpetual terror. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
DUTHEIL (Abbe), one of the two vicars-general of the Bishop of Limoges
during the Restoration. One of the lights of the Gallican clergy. Made
a bishop in August, 1831, and promoted to archbishop in 1840. He
presided at the public confession of Mme. Graslin, whose friend and
advisor he was, and whose funeral procession he followed in 1844. [The
Country Parson.]
DUTOCQ, born in 1786. In 1814 he entered the Department of Finance,
succeeding Poiret senior who was displaced in the bureau directed by
Rabourdin. He was order clerk. Idle and incapable, he hated his chief
and caused his overthrow. Very despicable and very prying, he tried to
make his place secure by acting as spy in the bureau. Chardin des
Lupeaulx, the secretary-general, was advised by him of the slightest
developments. After 1816, Dutocq outwardly affected very pronounced
religious tendencies because he believed them useful to his
advancement. He eagerly collected old engravings, possessing complete
"his Charlet," which he desired to give or lend to the minister's
wife. At this time he dwelt on rue Saint-Louis-Saint-Honore (in 1854
this street disappeared) near Palais Royal, on the fifth floor of an
enclosed house, and boarded in a pension of rue de Beaune. [The
Government Clerks.] In 1840, retired, he clerked for a justice of the
peace of the Pantheon municipality, and lived in Thuillier's house,
rue Saint-Dominique d'Enfer. He was a bachelor and had all the vices
which, however, he religiously concealed. He kept in with his
superiors by fawning. He was concerned with the villainous intrigues
of Cerizet, his copy-clerk, and with Theodose de la Peyrade, the
tricky lawyer. [The Middle Classes.]
DUVAL, wealthy forge-master of Alencon, whose daughter the
grand-niece of M. du Croisier (du Bousquier), was married in 1830
to Victurnien d'Esgrignon. Her dowry was three million francs.
[Jealousies of a Country Town.]
DUVAL, famous professor of chemistry at Paris in 1843. A friend of Dr.
Bianchon, at whose instance he analyzed the blood of M. and Mme.
Crevel, who were infected by a peculiar cutaneous disease of which
they died. [Cousin Betty.]
DUVIGNON. (See Lanty, de.)
DUVIVIER, jeweler at Vendome during the Empire. Mme. de Merret
declared to her husband that she had purchased of this merchant an
ebony crucifix encrusted with silver; but in truth she had obtained it
of her lover, Bagos de Feredia. She swore falsely on this very
crucifix. [La Grande Breteche.]
E
EMILE, a "lion of the most triumphant kind," of the acquaintance of
Mme. Komorn--Countess Godollo. One evening in 1840 or 1841 this woman,
in order to avoid Theodose de la Peyrade, on the Boulevard des
Italiens, took the dandy's arm and requested him to take her to
Mabille. [The Middle Classes.]
ESGRIGNON (Charles-Marie-Victor-Ange-Carol, Marquis d'), or, Des
Grignons--following the earlier name--commander of the Order of
Saint-Louis; born about 1750, died in 1830. Head of a very ancient
family of the Francs, the Karawls who came from the North to conquer
the Gauls, and who were entrusted with the defence of a French highway.
The Esgrignons, quasi-princes under the house of Valois and all-powerful
under Henry IV., were very little known at the court of Louis XVIII.;
and the marquis, ruined by the Revolution, lived in rather reduced
circumstances at Alencon in an old gable-roofed house formerly
belonging to him, which had been sold as common property, and which
the faithful notary Chesnel had repurchased, together with certain
portions of his other estates. The Marquis d'Esgrignon, though not
having to emigrate, was still obliged to conceal himself. He
participated in the Vendean struggle against the Republic, and was one
of the members of the Committee Royal of Alencon. In 1800, at the age
of fifty, in the hope of perpetuating his race, he married Mlle. de
Nouastre, who died in child-birth, leaving the marquis an only son. M.
d'Esgrignon always overlooked the escapades of this child, whose
reputation was preserved by Chesnel; and he passed away shortly after
the downfall of Charles X., saying: "The Gauls triumph." [The Chouans.
Jealousies of a Country Town.]
ESGRIGNON (Madame d') nee Nouastre; of blood the purest and noblest;
married at twenty-two, in 1800, to Marquis Carol d'Esgrignon, a man of
fifty. She soon died at the birth of an only son. She was "the
prettiest of human beings; in her person were reawakened the charms
--now fanciful--of the feminine figures of the sixteenth century."
[Jealousies of a Country Town.]
ESGRIGNON (Victurnien, Comte, then Marquis d'), only son of Marquis
Carol d'Esgrignon; born about 1800 at Alencon. Handsome and
intelligent, reared with extreme indulgence and kindness by his aunt,
Mlle. Armande d'Esgrignon, he gave himself over without restraint to
all the whims usual to the ingenuous egoism of his age. From eighteen
to twenty-one he squandered eighty thousand francs without the
knowledge of his father and his aunt; the devoted Chesnel footed all
the bills. The youthful d'Esgrignon was systematically urged to
wrong-doing by an ally of his own age, Fabien du Ronceret, a perfidious
fellow of the town whom M. du Croisier employed. About 1823 Victurnien
d'Esgrignon was sent to Paris. There he had the misfortune to fall
into the society of the Parisian _roues_--Marsay, Ronquerolles,
Trailles, Chardin des Lupeaulx, Vandenesse, Ajuda-Pinto, Beaudenord,
Martial de la Roche-Hugon, Manerville, people met at the homes of
Marquise d'Espard, the Duchesses de Grandlieu, de Carigliano, de
Chaulieu, the Marquises d'Aiglemont and de Listomere, Mme. Firmiani
and the Comtesse de Serizy; at the opera and at the embassies--being
welcomed on account of his good name and seeming fortune. It was not
long until he became the lover of the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, ruined
himself for her and ended by forging a note against M. du Croisier for
one hundred thousand francs. His aunt took him back quickly to
Alencon, and by a great effort he was rescued from legal proceedings.
Following this he fought a duel with M. du Croisier, who wounded him
dangerously. Nevertheless, shortly after the death of his father,
Victurnien d'Esgrignon married Mlle. Duval, niece of the retired
contractor. He did not give himself over to his wife, but instead
betook himself to his former gay life of a bachelor. [Jealousies of a
Country Town. Letters of Two Brides.] According to Marguerite Turquet
"the little D'Esgrignon was well soaked" by Antonia. [A Man of
Business.] In 1832 Victurnien d'Esgrignon declared before a numerous
company at Mme. d'Espard's that the Princesse de Cadignan--Mme. de
Maufrigneuse--was a dangerous woman. "To her I owe the disgrace of my
marriage," he added. Daniel d'Arthez, who was then in love with this
woman, was present at the conversation. [The Secrets of a Princess.]
In 1838 Victurnien d'Esgrignon was present with some artists, lorettes
and men about town, at the opening of the house on rue de la
Ville-Eveque given to Josepha Mirah, by the Duc d'Herouville. The young
marquis himself had been Josepha's lover; Baron Hulot and he had been
rivals for her on another occasion. [Cousin Betty.]
ESGRIGNON (Marie-Armande-Claire d'), born about 1775; sister of
Marquis Carol d'Esgrignon and aunt of Victurnien d'Esgrignon to whom
she had been as a mother, with an absolute tenderness. In his old age
her father had married for a second time, and to the young daughter of
a tax collector, ennobled by Louis XIV. She was born of this union
which was looked upon as a horrible _mesalliance_, and although the
marquis loved her dearly he regarded her as an alien. He made her weep
for joy, one day, by saying solemnly: "You are an Esgrignon, my
sister." Emile Blondet, reared at Alencon, had known and loved her in
his childhood, and often later he praised her beauty and good
qualities. On account of her devotion to her nephew she refused M. de
la Roche-Guyon and the Chevalier de Valois, also M. du Bousquier. She
gave the fullest proof of her genuinely maternal affection for
Victurnien, when the latter committed the crime at Paris, which would
have placed him on the prisoner's bench of the Court of Assizes, but
for the clever work of Chesnel. She outlived her brother, given over
"to her religion and her over-thrown beliefs." About the middle of
Louis Philippe's reign Blondet, who had come to Alencon to obtain his
marriage license, was again moved on the contemplation of that noble
face. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
ESPARD (Charles-Maurice-Marie-Andoche, Comte de Negrepelisse, Marquis
d'), born about 1789; by name a Negrepelisse, of an old Southern
family which acquired by a marriage, time of Henry IV., the lands and
titles of the family of Espard, of Bearn, which was allied also with
the Albret house. The device of the d'Espards was: "Des partem
leonis." The Negrepelisses were militant Catholics, ruined at the time
of the Church wars, and afterwards considerably enriched by the
despoiling of a family of Protestant merchants, the Jeanrenauds whose
head had been hanged after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. This
property, so badly acquired, became wondrously profitable to the
Negrepelisses-d'Espards. Thanks to his fortune, the grandfather of the
marquis was enabled to wed a Navarreins-Lansac, an extremely wealthy
heiress; her father was of the younger branch of the Grandlieus. In
1812 the Marquis d'Espard married Mlle. de Blamont-Chauvry, then
sixteen years of age. He had two sons by her, but discord soon arose
between the couple. Her silly extravagances forced the marquis to
borrow. He left her in 1816, going with his two children to live on
rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve. Here he devoted himself to the
education of his boys and to the composition of a great work; "The
Picturesque History of China," the profits of which, combined with the
savings resultant from an austere manner of living, allowed him to pay
in twelve years' time to the legatees of the suppliant Jeanrenauds
eleven hundred thousand francs, representing the value--time of Louis
XIV.--of the property confiscated from their ancestors. This book was
written, so to speak, in collaboration with Abbe Crozier, and its
financial results aided greatly in comforting the declining years of a
ruined friend, M. de Nouvion. In 1828 Mme. d'Espard tried to have a
guardian appointed for her husband by ridiculing the noble conduct of
the marquis. But the defendant won his rights at court. [The
Commission in Lunacy.] Lucien de Rubempre, who entertained
Attorney-General Granville with an account of this suit, probably was
instrumental in causing the judgment to favor M. d'Espard. Thus he
drew upon himself the hatred of the marquise. [Scenes from a
Courtesan's Life.]
ESPARD (Camille, Vicomte d'), second son of Marquis d'Espard; born in
1815; pursued his studies at the college of Henri IV., in company with
his elder brother, the Comte Clement de Negrepelisse. He studied
rhetoric in 1828. [The Commission in Lunacy.]
ESPARD (Chevalier d'), brother of Marquis d'Espard, whom he wished to
see interdicted, in order that he might be made curator. His face was
thin as a knife-blade, and he was frigid and severe. Judge Popinot
said he reminded him somewhat of Cain. He was one of the deepest
personages to be found in the Marquise d'Espard's drawing-room, and
was the political half of that woman. [The Commission in Lunacy.
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. The Secrets of a Princess.]
ESPARD (Jeanne-Clementine-Athenais de Blamont-Chauvry, Marquise d'),
born in 1795; wife of Marquis d'Espard; of one of the most illustrious
houses of Faubourg Saint-Germain. Deserted by her husband in 1816, she
was at the age of twenty-two mistress of herself and of her fortune,
an income of twenty-six thousand francs. At first she lived in
seclusion; then in 1820 she appeared at court, gave some receptions at
her own home, and did not long delay about becoming a society woman.
Cold, vain and coquettish she knew neither love nor hatred; her
indifference for all that did not directly concern her was profound.
She never showed emotion. She had certain scientific formulas for
preserving her beauty. She never wrote but spoke instead, believing
that two words from a woman were sufficient to kill three men. More
than once she made epigrams to peers or deputies which the courts of
Europe treasured. In 1828 she still passed with the men for youthful.
Mme. d'Espard lived at number 104 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore. [The
Commission in Lunacy.] She was a magnificent Celimene. She displayed
such prudence and severity on her separation from her husband that
society was at a loss to account for this disagreement. She was
surrounded by her relatives, the Navarreins, the Blamont-Chauvrys and
the Lenoncourts; ladies of the highest social position claimed her
acquaintance. She was a cousin of Mme. de Bargeton, who was
rehabilitated by her on her arrival from Angouleme in 1821, and whom
she introduced into Paris, showing her all the secrets of elegant life
and taking her away from Lucien de Rubempre. Later, when the
"Distinguished Provincial" had won his way into high society, she, at
the instance of Mme. de Montcornet, enlisted him on the Royalist side.
[A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] In 1824 she was at an Opera
ball to which she had come through an anonymous note, and, leaning on
the arm of Sixte du Chatelet, she met Lucien de Rubempre whose beauty
struck her and whom she seemed, indeed, not to remember. The poet had
his revenge for her former disdain, by means of some cutting phrases,
and Jacques Collin--Vautrin--masked, caused her uneasiness by
persuading her that Lucien was the author of the note and that he
loved her. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] The Chaulieus were
intimate with her at the time when their daughter Louise was courted
by Baron de Macumer. [Letters of Two Brides.] Despite the silent
opposition of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, after the Revolution of
1830, the Marquise d'Espard did not close her salon, since she did not
wish to renounce her Parisian prestige. In this she was seconded by
one or two women in her circle and by Mlle. des Touches. [Another
Study of Woman.] She was at home Wednesdays. In 1833 she attended a
soiree at the home of the Princesse de Cadignan, where Marsay
disclosed the mystery surrounding the abduction of Senator Malin in
1806. [The Gondreville Mystery.] Notwithstanding an evil report
circulated against her by Mme. d'Espard, the princesse told Daniel
d'Arthez that the marquise was her best friend; she was related to
her. [The Secrets of a Princess.] Actuated by jealousy for Mme. Felix
de Vandenesse, Mme. d'Espard fostered the growing intimacy between the
young woman and Nathan the poet; she wished to see an apparent rival
compromised. In 1835 the marquise defended vaudeville entertainments
against Lady Dudley, who said she could not endure them. [A Daughter
of Eve.] In 1840, on leaving the Italiens, Mme. d'Espard humiliated
Mme. de Rochefide by snubbing her; all the women followed her example,
shunning the mistress of Calyste du Guenic. [Beatrix.] In short the
Marquise d'Espard was one of the most snobbish people of her day. Her
disposition was sour and malevolent, despite its elegant veneer.
ESTIVAL (Abbe d'), provincial priest and Lenten exhorter at the church
of Saint-Jacques du Haut-Pas, Paris. According to Theodose de la
Peyrade, who pointed him out to Mlle. Colleville, he was devoted to
predication in the interest of the poor. By spirituality and unction
he redeemed a scarcely agreeable exterior. [The Middle Classes.]
ESTORADE (Baron, afterwards Comte de l'), a little Provincial
gentleman, father of Louis de l'Estorade. A very religious and very
miserly man who hoarded for his son. He lost his wife about 1814, who
died of grief through lack of hope of ever seeing her son again
--having heard nothing of him after the battle of Leipsic. M. de
l'Estorade was an excellent grandparent. He died at the end of 1826.
[Letters of Two Brides.]
ESTORADE (Louis, Chevalier, then Vicomte and Comte de l') son of the
preceding; peer of France; president of the Chamber in the Court of
Accounts; grand officer of the Legion of Honor; born in 1787. After
having been excluded from the conscription under the Empire, for a
long time, he was enlisted in 1813, serving on the Guard of Honor. At
Leipsic he was captured by the Russians and did not reappear in France
until the Restoration. He suffered severely in Siberia; at thirty-seven
he appeared to be fifty. Pale, lean, taciturn and somewhat deaf, he
bore much resemblance to the Knight of the Rueful Countenance. He
succeeded, however, in making himself agreeable to Renee de Maucombe
whom he married, dowerless, in 1824. Urged on by his wife who became
ambitious after becoming a mother, he left Crampade, his country
estate, and although a mediocre he rose to the highest offices.
[Letters of Two Brides. The Member for Arcis.]
ESTORADE (Madame de l'), born Renee de Maucombe in 1807, of a very old
Provencal family, located in the Gemenos Valley, twenty kilometres
from Marseilles. She was educated at the Carmelite convent of Blois,
where she was intimate with Louise de Chaulieu. The two friends always
remained constant. For several years they corresponded, writing about
life, love and marriage, when Renee the wise gave to the passionate
Louise advice and prudent counsel not always followed. In 1836 Mme. de
l'Estorade hastened to the country to be present at the death-bed of
her friend, now become Mme. Marie Gaston. Renee de Maucombe was
married at the age of seventeen, upon leaving the convent. She gave
her husband three children, though she never loved him, devoting
herself to the duties of motherhood. [Letters of Two Brides.] In
1838-39 the serenity of this sage person was disturbed by meeting
Dorlange-Sallenauve. She believed he sought her, and she must needs
fight an insidious liking for him. Mme. de Camps counseled and
enlightened Mme. de l'Estorade, with considerable foresight, in this
delicate crisis. Some time later, when a widow, Mme. de l'Estorade was
on the point of giving her hand to Sallenauve, who became her
son-in-law. [The Member for Arcis.] In 1841 Mme. de l'Estorade
remarked of M. and Mme. Savinien de Portenduere: "Theirs is the most
perfect happiness that I have ever seen!" [Ursule Mirouet.]
ESTORADE (Armand de l'), elder son of M. and Mme. de l'Estorade;
godson of Louise de Chaulieu, who was Baronne de Macumer and
afterwards Mme. Marie Gaston. Born in December, 1825; educated at the
college of Henri IV. At first stupid and meditative, he awakened
afterwards, was crowned at Sorbonnne, having obtained first prize for
a translation of Latin, and in 1845 made a brilliant showing in his
thesis for the degree of doctor of laws. [Letters of Two Brides. The
Member for Arcis.]
ESTORADE (Rene de l'), second child of M. and Mme. de l'Estorade. Bold
and adventurous as a child. He had a will of iron, and his mother was
convinced that he would be "the cunningest sailor afloat." [Letters of
Two Brides.]
ESTORADE (Jeanne-Athenais de l'), daughter and third child of M. and
Mme. de l'Estorade. Called "Nais" for short. Married in 1847 to
Charles de Sallenauve. (See Sallenauve, Mme. Charles de.)
ESTOURNY (Charles d'), a young dandy of Paris who went to Havre during
the Restoration to view the sea, obtained entrance into the Mignon
household and eloped with Bettina-Caroline, the elder daughter. He
afterwards deserted her and she died of shame. In 1827 Charles
d'Estourny was sentenced by the police court for habitual fraud in
gambling. [Modeste Mignon.] A Georges-Marie Destourny, who styled
himself Georges d'Estourny, was the son of a bailiff, at Boulogne,
near Paris, and was undoubtedly identical with Charles d'Estourny. For
a time he was the protector of Esther van Gobseck, known as La
Torpille. He was born about 1801, and, after having obtained a
splendid education, had been left without resources by his father, who
was forced to sell out under adverse circumstances. Georges d'Estourny
speculated on the Bourse with money obtained from "kept" women who
trusted in him. After his sentence he left Paris without squaring his
accounts. He had aided Cerizet, who afterwards became his partner. He
was a handsome fellow, open-hearted and generous as the chief of
robbers. On account of the knaveries which brough him into court,
Bixiou nicknamed him "Tricks at Cards." [Scenes from a Courtesan's
Life. A Man of Business.]
ETIENNE & CO., traders at Paris under the Empire. In touch with
Guillaume, clothier of rue Saint-Denis, who foresaw their failure and
awaited "with anxiety as at a game of cards." [At the Sign of the Cat
and Racket.]
EUGENE, Corsican colonel of the Sixth regiment of the line, which was
made up almost entirely of Italians--the first to enter Tarragone in
1808. Colonel Eugene, a second Murat, was extraordinarily brave. He
knew how to make use of the species of bandits who composed his
regiment. [The Maranas.]
EUGENIE, assumed name of Prudence Servien, which name see.
EUPHRASIE, Parisian courtesan, time of the Restoration and Louis
Philippe. A pretty, winsome blonde with blue eyes and a melodious
voice; she had an air of the utmost frankness, yet was profoundly
depraved and expert in refined vice. In 1821 she transmitted a
terrible and fatal disease to Crottat, the notary. At that time she
lived on rue Feydeau. Euphrasie pretended that in her early youth she
had passed entire days and nights trying to support a lover who had
forsaken her for a heritage. With the brunette, Aquilina, Euphrasie
took part in a famous orgy, at the home of Frederic Taillefer, on rue
Joubert, where were also Emile Blondet, Rastignac, Bixiou and Raphael
de Valentin. Later she is seen at the Theatre-Italien, in company with
the aged antiquarian, who had sold Raphael the celebrated "magic
skin"; she was running through with the old merchant's treasures.
[Melmoth Reconciled. The Magic Skin.]
EUROPE, assumed name of Prudence Servien, which name see.
EVANGELISTA (Madame), born Casa-Real in 1781, of a great Spanish
family collaterally descended from the Duke of Alva and related to the
Claes of Douai; a creole who came to Bordeaux in 1800 with her
husband, a large Spanish financier. In 1813 she was left a widow, with
her daughter. She paid no thought to the value of money, never knowing
how to resist a whim. So one morning in 1821 she was forced to call on
the broker and expert, Elie Magus, to get an estimate on the value of
her magnificent diamonds. She became wearied of life in the country,
and therefore favored the marriage of her daughter with Paul de
Manerville, in order that she might follow the young couple to Paris
where she dreamed of appearing in grand style and of a further
exercise of her power. For that matter she displayed much astuteness
in arranging the details of this marriage, at which time Maitre
Solonet, her notary, was much taken with her, desiring to wed her, and
defending her warmly against Maitre Mathias the lawyer for the
Manervilles. Beneath the exterior of an excellent woman she knew, like
Catherine de Medicis, how to hate and wait. [A Marriage Settlement.]
EVANGELISTA (Natalie), daughter of Mme. Evangelista; married to Paul
de Manerville. (See that name.)
EVELINA, young girl of noble blood, wealthy and cultured, of a strict
Jansenist family; sought in marriage by Benassis, in the beginning of
the Restoration. Evelina reciprocated Benassis' love, but her parents
opposed the match. Evelina died soon after gaining her freedom and the
doctor did not survive her long. [The Country Doctor.]
F
FAILLE & BOUCHOT, Parisian perfumers who failed in 1818. They gave an
order for ten thousand phials of peculiar shape to hold a new
cosmetic, which phials Anselme Popinot purchased for four sous each on
six months' time, with the intention of filling them with the
"Cephalic Oil" invented by Cesar Birotteau. [Cesar Birotteau.]
FALCON (Jean), alias Beaupied, or more often Beau-Pied, sergeant in
the Seventy-second demi-brigade in 1799, under the command of Colonel
Hulot. Jean Falcon was the clown of his company. Formerly he had
served in the artillery. [The Chouans.] In 1808, still under the
command of Hulot, he was one in the army of Spain and in the troops
led by Murat. In that year he was witness of the death of Bega, the
French surgeon, assassinated by a Spaniard. [The Muse of the
Department.] In 1841 he was body-servant of his old-time colonel, now
become a marshal. For thirty years he had been in his employ. [Cousin
Betty.]
FALCON (Marie-Cornelie), famous singer of the Opera; born at Paris on
January 28, 1812. On July 20, 1832, she made a brilliant debut in the
role of Alice, in "Robert le Diable." She also created with equal
success the parts of Rachel in "La Juive" and Valentine in "The
Huguenots." In 1836 the composer Conti declared to Calyste du Guenic
that he was madly enamored of this singer, "the youngest and prettiest
of her time." He even wished to marry her--so he said--but this remark
was probably a thrust at Calyste, who was smitten with the Marquise de
Rochefide, whose lover the musician was at this time. [Beatrix.]
Cornelie Falcon disappears from the scene in 1840, after a famous
evening when, before a sympathetic audience, she mourned on account of
the ruin of her voice. She married a financier, M. Malencon, and is
now a grandmother. Mme. Falcon has given, in the provinces, her name
to designate tragic "sopranos." "La Vierge de l'Opera," interestingly
delineated by M. Emmanuel Gonzales, reveals--according to him--certain
incidents in her career.
FALLEIX (Martin), Auvergnat coppersmith on rue du Faubourg
Saint-Antoine, Paris; born about 1796; he had come from the country
with his kettle under his arm. He was patronized by Bidault, alias
Gigonnet, who advanced him capital though at heavy interest. The
usurer also introduced him to Saillard, the cashier of the Minister of
Finance, who with his savings enabled him to open a foundry. Martin
Falleix obtained a brevet for invention and a gold medal at the
Exposition of 1824. Mme. Baudoyer undertook his education, deciding he
would do for a son-in-law. On his side he worked for the interests of
his future father-in-law. [The Government Clerks.] About 1826 he
discussed on the Bourse, with Du Tillet, Werbrust and Claparon, the
third liquidation of Nucingen, which solidly established the fortune of
that celebrated Alsatian banker. [The Firm of Nucingen.]
FALLEIX (Jacques), brother of the preceding; stock-broker, one of
the shrewdest and richest, the successor of Jules Desmarets and
stock-broker for the firm of Nucingen. On rue Saint-George he fitted
up a most elegant little house for his mistress, Mme. du Val-Noble. He
failed in 1829, the victim of one of the Nucingen liquidations. [The
Government Clerks. The Thirteen. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
FANCHETTE, servant of Doctor Rouget at Issoudun, at the close of the
eighteenth century; a stout Berrichonne who, before the advent of La
Cognette, was thought to be the best cook in town. [A Bachelor's
Establishment.]
FANJAT, physician and something of an alienist; uncle of Comtesse
Stephanie de Vandieres. She was supposed to have perished in the
disaster of the Russian campaign. He found her near Strasbourg, in
1816, a lunatic, and took her to the ancient convent of Bon-Hommes,
in the outskirts of l'Isle Adam, Seine-et-Oise, where he tended her
with a tender care. In 1819 he had the sorrow of seeing her expire as
a result of a tragic scene when, recovering her reason all at once,
she recognized her former lover Philippe de Sucy, whom she had not
seen since 1812. [Farewell.]
FANNY, aged servant in the employ of Lady Brandon, at La Grenadiere
under the Restoration. She closed the eyes of her mistress, whom she
adored, then conducted the two children from that house to one of a
cousin of hers, an old retired dressmaker of Tours, rue de la Guerche
(now rue Marceau), where she intended to live with them; but the elder
of the sons of Lady Brandon enlisted in the navy and placed his
brother in college, under the guidance of Fanny. [La Grenadiere.]
FANNY, young girl of romantic temperament, fair and blonde, the only
daughter of a banker of Paris. One evening at her father's house she
asked the Bavarian Hermann for a "dreadful German story," and thus
innocently led to the death of Frederic Taillefer who had in his youth
committed a secret murder, now related in his hearing. [The Red Inn.]
FARIO, old Spanish prisoner of war at Issoudun during the Empire.
After peace was declared he remained there making a small business
venture in grains. He was of Grenada and had been a peasant. He was
the butt of many scurvy tricks on the part of the "Knights of
Idlesse," and he avenged himself by stabbing their leader, Maxence
Gilet. This attempted assassination was momentarily charged to Joseph
Bridau. Fario finally obtained full satisfaction for his vindictive
spirit by witnessing a duel where Gilet fell mortally wounded by the
hand of Philippe Bridau. Gilet had previously become disconcerted by
the presence of the grain-dealer on the field of battle. [A Bachelor's
Establishment.]
FARRABESCHE, ex-convict, now an estate-guard for Mme. Graslin, at
Montegnac, time of Louis Philippe; of an old family of La Correze;
born about 1791. He had had an elder brother killed at Montebello, in
1800 a captain at twenty-two, who by his surpassing heroism had saved
the army and the Consul Bonaparte. There was, too, a second brother
who fell at Austerlitz in 1805, a sergeant in the First regiment of
the Guard. Farrabesche himself had got it into his head that he would
never serve, and when summoned in 1811 he fled to the woods. There he
affiliated more or less with the Chauffeurs and, accused of several
assassinations, was sentenced to death for contumacy. At the instance
of Abbe Bonnet he gave himself up, at the beginnng of the Restoration,
and was sent to the bagne for ten years, returning in 1827. After
1830, re-established as a citizen, he married Catherine Curieux, by
whom he had a child. Abbe Bonnet for one, and Mme. Graslin for
another, proved themselves counselors and benefactors of Farrabesche.
[The Country Parson.]
FARRABESCHE (Madame), born Catherine Curieux, about 1798; daughter of
the tenants of Mme. Brezac, at Vizay, an important mart of La Correze;
mistress of Farrabesche in the last years of the Empire. She bore him
a son, at the age of seventeen, and was soon separated from her lover
on his imprisonment in the galleys. She returned to Paris and hired
out. In her last place she worked for an old lady whom she tended
devotedly, but who died leaving her nothing. In 1833 she came back to
the country; she was just out of a hospital, cured of a disease caused
by fatigue, but still very feeble. Shortly after she married her
former lover. Catherine Curieux was rather large, well-made, pale,
gentle and refined by her visit to Paris, though she could neither
read nor write. She had three married sisters, one at Aubusson, one at
Limoges, and one at Saint-Leonard. [The Country Parson.]
FARRABESCHE (Benjamin), son of Farrabesche and Catherine Curieux; born
in 1815; brought up by the relatives of his mother until 1827, then
taken back by his father whom he dearly loved and whose energetic and
rough nature he inherited. [The Country Parson.]
FAUCOMBE (Madame de), sister of Mme. de Touches and aunt of Felicite
des Touches--Camille Maupin;--an inmate of the convent of Chelles, to
whom Felicite was confided by her dying mother, in 1793. The nun took
her niece to Faucombe, a considerable estate near Nantes belonging to
the deceased mother, where she (the nun) died of fear in 1794.
[Beatrix.]
FAUCOMBE (De), grand-uncle on the maternal side of Felicite des
Touches. Born about 1734, died in 1814. He lived at Nantes, and in his
old age had married a frivolous young woman, to whom he turned over
the conduct of affairs. A passionate archaeologist he gave little
attention to the education of his grand-niece who was left with him in
1794, after the death of Mme. de Faucombe, the aged nun of Chelles.
Thus it happened that Felicite grew up by the side of the old man and
young woman, without guidance, and left entirely to her own devices.
[Beatrix.]
FAUSTINE, a young woman of Argentan who was executed in 1813 at
Mortagne for having killed her child. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
FELICIE, chambermaid of Mme. Diard at Bordeaux in 1823. [The Maranas.]
FELICITE, a stout, ruddy, cross-eyed girl, the servant of Mme.
Vauthier who ran a lodging-house on the corner of Notre-Dame-des-Champs
and Boulevard du Montparnasse, time of Louis Philippe. [The Seamy Side
of History.]
FELIX, office-boy for Attorney-General Granville, in 1830. [Scenes
from a Courtesan's Life.]
FENDANT, former head-clerk of the house of Vidal & Porchon; a partner
with Cavalier. Both were book-sellers, publishers, and book-dealers,
doing business on rue Serpente, Paris, about 1821. At this time they
had dealings with Lucien Chardon de Rubempre. The house for social
reasons was known as Fendant & Cavalier. Half-rascals, they passed for
clever fellows. While Cavalier traveled, Fendant, the more wily of the
two, managed the business. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
FERDINAND, real name of Ferdinand du Tillet.
FERDINAND, fighting name of one of the principal figures in the Breton
uprising of 1799. One of the companions of MM. du Guenic, de la
Billardiere, de Fontaine and de Montauran. [The Chouans. Beatrix.]
FEREDIA (Count Bagos de), Spanish prisoner of war at the Vendome under
the Empire; lover of Mme. de Merret. Surprised one evening by the
unexpected return of her husband, he took refuge in a closet which was
ordered walled up by M. de Merret. There he died heroically without
even uttering a cry. [La Grande Breteche.]
FERET (Athanase), law-clerk of Maitre Bordin, procureur to the
Chatelet in 1787. [A Start in Life.]
FERRAGUS XXIII. (See Bourignard.)
FERRARO (Count), Italian colonel whom Castanier had known during the
Empire, and whose death in the Zembin swamps Castanier alone had
witnessed. The latter therefore intended to assume Ferraro's
personality in Italy after forging certain letters of credit. [Melmoth
Reconciled.]
FERRAUD (Comte), son of a returned councillor of the Parisian
Parliament who had emigrated during the Terror, and who was ruined by
these events. Born in 1781. During the Consulate he returned to
France, at which time he declined certain offers made by Bonaparte. He
remained ever true to the tenets of Louis XVIII. Of pleasing presence
he won his way, and the Faubourg Saint-Germain regarded him as an
ornament. About 1809 he married the widow of Colonel Chabert, who had
an income of forty thousand francs. By her he had two children, a son
and a daughter. He resided on rue de Varenne, having a pretty villa in
the Montmorency Valley. During the Restoration he was made
director-general in a ministry, and councillor of state. [Colonel
Chabert.]
FERRAUD (Comtesse), born Rose Chapotel; wife of Comte Ferraud. During
the Republic, or at the commencement of the Empire, she married her
first husband, an officer named Hyacinthe and known as Chabert, who
was left for dead on the battlefield of Eylau, in 1807. About 1818 he
tried to reassert his marital rights. Colonel Chabert claimed to have
taken Rose Chapotel out of a questionable place at Palais-Royal.
During the Restoration this woman was a countess and one of the queens
of Parisian society. When brought face to face with her first husband
she feigned at first not to recognize him, then she displayed such a
dislike for him that he abandoned his idea of legal restitution.
[Colonel Chabert.] The Comtesse Ferraud was the last mistress of Louis
XVIII., and remained in favor at the court of Charles X. She and
Mesdames de Listomere, d'Espard, de Camps and de Nucingen were invited
to the select receptions of the Minister of Finance, in 1824. [The
Government Clerks.]
FERRAUD (Jules), son of Comte Ferraud and Rose Chapotel, the Comtesse
Ferraud. While still a child, in 1817 or 1818, he was one day at his
mother's house when Colonel Chabert called. She wept and he asked
hotly if the officer was responsible for the grief of the countess.
The latter with her two children then played a maternal comedy which
was successful with the ingenuous soldier. [Colonel Chabert.]
FESSARD, grocer at Saumur during the Restoration. Astonished one day
by Nanon's, the servant's, purchase of a wax-candle, he asked if "the
three magi were visiting them." [Eugenie Grandet.]
FICHET (Mademoiselle), the richest heiress of Issoudun during the
Restoration. Godet, junior, one of the "Knights of Idlesse" paid court
to her mother in the hope of obtaining, as a reward for his devotion,
the hand of the young girl. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
FINOT (Andoche), managing-editor of journals and reviews, times of the
Restoration and Louis Philippe. Son of a hatter of rue du Coq (now rue
Marengo). Finot was abandoned by his father, a hard trader, and made a
poor beginning. He wrote a bombastic announcement for Popinot's
"Cephalic Oil." His first work was attending to announcements and
personals in the papers. He was invited to the Birotteau ball. Finot
was acquainted with Felix Gaudissart, who introduced him to little
Anselme, as a great promoter. He was previously on the editorial staff
of the "Courrier des Spectacles," and he had a piece performed at the
Gaite. [Cesar Birotteau.] In 1820 he ran a little theatrical paper
whose office was located on rue du Sentier. He was nephew of
Giroudeau, a captain of dragoons; was witness of the marriage of J.-J.
Rouget. [A Bachelor's Establishment.] in 1821 Finot's paper was on rue
Saint-Fiacre. Etienne Lousteau, Hector Merlin, Felicien Vernou,
Nathan, F. du Bruel and Blondet all contributed to it. Then it was
that Lucien de Rubempre made his reputation by a remarkable report of
"L'Alcade dans l'embarras," a three act drama performed at the
Panorama-Dramatique. Finot then lived on rue Feydeau. [A Distinguished
Provincial at Paris.] In 1824 he was at the Opera ball in a group of
dandies and litterateurs, which surrounded Lucien de Rubempre, who was
flirting with Esther Gobseck. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] In
this year Finot was guest at an entertainment at the home of
Rabourdin, the chief of bureau, when he allowed himself to be won over
to that official's cause by his friend Chardin des Lupeaulx, who had
asked him to exert the voice of the press against Baudoyer, the rival
of Rabourdin. [The Government Clerks.] In 1825 he was present at a
breakfast given at the Rocher de Cancale, by Frederic Marest in
celebration of his entrance to the law office of Desroches; he was
also at the orgy which followed at the home of Florine. [A Start in
Life.] In 1831 Gaudissart said that his friend Finot had an income of
thirty thousand francs, that he would be councillor of state, and was
booked for a peer of France. He aspired to end up as his
"shareholder." [Gaudissart the Great.] In 1836 Finot was dining with
Blondet, his fellow-editor, and with Couture, a man about town, in a
private room of a well-known restaurant, when he heard the story of
the financial trickeries of Nucingen, wittily related by Bixiou. [The
Firm of Nucingen.] Finot concealed "a brutal nature under a mild
exterior," and his "impertinent stupidity was flecked with wit as the
bread of a laborer is flecked with garlic." [Scenes from a Courtesan's
Life.]
FIRMIANI, a respectable quadragenarian who in 1813 married the lady
who afterwards became Mme. Octave de Camps. He was unable, so it was
said, to offer her more than his name and his fortune. He was formerly
receiver-general in the department of Montenotte. He died in Greece in
1823. [Madame Firmiani.]
FIRMIANI (Madame). (See Camps, Mme. de.)
FISCHER, the name of three brothers, laborers in a village situated on
the extreme frontiers of Lorraine, at the foot of the Vosges. They set
out to join the army of the Rhine by reason of Republican
conscriptions. The first, Pierre, father of Lisbeth--or "Cousin Betty"
--was killed in 1815 in the Francstireurs. The second, Andre, father
of Adeline who became the wife of Baron Hulot, died at Treves in 1820.
The third, Johann, having committed some acts of peculation, at the
instigation of his nephew Hulot, while a commissary contractor in
Algiers, province of Oran, committed suicide in 1841. He was over
seventy when he killed himself. [Cousin Betty.]
FISCHER (Adeline). (See Hulot, d'Ervy, Baronne Hector.)
FISCHER (Lisbeth), known as "Cousin Betty"; born in 1796; brought up a
peasant. In her childhood she had to give way to her first cousin, the
pretty Adeline, who was pampered by the whole family. In 1809 she was
called to Paris by Adeline's husband and placed as an apprentice with
the well-known Pons Brothers, embroiderers to the Imperial Court. She
became a skilled workwoman and was about to set up for herself when
the Empire was overthrown. Lisbeth was a Republican, of restive
temperament, capricious, independent and unaccountably savage. She
habitually declined to wed. She refused in succession a clerk of the
minister of war, a major, an army-contractor, a retired captain and a
wealthy lace-maker. Baron Hulot nick-named her the "Nanny-Goat." A
resident of rue du Doyenne (which ended at the Louvre and was
obliterated about 1855), where she worked for Rivet, a successor of
Pons, she made the acquaintance of her neighbor, Wenceslas Steinbock,
a Livonian exile, whom she saved from poverty and suicide, but whom
she watched with a jealous strictness. Hortense Hulot sought out and
succeeded in seeing the Pole; a wedding followed between the young
people which caused Cousin Betty a deep resentment, cunningly
concealed, but terrific in its effects. Through her Wenceslas was
introduced to the irresistible Mme. Marneffe, and the happiness of a
young household was quickly demolished. The same thing happened to
Baron Hulot whose misconduct Lisbeth secretly abetted. Lisbeth died in
1844 of a pulmonary phthisis, principally caused by chagrin at seeing
the Hulot family reunited. The relatives of the old maid never found
out her evil actions. They surrounded her bedside, caring for her and
lamenting the loss of "the angel of the family." Mlle. Fischer died on
rue Louis-le-Grand, Paris, after having dwelt in turn on rues du
Doyenne, Vaneau, Plumet (now Oudinot) and du Montparnasse, where she
managed the household of Marshal Hulot, through whom she dreamed of
wearing the countess' coronet, and for whom she donned mourning.
[Cousin Betty.]
FITZ-WILLIAM (Miss Margaret), daughter of a rich and noble Irishman
who was the maternal uncle of Calyste du Guenic; hence the first
cousin of that young man. Mme. de Guenic, the mother, was desirous of
mating her son with Miss Margaret. [Beatrix.]
FLAMET. (See la Billardiere, Flamet de.)
FLEURANT (Mother), ran a cafe at Croisic which Jacques Cambremer
visited. [A Seaside Tragedy.]
FLEURIOT, grenadier of the Imperial Guard, of colossal size, to whom
Philippe de Sucy entrusted Stephanie de Vandieres, during the passage
of the Beresina in 1812. Unfortunately separated from Stephanie, the
grenadier did not find her again until 1816. She had taken refuge in
an inn of Strasbourg after escaping from an insane asylum. Both were
then sheltered by Dr. Fanjat and taken to Auvergne, where Fleuriot
soon died. [Farewell.]
FLEURY, retired infantry captain, comptroller of the Cirque-Olympique,
and employed during the Restoration in Rabourdin's bureau, of the
minister of finance. He was attached to his chief, who had saved him
from destitution. A subscriber, but a poor payer, to "Victories and
Conquests." A zealous Bonapartist and Liberal. His three great men
were Napoleon, Bolivar and Beranger, all of whose ballads he knew by
heart, and sang in a sweet, sonorous voice. He was swamped with debt.
His skill at fencing and small-arms kept him from Bixiou's jests. He
was likewise much feared by Dutocq who flattered him basely. Fleury
was discharged after the nomination of Baudoyer as chief of division
in December, 1824. He did not take it to heart, saying that he had at
his disposal a managing editorship in a journal. [The Government
Clerks.] In 1840, still working for the above theatre, Fleury became
manager of "L'Echo de la Bievre," the paper owned by Thuillier.
[The Middle Classes.]
FLICOTEAUX, rival of Rousseau the Aquatic. Historic, legendary and
strictly honest restaurant-keeper in the Latin quarter between rue de
la Harpe and rue des Gres--Cujas--enjoying the custom, in 1821-22, of
Daniel d'Arthez, Etienne Lousteau and Lucien Chardon de Rubempre. [A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
FLORENT, partner of Chanor; they were manufacturers and dealers in
bronze, rue des Tournelles, Paris, time of Louis Philippe. [Cousin
Betty. Cousin Pons.]
FLORENTNE. (See Cabirolle, Agathe-Florentine.)
FLORIMOND (Madame), dealer in linens, rue Vielle-du-Temple, Paris,
1844-45. Maintained by an "old fellow" who made her his heir, thanks
to Fraisier, the man of business, whom she perhaps would have married
through gratitude, had it not been for his physical condition. [Cousin
Pons.]
FLORINE. (See Nathan, Mme. Raoul.)
FLORVILLE (La), actress at the Panorama-Dramatique in 1821. Among her
contemporaries were Coralie, Florine, and Bouffe, or Vignol. On the
first night performance of "The Alcade," she played in a
curtain-raiser, "Bertram." For a few days she was the mistress of a
Russian prince who took her to Saint-Mande, paying her manager a good
sum for her absence from the theatre. [A Distinguished Provincial at
Paris.]
FOEDORA (Comtesse), born about 1805. Of Russian lower class origin and
wonderfully beautiful. Espoused perhaps morganatically by a great lord
of the land. Left a widow she reigned over Paris in 1827. Supposed to
have an income of eighty thousand francs. She received in her
drawing-rooms all the notables of the period, and there "appeared all
the works of fiction that were not published anywhere else." Raphael
de Valentin was presented to the countess by Rastignac and fell
desperately in love with her. But he left her house one day never to
return, being definitely persuaded that she was "a woman without a
heart." Her memory was cruel, and her address enough to drive a
diplomat to despair. Although the Russian ambassador did not receive
her, she had entry into the set of Mme. de Serizy; visited with Mme.
de Nucingen and Mme. de Restaud; received the Duchesse de Carigliano,
the haughtiest of the Bonapartist clique. She had listened to many
young dandies, and to the son of a peer of France, who had offered her
their names in exchange for her fortune. [The Magic Skin.]
FONTAINE (Madame), fortune teller, Paris, rue Vielle-du-Temple, time
of Louis Philippe. At one time a cook. Born in 1767. Earned a
considerable amount of money, but previously had lost heavily in a
lottery. After the suppression of this game of chance she saved up for
the benefit of a nephew. In her divinations Mme. Fontaine made use of
a giant toad named Astaroth, and of a black hen with bristling
feathers, called Cleopatra or Bilouche. These two animals caught
Gazonal's eye in 1845, when in company with De Lora and Bixiou he
visited the fortune-teller's. The Southerner, however, asked only a
five-franc divination, while in the same year Mme. Cibot, who came to
consult her on an important matter, had to pay a hundred francs.
According to Bixiou, "a third of the lorettes, a fourth of the
statesmen and a half of the artists" consulted Mme. Fontaine. She was
the Egeria of a minister, and also looked for "a tidy fortune," which
Bilouche had promised her. [The Unconscious Humorists. Cousin Pons.]
FONTAINE (Comte de), one of the leaders of the Vendee, in 1799, and
then known as Grand-Jacques. [The Chouans.] One of the confidential
advisers of Louis XVIII. Field marshal, councillor of state,
comptroller of the extraordinary domains of the realm, deputy and peer
of France under Charles X.; decorated with the cross of the Legion of
Honor and the Order of Saint Louis. Head of one of the oldest houses
of Poitou. Had married a Mlle. de Kergarouet, who had no fortune, but
who came of a very old Brittany family related to the Rohans. Was the
father of three sons and three daughters. The oldest son became
president of a court, married the daughter of a multi-millionaire salt
merchant. The second son, a lieutenant-general, married Mlle. Monegod,
a rich banker's daughter whom the aunt of Duc d'Herouville had refused
to consider for her nephew. [Modeste Mignon.] The third son, director
of a Paris municipality, then director-general in the Department of
Finance, married the only daughter of M. Grossetete, receiver-general
at Bourges. Of the three daughters, the first married M. Planat at
Baudry, receiver-general; the second married Baron de Villaine, a
magistrate of bourgeois origin ennobled by the king; the third,
Emilie, married her old uncle, the Comte de Kergarouet, and after his
death, Marquis Charles de Vandenesse. [The Ball at Sceaux.] The Comte
de Fontaine and his family were present at the Birotteau ball, and
after the perfumer's bankruptcy procured a situation for him. [Cesar
Birotteau.] He died in 1824. [The Government Clerks.]
FONTAINE (Baronne de), born Anna Grossetete, only daughter of the
receiver-general of Bourges. Attended the school of Mlles. Chamarolles
with Dinah Piedefer, who became Mme. de la Baudraye. Thanks to her
fortune she married the third son of the Comte de Fontaine. She
removed to Paris after her marriage and kept up correspondence with
her old school-mate who now lived at Sancerre. She kept her informed
as to the prevailing styles. Later at the first performance of one of
Nathan's dramas, about the middle of the reign of Louis Philippe, Anna
de Fontaine affected not to recognize this same Mme. de la Baudraye,
then the known mistress of Etienne Lousteau. [The Muse of the
Department.]
FONTANIEU (Madame), friend and neighbor of Mme. Vernier at Vouvray in
1831. The jolliest gossip and greatest joker in town. She was present
at the interview between the insane Margaritis and Felix Gaudissart,
when the drummer was so much at sea. [Gaudissart the Great.]
FONTANON (Abbe), born about 1770. Canon of Bayeux cathedral in the
beginning of the nineteenth century when he "guided the consciences"
of Mme. and Mlle. Bontems. In November, 1808, he got himself enrolled
with the Parisian clergy, hoping thus to obtain a curacy and
eventually a bishopric. He became again the confessor of Mlle.
Bontems, now the wife of M. de Granville, and contributed to the
trouble of that household by the narrowness of his provincial
Catholicism and his inflexible bigotry. He finally disclosed to the
magistrate's wife the relations of Granville with Caroline Crochard.
He also brought sorrow to the last moments of Mme. Crochard, the
mother. [A Second Home.] In December, 1824, at Saint-Roch he
pronounced the funeral oration of Baron Flamet de la Billardiere. [The
Government Clerks.] Previous to 1824 Abbe Fontanon was vicar at the
church of Saint Paul, rue Saint-Antoine. [Honorine.] Confessor of Mme.
de Lanty in 1839, and always eager to pry into family secrets, he
undertook an affair with Dorlange-Sallenauve in the interest of
Mariannina de Lanty. [The Member for Arcis.]
FORTIN (Madame), mother of Mme. Marneffe. Mistress of General de
Montcornet, who had lavished money on her during his visits to Paris
which she had entirely squandered, under the Empire, in the wildest
dissipations. For twenty years she queened it, but died in poverty
though still believing herself rich. Her daughter inherited from her
the tastes of a courtesan. [Cousin Betty.]
FORTIN (Valerie), daughter of preceding and of General de Montcornet.
(See Crevel, Madame.)
FOSSEUSE (La), orphan daughter of a grave-digger, whence the
nick-name. Born in 1807. Frail, nervous, independent, retiring at first,
she tried hiring out, but then fell into vagrant habits. Reared in a
village on the outskirts of Grenoble, where Dr. Benassis came to live
during the Restoration, she became an object of special attention on
the part of the physician who became keenly interested in the gentle,
loyal, peculiar and impressionable creature. La Fosseuse though homely
was not without charm. She may have loved her benefactor. [The Country
Doctor.]
FOUCHE (Joseph), Duc d'Otrante, born near Nantes in 1753; died in
exile at Trieste in 1820. Oratorian, member of the National
Convention, councillor of state, minister of police under the
Consulate and Empire, also chief of the department of the Interior and
of the government of the Illyrian provinces, and president of the
provisional government in 1815. In September, 1799, Colonel Hulot
said: "Bernadotte, Carnot, even citizen Talleyrand--all have left us.
In a word we have with us but a single good patriot, friend Fouche,
who holds everything by means of the police. There's a man for you!"
Fouche took especial care of Corentin who was perhaps his natural son.
He sent him to Brittany during an uprising in the year VIII, to
accompany and direct Mlle. de Verneuil, who was commissioned to betray
and capture the Marquis de Montauran, the Chouan leader. [The
Chouans.] In 1806 he caused Senator Malin de Gondreville to be
kidnapped by masked men in order that the Chateau de Gondreville might
be searched for important papers which, however, proved as
compromising for Fouche as for the senator. This kidnapping, which was
charged against Michu, the Simeuses and the Hauteserres, led to the
execution of the first and the ruin of the others. In 1833, Marsay,
president of the ministerial chamber, while explaining the mysteries
of the affair to the Princesse de Cadignan, paid this tribute to
Fouche: "A genius dark, deep and extraordinary, little understood but
certainly the peer of Philip II., Tiberius or Borgia." [The
Gondreville Mystery.] In 1809 Fouche and Peyrade saved France in
connection with the Walcheren episode; but on the return of the
Emperor from the Wagram campaign Fouche was rewarded by dismissal.
[Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
FOUQUEREAU, concierge to M. Jules Desmarets, stock-broker, rue Menars
in 1820. Specially employed to look after Mme. Desmarets. [The
Thirteen.]
FOURCHON, retired farmer of the Ronquerolles estate, near the forest
of Aigues, Burgundy. Had also been a schoolmaster and a mail-carrier.
An old man and a confirmed toper since his wife's death. At Blangy in
1823 he performed the three-fold duties of public clerk for three
districts, assistant to a justice of the peace, and clarionet player.
At the same time he followed the trade of rope-maker with his
apprentice Mouche, the natural son of one of his natural daughters.
But his chief income was derived from catching otters. Fourchon was
the father-in-law of Tonsard, who ran the Grand-I-Vert tavern. [The
Peasantry.]
FOY (Maximilien-Sebastien), celebrated general and orator born in 1775
at Ham; died at Paris in 1825. [Cesar Birotteau.] In 1821, General
Foy, while in the shop of Dauriat talking with an editor of the
"Constitutionnel" and the manager of "La Minerve," noticed the beauty
of Lucien de Rubempre, who had come in with Lousteau to dispose of
some sonnets. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
FRAISIER, born about 1814, probably at Mantes. Son of a cobbler; an
advocate and man of business at No. 9 rue de la Perle, Paris, in
1844-45. Began as copy-clerk at Couture's office. After serving
Desroches as head-clerk for six years he bought the practice of
Levroux, an advocate of Mantes, where he had occasion to meet Leboeuf,
Vinet, Vatinelle and Bouyonnet. But he soon had to sell out and leave
town on account of violating professional ethics. Whereupon he opened
up a consultation office in Paris. A friend of Dr. Poulain who
attended the last days of Sylvain Pons, he gave crafty counsel to Mme.
Cibot, who coveted the chattels of the old bachelor. He also assured
the Camusot de Marvilles that they should be the legatees of the old
musician despite the faithful Schmucke. In 1845 he succeeded Vitel as
justice of the peace; the coveted place being secured for him by
Camusot de Marville, as a fee for his services. In Normandy he again
acted successfully for this family. Fraisier was a dried-up little man
with a blotched face and an unpleasant odor. At Mantes a certain Mme.
Vatinelle nevertheless "made eyes at him"; and he lived at Marais with
a servant-mistress, Dame Sauvage. But he missed more than one
marriage, not being able to win either his client, Mme. Florimond, or
the daughter of Tabareau. To tell the truth De Marville advised him to
leave the latter alone. [Cousin Pons.]
FRANCHESSINI (Colonel), born about 1789, served in the Imperial Guard,
and was one of the most dashing colonels of the Restoration, but was
forced to resign on account of a slur on his character. In 1808, to
provide for foolish expenditures into which a woman led him, he forged
certain notes. Jacques Collin--Vautrin--took the crime to himself and
was sent to the galleys for several years. In 1819 Franchessini killed
young Taillefer in a duel, at the instigation of Vautrin. The
following year he was with Lady Brandon--probably his mistress--at the
grand ball given by the Vicomtesse de Beauseant, just before her
flight. In 1839, Franchessini was a leading member of the Jockey club,
and held the rank of colonel in the National Guard. Married a rich
Irishwoman who was devout and charitable and lived in one of the
finest mansions of the Breda quarter. Elected deputy, and being an
intimate friend of Rastignac, he evinced open hostility for Sallenauve
and voted against his being seated in order to gratify Maxime de
Trailles. [Father Goriot. The Member for Arcis.]
FRANCOIS (Abbe), cure of the parish at Alencon in 1816. "A Cheverus on
a small scale" he had taken the constitutional oath during the
Revolution and for this reason was despised by the "ultras" of the
town although he was a model of charity and virtue. Abbe Francois
frequented the homes of M. and Mme. du Bousquier and M. and Mme.
Granson; but M. du Bousquier and Athanase Granson were the only ones
to give him cordial welcome. In his last days he became reconciled
with the curate of Saint-Leonard, Alencon's aristocratic church, and
died universally lamented. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
FRANCOIS, head valet to Marshal de Montcornet at Aigues in 1823.
Attached specially to Emile Blondet when the journalist visited them.
Salary twelve hundred francs. In his master's confidence. [The
Peasantry.]
FRANCOIS, in 1822, stage-driver between Paris and Beaumont-sur-Oise,
in the service of the Touchard Company. [A Start in Life.]
FRANCOISE, servant of Mme. Crochard, rue Saint-Louis in Marais in
1822. Toothless woman of thirty years' service. Was present at her
mistress' death-bed. This was the fourth she had buried. [A Second
Home.]
FRAPPART, in 1839, at Arcis-sur-Aube, proprietor of a dance-hall where
was held the primary, presided over by Colonel Giguet, which nominated
Sallenauve. [The Member for Arcis.]
FRAPPIER, finest carpenter in Provins in 1827-28. It was to him that
Jacques Brigaut came as apprentice when he went to the town to be near
his childhood's friend, Pierrette Lorrain. Frappier took care of her
when she left Rogron's house. Frappier was married. [Pierrette.]
FREDERIC, one of the editors of Finot's paper in 1821, who reported
the Theatre-Francais and the Odeon. [A Distinguished Provincial at
Paris.]
FRELU (La Grande), girl of Croisic who had a child by Simon Gaudry.
Nurse to Pierrette Cambremer whose mother died when she was very
young. [A Seaside Tragedy.]
FRESCONI, an Italian who, during the Restoration and until 1828, ran a
nursery on Boulevard du Montparnasse. The business was not a success.
Barbet the book-seller was interested in it; he turned it into a
lodging-house, where dwelt Baron Bourlac. [The Seamy Side of History.]
FRESQUIN, former supervisor of roads and bridges. Married and father
of a family. Employed, time of Louis Philippe, by Gregoire Gerard in
the hydraulic operations for Mme. Graslin at Montegnac. In 1843
Fresquin was appointed district tax collector. [The Country Parson.]
FRISCH (Samuel), Jewish jeweler on rue Saint-Avoie in 1829. Furnisher
and creditor of Esther Gobseck. A general pawnbroker. [Scenes from a
Courtesan's Life.]
FRITAUD (Abbe), priest of Sancerre in 1836. [The Muse of the
Department.]
FRITOT, dealer in shawls on the stock exchange, Paris, time of Louis
Philippe. Rival of Gaudissart. He sold an absurd shawl for six
thousand francs to Mistress Noswell, an eccentric Englishwoman. Fritot
was once invited to dine with the King. [Gaudissart II.]
FRITOT (Madame), wife of preceding. [Gaudissart II.]
FROIDFROND (Marquis de), born about 1777. Gentleman of Maine-et-Loire.
While very young he became insolvent and sold his chateau near
Saumur, which was bought at a low price for Felix Grandet by Cruchot
the notary, in 1811. About 1827 the marquis was a widower with
children, and was spoken of as a possible peer of France. At this time
Mme. des Grassins tried to persuade Eugenie Grandet, now an orphan,
that she would do well to wed the marquis, and that this marriage was
a pet scheme of her father. And again in 1832 when Eugenie was left a
widow by Cruchot de Bonfons, the family of the marquis tried to
arrange a marriage with him. [Eugenie Grandet.]
FROMAGET, apothecary at Arcis-sur-Aube, time of Louis Philippe. As his
patronage did not extend to the Gondrevilles, he was disposed to work
against Keller; that is why he probably voted for Giguet in 1839. [The
Member for Arcis.]
FROMENTEAU, police-agent. With Contenson he had belonged to the
political police of Louis XVIII. In 1845 he aided in unearthing
prisoners for debt. Being encountered at the home of Theodore Gaillard
by Gazonal, he revealed some curious details concerning different
kinds of police to the bewildered countryman. [The Unconscious
Humorists.]
FUNCAL (Comte de), an assumed name of Bourignard, when he was met
at the Spanish Embassy, Paris, about 1820, by Henri de Marsay and
Auguste de Maulincour. There was a real Comte de Funcal, a
Portuguese-Brazilian, who had been a sailor, and whom Bourignard
duplicated exactly. He may have been "suppressed" violently by the
usurper of his name. [The Thirteen.]
G
GABILLEAU, deserter from the Seventeenth infantry; chauffeur executed
at Tulle, during the Empire, on the very day when he had planned an
escape. Was one of the accomplices of Farrabesche who profited by a
hole made in his dungeon by the condemned man to make his own escape.
[The Country Parson.]
GABRIEL, born about 1790; messenger at the Department of Finance, and
check-receiver at the Theatre Royal, during the Restoration. A
Savoyard, and nephew of Antoine, the oldest messenger in the
department. Husband of a skilled lace-maker and shawl-mender. He lived
with his uncle Antoine and another relative employed in the
department, Laurent. [The Government Clerks.]
GABUSSON, cashier in the employ of Dauriat the editor in 1821. [A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
GAILLARD (Theodore), journalist, proprietor or manager of newspapers.
In 1822 he and Hector Merlin established a Royalist paper in which
Rubempre, palinodist, aired opinions favorable to the existing
government, and slashed a very good book of his friend Daniel
d'Arthez. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] Under Louis Philippe
he was one of the owners of a very important political sheet.
[Beatrix. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] In 1845 he ran a strong
paper. At first a man of wit, "he ended by becoming stupid on account
of staying in the same environment." He interlarded his speech with
epigrams from popular pieces, pronouncing them with the emphasis given
by famous actors. Gaillard was good with his Odry and still better
with Lemaitre. He lived at rue Menars. There he was met by Lora,
Bixiou and Gazonal. [The Unconscious Humorists.]
GAILLARD (Madame Theodore), born at Alencon about 1800. Given name
Suzanne. "A Norman beauty, fresh, blooming, and sturdy." One of the
employes of Mme. Lardot, the laundress, in 1816, the year when she
left her native town after having obtained some money of M. du
Bousquier by persuading him that she was with child by him. The
Chevalier de Valois liked Suzanne immensely, but did not allow himself
to be caught in this trap. Suzanne went to Paris and speedily became a
fashionable courtesan. Shortly thereafter she reappeared at Alencon
for a visit to attend Athanase Granson's funeral. She mourned with the
desolate mother, saying to her on leaving: "I loved him!" At the same
time she ridiculed the marriage of Mlle. Cormon with M. du Bousquier,
thus avenging the deceased and Chevalier de Valois. [Jealousies of a
Country Town.] Under the name of Mme. du Val-Noble she became noted in
the artistic and fashionable set. In 1821-22, she became the mistress
of Hector Merlin. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. A Bachelor's
Establishment.] After having been maintained by Jacques Falleix, the
broker who failed, she was for a short time in 1830 mistress of
Peyrade who was concealed under the name of Samuel Johnson, "the
nabob." She was acquainted with Esther Gobseck, who lived on rue
Saint-Georges in a mansion that had been fitted up for her--Suzanne
--by Falleix, and obtained by Nucingen for Esther. [Scenes in a
Courtesan's Life.] In 1838 she married Theodore Gaillard her lover
since 1830. In 1845 she received Lora, Bixiou, and Gazonal. [Beatrix.
The Unconscious Humorists.]
GAILLARD, one of three guards who succeeded Courtecuisse, and under
the orders of Michaud, in the care of the estate of General de
Montcornet at Aigues. [The Peasantry.]
GALARD, market-gardener of Auteuil; father of Mme. Lemprun, maternal
grandfather of Mme. Jerome Thuillier. He died, very aged, of an
accident in 1817. [The Peasantry.]
GALARD (Mademoiselle), old maid, landed proprietor at Besancon, rue du
Perron. She let the first floor of her house to Albert Savarus, in
1834. [Albert Savarus.]
GALARDON (Madame), nee Tiphaine, elder sister of M. Tiphaine,
president of the court at Provins. Married at first to a Guenee, she
kept one of the largest retail dry-goods shops in Paris, on rue
Saint-Denis. Towards the end of the year 1815 she sold out to Rogron
and went back to Provins. She had three daughters whom she provided
with husbands in the little town: the eldest married M. Lesourd, king's
attorney; the second, M. Martener a physician; the third, M. Auffray a
notary. Finally she herself married for her second husband, M.
Galardon, receiver of taxes. She invariably added to her signature,
"nee Tiphaine." She defended Pierrette Lorrain, and was at outs with
the Liberals of Provins, who were induced to persecute Rogron's ward.
[Pierrette.]
GALATHIONNE (Prince and Princess), Russians. The prince was one of the
lovers of Diane de Maufrigneuse. [The Secrets of a Princess.] In
September, 1815, he protected La Minoret a celebrated opera dancer, to
whose daughter he gave a dowry. [The Middle Classes.] In 1819 Marsay,
appearing in the box of the Princess Galathionne, at the Italiens, had
Mme. de Nucingen at his mercy. [Father Goriot.] In 1821 Lousteau said
that the story of the Prince Galathionne's diamonds, the Maubreuil
affair and the Pombreton will, were fruitful newspaper topics. [A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] In 1834-35, the princess gave
balls which the Comtesse Felix de Vandenesse attended. [A Daughter of
Eve.] About 1840 the prince tried to get Mme. Schontz away from the
Marquis de Rochefide; but she said: "Prince, you are no handsomer, but
you are older than Rochefide. You would beat me, while he is like a
father to me." [Beatrix.]
GALOPE-CHOPINE. (See Cibot.)
GAMARD (Sophie), old maid; owner of a house at Tours on rue de la
Psalette, which backed the Saint Gatien church. She let part of it to
priests. Here lodged the Abbes Troubert, Chapeloud and Francois
Birotteau. The house had been purchased during the Terror by the
father of Mlle. Gamard, a dealer in wood, a kind of parvenu peasant.
After receiving Abbe Birotteau most cordially she took a disliking to
him which was secretly fostered by Troubert, and she finally
dispossessed him, seizing the furniture which he valued so greatly.
Mlle. Gamard died in 1826 of a chill. Troubert circulated the report
that Birotteau had caused her death by the sorrow which he had caused
the old maid. [The Vicar of Tours.]
GAMBARA (Paolo), musician, born at Cremona in 1791; son of an
instrument-maker, a moderately good performer and a great composer who
was driven from his home by the French and ruined by the war. These
events consigned Paolo Gambara to a wandering existence from the age
of ten. He found little quietude and obtained no congenial situation
till about 1813 in Venice. At this time he put on an opera, "Mahomet,"
at the Fenice theatre, which failed miserably. Nevertheless he
obtained the hand of Marianina, whom he loved, and with her wandered
through Germany to settle finally in Paris in 1831, in a wretched
apartment on rue Froidmanteau. The musician, an accomplished theorist,
could not interpret intelligently any of his remarkable ideas and he
would play to his wondering auditors jumbled compositions which he
thought to be sublime inspirations. However he enthusiastically
analyzed "Robert le Diable," having heard Meyerbeer's masterpiece
while a guest of Andrea Marcosini. In 1837 he was reduced to mending
musical instruments, and occasionally he went with his wife to sing
duets in the open air on the Champs-Elysees, to pick up a few sous.
Emilio and Massimilla de Varese were deeply sympathetic of the
Gambaras, whom they met in the neighborhood of Faubourg Saint-Honore.
Paolo Gambara had no commonsense except when drunk. He had invented an
outlandish instrument which he called the "panharmonicon." [Gambara.]
GAMBARA (Marianina), Venetian, wife of Paolo Gambara. With him she led
a life of almost continual poverty, and for a long time maintained
them at Paris by her needle. Her clients on rue Froidmanteau were
mostly profligate women, who however were kind and generous towards
her. From 1831 to 1836 she left her husband, going with a lover,
Andrea Marcosini, who abandoned her at the end of five years to marry
a dancer; and in January, 1837, she returned to her husband's home
emaciated, withered and faded, "a sort of nervous skeleton," to resume
a life of still greater squalor. [Gambara.]
GANDOLPHINI (Prince), Neapolitan, former partisan of King Murat. A
victim of the last Revolution he was, in 1823, banished and poverty
stricken. At this time he was sixty-five years old, though he looked
eighty. He lived modestly enough with his young wife at Gersau
--Lucerne--under the English name of Lovelace. He also passed for a
certain Lamporani, who was at that time a well-known publisher of
Milan. When in the presence of Rodolphe the prince resumed his true
self he said: "I know how to make up. I was an actor during the Empire
with Bourrienne, Mme. Murat, Mme. d'Abrantes, and any number of
others."--Character in a novel "L'Ambitieux par Amour," published by
Albert Savarus, in the "Revue de l'Est," in 1834. Under this
fictitious name the author related his own history: Rodolphe was
himself and the Prince and Princesse Gandolphini were the Duc and
Duchesse d'Argaiolo. [Albert Savarus.]
GANDOLPHINI (Princesse), nee Francesca Colonna, a Roman of illustrious
origin, fourth child of the Prince and Princess Colonna. While very
young she married Prince Gandolphini, one of the richest landed
proprietors of Sicily. Under the name of Miss Lovelace, she met
Rodolphe in Switzerland and he fell in love with her.--Heroine of a
novel entitled "L'Ambitieux par Amour," by Albert Savarus. [Albert
Savarus.]
GANIVET, bourgeois of Issoudun, In 1822, in a conversation where
Maxence Gilet was discussed, Commandant Potel threatened to make
Ganivet "swallow his tongue without sauce" if he continued to slander
the lover of Flore Brazier. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
GANIVET (Mademoiselle), a woman of Issoudun "as ugly as the seven
capital sins." Nevertheless she succeeded in winning a certain
Borniche-Hereau who in 1778 left her an income of a thousand crowns.
[A Bachelor's Establishment.]
GANNERAC, in transfer business at Angouleme. In 1821-22 he was
involved in the affair of the notes endorsed by Rubempre in imitation
of the signature of his brother-in-law Sechard. [Lost Illusions.]
GARANGEOT, in 1845 conducted the orchestra in a theatre run by Felix
Gaudissart, succeeding Sylvain Pons to the baton. Cousin of Heloise
Brisetout, who obtained the place for him. [Cousin Pons.]
GARCELAND, mayor of Provins during the Restoration. Son-in-law of
Guepin. Indirectly protected Pierrette Lorrain from the Liberals of
the village led by Maitre Vinet, who acted for Rogron. [Pierrette.]
GARCENAULT (De), first president of the Court of Besancon in 1834. He
got the chapter of the cathedral to secure Albert Savarus as counsel
in a lawsuit between the chapter and the city. Savarus won the suit.
[Albert Savarus.]
GARNERY, one of two special detectives in May, 1830, authorized by the
attorney-general, De Granville, to seize certain letters written to
Lucien de Rubempre by Mme. de Serizy, the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse and
Mlle. Clotilde de Grandlieu. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
GASNIER, peasant living near Grenoble; born about 1789. Married and
the father of several children whom he loved dearly. Inconsolable at
the loss of the eldest. Doctor Benassis, mayor of the commune,
mentioned this parental affection as a rare instance among tillers of
the soil. [The Country Doctor.]
GASSELIN, a Breton born in 1794; servant of the Guenics of Guerande,
in 1836, having been in their employ since he was fifteen. A short,
stout fellow with black hair, furrowed face; silent and slow. He took
care of the garden and stables. In 1832 in the foolish venture of
Duchesse de Berry, in which Gasselin took part with the Baron du
Guenic and his son Calyste, the faithful servant received a sabre cut
on the shoulder, while shielding the young man. This action seemed so
natural to the family that Gasselin received small thanks. [Beatrix.]
GASTON (Louis), elder natural son of Lady Brandon, born in 1805. Left
an orphan in the early years of the Restoration, he was, though still
a child, like a father to his younger brother Marie Gaston, whom he
placed in college at Tours; after which he himself shipped as
cabin-boy on a man-of-war. After being raised to the rank of captain
of an American ship and becoming wealthy in India, he died at Calcutta,
during the first part of the reign of Louis Philippe, as a result of
the failure of the "famous Halmer," and just as he was starting back
to France, married and happy. [La Grenadiere. Letters of Two Brides.]
GASTON (Marie), second natural son of Lady Brandon; born in 1810.
Educated at the college of Tours, which he quitted in 1827. Poet;
protege of Daniel d'Arthez, who often gave him food and shelter. In
1831 he met Louise de Chaulieu, the widow of Macumer, at the home of
Mme. d'Espard. He married her in October, 1833, though she was older
than he, and he was encumbered with debts amounting to 30,000 francs.
The couple living quietly at Ville-d'Avray, were happy until a day
when the jealous Louise conceived unjustifiable suspicions concerning
the fidelity of her husband; on which account she died after they had
been married two years. During these two years Gaston wrote at least
four plays. One of them written in collaboration with his wife was
presented with the greatest success under the names of Nathan and
"others." [La Grenadiere. Letters of Two Brides.] In his early youth
Gaston had published, at the expense of his friend Dorlange, a volume
of poetry, "Les Perce-neige," the entire edition of which found its
way, at three sous the volume, to a second-hand book-shop, whence, one
fine day, it inundated the quays from Pont Royal to Pont Marie. [The
Member for Arcis.]
GASTON (Madame Louis), an Englishwoman of cold, distant manners; wife
of Louis Gaston; probably married him in India where he died as a
result of unfortunate business deals. As a widow she came to France
with two children, where without resource she became a charge to her
brother-in-law who visited and aided her secretly. She lived in Paris
on rue de la Ville-Eveque. The visits made by Marie Gaston were spoken
of to his wife who became jealous, not knowing their object. Mme.
Louis Gaston was thus innocently the cause of Mme. Marie Gaston's
death. [Letters of Two Brides.]
GASTON (Madame Marie), born Armande-Louise-Marie de Chaulieu, in 1805.
At first destined to take the veil; educated at the Carmelite convent
of Blois with Renee de Maucombe who became Mme. de l'Estorade. She
remained constant in her relations with this faithful friend--at least
by letter--who was a prudent and wise adviser. In 1825 Louise married
her professor in Spanish, the Baron de Macumer, whom she lost in 1829.
In 1833 she married the poet Marie Gaston. Both marriages were
sterile. In the first she was adored and believed that she loved; in
the second she was loved as much as she loved, but her insane
jealousy, and her horseback rides from Ville-d'Avray to Verdier's were
her undoing, and she died in 1835 of consumption, contracted purposely
through despair at the thought that she had been deceived. After
leaving the convent she had lived successively at the following
places: on Faubourg Saint-Germain, Paris, where she saw M. de Bonald;
at Chantepleur, an estate in Burgundy, at La Crampade, in Provence,
with Mme. de l'Estorade; in Italy; at Ville-d'Avray, where she sleeps
her last sleep in a park of her own planning. [Letters of Two Brides.]
GATIENNE, servant of Mme. and Mlle. Bontems, at Bayeux, in 1805. [A
Second Home.]
GAUBERT, one of the most illustrious generals of the Republic; first
husband of a Mlle. de Ronquerolles whom he left a widow at the age of
twenty, making her his heir. She married again in 1806, choosing the
Comte de Serizy. [A Start in Life.]
GAUBERTIN (Francois), born about 1770; son of the ex-sheriff of
Soulanges, Burgundy, before the Revolution. About 1791, after five
years' clerkship to the steward of Mlle. Laguerre at Aigues, he
succeeded to the stewardship. His father having become public
prosecutor in the department, time of the Republic, he was made mayor
of Blangy. In 1796 he married the "citizeness" Isaure Mouchon, by whom
he had three children: a son, Claude, and two daughters, Jenny--Mme.
Leclercq--and Eliza. He had also a natural son, Bournier, whom he
placed in charge of a local newspaper. At the death of Mlle. Laguerre,
Gaubertin, after twenty-five years of stewardship, possessed 600,000
francs. He ended by dreaming of acquiring the estate at Aigues; but
the Comte de Montcornet purchased it, retained him in charge, caught
him one day in a theft and discharged him summarily. Gaubertin
received at that time sundry lashes with a whip of which he said
nothing, but for which he revenged himself. The old steward became,
nevertheless, a person of importance. In 1820 he was mayor of
Ville-aux-Fayes, and supplied one-third of the Paris wood. Being
general agent of this rural industry, he managed the forests, lumber
and guards. Gaubertin was related throughout a whole district, like
a "boa-constrictor twisted around a gigantic tree"; the church, the
magistracy, the municipality, the government--all did his bidding.
Even the peasantry served his interests indirectly. When the general,
disgusted by the numberless vexations of his estate, wished to sell
the property at Aigues, Gaubertin bought the forests, while his
partners, Rigou and Soudry, acquired the vineyards and other grounds.
[The Peasantry.]
GAUBERTIN (Madame), born Isaure Mouchon in 1778. Daughter of a member
of the Convention and friend of Gaubertin senior. Wife of Francois
Gaubertin. An affected creature of Ville-aux-Fayes who played the
great lady mightily. [The Peasantry.]
GAUBERTIN (Claude), son of Francois Gaubertin, godson of Mlle.
Laguerre, at whose expense he was educated at Paris. The busiest
attorney at Ville-aux-Fayes in 1823. After five years' practice he
spoke of selling his office. He probably became judge. [The
Peasantry.]
GAUBERTIN (Jenny), elder daughter of Francois Gaubertin. (See
Leclercq, Madame.)
GAUBERTIN (Elisa or Elise), second daughter of Francois Gaubertin.
Loved, courted and longed for since 1819 by the sub-prefect of
Ville-aux-Fayes, M. des Lupeaulx--the nephew. M. Lupin, notary at
Soulanges, sought on his part the young girl's hand for his only son
Amaury. [The Peasantry.]
GAUBERTIN-VALLAT (Mademoiselle), old maid, sister of Mme. Sibilet,
wife of the clerk of the court at Ville-aux-Fayes, in 1823. She ran
the town's stamp office. [The Peasantry.]
GAUCHER was in 1803 a boy working for Michu. [The Gondreville
Mystery.]
GAUDET, second clerk in Desroches' law office in 1824. [A Start in
Life.]
GAUDIN, chief of squadron in the mounted grenadiers of the Imperial
Guard; made baron of the Empire, with the estate of Wistchnau. Made
prisoner by Cossacks at the passage of the Beresina, he escaped, going
to India where he was lost sight of. However he returned to France
about 1830, in bad health, but a multi-millionaire. [The Magic Skin.]
GAUDIN (Madame), wife of foregoing, managed the Hotel Saint-Quentin,
rue des Cordiers, Paris, during the Restoration. Among her guests was
Raphael de Valentin. Her husband's return in 1830 made her wealthy and
a baroness. [The Magic Skin.]
GAUDIN (Pauline), daughter of the foregoing. Was acquainted with,
loved, and modestly aided Raphael de Valentin, a poor lodger at Hotel
Saint-Quintin. After the return of her father she lived with her
parents on rue Saint-Lazare. For a long time her whereabouts were
unknown to Raphael who had quitted the hotel abruptly; then he met her
again one evening at the Italiens. They fell into each other's arms,
declaring their mutual love. Raphael who also had become rich resolved
to espouse Pauline; but frightened by the shrinkage of the "magic
skin" he fled precipitately and returned to Paris. Pauline hastened
after him, only to behold him die upon her breast in a transport of
furious, impotent love. [The Magic Skin.]
GAUDISSART (Jean-Francois), father of Felix Gaudissart. [Cesar
Birotteau.]
GAUDISSART (Felix), native of Normandy, born about 1792, a "great"
commercial traveler making a specialty of the hat trade. Known to the
Finots, having been in the employ of the father of Andoche. Also
handled all the "articles of Paris." In 1816 he was arrested on the
denunciation of Peyrade--Pere Canquoelle. He had imprudently conversed
in the David cafe with a retired officer concerning a conspiracy
against the Bourbons that was about to break out. Thus the conspiracy
was thwarted and two men were sent to the scaffold. Gaudissart being
released by Judge Popinot was ever after grateful to the magistrate
and devoted to the interests of his nephew. When he became minister,
Anselme Popinot obtained for Gaudissart license for a large theatre on
the boulevard, which in 1834 aimed to supply the demand for popular
opera. This theatre employed Sylvain Pons, Schmucke, Schwab, Garangeot
and Heloise Brisetout, Felix's mistress. [Scenes from a Courtesan's
Life. Cousin Pons.] "Gaudissart the Great," then a young man, attended
the Birotteau ball. About that time he probably lived on rue des
Deux-Ecus, Paris. [Cesar Birotteau.] During the Restoration, a "pretended
florist's agent" sent by Judge Popinot to Comte Octave de Bauvan, he
bought at exorbitant prices the artificial flowers made by Honorine.
[Honorine.] At Vouvray in 1831 this man, so accustomed to fool others,
was himself mystified in rather an amusing manner by a retired dyer, a
sort of "country Figaro" named Vernier. A bloodless duel resulted.
After the episode, Gaudissart boasted that the affair had been to his
advantage. He was "in this Saint-Simonian period" the lover of Jenny
Courand. [Gaudissart the Great.]
GAUDRON (Abbe), an Auvergnat; vicar and then curate of the church of
Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis, rue Saint-Antoine, Paris, during the
Restoration and the Government of July. A peasant filled with faith,
square below and above, a "sacerdotal ox" utterly ignorant of the
world and of literature. Being confessor of Isidore Baudoyer he
endeavored in 1824 to further the promotion of that incapable chief of
bureau in the Department of Finance. In the same year he was present
at a dinner at the Comte de Bauvan's when were discussed questions
relating to woman. [The Government Clerks. Honorine.] In 1826 Abbe
Gaudron confessed Mme. Clapart and led her into devout paths; the
former Aspasia of the Directory had not confessed for forty years. In
February, 1830, the priest obtained the Dauphiness' protection for
Oscar Husson, son of Mme. Clapart by her first husband, and that young
man was promoted to a sub-lieutenancy in a regiment where he had been
serving as subaltern. [A Start in Life.]
GAULT, warden of the Conciergerie in May, 1830, when Jacques Collin
and Rubempre were imprisoned there. He was then aged. [Scenes from a
Courtesan's Life.]
GAY, boot-maker in Paris, rue de la Michodiere, in 1821, who furnished
the boots for Rubempre which aroused Matifat's suspicion. [A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
GAZONAL (Sylvestre-Palafox-Castel), one of the most skillful weavers
in the Eastern Pyrenees; commandant of the National Guard, September,
1795. On a visit to Paris in 1845 for the settlement of an important
lawsuit he sought out his cousin, Leon de Lora, the landscape artist,
who in one day, with Bixiou the caricaturist, showed him the under
side of the city, opening up to him a whole gallery full of
"unconscious humorists"--dancers, actresses, police-agents, etc.
Thanks to his two cicerones, he won his lawsuit and returned home.
[The Unconscious Humorists.]
GENDRIN, caricaturist, tenant of M. Molineux, Cour Batave, in 1818.
According to his landlord, the artist was a profoundly immoral man who
drew caricatures against the government, brought bad women home with
him and made the hall uninhabitable. [Cesar Birotteau.]
GENDRIN, brother-in-law of Gaubertin the steward of Aigues. He also
had married a daughter of Mouchon. Formerly an attorney, then for a
long time a judge of the Court of First Instance at Ville-aux-Fayes,
he at last became president of the court, through the influence of
Comte de Soulanges, under the Restoration. [The Peasantry.]
GENDRIN, court counselor of a departmental seat in Burgundy, and a
distant relative of President Gendrin. [The Peasantry.]
GENDRIN, only son of President Gendrin; recorder of mortgages in that
sub-prefecture in 1823. [The Peasantry.]
GENDRIN-WATTEBLED (or Vatebled), born about 1733. General supervisor
of streams and forests at Soulanges, Burgundy, from the reign of Louis
XV. Was still in office in 1823. A nonagenarian he spoke, in his lucid
moments, of the jurisdiction of the Marble Table. He reigned over
Soulanges before Mme. Soudry's advent. [The Peasantry.]
GENESTAS (Pierre-Joseph), cavalry officer, born in 1779. At first a
regimental lad, then a soldier. Sub-lieutenant in 1802; officer of the
Legion of Honor after the battle of Moskowa; chief of squadron in
1829. In 1814 he married the widow of his friend Renard, a subaltern.
She died soon after, leaving a child that was legally recognized by
Genestas, who entrusted him, then a young man, to the care of Dr.
Benassis. In December, 1829, Genestas was promoted to be a
lieutenant-colonel in a regiment quartered at Poitiers. [The Country
Doctor.]
GENESTAS (Madame Judith), Polish Jewess, born in 1795. Married in 1812
after the Sarmatian custom to her lover Renard, a French
quartermaster, who was killed in 1813. Judith gave him one son,
Adrien, and survived the father one year. _In extremis_ she married
Genestas a former lover, who adopted Adrien. [The Country Doctor.]
GENESTAS (Adrien), adopted son of Commandant Genestas, born in 1813 to
Judith the Polish Jewess and Renard who was killed before the birth of
his son. Adrien was a living picture of his mother--olive complexion,
beautiful black eyes of a spirituelle sadness, and a head of hair too
heavy for his frail body. When sixteen he seemed but twelve. He had
fallen into bad habits, but after living with Dr. Benassis for eight
months, he was cured and became robust. [The Country Doctor.]
GENEVIEVE, an idiotic peasant girl, ugly and comparatively rich.
Friend and companion of the Comtesse de Vandieres, then insane and an
inmate of the asylum of Bons-Hommes, near Isle-Adam, during the
Restoration. Jilted by a mason, Dallot, who had promised to marry her,
Genevieve lost what little sense love had aroused in her. [Farewell.]
GENOVESE, tenor at the Fenice theatre, Venice, in 1820. Born at
Bergamo in 1797. Pupil of Veluti. Having long loved La Tinti, he sang
outrageously in her presence, so long as she resisted his advances,
but regained all his powers after she yielded to him. [Massimilla
Doni.] In the winter of 1823-24, at the home of Prince Gandolphini, in
Geneva, Genovese sang with his mistress, an exiled Italian prince, and
Princess Gandolphini, the famous quartette, "Mi manca la voce."
[Albert Savarus.]
GENTIL, old valet in service of Mme. de Bargeton, during the
Restoration. During the summer of 1821, with Albertine and Lucien de
Rubempre, he accompanied his mistress to Paris. [A Distinguished
Provincial at Paris.]
GENTILLET, sold in 1835 an old diligence to Albert Savarus when the
latter was leaving Besancon after the visit on the part of Prince
Soderini. [Albert Savarus.]
GENTILLET (Madame), maternal grandmother of Felix Grandet. She died in
1806 leaving considerable property. In Grandet's "drawing room" at
Saumur was a pastel of Mme. Gentillet, representing her as a
shepherdess. [Eugenie Grandet.]
GEORGES, confidential valet of Baron de Nucingen, at Paris, time of
Charles X. Knew of his aged master's love affairs and aided or
thwarted him at will. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
GERARD (Francois-Pascal-Simon, Baron), celebrated painter--1770-1837
--procured for Joseph Bridau in 1818 two copies of Louis XVIII.'s
portrait which were worth to the beginner, then very poor, a thousand
francs, a tidy sum for the Bridau family. [A Bachelor's
Establishment.] The Parisian salon of Gerard, much sought after, had a
rival at Chaussee-d'Antin in that of Mlle. de Touches. [Beatrix.]
GERARD, adjutant-general of the Seventy-second demi-brigade, commanded
by Hulot. A careful education had developed a superior intellect in
Gerard. He was a staunch Republican. Killed by the Chouan, Pille-Miche,
at Vivetiere, December 1799. [The Chouans.]
GERARD (Gregoire), born in 1802, probably in Limousin. Protestant of
somewhat uncouth exterior, son of a journeyman carpenter who died when
rather young; godson of F. Grossetete. From the age of twelve the
banker had encouraged him in the study of the exact sciences for which
he had natural aptitude. Studied at Ecole Polytechnique from nineteen
to twenty-one; then entered as a pupil of engineering in the National
School of Roads and Bridges, from which he emerged in 1826 and stood
the examinations for ordinary engineer two years later. He was
cool-headed and warm-hearted. He became disgusted with his profession
when he ascertained its many limitations, and he plunged into the July
(1830) Revolution. He was probably on the point of adopting the
Saint-Simonian doctrine, when M. Grossetete prevailed upon him to take
charge of some important works on the estate of Mme. Pierre Graslin in
Haute-Vienne. Gerard wrought wonders aided by Fresquin and other
capable men. He became mayor of Montegnac in 1838. Mme. Graslin died
about 1844. Gerard followed out her final wishes, and lived with her
children, assuming guardianship of Francis Graslin. Three months
later, again furthering the desires of the deceased, Gerard married a
native girl, Denise Tascheron, the sister of a man who had been
executed in 1829. [The Country Parson.]
GERARD (Madame Gregoire), wife of foregoing, born Denise Tascheron, of
Montegnac, Limousin; youngest child of a rather large family. She
lavished her sisterly affection on her brother, the condemned
Tasheron, visiting him in prison and softening his savage nature. With
the aid of another brother, Louis-Marie, she made away with certain
compromising clues of her eldest brother's crime, and restored the
stolen money, afterwards she emigrated to America, where she became
wealthy. Becoming homesick she returned to Montegnac, fifteen years
later, where she recognized Francis Graslin, her brother's natural
son, and became a second mother to him when she married the engineer,
Gerard. This marriage of a Protestant with a Catholic took place in
1844. "In grace, modesty, piety and beauty, Mme. Gerard resembled the
heroine of 'Edinburgh Prison.'" [The Country Parson.]
GERARD (Madame), widow, poor but honest, mother of several grown-up
daughters; kept a furnished hotel on rue Louis-le-Grand, Paris, about
the end of the Restoration. Being under obligations to Suzanne du
Val-Noble--Mme. Theodore Gaillard--she sheltered her when the courtesan
was driven away from a fine apartment on rue Saint-Georges, following
the ruin and flight of her lover, Jacques Falleix, the stockbroker.
Mme. Gerard was not related to the other Gerards mentioned above.
[Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
GIARDINI, Neapolitan cook somewhat aged. He and his wife ran a
restaurant in rue Froidmanteau, Paris, in 1830-31. He had established,
so he said, three restaurants in Italy: at Naples, Parma and Rome. In
the first years of Louis Philippe's reign, his peculiar cookery was
the fare of Paolo Gambara. In 1837 this crank on the subject of
special dishes had fallen to the calling of broken food huckster on
rue Froidmanteau. [Gambara.]
GIBOULARD (Gatienne), a very pretty daughter of a wealthy carpenter of
Auxerre; vainly desired, about 1823, by Sarcus for wife, but his
father, Sarcus the Rich, would not consent. Later the social set of
Mme. Soudry, the leading one of a neighboring village, dreamed for a
moment of avenging themselves on the people of Aigues by winning over
Gatienne Giboulard. She could have embroiled M. and Mme. Montcornet,
and perhaps even compromised Abbe Brossette. [The Peasantry.]
GIGELMI, Italian orchestra conductor, living in Paris with the
Gambaras. After the Revolution of 1830, he dined at Giardini's on rue
Froidmanteau. [Gambara.]
GIGONNET. (See Bidault.)
GIGUET (Colonel), native probably of Arcis-sur-Aube, where he lived
after retirement. One of Mme. Marion's brothers. One of the most
highly esteemed officers of the Grand Army. Had a fine sense of honor;
was for eleven years merely captain of artillery; chief of battalion
in 1813; major in 1814. On account of devotion to Napoleon he refused
to serve the Bourbons after the first abdication; and he gave such
proofs of his fidelity in 1815, that he would have been exiled had it
not been for the Comte de Gondreville, who obtained for him retirement
on half-pay with the rank of colonel. About 1806 he married one of the
daughters of a wealthy Hamburg banker, who gave him three children and
died in 1814. Between 1818 and 1825 Giguet lost the two younger
children, a son named Simon alone surviving. A Bonapartist and
Liberal, the colonel was, during the Restoration, president of the
committee at Arcis, where he came in touch with Grevin, Beauvisage and
Varlet, notables of the same stamp. He abandoned active politics after
his ideas triumphed, and, during the reign of Louis Philippe, he
became a noted horticulturist, the creator of the famous Giguet rose.
Nevertheless the colonel continued to be the god of his sister's very
influential salon where he appeared at the time of the legislative
elections of 1839. In the first part of May of that year the little
old man, wonderfully preserved, presided over an electoral convention
at Frappart's, the candidates in the field being his own son, Simon
Giguet, Phileas Beauvisage, and Sallenauve-Dorlange. [The Member for
Arcis.]
GIGUET (Colonel), brother of the preceding and of Mme. Marion; was
brigadier of gendarmes at Arcis-sur-Aube in 1803; promoted to a
lieutenancy in 1806. As brigadier Giguet was one of the most
experienced men in the service. The commandant of Troyes mentioned him
especially to the two Parisian detectives, Peyrade and Corentin,
entrusted with watching the actions of the Simeuses and the
Hauteserres which resulted in the ruin of these young Royalists on
account of the pretended seizure of Gondreville. However, an adroit
manoeuvre on the part of Francois Michu at first prevented Brigadier
Giguet from seizing these conspirators whom he had tracked to earth.
After his promotion to lieutenant he succeeded in arresting them. He
finally became colonel of the gendarmes of Troyes, whither Mme.
Marion, then Mlle. Giguet, went with him. He died before his brother
and sister, and made her his heir. [The Gondreville Mystery. The
Member for Arcis.]
GIGUET (Simon), born during the first Empire, the oldest and only
surviving child of Colonel Giguet of the artillery. In 1814 he lost
his mother, the daughter of a rich Hamburg banker, and in 1826 his
maternal grandfather who left him an income of two thousand francs,
the German having favored others of the large family. He did not hope
for any further inheritance save that of his father's sister, Mme.
Marion, which had been augmented by the legacy of Colonel Giguet of
the gendarmes. Thus it was that, after studying law with the
subprefect Antonin Goulard, Simon Giguet, deprived of a fortune which
at first seemed assured to him, became a simple attorney in the little
town of Arcis, where attorneys are of little service. His aunt's and
his father's position fired him with ambition for a political career.
Giguet ogled at the same time for the hand and dowry of Cecile
Beauvisage. Of mediocre ability; upheld the Left Centre, but failed of
election in May, 1839, when he presented himself as candidate for
Arcis-sur-Aube. [The Member for Arcis.]
GILET (Maxence), born in 1789. He passed at Issoudun for the natural
son of Lousteau, the sub-delegate. Others thought him the son of Dr.
Rouget, a friend and rival of Lousteau. In short "fortunately for the
child both claimed him"; though he belonged to neither. His true
father was found to be a "charming officer of dragoons in the garrison
at Bourges." His mother, the wife of a poor drunken cobbler of
Issoudun, had the marvelous beauty of a Transteverin. Her husband was
aware of his wife's actions and profited by them: through interested
motives, Lousteau and Rouget were allowed to believe whatever they
wished about the child's paternity, for which reason both contributed
to the education of Maxence, usually known as Max. In 1806, at the age
of seventeen, Max enlisted in a regiment going to Spain. In 1809 he
was left for dead in Portugal in an English battery; taken by the
English and conveyed to the Spanish prison-hulks at Cabrera. There he
remained from 1810 to 1814. When he returned to Issoudun his father
and his mother had both died in the hospital. On the return of
Bonaparte, Max served as captain in the Imperial Guard. During the
second Restoration he returned to Issoudun and became leader of the
"Knights of Idlesse" which were addicted to nocturnal escapades more
or less agreeable to the inhabitants of the town. "Max played at
Issoudun a part almost identical with that of Smith in 'The Fair Maid
of Perth'; he was the champion of Bonapartism and opposition. They
relied upon him, as the citizens of Perth had relied upon Smith on
great occasions." A possible Caesar Borgia on more extensive ground,
Gilet lived very comfortably, although without a personal income. And
that is why Max with certain inherited qualities and defects rashly
went to live with his supposed natural father, Jean-Jacques Rouget, a
rich and witless old bachelor who was under the thumb of a superb
servant-mistress, Flore Brazier, known as La Rabouilleuse. After 1816
Gilet lorded it over the household; the handsome chap had won the
heart of Mlle. Brazier. Surrounded by a sort of staff, Maxence
contested the important inheritance of Rouget, maintaining his ground
with marvelous skill against the two lawful heirs, Agathe and Joseph
Bridau; and he would have appropriated it but for the intervention of
a third heir, Philippe Bridau. Max was killed in a duel by Philippe
Bridau in the early part of December, 1822. [A Bachelor's
Establishment.]
GILLE, once printer to the Emperor; owner of script letters which
Jerome-Nicolas Sechard made use of in 1819, claiming for them that
they were the ancestors of the English type of Didot. [Lost
Illusions.]
GINA, character in "L'Ambitieux par Amour," autobiographical novel by
Albert Savarus; a sort of "ferocious" Sormano. Represented as a young
Sicilian girl, fourteen years old, in the services of the
Gandolphinis, political refugees at Gersau, Switzerland, in 1823. So
devoted as to pretend dumbness on occasion, and to wound more or less
seriously the hero of the romance, Rodolphe, who had secretly entered
the Gandolphini home. [Albert Savarus.]
GINETTA (La), young Corsican girl. Very small and slender, but no less
clever. Mistress of Theodore Calvi, and an accomplice in the double
crime committed by her lover, towards the end of the Restoration, when
she was able on account of her small size to creep down an open
chimney at the widow Pigeau's, and thus to open the house door for
Theodore who robbed and murdered the two inmates, the widow and the
servant. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
GIRARD, banker and discounter at Paris during the Restoration; perhaps
also somewhat of a pawnbroker; an acquaintance of Esther Gobseck's.
Like Palma, Werbrust and Gigonnet, he held a number of notes signed by
Maxime de Trailles; and Gobseck who knew it used them against the
count, then the lover of Mme. de Restaud, when Trailles went to the
usurer in rue des Gres and besought assistance in vain. [Gobseck.]
GIRARD (Mother), who ran a little restaurant at Paris in rue de
Tournon, prior to 1838, had a successor with whom Godefroid promised
to board when he was inspecting the left bank of the Seine, and trying
to aid the Bourlac-Mergis. [The Seamy Side of History.]
GIRARDET, attorney at Besancon, between 1830 and 1840. A talkative
fellow and adherent of Albert Savarus, he followed, probably in the
latter's interest, the beginning of the Watteville suit. When Savarus
left Besancon suddenly, Girardet tried to straighten out his
colleague's affairs, and advanced him five thousand francs. [Albert
Savarus.]
GIRAUD (Leon), was at Paris in 1821 member of the Cenacle of rue des
Quatre-Vents, presided over by Daniel d'Arthez. He represented the
philosophical element. His "doctrines" predicted the end of
Christianity and of the family. In 1821 he was also in charge of a
"grave and dignified" opposition journal. He became the head of a
moral and political school, whose "sincerity atoned for its errors."
[A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] About the same time Giraud
frequented the home of the mother of his friend Joseph Bridau, and was
going there at the time when the painter's elder brother, the
Bonapartist Philippe, got into trouble. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
The Revolution of July opened the political career of Leon Giraud who
became master of requests in 1832, and afterwards councillor of state.
In 1845 Giraud was a member of the Chamber, sitting in the Left
Centre. [The Secrets of a Princess. The Unconscious Humorists.]
GIREL, of Troyes. According to Michu, Girel, a Royalist like himself,
during the first Revolution, played the Jacobin in the interest of his
fortune. From 1803 to 1806, at any rate, he was in correspondence with
the Strasbourg house of Breintmayer, which dealt with the Simeuse
twins when they were tracked by Bonaparte's police. [The Gondreville
Mystery.]
GIRODET (Anne-Louis), celebrated painter, born at Montargis, in 1767,
died at Paris in 1824. Under the Empire he was on friendly terms with
his colleague, Theodore de Sommervieux. One day in the latter's studio
he greatly admired a portrait of Augustine Guillaume and an interior,
which he advised him, but in vain not to exhibit at the Salon,
thinking the two works too true to nature to be appreciated by the
public. [At the Sign of the Cat and Racket.]
GIROUD (Abbe), confessor of Rosalie de Watteville at Besancon between
1830 and 1840. [Albert Savarus.]
GIROUDEAU, born about 1774. Uncle of Andoche Finot; began as simple
soldier in the army of Sambre and Meuse; five years master-at-arms in
the First Hussars--army of Italy; charged at Eylau with Colonel
Chabert. He passed into the dragoons of the Imperial Guard, where he
was captain in 1815. The Restoration interrupted his military career.
Finot, manager of various Parisian papers and reviews, put him in
charge of the cash and accounts of a little journal devoted to
dramatic news, which he ran from 1821 to 1822. Giroudeau was also
editor, and his duty it was to wage the warfare; beyond that he lived
a gay life. Although on the wrong side of forty and afflicted with
catarrh he had for mistress Florentine Cabirolle of the Gaite. He went
with the high-livers--among others with his former mess-mate Philippe
Bridau, at whose wedding with Flore Brazier he was present in 1824. In
November, 1825, Frederic Marest gave a grand breakfast to Desroches'
clerks at the Rocher de Cancale, to which Giroudeau was invited. All
spent the evening with Florentine Cabirolle who entertained them
royally but involuntarily got Oscar Husson into trouble. Ex-Captain
Giroudeau bore firearms during the "three glorious days," re-entered
the service after the accession of citizen royalty and soon became
colonel then general, 1834-35. At this time he was enabled to satisfy
a legitimate resentment against his former friend, Bridau, and block
his advancement. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. A Start in
Life. A Bachelor's Establishment.]
GIVRY, one of several names of the second son of the Duc de
Chaulieu, who became by his marriage with Madeleine de Mortsauf a
Lenoncourt-Givry-Chaulieu. [Letters of Two Brides. The Lily of the
Valley. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
GOBAIN (Madame Marie), formerly cook to a bishop; lived during the
Restoration in Paris on rue Saint-Maur, Popinot quarter, under very
peculiar circumstances. She was in the service of Octave de Bauvan.
Was the maid and housekeeper of Comtesse Honorine when the latter left
home and became a maker of artificial flowers. Mme. Gobain had been
secretly engaged by M. de Bauvan, who through her was enabled to keep
watch over his wife. Gobain displayed the greatest loyalty. At one
time the comtesse took the servant's name. [Honorine.]
GOBENHEIM, brother-in-law of Francois and Adolphe Keller, whose name
he added to his own. About 1819 in Paris he was at first made receiver
in the Cesar Birotteau bankruptcy, but was later replaced by Camusot.
[Cesar Birotteau.] Under Louis Philippe, Gobenheim, as broker for the
Paris prosecuting office, invested the very considerable savings of
Mme. Fabien du Ronceret. [Beatrix.]
GOBENHEIM, nephew of Gobenheim-Keller of Paris; young banker of Havre
in 1829; visited the Mignons, but not as a suitor for the heiress'
hand. [Modeste Mignon.]
GOBET (Madame), in 1829 at Havre made shoes for Mme. and Mlle. Mignon.
Was scolded by the latter for lack of style. [Modeste Mignon.]
GOBSECK (Jean-Esther Van), usurer, born in 1740 at Antwerp of a Jewess
and a Dutchman. Began as a cabin-boy. Was only ten years of age when
his mother sent him off to the Dutch possessions in India. There and
in America he met distinguished people, also several corsairs;
traveled all over the world and tried many trades. The passion for
money took entire hold of him. Finally he came to Paris which became
the centre of his operations, and established himself on rue des Gres.
There Gobseck, like a spider in his web, crushed the pride of Maxime
de Trailles and brought tears to the eyes of Mme. de Restaud and
Jean-Joachim Goriot--1819. About this same time Ferdinand du Tillet
sought out the money-lender to make some deals with him, and spoke of
him as "Gobseck the Great, master of Palma, Gigonnet, Werbrust, Keller
and Nucingen." Gobseck went every evening to the Themis cafe to play
dominoes with his friend Bidault-Gigonnet. In December, 1824, he was
found there by Elisabeth Baudoyer, whom he promised to aid; indeed,
supported by Mitral, he was able to influence Lupeaulx to put in
Isidore Baudoyer as chief of division succeeding La Billardiere. In
1830, Gobseck, then an octogenarian, died in his wretched hole on rue
des Gres though he was enormously wealthy. Derville received his last
wishes. He had obtained a wife for the lawyer and entrusted him with
several confidences. Fifteen years after the Dutchman's death, he was
spoken of on the boulevard as the "Last of the Romans"--among the
old-fashioned money-lenders like Gigonnet, Chaboisseau, and Samanon,
against whom Lora and Bixiou set the modern Vauvinet. [Gobseck. Father
Goriot. Cesar Birotteau. The Government Clerks. The Unconscious
Humorists.]
GOBSECK (Sarah Van), called "La Belle Hollandaise." A peculiarity of
this family--as well as the Maranas--that the female side always kept
the family name. Thus Sarah Van Gobseck was the grand-niece of
Jean-Esther Van Gobseck. This prostitute, mother of Esther, who was also
a courtesan, was a typical daughter of Paris. She caused the bankruptcy
of Roguin, Birotteau's attorney, and was herself ruined by Maxime de
Trailles whom she adored and maintained when he was a page to
Napoleon. She died in a house on Palais-Royal, the victim of a love-mad
captain, December, 1818. The affair created a stir. Juan and Francis
Diard had something to say about it. Esther's name lived after her.
The Paris of the boulevards from 1824 to 1839 often mentioned her
prodigal and stormy career. [Gobseck. Cesar Birotteau. The Maranas.
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. The Member for Arcis.]
GOBSECK (Esther Van), born in 1805 of Jewish origin; daughter of the
preceding and great-grand-niece of Jean. For a long time in Paris she
followed her mother's calling, and having begun it early in life she
knew its varied phases. Was nick-named "La Torpille." Was for some
time one of the "rats" of the Royal Academy of Music, and numbered
among her protectors, Lupeaulx. In 1823 her reduced circumstances
almost forced her to leave Paris for Issoudun, where, for a
machiavellian purpose, Philippe Bridau would have made her the
mistress of Jean-Jacques Rouget. The affair did not materialize. She
went to Mme. Meynardie's house where she remained till about the end
of 1823. One evening, while passing the Porte-Saint-Martin theatre,
she chanced to meet Lucien de Rubempre, and they loved each other at
first sight. Their passion led into many vicissitudes. The poet and
the ex-prostitute were rash enough to attend an Opera ball together in
the winter of 1824. Unmasked and insulted Esther fled to rue de
Langlade, where she lived in dire poverty. The dangerous, powerful and
mysterious protector of Rubempre, Jacques Collin, followed her there,
lectured her and shaped her future life, making her a Catholic,
educating her carefully and finally installing her with Lucien on rue
Taitbout, under the surveillance of Jacqueline Collin, Paccard and
Prudence Servien. She could go out only at night. Nevertheless, the
Baron de Nucingen discovered her and fell madly in love with her.
Jacques Collin profited by the episode; Esther received the banker's
attentions, to the enrichment of Lucien. In 1830 she owned a house on
rue Saint-Georges which had belonged previously to several celebrated
courtesans; there she received Mme. du Val-Noble, Tullia and
Florentine--two dancers, Fanny Beaupre and Florine--two actresses. Her
new position resulted in police intervention on the part of Louchard,
Contenson, Peyrade and Corentin. On May 13, 1830, unable longer to
endure Nucingen, La Torpille swallowed a Javanese poison. She died
without knowing that she had fallen heir to seven millions left by her
great-grand-uncle. [Gobseck. The Firm of Nucingen. A Bachelor's
Establishment. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
GODAIN, born in 1796, in Burgundy, near Soulanges, Blangy and
Ville-aux-Fayes; nephew of one of the masons who built Mme. Soudry's
house. A shiftless farm laborer, exempt from military duty on account
of smallness of stature; was at first the lover, then the husband, of
Catherine Tonsard, whom he married about 1823. [The Peasantry.]
GODAIN (Madame Catherine), the eldest of the legitimate daughters of
Tonsard, landlord of the Grand-I-Vert, situated between Conches and
Ville-aux-Fayes in Burgundy. Of coarse beauty and by nature depraved;
a hanger-on at the Tivoli-Socquard, and a devoted sister to Nicolas
Tonsard for whom she tried to obtain Genevieve Niseron. Courted by
Charles, valet at Aigues. Feared by Amaury Lupin. Married Godain one
of her lovers, giving a dowry of a thousand francs cunningly obtained
from Mme. Montcornet. [The Peasantry.]
GODARD (Joseph), born in 1798, probably at Paris; related slightly to
the Baudoyers through Mitral. Stunted and puny; fifer in the National
Guard; "crank" collector of curios; a virtuous bachelor living with
his sister, a florist on rue Richelieu. Between 1824 and 1825 a
possible assistant in the Department of Finance in the bureau managed
by Isidore Baudoyer, whose son-in-law he dreamed of becoming. An easy
mark for Bixiou's practical jokes. With Dutocq he was an unwavering
adherent of the Baudoyers and their relatives the Saillards. [The
Government Clerks. The Middle Classes.]
GODARD (Mademoiselle), sister of the foregoing, and lived on rue
Richelieu, Pais, where in 1824 she ran a florist's shop. Mlle. Godard
employed Zelie Lorain who became later the wife of Minard. She
received him and Dutocq. [The Government Clerks.]
GODARD (Manon), serving-woman of Mme. de la Chanterie; arrested in
1809, between Alencon and Mortagne, implicated in the Chauffeurs trial
which ended in the capital punishment of Mme. des Tours-Minieres,
daughter of Mme. de la Chanterie. Manon Godard was sentenced by
default to twenty-two years imprisonment, and gave herself up in order
not to abandon her mistress. A long time after the baroness was set
free, time of Louis Philippe, Manon was still living with her, on rue
Chanoinesse, in the house which sheltered Alain, Montauran and
Godefroid. [The Seamy Side of History.]
GODDET, retired surgeon-major of the Third regiment of the line; the
leading physician of Issoudun in 1823. His son was one of the "Knights
of Idlesse." Goddet junior pretended to pay court to Mme. Fichet, in
order to reach her daughter who had the best dowry in Issoudun. [A
Bachelor's Establishment.]
GODEFROID, known by his given name; born about 1806, probably at
Paris; son of a wealthy merchant; educated at the Liautard
Institution; naturally feeble, morally and physically; tried his hand
at and made a failure of: law, governmental work, letters, pleasure,
journalism, politics and marriage. At the close of 1836 he found
himself poor and forsaken; thereupon he tried to pay his debts and
live economically. He left Chaussee-d'Antin and took up his abode on
rue Chanoinesse, where he became one of Mme. de la Chanteries'
boarders, known as the "Brotherhood of the Consolation." The
recommendation of the Monegods, bankers, led to his admission. Abbe de
Veze, Montauran, Tresnes, Alain, and above all the baroness initiated
him, coached him, and entrusted to him various charitable missions.
Among others, about the middle of the reign of Louis Philippe, he took
charge of and relieved the frightful poverty of the Bourlacs and the
Mergis, the head of which as an imperial judge in 1809 had sentenced
Mme. de la Chanterie and her daughter. After he succeeded with this
generous undertaking, Godefroid was admitted to the Brotherhood. [The
Seamy Side of History.]
GODENARS (Abbe de), born about 1795; one of the vicars-general of the
archbishop of Besancon between 1830 and 1840. From 1835 on he tried to
get a bishopric. One evening he was present at the aristocratic salon
of the Wattevilles, at the time of the sudden flight of Albert
Savarus, caused by their young daughter. [Albert Savarus.]
GODESCHAL (Francois-Claude-Marie), born about 1804. In 1818, at Paris,
he was third clerk in the law office of Derville, rue Vivienne, when
the unfortunate Chabert appeared upon the scene. [Colonel Chabert.] In
1820, then an orphan and poor, he and his sister, the dancer Mariette,
to whom he was devoted, lived on an eighth floor on rue
Vielle-du-Temple. He had already given evidence of a practical
temperament, independent and self-seeking, but upright and capable of
generous outbursts. [A Bachelor's Establishment.] In 1822, having
risen to second clerk, he left Maitre Derville to become head-clerk in
Desroches' office, who was greatly pleased with him. Godeschal even
undertook to reform Oscar Husson. [A Start in Life.] Six years later,
while still Desroches' head-clerk, he drew up a petition wherein Mme.
d'Espard prayed a guardian for her husband. [The Commission in
Lunacy.] Under Louis Philippe he became one of the advocates of Paris
and paid half his fees--1840--proposing to pay the other half with the
dowry of Celeste Colleville, whose hand was refused him, despite the
recommendation of Cardot the notary. Was engaged for Peyrade, in the
purchase of a house near the Madeleine. [The Middle Classes.] About
1845 Godeschal was still practicing, and numbered among his clients
the Camusots de Marville. [Cousin Pons.]
GODESCHAL (Marie), born about 1804. She maintained, almost all her
life, the nearest and most tender relations with her brother Godeschal
the notary. Without relatives or means, she kept house with him in
1820, on the eighth floor of a house on rue Vielle-du-Temple, Paris.
Ambition and love for her brother caused her to become a dancer. She
had studied her profession from her tenth year. The famous Vestris
instructed her and predicted great things for her. Under the name of
Mariette, she was engaged at the Porte-Saint-Martin and the Royal
Academy of Music. Her success displeased the famous Begrand. In
January, 1821, her angelic beauty, maintained despite her profession,
opened to her the doors of the Opera. Then she had lovers. The
aristocratic and elegant Maufrigneuse protected her for several years.
Mariette also favored Philippe Bridau and was the innocent cause of a
theft committed by him in order to enable him to contend with
Maufrigneuse. Four months later she went to London, where she won the
rich members of the House of Lords, and returned as premiere to the
Academy of Music. She was intimate with Florentine Cabirolle, who
often received in the Marais. There it was that Mariette kept Oscar
Husson out of serious trouble. Mariette attended many festivities. And
at the close of the reign of Louis Philippe, she was still a leading
figure in the Opera. [A Bachelor's Establishment. A Start in Life.
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. Cousin Pons.]
GODIN, under Louis Philippe, a Parisian bourgeois engaged in a lively
dispute with a friend of La Palferine's. [A Prince of Bohemia.]
GODIN (La), peasant woman of Conches, Burgundy, about 1823, whose cow
Vermichel threatened to seize for the Comte de Montcornet. [The
Peasantry.]
GODIVET, recorder of registry of Arcis-sur-Aube in 1839. Through the
scheming of Pigoult he was chosen as one of two agents for an
electoral meeting called by Simon Giguet, one of the candidates, and
presided over by Phileas Beauvisage. [The Member for Arcis.]
GODOLLO (Comtesse Torna de), probably a Hungarian; police spy
reporting to Corentin. Was ordered to prevent the marriage of Theodose
de la Peyrade and Celeste Colleville. To accomplish this she went to
live in the Thuilliers' house, Paris, in 1840, cultivated them and
finally ruled them. She sometimes assumed the name of Mme. Komorn. Her
wit and beauty exercised a passing effect upon Peyrade. [The Middle
Classes.]
GOGUELAT, infantryman of the first Empire, entered the Guard in 1812;
was decorated by Napoleon on the battlefield of Valontina; returned
during the Restoration to the village of Isere, of which Benassis was
mayor, and became postman. [The Country Doctor.]
GOHIER, goldsmith to the King of France in 1824; supplied Elisabeth
Baudoyer with the monstrance with which she decorated the church of
Saint Paul, in order to bring about Isidore Baudoyer's promotion in
office. [The Government Clerks.]
GOMEZ, captain of the "Saint Ferdinand," a Spanish brig which in 1833
conveyed the newly-enriched Marquis d'Aiglemont from America to
France. Gomez was boarded by a Columbian corsair whose captain, the
Parisian, ordered him cast overboard. [A Woman of Thirty.]
GONDRAND (Abbe), confessor, under the Restoration, at Paris, of the
Duchesse Antoinette de Langeais, whose excellent dinners and petty
sins he dealt with at his ease in her salon where Montriveau often
found him. [The Thirteen.]
GONDREVILLE (Malin, his real name; more frequently known as the Comte
de), born in 1763, probably at Arcis-sur-Aube. Short and stout;
grandson of a mason employed by Marquis de Simeuse in the building of
the Gondreville chateau; only son of the owner of a house at Arcis
where dwelt his friend Grevin in 1839. On the recommendation of
Danton, he entered the office of the attorney at the chatelet, Paris,
in 1787. Head clerk for Maitre Bordin in the same city, the same year.
Returned to the country two years later to become a lawyer at Troyes.
Became an obscure and cowardly member of the Convention. Acquired the
friendship of Talleyrand and Fouche, in June, 1800, under singular and
opportune circumstances. Successively and rapidly became tribune,
councillor of state, count of the Empire--created Comte de Gondreville
--and finally senator. As councillor of state, Gondreville devoted his
attention to the preparation of the code. He cut a dash at Paris. He
had purchased one of the finest mansions in Faubourg Saint-Germain and
married the only daughter of Sibuelle, a wealthy contractor of "shady"
character whom Gondreville made co-receiver of Aube, with Marion. The
marriage was celebrated during the Directory or the Consulate. Three
children were the result of this union: Charles de Gondreville,
Marechale de Carigliano, Mme. Francois Keller. In his own interest,
Malin attached himself to Bonaparte. Later, in the presence of the
Emperor and of Dubois, the prefect of police, Gondreville selfishly
simulated a false generosity and asked that the Hauteserres and
Simeuses be striken from the list of the proscribed. Afterwards they
were falsely accused of kidnapping him. As senator in 1809, Malin gave
a grand ball at Paris, when he vainly awaited the Emperor's
appearance, and when Mme. de Lansac reconciled the Soulanges family.
Louis XVIII. made him a peer of France. His wide experience and
ownership of many secrets aided Gondreville, whose counsels hindered
Decazes and helped Villele. Charles X. disliked him because he
remained too intimate with Talleyrand. Under Louis Philippe this bond
was relaxed. The July monarchy heaped honors upon him by making him
peer once more. One evening in 1833 he met at the home of the
Princesse de Cadignan, Henri de Marsay, the prime minister, who had an
inexhaustible fund of political stories, new to all the company save
Gondreville. He was much engrossed with the elections of 1839, and
gave his influence to his grandson, Charles Keller, for Arcis. He
concerned himself little with the candidates, who were finally
elected; Dorlange-Sallenauve, Phileas Beauvisage, Trailles and Giguet.
[The Gondreville Mystery. A Start in Life. Domestic Peace. The Member
for Arcis.]
GONDREVILLE (Comtesse Malin de), born Sibuelle; wife of foregoing;
person whose complete insignificance was manifest at the great ball
given in Paris by the count in 1809. [Domestic Peace.]
GONDREVILLE (Charles de), son of the preceding, and sub-lieutenant of
dragoons in 1818. Young and wealthy, he died in the Spanish campaign
of 1823. His death caused great sorrow to his mistress, Mme.
Colleville. [The Middle Classes.]
GONDRIN, born in 1774, in the department of Isere. Conscripted in 1792
and put in the artillery. Was in the Italian and Egyptian campaigns
under Bonaparte, as a private, and returned east after the Peace of
Amiens. Enrolled, during the Empire, in the pontoon corps of the
Guard, he marched through Germany and Russia; was in the battle at
Beresina aiding to build the bridge by which the remnant of the army
escaped; with forty-one comrades, received the praise of General Eble
who singled him out particularly. Returned to Wilna, as the only
survivor of the corps after the death of Eble and in the beginning of
the Restoration. Unable to read or write, deaf and decrepit, Gondrin
forlornly left Paris which had treated him inhospitably, and returned
to the village in Dauphine, where the mayor, Dr. Benassis, gave him
work as a ditcher and continued to aid him in 1829. [The Country
Doctor.]
GONDRIN (Abbe), young Parisian priest about the middle of the reign of
Louis Philippe. Exquisite and eloquent. Knew the Thuilliers. [The
Middle Classes.]
GONDUREAU, assumed name of Bibi-Lupin.
GONORE (La), widow of Moses the Jew, chief of the southern _rouleurs_,
in May, 1830; mistress of Dannepont the thief and assassin; ran a
house of ill-repute on rue Sainte-Barbe for Mme. Nourrisson. [Scenes
from a Courtesan's Life.]
GORDES (Mademoiselle de), at the head of an aristocratic salon of
Alencon, about 1816, while her father, the aged Marquis de Gordes, was
still living with her. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
GORENFLOT, mason of Vendome, who walled up the closet concealing Mme.
de Merret's lover, the Spaniard Bagos de Feredia. [La Grande
Breteche.]
GORENFLOT, probably posed for Quasimodo of Hugo's "Notre-Dame."
Decrepit, misshapen, deaf, diminutive, he lived in Paris about 1839,
and was organ-blower and bell-ringer in the church of Saint-Louis en
l'Ile. He also acted as messenger in the confidential financial
correspondence between Bricheteau and Dorlange-Sallenauve. [The Member
for Arcis.]
GORIOT,* (Jean-Joachim), born about 1750; started as a porter in the
grain market. During the first Revolution, although he had received no
education, but having a trader's instinct, he began the manufacture of
vermicelli and made a fortune out of it. Thrift and fortune favored
him under the Terror. He passed for a bold citizen and fierce patriot.
Prosperity enabled him to marry from choice the only daughter of a
wealthy farmer of Brie, who died young and adored. Upon their two
children, Anastasie and Delphine, he lavished all the tenderness of
which their mother had been the recipient, spoiling them with fine
things. Goriot's griefs date from the day he set each up in
housekeeping in magnificent fashion on Chaussee-d'Antin. Far from
being grateful for his pecuniary sacrifices, his sons-in-law, Restaud
and Nucingen, and his daughters themselves, were ashamed of his
bourgeois exterior. In 1813 he had retired saddened and impoverished
to the Vauquer boarding-house on rue Nueve-Sainte-Genevieve. The
quarrels of his daughters and the greedy demands for money increased
and in 1819 followed him thither. Almost all the guests of the house
and especially Mme. Vauquer herself--whose ambitious designs upon him
had come to naught--united in persecuting Goriot, now well-nigh
poverty-stricken. He found an agreeable respite when he acted as a
go-between for the illicit love affair of Mme. de Nucingen and
Rastignac, his fellow-lodger. The financial distress of Mme. de Restaud,
Trailles' victim, gave Goriot the finishing blow. He was compelled to
give up the final and most precious bit of his silver plate, and beg
the assistance of Gobseck the usurer. He was crushed. A serious attack
of apoplexy carried him off. He died on rue Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve.
Rastignac watched over him, and Bianchon, then an interne, attended
him. Only two men, Christophe, Mme. Vauquer's servant, and Rastignac,
followed the remains to Saint-Etienne du Mont and to Pere-Lachaise.
The empty carriages of his daughters followed as far as the cemetery.
[Father Goriot.]
* Two Parisian theatres and five authors have depicted Goriot's life
on the stage; March 6, 1835, at the Vaudeville, Ancelot and Paul
Dupont; the same year, the month following, at the Varietes,
Theaulon, Alexis de Comberousse and Jaime Pere. Also the _Boeuf
Gras_ of a carnival in a succeeding year bore the name of Goriot.
GORITZA (Princesse), a charming Hungarian, celebrated for her beauty,
towards the end of Louis XV.'s reign, and to whom the youthful
Chevalier de Valois became so attached that he came near fighting on
her account with M. de Lauzun; nor could he ever speak of her without
emotion. From 1816 to 1830, the Alencon aristocracy were given
glimpses of the princess's portrait, which adorned the chevalier's
gold snuff-box. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
GORJU (Madame), wife of the mayor of Sancerre, in 1836, and mother of
a daughter "whose figure threatened to change with her first child,"
and who sometimes came with her to the receptions of Mme. de la
Baudraye, the "Muse of the Department." One evening, in the fall of
1836, she heard Lousteau reading ironically fragments of "Olympia."
[The Muse of the Department.]
GOTHARD, born in 1788; lived about 1803 in Arcis-sur-Aube, where his
courage and address obtained for him the place of groom to Laurence de
Cinq-Cygne. Devoted servant of the countess; he was one of the
principals acquitted in the trial which ended with the execution of
Michu. [The Gondreville Mystery.] Gothard never left the service of
the Cinq-Cygne family. Thirty-six years later he was their steward.
With his brother-in-law, Poupard, the Arcis tavern-keeper, he
electioneered for his masters. [The Member for Arcis.]
GOUJET (Abbe), cure of Cinq-Cygne, Aube, about 1792, discovered for
the son of Beauvisage the farmer, who were still good Catholics, the
Greek name of Phileas, one of the few saints not abolished by the new
regime. [The Member for Arcis.] Former abbe of the Minimes, and a
friend of Hauteserre. Was the tutor of Adrien and Robert Hauteserre;
enjoyed a game of boston with their parents--1803. His political
prudence sometimes led him to censure the audacity of their kinswoman,
Mlle. de Cinq-Cygne. Nevertheless, he held his own with the persecutor
of the house, Corentin the police-agent; and attended Michu when that
victim of a remarkable trial, known as "the abduction of Gondreville,"
went to the scaffold. During the Restoration he became Bishop of
Troyes. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
GOUJET (Mademoiselle), sister of the foregoing; good-natured old maid,
ugly and parsimonious, who lived with her brother. Almost every
evening she played boston at the Hauteserres and was terrified by
Corentin's visits. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
GOULARD, mayor of Cinq-Cygne, Aube, in 1803. Tall, stout and miserly;
married a wealthy tradeswoman of Troyes, whose property, augmented by
all the lands of the rich abbey of Valdes-Preux, adjoined Cinq-Cygne.
Goulard lived in the old abbey, which was very near the chateau of
Cinq-Cygne. Despite his revolutionary proclivities, he closed his eyes
to the actions of the Hauteserres and Simeuses who were Royalist
plotters. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
GOULARD (Antonin), native of Arcis, like Simon Giguet. Born about
1807; son of the former huntsman of the Simeuse family, enriched by
the purchase of public lands. (See preceding biography.) Early left
motherless, he came to Arcis to live with his father, who abandoned
the abbey of Valpreux. Went to the Imperial lyceum, where he had Simon
Giguet for school-mate, whom he afterwards met again on the benches of
the Law school at Paris. Obtained, through Gondreville, the Cross of
the Legion of Honor. The royal government of 1830 opened up for him a
career in the public service. In 1839 he became sub-prefect for
Arcis-sur-Aube, during the electoral period. The delegate, Trailles,
satisfied Antonin's rancor against Giguet: his official
recommendations caused the latter's defeat. Both the would-be prefect
and the sub-prefect vainly sought the hand of Cecile Beauvisage.
Goulard cultivated the society of officialdom: Marest, Vinet,
Martener, Michu. [The Member for Arcis.]
GOUNOD, nephew of Vatel, keeper of the Montcornet estate at Aigues,
Burgundy. About 1823 he probably became assistant to the head-keeper,
Michaud. [The Peasantry.]
GOUPIL (Jean-Sebastien-Marie), born in 1802; a sort of humpless
hunchback; son of a well-to-do farmer. After running through with
his inheritance, in Paris, he became head-clerk of the notary
Cremiere-Dionis, of Nemours--1829. On account of Francois
Minoret-Levrault, he annoyed in many ways, even anonymously, Ursule
Mirouet, after the death of Dr. Minoret. Afterwards he repented his
actions, repaid their instigator, and succeeded the notary,
Cremiere-Dionis. Thanks to his wit, he became honorable,
straightforward and completely transformed. Once established, Goupil
married Mlle. Massin, eldest daughter of Massin-Levrault junior,
clerk to the justice of the peace at Nemours. She was homely, had a
dowry of 80,000 francs, and gave him rickety, dropsical children.
Goupil took part in the "three glorious days" and had obtained a July
decoration. He was very proud of the ribbon. [Ursule Mirouet.]
GOURAUD (General, Baron), born in 1782, probably at Provins. Under the
Empire he commanded the Second regiment of hussars, which gave him his
rank. The Restoration caused his impoverished years at Provins. He
mixed in politics and the opposition there, sought the hand and above
all the dowry of Sylvie Rogron, persecuted the apparent heiress of the
old maid, Mlle. Pierrette Lorrain--1827--and, seconded by Vinet the
attorney, reaped in July, 1830, the fruits of his cunning liberalism.
Thanks to Vinet, the ambitious parvenu, Gouraud married, in spite of
his gray hair and stout frame, a girl of twenty-five, Mlle. Matifat,
of the well-known drug-firm of rue des Lombards, who brought with her
fifty thousand crowns. Titles, offices and emoluments now flowed in
rapidly. He resumed the service, became general, commanded a division
near the capital and obtained a peerage. His conduct during the
ministry of Casimir Perier was thus rewarded. Futhermore he received
the grand ribbon of the Legion of Honor, after having stormed the
barricades of Saint-Merri, and was "delighted to thrash the bourgeois
who had been an eye-sore to him" for fifteen years. [Pierrette.] About
1845 he had stock in Gaudissart's theatre. [Cousin Pons.]
GOURDON, the elder, husband of the only daugher of the old
head-keeper of streams and forests, Gendrin-Wattebled; was in 1823
physician at Soulanges and attended Michaud. Nevertheless he went
among the best people of Soulanges, headed by Mme. Soudry, who
regarded him in the light of an unknown and neglected savant, when he
was but a parrot of Buffon and Cuvier, a simple collector and
taxidermist. [The Peasantry.]
GOURDON, the younger, brother of the preceding; wrote the poem of "La
Bilboqueide" published by Bournier. Married the niece and only heiress
of Abbe Tupin, cure of Soulanges, where he himself had been in 1823
clerk for Sarcus. He was wealthier than the justice. Mme. Soudry and
her set gave admiring welcome to the poet, preferring him to
Lamartine, with whose works they slowly became acquainted. [The
Peasantry.]
GOUSSARD (Laurent) was a member of the revolutionary municipality of
Arcis-sur-Aube. Particular friend of Danton, he made use of the
tribune's influence to save the head of the ex-superior of the
Ursulines at Arcis, Mother Marie des Anges, whose gratitude for his
generous and skillful action caused substantial enrichment to this
purchaser of the grounds of the convent, which was sold as "public
land." Thus it was that forty years afterwards this adroit Liberal
owned several mills on the river Aube, and was still at the head of
the advanced Left in that district. The various candidates for deputy
in the spring of 1839, Keller, Giguet, Beauvisage, Dorlange-Sallenauve,
and the government agent, Trailles, treated Goussard with the
consideration he deserved. [The Member for Arcis.]
GRADOS had in his hands the notes of Vergniaud the herder. By means of
funds from Derville the lawyer, Grados was paid in 1818 by Colonel
Chabert. [Colonel Chabert.]
GRAFF (Johann), brother of a tailor established in Paris under Louis
Philippe. Came himself to Paris after having been head-waiter in the
hotel of Gedeon Brunner at Frankfort; and ran the Hotel du Rhin in rue
du Mail where Frederic Brunner and Wilhelm Schwab alighted penniless
in 1835. The landlord obtained small positions for the two young men;
for the former with Keller; for the latter with his brother the
tailor. [Cousin Pons.]
GRAFF (Wolfgang), brother of the foregoing, and rich tailor of Paris,
at whose shop in 1838 Lisbeth Fischer fitted out Wenceslas Steinbock.
On his brother's recommendation, he employed Wilhelm Schwab, and, six
years later, took him into the family by giving him Emilie Graff in
marriage. [Cousin Betty. Cousin Pons.]
GRANCEY (Abbe de), born in 1764. Took orders because of a
disapointment in love; became priest in 1786, and cure in 1788. A
distinguished prelate who refused three bishoprics in order not to
leave Besancon. In 1834 he became vicar-general of that diocese. The
abbe had a handsome head. He gave free vent to cutting speeches. Was
acquainted with Albert Savarus whom he liked and aided. A frequenter
of the Watteville salon he found out and rebuked Rosalie, the singular
and determined enemy of the advocate. He also intervened between
Madame and Mademoiselle de Watteville. He died at the end of the
winter of 1836-37. [Albert Savarus.]
GRANCOUR (Abbe de), one of the vicars-general of the bishopric of
Limoges, about the end of the Restoration; and the physical antithesis
of the other vicar, the attenuated and moody Abbe Dutheil whose lofty
and independent liberal doctrines he, with cowardly caution, secretly
shared. Grancour frequented the Graslin salon and doubtless knew of
the Tascheron tragedy. [The Country Parson.]
GRANDEMAIN was in 1822 at Paris clerk for Desroches. [A Start in
Life.]
GRANDET (Felix), of Saumur, born between 1745 and 1749. Well-to-do
master-cooper, passably educated. In the first years of the Republic
he married the daughter of a rich lumber merchant, by whom he had in
1796 one child, Eugenie. With their united capital, he bought at a
bargain the best vineyards about Saumur, in addition to an old abbey
and several farms. Under the Consulate he became successively member
of the district government and mayor of Saumur. But the Empire, which
supposed him to be a Jacobin, retired him from the latter office,
although he was the town's largest tax-payer. Under the Restoration
the despotism of his extraordinary avarice disturbed the peace of his
family. His younger brother, Guillaume, failed and killed himself,
leaving in Felix's hands the settlement of his affairs, and sending to
him his son Charles, who had hastened to Saumur, not knowing his
father's ruin. Eugenie loved her cousin and combated her father's
niggardliness, which looked after his own interests to the neglect of
his brother. The struggle between Eugenie and her father broke Mme.
Grandet's heart. The phases of the terrible duel were violent and
numerous. Felix Grandet's passion resorted to stratagem and stubborn
force. Death alone could settle with this domestic tyrant. In 1827, an
octogenarian and worth seventeen millions, he was carried off by a
stroke of paralysis. [Eugenie Grandet.]
GRANDET (Madame Felix), wife of the preceding; born about 1770;
daughter of a rich lumber merchant, M. de la Gaudiniere; married in
the beginning of the Republic, and gave birth to one child, Eugenie,
in 1796. In 1806 she added considerably to the combined wealth of the
family through two large inheritances--from her mother and M. de la
Bertelliere, her maternal grandfather. A devout, shrinking,
insignificant creature, bowed beneath the domestic yoke, Mme. Grandet
never left Saumur, where she died in October, 1822, of lung trouble,
aggravated by grief at her daughter's rebellion and her husband's
severity. [Eugenie Grandet.]
GRANDET (Victor-Ange-Guillaume), younger brother of Felix Grandet;
became rich at Paris in wine-dealing. In 1815 before the battle of
Waterloo, Frederic de Nucingen bought of him one hundred and fifty
thousand bottles of champagne at thirty sous, and sold them at six
francs; the allies drank them during the invasion--1817-19. [The Firm
of Nucingen.] The beginning of the Restoration favored Guillaume. He
was the husband of a charming woman, the natural daughter of a great
lord, who died young after giving him a child. Was colonel of the
National Guard, judge of the Court of Commerce, governor of one of the
arrondissements of Paris and deputy. Saumur accused him of aspiring
still higher and wishing to become the father-in-law of a petty
duchess of the imperial court. The bankruptcy of Maitre Roguin was the
partial cause of the ruin of Guillaume, who blew out his brains to
avoid disgrace, in November, 1819. In his last requests, Guillaume
implored his elder brother to care for Charles whom the suicide had
rendered doubly an orphan. [Eugenie Grandet.]
GRANDET, (Charles), only lawful child of the foregoing; nephew of
Felix Grandet; born in 1797. He led at first the gay life of a young
gallant, and maintained relations with a certain Annette, a married
woman of good society. The tragic death of his father in November,
1819, astounded him and led him to Saumur. He thought himself in love
with his cousin Eugenie to whom he swore fidelity. Shortly thereafter
he left for India, where he took the name of Carl Sepherd to escape
the consequences of treasonable actions. He returned to France in 1827
enormously wealthy, debarked at Bordeaux in June of that year,
accompanying the Aubrions whose daughter Mathilde he married, and
allowed Eugenie Grandet to complete the settlement with the creditors
of his father. [Eugenie Grandet.] By his marriage he became Comte
d'Aubrion. [The Firm of Nucingen.]
GRANDET (Eugenie).* (See Bonfons, Eugenie Cruchot de.)
* The incidents of her life have been dramatized by Bayard for the
Gymnase-Dramatique, under the title of "The Miser's Daughter."
GRANDLIEU (Comtesse de), related to the Herouvilles; lived in the
first part of the seventeenth century; probably ancestress of the
Grandlieus, well known in France two centuries later. [The Hated Son.]
GRANDLIEU (Mademoiselle), under the first Empire married an imperial
chamberlain, perhaps also the prefect of Orne, and was received,
alone, in Alencon among the exclusive and aristocratic set lorded over
by the Esgrignons. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
GRANDLIEU (Duc Ferdinand de), born about 1773; may have descended from
the Comtesse de Grandlieu who lived early in the seventeenth century,
and consequently connected with the old and worthy nobility of the
Duchy of Brittany whose device was "Caveo non timeo." At the end of
the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth centuries,
Ferdinand de Grandlieu was the head of the elder branch, wealthy and
ducal, of the house of Grandlieu. Under the Consulate and the Empire
his high and assured rank enabled him to intercede with Talleyrand in
behalf of M. d'Hauteserre and M. de Simeuse, compromised in the
fictitious abduction of Malin de Gondreville. Grandlieu by his
marriage with an Ajuda of the elder branch, connected with the
Barganzas and of Portuguese descent, had several daughters, the eldest
of whom assumed the veil in 1822. His other daughters were
Clotilde-Frederique, born in 1802; Josephine the third; Sabine born in
1809; Marie-Athenais, born about 1820. An uncle by marriage of Mme. de
Langeais, he had at Paris, in Faubourg Saint-Germain, a hotel where,
during the reign of Louis XVIII., the Princesse de Blamont-Chauvry,
the Vidame de Pamiers and the Duc de Navarreins assembled to consider
a startling escapade of Antoinette de Langeais. At least ten years
later Grandlieu availed himself of his intimate friend Henri de
Chaulieu and also of Corentin--Saint-Denis--in order to stay the suit
against Lucien de Rubempre which was about to compromise his daughter
Clotilde-Frederique. [The Gondreville Mystery. The Thirteen. A
Bachelor's Establishment. Modeste Mignon. Scenes from a Courtesan's
Life.]
GRANDLIEU (Duchesse Ferdinand de), of Portuguese descent, born Ajuda
and of the elder branch of that house connected with the Braganzas.
Wife of Ferdinand de Grandlieu, and mother of several daughters. Of
sedentary habits, proud, pious, good-hearted and beautiful, she
wielded in Paris during the Restoration a sort of supremacy over the
Faubourg Saint-Germain. The second and the next to the youngest of her
children gave her much anxiety. Combating the hostility of those about
her she welcomed Rubempre, the suitor of her daughter
Clotilde-Frederique--1829-30. The unfortunate results of the marriage
of her other daughter Sabine, Baronne Calyste du Guenic, occupied Mme.
de Grandlieu's attention in 1837, and she succeeded in reconciling the
young couple, with the assistance of Abbe Brossette, Maxime de
Trailles, and La Palferine. Her religious scruples had made her halt a
moment; but they fell like her political fidelity, and, with Mmes.
d'Espard, de Listomere and des Touches, she tacitly recognized the
bourgeois royalty, a few years after a new reign began, and re-opened
the doors of her salon. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. Beatrix. A
Daughter of Eve.]
GRANDLIEU (Mademoiselle de), eldest daughter of the Duc and Duchesse
de Grandlieu, took the veil in 1822. [A Bachelor's Establishment.
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
GRANDLIEU (Clotilde-Frederique de), born in 1802; second daughter of
the Duc and Duchesse de Grandlieu; a long, flat creature, the
caricature of her mother. She had no consent save that of her mother
when she fell in love with and wished to marry the ambitious Lucien de
Rubempre in the spring of 1830. She saw him for the last time on the
road to Italy in the forest of Fontainbleu near Bouron and under very
painful circumstances the young man was arrested before her very eyes.
[Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
GRANDLIEU (Josephine de). (See Ajuda-Pinto, Marquise Miguel d'.)
GRANDLIEU (Sabine de). (See Guenic, Baronne Calyste du.)
GRANDLIEU (Marie-Athenais de). (See Grandlieu, Vicomtesse Juste de.)
GRANDLIEU (Vicomtesse de), sister of Comte de Born; descended more
directly than the duke from the countess of the seventeenth century.
From 1813, the time of her husband's death, the head of the younger
Grandlieu house whose device was "Grands faits, grand lieu." Mother of
Camille and of Juste de Grandlieu, and the mother-in-law of Ernest de
Restaud. Returned to France with Louis XVIII. At first she lived on
royal bounty, but afterwards regained a considerable portion of her
property through the efforts of Maitre Derville, about the beginning
of the Restoration. She was very grateful to the lawyer, who also took
her part against the Legion of Honor, was admitted to her confidential
circle and told her the secrets of the Restaud household, one evening
in the winter of 1830 when Ernest de Restaud, son of the Comtesse
Anastasie, was paying court to Camille whom he finally married.
[Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. Colonel Chabert. Gobseck.]
GRANDLIEU (Camille de). (See Restaud, Comtesse Ernest de.)
GRANDLIEU (Vicomte Juste de), son of Vicomtesse de Grandlieu; brother
of Comtesse Ernest de Restaud; cousin and afterwards husband of
Marie-Athenais de Grandlieu, combining by this marriage the fortunes
of the two houses of Grandlieu and obtaining the title of duke.
[Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. Gobseck.]
GRANDLIEU (Vicomtesse Juste de), born about 1820, Marie-Athenais de
Grandlieu; last daughter of Duc and Duchesse de Grandlieu; married to
her cousin, the Vicomte Juste de Grandlieu. She received at Paris in
the first days of the July government, a young married woman like
herself, Mme. Felix de Vandenesse, then in the midst of a flirtation
with Raoul Nathan. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. Gobseck. A
Daughter of Eve.]
GRANET, deputy-mayor of the second arrondissement of Paris, in 1818,
under La Billardiere. With his homely wife he was invited to the
Birotteau ball. [Cesar Birotteau.]
GRANET, one of the leading men of Besancon, under Louis Philippe. In
gratitude for a favor done him by Albert Savarus he nominated the
latter for deputy. [Albert Savarus.]
GRANSON (Madame), poor widow of a lieutenant-colonel of artillery
killed at Jena, by whom she had a son, Athanase. From 1816 she lived
at No. 8 rue du Bercail in Alencon, where the benevolence of a distant
relative, Mme. du Bousquier, put in her charge the treasury of a
maternal society against infanticide, and brought her into contact,
under peculiar circumstances, with the woman who afterwards became
Mme. Theodore Gaillard. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
GRANSON (Athanase), son of the preceding; born in 1793; subordinate in
the mayor's office at Alencon in charge of registry. A sort of poet,
liberal in politics and filled with ambition; weary of poverty and
overflowing with grandiose sentiments. In 1816 he loved, with a
passion that his commonsense combated, Mme. du Bousquier, then Mlle.
Cormon, his senior by more than seventeen years. In 1816 the marriage
dreaded by him took place. He could not brook the blow and drowned
himself in the Sarthe. He was mourned only by his mother and Suzanne
du Val-Noble. [Jealousies of a Country Town.] Nevertheless, eight
years after it was said of him: "The Athanase Gransons must die,
withered up, like the grains which fall on barren rock." [The
Government Clerks.]
GRANVILLE (Comte de), had a defective civil status, the orthography of
the name varying frequently through the insertion of the letter "d"
between the "n" and "v." In 1805 at an advanced age he lived at
Bayeux, where he was probably born. His father was a president of the
Norman Parliament. At Bayeux the Comte married his son to the wealthy
Angelique Bontems. [A Second Home.]
GRANVILLE (Vicomte de), son of Comte de Granville, and comte upon his
father's death; born about 1779; a magistrate through family
tradition. Under the guidance of Cambaceres he passed through all the
administrative and judicial grades. He studied with Maitre Bordin,
defended Michu in the trial resulting from the "Gondreville Mystery,"
and learned officially and officiously of one of its results a short
time after his marriage with a young girl of Bayeux, a rich heiress
and the acquirer of extensive public lands. Paris was generally the
theatre for the brilliant career of Maitre Granville who, during the
Empire, left the Augustin quai where he had lived to take up his abode
with his wife on the ground-floor of a mansion in the Marais, between
rue Vielle-du-Temple and rue Nueve-Saint-Francois. He became
successively advocate-general at the court of the Seine, and president
of one of its chambers. At this time a domestic drama was being
enacted in his life. Hampered in his open and broad-minded nature by
the bigotry of Mme. de Granville, he sought domestic happiness outside
his home, though he already had a family of four children. He had met
Caroline Crochard on rue du Tourniquet-Saint-Jean. He installed her on
rue Taitbout and found in this relation, though it was of brief
duration, the happiness vainly sought in his proper home. Granville
screened this fleeting joy under the name of Roger. A daughter
Eugenie, and a son Charles, were born of this adulterous union which
was ended by the desertion of Mlle. Crochard and the misconduct of
Charles. Until the death of Mme. Crochard, the mother of Caroline,
Granville was able to keep up appearances before his wife. Thus it
happened that he accompanied her to the country, Seine-et-Oise, when
he assisted M. d'Albon and M. de Sucy. The remainder of Granville's
life, after his wife and his mistress left him, was passed in
comparative solitude in the society of intimate friends like Octave de
Bauvan and Serizy. Hard work and honors partially consoled him. His
request as attorney-general caused the reinstatement of Cesar
Birotteau, one of the tenants at No. 397 rue Saint-Honore. He and his
wife had been invited to the famous ball given by Birotteau more than
three years previously. As attorney-general of the Court of Cassation,
Granville secretly protected Rubempre during the poet's famous trial,
thus drawing upon himself the powerful affection of Jacques Collin,
counterbalanced by the enmity of Amelie Camusot. The Revolution of
July upheld Granville's high rank. He was peer of France under the new
regime, owning and occupying a small mansion on rue Saint-Lazare, or
traveling in Italy. At this time he was one of Dr. Bianchon's
patients. [The Gondreville Mystery. A Second Home. Farewell. Cesar
Birotteau. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. A Daughter of Eve. Cousin
Pons.]
GRANVILLE (Comtesse Angelique de), wife of preceding, and daughter of
Bontems, a farmer and sort of Jacobin whom the Revolution enriched
through the purchase of evacuated property at low prices. She was born
at Bayeux in 1787, and received from her mother a very bigoted
education. At the beginning of the Empire she married the son of one
of the neighbors of the family, then Vicomte and later Comte de
Granville; and, under the influence of Abbe Fontanon, she maintained
at Paris the manners and customs of an extreme devotee. She thus
evoked the infidelity of her husband who had begun by simply
neglecting her. Of her four children she retained charge of the
education of her two daughters. She broke off entirely from her
husband when she discovered the existence of her rival, Mlle. de
Bellefeuille--Caroline Crochard--and returned to Bayeux to end her
days, remaining to the last the austere, stingy sanctified creature
who had formerly been scandalized by the openness of the affair of
Montriveau and Mme. de Langeais. She died in 1822. [A Second Home. The
Thirteen. A Daughter of Eve.]
GRANVILLE (Vicomte de), elder son of the preceding. Was reared by his
father. In 1828 he was deputy-attorney at Limoges, where he afterwards
became advocate-general. He fell in love with Veronique Graslin, but
incurred her secret disfavor by his proceedings against the assassin
Tascheron. The vicomte had a career almost identical with that of his
father. In 1833 he was made first president at Orleans, and in 1844
attorney-general. Later near Limoges he came suddenly upon a scene
which moved him deeply: the public confession of Veronique Graslin.
The vicomte had unknowingly been the executioner of the chatelaine of
Montegnac. [A Second Home. A Daughter of Eve. The Country Parson.]
GRANVILLE (Baron Eugene de), younger brother of the foregoing. King's
attorney at Paris from May, 1830. Three years later he still held this
office, when he informed his father of the arrest of a thief named
Charles Crochard, who was the count's natural son. [Scenes from a
Courtesan's Life. A Second Home.]
GRANVILLE (Marie-Angelique de). (See Vandenesse, Comtesse Felix de.)
GRANVILLE (Marie-Eugenie de). (See Tillet, Madame Ferdinand du.)
GRASLIN (Pierre), born in 1775. An Auvergnat, compatriot and friend of
Sauviat, whose daughter Veronique he married in 1822. He began as a
bank-clerk with Grosstete & Perret, a first-class firm of the town. A
man of business and a hard worker he became successor to his
employers. His fortune, increased by lucky speculations with Brezac,
enabled him to buy one of the finest places in the chief city of
Haute-Vienne. But he was not able to win his wife's heart. His
physical unattractiveness, added to by his carelessness and grinding
avarice, were complicated by a domestic tyranny which soon showed
itself. Thus it was that he was only the legal father of a son named
Francis, but he was ignorant of this fact, for, in the capacity of
juror in the Court of Assizes dealing with the fate of Tascheron, the
real father of the child, he urged but in vain the acquittal of the
prisoner. Two years after the boy's birth and the execution of the
mother's lover, in April, 1831, Pierre Graslin died of weakness and
grief. The July Revolution suddenly breaking forth had shaken his
financial standing, which was regained only with an effort. It was at
the time when he had brought Montegnac from the Navarreins. [The
Country Parson.]
GRASLIN (Madame Pierre), wife of preceding; born Veronique Sauviat, at
Limoges in May, 1802; beautiful in spite of traces of small-pox; had
had the spoiled though simple childhood of an only daughter. When
twenty she married Pierre Graslin. Soon after marriage her ingenuous
nature, romantic and refined, suffered in secret from the harsh
tyranny of the man whose name she bore. Veronique, however, held aloof
from the gallants who frequented her salon, especially the Vicomte de
Granville. She had become the secret mistress of J.-F. Tascheron, a
porcelain worker. She was on the point of eloping with him when a
crime committed by him was discovered. Mme. Graslin suffered the most
poignant anguish, giving birth to the child of the condemned man at
the very moment when the father was led to execution. She inflicted
upon herself the bitterest flagellations. She could devote herself
more freely to penance after her husband's death, which occurred two
years later. She left Limoges for Montegnac, where she made herself
truly famous by charitable works on a huge scale. The sudden return of
the sister of her lover dealt her the final blow. Still she had energy
enough to bring about the union of Denise Tascheron and Gregoire
Gerard, gave her son into their keeping, left important bequests
destined to keep alive her memory, and died during the summer of 1844
after confessing in public in the presence of Bianchon, Dutheil,
Granville, Mme. Sauviat and Bonnet who were all seized with admiration
and tenderness for her. [The Country Parson.]
GRASLIN (Francis), born at Limoges in August, 1829. Only child of
Veronique Graslin, legal son of Pierre Graslin, but natural son of
J.-F. Tascheron. He lost his legal father two years after his birth,
and his mother thirteen years later. His tutor M. Ruffin, his maternal
grandmother Mme. Sauviat, and above all the Gregoire Gerards watched
over his boyhood at Montegnac. [The Country Parson.]
GRASSET, bailiff and successor of Louchard. On the demand of Lisbeth
Fischer and by Rivet's advice, in 1838, he arrested W. Steinbock in
Paris and took him to Clichy prison. [Cousin Betty.]
GRASSINS (Des), ex-quartermaster of the Guard, seriously wounded at
Austerlitz, pensioned and decorated. Time of Louis XVIII. he became
the richest banker in Saumur, which he left for Paris where he located
with the purpose of settling the unfortunate affairs of the suicide,
Guillaume Grandet and where he was later made a deputy. Although the
father of a family he conceived a passion for Florine, a pretty
actress of the Theatre du Madame,* to the havoc of his fortune.
[Eugenie Grandet.]
* The name of this theatre was changed, in 1830, to
Gymnase-Dramatique.
GRASSINS (Madame des), born about 1780; wife of foregoing, giving him
two children; spent most of her life at Saumur. Her husband's position
and sundry physical charms which she was able to preserve till nearly
her fortieth year enabled her to shine somewhat in society. With the
Cruchots she often visited the Grandets, and, like the family of the
President de Bonfons, she dreamed of mating Eugenie with her son
Adolphe. The dissipated life of her husband at Paris and the
combination of the Cruchots upset her plans. Nor was she able to do
much for her daughter. However, deprived of much of her property and
making the best of things, Mme. des Grassins continued unaided the
management of the bank at Saumur. [Eugenie Grandet.]
GRASSINS (Adolphe des), born in 1797, son of M. and Mme. des Grassins;
studied law at Paris where he lived in a lavish way. A caller at the
Nucingens where he met Charles Grandet. Returned to Saumur in 1819 and
vainly courted Eugenie Grandet. Finally he returned to Paris and
rejoined his father whose wild life he imitated. [Eugenie Grandet.]
GRASSOU (Pierre), born at Fougeres, Brittany, in 1795. Son of a
Vendean peasant and militant Royalist. Removing at an early age to
Paris he began as clerk to a paint-dealer who was from Mayenne and a
distant relative of the Orgemonts. A mistaken idea led him toward art.
His Breton stubbornness led him successively to the studios of Servin,
Schinner and Sommervieux. He afterwards studied, but fruitlessly, the
works of Granet and Drolling; then he completed his art studies with
Duval-Lecamus. Grassou profited nothing by his work with these
masters, nor did his acquaintance with Lora or Joseph Bridau assist
him. Though he could understand and admire he lacked the creative
faculty and the skill in execution. For this reason Grassou, usually
called Fougeres by his comrades, obtained their warm support and
succeeded in getting admission into the Salon of 1829, for his "Toilet
of a Condemned Chouan," a very mediocre painting palpably along the
lines of Gerard Dow. The work obtained for him from Charles X. the
cross of the Legion of Honor. At last his canvasses found purchasers.
Elie Magus gave him an order for pictures after the Flemish school,
which he sold to Vervelle as works of Dow or Teniers. At that time
Grassou lived at No. 2 rue de Navarin. He became the son-in-law of
Vervelle, in 1832, marrying Virginie Vervelle, the heiress of the
family, who brought him a dowry of one hundred thousand francs, as
well as country and city property. His determined mediocrity opened
the doors of the Academy to him and made him an officer in the Legion
of Honor in 1830, and major of a battalion in the National Guard after
the riots of May 12. He was adored by the middle classes, becoming
their accredited artist. Painted portraits of all the members of the
Crevel and Thuillier families, and also of the director of the theatre
who preceded Gaudissart. Left many frightful and ridiculous daubs, one
of which found its way into Topinard's humble home. [Pierre Grassou. A
Bachelor's Establishment. Cousin Betty. The Middle Classes. Cousin
Pons.]
GRASSOU (Madame Pierre), born Virginie Vervelle; red-haired and
homely; sole heiress of wealthy dealers in cork, on rue Boucherat.
Wife of the preceding whom she married in Paris in 1832. There is a
portrait of her painted in this same year before her marriage, which
at first was a colorless study by Grassou, but was dexterously
retouched by Joseph Bridau. [Pierre Grassou.]
GRAVELOT brothers, lumber-merchants of Paris, who purchased in 1823
the forests of Aigues, the Burgundy estate of General de Montcornet.
[The Peasantry.]
GRAVIER, paymaster-general of the army during the first Empire, and
interested at that time in large Spanish affairs with certain
commanding officers. Upon the return of the Bourbons he purchased at
twenty thousand francs of La Baudraye the office of tax-receiver for
Sancerres, which office he still held about 1836. With the Abbe Duret
and others he frequented the home of Mme. Dinah de la Baudraye. He was
little, fat and common. His court made little way with the baroness,
despite his talent and his worldly-wise ways of a bachelor. He sang
ballads, told stories, and displayed pseudo-rare autographs. [The Muse
of the Department.]
GRAVIER, of Grenoble; head of a family; father-in-law of a notary;
chief of division of the prefecture of Isere in 1829. Knew Genestas
and recommended to him Dr. Benassis, the mayor of the village of which
he himself was one of the benefactors, as the one to attend Adrien
Genestas-Renard. [The Country Doctor.]
GRENIER, known as Fleur-de-Genet; deserter from the Sixty-ninth
demi-brigade; chauffeur executed in 1809. [The Seamy Side of History.]
GRENOUVILLE, proprietor of a large and splendid notion store in
Boulevard des Italiens, Paris, about 1840; a customer of the Bijous,
embroiderers also in business at Paris. At this time an ardent admirer
of Mlle. Olympe Bijou, former mistress of Baron Hulot and Idamore
Chardin. He married her and gave an income to her parents. [Cousin
Betty.]
GRENOUVILLE (Madame), wife of the preceding; born Olympe Bijou, about
1824. In the middle of the reign of Louis Philippe she lived in Paris
near La Courtille, in rue Saint-Maur-du-Temple. Was a pretty but poor
embroiderer surrounded by a numerous and poverty-stricken family when
Josepha Mirah obtained for her old Baron Hulot and a shop. Having
abandoned Hulot for Idamore Chardin, who left her, Olympe married
Grenouville and became a well-known tradeswoman. [Cousin Betty.]
GRENVILLE (Arthur-Ormond, Lord), wealthy Englishman; was being treated
at Montpellier for lung trouble when the rupture of the treaty of
peace of Amiens confined him to Tours. About 1814 he fell in love with
the Marquise Victor d'Aiglemont, whom he afterwards met elsewhere.
Posing as a physician he attended her in an illness and succeeded in
curing her. He visited her also in Paris, finally dying to save her
honor, after suffering his fingers to be crushed in a door--1823. [A
Woman of Thirty.]
GREVIN of Arcis, Aube, began life in the same way as his compatriot
and intimate friend Malin de Gondreville. In 1787, he was second clerk
to Maitre Bordin, attorney of the Chatelet, Paris. Returned to
Champagne at the outbreak of the Revolution. There he received the
successive protection of Danton, Bonaparte and Gondreville. By virtue
of them he became an oracle to the Liberals, was enabled to marry
Mlle. Varlet, the only daughter of the best physician of the city, to
purchase a notary's practice, and to become wealthy. A level-headed
man, Grevin often advised Gondreville, and he directed the mysterious
and fictitious abduction--1803 and the years following. Of his union
with Mlle. Varlet, who died rather young, one daughter was born,
Severine, who became Mme. Phileas Beauvisage. In his old age he
devoted a great deal of attention to his children and their brilliant
future, especially during the election of May, 1839. [A Start in Life.
The Gondreville Mystery. The Member for Arcis.]
GREVIN (Madame), wife of foregoing; born Varlet; daughter of the best
doctor of Arcis-sur-Aube; sister of another Varlet, a doctor in the
same town; mother of Mme. Severine Phileas Beauvisage. With Mme.
Marion she was more or less implicated in the Gondreville mystery. She
died rather young. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
GREVIN, corsair, who served under Admiral de Simeuse in the Indies. In
1816, paralyzed and deaf, he lived with his granddaughter, Mme.
Lardot, a laundress of Alencon, who employed Cesarine and Suzanne and
was patronized by the Chevalier de Valois. [Jealousies of a Country
Town.]
GRIBEAUCOURT (Mademoiselle de), old maid of Saumur and friend of the
Cruchots during the Restoration. [Eugenie Grandet.]
GRIFFITH (Miss), born in 1787; Scotch woman, daughter of a minister in
straitened circumstances; under the Restoration she was governess of
Louise de Chaulieu, whose love she won by reason of her kindliness and
penetration. [Letters of Two Brides.]
GRIGNAULT (Sophie). (See Nathan, Mme. Raoul.)
GRIMBERT, held, in 1819, at Ruffec, Charente, the office of the Royal
Couriers. At that time he received from Mlles. Laure and Agathe de
Rastignac, a considerable sum of money addressed to their brother
Eugene, at the Pension Vauquer, Paris. [Father Goriot.]
GRIMONT, born about 1786; a priest of some capability; cure of
Guerande, Brittany. In 1836, a constant visitor at the Guenics, he
exerted a tardily acquired influence over Felicite des Touches, whose
disappointments in love he fathomed and whom he determined to turn
towards a religious life. Her conversion gave Grimont the
vicar-generalship of the diocese of Nantes. [Beatrix.]
GRIMPEL, physician at Paris in the Pantheon quarter, time of Louis
XVIII. Among his patients was Mme. Vauquer, who sent for him to attend
Vautrin when the latter was overcome by a narcotic treacherously
administered by Mlle. Michonneau. [Father Goriot.]
GRINDOT, French architect in the first half of the nineteenth century;
won the Roman prize in 1814. His talent, which met the approval of the
Academy, was heartily recognized by the masses of Paris. About the end
of 1818 Cesar Birotteau gave him carte-blanche in the remodeling of
his apartments on rue Saint-Honore, and invited him to his ball.
Matifat, between the years 1821 and 1822, commissioned him to ornament
the suite of Mme. Raoul Nathan on rue de Bondy. The Comte de Serizy
employed him likewise in 1822 in the restoration of his chateau of
Presles near Beaumont-sur-Oise. About 1829 Grindot embellished a
little house on rue Saint-Georges where successively dwelt Suzanne
Gaillard and Esther van Gobseck. Time of Louis Philippe, Arthur de
Rochefide, and M. and Mme. Fabien du Ronceret gave him contracts. His
decline and that of the monarchy coincided. He was no longer in vogue
during the July government. On motion of Chaffaroux he received
twenty-five thousand francs for the decoration of four rooms of
Thuillier's. Lastly Crevel, an imitator and grinder, utilized Grindot
on rue des Saussaies, rue du Dauphin and rue Barbet-de-Jouy for his
official and secret habitations. [Cesar Birotteau. Lost Illusions. A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris. A Start in Life. Scenes from a
Courtesan's Life. Beatrix. The Middle Classes. Cousin Betty.]
GROISON, non-commissioned officer of cavalry in the Imperial Guard;
later, during the Restoraton, estate-keeper of Blangy, where he
succeeded Vaudoyer at a salary of three hundred francs. Montcornet,
mayor of that commune arranged a marriage between the old soldier and
the orphan daughter of one of his farmers who brought him three acres
of vineyards. [The Peasantry.]
GROS (Antoine-Jean), celebrated painter born in Paris in 1771, drowned
himself June, 1835. Was the teacher of Joseph Bridau and, despite his
parsimonious habits, supplied materials--about 1818--to the future
painter of "The Venetian Senator and the Courtesan" enabling him to
obtain five thousand francs from a double government position. [A
Bachelor's Establishment.]
GROSLIER, police commissioner of Arcis-sur-Aube at the beginning of
the electoral campaign of 1839. [The Member for Arcis.]
GROSMORT, small boy of Alencon in 1816. Left the town in that year and
went to Prebaudet, an estate of Mme. du Bousquier, to tell her of
Troisville's arrival. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
GROSS-NARP (Comte de), son-in-law, no doubt fictitious, of a very
great lady, invented and represented by Jacqueline Collin to serve the
menaced interests of Jacques Collin in Paris about the end of the
Restoration. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
GROSSTETE (F.), director, with Perret, of a Limoges banking-house,
during the Empire and Restoration. His clerk and successor was Pierre
Graslin. Retired from business, a married man, wealthy, devoted to
horticulture, he spent much of his time in the fields in the outskirts
of Limoges. Endowed with a superior intellect, he seemed to understand
Veronique Graslin, whose society he sought and whose secrets he tried
to fathom. He introduced his godson, Gregoire Gerard, to her. [The
Country Parson.]
GROSSTETE (Madame F.), wife of preceding; a person of some importance
in Limoges, time of the Restoration. [The Country Parson.]
GROSSTETE, younger brother of F. Grosstete. Receiver-general at
Bourges during the Restoration. He had a large fortune which enabled
his daughter Anna to wed a Fontaine about 1823. [The Country Parson.
The Muse of the Department.]
GROZIER (Abbe) was chosen, in the early part of the Restoration, to
arbitrate the dispute of two proof-readers--one of whom was Saint-Simon
--over Chinese paper. He proved that the Chinese make their paper
from bamboo. [Lost Illusions.] He was librarian of the Arsenal at
Paris. Was tutor of the Marquis d'Espard. Was learned in the history
and manners of China. Taught this knowledge to his pupil. [The
Commission in Lunacy.]*
* Abbe Grozier, or Crozier (Jean Baptiste-Gabriel-Alexandre), born
March 1, 1743, at Saint-Omer, died December 8, 1823, at Paris;
collaborator of the "Literary Year" with Freron and Geoffroy, and
author of a "General History of China"--Paris 1777-1784, 12 vols.
GRUGET (Madame Etienne), born in the latter part of the eighteenth
century. About 1820, lace-maker at No. 12 rue des Enfants-Rouges,
Paris, where she concealed and cared for Gratien Bourignard, the lover
of her daughter Ida, who drowned herself. Bourignard was the father of
Mme. Jules Desmarets. [The Thirteen.] Becoming a nurse about the end
of 1824, Mme. Gruget attended the division-chief, La Billiardiere, in
his final sickness. [The Government Clerks.] In 1828 she followed the
same profession for ten sous a day, including board. At that time she
attended the last illness of Comtesse Flore Philippe de Brambourg, on
rue Chaussee-d'Antin, before the invalid was removed to the Dubois
hospital. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
GRUGET (Ida), daughter of the preceding. About 1820 was a corset-fitter
at No. 14 rue de la Corderie-du-Temple, Paris; employed by Mme.
Meynardie. She was also the mistress of Gatien Bourignard.
Passionately jealous, she rashly made a scene in the home of Jules
Desmarets, her lover's son-in-law. Then she drowned herself, in a fit
of despair, and was buried in a little cemetery of a village of
Seine-et-Oise. [The Thirteen.]
GUA SAINT-CYR (Madame du), in spite of the improbability aroused on
account of her age, passed for a time, in 1799, as the mother of
Alphonse de Montauran. She had been married and was then a widow; Gua
was not her true name. She was the last mistress of Charette and,
being still young, took his place with the youthful Alphonse de
Montauran. She displayed a savage jealousy for Mlle. de Verneuil. One
of the first Vendean sallies of 1799, planned by Mme. du Gua, was
unsuccessful and absurd. The old "mare of Charette" caused the coach
between Mayenne and Fougeres to be waylaid; but the money stolen was
that which was being sent her by her mother. [The Chouans.]
GUA SAINT-CYR (Du), name assumed in Brittany, in 1799, by Alphonse de
Montauran, the Chouan leader. [The Chouans.]
GUA SAINT-CYR (Monsieur and Madame du), son and mother; rightful
bearers of the name were murdered, with the courier, in November by
the Chouans. [The Chouans.]
GUDIN (Abbe), born about 1759; was one of the Chouan leaders in 1799.
He was a formidable fellow, one of the Jesuits stubborn enough,
perhaps devoted enough, to oppose upon French soil the proscriptive
edict of 1793. This firebrand of Western conflict fell, slain by the
Blues, almost under the eyes of his patriot nephew, the
sub-lieutenant, Gudin. [The Chouans.]
GUDIN, nephew of the preceding, and nevertheless a patriot conscript
from Fougeres, Brittany, during the campaign of 1799; successively
corporal and sub-lieutenant. The former grade was obtained through
Hulot. Was the superior of Beau-Pied. Gudin was killed near Fougeres
by Marie de Verneuil, who had assumed the attire of her husband,
Alphonse de Montauran. [The Chouans.]
GUENEE (Madame). (See Galardon, Madame.)
GUENIC (Gaudebert-Calyste-Charles, Baron du), born in 1763. Head of a
Breton house of very ancient founding, he justified throughout his
long life the device upon his coat-of-arms, which read: "Fac!" Without
hope of reward he constantly defended, in Vendee and Brittany, his God
and his king by service as private soldier and captain, with Charette,
Chatelineau, La Rochejacquelein, Elbee, Bonchamp and the Prince of
Loudon. Was one of the commanders of the campaign of 1799 when he bore
the name of "L'Intime," and was, with Bauvan, a witness to the
marriage _in extremis_ of Alphonse de Montauran and Marie de Verneuil.
Three years later he went to Ireland, where he married Miss Fanny
O'Brien, of a noble family of that country. Events of 1814 permitted
his return to Guerande, Loire-Inferieure, where his house, though
impoverished, wielded great influence. In recognition of his
unfaltering devotion to the Royalist cause, M. du Guenic received only
the Cross of Saint-Louis. Incapable of protesting, he intrepidly
defended his town against the battalions of General Travot in the
following year. The final Chouan insurrection, that of 1832, called
him to arms once again. Accompanied by Calyste, his only son, and a
servant, Gasselin, he returned to Guerande, lived there for some
years, despite his numerous wounds, and died suddenly, at the age of
seventy-four, in 1837. [The Chouans. Beatrix.]
GUENIC (Baronne du), wife of the preceding; native of Ireland; born
Fanny O'Brien, about 1793, of aristocratic lineage. Poor and
surrounded by wealthy relatives, beautiful and distinguished, she
married, in 1813, Baron du Guenic, following him the succeeding year
to Guerande and devoting her life and youth to him. She bore one son,
Calyste, to whom she was more like an elder sister. She watched
closely the two mistresses of the young man, and finally understood
Felicite des Touches; but she always was in a tremor on account of
Beatrix de Rochefide, even after the marriage of Calyste, which took
place in the year of the baron's death. [Beatrix.]
GUENIC (Gaudebert-Calyste-Louis du), probably born in 1815, at
Guerande, Loire-Inferieure; only son of the foregoing, by whom he was
adored, and to whose dual influence he was subject. He was the
physical and moral replica of his mother. His father wished to make
him a gentleman of the old school. In 1832 he fought for the heir of
the Bourbons. He had other aspirations which he was able to satisfy at
the home of an illustrious chatelaine of the vicinity, Mlle. Felicite
des Touches. The chevalier was much enamored of the celebrated
authoress, who had great influence over him, did not accept him and
turned him over to Mme. de Rochefide. Beatrix played with the heir of
the house of Guenic the same ill-starred comedy carried through by
Antoinette de Langeais with regard to Montriveau. Calyste married
Mlle. Sabine de Grandlieu, and took the title of baron after his
father's death. He lived in Paris on Faubourg Saint-Germain, and
between 1838 and 1840 was acquainted with Georges de Maufrigneuse,
Savinien de Portenduere, the Rhetores, the Lenoncourt-Chaulieus and
Mme. de Rochefide--whose lover he finally became. The intervention of
the Duchesse de Grandlieu put an end to this love affair. [Beatrix.]
GUENIC (Madame Calyste du), born Sabine de Grandlieu; wife of the
preceding, whom she married about 1837. Nearly three years later she
was in danger of dying upon hearing, at her confinement, that she had
a fortunate rival in the person of Beatrix de Rochefide. [Beatrix.]
GUENIC (Zephirine du) born in 1756 at Guerande; lived almost all her
life with her younger brother, the Baron du Guenic, whose ideas,
principles and opinions she shared. She dreamed of a rehabilitation of
her improverished house, and pushed her economy to the point of
refusng to undergo an operation for cataract. For a long time she
wished that Mlle. Charlotte de Kergarouet might become her niece by
marriage. [Beatrix.]
GUEPIN, of Provins, located in Paris. He had at the "Trois
Quenouilles" one of the largest draper's shops on rue Saint-Denis. His
head-clerk was his compatriot, Jerome-Denis Rogron. In 1815, he turned
over his business to his grandson and returned to Provins, where his
family formed a clan. Later Rogron retired also and rejoined him
there. [Pierrette.]
GUERBET, wealthy farmer in the country near Ville-aux-Fayes; married,
in the last of the eighteenth or first of the nineteenth century, the
only daughter of Mouchon junior, then postmaster of Conches, Burgundy.
After the death of his father-in-law, about 1817, he succeeded to the
office. [The Peasantry.]
GUERBET, brother of the foregoing, and related to the Gaubertins and
Gendrins. Rich tax-collector of Soulanges, Burgundy. Stout, dumpy
fellow with a butter face, wig, earrings, and immense collars; given
to pomology; was the wit of the village and one of the lions of Mme.
Soudry's salon. [The Peasantry.]
GUERBET, circuit judge of Ville-aux-Fayes, Burgundy, in 1823. Like his
uncle, the postmaster, and his father, the tax-collector, he was
entirely devoted to Gaubertin. [The Peasantry.]
GUILLAUME, in the course of, or at the end of the eighteenth century,
began as clerk to Chevrel, draper, on rue Saint-Denis, Paris, "at the
Sign of the Cat and Racket"; afterwards became his son-in-law,
succeeded him, became wealthy and retired, during the first Empire,
after marrying off his two daughters, Virginie and Augustine, in the
same day. He became member of the Consultation Committee for the
uniforming of the troops, changed his home, living in a house of his
own on rue du Colombier, was intimate with the Ragons and the
Birotteaus, being invited with his wife to the ball given by the
latter. [At the Sign of the Cat and Racket. Cesar Birotteau.]
GUILLAUME (Madame), wife of the preceding; born Chevrel; cousin of
Mme. Roguin; a stiff-necked, middle-class woman, who was scandalized
by the marriage of her second daughter, Augustine, with Theodore de
Sommervieux. [At the Sign of the Cat and Racket.]
GUILLAUME, servant of Marquis d'Aiglemont in 1823. [A Woman of
Thirty.]
GUINARD (Abbe), priest of Sancerre in 1836. [The Muse of the
Department.]
GYAS (Marquise de), lived at Bordeaux during the Restoration; gave
much thought to marrying off her daughter, and, being intimate with
Mme. Evangelista, felt hurt when Natalie Evangelista married Paul de
Manerville in 1822. However, the Marquis de Gyas was one of the
witnesses at the wedding. [A Marriage Settlement.]
H
HABERT (Abbe), vicar at Provins under the Restoration; a stern,
ambitious prelate, a source of annoyance to Vinet; dreamed of marrying
his sister Celeste to Jerome-Denis Rogron. [Pierrette.]
HABERT (Celeste), sister of the preceding; born about 1797; managed a
girls' boarding-school at Provins, in the closing years of Charles
X.'s reign. Visited at the Rogrons. Gouraud and Vinet shunned her.
[Pierrette.]
HADOT (Madame), who lived at La Charite, Nievre, in 1836, was mistaken
for Mme. Barthelemy-Hadot, the French novelist, whose name was
mentioned at Mme. de la Baudraye's, near Sancerre. [The Muse of the
Department.]
HALGA (Chevalier du), naval officer greatly esteemed by Suffren and
Portenduere; captain of Kergarouet's flagship; lover of that admiral's
wife, whom he survived. He served in the Indian and Russian waters,
refused to take up arms against France, and returned with a petty
pension after the emigration. Knew Richelieu intimately. Remained in
Paris the inseparable friend and adherent of Kergarouet. Called near
the Madeleine upon the Mesdames de Rouville, other protegees of his
patron. The death of Louis XVIII. took Halga back to Guerande, his
native town, where he became mayor and was still living in 1836. He
was well acquainted with the Guenics and made himself ridiculous by
his fancied ailments as well as by his solicitude for his dog, Thisbe.
[The Purse. Beatrix.]
HALPERSOHN (Moses), a refugee Polish Jew, excellent physician,
communist, very eccentric, avaricious, friend of Lelewel the
insurrectionist. Time of Louis Philippe at Paris, he attended Vanda de
Mergi, given up by several doctors, and also diagnosed her complicated
disease. [The Seamy Side of History.]
HALPERTIUS, assumed name of Jacques Collin.
HANNEQUIN (Leopold), Parisian notary. The "Revue de l'Est," a paper
published at Besancon, time of Louis Philippe, gave, in an
autobiographical novel of its editor-in-chief, Albert Savarus,
entitled "L'Ambitieux par Amour," the story of the boyhood of Leopold
Hannequin, the author's inseparable friend. Savarus told of their
joint travels, and of the quiet preparation made by his friend for a
notaryship during the time known as the Restoration. During the
monarchy of the barricades Hannequin remained the steadfast friend of
Savarus, being one of the first to find his hiding-place. At that time
the notary had an office in Paris. He married there to advantage,
became head of a family, and deputy-mayor of a precinct, and obtained
the decoration for a wound received at the cloister of Saint-Merri. He
was welcomed and made use of in the Faubourg Saint-Germain, the
Saint-Georges quarter and the Marais. At the Grandlieus' request he
drew up the marriage settlement of their daughter Sabine with Calyste du
Guenic--1837. Four years later he consulted with old Marshal Hulot, on
rue du Montparnasse, regarding his will in behalf of Mlle. Fischer and
Mme. Steinbock. About 1845, at the request of Heloise Brisetout, he
drew up Sylvain Pons' will. [Albert Savarus. Beatrix. Cousin Betty.
Cousin Pons.]
HAPPE & DUNCKER, celebrated bankers of Amsterdam, amateur art-collectors,
and snobbish parvenus, bought, in 1813, the fine gallery of Balthazar
Claes, paying one hundred thousand ducats for it. [The Quest of the
Absolute.]
HAUDRY, doctor at Paris during the first part of the nineteenth
century. An old man and an upholder of old treatments; having a
practice mainly among the middle class. Attended Cesar Birotteau,
Jules Desmarets, Mme. Descoings and Vanda de Mergi. His name was still
cited at the end of Louis Philippe's reign. [Cesar Birotteau. The
Thirteen. A Bachelor's Establishment. The Seamy Side of History.
Cousin Pons.]
HAUGOULT (Pere), oratorian and regent of the Vendome college, about
1811. Stern and narrow-minded, he did not comprehend the budding
genius of one of his pupils, Louis Lambert, but destroyed the
"Treatise on the Will," written by the lad. [Louis Lambert.]
HAUTESERRE (D'), born in 1751; grandfather of Marquis de Cinq-Cygne;
guardian of Laurence de Cinq-Cygne; father of Robert and Adrien
d'Hauteserre. A gentleman of caution he would willingly have parleyed
with the Revolution; he made this evident after 1803 in the Arcis
precinct where he resided, and especially during the succeeding years
marked by an affair which jeopardized the lives of some of his family.
Gondreville, Peyrade, Corentin, Fouche and Napoleon were bugaboos to
d'Hauteserre. He outlived his sons. [The Gondreville Mystery. The
Member for Arcis.]
HAUTESERRE (Madame d'), wife of the preceding; born in 1763; mother of
Robert and Adrien; showed throughout her wearied, saddened frame the
marks of the old regime. Following Goujet's advice she countenanced
the deeds of Mlle. de Cinq-Cygne, the bold, dashing
counter-revolutionist of Arcis during 1803 and succeeding years. Mme.
Hauteserre survived her sons. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
HAUTESERRE (Robert d'), elder son of the foregoing. Brusque, recalling
the men of mediaeval times, despite his feeble constitution. A man of
honor, he followed the fortunes of his brother Adrien and his kinsmen
the Simeuses. Like them, he emigrated during the first Revolution, and
returned to the neighborhood of Arcis about 1803. Like them again he
became enamored of Mlle. de Cinq-Cygne. Wrongly accused of having
abducted the senator, Malin de Gondreville, and sentenced to ten
years' hard labor, he obtained the Emperor's pardon and was made
sub-lieutenant in the cavalry. He died as colonel at the storming of
Moskowa, September 7, 1812. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
HAUTESERRE (Adrien d'), second son of M. and Mme. d'Hauteserre; was of
different stamp from his older brother Robert, yet had many things in
common with the latter's career. He also was influenced by honor. He
also emigrated and, on his return, fell under the same sentence. He
also obtained Napoleon's pardon and a commission in the army, taking
Robert's place in the attack on Moskowa; and in recognition of his
severe wounds became brigadier-general after the battle of Dresden,
August 26, 27, 1813. The doors of the Chateau de Cinq-Cygne were
opened to admit the mutilated soldier, who married his mistress,
Laurence, though his affection was not requited. This marriage made
Adrien Marquis de Cinq-Cygne. During the Restoration he was made a
peer, promoted to lieutenant-general, and obtained the Cross of
Saint-Louis. He died in 1829, lamented by his wife, his parents and
his children. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
HAUTESERRE (Abbe d'), brother of M. d'Hauteserre; somewhat like his
young kinsman in disposition; made some ado over his noble birth; thus
it happened that he was killed, shot in the attack on the Hotel de
Cinq-Cygne by the people of Troyes, in 1792. [The Gondreville
Mystery.]
HAUTOY (Francis du), gentleman of Angouleme; was consul at Valence.
Lived in the chief city of Charente between 1821 and 1824; frequented
the Bargetons; was on the most intimate terms with the Senonches, and
was said to be the father of Francoise de la Haye, daughter of Mme. de
Senonches. Hautoy seemed slightly superior to his associates. [Lost
Illusions.]
HENRI, police-agent at Paris in 1840, given special assignments by
Corentin, and placed as servant successively at the Thuilliers, and
with Nepomucene Picot, with the duty of watching Theodose de la
Peyrade. [The Middle Classes.]
HERBELOT, notary of Arcis-sur-Aube during the electoral period of
spring, 1839; visited the Beauvisages, Marions and Mollots. [The
Member for Arcis.]
HERBELOT (Malvina), born in 1809; sister of the preceding, whose
curiosity she shared, when the Arcis elections were in progress. She
also called on the Beauvisages and the Mollots, and, despite her
thirty years, sought the society of the young women of these houses.
[The Member for Arcis.]
HERBOMEZ, of Mayenne, nick-named General Hardi; chauffeur implicated
in the Royalist uprising in which Henriette Bryond took part, during
the first Empire. Like Mme. de la Chanterie's daughter, Herbomez paid
with his head his share in the rebellion. His execution took place in
1809. [The Seamy Side of History.]
HERBOMEZ (D'), brother of the foregoing, but more fortunate, he ended
by becoming a count and receiver-general. [The Seamy Side of History.]
HEREDIA (Marie). (See Soria, Duchesse de.)
HERMANN, a Nuremberg merchant who commanded a free company enlisted
against the French, in October, 1799. Was arrested and thrown into a
prison of Andernach, where he had for fellow-prisoner, Prosper Magnan,
a young assistant surgeon, native of Beauvais, Oise. Hermann thus
learned the terrible secret of an unjust detention followed by an
execution equally unjust. Many years after, in Paris, he told the
story of the martyrdom of Magnan in the presence of F. Taillefer, the
unpunished author of the dual crime which had caused the imprisonment
and death of an innocent man. [The Red Inn.]
HERON, notary of Issoudun in the early part of the nineteenth century,
who was attorney for the Rougets, father and son. [A Bachelor's
Establishment.]
HEROUVILLE (Marechal d'), whose ancestors' names were inscribed in the
pages of French history, during the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, replete with glory and dramatic mystery; was Duc de Nivron.
He was the last governor of Normandy, returned from exile with Louis
XVIII. in 1814, and died at an advanced age in 1819. [The Hated Son.
Modeste Mignon.]
HEROUVILLE (Duc d'), son of the preceding; born in 1796, at Vienna,
Austria, during the emigration, "fruit of the matrimonial autumn of
the last governor of Normandy"; descendant of a Comte d'Herouville, a
Norman free-lance who lived under Henri IV. and Louis XIII. He was
Marquis de Saint-Sever, Duc de Nivron, Comte de Bayeux, Vicomte
d'Essigny, grand equerry and peer of France, chevalier of the Order of
the Spur and of the Golden Fleece, and grandee of Spain. A more modest
origin, however, was ascribed to him by some. The founder of his house
was supposed to have been an usher at the court of Robert of Normandy.
But the coat-of-arms bore the device "Herus Villa"--House of the
Chief. At any rate, the physical unattractiveness and comparative lack
of means of D'Herouville, who was a kind of dwarf, contrasted with his
aristocratic lineage. However, his income allowed him to keep a house
on rue Saint-Thomas du Louvre, Paris, and to keep on good terms with
the Chaulieus. He maintained Fanny Beaupre, who apparently cost him
dear; for, about 1829, he sought the hand of the Mignon heiress.
During the reign of Louis Philippe, D'Herouville, then a social
leader, had acquaintance with the Hulots, was known as a celebrated
art amateur, and resided on rue de Varenne, in Faubourg Saint-Germain.
Later he took Josepha Mirah from Hulot, and installed her in fine
style on rue Saint-Maur-du-Temple with Olympe Bijou. [The Hated Son.
Jealousies of a Country Town. Modeste Mignon. Cousin Betty.]
HEROUVILLE (Mademoiselle d'), aunt of the preceding; dreamed of a rich
marriage for that stunted creature, who seemed a sort of reproduction
of an evil Herouville of past ages. She desired Modeste Mignon for
him; but her aristocratic pride revolted at the thought of Mlle.
Monegod or Augusta de Nucingen. [Modeste Mignon.]
HEROUVILLE (Helene d'), niece of the preceding; sister of Duc
d'Herouville; accompanied her relatives to Havre in 1829; afterwards
knew the Mignons. [Modeste Mignon.]
HERRERA (Carlos), unacknowledged son of the Duc d'Ossuna; canon of the
cathedral of Toledo, charged with a political mission to France by
Ferdinand VII. He was drawn into an ambush by Jacques Collin, who
killed him, stripped him and then assumed his name until about 1830.
[Lost Illusions. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
HICLAR, Parisian musician, in 1845, who received from Dubourdieu, a
symbolical painter, author of a figure of Harmony, an order to compose
a symphony suitable of being played before the picture. [The
Unconscious Humorists.]
HILEY, alias the Laborer, a chauffeur and the most cunning of minor
participants in the Royalist uprising of Orne. Was executed in 1809.
[The Seamy Side of History.]
HIPPOLYTE, young officer, aide-de-camp to general Eble in the Russian
campaign; friend of Major Philippe de Sucy. Killed in an attack on the
Russians near Studzianka, November 18, 1812. [Farewell.]
HOCHON, born at Issoudun about 1738; was tax-receiver at Selles,
Berry. Married Maximilienne, the sister of Sub-Delegate Lousteau. Had
three children, one of whom became Mme. Borniche. Hochon's marriage
and the change of the political horizon brought him back to his native
town where he and his family were long known as the Five Hochons.
Mlle. Hochon's marriage and the death of her brothers made the jest
still tenable; for M. Hochon, despite a proverbial avarice, adopted
their posterity--Francois Hochon, Baruch and Adolphine Borniche.
Hochon lived till an advanced age. He was still living at the end of
the Restoration, and gave shrewd advice to the Bridaus regarding the
Rouget legacy. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
HOCHON (Madame), wife of the preceding, born Maximilienne Lousteau
about 1750; sister of the sub-delegate; also god-mother of Mme.
Bridau, nee Rouget. During her whole life she displayed a sweet and
resigned sympathy. The neglected and timorous mother of a family, she
bore the matrimonial yoke of a second Felix Grandet. [A Bachelor's
Establishment.]
HOCHON, elder son of the foregoing; survived his brother and sister;
married at an early age to a wealthy woman by whom he had one son;
died a year before her, in 1813, slain at the battle of Hanau. [A
Bachelor's Establishment.]
HOCHON (Francois), son of the preceding, born in 1798. Left an orphan
at sixteen he was adopted by his paternal grandparents and lived in
Issoudun with his cousins, the Borniche children. He affiliated
secretly with Maxence Gilet, being one of the "Knights of Idlesse,"
till his conduct was discovered. His stern grandmother sent the young
man to Poitiers where he studied law and received a yearly allowance
of six hundred francs. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
HONORINE, (See Bauvan, Comtesse Octave de.)
HOPWOOD (Lady Julia), English; made a journey to Spain between 1818
and 1819, and had there for a time a chamber-maid known as Caroline,
who was none other than Antoinette de Langeais, who had fled from
Paris after Montriveau jilted her. [The Thirteen.]
HOREAU (Jacques), alias the Stuart, had been lieutenant in the
Sixty-ninth demi-brigade. Became one of the associates of Tinteniac,
known through his participation in the Quiberon expedition. Turned
chauffeur and compromised himself in the Orne Royalist uprising. Was
executed in 1809. [The Seamy Side of History.]
HORTENSE was, under Louis Philippe, one of the numerous mistresses of
Lord Dudley. She lived on rue Tronchet when Cerizet employed Antonia
Chocardelle to hoodwink Maxime de Trailles. [A Man of Business. The
Member for Arcis.]
HOSTAL (Maurice de l'), born in 1802; living physical portrait of
Byron; nephew and like an adopted son of Abbe Loraux. He became, at
Marais, in rue Payenne, the secretary and afterwards the confidant of
Octave de Bauvan. Was acquainted with Honorine de Bauvan on rue
Saint-Maur-Popincourt and all but fell in love with her. Turned
diplomat, left France, married the Italian, Onorina Pedrotti, and
became head of a family. While consul to Genoa, about 1836, he again
met Octave de Bauvan, then a widower and near his end, who entrusted
his son to him. M. de l'Hostal once entertained Claude Vignon, Leon de
Lora and Felicite des Touches, to whom he related the marital troubles
of the Bauvans. [Honorine.]
HOSTAL (Madame Maurice de l'), wife of the preceding, born Onorina
Pedrotti. A beautiful and unusually rich Genoese; slightly jealous of
the consul; perhaps overhead the story of the Bauvans. [Honorine.]
HULOT, born in 1766, served under the first Republic and Empire. Took
an active part in the wars and tragedies of the time. Commanded the
Seventy-second demi-brigade, called the Mayencaise, during the Chouan
uprising of 1799. Fought against Montauran. His career as private and
officer had been so filled that his thirty-three years seemed an age.
He went out a great deal. Rubbed elbows with Montcornet; called on
Mme. de la Baudraye. He remained a democrat during the Empire;
nevertheless Bonaparte recognized him. Hulot was made colonel of the
grenadiers of the Guard, Comte de Forzheim and marshal. Retired to his
splendid home on rue du Montparnasse, where he passed his declining
years simply, being deaf, remaining a friend of Cottin de Wissembourg,
and often surrounded by the family of a brother whose misconduct
hastened his end in 1841. Hulot was given a superb funeral. [The
Chouans. The Muse of the Department. Cousin Betty.]
HULOT D'ERVY (Baron Hector), born about 1775; brother of the
preceding; took the name of Hulot d'Ervy early in life in order to
make a distinction between himself and his brother to whom he owed the
brilliant beginning of a civil and military career. Hulot d'Ervy
became ordonnance commissary during the Republic. The Empire made him
a baron. During one of these periods he married Adeline Fischer, by
whom he had two children. The succeeding governments, at least that of
July, also favored Hector Hulot, and he became in turn,
intendant-general, director of the War Department, councillor of state,
and grand officer of the Legion of Honor. His private misbehavior dated
from these periods and gathered force while he lived in Paris. Each of
his successive mistresses--Jenny Cadine, Josepha Mirah, Valerie
Marneffe, Olympe Bijou, Elodie Chardin, Atala Judici, Agathe Piquetard
--precipitated his dishonor and ruin. He hid under various names, as
Thoul, Thorec and Vyder, anagrams of Hulot, Hector and d'Ervy. Neither
the persecutions of the money-lender Samanon nor the influence of his
family could reform him. After his wife's death he married, February
1, 1846, Agathe Piquetard, his kitchen-girl and the lowest of his
servants. [Cousin Betty.]
HULOT D'ERVY (Baronne Hector), wife of the preceding; born Adeline
Fischer, about 1790, in the village of Vosges; remarkable for her
beauty; was married for mutual love, despite her inferior birth, and
for some time lived caressed and adored by her husband and venerated
by her brother-in-law. At the end of the Empire probably commenced her
sorrows and the faithlessness of Hector, notwithstanding the two
children born of their union, Victorin and Hortense. Had it not been
for her maternal solicitude the baroness could have condoned the
gradual degradation of her husband. The honor of the name and the
future of her daughter gave her concern. No sacrifice was too great
for her. She vainly offered herself to Celestin Crevel, whom she had
formerly scorned, and underwent the parvenu's insults; she besought
Josepha Mirah's aid, and rescued the baron from Atala Judici. The
closing years of her life were not quite so miserable. She devoted
herself to charitable offices, and lived on rue Louis-le-Grand with
her married children and their reclaimed father. The intervention of
Victorin, and the deaths of the Comte de Forzheim, of Lisbeth Fischer
and of M. and Mme. Crevel, induced comfort and security that was often
menaced. But the conduct of Hector with Agathe Piquetard broke the
thread of Mme. Hulot d'Ervy's life; for some time she had had a
nervous trouble. She died aged about fifty-six. [Cousin Betty.]
HULOT (Victorin), elder child of the foregoing. Married Mlle.
Celestine Crevel and was father of a family. Became under Louis
Philippe one of the leading attorneys of Paris. Was deputy, counsel of
the War Department, consulting counsel of the police service and
counsel for the civil list. His salary for the various offices came to
eighteen thousand francs. He was seated at Palais-Bourbon when the
election of Dorlange-Sallenauve was contested. His connection with the
police enabled him to save his family from the clutches of Mme.
Valerie Crevel. In 1834 he owned a house on rue Louis-le-Grand. Seven
or eight years later he sheltered nearly all the Hulots and their near
kindred, but he could not prevent the second marriage of his father.
[The Member for Arcis. Cousin Betty.]
HULOT (Madame Victorin), wife of preceding, born Celestine Crevel;
married as a result of a meeting between her father and her
father-in-law, who were both libertines. She took part in the
dissensions between the two families, replaced Lisbeth Fischer in the
care of the house on rue Louis-le-Grand, and probably never saw the
second Mme. Celestin Crevel, unless at the death-bed of the retired
perfumer. [Cousin Betty.]
HULOT (Hortense). (See Steinbock, Comtesse Wenceslas.)
HULOT D'ERVY (Baronne Hector), nee Agathe Piquetard of Isigny, where
she became the second wife of Hector Hulot d'Ervy. Went to Paris as
kitchen-maid for Hulot about December, 1845, and was married to her
master, then a widower, on February 1, 1846. [Cousin Betty.]
HUMANN, celebrated Parisian tailor of 1836 and succeeding years. At
the instance of the students Rabourdin and Juste he clothed the
poverty-stricken Zephirin Marcas "as a politician." [Z. Marcas.]
HUSSON (Madame.) (See Mme. Clapart.)
HUSSON (Oscar), born about 1804, son of the preceding and of M. Husson
--army-contractor; led a checkered career, explained by his origin and
childhood. He scarcely knew his father, who made and soon lost a
fortune. The previous fast life of his mother, who afterwards married
again, gave rise to or upheld some more or less influential
connections and made her, during the first Empire, the titular _femme
de chambre_ to Madame Mere--Letitia Bonaparte. Napoleon's fall marked
the ruin of the Hussons. Oscar and his mother--now married to M.
Clapart--lived in a modest apartment on rue de la Cerisaie, Paris.
Oscar obtained a license and became clerk in Desroches' law office in
Paris, being coached by Godeschal. During this time he became
acquainted with two young men, his cousins the Marests. One of them
had previously instigated an early escapade of Oscar's, and it was now
followed by one much more serious, on rue de Vendome at the house of
Florentine Cabirolle, who was then maintained by Cardot, Oscar's
wealthy uncle. Husson was forced to abandon law and enter military
service. He was in the cavalry regiment of the Duc de Maufrigneuse and
the Vicomte de Serizy. The interest of the dauphiness and of Abbe
Gaudron obtained for him promotion and a decoration. He became in turn
aide-de-camp to La Fayette, captain, officer of the Legion of Honor
and lieutenant-colonel. A noteworthy deed made him famous on Algerian
territory during the affair of La Macta; Husson lost his left arm in
the vain attempt to save Vicomte de Serizy. Put on half-pay, he
obtained the post of collector for Beaumont-sur-Oise. He then married
--1838--Georgette Pierrotin and met again the accomplices or witnesses
of his earlier escapades--one of the Marests, the Moreaus, etc. [A
Start in Life.]
HUSSON (Madame Oscar), wife of the preceding; born Georgette
Pierrotin; daughter of the proprietor of the stage-service of Oise. [A
Start in Life.]
HYDE DE NEUVILLE (Jean-Guillaume, Baron)--1776-1857--belonged to the
Martignac ministry of 1828; was, in 1797, one of the most active
Bourbon agents. Kept civil war aflame in the West, and held a
conference in 1799 with First Consul Bonaparte relative to the
restoration of Louis XVIII. [The Chouans.]
I
IDAMORE, nick-name of Chardin junior while he was _claqueur_ in a
theatre on the Boulevard du Temple, Paris. [Cousin Betty.]
ISEMBERG (Marechal, Duc d'), probably belonged to the Imperial
nobility. He lost at the gaming table, in November, 1809, in a grand
fete given at Paris at Senator Malin de Gondreville's home, while the
Duchesse de Lansac was acting as peacemaker between a youthful married
couple. [Domestic Peace.]
J
JACMIN (Philoxene), of Honfleur; perhaps cousin of Jean Butscha; maid
to Eleonore de Chaulieu; in love with Germain Bonnet, valet of
Melchior de Canalis. [Modeste Mignon.]
JACOMETY, head jailer of the Conciergerie, at Paris, in May, 1830,
during Rubempre's imprisonment. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
JACQUELIN, born in Normandy about 1776; in 1816 was employed by Mlle.
Cormon, an old maid of Alencon. He married when she espoused M. du
Bousquier. After the double marriage Jacquelin remained for some time
in the service of the niece of the Abbe de Sponde. [Jealousies of a
Country Town.]
JACQUES, for a considerable period butler of Claire de Beauseant,
following her to Bayeux. Essentially "aristocratic, intelligent and
discreet," he understood the sufferings of his mistress. [Father
Goriot. The Deserted Woman.]
JACQUET (Claude-Joseph), a worthy bourgeois of the Restoration; head
of a family, and something of a crank. He performed the duties of a
deputy-mayor in Paris, and also had charge of the archives in the
Department of Foreign Affairs. Was greatly indebted to his friend
Jules Desmarets; so he deciphered for him, about 1820, a code letter
of Gratien Bourignard. When Clemence Desmarets died, Jacquet comforted
the broker in the Saint-Roch church and in the Pere-Lachaise cemetery.
[The Thirteen.]
JACQUINOT, said to have succeeded Cardot as notary at Paris, time of
Louis Philippe [The Middle Classes.]; but since Cardot was succeeded
by Berthier, his son-in-law, a discrepancy is apparent.
JACQUOTTE, left the service of a cure for that of Dr. Benassis, whose
house she managed with a devotion and care not unmixed with despotism.
[The Country Doctor.]
JAN,* a painter who cared not a fig for glory. About 1838 he covered
with flowers and decorated the door of a bed-chamber in a suite owned
by Crevel on rue du Dauphin, Paris. [Cousin Betty.]
* Perhaps the fresco-painter, Laurent-Jan, author of "Unrepentant
Misanthropy," and the friend of Balzac, to whom the latter
dedicated his drama, "Vautrin."
JANVIER, priest in a village of Isere in 1829, a "veritable Fenelon
shrunk to a cure's proportions"; knew, understood and assisted
Benassis. [The Country Doctor.]
JAPHET (Baron), celebrated chemist who subjected to hydrofluoric acid,
to chloride of nitrogen, and to the action of the voltaic battery the
mysterious "magic skin" of Raphael de Valentin. To his stupefaction
the savant wrought no change on the tissue. [The Magic Skin.]
JEAN, coachman and trusted servant of M. de Merret, at Vendome, in
1816. [La Grande Breteche.]
JEAN, landscape gardener and farm-hand for Felix Grandet, enagaged
about November, 1819, in a field on the bank of the Loire, filling
holes left by removed populars and planting other trees. [Eugenie
Grandet.]
JEAN, one of the keepers of Pere-Lachaise cemetery in 1820-21;
conducted Desmarets and Jacquet to the tomb of Clemence Bourignard,
who had recently been interred.* [The Thirteen.]
* In 1868, at Paris, MM. Ferdinand Dugue and Peaucellier presented a
play at the Gaite theatre, where one of the chief characters was
Clemence Bourignard-Desmarets.
JEAN, lay brother of an abbey until 1791, when he found a home with
Niseron, cure of Blangy, Burgundy; seldom left Gregoire Rigou, whose
factotum he finally became. [The Peasantry.]
JEANNETTE, born in 1758; cook for Ragon at Paris in 1818, in rue du
Petit-Lion-Saint-Sulpice; distinguished herself at the Sunday
receptions. [Cesar Birotteau.]
JEANRENAUD (Madame), a Protestant, widow of a salt bargeman, by whom
she had a son. A stout, ugly and vulgar woman, who recovered, during
the Restoration, a fortune that had been stolen by the Catholic
ancestors of D'Espard and was restored to him despite a suit to
restrain him by injunction. Mme. Jeanrenaud lived at Villeparisis, and
then at Paris, where she dwelt successively on rue de la Vrilliere
--No. 8--and on Grand rue Verte. [The Commission in Lunacy.]
JEANRENAUD, son of the preceding, born about 1792. He served as
officer in the Imperial Guard, and, through the influence of
D'Espard-Negrepelisse, became, in 1828, chief of squadron in the First
regiment of the Cuirassiers of the Guard. Charles X. made him a baron.
He then married a niece of Monegod. His beautiful villa on Lake Geneva
is mentioned by Albert Savarus in "L'Ambitieux par Amour," published in
the reign of Louis Philippe. [The Commission in Lunacy. Albert
Savarus.]
JENNY was, during the Restoration, maid and confidante of Aquilina de
la Garde; afterwards, but for a very brief time, mistress of
Castanier. [Melmoth Reconciled.]
JEROME (Pere), second-hand book-seller on Pont Notre-Dame, Paris, in
1821, at the time when Rubempre was making a start there. [A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
JEROME, valet successively of Galard and of Albert Savarus at
Besancon. He may have served the Parisian lawyer less sedulously
because of Mariette, a servant at the Wattevilles, whose dowry he was
after. [Albert Savarus.]
JOHNSON (Samuel), assumed name of the police-agent, Peyrade.
JOLIVARD, clerk of registry, rue de Normandie, Paris, about the end of
Louis Philippe's reign. He lived on the first floor of the house owned
by Pillerault, attended by the Cibots and tenanted by the Chapoulots,
Pons and Schmucke. [Cousin Pons.]
JONATHAS, valet of M. de Valentin senior; foster-father of Raphael de
Valentin, whose steward he afterwards became when the young man was a
multi-millionaire. He served him faithfully and survived him. [The
Magic Skin.]
JORDY (De) had been successively captain in a regiment of
Royal-Suedois and professor in the Ecole Militaire. He had a refined
nature and a tender heart; was the type of a poor but uncomplaining
gentleman. His soul must have been the scene of sad secrets. Certain
signs led one to believe that he had had children whom he had adored
and lost. M. de Jordy lived modestly and quietly at Nemours. A
similiarity of tastes and character drew him towards Denis Minoret
whose intimate friend he became, and at whose home he conceived a
liking for the doctor's young ward--Mme. Savinien de Portenduere. He
had great influence over her, and left her an income of fourteen
hundred francs when he died in 1823. [Ursule Mirouet.]
JOSEPH, with Charles and Francois, was of the establishment of
Montcornet at Aigues, Burgundy, about 1823. [The Peasantry.]
JOSEPH, faithful servant of Rastignac at Paris, under the Restoration.
In 1828 he carried to the Marquise de Listomere a letter written by
his master to Mme. de Nucingen. This error, for which Joseph could
hardly be held responsible, caused the scorn of the marquise when she
discoverd that the missive was intended for another. [The Magic Skin.
A Study of Woman.]
JOSEPH, in the service of F. du Tillet, Paris, when his master was
fairly launched in society and received Birotteau in state. [Cesar
Birotteau.]
JOSEPH, given name of a worthy chimney-builder of rue Saint-Lazare,
Paris, about the end of the reign of Louis Philippe. Of Italian
origin, the head of a family, saved from ruin by Adeline Hulot, who
acted for Mme. de la Chanterie. Joseph was in touch with the scribe,
Vyder, and when he took Mme. Hulot to see the latter she recognized in
him her husband. [Cousin Betty.]
JOSEPHA, (See Mirah, Josepha.)
JOSETTE, cook for Claes at Douai; greatly attached to Josephine,
Marguerite and Felicie Claes. Died about the end of the Restoration.
[The Quest of the Absolute.]
JOSETTE, old housekeeper for Maitre Mathias of Bordeaux during the
Restoration. She accompanied her master when he bade farewell to Paul
de Manerville the emigrant. [A Marriage Settlement.]
JOSETTE, in and previous to 1816 chambermaid of Victoire-Rose Cormon
of Alencon. She married Jacquelin when her mistress married du
Bousquier. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
JUDICI (Atala), born about 1829, of Lombard descent; had a paternal
grandfather, who was a wealthy chimney-builder of Paris during the
first Empire, an employer of Joseph; he died in 1819. Mlle. Judici did
not inherit her grandfather's fortune, for it was run through with by
her father. In 1844 she was given by her mother--so the story goes--to
Hector Hulot for fifteen thousand francs. She then left her family,
who lived on rue de Charonne, and lived on Passage du Soleil. The
pretty Atala was obliged to leave Hulot when his wife found him. Mme.
Hulot promised her a dowry and to wed her to Joseph's oldest son. She
was sometimes called Judix, which is a French corruption of the
Italian name. [Cousin Betty.]
JUDITH. (See Mme. Genestas.)
JULIEN, one of the turnkeys of the Conciergerie in 1830, during the
trial of Herrera--Vautrin--and Rubempre. [Scenes from a Courtesan's
Life.]
JULIEN, probably a native of Champagne; a young man in 1839, and in
the service of Sub-Prefect Goulard, in Arcis-sur-Aube. He learned
through Anicette, and revealed to the Beauvisages and Mollots, the
Legitimist plots of the Chateau de Cinq-Cygne, where lived Georges de
Maufrigneuse, Daniel d'Arthez, Laurence de Cinq-Cygne, Diane de
Cadignan and Berthe de Maufrigneuse. [The Member for Arcis.]
JULLIARD, head of the firm of Julliard in Paris, about 1806. At the
"Ver Chinois," rue Saint-Denis, he sold silk in bolls. Sylvie Rogron
was assistant saleswoman. Twenty years later he met her again in their
native country of Provins, where he had retired in 1815, the head of a
family grouped about the Guepins and the Guenees, thus forming three
great clans. [Pierrette.]
JULLIARD, elder son of the preceding; married the only daughter of a
rich farmer and also conceived a platonic affection at Provins for
Melanie Tiphaine, the most beautiful woman of the official colony
during the Restoration. Julliard followed commerce and literature; he
maintained a stage line, and a journal christened "La Ruche," in which
latter he burned incense to Mme. Tiphaine. [Pierrette.]
JUSSIEU (Julien), youthful conscript in the great draft of 1793. Sent
with a note for lodgment to the home of Mme. de Dey at Carentan, where
he was the innocent cause of that woman's sudden death; she was just
then expecting the return of her son, a Royalist hunted by the
Republican troops. [The Conscript.]
JUSTE, born in 1811, studied medicine in Paris, and afterwards went to
Asia to practice. In 1836 he lived on rue Corneille with Charles
Rabourdin, when they helped the poverty-stricken Zephirin Marcas. [Z.
Marcas.]
JUSTIN, old and experienced valet of the Vidame de Pamiers; was
secretly slain by order of Bourignard because he had discovered the
real name, but carefully concealed, of the father of Mme. Desmarets.
[The Thirteen.]
JUSTINE, was maid to the Comtesse Foedora, in Paris, when her mistress
received calls from M. de Valentin. [The Magic Skin.]
K
KATT, a Flemish woman, the nurse of Lydie de la Peyrade, whom she
attended constantly in Paris on rue des Moineaux about 1829, and
during her mistress' period of insanity on Rue Honore Chevalier in
1840. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. The Middle Classes.]
KELLER (Francois), one of the influential and wealthy Parisian
bankers, during a period extending perhaps from 1809 to 1839. As such,
in November, 1809, under the Empire, he was one of the guests at a
fine reception, given by Comte Malin de Gondreville, meeting there
Isemberg, Montcornet, Mesdames de Lansac and de Vandemont, and a mixed
company composed of members of the aristocracy and people illustrious
under the Empire. At this time, moreover, Francois Keller was in the
family of Malin de Gondreville, one of whose daughters he had married.
This marriage, besides making him the brother-in-law of the Marechal
de Carigliano, gave him assurance of the deputyship, which he obtained
in 1816 and held until 1836. The district electors of Arcis-sur-Aube
kept him in the legislature during that long period. Francois Keller
had, by his marriage with Mademoiselle de Gondreville, one son,
Charles, who died before his parents in the spring of 1839. As deputy,
Francois Keller became one of the most noted orators of the Left
Centre. He shone as a member of the opposition, especially from 1819
to 1825. Adroitly he drew about himself the robe of philanthropy.
Politics never turned his attention from finance. Francois Keller,
seconded by his brother and partner, Adolphe Keller, refused to aid
the needy perfumer, Cesar Birotteau. Between 1821 and 1823 the
creditors of Guillaume Grandet, the bankrupt, unanimously selected him
and M. des Grassins of Saumur as adjusters. Despite his display of
Puritanical virtues, the private career of Francois Keller was not
spotless. In 1825 it was known that he had an illegitimate and costly
liaison with Flavie Colleville. Rallying to the support of the new
monarchy from 1830 to 1836, Francois Keller saw his Philippist zeal
rewarded in 1839. He exchanged his commission at the Palais-Bourbon
for a peerage, and received the title of count. [Domestic Peace. Cesar
Birotteau. Eugenie Grandet. The Government Clerks. The Member for
Arcis.]
KELLER (Madame Francois), wife of the preceding; daughter of Malin de
Gondreville; mother of Charles Keller, who died in 1839. Under the
Restoration, she inspired a warm passion in the heart of the son of
the Duchesse de Marigny. [Domestic Peace. The Member for Arcis. The
Thirteen.]
KELLER, (Charles), born in 1809, son of the preceding couple, grandson
of the Comte de Gondreville, nephew of the Marechale de Carigliano;
his life was prematurely ended in 1839, at a time when a brilliant
future seemed before him. As a major of staff at the side of the
Prince Royal, Ferdinand d'Orleans, he took the field in Algeria. His
bravery urged him on in pursuit of the Emir Abd-el-Kader, and he gave
up his life in the face of the enemy. Becoming viscount as a result of
the knighting of his father, and assured of the favors of the heir
presumptive to the throne, Charles Keller, at the moment when death
surprised him, was on the point of taking his seat in the Lower
Chamber; for the body of electors of the district of Arcis-sur-Aube
were almost sure to elect a man whom the Tuileries desired so
ardently. [The Member for Arcis.]
KELLER (Adolphe), brother--probably younger--of Francois and his
partner; a very shrewd man, who was really in charge of the business,
a "regular lynx." On account of his intimate relations with Nucingen
and F. du Tillet, he flatly refused to aid Cesar Birotteau, who
implored his assistance. [The Middle Classes. Pierrette. Cesar
Birotteau.]
KERGAROUET (Comte de), born about the middle of the eighteenth
century; of the Bretagne nobility; entered the navy, served long and
valiantly upon the sea, commanded the "Belle-Poule," and died a
vice-admiral. Possessor of a great fortune, by his charity he made
amends for the foulness of some of his youthful love affairs (1771 and
following), and at Paris, near the Madeleine, towards the beginning of
the nineteenth century, with much delicacy, he helped the Baronne
Leseigneur de Rouville. A little later, at the age of seventy-two,
having for a long time been a widower and retired from the navy, while
enjoying the hospitality of his relatives, the Fontaines and the
Planat de Baudrys, who lived in the neighborhood of Sceaux, Kergarouet
married his niece, one of the daughters of Fontaine. He died before
her. M. de Kergarouet was also a relative of the Portendueres and did
not forget them. [The Purse. The Ball at Sceaux. Ursule Mirouet.]
KERGAROUET (Comtesse de). (See Vandenesse, Marquise Charles de.)
KERGAROUET (Vicomte de), nephew of the Comte de Kergarouet, husband of
a Pen-Hoel, by whom he had four daughters. Evidently lived at Nantes
in 1836. [Beatrix.]
KERGAROUET (Vicomtesse de), wife of the preceding, born at Pen-Hoel
in 1789; younger sister of Jacqueline; mother of four girls, very
affected woman and looked upon as such by Felicite des Touches and
Arthur de Rochefide. Lived in Nantes in 1836. [Beatrix.]
KERGAROUET (Charlotte de), born in 1821, one of the daughters of the
preceding, grand-niece of the Comte de Kergarouet; of his four nieces
she was the favorite of the wealthy Jacqueline de Pen-Hoel; a
good-hearted little country girl; fell in love with Calyste du Guenic
in 1836, but did not marry him. [Beatrix.]
KOLB, an Alsatian, served as "man of all work" at the home of the
Didots in Paris; had served in the cuirassiers. Under the Restoration
he became "printer's devil" in the establishment of David Sechard of
Angouleme, for whom he showed an untiring devotion, and whose servant,
Marion, he married. [Lost Illusions.]
KOLB (Marion), wife of the preceding, with whom she became acquainted
while at the home of David Sechard. She was, at first, in the service
of the Angouleme printer, Jerome-Nicholas Sechard, for whom she had
less praise than for David. Marion Kolb was like her husband in her
constant, childlike devotion. [Lost Illusions.]
KOUSKI, Polish lancer in the French Royal Guards, lived very unhappily
in 1815-16, but enjoyed life better the following year. At that time
he lived at Issoudun in the home of the wealthy Jean-Jacques Rouget,
and served the commandant, Maxence Gilet. The latter became the idol
of the grateful Kouski. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
KROPOLI (Zena), Montenegrin of Zahara, seduced in 1809 by the French
gunner, Auguste Niseron, by whom she had a daughter, Genevieve. One
year later, at Vincennes, France, she died as a result of her
confinement. The necessary marriage papers, which would have rendered
valid the situation of Zena Kropoli, arrived a few days after her
death. [The Peasantry.]
L
LA BASTIE (Monsieur, Madame and Mademoiselle de). (See Mignon.)
LA BASTIE LA BRIERE (Ernest de), member of a good family of Toulouse,
born in 1802; very similar in appearance to Louis XIII.; from 1824 to
1829, private secretary to the minister of finances. On the advice of
Madame d'Espard, and thus being of service to Eleonore de Chaulieu, he
became secretary to Melchior de Canalis and, at the same time,
referendary of the Cour des Comptes. He became a chevalier of the
Legion of Honor. In 1829 he conducted for Canalis a love romance by
correspondence, the heroine of the affair being Marie-Modeste-Mignon
de la Bastie (of Havre). He played this part so successfully that she
fell in love and marriage was agreed upon. This union, which made him
the wealthy Vicomte de la Bastie la Briere, was effected the following
February in 1830. Canalis and the minister of 1824 were witnesses for
Ernest de la Briere, who fully deserved his good fortune. [The
Government Clerks. Modeste Mignon.]
LA BASTIE LA BRIERE (Madame Ernest de), wife of the preceding, born
Marie-Modeste Mignon about 1809, younger daughter of Charles Mignon de
la Bastie and of Bettina Mignon de la Bastie--born Wallenrod. In 1829,
while living with her family at Havre, with the same love, evoked by a
passion for literature, which Bettina Brentano d'Arnim conceived for
Goethe, she fell in love with Melchior de Canalis; she wrote
frequently to the poet in secret, and he responded through the medium
of Ernest de la Briere; thus there sprang up between the young girl
and the secretary a mutual love which resulted in marriage. The
witnesses for Marie-Modeste Mignon were the Duc d'Herouville and
Doctor Desplein. As one of the most envied women in Parisian circles,
in the time of Louis Philippe, she became the close friend of Mesdames
de l'Estorade and Popinot. [Modeste Mignon. The Member for Arcis.
Cousin Betty.] La Bastie is sometimes written La Batie.
LA BAUDRAYE[*] (Jean-Athanase-Polydore Milaud de), born in 1780 in
Berry, descended from the simple family of Milaud, recently enobled.
M. de la Baudraye's father was a good financier of pleasing
disposition; his mother was a Casteran la Tour. He was in poor health,
his weak constitution being the heritage left him by an immoral
father. His father, on dying, also left him a large number of notes to
which were affixed the noble signatures of the emigrated aristocracy.
His avarice aroused, Polydore de la Baudraye occupied himself, at the
time of the Restoration, with collecting these notes; he made frequent
trips to Paris; negotiated with Clement Chardin des Lupeaulx at the
Hotel de Mayence; obtained, under a promise, afterwards executed, to
sell them profitably, some positions and titles, and became
successively auditor of the seals, baron, officer of the Legion of
Honor and master of petitions. The individual receivership of
Sancerre, which became his also, was bought by Gravier. M. de la
Baudraye did not leave Sancerre; he married towards 1823 Mademoiselle
Dinah Piedefer, became a person of large property following his
acquisition to the castle and estate of Anzy, settled this property
with the title upon a natural son of his wife; he so worked upon her
feelings as to get from her the power of attorney and signature,
sailed for America, and became rich through a large patrimony left him
by Silas Piedefer--1836-42. At that time he owned in Paris a stately
mansion, on rue de l'Arcade, and upon winning back his wife, who had
left him, he placed her in it as mistress. He now became count,
commander of the Legion of Honor, and peer of France. Frederic de
Nucingen received him as such and served him as sponsor, when, in the
summer of 1842, the death of Ferdinand d'Orleans necessitated the
presence of M. de la Baudraye at Luxembourg. [The Muse of the
Department.]
[*] The motto on the Baudraye coat-of-arms was: "Deo patet sic fides
et hominibus."
LA BAUDRAYE (Madame Polydore Milaud de), wife of the preceding, born
Dinah Piedefer in 1807 or 1808 in Berry; daughter of the Calvinist,
Moise Piedefer; niece of Silas Piedefer, from whom she inherited a
fortune. She was brilliantly educated at Bourges, in the Chamarolles
boarding-school, with Anna de Fontaine, born Grosstete--1819. Five
years later, through personal ambition, she gave up Protestantism,
that she might gain the protection of the Cardinal-Archbishop of
Bourges, and a short time after her conversion she was married, about
1823. For thirteen consecutive years, at least, Madame de la Baudraye
reigned in the city of Sancerre and in her country-house, Chateau
d'Anzy, at Saint-Satur near by. Her court was composed of a strange
mixture of people: the Abbe Duret and Messieurs Clagny, Gravier,
Gatien Boirouge. At first, only Clagny and Duret know of the literary
attempts of Jan Diaz, pseudonym of Madame de la Baudraye, who had just
bought the artistic furniture of the Rougets of Issoudun, and who
invited and received two "Parisiens de Sancerre," Horace Bianchon and
Etienne Lousteau, in September 1836. A liaison followed with Etienne
Lousteau, with whom Madame de la Baudraye lived on rue des Martyrs in
Paris from 1837 to 1839. As a result of this union she had two sons,
recognized later by M. de la Baudraye. Madame de la Baudraye now
putting into use the talent, neglected during her love affair, became
a writer. She wrote "A Prince of Bohemia," founded on an anecodote
related to her by Raoul Nathan, and probably published this novel. The
fear of endless scandal, the entreaties of husband and mother, and the
unworthiness of Lousteau, finally led Dinah de la Baudraye to rejoin
her husband, who owned an elegant mansion on rue de l'Arcade. This
return, which took place in May, 1842, surprised Madame d'Espard, a
woman who was not easily astonished. Paris of the reign of Louis
Philippe often quoted Dinah de la Baudraye and paid considerable
attention to her. During this same year, 1842, she assisted in the
first presentation of Leon Gozlan's drama, "The Right Hand and the
Left Hand," given at the Odeon. [The Muse of the Department. A Prince
of Bohemia. Cousin Betty.]
LA BERGE (De), confessor of Madame de Mortsauf at Clochegourde, strict
and virtuous. He died in 1817, mourned on account of his "apostolic
strength," by his patron, who appointed as his successor the
over-indulgent Francois Birotteau. [The Lily of the Valley.]
LA BERTELLIERE, father of Madame la Gaudiniere, grandfather of Madame
Felix Grandet, was lieutenant in the French Guards; he died in 1806,
leaving a large fortune. He considered investments a "waste of money."
Nearly twenty years later his portrait was still hanging in the hall
of Felix Grandet's house at Saumur. [Eugenie Grandet.]
LA BILLARDIERE (Anthanase-Jean-Francoise-Michel, Baron Flamet de), son
of a counselor in the Parliament of Bretagne, took part in the Vendean
wars as a captain under the name of Nantais, and as negotiator played
a singular part at Quiberon. The Restoration rewarded the services of
this unintelligent member of the petty nobility, whose Catholicism was
more lukewarm than his love of monarchy. He became mayor of the second
district of Paris, and division-chief in the Bureau of Finances,
thanks to his kinship with a deputy on the Right. He was one of the
guests at the famous ball given by his deputy, Cesar Birotteau, whom
he had known for twenty years. On his death-bed, at the close of
December, 1824, he had designated, although without avail, as his
successor, Xavier Rabourdin, one of the division-chiefs and real
director of the bureau of which La Billiardiere was the nominal head.
The newspapers published obituaries of the deceased. The short notice
prepared jointly by Chardin des Lupeaulx, J.-J. Bixiou and F. du
Bruel, enumerated the many titles and decorations of Flamet de la
Billardiere, gentleman of the king's bedchamber, etc., etc. [The
Chouans. Cesar Birotteau. The Government Clerks.]
LA BILLARDIERE (Benjamin, Chevalier de), son of the preceding, born in
1802. He was a companion of the young Vicomte de Portenduere in 1824,
being at the time a rich supernumerary in the office of Isidore
Baudoyer under the division of his father, Flamet de la Billardiere.
His insolence and foppishness gave little cause for regret when he
left the Bureau of Finances for the Department of Seals in the latter
part of the same year, 1824, that marked the expected and unlamented
death of Baron Flamet de la Billardiere. [The Government Clerks.]
LA BLOTTIERE (Mademoiselle Merlin de), under the Restoration, a kind
of dowager and canoness at Tours; in company with Mesdames Pauline
Salomon de Villenoix and de Listomere, upheld, received and welcomed
Francois Birotteau. [The Vicar of Tours.]
LABRANCHOIR (Comte de), owner of an estate in Dauphine under the
Restoration, and, as such, a victim of the depredations of the
poacher, Butifer. [The Country Doctor.]
LA BRIERE (Ernest de). (See La Bastie la Briere.)
LACEPEDE (Comte de), a celebrated naturalist, born at Agen in 1756,
died at Paris in 1825. Grand chancelor of the Legion of Honor for
several years towards the beginning of the nineteenth century. This
well-known philosopher was invited to Cesar Birotteau's celebrated
ball, December 17, 1818. [Cesar Birotteau.]
LA CHANTERIE (Le Chantre de), of a Norman family dating from the
crusade of Philippe Auguste, but which had fallen into obscurity by
the end of the eighteenth century; he owned a small fief between Caen
and Saint-Lo. M. le Chantre de la Chanterie had amassed in the
neighborhood of three hundred thousand crowns by supplying the royal
armies during the Hanoverian war. He died during the Revolution, but
before the Terror. [The Seamy Side of History.]
LA CHANTERIE (Baron Henri Le Chantre de), born in 1763, son of the
preceding, shrewd, handsome and seductive. When master of petitions in
the Grand Council of 1788, he married Mademoiselle Barbe-Philiberte de
Champignelles. Ruined during the Restoration through having lost his
position and thrown away his inheritance, Henri Le Chantre de la
Chanterie became one of the most cruel presidents of the revolutionary
courts and was the terror of Normandie. Imprisoned after the ninth
Thermidor, he owed his escape to his wife, by means of an exchange of
clothing. He did not see her more than three times during eight years,
the last meeting being in 1802, when, having become a bigamist, he
returned to her home to die of a disgraceful disease, leaving, at the
same time, a second wife, likewise ruined. This last fact was not made
public until 1804. [The Seamy Side of History.]
LA CHANTERIE (Baronne Henri Le Chantre de), wife of the preceding,
born Barbe-Philiberte de Champignelles in 1772, a descendant of one of
the first families of Lower Normandie. Married in 1788, she received
in her home, fourteen years later, the dying man whose name she bore,
a bigamist fleeing from justice. By him she had a daughter, Henriette,
who was executed in 1809 for having been connected with the Chauffeurs
in Orne. Unjustly accused herself, and imprisoned in the frightful
Bicetre of Rouen, the baroness began to instruct in morals the sinful
women among whom she found herself thrown. The fall of the Empire was
her deliverance. Twenty years later, being part owner of a house in
Paris, Madame de la Chanterie undertook the training of Godefroid. She
was then supporting a generous private philanthropic movement, with
the help of Manon Godard and Messieurs de Veze, de Montauran, Mongenod
and Alain. Madame de la Chanterie aided the Bourlacs and the Mergis,
an impoverished family of magistrates who had persecuted her in 1809.
Her Christian works were enlarged upon. In 1843 the baroness became
head of a charitable organization which was striving to consecrate,
according to law and religion, the relations of those living in free
union. To this end she selected one member of the society, Adeline
Hulot d'Ervy, and sent her to Passage du Soleil, then a section of
Petite-Pologne, to try to bring about the marriage of Vyder--Hector
Hulot d'Ervy--and Atala Judici. [The Seamy Side of History. Cousin
Betty.] The Revolution having done away with titles, Madame de la
Chanterie called herself momentarily Madame, or Citizeness, Lechantre.
LACROIX, restaurant-keeper on Place du Marche, Issoudun, 1822, in
whose house the Bonapartist officers celebrated the crowning of the
Emperor. On December 2, of the same year, the duel between Philippe
Bridau and Maxence took place after the entertainment. [A Bachelor's
Establishment.]
LAFERTE (Nicolas). (See Cochegrue, Jean.)
LA GARDE (Madame de). (See Aquilina.)
LA GAUDINIERE (Madame), born La Bertelliere, mother of Madame Felix
Grandet; very avaricious; died in 1806; leaving the Felix Grandets an
inheritance, "the amount of which no one knew." [Eugenie Grandet.]
LAGINSKI (Comte Adam Mitgislas), a wealthy man who had been
proscribed, belonged to one of the oldest and most illustrious
families of Poland, and counted among his relations the Sapiehas, the
Radziwills, the Mniszechs, the Rezwuskis, the Czartoriskis, the
Lecszinskis, and the Lubomirskis. He had relations in the German
nobility and his mother was a Radziwill. Young, plain, yet with a
certain distinguished bearing, with an income of eighty thousand
francs, Laginski was a leading light in Paris, during the reign of
Louis Philippe. After the Revolution of July, while still
unsophisticated, he attended an entertainment at the home of Felicite
des Touches in Chaussee-d'Antin on rue du Mont-Blanc, and had the
opportunity of listening to the delightful chats between Henri de
Marsay and Emile Blondet. Comte Adam Laginski, during the autumn of
1835, married the object of his affections, Mademoiselle Clementine du
Rouvre, niece of the Ronquerolles. The friendship of his steward, Paz,
saved him from the ruin into which his creole-like carelessness, his
frivolity and his recklessness were dragging him. He lived in perfect
contentment with his wife, ignorant of the domestic troubles which
were kept from his notice. Thanks to the devotion of Paz and of Madame
Laginska, he was cured of a malady which had been pronounced fatal by
Doctor Horace Bianchon. Comte Adam Laginski lived on rue de la
Pepiniere, now absorbed in part by rue de la Boetie. He occupied one
of the most palatial and artistic houses of the period, so called, of
Louis Philippe. He attended the celebration given in 1838 at the first
opening of Josepha Mirah's residence on rue de la Ville-l'Eveque. In
this same year he attended the wedding of Wenceslas Steinbock.
[Another Study of Woman. The Imaginary Mistress. Cousin Betty.]
LAGINSKA (Comtesse Adam), born Clementine du Rouvre in 1816, wife of
the preceding, niece, on her mother's side, of the Marquis de
Ronquerolles and of Madame de Serizy. She was one of the charming
group of young women, which included Mesdames de l'Estorade, de
Portenduere, Marie de Vandenesse, du Guenic and de Maufrigneuse.
Captain Paz was secretly in love with the countess, who, becoming
aware of her steward's affection, ended by having very nearly the same
kind of feeling for him. The unselfish virtue of Paz was all that
saved her; not only at this juncture, but in another more dangerous
one, when he rescued her from M. de la Palferine, who was escorting
her to the Opera ball and who was on the point of taking her to a
private room in a restaurant--January, 1842. [The Imaginary Mistress.]
LAGOUNIA (Perez de), woolen-draper at Tarragone in Catalonia, in the
time of Napoleon, under obligations to La Marana. He reared as his own
daughter, in a very pious manner, Juana, a child of the celebrated
Italian courtesan, until her mother visited her, during the time of
the French occupation in 1808. [The Maranas.]
LAGOUNIA (Donna de), wife of the preceding, divided with him the care
of Juana Marana until the girl's mother came to Tarragone at the time
it was sacked by the French. [The Maranas.]
LA GRAVE (Mesdemoiselles), kept a boarding-house in 1824 on rue
Notre-Dame-des Champs in Paris. In this house M. and Madame Phellion
gave lessons. [The Government Clerks.]
LAGUERRE (Mademoiselle), given name, probably, Sophie, born in 1740,
died in 1815, one of the most celebrated courtesans of the eighteenth
century; opera singer, and fervent follower of Piccini. In 1790,
frightened by the march of public affairs, she established herself at
the Aigues, in Bourgogne, property procured for her by Bouret, from
its former owner. Before Buoret, the grandfather of La Palferine,
entertained her, and she brought about his ruin. The recklessness of
this woman, surrounded as she was by such notorious knaves as
Gaubertin, Fourchon, Tonsard, and Madame Soudry, prepared no little
trouble for Montcornet, the succeeding proprietor. Sophie Laguerre's
fortune was divided among eleven families of poor farmers, all living
in the neighborhood of Amiens, who were ignorant of their relationship
with her. [The Peasantry. A Prince of Bohemia.] M. H. Gourdon de
Genouillac wrote a biography of the singer, containing many details
which are at variance with the facts here cited. Among other things we
are told that the given name of Mademoiselle Laguerre was Josephine
and not Sophie.
LA HAYE (Mademoiselle de). (See Petit-Claud, Madame.)
LAMARD, probably a rival of Felix Gaudissart. In a cafe in Blois, May,
1831, he praised the well-known commercial traveler, who treated him,
nevertheless, as a "little cricket." [Gaudissart the Great.]
LAMBERT (Louis), born in 1797 at Montoire in Loire-et-Cher. Only son
of simple tanners, who did not try to counteract his inclination,
shown when a mere child, for study. He was sent in 1807 to Lefebvre, a
maternal uncle, who was vicar of Mer, a small city on the Loire near
Blois. Under the kindly care of Madame de Stael, he was a student in
the college of Vendome from 1811 to 1814. Lambert met there Barchon de
Penhoen and Jules Dufaure. He was apparently a poor scholar, but
finally developed into a prodigy; he suffered the persecutions of
Father Haugoult, by whose brutal hands his "Treatise on the Will,"
composed during class hours, was seized and destroyed. The
mathematician had already doubled his capacity by becoming a
philosopher. His comrades had named him Pythagoras. His course
completed, and his father being dead, Louis Lambert lived for two
years at Blois, with Lefebvre, until, growing desirous of seeing
Madame de Stael, he journeyed to Paris on foot, arriving July 14,
1817. Not finding his illustrious benefactress alive, he returned home
in 1820. During these three years Lambert lived the life of a workman,
became a close friend of Meyraux, and was cherished and admired as a
member of the Cenacle on rue des Quatre-Vents, which was presided over
by Arthez. Once more he went to Blois, journeyed over Touraine, and
became acquainted with Pauline Salomon de Villenoix, whom he loved
with a passion that was reciprocated. He had suffered from brain
trouble previous to their engagement, and as the wedding day
approached the disease grew constantly worse, although occasionally
there were periods of relief. During one of these good periods, in
1822, Lambert met the Cambremers at Croisic, and on the suggestion of
Pauline de Villenoix, he made a study of their history. The malady
returned, but was interrupted occasionally by outburts of beautiful
thought, the fragments of which were collected by Mademoiselle
Salomon. Louis had likewise occasional fits of insanity. He believed
himself powerless and wished, one day, to perform on his own body
Origene's celebrated operation. Lambert died September 25, 1824, the
day before the date selected for his marriage with Pauline. [Louis
Lambert. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. A Seaside Tragedy.]
LAMBERT (Madame), lived in Paris in 1840. She was then at a very pious
age, "played the saint," and performed the duties of housekeeper for
M. Picot, professor of mathematics, No. 9, rue du Val-de-Grace. In the
service of this old philosopher she reaped enormous profits. Madame
Lambert hypocritically took advantage of her apparent devotion to him.
She sought Theodose de la Peyrade, and begged him to write a memorial
to the Academy in her favor, for she longed to receive the reward
offered by Montyon. At the same time she put into La Peyrade's keeping
twenty-five thousand francs, which she had accumulated by her
household thefts. On this occasion, Madame Lambert seems to have been
the secret instrument of Corentin, the famous police-agent. [The
Middle Classes.]
LANGEAIS (Duc de), a refugee during the Restoration, who planned, at
the time of the Terror, by correspondence with the Abbe de Marolles
and the Marquis de Beauseant to help escape from Paris, where they
were in hiding, two nuns, one of whom, Sister Agathe, was a Langeais.
[An Episode Under the Terror.] In 1812 Langeais married Mademoiselle
Antoinette de Navarreins, who was then eighteen years old. He allowed
his wife every liberty, and, neither abandoning any of his habits, nor
giving up any of his pleasures, he lived, indeed, apart from her. In
1818 Langeais commanded a division in the army and occupied a position
at court. He died in 1823. [The Thirteen.]
LANGEAIS (Duchesse Antoinette de),[*] wife of the preceding, daughter
of the Duc de Navarreins; born in 1794; reared by the Princesse de
Blamont-Chauvry, her aunt; grand-niece of the Vidame de Pamiers; niece
of the Duc de Grandlieu by her marriage. Very beautiful and
intelligent, Madame de Langeais reigned in Paris at the beginning of
the Restoration. In 1819 her best friend was the Vicomtesse Claire de
Beauseant, whom she wounded cruelly, for her own amusement, calling on
her one morning for the express purpose of announcing the marriage of
the Marquis d'Ajuda-Pinto. Of this pitiless proceeding she repented
later, and asked pardon, moreover, of the foresaken woman. Soon
afterwards the Duchesse de Langeais had the pleasure of captivating
the Marquis de Montriveau, playing for him the role of Celimene and
making him suffer greatly. He had his revenge, however, for, scorned
in her turn, or believing herself scorned, she suddenly disappeared
from Paris, after having scandalized the whole Saint-Germain community
by remaining in her carriage for a long time in front of the
Montriveau mansion. Some bare-footed Spanish Carmelites received her
on their island in the Mediterranean, where she became Sister Therese.
After prolonged searching Montriveau found her, and, in the presence
of the mother-superior, had a conversation with her as she stood
behind the grating. Finally he managed to carry her off--dead. In this
bold venture the marquis was aided by eleven of The Thirteen, among
them being Ronquerolles and Marsay. The duchess, having lost her
husband, was free at the time of her death in 1824. [Father Goriot.
The Thirteen.]
[*] At the Vaudeville and Gaite theatres in Paris, Ancelot and Alexis
Decomberousse at the former, and Messieurs Ferdinand Dugue and
Peaucellier at the latter, brought out plays founded on the life
of Antoinette de Langeais, in 1834 and 1868 respectively.
LANGEAIS (Mademoiselle de). (See Agathe, Sister.)
LANGLUME, miller, a jolly impulsive little man, in 1823 deputy-mayor
of Blangy in Bourgogne, at the time of the political, territorial and
financial contests of which the country was the theatre, with Rigou
and Montcornet as actors. He was of great service to Genevieve
Niseron's paternal grandfather. [The Peasantry.]
LANGUET, vicar, built Saint-Sulpice, and was an acquaintance of
Toupillier, who asked alms in 1840 at the doors of this church in
Paris, which since 1860 has been one of the sixth ward parish
churches. [The Middle Classes.]
LANSAC (Duchesse de), of the younger branch of the Parisian house of
Navarreins, 1809, the proud woman who shone under Louis XV. The
Duchesse de Lansac, in November of the same year, consented, one
evening, to meet Isemberg, Montcornet, and Martial de la Roche-Hugon
in Malin de Gondreville's house, for the purpose of conciliating her
nephew and niece in their domestic quarrel. [Domestic Peace.]
LANTIMECHE, born in 1770. In 1840, at Paris, a penniless journeyman
locksmith and inventor, he went to the money-lender, Cerizet, on rue
des Poules, to borrow a hundred francs. [The Middle Classes.]
LANTY (Comte de), owner of an expensive mansion near the
Elysee-Bourbon, which he had bought from the Marechal de Carigliano.
He gave there under the Restoration some magnificent entertainments,
at which were present the upper classes of Parisian society, ignorant,
though they were, of the count's lineage. Lanty, who was a mysterious
man, passed for a clever chemist. He had married the rich niece of the
peculiar eunuch, Zambinella, by whom he had two children, Marianina
and Filippo. [Sarrasine. The Member for Arcis.]
LANTY (Comtesse de), wife of the preceding, born in 1795, niece and
likewise adopted daughter of the wealthy eunuch, Zambinella, was the
mistress of M. de Maucombe, by whom she had a daughter, Marianina de
Lanty. [Sarrasine. The Member for Arcis.]
LANTY (Marianina de), daughter of the preceding and according to law
of the Comte de Lanty, although she was in reality the daughter of M.
de Maucombe; born in 1809. She bore a striking resemblance to her
sister, Renee de l'Estorade, born Maucombe. In 1825 she concealed, and
lavished care on her great-uncle, Zambinella. During her parents'
sojourn in Rome she took lessons in sculpture of Charles Dorlange, who
afterwards, in 1839, became a member for Arcis, under the name of
Comte de Sallenauve. [Sarrasine. The Member for Arcis.]
LANTY (Filippo de), younger brother of the preceding, second child of
the Comte and the Comtesse de Lanty. Being young and handsome he was
an attendant at the fetes given by his parents during the Restoration.
By his marriage, which took place under Louis Philippe, he became
allied with the family of a German grand duke. [Sarrasine. The Member
for Arcis.]
LA PALFERINE
(Gabriel-Jean-Anne-Victor-Benjamin-Georges-Ferdinand-Charles-Edouard-Rusticoli,
Comte de), born in 1802; of an ancient Italian family which had become
impoverished; grandson on the paternal side of one of the protectors
of Josephine-Sophie Laguerre; descended indirectly from the Comtesse
Albany--whence his given name of Charles-Edouard. He had in his veins
the mixed blood of the condottiere and the gentleman. Under Louis
Philippe, idle and fast going to ruin, with his Louis XIII. cast of
countenance, his evil-minded wit, his lofty independent manners,
insolent yet winning, he was a type of the brilliant Bohemian of the
Boulevard de Gand; so much so, that Madame de la Baudraye, basing her
information on points furnished her by Nathan, one day drew a picture
of him, writing a description in which artificiality and artlessness
were combined. In this were many interesting touches: La Palferine's
contempt shown at all times for the bourgeois class and forms of
government; the request for the return of his toothbrush, then in the
possession of a deserted mistress, Antonia Chocardelle; his relations
with Madame du Bruel, whom he laid siege to, won, and neglected--a
yielding puppet, of whom, strange to say, he broke the heart and made
the fortune. He lived at that time in the Roule addition, in a plain
garret, where he was in the habit of receiving Zephirin Marcas. The
wretchedness of his quarters did not keep La Palferine out of the
best society, and he was the guest of Josepha Mirah at the first
entertainment given in her house on rue de la Ville-l'Eveque. By a
strange order of events, Comte Rusticoli became Beatrix de Rochefide's
lover, a few years after the events just narrated, at a time when
the Debats published a novel by him which was spoken of far and wide.
Nathan laid the foundation for this affair. Trailles,
Charles-Edouard's master, carried on the negotiations and brought the
intrigue to a consummation, being urged on by the Abbe Brossette's
assent and the Duchesse de Grandlieu's request. La Palferine's
liaison with Madame de Rochefide effected a reconciliation between
Calyste du Guenic and his wife. In the course of time, however,
Comte Rusticoli deserted Beatrix and sent her back to her husband,
Arthur de Rochefide. During the winter of 1842 La Palferine was
attracted to Madame de Laginska, had some meetings with her, but
failed in this affair through the intervention of Thaddee Paz. [A
Prince of Bohemia. A Man of Business. Cousin Betty. Beatrix. The
Imaginary Mistress.]
LA PEYRADE (Charles-Marie-Theodose de), born near Avignon in 1813, one
of eleven children of the police-agent Peyrade's youngest brother, who
lived in poverty on a small estate called Canquoelle; a bold
Southerner of fair skin; given to reflection; ambitious, tactful and
astute. In 1829 he left the department of Vaucluse and went to Paris
on foot in search of Peyrade who, he had reason to believe, was
wealthy, but of whose business he was ignorant. Theodose departed
through the Barriere d'Enfer, which has been destroyed since 1860, at
the moment when Jacques Collin murdered his uncle. At that time he
entered a house of ill-fame, where he had unwittingly for mistress
Lydie Peyrade, his full-blooded cousin. Theodose then lived for three
years on a hundred louis which Corentin had secretly given to him. On
giving him the money, the national chief of police quietly advised him
to become an attorney. Journalism, however, at first, seemed a
tempting career to M. de la Peyrade, and he went into politics,
finally becoming editor of a paper managed by Cerizet. The failure of
this journal left Theodose once more very poor. Nevertheless, through
Corentin, who secretly paid the expenses of his studies, he was able
to begin and continue a course in law. Once licensed, M. de la Peyrade
became a barrister and professing to be entirely converted to
Socialism, he freely pleaded the cause of the poor before the
magistrate of the eleventh or twelfth district. He occupied the third
story of the Thuillier house on rue Saint-Dominique-d'Enfer. He fell
into the hands of Dutocq and Cerizet and suffered under the pressure
of these grasping creditors. Theodose now decided that he would marry
M. Thuillier's natural daughter, Mademoiselle Celeste Colleville, but,
with Felix Phellion's love to contend with, despite the combined
support, gained with difficulty, of Madame Colleville and of M. and
Mademoiselle Thuillier, he failed through Corentin's circumvention.
His marriage with Lydie Peyrade repaired the wrong which he had
formerly done unwittingly. As successor to Corentin he became national
chief-of-police in 1840. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. The Middle
Classes.]
LA PEYRADE (Madame de), first cousin and wife of the preceding, born
Lydie Peyrade in 1810, natural daughter of the police officer Peyrade
and of Mademoiselle Beaumesnil; passed her childhood successively in
Holland and in Paris, on rue des Moineaux, whence, Jacques Collin,
thirsting for revenge, abducted her during the Restoration. Being
somewhat in love, at that time, with Lucien de Rubempre she was taken
to a house of ill-fame, Peyrade being at the time very ill. Upon her
departure she was insane. Her own cousin, Theodose de la Peyrade, had
been her lover there, fortuitously and without dreaming that they were
blood relatives. Corentin adopted this insane girl, who was a talented
musician and singer, and at his home on rue Honore-Chevalier, in 1840,
he arranged for both the cure and the marriage of his ward. [Scenes
from a Courtesan's Life. The Middle Classes.]
LA POURAILLE, usual surname of Dannepont.
LARAVINIERE, tavern-keeper in Western France, lodged "brigands" who
had armed themselves as Royalists under the first Empire. He was
condemned, either by Bourlac or Mergi, to five years in prison. [The
Seamy Side of History.]
LARDOT (Madame), born in 1771, lived in Alencon in 1816 on rue du
Cours--a street still bearing the same name. She was a laundress, and
took as boarders a relative named Grevin and the Chevalier de Valois.
She had among her employes Cesarine and Suzanne, afterwards Madame
Theodore Gaillard. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
LAROCHE, born in 1763 at Blangy in Bourgogne, was, in 1823, an aged
vine-dresser, who felt a calm, relentless hatred for the rich,
especially the Montcornets, occupants of Aigues. [The Peasantry.]
LA ROCHE (Sebastien de), born early in the nineteenth century, was
probably the son of an unpretentious, retired Treasury clerk. In
December, 1824, he found himself in Paris, poor, but capable and
zealous, as a supernumerary in the office of Xavier Rabourdin of the
Department of Finance. He lived with his widowed mother in the busiest
part of Marais on rue du Roi-Dore. M. and Madame Rabourdin received
and gave him assistance by preparing a copy of a rare and mysterious
government work. The discovery of this book by Dutocq unfortunately
resulted in the discharge of both chief and clerk. [The Government
Clerks.]
LA ROCHE-GUYON (De), the eldest of one of the oldest families in the
section of Orne, at one time connected with the Esgrignons, who
visited them frequently. In 1805 he sued vainly, through Maitre
Chesnel, for the hand of Armande d'Esgrignon. [Jealousies of a Country
Town.]
LA ROCHE-HUGON (Martial de), shrewd, turbulent and daring Southerner,
had a long and brilliant administrative career in politics. Even in
1809 the Council of State employed him as one of the masters of
petitions. Napoleon Bonaparte was patron of this young Provencal.
Also, in November of the same year, Martial was invited to the fete
given by Malin de Gondreville--a celebration which the Emperor was
vainly expected to attend. Montcornet was present, also the Duchesse
de Lansac, who succeeded in bringing about a reconciliation between
her nephew and niece, M. and Madame de Soulanges. M. de la
Roche-Hugon's mistress, Madame de Vaudremont, was also in attendance
at this ball. For five years he had enjoyed a close friendship with
Montcornet, and this bond was lasting. In 1815 the securing of Aigues
for Montcornet was undertaken by Martial, who had served as prefect
under the Empire, and retained his office under the Bourbons. Thus
from 1821 to 1823 M. de la Roche-Hugon was at the head of the
department in Bourgogne, which contained Aigues and Ville-aux-Fayes,
M. des Lupeaulx's sub-prefecture. A dismissal from this office, to
which the Comte de Casteran succeeded, threw Martial into the
opposition among the Liberalists, but this was for a short time, as he
soon accepted an embassy. Louis Philippe's government honored M. de la
Roche-Hugon by making him minister, ambassador, and counselor of
state. Eugene de Rastignac, who had favored him before, now gave him
one of his sisters in marriage. Several children resulted from this
union. Martial continued to remain influential and associated with the
popular idols of the time, M. and Madame de l'Estorade. His relations
with the national chief of police, Corentin, in 1840, were also
indicative of his standing. As a deputy the next year M. de la
Roche-Hugon probably filled the directorship in the War Department,
left vacant by Hector Hulot. [Domestic Peace. The Peasantry. A
Daughter of Eve. The Member for Arcis. The Middle Classes. Cousin
Betty.]
LA ROCHE-HUGON (Madame Martial de). (See Rastignac, Mesdemoiselles
de.)
LA RODIERE (Stephanie de). (See Nueil, Madame Gaston de.)
LA ROULIE (Jacquin), chief huntsman of the Prince de Cadignan, took
part with his master, in 1829, in the exciting hunt given in
Normandie, in which as spectators or riders were the Mignons de la
Bastie, the Maufrigneuses, the Herouvilles, M. de Canalis, Eleonore de
Chaulieu and Ernest de la Briere. Jacquin la Roulie was at that time
an old man and a firm believer in the French school; he had an
argument with John Barry, another guest, who defended English
principles. [Modeste Mignon.]
LARSONNIERE (M. and Madame de), formed the aristocracy of the little
city of Saumur, of which Felix Grandet had been mayor in the years
just previous to the First Empire. [Eugenie Grandet.]
LA THAUMASSIERE (De), grandson of the Berry historian, a young
land-owner, the dandy of Sancerre. While present in Madame de la
Baudraye's parlor, he had the misfortune to yawn during an exposition
which she was giving, for the fourth time, of Kant's philosophy; he
was henceforth looked upon as a man completely lacking in
understanding and in soul. [The Muse of the Department.]
LATOURNELLE (Simon-Babylas), born in 1777, was notary at Havre, where
he had bought the most extensive practice for one hundred thousand
francs, lent him in 1817 by Charles Mignon de la Bastie. He married
Mademoiselle Agnes Labrosse, having by her one son, Exupere. He
remained the intimate friend of his benefactors, the Mignons. [Modeste
Mignon.]
LATOURNELLE (Madame), wife of the preceding, born Agnes Labrosse,
daughter to the clerk of the court of first instance at Havre. Tall
and ungainly of figure, a bourgeoise of rather ancient tastes, at the
same time good-hearted, she had somewhat late in life, by her
marriage, a son whose given name was Exupere. She entertained Jean
Butscha. Madame Latournelle was a frequent visitor of the Mignons de
la Bastie, and at all times testified her affection for them. [Modeste
Mignon.]
LATOURNELLE (Exupere), son of the preceding couple, went with them to
visit the Mignons de la Bastie, towards the end of the Restoration. He
was then a tall, insignificant young man. [Modeste Mignon.]
LAUDIGEOIS, married, head of a family, typical petty bourgeois,
employed during the Restoration by the mayor of the eleventh or
twelfth ward in Paris, a position from which he was unjustly expelled
by Colleville in 1840. In 1824 an intimate neighbor of the Phellions,
and exactly like them in morals, he attended their informal card-party
on Thursday evening. Laudigeois, introduced by the Phellions, finally
became a close friend of the Thuilliers, during the reign of Louis
Philippe. His civil statistical record should be corrected, as his
name in several of the papers is spelled Leudigeois. [The Government
Clerks. The Middle Classes.]
LAURE, given name of a sweet and charming young peasant girl, who took
Servin's course in painting at Paris in 1815. She protected Ginevra di
Piombo, an affectionate friend, who was her elder. [The Vendetta.]
LAURENT, a Savoyard, Antoine's nephew; husband of an expert laundress
of laces, mender of cashmeres, etc. In 1824 he lived with them and
their relative, Gabriel, in Paris. In the evening he was door-keeper
in a subsidized theatre; in the daytime he was usher in the Bureau of
Finance. In this position Laurent was first to learn of the worldly
and official success attained by Celestine Rabourdin, when she
attempted to have Xavier appointed successor to Flamet de la
Billardiere. [The Government Clerks.]
LAURENT, Paris, 1815, M. Henri de Marsay's servant, equal to the
Frontins of the old regime; was able to obtain for his master, through
the mail-carrier, Moinot, the address of Paquita Valdes and other
information about her. [The Thirteen.]
LAVIENNE, Jean-Jules Popinot's servant in Paris, rue du Fouarre, 1828;
"made on purpose for his master," whom he aided in his active
philanthropy by redeeming and renewing pledges given to the
pawnbrokers. He took the place of his master in Palais de Justice
during the latter's absence. [The Commission in Lunacy.]
LAVRILLE, famous naturalist, employed in the Jardin des Plantes, and
dwelling on rue de Buffon, Paris, 1831. Consulted as to the shagreen,
the enlargement of which was so passionately desired by Raphael de
Valentin, Lavrille could do nothing more than talk on the subject and
sent the young man to Planchette, the professor of mechanics.
Lavrille, "the grand mogul of zoology," reduced science to a catalogue
of names. He was then preparing a monograph on the duck family. [The
Magic Skin.]
LEBAS (Joseph), born in 1779, a penniless orphan, he was assisted and
employed in Paris, first by the Guillaumes, cloth-merchants on rue
Saint-Denis, at the Cat and Racket. Under the First Empire he married
Virginie,[*] the elder of his employer's daughters, although he was in
love with the younger, Mademoiselle Augustine. He succeeded the
Guilliaumes in business. [At the Sign of the Cat and Racket.] During
the first years of the Restoration he presided over the Tribunal of
Commerce. Joseph Lebas, who was intimate with M. and Madame Birotteau,
attended their ball with his wife. He also strove for Cesar's
rehabilitation. [Cesar Birotteau.] During the reign of Louis Philippe,
having for an intimate friend Celestin Crevel, he retired from
business and lived at Corbeil. [Cousin Betty.]
[*] The names of Virginie and Augustine are confused in the original
text.
LEBAS (Madame Joseph), wife of the preceding, born Virginie Guillaume
in 1784, elder of Guillaume's daughters, lived at the Cat and Racket;
the counterpart, physically and morally, of her mother. Under the
First Empire, at the parish church of Saint-Leu, Paris, her marriage
took place on the same day that her younger sister, Augustine de
Sommervieux, was wedded. The love which she felt for her husband was
not reciprocated. She viewed with indifference her sister's
misfortunes, became intimate in turn with the Birotteaus and the
Crevels; and, having retired from business, spent her last days in the
middle of Louis Philippe's reign at Corbeil. [At the Sign of the Cat
and Racket. Cesar Birotteau. Cousin Betty.]
LEBAS, probably a son of the preceding. In 1836 first assistant of the
king's solicitor at Sancerre; two years later counselor to the court
of Paris. In 1838 he would have married Hortense Hulot if Crevel had
not prevented the match. [The Muse of the Department. Cousin Betty.]
LEBOEUF, for a long time connected with the prosecuting attorney at
Nantes, being president of the court there in the latter part of Louis
Philippe's reign. He was well acquainted with the Camusot de
Marvilles, and knew Maitre Fraisier, who claimed his acquaintance in
1845. [Cousin Pons.]
LEBRUN, sub-lieutenant, then captain in the Seventy-second
demi-brigade, commanded by Hulot during the war against the Chouans
in 1799. [The Chouans.]
LEBRUN, division-chief in the War Department in 1838. Marneffe was one
of his employes. [Cousin Betty.]
LEBRUN, protege, friend and disciple of Doctor Bouvard. Being a
physician at the prison in May, 1830, he was called upon to establish
the death of Lucien de Rubempre. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] In
1845 Lebrun was chief physician of the Parisian boulevard theatre,
managed by Felix Gaudissart. [Cousin Pons.]
LECAMUS (Baron de Tresnes), counselor to the royal court of Paris,
lived, in 1816, rue Chanoinesse, with Madame de la Chanterie. Known
there by the name of Joseph, he was a Brother of Consolation in
company with Montauran, Alain, Abbe de Veze and Godefroid. [The Seamy
Side of History.]
LECHESNEAU, through the influence of Cambaceres and Bonaparte,
appointed attorney-general in Italy, but as a result of his many
disreputable love-affairs, despite his real capacity for
office-holding, he was forced to give up his position. Between the
end of the Republic and the beginning of the Empire he became head
of the grand jury at Troyes. Lechesneau, who had been repeatedly
bribed by Senator Malin, had to occupy himself in 1806 with the
Hauteserre-Simeuse-Michu affair. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
LECLERQ, native of Bourgogne, commissioner for the vinters in the
department to which Ville-aux-Fayes, a sub-prefecture of this same
province, belonged. He was of service to Gaubertin, Madame Soudry,
also Rigon, perhaps, and was in turn under obligations to them. Having
arranged a partnership he founded the house of "Leclerq & Company," on
Quai de Bethune, Ile Saint-Louis, Paris, in competition with the
well-known house of Grandet. In 1815 Leclerq married Jenny Gaubertin.
As a banker he dealt in wine commissions, and became regent of the
National Bank. During the Restoration he represented as deputy on the
Left Centre the district of Ville-aux-Fayes, and not far from the
sub-prefecture, in 1823, bought a large estate, which brought thirty
thousand francs rental. [The Peasantry.]
LECLERQ (Madame), wife of the preceding, born Jenny Gaubertin, eldest
daughter of Gaubertin, steward of Aigues in Bourgogne, received two
hundred thousand francs as dowry. [The Peasantry.]
LECLERQ, brother-in-law of the preceding, during the Restoration was
special collector at Ville-aux-Fayes, Bourgogne, and joined the other
members of his family in worrying, more or less, the Comte de
Montcornet. [The Peasantry.]
LECOCQ, a trader, whose failure was very cleverly foretold by
Guillaume at the Cat and Racket. This failure was Guillaume's Battle
of Marengo. [At the Sign of the Cat and Racket.]
LEFEBVRE, Louis Lambert's uncle, was successively oratorian, sworn
priest and cure of Mer, a small city near Blois. Had a delightful
disposition and a heart of rare tenderness. He exercised a watchful
care over the childhood and youth of his remarkable nephew. The Abbe
Lefebvre later on lived at Blois, the Restoration having caused him to
lose his position. In 1822, under form of a letter sent from Croisic,
he was the first to receive information concerning the Cambremers. The
next year, having become much older in appearance, while riding in a
stage-coach he told of the frightful state of suffering, sometimes
mingled with remarkable displays of intellect, which preceded the
death of Louis Lambert. [Louis Lambert. A Seaside Tragedy.]
LEFEBVRE (Robert), well-known French painter of the First Empire. In
1806, at the expense of Laurence de Cinq-Cygne, he painted Michu's
portrait. [The Gondreville Mystery.] Among the many paintings executed
by Robert Lefebvre is a portrait of Hulot d'Ervy dressed in the
uniform of chief commissary of the Imperial Guard. This is dated 1810.
[Cousin Betty.]
LEGANES (Marquis de), Spanish grandee, married, father of two
daughters, Clara and Mariquita, and of three sons, Juanito, Philippe
and Manuel. He manifested a spirit of patriotism in the war carried on
against the French during the Empire and died then under the most
tragic circumstances, in which Mariquita was an unwilling abettor. The
Marquis de Leganes died by the hand of his eldest son, who had been
condemned to be his executioner. [El Verdugo.]
LEGANES (Marquise de), wife of the preceding and condemned to die with
the other members of the family by the hand of her eldest son. She
spared him the necessity of doing this terrible deed of war by
committing suicide. [El Verdugo.]
LEGANES (Clara de), daughter of the preceding couple; also shared the
condemnation of the Marquis de Leganes and died by the hand of
Juanito. [El Verdugo.]
LEGANES (Mariquita de), sister of the preceding, had rescued Major
Victor Marchand of the French infantry from danger in 1808. In
testimony of his gratitude he was able to obtain pardon for one member
of the Leganes family, but with the horribly cruel provision that the
one spared should become executioner of the rest of the family. [El
Verdugo.]
LEGANES (Juanito de), brother of the last-named, born in 1778. Small
and of poor physique, of gentlemanly manners, yet proud and scornful,
he was gifted with that delicacy of feeling which in olden times
caused Spanish gallantry to be so well known. Upon the earnest request
of his proud-spirited family he consented to execute his father, his
two sisters and his two brothers. Juanito only was saved from death,
that his family might not become extinct. [El Verdugo.]
LEGANES (Philippe de), younger brother of the preceding, born in 1788,
a noble Spaniard condemned to death; executed by his elder brother in
1808, during the war waged against the French. [El Verdugo.]
LEGANES (Manuel de), born in 1800, youngest of the five Leganes
children, suffered, in 1808, during the war waged by the French in
Spain, the fate of his father, the marquis, and of his elder brother
and sisters. The youngest scion of this noble family died by the hand
of Juanito de Leganes. [El Verdugo.]
LEGER, extensive farmer of Beaumont-sur-Oise, married daughter of
Reybert, Moreau's successor as exciseman of the Presles estate,
belonging to the Comte de Serizy; had by his wife a daughter who
became, in 1838, Madame Joseph Bridau. [A Start in Life.]
LEGRELU, a bald-headed man, tall and good-looking; in 1840 became a
vintner in Paris on rue des Canettes, corner of rue Guisarde.
Toupillier, Madame Cardinal's uncle, the "pauper of Saint-Sulpice,"
was his customer. [The Middle Classes.]
LELEWEL, a nineteenth century revolutionist, head of the Polish
Republican party in Paris in 1835. One of his friends was Doctor Moise
Halpersohn. [The Imaginary Mistress. The Seamy Side of History.]
LEMARCHAND. (See Tours, Minieres des.)
LEMIRE, professor of drawing in the Imperial Lyceum, Paris, in 1812;
foresaw the talent of Joseph Bridau, one of his pupils, for painting,
and threw the future artist's mother into consternation by telling her
of this fact. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
LEMPEREUR, in 1819, Chaussee-d'Antin, Paris, clerk to Charles
Claparon, at that time "straw-man" of Tillet, Roguin & Company. [Cesar
Birotteau.]
LEMPRUN, born in 1745, son-in-law of Galard, market-gardener of
Auteuil. Employed, in turn, in the houses of Thelusson and of Keller
in Paris, he was probably the first messenger in the service of the
Bank of France, having entered that establishment when it was founded.
He met Mademoiselle Brigitte Thuillier during this period of his life,
and in 1814 gave Celeste, his only daughter, in marriage to Brigitte's
brother, Louis-Jerome Thuillier. M. Lemprun died the year following.
[The Middle Classes.]
LEMPRUN (Madame), wife of the preceding, daughter of Galard, the
market-gardener of Auteuil, mother of one child--Madame Celeste
Thuillier. She lived in the village of Auteuil from 1815 until the
time of her death in 1829. She reared Celeste Phellion, daughter of
L.-J. Thuillier and of Madame de Colleville. Madame Lemprun left a
small fortune inherited from her father, M. Galard, which was
administered by Brigitte Thuillier. This Lemprun estate consisted of
twenty thousand francs, saved by the strictest economy, and of a house
which was sold for twenty-eight thousand francs. [The Middle Classes.]
LEMULQUINIER, a native of Flanders, owed his name to the linen-yarn
dealers of that province, who are called _mulquiniers_. He lived in
Douai, was the valet of Balthazar Claes, and encouraged and aided his
master in his foolish investigations, despite the extreme coldness of
his own nature and the opposition of Josette, Martha, and the women of
the Claes family. Lemulquinier even went so far as to give all his
personal property to M. Claes. [The Quest of the Absolute.]
LENONCOURT (De), born in 1708, marshal of France, marquis at first,
then duke, was the friend of Victor-Amedee de Verneuil, and adopted
Marie de Verneuil, the acknowledged natural daughter of his old
comrade, when the latter died. Suspected unjustly of being this young
girl's lover, the septuagenarian refused to marry her, and leaving her
behind he changed his place of residence to Coblentz. [The Chouans.]
LENONCOURT (Duc de), father of Madame de Mortsauf. The early part of
the Restoration was the brilliant period of his career. He obtained a
peerage, owned a house in Paris on rue Saint-Dominique-Saint-Germain,
looked after Birotteau and found him a situation just after his
failure. Lenoncourt played for the favor of Louis XVIII., was first
gentleman in the king's chamber, and welcomed Victurnien d'Esgrignon,
with whom he had some relationship. The Duc de Lenoncourt was, in
1835, visiting the Princesse de Cadignan, when Marsay explained the
reasons the political order had for the mysterious kidnapping of
Gondreville. Three years later he died a very old man. [The Lily of
the Valley. Cesar Birotteau. Jealousies of a Country Town. The
Gondreville Mystery. Beatrix.]
LENONCOURT (Duchesse de), wife of the preceding, born in 1758, of a
cold, severe, insincere, ambitious nature, was almost always unkind to
her daughter, Madame de Mortsauf. [The Lily of the Valley.]
LENONCOURT-GIVRY (Duc de), youngest son of M. and Madame de Chaulieu,
at first followed a military career. Titles and names in abundance
came to him. In 1827 he married Madeleine de Mortsauf, the only heir
of her parents. [Letters of Two Brides.] The Duc de Lenoncourt-Givry
was a man of some importance in the Paris of Louis Philippe and was
invited to the festival at the opening of Josepha Mirah's new house,
rue de la Ville-l'Eveque. [Cousin Betty.] The year following attention
was still turned towards him indirectly, when Sallenauve was
contending in defence of the duke's brother-in-law. [The Member for
Arcis.]
LENONCOURT-GIVRY (Duchesse de), wife of the preceding, bore the first
name of Madeleine. Madame de Lenoncourt-Givry was one of two children
of the Comte and Comtesse de Mortsauf. She lived almost alone in her
family, having lost at an early age her mother, then her brother
Jacques. While passing her girlhood in Touraine, she met Felix de
Vandenesse, from whom she knew how to keep aloof on becoming an
orphan. Her inheritance of names, titles and wealth brought about her
marriage with the youngest son of M. and Madame de Chaulieu in 1827,
and established for her a friendship with the Grandlieus, whose
daughter, Clotilde, accompanied her to Italy about 1830. During the
first day of their journey the arrest of Lucien Chardon de Rubempre
took place under their eyes near Bouron, Seine-et-Marne. [The Lily of
the Valley. Letters of Two Brides. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
LENORMAND was court registrar at Paris during the Restoration, and did
Comte Octave de Bauvan a service by passing himself off as owner of a
house on rue Saint-Maur, which belonged in reality to the count and
where the wife of that high magistrate lived, at that time being
separated from her husband. [Honorine.]
LEOPOLD, a character in "L'Ambitieux par Amour," a novel by Albert
Savarus, was Maitre Leopold Hannequin. The author pictured him as
having a strong passion--imaginary or true--for the mother of
Rodolphe, the hero of this autobiographical novel, published by the
"Revue de l'Est" under the reign of Louis Philippe. [Albert Savarus.]
LEPAS (Madame de), for a long time keeper of a tavern at Vendome, of
Flemish physique; acquainted with M. and Madame de Merret, and
furnished information about them to Doctor Horace Bianchon; Comte
Bagos de Feredia, who died so tragically, having been a lodger in her
house. She was also interviewed by the author, who, under the name of
Valentine, gave on the stage of the Gymnase-Dramatique the story of
the incontinence and punishment of Josephine de Merret. This Vendome
tavern-keeper pretended also to have lodged some princesses, M.
Decazes, General Bertrand, the King of Spain, and the Duc and Duchesse
of d'Abrantes. [La Grande Bretche.]
LEPITRE, strong Royalist, had some relations with M. de Vandenesse,
when they wished to rescue Marie-Antoinette from the Temple. Later,
under the Empire, having become head of an academy, in the old Joyeuse
house, Quartier Saint-Antoine, Paris, Lepitre counted among his pupils
a son of M. de Vandenesse, Felix. Lepitre was fat, like Louis XVIII.,
and club-footed. [The Lily of the Valley.]
LEPITRE (Madame), wife of the preceding, reared Felix de Vandenesse.
[The Lily of the Valley.]
LEPRINCE (Monsieur and Madame). M. Leprince was a Parisian auctioneer
towards the end of the Empire and at the beginning of the Restoration.
He finally sold his business at a great profit; but being injured by
one of Nucingen's failures, he lost in some speculations on the Bourse
some of the profits that he had realized. He was the father-in-law of
Xavier Rabourdin, whose fortune he risked in these dangerous
speculations, that his son-in-law's domestic comfort might be
increased. Crushed by misfortune he died under Louis XVIII., leaving
some rare paintings which beautified the parlor of his children's home
on rue Duphot. Madame Leprince, who died before the bankrupt
auctioneer, a distinguished woman and a natural artist, worshiped and,
consequently, spoiled her only child, Celestine, who became Madame
Xavier Rabourdin. She communicated to her daughter some of her own
tastes, and thoughtlessly, perhaps, developed in her a love of luxury,
intelligent and refined. [The Government Clerks.]
LEROI (Pierre), called also Marche-a-terre, a Fougeres Chouan, who
played an important part during the civil war of 1799 in Bretagne,
where he gave evidence of courage and heartlessness. He survived the
tragedy of this period, for he was seen on the Place d'Alencon in 1809
when Cibot--Pille-Miche--was tried at the bar as a chauffeur and
attempted to escape. In 1827, nearly twenty years later, this same
Pierre Leroi was known as a peaceable cattle-trader in the markets of
his province. [The Chouans. The Seamy Side of History. Jealousies of a
Country Town.]
LEROI (Madame), mother of the preceding, being ill, was cured on
coming to Fougeres to pray under the oak of the Patte-d'Oie. This tree
was decorated with a beautiful wooden image of the Virgin, placed
there in memory of Sainte-Anne d'Auray's appearance in this place.
[The Chouans.]
LESEIGNEUR DE ROUVILLE (Baronne), pensionless widow of a sea-captain
who had died at Batavia, under the Republic, during a prolonged
engagement with an English vessel; mother of Madame Hippolyte
Schinner. Early in the nineteenth century she lived at Paris with her
unmarried daughter, Adelaide. On the fourth story of a house belonging
to Molineux, on rue de Surene, near the Madeleine, Madame Leseigneur
occupied unadorned and gloomy apartments. There she frequently
received Hippolyte Schinner, Messieurs du Halga and de Kergarouet. She
received from two of these friends many delicate marks of sympathy,
despite the gossip of the neighbors who were astonished that Madame de
Rouville and her daughter should have different names, and shocked by
their very suspicious behavior. The manner in which Mesdames
Leseigneur recognized the good offices of Schinner led to his marriage
with Mademoiselle de Rouville. [The Purse.]
LESEIGNEUR (Adelaide). (See Schinner, Madame Hippolyte.)
LESOURD, married the eldest daughter of Madame Guenic of Provins, and
toward the end of the Restoration presided over the justice court of
that city, of which he had first been king's attorney. In 1828 he was
able, indeed, to defend Pierrette Lorrain, thus showing his opposition
to the local Liberalist leaders, represented by Rogron, Vinet and
Gourand. [Pierrette.]
LESOURD (Madame), wife of the preceding and eldest daughter of Madame
Guenee; for a long time called in Provins, "the little Madame
Lesourd." [Pierrette.]
LEVEILLE (Jean-Francois), notary in Alencon, inflexible correspondent
of the Royalists of Normandie under the Empire. He issued arms to
them, received the surname of Confesseur, and, in 1809, was put to
death with others as the result of a judgment rendered by Bourlac.
[The Seamy Side of History.]
LEVRAULT, enriched by the iron industry in Paris, died in 1813; former
owner of the house in Nemours which came into the possession finally
of Doctor Minoret, who lived there in 1815. [Ursule Mirouet.]
LEVRAULT-CREMIERE, related to the preceding, an old miller, who became
a Royalist under the Restoration; he was mayor of Nemours from 1829 to
1830, and was replaced after the Revolution of July by the notary,
Cremiere-Dionis. [Ursule Mirouet.]
LEVRAULT-LEVRAULT, eldest son, thus named to distinguish him from his
numerous relatives of the same name; he was a butcher in Nemours in
1829, when Ursule Mirouet was undergoing persecution. [Ursule
Mirouet.]
LIAUTARD (Abbe), in the first years of the nineteenth century was at
the head of an institution of learning in Paris; had among his pupils
Godefroid, Madame de la Chanterie's lodger in 1836 and future Brother
of Consolation. [The Seamy Side of History.]
LINA (Duc de), an Italian, at Milan early in the century, one of the
lovers of La Marana, the mother of Madame Diard. [The Miranas.]
LINET (Jean-Baptiste-Robert, called Robert), member of the Legislature
and of the Convention, born at Bernay in 1743, died at Paris in 1825;
minister of finance under the Republic, weakened Antoine and the
Poiret brothers by giving them severe work, although twenty-five years
later they were still laboring in the Treasury. [The Government
Clerks.]
LISIEUX (Francois), called the Grand-Fils (grandson), a rebel of the
department of Mayenne; chauffeur under the First Empire and connected
with the Royalist insurrection in the West, which caused Madame de la
Chanterie's imprisonment. [The Seamy Side of History.]
LISTOMERE (Marquis de) son of the "old Marquise de Listomere"; deputy
of the majority under Charles X., with hopes of a peerage; husband of
Mademoiselle de Vandenesse the elder, his cousin. One evening in 1828,
in his own house on rue Saint-Dominique, he was quietly reading the
"Gazette de France" without noticing the flirtation carried on at his
side by his wife and Eugene de Rastignac, then twenty-five years old.
[The Lily of the Valley. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. A Study
of Woman.]
LISTOMERE (Marquise de), wife of the preceding, elder of M. de
Vandenesse's daughters, and sister of Charles and Felix. Like her
husband and cousin, during the early years of the Restoration, she was
a brilliant type of the period, combining, as she did, godliness with
worldliness, occasionally figuring in politics, and concealing her
youth under the guise of austerity. However, in 1828, her mask seemed
to fall at the moment when Madame de Mortsauf died; for, then, she
wrongly fancied herself the object of Eugene de Rastignac's wooing.
Under Louis Philippe she took part in an intrigue formed for the
purpose of throwing her sister-in-law, Marie de Vandenesse, into the
power of Raoul Nathan. [The Lily of the Valley. Lost Illusions. A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris. A Study of Woman. A Daughter of
Eve.]
LISTOMERE (Marquise de) mother-in-law of the preceding, born
Grandlieu. She lived in Paris at an advanced age in Ile Saint-Louis,
during the early years of the nineteenth century; received on his
holidays her grand-nephew, Felix de Vandenesse, then a student, and
frightened him by the solemn or frigid appearance of everything about
her. [The Lily of the Valley.]
LISTOMERE (Baronne de), had been the wife of a lieutenant-general. As
a widow she lived in the city of Tours under the Restoration, assuming
all the grand airs of the past centuries. She helped the Birotteau
brothers. In 1823 she received the army paymaster, Gravier, and the
terrible Spanish husband who killed the French surgeon, Bega. Madame
de Listomere died, and her wish to make Francois Birotteau her partial
heir was not executed. [The Vicar of Tours. Cesar Birotteau. The Muse
of the Department.]
LISTOMERE (Baron de), nephew of the preceding, born in 1791; was in
turn lieutenant and captain in the navy. During a leave of absence
spent with his aunt at Tours he began to intervene in favor of the
persecuted abbe, Francois Birotteau, but finally opposed him upon
learning of the power of the Congregation, and that the priest's name
figured in the Baronne de Listomere's will. [The Vicar of Tours.]
LISTOMERE (Comtesse de), old, lived in Saint-Germain suburbs of Paris,
in 1839. At the Austrian embassy she became acquainted with Rastignac,
Madame de Nucingen, Ferdinand du Tillet and Maxime de Trailles. [The
Member for Arcis.]
LISTOMERE-LANDON (Marquise de), born in Provence, 1744; lady of the
eighteenth century aristocracy, had been the friend of Duclos and
Marechal de Richelieu. Later she lived in the city of Tours, where she
tried to help by unbiased counsel her unsophisticated niece by
marriage, the Marquise Victor d'Aiglemont. Gout and her happiness over
the return of the Duc d'Angouleme caused Madame de Listomere's death
in 1814. [A Woman of Thirty.]
LOLOTTE. (See Topinard, Madame.)
LONGUEVILLE (De), noble and illustrious family, whose last scion, the
Duc de Rostein-Limbourg, executed in 1793, belonged to the younger
branch. [The Ball at Sceaux.]
LONGUEVILLE, deputy under Charles X., son of an attorney, without
authority placed the particle _de_ before his name. M. Longueville was
connected with the house of Palma, Werbrust & Co.; he was the father
of Auguste, Maximilien and Clara; desired a peerage for himself and a
minister's daughter for his elder son, who had an income of fifty
thousand francs. [The Ball at Sceaux.]
LONGUEVILLE (Auguste), son of the preceding, born late in the
eighteenth century, possessed an income of fifty thousand francs;
married, probably a minister's daughter; was secretary of an embassy;
met Madame Emilie de Vandenesse during a vacation which he was
spending in Paris, and told her the secret of his family. Died young,
while employed in the Russian embassy. [The Ball at Sceaux.]
LONGUEVILLE (Maximilien), one of Longueville's three children,
sacrificed himself for his brother and sister; entered business, lived
on rue du Sentier--then no longer called rue du Groschenet; was
employed in a large linen establishment, situated near rue de la Paix;
fell passionately in love with Emilie de Fontaine, who became Madame
Charles de Vandenesse. She ceased to reciprocate his passion upon
learning that he was merely a novelty clerk. However, M. Longueville,
as a result of the early death of his father and of his brother,
became a banker, a member of the nobility, a peer, and finally the
Vicomte "Guiraudin de Longueville." [The Ball at Sceaux.]
LONGUEVILLE (Clara), sister of the preceding; she was probably born
during the Empire; was a very refined young woman of frail
constitution, but good complexion; lived in the time of the
Restoration; was companion and protegee of her elder brother,
Maximilien, future Vicomte Guiraudin, and was cordially received at
the Planat de Baudry's pavilion, situated in the valley of Sceaux,
where she was a good friend of the last unmarried heiress of Comte de
Fontaine. [The Ball at Sceaux.]
LORA (Leon de), born in 1806, descendant of a noble family of
Roussillon, of Spanish origin; penniless son of Comte Fernand Didas y
Lora and Leonie de Lora, born Gazonal; younger brother of Juan de
Lora, nephew of Mademoiselle Urraca y Lora; he left his native country
at an early age. His family, with the exception of his mother, who
died, remained at home long after his departure, but he never inquired
concerning them. He went to Paris, where, having entered the artist,
Schinner's, studio, under the name of Mistigris, he became celebrated
for his animation and repartee. From 1820 he shone in this way, rarely
leaving Joseph Bridau--a friend whom he accompanied to the Comte de
Serizy's at Presles in the valley of Oise. Later Leon protected his
very sympathetic but commonplace countryman, Pierre Grassou. In 1830
he became a celebrity. Arthez entrusted to him the decoration of a
castle, and Leon de Lora forthwith showed himself to be a master. Some
years later he took a tour through Italy with Felicite des Touches and
Claude Vignon. Being present when the domestic troubles of the Bauvans
were recounted, Lora was able to give a finished analysis of
Honorine's character to M. de l'Hostal. Being a guest at all the
social feasts and receptions he was in attendance at one of
Mademoiselle Brisetout's gatherings on rue Chauchat. There he met
Bixiou, Etienne Lousteau, Stidmann and Vernisset. He visited the
Hulots frequently and their intimate friends. With the aid of Joseph
Bridau he rescued W. Steinbock from Clichy, saw him marry Hortense,
and was invited to the second marriage of Valerie Marneffe. He was
then the greatest living painter of landscapes and sea-pieces, a
prince of repartee and dissipation, and dependent on Bixiou. Fabien du
Ronceret gave to him the ornamentation of an apartment on rue Blanche.
Wealthy, illustrious, living on rue Berlin, the neighbor of Joseph
Bridau and Schinner, member of the Institute, officer of the Legion of
Honor, Leon, assisted by Bixiou, received his cousin Palafox Gazonal,
and pointed out to him many well-known people about town. [The
Unconscious Humorists. A Bachelor's Establishment. A Start in Life.
Pierre Grassou. Honorine. Cousin Betty. Beatrix.]
LORA (Don Juan de), elder brother of the preceding, spent his whole
life in Roussillon, his native country; in the presence of their
cousin, Palafox Gazonal, denied that his younger brother, "le petit
Leon," possessed great artistic ability. [The Unconscious Humorists.]
LORAUX (Abbe), born in 1752, of unattractive bearing, yet the very
soul of tenderness. Confessor of the pupils of the Lycee Henry IV.,
and of Agathe Bridau; for twenty-five years vicar of Saint-Sulpice at
Paris; in 1818 confessor of Cesar Birotteau; became in 1819 cure of
the Blancs-Manteaux in Marais parish. He thus became a neighbor of
Octave de Bauvan, in whose home he placed in 1824 M. de l'Hostal, his
nephew and adopted son. Loraux, who was the means of restoring to
Bauvan the Comtesse Honorine, received her confessions. He died in
1830, she being his nurse at the time. [A Start in Life. A Bachelor's
Establishment. Cesar Birotteau. Honorine.]
LORRAIN, petty merchant of Pen-Hoel in the beginning of the nineteenth
century; married and had a son, whose wife and child, Pierrette, he
took care of after his son's death. Lorrain was completely ruined
later, and took refuge in a home for the old and needy, confiding
Pierrette, both of whose parents were now dead, to the care of some
near relatives, the Rogrons of Provins. Lorrain's death took place
previously to that of his wife. [Pierrette.]
LORRAIN (Madame), wife of the preceding, and grandmother of Pierrette;
born about 1757; lived the simple life of her husband, to whom she
bore some resemblance. A widow towards the end of the Restoration, she
became comfortably situated after the return of Collinet of Nantes.
Upon going to Provins to recover her granddaughter, she found her
dying; went into retirement in Paris, and died soon after, making
Jacques Brigaut her heir. [Pierrette.]
LORRAIN, son of the preceding couple, Bretagne; captain in the
Imperial Guard; major in the line; married the second daughter of a
Provins grocer, Auffray, through whom he had Pierrette; died a poor
man, on the battlefield of Montereau, February 18, 1814. [Pierrette.]
LORRAIN (Madame), wife of the preceding and mother of Pierrette; born
Auffray in 1793; half sister to the mother of Sylvie and Denis Rogron
of Provins. In 1814, a poor widow, still very young, she lived with
the Lorrains of Pen-Hoel, a town in the Vendean Marais. It is said
that she was consoled by the ex-major, Brigaut, of the Catholic army,
and survived the unfortunate marriage of Madame Neraud, widow of
Auffray, and maternal grandmother of Pierrette, only three years.
[Pierrette.]
LORRAIN (Pierrette), daughter of the preceding, born in the town of
Pen-Hoel in 1813; lost her father when fourteen months old and her
mother when six years old; lovable disposition, delicate and
unaffected. After a happy childhood, spent with her excellent maternal
grandparents and a playmate, Jacques Brigaut, she was sent to some
first maternal cousins of Provins, the wealthy Rogrons, who treated
her with pitiless severity. Pierrette died on Easter Tuesday, March,
1828, as the result of sickness brought on by the brutality of her
cousin, Sylvie Rogron, who was extremely envious of her. A trial of
her persecutors followed her death, and, despite the efforts of old
Madame Lorrain, Jacques Brigaut, Martener, Desplein and Bianchon, her
assailants escaped through the craftily exerted influence of Vinet.
[Pierrette.]
LOUCHARD, the craftiest bailiff of Paris; undertook the recovery of
Esther van Gobseck, who had escaped from Frederic de Nucingen; did
business with Maitre Fraisier. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. Cousin
Pons.]
LOUCHARD (Madame), wife of the preceding, did not live with him;
acquainted with Madame Komorn de Godollo and, in 1840, furnished her
information about Theodose de la Peyrade. [The Middle Classes.]
LOUDON (Prince de), general in the Vendean cavalry, lived at Le Mans
during the Terror. He was brother of a Verneuil who was guillotined,
was noted for "his boldness and the martyrdom of his punishment." [The
Chouans. Modeste Mignon.]
LOUDON (Prince Gaspard de), born in 1791, third and only surviving son
of the Duc de Verneuil's four children; fat and commonplace, having,
very inappropriately, the same name as the celebrated Vendean cavalry
general; became probably Desplein's son-in-law. He took part in 1829
in a great hunt given in Normandie, in company with the Herouvilles,
the Cadignans and the Mignons. [Modeste Mignon.]
LOUIS XVIII. (Louis-Stanislas-Xavier), born at Versailles, November
16, 1754, died September 16, 1824, King of France. He was in political
relations with Alphonse de Montauran, Malin de Gondreville, and some
time before this, under the name of the Comte de Lille, with the
Baronne de la Chanterie. He considered Peyrade an able officer and was
his patron. King Louis XVIII., friend of the Comte de Fontaine,
engaged Felix de Vandenesse as secretary. His last mistress was the
Comtesse Ferraud. [The Chouans. The Seamy Side of History. The
Gondreville Mystery. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. The Ball at
Sceaux. The Lily of the Valley. Colonel Chabert. The Government
Clerks.]
LOUISE, during the close of Louis Philippe's reign, was Madame W.
Steinbock's waiting-maid at Paris, rue Louis-le-Grand, and was courted
by Hulot d'Ervy's cook, at the time when Agathe Piquetard, who was
destined to become the second Baronne Hulot, was another servant.
(Cousin Betty.]
LOURDOIS, during the Empire wealthy master-painter of interiors;
contractor with thirty thousand francs income, of Liberal views.
Charged an enormous sum for the famous decorations in Cesar
Birotteau's apartments, where he was a guest with his wife and
daughter at the grand ball of December 17, 1818. After the failure of
the perfumer, a little later, he treated him somewhat slightingly. [At
the Sign of the Cat and Racket. Cesar Birotteau.]
LOUSTEAU, sub-delegate at Issoudun and afterwards the intimate friend
of Doctor Rouget, at that time his enemy, because the doctor was
possibly the father of Mademoiselle Agathe Rouget, then become Madame
Bridau. Lousteau died in 1800. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
LOUSTEAU (Etienne), son of the preceding, born at Sancerre in 1799,
nephew of Maximilienne Hochon, born Lousteau, school-mate of Doctor
Bianchon. Urged on by his desire for a literary vocation, he entered
Paris without money, in 1819, made a beginning with poetry, was the
literary partner of Victor Ducange in a melodrama played at the Gaite
in 1821, undertook the editing of a small paper devoted to the stage,
of which Andoche Finot was proprietor. He had at that time two homes,
one in the Quartier Latin, rue de la Harpe, above the Servel cafe,
another on rue de Bondy, with Florine his mistress. Not having a
better place, he became at times Flicoteaux's guest, in company with
Daniel d'Arthez and especially Lucien de Rubempre, whom he trained,
piloted, and introduced to Dauriat, in fact, whose first steps he
aided, not without feeling regret later in life. For one thousand
francs per month, Lousteau rid Philippe Bridau of his wife, Flore,
placing her in a house of ill-fame. He was at the Opera, the evening
of the masque ball of the year 1824, where Blondet, Bixiou, Rastignac,
Jacques Collin, Chatelet and Madame d'Espard discovered Lucien de
Rubempre with Esther Gobseck. Lousteau wrote criticisms, did work for
various reviews, and for Raoul Nathan's gazette. He lived on rue des
Martyrs, and was Madame Schontz's lover. He obtained by some intrigue
a deputyship at Sancerre; carried on a long liaison with Dinah de la
Baudraye; just escaped a marriage with Madame Berthier, then Felicie
Cardot; was father of Madame de la Baudraye's children, and spoke as
follows concerning the birth of the eldest: "Madame la Baronne de la
Baudraye is happily delivered of a child; M. Etienne Lousteau has the
honor of announcing it." During this liaison, Lousteau, for the sum of
five hundred francs, gave to Fabien du Ronceret a discourse to be read
at a horticultural exhibition, for which the latter was decorated. He
attended a house-warming at Mademoiselle Brisetout's, rue Chauchat;
asked Dinah and Nathan for the purpose or moral of the "Prince of
Bohemia." Lousteau's manner of living underwent little change when
Madame de la Baudraye left him. He heard Maitre Desroches recount one
of Cerizet's adventures, saw Madame Marneffe marry Crevel, took charge
of the "Echo de la Bievre," and undertook the management of a theatre
with Ridal, the author of vaudevilles. [A Distinguished Provincial at
Paris. A Bachelor's Establishment. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. A
Daughter of Eve. Beatrix. The Muse of the Department. Cousin Betty. A
Prince of Bohemia. A Man of Business. The Middle Classes. The
Unconscious Humorists.]
LUIGIA, young and beautiful Roman girl of the suburbs, wife of
Benedetto, who claimed the right of selling her. She tried to kill
herself at the same time she killed him, but did not succeed. Charles
de Sallenauve--Dorlange--protected her, taking care of her when she
became a widow, and made her his housekeeper in 1839. Luigia soon left
her benefactor, the voice of slander having accused them in their
mutually innocent relations. [The Member for Arcis.]
LUPEAULX (Clement Chardin des), officer and politician, born about
1785; left in good circumstances by his father; who was ennobled by
Louis XV., his coat-of-arms showing "a ferocious wolf of sable bearing
a lamb in its jaws," with this motto: "En lupus in historia." A shrewd
and ambitious man, ready for all enterprises, even the most
compromising, Clement des Lupeaulx knew how to make himself of service
to Louis XVIII. in several delicate undertakings. Many influential
members of the aristocracy placed in his hands their difficult
business and their lawsuits. He served thus as mediator between the
Duc de Navarreins and Polydore Milaud de la Baudraye, and attained a
kind of mightiness that Annette seemed to fear would be disastrous to
Charles Grandet. He accumulated duties and ranks, was master of
petitions in the Council of State, secretary-general to the minister
of finance, colonel in the National Guard, government commissioner in
a joint-stock company; also provided with an inspectorship in the
king's house, he became Chevalier de Saint-Louis and officer of the
Legion of Honor. An open follower of Voltaire, but an attendant at
mass, at all times a Bertrand in pursuit of a Raton, egotistic and
vain, a glutton and a libertine, this man of intellect, sought after
in all social circles, a kind of minister's "household drudge," openly
lived, until 1825, a life of pleasure and anxiety, striving for
political success and love conquests. As mistresses he is known to
have had Esther van Gobseck, Flavie Colleville; perhaps, even, the
Marquise d'Espard. He was seen at the Opera ball in the winter of
1824, at which Lucien de Rubempre reappeared. The close of this year
brought about considerable change in the Secretary-General's affairs.
Crippled by debt, and in the power of Gobseck, Bidault and Mitral, he
was forced to give up one of the treasury departments to Isidore
Baudoyer, despite his personal liking for Rabourdin. He gained as a
result of this stroke a coronet and a deputyship. He had ambitions for
a peerage, the title of gentleman of the king's chamber, a membership
in the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-lettres, and the commander's
cross. [The Muse of the Department. Eugenie Grandet. A Bachelor's
Establishment. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. The Government
Clerks. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. Ursule Mirouet.]
LUPEAULX (Des), nephew of the preceding, and, thanks to him, appointed
sub-prefect of Ville-aux-Fayes, Bourgogne, in 1821, in the department
presided over successively by Martial de la Roche-Hugon and Casteran.
As Gaubertin's prospective son-in-law, M. des Lupeaulx, espousing the
cause of his fiancee's family, was instrumental in disgusting
Montcornet, owner of Aigues, with his property. [The Peasantry.]
LUPIN, born in 1778, son of the last steward of the Soulanges in
Bourgogne; in time he became manager of the domain, notary and deputy
mayor of the city of Soulanges. Although married and a man of family,
M. Lupin, still in excellent physical condition, was, in 1823, a
brilliant figure in Madame Soudry's reception-room, where he was known
for his tenor voice and his extreme gallantries--the latter
characteristic being proved by two liaisons carried on with two
middle-class women, Madame Sarcus, wife of Sarcus the Rich, and
Euphemie Plissoud. [The Peasantry.]
LUPIN (Madame), wife of the preceding, called "Bebelle;" only daughter
of a salt-merchant enriched by the Revolution; had a platonic
affection for the chief clerk, Bonnac. Madame Lupin was fat, awkward,
of very ordinary appearance, and weak intellectually. On account of
these characteristics Lupin and the Soudry adherents neglected her.
[The Peasantry.]
LUPIN (Amaury), only son of the preceding couple, perhaps the lover of
Adeline Sarcus, who became Madame Adolphe Sibilet; was on the point of
marrying one of Gaubertin's daughters, the same one, doubtless, that
was wooed and won by M. des Lupeaulx. In the midst of this liaison and
of these matrimonial designs, Amaury Lupin was sent to Paris in 1822
by his father to study the notary's profession with Maitre Crottat,
where he had for a companion another clerk, Georges Marest, with whom
he committed some indiscretions and went into debt. Amaury went with
his friend to the Lion d'Argent, rue d'Enghien in the Saint-Denis
section, when Marest took Pierrotin's carriage to Isle-Adam. On the
way they met Oscar Husson, and made fun of him. The following year
Amaury Lupin returned to Soulanges in Bourgogne. [The Peasantry. A
Start in Life.]
M
MACHILLOT (Madame), kept in Paris, in 1838, in the Notre Dame-des
Champs neighborhood, a modest restaurant, which was patronized by
Godefroid on account of its nearness to Bourlac's house. [The Seamy
Side of History.]
MACUMER (Felipe Henarez, Baron de), Spanish descendant of the Moors,
about whom much information has been furnished by Talleyrand; had a
right to names and titles as follows: Henarez, Duc de Soria, Baron de
Macumer. He never used all of them; for his entire youth was a
succession of sacrifices, misfortunes and undue trials. Macumer, a
leading Spanish revolutionist of 1823, saw fortune turn against him.
Ferdinand VII., once more enthroned, recognized him as constitutional
minister, but never forgave him for his assumption of power. Seeing
his property confiscated and himself banished, he took refuge in
Paris, where he took poor lodgings on rue Hillerin-Bertin and began to
teach Spanish for a living, notwithstanding he was Baron de Sardaigne
with large estates and a place at Sassari. Macumer also suffered many
heart-aches. He vainly loved a woman who was beloved by his own
brother. His brother's passion being reciprocated, Macumer sacrificed
himself for their happiness. Under the simple name of Henarez, Macumer
was the instructor of Armande-Marie-Louise de Chaulieu, whom he did
not woo in vain. He married her, March, 1825. At various times the
baron occupied or owned Chantepleurs, a chateau Nivernais, a house on
rue du Bac, and La Crampade, Louis de l'Estorate's residence in
Provence. The foolish, annoying jealousy of Madame de Macumer
embittered his life and was responsible for his physical break-down.
Idolized by his wife, in spite of his marked plainness, he died in
1829. [Letters of Two brides.]
MACUMER (Baronne de). (See Gaston, Madame Marie.)
MADELEINE, first name of Madeleine Vinet, by which she was called
while employed as a domestic. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. Cousin
Pons.]
MADOU (Angelique), woman of the masses, fat but spry; although
ignorant, very shrewd in her business of selling dried fruit. At
the beginning of the Restoration she lived in Paris on rue
Perrin-Gasselin, where she fell prey to the usurer Bidault--Gigonnet.
Angelique Madou at first dealt harshly with Cesar Birotteau, when he
was unable to pay his debts; but she congratulated him, later on,
when, as a result of his revived fortunes, the perfumer settled every
obligation. Angelique Madon had a little godchild, in whom she
occasionally showed much interest. [Cesar Birotteau.]
MAGNAN (Prosper), of Beauvais, son of a widow, chief-surgeon's
assistant; executed in 1799 at Andernach on the banks of the Rhine,
being the innocent victim of circumstantial evidence, which condemned
him for the double crime of robbery and murder--this crime having, in
reality, been committed by his comrade, Jean-Frederic-Taillefer, who
escaped punishment. [The Red Inn.]
MAGNAN (Madame), mother of the preceding, lived at Beauvais, where she
died a short time after her son's death, and previous to the arrival
of Hermann, who was bearing her a letter from Prosper. [The Red Inn.]
MAGUS (Elie), Flemish Jew, Dutch-Belgian descent, born in 1770. He
lived now at Bordeaux, now at Paris; was a merchant of costly
articles, such as pictures, diamonds and curiosities. By his influence
Madame Luigi Porta, born Ginevra di Piombo, obtained from a
print-seller a position as colorist. Madame Evangelista engaged him
to estimate the value of her jewels. He bought a copy of Rubens from
Joseph Bridau and some Flemish subjects from Pierre Grassou, selling
them later to Vervelli as genuine Rembrandts or Teniers; he arranged
for the marriage of the artist with the cork-maker's daughter. Very
wealthy, and having retired from business in 1835, he left his house
on the Boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle to occupy an old dwelling on Chaussee
des Minimes, now called rue de Bearn. He took with him his treasures,
his daughter, Noemi, and Abramko as a guard for his property. Eli
Magus was still living in 1845, when he had just acquired, in a
somewhat dishonorable manner, a number of superb paintings from
Sylvain Pons' collection. [The Vendetta. A Marriage Settlement. A
Bachelor's Establishment. Pierre Grassou. Cousin Pons.]
MAHOUDEAU (Madame), in 1840, in company with Madame Cardinal, her
friend, created a disturbance during one of Bobino's performances at a
small theatre near the Luxembourg, where Olympe Cardinal was playing.
While playing the "jeune premiere" she was recognized by her mother.
[The Middle Classes.]
MAHUCHET (Madame), women's shoemaker, "a very foul-mouthed woman," in
the language of Madame Nourrisson; mother of seven children. After
having dunned a countess, to no avail, for a hundred francs that was
due her, she conceived the idea of carrying off the silverware, on
display at a grand dinner to be given by her debtor one evening, as a
pledge. She promptly returned, however, the silver she had taken, upon
finding that it was white metal. [The Unconscious Humorists.]
MALAGA, surname of Marguerite Turquet.
MALASSIS (Jeanne), from the country, a servant of Pingret, who was an
avaricious and wealthy old peasant of the suburbs of Limoges. Mortally
injured while hastening to the assistance of her master, who was
robbed and murdered, she was the second victim of J.-F. Tascheron.
[The Country Parson.]
MALFATTI, Venetian doctor; in 1820 called into consultation with one
of his fellow-physicians in France, concerning the sickness of the Duc
Cataneo. [Massimilla Doni.]
MALIN. (See Gondreville.)
MALLET, policeman in the department of Orne in 1809. Ordered to find
and arrest Madame Bryond des Minieres, he let her escape, by means of
an agreement with his comrade, Ratel, who was to have aided in her
capture. Having been imprisoned for this deed, Mallet was declared by
Bourlac deserving of capital punishment, and was put to death the same
year. [The Seamy Side of History.]
MALVAUT (Jenny). (See Derville, Madame.)
MANCINI (De), Italian, fair, effeminate, madly beloved by La Marana,
who had by him a daughter, Juana-Pepita-Maria de Mancini, later Madame
Diard. [The Maranas.]
MANCINI (Juana-Pepita-Maria de). (See Diard, Madame.)
MANERVILLE (De), born in 1731; Norman gentleman to whom the governor
of Guyenne, Richelieu, married one of the wealthiest Bordeaux
heiresses. He purchased a commission as major of the Gardes de la
Porte, in the latter part of Louis XV.'s reign; had by his wife a son,
Paul, who was reared with austerity; emigrated, at the outbreak of the
Revolution, to Martinique, but managed to save his property, Lanstrac,
etc., thanks to Maitre Mathias, head-clerk of the notary. He became a
widower in 1810, three years before his death. [A Marriage
Settlement.]
MANERVILLE (Paul Francois-Joseph, Comte de), son of the preceding,
born in 1794, received his education in the college at Vendome,
finishing his work there in 1810, the year of his mother's death. He
passed three years at Bordeaux with his father, who had become
overbearing and avaricious; when left an orphan, he inherited a large
fortune, including Lanstrac in Gironde, and a house in Paris, rue de
la Pepiniere. He spent six years in Europe as a diplomat, passing his
vacations in Paris, where he was intimate with Henri de Marsay, and
was a lover of Paquita Valdes. There he was subject to the trifling of
Madame Charles de Vandenesse, then Emilie de Fontaine; also, perhaps,
met Lucien de Rubempre. In the winter of 1821 he returned to Bordeaux,
where he was a social leader. Paul de Manerville received the
appropriate nick-name of "le fleur des pois." Despite the good advice
of his two devoted friends, Maitre Mathias and Marsay, he asked,
through the instrumentality of his great-aunt, Madame de Maulincour,
for the hand of Natalie Evangelista in marriage, and obtained it.
After being wedded five years, he was divorced from his wife and
sailed for Calcutta under the name of Camille, one of his mother's
given names. [The Thirteen. The Ball at Sceaux. Lost Illusions. A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris. A Marriage Settlement.]
MANERVILLE (Comtesse Paul de), wife of the preceding, born
Mademoiselle Natalie Evangelista, non-lineal descendant of the Duke of
Alva, related also to the Claes. Having been spoiled as a child, and
being of a sharp, domineering nature, she robbed her husband without
impoverishing him. She was a leader at Paris as well as at Bordeaux.
As the mistress of Felix de Vandenesse she disliked his dedication to
a story, for in it he praised Madame de Mortsauf. Later, in company
with Lady Dudley and Mesdames d'Espard, Charles de Vandernesse and de
Listomere, she attempted to compromise the Comtesse Felix de
Vandenesse, recently married, with Raoul Nathan. [A Marriage
Settlement. The Lily of the Valley. A Daughter of Eve.]
MANETTE, under the Restoration at Clochegourde in Touraine, the
Comtesse de Mortsauf's housekeeper, taking her mother's place in the
care of her young master and mistress, Jacques and Madeleine de
Mortsauf. [The Lily of the Valley.]
MANON. (See Godard, Manon.)
MANON-LA-BLONDE, during the last years of the Restoration a Paris
prostitute, who fell violently in love with Theodore Calvi, became a
receiver of stolen goods, brought to her by the companion of Jacques
Collin, who committed murder also, at the time of the robbery; she
thus became the indirect or involuntary cause of the Corsican's
arrest. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
MANSEAU (Pere), tavern-keeper at Echelles, a town in Savoie, gave aid
to La Fosseuse, in her poverty, and sheltered this unfortunate woman
in a barn. La Fosseuse became the protegee of Doctor Benassis. [The
Country Doctor.]
MARANA (La), the last of a long series of prostitutes bearing the same
name; natural descendant of the Herouvilles. She was known to have had
more than one distinguished lover: Mancini, the Duc de Lina, and a
king of Naples. She was notorious in Venice, Milan and Naples. She had
by Mancini one child, whom he acknowledged, Juana-Pepita-Maria, and
had her reared in good morals by the Lagounias, who were under
obligations to her. Upon going to seek her daughter in Tarragone,
Spain, she surprised the girl in company with Montefiore, but scorned
to take vengeance upon him. She accepted as husband of the young girl
M. Diard, who had asked for her hand. In 1823, when she was dying in
the hospital at Bordeaux, Marana once more saw her daughter, still
virtuous, although unhappy. [The Hated Son. The Maranas.]
MARCAS (Zephirin), born about 1803 in a Bretagne family at Vitre. In
after life he supported his parents who were in poor circumstances. He
received a free education in a seminary, but had no inclination for
the priesthood. Carrying hardly any money he went to Paris, in 1823 or
1824, and after studying with a lawyer became his chief clerk. Later
he studied men and objects in five capitals: London, Berlin, Vienna,
St. Petersburg and Constantinople. For five years he was a journalist,
and reported the proceedings of the "Chambres." He often visited R. de
la Palferine. With women he proved to be of the passionate-timid kind.
With the head of a lion, and a strong voice, he was equal as an orator
to Berryer, and the superior of M. Thiers. For a long time he supplied
the political ability needed by a deputy who had become a minister,
but, convinced of his disloyalty, he overthrew him, only to restore
him for a short time. He once more entered into polemical controversy;
saw the newspapers which had sparkled with his forceful, high-minded
criticism die; and lived miserably upon a daily allowance of thirty
sous, earned by copying for the Palais. Marcas lived at that time,
1836, in the garret of a furnished house on rue Corneille. His
thankless debtor, become minister again, sought him anew. Had it not
been for the hearty attention of his young neighbors, Rabourdin and
Juste, who furnished him with some necessary clothing, and aided him
at Humann's expense, Marcas would not have taken advantage of the new
opportunity that was offered him. His new position lasted but a short
time. The third fall of the government hastened that of Marcas. Lodged
once more on rue Corneille he was taken with a nervous fever. The
sickness increased and finally carried away this unrecognized genius.
Z. Marcas was buried in a common grave in Montparnasse cemetery,
January, 1838. [A Prince of Bohemia. Z. Marcas.]
MARCHAND (Victor), son of a Parisian grocer, infantry-major during the
campaign of 1808, a lover of Clara Leganes, to whom he was under
obligation; tried, without success, to marry this girl of the Spanish
nobility, who preferred to suffer the most horrible of deaths,
decapitation by the hand of her own brother. [El Verdugo.]
MARCHE-A-TERRE. (See Leroi, Pierre.)
MARCILLAC (Madame de). Thanks to some acquaintances of the old regime,
whom she had kept, and to her relationship with the Rastignacs, with
whom she lived quietly, she found the means of introducing to Claire
de Beauseant, Chevalier de Rastignac, her well-beloved grand-nephew
--about 1819. [Father Goriot.]
MARCOSINI (Count Andrea), born in 1807 at Milan; although an
aristocrat he took temporary refuge in Paris as a liberal; a wealthy
and handsome poet; took his period of exile in 1834 in good spirits.
He was received on terms of friendship by Mesdames d'Espard and Paul
de Manerville. On the rue Froidmanteau he was constantly in pursuit of
Marianina Gambara; at the Italian Giardini's "table-d'hote" he
discussed musical topics and spoke of "Robert le Diable." For five
years he kept Paolo Gambara's wife as his mistress; then he gave her
up to marry an Italian dancer. [Gambara.]
MARECHAL, under the Restoration an attorney at Ville-aux-Fayes,
Bourgogne, Montcornet's legal adviser, helped by his recommendation to
have Sibilet appointed steward of Aigues in 1817. [The Peasantry.]
MARESCHAL, supervisor in the college of Vendome in 1811, when Louis
Lambert became a student in this educational institution. [Louis
Lambert.]
MAREST (Frederic), born about 1802, son of a rich lumber-merchant's
widow, cousin of Georges Marest; attorney's clerk in Paris, November,
1825; lover of Florentine Cabirolle, who was maintained by Cardot;
made the acquaintance at Maitre Desroches' of Oscar Husson, and took
him to a fete given by Mademoiselle Cabirolle on rue de Vendome, where
his friend foolishly compromised himself. [A Start in Life.] Frederic
Marest, in 1838, having become an examining magistrate in the public
prosecutor's office in Paris, had to examine Auguste de Mergi, who was
charged with having committed robbery to the detriment of Doctor
Halpersohn. [The Seamy Side of History.] The following year, while
acting as king's solicitor at Arcis-sur-Aube, Frederic Marest, still
unmarried and very corpulent, became acquainted with Martener's sons,
Goulard, Michu and Vinet, and visited the Beauvisage and Mallot
families. [The Member for Arcis.]
MAREST (Georges), cousin of the preceding, son of the senior member of
a large Parisian hardware establishment on rue Saint-Martin. He
became, in 1822, the second clerk of a Parisian notary, Maitre A.
Crottat. He had then as a comrade in study and in pleasure Amaury
Lupin. At this time Marest's vanity made itself absurdly apparent in
Pierrotin's coach, which did service in the valley of Oise; he hoaxed
Husson, amused Bridau and Lora, and vexed the Comte de Serizy. Three
years later Georges Marest had become the chief clerk of Leopold
Hannequin. He lost by debauchery a fortune amounting to thirty
thousand francs a year, and died a plain insurance-broker. [The
Peasantry. A Start in Life.]
MARGARITIS, of Italian origin, took up his residence in Vouvray in
1831, an old man of deranged mind, most eccentric of speech, and who
pretended to be a vine-grower. He was induced by Vernier to hoax the
famous traveler, Gaudissart, during a business trip of the latter.
[Gaudissart the Great.]
MARGARITIS (Madame), wife of the insane Margaritis. She kept him near
her for the sake of economy, and made amends to the deceived
Gaudissart. [Gaudissart the Great.]
MARGUERON, wealthy citizen of Beaumont-sur-Oise, under Louis XVIII.,
wished his son to be tax-collector of the district in which he himself
owned the farm lying next to the property of Serizy at Presles, and
which he had leased to Leger. [A Start in Life.]
MARIANNE, during the Restoration, servant of Sophie Gamard at Tours.
[The Vicar of Tours.]
MARIANNE, served with Gaucher in Michu's house, October, 1803, in the
district of Arcis-sur-Aube, at Cinq-Cygne. She served her master with
discretion and fidelity. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
MARIAST, owned No. 22 rue da la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, Paris, and
let it to Messieurs of d'Espard during nearly the whole period of the
Restoration. [The Commission in Lunacy.]
MARIE DES ANGES (Mere), born in 1762, Jacques Bricheteau's aunt,
superior of the Ursuline convent at Arcis-sur-Aube, saved from the
guillotine by Danton, had the fifth of April of each year observed
with a mass in her nephew's behalf, and, under Louis Philippe,
protected the descendant of a celebrated Revolutionist, Charles de
Sallenauve; her influence gave him the position of deputy of the
district. [The Member for Arcis.]
MARIETTE. (See Godeschal, Marie.)
MARIETTE, born in 1798; from 1817 in the service of the Wattevilles of
Besancon; was under Louis Philippe, despite her extreme homeliness,
and on account of the money she had saved, courted by Jerome, a
servant of Albert Savarus. Mademoiselle de Watteville, who was in love
with the lawyer, used Mariette and Jerome to her own advantage.
[Albert Savarus.]
MARIETTE, in 1816, cook in the employ of Mademoiselle Cormon, of
Alencon; sometimes received advice from M. du Ronceret; an ordinary
kitchen-maid in the same household, when her mistress became Madame du
Bousquier. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
MARIETTE, was in the employ of La Fosseuse, towards the end of the
Restoration, in the village over which Benassis was mayor. [The
Country Doctor.]
MARIGNY (Duchesse de), much sought after in the Saint-Germain section;
related to the Navarreins and the Grandlieus; a woman of experience
and good at giving advice; real head of her house; died in 1819. [The
Thirteen.]
MARIGNY[*] (De), son of the preceding, harebrained, but attractive,
had an attachment for Madame Keller, a middle-class lady of the
Chaussee-d'Antin. [The Thirteen.]
[*] During the last century the Marignys owned, before the Verneuils,
Rosembray, an estate where a great hunt brought together, 1829,
Cadignan, Chaulieu, Canalis, Mignon, etc.
MARIN, in 1839, at Cinq-Cygne, in the district of Arcis-sur-Aube,
first valet of Georges de Maufrigneuse and protector of Anicette. [The
Member for Arcis.]
MARION of Arcis, grandson of a steward in the employ of Simeuse;
brother-in-law of Madame Marion, born Giguet. He had the confidence of
Malin, acquired for him the Gondreville property, and became a lawyer
in Aube, then president of an Imperial court. [The Gondreville
Mystery. The Member for Arcis.]
MARION, brother of the preceding and brother-in-law of Colonel Giguet,
whose sister became his wife. Through Malin's influence, he became
co-receiver-general of Aube, with Sibuelle as his colleague. [The
Gondreville Mystery. The Member for Arcis.]
MARION (Madame), wife of the preceding, Colonel Giguet's sister. She
was on intimate terms with Malin de Gondreville. After her husband's
death she returned to her native country, Arcis, where her parlor was
frequented by many guests. Under Louis Philippe, Madame Marion exerted
her powers in behalf of Simon Giguet, the Colonel's son. [The Member
for Arcis.]
MARION. (See Kolb, Madame.)
MARIOTTE, of Auxerre, a rival of the wealthy Gaubertin in contracting
for the forest lands of that portion of Bourgogne in which Aigues, the
large estate of Montcornet, was situated. [The Peasantry.]
MARIOTTE (Madame), of Auxerre, mother of the preceding, in 1823, had
Mademoiselle Courtecuisse in her service. [The Peasantry.]
MARIUS, the cognomen, become hereditary, of a native of Toulouse, who
established himself as a Parisian hair-dresser and was thus nick-named
by the Chevalier de Parny, one of his patrons, in the early part of
the nineteenth century. He handed down this name of Marius as a kind
of permanent property to his successors. [The Unconscious Humorists.]
MARMUS (Madame), wife of a savant, who was an officer in the Legion of
Honor and a member of the Institute. They lived together on rue
Duguay-Trouin in Paris, and were (in 1840) on intimate terms with
Zelie Minard. [The Middle Classes.]
MARMUS, husband of the preceding and noted for his absent-mindedness.
[The Middle Classes.]
MARNEFFE (Jean-Paul-Stanislas), born in 1794, employed in the War
Department. In 1833, while a mere clerk living on twelve hundred
francs a year, he married Mademoiselle Valerie Fortin. Having become
as unprincipled as a convict, under the patronage of Baron Hulot, his
wife's paramour, he left rue du Doyenne to install himself in luxury
in the Saint-Germain section, and later became head-clerk, assistant
chief, and chief of the bureau, chevalier, then officer of the Legion
of Honor. Jean-Paul-Stanislas Marneffe, decayed physically as well as
morally, died in May, 1842. [Cousin Betty.]
MARNEFFE[*] (Madame). (See Crevel, Madame Celestin.)
[*] In 1849, at Paris, Clairville produced upon the stage of the
Gymnase-Dramatique, the episodes in the life of Madame Marneffe,
somewhat modified, under the double title, "Madame Marneffe, or
the Prodigal Father" (a vaudeville drama in five acts).
MARNEFFE (Stanislas), legal son of the preceding couple, suffered from
scrofula, much neglected by his parents. [Cousin Betty.]
MAROLLES (Abbe de), an old priest, who lived towards the close of the
eighteenth century. Having escaped in September, 1792, from the
massacre of the Carmelite convent, now a small chapel on rue de
Vaugirard, he concealed himself in the upper Saint-Martin district,
near the German Highway. He had under his protection, at this time,
two nuns, who were in as great danger as he, Sister Marthe and Sister
Agathe. On January 22, 1793, and on January 21, 1794, the Abbe de
Marolles, in their presence, said masses for the repose of Louis
XVI.'s soul, having been asked to do so by the executioner of the
"martyr-king," whose presence at mass the Abbe knew nothing of until
January 25, 1794, when he was so informed at the corner of rue des
Frondeurs by Citizen Ragou. [An Episode under the Terror.]
MARONIS (Abbe de), a priest of great genius, who would have been
another Borgia, had he worn the tiara. He was Henri de Marsay's
teacher, and made of him a complete skeptic, in a period when the
churches were closed. The Abbe de Maronis died a bishop in 1812. [The
Thirteen.]
MARRON, under the Restoration, a physician at Marsac, Charente; nephew
of the Cure Marron. He married his daughter to Postel, a pharmacist of
Augouleme. He was intimate with the family of David Sechard. [Lost
Illusions. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
MARSAY (De), immoral old gentleman. To oblige Lord Dudley he married
one of the former's mistresses and recognized their son as his own.
For this favor he received a hundred thousand francs per year for
life, money which he soon threw away in evil company. He confided the
child to his old sister, Mademoiselle de Marsay, and died, as he had
lived, away from his wife. [The Thirteen.]
MARSAY (Madame de). (See Vordac, Marquise de.)
MARSAY (Mademoiselle de), sister-in-law of the preceding, took care of
her son, Henri, and treated him so well that she was greatly mourned
by him when she died advanced in years. [The Thirteen.]
MARSAY (Henri de), born between 1792 and 1796, son of Lord Dudley and
the celebrated Marquise de Vordac, who was first united in marriage to
the elder De Marsay. This gentleman adopted the boy, thus becoming,
according to law, his father. The young Henri was reared by
Mademoiselle de Marsay and the Abbe de Maronis. He was on intimate
terms, in 1815, with Paul de Manerville, and was already one of the
all powerful Thirteen, with Bourignard, Montriveau and Ronquerolles.
At that time he found on rue Saint-Lazare a girl from Lesbosen,
Paquita Valdes, whom he wished to make his mistress. He met at the
same time his own natural sister, Madame de San-Real, of whom he
became the rival for Paquita's love. At first Marsay had been the
lover of the Duchesse Charlotte, then of Arabelle Dudley, whose
children were his very image. He was also known to be intimate with
Delphine de Nucingen up to 1819, then with Diane de Cadignan. In his
position as member of the Thirteen Henri was in Montriveau's party
when Antoinette de Langeais was stolen from the Carmelites. He bought
Coralie for sixty thousand francs. He passed the whole of his time
during the Restoration in the company of young men and women. He was
the companion and counselor of Victurnien d'Esgrignon, Savinien de
Portenduere and above all of Paul de Manerville, whose course he
vainly tried to direct after an ill-appointed marriage, and to whom he
announced, as soon as possible, his own union. Marsay aided Lucien de
Rubempre and served for him, with Rastignac, as second in a duel with
Michel Chrestien. The Chaulieu and Fontaine women feared or admired
Henri de Marsay--a man who was slighted by M. de Canalis, the much
toasted poet. The Revolution of July, 1830, made Marsay a man of no
little importance. He, however, was content to tell over his old love
affairs gravely in the home of Felicite des Touches. As prime minister
from 1832 to 1833, he was an habitue of the Princesse de Cadignan's
Legitimist salon, where he served as a screen for the last Vendean
insurrection. There, indeed, Marsay brought to light the secrets,
already old, of Malin's kidnapping. Marsay died in 1834, a physical
wreck, having but a short time before, when Nathan was courting Marie
de Vandenesse, taken part in the intrigue, although he was disgusted
with the author. [The Thirteen. The Unconscious Humorists. Another
Study of Woman. The Lily of the Valley. Father Goriot. Jealousies of a
Country Town. Ursule Mirouet. A Marriage Settlement. Lost Illusions. A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris. Letters of Two Brides. The Ball at
Sceaux. Modeste Mignon. The Secrets of a Princess. The Gondreville
Mystery. A Daughter of Eve.]
MARTAINVILLE (Alphonse-Louis-Dieudonne), publicist and dramatic
writer, born at Cadiz, in 1776, of French parents, died August 27,
1830. He was an extreme Royalist and, as such, in 1821 and 1822, threw
away his advice and support on Lucien de Rubempre, then a convert to
Liberalism. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
MARTENER, well-educated old man who lived in Provins under the
Restoration. He explained to the archaeologist, Desfondrilles, who
consulted him, the reason why Europe, disdaining the waters of
Provins, sought Spa, where the waters were less efficacious, according
to French medical advice. [Pierrette.]
MARTENER, son of the preceding; physician at Provins in 1827, capable
man, simple and gentle. He married Madame Guenee's second daughter.
When consulted one day by Mademoiselle Habert, he spoke against the
marriage of virgins at forty, and thus filled Sylvie Rogron with
despair. He protected and cared for Pierrette Lorrain, the victim of
this same old maid. [Pierrette.]
MARTENER (Madame), wife of the preceding, second daughter of Madame
Guenee, and sister of Madame Auffray. Having taken pity on Pierrette
Lorrain in her sickness, she gave to her, in 1828, the pleasures of
music, playing the compositions of Weber, Beethoven or Herold.
[Pierrette.]
MARTENER, son of the preceding couple, protege of Vinet the elder,
honest and thick-headed. He was, in 1839, examining magistrate at
Arcis-sur-Aube and caucused, during the election season in the spring
of this same year, with the officers, Michu, Goulard, O. Vinet and
Marest. [The Member for Arcis.]
MARTHA was for a long time the faithful chambermaid of Josephine
Claes; she died in old age between 1828 and 1830. [The Quest for the
Absolute.]
MARTHE (Sister), a Gray sister of Auvergne; from 1809 to 1816
instructed Veronique Sauviat--Madame Graslin--in reading, writing,
sacred history, the Old and the New Testaments, the Catechism, the
elements of arithmetic. [The Country Parson.]
MARTHE (Sister), born Beauseant, in 1730, a nun in the Abbey of
Chelles, fled with Sister Agathe (nee Langeais) and the Abbe de
Marolles to a poor lodging in the upper Saint-Martin district. On
January 22, 1793, she went to a pastry-cook near Saint Laurent to get
the wafers necessary for a mass for the repose of Louis XVI.'s soul.
At this ceremony she was present, as was also the man who had executed
the King. The following year, January 21, 1794, this same ceremony was
repeated exactly. She passed these two years of the Terror under
Mucius Scoevola's protection. [An Episode under the Terror.]
MARTHE (Sister), in the convent of the Carmelites at Blois, knew two
young women, Mesdames de l'Estorade and Gaston. [Letters of Two
Brides.]
MARTIN, a woman of a Dauphine village, of which Doctor Benassis was
mayor, kept the hospital children for three francs and a bar of soap
each month. She was, possibly, the first person in the country seen by
Genestas-Bluteau, and also the first to impart knowledge to him. [The
Country Doctor.]
MARTINEAU, name of two brothers employed by M. de Mortsauf in
connection with his farms in Touraine. The elder was at first a
farm-hand, then a steward; the younger, a warden. [The Lily of the
Valley.]
MARTINEAU, son of one of the two Martineau brothers. [The Lily of the
Valley.]
MARTY (Jean-Baptiste), actor of melodrama, employe or manager of the
Gaite, before and after the Paris fire of 1836; born in 1779,
celebrated during the Restoration; in 1819 and 1820 he played in
"Mont-Sauvage," a play warmly applauded by Madame Vauquer. This woman
was accompanied to the theatre on the Boulevard du Crime, by her rue
Nueve-Sainte-Genevieve lodger, Jacques Collin, called also Vautrin, on
the evening before his arrest. [Father Goriot.] Marty died, at an
advanced age, in 1868, a chevalier in the Legion of Honor, after
having been for many years mayor of Charenton.
MARVILLE (De). (See Camusot.)
MARY, an Englishwoman in the family of Louis de l'Estorade during the
Restoration and under Louis Philippe. [Letters of Two Brides. The
Member for Arcis.]
MASSIN-LEVRAULT, junior, son of a poor locksmith of Montargis,
grand-nephew of Doctor Denis Minoret, as a result of his marriage with
a Levrault-Minoret; father of three girls, Pamela, Aline, and Madame
Goupil. He bought the office of clerk to the justice of peace in
Nemours, January, 1815, and lived at first with his family in the good
graces of Doctor Minoret, through whom his sister became postmistress
at Nemours. Massin-Levrault, junior, was one of the indirect
persecutors of Ursule de Portenduere. He became a minicipal councilor
after July, 1830, began to lend money to the laboring people at
exorbitant rates of interest, and finally developed into a confirmed
usurer. [Ursule Mirouet.]
MASSIN-LEVRAULT (Madame), wife of the preceding, born Levrault-Minoret
in 1793, grand-niece of Doctor Denis Minoret on the maternal side; her
father was a victim of the campaign in France. She strove in every way
possible to win the affections of her wealthy uncle, and was one of
Ursule de Portenduere's persecutors. [Ursule Mirouet.]
MASSOL, native of Carcassonne, licentiate in law and editor of the
"Gazette des Tribunaux" in May, 1830. Without knowing their
relationship he brought together Jacqueline and Jacques Collin, a
boarder at the Concierge, and, acting under Granville's orders, in his
journal attributed Lucien de Rubembre's suicidal death to the rupture
of a tumor. A Republican, through the lack of the particle _de_ before
his name, and very ambitious, he was, in 1834, the associate of Raoul
Nathan in the publication of a large journal, and sought to make a
tool of the poet-founder of this paper. In company with Stidmann,
Steinbock and Claude Vignon, Massol was a witness of the second
marriage of Valerie Marneffe. In 1845, having become a councilor of
state and president of a section, he supported Jenny Cadine. He was
then charged with the administrative lawsuit of S.-P. Gozonal. [Scenes
from a Courtesan's Life. The Magic Skin. A Daughter of Eve. Cousin
Betty. The Unconscious Humorists.]
MASSON, friend of Maitre Desroches, an attorney, to whom, upon the
latter's advice, Lucien de Rubempre hastened, when Coralie's furniture
was attached, in 1821. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
MASSON (Publicola), born in 1795, the best known chiropodist in Paris,
a radical Republican of the Marat type, even resembled the latter
physically; counted Leon de Lora among his customers. [The Unconscious
Humorists.]
MATHIAS, born in 1753. He started as third clerk to a Bordeaux notary,
Chesneau, whom he succeeded. He married, but lost his wife in 1826. He
had one son on the bench, and a married daughter. He was a good
example of the old-fashioned country magistrate, and gave out his
enlightened opinions to two generations of Manervilles. [A Marriage
Settlement.]
MATHILDE (La Grande), on terms of friendship with Jenny Courand in
Paris, under the reign of Louis Philippe. [Gaudissart the Great.]
MATHURINE, a cook, spiritual and upright, first in the employ of the
Bishop of Nancy, but later given a place on rue Vaneau, Paris, with
Valerie Marneffe, by Lisbeth, a relative of the former on her mother's
side. [Cousin Betty.]
MATIFAT, a wealthy druggist on rue des Lombards, Paris, at the
beginning of the nineteenth century; kept the "Reine des Roses," which
later was handled by Ragon and Birotteau; typical member of the middle
classes, narrow in views and pleased with himself, vulgar in language
and, perhaps, in action. He married and had a daughter, whom he took,
with his wife, to the celebrated ball tendered by Cesar Birotteau on
rue Saint-Honore, Sunday, December 17, 1818. As a friend of the
Collevilles, Thuilliers and Saillards, Matifat obtained for them
invitations from Cesar Birotteau. In 1821 he supported on rue de Bondy
an actress, who was shortly transferred from the Panorama to the
Gymnase-Dramatique. Although called Florine, her true name was Sophie
Grignault, and she became subsequently Madame Nathan. J.-J. Bixiou and
Madame Desroches visited Matifat frequently during the year 1826,
sometimes on rue du Cherche-Midi, sometimes in the suburbs of Paris.
Having become a widower, Matifat remarried under Louis Philippe, and
retired from business. He was a silent partner in the theatre directed
by Gaudissart. [Cesar Birotteau. A Bachelor's Establishment. Lost
Illusions. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. The Firm of Nucingen.
Cousin Pons.]
MATIFAT (Madame), first wife of the preceding, a woman who wore a
turban and gaudy colors. She shone, under the Restoration, in
bourgeois circles and died probably during the reign of Louis
Philippe. [Cesar Birotteau. The Firm of Nucingen.]
MATIFAT (Mademoiselle), daughter of the preceding couple, attended the
Birotteau ball, was sought in marriage by Adolphe Cochin and Maitre
Desroches; married General Baron Gouraud, a poor man much her elder,
bringing to him a dowry of fifty thousand crowns and expectations of
an estate on rue du Cherche-Midi and a house at Luzarches. [Cesar
Birotteau. The Firm of Nucingen. Pierrette.]
MAUCOMBE (Comte de), of a Provencal family already celebrated under
King Rene. During the Revolution he "clothed himself in the humble
garments of a provincial proof-reader," in the printing office of
Jerome-Nicolas Sechard at Angouleme. He had a number of children:
Renee, who became Madame de l'Estorade; Jean, and Marianina, a natural
daughter, claimed by Lanty. He was a deputy by the close of 1826,
sitting between the Centre and the Right. [Lost Illusions. Letters of
Two Brides.]
MAUCOMBE (Jean de), son of the preceding, gave up his portion of the
family inheritance to his older sister, Madame de l'Estorade, born
Renee de Maucombe. [Letters of Two Brides.]
MAUFRIGNEUSE (Duc de), born in 1778, son of the Prince de Cadignan,
who died an octogenarian towards the close of the Restoration, leaving
then as eldest of the house the Prince de Cadignan. The prince was in
love with Madame d'Uxelles, but married her daughter, Diane, in 1814,
and afterwards lived unhappily with her. He supported Marie Godeschal;
was a cavalry colonel during the reigns of Louis XVIII. and Charles
X.; had under his command Philippe Bridau, the Vicomte de Serizy,
Oscar Husson. He was on intimate terms with Messieurs de Grandlieu and
d'Espard. [The Secrets of a Princess. A Start in Life. A Bachelor's
Establishment. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
MAUFRIGNEUSE (Duchesse de), wife of the preceding, born Diane
d'Uxelles in 1796, married in 1815. She was in turn the mistress of
Marsay, Miguel d'Ajuda-Pinto, Victurnien d'Esgrignon, Maxime de
Trailles, Eugene de Rastignac, Armand de Montriveau, Marquis de
Ronquerolles, Prince Galathionne, the Duc de Rhetore, a Grandlieu,
Lucien de Rubempre, and Daniel d'Arthez. She lived at various times in
the following places: Anzy, near Sancerre; Paris, on rue Saint-Honore
in the suburbs and on rue Miromesnil; Cinq-Cygne in Champagne; Geneva
and the borders of Leman. She inspired a foolish platonic affection in
Michel Chrestien, and kept at a distance the Duc d'Herouville, who
courted her towards the end of the Restoration by sarcasm and
brilliant repartee. Her first and last love affairs were especially
well known. For her the Marquis Miguel d'Ajudo-Pinto gave up Berthe de
Rochefide, his wife, avenging thus a former mistress, Claire de
Beauseant. Her liaison with Victurnien d'Esgrignon became the most
stormy of romances. Madame de Maufrigneuse, disguised as a man and
possessed of a passport, bearing the name of Felix de Vandenesse,
succeeded in rescuing from the Court of Assizes the young man who had
compromised himself in yielding to the foolish extravagance of his
mistress. The duchesse received even her tradesmen in an angelic way,
and became their prey. She scattered fortunes to the four winds, and
her indiscretions led to the sale of Anzy in a manner advantageous to
Polydore Milaud de la Baudraye. Some years later she made a vain
attempt to rescue Lucien de Rubempre, against whom a criminal charge
was pending. The Restoration and the Kingdom of 1830 gave to her life
a different lustre. Having fallen heir to the worldly sceptre of
Mesdames de Langeais and de Beauseant, both of whom she knew socially,
she became intimate with the Marquise d'Espard, a lady with whom in
1822 she disputed the right to rule the "fragile kingdom of fashion."
She visited frequently the Chaulieus, whom she met at a famous hunt
near Havre. In July, 1830, reduced to poor circumstances, abandoned by
her husband, who had then become the Prince de Cadignan, and assisted
by her relatives, Mesdames d'Uxelles and de Navarreins, Diane operated
as it were a kind of retreat, occupied herself with her son Georges,
and strengthening herself by the memory of Chrestien, also by
constantly visiting Madame d'Espard, she succeeded, without completely
foregoing society, in making captive the celebrated deputy of the
Right, a man of wealth and maturity, Daniel Arthez himself. In her own
home and in that of Felicite des Touches she heard, between 1832 and
1835, anecdotes of Marsay. The Princess de Cadignan had portraits of
her numerous lovers. She had also one of the _Madame_ whom she had
attended, and upon meeting him, showed it to Marsay, minister of Louis
Philippe. She owned also a picture of Charles X. which was thus
inscribed, "Given by the King." After the marriage of her son to a
Cinq-Cygne, she visited often at the estate of that name, and was
there in 1839, during the regular election. [The Secrets of a
Princess. Modeste Mignon. Jealousies of a Country town. The Muse of
the Department. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. Letters of Two Brides.
Another Study of Woman. The Gondreville Mystery. The Member for
Arcis.]
MAUFRIGNEUSE (Georges de), son of the preceding, born in 1814, had
successively in his service Toby and Marin, took the title of duke
towards the close of the Restoration, was in the last Vendean
uprising. Through his mother's instrumentality, who paved the way for
the match in 1833, he married Mademoiselle Berthe de Cinq-Cygne in
1838, and became heir to the estate of the same name the following
year during the regular election. [The Secrets of a Princess. The
Gondreville Mystery. Beatrix. The Member for Arcis.]
MAUFRIGNEUSE (Berthe de), wife of the preceding, daughter of Adrien
and Laurence de Cinq-Cygne, married in 1838, although she had been
very nearly engaged in 1833; she lived with all her family on their
property at Aube during the spring of 1839. [Beatrix. The Gondreville
Mystery. The Member for Arcis.]
MAUGREDIE, celebrated Pyrrhonic physician, being called into
consultation, he gave his judgment on the very serious case of Raphael
de Valentin. [The Magic Skin.]
MAULINCOUR[*] (Baronne de), born Rieux, an eighteenth century woman
who "did not lose her head" during the Revolution; intimate friend of
the Vidame de Pamiers. At the beginning of the Restoration she spent
half of her time in the suburbs of Saint-Germain, where she managed to
educate her grandson, Auguste Carbonnon de Maulincour, and the
remainder on her estates at Bordeaux, where she demanded the hand of
Natalie Evangelista in marriage for her grand-nephew, Paul de
Manerville. Of the family of this girl she had an unfavorable, but
just opinion. The Baronne de Maulincour died a short time before her
grandson of the chagrin which she felt on account of this young man's
unhappy experiences. [A Marriage Settlement. The Thirteen.]
[*] Some Maulincourts had, during the last century, a place of
residence on Chausee de Minimes, in the Marais, of which Elie
Magus subsequently became proprietor.
MAULINCOUR (Auguste Carbonnon de), born in 1797, grandson of the
preceding, by whom he was reared; moulded by the Vidame de Pamiers,
whom he left but rarely; lived on the rue de Bourbon in Paris; had a
short existence, under Louis XVIII., which was full of brilliance and
misfortune. Having embraced a military career he was decorated,
becoming major in a cavalry regiment of the Royal Guard, and
afterwards lieutenant-colonel of a company of body-guards. He vainly
courted Madame de Langeais, fell in love with Clemence Desmarets,
followed her, compromised her, and persecuted her. By his
indiscretions he drew upon himself the violent enmity of Gratien
Bourignard, father of Madame Desmarets. In this exciting struggle
Maulincour, having neglected the warnings that many self-imposed
accidents had brought upon him, also a duel with the Marquis de
Ronquerolles, was fatally poisoned and soon after followed the old
baroness, his grandmother, to Pere-Lachaise. [The Thirteen.]
MAUNY (Baron de), was killed during the Restoration, or after 1830, in
the suburbs of Versailles, by Victor (the Parisian), who struck him
with a hatchet. The murderer finally took refuge at Aiglemont in the
family of his future mistress, Helene. [A Woman of Thirty.]
MAUPIN (Camille). (See Touches, Felicite des.)
MAURICE, valet, employed by the Comte and Comtess de Restaud, during
the Restoration. His master believed his servant to be faithful to his
interests, but the valet, on the contrary, was true to those of the
wife who opposed her husband in everything. [Father Goriot. Gobseck.]
MEDAL (Robert), celebrated and talented actor, who was on the Parisian
stage in the last years of Louis Philippe, at the time when Sylvain
Pons directed the orchestra in Gaudissart's theatre. [Cousin Pons.]
MELIN, inn-keeper or "cabaretier" in the west of France, furnished
lodging in 1809 to the Royalists who were afterwards condemned by
Mergi, and himself received five years of confinement. [The Seamy Side
of History.]
MELMOTH (John), an Irishman of pronounced English characteristics, a
Satanical character, who made a strange agreement with Rodolphe
Castanier, Nucingen's faithless cashier, whereby they were to make a
reciprocal exchange of personalities; in 1821, he died in the odor of
holiness, on rue Ferou, Paris. [Melmoth Reconciled.]
MEMMI (Emilio). (See Varese, Prince de.)
MENE-A-BIEN, cognomen of Coupiau.
MERGI (De), magistrate during the Empire and the Restoration, whose
activity was rewarded by both governments, inasmuch as he always
struck the members of the party out of power. In 1809 the court over
which he presided was charged with the cases of the "Chauffeurs of
Mortagne." Mergi showed great hatred in his dealings with Madame de la
Chanterie. [The Seamy Side of History.]
MERGI (De), son of the preceding, married Vanda de Bourlac. [The Seamy
Side of History.]
MERGI (Baronne Vanda de), born Bourlac, of Polish origin on her
mother's side, belonged to the family of Tarlowski, married the son of
Mergi, the celebrated magistrate, and having survived him, was
condemned to poverty and sickness; was aided in Paris by Godefroid, a
messenger from Madame de la Chanterie, and attended by her father and
Doctors Bianchon, Desplein, Haudry and Moise Halpersohn, the last of
whom finally saved her. [The Seamy Side of History.]
MERGI (Auguste de), during the last half of Louis Philippe's reign was
in turn a collegian, university student and humble clerk in the Palais
at Paris; looked after the needs of his mother, Vanda de Mergi, with
sincerest devotion. For her sake he stole four thousand francs from
Moise Halpersohn, but remained unpunished, thanks to one of the
Brothers of Consolation, who boarded with Madame de la Chanterie. [The
Seamy Side of History.]
MERKSTUS, banker at Douai, under the Restoration had a bill of
exchange for ten thousand francs signed by Balthazar Claes, and, in
1819, presented it to the latter for collection. [The Quest of the
Absolute.]
MERLE, captain in the Seventy-second demi-brigade; jolly and careless.
Killed at La Vivetiere in December, 1799, by Pille-Miche (Cibot). [The
Chouans.]
MERLIN, of Douai, belonged to the convention, of which he was, for two
years, one of the five directors; attorney-general in the court of
appeal; in September, 1805, rejected the appeal of the Simeuses, of
the Hauteserres, and of Michu, men who had been condemned for
kidnapping Senator Malin. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
MERLIN (Hector), came to Paris from Limoges, expecting to become a
journalist; a Royalist; during the two years in which Lucien de
Rubempre made his literary and political beginning, Merlin was
especially noted. At that time he was Suzanne du Val-Noble's lover,
and a polemical writer for a paper of the Right-Centre; he also
brought honor to Andoche Finot's little gazette by his contributions.
As a journalist he was dangerous, and could, if necessary, fill the
chair of the editor-in-chief. In March, 1822, with Theodore Gaillard,
he established the "Reveil," another kind of "Drapeau Blanc." Merlin
had an unattractive face, lighted by two pale-blue eyes, which were
fearfully sharp; his voice had in it something of the mewing of a cat,
something of the hyena's asthmatic gasping. [A Distinguished
Provincial at Paris.]
MERLIN DE LA BLOTTIERE (Mademoiselle), of a noble family of Tours
(1826); Francois Birotteau's friend. [The Vicar of Tours.]
MERRET (De), gentleman of Picardie, proprietor of the Grande Breteche,
near Vendome, under the Empire; had the room walled up, where he knew
the Spaniard Bagos de Feredia, lover of his wife, was in hiding. He
died in 1816 at Paris as a result of excesses. [La Grande Breteche.]
MERRET (Madame Josephine de), wife of the preceding, mistress of Bagos
de Feredia, whom she saw perish almost under her eyes, after she had
refused to give him up to her husband. She died in the same year as
Merret, at La Grande Breteche, as a result of the excitement she had
undergone. The story of Madame de Merret was the subject of a
vaudeville production given at the Gymnase-Dramatique under the title
of "Valentine." [La Grande Breteche.]
METIVIER, paper merchant on rue Serpente in Paris, under the
Restoration; correspondent of David Sechard, friend of Gobseck and of
Bidault, accompanying them frequently to the cafe Themis, between rue
Dauphine and the Quai des Augustins. Having two daughters, and an
income of a hundred thousand francs, he withdrew from business. [Lost
Illusions. The Government Clerks. The Middle Classes.]
METIVIER, nephew and successor of the preceding, one of whose
daughters he married. He was interested in the book business, in
connection with Morand and Barbet; took advantage of Bourlac in 1838;
lived on rue Saint-Dominique d'Enfer, in the Thuillier house in 1840;
engaged in usurious transactions with Jeanne-Marie-Brigitte, Cerizet,
Dutocq, discounters of various kinds and titles. [The Seamy Side of
History. The Middle Classes.]
MEYNARDIE (Madame), at Paris, under the Restoration, in all
probability, had an establishment or shop in which Ida Gruget was
employed; undoubtedly controlled a house of ill-fame, in which Esther
van Gobseck was a boarder. [The Thirteen. Scenes from a Courtesan's
Life.]
MEYRAUX, medical doctor; a scholarly young Parisian, with whom Louis
Lambert associated, November, 1819. Until his death in 1832 Meyraux
was a member of the rue des Quatre-Vents Cenacle, over which Daniel
d'Arthez presided. [Louis Lambert. A Distinguished Provincial at
Paris.]
MICHAUD (Justin), an old chief quartermaster to the cuirassiers of the
Imperial Guard, chevalier of the Legion of Honor. He married one of
the Montcornet maids, Olympe Charel, and became, under the
Restoration, head warden of the Montcornet estates at Blangy in
Bourgogne. Unknown to himself he was secretly beloved by Genevieve
Niseron. His military frankness and loyal devotion succumbed before an
intrigue formed against him by Sibilet, steward of Aigues, and by the
Rigous, Soudrys, Gaubertins, Fourchons and Tonsards. On account of the
complicity of Courtecuisse and Vaudoyer the bullet fired by Francois
Tonsard, in 1823, overcame the vigilance of Michaud. [The Peasantry.]
MICHAUD (Madame Justin), born Olympe Charel, a virtuous and pretty
farmer's daughter of Le Perche; wife of the preceding; chambermaid of
Madame de Montcornet--born Troisville--before her marriage and
induction to Aigues in Bourgogne. Her marriage to Justin Michaud was
the outcome of mutual love. She had in her employ Cornevin, Juliette
and Gounod; sheltered Genevieve Niseron, whose strange disposition she
seemed to understand. For her husband, who was thoroughly hated in the
Canton of Blangy, she often trembled, and on the same night that
Michaud was murdered she died from over-anxiety, soon after giving
birth to a child which did not survive her. [The Peasantry.]
MICHEL, writer at Socquard's cafe and coffee-house keeper at Soulanges
in 1823. He also looked after his patron's vineyard and garden. [The
Peasantry.]
MICHONNEAU (Christine-Michelle). (See Poiret, the elder, Madame.)
MICHU, during the progress of and after the French Revolution he
played a part directly contrary to his regular political affiliations.
His lowly birth, his harsh appearance, and his marriage with the
daughter of a Troyes tanner of advanced opinion, all helped to make
his pronounced Republicanism seem in keeping, although beneath it he
hid his Royalist faith and an active devotion to the Simeuses, the
Hauteserres and the Cinq-Cygnes. Michu controlled the Gondreville
estate between 1789 and 1804, after it was snatched from its rightful
owners, and under the Terror he presided over the Jacobin club at
Arcis. As a result of the assassination of the Duc d'Enghien March 21,
1804, he lost his position at Gondreville. Michu then lived not far
from there, near Laurence de Cinq-Cygne, to whom he made known his
secret conduct, and, as a result, became overseer of all the estate
attached to the castle. Having publicly shown his opposition to Malin,
he was thought guilty of being leader in a plot to kidnap the new
Seigneur de Gondreville, and was consequently condemned to death, a
sentence which was executed, despite his innocence, October, 1806.
[The Gondreville Mystery.]
MICHU (Marthe), wife of the preceding, daughter of a Troyes tanner,
"the village apostle of the Revolution," who, as a follower of
Baboeuf, a believer in racial and social equality, was put to death. A
blonde with blue eyes, and of perfect build, in accordance with her
father's desire, despite her modest innocence, posed before a public
assembly as the Goddess of Liberty. Marthe Michu adored her husband,
by whom she had a son, Francois, but being ignorant for a long time of
his secret, she lived in a manner separated from him, under her
mother's wing. When she did learn of her husband's Royalist actions,
and that he was devoted to the Cinq-Cygnes, she assisted him, but
falling into a skilfuly contrived plot, she innocently brought about
her husband's execution. A forged letter having attracted her to
Malin's hiding-place, Madame Michu furnished all the necessary
evidence to make the charge of kidnapping seem plausible. She also was
cast into prison and was awaiting trial when death claimed her,
November, 1806. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
MICHU (Francois), son of the preceding couple, born in 1793. In 1803,
while in the service of the house of Cinq-Cygne, he ferreted out the
police-system that Giguet represented. The tragic death of his parents
(a picture of one of them hung on the wall at Cinq-Cygne) caused his
adoption in some way or other by the Marquise Laurence, whose efforts
afterwards paved the way for his career as a lawyer from 1817 to 1819,
an occupation which he left, only to become a magistrate. In 1824 he
was associate judge of the Alencon court. Then he was appointed
attorney of the king and received the cross of the Legion of Honor,
after the suit against Victurnien d'Esgrignon by M. du Bosquier and
the Liberals. Three years later he performed similar duties at the
Arcis court, over which he presided in 1839. Already wealthy, and
receiving an income of twelve thousand francs granted him in 1814 by
Madame de Cinq-Cygne, Francois Michu married a native of Champagne,
Mademoiselle Girel, a Troyes heiress. In Arcis he attended only the
social affairs given by the Cinq-Cygnes, then become allies of the
Cadignans, and in fact never visited any others. [The Gondreville
Mystery. Jealousies of a Country Town. The Member for Arcis.]
MICHU (Madame Francois), wife of the preceding, born Girel. Like her
husband, she rather looked with scorn upon Arcis society, in 1839, and
departed little from the circle made up of government officers'
families and the Cinq-Cygnes. [The Gondreville Mystery. The Member for
Arcis.]
MIGEON, in 1836, porter in the rue des Martyrs house in which Etienne
Lousteau lived for three years; he was commissioned for nine hundred
francs by Mme. de la Baudraye, who then lived with the writer, to
carry her jewelry to the pawn-broker. [The Muse of the Department.]
MIGEON (Pamela), daughter of the preceding, born in 1823; in 1837, the
intelligent little waiting-maid of Madame de la Baudraye, when the
baronne lived with Lousteau. [The Muse of the Department.]
MIGNON DE LA BASTIE (Charles), born in 1773 in the district of Var,
"last member of the family to which Paris is indebted for the street
and the house built by Cardinal Mignon"; went to war under the
Republic; was closely associated with Anne Dumay. At the beginning of
the Empire, as the result of mutual affection, his marriage with
Bettina Wallenrod only daughter of a Frankfort banker took place.
Shortly before the return of the Bourbons, he was appointed
lieutenant-colonel, and became commander of the Legion of Honor. Under
the Restoration Charles Mignon de la Bastie lived at Havre with his
wife, and acquired forthwith, by means of banking, a large fortune,
which he shortly lost. After absenting himself from the country, he
returned, during the last year of Charles X.'s reign, from the Orient,
having become a multi-millionaire. Of his four children, he lost
three, two having died in early childhood, while Bettina Caroline, the
third, died in 1827, after being misled and finally deserted by M.
d'Estourny. Marie-Modeste was the only child remaining, and she was
confided during her father's journeys to the care of the Dumays, who
were under obligations to the Mignons; she married Ernest de la
Bastie-La Briere (also called La Briere-la Bastie). The brilliant
career of Charles Mignon was the means of his reassuming the title,
Comte de la Bastie. [Modeste Mignon.]
MIGNON (Madame Charles), wife of the preceding, born Bettina
Wallenrod-Tustall-Bartenstild, indulged daughter of a banker in
Frankfort-on-the-Main. She became blind soon after her elder daughter,
Bettina-Caroline's troubles and early death, and had a presentiment of
the romance connected with her younger daughter, Marie-Modeste, who
became Madame Ernest de la Bastie-La Briere. Towards the close of the
Restoration, Madame Charles Mignon, as the result of an operation by
Desplein, recovered her sight and was a witness of Marie-Modeste's
happiness. [Modeste Mignon.]
MIGNON (Bettina-Caroline), elder daughter of the preceding couple;
born in 1805, the very image of her father; a typical Southern girl;
was favored by her mother over her younger sister, Marie-Modeste, a
kind of "Gretchen," who was similar in appearance to Madame Mignon.
Bettina-Caroline was seduced, taken away and finally deserted by a
"gentleman of fortune," named D'Estourny, and shortly sank at Havre
under the load of her sins and suffering, surrounded by nearly all of
her family. Since 1827 there has been inscribed on her tomb in the
little Ingouville cemetery the following inscription: "Bettina
Caroline Mignon, died when twenty-two years of age. Pray for her!"
[Modeste Mignon.]
MIGNON (Marie-Modeste). (See La Bastie-La Briere, Madame Ernest de.)
MIGNONNET, born in 1782, graduate of the military schools, was an
artillery captain in the Imperial Guard, but resigned under the
Restoration and lived at Issoudun. Short and thin, but of dignified
bearing; much occupied with science; friend of the cavalry officer
Carpentier, with whom he joined the citizens against Maxence Gilet.
Gilet's military partisans, Commandant Potel and Captain Renard, lived
in the Faubourg of Rome, Belleville of the corporation of Berry. [A
Bachelor's Establishment.]
MILAUD, handsome representative of the self-enriched plebeian branch
of Milauds; relative of Jean-Athanase-Polydore Milaud de la Baudraye,
in whose marriage he put no confidence, and from whom he expected to
receive an inheritance. Under the favor of Marchangy, he undertook the
career of a public prosecutor. Under Louis XVIII. he was a deputy at
Angouleme, a position to which he was succeeded by maitre Petit-Claud.
Milaud eventually performed the same duties at Nevers, which was
probably his native country. [Lost Illusions. The Muse of the
Department.]
MILAUD DE LA BAUDRAYE. (See La Baudraye.)
MILLET, Parisian grocer, on rue Chanoinesse, in 1836 attended to the
renting of a small unfurnished room in Madame de la Chanterie's house;
gave Godefroid information, after having submitted him to a rigid
examination. [The Seamy Side of History.]
MINARD (Louis), refractory "chauffeur," connected with the Royalist
insurrection in western France, 1809, was tried at the bar of justice,
where Bourlac and Mergi presided; he was executed the same year that
he was condemned to death. [The Seamy Side of History.]
MINARD (Auguste-Jean-Francois), as clerk to the minister of finances
he received a salary of fifteen hundred francs. In the florist
establishment of a fellow-workman's sister, Mademoiselle Godard, of
rue Richelieu, he met a clerk, Zelie Lorain, the daughter of a porter.
He fell in love with her, married her, and had by her two children,
Julien and Prudence. He lived near the Courcelles gate, and as an
economical worker of retiring disposition he was made the butt of
J.-J. Bixiou's jests in the Treasury Department. Necessity gave him
fortitude and originality. After giving up his position in December,
1824, Minard opened a trade in adulterated teas and chocolates, and
subsequently became a distiller. In 1835 he was the richest merchant
in the vicinity, having an establishment on the Place Maubert and one
of the best houses on the rue des Macons-Sorbonne. In 1840 Minard
became mayor of the eleventh district, where he lived, judge of the
tribunal of commerce, and officer of the Legion of Honor. He
frequently met his former colleagues of the period of the Restoration:
Colleville, Thuillier, Dutocq, Fleury, Phellion, Xavier Rabourdin,
Saillard, Isidore Baudoyer and Godard. [The Government Clerks. The
Firm of Nucingen. The Middle Classes.]
MINARD (Madame), wife of the preceding, born Zelie Lorain, daughter of
a porter. On account of her cold and prudent disposition, she did not
persist long in her trial at the Conservatory, but became a florist's
girl in Mademoiselle Godard's establishment on rue Richelieu. After
her marriage to Francois Minard she gave birth to two children, and,
with the help of Madame Lorain, her mother, reared them comfortably
near the Courcelles gate. Under Louis Philippe, having become rich,
and living in that part of the Saint-Germain suburbs which lies next
to Saint-Jacques, she showed, as did her husband, the silly pride of
the enriched mediocrity. [The Government Clerks. The Middle Classes.]
MINARD (Julien), son of the preceding couple, attorney; at first
considered "the family genius." In 1840 he committed some
indiscretions with Olympe Cardinal, creator of "Love's Telegraphy,"
played at Mourier's small theatre[*] on the Boulevard. His dissipation
ended in a separation brought about by Julien's parents, who
contributed to the support of the actress, then become Madame Cerizet.
[The Middle Classes.]
[*] This theatre was built in 1831 on the Boulevard du Temple, where
the first Ambigu had been situated; it was afterwards moved to No.
40, rue de Bondy, December 30, 1862.
MINARD (Prudence), sister of the preceding, was sought in marriage by
Felix Gaudissart towards the end of Louis Philippe's reign. [The
Middle Classes. Cousin Pons.]
MINETTE,[*] vaudeville actress on rue de Chartres, during the
Restoration, died during the first part of the Second Empire, lawful
wife of a director of the Gaz; was well known for her brilliancy, and
was responsible for the saying that "Time is a great faster," quoted
sometimes before Lucien de Rubempre in 1821-22. [A Distinguished
Provincial at Paris.]
[*] Minette married M. Marguerite; she lived in Paris during the
last years of her life in the large house at the corner of
rue Saint-Georges and rue Provence.
MINORETS (The), representatives of the well-known "company of army
contractors," in which Mademoiselle Sophie Laguerre's steward, who
preceded Gaubertin at Aigues, in Bourgogne, acquired a one-third
share, after giving up his stewardship. [The Peasantry.] The relatives
of Madame Flavie Colleville, daughter of a ballet-dancer, who was
supported by Galathionne and, perhaps, by the contractor, Du
Bourguier, were connected with the Minorets, probably the army
contractor Minorets. [The Government Clerks.]
MINORET (Doctor Denis), born in Nemours in 1746, had the support
of Dupont, deputy to the States-General in 1789, who was his
fellow-citizen; he was intimate with the Abbe Morellet, also the
pupil of Rouelle the chemist, and an ardent admirer of Diderot's
friend, Bordeu, by means of whom, or his friends, he gained a large
practice. Denis Minoret invented the Lelievre balm, became an
acquaintance and protector of Robespierre, married the daughter of
the celebrated harpsichordist, Valentin Mirouet, died suddenly, soon
after the execution of Madame Roland. The Empire, like the former
governments, recompensed Minoret's ability, and he became consulting
physician to His Imperial and Royal Majesty, in 1805, chief hospital
physician, officer of the Legion of Honor, chevalier of Saint-Michel,
and member of the Institute. Upon withdrawing to Nemours, January, 1815,
he lived there in company with his ward, Ursule Mirouet, daughter of his
brother-in-law, Joseph Mirouet, later Madame Savinien de Portenduere,
a girl whom he had taken care of since she had become an orphan. As
she was the living image of the late Madame Denis Minoret, he loved
her so devotedly that his lawful heirs, Minoret-Levrault, Massin,
Cremiere, fearing that they would lose a large inheritance, mistreated
the adopted child. Doctor Minoret, at the time when he was worried
over their plotting, saw Bouvard, a fellow-Parisian with whom he had
formerly associated, and through his influence interested himself
greatly in the subject of magnetism. In 1835, surrounded by some of
his nearest relatives, Minoret died at an advanced age, having been
converted from the philosophy of Voltaire through the influence of
Ursule, whom he remembered substantially in his will. [Ursule
Mirouet.]
MINORET-LEVRAULT (Francois), son of the oldest brother of the
preceding, and his nearest heir, born in 1769, strong but uncouth and
illiterate, had charge of the post-horses and was keeper of the best
tavern in Nemours, as a result of his marriage with Zelie
Levrault-Cremiere, an only daughter. After the Revolution of 1830 he
became deputy-mayor. As principle heir to Doctor Minoret's estate he
was the bitterest persecutor of Ursule Mirouet, and made away with the
will which favored the young girl. Later, being compelled to restore
her property, overcome by remorse, and sorrowing for his son, who was
the victim of a runaway, and for his insane wife, Francois
Minoret-Levrault became the faithful keeper of the property of Ursule,
who had then become Madame Savinien de Portenduere. [Ursule Mirouet.]
MINORET-LEVRAULT (Madame Francois), wife of the preceding, born Zelie
Levrault-Cremiere, physically feeble, sour of countenance and action,
harsh, greedy, as illiterate as her husband, brought him as dower half
of her maiden name (a local tradition) and a first-class tavern. She
was, in reality, the manager of the Nemours post-house. She worshiped
her son Desire, whose tragic death was sufficient punishment for her
avaricious persecutions of Ursule de Portenduere. She died insane in
Doctor Blanche's sanitarium in the village of Passy[*] in 1841. [Ursule
Mirouet.]
[*] Since 1860 a suburb of Paris.
MINORET (Desire), son of the preceding couple, born in 1805. Obtained
a half scholarship in the Louis-le-Grand lyceum in Paris, through the
instrumentality of Fontanes, an acquaintance of Dr. Minoret; finally
studied law. Under Goupil's leadership he became somewhat dissipated
as a young man, and loved in turn Esther van Gobseck and Sophie
Grignault--Florine--who, after declining his offer of marriage, became
Madame Nathan. Desire Minoret was not actively associated with his
family in the persecution of Ursule de Portenduere. The Revolution of
1830 was advantageous to him. He took part during the three glorious
days of fighting, received the decoration, and was selected to be
deputy attorney to the king at Fontainebleau. He died as a result of
the injuries received in a runaway, October, 1836. [Ursule Mirouet.]
MIRAH (Josepha), born in 1814. Natural daughter of a wealthy Jewish
banker, abandoned in Germany, although she bore as a sign of her
identity an anagram of her Jewish name, Hiram. When fifteen years old
and a working girl in Paris, she was found out and misled by Celestine
Crevel, whom she left eventually for Hector Hulot, a more liberal man.
The munificence of the commissary of stores exalted her socially, and
gave her the opportunity of training her voice. Her vocal attainments
established her as a prima donna, first at the Italiens, then on rue
le Peletier. After Hector Hulot became a bankrupt, she abandoned him
and his house on rue Chauchat, near the Royal Academy, where, at
different times, had lived Tullia, Comtesse du Bruel and Heloise
Brisetout. The Duc d'Herouville became Mademoiselle Mirah's lover.
This affair led to an elegant reception on rue de la Ville-l'Eveque to
which all Paris received invitation. Josepha had at all times many
followers. One of the Kellers and the Marquis d'Esgrignon made fools
of themselves over her. Eugene de Rastignac, at that time minister,
invited her to his home, and insisted upon her singing the celebrated
cavatina from "La Muette." Irregular in her habits, whimisical,
covetous, intelligent, and at times good-natured, Josepha Mirah gave
some proof of generosity when she helped the unfortunate Hector Hulot,
for whom she went so far as to get Olympe Grenouville. She finally
told Madame Adeline Hulot of the baron's hiding-place on the Passage
du Soleil in the Petite-Pologne section. [Cousin Betty.]
MIRAULT, name of one branch of the Bargeton family, merchants in
Bordeaux during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. [Lost
Illusions.]
MIRBEL (Madame de), well-known miniature-painter from 1796 to 1849;
made successively the portrait of Louise de Chaulieu, given by this
young woman to the Baron de Macumer, her future husband; of Lucien de
Rubempre for Esther Gobseck; of Charles X. for the Princess of
Cadignan, who hung it on the wall of her little salon on rue
Miromesnil, after the Revolution of 1830. This last picture bore the
inscription, "Given by the King." [Letters of Two Brides. Scenes from
a Courtesan's Life. The Secrets of a Princess.]
MIROUET (Ursule). (See Portenduere, Vicomtesse Savinien de.)
MIROUET (Valentin), celebrated harpsichordist and instrument-maker;
one of the best known French organists; father-in-law of Doctor
Minoret; died in 1785. His business was bought by Erard. [Ursule
Mirouet.]
MIROUET (Joseph), natural son of the preceding and brother-in-law of
Doctor Denis Minoret. He was a good musician and of a Bohemian
disposition. He was a regiment musician during the wars in the latter
part of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries.
He passed through Germany, and while there married Dinah Grollman, by
whom he had a daughter, Ursule, later the Vicomtesse de Portenduere,
who had been left a penniless orphan in her early youth. [Ursule
Mirouet.]
MITANT (La), a very poor woman of Conches in Bourgogne, who was
condemned for having let her cow graze on the Montcornet estate. In
1823 the animal was seized by the deputy, Brunet, and his assistants,
Vermichel and Fourchon. [The Peasantry.]
MITOUFLET, old grenadier of the Imperial Guard, husband of a wealthy
vineyard proprietress, kept the tavern Soleil d'Or at Vouvray in
Touraine. After 1830 Felix Gaudissart lived there and Mitouflet served
as his second in a harmless duel brought on by a practical joke played
on the illustrious traveling salesman, dupe of the insane Margaritis.
[Gaudissart the Great.]
MITOUFLET, usher to the minister of war under Louis Philippe, in the
time of Cottin de Wissembourg, Hulot d'Ervy and Marneffe. [Cousin
Betty.]
MITRAL, a bachelor, whose eyes and face were snuff-colored, a bailiff
in Paris during the Restoration, also at the same time a money-lender.
He numbered among his patrons Molineux and Birotteau. He was invited
to the celebrated ball given in December, 1818, by the perfumer. Being
a maternal uncle of Isidore Baudoyer, connected in a friendly way with
Bidault--Gigonnet--and Esther-Jean van Gobseck, Mitral, by their
good-will, obtained his nephew's appointment to the Treasury, December,
1824. He spent his time then in Isle-Adam, the Marais and the
Saint-Marceau section, places of residence of his numerous family. In
possession of a fortune, which undoubtedly would go later to the
Isidore Baudoyers, Mitral retired to the Seine-et-Oise division.
[Cesar Birotteau. The Government Clerks.]
MIZERAI, in 1836 a restaurant-keeper on rue Michel-le-Comte, Paris.
Zephirin Marcas took his dinners with him at the rate of nine sous.
[Z. Marcas.]
MODINIER, steward to Monsieur de Watteville; "governor" of Rouxey, the
patrimonial estate of the Wattevilles. [Albert Savarus.]
MOINOT, in 1815 mail-carrier for the Chaussee-d'Antin; married and the
father of four children; lived in the fifth story at 11, rue des
Trois-Freres, now known as rue Taitbout. He innocently exposed the
address of Paquita Valdes to Laurent, a servant of Marsay, who
artfully tried to obtain it for him. "My name," said the mail-carrier
to the servant, "is written just like _Moineau_ (sparrow)--M-o-i-n-o-t."
"Certainly," replied Laurent. [The Thirteen.]
MOISE, Jew, who was formerly a leader of the _rouleurs_ in the South.
His wife, La Gonore, was a widow in 1830. [Scenes from a Courtesan's
Life.]
MOISE, a Troyes musician, whom Madame Beauvisage thought of employing
in 1839 as the instructor of her daughter, Cecile, at Arcis-sur-Aube.
[The Member for Arcis.]
MOLINEUX (Jean-Baptiste), Parisian landlord, miserly and selfish.
Mesdames Crochard lived in one of his houses between rue du
Tourniquet-Saint-Jean and rue la Tixeranderie, in 1815. Mesdames
Leseigneur de Rouville and Hippolyte Schinner were also his tenants,
at about the same time, on rue de Surene. Jean-Baptiste Molineux lived
on Cour-Batave during the first part of Louis XVIII.'s reign. He then
owned the house next to Cesar Birotteau's shop on rue Saint-Honore.
Molineux was one of the many guests present at the famous ball of
December 17, 1818, and a few months later was the annoying assignee
connected with the perfumer's failure. [A Second Home. The Purse.
Cesar Birotteau.]
MOLLOT, through the influence of his wife, Sophie, appointed clerk to
the justice of the peace at Arcis-sur-Aube; often visited Madame
Marion, and saw at her home Goulard, Beauvisage, Giguet, and Herbelot.
[The Member for Arcis.]
MOLLOT (Madame Sophie), wife of the preceding, a prying, prating
woman, who disturbed herself greatly over Maxime de Trailles during
the electoral campaign in the division of Arcis-sur-Aube, April, 1839.
[The Member for Arcis.]
MOLLOT (Earnestine), daughter of the preceding couple, was, in 1839, a
young girl of marriageable age. [The Member for Arcis.]
MONGENOD, born in 1764; son of a grand council attorney, who left him
an income of five or six thousand. Becoming bankrupt during the
Revolution, he became first a clerk with Frederic Alain, under Bordin,
the solicitor. He was unsuccessful in several ventures: as a
journalist with the "Sentinelle," started or built up by him; as a
musical composer with the "Peruviens," an opera-comique given in 1798
at the Feydau theatre.[*] His marriage and the family expenses
attendant rendered his financial condition more and more embarrassing.
Mongenod had lent money to Frederic Alain, so that he might be present
at the opening performance of the "Marriage de Figaro." He borrowed,
in turn, from Alain a sum of money which he was unable to return at
the time agreed. He set out thereupon for America, made a fortune,
returned January, 1816, and reimbursed Alain. From this time dates the
opening of the celebrated Parisian banking-house of Mongenod & Co. The
firm-name changed to Mongenod & Son, and then to Mongenod Brothers. In
1819 the bankruptcy of the perfumer, Cesar Birotteau, having taken
place, Mongenod became personally interested at the Bourse,[+] in the
affair, negotiating with merchants and discounters. Mongenod died in
1827. [The Seamy Side of History. Cesar Birotteau.]
[*] The Feydau theatre, with its dependencies on the thoroughfare of
the same name, existed in Paris until 1826 on the site now taken
by the rue de la Bourse.
[+] The Bourse temporarily occupied a building on rue Feydau, while
the present palace was building.
MONGENOD (Madame Charlotte), wife of the preceding, in the year 1798
bore up bravely under her poverty, even selling her hair for twelve
francs that her family might have bread. Wealthy, and a widow after
1827, Madame Mongenod remained the chief adviser and support of the
bank, operated in Paris on rue de la Victoire, by her two sons,
Frederic and Louis. [The Seamy Side of History.]
MONGENOD (Frederic), eldest of the preceding couple's three children,
received from his thankful parents the given name of M. Alain and
became, after 1827, the head of his father's banking-house on rue de
la Victoire. His honesty is shown by the character of his patrons,
among whom were the Marquis d'Espard, Charles Mignon de la Bastie, the
Baronne de la Chanterie and Godefroid. [The Commission in Lunacy. The
Seamy Side of History.]
MONGENOD (Louis), younger brother of the preceding, with whom he had
business association on rue de la Victoire, where he was receiving the
prudent advice of his mother, Madame Charlotte Mongenod, when
Godefroid visited him in 1836. [The Seamy Side of History.]
MONGENOD (Mademoiselle), daughter of Frederic and Charlotte Mongenod,
born in 1799; she was offered in marriage, January, 1816, to Frederic
Alain, who would not accept this token of gratitude from the wealthy
Mongenods. Mademoiselle Mongenod married the Vicomte de Fontaine. [The
Seamy Side of History.]
MONISTROL, native of Auvergne, a Parisian broker, towards the last
years of Louis Phillippe's reign, successively on rue de Lappe and the
new Beaumarchais boulevard. He was one of the pioneers in the curio
business, along with the Popinots, Ponses, and the Remonencqs. This
kind of business afterwards developed enormously. [Cousin Pons.]
MONTAURAN (Marquis Alophonse de), was, in the closing years of the
eighteenth century, connected with nearly all of the well-known
Royalist intrigues in France and elsewhere. He frequently visited,
along with Flamet de la Billardiere and the Comte de Fontaine, the
home of Ragon, the perfumer, who was proprietor of the "Reine des
Roses," from which went forth the Royalist correspondence between the
West and Paris. Too young to have been at Versailles, Alphonse de
Montauran had not "the courtly manners for which Lauzun, Adhemar,
Coigny, and so many others were noted." His education was incomplete.
Towards the autumn of 1799 he especially distinguished himself. His
attractive appearance, his youth, and a mingled gallantry and
authoritativeness, brought him to the notice of Louis XVIII., who
appointed him governor of Bretagne, Normandie, Maine and Anjou. Under
the name of Gras, having become commander of the Chouans, in
September, the marquis conducted them in an attack against the Blues
on the plateau of La Pelerine, which extends between Fougeres,
Ille-et-Vilaine, and Ernee, Mayenne. Madame du Gua did not leave him
even then. Alphonse de Montauran sought the hand of Mademoiselle
d'Uxelles, after leaving this, the last mistress of Charette.
Nevertheless, he fell in love with Marie de Verneuil, the spy, who
had entered Bretagne with the express intention of delivering him to
the Blues. He married her in Fougeres, but the Republicans murdered
him and his wife a few hours after their marriage. [Cesar Birotteau.
The Chouans.]
MONTAURAN (Marquise Alphonse de), wife of the preceding; born
Marie-Nathalie de Verneuil at La Chanterie near Alencon, natural
daughter of Mademoiselle Blanche de Casteran, who was abbess of
Notre-Dame de Seez at the time of her death, and of Victor-Amedee,
Duc de Verneuil, who owned her and left her an inheritance, at the
expense of her legitimate brother. A lawsuit between brother and
sister resulted. Marie-Nathalie lived then with her guardian, the
Marechal Duc de Lenoncourt, and was supposed to be his mistress.
After vainly trying to bring him to the point of marriage she was
cast off by him. She passed through divers political and social paths
during the Revolutionary period. After having shone in court circles
she had Danton for a lover. During the autumn of 1799 Fouche hired
Marie de Verneuil to betray Alphonse de Montauran, but the lovely spy
and the chief of the Chouans fell in love with each other. They were
united in marriage a few hours before their death towards the end of
that year, 1799, in which Jacobites and Chouans fought on Bretagne
soil. Madame de Montauran was attired in her husband's clothes when a
Republican bullet killed her. [The Chouans.]
MONTAURAN (Marquis de), younger brother of Alphonse de Montauran, was
in London, in 1799, when he received a letter from Colonel Hulot
containing Alphonse's last wishes. Montauran complied with them;
returned to France, but did not fight against his country. He kept his
wealth through the intervention of Colonel Hulot and finally served
the Bourbons in the gendarmerie, where he himself became a colonel.
When Louis Philippe came to the throne, Montauran believed an absolute
retirement necessary. Under the name of M. Nicolas, he became one of
the Brothers of Consolation, who met in Madame de la Chanterie's home
on rue Chanoinesse. He saved M. Auguste de Mergi from being
prosecuted. In 1841 Montauran was seen on rue du Montparnasse, where
he assisted at the funeral of the elder Hulot. [The Chouans. The Seamy
Side of History. Cousin Betty.]
MONTBAURON (Marquise de), Raphael de Valentin's aunt, died on the
scaffold during the Revolution. [The Magic Skin.]
MONTCORNET (Marechal, Comte de), Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor,
Commander of Saint-Louis, born in 1774, son of a cabinet-maker in the
Faubourg Saint-Antoine, "child of Paris," mingled in almost all of the
wars in the latter part of the eighteenth and beginning of the
nineteenth centuries. He commanded in Spain and in Pomerania, and was
colonel of cuirassiers in the Imperial Guard. He took the place of his
friend, Martial de la Roche-Hugon in the affections of Madame de
Vaudremont. The Comte de Montcornet was in intimate relations with
Madame or Mademoiselle Fortin, mother of Valerie Crevel. Towards 1815,
Montcornet bought, for about a hundred thousand francs, the Aigues,
Sophie Laguerre's old estate, situated between Conches and Blangy,
near Soulanges and Ville-aux-Fayes. The Restoration allured him. He
wished to have his origin overlooked, to gain position under the new
regime, to efface all memory of the expressive nick-name received from
the Bourgogne peasantry, who called him the "Upholsterer." In the
early part of 1819 he married Virginie de Troisville. His property,
increased by an income of sixty thousand francs, allowed him to live
in state. In winter he occupied his beautiful Parisian mansion on rue
Neuve-des-Mathurins, now called rue des Mathurins, and visited many
places, especially the homes of Raoul Nathan and of Esther Gobseck.
During the summer the count, then mayor of Blangy, lived at Aigues.
His unpopularity and the hatred of the Gaubertins, Rigous, Sibilets,
Soudrys, Tonsards, and Fourchons rendered his sojourn there
unbearable, and he decided to dispose of the estate. Montcornet,
although of violent disposition and weak character, could not avoid
being a subordinate in his own family. The monarchy of 1830
overwhelmed Montcornet, then lieutenant-general unattached, with
gifts, and gave a division of the army into his command. The count,
now become marshal, was a frequent visitor at the Vaudeville.[*]
Montcornet died in 1837. He never acknowledged his daughter, Valerie
Crevel, and left her nothing. He is probably buried in Pere-Lachaise
cemetery, where a monument was to be raised for him under W.
Steinbock's supervision. Marechal de Montcornet's motto was: "Sound
the Charge." [Domestic Peace. Lost Illusions. A Distinguished
Provincial at Paris. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. The Peasantry. A
Man of Business. Cousin Betty.]
[*] A Parisian theatre, situated until 1838 on rue de Chartres. Rue de
Chartres, which also disappeared, although later, was located
between the Palais-Royal square and the Place du Carrousel.
MONTCORNET (Comtesse de.) (See Blondet, Madame Emile.)
MONTEFIORE, Italian of the celebrated Milanese family of Montefiore,
commissary in the Sixth of the line under the Empire; one of the
finest fellows in the army; marquis, but unable under the laws of the
kingdom of Italy to use his title. Thrown by his disposition into the
"mould of the Rizzios," he barely escaped being assassinated in 1808
in the city of Tarragone by La Marana, who surprised him in company
with her daughter, Juana-Pepita-Maria de Mancini, afterwards Francois
Diard's wife. Later, Montefiore himself married a celebrated
Englishwoman. In 1823 he was killed and plundered in a deserted alley
in Bordeaux by Diard, who found him, after being away many years, in a
gambling-house at a watering-place. [The Maranas.]
MONTES DE MONTEJANOS (Baron), a rich Brazilian of wild and primitive
disposition; towards 1840, when very young, was one of the first
lovers of Valerie Fortin, who became in turn Madame Marneffe and
Madame Celestin Crevel. He saw her again at the Faubourg Saint-Germain
and at the Place or Pate des Italiens, and had occasion for being
envious of Hector Hulot, W. Steinbock and still others. He had revenge
on his mistress by communicating to her a mysterious disease from
which she died in the same manner as Celestin Crevel. [Cousin Betty.]
MONTPERSAN (Comte de), nephew of a canon of Saint-Denis, upon whom he
called frequently; an aspiring rustic, grown sour on account of
disappointment and deceit; married, and head of a family. At the
beginning of the Restoration he owned the Chateau de Montpersan, eight
leagues from Moulins in Allier, where he lived. In 1819 he received a
call from a young stranger who came to inform him of the death of
Madame de Montpersan's lover. [The Message.]
MONTPERSAN (Comtesse Juliette de), wife of the preceding, born about
1781, lived at Montpersan with her family, and while there learned
from her lover's fellow-traveler of the former's death as a result of
an overturned carriage. The countess rewarded the messenger of
misfortune in a delicate manner. [The Message.]
MONTPERSAN (Mademoiselle de), daughter of the preceding couple, was
but a child when the sorrowful news arrived which caused her mother to
leave the table. The child, thinking only of the comical side of
affairs, remarked upon her father's gluttony, suggesting that the
countess' abrupt departure had allowed him to break the rules of diet
imposed by her presence. [The Message.]
MONTRIVEAU (General Marquis de), father of Armand de Montriveau.
Although a knighted chevalier, he continued to hold fast to the
exalted manners of Bourgogne, and scorned the opportunities which rank
and wealth had offered in his birth. Being an encyclopaedist and "one
of those already mentioned who served the Republic nobly," Montriveau
was killed at Novi near Joubert's side. [The Thirteen.]
MONTRIVEAU (Comte de), paternal uncle of Armand de Montriveau.
Corpulent, and fond of oysters. Unlike his brother he emigrated, and
in his exile met with a cordial reception by the Dulmen branch of the
Rivaudoults of Arschoot, a family with which he had some relationship.
He died at St. Petersburg. [The Thirteen.]
MONTRIVEAU (General Marquis Armand de), nephew of the preceding and
only son of General de Montriveau. As a penniless orphan he was
entered by Bonaparte in the school of Chalons. He went into the
artillery service, and took part in the last campaigns of the Empire,
among others that in Russia. At the battle of Waterloo he received
many serious wounds, being then a colonel in the Guard. Montriveau
passed the first three years of the Restoration far away from Europe.
He wished to explore the upper sections of Egypt and Central Africa.
After being made a slave by savages he escaped from their hands by a
bold ruse and returned to Paris, where he lived on rue de Seine near
the Chamber of Peers. Despite his poverty and lack of ambition and
influential friends, he was soon promoted to a general's position. His
association with The Thirteen, a powerful and secret band of men, who
counted among their members Ronquerolles, Marsay and Bourignard,
probably brought him this unsolicited favor. This same freemasonry
aided Montriveau in his desire to have revenge on Antoinette de
Langeais for her delicate flirtation; also later, when still feeling
for her the same passion, he seized her body from the Spanish
Carmelites. About the same time the general met, at Madame de
Beauseant's, Rastignac, just come to Paris, and told him about
Anastasie de Restaud. Towards the end of 1821, the general met
Mesdames d'Espard and de Bargeton, who were spending the evening at
the Opera. Montriveau was the living picture of Kleber, and in a kind
of tragic way became a widower by Antoinette de Langeais. Having
become celebrated for a long journey fraught with adventures, he was
the social lion at the time he ran across a companion of his Egyptian
travels, Sixte du Chatelet. Before a select audience of artists and
noblemen, gathered during the first years of the reign of Louis
Philippe at the home of Mademoiselle des Touches, he told how he had
unwittingly been responsible for the vengeance taken by the husband of
a certain Rosina, during the time of the Imperial wars. Montriveau,
now admitted to the peerage, was in command of a department. At this
time, having become unfaithful to the memory of Antoinette de
Langeais, he became enamored of Madame Rogron, born Bathilde de
Chargeboeuf, who hoped soon to bring about their marriage. In 1839, in
company with M. de Ronquerolles, he beame second to the Duc de
Rhetore, elder brother of Louise de Chaulieu, in his duel with
Dorlange-Sallenauve, brought about because of Marie Gaston. [The
Thirteen. Father Goriot. Lost Illusions. A Distinguished Provincial at
Paris. Another Study of Woman. Pierrette. The Member for Arcis.]
MORAND, formerly a clerk in Barbet's publishing-house, in 1838 became
a partner; along with Metivier tried to take advantage of Baron de
Bourlac, author of "The Spirit of Modern Law." [The Seamy Side of
History.]
MOREAU, born in 1772, son of a follower of Danton, procureur-syndic at
Versailles during the Revolution; was Madame Clapart's devoted lover,
and remained faithful almost all the rest of his life. After a very
adventurous life Moreau, about 1805, became manager of the Presles
estate, situated in the valley of the Oise, which was the property of
the Comte de Serizy. He married Estelle, maid of Leontine de Serizy,
and had by her three children. After serving as manager of the estate
for seventeen years, he gave up his position, when his dishonest
dealings with Leger were exposed by Reybert, and retired a wealthy
man. A silly deed of his godson, Oscar Husson, was, more than anything
else, the cause of his dismissal from his position at Presles. Moreau
attained a lofty position under Louis Philippe, having grown wealthy
through real-estate, and became the father-in-law of
Constant-Cyr-Melchior de Canalis. At last he became a prominent deputy
of the Centre under the name of Moreau of the Oise. [A Start in Life.]
MOREAU (Madame Estelle), fair-skinned wife of the preceding, born of
lowly origin at Saint-Lo, became maid to Leontine de Serizy. Her
fortune made, she became overbearing and received Oscar Husson, son of
Madame Clapart by her first husband, with unconcealed coldness. She
bought the flowers for her coiffure from Nattier, and, wearing some of
them, she was seen, in the autumn of 1822, by Joseph Bridau and Leon
de Lora, who had just arrived from Paris to do some decorating in the
chateau at Serizy. [A Start in Life.]
MOREAU (Jacques), eldest of the preceding couple's three children, was
the agent between his mother and Oscar Husson at Presles. [A Start in
Life.]
MOREAU, the best upholsterer in Alencon, rue de la Porte-de-Seez, near
the church; in 1816 furnished Madame du Bousquier, then Mademoiselle
Rose Cormon, the articles of furniture made necessary by M. de
Troisville's unlooked-for arrival at her home on his return from
Russia. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
MOREAU, an aged workman at Dauphine, uncle of little Jacques Colas,
lived, during the Restoration, in poverty and resignation, with his
wife, in the village near Grenoble--a place which was completely
changed by Doctor Benassis. [The Country Doctor.]
MOREAU-MALVIN, "a prominent butcher," died about 1820. His beautiful
tomb of white marble ornaments rue du Marechal-Lefebvre at
Pere-Lachaise, near the burial-place of Madame Jules Desmarets and
Mademoiselle Raucourt of the Comedie-Francaise. [The Thirteen.]
MORILLON (Pere), a priest, who had charge, for some time under the
Empire, of Gabriel Claes' early education. [The Quest of the
Absolute.]
MORIN (La), a very poor old woman who reared La Fosseuse, an orphan,
in a kindly manner in a market-town near Grenoble, but who gave her
some raps on the fingers with her spoon when the child was too quick
in taking soup from the common porringer. La Morin tilled the soil
like a man, and murmured frequently at the miserable pallet on which
she and La Fosseuse slept. [The Country Doctor.]
MORIN (Jeanne-Marie-Victoire Tarin, veuve), accused of trying to
obtain money by forging signatures to promissory-notes, also of the
attempted assassination of Sieur Ragoulleau; condemned by the Court of
Assizes at Paris on January 11, 1812, to twenty years hard labor. The
elder Poiret, a man who never thought independently, was a witness for
the defence, and often thought of the trial. The widow Morin, born at
Pont-sur-Seine, Aube, was a fellow-countrywoman of Poiret, who was
born at Troyes. [Father Goriot.] Many extracts have been taken from
the items published about this criminal case.
MORISSON, an inventor of purgative pills, which were imitated by
Doctor Poulain, physician to Pons and the Cibots, when, as a beginner,
he wished to make his fortune rapidly. [Cousin Pons.]
MORTSAUF (Comte de), head of a Touraine family, which owed to an
ancestor of Louis XI.'s reign--a man who had escaped the gibbet--its
fortune, coat-of-arms and position. The count was the incarnation of
the "refugee." Exiled, either willingly or unwillingly, his banishment
made him weak of mind and body. He married Blanche-Henriette de
Lenoncourt, by whom he had two children, Jacques and Madeleine. On the
accession of the Bourbons he was breveted field-marshal, but did not
leave Clochegourde, a castle brought to him in his wife's dowry and
situated on the banks of the Indre and the Cher. [The Lily of the
Valley.]
MORTSAUF (Comtesse de),[*] wife of the preceding; born
Blanche-Henriette de Lenoncourt, of the "house of Lenoncourt-Givry,
fast becoming extinct," towards the first years of the Restoration;
was born after the death of three brothers, and thus had a sorrowful
childhood and youth; found a good foster-mother in her aunt, a
Blamont-Chauvry; and when married found her chief pleasure in the care
of her children. This feeling gave her the power to repress the love
which she felt for Felix de Vandenesse, but the effort which this hard
struggle caused her brought on a severe stomach disease of which she
died in 1820. [The Lily of the Valley.]
[*] Beauplan and Barriere presented a play at the Comedie-Francaise,
having for a heroine Madame de Mortsauf, June 14, 1853.
MORTSAUF (Jacques de), elder child of the preceding couple, pupil of
Dominis, most delicate member of the family, died prematurely. With
his death the line of Lenoncourt-Givrys proper passed away, for he
would have been their heir. [The Lily of the Valley.]
MORTSAUF (Madeleine de), sister of the preceding; after her mother's
death she would not receive Felix de Vandenesse, who had been Madame
de Mortsauf's lover. She became in time Duchesse de Lenoncourt-Givry
(See that name). [The Lily of the Valley.]
MOUCHE, born in 1811, illegitimate son of one of Fourchon's natural
daughters and a soldier who died in Russia; was given a home, when an
orphan, by his maternal grandfather, whom he aided sometimes as
ropemaker's apprentice. About 1823, in the district of Ville-aux-Fayes,
Bourgogne, he profited by the credulity of the strangers whom he was
supposed to teach the art of hunting otter. Mouche's attitude and
conversation, as he came in the autumn of 1823 to the Aigues,
scandalized the Montcornets and their guests. [The Peasantry.]
MOUCHON, eldest of three brothers who lived in 1793 in the Bourgogne
valley of Avonne or Aigues; managed the estate of Ronquerolles; became
deputy of his division to the Convention; had a reputation for
uprightness; preserved the property and the life of the Ronquerolles;
died in the year 1804, leaving two daughters, Mesdames Gendrin and
Gaubertin. [The Peasantry.]
MOUCHON, brother of the preceding, had charge of the relay post-house
at Conches, Bourgogne; had a daughter who married the wealthy farmer
Guerbet; died in 1817. [The Peasantry.]
MOUGIN, born about 1805 in Toulouse, fifth of the Parisian
hair-dressers who, under the name of Marius, successively owned the
same business. In 1845, a wealthy married man of family, captain in
the Guard and decorated after 1832, an elector and eligible to office,
he had established himself on the Place de la Bourse as capillary
artist emeritus, where his praises were sung by Bixiou and Lora to
the wondering Gazonal. [The Unconscious Humorists.]
MOUILLERON, king's attorney at Issoudun in 1822, cousin to every
person in the city during the quarrels between the Rouget and Bridau
families. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
MURAT (Joachim, Prince). In October, 1800, on the day in which
Bartolomeo de Piombo was presented by Lucien Bonaparte, he was, with
Lannes and Rapp, in the rooms of Bonaparte, the First Consul. He
became Grand Duke of Berg in 1806, the time of the well-known quarrel
between the Simeuses and Malin de Gondreville. Murat came to the
rescue of Colonel Chabert's cavalry regiment at the battle of Eylau,
February 7 and 8, 1807. "Oriental in tastes," he exhibited, even
before acceding to the throne of Naples in 1808, a foolish love of
luxury for a modern soldier. Twenty years later, during a village
celebration in Dauphine, Benassis and Genestas listened to the story
of Bonaparte, as told by a veteran, then became a laborer, who mingled
with his narrative a number of entertaining stories of the bold Murat.
[The Vendetta. The Gondreville Mystery. Colonel Chabert. Domestic
Peace. The Country Doctor.]
MURET gave information about Jean-Joachim Goriot, his predecessor in
the manufacture of "pates alimentaires." [Father Goriot.]
MUSSON, well-known hoaxer in the early part of the nineteenth century.
The policeman, Peyrade, imitated his craftiness in manner and disguise
twenty years later, while acting as an English nabob keeping Suzanne
Gaillard. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
N
NANON, called Nanon the Great from her height (6 ft. 4 in.); born
about 1769. First she tended cows on a farm that she was forced to
leave after a fire; turned away on every side, because of her
appearance, which was repulsive, she became, about 1791, at the age of
twenty-two, a member of Felix Grandet's household at Saumur, where she
remained the rest of her life. She always showed gratitude to her
master for having taken her in. Brave, devoted and serious-minded, the
only servant of the miser, she received as wages for very hard service
only sixty francs a year. However, the accumulations of even so paltry
an income allowed her, in 1819, to make a life investment of four
thousand francs with Monsieur Cruchot. Nanon had also an annuity of
twelve hundred francs from Madame de Bonfons, lived near the daughter
of her former master, who was dead, and, about 1827, being almost
sixty years of age, married Antoine Cornoiller. With her husband, she
continued her work of devoted service to Eugenie de Bonfons. [Eugenie
Grandet.]
NAPOLITAS, in 1830, secretary of Bibi-Lupin, chief of the secret
police. Prison spy at the Conciergerie, he played the part of a son in
a family accused of forgery, in order to observe closely Jacques
Collin, who pretended to be Carlos Herrera. [Scenes from a Courtesan's
Life.]
NARZICOF (Princess), a Russian; had left to the merchant Fritot,
according to his own account, as payment for supplies, the carriage in
which Mistress Noswell, wrapped in the shawl called Selim, returned to
the Hotel Lawson. [Gaudissart II.]
NATHAN (Raoul), son of a Jew pawn-broker, who died in bankruptcy a
short while after marrying a Catholic, was for twenty-five years
(1820-45) one of the best known writers in Paris. Raoul Nathan touched
upon many branches: the journal, romance, poetry and the stage. In
1821, Dauriat published for him an imaginative work which Lucien de
Rubempre alternately praised and criticized. The harsh criticism was
meant for the publisher only. Nathan then put on the stage the "Alcade
dans l'Embarras"--a comedie called an "imbroglio" and presented at the
Panorama-Dramatique. He signed himself simply "Raoul"; he had as
collaborator Cursy--M. du Bruel. The play was a distinct success.
About the same time, he supplanted Lousteau, lover of Florine, one of
his leading actresses. About this time also Raoul was on terms of
intimacy with Emile Blondet, who wrote him a letter dated from Aigues
(Bourgogne) in which he described the Montcornets, and related their
local difficulties. Raoul Nathan, a member of all the giddy and
dissipated social circles, was with Giroudeau, Finot and Bixiou, a
witness of Philip Bridau's wedding to Madame J.-J. Rouget. He visited
Florentine Cabirolle, when the Marests and Oscar Husson were there,
and appeared often on the rue Saint-Georges, at the home of Esther van
Gobseck, who was already much visited by Blondet, Bixiou and Lousteau.
Raoul, at this time, was much occupied with the press, and made a
great parade of Royalism. The accession of Louis Philippe did not
diminish the extended circle of his relations. The Marquise d'Espard
received him. It was at her house that he heard evil reports of Diane
de Cadignan, greatly to the dissatisfaction of Daniel d'Arthez, also
present. Marie de Vandenesse, just married, noticed Nathan, who was
handsome by reason of an artistic, uncouth ugliness, and elegant
irregularity of features, and Raoul resolved to make the most of the
situation. Although turned Republican, he took very readily to the
idea of winning a lady of the aristocracy. The conquest of Madame the
Comtesse de Vandenesse would have revenged him for the contempt shown
him by Lady Dudley, but, fallen into the hands of usurers, fascinated
with Florine, living in pitiable style in a passage between the rue
Basse-du-Rempart and the rue Neuve-des-Mathurins, and being often
detained on the rue Feydau, in the offices of a paper he had founded,
Raoul failed in his scheme in connection with the countess, whom
Vandenesse even succeeded in restoring to his own affections, by very
skilful play with Florine. During the first years of Louis Philippe's
reign, Nathan presented a flaming and brilliant drama, the two
collaborators in which were Monsieur and Madame Marie Gaston, whose
names were indicated on the hand-bills by stars only. In his younger
days he had had a play of his put on at the Odeon, a romantic work
after the style of "Pinto,"[*] at a time when the classic was
dominant, and the stage had been so greatly stirred up for three days
that the play was prohibited. At another time he presented at the
Theatre-Francais a great drama that fell "with all the honors of war,
amid the roar of newspaper cannon." In the winter of 1837-38, Vanda de
Mergi read a new romance of Nathan's, entitled "La Perle de Dol." The
memory of his social intrigues still haunted Nathan when he returned
so reluctantly to M. de Clagny, who demanded it of him, a printed
note, announcing the birth of Melchior de la Baudraye, as follows:
"Madame la Baronne de la Baudraye is happily delivered of a child; M.
Etienne Lousteau has the honor of announcing it to you." Nathan sought
the society of Madame de la Baudraye, who got from him, in the rue de
Chartres-du-Roule, at the home of Beatrix de Rochefide, a certain
story, to be arranged as a novel, related more or less after the style
of Sainte-Beuve, concerning the Bohemians and their prince, Rusticoli
de la Palferine. Raoul cultivated likewise the society of the Marquise
de Rochefide, and, one evening of October, 1840, a proscenium box at
the Varietes was the means of bringing together Canalis, Nathan and
Beatrix. Received everywhere, perfectly at home in Marguerite
Turquet's boudoir, Raoul, as a member of a group composed of Bixiou,
La Palferine and Maitre Cardot, heard Maitre Desroches tell how
Cerizet made use of Antonia Chocardelle, to "get even" with Maxime de
Trailles. Nathan afterwards married his misress, Florine, whose maiden
name was really Sophie Grignault. [Lost Illusions. A Distinguished
Provincial at Paris. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. The Secrets of a
Princess. A Daughter of Eve. Letters of Two Brides. The Seamy Side of
History. The Muse of the Department. A Prince of Bohemia. A Man of
Business, The Unconscious Humorists.]
[*] A drama by Nepomucene Lemercier; according to Labitte, "the first
work of the renovated stage."
NATHAN,[*] (Madame Raoul), wife of the preceding, born Sophie
Grignault, in 1805, in Bretagne. She was a perfect beauty, her foot
alone left something to be desired. When very young she tried the
double career of pleasure and the stage under the now famous name of
Florine. The details of her early life are rather obscure: Madame
Nathan, as supernumerary of the Gaite, had six lovers, before choosing
Etienne Lousteau in that relation in 1821. She was at that time
closely connected with Florentine Cabirolle, Claudine Chaffaroux,
Coralie and Marie Godeschal. She had also a supporter in Matifat, the
druggist, and lodged on the rue de Bondy, where, after a brilliant
success at the Panorama-Dramatique, with Coralie and Bouffe, she
received in maginficent style the diplomatists, Lucien de Rubempre,
Camusot and others. Florine soon made an advantageous change in lover,
home, theatre and protector; Nathan, whom she afterwards married,
supplanted Lousteau about the middle of Louis Philippe's reign. Her
home was on rue Hauteville intead of rue de Bondy; and she had moved
from the stage of the Panorama to that of the Gymnase. Having made an
engagement at the theatre of the Boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle, she met
there her old rival, Coralie, against whom she organized a cabal; she
was distinguished for the brilliancy of her costumes, and brought into
her train of followers successively the opulent Dudley, Desire
Minoret, M. des Grassins, the banker of Saumur, and M. du Rouvre; she
even ruined the last two. Florine's fortune rose during the monarchy
of July. Her association with Nathan subserved, moreover, their mutual
interests; the poet won respect for the actress, who knew moreover how
to make herself formidable by her spirit of intrigue and the tartness
of her sallies of wit. Who did not know her mansion on the rue
Pigalle? Indeed, Madame Nathan was an intimate acquaintance of
Coralie, Esther la Torpille, Claudine du Bruel, Euphrasie, Aquilina,
Madame Theodore Gaillard, and Marie Godeschal; entertained Emile
Blondet, Andoche Finot, Etienne Lousteau, Felicien Vernou, Couture,
Bixiou, Rastignac, Vignon, F. du Tillet, Nucingen, and Conti. Her
apartments were embellished with the works of Bixiou, F. Souchet,
Joseph Bridau, and H. Schinner. Madame de Vandenesse, being somewhat
enamored of Nathan, would have destroyed these joys and this splendor,
without heeding the devotion of the writer's mistress, on the one
hand, or the interference of Vandenesse on the other. Florine, having
entirely won back Nathan, made no delay in marrying him. [The Muse of
the Department. Lost Illusions. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. The Government Clerks. A Bachelor's
Establishment. Ursule Mirouet. Eugenie Grandet. The Imaginary
Mistress. A Prince of Bohemia. A Daughter of Eve. The Unconscious
Humorists.]
[*] On the stage of the Boulevard du Temple Madame Nathan (Florine)
henceforth made a salary of eight thousand francs.
NAVARREINS (Duc de), born about 1767, son-in-law of the Prince de
Cadignan, through his first marriage; father of Antoinette de
Langeais, kinsman of Madame d'Espard, and cousin of Valentin; accused
of "haughtiness." He was patron of M. du Bruel--Cursy--on his entrance
into the government service; had a lawsuit against the hospitals,
which he entrusted to the care of Maitre Derville. He had Polydore de
la Baudraye dignified to the appointment of collector, in
consideration of his having released him from a debt contracted during
the emigration; held a family council with the Grandlieus and
Chaulieus when his daughter compromised her reputation by accepting an
invitation to the house of Montriveau; was the patron of Victurnien
d'Esgrignon; owned near Ville-aux-Fayes, in the sub-prefecture of
Auxerrois, extensive estates, which were respected by Montcornet's
enemies, the Gaubertins, the Rigous, the Soudrys, the Fourchons, and
the Tonsards; accompanied Madame d'Espard to the Opera ball, when
Jacques Collin and Lucien de Rubempre mystified the marchioness; for
five hundred thousand francs sold to the Graslins his estates and his
Montegnac forest, near Limoges; was an acquaintance of Foedora through
Valentin; was a visitor of the Princesse de Cadignan, after the death
of their common father-in-law, of whom he had little to make boast,
especially in matters of finance. The Duc de Navarrein's mansion at
Paris was on the rue du Bac. [A Bachelor's Establishment. The
Thirteen. Jealousies of a Country Town. The Peasantry. Scenes from a
Courtesan's Life. The Country Parson. The Magic Skin. The Gondreville
Mystery. The Secrets of a Princess. Cousin Betty.]
NEGREPELISSE (De), a family dating back to the Crusades, already
famous in the times of Saint-Louis, the name of the younger branch of
the "renowned family" of Espard, borne during the restoration in
Angoumois, by M. de Bargeton's father-in-law, M. de Negrepelisse, an
imposing looking old country gentleman, and one of the last
representatives of the old French nobility, mayor of Escarbes, peer of
France, and commander of the Order of Saint-Louis. Negrepelisse
survived by several years his son-in-law, whom he took under his roof
when Anais de Bargeton went to Paris in the summer of 1821. [The
Commission in Lunacy. Lost Illusions. A Distinguished Provincial at
Paris.]
NEGREPELISSE (Comte Clement de), born in 1812; cousin of the
preceding, who left him his title. He was the elder of the two
legitimate sons of the Marquis d'Espard. He studied at College Henri
IV., and lived in Paris, under their father's roof, on the rue de la
Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve. The Comte de Negrepelisse seldom visited
his mother, the Marquise d'Espard, who lived apart from her family in
the Faubourg Saint-Honore. [The Commission in Lunacy.]
NEGRO (Marquis di), a Genoese noble, "Knight Hospitaller endowed with
all known talents," was a visitor, in 1836, of the consul-general of
France, at Genoa, when Maurice de l'Hostal gave before Damaso Pareto,
Claude Vignon, Leon de Lora, and Felicite des Touches, a full account
of the separation, the reconciliation, and, in short, the whole
history of Octave de Bauvan and his wife. [Honorine.]
NEPOMUCENE, a foundling; servant-boy of Madame Vauthier, manager and
door-keeper of the house on the Boulevard Montparnasse, which was
occupied by the families of Bourlac and Mergi. Nepomucene usually wore
a ragged blouse and, instead of shoes, gaiters or wooden clogs. To his
work with Madame Vauthier was added daily work in the wood-yards of
the vicinity, and, on Sundays and Mondays, during the summer, he
worked also with the wine-merchants at the barrier. [The Seamy Side of
History.]
NERAUD, a physician at Provins during the Restoration. He ruined his
wife, who was the widow of a grocer named Auffray, and who had married
him for love. He survived her. Being a man of doubtful character and a
rival of Dr. Martener, Neraud attached himself to the party of Gouraud
and Vinet, who represented Liberal ideas; he failed to uphold
Pierrette Lorrain, the granddaughter of Auffray, against her
guardians, the Rogrons. [Pierrette.]
NERAUD (Madame), wife of the preceding. Married first to Auffray, the
grocer, who was sixty years old; she was only thirty-eight at the
beginning of her widowhood; she married Dr. Neraud almost immediately
after the death of her first husband. By her first marriage she had a
daughter, who was the wife of Major Lorrain, and the mother of
Pierrette. Madame Neraud died of grief, amid squalid surroundings, two
years after her second marriage. The Rogrons, descended from old
Auffray by his first marriage, had stripped her of almost all she had.
[Pierrette.]
NICOLAS. (See Montauran, Marquis de.)
NINETTE, born in 1832, "rat" at the Opera in Paris, was acquainted
with Leon de Lora and J.-J. Bixiou, who called Gazonal's attention to
her in 1845. [The Unconscious Humorists.]
NOLLAND (Abbe), the promising pupil of Abbe Roze. Concealed during the
Revolution at the house of M. de Negrepelisse, near Barbezieux, he had
in charge the education of Marie-Louise-Anais (afterwards Madame de
Bargeton), and taught her music, Italian and German. He died in 1802.
[Lost Illusions.]
NISERON, curate of Blangy (Bourgogne) before the Revolution;
predecessor of Abbe Brossette in this curacy; uncle of Jean-Francois
Niseron. He was led by a childish but innocent indiscretion on the
part of his great-niece, as well as by the influence of Dom Rigou, to
disinherit the Niserons in the interests of the Mesdemoiselles
Pichard, house-keepers in his family. [The Peasantry.]
NISERON (Jean-Francois), beadle, sacristan, chorister, bell-ringer,
and grave-digger of the parish of Blangy (Bourgogne), during the
Restoration; nephew and only heir of Niseron the cure; born in 1751.
He was delighted at the Revolution, was the ideal type of the
Republican, a sort of Michel Chrestien of the fields; treated with
cold disdain the Pichard family, who took from him the inheritance, to
which he alone had any right; lived a life of poverty and
sequestration; was none the less respected; was of Montcornet's party
represented by Brossette; their opponent, Gregoire Rigou, felt for him
both esteem and fear. Jean-Francois Niseron lost, one after another,
his wife and his two children, and had by his side, in his old days,
only Genevieve, natural daughter of his deceased son, Auguste. [The
Peasantry.]
NISERON (Auguste), son of the preceding; soldier of the Republic and
of the Empire; while an artilleryman in 1809, he seduced, at Zahara, a
young Montenegrin, Zena Kropoli, who died, at Vincennes, early in the
year 1810, leaving him an infant daughter. Thus he could not realize
his purpose of marrying her. He himself was killed, before Montereau,
during the year 1814, by the bursting of a shell. [The Peasantry.]
NISERON (Genevieve), natural daughter of the preceding and the
Montenegrin woman, Zena Kropoli; born in 1810, and named Genevieve
after a paternal aunt; an orphan from the age of four, she was reared
in Bourgogne by her grandfather, Jean-Francois Niseron. She had her
father's beauty and her mother's peculiarities. Her patronesses,
Madame Montcornet and Madame de Michaud, bestowed upon her the surname
Pechina, and, to guard her against Nicholas Tonsard's attentions,
placed her in a convent at Auxerre, where she might acquire skill in
sewing and forget Justin Michaud, whom she loved unconsciously. [The
Peasantry.]
NOEL, book-keeper for Jean-Jules Popinot of Paris, in 1828, at the
time that the judge questioned the Marquis d'Espard, whose wife tried
to deprive him of the right to manage his property. [The Commission in
Lunacy.]
NOSWELL (Mistress), a rich and eccentric Englishwoman, who was in
Paris at the Hotel Lawson about the middle of Louis Philippe's reign;
after much mental debate she bought of Fritot the shawl called Selim,
which he said at first it was "impossible" for him to sell.
[Gaudissart II.]
NOUASTRE (Baron de), a refugee of the purest noble blood. A ruined
man, he returned to Alencon in 1800, with his daughter, who was
twenty-two years of age, and found a home with the Marquis
d'Esgrignon, and died of grief two months later. Shortly afterwards
the marquis married the orphan daughter. [Jealousies of a Country
Town.]
NOURRISSON (Madame), was formerly, under the Empire, attached to the
service of the Prince d'Ysembourg in Paris. The sight of the
disorderly life of a "great lady" of the times decided Madame
Nourrisson's profession. She set up shop as a dealer in old clothes,
and was also known as mistress of various houses of shame. Intimate
relations with Jacqueline Collin, continued for more than twenty
years, made this two-fold business profitable. The two matrons
willingly exchanged, at times, names and business signs, resources and
profits. It was in the old clothes shop, on the rue Neuve-Saint-Marc,
that Frederic de Nucingen bargained for Esther van Gobseck. Towards
the end of Charles X.'s reign, one of Madame Nourrisson's
establishments, on rue Saint-Barbe, was managed by La Gonore; in the
time of Louis Philippe another--a secret affair--existed at the
so-called "Pate des Italiens"; Valerie Marneffe and Wenceslas Steinbock
were once caught there together. Madame Nourrisson, first of the name,
evidently continued to conduct her business on the rue Saint-Marc,
since, in 1845, she narrated the minutiae of it to Madame Mahuchet
before an audience composed of the well-known trio, Bixiou, Lora and
Gazonal, and related to them her own history, disclosing to them the
secrets of her own long past beginnings in life. [Scenes from a
Courtesan's Life. Cousin Betty. The Unconscious Humorists.]
NOUVION (Comte de), a noble refugee, who had returned in utter
poverty; chevalier of the Order of Saint-Louis; lived in Paris in
1828, subsisting on the delicately disguised charity of his friend,
the Marquis d'Espard, who made him superintendent of the publication,
at No. 22 rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, of the "Picturesque
History of China," and offered him a share in the possible profits of
the work. [The Commission in Lunacy.]
NOVERRE, a celebrated dancer, born in Paris 1727; died in 1807; was
the rather unreliable customer of Chevrel the draper, father-in-law
and predecessor of Guillaume at the Cat and Racket. [At the Sign of
the Cat and Racket.]
NUCINGEN (Baron Frederic de), born, probably at Strasbourg, about
1767. At that place he was formerly clerk to M. d'Aldrigger, an
Alsatian banker. Of better judgment than his employer, he did not
believe in the success of the Emperor in 1815 and speculated very
skilfully on the battle of Waterloo. Nucingen now carried on business
alone, and on his own account, in Paris and elsewhere; he thus
prepared by degrees the famous house of the rue Saint-Lazare, and laid
the foundation of a fortune, which, under Louis Philippe, reached
almost eighteen million francs. At this period he married one of the
two daughters of a rich vermicelli-maker, Mademoiselle Delphine
Goriot, by whom he had a daughter, Augusta, eventually the wife of
Eugene de Rastignac. From the first years of the Restoration may be
dated the real brilliancy of his career, the result of a combination
with the Kellers, Ferdinand du Tillet, and Eugene de Rastignac in the
successful manipulation of schemes in connection with the Wortschin
mines, followed by opportune assignments and adroitly managed cases of
bankruptcy. These various combinations ruined the Ragons, the
Aiglemonts, the Aldriggers, and the Beaudenords. At this time, too,
Nucingen, though clamorously declaring himself an out-and-out
Bourbonist, turned a deaf ear to Cesar Birotteau's appeals for credit,
in spite of knowing of the latter's consistent Royalism. There was a
time in the baron's life when he seemed to change his nature; it was
when, after giving up his hired dancer, he madly entered upon an amour
with Esther van Gobseck, alarmed his physician, Horace Bianchon,
employed Corentin, Georges, Louchard, and Peyrade, and became
especially the prey of Jacques Collin. After Esther's suicide, in May,
1830, Nuncingen abandoned "Cythera," as Chardin des Lupeaulx had done
before, and became again a man of figures, and was overwhelmed with
favors: insignia, the peerage, and the cross of grand officer of the
Legion of Honor. Nucingen, being respected and esteemed, in spite of
his blunt ways and his German accent, was a patron of Beaudenord, and
a frequent guest of Cointet, the minister; he went everywhere, and, at
the mansion of Mademoiselle des Touches, heard Marsay give an account
of some of his old love-affairs; witnessed, before Daniel d'Arthez,
the calumniation of Diane de Cadignan by every one present in Madame
d'Espard's parlor; guided Maxime de Trailles between the hands, or,
rather, the clutches of Claparon-Cerizet; accepted the invitation of
Josepha Mirah to her reception on the rue Ville-l'Eveque. When
Wenceslas Steinbock married Hortense Hulot, Nucingen and Cottin de
Wissembourg were the bride's witnesses. Furthermore, their father,
Hector Hulot d'Ervy, borrowed of him more than a hundred thousand
francs. The Baron de Nucingen acted as sponsor to Polydore de la
Baudraye when he was admitted to the French peerage. As a friend of
Ferdinand du Tillet, he was admitted on most intimate terms to the
boudoir of Carabine, and he was seen there, one evening in 1845, along
with Jenny Cadine, Gazonal, Bixiou, Leon de Lora, Massol, Claude
Vignon, Trailles, F. du Bruel, Vauvinet, Marguerite Turquet, and the
Gaillards of the rue Menars. [The Firm of Nucingen. Father Goriot.
Pierrette. Cesar Birotteau. Lost Illusions. A Distinguished Provincial
at Paris. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. Another Study of Woman. The
Secrets of a Princess. A Man of Business. Cousin Betty. The Muse of
the Department. The Unconscious Humorists.]
NUCINGEN (Baronne Delphine de), wife of the preceding, born in 1792,
of fair complexion; the spoiled daughter of the opulent
vermicelli-maker, Jean-Joachim Goriot; on the side of her mother, who
died young, the granddaughter of a farmer. In the latter period of the
Empire she contracted, greatly to her taste, a marriage for money.
Madame de Nucingen formerly had as her lover Henri de Marsay, who
finally abandoned her most cruelly. Reduced, at the time of Louis XVIII.,
to the society of the Chaussee-d'Antin, she was ambitious to be admitted
to the Faubourg Saint-Germain, a circle of which her elder sister,
Madame de Restaud, was a member. Eugene de Rastignac opened to her the
parlor of Madame de Beauseant, his cousin, rue de Greville, in 1819,
and, at about the same time, became her lover. Their liaison lasted
more than fifteen years. An apartment on the rue d'Artois, fitted up
by Jean-Joachim Goriot, sheltered their early love. Having entrusted
to Rastignac a certain sum for play at the Palais-Royal, the baroness
was able with the proceeds to free herself of a humiliating debt to
Marsay. Meanwhile she lost her father. The Nucingen carriage, without
an occupant, however, followed the hearse. [Father Goriot.] Madame de
Nucingen entertained a great deal on the rue Saint-Lazare. It was
there that Auguste de Maulincour saw Clemence Desmarets, and Adolphe
des Grassins met Charles Grandet. [The Thirteen. Eugenie Grandet.]
Cesar Birotteau, on coming to beg credit of Nucingen, as also did
Rodolphe Castanier, immediately after his forgery, found themselves
face to face with the baroness. [Cesar Birotteau. Melmoth Reconciled.]
At this period, Madame de Nucingen took the box at the Opera which
Antoinette de Langeais had occupied, believing undoubtedly, said
Madame d'Espard, that she would inherit her charms, wit and success.
[Lost Illusions. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. The Commission
in Lunacy.] According to Diane de Cadignan, Delphine had a horrible
journey when she went to Naples by sea, of which she brought back a
most painful reminder. The baroness showed a haughty and scornful
indulgence when her husband became enamored of Esther van Gobseck.
[Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] Forgetting her origin she dreamed of
seeing her daughter Augusta become Duchesse d'Herouville; but the
Herouvilles, knowing the muddy source of Nucingen's millions, declined
this alliance. [Modeste Mignon. The Firm of Nucingen.] Shortly after
the year 1830, the baroness was invited to the house of Felicite des
Touches, where she saw Marsay once more, and heard him give an account
of an old love-affair. [Another Study of woman.] Delphine aided Marie
de Vandenesse and Nathan to the extent of forty thousand francs during
the checkered course of their intrigues. She remembered indeed having
gone through similar experiences. [A Daughter of Eve.] About the
middle of the monarchy of July, Madame de Nucingen, as mother-in-law
of Eugene de Rastignac, visited Madame d'Espard and met Maxime de
Trailles and Ferdinand du Tillet in the Faubourg Saint-Germain. [The
Member for Arcis.]
NUEIL (De), proprietor of the domain of the Manervilles, which,
doubtless, descended to the younger son, Gaston. [The Deserted Woman.]
NUEIL (Madame de), wife of the preceding, survived her husband, and
her eldest son, became the dowager Comtesse de Nueil, and afterwards
owned the domain of Manerville, to which she withdrew in retirement.
She was the type of the scheming mother, careful and correct, but
worldly. She matched off Gaston, and was thereby involuntarily the
cause of his death. [The Deserted Woman.]
NUEIL (De), eldest son of the preceding, died of consumption in the
reign of Louis XVIII., leaving the title of Comte de Nueil to his
younger brother, Baron Gaston. [The Deserted Woman.]
NUEIL (Gaston de), son of the Nueils and brother of the preceding,
born about 1799, of good extraction and with fortune suitable to his
rank. He went, in 1822, to Bayeux, where he had family connections, in
order to recuperate from the wearing fatigues of Parisian life; had an
opportunity to force open the closed door of Claire de Beauseant, who
had been living in retirement in that vicinity ever since the marriage
of Miguel d'Ajuda-Pinto to Berthe de Rochefide; he fell in love with
her, his love was reciprocated, and for nearly ten years he lived with
her as her husband in Normandie and Switzerland. Albert Savarus, in
his autobiographical novel, "L'Ambitieux par Amour," made a vague
reference to them as living together on the shore of Lake Geneva.
After the Revolution of 1830, Gaston de Nueil, already rich from his
Norman estates that afforded an income of eighteen thousand francs,
married Mademoiselle Stephanie de la Rodiere. Wearying of the marriage
tie, he wished to renew his former relations with Madame de Beauseant.
Exasperated by the haughty repulse at the hands of his former
mistress, Nueil killed himself. [The Deserted Woman. Albert Savarus.]
NUEIL (Madame Gaston de), born Stephanie de la Rodiere, about 1812, a
very insignificant character, married, at the beginning of Louis
Philippe's reign, Gaston de Nueil, to whom she brought an income of
forty thousand francs a year. She was enceinte after the first month
of her marriage. Having become Countess de Nueil, by succession, upon
the death of her brother-in-law, and being deserted by Gaston, she
continued to live in Normandie. Madame Gaston de Nueil survived her
husband. [The Deserted Woman.]
O
O'FLAHARTY (Major), maternal uncle of Raphael de Valentin, to whom he
bequeathed ten millions upon his death in Calcutta, August, 1828. [The
Magic Skin.]
OIGNARD, in 1806 was chief clerk to Maitre Bordin, a Parisian lawyer.
[A Start in Life.]
OLGA, daughter of the Topinards, born in 1840. She was not a
legitimate child, as her parents were not married at the time when
Schmucke saw her with them in 1846. He loved her for the beauty of her
light Teutonic hair. [Cousin Pons.]
OLIVET, an Angouleme lawyer, succeeded by Petit-Claude. [Lost
Illusions.]
OLIVIER was in the service of the policeman, Corentin and Peyrade,
when they found the Hauteserres and the Simeuses with the Cinq-Cygne
family in 1803. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
OLIVIER (Monsieur and Madame), first in the employ of Charles X. as
outrider and laundress; had charge of three children, of whom the
eldest became an under notary's clerk; were finally, under Louis
Philippe, servants of the Marneffes and of Mademoiselle Fischer, to
whom, through craftiness or gratitude, they devoted themselves
exclusively. [Cousin Betty.]
ORFANO (Duc d'), title of Marechal Cottin.
ORGEMONT (D'), wealthy and avaricious banker, proprietor at Fougeres,
bought the Abbaye de Juvigny's estate. He remained neutral during the
Chouan insurrection of 1799 and came into contact with Coupiau,
Galope-Chopine, and Mesdames du Gua-Saint-Cyr and de Montauran. [The
Chouans.]
ORGEMONT (D'), brother of the preceding, a Breton priest who took the
oath of allegiance. He died in 1795 and was buried in a secluded spot,
discovered and preserved by M. d'Orgemont, the banker, as a place of
hiding from the fury of the Vendeans. [The Chouans.]
ORIGET, famous Tours physician; known to the Mortsaufs, chatelains of
Clochegourde. [The Lily of the Valley.]
ORSONVAL (Madame d'), frequently visited the Cruchot and Grandet
families at Saumur. [Eugenie Grandet.]
OSSIAN, valet in the service of Mougin, the well-known hair-dresser on
the Place de la Bourse, in 1845. Ossian's duty was to show the patrons
out, and in this capacity he attended Bixiou, Lora and Gazonal. [The
Unconscious Humorists.]
OTTOBONI, an Italian conspirator who hid in Paris. In 1831, on dining
at the Giardinis on rue Froidmanteau, he became acquainted with the
Gambaras. [Gambara.]
P
PACCARD, released convict, in Jacques Collin's clutches, well known as
a thief and drunkard. He was Prudence Servien's lover, and both were
employed by Esther van Gobseck at the same time, Paccard being a
footman; lived with a carriage-maker on rue de Provence, in 1829.
After stealing seven hundred and fifty thousand francs, which had been
left by Esther van Gobseck, he was obliged to give up seven hundred
and thirty thousand of them. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
PACCARD (Mademoiselle), sister of the preceding, in the power of
Jacqueline Collin. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
PALMA, Parisian banker of the Poissoniere suburbs; had, during the
regime of the Restoration and of July, great fame as a financier. He
was "private counsel for the Keller establishment." Birotteau, the
perfumer, at the time of his financial troubles, vainly asked him for
help. [The Firm of Nucingen. Cesar Birotteau.] With Werbrust as a
partner he dealt in discounts as shrewdly as did Gobseck and Bidault,
and thus was in a position to help Lucien de Rubempre. [Gobseck. Lost
Illusions. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] He was also M.
Werbrust's associate in the muslin, calico and oil-cloth establishment
at No. 5 rue du Sentier, when Maximilien was so friendly with the
Fontaines. [The Ball at Sceaux.]
PAMIERS (Vidame de), "oracle of Faubourg Saint-Germain at the time of
the Restoration," a member of the family council dealing with
Antoinette de Langeais, who was accused of compromising herself with
Montriveau. Past-commander of the Order of Malta, prominent in both
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, old and confidential friend
of the Baronne de Maulincour. Pamiers reared the young Baron Auguste
de Maulincour, defending him with all his power against Bourignard's
hatred. [The Thirteen.] As a former intimate friend of the Marquis
d'Esgrignon, the vidame introduced the Vicomte d'Esgrignon--Victurnien
--to Diane de Maufrigneuse. An intimate friendship between the young
man and the future Princess de Cadignan was the result. [Jealousies of
a Country Town.]
PANNIER, merchant and banker after 1794; treasurer of the "brigands";
connected with the uprising of the Chauffeurs of Mortagne in 1809.
Having been condemned to twenty years of hard labor, Pannier was
branded and placed in the galleys. Appointed lieutenant-general under
Louis XVIII., he governed a royal castle. He died without children.
[The Seamy Side of History.]
PARADIS, born in 1830; Maxime de Trailles' servant-boy or "tiger";
quick and bold; made a tour, during the election period in the spring
of 1839, through the Arcis-sur-Aube district, with his master, meeting
Goulard, the sub-prefect, Poupart, the tavern-keeper, and the
Maufrigneuses and Mollots of Cinq-Cygne. [The Member for Arcis.]
PARQUOI (Francois), one of the Chouans, for whom Abbe Gudin held a
funeral mass in the heart of the forest, not far from Fougeres, in the
autumn of 1799. Francois Parquoi died, as did Nicolas Laferte, Joseph
Brouet and Sulpice Coupiau, of injuries received at the battle of La
Pelerine and at the siege of Fougeres. [The Chouans.]
PASCAL, porter of the Thuilliers in the Place de la Madeleine house;
acted also as beadle at La Madeleine church. [The Middle Classes.]
PASCAL (Abbe), chaplain at Limoges prison in 1829; gentle old man. He
tried vainly to obtain a confession from Jean-Francois Tascheron, who
had been imprisoned for robbery followed by murder. [The Country
Parson.]
PASTELOT, priest in 1845, in the Saint-Francois church in the Marais,
on the street now called rue Charlot; watched over the dead body of
Sylvain Pons. [Cousin Pons.]
PASTUREAU (Jean Francois), in 1829, owner of an estate in Isere, the
value of which was said to have been impaired by the passing by of
Doctor Benassis' patients. [The Country Doctor.]
PATRAT (Maitre), notary at Fougeres in 1799, an acquaintance of
D'Orgemont, the banker, and introduced to Marie de Verneuil by the old
miser. [The Chouans.]
PATRIOTE, a monkey, which Marie de Verneuil, its owner, had taught to
counterfeit Danton. The craftiness of this animal reminded Marie of
Corentin. [The Chouans.]
PAULINE, for a long time Julie d'Aiglemont's waiting-maid. [A Woman of
Thirty.]
PAULMIER, employed under the Restoration in the Ministry of Finance in
Isidore Baudoyer's bureau of Flamet de la Billardiere's division.
Paulmier was a bachelor, but quarreled continually with his married
colleague, Chazelles. [The Government Clerks.]
PAZ (Thaddee), Polish descendant of a distinguished Florentine family,
the Pazzi, one of whose members had become a refugee in Poland. Living
contemporaneously with his fellow-citizen and friend, the Comte Adam
Mitgislas Laginski, like him Thaddee Paz fought for his country, later
on following him into exile in Paris, during the reign of Louis
Philippe. Bearing up bravely in his poverty, he was willing to become
steward to the count, and he made an able manager of the Laginski
mansion. He gave up this position, when, having become enamored of
Clementine Laginska, he saw that he could no longer control his
passion by means of a pretended mistress, Marguerite Turquet, the
horsewoman. Paz (pronounced Pac), who had willingly assumed the title
of captain, had seen the Steinbocks married. His departure from France
was only feigned, and he once more saw the Comtesse Laginska, during
the winter of 1842. At Rusticoli he took her away from La Palferine,
who was on the point of carrying her away. [The Imaginary Mistress.
Cousin Betty.]
PECHINA (La), nick-name of Genevieve Niseron.
PEDEROTTI (Signor), father of Madame Maurice de l'Hostal. He was a
Genoa banker; gave his only daughter a dowry of a million; married her
to the French consul, and left her, on dying six months later in
January, 1831, a fortune made in grain and amounting to two millions.
Pederotti had been made count by the King of Sardinia, but, as he left
no male heir, the title became extinct. [Honorine.]
PELLETIER, one of Benassis' patients in Isere, who died in 1829, was
buried on the same day as the last "cretin," which had been kept on
account of popular superstition. Pelletier left a wife, who saw
Genestas, and several children, of whom the eldest, Jacques, was born
about 1807. [The Country Doctor.]
PEN-HOEL (Jacqueline de), of a very old Breton family, lived at
Guerande, where she was born about 1780. Sister-in-law of the
Kergarouets of Nantes, the patrons of Major Brigaut, who, despite the
displeasure of the people, did not themselves hesitate to assume the
name of Pen-Hoel. Jacqueline protected the daughters of her younger
sister, the Vicomtesse de Kergarouet. She was especially attracted to
her eldest niece, Charlotte, to whom she intended to give a dowry, as
she desired the girl to marry Calyste du Guenic, who was in love with
Felicite des Touches. [Beatrix.]
PEROUX (Abbe), brother of Madame Julliard; vicar of Provins during the
Restoration. [Pierrette.]
PERRACHE, small hunchback, shoemaker by trade, and, in 1840, porter in
a house belonging to Corentin on rue Honore-Chevalier, Paris. [The
Middle Classes.]
PERRACHE (Madame), wife of the preceding, often visited Madame
Cardinal, niece of Toupillier, one of Corentin's renters. [The Middle
Classes.]
PERRET, with his partner, Grosstete, preceded Pierre Graslin in a
banking-house at Limoges, in the early part of the nineteenth century.
[The Country Parson.]
PERRET (Madame), wife of the preceding, an old woman in 1829,
disturbed herself, as did every one in Limoges, over the assassination
committed by Jean-Francois Tascheron. [The Country Parson.]
PERROTET, in 1819, laborer on Felix Grandet's farm in the suburbs of
Saumur. [Eugenie Grandet.]
PETIT-CLAUD, son of a very poor tailor of L'Houmeau, a suburb of
Angouleme, where he pursued his studies in the town lyceum, becoming
acquainted at the same time with Lucien de Rubempre. He studied law at
Poitiers. On going back to the chief city of La Charente, he became
clerk to Maitre Olivet, an attorney whom he succeeded. Now began
Petit-Claud's period of revenge for the insults which his poverty and
homeliness had brought on. He met Cointet, the printer, and went into
his employ, although at the same time he feigned allegiance to the
younger Sechard, also a printer. This conduct paved the way for his
accession to the magistracy. He was in turn deputy and king's
procureur. Petit-Claud did not leave Angouleme, but made a profitable
marriage in 1822 with Mademoiselle Francoise de la Haye, natural
daughter of Francis du Hautoy and of Madame de Senonches. [Lost
Illusions.]
PETIT-CLAUD (Madame), wife of the preceding, natural daughter of
Francis du Hautoy and of Madame de Senonches; born Francoise de la
Haye, given into the keeping of old Madame Cointet; married through
the instrumentality of Madame Cointet's son, the printer, known as
Cointet the Great. Madame Petit-Claud, though insignificant and
forward, was provided with a very substantial dowry. [Lost Illusions.]
PEYRADE, born about 1758 in Provence, Comtat, in a large family of
poor people who eked out a scant subsistence on a small estate called
Canquoelle. Peyrade, paternal uncle of Theodose de la Peyrade, was of
noble birth, but kept the fact secret. He went from Avignon to Paris
in 1776, where he entered the police force two years later. Lenoir
thought well of him. Peyrade's success in life was impaired only by
his immoralities; otherwise it would have been much more brilliant and
lasting. He had a genius for spying, also much executive ability.
Fouche employed him and Corentin in connection with the affair of
Gondreville's imaginary abduction. A kind of police ministry was given
to him in Holland. Louis XVIII. counseled with him and gave him
employment, but Charles X. held aloof from this shrewd employe.
Peyrade lived in poverty on rue des Moineaux with an adored daughter,
Lydie, the child of La Beaumesnil of the Comedie-Francaise. Certain
events brought him into the notice of Nucingen, who employed him in
the search for Esther Gobseck, at the same time warning him against
the courtesan's followers. The police department, having been told of
this arrangement by the so-called Abbe Carlos Herrera, would not
permit him to enter into the employ of a private individual. Despite
the protection of his friend, Corentin, and the talent as a policeman,
which he had shown under the assumed names of Canquoelle and
Saint-Germain, especially in connection with F. Gaudissart's seizure,
Peyrade failed in his struggle with Jacques Collin. His excellent
transformation into a nabob defender of Madame Theodore Gaillard made
the former convict so angry that, during the last years of the
Restoration, he took revenge on him by making away with him. Peyrade's
daughter was abducted and he died from the effects of poison. [The
Gondreville Mystery. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
PEYRADE (Lydie).[*] (See La Peyrade, Madame Theodose de.)
[*] Under the title of "Lydie" a portion of the life of Peyrade's
daughter was used in a play presented at the Theatre des Nations,
now Theatre de Paris, but the author did not publish his play.
PHELLION, born in 1780, husband of a La Perche woman, who bore him
three children, two of whom were sons, Felix and Marie-Theodore, and
one a daughter, who became Madame Burniol; clerk in the Ministry of
Finance, Xavier Rabourdin's bureau, division of Flamet de la
Billardiere, a position which he held until the close of 1824. He
upheld Rabourdin, who, in turn, often defended him. While living on
rue du Faubourg-Saint-Jacques near the Sourds-Muets, he taught
history, literature and elementary ethics to the students of
Mesdemoiselles La Grave. The Revolution of July did not affect him;
even his retirement from service did not cause him to give up the home
in which he remained for at least thirty years. He bought for eighteen
thousand francs a small house on Feuillantines lane, now rue des
Feuillantines, which he occupied, after he had improved it, in a
serious Bourgeois manner. Phellion was a major in the National Guard.
For the most part he still had the same friends, meeting and visiting
frequently Baudoyer, Dutocq, Fleury, Godard, Laudigeois, Rabourdin,
Madame Poiret the elder, and especially the Colleville, Thuillier and
Minard families. His leisure time was occupied with politics and art.
At the Odeon he was on a committee of classical reading. His political
influence and vote were sought by Theodose de la Peyrade in the
interest of Jerome Thuillier's candidacy for the General Council; for
Phellion favored another candidate, Horace Bianchon, relative of the
highly-honored J.-J. Popinot. [The Government Clerks. The Middle
Classes.]
PHELLION (Madame), wife of the preceding; belonged to a family who
lived in a western province. Her family being so large that the income
of more than nine thousand francs, pension and rentals, was
insufficient, she continued, under Louis Philippe, to give lessons in
harmony to Mesdemoiselles La Grave, as in the Restoration, with the
strictness observed in her every-day life.
PHELLION (Felix), eldest son of the preceding couple, born in 1817;
professor of mathematics in a Royal college at Paris, then a member of
the Academy of Sciences, and chevalier of the Legion of Honor. By his
remarkable works and his discovery of a star, he was thus made famous
before he was twenty-five years old, and married, after this fame had
come to him, Celeste-Louise-Caroline-Brigette Colleville, the sister
of one of his pupils and a woman for whom his love was so strong that
he gave up Voltairism for Catholicism. [The Middle Classes.]
PHELLION (Madame Felix), wife of the preceding; born
Celeste-Louise-Caroline-Brigitte Colleville. Although M. and Madame
Colleville's daughter, she was reared almost entirely by the Thuilliers.
Indeed, M. L.-J. Thuillier, who had been one of Madame Flavie
Colleville's lovers, passed for Celeste's father. M., Madame and
Mademoiselle Thuillier were all determined to give her their Christian
names and to make up a large dowry for her. Olivier Vinet, Godeschal,
Theodose de la Peyrade, all wished to marry Mademoiselle Colleville.
Nevertheless, although she was a devoted Christian, she loved Felix
Phellion, the Voltairean, and married him after his conversion to
Catholicism. [The Middle Classes.]
PHELLION (Marie-Theodore), Felix Phellion's younger brother, in 1840
pupil at the Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees. [The Middle Classes.]
PHILIPPART (Messieurs), owners of a porcelain manufactory at Limoges,
in which was employed Jean-Francois Tascheron, the murderer of Pingret
and Jeanne Malassis. [The Country Parson.]
PHILIPPE, employed in Madame Marie Gaston's family; formerly an
attendant of the Princesse de Vauremont; later became the Duc Henri de
Chaulieu's servant; finally entered Marie Gaston's household, where he
was employed after his wife's decease. [Letters of Two Brides. The
Member for Arcis.]
PICHARD (Mademoiselle), house-keeper of Niseron, vicar of Blangy in
Bourgogne. Prior to 1789 she brought her niece, Mademoiselle Arsene
Pichard, to his house. [The Peasantry.]
PICHARD (Arsene), niece of the preceding. (See Rigou, Madame
Gregoire.) [The Peasantry.]
PICOT (Nepomucene), astronomer and mathematician, friend of Biot after
1807, author of a "Treatise on Differential Logarithms," and
especially of a "Theory of Perpetual Motion," four volumes, quarto,
with engravings, Paris, 1825; lived, in 1840, No. 9 rue du
Val-de-Grace. Being very near-sighted and erratic, the prey of his
thieving servant, Madame Lambert, his family thought that he needed a
protector. Being instructor of Felix Phellion, with whom he took a
trip to England, Picot made known his pupil's great ability, which the
boy had modestly kept secret, at the home of the Thuilliers, Place de
la Madeleine, before an audience composed of the Collevilles, Minards
and Phellions. Celeste Colleville's future was thus determined. As
Picot was decorated late in life, his marriage to a wealthy and
eccentric Englishwoman of forty was correspondingly late. After
passing through a successful operation for a cancer, he returned "a
new man," to the home of the Thuilliers. He was led through gratitude
to leave to the Felix Phellions the wealth brought him by Madame
Picot. [The Middle Classes.]
PICQUOISEAU (Comtesse), widow of a colonel. She and Madame de
Vaumerland boarded with one of Madame Vauquer's rivals, according to
Madame de l'Ambermesnil. [Father Goriot.]
PIUS VII. (Barnabas Chiaramonti), lived from 1740 till 1823; pope.
Having been asked by letter in 1806, if a woman might go _decollete_
to the ball or to the theatre, without endangering her welfare, he
answered his correspondent, Madame Angelique de Granville, in a manner
befitting the gentle Fenelon. [A Second Home.]
PIEDEFER (Abraham), descendant of a middle class Calvinist family of
Sancerre, whose ancestors in the sixteenth century were skilled
workmen, and subsequently woolen-drapers; failed in business during
the reign of Louis XVI.; died about 1786, leaving two sons, Moise and
Silas, in poverty. [The Muse of the Department.]
PIEDEFER (Moise), elder son of the preceding, profited by the
Revolution in imitating his forefathers; tore down abbeys and
churches; married the only daughter of a Convention member who had
been guillotined, and by her had a child, Dinah, later Madame Milaud
de la Baudraye; compromised his fortune by his agricultural
speculations; died in 1819. [The Muse of the Department.]
PIEDEFER (Silas), son of Abraham Piedefer, and younger brother of the
preceding; did not receive, as did Moise Piedefer, his part of the
small paternal fortune; went to the Indies; died, about 1837, in New
York, with a fortune of twelve hundred thousand francs. This money was
inherited by his niece, Madame de la Baudraye, but was seized by her
husband. [The Muse of the Department.]
PIEDEFER (Madame Moise), sister-in-law of the preceding, unaffable and
excessively pious; pensioned by her son-in-law; lived successively in
Sancerre and at Paris with her daughter, Madame de la Baudraye, whom
she managed to separate from Etienne Lousteau. [The Muse of the
Department.]
PIERQUIN, born about 1786, successor to his father as notary in Douai;
distant cousin of the Molina-Claes of rue de Paris, through the
Pierquins of Antwerp; self-interested and positive by nature; aspired
to the hand of Marguerite Claes, eldest daughter of Balthazar, who
afterwards became Madame Emmanuel de Solis; finally married Felicie, a
younger sister of his first choice, in the second year of Charles X.'s
reign. [The Quest of the Absolute.]
PIERQUIN (Madame), wife of the preceding, born Felicie Claes, found,
as a young girl, a second mother in her elder sister, Marguerite. [The
Quest of the Absolute.]
PIERQUIN, brother-in-law of the preceding; physician who attended the
Claes at Douai. [The Quest of the Absolute.]
PIERROT, assumed name of Charles-Amedee-Louis-Joseph Rifoel, Chevalier
du Vissard. [The Seamy Side of History.]
PIERROTIN, born in 1781. After having served in the cavalry, he left
the service in 1815 to succeed his father as manager of a stage-line
between Paris and Isle-Adam--an undertaking which, though only
moderately successful, finally flourished. One morning in the autumn
of 1822, he received as passengers, at the Lion d'Argent, some people,
either famous or of rising fame, the Comte Hugret de Serizy, Leon de
Lora and Joseph Bridau, and took them to Presles, a place near
Beaumont. Having become "coach-proprietor of Oise," in 1838 he married
his daughter, Georgette, to Oscar Husson, a high officer, who, upon
retiring, had been appointed to a collectorship in Beaumont, and who,
like the Canalises and the Moreaus, had for a long time been one of
Pierrotin's customers. [A Start in Life.]
PEITRO, Corsican servant of the Bartolomeo di Piombos, kinsmen of
Madame Luigi Porta. [The Vendetta.]
PIGEAU, during the Restoration, at one time head-carrier and
afterwards owner of a small house, which he had built with his own
hands and on a very economical basis, at Nanterre (between Paris and
Saint-Germain-in-Laye). [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
PIGEAU (Madame), wife of the preceding; belonged to a family of wine
merchants. After her husband's death, about the end of the
Restoration, she inherited a little property, which caused her much
unhappiness, in consequence of her avarice and distrust. Madame Pigeau
was planning to remove from Nanterre to Saint-Germain with a view to
living there on her annuity, when she was murdered with her servant
and her dogs, by Theodore Calvi, in the winter of 1828-29. [Scenes
from a Courtesan's Life.]
PIGERON, of Auxerre, was murdered, it is said, by his wife; be that as
it may, the autopsy, entrusted to Vermut, a druggist of Soulanges, in
Bourgogne, proved the use of poison. [The Peasantry.]
PIGOULT, was head clerk in the office where Malin de Gondreville and
Grevin studied pettifogging; was, about 1806, first justice of the
peace at Arcis, and then president of the tribunal of the same town,
at the time of the lawsuit in connection with the abduction of Malin,
when he and Grevin were the prosecuting attorneys. [The Gondreville
Mystery.] In the neighborhood of 1839, Pigoult was still living,
having his home in the ward. At that time he made public recognition
of Pantaleon, Marquis de Sallenauve, and supposed father of Charles
Dorlange, Comte de Sallenauve, thus serving the interests, or rather
the ambitions, of deputy. [The Member for Arcis.]
PIGOULT, son of the preceding, acquired the hat manufactory of Phileas
Beauvisage, made a failure of the undertaking, and committed suicide;
but appeared to have had a natural, though sudden, death. [The Member
for Arcis.]
PIGOULT (Achille), son of the preceding and grandson of the next
preceding, born in 1801. A man of unattractive personality, but of
great intelligence, he supplanted Grevin, and, in 1819, was the
busiest notary of Arcis. Gondreville's influence, and his intimacy
with Beauvisage and Giguet, were the causes of his taking a prominent
part in the political contests of that period; he opposed Simon
Giguet's candidacy, and successfully supported the Comte de
Sallenauve. The introduction of the Marquis Pantaleon de Sallenauve to
old Pigoult was brought about through Achille Pigoult, and assured a
triumph for the sculptor, Sallenauve-Dorlange. [The Member for Arcis.]
PILLERAULT (Claude-Joseph), a very upright Parisian trader, proprietor
of the Cloche d'Or, a hardware establishment on the Quai de la
Ferraille; made a modest fortune, and retired from business in 1814.
After losing, one after another, his wife, his son, and an adopted
child, Pillerault devoted his life to his niece,
Constance-Barbe-Josephine, of whom he was guardian and only relative.
Pillerault lived on the rue des Bourdonnais, in 1818, occupying a small
apartment let to him by Camusot of the Cocon d'Or. During that period,
Pillerault was remarkable for the intelligence, energy and courage
displayed in connection with the unfortunate Birotteaus, who were
falling into bad repute. He found out Claparon, and terrified Molineux,
both enemies of the Birotteaus. Politics and the Cafe David, situated
between the rue de la Monnaie and the rue Saint-Honore, consumed the
leisure hours of Pillerault, who was a stoical and staunch Republican;
he was exceedingly considerate of Madame Vaillant, his house-keeper,
and treated Manuel, Foy, Perier, Lafayette and Courier as gods. [Cesar
Birotteau.] Pillerault lived to a very advanced age. The Anselme
Popinots, his grand-nephew and grand-niece, paid him a visit in 1844.
Poulain cured the old man of an illness when he was more than eighty
years of age; he then owned an establishment (rue de Normandie, in the
Marais), managed by the Cibots, and counting among its occupants the
Chapoulot family, Schmucke and Sylvain Pons. [Cousin Pons.]
PILLERAULT (Constance-Barbe-Josephine). (See Birotteau, Madame Cesar.)
PIMENTEL (Marquis and Marquise de), enjoyed extended influence during
the Restoration, not only with the society element of Paris, but
especially in the department of Charente, where they spent their
summers. They were reputed to be the wealthiest land-owners around
Angouleme, were on intimate terms with their peers, the Rastignacs,
together with whom they composed the shining lights of the Bargeton
circle. [Lost Illusions.]
PINAUD (Jacques), a "poor linen-merchant," the name under which M.
d'Orgemont, a wealthy broker of Fougeres, tried to conceal his
identity from the Chouans, in 1799, to avoid being a victim of their
robbery. [The Chouans.]
PINGRET, uncle of Monsieur and Madame des Vauneaulx; a miser, who
lived in an isolated house in the Faubourg Saint-Etienne, near
Limoges; robbed and murdered, with his servant Jeanne Malassis, one
night in March, 1829, by Jean-Francois Tascheron. [The Country
Parson.]
PINSON, long a famous Parisian restaurant-keeper of the rue de
l'Ancienne-Comedie, at whose establishment Theodose de la Peyrade,
reduced, in the time of Louis Philippe, to the uttermost depths of
poverty, dined, at the expense of Cerizet and Dutocq, at a cost of
forty-seven francs; there also these three men concluded a compact to
further their mutual interests. [The Middle Classes.]
PIOMBO (Baron Bartolomeo di), born in 1738, a fellow-countryman and
friend of Napoleon Bonaparte, whose mother he had protected during the
Corsican troubles. After a terrible vendetta, carried out in Corsica
against all the Portas except one, he had to leave his country, and
went in great poverty to Paris with his family. Through the
intercession of Lucien Bonaparte, he saw the First Consul (October,
1800) and obtained property, titles and employment. Piombo was not
without gratitude; the friend of Daru, Drouot, and Carnot, he gave
evidence of devotion to his benefactor until the latter's death. The
return of the Bourbons did not deprive him entirely of the resources
that he had acquired. For his Corsican property Bartolomeo received of
Madame Letitia Bonaparte a sum which allowed him to purchase and
occupy the Portenduere mansion. The marriage of his adored daughter,
Ginevra, who, against her father's will, became the wife of the last
of the Portas, was a source of vexation and grief to Piombo, that
nothing could diminish. [The Vendetta.]
PIOMBO (Baronne Elisa di), born in 1745, wife of the preceding and
mother of Madame Porta, was unable to obtain from Bartolomeo the
pardon of Ginevra, whom he would not see after her marriage. [The
Vendetta.]
PIOMBO (Ginevra di). (See Porta, Madame Luigi.)
PIOMBO (Gregorio di), brother of the preceding, and son of Bartolomeo
and Elisa di Piombo; died in his infancy, a victim of the Portas, in
the vendetta against the Piombos. [The Vendetta.]
PIQUETARD (Agathe). (See Hulot d'Ervy, Baronne Hector.)
PIQUOIZEAU, porter of Frederic de Nucingen, when Rodolphe Castanier
was cashier at the baron's bank. [Melmoth Reconciled.]
PLAISIR, an "illustrious hair-dresser" of Paris; in September, 1816,
on the rue Taitbout, he waited on Caroline Crochard de Bellefeuille,
at that time mistress of the Comte de Granville. [A Second Home.]
PLANCHETTE, an eminent professor of mechanics, consulted by Raphael de
Valentin on the subject of the wonderful piece of shagreen that the
young man had in his possession; he took him to Spieghalter, the
mechanician, and to Baron Japhet, the chemist, who tried in vain to
stretch this skin. The failure of science in this effort was a cause
of amazement to Planchette and Japhet. "They were like Christians come
from the tomb without finding a God in heaven." Planchette was a tall,
thin man, and a sort of poet always in deep contemplation. [The Magic
Skin.]
PLANTIN, a Parisian publicist, was, in 1834, editor of a review, and
aspired to the position of master of requests in the Council of State,
when Blondet recommended him to Raoul Nathan, who was starting a great
newspaper. [A Daughter of Eve.]
PLISSOUD, like Brunet, court-crier at Soulanges (Bourgogne), and
afterwards Brunet's unfortunate competitor. He belonged, during the
Restoration, to the "second" society of his village, witnessed his
exclusion from the "first" by reason of the misconduct of his wife,
who was born Euphemie Wattebled. Being a gambler and a drinker,
Plissoud did not save any money; for, though he was appointed to many
offices, they were all lacking in lucrativeness; he was insurance
agent, as well as agent for a society that insured against the chances
for conscription. Being an enemy of Soudry's party, Maitre Plissoud
might readily have served, especially for pecuniary considerations,
the interests of Montcornet, proprietor at Aigues. [The Peasantry.]
PLISSOUD (Madame Euphemie), wife of the preceding and daughter of
Wattebled; ruled the "second" society of Soulanges, as Madame Soudry
did the first, and though married to Plissoud, lived with Lupin as if
she were his wife. [The Peasantry.]
POIDEVIN, was, in the month of November, 1806, second clerk of Maitre
Bordin, a Paris attorney. [A Start in Life.]
POINCET, an old and unfortunate public scribe, and interpreter at the
Palais de Justice of Paris; about 1815, he went with Christemio to see
Henri de Marsay, in order to translate the words of the messenger of
Paquita Valdes. [The Thirteen.]
POIREL (Abbe), a priest of Tours; advanced to the canonry at the time
that Monsieur Troubert and Mademoiselle Gamard persecuted Abbe
Francois Birotteau. [The Vicar of Tours.]
POIRET, the elder, born at Troyes. He was the son of a clerk and of a
woman whose wicked ways were notorious and who died in a hospital.
Going to Paris with a younger brother, they became clerks in the
Department of Finance under Robert Lindet; there he met Antoine, the
office boy; he left the department, in 1816, with a retiring pension,
and was replaced by Saillard. [The Government Clerks.] Afflicted with
cretinism he remained a bachelor because of the horror inspired by the
memory of his mother's immoral life; he was a confirmed _idemiste_,
repeating, with slight variation, the words of those with whom he was
conversing. Poiret established himself on the rue Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve,
at Madame Vauquer's private boarding-house; he occupied the second story
at the widow's house, became intimate with Christine-Michelle Michonneau
and married her, when Horace Bianchon demanded the exclusion of this
young woman from the house for denouncing Jacques Collin (1819). [Father
Goriot.] Poiret often afterwards met M. Clapart, an old comrade whom he
had found again on the rue de la Cerisaie; had apartments on the rue des
Poules and lost his health. [A Start in Life. Scenes from a Courtesan's
Life.] He died during the reign of Louis Philippe. [The Middle Classes.]
POIRET (Madame), wife of the preceding, born Christine-Michelle
Michonneau, in 1779, doubtless had a stormy youth. Pretending to have
been persecuted by the heirs of a rich old man for whom she had cared,
Christine-Michelle Michonneau went, during the Restoration, to board
with Madame Vauquer, the third floor of the house on rue
Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve; made Poiret her squire; made a deal with
Bibi-Lupin--Gondureau--to betray Jacques Collin, one of Madame Vauquer's
guests. Having thus sated her cupidity and her bitter feelings,
Mademoiselle Michonneau was forced to leave the house on rue
Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve, at the formal demand of Bianchon, another of the
guests. [Father Goriot.] Accompanied by Poiret, whom she afterwards
married, she moved to the rue des Poules and rented furnished rooms.
Being summoned before the examining magistrate Camusot (May, 1830), she
recognized Jacques Collin in the pseudo Abbe Carlos Herrera. [Scenes
from a Courtesan's Life.] Ten years later, Madame Poiret, now a widow,
was living on a corner of the rue des Postes, and numbered Cerizet
among her lodgers. [The Middle Classes.]
POIRET, the younger, brother of Poiret the elder, and brother-in-law
of the preceding, born in 1771; had the same start, the same
instincts, and the same weakness of intellect as the elder; ran the
same career, overwhelmed with work under Lindet; remained at the
Treasury as copying clerk ten years longer than Poiret the elder, was
also book-keeper for two merchants, one of whom was Camusot of the
Cocon d'Or; he lived on the rue du Martroi; dined regularly at the
Veau qui Tette, on the Place du Chatelet; bought his hats of Tournan,
on rue Saint-Martin; and, a victim of J.-J. Bixiou's practical jokes,
he wound up by being business clerk in the office of Xavier Rabourdin.
Being retired on January 1, 1825, Poiret the younger counted on living
at Madame Vauquer's boarding-house. [The Government Clerks.]
POLISSARD, appraiser of the wood of the Ronquerolles estate in 1821;
at this time, probably on the recommendation of Gaubertin, he employed
as agent for the wood-merchant, Vaudoyer, a peasant of Ronquerolles,
who had shortly before been discharged from the post of forest-keeper
of Blangy (Bourgogne). [The Peasantry.]
POLLET, book-publisher in Paris, in 1821; a rival of Doguereau;
published "Leonide ou La Vieille de Suresnes," a romance by Victor
Ducange; had business relations with Porchon and Vidal; was at their
establishment, when Lucien de Rubempre presented to them his "Archer
de Charles IX." [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
POMBRETON (Marquis de), a genuine anomaly; lieutenant of the black
musketeers under the old regime, friend of the Chevalier de Valois,
who prided himself on having lent him for assistance in leaving the
country, twelve hundred pistoles. Pombreton returned this loan
afterwards, almost beyond a question of doubt, but the fact of the
case always remained unknown, for M. de Valois, an unusually
successful gamester, was interested in spreading a report of the
return of this loan, to shadow the resources that he derived from the
gaming table; and so five years later, about 1821, Etienne Lousteau
declared that the Pombreton succession and the Maubreuil[*] affair
were among the most profitable "stereotypes" of journalism. Finally,
Le Courrier de l'Orne of M. du Bousquier published, about 1830, these
lines: "A certificate for an income of a thousand francs a year will
be awarded to the person who can show the existence of a M. de
Pombreton before, during, or after the emigration." [Lost Illusions. A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris. Jealousies of a Country Town.]
[*] Maubreuil died at the end of the Second Empire.
POMPONNE (La). (See Toupinet, Madame.)
PONS (Sylvain)[*], born about 1785; son of the old age of Monsieur and
Madame Pons, who, before 1789, founded the famous Parisian house for
the embroidery of uniforms that was bought, in 1815, by M. Rivet,
first cousin of the first Madame Camusot of the Cocon d'Or, sole heir
of the famous Pons brothers, embroiderers to the Court; under the
Empire, he won the Prix de Rome for musical composition, returned to
Paris about 1810, and was for many years famous for his romances and
melodies which were full of delicacy and good taste. From his stay in
Italy, Pons brought back the tastes of the bibliomaniac and a love for
works of art. His passion for collecting consumed almost his entire
patrimony. Pons became Sauvageot's rival. Monistrol and Elie Magus
felt a hidden but envious appreciation of the artistic treasures
ingeniously and economically collected by the musician. Being ignorant
of the rare value of his museum, he went from house to house, giving
private lessons in harmony. This lack of knowledge proved his ruin
afterwards, for he became all the more fond of paintings, stones and
furniture, as lyric glory was denied him, and his ugliness, coupled
with his supposed poverty, kept him from getting married. The
pleasures of a gourmand replaced those of the lover; he likewise found
some consolation for his isolation in his friendship with Schmucke.
Pons suffered from his taste for high living; he grew old, like a
parasitic plant, outside the circle of his family, only tolerated by
his distant cousins, the Camusot de Marvilles, and their connections,
Cardot, Berthier and Popinot. In 1834, at the awarding of the prize to
the young ladies of a boarding-school, he met the pianist Schmucke, a
teacher as well as himself, and in the strong intimacy that grew up
between them, he found some compensation for the blighted hopes of his
existence. Sylvain Pons was director of the orchestra at the theatre
of which Felix Gaudissart was manager during the monarchy of July. He
had Schmucke admitted there, with whom he passed several happy years,
in a house, on the rue de Normandie, belonging to C.-J. Pillerault.
The bitterness of Madeleine Vivet and Amelie Camusot de Marville, and
the covetousness of Madame Cibot, the door-keeper, and Fraisier,
Magus, Poulain and Remonencq were perhaps the indirect causes of the
case of hepatitis of which Pons died (in April, 1845), appointing
Schmucke his residuary legatee before Maitre Leopold Hannequin, who
had been hastily summoned by Heloise Brisetout. Pons was on the point
of being employed to compose a piece of ballet music, entitled "Les
Mohicans." This work most likely fell to his successor, Garangeot.
[Cousin Pons.]
[*] M. Alphonse de Launay has derived from the life of Sylvain Pons a
drama that was presented at the Cluny theatre, Paris, about 1873.
POPINOT, alderman of Sancerre in the eighteenth century; father of
Jean-Jules Popinot and Madame Ragon (born Popinot). He was the officer
whose portrait, painted by Latour, adorned the walls of Madame Ragon's
parlor, during the Restoration, at her home in the Quartier
Saint-Sulpice, Paris. [Cesar Birotteau.]
POPINOT (Jean-Jules), son of the preceding, brother of Madame Ragon,
and husband of Mademoiselle Bianchon--of Sancerre--embraced the
profession of law, but did not attain promptly the rank which his
powers and integrity deserved. Jean-Jules Popinot remained for a long
time a judge of a lower court in Paris. He took a deep interest in the
fate of the young orphan Anselme Popinot, his nephew, and a clerk of
Cesar Birotteau; and was invited with Madame Jean-Jules Popinot to the
perfumer's famous ball, on Sunday, December 17, 1818. Nearly eighteen
months later, Jean-Jules Popinot once more saw Anselme, who was set up
as a druggist on the rue des Cinq-Diamants, and met Felix Gaudissart,
the commercial-traveler, and tried to excuse certain imprudent
utterances of his on the political situation, that had been reported
by Canquoelle-Peyrade, the police-agent. [Cesar Birotteau.] Three
years later he lost his wife, who had brought him, for dowry, an
income of six thousand francs, representing exactly twice his personal
assets. Living from this time at the rue de Fouarre, Popinot was able
to give free rein to the exercise of charity, a virtue that had become
a passion with him. At the urgent instance of Octave de Bauvan,
Jean-Jules Popinot, in order to aid Honorine, the Count's wife, sent
her a pretended commission-merchant, probably Felix Gaudissart,
offering a more than generous price for the flowers she made.
[Honorine.] Jean-Jules Popinot eventually established a sort of
benevolent agency. Lavienne, his servant, and Horace Bianchon, his
wife's nephew aided him. He relieved Madame Toupinet, a poor woman on
the rue du Petit-Banquier, from want (1828). Madame d'Espard's request
for a guardian for her husband served to divert Popinot from his role
of Saint Vincent de Paul; a man of rare delicacy hidden beneath a rough
and uncultured exterior, he immediately discovered the injustice of the
wrongs alleged by the marchioness, and recognized the real victim in
M. d'Espard, when he cross-questioned him at No. 22 rue de la
Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, in an apartment, the good management of
which he seemed to envy, though the rooms were simply furnished, and
in striking contrast with the splendor of which he had been a witness,
at the home of the marchioness in the Faubourg Saint-Honore. A delay
caused by a cold in the head, and especially the influence of Madame
d'Espard's intrigues, removed Popinot from the cause, in which Camusot
was substituted. [The Commission in Lunacy.] We have varying accounts
of Jean-Jules Popinot's last years. Madame de la Chanterie's circle
mourned the death of the judge in 1833 [The Seamy Side of History.]
and Phellion in 1840. J.-J. Popinot probably died at No. 22 rue de la
Montagne-Saint-Genevieve, in the apartment that he had already
coveted, being a counselor to the court, municipal counselor of Paris,
and a member of the General Council of the Seine. [The Middle
Classes.]
POPINOT (Anselme), a poor orphan, and nephew of the preceding and of
Madame Ragon (born Popinot), who took charge of him in his infancy.
Small of stature, red-haired, and lame, he gladly became clerk to
Cesar Birotteau, the Paris perfumer of the Reine des Roses, the
successor of Ragon, with whom he did a great deal of work, in order to
be able to show appreciation for the favor shown a part of his family,
that was well-nigh ruined as a result of some bad investments (the
Wortschin mines, 1818-19). Anselme Popinot, being secretly in love
with Cesarine Birotteau, his employer's daughter--the feeling being
reciprocated, moreover--brought about, so far as his means allowed,
the rehabilitation of Cesar, thanks to the profits of his drug
business, established on the rue des Cinq-Diamants, between 1819 and
1820. The beginning of his great fortune and of his domestic happiness
dated from this time. [Cesar Birotteau.] After Birotteau's death,
about 1822, Popinot married Mademoiselle Birotteau, by whom he had
three children, two sons and a daughter. The consequences of the
Revolution of 1830 brought Anselme Popinot in the way of power and
honors; he was twice deputy after the beginning of Louis Philippe's
reign, and was also minister of commerce. [Gaudissart the Great.]
Anselme Popinot, twice secretary of state, had finally been made a
count, and a peer of France. He owned a mansion on the rue Basse du
Rempart. In 1834 he rewarded Felix Gaudissart for services formerly
rendered on the rue des Cinq-Diamants, and entrusted to him the
management of a boulevard theatre, where the opera, the drama, the
fairy spectacle, and the ballet took turn and turn. [Cousin Pons.]
Four years later the Comte Popinot, again minister of commerce and
agriculture, a lover of the arts and one who gladly acted the part of
the refined Maecenas, bought for two thousand francs a copy of
Steinbock's "Groupe de Samson" and stipulated that the mould should be
destroyed that there might be only two copies, his own and the one
belonging to Mademoiselle Hortense Hulot, the artist's fiancee. When
Wenceslas married Mademoiselle Hulot, Popinot and Eugene de Rastignac
were the Pole's witnesses. [Cousin Betty.]
POPINOT (Madame Anselme), wife of the preceding, born Cesarine
Birotteau, in 1801. Beautiful and attractive though, at one time,
almost promised to Alexandre Crottat, she married, about 1822, Anselme
Popinot, whom she loved and by whom she was loved. [Cesar Biroteau.]
After her marriage, though in the midst of splendor, she remained the
simple, open, and even artless character that she was in the modest
days of her youth.[*] The transformation of the dancer Claudine du
Bruel, the whilom Tullia of the Royal Academy of Music, to a moral
bourgeois matron, surprised Madame Anselme, who became intimate with
her. [A Prince of Bohemia.] The Comtesse Popinot rendered aid, in a
delicate way, in 1841, to Adeline Hulot d'Ervy. Her influence with
that of Mesdames de Rastignac, de Navarreins, d'Espard, de Grandlieu,
de Carigliano, de Lenoncourt, and de la Bastie, procured Adeline's
appointment as salaried inspector of charities. [Cousin Betty.] Three
years later when one of her three children married Mademoiselle
Camusot de Marville, Madame Popinot, although she appeared at the most
exclusive social gatherings, imitated modest Anselme, and, unlike
Amelie Camusot, received Pons, a tenant of her maternal great-uncle,
C.-J. Pillerault. [Cousin Pons.]
[*] In 1838, the little theatre Pantheon, destroyed in 1846, gave a
vaudeville play, by M. Eugene Cormon, entitled "Cesar Birotteau,"
of which Madame Anselme Popinot was one of the heroines.
POPINOT (Vicomte), the eldest of the three children of the preceding
couple, married, in 1845, Cecile Camusot de Marville. [Cousin Pons.]
During the course of the year 1846, he questioned Victorin Hulot about
the remarkable second marriage of Baron Hector Hulot d'Ervy, which was
solemnized on the first of February of that year. [Cousin Betty.]
POPINOT (Vicomtesse), wife of the preceding; born Cecile Camusot in
1821, before the name Marville was added to Camusot through the
acquisition of a Norman estate. Red-haired and insignificant looking,
but very pretentious, she persecuted her distant kinsman Pons, from
whom she afterwards inherited; from lack of sufficient fortune she
failed of more than one marriage, and was treated with scorn by the
wealthy Frederic Brunner, especially because of her being an only
daughter and the spoiled child. [Cousin Pons.]
POPINOT-CHANDIER (Madame and Mademoiselle), mother and daughter; of
the family of Madame Boirouge; hailing from Sancerre; frequent
visitors of Madame de la Baudraye, whose superiority of manner they
ridiculed in genuine bourgeois fashion. [The Muse of the Department.]
PORCHON. (See Vidal.)
PORRABERIL (Euphemie). (See San-Real, Marquise de.)
PORRIQUET, an elderly student of the classics, was teacher of Raphael
de Valentin, whom he had as a pupil in the sixth class, in the third
class, and in rhetoric. Retired from the university without a pension
after the Revolution of July, on suspicion of Carlism, seventy years
of age, without means, and with a nephew whose expenses he was paying
at the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, he went to solicit the aid of his
dear "foster-child," to obtain the position of principal of a
provincial school, and suffered rough treatment at the hands of the
_carus alumnus_, every act of whose shortened Valentin's existence.
[The Magic Skin.]
PORTA (Luigi), born in 1793, strikingly like his sister Nina. He was
the last member that remained, at the beginning of the nineteenth
century, of the Corsican family of Porta, by reason of a bloody
vendetta between his kinspeople and the Piombos. Luigi Porta alone was
saved, by Elisa Vanni, according to Giacomo; he lived at Genoa, where
he enlisted, and found himself, when quite young, in the affair of the
Beresina. Under the Restoration he was already an officer of high
rank; he put an end to his military career and was hunted by the
authorities at the same time as Labedoyere. Luiga Porta found Paris a
safe place of refuge. Servin, the Bonapartist painter, who had opened
a studio of drawing, where he taught his art to young ladies,
concealed the officer. One of his pupils, Ginevra di Piombo,
discovered the outlaw's hiding-place, aided him, fell in love with
him, made him fall in love with her, and married him, despite the
opposition of her father, Bartolomeo di Piombo. Luigi Porta chose as a
witness, when he was married, his former comrade, Louis Vergniaud,
also known to Hyacinthe Chabert. He lived from hand to mouth by doing
secretary's work, lost his wife, and, crushed by poverty, went to tell
the Piombos of her death. He died almost immediately after her (1820).
[The Vendetta.]
PORTA (Madame Luigi), wife of the preceding, born Ginevra di Piombo
about 1790; shared, in Corsica as in Paris, the stormy life of her
father and mother, whose adored child she was. In Servin's, the
painter's studio, where with her talent she shone above the whole
class, Ginevra knew Mesdames Tiphaine and Camusot de Marville, at that
time Mesdemoiselles Roguin and Thirion. Defended by Laure alone, she
endured the cruelly planned persecution of Amelie Thirion, a Royalist,
and an envious woman, especially when the favorite drawing pupil
discovered and aided Luigi Porta, whom she married shortly afterwards,
against the will of Bartolomeo di Piombo. Madame Porta lived most
wretchedly; she resorted to Magus to dispose of copies of paintings at
a meagre price; brought a son into the world, Barthelemy; could not
nurse him, lost him, and died of grief and exhaustion in the year
1820. [The Vendetta.]
PORTAIL (Du), name assumed by Corentin, when as "prefect of secret
police of diplomacy and political affairs," he lived on the rue
Honore-Chevalier, in the reign of Louis Philippe. [The Government
Clerks.]
PORTENDUERE (Comte Luc-Savinien de), grandson of Admiral de
Portenduere, born about 1788, represented the elder branch of the
Portendueres, of whom Madame de Portenduere and her son Savinien
represented the younger branch. Under the Restoration, being the
husband of a rich wife, the father of three children and member for
Isere, he lived, according to the season of the year, in the chateau
of Portenduere or the Portenduere mansion, which were situated, the
one in Dauphine, and the other in Paris, and extended no aid to the
Vicomte Savinien, though he was harassed by his creditors. [Ursule
Mirouet.]
PORTENDUERE (Madame de,) born Kergarouet, a Breton, proud of her noble
descent and of her race. She married a post-captain, nephew of the
famous Admiral de Portenduere, the rival of the Suffrens, the
Kergarouets, and the Simeuses; bore him a son, Savinien; she survived
her husband; was on intimate terms with the Rouvres, her country
neighbors; for, having but little means, she lived, during the
Restoration, in the little village of Nemours, on the rue des
Bourgeois, where Denis Minoret was domiciled. Savinien's prodigal
dissipation and the long opposition to his marriage to Ursule Mirouet
saddened, or at least distrubed, Madame de Portenduere's last days.
[Ursule Mirouet.]
PORTENDUERE (Vicomte Savinien de), son of preceding, born in 1806;
cousin of the Comte de Portenduere, who was descended from the famous
admiral of this name, and great nephew of Vice-Admiral Kergarouet.
During the Restoration he left the little town of Nemours and his
mother's society to go and try the life in Paris, where, in spite of
his relationship with the Fontaines, he fell in love with Emilie de
Fontaine, who did not reciprocate his love, but married first Admiral
de Kergarouet, and afterwards the Marquis de Vandenesse. [The Ball at
Sceaux.] Savinien also became enamored of Leontine de Serizy; was on
intimate terms with Marsay, Rastignac, Rubempre, Maxime de Trailles,
Blondet and Finot; soon lost a considerable sum of money, and, laden
with debts, became a boarder at Sainte-Pelagie; he then received
Marsay, Rastignac and Rubempre, the latter wishing to relieve his
distress, much to the amusement of Florine, afterwards Madame Nathan.
[Secrets from a Courtesan's Life.] Urged by Ursule Mirouet, his ward,
Denis Minoret, who was one of Savinien's neighbors at Nemours, raised
the sum necessary to liquidate young Portenduere's debt, and freed him
of its burden. The viscount enlisted in the marine service, and
retired with the rank and insignia of an ensign, two years after the
Revolution of July, and five years before being able to marry Ursule
Mirouet. [Ursule Mirouet.] The Vicomte and Vicomtesse de Portenduere
made a charming couple, recalling two other happy families of Paris,
the Langinskis and the Ernest de la Basties. In 1840 they lived on the
Rue Saint-Peres, became the intimate friends of the Calyste du
Guenics, and shared their box at the Italiens. [Beatrix.]
PORTENDUERE (Vicomtesse Savinien de), wife of the preceding, born in
1814. The orphan daughter of an unfortunate artist, Joseph Mirouet,
the military musician, and Dinah Grollman, a German; natural
granddaughter of Valentine Mirouet, the famous harpsichordist, and
consequently niece of the rich Dr. Denis Minoret; she was adopted by
the last named, and became his ward, so much the more adored as, in
appearance and character, she recalled Madame Denis Minoret, deceased.
Ursule's girlhood and youth, passed at Nemours, were marked
alternately by joy and bitterness. Her guardian's servants, as well as
his intimate friends, overwhelmed her with indications of interest. A
distinguished performer, the future viscountess received lessons in
harmony from Schmucke, the pianist, who was summoned from Paris. Being
of a religious nature, she converted Denis Minoret, who was an
adherent of Voltaire's teachings; but the influence she acquired over
him called forth against the young girl the fierce animosity of
Minoret-Levrault, Massin, Cremiere, Dionis and Goupil, who, foreseeing
that she would be the doctor's residuary legatee, abused her,
slandered her, and persecuted her most cruelly. Ursule was also
scornfully treated by Madame de Portenduere, with whose son, Savinien,
she was in love. Later, the relenting of Minoret-Levrault and Goupil,
shown in various ways, and her marriage to the Vicomte de Portenduere,
at last approved by his mother, offered Ursule some consolation for
the loss of Denis Minoret. [Ursule Mirouet.] Paris adopted her, and
made much of her; she made a glorious success in society as a singer.
[Another Study of Woman.] Amid her own great happiness, the
viscountess showed herself the devoted friend, in 1840, of Madame
Calyste du Guenic, just after her confinement, who was almost dying of
grief over the treachery of her husband. [Beatrix.]
POSTEL was pupil and clerk of Chardon the druggist of L'Houmeau, a
suburb of Angouleme; succeeded Chardon after his death; was kind to
his former patron's unfortunate family; desired, but without success,
to marry Eve, who was afterwards Madame David Sechard, and became the
husband of Leonie Marron, by whom he had several sickly children.
[Lost Illusions.]
POSTEL (Madame), wife of the preceding, born Leonie Marron, daughter
of Doctor Marron, a practitioner in Marsac (Charente); through
jealousy she was disagreeable to the beautiful Madame Sechard; through
cupidity she fawned upon the Abbe Marron, from whom she hoped to
inherit. [Lost Illusions.]
POTASSE, sobriquet of the Protez family, manufacturers of chemicals,
as associates of Cochin; known by Minard, Phellion, Thuiller and
Colleville, types of Parisians of the middle class, about 1840. [The
Middle Classes.]
POTEL, former officer of the Imperial forces, retired, during the
Restoration, to Issoudun, with Captain Renard; he took sides with
Maxence Gilet against the officers, Mignonnet and Carpentier, declared
enemies of the chief of the "Knights of Idlesse." [A Bachelor's
Establishment.]
POULAIN (Madame), born in 1778. She married a trousers-maker, who died
in very reduced circumstances; for from the sale of his business she
received only about eleven hundred francs for income. She lived then,
for twenty years, on work which some fellow-countrymen of the late
Poulain gave to her, and the meagre profits of which afforded her the
opportunity of starting in a professional career her son, the future
physician, whom she dreamed of seeing gain a rich marriage settlement.
Madame Poulain, though deprived of an education, was very tactful, and
she was in the habit of retiring when patients came to consult her
son. This she did when Madame Cibot called at the office on rue
d'Orleans, late in 1844 or early in 1845. [Cousin Pons.]
POULAIN (Doctor), born about 1805, friendless and without fortune;
strove in vain to gain the patronage of the Paris "four hundred" after
1835. He kept constantly near him his mother, widow of a
trousers-maker. As a poor neighborhood physician he afterwards lived
with his mother on rue d'Orleans at the Marais. He became acquainted
with Madame Cibot, door-keeper at a house on rue de Normandie, the
proprietor of which, C.-J. Pillerault, uncle of the Popinots and
ordinarily under Horace Bianchon's treatment, he cured. By Madame
Cibot, Poulain was called also to attend Pons in a case of
inflammation of the liver. Aided by his friend Fraisier, he arranged
matters to suit the Camusots de Marville, the rightful heirs of the
musician. Such a service had its reward. In 1845, following the death
of Pons, and that of his residuary legatee, Schmucke, soon after,
Poulain was given an appointment in the Quinze-Vingts hospital as head
physician of this great infirmary. [Cousin Pons.]
POUPART, or Poupard, from Arcis-sur-Aube, husband of Gothard's sister;
one of the heroes of the Simeuse affair; proprietor of the Mulet
tavern. Being devoted to the interest of the Cadignans, the
Cinq-Cygnes and the Hauterserres, in 1839, during the electoral
campaign, he gave lodging to Maxime de Trailles, a government envoy,
and to Paradis, the count's servant. [The Member for Arcis.]
POUTIN, colonel of the Second lancers, an acquaintance of Marechal
Cottin, minister of war in 1841, to whom he told that many years
before this one of his men at Severne, having stolen money to buy his
mistress a shawl, repented of his deed and ate broken glass so as to
escape dishonor. The Prince of Wissembourg told this story to Hulot
d'Ervy, while upbraiding him for his dishonesty. [Cousin Betty.]
PRELARD (Madame), born in 1808, pretty, at first mistress of the
assassin Auguste, who was executed. She remained constantly in the
clutches of Jacques Collin, and was married by Jacqueline Collin, aunt
of the pseudo-Herrera, to the head of a Paris hardware-house on Quai
aux Fleurs, the Bouclier d'Achille. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
PREVOST (Madame), well-known florist, whose store still remains in the
Palais-Royal. Early in 1830, Frederic de Nucingen bought a ten louis
bouquet there for Esther van Gobseck. [Scenes from a Courtesan's
Life.]
PRIEUR (Madame), laundress at Angouleme, for whom Mademoiselle
Chardon, afterwards Madame David Sechard, worked. [Lost Illusions.]
PRON (Monsieur and Madame), both teachers. M. Pron taught rhetoric in
1840 at a college in Paris directed by priests. Madame Pron, born
Barniol, and therefore sister-in-law of Madame Barniol-Phellion,
succeeded Mesdemoiselles La Grave, about the same time, as director of
their young ladies' boarding-school. M. and Madame Pron lived in the
Quartier Saint-Jacques, and frequently visited the Thuilliers. [The
Middle Classes.]
PROTEZ AND CHIFFREVILLE, manufactured chemicals; sold a hundred
thousand francs' worth to the inventor, Balthazar Claes, about 1812.
[The Quest of the Absolute.] On account of their friendly relations
with Cochin, of the Treasury, all the Protezes and the Chiffrevilles
were invited to the celebrated ball given by Cesar Birotteau, Sunday,
December 17, 1818, on rue Saint Honore. [Cesar Birotteau.]
PROUST, clerk to Maitre Bordin, a Paris attorney, in November, 1806;
this fact became known a few years later by Godeschal, Oscar Husson
and Marest, when they reviewed the books of the attorneys who had been
employed in Bordin's office. [A Start in Life.]
PROVENCAL (Le), born in 1777, undoubtedly in the vicinity of Arles. A
common soldier during the wars at the close of the eighteenth century,
he took part in the expedition of General Desaix into upper Egypt.
Having been taken prisoner by the Maugrabins he escaped only to lose
himself in the desert, where he found nothing to eat but dates.
Reduced to the dangerous friendship of a female panther, he tamed her,
singularly enough, first by his thoughtless caresses, afterwards by
premeditation. He ironically named her Mignonne, as he had previously
called Virginie, one of his mistresses. Le Provencal finally killed
his pet, not without regret, having been moved to great terror by the
wild animal's fierce love. About the same time the soldier was
discoverd by some of his own company. Thirty years afterwards, an aged
ruin of the Imperial wars, his right leg gone, he was one day visiting
the menagerie of Martin the trainer, and recalled his adventure for
the delectation of the young spectator. [A Passion in the Desert.]
Q
QUELUS (Abbe), priest of Tours or of its vicinity, called frequently
on the Chessels, neighbors of the Mortsaufs, at the beginning of the
century. [The Lily of the Valley.]
QUEVERDO, faithful steward of the immense domain of Baron de Macumer,
in Sardinia. After the defeat of the Liberals in Spain, in 1823, he
was told to look out for his master's safety. Some fishers for coral
agreed to pick him up on the coast of Andalusia and set him off at
Macumer. [Letters of Two Brides.]
QUILLET (Francois), office-boy employed by Raoul Nathan's journal on
rue Feydau, Paris, 1835. He aided his employer by lending him the name
of Francois Quillet. Raoul, in great despair, while occupying a
furnished room on rue du Mail, threw several creditors off his track
by the use of this assumed name. [A Daughter of Eve.]
R
RABOUILLEUSE (La), name assumed by Flore Brazier, who became in turn
Madame Jean-Jacques Rouget and Madame Philippe Bridau. (See this last
name.)
RABOURDIN (Xavier), born in 1784; his father was unknown to him. His
mother, a beautiful and fastidious woman, who lived in luxury, left
him a penniless orphan of sixteen. At this time he left the Lycee
Napoleon and became a super-numerary clerk in the Treasury Department.
He was soon promoted, becoming second head clerk at twenty-two and
head clerk at twenty-five. An unknown, but influential friend, was
responsible for this progress, and also gave him an introduction into
the home of M. Leprince, a wealthy widower, who had formerly been an
auctioneer. Rabourdin met, loved and married this man's only daughter.
Beginning with this time, when his influential friend probably died,
Rabourdin saw the end of his own rapid progress. Despite his faithful,
intelligent efforts, he occupied at forty the same position. In 1824
the death of M. Flamet de la Billardiere left open the place of
division chief. This office, to which Rabourdin had long aspired, was
given to the incapable Baudoyer, who had been at the head of a bureau,
through the influence of money and the Church. Disgusted, Rabourdin
sent in his resignation. He had been responsible for a rather
remarkable plan for executive and social reform, and this possibly
contributed to his overthrow. During his career as a minister
Rabourdin lived on rue Duphot. He had by his wife two children,
Charles, born in 1815, and a daughter, born two years later. About
1830 Rabourdin paid a visit to the Bureau of Finances, where he saw
once more his former pages, nephews of Antoine, who had retired from
service by that time. From these he learned that Colleville and
Baudoyer were tax-collectors in Paris. [The Government Clerks.] Under
the Empire he was a guest at the evening receptions given by M.
Guillaume, the cloth-dealer of rue Saint-Denis. [At the Sign of the
Cat and Racket.] Later he and his wife were invited to attend the
famous ball tendered by Cesar Birotteau, December 17, 1818. [Cesar
Birotteau.] In 1840, being still a widower, Rabourdin was one of the
directors of a proposed railway. At this time he began to lodge in a
house on the Place de la Madeleine, which had been recently bought by
the Thuilliers, whom he had known in the Bureau of Finance. [The
Middle Classes.]
RABOURDIN (Madame), born Celestine Leprince, in 1796; beautiful, tall
and of good figure; reared by an artistic mother; a painter and a good
musician; spoke many tongues and even had some knowledge of science.
She was married when very young through the instrumentality of her
father, who was then a widower. Her reception-rooms were not open to
Jean-Jacques Bixiou, but she was frequently visited by the poet
Canalis, the painter Schinner, Doctor Bianchon, who was especially
fond of her company; Lucien de Rubempre, Octave de Camps, the Comte de
Granville, the Vicomte de Fontaine, F. du Bruel, Andoche Finot,
Derville, Chatelet, then deputy; Ferdinand du Tillet, Paul de
Mannerville, and the Vicomte de Portenduere. A rival, Madame
Colleville, had dubbed Madame Rabourdin "The Celimene of rue Duphot."
Having been over-indulged by her mother, Celestine Leprince thought
herself entitled to a man of high rank. Consequently, although M.
Rabourdin pleased her, she hesitated at first about marrying him, as
she did not consider him of high enough station. This did not prevent
her loving him sincerely. Although she was very extravagant, she
remained always strictly faithful to him. By listening to the demands
of Chardin des Lupeaulx, secretary-general in the Department of
Finance, who was in love with her, she might have obtained for her
husband the position of division chief. Madame Rabourdin's reception
days were Wednesdays and Fridays. She died in 1840. [The Commission in
Lunacy. The Government Clerks.]
RABOURDIN (Charles), law-student, son of the preceding couple, born in
1815, lived from 1836 to 1838 in a house on rue Corneille, Paris.
There he became acquainted with Z. Marcas, helped him in his distress,
attended him on his death-bed, and, with Justi, a medical student, as
his only companion, followed the body of this great, but unknown man
to the beggar's grave in Montparnasse cemetery. After having told some
friends the short, but pitiful story of Z. Marcas, Charles Rabourdin,
following the advice of the deceased, left the country, and sailed
from Havre for the Malayan islands; for he had not been able to gain a
foothold in France. [Z. Marcas.]
RACQUETS (Des). (See Raquets, des.)
RAGON born about 1748; a perfumer on rue Saint-Honore, between
Saint-Roche and rue des Frondeurs, Paris, towards the close of the
eighteenth century; small man, hardly five feet tall, with a face like
a nut-cracker, self-important and known for his gallantry. He was
succeeded in his business, the "Reine des Roses," by his chief clerk,
Cesar Birotteau, after the eighteenth Brumaire. As a former perfumer
to Her Majesty Queen Marie-Antoinette, M. Ragon always showed Royalist
zeal, and, under the Republic, the Vendeans used him to communicate
between the princes and the Royalist committee of Paris. He received
at that time the Abbe de Marolles, to whom he pointed out and revealed
the person of Louis XVI.'s executioner. In 1818, being a loser in the
Nucingen speculation in Wortschin mining stock, Ragon lived with his
wife in an apartment on rue du Petit-Bourbon-Saint-Sulpice. [Cesar
Birotteau. An Episode under the Terror.]
RAGON (Madame), born Popinot; sister of Judge Popinot, wife of the
preceding, being very nearly the same age as her husband, was in 1818
"a tall slender woman of wrinkled face, sharp nose, thin lips, and the
artificial manner of a marchioness of the old line." [Cesar
Birotteau.]
RAGOULLEAU[*] (Jean-Antoine), a Parisian lawyer, whose signature the
widow Morin tried to extort. She also attempted his assassination, and
was condemned, January 11, 1812, on the evidence of a number of
witnesses, among others that of Poiret, to twenty years of hard labor.
[Father Goriot.]
[*] The real spelling of the name, as shown by some authentic papers,
is Ragouleau.
RAGUET, working boy in the establishment of Cesar Birotteau, the
perfumer, in 1818. [Cesar Birotteau.]
RAPARLIER, a Douai notary; drew up marriage contracts in 1825 for
Marguerite Claes and Emmanuel de Solis, for Felicie Claes and Pierquin
the notary, and for Gabriel Claes and Mademoiselle Conyncks. [The
Quest for the Absolute.]
RAPARLIER, a Douai auctioneer, under the Restoration; nephew of the
preceding; took an inventory at the Claes house after the death of
Madame Balthazar Claes in 1816. [The Quest of the Absolute.]
RAPP, French general, born at Colmar in 1772; died in 1821. As
aide-de-camp of the First Consul, Bonaparte, he found himself one day
in October serving near his chief at the Tuileries, when the
proscribed Corsican, Bartolomeo de Piombo, came up rather unexpectedly.
Rapp, who was suspicious of this man, as he was of all Corsicians,
wished to stay at Bonaparte's side during the interview, but the Consul
good-naturedly sent him away. [The Vendetta.] On October 13, 1806, the
day before the battle of Jena, Rapp had just made an important report
to the Emperor at the moment when Napoleon was receiving on the next
day's battlefield Mademoiselle Laurence de Cinq-Cygne and M. de
Chargeboeuf, who had come from France to ask for the pardon of the two
Hauteserres and the two Simeuses, people affected by the political
suit and condemned to hard labor. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
RAQUETS (Des), lived at Douai, of Flemish descent, and devoted to the
traditions and customs of his province; very wealthy uncle of the
notary Pierquin, his only heir, who received his inheritance towards
the close of the Restoration. [The Quest of the Absolute.]
RASTIGNAC (Chevalier de), great-uncle of Eugene de Rastignac; as
vice-admiral was commander of the "Vengeur" before 1789, and lost
his entire fortune in the service of the king, as the revolutionary
government did not wish to satisfy his demands in the adjusting of the
Compagnie des Indes affairs. [Father Goriot.]
RASTIGNAC (Baron and Baronne de) had, near Ruffec, Charente, an
estate, where they lived in the latter part of the eighteenth and the
beginning of the nineteenth centuries, and where were born to them
five children: Eugene, Laure-Rose, Agathe, Gabriel and Henri. They
were poor, and lived in close retirement, keeping a dignified silence,
and like their neighbours, the Marquis and Marquise de Pimentel,
exercised, through their connection with court circles, a strong
influence over the entire province, being invited at various times to
the home of Madame de Bargeton, at Angouleme, where they met Lucien de
Rubempre and were able to understand him. [Father Goriot. Lost
Illusions.]
RASTIGNAC (Eugene de),[*] eldest son of the Baron and Baronne de
Rastignac, born at Rastignac near Ruffec in 1797. He came to Paris in
1819 to study law; lived at first on the third floor of the Vauquer
lodging-house, rue Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve, having then some
association with Jacques Collin, called Vautrin, who was especially
interested in him and wanted him to marry Victorine Taillefer.
Rastignac became the lover of Madame de Nucingen, second daughter of
Joachim Goriot, an old vermicelli-maker, and in February, 1820, lived
on rue d'Artois in pretty apartments, rented and furnished by the
father of his mistress. Goriot died in his arms. The servant,
Christophe, and Rastignac were the only attendants in the good man's
funeral procession. At the Vauquer lodging-house he was intimate with
Horace Bianchon, a medical student. [Father Goriot.] In 1821, at the
Opera, young Rastignac made fun for the occupants of two boxes over
the provincialisms of Madame de Bargeton and Lucien de Rubempre,
"young Chardon." This led Madame d'Espard to leave the theatre with
her relative, thus publicly and in a cowardly way abandoning the
distinguished provincial. Some months later Rastignac sought the favor
of this same Lucien de Rubempre, who was by that time an influential
citizen. He agreed to act with Marsay as the poet's witness in the
duel which he fought with Michel Chrestien, in regard to Daniel
d'Arthez. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] At the last
masquerade ball of 1824 Rastignac found Rubempre, who had disappeared
from Paris some time before. Vautrin, recalling his memories of the
Vauquer lodging-house, urged him authoritatively to treat Lucien as a
friend. Shortly after, Rastignac became a frequenter of the sumptuous
mansion furnished by Nucingen for Esther van Gobseck on rue
Saint-Georges. Rastignac was present at Lucien de Rubempre's funeral
in May, 1830. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] About the same time
the Comte de Fontaine asked his daughter Emilie what she thought of
Rastignac--among several others--as a possible husband for her. But
knowing the relations of this youthful aspirant with Madame de
Nucingen, she saved herself by replying maliciously. [The Ball at
Sceaux.] In 1828 Rastignac sought to become Madame d'Espard's lover,
but was restrained by his friend, Doctor Bianchon. [The Interdiction.]
During the same year Rastignac was treated slightingly by Madame de
Listomere, because he asked her to return a letter, which through
mistake had been sent to her, but which he had meant for Madame de
Nucingen. [A Study of Woman.] After the Revolution of July he was a
guest at Mademoiselle des Touches's evening party, where Marsay told
the story of his first love. [Another Study of Woman.] At this time
he was intimate with Raphael de Valentin, and expected to marry an
Alsatian. [The Magic Skin.] In 1832, Rastignac, having been appointed
a baron, was under-secretary of state in the department of which Marsay
was the minister. [The Secrets of a Princess.] In 1833-34, he
volunteered as nurse at the bedside of the dying minister, in the hope
of being remembered in his will. One evening about this same time he
took Raoul Nathan and Emile Blondet, whom he had met in society, to
supper with him at Very's. He then advised Nathan to profit by the
advances made him by the Comtesse Felix de Vandenesse. [A Daughter of
Eve.] In 1833, at the Princesse de Cadignan's home, in the presence of
the Marquise d'Espard, the old Ducs de Lenoncourt and de Navarreins,
the Comte and the Comtesse de Vandenesse, D'Arthez, two ambassadors,
and two well-known orators of the Chamber of Peers, Rastignac heard
his minister reveal the secrets of the abduction of Senator Malin, an
affair which took place in 1806. [The Gondreville Mystery.] In 1836,
having become enriched by the third Nucingen failure, in which he was
more or less a willing accomplice, he became possessed of an income of
forty thousand francs. [The Firm of Nucingen.] In 1838 he attended the
opening reception given at Josepha's mansion on rue de la Ville-l'Eveque.
He was also witness at Hortense Hulot's marriage to Wenceslas Steinbock.
He married Augusta de Nucingen, daughter of Delphine de Nucingen, his
former mistress, whom he had quitted five years previously. In 1839,
Rastignac, minister once more, and this time of public works, was made
count almost in spite of himself. In 1845 he was, moreover, made a
peer. He had then an income of 300,000 francs. He was in the habit of
saying: "There is no absolute virtue, all things are dependent on
circumstances." [Cousin Betty. The Member for Arcis. The Unconscious
Humorists.]
[*] In a recent publication of Monsieur S. de Lovenjoul, he speaks of
a recent abridged biography of Eugene de Rastignac.
RASTIGNAC (Laure-Rose and Agathe de),[*] sisters of Eugene de
Rastignac; second and third children of the Baron and Baronne de
Rastignac; Laure, the elder, born in 1801; Agathe, the second, born in
1802; both were reared unostentatiously in the Rastignac chateau. In
1819 they sent what they had saved by economy to their brother Eugene,
then a student. Several years after, when he was wealthy and powerful,
he married one of them to Martial de la Roche-Hugon, the other to a
minister. In 1821, Laure, with her father and mother, was present at a
reception of M. de Bargeton's, where she admired Lucien de Rubempre.
[Father Goriot. Lost Illusions.] Madame de la Roche-Hugon in 1839 took
her several daughters to a children's dance at Madame de l'Estorade's
in Paris. [The Member for Arcis.]
[*] The Mesdemoiselles de Rastignac are here placed together under
their maiden name, as it is not known which one married Martial de
la Roche-Hugon.
RASTIGNAC (Monseigneur Gabriel de), brother of Eugene de Rastignac;
one of the youngest two children of the Baron and Baronne de
Rastignac; was private secretary to the Bishop of Limoges towards the
end of the Restoration, during the trial of Tascheron. In 1832 he
became, when only a young man of thirty, a bishop. He was consecrated
by the Archbishop Dutheil. [Father Goriot. The Country Parson. A
Daughter of Eve.]
RASTIGNAC (Henri de), the fifth child, probably of the Baron de
Rastignac and his wife. Nothing is known of his life. [Father Goriot.]
RATEL, gendarme in the Orne district; in 1809, along with his
fellow-officer, Mallet, was charged with the capture of "Lady" Bryond
des Miniares, who was implicated in the affair known as the "Chauffeurs
de Mortagne." He found the fugitive, but, instead of arresting her,
allowed himself to be unduly influenced by her, and then protected her
and let her escape. This action on his part was known to Mallet.
Ratel, when imprisoned, confessed all, and committed suicide before
the time assigned for trial. [The Seamy Side of History.]
RAVENOUILLET, porter in Bixiou's house, at No. 112 rue Richelieu, in
1845; son of a Carcassonne grocer; a steward throughout his life and
owed his first position to his fellow-countryman, Massol.
Ravenouillet, although uneducated was not unintelligent. According to
Bixiou, he was the "Providence at thirty per cent" of the seventy-one
lodgers in the house, through whom he netted in the neighborhood of
six thousand francs a month. [The Unconscious Humorists.]
RAVENOUILLET (Madame), wife of the preceding. [The Unconscious
Humorists.]
RAVENOUILLET (Lucienne), daughter of the preceding couple, was in 1845
a pupil in the Paris Conservatory of Music. [The Unconscious
Humorists.]
REGNAULD (Baron) (1754-1829), celebrated artist, member of the
Institute. Joseph Bridau, when fourteen, was a frequent visitor at his
studio, in 1812-1813. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
REGNAULT, former chief clerk to Maitre Roguin, a Paris notary; came to
Vendome in 1816 and purchased there a notaryship. He was called by
Madame de Merret to her death-bed, and was made her executor. In this
position, some years later, he urged Doctor Bianchon to respect one of
the last wishes of the deceased by discontinuing his promenades in the
Grande Breteche garden, as she had wished this property to remain
entirely unused for half a century. Maitre Regnault married a wealthy
cousin of Vendome. Regnault was tall and slender, with sloping
forehead, small pointed head and wan complexion. He frequently used
the expression, "One moment." [La Grande Breteche.]
REGNIER (Claude-Antoine), Duc de Massa, born in 1746, died 1814; an
advocate, and afterwards deputy to the Constituency; was high justice
--justice of the peace--during the celebrated trial of the Simeuses
and Hauteserres, accused of the abduction of Senator Malin. He noticed
the talent displayed by Granville for the defendants, and a little
later, having met him at Archchancelor Cambaceres's house, he took the
young barrister into his own carriage, setting him down on the Quai
des Augustins, at the young man's door, after giving him some
practical advice and assuring him of his protection. [The Gondreville
Mystery. A Second Home.]
REMONENCQ, an Auvergnat, dealer in old iron, established on rue de
Normandie, in the house in which Pons and Schmucke lived, and where
the Cibots were porters. Remonencq, who had come to Paris with the
intention of being a porter, ran errands between 1825 and 1831 for the
dealers in curiosities on Boulevard Beaumarchais and the coppersmiths
on rue de Lappe, then opened in this same quarter a small shop for
odds and ends. He lived there in sordid economy. He had been in
Sylvain Pons's house, and had fully recognized the great value of the
aged collector's treasures. His greed urged him to crime, and he
instigated Madame Cibot in her theft at the Pons house. After
receiving his share of the property, he poisoned the husband of the
portress, in order to marry the widow, with whom he established a
curiosity shop in an excellent building on the Boulevard de la
Madeleine. About 1846 he unwittingly poisoned himself with a glass of
vitriol, which he had placed near his wife. [Cousin Pons.]
REMONENCQ (Mademoiselle), sister of the preceding, "a kind of idiot
with a vacant stare, dressed like a Japanese idol." She was her
brother's house-keeper. [Cousin Pons.]
REMONENCQ (Madame), born in 1796, at one time a beautiful oyster-woman
of the "Cadran Bleu" in Paris; married for love the porter-tailor,
Cibot, in 1828, and lived with him in the porter's lodge of a house on
rue de Normandie, belonging to Claude-Joseph Pillerault. In this house
the musicians, Pons and Schmucke, lived. She busied herself for some
time with the management of the house and the cooking for these two
celibates. At first she was faithful, but finally, moved by Remonencq,
and encouraged by Fontaine, the necromancer, she robbed the ill-fated
Pons. Her husband having been poisoned, without her knowledge, by
Remonencq, she married the second-hand dealer, now a dealer in
curiosities, and proprietor of the beautiful shop on the Boulevard de
la Madeleine. She survived her second husband. [Cousin Pons.]
REMY (Jean), peasant of Arcis-sur-Aube, against whom a neighbor lost a
lawsuit concerning a boundary line. This neighbor, who was given to
drink, used strong language in speaking against Jean Remy in a session
of the electors who had organized in the interest of
Dorlange-Sallenauve, a candidate, in the month of April, 1839. If we
may believe this neighbor, Jean Remy was a wife-beater, and had a
daughter who had obtained, through the influence of a deputy, and
apparently without any claim, an excellent tobacco-stand on rue
Mouffetard. [The Member for Arcis.]
RENARD, former captain in the Imperial army, withdrew to Issoudun
during the Restoration; one of the officers in the Faubourg de Rome,
who were hostile to the "pekins" and partisans of Maxence (Max) Gilet.
Renard and Commandant Potel were seconds for Maxence in his duel with
Philippe Bridau--a duel which resulted in the former's death. [A
Bachelor's Establishment.]
RENARD, regimental quartermaster in the cavalry, 1812. Although
educated as a notary he became an under officer. He had the face of a
girl and was considered a "wheedler." He saved the life of his friend,
Genestas, several times, but enticed away from him a Polish Jewess,
whom he loved, married in Sarmatian fashion, and left enceinte. When
fatally wounded in the battle against the Russians, just before the
battle of Lutzen, in his last hours, to Genestas, he acknowledged
having betrayed the Jewess, and begged this gentleman to marry her and
claim the child, which would soon be born. This was done by the
innocent officer. Renard was the son of a Parisian wholesale grocer, a
"toothless shark," who would not listen to anything concerning the
quartermaster's offspring. [The Country Doctor.]
RENARD (Madame). (See Genestas, Madame.)
RENARD (Adrien). (See Genestas, Adrien.)
RENE, the only servant to M. du Bousquier of Alencon, in 1816; a silly
Breton servant, who, although very greedy, was perfectly reliable.
[Jealousies of a Country Town.]
RESTAUD (Comte de), a man whose sad life was first brought to the
notice of Barchou de Penhoen, a school-mate of Dufaure and Lambert;
born about 1780; husband of Anastasie Goriot, by whom he was ruined;
died in December, 1824, while trying to adjust matters favorably for
his eldest son, Ernest, the only one of Madame de Restaud's three
children whom he recognized as his own. To this end he had pretended
that, having been very extravagant, he was greatly in debt to Gobseck.
He assured his son by another letter of the real condition of his
estate. M. de Restaud, was similar in appearance to the Duc de
Richelieu, and had the proud manners of the statesman of the
aristocratic faubourg. [Gobseck. Father Goriot.]
RESTAUD (Comtesse Anastasie de), wife of the preceding; elder daughter
of the vermicelli-maker, Jean-Joachim Goriot; a beautiful brunette of
queenly bearing and manners. Like the fair and gentle Madame de
Nucingen, her sister, she showed herself severe and ungrateful towards
the kindliest and weakest of fathers. She had three children, two boys
and a girl; Ernest, the eldest, being the only legitimate one. She
ruined herself for Trailles, her lover's benefit, selling her jewels
to Gobseck and endangering her children's future. As soon as her
husband had breathed his last, in a moment anxiously awaited, she took
from under his pillow and burned the papers which she believed
contrary to her own interests and those of her two natural children.
It thus followed that Gobseck, the fictitious creditor, gained a claim
on all of the remaining property. [Gobseck. Father Goriot.]
RESTAUD (Ernest de), eldest child of the preceding, and their only
legitimate one, as the other two were natural children of Maxime de
Trailles. In 1824, while yet a child, he received from his dying
father instruction to hand to Derville, the attorney, a sealed package
which contained his will; but Madame de Restaud, by means of her
maternal authority, kept Ernest from carrying out his promise. On
attaining his majority, after his fortune had been restored to him by
his father's fictitious creditor, Gobseck, he married Camille de
Grandlieu, who reciprocated his love for her. As a result of this
marriage Ernest de Restaud became connected with the Legitimists,
while his brother Felix, who had almost attained the position of
minister under Louis Philippe, followed the opposite party. [Gobseck.
The Member for Arcis.]
RESTAUD (Madame Ernest de), born Camille de Grandlieu in 1813,
daughter of the Vicomtesse de Grandlieu. During the first years of
Louis Philippe's reign, while very young, she fell in love with and
married Ernest de Restaud, who was then a minor. [Gobseck. The Member
for Arcis.]
RESTAUD (Felix-Georges de), one of the younger children of the Comte
and Comtesse de Restaud; probably a natural son of Maxime de Trailles.
In 1839, Felix de Restaud was chief secretary to his cousin Eugene de
Rastignac, minister of public works. [Gobseck. The Member for Arcis.]
RESTAUD (Pauline de), legal daughter of the Comte and Comtesse de
Restaud, but probably the natural daughter of Maxime de Trailles. We
know nothing of her life. [Gobseck.]
REYBERT (De), captain in the Seventh regiment of artillery under the
Empire; born in the Messin country. During the Restoration he lived in
Presles, Seine-et-Oise, with his wife and daughter, on only six
hundred francs pension. As a neighbor of Moreau, manager of the Comte
de Serizy's estate, he detected the steward in some extortions, and
sending his wife to the count, denounced the guilty man. He was chosen
as Moreau's successor. Reybert married his daughter, without
furnishing her a dowry, to the wealthy farmer Leger. [A Start in
Life.]
REYBERT (Madame de), born Corroy, in Messin, wife of the preceding,
and like him of noble family. Her face was pitted by small-pox until
it looked like a skimmer; her figure was tall and spare; her eyes were
bright and clear; she was straight as a stick; she was a strict
Puritan, and subscribed to the Courrier Francais. She paid a visit to
the Comte de Serizy, and unfolded to him Moreau's extortions, thus
obtaining for her husband the stewardship of Presles. [A Start in
Life.]
RHETORE (Duc Alphonse de), eldest son of the Duc and Duchess de
Chaulieu, he became an ambassador in the diplomatic service. For many
years during the Restoration he kept Claudine Chaffaroux, called
Tullia, the star dancing-girl at the Opera, who married Bruel in 1824.
He became acquainted with Lucien de Rubempre, both in his own circle
of acquaintance and in the world of gallantry, and entertained him one
evening in his box at a first performance at the Ambigu in 1821. He
reproached his guest for having wounded Chatelet and Madame de
Bargeton by his newspaper satire, and at the same time, while
addressing him continually as Chardon, he counseled the young man to
become a Royalist, in order that Louis XVIII. might restore to him the
title and name of Rubempres, his maternal ancestors. The Duc de
Rhetore, however, disliked Lucien de Rubempre, and a little later at a
performance in the Italiens, he traduced him to Madame de Serizy, who
was really in love with the poet. [A Bachelor's Establishment. A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.
Letters of Two Brides.] In 1835, he married the Duchesse d'Argaiolo,
born the Princesse Soderini, a woman of great beauty and fortune.
[Albert Savarus.] In 1839, he had a duel with Dorlange-Sallenauve,
having provoked the latter, by speaking in a loud voice, which he knew
could be easily understood, and slandering Marie Gaston, second
husband of Dorlange's sister, Louise de Chaulieu. Dorlange was
wounded. [The Member for Arcis.]
RHETORE (Duchess de), born Francesca Soderini in 1802; a very
beautiful and wealthy Florentine; married, when very young, by her
father, to the Duc d'Argaiolo, who was also very rich and much older
than herself. In Switzerland or Italy she became acquainted with
Albert Savarus, when, as a result of political events, she and her
husband were proscribed and deprived of their property. The Duchesse
d'Argaiolo and Albert Savarus loved platonically, and Francesca-like
she promised her hand to her Francois whenever she should become a
widow. In 1835, having been widowed for some time, and, as a result of
Rosalie de Watteville's plots, believing herself forgotten and
betrayed by Savarus, from whom she had received no news, she gave her
hand to the Duc de Rhetore, the ex-ambassador. The marriage took place
in the month of May at Florence and was celebrated with much pomp. The
Duchesse d'Argaiolo is pictured under the name of the Princesse
Gandolphini in "L'Ambitieux par Amour," published in 1834 by the Revue
de l'Est. Under Louis Philippe, the Duchesse de Rhetore became
acquainted with Mademoiselle de Watteville at a charity entertainment.
On their second meeting, which took place at the Opera ball,
Mademoiselle de Watteville revealed her own ill-doings and vindicated
Savarus. [Albert Savarus.]
RICHARD (Veuve), a Nemours woman from whom Ursule Mirouet, afterwards
Vicomtesse de Portenduere, after the death of Doctor Minoret, her
guardian, purchased a house to occupy. [Ursule Mirouet.]
RIDAL (Fulgence), dramatic author; member of the Cenacle, which held
its sessions at D'Arthez's home on rue des Quatre-Vents, during the
Restoration. He disparaged Leon Giraud's beliefs, went under a
Rabelaisian guise, careless, lazy and skeptical, also inclined to be
melancholy and happy at the same time; nick-named by his friends the
"Regimental Dog." Fulgence Ridal and Joseph Bridau, with other members
of the Cenacle, were present at an evening party given by Madame Veuve
Bridau, in 1819, to celebrate the return of her son Philippe from
Texas. [A Bachelor's Establishment. A Distinguished Provincial at
Paris.] In 1845, having been a vaudevillist, he was given the
direction of a theatre in association with Lousteau. He had
influencial government friends. [The Unconscious Humorists.]
RIFFE, copying-clerk in the Financial Bureau, who had charge of the
"personnel." [The Government Clerks.]
RIFOOEL. (See Vissard, Chevalier du.)
RIGANSON, called Biffon, also Chanoine, constituted with La Biffe, his
mistress, one of the most important couples in his class of society.
When a convict he met Jacques Collin, called Vautrin, and in May,
1830, saw him once more at the Conciergerie, at the time of the
judical investigation succeeding Esther Gobseck's death. Riganson was
short of stature, fat, and with livid skin, and an eye black and
sunken. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
RIGOU (Gregoire), born in 1756; at one time a Benedictine friar. Under
the Republic he married Arsene Pichard, only heir of the rich Cure
Niseron. He became a money-lender; filled the office of mayor of
Blangy, Bourgogne, up to 1821, when he was succeeded by Montcornet. On
the arrival of the general in the country Rigou endeavored to be
friendly with him, but having been quickly slighted, he became one of
the Montcornets' most dangerous enemies, along with Gaubertin, mayor
of Ville-aux-Fayes, and Soudry, mayor of Soulanges. This triumvirate
succeeded in arousing the peasants against the owner of Aigues, and
the local citizens having become more or less opposed to him, the
general sold his property, and it fell to the three associates. Rigou
was selfish, avaricious but pleasure-loving; he looked like a condor.
His name was often the subject of a pun, and he was called Grigou (G.
Rigou--a miserly man). "Deep as a monk, silent as a Benedictine,
crafty as a priest, this man would have been a Tiberius in Rome, a
Richelieu under Louis XIII. or a Fouche under the Convention." [The
Peasantry.]
RIGOU (Madame), born Arsene Pichard, wife of the preceding, niece of a
maid named Pichard, who was house-keeper for Cure Niseron under the
Revolution, and whom she succeeded as house-keeper. She inherited,
together with her aunt, some money from a wealthy priest. She was
known while young by the name of La Belle Arsene. She had great
influence over the cure, although she could neither read nor write.
After her marriage with Rigou, she became the old Benedictine's slave.
She lost her Rubens-like freshness, her magical figure, her beautiful
teeth and the lustre of her eyes when she gave birth to her daughter,
who eventually became the wife of Soudry (fils). Madame Rigou quietly
bore the continued infidelity of her husband, who always had pretty
maids in his household. [The Peasantry.]
RIVAUDOULT D'ARSCHOOT, of the Dulmen branch of a noted family of
Galicia or Russie-Rouge; heirs, through their grandfather, to this
family, and also, in default of the direct heirs, successors to the
titles. [The Thirteen.]
RIVET (Achille), maker of lace and embroidery on rue des
Mauvaises-Paroles, in the old Langeais house, built by the illustrious
family at the time when the greatest lords were clustered around the
Louvre. In 1815 he succeeded the Pons Brothers, embroiderers to the
Court, and was judge in the tribunal of commerce. He employed Lisbeth
Fischer, and, despite their quarrel, rendered this spinster some
service. Achille Rivet worshiped Louis Philippe, who was to him the
"noble representative of the class out of which he constructed his
dynasty." He loved the Poles less, at the time they were preventing
European equilibrium. He was willing to aid Cousin Betty in the revenge
against Wenceslas, which she once contemplated, as a result of her
jealousy. [Cousin Betty. Cousin Pons.]
ROBERT, a Paris restaurant-keeper, near Frascati. Early in 1822 he
furnished a banquet lasting nine hours, at the time of the founding of
the Royalist journal, the "Reveil." Theodore Gaillard and Hector
Merlin, founders of the paper, Nathan and Lucien de Rubempre,
Martainville, Auger, Destains and many authors who "were responsible
for monarchy and religion," were present. "We have enjoyed an
excellent monarchical and religious feast!" said one of the best known
romanticists as he stood on the threshold. This sentence became famous
and appeared the next morning in the "Miroir." Its repetition was
wrongly attributed to Rubempre, although it had been reported by a
book-seller who had been invited to the repast. [A Distinguished
Provincial at Paris.]
ROCHEFIDE (Marquis Arthur de), one of the later nobility; married
through his father's instrumentality, in 1828, Beatrix de Casteran, a
descendant of the more ancient nobility. His father thought that by
doing this his son would obtain an appointment to the peerage, an
honor which he himself had vainly sought. The Comtesse de Montcornet
was interested in this marriage. Arthur de Rochefide served in the
Royal Guards. He was a handsome man, but not especially worthy. He
spent much of his time at his toilet, and it was known that he wore a
corset. He was everybody's friend, as he joined in with the opinions
and extravagances of everybody. His favorite amusement was
horse-racing, and he supported a journal devoted to the subject of
horses. Having been deserted by his wife, he mourned without becoming
the object of ridicule, and passed for a "jolly, good fellow." Made
rich by the death of his father and of his elder sister, who was the
wife of D'Ajuda-Pinto, he inherited, among other things, a splendid
mansion on rue d'Anjou-Saint-Honore. He slept and ate there only
occasionally and was very happy at not having the marital obligations
and expense customary with married men. At heart he was so well
satisfied at having been deserted by his wife, that he said to his
friends, "I was born lucky." For a long time he supported Madame
Schontz, and then they lived together maritally. She reared his
legitimate son as carefully as though he were her own child. After 1840
she married Du Ronceret, and Arthur de Rochefide was rejoined by his
wife. He soon communicated to her a peculiar disease, which Madame
Schontz, angered at having been abandoned, had given to him, as well
as to Baron Calyste du Guenic. [Beatrix.] In 1838, Rochefide was
present at the house-warming given by Josepha in her mansion on rue de
la Ville-l'Eveque. [Cousin Betty.]
ROCHEFIDE (Marquise de), wife of the preceding, younger daughter of
the Marquis de Casteran; born Beatrix-Maximilienne-Rose de Casteran,
about 1808, in the Casteran Castle, department of Orne. After being
reared there she became the wife of the Marquis of Rochefide in 1828.
She was fair of skin, but a flighty vain coquette, without heart or
brains--a second Madame d'Espard, except for her lack of intelligence.
About 1832 she left her husband to flee into Italy with the musician,
Gennaro Conti, whom she took from her friend, Mademoiselle des
Touches. Finally she allowed Calyste du Guenic to pay her court. She
had met him also at her friend's house, and at first resisted the
young man. Afterwards, when he was married, she abandoned herself to
him. This liaison filled Madame du Guenic with despair, but was ended
after 1840 by the crafty manoeuvres of the Abbe Brossette. Madame de
Rochefide then rejoined her husband in the elegant mansion on rue
d'Anjou-Saint-Honore, but not until she had retired with him to
Nogent-sur-Marne, to care for her health which had been injured during
the resumption of marital relations. Before this reconciliation she
lived in Paris on rue de Chartres-du-Roule, near Monceau Park. The
Marquise de Rochefide had, by her husband, a son, who was for some
time under the care of Madame Schontz. [Beatrix. The Secrets of a
Princess.] In 1834, in the presence of Madame Felix de Vandenesse,
then in love with the poet Nathan, the Marquise Charles de Vandenesse,
sister-in-law of Madame Felix, Lady Dudley, Mademoiselle des Touches,
the Marquise d'Espard, Madame Moina de Saint Hereen and Madame de
Rochefide expressed their ideas on love and marriage. "Love is
heaven," said Lady Dudley. "It is hell!" cried Mademoiselle des
Touches. "But it is a hell where there is love," replied Madame de
Rochefide. "There is often more pleasure in suffering than in
happiness; remember the martyrs!" [A Daughter of Eve.] The history of
Sarrasine was told her about 1830. The marquise was acquainted with
the Lantys, and at their house saw the strange Zambinella.
[Sarrasine.] One afternon, in the year 1836 or 1837, in her house on
rue des Chartres, Madame de Rochefide heard the story of the "Prince
of Bohemia" told by Nathan. After this narrative she became wild over
La Palferine. [A Prince of Bohemia.]
ROCHEGUDE (Marquis de), an old man in 1821, possessing an income of
six hundred thousand francs, offered a brougham at this time to
Coralie, who was proud of having refused it, being "an artist, and not
a prostitute." [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] This Rochegude
was apparently a Rochefide. The change of names and confusion of
families was corrected eventually by law.
RODOLPHE, natural son of an intelligent and charming Parisian and of a
Barbancon gentleman who died before he was able to arrange
satisfactorily for his sweetheart. Rodolphe was a fictitious character
in "L'Ambitieux par Amour," by Albert Savarus in the "Revue de l'Est"
in 1834, where, under this assumed name, he recounted his own
adventures. [Albert Savarus.]
ROGER, general, minister and director of personnel in the War
Department in 1841. For thirty years a comrade of Baron Hulot. At this
time he enlightened his friend on the administrative situation, which
was seriously endangered at the time he asked for an appointment for
his sub-chief, Marneffe. This advancement was not merited, but became
possible through the dismissal of Coquet, the chief of bureau. [Cousin
Betty.]
ROGRON, Provins tavern-keeper in the last half of the eighteenth
century and the beginning of the nineteenth. He was at first a carter,
and married the daughter of M. Auffray, a Provins grocer, by his first
wife. When his father-in-law died, Rogron bought his house from the
widow for a song, retired from business and lived there with his wife.
He possessed about two thousand francs in rentals, obtained from
twenty-seven pieces of land and the interest on the twenty thousand
francs raised by the sale of his tavern. Having become in his old age
a selfish, avaricious drunkard and shrewd as a Swiss tavern-keeper, he
reared coarsely and without affection the two children, Sylvie and
Jerome-Denis, whom he had by his wife. He died, in 1822, a widower.
[Pierrette.]
ROGRON (Madame), wife of the preceding; daughter, by his first wife,
of M. Auffray, a Provins grocer; paternal aunt of Madame Lorrain, the
mother of Pierrette; born in 1743; very homely; married at the age of
sixteen; left her husband a widower. [Pierrette.]
ROGRON (Sylvie), elder child of the preceding; born between 1780 and
1785 at Provins; sent to the country to be nursed. When thirteen years
old she was placed in a store on rue Saint-Denis, Paris. When twenty
years old she was second clerk in a silk-store, the Ver Chinois, and
towards the end of 1815, bought with her own savings and those of her
brother the property of the Soeur de Famille, one of the best retail
haberdasher's establishments and then kept by Madame Guenee. Sylvie
and Jerome-Denis, partners in this establishment, retired to Provins
in 1823. They lived there in their father's house, he having been dead
several months, and received their cousin, the young Pierrette
Lorrain, a fatherless and motherless child of a delicate nature, whom
they treated harshly, and who died as a result of the brutal treatment
of Sylvie, an envious spinster. This woman had been sought in
marriage, on account of her dowry, by Colonel Gouraud, and she
believed herself deserted by him for Pierrette. [Pierrette.]
ROGRON (Jerome-Denis), two years younger than his sister Sylvie, and
like her sent to Paris by his father. When very young he entered the
establishment of one of the leading haberdashers on rue Saint-Denis,
the firm of Guepin at the Trois Quenouilles. He became first clerk
there at eighteen. Finally associated with Sylvie in the haberdasher's
establishment, the Soeur de Famille, he withdrew with her in 1823 to
Provins. Jerome-Denis Rogron was ignorant and did not amount to much,
but depended on his sister in everything, for Sylvie had "good sense
and was sharp at a bargain." He allowed his sister to maltreat
Pierrette Lorrain, and, when called before the Provins court as
responsible for the young girl's death, was acquitted. In his little
city, Rogron, through the influence of the attorney, Vinet, opposed
the government of Charles X. After 1830 he was appointed
receiver-general. The former Liberal, who was one of the masses, said
that Louis Philippe would not be a real king until he could create
noblemen. In 1828, although homely and unintelligent, he married the
beautiful Bathilde de Chargeboeuf, who inspired in him an old man's
foolish passion. [Pierrette.]
ROGRON (Madame Denis), born Bathilde de Chargeboeuf, about 1803, one
of the most beautiful young girls of Troyes, poor but noble and
ambitious. Her relative, Vinet the attorney, had made "a little
Catherine de Medicis" of her, and married her to Denis Rogron. Some
years after this marriage she desired to become a widow as soon as
possible, so that she might marry General Marquis de Montriveau, a
peer of France, who was very attentive to her. Montriveau controlled
the department in which Rogron had a receivership. [Pierrette.]
ROGUIN, born in 1761; for twenty-five years a Paris notary, tall and
heavy; black hair and high forehead; of somewhat distinguished
appearance; affected with ozoena. This affection caused his ruin, for,
having married the only daughter of the banker, Chevrel, he disgusted
his wife very soon, and she was untrue to him. On the other hand, he
had paid mistresses, and kept and was fleeced by Sarah van Gobseck
--"La Belle Hollandaise"--mother of Esther. He had met her about 1815.
In 1818 and 1819 Roguin, seriously compromised by careless financial
ventures as well as by dissipation, disappeared from Paris; and thus
brought about the ruin of Guillaume Grandet, Cesar Birotteau, and
Mesdames Descoings and Bridau. [Cesar Birotteau. Eugenie Grandet. A
Bachelor's Establishment.] Roguin had by his wife a daughter, whom he
married to the president of the Provins tribunal. She was called in
that city "the beautiful Madame Tiphaine." [Pierrette.] In 1816 he
made, for Ginevra di Piombo, a respectful request of her father that
he would allow his daughter to marry Luigi Porta, an enemy of the
family. [The Vendetta.]
ROGUIN (Madame), born Chevrel between the years 1770 and 1780; only
daughter of Chevrel, the banker; wife of the preceding; cousin of
Madame Guillaume of The Cat and Racket, and fifteen years her junior;
aided her relative's daughter, Augustine, in her love affair with the
painter, Sommervieux; pretty and coquettish; for a long time the
mistress of Tillet, the banker; was present with her husband at the
famous ball given by Cesar Birotteau, December 17, 1818. She had a
country-house at Nogent-sur-Marne, in which she lived with her lover
after Roguin's departure. [Cesar Birotteau. At the Sign of the Cat and
Racket. Pierrette.] In 1815 Caroline Crochard, then an embroiderer,
worked for Madame Roguin, who made her wait for her wages. [A Second
Home.] In 1834 and 1835 Madame Roguin, then more than fifty years of
age, still posed as young and dominated Du Tillet, who was married to
the charming Marie-Eugenie de Granville. [A Daughter of Eve.]
ROGUIN (Mathilde-Melanie). (See Tiphaine, Madame.)
ROMETTE (La). (See Paccard, Jeromette.)
RONCERET (Du), president of the Alencon tribunal under the
Restoration; was then a tall man, very thin, with forehead sloping
back to his thin chestnut hair; eyes of different colors, and
compressed lips. Not having been courted by the nobility, he turned
his attention to the middle classes, and then in the suit against
Victurnien d'Esgrignon, charged with forgery, he immediately took part
in the prosecution. That a preliminary trial might be avoided he kept
away from Alencon, but a judgment which acquitted Victurnien was
rendered during his absence. M. du Ronceret, in Machiavelli fashion,
manoeuvred to gain for his son Fabien the hand of a wealthy heiress of
the city, Mademoiselle Blandureau, who had also been sought by Judge
Blondet for his son Joseph. In this contest the judge won over his
chief. [Jealousies of a Country Town.] M. du Ronceret died in 1837,
while holding the presidency of chamber at the Royal Court of Caen.
The Du Roncerets, ennobled under Louis XV., had arms bearing the word
"Servir" as a motto and a squire's helmet. [Beatrix.]
RONCERET (Madame du), wife of the preceding, tall and ill-formed; of
serious disposition; dressed herself in the most absurd costumes of
gorgeous colors; spent much time at her toilet, and never went to a
ball without first decorating her head with a turban, such as the
English were then wearing. Madame du Ronceret received each week, and
each quarter gave a great three-course dinner, which was spoken of in
Alencon, for the president then endeavored, with his miserly
abundance, to compete with M. du Bousquier's elegance. In the
Victurnien d'Esgrignon affair, Madame du Ronceret, at the instigation
of her husband, urged the deputy, Sauvages, to work against the young
nobleman. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
RONCERET (Fabien-Felicien du), or Duronceret, son of the preceding
couple; born about 1802, educated at Alencon; was here the companion
in dissipation of Victurnien d'Esgrignon, whose evil nature he
stimulated at M. du Bousquier's instigation. [Jealousies of a Country
Town.] At first a judge in Alencon, Du Ronceret resigned after the
death of his father and went to Paris in 1838, with the intention of
pushing himself into notice by first causing an uproar. He became
acquainted in Bohemian circles where he was called "The Heir," on
account of some prodigalities. Having made the acquaintance of
Couture, the journalist, he was presented by him to Madame Schontz, a
popular courtesan of the day, and became his successor in an elegantly
furnished establishment in a first floor on rue Blanche. He there
began as vice-president of a horticultural society. After an opening
session, during which he delivered an address which he had paid
Lousteau five hundred francs to compose, and where he made himself
noticed by a flower given him by Judge Blondet, he was decorated.
Later he married Madame Schontz, who wished to enter middle-class
society. Ronceret expected, with her influence, to become president of
the court and officer of the Legion of Honor [Beatrix.] While
purchasing a shawl for his wife at M. Fritot's, in company with
Bixiou, Fabien du Ronceret was present about 1844 at the comedy which
took place when the Selim shawl was sold to Mistress Noswell.
[Gaudissart II.]
RONCERET (Madame Fabien du), born Josephine Schiltz in 1805, wife of
the preceding, daughter of a colonel under the Empire; fatherless and
motherless, at nine years of age she was sent to Saint-Denis by
Napoleon in 1814, and remained in that educational institution, as
assistant-mistress, until 1827. At this time Josephine Schiltz, who
was a god-child of the Empress, began the adventurous life of a
courtesan, after the example of some of her companions who were, like
her, at the end of their patience. She now changed her name from
Schiltz to Schontz, and she was also known under the assumed name of
Little Aurelie. Animated, intelligent and pretty, after having
sacrificed herself to true love, after having known "some poor but
dishonorable writers," after having tried intimacy with several rich
simpletons, she was met in a day of distress, at Valentino Mussard's,
by Arthur de Rochefide, who loved her madly. Having been abandoned by
his wife for two years, he lived with her in free union. This evil
state of affairs existed until the time when Josephine Schiltz was
married by Fabien du Ronceret. In order to have revenge on the Marquis
de Rochefide for abandoning her, she gave him a peculiar disease,
which she had made Fabien du Ronceret contract, and which also was
conveyed to Calyste du Guenic. During her life as a courtesan, her
rivals were Suzanne de Val-Noble, Fanny Beaupre, Mariette, Antonia,
and Florine. She was intimate with Finot, Nathan, Claude Vignon, to
whom she probably owed her critical mind, Bixiou, Leon de Lora, Victor
de Vernisset, La Palferine, Gobeneim, Vermanton the cynical
philosphoer, etc. She even hoped to marry one of these. In 1836 she
lived on rue Flechier, and was the mistress of Lousteau, to whom she
wished to marry Felicie Cardot, the notary's daughter. Later she
belonged to Stidmann. In 1838 she was present at Josepha's
house-warming on rue de la Ville-l'Eveque. In 1840, at the first
performance at the Ambigu, she met Madame de la Baudraye, then
Lousteau's mistress. Josephine Schiltz finally became the wife of
President du Ronceret. [Beatrix. The Muse of the Department. Cousin
Betty. The Unconscious Humorists.]
RONQUEROLLES (Marquis de), brother of Madame de Serizy; uncle of the
Comtesse Laginska; one of "The Thirteen," and one of the most
efficient governmental diplomats under Louis Philippe; next to the
Prince de Talleyrand the shrewdest ambassador; was of great service to
Marsay during his service as a minister; was sent to Russia in 1838 on
a secret mission. Having lost his two children during the cholera
scourge of 1832, he was left without a direct heir. He had been a
deputy on the Right Centre under the Restoration, representing a
department in Bourgogne, where he was proprietor of a forest and of a
castle next to the Aigues in the commune of Blangy. When Gaubertin,
the steward, was discharged by the Comte de Montcornet, Soudry spoke
as follows: "Patience! We have Messieurs de Soulanges and de
Ronquerolles." [The Imaginary Mistress. The Peasantry. Ursule
Mirouet.] M. de Ronquerolles was an intimate friend of the Marquis
d'Aiglemont; they even addressed each other familiarly as _thou_
instead of _you_. [A Woman of Thirty.] He alone knew of Marsay's first
love and the name of "Charlotte's" husband. [Another Study of Woman.]
In 1820 the Marquis de Ronquerolles, while at a ball at the
Elysee-Bourbon, in the Duchesse de Berri's house, provoked Auguste de
Maulincour, of whom Ferragus Bourignard had complained, to a duel.
Also, as a result of his membership in the Thirteen, Ronquerolles,
along with Marsay, helped General de Montriveau abduct the Duchesse de
Langeais from the convent of bare-footed Carmelites, where she had
taken refuge. [The Thirteen.] In 1839 he was M. de Rhetore's second in
a duel fought with Dorlange-Sallenauve, the sculptor, in connection
with Marie Gaston. [The Member for Arcis.]
ROSALIE, rosy-cheeked and buxom, waiting-maid to Madame de Merret at
Vendome; then, after the death of her mistress, servant employed by
Madame Lepas, tavern-keeper in that town. She finally told Horace
Bianchon the drama of La Grande Breteche and the misfortunes of the
Merrets. [La Grande Breteche.]
ROSALIE, chambermaid to Madame Moreau at Presles in 1822. [A Start in
Life.]
ROSE, maid in the service of Armande-Louise-Marie de Chaulieu in 1823,
at the time when this young lady, having left the Carmelites of Blois,
came to live with her father on the Boulevard des Invalides in Paris.
[Letters of Two Brides.]
ROSINA, an Italian from Messina, wife of a Piedmont gentleman, who was
captain in the French army under the Empire; mistress of her husband's
colonel. She died with her lover near Beresina in 1812, her jealous
husband having set fire to the hut which she and the colonel were
occupying. [Another Study of Woman.]
ROUBAUD, born about 1803 was declared doctor by the Paris medical
school, a pupil of Desplein; practiced medicine at Montegnac,
Haute-Vienne, under Louis Philippe, small man of fair skin and very
insipid appearance, but with gray eyes which betrayed the depth of a
physiologist and the tenacity of a student. Roubaud was introduced to
Madame Graslin by the Cure Bonnet, who was in despair at Roubaud's
religious indifference. The young physician admired and secretly loved
this celebrated Limousinese, and became converted suddenly to
Catholicism on seeing the saintly death of Madame Graslin. When dying
she made him head-physician in a hospital founded by her at the
Tascherons near Montegnac. [The Country Parson.]
ROUGET (Doctor), an Issoudun physician under Louis XVI. and the
Republic; born in 1737; died in 1805; married the most beautiful girl
of the city, whom, it is said, he made very unhappy. He had by her two
children: a son, Jean-Jacques; and, ten years later, a daughter,
Agathe, who became Madame Bridau. The birth of this daughter brought
about a rupture between the doctor and his intimate friend, the
sub-delegate Lousteau, whom Rouget, doubtless wrongly, accused of being
the girl's father. Each of these men charged the other with being the
father of Maxence Gilet, who was in reality the son of a dragoon
officer, stationed at Bourges. Doctor Rouget, who passed for a very
disagreeable, unaccommodating man, was selfish and spiteful. He
quickly got rid of his daughter, whom he hated. After his wife, his
mother-in-law and his father-in-law had died, he was very rich, and
although his life was apparently regular and free from scandal, he was
in reality very dissipated. In 1799, filled with admiration for the
beauty of the little Rabouilleuse, Flore Brazier, he received her into
his own home, where she stayed, becoming first the mistress, and
afterwards the wife of his son, Jean-Jacques, and eventually Madame
Philippe Bridau, Comtesse de Bramboug. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
ROUGET (Madame), born Descoings, wife of the preceding, daughter of
rich and avaricous wool-dealers at Issoudun, elder sister of the
grocer, Descoings, who married the widow of M. Bixiou and afterwards
died with Andre Chenier, July 25, 1794, on the scaffold. As a young
woman, although in very poor health, she was celebrated for her
beauty. Not being gifted with a very sound intellect, when married it
was thought that she was very badly treated by Doctor Rouget. Her
husband believed that she was unfaithful to him for the sake of the
sub-delegate, Lousteau. Madame Rouget, deprived of her dearly-beloved
daughter, and finding her son lacking altogether in affection for her,
declined rapidly and died early in 1799, unwept by her husband, who
had counted correctly on her early death. [A Bachelor's
Establishment.]
ROUGET (Jean-Jacques), born at Issoudun in 1768, son of the preceding
couple, brother of Madame Bridau, who was ten years his junior.
Entirely lacking in intellect, he became wildly in love with Flore
Brazier, whom he knew as a child in his father's house. He made this
girl his servant-mistress soon after the doctor's death, and allowed
her lover, Maxence Gilet, near her. He finally married her in 1823,
being urged to do so by his nephew, Philippe Bridau, who soon took
Rouget to Paris, and there arranged for the old man's early death by
starting him into dissipation. [A Bachelor's Establishment.] After the
death of J.-J. Rouget, the Baudrayes of Sancerre bought part of his
furniture, and had it removed from Issoudun to Anzy, where they placed
it in their castle, which had formerly belonged to the Cadignans. [The
Muse of the Department.]
ROUGET (Madame Jean-Jacques). (See Bridau, Madame Philippe.)
ROUSSE (La), significant name given Madame Prelard. (See this last
name.)
ROUSSEAU, driver of the public hack which carried the taxes collected
at Caen. This conveyance was attacked and plundered by robbers in May,
1809, in the forest of Chesnay, near Mortagne, Orne. Rousseau, being
looked upon as an accomplice of the robbers, was included in the
prosecution which took place soon after; but he was acquitted. [The
Seamy Side of History.]
ROUSTAN, Mameluke, in the service of Napoleon Bonaparte. He was with
his master on the eve of the battle of Jena, October 13, 1806, when
Laurence de Cinq-Cygne and M. de Chargeboeuf observed him holding the
Emperor's horse as Napoleon dismounted. This was just before these two
approached the Emperor to ask pardon for the Hauteserres and the
Simeuses, who had been condemned as accomplices in the abduction of
Senator Malin. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
ROUVILLE (de), (See Leseigneur, Madame.)
ROUVRE (Marquis du), father of the Comtesse Clementine Laginska; threw
away a considerable fortune, by means of which he had brought about
his marriage with a Ronquerolles maiden. This fortune was partly eaten
up by Florine, "one of the most charming actresses of Paris." [The
Imaginary Mistress.] M. du Rouvre was the brother-in-law of the Comte
de Serizy, who, like him, had married a Ronquerolles. Having been a
marquis under the old regime, M. du Rouvre was created count and made
chamberlain by the Emperor. [A Start in Life.] In 1829, M. du Rouvre,
then ruined, lived at Nemours. He had near this city a castle which he
sold at great loss to Minoret-Levrault. [Ursule Mirouet.]
ROUVRE (Chevalier du), younger brother of the Marquis du Rouvre; an
eccentric old bachelor, who became wealthy by dealing in houses and
real estate, and is supposed to have left his fortune to his niece,
the Comtesse Clementine Laginska. [The Imaginary Mistress. Ursule
Mirouet.]
ROUZEAU, an Angouleme printer, predecessor and master of
Jerome-Nicolas Sechard, in the eighteenth century. [Lost Illusions.]
RUBEMPRE (Lucien-Chardon de), born in 1800 at Angouleme; son of
Chardon, a surgeon in the armies of the Republic who became an
apothecary in that town, and of Mademoiselle de Rubempre, his wife,
the descendant of a very noble family. He was a journalist, poet,
romance writer, author of "Les Marguerites," a book of sonnets, and of
the "Archer de Charles IX.," a historical romance. He shone for a time
in the salon of Madame de Bargeton, born Marie-Louise-Anais de
Negrepelisse, who became enamored of him, enticed him to Paris, and
there deserted him, at the instigation of her cousin, Madame d'Espard.
He met the members of the Cenacle on rue des Quatre-Vents, and became
well acquainted with D'Arthez. Etienne Lousteau, who revealed to him
the shameful truth concerning literary life, introduced him to the
well-known publisher, Dauriat, and escorted him to an opening night at
the Panorama-Dramatique theatre, where the poet saw the charming
Coralie. She loved him at first sight, and he remained true to her
until her death in 1822. Started by Lousteau into undertaking Liberal
journalism, Lucien de Rubempre passed over suddenly to the Royalist
side, founding the "Reveil," an extremely partisan organ, with the
hope of obtaining from the King the right to adopt the name of his
mother. At this time he frequented the social world and thus brought
to poverty his mistress. He was wounded in a duel by Michel Chrestien,
whom he had made angry by an article in the "Reveil," which had
severely criticised a very excellent book by Daniel d'Arthez. Coralie
having died, he departed for Angouleme on foot, with no resources
except twenty francs that Berenice, the cousin and servant of her
mistress, had received from chance lovers. He came near dying of
exhaustion and sorrow, very near the city of his birth. He found there
Madame de Bargeton, then the wife of Comte Sixte du Chatelet, prefect
of Charente and a state councilor. Despite the warm reception given
him, first by a laudatory article in a local newspaper, and next by a
serenade from his young fellow-citizens, he left Angouleme hastily,
desperate at having been responsible for the ruin of his brother-in-law,
David Sechard, and contemplating suicide. While walking along he
chanced upon Canon Carlos Herrera (Jacques Collin--Vautrin), who took
him to Paris and became the guardian of his future career. In 1824,
while passing an evening at the theatre Porte-Saint-Martin, Rubempre
became acquainted with Esther Van Gobseck, called La Torpille, a
courtesan. They were both seized at once with a violent love. A little
later, at the last Opera ball of the winter of 1824, they would have
compromised their security and pleasure if it had not been for the
interference of Jacques Collin, called Vautrin, and if Lucien had not
denied certain people the pleasure of satisfying their ill-willed
curiosity, by agreeing to take supper at Lointier's.[*] Lucien de
Rubempre sought to become the son-in-law of the Grandlieus; he was
welcomed by the Rabourdins; he became the protector of Savinien de
Portenduere; he became the lover of Mmes. Maufrigneuse and Serizy, and
the beloved of Lydie Peyrade. His life of ambition and of pleasure
ended in the Conciergerie, where he was imprisoned unjustly, charged
with robbing and murdering Esther, or with being an accomplice. He
hanged himself while in prison, May 15, 1830. [Lost Illusions. A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris. The Government Clerks. Ursule
Mirouet. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] Lucien de Rubempre lived in
turn in Paris at the Hotel du Gaillard-Bois, rue de l'Echelle, in a
room in the Quartier Latin, in the Hotel de Cluny on the street of the
same name, in a lodging-house on rue Charlot, in another on rue de la
Lune in company with Coralie, in a little apartment on rue Cassette
with Jacques Collin, who followed him at least to one of his two
houses on the Quai Malaquais and on rue Taitbout, the former home of
Beaudenord and of Caroline de Bellefeuille. He is buried in
Pere-Lachaise in a costly tomb which contains also the body of Esther
Gobseck, and in which there is a place reserved for Jacques Collin. A
series of articles, sharp and pointed, on Rubempre is entitled "Les
Passants de Paris."
[*] The Lointier restaurant, on rue Richelieu, opposite rue de la
Bourse, was very popular about 1846 with the "four hundred."
RUFFARD, called Arrachelaine, a robber and at the same time employed
by Bibi-Lupin, chief of secret police in 1830; connected, with Godet,
in the assassination of the Crottats, husband and wife, committed by
Dannepont, called La Pouraille. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
RUFFIN, born in 1815, the instructor of Francis Graslin after 1840.
Ruffin was a professional teacher, and was possessed of a wonderful
amount of information. His extreme tenderness "did not exclude from
his nature the severity necessary on the part of one who wishes to
govern a child." He was of pleasing appearance, known for his patience
and piety. He was taken to Madame Graslin from his diocese by the
Archbishop Dutheil, and had, for at least nine years, the direction of
the young man who had been put in his charge. [The Country Parson.]
RUSTICOLI. (See La Palferine.)
S
SABATIER, police-agent; Corentin regretted not having had his
assistance in the search with Peyrade, at Gondreville, in 1803. [The
Gondreville Mystery.]
SABATIER (Madame), born in 1809. She formerly sold slippers in the
trade gallery of the Palais de Justice, in Paris; widow of a man who
killed himself by excessive drinking, became a trained nurse, and
married a man whom she had nursed and had cured of an affection of the
urinary ducts ("lurinary," according to Madame Cibot), and by whom she
had a fine child. She lived in rue Barre-du-Bec. Madame Bordevin, a
relative, wife of a butcher of the rue Charlot, was god-mother of the
child. [Cousin Pons.]
SAGREDO, a very wealthy Venetian senator, born in 1730, husband of
Bianca Vendramini; was strangled, in 1760, by Facino Cane, whom he had
found with Bianca, conversing on the subject of love, but in an
entirely innocent way. [Facino Cane.]
SAGREDA (Bianca), wife of the preceding, born Vendramini, about 1742;
in 1760, she undeservingly incurred the suspicion, in the eyes of her
husband, of criminal relations with Facino Cane, and was unwilling to
follow her platonic friend away from Venice after the murder of
Sagredo. [Facino Cane.]
SAILLARD, a clerk of mediocre talent in the Department of Finance,
during the reigns of Louis XVIII. and of Charles X.; formerly
book-keeper at the Treasury, where he is believed to have succeeded the
elder Poiret;[*] he was afterwards appointed chief cashier, and held
that position a long while. Saillard married Mademoiselle Bidault, a
daughter of a furniture merchant, whose establishment was under the
pillars of the Paris market, and a niece of the bill-discounter on rue
Greneta; he had by her a daughter, Elisabeth, who became by marriage
Madame Isidore Baudoyer; owned an old mansion on Place Royale, where
he lived together with the family of Isidore Baudoyer; he became mayor
of his ward during the monarchy of July, and renewed then his
acquaintance with his old comrades of the department, the Minards and
the Thuilliers. [The Government Clerks. The Middle Classes.]
[*] The Compilers subsequently dispute this.
SAILLARD (Madame), wife of the preceding, born Bidault, in 1767; niece
of the bill-discounter called Gigonnet; was the leading spirit of the
household on Place Royale, and, above all, the counselor of her
husband; she reared her daughter Elisabeth, who became Madame
Baudoyer, very strictly. [Cesar Birotteau. The Government Clerks.]
SAIN, shared with Augustin the sceptre of miniature painting under the
Empire. In 1809, before the Wagram campaign, he painted a miniature of
Montcornet, then young and handsome; this painting passed from the
hands of Madame Fortin, mistress of the future marshal, to the hands
of their daughter, Madame Valerie Crevel (formerly Marneffe). [Cousin
Betty.]
SAINT-DENIS (De), assumed name of the police-agent, Corentin.
SAINTE-BEAUVE (Charles-Augustin), born at Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1805;
died in Paris in 1869; an academician and senator under the Second
Empire. An illustrious Frenchman of letters whom Raoul Nathan imitated
poorly enough before Beatrix de Rochefide in his account of the
adventures of Charles-Edouard Rusticoli de la Palferine. [A Prince of
Bohemia.]
SAINTE-SEVERE (Madame de), cousin to Gaston de Nueil, lived in Bayeux,
where she received, in 1822, her young kinsman, just convalescing from
some inflammatory disorder caused by excess in study or in pleasure.
[The Deserted Woman.]
SAINT-ESTEVE (De), name of Jacques Collin as chief of the secret
police.
SAINT-ESTEVE (Madame de), an assumed name, shared by Madame Jacqueline
Collin and Madame Nourrisson.
SAINT-FOUDRILLE (De), a "brilliant scholar," lived in Paris, and most
likely in the Saint-Jacques district, at least about 1840, the time
when Thuillier wished to know him. [The Middle Classes.]
SAINT-FOUDRILLE (Madame de), wife of the preceding, received, about
1840, a very attentive visit from the Thuillier family. [The Middle
Classes.]
SAINT-GEORGES (Chevalier de), 1745-1801, a mulatto, of superb figure
and features, son of a former general; captain of the guards of the
Duc d'Orleans; served with distinction under Dumouriez; arrested in
1794 on suspicion, and released after the 9th Thermidor; he became
distinguished in the pleasing art of music, and especially in the art
of fencing. The Chevalier de Saint-Georges traded at the Cat and
Racket on the rue Saint-Denis, but did not pay his debts. Monsieur
Guillaume had obtained a judgment of the consular government against
him. [At the Sign of the Cat and Racket.] Later he was made popular by
a production of a comedie-vaudeville of Roger de Beauvoir, at the
Varietees under Louis Philippe, with the comedian Lafont[*] as
interpreter.
[*] Complimented in 1836, at the chateau of Madame de la Baudraye, by
Etienne Lousteau and Horace Bianchon.
SAINT-GERMAIN (De), one of the assumed names of police-agent Peyrade.
SAINT-HEREEN (Comte de), husband of Moina d'Aiglemont, was heir of one
of the most illustrious houses of France. He lived with his wife and
mother-in-law in a house belonging to the former, on the rue Plumet
(now rue Oudinot), adjoining the Boulevard des Invalides; about the
middle of December, 1843, he left this house alone to go on a
political mission; during this time his wife received too willingly
the frequent and compromising visits of young Alfred de Vandenesse,
and his mother-in-law died suddenly. [A Woman of Thirty.]
SAINT-HEREEN (Countess Moina de), wife of the preceding; of five
children she was the only one that survived Monsieur and Madame
d'Aiglemont, in the second half of Louis Philippe's reign. Blindly
spoiled by her mother, she repaid that almost exclusive affection by
coldness only, or even disdain. By a cruel word Moina caused the death
of her mother; she dared, indeed, to recall to her mother her former
relations with Marquis Charles de Vandenesse, whose son Alfred she
herself was receiving with too much pleasure in the absence of
Monsieur de Saint-Hereen. [A Woman of Thirty.] In a conversation
concerning love with the Marquise de Vandenesse, Lady Dudley,
Mademoiselle des Touches, the Marquise of Rochefide, and Madame
d'Espard, Moina laughingly remarked: "A lover is forbidden fruit, a
statement that sums up the whole case with me." [A Daughter of Eve.]
Madame Octave de Camps, referring to Nais de l'Estorade, then a girl,
made the following cutting remark: "That little girl makes me anxious;
she reminds me of Moina d'Aiglemont." [The Member for Arcis.]
SAINT-MARTIN (Louis-Claude de), called the "Unknown Philosopher," was
born on the 18th of January, 1743, at Amboise, and died October 13,
1803; he was very often received at Clochegourde by Madame de
Verneuil, an aunt of Madame de Mortsauf, who knew him there. At
Clochegourde, Saint-Martin superintended the publication of his last
books, which were printed at Letourmy's in Tours. [The Lily of the
Valley.]
SAINT-VIER (Madame de). (See Gentillet.)
SAINTOT (Astolphe de), one of the frequenters of the Bargeton salon at
Angouleme; president of the society of agriculture of his town; though
"ignorant as a carp," he passed for a scholar of the first rank; and,
though he did nothing, he let it be believed that he had been occupied
for several years with writing a treatise on modern methods of
cultivation. His success in the world was due, for the most part, to
quotations from Cicero, learned by heart in the morning and recited in
the evening. Though a tall, stout, red-faced man, Saintot seemed to be
ruled by his wife. [Lost Illusions.]
SAINTOT (Madame de), wife of the preceding. Her Christian name was
Elisa, and she was usually called Lili, a childish designaton that was
in strong contrast with the character of this lady, who was dry and
solemn, extremely pious, and a cross and quarrelsome card-player.
[Lost Illusions.]
SALLENAUVE (Francois-Henri-Pantaleon-Dumirail, Marquis de), a noble of
Champagne, lost and ruined by cards, in his old age was reduced to the
degree of a street-sweep, under the service of Jacques Bricheteau.
[The Member for Arcis.]
SALLENAUVE (Comte de), legal son of the preceding, was born in 1809 of
the relations of Catherine-Antoinette Goussard and Jacques Collin;
grandson of Danton through his mother; school-mate of Marie Gaston,
whose friend he continued to be, and for whom he fought a duel. For a
long time he knew nothing of his family, but lived almost to the age
of thirty under the name of Charles Dorlange. [The Member for Arcis.]
SALLENAUVE (Comtesse de), wife of the preceding, born Jeanne-Athenais
de l'Estorade (Nais, by familiar abbreviation) in February, 1827; the
precocious and rather spoilt child of the Comte and Comtesse Louis de
l'Estorade. [Letters of Two Brides. The Member for Arcis.]
SALMON, formerly expert in the museum at Paris. In 1826, while on a
visit at Tours, whither he had gone to see his mother-in-law, he was
engaged to assess a "Virgin" by Valentin and a "Christ" by Lebrun,
paintings which Abbe Francois Birotteau had inherited from Abbe
Chapeloud, having left them in an apartment recently occupied by
himself at Mademoiselle Sophie Gamard's. [The Vicar of Tours.]
SALOMON (Joseph), of Tours, or near Tours, uncle and guardian to
Pauline Salomon de Villenoix, a very rich Jewess. He was deeply
attached to his niece and wished a brilliant match for her. Louis
Lambert, who was engaged to Pauline, said: "This terrible Salomon
freezes me; this man is not of our heaven." [Louis Lambert.]
SAMANON, a squint-eyed speculator, followed the various professions of
a money-handler during the reigns of Louis XVIII., Charles X., and
Louis Philippe. In 1821, Lucien de Rubempre, still a novice, visited
Samanon's establishment in the Faubourg Poissonniere, where he was
then engaged in the numerous trades of dealing in old books and old
clothes, of brokerage, and of discount. There he found a certain great
man of unknown identity, a Bohemian and cynic, who had come to borrow
his own clothes that he had left in pawn. [A Distinguished Provincial
at Paris.] Nearly three years later, Samanon was the man of straw of
the Gobseck-Bidault (Gigonnet) combination, who were persecuting
Chardin des Lupeaulx for the payment of debts due them. [The
Government Clerks.] After 1830, the usurer joined with the Cerizets
and the Claparons when they tried to circumvent Maxime de Trailles. [A
Man of Business.] The same Samanon, about 1844, had bills to the value
of ten thousand francs against Baron Hulot d'Ervy, who was seeking
refuge under the name of Father Vyder. [Cousin Betty.]
SAN-ESTEBAN (Marquise de), a foreign and aristocratic sounding assumed
name, under which Jacqueline Collin disguised herself when she visited
the Conciergerie, in May, 1830, to see Jacques Collin, himself under
the incognito of Carlos Herrera. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
SAN-REAL (Don Hijos, Marquis de), born about 1735, a powerful
nobleman; he enjoyed the friendship of Ferdinand VII., King of Spain,
and married a natural daughter of Lord Dudley, Margarita-Euphemia
Porraberil (born of a Spanish mother), with whom he lived in Paris, in
1815, in a mansion on the rue Saint-Lazare, near Nucingen. [The
Thirteen.]
SAN REAL (Marquise de), wife of the preceding, born Margarita-Euphemia
Porraberil, natural daughter of Lord Dudley and a Spanish woman, and
sister of Henri de Marsay; had the restless energy of her brother,
whom she resembled also in appearance. Brought up at Havana, she was
then taken back to Madrid, accompanied by a creole girl of the
Antilles, Paquita Valdes, with whom she maintained passionate
unnatural relations, that marriage did not interrupt and which were
being continued in Paris in 1815, when the marquise, meeting a rival
in her brother, Henri de Marsay, killed Paquita. After this murder,
Madame de San Real retired to Spain to the convent of Los Dolores.
[The Thirteen.]
SANSON (Charles-Henri), public executioner in the period of the
Revolution, and beheader of Louis XVI.; he attended two masses
commemorating the death of the King, celebrated in 1793 and 1794, by
the Abbe de Marolles, to whom his identity was afterwards disclosed by
Ragon. [An Episode under the Terror.]
SANSON, son of the preceding, born about 1770, descended, as was his
father, from headsmen of Rouen. After having been captain of cavalry
he assisted his father in the execution of Louis XVI.; was his agent
when scaffolds were operated at the same time in the Place Louis XV.
and the Place du Trone, and eventually succeeded him. Sanson was
prepared to "accommodate" Theodore Calvi in May, 1830; he awaited the
condemning order, which was not issued. He had the appearance of a
rather distinguished Englishman. At least Sanson gave Jacques Collin
that impression, when he met the ex-convict, then confined at the
Conciergerie. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] Sanson lived in the
rue des Marais (the district of the Faubourg Saint-Martin), which is a
much shorter street now than formerly.
SARCUS was justice of the peace, in the reign of Louis XVIII., at
Soulanges (Bourgogne), where he lived on his fifteen hundred francs,
together with the rent of a house in which he lived, and three hundred
francs from the public funds. Sarcus married the elder sister of
Vermut, the druggist of Soulanges, by whom he had a daughter, Adeline,
afterwards Madame Adolphe Sibilet. This functionary of inferior order,
a handsome little old man with iron-gray hair, was none the less the
politician of the first order in the society of Soulanges, which was
completely under Madame Soudry's sway, and which counted almost all
Montcornet's enemies. [The Peasantry.]
SARCUS, cousin in the third degree of the preceding; called Sarcus the
Rich; in 1817 a counselor at the prefecture of the department of
Bourgogne, which Monsieur de la Roche-Hugon and Monsieur de Casteran
governed successively under the Restoration, and which included as
dependencies Ville-aux-Fayes, Soulanges, Blangy, and Aigues. He
recommended Sibilet as steward for Aigues, which was Montcornet's
estate. Sarcus the Rich was a member of the Chamber of Deputies; he
was also said to be right-hand man to the prefect. [The Peasantry.]
SARCUS (Madame), wife of the preceding; born Vallat, in 1778, of a
family connected with the Gaubertins, was supposed in her youth to
have favored Monsieur Lupin, who, in 1823, was still paying devoted
attentions to this woman of forty-five, the mother of an engineer.
[The Peasantry.]
SARCUS, son of the preceding couple, became, in 1823, general engineer
of bridges and causeways of Ville-aux-Fayes, thus completing the group
of powerful native families hostile to the Montcornets. [The
Peasantry.]
SARCUS-TAUPIN, a miller at Soulanges, who enjoyed an income of fifty
thousand francs; the Nucingen of his town; was father of a daughter
whose hand was sought by Lupin, the notary, and by President Gendrin
for their respective sons. [The Peasantry.]
SARRASINE (Matthieu or Mathieu), a laborer in the neighborhood of
Saint-Die, father of a rich lawyer of Franche-Comte, and grandfather
of the sculptor, Ernest-Jean Sarrasine. [Sarrasine.]
SARRASINE, a rich lawyer of Franche-Comte in the eighteenth century,
father of the sculptor, Ernest-Jean Sarrasine. [Sarrasine.]
SARRASINE (Ernest-Jean), a famous French sculptor, son of the
preceding and grandson of Matthieu Sarrasine. When quite young he
showed a calling for art strong enough to combat the will of his
father, who wished him to adopt the legal profession; he went to
Paris, entered Bouchardon's studio, found a friend and protector in
this master; became acquainted with Madame Geoffrin, Sophie Arnould,
the Baron d'Holbach, and J.-J. Rousseau. Having become the lover of
Clotilde, the famous singer at the Opera, Sarrasine won the sculptor's
prize founded by Marigny, a brother of La Pompadour, and received
praise from Diderot. He then went to Rome to live (1758); became
intimate with Vien, Louthrebourg,[*] Allegrain, Vitagliani, Cicognara,
and Chigi. He then fell madly in love with the eunuch Zambinella,
uncle of the Lanty-Duvignons; believing him to be a woman, he made a
magnificent bust of the singular singer, who was kept by Cicognara,
and, having carried him off, was murdered at the instigation of his
rival in the same year, 1758. The story of Sarrasine's life was
related, during the Restoration, to Beatrix de Rochefide. [Sarrasine.
The Member for Arcis.]
[*] Or Louthrebourg, and also Lauterbourg, intentionally left out in
the Repertory because of the various ways of spelling the name.
SAUTELOUP, familiarly called "Father Sauteloup," had the task, in May,
1830, of reading to Theodore Calvi, who was condemned to death and a
prisoner in the Conciegerie, the denial of his petition for appeal.
[Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
SAUVAGE (Madame), a person of repulsive appearance, and of doubtful
morality, the servant-mistress of Maitre Fraisier; on the death of
Pons, kept house for Schmucke, who inherited from Pons to the
prejudice of the Camusot de Marvilles. [Cousin Pons.]
SAUVAGE, first deputy of the king's attorney at Alencon; a young
magistrate, married, harsh, stiff, ambitious, and selfish; took sides
against Victurnien d'Esgrignon in the notorious affair known as the
D'Esgrignon-Du-Bousquier case; after the famous lawsuit he was sent to
Corsica. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
SAUVAGNEST, successor of the attorney Bordin, and predecessor of
Maitre Desroches; was an attorney in Paris. [A Start in Life.]
SAUVAIGNOU (of Marseilles), a head carpenter, had a hand in the sale
of the house on the Place de la Madeleine which was bought in 1840, by
the Thuilliers at the urgent instance of Cerizet, Claparon, Dutocq,
and especially Theodose de la Peyrade. [The Middle Classes.]
SAUVIAT (Jerome-Baptiste), born in Auvergne, about 1747; a traveling
tradesman from 1792 to 1796; of commercial tastes, rough, energetic,
and avaricious; of a profoundly religious nature; was imprisoned
during the Terror; barely escaped being beheaded for abetting the
escape of a bishop; married Mademoiselle Champagnac at Limoges in
1797; had by her a daughter, Veronique (Madame Pierre Graslin); after
the death of his father-in-law, he bought, in the same town, the house
which he was occupying as tenant and where he sold old iron; he
continued his business there; retired from business in wealth, but
still, at a later period, went as superintendent into a porcelain
factory with J.-F. Tascheron; gave his attention to that work for at
least three years, and died then through an accident in 1827. [The
Country Parson.]
SAUVIAT (Madame), wife of the preceding; born Champagnac, about 1767;
daughter of a coppersmith of Limoges, who became a widower in 1797,
and from whom she afterwards inherited. Madame Sauviat lived, in turn,
near the rue de la Vieille-Poste, a suburb of Limoges, and at
Montegnac. Like Sauviat, she was industrious, rough, grasping,
economical, and hard, but pious withal; and like him, too, she adored
Veronique, whose terrible secret she knew,--a sort of Marcellange
affair.[*] [The Country Parson.]
[*] A famous criminal case of the time.
SAVARON DE SAVARUS, a noble and wealthy family, whose various members
known in the eighteenth century were as follows: Savaron de Savarus
(of Tournai), a Fleming, true to Flemish traditions, with whom the
Claes and the Pierquins seem to have had transactions. [The Quest of
the Absolute.] Mademoiselle Savarus, a native of Brabant, a wealthy
unmarried heiress; Savarus (Albert), a French attorney, descended, but
not lineally, from the Comte de Savarus. [Albert Savarus.]
SAVARUS (Albert Savaron de), of the family of the preceding list, but
natural son of the Comte de Savarus, was born about 1798; was
secretary to a minister of Charles X., and was also Master of
Requests. The Revolution of 1830 fatally interrupted a very promising
career; a deep love, which was reciprocated, for the Duchesse
d'Argaiolo (afterwards Madame Alphonse de Rhetore), restored to
Savarus his energetic and enterprising spirit; he succeeded in being
admitted to the bar of Besancon, built up a good practice, succeeded
brilliantly, founded the "Revue de l'Est," in which he published an
autobiographic novel, "L'Ambitieux par Amour," and met with warm
support in his candidacy for the Chamber of Deputies (1834). Albert
Savarus, with his mask of a deep thinker, might have seen all his
dreams realized, but for the romantic and jealous fancies of Rosalie
de Watteville, who discovered and undid the advocate's plans, by
bringing about the second marriage of Madame d'Argaiolo. His hopes
thus baffled, Albert Savarus became a friar of the parent institution
of the Carthusians, which was situated near Grenoble, and was known as
Brother Albert. [The Quest of the Absolute. Albert Savarus.]
SCHERBELLOFF, Scherbelloff, or Sherbelloff (Princesse), maternal
grandmother of Madame de Montcornet. [The Peasantry. Jealousies of a
Country Town.]
SCHILTZ married a Barnheim (of Baden), and had by her a daughter,
Josephine, afterwards Madame Fabien du Ronceret; was an "intrepid
officer, a chief among those bold Alsatian partisans who almost saved
the Emperor in the campaign of France." He died at Metz, despoiled and
ruined. [Beatrix.]
SCHILTZ (Josephine), otherwise known as Madame Schontz. (See Ronceret,
Madame Fabien du.)
SCHINNER (Mademoiselle), mother of Hippolyte Schinner, the painter,
and daughter of an Alsatian farmer; being seduced by a coarse but
wealthy man, she refused the money offered as compensation for
refusing to legitimize their liaison, and consoled herself in the joys
of maternity, the duties whereof she fulfilled with the most perfect
devotion. At the time of her son's marriage she was living in Paris,
and shared with him an apartment situated near the artist's studio,
and not far from the Madeleine, on the rue des Champs-Elysees. [The
Purse.]
SCHINNER (Hippolyte), a painter, natural son of the preceding; of
Alsatian origin, and recognized by his mother only; a pupil of Gros,
in whose studio he formed a close intimacy with Joseph Bridau. [A
Bachelor's Establishment.] He was married during the reign of Louis
XVIII.; he was at that time a knight of the Legion of Honor, and was
already a celebrated character. While working in Paris, near the
Madeleine, in a house belonging to Molineux, he met the other
occupants, Madame and Mademoiselle Leseigneur de Rouville, and seems
to have imitated with respect to them the delicate conduct of their
benefactor and friend, Kergarouet; was touched by the cordiality
extended to him by the baroness in spite of his poverty; he loved
Adelaide de Rouville, and the passion being reciprocated, he married
her. [The Purse.] Being associated with Pierre Grassou, he gave him
excellent advice, which this indifferent artist was scarceley able to
profit by. [Pierre Grassou.] In 1822, the Comte de Serizy employed
Schinner to decorate the chateau of Presles; Joseph Bridau, who was
trying his hand, completed the master's work, and even, in a passing
fit of levity, appropriated his name. [A Start in Life.] Schinner was
mentioned in the autobiographical novel of Albert Savarus,
"L'Ambitieux par Amour." [Albert Savarus.] He was the friend of Xavier
Rabourdin. [The Government Clerks.] He drew vignettes for the works of
Canalis. [Modeste Mignon.] To him we owe the remarkable ceilings of
Adam Laginski's house situated on the rue de la Pepiniere. [The
Imaginary Mistress.] About 1845, Hippolyte Schinner lived not far from
the rue de Berlin, near Leon de Lora, to whom he had been first
instructor. [The Unconscious Humorists.]
SCHINNER (Madame), wife of Hippolyte Schinner, born Adelaide
Leseigneur de Rouville, daughter of the Baron and Baronne de Rouville,
her father being a naval officer; lived during the Restoration in
Paris with her mother, boarding at a house situated on the rue de
Surene and belonging to Molineux. Bereft of her father, the future
Madame Schinner would then have found it difficult to await the slow
adjustment of her father's pension, had not their old friend, Admiral
de Kergarouet, come in his unobtrusive way to the assistance of
herself and her mother. About the same time she nursed their neighbor,
Hippolyte Schinner, who was suffering from the effects of a fall, and
conceived for him a love that was returned; the gift of a little
embroidered purse on the part of the young woman brought about the
marriage. [The Purse.]
SCHMUCKE (Wilhelm), a German Catholic, and a man of great musical
talent; open-hearted, absent-minded, kind, sincere, of simple manners,
of gentle and upright bearing. Originally he was precentor to the
Margrave of Anspach; he had known Hoffman, the eccentric writer of
Berlin, in whose memory he afterwards had a cat named Murr. Schmucke
then went to Paris; in 1835-36, he lived there in a small apartment on
the Quai Conti, at the corner of the rue de Nevers.[*] Previous to
this, in the Quartier du Marais, he gave lessons in harmony, that were
much appreciated, to the daughters of the Granvilles, afterwards
Mesdames de Vandenesse and du Tillet; at a later period the former
lady asked him to endorse some notes of hand for Raoul Nathan's
benefit. [A Daughter of Eve.] Schmucke was also instructor of Lydie
Peyrade before her marriage with Theodose de la Peyrade. [Scenes from
a Courtesan's Life]; but those whom he regarded as his favorite pupils
were Mesdames de Vandenesse and du Tillet, and the future Vicomtesse
de Portenduere, Mademoiselle Mirouet of Nemours, the three
"Saint-Cecilias" who combined to pay him an annuity. [Ursule Mirouet.]
The former precentor, now of ugly and aged appearance, readily obtained
a welcome with the principals of boarding-schools for young ladies. At a
distribution of prizes he was brought in contact with Sylvain Pons for
whom he immediately felt an affection that proved to be mutual (1834).
Their intimacy brought them under the same roof, rue de Normandie, as
tenants of C.-J. Pillerault (1836). Schmucke lived for nine years in
perfect happiness. Gaudissart, having become manager of a theatre,
employed him in his orchestra, entrusted him with the work of making
copies of the music, and employed him to play the piano and various
instruments that were not used in the boulevard theatres: the viol
d'amore, English horn, violoncello, harp, castanets, bells, saxhorns,
etc. Pons made him his residuary legatee (April, 1845); but the
innocent German was not strong enough to contend with Maitre Fraisier,
agent of the Camusot de Marvilles, who were ignored in this will. In
spite of Topinard, to whom, in despair at the death of his friend, he
went to demand hospitality, in the Bordin district, Schmucke allowed
himself to be swindled, and was soon carried off by apoplexy. [Cousin
Pons.]
[*] Perhaps the former lodging place of Napoleon Bonaparte.
SCHONTZ (Madame), name borne by Mademoiselle Schiltz, afterwards
Madame Fabien du Ronceret. (See this last name.)
SCHWAB (Wilhelm), born at Strasbourg in the early part of the
nineteenth century, of the German family of Kehl, had Frederic (Fritz)
Brunner as his friend, whose follies he shared, whose poverty he
relieved, and with whom he went to Paris; there they went to the Hotel
du Rhin, rue du Mail, kept by Johann Graff, father of Emilie, and
brother of the famous tailor, Wolfgang Graff. Schwab kept books for
this rival of Humann and Staub. Several years later he played the
flute at the theatre at which Sylvain Pons directed the orchestra.
During an intermission at the first brilliant performance of "La
Fiancee du Diable," presented in the fall of 1844, Schwab invited Pons
through Schmucke to his approaching wedding; he married Mademoiselle
Emilie Graff--a love-match--and joined in business with Frederic
Brunner, who was a banker and enriched by the inheritance of his
father's property. [Cousin Pons.]
SCHWAB (Madame Wilhelm), wife of the preceding; born Mademoiselle
Emilie Graff; an accomplished beauty, niece of Wolfgang Graff, the
wealthy tailor, who provided her with dowry. [Cousin Pons.]
SCIO (Madame), a prominent singer of the Theatre Feydeau in 1798, was
very beautiful in "Les Peruviens," a comic opera by Mongenod, produced
with very indifferent success. [The Seamy Side of History.]
SCOEVOLA (Mucius). Under this assumed name was concealed, during the
Terror, a man who had been huntsman to the Prince de Conti, to whom he
owed his fortune. A plasterer, and proprietor of a small house in
Paris, on about the highest point of the Faubourg Saint-Martin,[*]
near the rue d'Allemagne, he affected an exaggerated civism, which
masked an unfailing fidelity to the Bourbons, and he in some
mysterious way afforded protection to Sisters Marthe and Agathe
(Mesdemoiselles de Beauseant and de Langeais), nuns who had escaped
from the Abbey of Chelles, and were, with Abbe de Marolles, taking
refuge under his roof. [An Episode under the Terror.]
[*] His parish was the Saint-Laurent church, which for a while during
the Revolution had the name of Temple of Fidelity.
SECHARD (Jerome-Nicolas), born in 1743. After having been a workman in
a printer's shop of Angouleme situated on the Place du Murier, though
very illiterate, he became its owner at the beginning of the
Revolution; was acquainted at that time with the Marquis de Maucombe,
married a woman that was provided with a certain competency, but soon
lost her, after having by her a son, David. In the reign of Louis
XVIII., fearing the competition of Cointet, J.-N. Sechard retired from
active life, selling his business to his son, whom he intentionally
deceived in the trade, and moved to Marsac, near Angouleme, where he
raised grapes, and drank to excess. During all the latter part of his
life, Sechard mercilessly aggravated the commercial difficulties which
his son David was struggling against. The old miser died about 1829,
leaving property of some value. [Lost Illusions.]
SECHARD (David), only son of the preceding, school-mate and friend of
Lucien de Rubempre, learned the art of printing from the Didots of
Paris. On one occasion, upon his return to his native soil, he gave
many evidences of his kindness and delicacy; having purchased his
father's printing shop, he allowed himself to be deliberately cheated
and duped by him; employed as proof-reader Lucien de Rubempre, whose
sister, Eve Chardon, he adored with a passion that was fully
reciprocated; he married her in spite of the poverty of both parties,
for his business was on the decline. The expense involved, the
competition of the Cointets, and especially his experiments as
inventor in the hope of finding the secret of a particular way of
making paper, reduced him to very straitened circumstances. Indeed,
everything combined to destroy Sechard; the cunning and power of the
Cointet house, the spying of the ungrateful Cerizet, formerly his
apprentice, the disorderly life of Lucien de Rubempre, and the jealous
greed of his father. A victim of the wiles of Cointet, Sechard
abandoned his discovery, resigned himself to his fate, inherited from
his father, and cheered by the devotion of the Kolbs, dwelt in Marsac,
where Derville, led by Corentin, hunted him out with a view to gaining
information as to the origin of Lucien de Rubempre's million. [Lost
Illusions. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. Scenes from a
Courtesan's Life.]
SECHARD (Madame David), wife of the preceding, born Eve Chardon in
1804, daughter of a druggist of L'Houmeau (a suburb of Angouleme), and
a member of the house of Rubempre; worked first at the house of Madame
Prieur, a laundress, for the consideration of fifteen sous a day;
manifested great devotion to her brother Lucien, and on marrying David
Sechard, in 1821, transferred her devotion to him; having undertaken
to manage the printing shop, she competed with Cerizet, Cointet, and
Petit-Claud, and almost succeeded in softening Jerome-Nicolas Sechard.
Madame Sechard shared with her husband the inheritance of old J.-N.
Sechard, and was then the modest chatelaine of La Verberie, at Marsac.
By her husband she had at least one child, named Lucien. Madame
Sechard was tall and of dark complexion, with blue eyes. [Lost
Illusions. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. Scenes from a
Courtesan's Life.]
SECHARD (Lucien), son of the preceding couple. [Lost Illusions.]
SEGAUD, solicitor at Angouleme, was successor to Petit-Claud, a
magistrate about 1824. [Lost Illusions.]
SELERIER, called the Auvergnat, Pere Ralleau, Le Rouleur, and
especially Fil-de Soie, belonged to the aristocracy of the galleys,
and was a member of the group of "Ten Thousand," whose chief was
Jacques Collin; the latter, however, suspected him of having sold him
to the police, about 1819, when Bibi-Lupin arrested him at the Vauquer
boarding-house. [Father Goriot.] In his business Selerier always
avoided bloodshed. He was of philosophical turn, very selfish,
incapable of love, and ignorant of the meaning of friendship. In May,
1830, when being a prisoner at the Conciergerie, and about to be
condemned to fifteen years of forced labor, he saw and recognized
Jacques Collin, the pseudo-Carlos Herrera, himself incriminated.
[Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
SENONCHES (Jacques de), a noble of Angouleme, a great huntsman, stiff
and haughty, a sort of wild boar; lived on very good terms with his
wife's lover, Francois du Hautoy, and attended Madame de Bargeton's
receptions. [Lost Illusions.]
SENONCHES (Madame Jacques de), wife of the preceding, bore the given
name of Zephirine, which was abbreviated to Zizine. By Francois du
Hautoy, her adored lover, she had a daughter, Francoise de la Haye,
who was presented as her ward, and who became Madame Petit-Claud.
[Lost Illusions.]
SEPHERD (Carl), name assumed by Charles Grandet in the Indies, the
United States, Africa, etc., while he was in the slave-trading
business. [Eugenie Grandet.]
SERIZY, or Serisy (Comte Hugret de), born in 1765, descended in direct
line from the famous President Hugret, ennobled under Francois I. The
motto of this family was "I, semper melius eris," so that the final
_s_ of _melius_, the word _eris_, and the _I_ of the beginning,
represented the name (Serizy) of the estate that had been made a
county. A son of a first president of Parliament (who died in 1794),
Serizy was himself, as early as 1787, a member of the Grand Council;
he did not emigrate during the Revolution, but remained in his estate
of Serizy, near Arpajon; became a member of the Council of Five
Hundred, and afterwards of the Council of State. The Empire made him a
count and a senator. Hugret de Serizy was married, in 1806, to
Leontine de Ronquerolles, the widow of General Gaubert. This union
made him the brother-in-law of the Marquis de Ronquerolles, and the
Marquis du Rouvre. Every honor was alloted to him in course;
chamberlain under the Empire, he afterwards became vice-president of
the Council of State, peer of France, Grand Cross of the Legion of
Honor, and member of the Privy Council. The glorious career of Serizy,
who was an unusually industrious person, did not offer compensation
for his domestic misfortunes. Hard work and protracted vigils soon
aged the high functionary, who was ever unable to win his wife's
heart; but he loved her and sheltered her none the less constantly. It
was chiefly to avenge her for the indiscretion of the volatile young
Oscar Husson, Moreau's godson, that he discharged the not overhonest
steward of Presles. [A Start in Life.] The system of government that
succeeded the Empire increased Serizy's influence and renown; he was
an intimate friend of the Bauvans and the Grandvilles. [A Bachelor's
Establishment. Honorine. Modeste Mignon.] His weakness in matters
concerning his wife was such that he assisted her in person, when, in
May, 1830, she hastened to the Conciergerie in the hope of saving her
lover, Lucien de Rubempre, and entered the cell where the young man
had just committed suicide. Serizy even consented to be executor of
the poet's will. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
SERIZY (Comtesse de), wife of the preceding, born Leontine de
Ronquerolles about 1784, sister of the Marquis du Ronquerolles;
married, as her first husband, General Gaubert, one of the most
illustrious soldiers of the Republic; married a second time, when
quite young, but could never entertain any feeling stronger than
respect for M. de Serizy, her second husband, by whom, however, she
had a son, an officer, who was killed during the reign of Louis
Philippe. [A Start in Life.] Worldly and brilliant, and a worthy rival
of Mesdames de Beauseant, de Langeais, de Maufrigneuse, de Carigliano,
and d'Espard, Leontine de Serizy had several lovers, among them being
Auguste de Maulincour, Victor d'Aiglemont and Lucien de Rubempre. [The
Thirteen. Ursule Mirouet. A Woman of Thirty.] This last liaison was a
very stormy one. Lucien acquired considerable influence over Madame de
Serizy, and made use of it to reach the Marquise d'Espard, by
effecting an annulment of the decree which she had obtained against
her husband, the Marquis d'Espard, placing him under guardianship. And
so it was that, during Rubempre's imprisonment and after his suicide,
she suffered the bitterest anguish. Leontine de Serizy almost broke
the bars of the Conciergerie, insulted Camusot, the examining
magistrate, and seemed to be beside herself. The intervention of
Jacques Collin saved her and cured her, when three famous physicians,
Messieurs Bianchon, Desplein, and Sinard declared themselves powerless
to relieve her. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] During the winter
the Comtesse de Serizy lived on the Chaussee-d'Antin; during the
summer at Serizy, her favorite residence, or still more at Presles,
and sometimes near Nemours in Le Rouvre, the seat of the family of
that name. Being a neighbor, in Paris, of Felicite des Touches, she
was a frequent visitor of that emulator of George Sand, and was at her
house when Marsay related the story of his first love-affair, taking
part herself in the conversation. [Another Study of Woman.] Being a
maternal aunt of Clementine du Rouvre, Madame de Serizy gave her a
handsome dowry when she married Laginski; with her brother
Ronquerolles, at his home on the rue de la Pepiniere, she met Thaddee
Paz, the Pole's comrade. [The Imaginary Mistress.]
SERIZY (Vicomte de), only son of the preceding couple, graduated from
the Ecole Polytechnique in 1825, and entered the cavalry regiment of
the Garde Royale, by favor, as sub-lieutenant, under command of the
Duc de Maufrigneuse; at this time Oscar Husson, nephew of Cardot,
entered the same regiment as a private. [A Start in Life.] In October,
1829, Serizy, being an officer in the company of the guards stationed
at Havre, was instructed to inform M. de Verneuil, proprietor of some
well-stocked Norman "preserves," that Madame could not participate in
the chase that he had organized. Having become enamored of Diane de
Maufrigneuse, the viscount found her at Verneuil's house; she received
his attentions, as a means of avenging herself on Leontine de Serizy,
then mistress of Lucien de Rubempre. [Modeste Mignon.] Being advanced
to the rank of lieutenant-colonel of a cavalry regiment, he was
severely wounded at the disastrous battle of Macta, in Africa (June
26, 1835), and died at Toulon as a result of his wounds. [The
Imaginary Mistress. A Start in Life.]
SERVAIS, the only good gilder in Paris, according to Elie Magus, whose
advice he heeded; he had the good sense to use English gold, which is
far better than the French. Like the book-binder, Thouvenin, he was in
love with his own work. [Cousin Pons.]
SERVIEN (Prudence), born, in 1806, at Valenciennes, daughter of very
poor weavers, was employed, from the age of seven years, in a
spinning-mill; corrupted early by her life in the work-room, she was a
mother at the age of thirteen; having had to testify in the Court of
Assizes against Jean-Francois Durut, she made of him a formidable
enemy, and fell into the power of Jacques Collin, who promised to
shelter her from the resentment of the convict. She was at one time a
ballet-girl, and afterwards served as Esther van Gobseck's
chamber-maid, under the names of Eugenie and Europe; was the mistress
of Paccard, whom she very probably married afterwards; aided Vautrin
in fooling Nucingen and getting money from him. [Scenes from a
Courtesan's Life.]
SERVIN, born about 1775, a distinguished painter, made a love-match
with the daughter of a penniless general; in 1815 was manager of a
studio in Paris, which was frequented by Mademoiselle Laure, and
Mesdemoiselles Mathilde-Melanie Roguin, Amelie Thirion and Ginevra di
Piombo, the last three of whom were afterwards, respectively, Mesdames
Tiphaine, Camusot de Marville, and Porta. Servin at that time was
concealing an exile who was sought by the police, namely Luigi Porta,
who married the master's favorite pupil, Mademoiselle Ginevra di
Piombo. [The Vendetta.]
SERVIN (Madame), wife of the preceding, remembering that the romance
of Porta and Ginevra's love had been the cause of all his pupils'
leaving her husband's studio, refused to shelter Mademoiselle de
Piombo when driven from her father's home. [The Vendetta.]
SEVERAC (De), born in 1764, a country gentleman, mayor of a village in
the canton of Angouleme, and the author of an article on silkworms,
was received at Madame de Bargeton's in 1821. A widower, without
children, and doubtless very rich, but not knowing the ways of the
world, one evening on the rue du Minage, he found as ready listeners
only the poor but aristocratic Madame du Brossard and her daughter
Camille, a young woman of twenty-seven years. [Lost Illusions.]
SIBILET, clerk of the court at Ville-aux-Fayes (Bourgogne), distant
cousin of Francois Gaubertin, married a Mademoiselle Gaubertin-Vallat,
and had by that marriage six children. [The Peasantry.]
SIBILET (Adolphe), eldest of the six children of the preceding, born
about 1793; was, at first, clerk to a notary, then an unimportant
employe in the land-registry office; and then, in the latter part of
the year 1817, succeeded his cousin, Francois Gaubertin, in the
administration of Aigues, General de Montcornet's estate, in
Bourgogne. Sibilet had married Mademoiselle Adeline Sarcus (of the
poor branch), who bore him two children in three years; his selfish
interest and his personal obligations led him to gratify the
ill-feeling of his predecessor, by being disloyal to Montcornet. [The
Peasantry.]
SIBILET (Madame Adolphe), wife of the preceding, born Adeline Sarcus,
only daughter of a justice of the peace, rich with beauty as her sole
fortune, she was reared by her mother, in the little village of
Soulanges (Bourgogne), with all possible care. Not having been able to
marry Amaury Lupin (son of Lupin the notary), with whom she was in
love, in despair she allowed herself, three years after her mother's
death, to be married, by her father, to the disagreeable and repulsive
Adolphe Sibilet. [The Peasantry.]
SIBILET, son of the court clerk, and police commissioner at Ville-aux
Fayes. [The Peasantry.]
SIBILET (Mademoiselle), daughter of the court clerk, afterwards Madame
Herve. [The Peasantry.]
SIBILET, son of the court clerk, first clerk of Maitre Corbinet,
notary at Ville-aux-Fayes, to whom he was the appointed successor.
[The Peasantry.]
SIBILET, son of the court clerk, and clerk in the Department of Public
Lands, presumptive successor of the registrar of documents at
Ville-aux-Fayes. [The Peasantry.]
SIBILET (Mademoiselle), daughter of the court clerk, born about 1807,
postmistress at Ville-aux Fayes; betrothed to Captain Corbinet,
brother of the notary. [The Peasantry.]
SIBUELLE, a wealthy contractor of somewhat tarnished reputation during
the Directory and the Consulate, gave his daughter in marriage to
Malin de Gondreville, and through the credit of his son-in-law became,
with Marion, co-receiver-general of the department of Aube. [The
Gondreville Mystery.]
SIBUELLE (Mademoiselle), only daughter of the preceding, became Madame
Malin de Gondreville. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
SEYES (Emmanuel-Joseph), born in 1748 at Frejus, died in Paris in
1836, was successively vicar-general of Chartres, deputy to the
States-General and the Convention, member of the Committee of Public
Safety, member of the Five Hundred, member of the Directory, consul,
and senator; famous also as a publicist. In June, 1800, he might have
been found in the Office of Foreign Relations, in the rue du Bac,
where he took part with Talleyrand and Fouche, in a secret council, in
which the subject of overthrowing Bonaparte, then First Consul, was
discussed. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
SIGNOL (Henriette), a beautiful girl; of a good family of farmers, in
the employ of Basine Clerget, a laundress at Angouleme; was the
mistress of Cerizet, whom she loved and trusted; served as a tool
against David Sechard, the printer. [Lost Illusions.]
SIMEUSE (Admiral de), father of Jean de Simeuse, was one of the most
eminent French seamen of the eighteenth century. [Beatrix. The
Gondreville Mystery. Jealousies of a Country Town.]
SIMEUSE (Marquis Jean de), whose name, "Cy meurs" or "Si meurs," was
the motto of the family crest, was descended from a noble family of
Bourgogne, who were formerly owners of a Lorrain fief called Ximeuse,
corrupted to Simeuse. M. de Simeuse counted a number of illustrious
men among his ancestors; he married Berthe de Cinq-Cygne; he was
father of twins, Paul-Marie and Marie-Paul. He was guillotined at
Troyes during the Terror; Michu's father-in-law presided over the
Revolutionary tribunal that passed the death-sentence. [The
Gondreville Mystery.]
SIMEUSE (Marquise de), wife of the preceding, born Berthe de
Cinq-Cygne, was executed at Troyes at the same time with her husband.
[The Gondreville Mystery.]
SIMEUSE (Paul-Marie and Marie-Paul), twin sons of the preceding
couple, born in 1773; grandsons on the father's side of the admiral
who was as famous for his dissipation as for his valor; descended from
the original owners of the famous Gondreville estate in Aube, and
belonged to the noble Champagne family of the Chargeboeufs, the
younger branch of which was represented by their mother, Berthe de
Cinq-Cygne. Paul-Marie and Marie-Paul were among the emigrants; they
returned to France about 1803. Both being in love with their cousin,
Laurence de Cinq-Cygne, an ardent Royalist, they cast lots to decide
which should be her husband; fate favored Marie-Paul, the younger, but
circumstances prevented the consummation of the marriage. The twins
differed only in disposition, and there in only one point: Paul-Marie
was melancholy, while Marie-Paul was of a bright disposition. Despite
the advice of their elderly relative, M. de Chargeboeuf, Messieurs de
Simeuse compromised themselves with the Hauteserres; being watched by
Fouche, who sent Peyrade and Corentin to keep an eye on them, they
were accused of the abduction of Malin, of which they were not guilty,
and sentenced to twenty-four years of penal servitude; were pardoned
by Napoleon, entered as sub-lieutenants the same cavalry regiment, and
were killed together in the battle of Sommo-Sierra (near Madrid,
November 30, 1808). [The Gondreville Mystery.]
SIMONIN let carriages on the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, Cour des
Coches, Paris; about 1840, he let a berlin to Madame de Godollo, who,
in accordance with the instructions of Corentin, the police-agent, was
pretending to be taking a journey, but went no further than the Bois
de Boulogne. [The Middle Classes.]
SIMONNIN, in the reign of Louis XVIII., was "errand-boy" to Maitre
Derville on the rue Vivienne, Paris, when that advocate received
Hyacinthe Chabert. [Colonel Chabert].
SINARD, a Paris physician, was called, in May, 1830, together with
Messieurs Desplein and Bianchon, to the bedside of Leontine de Serizy,
who had lost her reason after the tragic end of her lover, Lucien de
Rubempre. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
SINET (Seraphine), a celebrated lorette, born in 1820, known by the
sobriquet of Carabine, was present at Josepha Mirah's house-warming on
the rue de la Ville-l'Eveque, in 1838. Five years later, being then
mistress of the wealthy F. du Tillet, Mademoiselle Sinet supplanted
the vivacious Marguerite Turquet as queen of the lorettes. [Cousin
Betty.] A woman of splendid appearance, Seraphine was one of the
marching chorus at the Opera, and occupied the fine apartment on the
rue Saint-Georges, where before her Suzanne du Val-Noble, Esther van
Gobseck, Florine, and Madame Schontz had reigned. Of ready wit,
dashing manners, and impish brazenness, Carabine held many successful
receptions. Every day her table was set in magnificent style for ten
guests. Artists, men of letters, and society favorites were among her
frequent visitors. S.-P. Gazonal was taken to see her, in 1845, by
Leon de Lora and Bixiou, together with Jenny Cadine of the Theatre du
Gymnase; and there he met Massol, Claude Vignon, Maxime de Trailles,
Nucingen, F. du Bruel, Malaga, Monsieur and Madame Gaillard, and
Vauvinet, with a multitude of others, to say nothing of F. du Tillet.
[The Unconscious Humorists.]
SINOT, attorney at Arcis-sur-Aube, commanded the patronage of the
"Henriquinquistes" (partisans of Henri V.) in 1839, when the district
had to elect a deputy to replace M. Francois Keller. [The Member for
Arcis.]
SOCQUARD, during the Empire and the Restoration, kept the Cafe de la
Paix at Soulanges (Bourgogne). The Milo of Crotona of the Avonne
Valley, a stout little man, of placid countenance, and a high, clear
voice. He was manager of the Tivoli, a dancing-hall adjoining the
cafe. Monsieur Vermichel, violin, and Monsieur Fourchon, clarinet,
constituted the orchestra. Plissoud, Bonnebault, Viallet, and Amaury
Lupin were steady patrons of his establishment, which was long famous
for its billiards, its punch, and its mulled wine. In 1823, Socquard
lost his wife. [The Peasantry.]
SOCQUARD (Madame Junie), wife of the preceding, had many thrilling
love-affairs during the Empire. She was very beautiful, and her
luxurious mode of living, to which the leading men of Soulanges
contributed, was notorious in the Avonne valley. Lupin, the notary,
had been guilty of great weakness in her direction, and Gaubertin, who
took her away from him, unquestionably had by her a natural son,
little Bournier. Junie was the secret of the prosperity of the
Socquard house. She brought her husband a vineyard, the house he lived
in, and the Tivoli. She died in the reign of Louis XVIII. [The
Peasantry.]
SOCQUARD (Aglae), daughter of the preceding couple, born in 1801,
inherited her father's ridiculous obesity. Being sought in marriage by
Bonnebault, whom her father esteemed highly as a customer, but little
as a son-in-law, she excited the jealousy of Marie Tonsard, and was
always at daggers drawn with her. [The Peasantry.]
SODERINI (Prince), father of Madame d'Argaiolo, who was afterwards the
Duchesse Alphonse de Rhetore; at Besancon, in 1834, he demanded of
Albert Savarus his daughter's letters and portrait. His sudden arrival
caused a hasty departure on the part of Savarus, then a candidate for
election to the Chamber of Deputies, and ignorant of Madame
d'Argaiolo's approaching second marriage. [Albert Savarus.]
SOLIS (Abbe de), born about 1733, a Dominican, grand penitentiary of
Toledo, vicar-general of the Archbishopric of Malines; a venerable
priest, unassuming, kindly and large of person. He adopted Emmanuel de
Solis, his brother's son, and, retiring to Douai, under the acceptable
protection of the Casa-Reals, was confessor and adviser of their last
descendant, Madame Balthazar Claes. The Abbe de Solis died in
December, 1818. [The Quest of the Absolute.]
SOLIS (Emmanuel), nephew and adopted son of the preceding. Poor, and
of a family originally from Granada, he responded well to the
excellent education that he received, followed the teacher's calling,
taught the humanities at the lyceum at Douai, of which he was
afterwards principal, and gave lessons to the brothers of Marguerite
Claes, whom he loved, the feeling being reciprocated. He married her
in 1825; the more fully to enjoy his good fortune, he resigned the
position as inspector of the University, which he then held. Shortly
afterwards he inherited the title of Comte de Nourho, through the
house of Solis. [The Quest of the Absolute.]
SOLIS (Madame Emmanuel de), wife of the preceding, born Marguerite
Claes, in 1796, elder sister of Madame Felicie Pierquin, whose husband
had first sought her hand, received from her dying mother the
injunction to contend respectfully, but firmly, against her father's
foolish efforts as inventor; and, in compliance with her mother's
injunctions, by dint of great perseverance, succeeded in restoring the
family fortunes that had been more than endangered. Madame de Solis
gave birth to a child, in the course of a trip to Spain, where she was
visiting Casa-Real, the cradle of her mother's family. [The Quest of
the Absolute.]
SOLONET, born in 1795, obtained the decoration of the Legion of Honor
for having made very active contribution to the second return of the
Bourbons; was the youthful and worldly notary of Bordeaux; in the
drawing up of the marriage contract between Natalie Evangelista and
Paul de Manerville, he triumphed over the objections raised by his
colleague, Mathias, who was defender of the Manerville interests.
Solonet paid the most devoted attentions of a lover to Madame
Evangelista, but his love was not returned, and he sought her hand in
vain. [A Marriage Settlement.]
SOLVET, a handsome youth, but addicted to gaming and other vices,
loved by Caroline Crochard de Bellefeuille and preferred by her to
Monsieur de Granville, her generous protector. Solvet made
Mademoiselle Crochard very unhappy, ruined her, but was none the less
adored by her. These facts were known to Bianchon, and related by him
to the Comte de Granville, whom he met, one evening, in the reign of
Louis Philippe, near rue Gaillon. [A Second Home.]
SOMMERVIEUX (Theodore de), a painter, winner of the prix de Rome,
knight of the Legion of Honor, was particularly successful in
interiors; and excelled in chiaro-oscuro effects, in imitation of the
Dutch. He made an excellent reproduction of the interior of the Cat
and Racket, on the rue Saint-Denis, which he exhibited at the Salon at
the same time with a fascinating portrait of his future wife,
Mademoiselle Guillaume, with whom he fell madly in love, and whom he
married in 1808, almost in spite of her parents, and thanks to the
kind offices of Madame Roguin, whom he knew in his society life. The
marriage was not a happy one; the daughter of the Guillaumes adored
Sommervieux without understanding him. The painter often neglected his
rooms on the rue des Trois-Freres (now a part of the rue Taitbout) and
transferred his homage to the Marechale de Carigliano. He had an
income of twelve thousand francs; before the Revolution his father was
called the Chevalier de Sommervieux. [At the Sign of the Cat and
Racket.] Theodore de Sommervieux designed a monstrance for Gohier, the
king's goldsmith; this monstrance was bought by Madame Baudoyer and
given to the church of Saint-Paul, at the time of the death of F. de
la Billardiere, head clerk of the administration, whose position she
desired for her husband. [The Government Clerks.] Sommervieux also
drew vignettes for the works of Canalis. [Modeste Mignon.]
SOMMERVIEUX (Madame Theodore de), wife of the preceding, born
Augustine Guillaume, about 1792, second daughter of the Guillaumes of
the Cat and Racket (a drapery establishment on the rue Saint-Denis,
Paris), had a sad life that was soon wrecked; for, with the exception
of Madame Roguin, her family never understood her aspirations to a
higher ideal, or the feeling that prompted her to choose Theodore de
Sommervieux. Mademoiselle Guillaume was married about the middle of
the Empire, at her parish church, Saint-Leu, on the same day that her
sister was married to Lebas, the clerk, and immediately after the
ceremony referred to. A little less coarse in her feelings than her
parents and their associates, but insignificant enough at best,
without being aware of it she displeased the painter, and chilled the
enthusiasm of her husband's studio friends, Schinner, Bridau, Bixiou,
and Lora. Grassou, who was very much of a countryman, was the only one
that refrained from laughing at her. Worn out at last, she tried to
win back the heart that had become the possession of Madame de
Carigliano; she even went to consult her rival, but could not use the
weapons supplied her by the coquettish wife of the marshal, and died
of a broken heart shortly after the famous ball given by Cesar
Birotteau, to which she was invited. She was buried in Montmartre
cemetery. [At the Sign of the Cat and Racket. Cesar Birotteau.]
SONET, marble-worker and contractor for tombstones, at Paris, during
the Restoraton and Louis Philippe's reign. When Pons died, the
marble-worker sent his agent to Schmucke to solicit an order for
statues of Art and Friendship grouped together. Sonet had the
draughtsman Vitelot as partner. The firm name was Sonet & Co. [Cousin
Pons.]
SONET (Madame), wife of the preceding, knew how to lavish attentions
no less zealous than selfish on W. Schmucke, when he returned,
broken-hearted, from Pere-Lachaise, in April, 1845, and suggested to
him, with some modifications however, to take certain allegorical
monuments which the families of Marsay and Keller had formerly refused,
preferring to apply to a genuine artist, the sculptor Stidmann.
[Cousin Pons.]
SOPHIE, rival, namesake and contemporary of the famous Sophie, Doctor
Veron's "blue ribbon," about 1844, was cook to the Comte Popinot on
the rue Basse-du-Rempart, Paris. She must have been a remarkable
culinary artist, for Sylvain Pons, reduced, in consequence of breaking
with the Camusots, to dining at home, on the rue de Normandie, every
day, often exclaimed in fits of melancholy, "O Sophie!" [Cousin Pons.]
SORBIER, a Parisian notary, to whom Chesnel (Choisnel) wrote, in 1822,
from Normandie, to commend to his care the rattle-brained Victurnien
d'Esgrignon. Unfortunately Sorbier was dead, and the letter was sent
to his widow. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
SORBIER (Madame), wife of the preceding, mentioned in Chesnel's (or
Choisnel's) letter of 1822, concerning Victurnien d'Esgrignon. She
scarcely read the note, and simply sent it to her deceased husband's
successor, Maitre Cardot. Thus the widow unwittingly served M. du
Bousquier (du Croisier), the enemy of the D'Esgrignons. [Jealousies of
a Country Town.]
SORIA (Don Ferdinand, Duc de), younger brother of Don Felipe de
Macumer, overwhelmed with kindness by his elder brother, owing him the
duchy of Soria as well as the hand of Marie Heredia, both being
voluntarily renounced by the elder brother. Soria was not ungrateful;
he hastened to his dying brother's bedside in 1829. The latter's death
made Don Ferdinand Baron de Macumer. [Letters of Two Brides.]
SORIA (Duchesse de), wife of the preceding, born Marie Heredia,
daughter of the wealthy Comte Heredia, was loved by two brothers, Don
Ferdinand, Duc de Soria, and Don Felipe de Macumer. Though betrothed
to the latter, she married the former, in accordance with her wishes,
the Baron de Macumer having generously renounced her hand in favor of
Don Ferdinand. The duchess retained a feeling of deep gratitude to him
for his unselfishness, and at a later time bestowed every care on him
in his last illness (1829). [Letters of Two Brides.]
SORMANO, the "shy" servant of the Argaiolos, at the time of their
exile in Switzerland, figures, as a woman, under the name of Gina, in
the autobiographical novel of Albert Savarus, entitled "L'Ambitieux
par l'Amour." [Albert Savarus.]
SOUCHET, a broker at Paris, whose failure ruined Guillaume Grandet,
brother of the well-known cooper of Saumur. [Eugenie Grandet.]
SOUCHET (Francois), winner of the prix de Rome for his sculpture,
about the beginning of Louis XVIII.'s reign; an intimate friend of
Hippolyte Schinner, who confided to him his love for Adelaide
Leseigneur de Rouville, and was rallied on it by him. [The Purse.]
About 1835, with Steinbock's assistance, Souchet carved the panels
over the doors and mantels of Laginski's magnificent house on the rue
de la Pepiniere, Paris. [The Imaginary Mistress.] He had given to
Florine (afterwards Madame Raoul Nathan) a plaster cast of a group
representing an angel holding an aspersorium, which adorned the
actress's sumptuous apartments in 1834. [A Daughter of Eve.]
SOUDRY, born in 1773, a quartermaster, secured a valuable friend in M.
de Soulanges, then adjutant-general, by saving him at the peril of his
own life. Having become brigadier of gendarmes at Soulanges
(Bourgogne), Soudry, in 1815, married Mademoiselle Cochet, Sophie
Laguerre's former lady's-maid. Six years later, he was put on the
retired list, at the request of Montcornet, and replaced in his
brigade by Viallet; but, supported by the influence of Francois
Gaubertin, he was elected mayor of Soulanges, and became the
formidable enemy of the Montcornets. Like Gregoire Rigou, his son's
father-in-law, the old gendarme kept as his mistress, under the same
roof with his wife, his servant Jeannette, who was younger than Madame
Soudry. [The Peasantry.]
SOUDRY (Madame), wife of the preceding, born Cochet in 1763.
Lady's-maid to Sophie Laguerre, Montcornet's predecessor at Aigues,
she had an understanding with Francois Gaubertin, the steward of the
estate, to make a victim of the former opera singer. Twenty days
after the burial of her mistress, La Cochet married the brigadier,
Soudry, a superb specimen of manhood, though pitted with small-pox.
During the reign of Louis XVIII., Madame Soudry, who tried awkwardly
enough to imitate her late mistress, Sophie Laguerre, reigned supreme
in the society of Soulanges, in her parlor which was the meeting
ground of Montcornet's enemies. [The Peasantry.]
SOUDRY, natural son of Soudry, the brigadier of gendarmes; legitimized
at the time of his father's marriage to Mademoiselle Cochet, in 1815.
On the day on which Soudry became legally possessed of a mother, he
had just finished his course at Paris. There he knew Gaubertin's son,
during a stay which he had at first intended to make long enough to
entitle him to be registered as an advocate, and eventually to enter
the legal profession; but he returned to Bourgogne to take charge of
an attorney's practice for which his father paid thirty thousand
francs. However, abandoning pettifoggery, Soudry soon found himself
deputy king's attorney in a department of Bourgogne, and, in 1817,
king's attorney under Attorney-General Bourlac, whom he replaced in
1821, thanks to the influence of Francois Gaubertin. He then married
Mademoiselle Rigou. [The Peasantry.]
SOUDRY (Madame), wife of the preceding, born Arsene Rigou, the only
daughter of wealthy parents, Gregoire Rigou and Arsene Pichard;
resembled her father in cunningness of character, and her mother in
beauty. [The Peasantry.]
SOULANGES (Comte Leon de), born in 1777, was colonel of the artillery
guard in 1809. In the month of November of that year, he found himself
the guest of the Malin de Gondrevilles, in their mansion in Paris, on
the evening of a great party; he met there Montcornet, a friend of his
in the regiment; Madame de Vaudremont, who had once been his mistress,
accompanied by the Martial de la Roche-Hugon, her new lover; and
finally his deserted wife, Madame de Soulanges, who had abandoned
society, but who had come to the senator's house at the instigation of
Madame de Lansac, with a view to a reconciliation, which was
successfully carried out. [Domestic Peace.] Leon de Soulanges had
several children as a result of his marriage; a son and some
daughters; having refused one of his daughters in marriage to
Montcornet, on the ground that she was too young, he made an enemy of
that general. The count, remaining faithful to the Bourbons during the
Hundred Days, was made a peer of France and a general in the artillery
corps. Enjoying the favor of the Duc d'Angouleme, he was allowed a
command during the Spanish war (1823), gained prominence at the seige
of Cadiz and attained the highest degrees in the military hierarchy.
Monsieur de Soulanges, who was very rich, owned, in the territory of
the commune of Blangy (Bourgogne), a forest and a chateau adjoining
the Aigues estate, which had itself once belonged to the house of
Soulanges. At the time of the Crusades, an ancestor of the count had
created this domain. Soulanges's motto was: "Je soule agir." Like M.
de Ronquerolles he got on badly enough with his neighbor Montcornet
and seemed to favor Francois Gaubertin, Gregoire Rigou and Soudry, in
their opposition to the future marshal. [The Peasantry.]
SOULANGES (Comtesse Hortense de), wife of the preceding, and niece of
the Duchesses de Lansac and de Marigny. In November, 1809, at a ball
given by Malin de Gondreville, acting on the advice of Madame de
Lansac, the countess, then on bad terms with her husband, conquered
her proud timidity, and demanded of Martial de la Roche-Hugon a ring
that she had received originally from her husband; M. de Soulanges had
afterwards passed it on to his mistress, Madame de Vaudremont, who had
given it to her lover, M. de la Roche-Hugon; this restitution effected
the reconciliation of the couple. [Domestic Peace.] Hortense de
Soulanges inherited from Madame de Marigny (who died about 1820) the
Guebriant estate, with its encumbrance of an annuity. [The Thirteen.]
Madame de Soulanges followed her husband to Spain at the time of the
war of 1823. [The Peasantry.]
SOULANGES (Amelie de), youngest daughter of the preceding couple,
would have married the Comte Philippe de Brambourg, in 1828, but for
the condemning revelations made by Bixiou concerning Joseph Bridau's
brother. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
SOULANGES (Vicomte de), probably a brother of the preceding, was, in
1836, commander of a squad of hussars at Fountainebleau; then, in
company with Maxime de Trailles, he was going to be second to Savinien
de Portenduere in a duel with Desire Minoret, but the duel was
prevented by the unforeseen death of the latter; the underlying cause
was the disgraceful conduct of the Minoret-Levraults towards Ursule
Mirouet, future Vicomtesse de Portenduere. [Ursule Mirouet.]
SOULAS (Amedee-Sylvain-Jacques de), born in 1809, a gentleman of
Besancon, of Spanish origin (the name was written Souleyas, when
Franche-Comte belonged to Spain), succeeded in shining brightly in the
capital of Doubs on an income of four thousand francs, which allowed
him to employ the services of "Babylas, the tiger." Such discrepancy
between his means and his manner of living may well convey an idea of
this fellow's character, seeing that he sought in vain the hand of
Rosalie de Watteville, but married, in the month of August, 1837,
Madame de Watteville, her widowed mother. [Albert Savarus.]
SOULAS (Madame Amedee de), born Clotilde-Louise de Rupt in 1798, stern
in features and in character, a blonde of the extreme type, was
married, in 1815, to the Baron de Watteville, whom she managed with
little difficulty. She did not find it so easy, however, to govern her
daughter, Rosalie, whom she vainly tried to force to marry M. de
Soulas. The pressure, at Besancon, of Albert Savarus, who was secretly
loved by Mademoiselle de Watteville, gave a political significance to
the salon of Rosalie's parents during the reign of Louis Philippe.
Tired of her daughter's obstinacy, Madame de Watteville, now a widow,
herself married M. de Soulas; she lived in Paris, in the winter at
least, and knew how to be mistress of her house there, as she always
had been elsewhere. [Albert Savarus.]
SPARCHMANN, hospital surgeon at Heilsberg, attended Colonel Chabert
after the battle of Eylau. [Colonel Chabert.]
SPENCER (Lord), about 1830, at Balthazar Claes's sale, bought some
magnificent wainscoting that had been carved by Van Huysum, as well as
the portrait of President Van Claes, a Fleming of the sixteenth
century,--family treasures which the father of Mesdames de Solis and
Pierquin was obliged to give up. [The Quest of the Absolute.]
SPIEGHALTER, a German mechanician, who lived in Paris on the rue de la
Sante, in the early part of Louis Philippe's reign, made unsuccessful
efforts, with the aid of pressure, hammering and rolling, to stretch
the anomalous piece of shagreen submitted to him by Raphael de
Valentin, at the suggestion of Planchette, professor of mechanics.
[The Magic Skin.]
SPONDE (Abbe de), born about 1746, was grand vicar of the bishopric of
Seez. Maternal uncle, guardian, guest, and boarder of Madame du
Bousquier--_nee_ Cormon--of Alencon; he died in 1819, almost blind,
and strangely depressed by his niece's recent marriage. Entirely
removed from worldly interests, he led an ascetic life, and an
uneventful one, entirely consumed in thoughts of salvation,
mortifications of the flesh, and secret works of charity. [Jealousies
of a Country Town.]
STAEL-HOLSTEIN (Anne-Louise-Germaine Necker, Baronne de), daughter of
the famous Necker of Geneva, born in Paris in 1766; became the wife of
the Swiss minister to France; author of "l'Allemagne," of "Corinne,"
and of "Delphine"; noted for her struggle against Napoleon Bonaparte;
mother-in-law of the Duc Victor de Broglie and grandmother of the
generation of the Broglies of the present day; died in the year 1817.
At various times she lived in the Vendomois in temporary exile. During
one of her first stays in the Loire, she was greeted with the singular
formula of admiration, "Fameuse garce!" [The Chouans.] At a later
period, Madame de Stael came upon Louis Lambert, then a ragged urchin,
absorbed in reading a translation of Swedenborg's "Heaven and Hell."
She was struck with him, and had him educated at the college of
Vendome, where he had the future minister, Jules Dufaure, as his boon
companion; but she forgot her protege, who was ruined rather than
benefited by this passing interest. [Louis Lambert.] About 1823 Louise
de Chaulieu (Madame Marie Gaston) believed that Madame de Stael was
still alive, though she died in 1817. [Letters of Two Brides.]
STANHOPE (Lady Esther), niece of Pitt, met Lamartine in Syria, who
described her in his "Voyage en Orient"; had sent Lady Dudley an
Arabian horse, that the latter gave to Felix de Vandenesse in exchange
for a Rembrandt. [The Lily of the Valley.] Madame de Bargeton, growing
weary of Angouleme in the first years of the Restoration, was envious
of this "blue-stocking of the desert." Lady Esther's father, Earl
Charles Stanhope, Viscount Mahon, a peer of England, and a
distinguished scholar, invented a printing press, known to fame as the
Stanhope press, of which the miserly and mechanical Jerome-Nicholas
Sechard expressed a contemptuous opinion to his son. [Lost Illusions.]
STAUB, a German, and a Parisian tailor of reputation; in 1821, made
for Lucien de Rubempre, presumably on credit, some garments that he
went in person to try on the poet at the Hotel du Gaillard-Bois, on
the rue de l'Echelle. Shortly afterwards, he again favored Lucien, who
was brought to his establishment by Coralie. [A Distinguished
Provincial at Paris.]
STEIBELT, a famous musician, during the Empire was the instructor of
Felicite des Touches at Nantes. [Beatrix.]
STEINBOCK (Count Wenceslas), born at Prelie (Livonia) in 1809;
great-nephew of one of Charles XII.'s generals. An exile from his youth,
he went to Paris to live, and, from inclination as much as on account of
his poverty, he became a carver and sculptor. As assistant to Francois
Souchet, a fellow-countryman of Laginski's, Wenceslas Steinbock worked
on the decorations of the Pole's mansion, on the rue de la Pepiniere.
[The Imaginary Mistress.] Living amid squalor on the rue du Doyenne,
he was saved from suicide by his spinster neighbor, Lisbeth Fischer,
who restored his courage and determination, and aided him with her
resources. Wenceslas Steinbock then worked and succeeded. A chance
that brought one of his works to the notice of the Hulot d'Ervys
brought him into connection with these people; he fell in love with
their daughter, and, the love being returned, he married her. Orders
then came in quick succession to Wenceslas, living, as he did, on the
rue Saint-Dominique-Saint-Germain, near the Esplanade des Invalides,
not far from the marble stores, where the government had allowed him a
studio. His services were secured for the work of a monument to be
erected to the Marechal de Montcornet. But Lisbeth Fischer's
vindictive hatred, as well as his own weakness of character, caused
him to fall beneath the fatal dominion of Valerie Marneffe, whose
lover he became; with Stidmann, Vignon, and Massol, he witnessed that
woman's second marriage. Steinbock returned to the conjugal domicile
on the rue Louis-le-Grand, towards the latter part of Louis Philippe's
reign. An exhausted artist, he confined himself to the barren role of
critic; idle reverie replaced power of conception. [Cousin Betty.]
STEINBOCK (Countess Wenceslas), wife of the preceding; born Hortense
Hulot d'Ervy in 1817; daughter of Hector Hulot d'Ervy and Adeline
Fischer; younger sister of Victorin Hulot. Beautiful, and occupying a
brilliant position in society through her parents, but lacking dowry,
she made choice of husband for herself. Endowed with enduring pride of
spirit, Madame Steinbock could with difficulty excuse Wenceslas for
being unfaithful, and pardoned his disloyalty only after a long while.
Her trials ended with the last years of Louis Philippe's reign. The
wisdom and foresight of her brother Victorin, coupled with the results
of the wills of the Marechal Hulot, Lisbeth Fischer, and Valerie
Crevel, at last brought wealth to the countess's household, who lived
successively on the rue Saint-Dominique-Saint-Germain, the rue Plumet,
and the rue Louis-le-Grand. [Cousin Betty.]
STEINBOCK (Wenceslas), only son of the preceding couple, born when his
parents were living together, stayed with his mother after their
separation. [Cousin Betty.]
STEINGEL, an Alsatian, natural son of General Steingel, who fell at
the beginning of the Italian campaigns during the Republic; was, in
Bourgogne, about 1823, under head-keeper Michaud, one of the three
keepers of Montcornet's estates. [The Gondreville Mystery. The
Peasantry.]
STEVENS (Miss Dinah), born in 1791, daughter of an English brewer,
ugly enough, saving, and puritanical, had an income of two hundred and
forty thousand francs and expectations of as much more at her father's
death; the Marquise de Vordac, who met her at some watering-place in
1827, spoke of her to her son Marsay, as a very fine match, and Marsay
pretended that he was to marry the heiress; which he probably did, for
he left a widow that erected to him, at Pere-Lachaise, a superb
monument, the work of Stidmann. [A Marriage Settlement. Cousin Pons.]
STIDMANN, a celebrated carver and sculptor of Paris at the times of
the Restoration and Louis Philippe; Wenceslas Steinbock's teacher; he
carved, for the consideration of seven thousand francs, a
representation of a fox-chase on the ruby-set gold handle of a riding
whip that Ernest de la Briere gave to Modeste Mignon. [Modeste
Mignon.] At the request of Fabien de Ronceret, Stidmann undertook to
decorate an apartment for him on the rue Blanche [Beatrix.], he made
the originals of a chimney-piece for the Hulot d'Ervys; was among the
guests invited by Mademoiselle Brisetout at her little house-warming
on the rue Chauchat (1838); the same year he was present at the
celebration of Wenceslas Steinbock's marriage with Hortense Hulot;
knew Dorlange-Sallenauve; with Vignon, Steinbock and Massol, he was a
witness of Valerie Marneffe's second marriage to Celestin Crevel;
entertained a secret love for Madame Steinbock when she was neglected
by her husband [The Member for Arcis. Cousin Betty.]; executed the
work of Charles Keller's and Marsay's monuments. [Cousin Pons.] In
1845 Stidmann entered the Institute. [The Unconscious Humorists.]
STOPFER (Monsieur and Madame), formerly coopers at Neuchatel, in 1823;
were proprietors of an inn at Gersau (canton of Lucerne), near the
lake, to which Rodolphe came. The same village sheltered the
Gandolphinis, disguised under the name of Lovelace. [Albert Savarus.]
SUCY (General Baron Philippe de), born in 1789, served under the
Empire; on one occasion, at the crossing of the Beresina, he tried to
assure the safety of his mistress, Stephanie de Vandieres, a general's
wife, of whom he afterwards lost all trace. Seven years later,
however, being a colonel and an officer in the Legion of Honor, while
hunting with his friend, the Marquis d'Albon, near the Isle-Adam, Sucy
found Madame de Vandieres insane, under the charge of the alienist
Fanjat, and he undertook to restore her reason. With this end in view,
he arranged an exact reproduction of the parting scenes of 1812, on an
estate of his at Saint-Germain. The mad-woman recognized him indeed,
but she died immediately. Having gained the promotion of general, Sucy
committed suicide, the prey of incurable despair. [Farewell.]
SUZANNE, real given name of Madame Theodore Gaillard.
SUZANNET was, with the Abbe Vernal, the Comte de Fontaine, and M. de
Chatillon, one of the four Vendean chiefs at the time of the uprising
in the West in 1799. [The Chouans.]
SUZETTE, during the first years of Louis XVIII.'s reign, was
lady's-maid to Antoinette de Langeais, in Paris, about the time that
the duchess was receiving attentions from Montriveau. [The Thirteen.]
SUZON was for a long time valet de chambre for Maxime de Trailles. [A
Man of Business. The Member for Arcis.]
SYLVIE, cook for Madame Vauquer, the widow, on the rue
Neuve-Saint-Genevieve, during the years 1819 and 1820, at the time
when Jean-Joachim Goriot, Eugene de Rastignac, Jacques Collin,
Horace Bianchon, the Poirets, Madame Couture, and Victorine Taillefer
boarded there. [Father Goriot.]
T
TABAREAU, bailiff of the justice of the peace in the eighth ward of
Paris in 1844-1845. He was on good terms with Fraisier, the business
agent. Madame Cibot, door-keeper, on the rue de Normandie, retained
Tabareau to make a demand for her upon Schmucke for the payment of
three thousand one hundred and ninety-two francs, due her from the
German musician and Pons, for board, lodging, taxes, etc. [Cousin
Pons.]
TABAREAU (Mademoiselle), only child of Tabareau, the bailiff; a large,
red-haired consumptive; was heir, through her mother, of a house on
the Place Royale; a fact which made her hand sought by Fraisier, the
business agent. [Cousin Pons.]
TABOUREAU, formerly a day-laborer, and afterwards, during the
Restoration, a grain-dealer and money-lender in the commune of Isere,
of which Doctor Benassis was mayor. He was a thin man, very wrinkled,
bent almost double, with thin lips, and a hooked chin that almost made
connection with his nose, little gray eyes spotted with black, and as
sly as a horse-trader. [The Country Doctor.]
TAILLEFER (Jean-Frederic), born about 1779 at Beauvais; by means of a
crime, in 1799, he laid the foundations of his fortune, which was
considerable. In an inn near Andernach, Rhenish Prussia, Jean-Frederic
Taillefer, then a surgeon in the army, killed and robbed, one night, a
rich native tradesman, Monsieur Walhenfer, by name; however, he was
never incommoded by this murder; for accusing appearances pointed to
his friend, colleague and fellow-countryman, Prosper Magnan, who was
executed. Returning to Paris, J.-F. Taillefer was from that time forth
a wealthy and honored personage. He was captain of the first company
of grenadiers of the National Guard, and an influencial banker;
received much attention during the funeral obsequies of J.-B.
d'Aldrigger; made successful speculations in Nucingen's third venture.
He was married twice, and was brutal in his treatment of his first
wife (a relative of Madame Couture) who bore him two children,
Frederic-Michel and Victorine. He was owner of a magnificent mansion
on the rue Joubert. In Louis Philippe's reign he entertained in this
mansion with one of the most brilliant affairs ever known, according
to the account of the guests present, among whom were Blondet,
Rastignac, Valentin, Cardot, Aquilina de la Garde, and Euphrasie. M.
Taillefer suffered, nevertheless, morally and physically; in the first
place because of the crime that he had previously committed, for
remorse for this deed came over him every fall, that being the time of
its perpetration; in the second place, because of gout in the head,
according to Doctor Brousson's diagnosis. Though well cared for by his
second wife, and by his daughter of the first wife, Jean-Frederic died
some time after a sumptuous feast given at his house. An evening
passed in the salon of a banker, father of Mademoiselle Fanny,
hastened Taillefer's end; for there he was obliged to listen to
Hermann's story about the unjust martyrdom of Magnan. The funeral
notice read as follows: "You are invited to be present at the funeral
services of M. Jean-Frederic Taillefer, of the firm Taillefer &
Company, formerly contractor for supplies, in his life-time Knight of
the Legion of Honor and of the Golden Spur, Captain of the National
Guard of Paris, died May 1st, at his mansion, rue Joubert. The
services will be conducted at --, etc. In behalf of----," etc. [The
Firm of Nucingen. Father Goriot. The Magic Skin. The Red Inn.]
TAILLEFER (Madame), first wife of the preceding, and mother of
Frederic-Michel and Victorine Taillefer. As the result of the harsh
treatment by her husband, who unjustly suspected her of being
unfaithful, she died of a broken heart, presumably at quite an early
age. [Father Goriot.]
TAILLEFER (Madame), second wife of Jean-Frederic Taillefer, who
married her as a speculation, but even then made her happy. She seemed
to be devoted to him. [The Red Inn.]
TAILLEFER (Frederic-Michel), son of Jean-Frederic Taillefer by his
first wife, did not even try to protect his sister, Victorine, from
her father's unjust persecutions. Designated heir of the whole of his
father's great fortune, he was killed, in 1819, near Clignancourt, by
a dexterous and unerring stroke, in a duel with Colonel Franchessini,
the duel being instigated by Jacques Collin, in the interest of Eugene
de Rastignac, though the latter knew nothing of the matter. [Father
Goriot.]
TAILLEFER (Victorine), sister of the preceding, and daughter of
Jean-Frederic Taillefer by his first wife; a distant cousin of Madame
Couture; her mother having died in 1819, she wrongfully passed in her
father's opinion for "the child of adulterous connections"; was turned
away from her father's house, and sought protection with her
kinswoman, Madame Couture, the widow of Couture the ordainer, on the
rue Neuve-Saint-Genevieve, in Madame Vauquer's boarding-house; there
she fell in love with Eugene de Rastignac; by the death of her brother
she became heir to all the property of her father, Jean-Frederic
Taillefer, whose death-bed she comforted in every way possible.
Victorine Taillefer probably remained single. [Father Goriot. The Red
Inn.]
TALLEYRAND-PERIGORD (Charles-Maurice de), Prince de Benevent, Bishop
of Autun, ambassador and minister, born in Paris, in 1754, died in
1838, at his home on the rue Saint-Florentin.[*] Talleyrand gave
attention to the insurrectional stir that arose in Bretagne, under the
direction of the Marquis de Montauran, about 1799. [The Chouans.] The
following year (June, 1800), on the eve of the battle of Marengo, M.
de Talleyrand conferred with Malin de Gondreville, Fouche, Carnot, and
Sieyes, about the political situation. In 1804 he received M. de
Chargeboeuf, M. d'Hauteserre the elder, and the Abbe Goujet, who came
to urge him to have the names of Robert and Adrien d'Hauteserre and
Paul-Marie and Marie-Paul de Simeuse erased from the list of
emigrants; some time afterwards, when these latter were condemned,
despite their innocence, as guilty of the abduction and detention of
Senator Malin, he made every effort to secure their pardon, at the
earnest instance of Maitre Bordin, as well as the Marquis de
Chargeboeuf. At the hour of the execution of the Duc d'Enghien, which
he had perhaps advised, he was found with Madame de Luynes in time to
give her the news of it, at the exact moment of its happening. M. de
Talleyrand was very fond of Antoinette de Langeais. A frequent visitor
of the Chaulieus, he was even more intimate with their near relative,
the elderly Princesse de Vauremont, who made him executor of her will.
[The Gondreville Mystery. The Thirteen. Letters of Two Brides.]
Fritot, in selling his famous "Selim" shawl to Mistress Noswell, made
use of a cunning that certainly would not have deceived the
illustrious diplomat; one day, indeed, on noticing the hesitation of a
fashionable lady as between two bracelets, Talleyrand asked the
opinion of the clerk who was showing the jewelry, and advised the
purchase of the one rejected by the latter. [Gaudissart II.]
[*] Alexander I., Czar of Russia, once stayed at this house, which is
now owned and occupied by the Baron Alphonse de Rothschild.
TARLOWSKI, a Pole; colonel in the Imperial Guard; ordnance officer
under Napoleon Bonaparte; friend of Poniatowski; made a match between
his daughter and Bourlac. [The Seamy Side of History.]
TASCHERON, a very upright farmer, in a small way, in the market town
of Montegnac, nine leagues distant from Limoges; left his village in
August, 1829, immediately after the execution of his son,
Jean-Francois. With his wife, parents, children and grandchildren,
he sailed for America, where he prospered and founded the town of
Tascheronville in the State of Ohio. [The Country Parson.]
TASCHERON (Jean-Francois), one of the sons of the preceding, born
about 1805, a porcelain maker, working successively with Messieurs
Graslin and Philippart; at the end of Charles X.'s reign, he committed
a triple crime which, owing to his excellent character and
antecedents, seemed for a long time inexplicable. Jean-Francois
Tascheron fell in love with the wife of his first employer, Pierre
Graslin, and she reciprocated the passion; to prepare a way for them
to escape together, he went one night to the house of Pingret, a rich
and miserly husbandman in the Faubourg Saint-Etienne, robbed him of a
large sum of money, and, thinking to assure his safety, murdered the
old man and his servant, Jeanne Malassis. Being arrested, despite his
precautions, Jean-Francois Tascheron made especial effort not to
compromise Madame Graslin. Condemned to death, he refused to confess,
and was deaf to the prayers of Pascal, the chaplain, yielding
somewhat, however, to his other visitors, the Abbe Bonnet, his mother,
and his sister Denise; as a result of their influence he restored a
considerable portion of the hundred thousand francs stolen. He was
executed at Limoges, in August, 1829. He was the natural father of
Francois Graslin. [The Country Parson.]
TASCHERON (Louis-Marie), a brother of the preceding; with Denise
Tascheron (afterwards Denise Gerard) he fulfilled a double mission: he
destroyed the traces of the crime of Jean-Francois, that might betray
Madame Graslin, and restored the rest of the stolen money to Pingret's
heirs, Monsieur and Madame de Vanneaulx. [The Country Parson.]
TASCHERON (Denise), a sister of the preceding. (See Gerard, Madame
Gregoire.)
TAUPIN, cure of Soulanges (Bourgogne), cousin of the Sarcus family and
Sarcus-Taupin, the miller. He was a man of ready wit, of happy
disposition, and on good terms with all his parishioners. [The
Peasantry.]
TERNNICK (De), Duc de Casa-Real, which name see.
TERRASSE AND DUCLOS, keepers of records at the Palais, in 1822;
consulted at that time with success by Godeschal. [A Start in Life.]
THELUSSON, a banker, one of whose clerks was Lemprun before he entered
the Banque de France as messenger. [The Middle Classs.]
THERESE, lady's-maid to Madame de Nucingen during the Restoration and
the reign of Louis Philippe. [Father Goriot. A Daughter of Eve.]
THERESE, lady's-maid to Madame Xavier Rabourdin, on the rue Duphot,
Paris, in 1824. [The Government Clerks.]
THERESE, lady's-maid to Madame de Rochefide in the latter part of
Charles X.'s reign, and during the reign of Louis Philippe. [Beatrix.]
THERESE (Sister), the name under which Antoinette de Langeais died,
after she had taken the veil, and retired to the convent of
bare-footed Carmelites on an island belonging to Spain, probably the
island of Leon. [The Thirteen.]
THIBON (Baron), chief of the Comptoir d'Escompte, in 1818, had been a
colleague of Cesar Birotteau, the perfumer. [Cesar Birotteau.]
THIRION, usher to the closet of King Louis XVIII., was on terms of
intimacy with the Ragons, and was invited to Cesar Birotteau's famous
ball on December 17, 1818, together with his wife and his daughter
Amelie, one of Servin's pupils who married Camusot de Marville. [The
Vendetta. Cesar Birotteau.] The emoluments of his position, obtained
by the patronage that his zeal deservedly acquired, enabled him to lay
by a considerable sum, which the Camusot de Marvilles inherited.
[Jealousies of a Country Town.]
THOMAS was owner of a large house in Bretagne, that Marie de Verneuil
(Madame Alphonse de Montauran) bought for Francine de Cottin, her
lady's maid, and a niece of Thomas. [The Chouans.]
THOMAS (Madame) was a milliner in Paris towards the latter part of the
reign of Charles X.; it was to her establishment that Frederic de
Nucingen, after being driven to the famous pastry shop of Madame
Domas, an error arising from his Alsatian pronunciation, betook
himself in quest of a black satin cape, lined with pink, for Esther
van Gobseck. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
THOMIRE contributed to the material splendors of the famous
entertainment given by Frederic Taillefer, about 1831, at his mansion
on the rue Joubert, Paris. [The Magic Skin.]
THOREC, an anagram of Hector, and one of the names successively
assumed by Baron Hector Hulot d'Ervy, after deserting his conjugal
roof. [Cousin Betty.]
THOREIN, a carpenter, was employed in making changes in Cesar
Birotteau's apartments some days before the famous ball given by the
perfumer on December 17, 1818. [Cesar Birotteau.]
THOUL, anagram of the word Hulot, and one of the names successively
assumed by Baron Hector Hulot d'Ervy, after his desertion of the
conjugal roof. [Cousin Betty.]
THOUVENIN, famous in his work, but an unreliable tradesman, was
employed, in 1818, by Madame Anselme Popinot (then Mademoiselle
Birotteau) to rebind for her father, the perfumer, the works of
various authors. [Cesar Birotteau.] Thouvenin, as an artist, was in
love with his own works--like Servais, the favorite gilder of Elie
Magus. [Cousin Pons.]
THUILLIER was first door-keeper of the minister of finance in the
second half of the eighteenth century; by furnishing meals to the
clerks he realized from his position a regular annual income of almost
four thousand francs; being married and the father of two children,
Marie-Jeanne-Brigitte and Louis-Jerome, he retired from active duties
about 1806, and, losing his wife in 1810, he himself died in 1814. He
was commonly called "Stout Father Thuillier." [The Government Clerks.
The Middle Classes.]
THUILLIER (Marie-Jeanne-Brigitte), daughter of the preceding, born in
1787, of independent disposition and of obstinate will, chose the
single state to become, as it were, the ambitious mother of
Louis-Jerome, a brother younger than herself by four years. She began
life by making coin-bags at the Bank of France, then engaged in
money-lending; took every advantage of her debtors, among others Fleury,
her father's colleague at the Treasury. Being now rich, she met the
Lempruns and the Galards; took upon herself the management of the
small fortune of their heir, Celeste Lemprum, whom she had selected
specially to be the wife of her brother; after their marriage she
lived with her brother's family; was also one of Mademoiselle
Colleville's god-mothers. On the rue Saint-Dominique-d'Enfer, and on
the Place de la Madeleine, she showed herself many times to be the
friend of Theodose de la Peyrade, who vainly sought the hand of the
future Madame Phellion. [The Government Clerks. The Middle Classes.]
THUILLIER (Louis-Jerome), younger brother of the preceding, born in
1791. Thanks to his father's position, he entered the Department of
Finance as clerk at an early age. Louis-Jerome Thuillier, being
exempted from military service on account of weak eyes, married
Celeste Lemprun, Galard's wealthy granddaughter, about 1814. Ten years
later he had reached the advancement of reporting clerk, in Xavier
Rabourdin's office, Flamet de la Billardiere's division. His pleasing
exterior gave him a series of successes in love affairs, that was
continued after his marriage, but cut short by the Restoration,
bringing back, as it did, with peace, the gallants escaped from the
battlefield. Among his amorous conquests may be counted Madame Flavie
Colleville, wife of his intimate friend and colleague at the Treasury;
of their relations was born Celeste Colleville--Madame Felix Phellion.
Having been deputy-chief for two years (since January 5, 1828), he
left the Treasury at the outbreak of the Revolution of 1830. In him
the office lost an expert in equivocal jests. Having left the
department, Thuillier turned his energies in another direction.
Marie-Jeanne-Brigette, his elder sister, turning him to the intricacies
of real estate, made him leave their lodging-place on the rue
d'Argenteuil, to purchase a house on the rue Saint-Dominique-d'Enfer,
which had formerly belonged to President Lecamus and to Petitot, the
artist. Thuillier's conceit and vanity, now that he had become a
well-known and important citizen, were greatly flattered when Theodose
de la Peyrade hired apartments from him. M. Thuillier was manager of the
"Echo de la Bievre," signed a certain pamphlet on political economy,
was candidate for the Chamber of Deputies, purchased a second house,
in 1840, on the Place de la Madeleine, and was chosen to succeed J.-J.
Popinot as member of the General Council of the Seine. [The Government
Clerks. The Middle Classes.]
THUILLIER (Madame), wife of the preceding; born Celeste Lemprun, in
1794; only daughter of the oldest messenger in the Bank of France,
and, on her mother's side, granddaughter od Galard, a well-to-do
truck-gardener of Auteuil; a transparent blonde, slender,
sweet-tempered, religious, and barren. In her married life, Madame
Thuillier was swayed beneath the despotism of her sister-in-law,
Marie-Jeanne-Brigitte, but derived some consolation from the
affection of Celeste Colleville, and, about 1841, contributed as far
as her influence permitted, to the marriage of this her god-daughter.
[The Middle Classes.]
TIENNETTE, born in 1769, a Breton who wore her native costume, was, in
1829, the devoted servant of Madame de Portenduere the elder, on the
rue des Bourgeois (now Bezout), Nemours. [Ursule Mirouet.]
TILLET (Ferdinand du), had legally a right only to the first part of
his name, which was given him on the morning of Saint-Ferdinand's day
by the curate of the church of Tillet, a town near Andelys (Eure).
Ferdinand was the son of an unknown great nobleman and a poor
countrywoman of Normandie, who was delivered of her son one night in
the curate's garden, and then drowned herself. The priest took in the
new born son of the betrayed mother and took care of him. His
protector being dead, Ferdinand resolved to make his own way in the
world, took the name of his village, was first commercial traveler,
and, in 1814, he became head clerk in Birotteau's perfumery
establishment on the rue Saint-Honore, Paris. While there he tried,
but without success, to win Constance Birotteau, his patron's wife,
and stole three thousand francs from the cash drawer. They discovered
the theft and forgave the offender, but in such a way that Du Tillet
himself was offended. He left the business and started a bank; being
the lover of Madame Roguin, the notary's wife, he became involved in
the business scheme known as "the lands of the Madeleine," the
original cause of Birotteau's failure and of his own fortune (1818).
Ferdinand du Tillet, now a lynx of almost equal prominence with
Nucingen, with whom he was on very intimate terms, being loved by
Mademoiselle Malvina d'Aldrigger, being looked up to by the Kellers
also, and being further the patron of Tiphaine, the Provins Royalist,
was able to crush Birotteau, and triumphed over him, even on December
17, 1818, the evening of the famous ball given by the perfumer; Jules
Desmarets, Benjamin de la Billiardiere, and he were the only perfect
types present of worldly propriety and distinction. [Cesar Birotteau.
The Firm of Nucingen. The Middle Classes. A Bachelor's Establishment.
Pierrette.] Once started, M. du Tillet seldom left the Chaussee
d'Antin, the financial quarter of Paris, during the Restoration and
the reign of Louis Philippe. It was there that he received Birotteau,
imploring aid, and gave him a letter of recommendation for Nucingen,
the result of which was quite different from what the unfortunate
merchant had anticipated. Indeed, it was agreed between the two
business men, if the i's in the letter in question were not dotted, to
give a negative answer; by this intentional omission, Du Tillet ruined
the unfortunate Birotteau. He had his bank on the rue Joubert when
Rodolphe Castanier, the dishonest cashier, robbed Nucingen. [Melmoth
Reconciled.] Ferdinand du Tillet was now a consequential personage,
when Lucien de Rubempre was making his start in Paris (1821). [A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] Ten years later he married his
last daughter to the Comte de Granville, a peer of France, and "one of
the most illustrious names of the French magistracy." He occupied one
of the elegant mansions on the rue Neuve-des-Mathurins, now rue des
Mathurins; for a long time he kept Madame Roguin as his mistress; was
often seen, in the Faubourg Saint-Honore, with the Marquise d'Espard,
being found there on the day that Diane de Cadignan was slandered in
the presence of Daniel d'Arthez, who was very much in love with her.
With Massol and Raoul Nathan he founded a prominent newspaper, which
he used for his financial interests. He did not hesitate to get rid of
Nathan, who was loaded down with debts; but he found Nathan before him
once more, however, as candidate for the Chamber of Deputies, to
succeed Nucingen, who had been made a peer of France; this time, also,
he triumphed over his rival, and was elected. [The Secrets of a
Princess. A Daughter of Eve.] M. du Tillet was no more sparing of
Maxime de Trailles, but harassed him pitilessly, when the count was
sent into Champagne as electoral agent of the government. [The Member
for Arcis.] He was present at the fete given by Josepha Mirah, by way
of a house-warming, in her mansion on the rue de la Ville-l'Eveque;
Celestin Crevel and Valerie Marneffe invited him to their wedding.
[Cousin Betty.] At the end of the monarchy of July, being a deputy,
with his seat in the Left Centre, Ferdinand du Tillet kept in the most
magnificent style Seraphine Sinet, the Opera girl, more familiarly
called Carabine. [The Unconscious Humorists.] There is a biography of
Ferdinand du Tillet, elaborated by the brilliant pen of Jules
Claretie, in "Le Temps" of September 5, 1884, under title of "Life in
Paris."
TILLET (Madame Ferdinand du), wife of the preceding, born Marie-Eugenie
de Granville in 1814, one of the four children of the Comte and
Comtesse de Granville, and younger sister of Madame Felix de
Vandenesse; a blonde like her mother; in her marriage, which took
place in 1831, was a renewal of the griefs that had sobered the years
of her youth. Eugenie du Tillet's natural playfulness of spirit could
find vent only with her eldest sister, Angelique-Marie, and their
harmony teacher, W. Schmucke, in whose company the two sisters forgot
their father's neglect and the convent-like rigidness of a devotee's
home. Poor in the midst of wealth, deserted by her husband, and bent
beneath an inflexible yoke, Madame du Tillet could lend but too little
aid to her sister--then Madame de Vandenesse--in the trouble caused by
a passion she had conceived for Raoul Nathan. However, she supplied
her with two powerful allies--Delphine de Nucingen and W. Schmucke. As
a result of her marriage Madame du Tillet had two children. [A
Daughter of Eve.]
TINTENIAC, known for his part in the Quiberon affair, had among his
confederates Jacques Horeau, who was executed in 1809 with the
Chauffeurs of Orne. [The Seamy Side of History.]
TINTI (Clarina), born in Sicily about 1803; was maid in an inn, when
her glorious voice came under the notice of a great nobleman, her
fellow-countryman, the Duke Cataneo, who had her educated. At the age
of sixteen, she made her debut with brilliant success at several
Italian theatres. In 1820, she was "prima donna assoluta" of the
Fenice theatre, Venice. Being loved by Genovese, the famous tenor,
Tinti was usually engaged with him. Of a passionate nature, beautiful
and capricious, Clarina became enamored of Prince Emilio du Varese, at
that time the lover of the Duchesse Cataneo, and became, for a while,
the mistress of that descendant of the Memmis: the ruined palace of
Varese, which Cataneo hired for Tinti, was the scene of these
ephemeral relations. [Massimilla Doni.] In the winter of 1823-1824, at
the home of Prince Gandolphini, in Geneva, with Genovese, Princesse
Gandolphini, and an exiled Italian prince, she sang the famous
quartette, "Mi manca la voce." [Albert Savarus.]
TIPHAINE, of Provins, brother of Madame Guenee-Galardon, rich in his
own right, and expecting something more by way of inheritance from his
father, adopted the legal profession; married a granddaughter of
Chevrel, a prominent banker of Paris; had children by his marriage;
presided over the court of his native town in the latter part of
Charles X.'s reign. At that time an ardent Royalist, and resting
secure under the patronage of the well-known financiers, Ferdinand du
Tillet and Frederic de Nucingen, M. Tiphaine contended against
Gouraud, Vinet, and Rogron, the local representatives of the Liberal
party, and for a considerable time upheld the cause of Mademoiselle
Pierrette Lorrain, their victim. Tiphaine, however, suited himself to
the circumstances, and came over to Louis Philippe, the
"revolutionist," under whose reign he became a member of the Chamber
of Deputies; he was "one of the most esteemed orators of the Centre";
secured his appointment to the judgeship of the court of first
instance of the Seine, and still later he was made president of the
royal court. [Pierrette.]
TIPHAINE (Madame), wife of the preceding, born Mathilde-Melanie
Roguin, in the early part of the nineteenth century; the only daughter
of a wealthy notary of Paris, noted for his fraudulent failure in
1819; on her mother's side, granddaughter of Chevrel, the banker, and
also distant cousin of the Guillaumes, and the families of Lebas and
Sommervieux. Before her marriage she was a frequent visitor at the
studio of Servin, the artist; she was there "the malicious oracle" of
the Liberal party, and, with Laure, took sides with Ginevra di Piombo
against Amelie Thirion, leader of the aristocratic group. [The
Vendetta.] Clever, pretty, coquettish, correct, and a real Parisian,
and protected by Madame Roguin's lover, Ferdinand du Tillet,
Mathilde-Melanie Tiphaine reigned supreme in Provins, in the midst of
the Guenee family, represented by Mesdames Galardon, Lessourd, Martener,
and Auffray; took in, or, rather, defended Pierrette Lorrain; and
overwhelmed the Rogron salon with her spirit of raillery. [Pierrette.]
TISSOT (Pierre-Francois), born March 10, 1768, at Versailles, died
April 7, 1854; general secretary of the Maintenance Commission in
1793, successor to Jacques Delille in the chair of Latin poetry in the
College de France; a member of the Academy in 1833, and the author of
many literary and historical works; under the Restoration he was
managing editor of the "Pilote," a radical sheet that published a
special edition of the daily news for the provinces, a few hours after
the morning papers. Horace Bianchon, the house-surgeon, there learned
of the death of Frederic-Michel Taillefer, who had been killed in a
duel with Franchessini. [Father Goriot.] In the reign of Louis
Philippe, when Charles-Edouard Rusticoli de la Palferine's burning
activity vainly sought an upward turn, Tissot, from the professor's
chair, pleaded the cause of the rights and aspirations of youth that
had been ignored and despised by the power surrendered into the hands
of superannuated mossbacks. [A Prince of Bohemia.]
TITO, a young and handsome Italian, in 1823, brought "la liberta e
denaro" to the Prince and Princess Gandolphini, who were at that time
impoverished outlaws, living in concealment at Gersau (canton of
Lucerne) under the English name of Lovelace--"L'Ambitieux par Amour."
[Albert Savarus.]
TOBY, born in Ireland about 1807; also called Joby, and Paddy; during
the Restoration, Beaudenord's "tiger" on the Quai Malaquais, Paris; a
wonder of precocity in vice; acquired a sort of celebrity in exercise
of his duties, a celebrity that was even reflected on Madame
d'Aldrigger's future son-in-law. [The Firm of Nucingen.] During Louis
Philippe's reign, Toby was a servant in the household of the Duc
Georges de Maufrigneuse on the rue Miromesnil. [The Secrets of a
Princess.]
TONNELET (Matire), a notary, and son-in-law of M. Gravier of Isere,
whose intimate friend was Benassis, and who was one of the co-workers
of that beneficent physician. Tonnelet was thin and pale, and of
medium height; he generally dressed in black, and wore spectacles.
[The Country Doctor.]
TONSARD (Mere), a peasant woman of Bourgogne, born in 1745, was one of
the most formidable enemies of Montcornet, the owner of Aigues, and of
his head-keeper, Justine Michaud. She had killed the keeper's favorite
hound and she encroached upon the forest trees, so as to kill them and
take the dead wood off. A reward of a thousand francs having been
offered to the person who should discover the perpetrator of these
wrongs, Mere Tonsard had herself denounced by her granddaughter, Marie
Tonsard, in order to secure this sum of money to her family, and she
was sentenced to five years' imprisonment, though she probably did not
serve her term. Mere Bonnebault committed the same offences as Mere
Tonsard; they had a quarrel, each wishing to profit by the advantages
of a denunciation, and had ended by referring the matter to the
casting of lots, which resulted in favor of Mere Tonsard. [The
Peasantry.]
TONSARD (Francois), son of the preceding, born about 1773, was a
country laborer, skilled more or less in everything; he possessed a
hereditary talent, attested, moreover, by his name, for trimming
trees, and various kinds of hedges. Lazy and crafty, Francois Tonsard
secured from Sophie Laguerre, Montcornet's predecessor at Aigues, an
acre of land, on which he built, in 1795, the wine-shop known as the
Grand-I-Vert. He was saved from conscription by Francois Gaubertin, at
that time steward of Aigues, at the urgent request of Mademoiselle
Cochet, their common mistress. Being then married to Philippine
Fourchon, and Gaubertin having become his wife's lover, he could poach
with freedom, and so it was that the Tonsard family made regular
levies on the Aigues forest with impunity: they supplied themselves
entirely from the wood of the forest, kept two cows at the expense of
the landlord, and were represented at the harvest by seven gleaners.
Being incommoded by the active watch kept over them by Justine
Michaud, Gaubertin's successor, Tonsard killed him, one night in 1823.
Afterwards in the dismemberment of Montcornet's estate, Tonsard got
his share of the spoils. [The Peasantry.]
TONSARD (Madame), wife of the preceding; born Philippe Fourchon;
daughter of the Fourchon who was the natural grandfather of Mouche;
large, and of a good figure, with a sort of rustic beauty; lax in
morals; extravagant in her tastes, none the less she assured the
prosperity of the Grand-I-Vert, by reason of her talent as a cook, and
her free coquetry. By her marriage she had four children, two sons and
two daughters. [The Peasantry.]
TONSARD (Jean-Louis), born about 1801, son of the preceding, and
perhaps also of Francois Gaubertin, to whom Philippe Tonsard was
mistress. Exempted from military service in 1821 on account of a
pretended disorder in the muscles of his right arm, Jean-Louis Tonsard
posed under the protection of Soudry, Rogou and Gaubertin, in a
circumspect way, as the enemy of the Montcornets and Michaud. He was a
lover of Annette, Rigou's servant girl. [The Peasantry.]
TONSARD (Nicolas), younger brother of the preceding, and the male
counterpart of his sister Catherine; brutally persecuted, with his
sister's connivance, Niseron's granddaughter, Genevieve, called La
Pechina, whom he tried to outrage. [The Peasantry.]
TONSARD (Catherine). (See Godain, Madame.)
TONSARD (Marie), sister of the preceding; a blonde; had the loose and
uncivilized morals of her family. While mistress of Bonnebault, she
proved herself, on one occasion at the Cafe de la Paix of Soulanges,
to be fiercely jealous of Aglae Socquard, whom he wished to marry.
[The Peasantry.]
TONSARD (Reine), without any known relationship to all of the
preceding, was, in spite of being very ugly, the mistress of the son
of the Oliviers, porters to Valerie Marneffe-Crevel; and she remained
for a long time the confidential lady's-maid of that married
courtesan; but, being brought over by Jacques Collin, she eventually
betrayed and ruined the Crevel family. [Cousin Betty.]
TONY, coachman to Louis de l'Estorade, about 1840. [The Member for
Arcis.]
TOPINARD, born about 1805; officer in charge of the property of the
theatre managed by Felix Gaudissart; in charge also of the lamps and
fixtures; and, lastly, he had the task of placing the copies of the
music on the musicians' stands. He went every day to the rue Normandie
to get news of Sylvain Pons, who was suffering from a fatal attack of
hepatitis; in the latter part of April, 1845, he was, with Fraisier,
Villemot and Sonet's agent, one of the pall-bearers at the funeral of
the cousin of the Camusot de Marvilles. On leaving the Pere-Lachaise,
Topinard, who was living in the Cite Bordin, was moved to compassion
for Schmucke, brought him home, and finally received him under his
roof. Topinard then secured the position of cashier with Gaudissart,
but he almost lost his position for trying to defend the interests of
Schmucke, of whom the heirs-at-law of Pons had undertaken to rid
themselves. Even under these circumstances Topinard aided Schmucke in
his distress; he alone followed the German's body to the cemetery, and
took pains to have him buried beside Sylvain Pons. [Cousin Pons.]
TOPINARD (Madame Rosalie), wife of the preceding, born about 1815,
called Lolotte; she was a member of the choir under the direction of
Felix Gaudissart's predecessor, whose mistress she was. A victim of
her lover's failure, she became box-opener of the first tier, and also
quite a dealer in costumes during the following administration
(1834-1845). She had first lived as Topinard's mistress, but he
afterwards married her; she had three children by him. She took part
in the funeral mass of Pons; when Schmucke was taken in by her husband
in the Cite Bordin, she nursed the musician in his last illness.
[Cousin Pons.]
TOPINARD, eldest son of the preceding couple, was a supernumerary in
Gaudissart's company. [Cousin Pons.]
TOPINARD (Olga), sister of the preceding; a blonde of the German type;
when quite young, she won the warmest affection of Schmucke, who was
making his home with the employes of Gaudissart's theatre. [Cousin
Pons.]
TORLONIA (Duc), a name mentioned, in December, 1829, by the Baron
Frederic de Nucingen, as that of one of his friends, and pronounced by
him "Dorlonia." The duke had ordered a magnificent carpet, the price
of which he considered exorbitant, but the baron bought it for Esther
van Gobseck's "leedle balace" on the rue Saint-Georges. The Duc
Torlonia belonged to the famous family of Rome, that was so hospitable
to strangers, and was of French origin. The original name was
Tourlogne. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
TORPILLE (La), sobriquet of Esther van Gobseck.
TOUCHARD, father and son, ran a line of stages, during the
Restoration, to Beaumont-sur-Oise. [A Start in Life.]
TOUCHES (Mademoiselle Felicite des), born at Guerande in 1791; related
to the Grandlieus; not connected with the Touches family of Touraine,
to which the regent's ambassador, more famous as a comic poet,
belonged; became an orphan in 1793; her father, a major in the Gardes
de la Porte, was killed on the steps of the Tuileries August 10, 1792,
and her only brother, a younger member of the guard, was massacred at
the Carmelite convent; lastly, her mother died of a broken heart a few
days after this last catastrophe. Entrusted then to the care of her
maternal aunt, Mademoiselle de Faucombe, a nun of Chelles,[*] she was
taken by her to Faucombe, a considerable estate situated near Nantes,
and soon afterwards she was put in prison along with her aunt on the
charge of being an emissary of Pitt and Cobourg. The 9th Thermidor
found them released; but Mademoiselle de Faucombe died of fright, and
Felicite was sent to M. de Faucombe, an archaeologist of Nantes, being
her maternal great-uncle and her nearest relative. She grew up by
herself, "a tom-boy"; she had at her command an enormous library,
which allowed her to acquire, at a very early age, a great mass of
information. The literary spirit being developed in her, Mademoiselle
des Touches began by assisting her aged uncle; wrote three articles
that he believed were his own work, and, in 1822, made her beginning
in literature with two volumes of dramatic works, after the fashion of
Lope de Vega and Shakespeare, which produced a sort of artistic
revolution. She then assumed as a permanent appellation, the pseudonym
of Camille Maupin, and led a bright and independent life. Her income
of eighty thousand livres, her castle of Les Touches, near Guerande
--Loire-Inferieure--her Parisian mansion on the rue de Mont-Blanc--now
rue de la Chaussee-d'Antin,--her birth, and her connections, had their
power of influence. Her irregularities were covered as with a veil, in
consideration of her genius. Indeed, Mademoiselle des Touches had more
than one lover: a gallant about 1817; then an original mind, a
sceptic, the real creator of Camille Maupin; and next Gennaro Conti,
whom she knew in Rome, and Claude Vignon, a critic of reputation.
[Beatrix. Lost Illusions. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
Felicite was a patron of Joseph Bridau, the romantic painter, who was
despised by the bourgeois [A Bachelor's Establishment.]; she felt a
liking for Lucien de Rubempre, whom, indeed, she came near marrying;
though this circumstance did not prevent her from aiding the poet's
mistress, Coralie, the actress; for, at the time of their amours,
Felicite des Touches was in high favor at the Gymnase. She was the
anonymous collaborator of a comedy into which Leontine Volnys--the
little Fay of that time--was introduced; she had intended to write
another vaudeville play, in which Coralie was to have made the
principal role. When the young actress took to her bed and died, which
occurred under the Poirson-Cerfberr[+] management, Felicite paid the
expenses of her burial, and was present at the funeral services, which
were conducted at Notre-Dame de Bonne-Nouvelle. She gave dinner-parties
on Wednesdays; Levasseur, Conti, Mesdames Pasta, Conti, Fodor, De
Bargeton, and d'Espard, attended her receptions. [A Distinguished
Provincial at Paris.] Although a Legitimist, like the Marquise
d'Espard, Felicite, after the Revolution of July, kept her salon open,
where were frequently assembled her neighbor Leontine de Serizy, Lord
Dudley and Lady Barimore, the Nucingens, Joseph Bridau, Mesdames de
Cadignan and de Montcornet, the Comtesse de Vandenesse, Daniel
d'Arthez, and Madame Rochegude, otherwise known as Rochefide. Canalis,
Rastignac, Laginski, Montriveau, Bianchon, Marsay, and Blondet rivaled
each other in telling piquant stories and passing caustic remarks
under her roof. [Another Study of Woman.] Furthermore, Mademoiselle
des Touches shortly afterwards gave advice to Marie de Vandenesse and
condemned free love. [A Daughter of Eve.] In 1836, while traveling
through Italy, which she was showing to Claude Vignon and Leon de
Lora, the landscape painter, she was present at an entertainment given
by Maurice de l'Hostal, the French consul at Genoa; on this occasion
he gave an account of the ups and downs of the Bauvan family.
[Honorine.] In 1837, after having appointed as her residuary legatee
Calyste du Guenic, whom she adored, but to whom she refused to give
herself over, Felicite des Touches retired to a convent in Nantes of
the order of Saint-Francois. Among the works left by this second
George Sand, we may mention "Le Nouveau Promethee," a bold attempt,
standing alone among her works, and a short autobiographical romance,
in which she described her betrayed passion for Conti, an admirable
work, which was regarded as the counterpart of Benjamin Constant's
"Adolphe." [Beatrix. The Muse of the Department.]
[*] It was perhaps at Chelles that Mademoiselle de Faucombe became
acquainted with Mesdemoiselles de Beauseant and de Langeais.
[+] Delestre-Poirson, the vaudeville man, together with A. Cerfberr
established the Gymnase-Dramatique, December 20, 1820; with the
Cerfberr Brothers, Delestre-Poirson continued the management of it
until 1844.
TOUPILLIER, born about 1750; of a wretchedly poor family consisting of
three sisters and five brothers, one of whom was father of Madame
Cardinal. From drum-major in the Gardes-Francaise, Toupillier became
beadle in the church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris; then dispenser of holy
water, having been an artist's model in the meantime. Toupillier, at
the beginning of the Restoration, suspected either of being a
Bonapartist, or of being unfit for his position, was discharged from
the service of the church, and had only the right to stand at the
threshold as a privileged beggar; however, he profited greatly by his
new position, for he knew how to arouse the compassionate feelings of
the faithful in every possible way, chiefly by passing as a
centenarian. Having been entrusted with the diamonds that Charles
Crochard had stolen from Mademoiselle Beaumesnil and which the young
thief wished to get off his hands for the time being, Toupillier
denied having received them and remained possessor of the stolen
jewels. But Corentin, the famous police-agent, followed the pauper of
Saint-Sulpice to the rue du Coeur-Volant, and surprised that new
Cardillac engrossed in the contemplation of the diamonds. He, however,
left them in his custody, on condition of his leaving by will all his
property to Lydie Peyrade, Corentin's ward and Mademoiselle
Beaumesnil's daughter. Corentin further required Toupillier to live in
his house and under his surveillance on the rue Honore-Chevalier. At
that time Toupillier had an income of eighteen hundred francs; he
might be seen, at the church, munching wretched crusts; but, the
church once closed, he went to dine at the Lathuile restaurant,
situated on the Barriere de Clichy, and at night he got drunk on the
excellent Rousillon wines. Notwithstanding an attack made by Madame
Cardinal and Cerizet on the closet containing the diamonds, when the
pauper of Saint-Sulpice died in 1840, Lydie Peyrade, now Madame
Theodose de la Peyrade, inherited all that Toupillier possessed. [The
Middle Classes.]
TOUPINET, a Parisian mechanic, at the time of the Restoration, being
married and father of a family, he stole his wife's savings, the fruit
of arduous labor; he was imprisoned, about 1828, probably for debts.
[The Commission in Lunacy.]
TOUPINET (Madame), wife of the preceding; known under the name
Pomponne; kept a fruit-stand; lived, in 1828, on the rue du
Petit-Banquier, Paris; unhappy in her married life; obtained from the
charitable J.-J. Popinot, under the name of a loan, ten francs for
purchasing stock. [The Commission in Lunacy.]
TOURNAN, a hatter of the rue Saint-Martin, Paris; among his customers
was young Poiret, who, on July 3, 1823, brought him his head-covering,
all greased, as a result of J.-J. Bixiou's practical joking. [The
Government Clerks.]
TOURS-MINIERES (Bernard-Polydor Bryond, Baron des), a gentleman of
Alencon; born about 1772; in 1793, was one of the most active
emissaries of the Comte de Lille (Louis XVIII.), in his conspiracy
against the Republic. Having received the King's thanks, he retired to
his estate in the department of Orne, which had long been burdened
with mortgages; and, in 1807, he married Henriette Le Chantre de la
Chanterie, with the concurrence of the Royalists, whose "pet" he was.
He pretended to take part in the reactionary revolutionary movement of
the West in 1809, implicated his wife in the matter, compromised her,
ruined her, and then disappeared. Returning in secrecy to his country,
under the assumed name of Lemarchand, he aided the authorities in
getting at the bottom of the plot, and then went to Paris, where he
became the celebrated police-agent Contenson. [The Seamy Side of
History.] He knew Peyrade, and received from Lenoir's old pupil the
significant sobriquet of "Philosopher." Being agent for Fouche during
the period of the Empire, he abandoned himself in the most sensual way
to his passions, and lived a life of irregularity and vice. During the
time of the Restoration Louchard had him employed by Nucingen at the
time of the latter's amours with Esther van Gobseck. In the service of
this noted banker, Contenson (with Peyrade and Corentin) tried to
protect him from the snares of Jacques Collin, and followed the
pseudo-Carlos Herrera to his place of refuge on a house-top; but being
hurled from the roof by his intended victim, he was instantly killed
during the winter of 1829-1830. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
TOURS-MINIERES (Baronne Bryond des), wife of the preceding; born
Henriette Le Chantre de la Chanterie, in 1789; only daughter of
Monsieur and Madame Le Chantre de la Chanterie; was married after her
father's death. Through the machinations of Tours-Minieres she was
brought into contact with Charles-Amedee-Louis-Joseph Rifoel,
Chevalier du Vissard, became his mistress, and took the field for him
in the Royalist cause, in the department of Orne, in 1809. Betrayed by
her husband, she was executed in 1810, in accordance with a
death-sentence of the court presided over by Mergi, Bourlac being
attorney-general. [The Seamy Side of History.]
TRAILLES (Comte Maxime de), born in 1791, belonged to a family that
was descended from an attendant to Louis XI., and raised to the
nobility by Francois I. This perfect example of the Parisian
_condottieri_ made his beginning in the early part of the nineteenth
century as a page to Napoleon. Being loved, in turn, by Sarah Gobseck
and Anastasie de Restaud, Maxime de Trailles, himself already ruined,
ruined both of these; gaming was his master passion, and his caprices
knew no bounds. [Cesar Birotteau. Father Goriot. Gobseck.] He took
under his attention the Vicomte Savinien de Portenduere, a novice in
Parisian life, whom also he would have served later as his second
against Desire Minoret, but for the latter's death by accident.
[Ursule Mirouet.] His ready wit usually saved him from the throng of
creditors that swarmed about him, but even thus he once paid a debt
due Cerizet, in spite of himself. Maxime de Trailles, at that time,
was keeping, in a modest way, Antonia Chocardelle, who had a
news-stand on the rue Coquenard, near the rue Pigalle, on which
Trailles lived; and, at the same time, a certain Hortense, a protegee
of Lord Dudley, was seconding the genius of that excellent comedian,
Cerizet. [A Man of Business. The Member for Arcis.] The dominant party
of the Restoration accused Maxime de Trailles of being a Bonapartist,
and rebuked him for his shameless corruption of life; but the citizen
monarchy extended him a cordial welcome. Marsay was the chief promoter
of the count's fortunes; he moulded him, and sent him on delicate
political missions, which he managed with marvelous success. [The
Secrets of a Princess.] And so the Comte de Trailles was widely known
in social circles: as the guest of Josepha Mirah, by his presence he
honored the house-warming in her new apartments on the rue de la
Ville-l'Eveque. [Cousin Betty.] Marsay being dead, he lost the power
of his prestige. Eugene de Rastignac, who had become somewhat of a
Puritan, showed but slight esteem for him. However, Maxime de Trailles
was on easy terms with one of the minister's intimate friends, the
brilliant Colonel Franchessini. Nucingen's son-in-law--Eugene de
Rastignac--perhaps recalled Madame de Restaud's misfortunes, and
doubtless entertained no good feeling for the man who was responsible
for them all. None the less, he employed the services of M. de
Trailles--who was always at ease in the Marquise d'Espard's salon, in
the Faubourg Saint-Honore, though a man over forty years of age,
painted and padded and bowed down with debts--and sent him to look
after the political situation in Arcis before the spring election of
1839. Trailles worked his wires with judgment; he tried to override
the Cinq-Cygnes, partisans of Henri V.; he supported the candidacy of
Phileas Beauvisage, and sought the hand of Cecile-Renee Beauvisage,
the wealthy heiress, but was unsuccessful on all sides. [The Member
for Arcis.] M. de Trailles, furthermore, excelled in the adjustment of
private difficulties. M. d'Ajuda-Pinto, Abbe Brossette, and Madame de
Grandlieu called for his assistance, and, with the further aid of
Rusticoli de la Palferine, effected the reconciliation of the families
of Calyste du Guenic and Arthur de Rochefide. [Beatrix.] He became a
member of the Chamber of Deputies, succeeding Phileas Beauvisage, who
had replaced Charles de Sallenauve, at the Palais-Bourbon; here he was
pointed out to S.-P. Gazonal. [The Unconscious Humorists.]
TRANS (Mademoiselle), a young unmarried woman of Bordeaux, who, like
Mademoiselle de Belor, was on the lookout for a husband when Paul de
Manerville married Natalie Evangelista. [A Marriage Settlement.]
TRANSON (Monsieur and Madame), wholesale dealers in earthenware goods
on the rue des Lesdiguieres, were on intimate terms, about 1824, with
their neighbors, the Baudoyers and the Saillards. [The Government
Clerks.]
TRAVOT (General), with his command, conducted, in 1815, the siege of
Guerande, a fortress defended by the Baron du Guenic, who finally
evacuated it, but who reached the wood with his Chouans and remained
in possession of the country until the second return of the Bourbons.
[Beatrix.]
TROGNON (Maitre), a Parisian notary, wholly at the disposal of his
neighbor, Maitre Fraisier; during the years 1844-1845 he lived on the
rue Saint-Louis-au-Marais--now rue de Turenne--and reached the
death-bed of Sylvain Pons before his colleague, Maitre Leopold
Hannequin, though the latter actually received the musician's last
wishes. [Cousin Pons.]
TROISVILLE (Guibelin, Vicomte de), whose name is pronounced Treville,
and who, as well as his numerous family, bore simply the name Guibelin
during the period of the Empire; he belonged to a noble line of ardent
Royalists well known in Alencon. [The Seamy Side of History.] Very
probably several of the Troisvilles, as well as the Chevalier de
Valois and the Marquis d'Esgrignon, were among the correspondents of
the Vendean chiefs, for it is well known that the department of Orne
was counted among the centres of the anti-revolutionary uprising
(1799). [The Chouans.] Furthermore, the Bourbons, after their
restoration, overwhelmed the Troisvilles with honors, making several
of them members of the Chamber of Deputies or peers of France. The
Vicomte Guibelin de Troisville served during the emigration in Russia,
where he married a Muscovite girl, daughter of the Princesse
Scherbeloff; and, during the year 1816, he returned to establish
himself permantly among the people of Alencon. Accepting temporarily
the hospitality of Rose-Victoire Cormon (eventually Madame du
Bousquier), he innocently inspired her with false hopes; the viscount,
naturally reserved, failed to inform her of his being son-in-law of
Scherbeloff, and legitimate father of the future Marechale de
Montcornet. Guibelin de Troisville, a loyal social friend of the
Esgrignons, met in their salon the Roche-Guyons and the Casterans,
distant cousins of his, but the intimate relations almost came to an
end, when Mademoiselle Virginie de Troisville became Madame de
Montcornet. [Jealousies of a Country Town.] However, in spite of this
union, which he looked upon as a mesalliance, the viscount was never
cool towards his daughter and her husband, but was their guest at
Aigues, in Bourgogne. [The Peasantry.]
TROMPE-LA-MORT, a sobriquet of Jacques Collin.
TROUBERT (Abbe Hyacinthe), favorite priest of M. de Bourbonne; rose
rapidly during the Restoration and Louis Philippe's reign, canon and
vicar-general, in turn, of Tours, he was afterwards bishop of Troyes.
His early career in Touraine showed him to be a deep, ambitious, and
dangerous man, knowing how to remove from his path those that impeded
his advance, and knowing how to conceal the full power of his
animosity. The secret support of the Congregation and the connivance
of Sophie Gamard allowed him to take advantage of Abbe Francois
Birotteau's unsuspecting good nature, and to rob him of all the
inheritance of Abbe Chapeloud, whom he had hated in his lifetime, and
over whom he triumphed thus again, despite the shrewdness of the
deceased priest. Abbe Troubert even won over to his side the
Listomeres, defenders of Francois Birotteau. [The Vicar of Tours.]
About 1839, at Troyes, Monsiegneur Troubert was on terms of intimacy
with the Cinq-Cygnes, the Hauteserres, the Cadignans, the
Maufrigneuses, and Daniel d'Arthez, who were more or less concerned in
the matter of the Champagne elections. [The Member for Arcis.]
TROUSSENARD (Doctor), a physician of Havre, during the Restoration,
at the time that the Mignon de la Bastie family lived in that
sub-prefecture of the Seine-Inferieure. [Modeste Mignon.]
TRUDON, in 1818, a grocer of Paris, in the same quarter as Cesar
Birotteau, whom he furnished, on December 17th of that year, with
nearly two hundred francs' worth of wax candles. [Cesar Birotteau.]
TULLIA, professional sobriquet of Madame du Bruel.
TULLOYE, the name of the owner of a small estate near Angouleme, where
M. de Bargeton, in the autumn of 1821, severely wounded M. de
Chandour, an unsophisticated hot-head, whom he had challenged to a
duel. The name Tulloye furnished a good opportunity in the affair for
a play on words. [Lost Illusions.]
TURQUET (Marguerite), born about 1816, better known under the
sobriquet of Malaga, having a further appellaton of the "Aspasia of
the Cirque-Olympique," was originally a rider in the famous Bouthor
Traveling Hippodrome, and was later a Parisian star at the Franconi
theatre, in the summer on the Champs-Elysees, in the winter on the
Boulevard du Crime. In 1837, Mademoiselle Turquet was living in the
fifth story of a house on the rue des Fosses-du-Temple--a thoroughfare
that has been built up since 1862--when Thaddee Paz set her up in
sumptuous style elsewhere. But she wearied of the role of supposed
mistress of the Pole. [The Imaginary Mistress.] Nevertheless, this
position had placed Marguerite in a prominent light, and she shone
thenceforth among the artists and courtesans. She had in Maitre
Cardot, a notary on the Place du Chatelet, an earnest protector; and
as her lover she had a quite young musician. [The Muse of the
Department.] A shrewd girl, she held on to Maitre Cardot, and made a
popular hostess, in whose salon Desroches, about 1840, gave an
entertaining account of a strange battle between two roues, Trailles
and Cerizet, debtor and creditor, that resulted in a victory for
Cerizet. [A Man of Business.] In 1838, Malaga Turquet was present at
Josepha Mirah's elegant house-warming in her gorgeous new apartments
on the rue de la Ville-l'Eveque. [Cousin Betty.]
U
URBAIN, servant of Soudry, mayor of Soulanges, Bourgogne, during the
Restoration; was at one time a cavalry soldier, who entered into the
service of the mayor, an ex-brigadier of gendarmes, after failing to
receive an appointment as gendarme. [The Peasantry.]
URRACA, aged Spanish woman, nurse of Baron de Macumer; the only family
servant kept by her master after his ruin and during his exile in
France. Urraca prepared the baron's chocolate in the very best style.
[Letters of Two Brides.]
URRACA Y LORA (Mademoiselle), paternal aunt of Leon de Lora, remained
a spinster. As late as 1845 this quasi-Spaniard was still living in
poverty in a commune of the Pyrenees-Orientales, with the father and
elder brother of the artist. [The Unconscious Humorists.]
URSULE, servant employed by the Abbe Bonnet, cure of Montegnac, in
1829; a woman of canonical age. She received the Abbe de Rastignac,
who had been sent by the Bishop of Limoges to bring the village curate
to Jean-Francois Tascheron. It was desired that this man, although he
was condemned to death, should be brought back within the "pale of the
Church." Ursule learned from the Abbe de Rastignac of the reprieve
that had been given the murderer, and being not only inquisitive, but
also a gossip; she spread it throughout the whole village, during the
time that she was buying the articles necessary for the preparation of
breakfast for the Cure Bonnet and the Abbe de Rastignac. [The Village
Parson.]
URSULE, from Picardie, very large; cook employed by Ragon, perfumer on
rue Saint-Honore, Paris, towards the end of the eighteenth century;
about 1793 she took in hand the amorous education of Cesar Birotteau,
the little Tourraine peasant just employed by the Ragons as errand-boy.
Ill-natured, wanton, wheedling, dishonest, selfish and given to
drink, Ursule did not suit the candid Cesar, whom she abandoned,
moreover, two years later, for a young Picardie rebel, who owned a few
acres of land. He found concealment in Paris, and let her marry him.
[Cesar Birotteau.]
UXELLES (Marquise d'), related to the Princess de Blamont-Chauvry, and
to the Duc and Duchesse de Lenoncourt; god-mother of Cesar Birotteau.
[Cesar Birotteau.]
UXELLES (Duchesse d'), born about 1769, mother of Diane d'Uxelles;
beloved by the Duc de Maufrigneuse, and about 1814 gave him her
daughter in marriage; ten years later she withdrew to her Uxelles
estate, where she lived a life of piety and selfishness. [The Secrets
of a Princess.]
V
VAILLANT (Madame), wife of a cabinet-maker in the Faubourg
Saint-Antoine; mother of three children. In 1819 and 1820, for forty
sous per month, she kept house for a young author,[*] who lived in a
garret in rue Lesdiguieres. She utilized her remaining time in turning
the crank for a mechanic, and received only ten sous a day for this
hard work. This woman and her husband were perfectly upright. At the
wedding of Madame Vaillant's sister, the young writer became
acquainted with Pere Canet--Facino Cane--clarinetist at the
Quinze-Vingts--who told him his strange story. [Facino Cane.] In 1818,
Madame Vaillant, already aged, kept house for Claude-Joseph Pillerault,
the former Republican, on rue des Bourdonnais. The old merchant was
good to his servant and did not let her shine his shoes. [Cesar
Birotteau.]
[*] Honore de Balzac. He employed Madame Vaillant as a servant.
VALDES (Paquita), born in the West Indies about 1793, daughter of a
slave bought in Georgia on account of her great beauty; lived in the
early part of the Restoration and during the Hundred Days in Hotel
San-Real, rue Saint-Lazare, Paris, with her mother and her
foster-father, Christemio. In April, 1815, in the Jardin des Tuileries,
she was met by Henri de Marsay, who loved her. She agreed to receive
him secretly in her own home. She gave up everything for his sake, but
in a transport of love, she cried out from force of habit: "O
Mariquita!" This put her lover in such a fury that he tried to kill
her. Not being able to do this, he returned, accompanied by some other
members of "The Thirteen," only to find Paquita murdered; for, the
Marquise de San-Real, Marsay's own sister, who was very jealous of the
favors granted the man by this girl, has slashed her savagely with a
dagger. Having been kept in retirement since she was twelve years old,
Paquita Valdes knew neither how to read nor to write. She spoke only
English and Spanish. On account of the peculiar color of her eyes she
was known as "the girl with the golden eyes," by some young men, one
of whom was Paul de Manerville, who had noticed her during his
promenades. [The Thirteen.]
VALDEZ, a Spanish admiral, constitutional minister of King Ferdinand
VII. in 1820; was obliged to flee at the time of the reaction, and
embarked on an English vessel. His escape was due to the warning given
him by Baron de Macumer, who told him in time. [Letters of Two
Brides.]
VALENTIN (De), head of a historic house of Auvergne, which had fallen
into poverty and obscurity; cousin of the Duc de Navarreins; came to
Paris under the monarchy, and made for himself an excellent place at
the "very heart of power." This he lost during the Revolution. Under
the Empire he bought many pieces of property given by Napoleon to his
generals; but the fall of Napoleon ruined him completely. He reared
his only son, Raphael, with great harshness, although he expected him
to restore the house to its former position. In the autumn of 1826,
six months after he had paid his creditors, he died of a broken heart.
The Valentins had on their arms: an eagle of gold in a field of sable,
crowned with silver, beak and talons with gules, with this device:
"The soul has not perished." [The Magic Skin.]
VALENTIN (Madame de), born Barbe-Marie O'Flaharty, wife of the
preceding; heiress of a wealthy house; died young, leaving to her only
son an islet in the Loire. [The Magic Skin.]
VALENTIN (Marquis Raphael de),[*] only son of the preceding couple,
born in 1804, and probably in Paris, where he was reared; lost his
mother when he was very young, and, after an unhappy childhood,
received on the death of his father the sum of eleven hundred and
twelve francs. On this he lived for nearly three years, boarding at
the rate of a franc per day at the Hotel de Saint-Quintin, rue des
Cordiers. He began two great works there: a comedy, which was to bring
him fame in a day, and the "Theory of the Will," a long work, like
that of Louis Lambert, meant to be a continuation of the books by
Mesmer, Lavater, Gall and Bichat. Raphael de Valentin as a doctor of
laws was destined by his father for the life of a statesman. Reduced
to extreme poverty, and deprived of his last possession, the islet in
the Loire, inherited from his mother, he was on the point of
committing suicide, in 1830, when a strange dealer in curiosities of
the Quai Voltaire, into whose shop he had entered by chance, gave him
a strange piece of shagreen, the possession of which assured him the
gratification of every desire, although his life would be shortened by
each wish. Shortly after this he was invited to a sumptuous feast at
Frederic Taillefer's. On the next morning Raphael found himself heir
to six million francs. In the autumn of 1831 he died of consumption in
the arms of Pauline Gaudin; they were mutual lovers. He tried in vain
to possess himself of her, in a supreme effort. As a millionaire,
Raphael de Valentin lived in friendship with Rastignac and Blondet,
looked after by his faithful servant, Jonathas, in a house on rue de
Varenne. At one time he was madly in love with a certain Comtesse
Foedora. Neither the waters of Aix, nor those of Mont-Dore, both of
which he tried, were able to give him back his lost health. [The Magic
Skin.]
[*] During the year 1851, at the Ambigu-Comique, was performed a drama
by Alphonse Arnault and Louis Judicis, in which the life of
Raphael Valentin was reproduced.
VALENTINE, given name and title of the heroine of a vaudeville play[*]
in two acts, by Scribe and Melesville, which was performed at the
Gymnase-Dramatique, January 4, 1836. This was more than twenty years
after the death of M. and Madame de Merret, whose lives and tragic
adventures were more or less vividly pictured in the play. [The Muse
of the Department.]
[*] Madame Eugenie Savage played the principal part.
VALLAT (Francois), deputy to the king's attorney at Ville-aux-Fayes,
Bourgogne, under the Restoration, at the time of the peasant uprising
against General de Montcornet. He was a cousin of Madame Sarcus, wife
of Sarcus the Rich. He sought promotion through Gaubertin, the mayor,
who was influential throughout the entire district. [The Peasantry.]
VALLET, haberdasher in Soulanges, Bourgogne, during the Restoration,
at the time of General de Montcornet's struggle against the peasants.
The Vallet house was next to Socquard's Cafe de la Paix. [The
Peasantry.]
VAL-NOBLE (Madame du). (See Gaillard, Madame Theodore.)
VALOIS (Chevalier de), born about 1758; died, as did his friend and
fellow-countryman, the Marquis d'Esgrignon, with the legitimate
monarchy, August, 1830. This poor man passed his youth in Paris, where
he was surprised by the Revolution. He was finally a Chouan, and when
the western Whites arose in arms against the Republic, he was one of
the members of the Alencon royal committee. At the time of the
Restoration he was living in this city very modestly, but received by
the leading aristocracy of the province as a true Valois. The
chevalier carried snuff in an old gold snuffbox, ornamented with the
picture of the Princess Goritza, a Hungarian, celebrated for her
beauty, under Louis XV. He spoke only with emotion of this woman, for
whom he had battled with Lauzun. The Chevalier de Valois tried vainly
to marry the wealthy heiress of Alencon, Rose-Victoire Cormon, a
spinster, who had the misfortune to become the wife, platonically
speaking, of M. du Bousquier, the former contractor. In his lodging at
Alencon with Madame Lardot, a laundress, the chevalier had as mistress
one of the working women, Cesarine, whose child was usually attributed
to him. Cesarine was, as a result, the sole legatee of her lover. The
chevalier also took some liberties with another employe of Madame
Lardot, Suzanne, a very beautiful Norman girl, who was afterwards
known at Paris as a courtesan, under the name of Val-Noble, and who
still later married Theodore Gaillard. M. de Valois, although strongly
attached to this girl, did not allow her to defraud him. He was
intimate with Messieurs de Lenoncourt, de Navarreins, de Verneuil, de
Fontaine, de la Billardiere, de Maufrigneuse and de Chaulieu. Valois
made a living by gambling, but pretended to gain his modest livelihood
from a Maitre Bordin, in the name of a certain M. de Pombreton. [The
Chouans. Jealousies of a Country Town.]
VANDENESSE (Marquis de), a gentleman of Tours; had by his wife four
children: Charles, who married Emilie de Fontaine, widow of
Kergarouet; Felix, who married Marie-Angelique de Granville; and two
daughters, the elder of whom was married to her cousin, the Marquis de
Listomere. The Vandenesse motto was: "Ne se vend." [The Lily of the
Valley.]
VANDENESSE (Marquise de), born Listomere, wife of the preceding; tall,
slender, emaciated, selfish and fond of cards; "insolent, like all the
Listomeres, with whom insolence always counts as a part of the dowry."
She was the mother of four children, whom she reared harshly, keeping
them at a distance, especially her son Felix. She had something of a
weakness for her son Charles, the elder. [The Lily of the Valley.]
VANDENESSE (Marquis Charles de), son of the preceding, born towards
the close of the eighteenth century; shone as a diplomatist under the
Bourbons; during this period was the lover of Madame Julie
d'Aiglemont, wife of General d'Aiglemont; by her he had some natural
children. With Desroches as his attorney, Vandenesse entered into a
suit with his younger brother, Comte Felix, in regard to some
financial matters. He married the wealthy widow of Kergarouet, born
Emilie de Fontaine. [A Woman of Thirty. A Start in Life. A Daughter of
Eve.]
VANDENESSE (Marquise Charles de), born Emilie de Fontaine about 1802;
the youngest of the Comte de Fontaine's daughters; having been
overindulged as a child, her insolent bearing, a distinctive trait of
character, was made manifest at the famous ball of Cesar Birotteau, to
which she accompanied her parents. [Cesar Birotteau.] She refused Paul
de Manerville, and a number of other excellent offers, before marrying
her mother's uncle, Admiral Comte de Kergarouet. This marriage, which
she regretted later, was resolved upon during a game of cards with the
Bishop of Persepolis, as a result of the anger which she felt on
learning that M. Longueville, on whom she had centred her affections,
was only a merchant. [The Ball at Sceaux.] Madame de Kergarouet
scorned her nephew by marriage, Savinien de Portenduere, who courted
her. [Ursule Mirouet.] Having become a widow, she married the Marquis
de Vandenesse. A little later she endeavored to overthrow her
sister-in-law, the Comtesse Felix de Vandenesse, then in love with
Raoul Nathan. [A Daughter of Eve.]
VANDENESSE (Comte Felix de), brother-in-law of the preceding, born
late in the eighteenth century, bore the title of vicomte until the
death of his father; suffered much in childhood and youth, first in
his home life, then as a pupil in a boarding-school at Tours and in
the Oratorien college at Pontlevoy. He was unhappy also at the Lepitre
school in Paris, and during his holidays spent on the Ile Saint-Louis
with one of the Listomeres, a kinswoman. Felix de Vandenesse at last
found happiness at Frapesle, a castle near Clochegourde. It was then
that his platonic liaison with Madame de Mortsauf began--a union which
occupied an important place in his life. He was, moreover, the lover
of Lady Arabelle Dudley, who called him familiarly Amedee, pronounced
"my dee." Madame de Mortsauf, having died, he was subjected to the
secret hatred of her daughter Madeleine, later Madame de
Lenoncourt-Givry-Chaulieu. About this time began his career in public
life. During the "Hundred Days" Louis XVIII. entrusted to him a
mission in Vendee. The King received him into favor, and finally
employed him as private secretary. He was also appointed master of
petitions in the State Council. Vandenesse frequently visited the
Lenoncourts. He excited admiration, mingled with envy, in the mind of
Lucien de Rubempre, who had recently arrived in Paris. Acting for the
King, he helped Cesar Birotteau. He was acquainted with the Prince de
Talleyrand, and asked of him information about Macumer, for Louise de
Chaulieu. [The Lily of the Valley. Lost Illusions. A Distinguished
Provincial at Paris. Cesar Birotteau. Letters of Two Brides.] After
his father's death, Felix de Vandenesse assumed the title of count,
and probably won a suit in regard to a land-sale against his brother,
the marquis, who had been badly served by a rascally clerk of Maitre
Desroches, Oscar Husson. [A Start in Life.] At this time, Comte Felix
de Vandenesse began a very close relationship with Natalie de
Manerville. She herself broke this off as a result of the detailed
description that he gave her of the love which he had formerly felt
for Madame de Mortsauf. [The Marriage Settlement.] The year following,
he married Angelique-Marie de Granville, elder daughter of the
celebrated magistrate of that name, and began to keep house on rue du
Rocher, where he had a house, furnished with the best of taste. At
first he was not able to gain his wife's affection, as his known
profligacy and his patronizing manners filled her with fear. She did
not go with him to the evening entertainment given by Madame d'Espard,
where he found himself with his elder brother, and where many
gossiping tongues directed their speech against Diane de Cadignan,
despite the presence of her lover, Arthez. Felix de Vandenesse went
with his wife to a rout at the home of Mademoiselle des Touches, where
Marsay told the story of his first love. The Comte and Comtesse de
Vandenesse, who, under Louis Philippe, still frequented the houses of
the Cadignans and the Montcornets, came very near having serious
trouble. Madame de Vandenesse, had foolishly fallen in love with Raoul
Nathan, but was kept from harm by her husband's skilful management.
[The Secrets of a Princess. Another Study of Woman. The Gondreville
Mystery. A Daughter of Eve.]
VANDENESSE (Comtesse Felix de), wife of the preceding; born
Angelique-Marie de Granville in 1808; a brunette like her father. In
bearing the cruel treatment of her prejudiced mother, in the Marais
house, where she spent her youth, the Comtesse Felix was consoled by
the tender affection of a younger sister, Marie-Eugenie, later Madame
F. du Tillet. The lessons in harmony given them by Wilhelm Schmucke
afforded them some diversion. Married about 1828, and dowered
handsomely, to the detriment of Marie-Eugenie, she underwent, when
about twenty-five years old, a critical experience. Although mother of
at least one child, becoming suddenly of a romantic turn of mind, she
narrowly escaped becoming the victim of a worldly conspiracy formed
against her by Lady Dudley and by Mesdames Charles de Vandenesse and
de Manerville. Marie, moved by the strength of her passion for the
writer, Raoul Nathan, and wishing to save him from financial trouble,
appealed to the good offices of Madame de Nucingen and to the devotion
of Schmucke. The proof furnished to her by her husband of the debasing
relations and the extreme Bohemian life of Raoul, kept Madame Felix de
Vandenesse from falling. [A Second Home. A Daughter of Eve.]
Afterwards, her adventure, the dangers which she had run, and her
rupture with the poet, were all recounted by M. de Clagny, in the
presence of Madame de la Baudraye, Lousteau's mistress. [The Muse of
the Department.]
VANDENESSE (Alfred de), son of the Marquis Charles de Vandenesse, a
coxcomb who, under the reign of Louis Philippe, at the Faubourg
Saint-Germain, compromised the reputation of the Comtesse de
Saint-Hereen, despite the presence of her mother, Madame d'Aiglemont,
the former mistress of the marquis. [A Woman of Thirty.]
VANDIERES (General, Comte de), old, feeble and childish, when, with
his wife and a large number of soldiers, November 29, 1812, he started
on a raft to cross the Beresina. When the boat struck the other bank
the shock threw the count into the river. His head was severed from
his body by a cake of ice, and went down the river like a cannon-ball.
[Farewell.]
VANDIERES (Comtesse Stephanie de), wife of the preceding, niece of the
alienist Doctor Fanjat; mistress of Major de Sucy, who afterwards was
a general. In 1812, during the campaign in Russia, she shared with her
husband all the dangers, and managed to cross the Beresina with her
lover's aid, although she was unable to rejoin him. She wandered for a
long time in northern or eastern Europe. Having become insane, she
could say nothing but the word "Farewell"! She was found later at
Strasbourg by the grenadier, Fleuriot. Having been taken to the
Bons-Hommes near the Isle-Adam, she was attended by Fanjat. She there
had as a companion an idiot by the name of Genevieve. In September, 1819,
Stephanie again saw Philippe de Sucy, but did not recognize him. She
died not far from Saint-Germain-en-Laye, January, 1820, soon after the
reproduction of the scene on the Beresina, arranged by her lover. Her
sudden return of reason killed her. [Farewell.]
VANIERE, gardener to Raphael de Valentin; obtained from the well, into
which his frightened employer had thrown it, the wonderful piece of
shagreen, which no weight, no reagent, and no pounding could either
stretch or injure, and which none of the best known scientists could
explain. [The Magic Skin.]
VANNEAULX (Monsieur and Madame des), small renters at Limoges, living
with their two children on rue des Cloches towards the end of Charles
X.'s reign. They inherited in the neighborhood of a hundred thousand
francs from Pingret, of whom Madame des Vanneaulx was the only niece.
This was after their uncle's murderer, J.-F. Tascheron, having been
urged by the Cure Bonnet, restored a large portion of the money stolen
in Faubourg Saint-Etienne. M. and Madame des Vanneaulx, who had
accused the murderer of "indelicacy," changed their opinion entirely
when he made this restitution. [The Country Parson.]
VANNI (Elisa), a Corsican woman who, according to one Giacomo, rescued
a child, Luigi Porta, from the fearful vendetta of Bartolomeo di
Piombo. [The Vendetta.]
VANNIER, patriot, conscript of Fougeres, Bretagne, during the autumn
of 1799 received an order to convey marching orders to the National
Guard of his city--a body of men who were destined to aid the
Seventy-second demi-brigade in its engagements with the Chouans. [The
Chouans.]
VARESE (Emilio Memmi, Prince of), of the Cane-Memmis, born in 1797, a
member of the greater nobility, descendant of the ancient Roman family
of Memmius, received the name of Prince of Varese on the death of
Facino Cane, his relative. During the time of Austrian rule in Venice,
Memmi lived there in poverty and obscurity. In the early part of the
Restoration he was on friendly terms with Marco Vendramini, his
fellow-countryman. His poverty would not permit of his keeping more
than one servant, the gondolier, Carmagnola. For Massimilla Doni, wife
of the Duke Cataneo, he felt a passion, which was returned, and which
for a long time remained platonic, despite its ardor. He was
unfaithful to her at one time, not being able to resist the unforeseen
attractions of Clarina Tinti, a lodger in the Memmi palace, and
unrivaled prima donna at the Fenice. Finally, conquering his timidity,
and breaking with the "ideal," he rendered Massimilla Cataneo a
mother, and married her when she became a widow. Varese lived in Paris
under the reign of Louis Philippe, and, having been enriched by his
marriage, one evening at the Champs-Elysees, aided certain destitute
artists, the Gambaras, who were obliged to sing in the open air. He
asked for the story of their misfortunes, and Marianina told it to him
without bitterness. [Massimilla Doni. Gambara.]
VARESE (Princess of), wife of the preceding, born Massimilla Doni,
about 1800, of an ancient and wealthy Florentine family of the
nobility; married, at first, the Duke Cataneo, a repulsive man who
lived in Venice at the time of Louis XVIII. She was an enthusiastic
attendant of the Fenice theatre during the winter when "Moses" and the
"Semiramide" were given by a company, in which were found Clarina
Tinti, Genovese and Carthagenova. Massimilla conceived a violent but
at first a platonic love for Emilio Memmi, Prince of Varese, married
him after Cataneo's death, following him to Paris, during the time of
Louis Philippe, where she met with him the Gambaras and helped them in
their poverty. [Massimilla Doni. Gambara.]
VARLET, an Arcis physician, early in the nineteenth century, at the
time of the political and local quarrels of the Gondrevilles,
Cinq-Cygnes, Simeuses, Michus, and Hauteserres; had a daughter who
afterwards became Madame Grevin. [The Gondreville Mystery. The Member
for Arcis.]
VARLET, son of the preceding, brother-in-law of Grevin; like his
father, later a physician. [The Member for Arcis.]
VASSAL, in 1822 at Paris, third clerk of Maitre Desroches, an
advocate, by whom were employed also Marest, Husson and Godeschal. [A
Start in Life.]
VATEL, formerly an army child, then corporal of the Voltigeurs,
became, during the Restoration, one of the three guards of
Montcornet's estate in Aigues, Bourgogne, under head-keeper Michaud;
he detected Mere Tonsard in her trespassing. He was a valuable
servant; gay as a lark, rather loose in his conduct with women,
without any religious principles, and brave unto rashness. [The
Peasantry.]
VATINELLE (Madame), a pretty and rather loose woman of Mantes, courted
at the same time by Maitre Fraisier and the king's attorney, Olivier
Vinet; she was "kind" to the former, thereby causing his ruin; the
attorney soon found a means of compelling Fraisier, who was
representing both sides in a lawsuit, to sell his practice and leave
town. [Cousin Pons.]
VAUCHELLES (De), maintained relations of close friendship, about 1835,
at Besancon, with Amedee de Soulas, his fellow-countryman, and
Chavoncourt, the younger, a former collegemate. Vauchelles was of
equally high birth with Soulas, and was also equally poor. He sought
the hand of Mademoiselle Victoire, Chavoncourt's eldest sister, on
whom a godmother aunt had agreed to settle an estate yielding an
income of seven thousand francs, and a hundred thousand francs in
cash, in the marriage contract. To Rosalie de Watteville's
satisfaction, he opposed Albert Savarus, the rival of the elder
Chavoncourt, in his candidacy for a seat in the Chamber of Deputies.
[Albert Savarus.]
VAUDOYER, a peasant of Ronquerolles, Bourgogne, appointed
forest-keeper of Blangy, but discharged about 1821, in favor of Groison,
by Montcornet, at that time mayor of the commune; supported G. Rigou
and F. Gaubertin as against the new owner of Aigues. [The Peasantry.]
VAUDREMONT (Comtesse de), born in 1787; being a wealthy widow of
twenty-two years in 1809, she was considered the most beautiful
Parisian of the day, and was known as the "Queen of Fashion." In the
month of November of the same year, she attended the great ball given
by the Malin de Gondrevilles, who were disappointed at the Emperor's
failure to appear on that occasion. Being the mistress of the Comte de
Soulanges and Martial de la Roche-Hugon, Madame de Vaudremont had
received from the former a ring taken from his wife's jewel-casket;
she made a present of it to Martial, who happening to be wearing it on
the evening of the Gondreville ball, gave it to Madame de Soulanges,
without once suspecting that he was restoring it to its lawful owner.
Madame de Vaudremont's death followed shortly after this incident,
which brought about the reconciliation of the Soulanges couple, urged
by the Duchesse de Lansac; the countess perished in the famous fire
that broke out at the Austrian embassy during the party given on the
occasion of the wedding of the Emperor and the Arch-duchess
Marie-Louise. [Domestic Peace.] The embassy was located on the part
of the rue de la Chaussee-d'Antin (at that time rue du Mont-Blanc)
comprised between the rue de la Victoire and the rue Saint-Lazare.
VAUMERLAND (Baronne de), a friend of Madame de l'Ambermesnil's,
boarded with one of Madame Vauquer's rivals in the Marais, and
intended, as soon as her term expired, to become a patron of the
establishment on the rue Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve; at least, so Madame
de l'Ambermesnil declared. [Father Goriot.]
VAUQUELIN (Nicolas-Louis), a famous chemist, and a member of the
Institute; born at Saint-Andre d'Hebertot, Calvadts, in 1763, died in
1829; son of a peasant; praised by Fourcroy; in turn, pharmacist in
Paris, mine-inspector, professor at the School of Pharmacy, the School
of Medicine, the Jardin des Plantes, and the College de France. He
gave Cesar Birotteau the formula for a cosmetic for the hands, that
the perfumer called "la double pate des Sultanes," and, being
consulted by him on the subject of "cephalic oil," he denied the
possibility of restoring a suit of hair. Nicolas Vauquelin was invited
to the perfumer's great ball, given on December 17, 1818. In
recognition of the good advice received from the scientist, Cesar
Birotteau offered him a proof, before the time of printing, on China
paper, of Muller's engraving of the Dresden Virgin, which proof had
been found in Germany after two years of searching, and cost fifteen
hundred francs. [Cesar Birotteau.]
VAUQUER (Madame), a widow, born Conflans about 1767. She claimed to
have lost a brilliant position through a series of misfortunes, which,
by the way, she never detailed specifically. For a long time she kept
a bourgeois boarding-house on the rue Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve (now rue
Tournefort), near the rue de l'Arbalete. In 1819-1820, Madame Vauquer,
a short, stout, languid woman, but rather well preserved in spite of
being a little faded, had Horace Bianchon as table-boarder, and
furnished with board and lodging the following: on the first floor of
her house, Madame Couture and Mademoiselle Victorine Taillefer; on the
second floor, Poiret, the elder, and Jacques Collin; on the third,
Christine-Michelle Michonneau--afterwards Madame Poiret,--Joachim
Goriot; whom she looked upon as a possible husband for herself, and
Eugene de Rastignac. She was deserted by her various boarders shortly
after the arrest of Jacques Collin. [Father Goriot.]
VAUREMONT (Princesse de), one of the most prominent figures of the
eighteenth century; grandmother of Madame Marie Gaston, who adored
her; she died in 1817, the year of Madame de Stael's death, in a
mansion belonging to the Chaulieus and situated near the Boulevard des
Invalides. Madame de Vauremont, at the time of her death, was
occupying a suite of apartments in which she was shortly afterwards
succeeded by Louise de Chaulieu (Madame Marie Gaston). Talleyrand, an
intimate friend of the princess was executor of her will. [Letters of
Two Brides.]
VAUTHIER, commonly called Vieux-Chene, former servant of the famous
Longuy; hostler at the Ecu de France, Mortagne, in 1809; was
implicated in the affair of the Chauffeurs, and condemned to twenty
years of penal servitude, but was afterwards pardoned by the Emperor.
During the Restoration he was murdered in the streets of Paris by an
obscure and devoted countryman of the Chevalier du Vissard. [The Seamy
Side of History.]
VAUTHIER (Madame), originally, in 1809, kitchen-girl in the household
of the Prince de Wissembourg, on the rue Louis-le-Grand; then cook to
Barbet, the publisher, owner of a lodging-house on the Boulevard
Montparnasse; still later, about 1833, she managed this establishment
for him, serving the same time as door-keeper in the house mentioned.
At that time Madame Vauthier employed Nepomucene and Felicite for the
house-work; as lodgers she had Bourlac, Vanda and Auguste Mergi, and
Godefroid. [The Seamy Side of History.]
VAUTRIN,[*] the most famous of Jacques Collin's assumed names.
[*] On March 14, 1840, a Parisian theatre, the Porte-Saint-Martin,
presented a play in which the famous convict was a principal
character. Although Frederic Lemaitre took the leading role, the
play was presented only once. In April, 1868, however, the
Ambigu-Comique revived it, with Frederic Lemaitre again in the
leading role.
VAUVINET, born about 1817, a money-lender of Paris, was of the elegant
modern type, altogether different from Chaboisseau-Gobseck; he made
the Boulevard des Italiens the centre of his operations; was a
creditor of the Baron Hulot, first in the sum of seventy thousand
francs; and then in an additional sum of forty thousand, really lent
by Nucingen. [Cousin Betty.] In 1845, Leon de Lora and J.-J. Bixiou
called S.-P. Gazonal's attention to him. [The Unconscious Humorists.]
VAVASSEUR, clerk in the Treasury Department, during the Empire, in
Clergeot's division. He was succeeded by E.-L.-L.-E.-Cochin. [The
Government Clerks.]
VEDIE (La), born in 1756, a homely spinster, her face being pitted
with small-pox; a relative of La Cognette, a distinguished cook; on
the recommendation of Flore Brazier and Maxence Gilet, she was
employed as cook by J.-J. Rouget, after the death of a curate, whom
she had served long, and who died without leaving her anything. She
was to receive a pension of three hundred livres a year, after ten
years of competent, faithful and loyal service. [A Bachelor's
Establishment.]
VENDRAMINI (Marco), whose name is also pronounced Vendramin;[*]
probably a descendant of the last Doge of Venice; brother of Bianca
Sagredo, born Vendramini; a Venetian patriot; an intimate friend of
Memmi-Cane, Prince of Varese. In the intoxication caused by opium, his
great resource about 1820, Marco Vendramini dreamed that his dear
city, then under Austrian dominion, was free and powerful once more.
He talked with Memmi of the Venice of his dreams, and of the famous
Procurator Florain, now in the modern Greek, now in their native
tongue; sometimes as they walked together, sometimes before La Vulpato
and the Cataneos, during a presentation of "Semiramide," "Il
Barbiere," or "Moses," as interpreted by La Tinti and Genovese.
Vendramini died from excessive use of opium, at quite an early age,
during the reign of Louis XVIII., and was greatly mourned by his
friends. [Facino Cane. Massimilla Doni.]
[*] The palace in Venice formerly owned by the Duchesse de Berri and
the Comte de Chambord, in which Wagner, the musician, died, is
even now called the Vendramin Palace. It is on the Grand-Canal,
quite near the Justiniani Palace (now the Hotel de-l'Europe.)
VERGNIAUD (Louis), who made the Egyptian campaign with Hyacinthe
Chabert and Luigi Porta, was quartermaster of hussars when he left the
service. During the Restoration he was, in turn, cow-keeper on the rue
du Petit-Banquier, keeper of a livery-stable, and cabman. As
cow-keeper, Vergniaud, having a wife and three sons, being in debt to
Grados, and giving too generously to Chabert, ended in insolvency;
even then he aided Luigi Porta, again in trouble, and was his witness
when that Corsican married Mademoiselle di Piombo. Louis Vergniaud,
being a party to the conspiracies against Louis XVIII., was imprisoned
for his share in these crimes. [Colonel Chabert. The Vendetta.]
VERMANTON, a cynic philosopher, and a habitue of Madame Schontz's
salon, between 1835 and 1840, when she was keeping house with Arthur
de Rochefide. [Beatrix.]
VERMICHEL, common nick-name of Vert (Michel-Jean-Jerome.)
VERMUT, a druggist of Soulanges, in Bourgogne, during the Restoration;
brother-in-law of Sarcus, the Soulanges justice of the peace, who had
married his eldest sister. Though quite a distinguished chemist,
Vermut was the object of the pleasantries and contemptuous remarks of
the Soudry salon, especially at the hands of the Gourdons. Despite the
slight esteem "of the first society of Soulanges," Vermut gave
evidence of ability, when he disturbed Madame Pigeron by finding
traces of poison in the body of her dead husband. [The Peasantry.]
VERMUT (Madame), wife of the preceding; life and soul of the salon of
Madame Soudry, who, however, declared that she was "bad form," and
reproached her for flirting with Gourdon, author of "La Bilboqueide."
[The Peasantry.]
VERNAL (Abbe), one of the four Vendean leaders, in 1799, when
Montauran was opposing Hulot, the other three being Chatillon,
Suzannet, and the Comte de Fontaine. [The Chouans.]
VERNET (Joseph), born in 1714, died in 1789, a famous French artist;
patronized the Cat and Racket, a drapery establishment on the rue
Saint-Denis, of which M. Guillaume, father-in-law of Sommervieux, was
proprietor. [At the Sign of the Cat and Racket.]
VERNEUIL (Marquis de), member of a historic family, and probably an
ancestor of the Verneuils of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
In 1591, he was on intimate terms, with the Norman Comte d'Herouville,
ancestor of the keeper of Josepha Mirah, star of the Royal Academy of
Music, about 1838. The relations between the two families continued
unbroken through the centuries. [The Hated Son.]
VERNEUIL (Victor-Amedee, Duc de), probably descended from the
preceding, died before the Revolution; by Mademoiselle Blanche de
Casteran, he had a daughter, Marie-Nathalie--afterwards Madame
Alphonse de Montauran. He acknowledged his natural daughter at the
close of his life, and almost disinherited his legitimate son in her
favor. [The Chouans.]
VERNEUIL (Mademoiselle de), probably a relative of the preceding;
sister of the Prince de Loudon, the Vendean cavalry general; she went
to Mans to save her brother, and died on the scaffold in 1793, after
the Savenay affair. [The Chouans.]
VERNEUIL (Duc de), son of the Duc Victor-Amedee de Verneuil, and
brother of Madame Alphonse de Montauran, with whom he had a lawsuit
over the inheritance left by their father; during the Restoration he
lived in the town of Alencon and was on intimate terms with the
D'Esgrignons of that place. He took Victurnien d'Esgrignon under his
protection, and introduced him to Louis XVIII. [The Chouans.
Jealousies of a Country Town.]
VERNEUIL (Duc de), of the family of the preceding, was present at the
entertainment given by Josepha Mirah, the mistress of the Duc
d'Herouville, when she opened her sumptuous suite of apartments on the
rue de la Ville-l'Eveque, Paris, in Louis Philippe's reign. [Cousin
Betty.]
VERNEUIL (Duc de), a good-natured great nobleman, son-in-law of a
wealthy first president of a royal court, who died in 1800; he was the
father of four children, among them being Mademoiselle Laure and the
Prince Gaspard de Loudon; owned the historic chateau of Rosembray, in
the vicinity of Havre, and close by the forest of Brotonne; there he
received, one day in October, 1829, the Mignon de la Basties,
accompanied by the Herouvilles, Canalis, and Ernest de la Briere, all
of whom were at that time desirous to marry Modeste Mignon, soon to
become Madame de la Briere de la Bastie. [Modeste Mignon.]
VERNEUIL (Duchesse Hortense de), wife of the preceding, a haughty and
pious personage, daughter of a wealthy first president of a royal
court, who died in 1800. Of her four children, only two lived--her
daughter Laure and the Prince Gaspard de Loudon; she was on very
intimate terms with the Herouvilles, and especially with the elderly
Mademoiselle d'Herouville, and received a visit from them, one day in
October, 1829, with the Mignon de la Basties, followed by Melchior de
Canalis and Ernest de la Briere. [Modeste Mignon.]
VERNEUIL (Laure de), daughter of the preceding couple. At the
entertainment at Rosembray in October, 1829, Eleonore de Chaulieu gave
her advice on the subject of tapestry and embroidery. [Modeste
Mignon.]
VERNEUIL (Duchesse de), sister of the Prince de Blamont-Chauvry; an
intimate friend of the Duchesse de Bourbon, sorely tried by the
disasters of the Revolution; aunt and, in a way, mother by adoption of
Blanche-Henriette de Mortsauf (born Lenoncourt). She belonged to a
society of which Saint-Martin was the soul. The Duchesse de Verneuil,
who owned the Clochegourde estate in Touraine, gave it, in her
lifetime, to Madame de Mortsauf, reserving for herself only one room
of the mansion. Madame de Verneuil died in the early part of the
nineteenth century. [The Lily of the Valley.]
VERNEUIL (Marie-Nathalie de).[*] (See Montauran, Marquise Alphonse
de.)
[*] On June 23, 1837, under the title of _Le Gars_, the Ambigu-Comique
presented a drama of Antony Beraud's in five acts and six
tableaux, which was a modified reproduction of the adventures of
Marie-Nathalie de Montauran.
VERNIER (Baron), intendant-general, under obligations to Hector Hulot
d'Ervy, whom he met, in 1843, at the Ambigu theatre, as escort of a
gloriously handsome woman. He afterwards received a visit from the
Baronne Adeline Hulot, coming for information. [Cousin Betty.]
VERNIER, formerly a dyer, who lived on his income at Vouvray
(Touraine), about 1821; a cunning countryman, father of a marriageable
daughter named Claire; was challenged by Felix Gaudissart in 1831, for
having played a practical joke on that illustrious traveling merchant,
and fought a bloodless pistol duel. [Gaudissart the Great.]
VERNIER (Madame), wife of the preceding, a stout little woman, of
robust health; a friend of Madame Margaritis; she gladly contributed
her share to the mystification of Gaudissart as conceived by her
husband. [Gaudissart the Great.]
VERNISSET (Victore de), a poet of the "Angelic School," at the head of
which stood Canalis, the academician; a contemporary of Beranger,
Delavigne, Lamartine, Lousteau, Nathan, Vigny, Hugo, Barbier, Marie
Gaston and Gautier, he moved in various Parisian circles; he was seen
at the Brothers of Consolation on the rue Chanoinesse, and he received
pecuniary assistance from the Baronne de la Chanterie, president of
the above-mentioned association; he was to be found, with Heloise
Brisetout, on the rue Chauchat, at the time of her house-warming in
the apartments in which she succeeded Josepha Mirah; there he met
J.-J. Bixiou, Leon de Lora, Etienne Lousteau and Stidmann; he fell
madly in love with Madame Schontz. He was invited to the marriage of
Celestin Crevel and Valerie Marneffe. [The Seamy Side of History.
Beatrix. Cousin Betty.]
VERNON (Marechal) father of the Duc de Vissembourg and the Prince
Chiavari. [Beatrix.]
VERNOU (Felicien), a Parisian journalist. He used his influence in
starting Marie Godeschal, usually called Mariette, at the Porte
Saint-Martin. The husband of an ugly, vulgar, and crabbed woman, he had
by her children that were by no means welcome. He lived in wretched
lodgings on the rue Mandar, when Lucien de Rubempre was presented to
him. Vernou was a caustic critic on the side of the oppositon. The
uncongeniality of his domestic life embittered his character and his
genius. He was a finished specimen of the envious man, and pursued
Lucien de Rubempre with an alert and malicious jealousy. [A Bachelor's
Establishment. Lost Illusions. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] In 1834, Blondet recommended him to
Nathan as a "Handy Andy" for a newspaper. [A Daughter of Eve.]
Celestin Crevel invited him to his marriage with Valerie Marneffe.
[Cousin Betty.]
VERNOU (Madame Felicien), wife of the preceding, whose vulgarity was
one of the causes of her husband's bitterness, revealed herself in her
true light to Lucien de Rubempre, when she mentioned a certain Madame
Mahoudeau as one of her friends. [A Distinguished Provincial at
Paris.]
VERT (Michel-Jean-Jerome), nick-named Vermichel, formerly violinist in
the Bourgogne regiment, was occupied, during the Restoration, with the
various callings of fiddler, door-keeper of the Hotel de Ville,
drum-beater of Soulanges, jailer of the local prison, and finally
bailiff's deputy in the service of Brunet. He was intimate friend of
Fourchon, with whom he was in the habit of getting on sprees, and whose
hatred for the Montcornets, owners of Aigues, he shared. [The Peasantry.]
VERT (Madame Michel), wife of the preceding, commonly called
Vermichel, as was the case with her husband; a mustached virago, a
metre in width, and of two hundred and forty pounds weight, but active
in spite of this; she ruled her husband absolutely. [The Peasantry.]
VERVELLE (Antenor), an eccentric bourgeois of Paris, made his fortune
in the cork business. Retiring from the trade, Vervelle became, in his
own way, an amateur artist; wished to form a gallery of paintings, and
believed that he was collecting Flemish specimens, works of Tenier,
Metzu, and Rembrandt; employed Elie Magus to form the collection, and,
with that Jew as go-between, married his daughter Virginie to Pierre
Grassou. Vervelle, at that time, was living in a house of his own on
the rue Boucherat, a part of the rue Saint-Louis (now rue de Turenne),
near the rue Charlot. He also owned a cottage at Ville-d'Avray, in
which the famous Flemish collection was stored--pictures really
painted by Pierre Grassou. [Pierre Grassou.]
VERVELLE (Madame Antenor), wife of the preceding, gladly accepted
Pierre Grassou for a son-in-law, as soon as she found out that Maitre
Cardot was his notary. Madame Vervelle, however, was horrified at the
idea of Joseph Bridau's bursting in Pierre's studio, and "touching up"
the portrait of Mademoiselle Virginie, afterwards Madame Grassou.
[Pierre Grassou.]
VERVELLE (Virginie). (See Grassou, Madame Pierre.)
VEZE (Abbe de), a priest of Mortagne, during the Empire, administered
the last sacrament to Madame Bryond des Tours-Minieres just before her
execution in 1810; he was afterwards one of the Brothers of
Consolation, installed in the home of the Baronne de la Chanterie on
the rue Chanoinesse, Paris. [The Seamy Side of History.]
VIALLET, an excellent gendarme, appointed brigadier at Soulanges,
Bourgogne; replaced Soudry, retired. [The Peasantry.]
VICTOIRE, in 1819, a servant of Charles Claparon, a banker on the rue
de Provence, Paris; "a real Leonarde bedizened like a fish-huckster."
[Cesar Birotteau.]
VICTOR, otherwise known as the Parisian, a mysterious personage who
lived in marital relations with the Marquis d'Aiglemont's eldest
daughter, and made her the mother of several children. Victor, while
dodging the pursuit of the police, who were on his track for the
murder of Mauny, had found refuge for two hours in Versailles, on
Christmas night of one of the last years of the Restoration, in a
house near the Barriere de Montreuil (57, Avenue de Paris), with the
parents of Helene d'Aiglemont, the last named of whom fled with him.
During Louis Philippe's reign, Victor was captain of the "Othello," a
Colombian pirate, and lived very happily with his family--Mademoiselle
d'Aiglemont and the children he had by her. He met with General
d'Aiglemont, his mistress's father, who was at that time a passenger
on board the "Saint-Ferdinand," and saved his life. Victor perished at
sea in a shipwreck. [A Woman of Thirty.]
VICTORINE, a celebrated seamstress of Paris, had among her customers
the Duchesse Cataneo, Louise de Chaulieu, and, probably, Madame de
Bargeton. [Massimilla Doni. Lost Illusions. Letters of Two Brides.]
Her successors assumed and handed down her name; Victorine IV.'s
"intelligent scissors" were praised in the latter part of Louis
Philippe's reign, when Fritot sold Mistress Noswell the Selim shawl.
[Gaudissart II.]
VIDAL & PORCHON, book-sellers on commission, Quai des Augustins,
Paris, in 1821. Lucien de Rubempre had an opportunity to judge of
their method of doing business, when his "Archer of Charles IX." and a
volume of poems were brutally refused by them. Vidal & Porchon had in
stock at that time the works of Keratry, Arlincourt, and Victor
Ducange. Vidal was a stout, blunt man, who traveled for the firm.
Porchon, colder and more diplomatic, seemed to have special charge of
negotiations. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
VIEN (Joseph-Marie), a celebrated painter, born at Montpellier in
1716, died at Rome in 1809. In 1758, with Allegrain and Loutherbourg,
he aided his friend Sarrasine in abducting Zambinella, with a view to
taking him to the apartments of the sculptor, who was madly in love
with the eunuch, believing him to be a woman. At a later period, Vien
made for Madame de Lantry a copy of the statue modeled by Sarrasine
after Zambinella, and it was from this picture of Vien's that Girodet,
the signer of "Endymion," received his inspiration. This statue of
Sarrasine's was, long afterwards, reproduced by the sculptor
Dorlange-Sallenauve. [Sarrasine. The Member for Arcis.]
VIEUX-CHAPEAU, a soldier in the Seventy-second demi-brigade; was
killed in an engagement with the Chouans, in September, 1799. [The
Chouans.]
VIGNEAU, of the commune of Isere, of which Benassis was creator, so to
speak; he courageously took charge of an abandoned tile-factory, made
a successful business of it, and lived with his family around him,
which consisted of his mother, his mother-in-law, and his wife, who
had formerly been in the service of the Graviers of Grenoble. [The
Country Doctor.]
VIGNEAU (Madame), wife of the preceding, a perfect housekeeper; she
received Genestas cordially, when brought to call by Benassis; Madame
Vigneau was then on the point of becoming a mother. [The Country
Doctor.]
VIGNOL (See Bouffe.)
VIGNON (Claude), a French critic, born in 1799, brought a remarkable
power of analysis to the study of all questions of art, literature,
philosophy, or political problems. A clear, deep, and unerring judge
of men, a strong psychologist, he was famous in Paris as early as
1821, and was present, at the apartments of Florine, then acting at
the Panorama-Dramatique, at the supper following the presentation of
the "Alcade dans l'Embarras," and had a brilliant conversation on the
subject of the press with Emile Blondet, in the presence of a German
diplomatist. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] In 1834, Claude
Vignon was entrusted with the haute critique of the newspaper founded
by Raoul Nathan. [A Daughter of Eve.] For quite a period Vignon had
Felicite des Touches (Camille Maupin) as his mistress. In 1836, he
brought her back from Italy, accompanied by Lora, when he heard the
story of the domestic difficulties of the Bauvans from Maurice de
l'Hostal, French consul at Genoa. [Honorine.] Again, in 1836, at Les
Touches, Vignon, on the point of giving up Camille Maupin, delivered
to his former mistress a veritable dissertation, of surprising
insight, on the subject of the heart, with reference to Calyste du
Guenic, Gennaro Conti, and Beatrix de Rochefide. Such intimate
knowledge of the human heart had gradually saddened and wearied him;
he sought relief for his ennui in debauchery; he paid attention to La
Schontz, really a courtesan of superior stamp, and moulded her.
[Beatrix.] Afterwards, he became ambitious, and was secretary to
Cottin de Wissembourg, minister of war; this position brought him into
contact with Valerie Marneffe, whom he secretly loved; he, Stidmann,
Steinbock, and Massol, were witnesses of her marriage to Crevel, this
being the second time she had been led to the altar. He was counted
among the habitues of Valerie's salon, when "Jean-Jacques Bixiou was
going . . . to cozen Lisbeth Fischer." [Cousin Betty.] He rallied to
the support of Louis Philippe, and as editor of the Journal des
Debats, and master of requests in the Council of State, he gave his
attention to the lawsuit pending between S.-P. Gazonal and the prefect
of the Pyrenees-Orientales; a position as librarian, a chair at the
Sorbonne, and the decoration bore further testimony to the favor that
he enjoyed. [The Unconscious Humorists.] Vignon's reputation remained
undiminished, and, even in our own time, Madame Noemi Rouvier,
sculptor and novelist, signs the critic's name to her works.
VIGOR, manager of the post-station at Ville-aux-Fayes, during the
Restoration; officer in the National Guard of that sub-prefecture of
Bourgogne; brother-in-law of Leclercq, the banker, whose sister he had
married. [The Peasantry.]
VIGOR, son of the preceding, and, like the rest of his family,
interested in protecting Francois Gaubertin from Montcornet; he was
deputy judge of the court of Ville-aux-Fayes in 1823. [The Peasantry.]
VILLEMOT, head-clerk of Tabareau, the bailiff, was entrusted, in
April, 1845, with the work of superintending the details of the
interment of Sylvain Pons, and also to look after the interests of
Schmucke, who had been appointed residuary legatee by the deceased.
Villemot was entirely under the influence of Fraisier, business agent
of the Camusot de Marvilles. [Cousin Pons.]
VILLENOIX (Salomon de), son of a wealthy Jew named Salomon, who in his
old age had married a Catholic. Brought up in his mother's religion;
he raised the Villenoix estate to a barony. [Louis Lambert.]
VILLENOIX (Pauline Salomon de), born about 1800; natural daughter of
the preceding. During the Restoration, she was made to feel her
origin. Her character and her superiority made her an object of envy
in her provincial circle. Her meeting with Louis Lambert at Blois was
the turning point in her life. Community of age, country,
disappointments, and pride of spirit brought them in touch--a
reciprocated passion was the result. Mademoiselle Salomon de Villenoix
was going to marry Lambert, when the scholar's terrible mental malady
asserted itself. She was frequently able to avert the sick man's
paroxysms; she nursed him, advised him, and guided him, notably at
Croisic, where at her suggestion Lambert related in letter-form the
tragic misfortunes of the Cambremers, which he had just learned. On
her return to Villenoix, Pauline took her fiance with her where she
noted down and understood his last thoughts, sublime in their
incoherence; he died in her arms, and from that time forth she
considered herself the widow of Louis Lambert, whom she had buried in
one of the islands of the lake park at Villenoix. [Louis Lambert. A
Seaside Tragedy.] Two years later, being sensibly aged, and living in
almost total retirement from the world at the town of Tours, but full
of sympathy for weak mortals, Pauline de Villenoix protected the Abbe
Francois Birotteau, the victim of Troubert's hatred. [The Vicar of
Tours.]
VILQUIN, the richest ship-owner of Havre, during the Restoration,
purchased the estates of the bankrupt Charles Mignon, with the
exception of a chalet given by Mignon to Dumay; this dwelling, being
in close proximity to the millionaire's superb villa, and being
occupied by the families of Mignon and Dumay, was the despair of
Vilquin, Dumay obstinately refusing to sell it. [Modeste Mignon.]
VILQUIN (Madame), wife of the preceding, had G.-C. d'Estourny as
lover, previous to his amour with Bettina-Caroline Mignon; by her
husband she had three children, two of whom were girls. The eldest of
these, being richly endowed, was eventually Madame Francisque Althor.
[Modeste Mignon.]
VIMEUX, in 1824, an unassuming justice of the peace in a department of
the North, rebuked his son Adolphe for the kind of life he was leading
in Paris. [The Government Clerks.]
VIMEUX (Adolphe), son of the preceding, in 1824, was copyist emeritus
in Xavier Rabourdin's bureau in the Finance Department. A great dandy,
he thought only of his dress, and was satisfied with meagre fare at
the Katcomb's restaurant; he became a debtor of Antoine, the messenger
boy; secretly his ambition was to marry a rich old lady. [The
Government Clerks.]
VINET had a painful career to start with; a disappointment crossed his
path at the very outset. He had seduced a Mademoiselle de Chargeboeuf,
and he supposed that her parents would acknowledge him as son-in-law,
and endow their daughter richly; so he married her, but her family
disowned her, and he therefore had to rely on himself entirely. As an
attorney at Provins, Vinet made his mark by degrees; as head of the
local opposition, with the aid of Goraud, he succeeded in making use
of Denis Rogron, a wealthy retired merchant, established the "Courrier
de Provins," a Liberalist paper, adroitly defended the Rogrons against
the charge of killing Pierrette Lorrain by slow degrees, was elected
to the Chamber of Deputies about 1830, and became also
attorney-general, and probably minister of justice. [Pierrette. The
Member for Arcis. The Middle Classes. Cousin Pons.]
VINET (Madame), wife of the preceding, born Chargeboeuf, and therefore
one of the descendants of the "noble family of La Brie, a name derived
from the exploit of a knight in the expedition of Saint-Louis," was
mother of two children, who suffered for her happiness. Absolutely
controlled by her husband, rejected and sacrificed by her family from
the time of her marriage, Madame Vinet scarcely dared in the Rogrons'
salon to speak in defence of Pierrette Lorrain, their victim.
[Pierrette.]
VINET (Olivier), son of the preceding couple, born in 1816. A
magistrate, like his father, began his career as deputy king's
attorney at Arcis, advanced to the position of king's attorney in the
town of Mantes, and, still further, was deputy king's attorney, but
now in Paris. Supported by his father's influence, and being noted for
his independent raillery, Vinet was dreaded everywhere. Among the
people of Arcis, he mixed only with the little coterie of government
officials, composed of Goulard, Michu, and Marest. [The Member for
Arcis.] Being a rival of Maitre Fraisier in the affections of Madame
Vatinelle of Mantes, he resolved to destroy this contestant in the
race, and so thwarted his career. [Cousin Pons.] At the Thuilliers',
on the rue Saint-Dominique-d'Enfer, Paris, where he displayed his
usual impertinence, Vinet was an aspirant to the hand of Celeste
Colleville, the heiress, who was eventually Madame Felix Phellion.
[The Middle Classes.]
VIOLETTE, a husbandman, tenanted in the department of Aube, near
Arcis, the Grouage farm, that was a part of the Gondreville estate, at
the time that Peyrade and Corentin, in accordance with Fouche's
instructions, undertook the singular abduction of Senator Malin de
Gondreville. A miserly and deceitful man, this fellow Violette
secretly aided with Malin de Gondreville and the powers of the day
against Michu, the mysterious agent of the Cinq-Cygne, Hauteserre, and
Simeuse families. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
VIOLETTE (Jean), a descendant of the preceding; hosier of Arcis in
1837; took in hand Pigoult's business, as successor to Phileas
Beauvisage. In the electoral stir of 1839, Jean Violette seemed to be
entirely at the disposal of the Gondreville faction. [The Member for
Arcis.]
VIRGINIE, cook in the household of Cesar Birotteau, the perfumer, in
1818. [Cesar Birotteau.]
VIRGINIE, during the years 1835-1836, lady's maid, on the rue
Neuve-des-Mathurins (at present rue des Mathurins), Paris, to
Marie-Eugenie du Tillet, who was at that time engrossed in righting
the imprudent conduct of Angelique-Marie de Vandenesse. [A Daughter
of Eve.]
VIRGINIE, mistress of a Provencal soldier, who, at a later period,
during Bonaparte's campaign in Egypt, was lost for some time in a
desert, where he lived with a female panther. The jealous mistress was
constantly threatening to stab her lover, and he dubbed her Mignonne,
by antiphrasis; in memory of her he gave the same name to the panther.
[A Passion in the Desert.]
VIRGINIE, a Parisian milliner, whose hats were praised, for a
consideration, by Andoche Finot in his newspaper in 1821. [A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
VIRLAZ, a rich furrier of Leipsic, from whom his nephew, Frederic
Brunner, inherited, about the middle of Louis-Philippe's reign. In his
lifetime this Jew, head of the house of Virlaz & Co., had the fortune
of Madame Brunner (first of the name) placed in the coffers of the
Al-Sartchild bank. [Cousin Pons.]
VISSARD (Marquis du), in memory of his younger brother, the Chevalier
Rifoel du Vissard, was created a peer of France by Louis XVIII., who
entered him as a lieutenant in the Maison-Rouge, and made him a
prefect upon the dissolution of the Maison-Rouge. [The Seamy Side of
History.]
VISSARD (Charles-Amedee-Louis-Joseph Rifoel, Chevalier du), noble and
headstrong gentleman; played an important part, after 1789, in the
various anti-revolutionary insurrections of western France. In
December, 1799, he was at the Vivetiere, and his impulsiveness was a
contrast with the coolness of Marquis Alphonse de Montauran, also
called Le Gars. [The Chouans.] He took part in the battle of Quiberon,
and, in company with Boislaurier, took a leading part in the uprising
of the Chauffeurs of Mortagne. Several circumstances, indeed, helped
to strengthen his Royalist inclinations. Fergus found in Henriette
Bryond des Tours-Minieres (Contenson, the spy), who secretly betrayed
him. Like his accomplices, Rifoel du Vissard was executed in 1809. At
times during his anti-revolutionary campaigns he assumed the name of
Pierrot. [The Seamy Side of History.]
VISSEMBOURG (Duc de), son of Marechal Vernon; brother of the Prince de
Chiavari; between 1835 and 1840 presided over a horticultural society,
the vice-president of which was Fabien du Ronceret. [Beatrix.]
VITAGLIANI, tenor at the Argentina, Rome, when Zambinella took the
soprano parts in 1758. Vitagliani was acquainted with J.-E. Sarrasine.
[Sarrasine.]
VITAL, born about 1810, a Parisian hatter, who succeeded Finot Pere,
whose store on rue du Coq was very popular about 1845, and deservedly
so, apparently. He amused J.-J. Bixiou and Leon de Lora by his
ridiculous pretensions. They wished him to supply S.-P. Gazonal with
a hat, and he proposed to sell him a hat like that of Lousteau. On
this occasion Vital showed them the head-covering that he had devised
for Claude Vignon, who was undecided in politics. Vital really
pretended to make each hat according to the personality of the person
ordering it. He praised the Prince de Bethune's hat and dreamed of the
time when high hats would go out of style. [The Unconscious
Humorists.]
VITAL (Madame), wife of the preceding, believed in her husband's
genius and greatness. She was in the store when the hatter received a
call from Bixiou, Lora and Gazonal. [The Unconscious Humorists.]
VITEL, born in 1776, Paris justice of the peace in 1845, an
acquaintance of Doctor Poulain; was succeeded by Maitre Fraisier, a
protege of the Camusot de Marvilles. [Cousin Pons.]
VITELOT, partner of Sonet, the marble-cutter; designed tombstones. He
failed to obtain the contract for monuments to Marsay, the minister,
and to Keller, the officer. It was given to Stidmann. The plans made
by Vitelot having been retouched, were submitted to Wilhelm Schmucke
for the grave of Sylvain Pons, who was buried in Pere-Lachaise.
[Cousin Pons.]
VITELOT (Madame), wife of the preceding, severely rebuked an agent of
the firm for bringing in as a customer W. Schmucke, heir-contestant to
the Pons property. [Cousin Pons.]
VIVET (Madeleine), servant to the Camusot de Marvilles; during nearly
twenty-five years was their feminine Maitre-Jacques. She tried in vain
to gain Sylvain Pons for a husband, and thus to become their cousin.
Madeleine Vivet, having failed in her matrimonial attempts, took a
dislike for Pons, and persecuted him in a thousand ways. [Scenes from
a Courtesan's Life. Cousin Pons.]
VOLFGANG,[*] cashier of Baron du Saint-Empire, F. de Nucingen, when
this well-known Parisian banker of rue Saint-Lazare fell madly in love
with Esther van Gobseck, and when Jacques Falleix's discomfiture
occurred. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
[*] He lived on rue de L'Arcade, near rue des Mathurins, Paris.
VORDAC (Marquise de), born in 1769, mistress of the rich Lord Dudley;
she had by him a son, Henry. To legitimize this child she arranged a
marriage with Marsay, a bankrupt old gentleman of tarnished
reputation. He demanded payment of the interest on a hundred thousand
francs as a reward for his marriage, and he died without having known
his wife. The widow of Marsay became by her second marriage the
well-known Marquise de Vordac. She neglected her duties as mother
until late in life, and paid no attention to Henri de Marsay except
to propose Miss Stevens as a suitable wife for him. [The Thirteen.]
VULPATO (La), noble Venetian, very frequently present in Fenice; about
1820 tried to interest Emilio Memmi, Prince of Varese, and Massimilla
Doni, Duchesse Cataneo, in each other. [Massimilla Doni.]
VYDER, anagram formed from d'Ervy, and one of the three names taken
successively by Baron Hector Hulot d'Ervy, after deserting his wife.
He hid under this assumed name, when he became a petition-writer in
Paris, in the lower part of Petite Pologne, opposite rue de la
Pepiniere, on Passage du Soleil, to-day called Galerie de Cherbourg.
[Cousin Betty.]
W
WADMANN, an Englishman who owned, near the Marville estate in
Normandie, a cottage and pasture-lands, which Madame Camusot de
Marville talked of buying in 1845, when he was about to leave for
England after twenty years' sojourn in France. [Cousin Pons.]
WAHLENFER or WALHENFER, wealthy German merchant who was murdered at
the "Red Inn," near Andenach, Rhenish Prussia, October, 1799. The deed
was done by Jean-Frederic Taillefer, then a surgeon and
under-assistant-major in the French army, who suffered his comrade,
Prosper Magnan, to be executed for the crime. Wahlenfer was a short,
heavy-set man of rotund appearance, with frank and cordial manners. He
was proprietor of a large pin-manufactory on the outskirts of Neuwied.
He was from Aix-la-Chapelle. Possibly Wahlenfer was an assumed name.
[The Red Inn.]
WALLENROD-TUSTALL-BARTENSTILD (Baron de), born in 1742, banker at
Frankfort-on-the-Main; married in 1804, his only daughter, Bettina, to
Charles Mignon de la Bastie, then only a lieutenant in the French
army; died in 1814, following some disastrous speculations in cotton.
[Modeste Mignon.]
WATSCHILDINE, a London firm which did business with F. de Nucingen,
the banker. On a dark autumn evening in 1821, the cashier, Rodolphe
Castanier, was surprised by the satanic John Melmoth, while he was in
the act of forging the name of his employer on some letters of credit
drawn on the Watschildine establishment. [Melmoth Reconciled.]
WATTEBLED, grocer in Soulanges, Bourgogne, in 1823; father of the
beautiful Madame Plissoud; was in middle class society; kept a store
on the first floor of a house belonging to Soudry, the mayor. [The
Peasantry.]
WATTEVILLE (Baron de), Besancon gentleman of Swiss descent; last
descendant of the well known Dom Jean de Watteville, the renegade Abbe
of Baumes (1613-1703); small and very thin, rather deficient mentally;
spent his life in a cabinet-maker's establishment "enjoying utter
ignorance"; collected shells and geological specimens; usually in good
humor. After living in the Comte, "like a bug in a rug," in 1815 he
married Clotilde-Louise de Rupt, who domineered over him completely.
As soon as her parents died, about 1819, he lived with her in the
beautiful Rupt house on rue de la Prefecture, a piece of property
which included a large garden extending along the rue du Perron. By
his wife, the Baron de Watteville had one daughter, whom he loved
devotedly, so much, indeed, that he lost all authority over her. M. de
Watteville died in 1836, as a result of his fall into the lake on his
estate of Rouxey, near Besancon. He was buried on an islet in this
same lake, and his wife, making great show of her sorrow, had erected
thereon a Gothic monument of marble like the one to Heloise and
Abelard in the Pere-Lachaise. [Albert Savarus.]
WATTEVILLE (Baronne de), wife of the preceding, and after his death of
Amedee de Soulas. (See Soulas, Madame A. de.)
WATTEVILLE (Rosalie de), only daughter of the preceding couple; born
in 1816; a blonde with colorless cheeks and pale-blue eyes; slender
and frail of body; resembled one of Albert Durer's saints. Reared
under her mother's stern oversight, accustomed to the most rigid
religious observances, kept in ignorance of all worldly matters, she
entirely concealed uner her modesty of manner and retiring disposition
her iron character, and her romantic audacity, so like that of her
great-uncle, the Abbe de Watteville; and which was increased by the
resoluteness and pride of the Rupt blood; although destined to marry
Amedee de Soulas, "la fleur de pois"[*] of Besancon, she became
enamoured of the attorney, Albert Savaron de Savarus. By successfully
carrying out her schemes she separated him from the Duchesse
d'Argaiolo, although these two were mutually in love--a separation
which caused Savarus great despair. He never knew of Rosalie's
affection for him, and withdrew to the Grande Chartreuse. Mademoiselle
de Watteville then lived for some time in Paris with her mother, who
was then the wife of Amedee de Soulas. She tried to see the Duchesse
d'Argaiolo, who, believing Savarus faithless, had given her hand to
the Duc de Rhetore. In February, 1838, on meeting her at a charity
ball given for the benefit of the former civil pensioners, Rosalie
made an appointment with her for the Opera ball, when she told her
former rival the secret of her manoeuvres against Madame de Rhetore,
and of her conduct as regards the attorney. Mademoiselle de Watteville
retired finally to Rouxey--a place which she left, only to take a trip
in 1841 on an unknown mission, from which she came back seriously
crippled, having lost an arm and a leg in a boiler explosion on a
steamboat. Henceforth she devoted her life to the exercises of
religion, and left her retreat no more. [Albert Savarus.]
[*] Title of one of the first editions of "A Marriage Settlement."
WERBRUST, associated with Palma, Parisian discounter on rue Saint-
Denis and rue Saint-Martin, during the Restoration; knew the story of
the glory and decay of Cesar Birotteau, the perfumer, who was mayor of
the second district; was the friend of the banker, Jean-Baptiste
d'Aldrigger, at whose burial he was present; carried on business with
the Baron de Nucingen, making a shrewd speculation when the latter
settled for the third time with his creditors in 1836. [Cesar
Birotteau. The Firm of Nucingen.]
WERCHAUFFEN (Baron de), one of Schirmer's aliases. (See Schirmer.)
WIERZCHOWNIA (Adam de), Polish gentleman, who, after the last division
of Poland, found refuge in Sweden, where he sought consolation in the
study of chemistry, a study for which he had always felt a strong
liking. Poverty compelled him to give up his study, and he joined the
French army. In 1809, while on the way to Douai, he was quartered for
one night with M. Balthazar Claes. During a conversation with his
host, he explained to him his ideas on the subject of "identity of
matter" and the absolute, thus bringing misfortune on a whole family,
for from that moment Balthazar Claes devoted time and money to this
quest of the absolute. Adam de Wierzchownia, while dying at Dresden,
in 1812, of a wound received during the last wars, wrote a final
letter to Balthazar Claes, informing him of the different thoughts
relative to the search in question, which had been in his mind since
their first meeting. By this writing, he increased the misfortunes of
the Claes family. Adam de Wierzchownia had an angular wasted
countenance, large head which was bald, eyes like tongues of fire, a
large mustache. His calmness of manner frightened Madame Balthazar
Claes.[*] [The Quest of the Absolute.]
[*] Under the title of _Gold, or the Dream of a Savant_, there is a
play by Bayard and Bieville, which presents the misfortunes of the
Claes. This was given at the Gymnase, November 11, 1837, by M.
Bouffe and Madame E. Sauvage, both of whom are still alive.
WILLEMSENS (Marie-Augusta). (See Brandon,[*] Comtesse de.)
[*] Lady Brandon was the mother of Louis Gaston and Marie Gaston.
WIMPHEN (De), married a friend of Madame d'Aiglemont's childhood. [A
Woman of Thirty.]
WIMPHEN (Madame Louisa de), childhood friend of Madame Julie
d'Aiglemont in school at Ecouen. In 1814, Madame d'Aiglemont wrote to
the companion, who was then on the point of marrying, of her own
disillusionment, and confidentially advised her to remain single. This
letter, however, was not sent, for the Comtesse de Listomere-Landon,
aunt of Julie d'Aiglemont by marriage, having found out about it,
discouraged such an impropriety on the part of her niece. Unlike her
friend, Madame de Wimphen married happily. She retained the confidence
of Madame d'Aiglemont, and was present, indeed, at the important
interview between Julie and Lord Grenville. After M. de Wimphen's
arrival to accompany his wife home, these two lovers were left alone,
until the unexpected arrival of M. d'Aiglemont made it necessary for
Lord Grenville to conceal himself. The Englishman died shortly after
this as a result of the night's exposure, when he was obliged to stay
in the cold on the outside of a window-sill. This happened also
immediately after his fingers were bruised by a rapidly closed door.
[A Woman of Thirty.]
WIRTH, valet of the banker, J.-B. d'Aldrigger; remained in the service
of Mesdames d'Aldrigger, mother and daughters, after the death of the
head of the family. He showed them the same devotion, of which he had
often given proof. Wirth was a kind of Alsatian Caleb or Gaspard, aged
and serious, but with much of the cunning mingled with his simple
nature. Seeing in Godefroid de Beaudenord a good husband for Isaure
d'Aldrigger, he was able to entrap him easily, and thus was partly
responsible for their marriage. [The Firm of Nucingen.]
WISCH (Johann). Fictitious name given in a newspaper for Johann
Fischer, when he had been accused of peculation. [Cousin Betty.]
WISSEMBOURG (Prince de), one of the titles of Marechal Cottin, the Duc
d'Orfano. [Cousin Betty.]
WITSCHNAU. (See Gaudin.)
X
XIMEUSE, fief situated in Lorraine; original spelling of the name
Simeuse, which came to to be written with an S on account of its
pronunciation. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
Y
YSEMBOURG (Prince d'), marshal of France, the Conde of the Republic.
Madame Nourrisson, his confidential servant, looked upon him as a
"simpleton," because he gave two thousand francs to one of the most
renowned countesses of the Imperial Court, who came to him one day,
with streaming eyes, begging him to give her the assistance upon which
her children's life depended. She soon spent the money for a robe,
which she needed to wear so as to be dressed stylishly at an embassy
ball. This story was told by Madame Nourrisson, in 1845, to Leon de
Lora, Bixiou, and Gazonal. [The Unconscious Humorists.]
Z
ZAMBINELLA, a eunuch, who sang at the Theatre Argentina, Rome, the
leading soprano parts; he was very beautiful. Sarassine, a French
sculptor, believing him to be a woman, became enamored of him, and
used him as a model for an excellent statue of Adonis, which may still
be seen at the Musee d'Albani, and which Dorlange-Sallenauve copied
nearly a century later. When he was over eighty years old and very
wealthy, Zambinella lived, under the Restoration, with his niece, who
was wife of the mysterious Lanty. While residing with the Lantys
Zambinella died in Rome, 1830. The early life of Zambinella was
unknown to the Parisian world. A mesmerist believed the old man, who
was a sort of traveling mummy, to be the famous Balsamo, also known as
Cagliostro, while the Bailli de Ferette took him to be the Comte de
Saint-Germain. [Sarrasine. The Member for Arcis.]
ZARNOWICKI (Roman[*]), Polish general who, as a refugee in Paris,
lived on the ground floor of the little two-story house on rue de
Marbeuf, of which Doctor Halpersohn occupied the other floor in 1836.
[The Seamy Side of History.]
[*] Probably a given name.
NOTE.
The _Repertory of the Comedie Humaine_, as the reader can see for
himself, should include only those episodes introducing characters
inter-related and continually recurring. Consequently, the stories
entitled _The Exiles_, _About Catherine de Medici_, _Maitre
Cornelius_, _The Unknown Masterpiece_, _The Elixir of Life_, _Christ
in Flanders_, which antedate the eighteenth century, and _Seraphita_,
which deals with the supernatural, are omitted, together with the
_Analytical Studies_. But _The Hated Son_ furnishes some indispensable
information concerning a few biographies. The _Dramas_ are outside the
action of the _Comedie_, so contribute no names.
According to Theophile Gautier, _The Comedie Humaine_ embraces two
thousand characters. His reckoning is nearly exact; but as a result of
cross-references, surnames, assumed names and the like, that number is
far exceeded in this work, which, nevertheless, omits many characters
outside the action, as: Chevet, Decamps, Delacroix, Finot Sr., the
child of Calyste and Sabine du Guenic, Noemi Magus, Meyerbeer,
Herbaut, Houbigant, Tanrade, Mousqueton, Arnal, Barrot, Bonald,
Berryer, Gautier, Gozlan, Hugo, Hyacinthe, Lafont, Lamartine,
Lassailly, F. Lemaitre, Charles X., Louis Philippe, Odry, Talma,
Thiers, Villele, Rossini, Rousseau, Mlle. Dejazet, Mlle. Georges, etc.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Repertory Of The Comedie Humaine,
Complete, A -- Z, by Anatole Cerfberr and Jules François Christophe
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