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REPERTORY OF THE COMEDIE HUMAINE, PART II, L -- Z
January, 2001 [Etext #2469]
Project Gutenberg Etext of Repertory of the Comedie Humaine Pt 2
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Etext prepared by Dagny, [email protected]
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End of Project Gutenberg Etext of Repertory of the Comedie Humaine Pt 1
Etext prepared by Dagny, [email protected]
Emma Dudding, [email protected]
and John Bickers, [email protected]
REPERTORY OF THE COMEDIE HUMAINE
PART II, L -- Z
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.)
[*] n 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 Project Gutenberg Etext of Repertory of the Comedie Humaine Pt 1
