CHAVONCOURT (Sidonie de), third and last child of M. and Mme. deChavoncourt of Besancon. Born in 1818. [Albert Savarus.]
CHAZELLE, clerk under the Minister of Finance, in Baudoyer's bureau, in 1824. A benedict and wife-led, although wishing to appear his own master. He argued without ceasing upon subjects and through causes the idlest with Paulmier the bachelor. The one smoked, the other took snuff; this different way of taking tobacco was one of the endless themes between the two. [The Government Clerks.]
CHELIUS, physician of Heidelberg with whom Halpersohn corresponded, during the reign of Louis Philippe. [The Seamy Side of History.]
CHERVIN, a police-corporal at Montegnac near Limoges in 1829. [TheCountry Parson.]
CHESNEL, or Choisnel, notary at Alencon, time of Louis XVIII. Born in 1753. Old attendant of the house of Gordes, also of the d'Esgrignon family whose property he had protected during the Revolution. A widower, childless, and possessed of a considerable fortune, he had an aristocratic clientele, notably that of Mme. de la Chanterie. On every hand he received that attention which his good points merited. M. du Bousquier held him in profound hatred, blaming him with the refusal which Mlle. d'Esgrignon had made of Du Bousquier's proffered hand in marriage, and another check of the same nature which he experienced at first from Mlle. Cormon. By a dexterous move in 1824 Chesnel succeeded in rescuing Victurnien d'Esgrignon, though guilty, from the Court of Assizes. The old notary succumbed soon after this event. [The Seamy Side of History. Jealousies of a Country Town.]
CHESSEL (De), owner of the chateau and estate of Frapesle near Sache in Touraine. Friend of the Vandenesses; he introduced their son Felix to his neighbors, the Mortsaufs. The son of a manufacturer named Durand who became very rich during the Revolution, but whose plebeian name he had entirely dropped; instead he adopted that of his wife, the only heiress of the Chessels, an old parliamentary family. M. de Chessel was director-general and twice deputy. He received the title of count under Louis XVIII. [The Lily of the Valley.]
CHESSEL (Madame de), wife of the preceding. She made up elaborate toilettes. [The Lily of the Valley.] In 1824 she frequented Mme. Rabourdin's Paris home. [The Government Clerks.]
CHEVREL (Monsieur and Madame), founders of the house of the "Cat andRacket," rue Saint-Denis, at the close of the eighteenth century.Father and mother of Mme. Guillaume, whose husband succeeded to themanagement of the firm. [At the Sign of the Cat and Racket.]
CHEVREL, rich Parisian banker at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Probably brother and brother-in-law of the foregoing. He had a daughter who married Maitre Roguin. [At the Sign of the Cat and Racket.]
CHIAVARI (Prince de), brother of the Duke of Vissembourg; son ofMarechal Vernon. [Beatrix.]
CHIFFREVILLE (Monsieur and Madame), ran a very prosperous drug-storeand laboratory in Paris during the Restoration. Their partners wereMM. Protez and Cochin. This firm had frequent business dealings withCesar Birotteau's "Queen of Roses"; it also supplied Balthazar Claes.[Cesar Birotteau. The Quest of the Absolute.]
CHIGI (Prince), great lord of Rome in 1758. He boasted of having "made a soprano out of Zambinella" and disclosed the fact to Sarrasine that this creature was not a woman. [Sarrasine.]
CHISSE (Madame de), great aunt of M. du Bruel; a grasping old Provincial at whose home the retired dancer Tullia, now Mme. du Bruel, was fortunate to pass a summer in a rather hypocritical religious penance. [A Prince of Bohemia.]
CHOCARDELLE (Mademoiselle), known as Antonia; a Parisian courtesan during the reign of Louis Philippe; born in 1814. Maxime de Trailles spoke of her as a woman of wit; "She's a pupil of mine, indeed," said he. About 1834, she lived on rue Helder and for fifteen days was the mistress of M. de la Palferine. [Beatrix. A Prince of Bohemia.] For a time she operated a reading-room that M. de Trailles had established for her on rue Coquenard. Like Marguerite Turquet she had "well soaked the little d'Esgrignon." [A Man of Business.] In 1838 she was present at the "house-warming" to Josepha Mirah on rue de la Ville-l'Eveque. [Cousin Betty.] In 1839 she accompanied her lover Maxime de Trailles to Arcis-sur-Aube to aid him in his official transactions relating to the legislative elections. [The Member for Arcis.]
CHOIN (Mademoiselle), good Catholic who built a parsonage on some land at Blangy bought expressly by her in the eighteenth century; the property was acquired later by Rigou. [The Peasantry.]
CHOLLET (Mother), janitress of a house on rue du Sentier occupied byFinot's paper in 1821. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
CHRESTIEN (Michel), Federalist Republican; member of the "Cenacle" of rue des Quatre-Vents. In 1819 he and his friends were invited by the widow Bridau to her home to celebrate the return of her elder son Philippe from Texas. He posed as a Roman senator in a historic picture. The painter Joseph Bridau was a friend of his. [A Bachelor's Establishment.] About 1822 Chrestien fought a duel with Lucien Chardon de Rubempre on account of Daniel d'Arthez. He was a great though unknown statesman. He was killed at Saint-Merri cloister on June 6, 1832, where he was defending ideas not his own. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] He became foolishly enamored of Diane de Maufrigneuse, but did not confess his love save by a letter addressed to her just before he went to his death at the barricade. He had saved the life of M. de Maufrigneuse in the Revolution of July, 1830, through love for the duchesse. [The Secrets of a Princess.]
CHRISTEMIO, creole and foster-father of Paquita Valdes, whose protector and body-guard he constituted himself. The Marquis de San- Real caused his death for having abetted the intimacy between Paquita and Marsay. [The Thirteen.]
CHRISTOPHE, native of Savoy; servant of Mme. Vauquer on rue Neuve- Saint-Genevieve, Paris, in 1819. He alone was with Rastignac at the funeral of Goriot, accompanying the body as far as Pere-Lachaise in the priest's carriage. [Father Goriot.]
CIBOT, alias Galope-Chopine, also called Cibot the Great. A Chouan implicated in the Breton insurrection of 1799. Decapitated by his cousin Cibot, alias Pille-Miche, and by Marche-a-Terre for having unthinkingly betrayed the brigand position to the "Blues." [The Chouans.]
CIBOT (Barbette), wife of Cibot, alias Galope-Chopine. She went over to the "Blues" after her husband's execution, and vowed through vengeance to devote her son, who was still a child, to the Republican cause. [The Chouans.]
CIBOT (Jean), alias Pille-Miche; one of the Chouans of the Breton insurrection of 1799; cousin of Cibot, alias Galope-Chopine, and his murderer. Pille-Miche it was, also, who shot and killed Adjutant Gerard of the 72d demi-brigade at the Vivetiere. [The Chouans.] Signalized as the hardiest of the indirect allies of the brigands in the affair of the "Chauffeurs of Mortagne." Tried and executed in 1809. [The Seamy Side of History.]
CIBOT, born in 1786. From 1818 to 1845 he was tailor-janitor in a house in rue de Normandie, belonging to Claude-Joseph Pillerault, where dwelt Pons and Schmucke, the two musicians, time of Louis Philippe. Poisoned by the pawn-broker Remonencq, Cibot died at his post in April, 1845, on the same day of Sylvain Pons' demise. [Cousin Pons.]
CIBOT (Madame). (See Remonencq, Madame.)
CICOGNARA, Roman Cardinal in 1758; protector of Zambinella. He caused the assassination of Sarrasine who otherwise would have slain Zambinella. [Sarrasine.]
CINQ-CYGNE, the name of an illustrious family of Champagne, the younger branch of the house of Chargeboeuf. These two branches of the same stock had a common origin in the Duineffs of the Frankish people. The name of Cinq-Cygne arose from the defence of a castle made, in the absence of their father, by five (/cinq/) daughters all remarkably fair. On the blazon of the house of Cinq-Cygne is placed for device the response of the eldest of the five sisters when summoned to surrender: "We die singing!" [The Gondreville Mystery.]
CINQ-CYGNE (Comtesse de), mother of Laurence de Cinq-Cygne. Widow at the time of the Revolution. She died in the height of a nervous fever induced by an attack on her chateau at Troyes by the populace in 1793. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
CINQ-CYGNE (Marquis de), name of Adrien d'Hauteserre after his marriage with Laurence de Cinq-Cygne. (See Hauteserre, Adrien d'.)
CINQ-CYGNE (Laurence, Comtesse, afterwards Marquise de), born in 1781. Left an orphan at the age of twelve, she lived, at the last of the eighteenth and the first of the nineteenth century, with her kinsman and tutor M. d'Hauteserre at Cinq-Cygne, Aube. She was loved by both her cousins, Paul-Marie and Marie-Paul de Simeuse, and also by the younger of her tutor's two sons, Adrien d'Hauteserre, whom she married in 1813. Laurence de Cinq-Cygne struggled valiantly against a cunning and redoubtable police-agency, the soul of which was Corentin. The King of France approved the charter of the Count of Champagne, by virtue of which, in the family of Cinq-Cygne, a woman might "ennoble and succeed"; therefore the husband of Laurence took the name and the arms of his wife. Although an ardent Royalist she went to seek the Emperor as far as the battlefield of Jena, in 1806, to ask pardon for the two Simeuses and the two Hauteserres involved in a political trial and condemned to hard labor, despite their innocence. Her bold move succeeded. The Marquise de Cinq-Cygne gave her husband two children, Paul and Berthe. This family passed the winter season at Paris in a magnificent mansion on Faubourg du Roule. [The Gondreville Mystery.] In 1832 Mme. de Cinq-Cygne, at the instance of the Archbishop of Paris, consented to call on the Princesse de Cadignan who had reformed. [The Secrets of a Princess.] In 1836 Mme. de Cinq-Cygne was intimate with Mme. de la Chanterie. [The Seamy Side of History.] Under the Restoration, and principally during Charles X.'s reign, Mme. de Cinq-Cygne exercised a sort of sovereignty over the Department of the Aube which the Comte de Gondreville counterbalanced in a measure by his family connections and through the generosity of the department. Some time after the death of Louis XVIII. she brought about the election of Francois Michu as president of the Arcis Court. [The Member for Arcis.]
CINQ-CYGNE (Jules de), only brother of Laurence de Cinq-Cygne. He emigrated at the outbreak of the Revolution and died for the Royalist cause at Mayence. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
CINQ-CYGNE (Paul de), son of Laurence de Cinq-Cygne and of Adrien d'Hauteserre; he became marquis after his father's death. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
CINQ-CYGNE (Berthe de). (See Maufrigneuse, Mme. Georges de.)
CIPREY of Provins, Seine-et-Marne; nephew of the maternal grandmother of Pierrette Lorrain. He formed one of the family council called together in 1828 to decide whether or not the young girl should remain underneath Denis Rogron's roof. This council replaced Rogron with the notary Auffray and chose Ciprey for vice-guardian. [Pierrette.]
CLAES-MOLINA (Balthazar), Comte de Nourho; born at Douai in 1761 and died in the same town in 1832; sprung from a famous family of Flemish weavers, allied to a very noble Spanish family, time of Philip II. In 1795 he married Josephine de Temninck of Brussels, and lived happily with her until 1809, at which time a Polish officer, Adam de Wierzchownia, seeking shelter at the Claes mansion, discussed with him the subject of chemical affinity. From that time on Balthazar, who formerly had worked in Lavoisier's laboratory, buried himself exclusively in the "quest of the absolute." He expended seven millions in experiments, leaving his wife to die of neglect. From 1820 to 1825* he was a tax-collector in Brittany—duties performed by his elder daughter who had secured the position for him in order to divert him from his barren labors. During this time she rehabilitated the family fortunes. Balthazar died, almost insane, crying "Eureka!" [The Quest of the Absolute.]
* Given erroneously in original text as 1852.—J.W.M.
CLAES (Josephine de Temninck, Madame), wife of Balthazar Claes; born at Brussels in 1770, died at Douai in 1816; a native Spaniard on her mother's side; commonly called Pepita. She was small, crooked and lame, with heavy black hair and glowing eyes. She gave her husband four children: Marguerite, Felicie, Gabriel (or Gustave) and Jean- Balthazar. She was passionatley devoted to her husband, and died of grief over his neglect of her for the scientific experiments which never came to an end. [The Quest of the Absolute.] Mme. Claes counted among her kin the Evangelistas of Bordeau. [A Marriage Settlement.]
CLAES (Marguerite), elder daughter of Balthazar Claes and Josephine deTemninck. (See Solis, Madame de.)
CLAES (Felicie), second daughter of Balthazar Claes and of Josephine de Temninck; born in 1801. (See Pierquin, Madame.)
CLAES (Gabriel or Gustave), third child of Balthazar Claes and ofJosephine de Temninck; born about 1802. He attended the College ofDouai, afterwards entering the Ecole Polytechnique, becoming anengineer of roads and bridges. In 1825 he married Mlle. Conyncks ofCambrai. [The Quest of the Absolute.]
CLAES (Jean-Balthazar) last child of Balthazar Claes and Josephine de Temninck; born in the early part of the nineteenth century. [The Quest of the Absolute.]
CLAGNY (J.-B. de), public prosecutor at Sancerre in 1836. A passionate admirer of Dinah de la Baudraye. He got transferred to Paris when she returned there, and became successively the substitute for the general prosecutor, attorney-general and finally attorney-general to the Court of Cassation. He watched over and protected the misguided woman, consenting to act as godfather to the child she had by Lousteau. [The Muse of the Department.]
CLAGNY (Madame de), wife of the preceding. To use an expression of M.Gravier's, she was "ugly enough to chase a young Cossack" in 1814.Mme. de Clagny associated with Mme. de la Baudraye. [The Muse of theDepartment.]
CLAPARON, clerk for the Minister of the Interior under the Republic and Empire. Friend of Bridau, Sr., after whose death he continued his cordial relations with Mme. Bridau. He gave much attention to Philippe and Joseph on their mother's account. Claparon died in 1820. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
CLAPARON (Charles), son of the preceding; born about 1790. Business man and banker (rue de Provence); at first a commercial traveler; an aide of F. du Tillet in transactions of somewhat shady nature. He was invited to the famous ball given by Cesar Birotteau in honor of Cesar's nomination to the Legion of Honor and the release of French possessions. [A Bachelor's Establishment. Cesar Birotteau.] In 1821, at the Bourse in Paris, he made a peculiar bargain with the cashier Castanier, who transferred to him, in exchange for his own individuality, the power which he had received from John Melmoth, the Englishman. [Melmoth Reconciled.] He was interested in the third liquidation of Nucingen in 1826, a settlement which made the fortune of the Alsatian banker whose "man of straw" he was for some time. [The Firm of Nucingen.] He was associated with Cerizet who deceived him in a deal about a house sold to Thuillier. Becoming bankrupt he embarked for America about 1840. He was probably condemned for contumacy on account of swindling. [A Man of Business. The Middle Classes.]
CLAPART, employe to the prefecture of the Seine during the Restoration, at a salary of twelve hundred francs. Born about 1776. About 1803 he married a widow Husson, aged twenty-two. At that time he was employed in the Bureau of Finance, at a salary of eighteen hundred francs and a promise of more. But his known incapacity held him down to a secondary place. At the fall of the Empire he lost his position, obtaining his new one on the recommendation of the Comte de Serizy. Mme. Husson had by her first husband a child that was Clapart's evil genius. In 1822 his family occupied an apartment renting for two hundred and fifty francs at number seven rue de la Cerisaie. There he saw much of the old pensioner Poiret. Clapart was killed by the Fieschi attack of July 28, 1835. [A Start in Life.]
CLAPART (Madame), wife of the preceding; born in 1780; one of the "Aspasias" of the Directory, and famous for her acquaintance with one of the "Pentarques." He married her to Husson the contractor, who made millions but who became bankrupt suddenly through the First Consul, and suicided in 1802. At that time she was mistress of Moreau, steward of M. de Serizy. Moreau was in love with her and would have made her his wife, but just then was under sentence of death and a fugitive. Thus it was that in her distress she married Clapart, a clerk in the Bureau of Finance. By her first husband Mme. Clapart had a son, Oscar Husson, whom she was bound up in, but whose boyish pranks caused her much trouble. During the first Empire Mme. Clapart was a lady-in- waiting to Mme. Mere—Letitia Bonaparte. [A Start in Life.]
CLARIMBAULT (Marechal de), maternal grandfather of Mme. de Beauseant.He had married the daughter of Chevalier de Rastignac, great-uncle ofEugene de Rastignac. [Father Goriot.]
CLAUDE, an idiot who died in the village of Dauphine in 1829, nursed and metamorphosed by Dr. Benassis. [The Country Doctor.]
CLERETTI, an architect of Paris who was quite the fashion in 1843.Grindot, though decadent at this time, tried to compete with him.[Cousin Betty.]
CLERGET (Basine), laundress at Angouleme during the Restoration, who succeeded Mme. Prieur with whom Eve Chardon had worked. Basine Clerget concealed David Sechard and Kolb when Sechard was pursued by the Cointet brothers. [Lost Illusions.]
CLOUSIER, retired attorney of Limoges; justice of the peace at Montegnac after 1809. He was in touch with Mme. Graslin when she moved there about 1830. An upright, phlegmatic man who finally led the contemplative life of one of the ancient hermits. [The Country Parson.]
COCHEGRUE (Jean), a Chouan who died of wounds received at the fight of La Pelerine or at the siege of Fourgeres in 1799. Abbe Gudin said a mass, in the forest, for the repose of Jean Cochegrue, and others slain by the "Blues." [The Chouans.]
COCHET (Francoise), chambermaid of Modeste Mignon at Havre in 1829.She received the answers to the letters addressed by Modeste toCanalis. She had also faithfully served Bettina-Caroline, Modeste'selder sister who took her to Paris. [Modeste Mignon.]
COCHIN (Emile-Louis-Lucien-Emmanuel), employe in Clergeot's division of the Bureau of Finance during the Restoration. He had a brother who looked after him in the administration. At this time Cochin was also a silent partner in Matifat's drug-store. Colleville invented an anagram on Cochin's name; with his given names it made up "Cochenille." Cochin and his wife were in Birotteau's circle, being present with their son at the famous ball given by the perfumer. In 1840, Cochin, now a baron, was spoken of by Anselme Popinot as the oracle of the Lombard and Bourdonnais quarters. [Cesar Birotteau. The Government Clerks. The Firm of Nucingen. The Middle Classes.]
COCHIN, (Adolphe), son of the preceding; an employe of the Minister ofFinance as his father had been for some years. In 1826 his parentstried to obtain for him the hand of Mlle. Matifat. [Cesar Birotteau.The Firm of Nucingen.]
COFFINET, porter of a house belonging to Thuillier on rue Saint- Dominique-d'Enfer, Paris, in 1840. His employer put him to work in connection with the "Echo de la Bievre," when Louis-Jerome Thuillier became editor-in-chief of this paper. [The Middle Classes.]
COFFINET, (Madame), wife of the preceding. She looked after Theodose de la Peyrade's establishment. [The Middle Classes.]
COGNET, inn-keeper at Issoudun during the Restoration. House of the"Knights of Idlesse" captained by Maxence Gilet. A former groom; bornabout 1767; short, thickset, wife-led, one-eyed. [A Bachelor'sEstablishment.]
COGNET (Madame), known as Mother Cognet, wife of the preceding; born about 1783. A retired cook of a good house, who on account of her "Cordon bleu" talents, was chosen to be the Leonarde of the Order which had Maxence Gilet for chief. A tall, swarthy woman of intelligent and pleasant demeanor. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
COINTET (Boniface), and his brother Jean, ran a thriving printing- office at Angouleme during the Restoration. He ruined David Sechard's shop by methods hardly honorable. Boniface Cointet was older than Jean, and was usually called Cointet the Great. He put on the devout. Extremely wealthy, he became deputy, was made a peer of France and Minister of Commerce in Louis Philippe's coalition ministry. In 1842 he married Mlle. Popinot, daughter of Anselme Popinot. [Lost Illusions. The Firm of Nucingen.] On May, 1839, he presided at the sitting of the Chamber of Deputies when the election of Sallenauve was ratified. [The Member for Arcis.]
COINTET (Jean), younger brother of the preceding; known as "Fatty" Cointet; was foreman of the printing-office, while his brother ran the business end. Jean Cointet passed for a good fellow and acted the generous part. [Lost Illusions.]
COLAS (Jacques), a consumptive child of a village near Grenoble, who was attended by Dr. Benassis. His passion was singing, for which he had a very pure voice. Lived with his mother who was poverty-stricken. Died in the latter part of 1829 at the age of fifteen, shortly after the death of his benefactor, the physician. A nephew of Moreau, the old laborer. [The Country Doctor.]
COLLEVILLE, son of a talented musician, once leading violin of the Opera under Francoeur and Rebel. He himself was first clarionet at the Opera-Comique, and at the same time chief clerk under the Minister of Finance, and, in additon, book-keeper for a merchant from seven to nine in the mornings. Great on anagrams. Made deputy-chief clerk in Baudoyer's bureau when the latter was promoted to division chief. He was preceptor at Paris six months later. In 1832 he became secretary to the mayor of the twelfth Arrondissement and officer of the Legion of Honor. At that time Colleville lived with his wife and family on rue d'Enfer. He was Thuillier's most intimate friend. [The Government Clerks. The Middle Classes.]
COLLEVILLE (Flavie Minoret, Madame), born in 1798; wife of the preceding; daughter of a celebrated dancer and, supposedly, of M. du Bourguier. She made a love match and between 1816 and 1826 bore five children, each of whom resembled and may actually have had a different father: 1st. A daughter born in 1816, who favored Colleville. 2d. A son, Charles, cut out for a soldier, born during his mother's acquaintance with Charles de Gondreville, under-lieutenant of the dragoons of Saint-Chamans. 3d. A son, Francois, destined for business, born during Mme. Colleville's intimacy with Francois Keller, the banker. 4th. A daughter, Celeste born in 1821, of whom Thuillier, Colleville's best friend, was the godfather—and father /in partibus/. (See Phellion, Mme. Felix.) 5th. A son, Theodore, or Anatole, born at a period of religious zeal. Madame Colleville was a Parisian, piquant, winning and pretty, as well as clever and ethereal. She made her husband very happy. He owed all his advancement to her. In the interests of their ambition she granted momentary favor to Chardin des Lupeaulx, the Secretary-General. On Wednesdays she was at home to artists and distinguished people. [The Government Clerks. Cousin Betty. The Middle Classes.]
COLLIN (Jacques), born in 1779. Reared by the Fathers of the Oratory. He went as far as rhetoric, at school, and was then put in a bank by his aunt, Jacqueline Collin. Accused, however, of a crime probably committed by Franchessini, he fled the country. Later he was sent to the galleys where he remained from 1810 to 1815, when he escaped and came to Paris, stopping under the name of Vautrin at the Vauquer pension. There he knew Rastignac, then a young man, became interested in him, and tried to bring about his marriage with Victorine Taillefer, for whom he procured a rich dowry by causing her brother to be slain in a duel with Franchessini. Bibi-Lupin, chief of secret police, arrested him in 1819 and returned him to the bagne, whence he escaped again in 1820, reappearing in Paris as Carlos Herrera, honorary canon of the Chapter of Toledo. At this time he rescued Lucien de Rubempre from suicide, and took charge of the young poet. Accused, with the latter, of having murdered Esther Gobseck, who in truth was poisoned, Jacques Collin was acquitted of this charge, and ended by becoming chief of secret police under the name of Saint- Esteve, in 1830. He held this position till 1845. He finally became wealthy, having an income of twelve thousand francs, three hundred thousand francs inherited from Lucien de Rubempre, and the profits of a green-leather manufactory at Gentilly. [Father Goriot. Lost Illusions. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. The Member for Arcis.] In addition to the pseudonym of M. Jules, under which he was known by Catherine Goussard, Jacques Collin also took for a time the English name of William Barker, creditor for Georges d'Estourny. Under this name he hoodwinked the cunning Cerizet, inducing that "man of business" to endorse some notes for him. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] He was also nick-named "Trompe-la-Mort."
COLLIN, (Jacqueline), aunt of Jacques Collin, whom she had reared; born at Java. In her youth she was Marat's mistress, and afterwards had relations with the chemist, Duvignon, who was condemned to death for counterfeiting in 1799. During this intimacy she attained a dangerous knowledge of toxicology. From 1800 to 1805 she was a clothing dealer; and from 1806 to 1808 she spent two years in prison for having influenced minors. From 1824 to 1830 Mlle. Collin exerted a strong influence over Jacques, alias Vautrin, toward his life of adventure without the pale of the law. Her strong point was disguises. In 1839 she ran a matrimonial bureau on rue de Provence, under the name of Mme. de Saint-Esteve. She often borrowed the name of her friend Mme. Nourrisson, who, during the time of Louis Philippe, made a pretence of business more or less dubious on rue Neuve-Saint-Marc. She had some dealings with Victorin Hulot, at whose instance she brought about the overthrow of Mme. Marneffe, mistress, and afterwards wife, of Crevel. Under the name of Asie, Jacqueline Collin made an excellent cook for Esther Gobseck, whom she was ordered by Vautrin to watch. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. Cousin Betty. The Unconscious Humorists.]
COLLINET, grocer at Arcis-sur-Aube, time of Louis Philippe. Elector for the Liberals headed by Colonel Giguet. [The Member for Arcis.]
COLLINET (Francois-Joseph), merchant of Nantes. In 1814 the political changes brought about his business failure. He went to America, returning in 1824 enriched, and re-established. He had caused the loss of twenty-four thousand francs to M. and Mme. Lorrain, small retailers of Pen-Hoel, and father and mother of Major Lorrain. But, on his return to France, he restored to Mme. Lorrain, then a widow and almost a septuagenarian, forty-two thousand francs, being capital and interest of his indebtedness to her. [Pierrette.]
COLONNA, aged Italian at Genoa, during the later part of the eighteenth century. He had reared Luigia Porta under the name of Colonna and as his own son, from the age of six until the time when the young man enlisted in the French army. [The Vendetta.]
COLOQUINTE, given name of a pensioner who was "office boy" in Finot's newspaper office in 1820. He had been through the Egyptian campaign, losing an arm at the Battle of Montmirail. [A Bachelor's Establishment. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
COLORAT (Jerome), estate-keeper for Mme. Graslin at Montegnac; born atLimoges. Retired soldier of the Empire; ex-sergeant in the RoyalGuard; at one time estate-keeper for M. de Navarreins, before enteringMme. Graslin's service. [The Country Parson.]
CONSTANCE, chambermaid for Mme. de Restaud in 1819. Through her old Goriot knew about everything that was going on at the home of his elder daughter. This Constance, sometimes called Victorie, took money to her mistress when the latter needed it. [Father Goriot.]
CONSTANT DE REBECQUE (Benjamin), born at Lausanne in 1767, died atParis, December 8, 1830. About the end of 1821 he is discovered inDauriat's book-shop at Palais-Royal, where Lucien de Rubempre noticedhis splendid head and spiritual eyes. [A Distinguished Provincial atParis.]
CONTI (Gennaro), musical composer; of Neapolitan origin, but born atMarseilles. Lover of Mlle. des Touches—Camille Maupin—in 1821-1822.Afterwards he paid court to Marquise Beatrix de Rochefide. [LostIllusions. Beatrix.]
CONYNCKS, family of Bruges, who were maternal ancestors of Marguerite Claes. In 1812 this young girl at sixteen was the living image of a Conyncks, her grandmother whose portrait hung in Balthazar Claes' home. A Conyncks, also of Bruges but later established at Cambrai, was granduncle of the children of Balthazar Claes, and was appointed their vice-guardian after the death of Mme. Claes. He had a daughter who married Gabriel Claes. [The Quest of the Absolute.]
COQUELIN (Monsieur and Madame), hardware dealers, successors to Claude-Joseph Pillerault in a store on quai de la Ferraille, sign of the Golden Bell. Guests at the big ball given by Cesar Birotteau. After getting the invitation, Mme. Coquelin ordered a magnificent gown for the occasion. [Cesar Birotteau.]
COQUET, chief of bureau to the Minister of War, in Lebrun's division in 1838. Marneffe was his successor. Coquet had been in the service of the administration since 1809, and had given perfect satisfaction. He was a married man and his wife was still living at the time when he was displaced. [Cousin Betty.]
CORALIE (Mademoiselle), actress at the Panorama-Dramatique and at the Theatre du Gymnase, Paris, time of Louis XVIII. Born in 1803 and brought up a Catholic, she was nevertheless of distinct Jewish type. She died in August, 1822. Her mother sold her at fifteen to young Henri de Marsay, whom she abhorred and who soon deserted her. She was then maintained by Camusot, who was not obnoxious. She fell in love with Lucien de Rubempre at first sight, surrendering to him immediately and being faithful to him until her dying breath. The glory and downfall of Coralie dated from this love. An original criticism of the young Chardon established the success of "L'Alcade dans l'Embarras," at the Marais, and brought to Coralie, one of the principals in the play, an engagement at Boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle, with a salary of twelve thousand francs. But here the artist stranded, the victim of a cabal, despite the protection of Camille Maupin. At first she was housed on rue de Vendome, afterwards in a more modest lodging where she died, attended and nursed by her cousin, Berenice. She had sold her elegant furniture to Cardot, Sr., on leaving the apartment on rue de Vendome, and in order to avoid moving it, he installed Florentine there. Coralie was the rival of Mme. Perrin and of Mlle. Fleuriet, whom she resembled and whose destiny should have been her own. The funeral service of Coralie took place at noon in the little church of Notre-Dame de Bonne-Nouvelle. Camusot promised to purchase a plot of ground for her in the cemetery of Pere-Lachaise. [A Start in Life. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. A Bachelor's Establishment.]
CORBIGNY (De), prefect of Loire-et-Cher, in 1811. Friend of Mme. de Stael who authorized him to place Louis Lambert, at her expense, in the College of Vendome. He probably died in 1812. [Louis Lambert.]
CORBINET, notary at Soulanges, Burgundy, in 1823, and at one time an old patron of Sibilet's. The Gravelots, lumber dealers, were clients of his. Commissioned with the sale of Aigues, when General de Montcornet became wearied with developing his property. At one time known as Corbineau. [The Peasantry.]
CORBINET, court-judge at Ville-aux-Fayes in 1823; son of Corbinet the notary. He belonged, body and soul, to Gaubertin, the all-powerful mayor of the town. [The Peasantry.]
CORBINET, retired captain, postal director at Ville-aux-Fayes in 1823; brother of Corbinet, the notary. The last daughter of Sibilet, the copy-clerk, was engaged to him when she was sixteen. [The Peasantry.]
CORENTIN, born at Vendome in 1777; a police-agent of great genius, trained by Peyrade as Louis David was by Vien. A favorite of Fouche's and probably his natural son. In 1799 he accompanied Mlle. de Verneuil sent to lure and betray Alphonse de Montauran, the young chief of the Bretons who were risen against the Republic. For two years Corentin was attached to this strange girl as a serpent to a tree. [The Chouans.] In 1803 he and his chief, Peyrade, were entrusted with a difficult mission in the department of Aube, where he had to search the home of Mlle. de Cinq-Cygne. She surprised him at the moment when he was forcing open a casket, and struck him a blow with her riding whip. This he avenged cruelly, involving, despite their innocence, the Hauteserres and the Simeuses, friends and cousins of the young girl. This was during the affair of the abduction of Senator Malin. About the same time he concluded another delicate mission to Berlin to the satisfaction of Talleyrand, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. [The Gondreville Mystery.] From 1824 to 1830, Corentin was pitted against the terrible Jacques Collin, alias Vautrin, whose friendly plans in behalf of Lucien de Rubempre he thwarted so cruelly. Corentin it was who rendered futile the contemplated marriage of the aspirant with Clotilde de Grandlieu, bringing about as a consequence the absolute ruin of the "distinguished provincial at Paris." He rusticated at Passy, rue des Vignes, about May, 1830. Under Charles X., Corentin was chief of the political police of the chateau. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] For more than thirty years he lived on rue Honore- Chevalier under the name of M. du Portail. He sheltered Lydie, daughter of his friend, Peyrade, after the death of the old police- agent. About 1840 he brought about her marriage with Theodose de la Peyrade, nephew of Peyrade, after having upset the plans of the very astute young man, greatly in love with Celeste Colleville's dowry. Corentin—M. du Portail—then installed the chosen husband of his adopted child into his own high official duties. [The Middle Classes.]
CORMON (Rose-Marie-Victoire). (See Bousquier, Madame du.)
CORNEVIN, an old native of Perche; foster-father of Olympe Michaud. He was with the Chouans in 1794 and 1799. In 1823 he was servant at Michaud's. [The Peasantry.]
CORNOILLER (Antoine), game-keeper at Saumur; married the sturdy Nanon then fifty-nine years old, after the death of Grandet, about 1827, and became general overseer of lands and properties of Eugenie Grandet. [Eugenie Grandet.]
CORNOILLER (Madame). (See Nanon.)
COTTEREAU, well-known smuggler, one of the heads of the Breton insurrection. In 1799 he was principal in a rather stormy scene at the Vivetiere, when he threatened the Marquis de Montauran with swearing allegiance to the First Consul if he did not immediately obtain noteworthy advantages in payment of seven years of devoted service to "the good cause." "My men and I have a devilish importunate creditor," said he, slapping his stomach. One of the brothers of Jean Cottereau, was nick-named the "Chouan," a title used by all the Western rebels against the Republic. [The Chouans.]
COTTIN (Marechal), Prince of Wissembourg; Duke of Orfano; old soldier of the Republic and the Empire; Minister of War in 1841; born in 1771. He was obliged to bring great shame upon his old friend and companion- in-arms, Marshal Hulot, by advising him of the swindling of the commissariat, Hulot d'Ervy. Marshal Cottin and Nucingen were witnesses at the wedding of Hortense Hulot and Wenceslas Steinbock. [Cousin Betty.]
COTTIN (Francine), a Breton woman, probably born at Fougeres in 1773; chambermaid and confidante of Mlle. de Verneuil, who had been reared by Francine's parents. Childhood's friend of Marche-a-Terre, with whom she used her influence to save the life of her mistress during the massacre of the "Blues" at the Vivitiere in 1799. [The Chouans.]
COUDRAI (Du), register of mortgages at Alencon, time of Louis XVIII. A caller at the home of Mlle. Cormon, and afterwards at that of M. du Bousquier, who married "the old maid." One of the town's most open- hearted men; his only faults were having married a rich old lady who was unendurable, and the habit of making villainous puns at which he was first to laugh. In 1824 M. du Coudrai was poverty-stricken; he had lost his place on account of voting the wrong way. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
COUPIAU, Breton courier from Mayenne to Fougeres in 1799. In the struggle between the "Blues" and the Chouans he took no part, but acted as circumstances demanded and for his own interests. Indeed he offered no resistance when the "Brigands" stole the government chests. Coupiau was nick-named Mene-a-Bien by Marche-a-Terre the Chouan. [The Chouans.]
COUPIAU (Sulpice), Chouan and probably the father of Coupiau the messenger. Killed in 1799 in the battle of La Pelerine or at the seige of Fougeres. [The Chouans.]
COURAND (Jenny), florist; mistress of Felix Gaudissart in 1831. At that time she lived in Paris on rue d'Artois. [Gaudissart the Great.]
COURCEUIL (Felix), of Alencon, retired army surgeon of the Rebel forces of the Vendee. In 1809 he furnished arms to the "Brigands." Involved in the trial known as "Chauffeurs of Mortagne." Condemned to death for contumacy. [The Seamy Side of History.]
COURNANT, notary at Provins in 1827; rival of Auffray, the notary; of the Opposition; one of the few public-spirited men of the little town. [Pierrette.]
COURTECUISSE, game-keeper of the Aigues estate in Burgundy under the Empire and Restoration until 1823. Born about 1777; at first in the service of Mlle. Laguerre; discharged by General de Montcornet for absolute incapacity, and replaced by keepers who were trusty and true. Courtecuisse was a little fellow with a face like a full moon. He was never so happy as when idle. On leaving he demanded a sum of eleven hundred francs which was not due him. His master indignantly denied his claim at first, but yielded the point, however, on being threatened with a lawsuit, the scandal of which he wished to avoid. Courtecuisse, out of a job, purchased from Rigou for two thousand francs the little property of La Bachelerie, enclosed in the Aigues estate, and wearied himself, without gain, in the management of his land. He had a daughter who was tolerably pretty and eighteen years old in 1823. At this time she was in the service of Mme. Mariotte the elder, at Auxerre. Courtecuisse was given the sobriquet of "Courtebotte"—short-boot. [The Peasantry.]
COURTECUISSE (Madame), wife of the preceding; in abject fear of the miser, Gregoire Rigou, mayor of Blangy, Burgundy. [The Peasantry.]
COURTEVILLE (Madame de), cousin of Comte de Bauvan on the maternal side; widow of a judge of the Seine Court. She had a very beautiful daughter, Amelie, whom the comte wished to marry to his secretary, Maurice de l'Hostal. [Honorine.]
COURTOIS, Marsac miller, near Angouleme during the Restoration. In 1821 rumor had it that he intended to wed a miller's widow, his patroness, who was thirty-two years old. She had one hundred thousand francs in her own right. David Sechard was advised by his father to ask the hand of this rich widow. At the end of 1822 Courtois, now married, sheltered Lucien de Rubempre, returning almost dead from Paris. [Lost Illusions.]
COURTOIS (Madame), wife of the preceding, who cared sympathetically for Lucien de Rubempre, on his return. [Lost Illusions.]
COUSSARD (Laurent). (See Goussard, Laurent.)
COUTELIER, a creditor of Maxime de Trailles. The Coutelier credit, purchased for five hundred francs by the Claparon-Cerizet firm, came to thirty-two hundred francs, seventy-five centimes, capital, interest and costs. It was recovered by Cerizet by means of a strategy worthy of a Scapin. [A Man of Business.]
COUTURE, a kind of financier-journalist of an equivocal reputation; born about 1797. One of Mme. Schontz's earliest friends; and she alone remained faithful to him when he was ruined by the downfall of the ministry of March 1st, 1840. Couture was always welcome at the home of the courtesan, who dreamed, perhaps, of making him her husband. But he presented Fabien du Ronceret to her and the "lorette" married him. In 1836, in company with Finot and Blondet, he was present in a private room of a well-known restaurant when Jean-Jacques Bixiou related the origin of the Nucingen fortune. At the time of his transient wealth Couture splendidly maintained Jenny Cadine. At one time he was celebrated for his waistcoats. He had no known relationship with the widow Couture. [Beatrix. The Firm of Nucingen.] The financier drew upon himself the hatred of Cerizet for having deceived him in a deal about the purchase of lands and houses situated in the suburbs of the Madeleine, an affair in which Jerome Thuillier was afterwards concerned. [The Middle Classes.]
COUTURE (Madame), widow of an ordonnance-commissary of the French Republic. Relative and protectress of Mlle. Victorine Taillefer with whom she lived at the Vauquer pension, in 1819. [Father Goriot.]
COUTURIER (Abbe), curate of Saint-Leonard church at Alencon, time of Louis XVIII. Spiritual adviser of Mlle. Cormon, remaining her confessor after her marriage with Du Bousquier, and influencing her in the way of excessive penances. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
CREMIERE, tax-collector at Nemours during the Restoration. Nephew by marriage of Dr. Minoret, who had secured the position for him, furnishing his security. One of the three collateral heirs of the old physician, the two others being Minoret-Levrault, the postmaster, and Massin-Levrault, copy-clerk to the justice of the peace. In the curious branching of these four Gatinais bourgeois families—the Minorets, the Massins, the Levraults and the Cremieres—the tax collector belonged to the Cremiere-Cremiere branch. He had several children, among others a daughter named Angelique. After the Revolution of July, 1830, he became municipal councillor. [Ursule Mirouet.]
CREMIERE (Madame), nee Massin-Massin, wife of the tax-collector, and niece of Dr. Minoret—that is, daughter of the old physician's sister. A stout woman with a muddy blonde complexion splotched with freckles. Passed for an educated person on account of her novel-reading. Her /lapsi linguoe/ were maliciously spread abroad by Goupil, the notary's clerk, who labelled them, "Capsulinguettes"; indeed, Mme. Cremiere thus translated the two Latin words. [Ursule Mirouet.]
CREMIERE-DIONIS, always called Dionis, which name see.
CREVEL (Celestin), born between 1786 and 1788; clerked for Cesar Birotteau the perfumer—first as second clerk, then as head-clerk when Popinot left the house to set up in business for himself. After his patron's failure in 1819, he purchased for five thousand seven hundred francs, "The Queen of Roses," making his own fortune thereby. During the reign of Louis Philippe he lived on his income. Captain, then chief of battalion in the National Guard; officer of the Legion of Honor; mayor of one of the arrondissements of Paris, he ended up by being a very great personage. He had married the daughter of a farmer of Brie; became a widower in 1833, when he gave himself over to a life of pleasure. He maintained Josepha, who was taken away from him by his friend, Baron Hulot. To avenge himself he tried to win Mme. Hulot. He "protected" Heloise Brisetout. Finally he was smitten with Mme. Marneffe, whom he had for mistress and afterwards married when she became a widow in 1843. In May of this same year, Crevel and his wife died of a horrible disease which had been communicated to Valerie by a negro belonging to Montes the Brazilian. In 1838 Crevel lived on rue des Saussaies; at the same time he owned a little house on rue du Dauphin, where he had prepared a secret chamber for Mme. Marneffe; this last house he leased to Maxime de Trailles. Besides these Crevel owned: a house on rue Barbet de Jouy; the Presles property bought of Mme. de Serizy at a cost of three million francs. He caused himself to be made a member of the General Council of Seine-et-Oise. By his first marriage he had an only daughter, Celestine, who married Victorin Hulot. [Cesar Birotteau. Cousin Betty.] In 1844-1845 Crevel owned a share in the management of the theatre directed by Gaudissart. [Cousin Pons.]
CREVEL (Celestine), only child of the first marriage of the preceding.(See Hulot, Mme. Victorin.)
CREVEL (Madame Celestin), born Valerie Fortin in 1815; natural daughter of the Comte de Montcornet, marshal of France; married, first Marneffe, an employe in the War Office, with whom she broke faith by agreement with the clerk; and second, Celestin Crevel. She bore Marneffe a child, a stunted, scrawny urchin named Stanislas. An intimate friend of Lisbeth Fischer who utilized Valerie's irresistible attractions for the satisfying of her hatred towards her rich relatives. At this time Mme. Marneffe belonged jointly to Marneffe, to the Brazilian Montes, to Steinbock the Pole, to Celestin Crevel and to Baron Hulot. Each of these she held responsible for a child born in 1841, and which died on coming into the world. By prearrangement, she was surprised with Hulot by the police-commissioners, during this period, in Crevel's cottage on rue du Dauphin. After having lived with Marneffe on rue du Doyenne in the house occuped by Lisbeth Fischer— "Cousin Betty"—she was installed by Baron Hulot on rue Vaneau; then by Crevel in a mansion on rue Barbet-de-Jouy. She died in 1843, two days prior to Celestin. She perished while trying to "cajole God"—to use her own expression. She bequeathed, as a restitution, 300,000 francs to Hector Hulot. Valerie Marneffe did not lack spirit. Claude Vignon, the great critic, especially appreciated this woman's intellectual depravity. [Cousin Betty.]
CROCHARD, Opera dancer in the second half of the eighteenth century. Director of theatrical evolutions. He commanded a band of assailants upon the Bastile, July 14, 1789; became an officer, a colonel, dying of wounds received at Lutzen, May 2, 1813. [A Second Home.]
CROCHARD (Madame), widow of the preceding. Before the Revolution she had sung with her husband in the chorus. In 1815 she lived wretchedly with her daughter Caroline, following the embroiderer's trade, in a house on rue du Tourniquet-Saint-Jean, which belonged to Molineux. Wishing to find a protector for her daughter, Caroline, Mme. Crochard favored the attentions of the Comte de Granville. He rewarded her with a life-annuity of three thousand francs. She died, in 1822, in a comfortable lodging on rue Saint-Louis at Marais. She constantly wore on her breast the cross of chevalier of the Legion of Honor conferred on her husband by the Emperor. The widow Crochard, watched by an eager circle, received, at her last moments, a visit from Abbe Fontanon, confessor of the Comtesse de Granville, and was greatly troubled by the prelate's proceedings. [A Second Home.]
CROCHARD (Caroline), daughter of the proceding; born in 1797. For several years during the Restoration she was the mistress of Comte de Granville; at that time she was known as Mlle. de Bellefeuille, from the name of a small piece of property at Gatinais given to the young woman by an uncle of the comte who had taken a liking to her. Her lover installed her in an elegant apartment on rue Taitbout, where Esther Gobseck afterwards lived. Caroline Crochard abandoned M. de Granville and a good position for a needy young fellow named Solvet, who ran through with all her property. Sick and poverty-stricken in 1833, she lived in a wretched two-story house on rue Gaillon. She gave the Comte de Granville a son, Charles, and a daughter, Eugenie. [A Second Home.]
CROCHARD (Charles), illegitimate child of Comte de Granville and Caroline Crochard. In 1833 he was apprehended for a considerable theft, when he appealed to his father through the agency of Eugene de Granville, his half-brother. The comte gave the latter money enough to clear up the miserable business, if such were possible. [A Second Home.] The theft in question was committed at the home of Mlle. Beaumesnil. He carried off her diamonds. [The Middle Classes.]
CROISIER (Du). (See Bousquier, Du.)
CROIZEAU, former coachmaker to Bonaparte's Imperial court; had an income of about forty thousand francs; lived on rue Buffault; a widower without children. He was a constant visitor at Antonia Chocardelle's reading-room on rue Coquenard, time of Louis Philippe, and he offered to marry the "charming woman." [A Man of Business.]
CROTTAT (Monsieur and Madame), retired farmers; parents of the notary Crottat, assassinated by some thieves, among them being the notorious Dannepont, alias La Pouraille. The trial of this crime was called in May, 1830. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] They were well-to-do folk and, according to Cesar Birotteau who knew them, old man Crottat was as "close as a snail." [Cesar Birotteau.]
CROTTAT (Alexandre), head-clerk of Maitre Roguin, and his successor in 1819, after the flight of the notary. He married the daughter of Lourdois, the painting-contractor. Cesar Birotteau thought for a time of making him his son-in-law. He called him, familiarly, "Xandrot." Alexandre Crottat was a guest at the famous ball given by the perfumer in December, 1818. He was in friendly relations with Derville, the attorney, who commissioned him with a sort of half-pay for Colonel Chabert. He was also Comtesse Ferraud's notary at this time. [Cesar Birotteau. Colonel Chabert.] In 1822 he was notary to Comte de Serizy. [A Start in Life.] He was also notary to Charles de Vandenesse; and one evening, at the home of the marquis, he made some awkward allusions which undoubtedly recalled unpleasant memories to his client and Mme. d'Aiglemont. Upon his return home he narrated the particulars to his wife, who chided him sharply. [A Woman of Thirty.] Alexandre Crottat and Leopold Hannequin signed the will dictated by Sylvain Pons on his death-bed. [Cousin Pons.]
CRUCHOT (Abbe), priest of Saumur; dignitary of the Chapter of Saint-Martin of Tours; brother of Cruchot, the notary; uncle of PresidentCruchot de Bonfons; the Talleyrand of his family; after much anglinghe induced Eugenie Grandet to wed the president in 1827. [EugenieGrandet.]
CRUCHOT, notary at Saumur during the Restoration; brother of Abbe Cruchot; uncle of President Cruchot de Bonfons. He as well as the prelate was much concerned with making the match between his nephew and Eugenie Grandet. The young girl's father entrusted M. Cruchot with his usurious dealings and probably with all his money matters. [Eugenie Grandet.]
CURIEUX (Catherine). (See Farrabesche, Madame.)
CYDALISE, magnificent woman of Valognes, Normandy, who launched out in Paris in 1840 to make capital out of her beauty. Born in 1824, she was then only sixteen. She served as an instrument for Montes the Brazilian who, in order to avenge himself on Mme. Marneffe—now Mme. Crevel—inoculated the young girl with a terrible disease through one of his negroes. He in turn obtained it from Cydalise and transmitted it to the faithless Valerie who died as also did her husband. Cydalise probably accompanied Montes to Brazil, the only place where this horrible ailment is curable. [Cousin Betty.]
DALLOT, mason in the suburbs of l'Isle-Adam in the early days of the Restoration, who was to marry a peasant woman of small wit named Genevieve. After having courted her for the sake of her little property, he deserted her for a woman of more means and also of a sharper intelligence. This separation was so cruel a blow to Genevieve that she became idiotic. [Farewell.]
DANNEPONT, alias La Pouraille, one of the assassins of M. and Mme. Crottat. Imprisoned for his crime in 1830 at the Conciergerie, and under sentence of capital punishment; an escaped convict who had been sought on account of other crimes by the police for five years past. Born about 1785 and sent to the galleys at the age of nineteen. There he had known Jacques Collin—Vautrin. Riganson, Selerier and he formed a sort of triumvirate. A short, skinny, dried-up fellow with a face like a marten. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
DAUPHIN, pastry-cook of Arcis-sur-Aube; well-known Republican. In 1830, in an electoral caucus, he questioned Sallenauve, a candidate for deputy, about Danton. [The Member for Arcis.]
DAURIAT, editor and bookman of Paris, on Palais-Royale, Galleries de Bois during the Restoration. He purchased for three thousand francs a collection of sonnets "Marguerites" from Lucien de Rubempre, who had scored a book of Nathan's. But he did not publish the sonnets until a long time afterwards, and with a success that the author declared to be posthumous. Dauriat's shop was the rendezvous of writers and politicians of note at this time. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] Dauriat, who was Canalis' publisher, was asked in 1829 by Modeste Mignon for personal information concerning the poet, to which he made a rather ironical reply. In speaking of celebrated authors Dauriat was wont to say, "I have made Canalis. I have made Nathan." [Modeste Mignon.]
DAVID (Madame), woman living in the outskirts of Brives, who died of fright on account of the Chauffeurs, time of the Directory. [The Country Parson.]
DELBECQ, secretary and steward of Comte Ferraud during the Restoration. Retired attorney. A capable, ambitious man in the service of the countess, whom he aided to rid herself of Colonel Chabert when that officer claimed his former wife. [Colonel Chabert.]
DENISART, name assumed by Cerizet.
DERVILLE, attorney at Paris, rue Vivienne, from 1819 to 1840. Born in 1794, the seventh child of an insignificant bourgeois of Noyon. In 1816 he was only second clerk and dwelt on rue des Gres, having for a neighbor the well-known usurer Gobseck, who later advanced him one hundred and fifty thousand francs at 15 per cent., with which he purchased the practice of his patron, a man of pleasure now somewhat short of funds. Through Gobseck he met his future wife, Jenny Malvaut; through the same man he learned the Restaud secrets. In the winter of 1829-1830 he told of their troubles to the Vicomtesse de Grandlieu. Derville had re-established the fortune of the feminine representative of the Grandlieu's younger branch, at the time of the Bourbon's re-entry, and therefore was on a friendly footing at her home. [Gobseck.] He had been a clerk at Bordin's. [A Start in Life. The Gondreville Mystery.] He was attorney for Colonel Chabert who sought his conjugal rights with Comtesse Ferraud. He became keenly interested in the old officer, aiding him and being greatly grieved when, some years later, he found him plunged into idiocy in the Bicetre hospital. [Colonel Chabert.] Derville was also attorney for Comte de Serizy, Mme. de Nucingen and the Ducs de Grandlieu and de Chaulieu, whose entire confidence he possessed. In 1830, under the name of Saint- Denis, he and Corentin inquired of the Sechards at Angouleme concerning the real resources of Lucien de Rubempre. [Father Goriot. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
DERVILLE (Madame), born Jenny Malvaut; wife of Derville the attorney; young Parisian girl, though born in the country. In 1826 she lived alone, but maintaining a virtuous life, supported by her work. She was on the fifth floor of a gloomy house on rue Montmartre, where Gobseck had called to collect a note signed by her. He pointed her out to Derville, who married her without a dowry. Later she inherited from an uncle, a farmer who had become wealthy, seventy thousand francs with which she aided her husband to cancel his debt with Gobseck. [Gobseck.] Being anxious for an invitation to the ball given by Birotteau, she paid a rather unexpected visit to the perfumer's wife. She made much of the latter and of Mlle. Birotteau, and was invited with her husband to the festivities. It appears that some years before her marriage she had worked as dressmaker for the Birotteaus. [Cesar Birotteau.]
DESCOINGS (Monsieur and Madame), father-in-law and mother-in-law of Dr. Rouget of Issoudun. Dealers in wool, acting as selling agents for owners, and buying agents for fleece merchants of Berry. They also bought state lands. Rich and miserly. Died during the Republic within two years of each other and before 1799. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
DESCOINGS, son of the preceding; younger brother of Mme. Rouget, the doctor's wife; grocer at Paris, on rue Saint-Honore, not far from Robespierre's quarters. Descoings had married for love the widow of Bixiou, his predecessor. She was twelve years his senior but well preserved and "plump as a thrush after harvest." Accused of foreclosing, he was sent to the scaffold, in company with Andre Chenier, on the seventh Thermidor of year 2, July 25, 1794. The death of the grocer caused a greater sensation than did that of the poet. Cesar Birotteau moved the plant of the perfumery "Queen of Roses" into Descoings' shop around 1800. The successor of the executed man managed his business badly; the inventor of the the "Eau Carminative" went bankrupt. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
DESCOINGS (Madame), born in 1744; widow of two husbands, Bixiou and Descoings, the latter succeeding the former in the grocer shop on rue Saint-Honore, Paris. Grandmother of Jean-Jacques Bixiou, the cartoonist. After the death of M. Bridau, chief of division in the Department of the Interior, Mme. Descoings, now a widow, came in 1819 to live with her niece, the widow Bridau, nee Agathe Rouget, bringing to the common fund an income of six thousand francs. An excellent woman, known in her day as "the pretty grocer." She ran the household, but had likewise a decided mania for lottery, and always for the same numbers; she "nursed a trey." She ended by ruining her niece who had blindly entrusted her interests to her, but Mme. Descoings repaid for her foolish doings by an absolute devotion,—all the while continuing to place her money on the evasive combinations. One day her hoardings were stolen from her mattress by Philippe Bridau. On this account she was unable to renew her lottery tickets. Then it was that the famous trey turned up. Madame Descoings died of grief, December 31, 1821. Had it not been for the theft she would have become a millionaire. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
DESFONDRILLES, substitute judge at Provins during the Restoration; made president of the court of that town, time of Louis Philippe. An old fellow more archaeologist than judge, who found delight in the petty squabbles under his eyes. He forsook Tiphaine's party for the Liberals headed by lawyer Vinet. [Pierrette.]
DESLANDES, surgeon of Azay-le-Rideau in 1817. Called in to bleed Mme. de Mortsauf, whose life was saved by this operation. [The Lily of the Valley.]
DESMARETS (Jules), Parisian stock-broker under the Restoration. Hardworking and upright, being reared in sternness and poverty. When only a clerk he fell in love with a charming young girl met at his patron's home, and he married her despite the irregularity connected with her birth. With the money he obtained by his wife's mother he was able to purchase the position of the stock-broker for whom he had clerked; and for several years he was very happy in a mutual love and a liberal competence—an income of two hundred and fifty thousand francs. In 1820 he and his wife lived in a large mansion on rue Menars. In the early years of his wedded life he killed in a duel— though unknown to his wife—a man who had vilified Mme. Desmarets. The flawless happiness which abode with this well-mated couple was cut short by the death of the wife, mortally wounded by a doubt, held for a moment only by her husband, concerning her faithfulness. Desmarets, bereaved, sold his place to Martin Falleix's brother and left Paris in despair. [The Thirteen.] M. and Mme. Desmarets were invited to the famous ball given by Cesar Birotteau in 1818. After the bankruptcy of the perfumer, the broker kindly gave him useful tips about placing funds laboriously scraped together towards the complete reimbursing of the creditors. [Cesar Birotteau.]
DESMARETS (Madame Jules), wife of the preceding; natural daughter of Bourignard alias Ferragus, and of a married woman who passed for her godmother. She had no civil status, but when she married Jules Desmarets her name, Clemence, and her age were publicly announced. Despite herself, Mme. Desmarets was loved by a young officer of the Royal Guard, Auguste de Maulincour. Mme. Desmaret's secret visits to her father, a man of mystery, unknown to her husband, caused the downfall of their absolute happiness. Desmarets thought himself deceived, and she died on account of his suspicions, in 1820 or 1821. The remains of Clemence were placed at first in Pere Lachaise, but afterwards were disinterred, incinerated and sent to Jules Desmarets by Bourignard, assisted by twelve friends who thus thought to dull the edge of the keenest of conjugal sorrows. [The Thirteen.] M. and Mme. Desmarets were often alluded to as M. and Mme. Jules. At the ball given by Cesar Birotteau, Mme. Desmarets shone as the most beautiful woman, according to the perfumer's wife herself. [Cesar Birotteau.]
DESMARETS, Parisian notary during the Restoration; elder brother of the broker, Jules Desmarets. The notary was set up in business by his younger brother and grew rich rapidly. He received his brother's will. He accompanied him to Mme. Desmarets' funeral. [The Thirteen.]
DESPLEIN, famous surgeon of Paris, born about the middle of the eighteenth century. Sprung of a poor provincial family, he spent a youth full of suffering, being enabled to pass his examinations only through assistance rendered him by his neighbor in poverty, Bourgeat the water-carrier. For two years he lived with him on the sixth floor of a wretched house on rue des Quatre-Vents, where later was established the "Cenacle" with Daniel d'Arthez as host—on which account the house came to be spoken of as the "bowl for great men." Desplein, evicted by his landlord whom he could not pay, lodged next with his friend the Auvergnat in the Court de Rohan, Passage du Commerce. Afterwards, when an "intern" at Hotel-Dieu, he remembered the good deeds of Bourgeat, nursed him as a devoted son, and, in the time of the Empire, established in honor of this simple man who professed religious sentiments a quarterly mass at Saint-Sulpice, at which he piously assisted, though himself an outspoken atheist. [The Atheist's Mass.] In 1806 Desplein had predicted speedy death for an old fellow then fifty-six years old, but who was still alive in 1846. [Cousin Pons.] The surgeon was present at the death caused by despair of M. Chardon, an old military doctor. [Lost Illusions.] Desplein attended the last hours of Mme. Jules Desmarets, who died in 1820 or 1821; also of the chief of division, Flamet de la Billardiere, who died in 1824. [The Thirteen. The Government Clerks.] In March, 1828, at Provins, he performed an operation of trepanning on Pierrette Lorrain. [Pierrette.] In the same year he undertook a bold operation upon Mme. Philippe Bridau whose abuse of strong drink had induced a "magnificent malady" that he believed had disappeared. This operation was reported in the "Gazette des Hopitaux;" but the patient died. [A Bachelor's Establishment.] In 1829 Desplein was summoned on behalf of Vanda de Mergi, daughter of Baron de Bourlac. [The Seamy Side of History.] In the latter part of the same year he operated successfully upon Mme. Mignon for blindness. In February, 1830, on account of the foregoing, he was a witness at Modeste Mignon's wedding with Ernest de la Briere. [Modeste Mignon.] In the beginning of the same yaer, 1830, he was called by Corentin to visit Baron de Nucingen, love-sick for Esther Gobseck; and Mme. de Serizy ill on account of the suicide of Lucien de Rubempre. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] He and his assistant, Bianchon, waited on Mme. de Bauvan, who was on the verge of death at the close of 1830 and beginning of 1831. [Honorine.] Desplein had an only daughter whose marriage in 1829 was arranged with the Prince of Loudon.
DESROCHES, clerk of the Minister of the Interior under the Empire; friend of Bridau Senior, who had procured him the position. He was also on friendly terms with the chief's widow, at whose home he met, nearly every evening, his colleagues Du Bruel and Claparon. A dry, crusty man, who would never become sub-chief, despite his ability. He earned only one thousand eight hundred francs by running a department for stamped paper. Retired after the second return of Louis XVIII., he talked of entering as chief of bureau into an insurance company with a graduated salary. In 1821, despite his scarcely tender disposition, Desroches undertook with much discretion and confidence to extricate Philippe Bridau out of a predicament—the latter having made a "loan" on the cash-box of the newspaper for which he was working; he brought about his resignation without any scandal. Desroches was a man of good "judgment." He remained to the last a friend of the widow Bridau after the death of MM. du Bruel and Claparon. He was a persistent fisherman. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
DESROCHES (Madame), wife of the preceding. A widow, in 1826, she sought the hand of Mlle. Matifat for her son, Desroches the attorney. [The Firm of Nucingen.]
DESROCHES, son of the two foregoing; born about 1795, reared strictly by a very harsh father. He went into Derville's office as fourth clerk in 1818, and on the following year passed to the second clerkship. He saw Colonel Chabert at Derville's. In 1821 or 1822 he purchased a lawyer's office with bare title on rue de Bethizy. He was shrewd and quick and therefore was not long in finding a clientele composed of litterateurs, artists, actresses, famous lorettes and elegant Bohemians. He was counsellor for Agathe and Joseph Bridau, and also gave excellent advice to Philippe Bridau who was setting out for Issoudun about 1822. [A Bachelor's Establishment. Colonel Chabert. A Start in Life.] Desroches was advocate for Charles de Vandenesse, pleading against his brother Felix; for the Marquise d'Espard, seeking interdiction against her husband; and for the Secretary-General Chardin des Lupeaulx, with whom he counseled astutely. [A Woman of Thirty. The Commission in Lunacy. The Government Clerks.] Lucien de Rubempre consulted Desroches about the seizure of the furniture of Coralie, his mistress, in 1822. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] Vautrin appreciated the attorney; he said that the latter would be able to "recover" the Rubempre property, to improve it and make it capable of yielding Lucien an income of thirty thousand francs, which would probably have allowed him to wed Clotilde de Grandlieu. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] In 1826 Desroches made a short-lived attempt to marry Malvina d'Aldrigger. [The Firm of Nucingen.] About 1840 he related, at Mlle. Turquet's—Malaga's—home, then maintained by Cardot the notary, and in the presence of Bixiou, Lousteau and Nathan, who were invited by the tabellion, the tricks employed by Cerizet to obtain the face value of a note out of Maxime de Trailles. [A Man of Business.] Indeed, Desroches was Cerizet's lawyer when the latter had a quarrel with Theodose de la Peyrade in 1840. He also looked after the interests of the contractor, Sauvaignou, at the same time. [The Middle Classes.] Desroches' office was probably located for a time on rue de Buci. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
DESROYS, clerk with the Minister of Finance in Baudoyer's bureau, under the Restoration. The son of a Conventionalist who had not favored the King's death. A Republican; friend of Michel Chrestien. He did not associate with any of his colleagues, but kept his manner of life so concealed that none knew where he lived. In December, 1824, he was discharged because of his opinions concerning the denunciation of Dutocq. [The Government Clerks.]
DESROZIERS, musician; prize-winner at Rome; died in that city through typhoid fever in 1836. Friend of the sculptor Dorlange, to whom he recounted the story of Zambinella, the death of Sarrasine and the marriage of the Count of Lanty. Desroziers gave music lessons to Marianina, daughter of the count. The musician employed his friend, who was momentarily in need of money, to undertake a copy of a statue of Adonis, which reproduced Zambinella's features. This copy he sold to M. de Lanty. [The Member for Arcis.]
DESROZIERS, printer at Moulins, department of the Allier. After 1830 he published a small volume containing the works of "Jan Diaz, son of a Spanish prisoner, and born in 1807 at Bourges." This volume had an introductory sketch on Jan Diaz by M. de Clagny. [The Muse of the Department.]
DEY (Comtesse de), born about 1755. Widow of a lieutenant-general retired to Carentan, department of the Manche, where she died suddenly in November, 1793, through a shock to her maternal sensibilities. [The Conscript.]
DEY (Auguste, Comte de), only son of Mme. de Dey. Made lieutenant of the dragoons when only eighteen, and followed the princes in emigration as a point of honor. He was idolized by his mother, who had remained in France in order to preserve his fortune for him. He participated in the Granville expedition. Imprisoned as a result of this affair, he wrote Mme. de Dey that he would arrive at her home, disguised and a fugitive, within three days' time. But he was shot in the Morbihan at the exact moment when his mother expired from the shock of having received instead of her son the conscript Julien Jussieu. [The Conscript.]
DIARD (Pierre-Francois), born in the suburbs of Nice; the son of a merchant-provost; quartermaster of the Sixth regiment of the line, in 1808, then chief of battalion in the Imperial Guard; retired with this rank on account of a rather severe wound received in Germany; afterwards an administrator and business man; excessive gambler. Husband of Juana Mancini who had been the mistress of Captain Montefiore, Diard's most intimate friend. In 1823, at Bordeaux, Diard killed and robbed Montefiore, whom he met by accident. Upon his return home he confessed his crime to his wife who vainly besought him to commit suicide; and she herself finally blew out his brains with a pistol shot. [The Maranas.]
DIARD (Maria-Juana-Pepita), daughter of La Marana, a Venetian courtesan, and a young Italian nobleman, Mancini, who acknowledged her. Wife of Pierre-Francois Diard whom she accepted on her mother's request, after having given herself to Montefiore who did not wish to marry her. Juana had been reared very strictly in the Spanish home of Perez de Lagounia, at Tarragone, and she bore her father's name. She was the descendant of a long line of courtesans, a feminine branch that had never made legal marriages. The blood of her ancestors was in her veins; she showed this involuntarily by the way in which she yielded to Montefiore. Although she did not love her husband, yet she remained entirely faithful to him, and she killed him for honor's sake. She had two children. [The Maranas.]
DIARD (Juan), first child of Mme. Diard. Born seven months after his mother's marriage, and perhaps the son of Montefiore. He was the image of Juana, who secretly petted him extravagantly, although she pretended to like her younger son the better. By a "species of admirable flattery" Diard had made Juan his choice. [The Maranas.]
DIARD (Francisque), second son of M. and Mme. Diard, born in Paris. A counterpart of his father, and the favorite—only outwardly—of his mother. [The Maranas.]
DIAZ (Jan), assumed name of Mme. Dinah de la Baudraye.
DIODATI, owner of a villa on Lake Geneva in 1823-1824.—Character in a novel called "L'Ambitieux par Amour" published by Albert Savarus in the "Revue de l'Est" in 1834. [Albert Savarus.]