Repertory of the Comedie Humaine/M
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[1] ( 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)
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[2] (Madame). (See Crevel, Madame Celestin.)
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[3] (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)
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[4] 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)
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,[5] 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)
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[6] in 1841. (Ursule Mirouet)
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.[7] 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,[8] in the affair, negotiating with merchants and discounters. Mongenod died in 1827. (The Seamy Side of History, Cesar Birotteau)
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 Gars, 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.[9] 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.)
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),[10] 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)
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)
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ In 1849, at Paris, Clairville produced upon the stage of the Gymnase-Dramatique, the episodes in the life of Madame Marneffe, somewhat modified, under the double title, "Madame Marneffe, or the Prodigal Father" (a vaudeville drama in five acts).
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Since 1860 a suburb of Paris.
- ↑ 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
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Beauplan and Barriere presented a play at the Comedie-Francaise, having for a heroine Madame de Mortsauf, June 14, 1853.