Repertory of The Comedie Humaine Part 16

Mme. d'Espard lived at number 104 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore. [The Commission in Lunacy.] She was a magnificent Celimene. She displayed such prudence and severity on her separation from her husband that society was at a loss to account for this disagreement. She was surrounded by her relatives, the Navarreins, the Blamont-Chauvrys and the Lenoncourts; ladies of the highest social position claimed her acquaintance. She was a cousin of Mme. de Bargeton, who was rehabilitated by her on her arrival from Angouleme in 1821, and whom she introduced into Paris, showing her all the secrets of elegant life and taking her away from Lucien de Rubempre. Later, when the "Distinguished Provincial" had won his way into high society, she, at the instance of Mme. de Montcornet, enlisted him on the Royalist side.

[A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] In 1824 she was at an Opera ball to which she had come through an anonymous note, and, leaning on the arm of Sixte du Chatelet, she met Lucien de Rubempre whose beauty struck her and whom she seemed, indeed, not to remember. The poet had his revenge for her former disdain, by means of some cutting phrases, and Jacques Collin--Vautrin--masked, caused her uneasiness by persuading her that Lucien was the author of the note and that he loved her. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] The Chaulieus were intimate with her at the time when their daughter Louise was courted by Baron de Mac.u.mer. [Letters of Two Brides.] Despite the silent opposition of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, after the Revolution of 1830, the Marquise d'Espard did not close her salon, since she did not wish to renounce her Parisian prestige. In this she was seconded by one or two women in her circle and by Mlle. des Touches. [Another Study of Woman.] She was at home Wednesdays. In 1833 she attended a soiree at the home of the Princesse de Cadignan, where Marsay disclosed the mystery surrounding the abduction of Senator Malin in 1806. [The Gondreville Mystery.] Notwithstanding an evil report circulated against her by Mme. d'Espard, the princesse told Daniel d'Arthez that the marquise was her best friend; she was related to her. [The Secrets of a Princess.] Actuated by jealousy for Mme. Felix de Vandenesse, Mme. d'Espard fostered the growing intimacy between the young woman and Nathan the poet; she wished to see an apparent rival compromised. In 1835 the marquise defended vaudeville entertainments against Lady Dudley, who said she could not endure them. [A Daughter of Eve.] In 1840, on leaving the Italiens, Mme. d'Espard humiliated Mme. de Rochefide by snubbing her; all the women followed her example, shunning the mistress of Calyste du Guenic. [Beatrix.] In short the Marquise d'Espard was one of the most sn.o.bbish people of her day. Her disposition was sour and malevolent, despite its elegant veneer.

ESTIVAL (Abbe d'), provincial priest and Lenten exhorter at the church of Saint-Jacques du Haut-Pas, Paris. According to Theodose de la Peyrade, who pointed him out to Mlle. Colleville, he was devoted to predication in the interest of the poor. By spirituality and unction he redeemed a scarcely agreeable exterior. [The Middle Cla.s.ses.]

ESTORADE (Baron, afterwards Comte de l'), a little Provincial gentleman, father of Louis de l'Estorade. A very religious and very miserly man who h.o.a.rded for his son. He lost his wife about 1814, who died of grief through lack of hope of ever seeing her son again --having heard nothing of him after the battle of Leipsic. M. de l'Estorade was an excellent grandparent. He died at the end of 1826.

[Letters of Two Brides.]

ESTORADE (Louis, Chevalier, then Vicomte and Comte de l') son of the preceding; peer of France; president of the Chamber in the Court of Accounts; grand officer of the Legion of Honor; born in 1787. After having been excluded from the conscription under the Empire, for a long time, he was enlisted in 1813, serving on the Guard of Honor. At Leipsic he was captured by the Russians and did not reappear in France until the Restoration. He suffered severely in Siberia; at thirty-seven he appeared to be fifty. Pale, lean, taciturn and somewhat deaf, he bore much resemblance to the Knight of the Rueful Countenance. He succeeded, however, in making himself agreeable to Renee de Maucombe whom he married, dowerless, in 1824. Urged on by his wife who became ambitious after becoming a mother, he left Crampade, his country estate, and although a mediocre he rose to the highest offices.

[Letters of Two Brides. The Member for Arcis.]

ESTORADE (Madame de l'), born Renee de Maucombe in 1807, of a very old Provencal family, located in the Gemenos Valley, twenty kilometres from Ma.r.s.eilles. She was educated at the Carmelite convent of Blois, where she was intimate with Louise de Chaulieu. The two friends always remained constant. For several years they corresponded, writing about life, love and marriage, when Renee the wise gave to the pa.s.sionate Louise advice and prudent counsel not always followed. In 1836 Mme. de l'Estorade hastened to the country to be present at the death-bed of her friend, now become Mme. Marie Gaston. Renee de Maucombe was married at the age of seventeen, upon leaving the convent. She gave her husband three children, though she never loved him, devoting herself to the duties of motherhood. [Letters of Two Brides.] In 1838-39 the serenity of this sage person was disturbed by meeting Dorlange-Sallenauve. She believed he sought her, and she must needs fight an insidious liking for him. Mme. de Camps counseled and enlightened Mme. de l'Estorade, with considerable foresight, in this delicate crisis. Some time later, when a widow, Mme. de l'Estorade was on the point of giving her hand to Sallenauve, who became her son-in-law. [The Member for Arcis.] In 1841 Mme. de l'Estorade remarked of M. and Mme. Savinien de Portenduere: "Theirs is the most perfect happiness that I have ever seen!" [Ursule Mirouet.]

ESTORADE (Armand de l'), elder son of M. and Mme. de l'Estorade; G.o.dson of Louise de Chaulieu, who was Baronne de Mac.u.mer and afterwards Mme. Marie Gaston. Born in December, 1825; educated at the college of Henri IV. At first stupid and meditative, he awakened afterwards, was crowned at Sorbonnne, having obtained first prize for a translation of Latin, and in 1845 made a brilliant showing in his thesis for the degree of doctor of laws. [Letters of Two Brides. The Member for Arcis.]

ESTORADE (Rene de l'), second child of M. and Mme. de l'Estorade. Bold and adventurous as a child. He had a will of iron, and his mother was convinced that he would be "the cunningest sailor afloat." [Letters of Two Brides.]

ESTORADE (Jeanne-Athenais de l'), daughter and third child of M. and Mme. de l'Estorade. Called "Nais" for short. Married in 1847 to Charles de Sallenauve. (See Sallenauve, Mme. Charles de.)

ESTOURNY (Charles d'), a young dandy of Paris who went to Havre during the Restoration to view the sea, obtained entrance into the Mignon household and eloped with Bettina-Caroline, the elder daughter. He afterwards deserted her and she died of shame. In 1827 Charles d'Estourny was sentenced by the police court for habitual fraud in gambling. [Modeste Mignon.] A Georges-Marie Destourny, who styled himself Georges d'Estourny, was the son of a bailiff, at Boulogne, near Paris, and was undoubtedly identical with Charles d'Estourny. For a time he was the protector of Esther van Gobseck, known as La Torpille. He was born about 1801, and, after having obtained a splendid education, had been left without resources by his father, who was forced to sell out under adverse circ.u.mstances. Georges d'Estourny speculated on the Bourse with money obtained from "kept" women who trusted in him. After his sentence he left Paris without squaring his accounts. He had aided Cerizet, who afterwards became his partner. He was a handsome fellow, open-hearted and generous as the chief of robbers. On account of the knaveries which brough him into court, Bixiou nicknamed him "Tricks at Cards." [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. A Man of Business.]

ETIENNE & CO., traders at Paris under the Empire. In touch with Guillaume, clothier of rue Saint-Denis, who foresaw their failure and awaited "with anxiety as at a game of cards." [At the Sign of the Cat and Racket.]

EUGENE, Corsican colonel of the Sixth regiment of the line, which was made up almost entirely of Italians--the first to enter Tarragone in 1808. Colonel Eugene, a second Murat, was extraordinarily brave. He knew how to make use of the species of bandits who composed his regiment. [The Maranas.]

EUGENIE, a.s.sumed name of Prudence Servien, which name see.

EUPHRASIE, Parisian courtesan, time of the Restoration and Louis Philippe. A pretty, winsome blonde with blue eyes and a melodious voice; she had an air of the utmost frankness, yet was profoundly depraved and expert in refined vice. In 1821 she transmitted a terrible and fatal disease to Crottat, the notary. At that time she lived on rue Feydeau. Euphrasie pretended that in her early youth she had pa.s.sed entire days and nights trying to support a lover who had forsaken her for a heritage. With the brunette, Aquilina, Euphrasie took part in a famous orgy, at the home of Frederic Taillefer, on rue Joubert, where were also Emile Blondet, Rastignac, Bixiou and Raphael de Valentin. Later she is seen at the Theatre-Italien, in company with the aged antiquarian, who had sold Raphael the celebrated "magic skin"; she was running through with the old merchant's treasures.

[Melmoth Reconciled. The Magic Skin.]

EUROPE, a.s.sumed name of Prudence Servien, which name see.

EVANGELISTA (Madame), born Casa-Real in 1781, of a great Spanish family collaterally descended from the Duke of Alva and related to the Claes of Douai; a creole who came to Bordeaux in 1800 with her husband, a large Spanish financier. In 1813 she was left a widow, with her daughter. She paid no thought to the value of money, never knowing how to resist a whim. So one morning in 1821 she was forced to call on the broker and expert, Elie Magus, to get an estimate on the value of her magnificent diamonds. She became wearied of life in the country, and therefore favored the marriage of her daughter with Paul de Manerville, in order that she might follow the young couple to Paris where she dreamed of appearing in grand style and of a further exercise of her power. For that matter she displayed much astuteness in arranging the details of this marriage, at which time Maitre Solonet, her notary, was much taken with her, desiring to wed her, and defending her warmly against Maitre Mathias the lawyer for the Manervilles. Beneath the exterior of an excellent woman she knew, like Catherine de Medicis, how to hate and wait. [A Marriage Settlement.]

EVANGELISTA (Natalie), daughter of Mme. Evangelista; married to Paul de Manerville. (See that name.)

EVELINA, young girl of n.o.ble blood, wealthy and cultured, of a strict Jansenist family; sought in marriage by Bena.s.sis, in the beginning of the Restoration. Evelina reciprocated Bena.s.sis' love, but her parents opposed the match. Evelina died soon after gaining her freedom and the doctor did not survive her long. [The Country Doctor.]

F

FAILLE & BOUCHOT, Parisian perfumers who failed in 1818. They gave an order for ten thousand phials of peculiar shape to hold a new cosmetic, which phials Anselme Popinot purchased for four sous each on six months' time, with the intention of filling them with the "Cephalic Oil" invented by Cesar Birotteau. [Cesar Birotteau.]

FALCON (Jean), alias Beaupied, or more often Beau-Pied, sergeant in the Seventy-second demi-brigade in 1799, under the command of Colonel Hulot. Jean Falcon was the clown of his company. Formerly he had served in the artillery. [The Chouans.] In 1808, still under the command of Hulot, he was one in the army of Spain and in the troops led by Murat. In that year he was witness of the death of Bega, the French surgeon, a.s.sa.s.sinated by a Spaniard. [The Muse of the Department.] In 1841 he was body-servant of his old-time colonel, now become a marshal. For thirty years he had been in his employ. [Cousin Betty.]

FALCON (Marie-Cornelie), famous singer of the Opera; born at Paris on January 28, 1812. On July 20, 1832, she made a brilliant debut in the role of Alice, in "Robert le Diable." She also created with equal success the parts of Rachel in "La Juive" and Valentine in "The Huguenots." In 1836 the composer Conti declared to Calyste du Guenic that he was madly enamored of this singer, "the youngest and prettiest of her time." He even wished to marry her--so he said--but this remark was probably a thrust at Calyste, who was smitten with the Marquise de Rochefide, whose lover the musician was at this time. [Beatrix.]

Cornelie Falcon disappears from the scene in 1840, after a famous evening when, before a sympathetic audience, she mourned on account of the ruin of her voice. She married a financier, M. Malencon, and is now a grandmother. Mme. Falcon has given, in the provinces, her name to designate tragic "sopranos." "La Vierge de l'Opera," interestingly delineated by M. Emmanuel Gonzales, reveals--according to him--certain incidents in her career.

FALLEIX (Martin), Auvergnat coppersmith on rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, Paris; born about 1796; he had come from the country with his kettle under his arm. He was patronized by Bidault, alias Gigonnet, who advanced him capital though at heavy interest. The usurer also introduced him to Saillard, the cashier of the Minister of Finance, who with his savings enabled him to open a foundry. Martin Falleix obtained a brevet for invention and a gold medal at the Exposition of 1824. Mme. Baudoyer undertook his education, deciding he would do for a son-in-law. On his side he worked for the interests of his future father-in-law. [The Government Clerks.] About 1826 he discussed on the Bourse, with Du Tillet, Werbrust and Claparon, the third liquidation of Nucingen, which solidly established the fortune of that celebrated Alsatian banker. [The Firm of Nucingen.]

FALLEIX (Jacques), brother of the preceding; stock-broker, one of the shrewdest and richest, the successor of Jules Desmarets and stock-broker for the firm of Nucingen. On rue Saint-George he fitted up a most elegant little house for his mistress, Mme. du Val-n.o.ble. He failed in 1829, the victim of one of the Nucingen liquidations. [The Government Clerks. The Thirteen. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]

FANCHETTE, servant of Doctor Rouget at Issoudun, at the close of the eighteenth century; a stout Berrichonne who, before the advent of La Cognette, was thought to be the best cook in town. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]

FANJAT, physician and something of an alienist; uncle of Comtesse Stephanie de Vandieres. She was supposed to have perished in the disaster of the Russian campaign. He found her near Strasbourg, in 1816, a lunatic, and took her to the ancient convent of Bon-Hommes, in the outskirts of l'Isle Adam, Seine-et-Oise, where he tended her with a tender care. In 1819 he had the sorrow of seeing her expire as a result of a tragic scene when, recovering her reason all at once, she recognized her former lover Philippe de Sucy, whom she had not seen since 1812. [Farewell.]

f.a.n.n.y, aged servant in the employ of Lady Brandon, at La Grenadiere under the Restoration. She closed the eyes of her mistress, whom she adored, then conducted the two children from that house to one of a cousin of hers, an old retired dressmaker of Tours, rue de la Guerche (now rue Marceau), where she intended to live with them; but the elder of the sons of Lady Brandon enlisted in the navy and placed his brother in college, under the guidance of f.a.n.n.y. [La Grenadiere.]

f.a.n.n.y, young girl of romantic temperament, fair and blonde, the only daughter of a banker of Paris. One evening at her father's house she asked the Bavarian Hermann for a "dreadful German story," and thus innocently led to the death of Frederic Taillefer who had in his youth committed a secret murder, now related in his hearing. [The Red Inn.]

FARIO, old Spanish prisoner of war at Issoudun during the Empire.

After peace was declared he remained there making a small business venture in grains. He was of Grenada and had been a peasant. He was the b.u.t.t of many scurvy tricks on the part of the "Knights of Idlesse," and he avenged himself by stabbing their leader, Maxence Gilet. This attempted a.s.sa.s.sination was momentarily charged to Joseph Bridau. Fario finally obtained full satisfaction for his vindictive spirit by witnessing a duel where Gilet fell mortally wounded by the hand of Philippe Bridau. Gilet had previously become disconcerted by the presence of the grain-dealer on the field of battle. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]

FARRABESCHE, ex-convict, now an estate-guard for Mme. Graslin, at Montegnac, time of Louis Philippe; of an old family of La Correze; born about 1791. He had had an elder brother killed at Montebello, in 1800 a captain at twenty-two, who by his surpa.s.sing heroism had saved the army and the Consul Bonaparte. There was, too, a second brother who fell at Austerlitz in 1805, a sergeant in the First regiment of the Guard. Farrabesche himself had got it into his head that he would never serve, and when summoned in 1811 he fled to the woods. There he affiliated more or less with the Chauffeurs and, accused of several a.s.sa.s.sinations, was sentenced to death for contumacy. At the instance of Abbe Bonnet he gave himself up, at the beginnng of the Restoration, and was sent to the bagne for ten years, returning in 1827. After 1830, re-established as a citizen, he married Catherine Curieux, by whom he had a child. Abbe Bonnet for one, and Mme. Graslin for another, proved themselves counselors and benefactors of Farrabesche.

[The Country Parson.]

FARRABESCHE (Madame), born Catherine Curieux, about 1798; daughter of the tenants of Mme. Brezac, at Vizay, an important mart of La Correze; mistress of Farrabesche in the last years of the Empire. She bore him a son, at the age of seventeen, and was soon separated from her lover on his imprisonment in the galleys. She returned to Paris and hired out. In her last place she worked for an old lady whom she tended devotedly, but who died leaving her nothing. In 1833 she came back to the country; she was just out of a hospital, cured of a disease caused by fatigue, but still very feeble. Shortly after she married her former lover. Catherine Curieux was rather large, well-made, pale, gentle and refined by her visit to Paris, though she could neither read nor write. She had three married sisters, one at Aubusson, one at Limoges, and one at Saint-Leonard. [The Country Parson.]

FARRABESCHE (Benjamin), son of Farrabesche and Catherine Curieux; born in 1815; brought up by the relatives of his mother until 1827, then taken back by his father whom he dearly loved and whose energetic and rough nature he inherited. [The Country Parson.]

FAUCOMBE (Madame de), sister of Mme. de Touches and aunt of Felicite des Touches--Camille Maupin;--an inmate of the convent of Ch.e.l.les, to whom Felicite was confided by her dying mother, in 1793. The nun took her niece to Faucombe, a considerable estate near Nantes belonging to the deceased mother, where she (the nun) died of fear in 1794.

[Beatrix.]

FAUCOMBE (De), grand-uncle on the maternal side of Felicite des Touches. Born about 1734, died in 1814. He lived at Nantes, and in his old age had married a frivolous young woman, to whom he turned over the conduct of affairs. A pa.s.sionate archaeologist he gave little attention to the education of his grand-niece who was left with him in 1794, after the death of Mme. de Faucombe, the aged nun of Ch.e.l.les.

Thus it happened that Felicite grew up by the side of the old man and young woman, without guidance, and left entirely to her own devices.

[Beatrix.]

FAUSTINE, a young woman of Argentan who was executed in 1813 at Mortagne for having killed her child. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]

FELICIE, chambermaid of Mme. Diard at Bordeaux in 1823. [The Maranas.]

FELICITE, a stout, ruddy, cross-eyed girl, the servant of Mme.

Vauthier who ran a lodging-house on the corner of Notre-Dame-des-Champs and Boulevard du Montparna.s.se, time of Louis Philippe. [The Seamy Side of History.]

FELIX, office-boy for Attorney-General Granville, in 1830. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]

FENDANT, former head-clerk of the house of Vidal & Porchon; a partner with Cavalier. Both were book-sellers, publishers, and book-dealers, doing business on rue Serpente, Paris, about 1821. At this time they had dealings with Lucien Chardon de Rubempre. The house for social reasons was known as Fendant & Cavalier. Half-rascals, they pa.s.sed for clever fellows. While Cavalier traveled, Fendant, the more wily of the two, managed the business. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]

FERDINAND, real name of Ferdinand du Tillet.

FERDINAND, fighting name of one of the princ.i.p.al figures in the Breton uprising of 1799. One of the companions of MM. du Guenic, de la Billardiere, de Fontaine and de Montauran. [The Chouans. Beatrix.]

FEREDIA (Count Bagos de), Spanish prisoner of war at the Vendome under the Empire; lover of Mme. de Merret. Surprised one evening by the unexpected return of her husband, he took refuge in a closet which was ordered walled up by M. de Merret. There he died heroically without even uttering a cry. [La Grande Breteche.]

FERET (Athanase), law-clerk of Maitre Bordin, procureur to the Chatelet in 1787. [A Start in Life.]

FERRAGUS XXIII. (See Bourignard.)

FERRARO (Count), Italian colonel whom Castanier had known during the Empire, and whose death in the Zembin swamps Castanier alone had witnessed. The latter therefore intended to a.s.sume Ferraro's personality in Italy after forging certain letters of credit. [Melmoth Reconciled.]