REPERTORY OF THE COMEDIE HUMAINE, PART II, L -- Z

Part 5 out of 5

[*] It was perhaps at Chelles that Mademoiselle de Faucombe became
acquainted with Mesdemoiselles de Beauseant and de Langeais.

[+] Delestre-Poirson, the vaudeville man, together with A. Cerfberr
established the Gymnase-Dramatique, December 20, 1820; with the
Cerfberr Brothers, Delestre-Poirson continued the management of it
until 1844.

TOUPILLIER, born about 1750; of a wretchedly poor family consisting of
three sisters and five brothers, one of whom was father of Madame
Cardinal. From drum-major in the Gardes-Francaise, Toupillier became
beadle in the church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris; then dispenser of holy
water, having been an artist's model in the meantime. Toupillier, at
the beginning of the Restoration, suspected either of being a
Bonapartist, or of being unfit for his position, was discharged from
the service of the church, and had only the right to stand at the
threshold as a privileged beggar; however, he profited greatly by his
new position, for he knew how to arouse the compassionate feelings of
the faithful in every possible way, chiefly by passing as a
centenarian. Having been entrusted with the diamonds that Charles
Crochard had stolen from Mademoiselle Beaumesnil and which the young
thief wished to get off his hands for the time being, Toupillier
denied having received them and remained possessor of the stolen
jewels. But Corentin, the famous police-agent, followed the pauper of
Saint-Sulpice to the rue du Coeur-Volant, and surprised that new
Cardillac engrossed in the contemplation of the diamonds. He, however,
left them in his custody, on condition of his leaving by will all his
property to Lydie Peyrade, Corentin's ward and Mademoiselle
Beaumesnil's daughter. Corentin further required Toupillier to live in
his house and under his surveillance on the rue Honore-Chevalier. At
that time Toupillier had an income of eighteen hundred francs; he
might be seen, at the church, munching wretched crusts; but, the
church once closed, he went to dine at the Lathuile restaurant,
situated on the Barriere de Clichy, and at night he got drunk on the
excellent Rousillon wines. Notwithstanding an attack made by Madame
Cardinal and Cerizet on the closet containing the diamonds, when the
pauper of Saint-Sulpice died in 1840, Lydie Peyrade, now Madame
Theodose de la Peyrade, inherited all that Toupillier possessed. [The
Middle Classes.]

TOUPINET, a Parisian mechanic, at the time of the Restoration, being
married and father of a family, he stole his wife's savings, the fruit
of arduous labor; he was imprisoned, about 1828, probably for debts.
[The Commission in Lunacy.]

TOUPINET (Madame), wife of the preceding; known under the name
Pomponne; kept a fruit-stand; lived, in 1828, on the rue du Petit-
Banquier, Paris; unhappy in her married life; obtained from the
charitable J.-J. Popinot, under the name of a loan, ten francs for
purchasing stock. [The Commission in Lunacy.]

TOURNAN, a hatter of the rue Saint-Martin, Paris; among his customers
was young Poiret, who, on July 3, 1823, brought him his head-covering,
all greased, as a result of J.-J. Bixiou's practical joking. [The
Government Clerks.]

TOURS-MINIERES (Bernard-Polydor Bryond, Baron des), a gentleman of
Alencon; born about 1772; in 1793, was one of the most active
emissaries of the Comte de Lille (Louis XVIII.), in his conspiracy
against the Republic. Having received the King's thanks, he retired to
his estate in the department of Orne, which had long been burdened
with mortgages; and, in 1807, he married Henriette Le Chantre de la
Chanterie, with the concurrence of the Royalists, whose "pet" he was.
He pretended to take part in the reactionary revolutionary movement of
the West in 1809, implicated his wife in the matter, compromised her,
ruined her, and then disappeared. Returning in secrecy to his country,
under the assumed name of Lemarchand, he aided the authorities in
getting at the bottom of the plot, and then went to Paris, where he
became the celebrated police-agent Contenson. [The Seamy Side of
History.] He knew Peyrade, and received from Lenoir's old pupil the
significant sobriquet of "Philosopher." Being agent for Fouche during
the period of the Empire, he abandoned himself in the most sensual way
to his passions, and lived a life of irregularity and vice. During the
time of the Restoration Louchard had him employed by Nucingen at the
time of the latter's amours with Esther van Gobseck. In the service of
this noted banker, Contenson (with Peyrade and Corentin) tried to
protect him from the snares of Jacques Collin, and followed the
pseudo-Carlos Herrera to his place of refuge on a house-top; but being
hurled from the roof by his intended victim, he was instantly killed
during the winter of 1829-1830. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]

TOURS-MINIERES (Baronne Bryond des), wife of the preceding; born
Henriette Le Chantre de la Chanterie, in 1789; only daughter of
Monsieur and Madame Le Chantre de la Chanterie; was married after her
father's death. Through the machinations of Tours-Minieres she was
brought into contact with Charles-Amedee-Louis-Joseph Rifoel,
Chevalier du Vissard, became his mistress, and took the field for him
in the Royalist cause, in the department of Orne, in 1809. Betrayed by
her husband, she was executed in 1810, in accordance with a death-
sentence of the court presided over by Mergi, Bourlac being attorney-
general. [The Seamy Side of History.]

TRAILLES (Comte Maxime de), born in 1791, belonged to a family that
was descended from an attendant to Louis XI., and raised to the
nobility by Francois I. This perfect example of the Parisian
/condottieri/ made his beginning in the early part of the nineteenth
century as a page to Napoleon. Being loved, in turn, by Sarah Gobseck
and Anastasie de Restaud, Maxime de Trailles, himself already ruined,
ruined both of these; gaming was his master passion, and his caprices
knew no bounds. [Cesar Birotteau. Father Goriot. Gobseck.] He took
under his attention the Vicomte Savinien de Portenduere, a novice in
Parisian life, whom also he would have served later as his second
against Desire Minoret, but for the latter's death by accident.
[Ursule Mirouet.] His ready wit usually saved him from the throng of
creditors that swarmed about him, but even thus he once paid a debt
due Cerizet, in spite of himself. Maxime de Trailles, at that time,
was keeping, in a modest way, Antonia Chocardelle, who had a news-
stand on the rue Coquenard, near the rue Pigalle, on which Trailles
lived; and, at the same time, a certain Hortense, a protegee of Lord
Dudley, was seconding the genius of that excellent comedian, Cerizet.
[A Man of Business. The Member for Arcis.] The dominant party of the
Restoration accused Maxime de Trailles of being a Bonapartist, and
rebuked him for his shameless corruption of life; but the citizen
monarchy extended him a cordial welcome. Marsay was the chief promoter
of the count's fortunes; he moulded him, and sent him on delicate
political missions, which he managed with marvelous success. [The
Secrets of a Princess.] And so the Comte de Trailles was widely known
in social circles: as the guest of Josepha Mirah, by his presence he
honored the house-warming in her new apartments on the rue de la
Ville-l'Eveque. [Cousin Betty.] Marsay being dead, he lost the power
of his prestige. Eugene de Rastignac, who had become somewhat of a
Puritan, showed but slight esteem for him. However, Maxime de Trailles
was on easy terms with one of the minister's intimate friends, the
brilliant Colonel Franchessini. Nucingen's son-in-law--Eugene de
Rastignac--perhaps recalled Madame de Restaud's misfortunes, and
doubtless entertained no good feeling for the man who was responsible
for them all. None the less, he employed the services of M. de
Trailles--who was always at ease in the Marquise d'Espard's salon, in
the Faubourg Saint-Honore, though a man over forty years of age,
painted and padded and bowed down with debts--and sent him to look
after the political situation in Arcis before the spring election of
1839. Trailles worked his wires with judgment; he tried to override
the Cinq-Cygnes, partisans of Henri V.; he supported the candidacy of
Phileas Beauvisage, and sought the hand of Cecile-Renee Beauvisage,
the wealthy heiress, but was unsuccessful on all sides. [The Member
for Arcis.] M. de Trailles, furthermore, excelled in the adjustment of
private difficulties. M. d'Ajuda-Pinto, Abbe Brossette, and Madame de
Grandlieu called for his assistance, and, with the further aid of
Rusticoli de la Palferine, effected the reconciliation of the families
of Calyste du Guenic and Arthur de Rochefide. [Beatrix.] He became a
member of the Chamber of Deputies, succeeding Phileas Beauvisage, who
had replaced Charles de Sallenauve, at the Palais-Bourbon; here he was
pointed out to S.-P. Gazonal. [The Unconscious Humorists.]

TRANS (Mademoiselle), a young unmarried woman of Bordeaux, who, like
Mademoiselle de Belor, was on the lookout for a husband when Paul de
Manerville married Natalie Evangelista. [A Marriage Settlement.]

TRANSON (Monsieur and Madame), wholesale dealers in earthenware goods
on the rue des Lesdiguieres, were on intimate terms, about 1824, with
their neighbors, the Baudoyers and the Saillards. [The Government
Clerks.]

TRAVOT (General), with his command, conducted, in 1815, the siege of
Guerande, a fortress defended by the Baron du Guenic, who finally
evacuated it, but who reached the wood with his Chouans and remained
in possession of the country until the second return of the Bourbons.
[Beatrix.]

TROGNON (Maitre), a Parisian notary, wholly at the disposal of his
neighbor, Maitre Fraisier; during the years 1844-1845 he lived on the
rue Saint-Louis-au-Marais--now rue de Turenne--and reached the death-
bed of Sylvain Pons before his colleague, Maitre Leopold Hannequin,
though the latter actually received the musician's last wishes.
[Cousin Pons.]

TROISVILLE (Guibelin, Vicomte de), whose name is pronounced Treville,
and who, as well as his numerous family, bore simply the name Guibelin
during the period of the Empire; he belonged to a noble line of ardent
Royalists well known in Alencon. [The Seamy Side of History.] Very
probably several of the Troisvilles, as well as the Chevalier de
Valois and the Marquis d'Esgrignon, were among the correspondents of
the Vendean chiefs, for it is well known that the department of Orne
was counted among the centres of the anti-revolutionary uprising
(1799). [The Chouans.] Furthermore, the Bourbons, after their
restoration, overwhelmed the Troisvilles with honors, making several
of them members of the Chamber of Deputies or peers of France. The
Vicomte Guibelin de Troisville served during the emigration in Russia,
where he married a Muscovite girl, daughter of the Princesse
Scherbeloff; and, during the year 1816, he returned to establish
himself permantly among the people of Alencon. Accepting temporarily
the hospitality of Rose-Victoire Cormon (eventually Madame du
Bousquier), he innocently inspired her with false hopes; the viscount,
naturally reserved, failed to inform her of his being son-in-law of
Scherbeloff, and legitimate father of the future Marechale de
Montcornet. Guibelin de Troisville, a loyal social friend of the
Esgrignons, met in their salon the Roche-Guyons and the Casterans,
distant cousins of his, but the intimate relations almost came to an
end, when Mademoiselle Virginie de Troisville became Madame de
Montcornet. [Jealousies of a Country Town.] However, in spite of this
union, which he looked upon as a mesalliance, the viscount was never
cool towards his daughter and her husband, but was their guest at
Aigues, in Bourgogne. [The Peasantry.]

TROMPE-LA-MORT, a sobriquet of Jacques Collin.

TROUBERT (Abbe Hyacinthe), favorite priest of M. de Bourbonne; rose
rapidly during the Restoration and Louis Philippe's reign, canon and
vicar-general, in turn, of Tours, he was afterwards bishop of Troyes.
His early career in Touraine showed him to be a deep, ambitious, and
dangerous man, knowing how to remove from his path those that impeded
his advance, and knowing how to conceal the full power of his
animosity. The secret support of the Congregation and the connivance
of Sophie Gamard allowed him to take advantage of Abbe Francois
Birotteau's unsuspecting good nature, and to rob him of all the
inheritance of Abbe Chapeloud, whom he had hated in his lifetime, and
over whom he triumphed thus again, despite the shrewdness of the
deceased priest. Abbe Troubert even won over to his side the
Listomeres, defenders of Francois Birotteau. [The Vicar of Tours.]
About 1839, at Troyes, Monsiegneur Troubert was on terms of intimacy
with the Cinq-Cygnes, the Hauteserres, the Cadignans, the
Maufrigneuses, and Daniel d'Arthez, who were more or less concerned in
the matter of the Champagne elections. [The Member for Arcis.]

TROUSSENARD (Doctor), a physician of Havre, during the Restoration, at
the time that the Mignon de la Bastie family lived in that sub-
prefecture of the Seine-Inferieure. [Modeste Mignon.]

TRUDON, in 1818, a grocer of Paris, in the same quarter as Cesar
Birotteau, whom he furnished, on December 17th of that year, with
nearly two hundred francs' worth of wax candles. [Cesar Birotteau.]

TULLIA, professional sobriquet of Madame du Bruel.

TULLOYE, the name of the owner of a small estate near Angouleme, where
M. de Bargeton, in the autumn of 1821, severely wounded M. de
Chandour, an unsophisticated hot-head, whom he had challenged to a
duel. The name Tulloye furnished a good opportunity in the affair for
a play on words. [Lost Illusions.]

TURQUET (Marguerite), born about 1816, better known under the
sobriquet of Malaga, having a further appellaton of the "Aspasia of
the Cirque-Olympique," was originally a rider in the famous Bouthor
Traveling Hippodrome, and was later a Parisian star at the Franconi
theatre, in the summer on the Champs-Elysees, in the winter on the
Boulevard du Crime. In 1837, Mademoiselle Turquet was living in the
fifth story of a house on the rue des Fosses-du-Temple--a thoroughfare
that has been built up since 1862--when Thaddee Paz set her up in
sumptuous style elsewhere. But she wearied of the role of supposed
mistress of the Pole. [The Imaginary Mistress.] Nevertheless, this
position had placed Marguerite in a prominent light, and she shone
thenceforth among the artists and courtesans. She had in Maitre
Cardot, a notary on the Place du Chatelet, an earnest protector; and
as her lover she had a quite young musician. [The Muse of the
Department.] A shrewd girl, she held on to Maitre Cardot, and made a
popular hostess, in whose salon Desroches, about 1840, gave an
entertaining account of a strange battle between two roues, Trailles
and Cerizet, debtor and creditor, that resulted in a victory for
Cerizet. [A Man of Business.] In 1838, Malaga Turquet was present at
Josepha Mirah's elegant house-warming in her gorgeous new apartments
on the rue de la Ville-l'Eveque. [Cousin Betty.]

U

URBAIN, servant of Soudry, mayor of Soulanges, Bourgogne, during the
Restoration; was at one time a cavalry soldier, who entered into the
service of the mayor, an ex-brigadier of gendarmes, after failing to
receive an appointment as gendarme. [The Peasantry.]

URRACA, aged Spanish woman, nurse of Baron de Macumer; the only family
servant kept by her master after his ruin and during his exile in
France. Urraca prepared the baron's chocolate in the very best style.
[Letters of Two Brides.]

URRACA Y LORA (Mademoiselle), paternal aunt of Leon de Lora, remained
a spinster. As late as 1845 this quasi-Spaniard was still living in
poverty in a commune of the Pyrenees-Orientales, with the father and
elder brother of the artist. [The Unconscious Humorists.]

URSULE, servant employed by the Abbe Bonnet, cure of Montegnac, in
1829; a woman of canonical age. She received the Abbe de Rastignac,
who had been sent by the Bishop of Limoges to bring the village curate
to Jean-Francois Tascheron. It was desired that this man, although he
was condemned to death, should be brought back within the "pale of the
Church." Ursule learned from the Abbe de Rastignac of the reprieve
that had been given the murderer, and being not only inquisitive, but
also a gossip; she spread it throughout the whole village, during the
time that she was buying the articles necessary for the preparation of
breakfast for the Cure Bonnet and the Abbe de Rastignac. [The Village
Parson.]

URSULE, from Picardie, very large; cook employed by Ragon, perfumer on
rue Saint-Honore, Paris, towards the end of the eighteenth century;
about 1793 she took in hand the amorous education of Cesar Birotteau,
the little Tourraine peasant just employed by the Ragons as errand-
boy. Ill-natured, wanton, wheedling, dishonest, selfish and given to
drink, Ursule did not suit the candid Cesar, whom she abandoned,
moreover, two years later, for a young Picardie rebel, who owned a few
acres of land. He found concealment in Paris, and let her marry him.
[Cesar Birotteau.]

UXELLES (Marquise d'), related to the Princess de Blamont-Chauvry, and
to the Duc and Duchesse de Lenoncourt; god-mother of Cesar Birotteau.
[Cesar Birotteau.]

UXELLES (Duchesse d'), born about 1769, mother of Diane d'Uxelles;
beloved by the Duc de Maufrigneuse, and about 1814 gave him her
daughter in marriage; ten years later she withdrew to her Uxelles
estate, where she lived a life of piety and selfishness. [The Secrets
of a Princess.]

V

VAILLANT (Madame), wife of a cabinet-maker in the Faubourg Saint-
Antoine; mother of three children. In 1819 and 1820, for forty sous
per month, she kept house for a young author,[*] who lived in a garret
in rue Lesdiguieres. She utilized her remaining time in turning the
crank for a mechanic, and received only ten sous a day for this hard
work. This woman and her husband were perfectly upright. At the
wedding of Madame Vaillant's sister, the young writer became
acquainted with Pere Canet--Facino Cane--clarinetist at the Quinze-
Vingts--who told him his strange story. [Facino Cane.] In 1818, Madame
Vaillant, already aged, kept house for Claude-Joseph Pillerault, the
former Republican, on rue des Bourdonnais. The old merchant was good
to his servant and did not let her shine his shoes. [Cesar Birotteau.]

[*] Honore de Balzac. He employed Madame Vaillant as a servant.

VALDES (Paquita), born in the West Indies about 1793, daughter of a
slave bought in Georgia on account of her great beauty; lived in the
early part of the Restoration and during the Hundred Days in Hotel
San-Real, rue Saint-Lazare, Paris, with her mother and her foster-
father, Christemio. In April, 1815, in the Jardin des Tuileries, she
was met by Henri de Marsay, who loved her. She agreed to receive him
secretly in her own home. She gave up everything for his sake, but in
a transport of love, she cried out from force of habit: "O Mariquita!"
This put her lover in such a fury that he tried to kill her. Not being
able to do this, he returned, accompanied by some other members of
"The Thirteen," only to find Paquita murdered; for, the Marquise de
San-Real, Marsay's own sister, who was very jealous of the favors
granted the man by this girl, has slashed her savagely with a dagger.
Having been kept in retirement since she was twelve years old, Paquita
Valdes knew neither how to read nor to write. She spoke only English
and Spanish. On account of the peculiar color of her eyes she was
known as "the girl with the golden eyes," by some young men, one of
whom was Paul de Manerville, who had noticed her during his
promenades. [The Thirteen.]

VALDEZ, a Spanish admiral, constitutional minister of King Ferdinand
VII. in 1820; was obliged to flee at the time of the reaction, and
embarked on an English vessel. His escape was due to the warning given
him by Baron de Macumer, who told him in time. [Letters of Two
Brides.]

VALENTIN (De), head of a historic house of Auvergne, which had fallen
into poverty and obscurity; cousin of the Duc de Navarreins; came to
Paris under the monarchy, and made for himself an excellent place at
the "very heart of power." This he lost during the Revolution. Under
the Empire he bought many pieces of property given by Napoleon to his
generals; but the fall of Napoleon ruined him completely. He reared
his only son, Raphael, with great harshness, although he expected him
to restore the house to its former position. In the autumn of 1826,
six months after he had paid his creditors, he died of a broken heart.
The Valentins had on their arms: an eagle of gold in a field of sable,
crowned with silver, beak and talons with gules, with this device:
"The soul has not perished." [The Magic Skin.]

VALENTIN (Madame de), born Barbe-Marie O'Flaharty, wife of the
preceding; heiress of a wealthy house; died young, leaving to her only
son an islet in the Loire. [The Magic Skin.]

VALENTIN (Marquis Raphael de),[*] only son of the preceding couple,
born in 1804, and probably in Paris, where he was reared; lost his
mother when he was very young, and, after an unhappy childhood,
received on the death of his father the sum of eleven hundred and
twelve francs. On this he lived for nearly three years, boarding at
the rate of a franc per day at the Hotel de Saint-Quintin, rue des
Cordiers. He began two great works there: a comedy, which was to bring
him fame in a day, and the "Theory of the Will," a long work, like
that of Louis Lambert, meant to be a continuation of the books by
Mesmer, Lavater, Gall and Bichat. Raphael de Valentin as a doctor of
laws was destined by his father for the life of a statesman. Reduced
to extreme poverty, and deprived of his last possession, the islet in
the Loire, inherited from his mother, he was on the point of
committing suicide, in 1830, when a strange dealer in curiosities of
the Quai Voltaire, into whose shop he had entered by chance, gave him
a strange piece of shagreen, the possession of which assured him the
gratification of every desire, although his life would be shortened by
each wish. Shortly after this he was invited to a sumptuous feast at
Frederic Taillefer's. On the next morning Raphael found himself heir
to six million francs. In the autumn of 1831 he died of consumption in
the arms of Pauline Gaudin; they were mutual lovers. He tried in vain
to possess himself of her, in a supreme effort. As a millionaire,
Raphael de Valentin lived in friendship with Rastignac and Blondet,
looked after by his faithful servant, Jonathas, in a house on rue de
Varenne. At one time he was madly in love with a certain Comtesse
Foedora. Neither the waters of Aix, nor those of Mont-Dore, both of
which he tried, were able to give him back his lost health. [The Magic
Skin.]

[*] During the year 1851, at the Ambigu-Comique, was performed a drama
by Alphonse Arnault and Louis Judicis, in which the life of
Raphael Valentin was reproduced.

VALENTINE, given name and title of the heroine of a vaudeville play[*]
in two acts, by Scribe and Melesville, which was performed at the
Gymnase-Dramatique, January 4, 1836. This was more than twenty years
after the death of M. and Madame de Merret, whose lives and tragic
adventures were more or less vividly pictured in the play. [The Muse
of the Department.]

[*] Madame Eugenie Savage played the principal part.

VALLAT (Francois), deputy to the king's attorney at Ville-aux-Fayes,
Bourgogne, under the Restoration, at the time of the peasant uprising
against General de Montcornet. He was a cousin of Madame Sarcus, wife
of Sarcus the Rich. He sought promotion through Gaubertin, the mayor,
who was influential throughout the entire district. [The Peasantry.]

VALLET, haberdasher in Soulanges, Bourgogne, during the Restoration,
at the time of General de Montcornet's struggle against the peasants.
The Vallet house was next to Socquard's Cafe de la Paix. [The
Peasantry.]

VAL-NOBLE (Madame du). (See Gaillard, Madame Theodore.)

VALOIS (Chevalier de), born about 1758; died, as did his friend and
fellow-countryman, the Marquis d'Esgrignon, with the legitimate
monarchy, August, 1830. This poor man passed his youth in Paris, where
he was surprised by the Revolution. He was finally a Chouan, and when
the western Whites arose in arms against the Republic, he was one of
the members of the Alencon royal committee. At the time of the
Restoration he was living in this city very modestly, but received by
the leading aristocracy of the province as a true Valois. The
chevalier carried snuff in an old gold snuffbox, ornamented with the
picture of the Princess Goritza, a Hungarian, celebrated for her
beauty, under Louis XV. He spoke only with emotion of this woman, for
whom he had battled with Lauzun. The Chevalier de Valois tried vainly
to marry the wealthy heiress of Alencon, Rose-Victoire Cormon, a
spinster, who had the misfortune to become the wife, platonically
speaking, of M. du Bousquier, the former contractor. In his lodging at
Alencon with Madame Lardot, a laundress, the chevalier had as mistress
one of the working women, Cesarine, whose child was usually attributed
to him. Cesarine was, as a result, the sole legatee of her lover. The
chevalier also took some liberties with another employe of Madame
Lardot, Suzanne, a very beautiful Norman girl, who was afterwards
known at Paris as a courtesan, under the name of Val-Noble, and who
still later married Theodore Gaillard. M. de Valois, although strongly
attached to this girl, did not allow her to defraud him. He was
intimate with Messieurs de Lenoncourt, de Navarreins, de Verneuil, de
Fontaine, de la Billardiere, de Maufrigneuse and de Chaulieu. Valois
made a living by gambling, but pretended to gain his modest livelihood
from a Maitre Bordin, in the name of a certain M. de Pombreton. [The
Chouans. Jealousies of a Country Town.]

VANDENESSE (Marquis de), a gentleman of Tours; had by his wife four
children: Charles, who married Emilie de Fontaine, widow of
Kergarouet; Felix, who married Marie-Angelique de Granville; and two
daughters, the elder of whom was married to her cousin, the Marquis de
Listomere. The Vandenesse motto was: "Ne se vend." [The Lily of the
Valley.]

VANDENESSE (Marquise de), born Listomere, wife of the preceding; tall,
slender, emaciated, selfish and fond of cards; "insolent, like all the
Listomeres, with whom insolence always counts as a part of the dowry."
She was the mother of four children, whom she reared harshly, keeping
them at a distance, especially her son Felix. She had something of a
weakness for her son Charles, the elder. [The Lily of the Valley.]

VANDENESSE (Marquis Charles de), son of the preceding, born towards
the close of the eighteenth century; shone as a diplomatist under the
Bourbons; during this period was the lover of Madame Julie
d'Aiglemont, wife of General d'Aiglemont; by her he had some natural
children. With Desroches as his attorney, Vandenesse entered into a
suit with his younger brother, Comte Felix, in regard to some
financial matters. He married the wealthy widow of Kergarouet, born
Emilie de Fontaine. [A Woman of Thirty. A Start in Life. A Daughter of
Eve.]

VANDENESSE (Marquise Charles de), born Emilie de Fontaine about 1802;
the youngest of the Comte de Fontaine's daughters; having been
overindulged as a child, her insolent bearing, a distinctive trait of
character, was made manifest at the famous ball of Cesar Birotteau, to
which she accompanied her parents. [Cesar Birotteau.] She refused Paul
de Manerville, and a number of other excellent offers, before marrying
her mother's uncle, Admiral Comte de Kergarouet. This marriage, which
she regretted later, was resolved upon during a game of cards with the
Bishop of Persepolis, as a result of the anger which she felt on
learning that M. Longueville, on whom she had centred her affections,
was only a merchant. [The Ball at Sceaux.] Madame de Kergarouet
scorned her nephew by marriage, Savinien de Portenduere, who courted
her. [Ursule Mirouet.] Having become a widow, she married the Marquis
de Vandenesse. A little later she endeavored to overthrow her sister-
in-law, the Comtesse Felix de Vandenesse, then in love with Raoul
Nathan. [A Daughter of Eve.]

VANDENESSE (Comte Felix de), brother-in-law of the preceding, born
late in the eighteenth century, bore the title of vicomte until the
death of his father; suffered much in childhood and youth, first in
his home life, then as a pupil in a boarding-school at Tours and in
the Oratorien college at Pontlevoy. He was unhappy also at the Lepitre
school in Paris, and during his holidays spent on the Ile Saint-Louis
with one of the Listomeres, a kinswoman. Felix de Vandenesse at last
found happiness at Frapesle, a castle near Clochegourde. It was then
that his platonic liaison with Madame de Mortsauf began--a union which
occupied an important place in his life. He was, moreover, the lover
of Lady Arabelle Dudley, who called him familiarly Amedee, pronounced
"my dee." Madame de Mortsauf, having died, he was subjected to the
secret hatred of her daughter Madeleine, later Madame de Lenoncourt-
Givry-Chaulieu. About this time began his career in public life.
During the "Hundred Days" Louis XVIII. entrusted to him a mission in
Vendee. The King received him into favor, and finally employed him as
private secretary. He was also appointed master of petitions in the
State Council. Vandenesse frequently visited the Lenoncourts. He
excited admiration, mingled with envy, in the mind of Lucien de
Rubempre, who had recently arrived in Paris. Acting for the King, he
helped Cesar Birotteau. He was acquainted with the Prince de
Talleyrand, and asked of him information about Macumer, for Louise de
Chaulieu. [The Lily of the Valley. Lost Illusions. A Distinguished
Provincial at Paris. Cesar Birotteau. Letters of Two Brides.] After
his father's death, Felix de Vandenesse assumed the title of count,
and probably won a suit in regard to a land-sale against his brother,
the marquis, who had been badly served by a rascally clerk of Maitre
Desroches, Oscar Husson. [A Start in Life.] At this time, Comte Felix
de Vandenesse began a very close relationship with Natalie de
Manerville. She herself broke this off as a result of the detailed
description that he gave her of the love which he had formerly felt
for Madame de Mortsauf. [The Marriage Settlement.] The year following,
he married Angelique-Marie de Granville, elder daughter of the
celebrated magistrate of that name, and began to keep house on rue du
Rocher, where he had a house, furnished with the best of taste. At
first he was not able to gain his wife's affection, as his known
profligacy and his patronizing manners filled her with fear. She did
not go with him to the evening entertainment given by Madame d'Espard,
where he found himself with his elder brother, and where many
gossiping tongues directed their speech against Diane de Cadignan,
despite the presence of her lover, Arthez. Felix de Vandenesse went
with his wife to a rout at the home of Mademoiselle des Touches, where
Marsay told the story of his first love. The Comte and Comtesse de
Vandenesse, who, under Louis Philippe, still frequented the houses of
the Cadignans and the Montcornets, came very near having serious
trouble. Madame de Vandenesse, had foolishly fallen in love with Raoul
Nathan, but was kept from harm by her husband's skilful management.
[The Secrets of a Princess. Another Study of Woman. The Gondreville
Mystery. A Daughter of Eve.]

VANDENESSE (Comtesse Felix de), wife of the preceding; born Angelique-
Marie de Granville in 1808; a brunette like her father. In bearing the
cruel treatment of her prejudiced mother, in the Marais house, where
she spent her youth, the Comtesse Felix was consoled by the tender
affection of a younger sister, Marie-Eugenie, later Madame F. du
Tillet. The lessons in harmony given them by Wilhelm Schmucke afforded
them some diversion. Married about 1828, and dowered handsomely, to
the detriment of Marie-Eugenie, she underwent, when about twenty-five
years old, a critical experience. Although mother of at least one
child, becoming suddenly of a romantic turn of mind, she narrowly
escaped becoming the victim of a worldly conspiracy formed against her
by Lady Dudley and by Mesdames Charles de Vandenesse and de
Manerville. Marie, moved by the strength of her passion for the
writer, Raoul Nathan, and wishing to save him from financial trouble,
appealed to the good offices of Madame de Nucingen and to the devotion
of Schmucke. The proof furnished to her by her husband of the debasing
relations and the extreme Bohemian life of Raoul, kept Madame Felix de
Vandenesse from falling. [A Second Home. A Daughter of Eve.]
Afterwards, her adventure, the dangers which she had run, and her
rupture with the poet, were all recounted by M. de Clagny, in the
presence of Madame de la Baudraye, Lousteau's mistress. [The Muse of
the Department.]

VANDENESSE (Alfred de), son of the Marquis Charles de Vandenesse, a
coxcomb who, under the reign of Louis Philippe, at the Faubourg Saint-
Germain, compromised the reputation of the Comtesse de Saint-Hereen,
despite the presence of her mother, Madame d'Aiglemont, the former
mistress of the marquis. [A Woman of Thirty.]

VANDIERES (General, Comte de), old, feeble and childish, when, with
his wife and a large number of soldiers, November 29, 1812, he started
on a raft to cross the Beresina. When the boat struck the other bank
the shock threw the count into the river. His head was severed from
his body by a cake of ice, and went down the river like a cannon-ball.
[Farewell.]

VANDIERES (Comtesse Stephanie de), wife of the preceding, niece of the
alienist Doctor Fanjat; mistress of Major de Sucy, who afterwards was
a general. In 1812, during the campaign in Russia, she shared with her
husband all the dangers, and managed to cross the Beresina with her
lover's aid, although she was unable to rejoin him. She wandered for a
long time in northern or eastern Europe. Having become insane, she
could say nothing but the word "Farewell"! She was found later at
Strasbourg by the grenadier, Fleuriot. Having been taken to the Bons-
Hommes near the Isle-Adam, she was attended by Fanjat. She there had
as a companion an idiot by the name of Genevieve. In September, 1819,
Stephanie again saw Philippe de Sucy, but did not recognize him. She
died not far from Saint-Germain-en-Laye, January, 1820, soon after the
reproduction of the scene on the Beresina, arranged by her lover. Her
sudden return of reason killed her. [Farewell.]

VANIERE, gardener to Raphael de Valentin; obtained from the well, into
which his frightened employer had thrown it, the wonderful piece of
shagreen, which no weight, no reagent, and no pounding could either
stretch or injure, and which none of the best known scientists could
explain. [The Magic Skin.]

VANNEAULX (Monsieur and Madame des), small renters at Limoges, living
with their two children on rue des Cloches towards the end of Charles
X.'s reign. They inherited in the neighborhood of a hundred thousand
francs from Pingret, of whom Madame des Vanneaulx was the only niece.
This was after their uncle's murderer, J.-F. Tascheron, having been
urged by the Cure Bonnet, restored a large portion of the money stolen
in Faubourg Saint-Etienne. M. and Madame des Vanneaulx, who had
accused the murderer of "indelicacy," changed their opinion entirely
when he made this restitution. [The Country Parson.]

VANNI (Elisa), a Corsican woman who, according to one Giacomo, rescued
a child, Luigi Porta, from the fearful vendetta of Bartolomeo di
Piombo. [The Vendetta.]

VANNIER, patriot, conscript of Fougeres, Bretagne, during the autumn
of 1799 received an order to convey marching orders to the National
Guard of his city--a body of men who were destined to aid the Seventy-
second demi-brigade in its engagements with the Chouans. [The
Chouans.]

VARESE (Emilio Memmi, Prince of), of the Cane-Memmis, born in 1797, a
member of the greater nobility, descendant of the ancient Roman family
of Memmius, received the name of Prince of Varese on the death of
Facino Cane, his relative. During the time of Austrian rule in Venice,
Memmi lived there in poverty and obscurity. In the early part of the
Restoration he was on friendly terms with Marco Vendramini, his
fellow-countryman. His poverty would not permit of his keeping more
than one servant, the gondolier, Carmagnola. For Massimilla Doni, wife
of the Duke Cataneo, he felt a passion, which was returned, and which
for a long time remained platonic, despite its ardor. He was
unfaithful to her at one time, not being able to resist the unforeseen
attractions of Clarina Tinti, a lodger in the Memmi palace, and
unrivaled prima donna at the Fenice. Finally, conquering his timidity,
and breaking with the "ideal," he rendered Massimilla Cataneo a
mother, and married her when she became a widow. Varese lived in Paris
under the reign of Louis Philippe, and, having been enriched by his
marriage, one evening at the Champs-Elysees, aided certain destitute
artists, the Gambaras, who were obliged to sing in the open air. He
asked for the story of their misfortunes, and Marianina told it to him
without bitterness. [Massimilla Doni. Gambara.]

VARESE (Princess of), wife of the preceding, born Massimilla Doni,
about 1800, of an ancient and wealthy Florentine family of the
nobility; married, at first, the Duke Cataneo, a repulsive man who
lived in Venice at the time of Louis XVIII. She was an enthusiastic
attendant of the Fenice theatre during the winter when "Moses" and the
"Semiramide" were given by a company, in which were found Clarina
Tinti, Genovese and Carthagenova. Massimilla conceived a violent but
at first a platonic love for Emilio Memmi, Prince of Varese, married
him after Cataneo's death, following him to Paris, during the time of
Louis Philippe, where she met with him the Gambaras and helped them in
their poverty. [Massimilla Doni. Gambara.]

VARLET, an Arcis physician, early in the nineteenth century, at the
time of the political and local quarrels of the Gondrevilles, Cinq-
Cygnes, Simeuses, Michus, and Hauteserres; had a daughter who
afterwards became Madame Grevin. [The Gondreville Mystery. The Member
for Arcis.]

VARLET, son of the preceding, brother-in-law of Grevin; like his
father, later a physician. [The Member for Arcis.]

VASSAL, in 1822 at Paris, third clerk of Maitre Desroches, an
advocate, by whom were employed also Marest, Husson and Godeschal. [A
Start in Life.]

VATEL, formerly an army child, then corporal of the Voltigeurs,
became, during the Restoration, one of the three guards of
Montcornet's estate in Aigues, Bourgogne, under head-keeper Michaud;
he detected Mere Tonsard in her trespassing. He was a valuable
servant; gay as a lark, rather loose in his conduct with women,
without any religious principles, and brave unto rashness. [The
Peasantry.]

VATINELLE (Madame), a pretty and rather loose woman of Mantes, courted
at the same time by Maitre Fraisier and the king's attorney, Olivier
Vinet; she was "kind" to the former, thereby causing his ruin; the
attorney soon found a means of compelling Fraisier, who was
representing both sides in a lawsuit, to sell his practice and leave
town. [Cousin Pons.]

VAUCHELLES (De), maintained relations of close friendship, about 1835,
at Besancon, with Amedee de Soulas, his fellow-countryman, and
Chavoncourt, the younger, a former collegemate. Vauchelles was of
equally high birth with Soulas, and was also equally poor. He sought
the hand of Mademoiselle Victoire, Chavoncourt's eldest sister, on
whom a godmother aunt had agreed to settle an estate yielding an
income of seven thousand francs, and a hundred thousand francs in
cash, in the marriage contract. To Rosalie de Watteville's
satisfaction, he opposed Albert Savarus, the rival of the elder
Chavoncourt, in his candidacy for a seat in the Chamber of Deputies.
[Albert Savarus.]

VAUDOYER, a peasant of Ronquerolles, Bourgogne, appointed forest-
keeper of Blangy, but discharged about 1821, in favor of Groison, by
Montcornet, at that time mayor of the commune; supported G. Rigou and
F. Gaubertin as against the new owner of Aigues. [The Peasantry.]

VAUDREMONT (Comtesse de), born in 1787; being a wealthy widow of
twenty-two years in 1809, she was considered the most beautiful
Parisian of the day, and was known as the "Queen of Fashion." In the
month of November of the same year, she attended the great ball given
by the Malin de Gondrevilles, who were disappointed at the Emperor's
failure to appear on that occasion. Being the mistress of the Comte de
Soulanges and Martial de la Roche-Hugon, Madame de Vaudremont had
received from the former a ring taken from his wife's jewel-casket;
she made a present of it to Martial, who happening to be wearing it on
the evening of the Gondreville ball, gave it to Madame de Soulanges,
without once suspecting that he was restoring it to its lawful owner.
Madame de Vaudremont's death followed shortly after this incident,
which brought about the reconciliation of the Soulanges couple, urged
by the Duchesse de Lansac; the countess perished in the famous fire
that broke out at the Austrian embassy during the party given on the
occasion of the wedding of the Emperor and the Arch-duchess Marie-
Louise. [Domestic Peace.] The embassy was located on the part of the
rue de la Chaussee-d'Antin (at that time rue du Mont-Blanc) comprised
between the rue de la Victoire and the rue Saint-Lazare.

VAUMERLAND (Baronne de), a friend of Madame de l'Ambermesnil's,
boarded with one of Madame Vauquer's rivals in the Marais, and
intended, as soon as her term expired, to become a patron of the
establishment on the rue Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve; at least, so Madame
de l'Ambermesnil declared. [Father Goriot.]

VAUQUELIN (Nicolas-Louis), a famous chemist, and a member of the
Institute; born at Saint-Andre d'Hebertot, Calvadts, in 1763, died in
1829; son of a peasant; praised by Fourcroy; in turn, pharmacist in
Paris, mine-inspector, professor at the School of Pharmacy, the School
of Medicine, the Jardin des Plantes, and the College de France. He
gave Cesar Birotteau the formula for a cosmetic for the hands, that
the perfumer called "la double pate des Sultanes," and, being
consulted by him on the subject of "cephalic oil," he denied the
possibility of restoring a suit of hair. Nicolas Vauquelin was invited
to the perfumer's great ball, given on December 17, 1818. In
recognition of the good advice received from the scientist, Cesar
Birotteau offered him a proof, before the time of printing, on China
paper, of Muller's engraving of the Dresden Virgin, which proof had
been found in Germany after two years of searching, and cost fifteen
hundred francs. [Cesar Birotteau.]

VAUQUER (Madame), a widow, born Conflans about 1767. She claimed to
have lost a brilliant position through a series of misfortunes, which,
by the way, she never detailed specifically. For a long time she kept
a bourgeois boarding-house on the rue Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve (now rue
Tournefort), near the rue de l'Arbalete. In 1819-1820, Madame Vauquer,
a short, stout, languid woman, but rather well preserved in spite of
being a little faded, had Horace Bianchon as table-boarder, and
furnished with board and lodging the following: on the first floor of
her house, Madame Couture and Mademoiselle Victorine Taillefer; on the
second floor, Poiret, the elder, and Jacques Collin; on the third,
Christine-Michelle Michonneau--afterwards Madame Poiret,--Joachim
Goriot; whom she looked upon as a possible husband for herself, and
Eugene de Rastignac. She was deserted by her various boarders shortly
after the arrest of Jacques Collin. [Father Goriot.]

VAUREMONT (Princesse de), one of the most prominent figures of the
eighteenth century; grandmother of Madame Marie Gaston, who adored
her; she died in 1817, the year of Madame de Stael's death, in a
mansion belonging to the Chaulieus and situated near the Boulevard des
Invalides. Madame de Vauremont, at the time of her death, was
occupying a suite of apartments in which she was shortly afterwards
succeeded by Louise de Chaulieu (Madame Marie Gaston). Talleyrand, an
intimate friend of the princess was executor of her will. [Letters of
Two Brides.]

VAUTHIER, commonly called Vieux-Chene, former servant of the famous
Longuy; hostler at the Ecu de France, Mortagne, in 1809; was
implicated in the affair of the Chauffeurs, and condemned to twenty
years of penal servitude, but was afterwards pardoned by the Emperor.
During the Restoration he was murdered in the streets of Paris by an
obscure and devoted countryman of the Chevalier du Vissard. [The Seamy
Side of History.]

VAUTHIER (Madame), originally, in 1809, kitchen-girl in the household
of the Prince de Wissembourg, on the rue Louis-le-Grand; then cook to
Barbet, the publisher, owner of a lodging-house on the Boulevard
Montparnasse; still later, about 1833, she managed this establishment
for him, serving the same time as door-keeper in the house mentioned.
At that time Madame Vauthier employed Nepomucene and Felicite for the
house-work; as lodgers she had Bourlac, Vanda and Auguste Mergi, and
Godefroid. [The Seamy Side of History.]

VAUTRIN,[*] the most famous of Jacques Collin's assumed names.

[*] On March 14, 1840, a Parisian theatre, the Porte-Saint-Martin,
presented a play in which the famous convict was a principal
character. Although Frederic Lemaitre took the leading role, the
play was presented only once. In April, 1868, however, the Ambigu-
Comique revived it, with Frederic Lemaitre again in the leading
role.

VAUVINET, born about 1817, a money-lender of Paris, was of the elegant
modern type, altogether different from Chaboisseau-Gobseck; he made
the Boulevard des Italiens the centre of his operations; was a
creditor of the Baron Hulot, first in the sum of seventy thousand
francs; and then in an additional sum of forty thousand, really lent
by Nucingen. [Cousin Betty.] In 1845, Leon de Lora and J.-J. Bixiou
called S.-P. Gazonal's attention to him. [The Unconscious Humorists.]

VAVASSEUR, clerk in the Treasury Department, during the Empire, in
Clergeot's division. He was succeeded by E.-L.-L.-E.-Cochin. [The
Government Clerks.]

VEDIE (La), born in 1756, a homely spinster, her face being pitted
with small-pox; a relative of La Cognette, a distinguished cook; on
the recommendation of Flore Brazier and Maxence Gilet, she was
employed as cook by J.-J. Rouget, after the death of a curate, whom
she had served long, and who died without leaving her anything. She
was to receive a pension of three hundred livres a year, after ten
years of competent, faithful and loyal service. [A Bachelor's
Establishment.]

VENDRAMINI (Marco), whose name is also pronounced Vendramin;[*]
probably a descendant of the last Doge of Venice; brother of Bianca
Sagredo, born Vendramini; a Venetian patriot; an intimate friend of
Memmi-Cane, Prince of Varese. In the intoxication caused by opium, his
great resource about 1820, Marco Vendramini dreamed that his dear
city, then under Austrian dominion, was free and powerful once more.
He talked with Memmi of the Venice of his dreams, and of the famous
Procurator Florain, now in the modern Greek, now in their native
tongue; sometimes as they walked together, sometimes before La Vulpato
and the Cataneos, during a presentation of "Semiramide," "Il
Barbiere," or "Moses," as interpreted by La Tinti and Genovese.
Vendramini died from excessive use of opium, at quite an early age,
during the reign of Louis XVIII., and was greatly mourned by his
friends. [Facino Cane. Massimilla Doni.]

[*] The palace in Venice formerly owned by the Duchesse de Berri and
the Comte de Chambord, in which Wagner, the musician, died, is
even now called the Vendramin Palace. It is on the Grand-Canal,
quite near the Justiniani Palace (now the Hotel de-l'Europe.)

VERGNIAUD (Louis), who made the Egyptian campaign with Hyacinthe
Chabert and Luigi Porta, was quartermaster of hussars when he left the
service. During the Restoration he was, in turn, cow-keeper on the rue
du Petit-Banquier, keeper of a livery-stable, and cabman. As cow-
keeper, Vergniaud, having a wife and three sons, being in debt to
Grados, and giving too generously to Chabert, ended in insolvency;
even then he aided Luigi Porta, again in trouble, and was his witness
when that Corsican married Mademoiselle di Piombo. Louis Vergniaud,
being a party to the conspiracies against Louis XVIII., was imprisoned
for his share in these crimes. [Colonel Chabert. The Vendetta.]

VERMANTON, a cynic philosopher, and a habitue of Madame Schontz's
salon, between 1835 and 1840, when she was keeping house with Arthur
de Rochefide. [Beatrix.]

VERMICHEL, common nick-name of Vert (Michel-Jean-Jerome.)

VERMUT, a druggist of Soulanges, in Bourgogne, during the Restoration;
brother-in-law of Sarcus, the Soulanges justice of the peace, who had
married his eldest sister. Though quite a distinguished chemist,
Vermut was the object of the pleasantries and contemptuous remarks of
the Soudry salon, especially at the hands of the Gourdons. Despite the
slight esteem "of the first society of Soulanges," Vermut gave
evidence of ability, when he disturbed Madame Pigeron by finding
traces of poison in the body of her dead husband. [The Peasantry.]

VERMUT (Madame), wife of the preceding; life and soul of the salon of
Madame Soudry, who, however, declared that she was "bad form," and
reproached her for flirting with Gourdon, author of "La Bilboqueide."
[The Peasantry.]

VERNAL (Abbe), one of the four Vendean leaders, in 1799, when
Montauran was opposing Hulot, the other three being Chatillon,
Suzannet, and the Comte de Fontaine. [The Chouans.]

VERNET (Joseph), born in 1714, died in 1789, a famous French artist;
patronized the Cat and Racket, a drapery establishment on the rue
Saint-Denis, of which M. Guillaume, father-in-law of Sommervieux, was
proprietor. [At the Sign of the Cat and Racket.]

VERNEUIL (Marquis de), member of a historic family, and probably an
ancestor of the Verneuils of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
In 1591, he was on intimate terms, with the Norman Comte d'Herouville,
ancestor of the keeper of Josepha Mirah, star of the Royal Academy of
Music, about 1838. The relations between the two families continued
unbroken through the centuries. [The Hated Son.]

VERNEUIL (Victor-Amedee, Duc de), probably descended from the
preceding, died before the Revolution; by Mademoiselle Blanche de
Casteran, he had a daughter, Marie-Nathalie--afterwards Madame
Alphonse de Montauran. He acknowledged his natural daughter at the
close of his life, and almost disinherited his legitimate son in her
favor. [The Chouans.]

VERNEUIL (Mademoiselle de), probably a relative of the preceding;
sister of the Prince de Loudon, the Vendean cavalry general; she went
to Mans to save her brother, and died on the scaffold in 1793, after
the Savenay affair. [The Chouans.]

VERNEUIL (Duc de), son of the Duc Victor-Amedee de Verneuil, and
brother of Madame Alphonse de Montauran, with whom he had a lawsuit
over the inheritance left by their father; during the Restoration he
lived in the town of Alencon and was on intimate terms with the
D'Esgrignons of that place. He took Victurnien d'Esgrignon under his
protection, and introduced him to Louis XVIII. [The Chouans.
Jealousies of a Country Town.]

VERNEUIL (Duc de), of the family of the preceding, was present at the
entertainment given by Josepha Mirah, the mistress of the Duc
d'Herouville, when she opened her sumptuous suite of apartments on the
rue de la Ville-l'Eveque, Paris, in Louis Philippe's reign. [Cousin
Betty.]

VERNEUIL (Duc de), a good-natured great nobleman, son-in-law of a
wealthy first president of a royal court, who died in 1800; he was the
father of four children, among them being Mademoiselle Laure and the
Prince Gaspard de Loudon; owned the historic chateau of Rosembray, in
the vicinity of Havre, and close by the forest of Brotonne; there he
received, one day in October, 1829, the Mignon de la Basties,
accompanied by the Herouvilles, Canalis, and Ernest de la Briere, all
of whom were at that time desirous to marry Modeste Mignon, soon to
become Madame de la Briere de la Bastie. [Modeste Mignon.]

VERNEUIL (Duchesse Hortense de), wife of the preceding, a haughty and
pious personage, daughter of a wealthy first president of a royal
court, who died in 1800. Of her four children, only two lived--her
daughter Laure and the Prince Gaspard de Loudon; she was on very
intimate terms with the Herouvilles, and especially with the elderly
Mademoiselle d'Herouville, and received a visit from them, one day in
October, 1829, with the Mignon de la Basties, followed by Melchior de
Canalis and Ernest de la Briere. [Modeste Mignon.]

VERNEUIL (Laure de), daughter of the preceding couple. At the
entertainment at Rosembray in October, 1829, Eleonore de Chaulieu gave
her advice on the subject of tapestry and embroidery. [Modeste
Mignon.]

VERNEUIL (Duchesse de), sister of the Prince de Blamont-Chauvry; an
intimate friend of the Duchesse de Bourbon, sorely tried by the
disasters of the Revolution; aunt and, in a way, mother by adoption of
Blanche-Henriette de Mortsauf (born Lenoncourt). She belonged to a
society of which Saint-Martin was the soul. The Duchesse de Verneuil,
who owned the Clochegourde estate in Touraine, gave it, in her
lifetime, to Madame de Mortsauf, reserving for herself only one room
of the mansion. Madame de Verneuil died in the early part of the
nineteenth century. [The Lily of the Valley.]

VERNEUIL (Marie-Nathalie de).[*] (See Montauran, Marquise Alphonse
de.)

[*] On June 23, 1837, under the title of /Le Gars/, the Ambigu-Comique
presented a drama of Antony Beraud's in five acts and six
tableaux, which was a modified reproduction of the adventures of
Marie-Nathalie de Montauran.

VERNIER (Baron), intendant-general, under obligations to Hector Hulot
d'Ervy, whom he met, in 1843, at the Ambigu theatre, as escort of a
gloriously handsome woman. He afterwards received a visit from the
Baronne Adeline Hulot, coming for information. [Cousin Betty.]

VERNIER, formerly a dyer, who lived on his income at Vouvray
(Touraine), about 1821; a cunning countryman, father of a marriageable
daughter named Claire; was challenged by Felix Gaudissart in 1831, for
having played a practical joke on that illustrious traveling merchant,
and fought a bloodless pistol duel. [Gaudissart the Great.]

VERNIER (Madame), wife of the preceding, a stout little woman, of
robust health; a friend of Madame Margaritis; she gladly contributed
her share to the mystification of Gaudissart as conceived by her
husband. [Gaudissart the Great.]

VERNISSET (Victore de), a poet of the "Angelic School," at the head of
which stood Canalis, the academician; a contemporary of Beranger,
Delavigne, Lamartine, Lousteau, Nathan, Vigny, Hugo, Barbier, Marie
Gaston and Gautier, he moved in various Parisian circles; he was seen
at the Brothers of Consolation on the rue Chanoinesse, and he received
pecuniary assistance from the Baronne de la Chanterie, president of
the above-mentioned association; he was to be found, with Heloise
Brisetout, on the rue Chauchat, at the time of her house-warming in
the apartments in which she succeeded Josepha Mirah; there he met
J.-J. Bixiou, Leon de Lora, Etienne Lousteau and Stidmann; he fell
madly in love with Madame Schontz. He was invited to the marriage of
Celestin Crevel and Valerie Marneffe. [The Seamy Side of History.
Beatrix. Cousin Betty.]

VERNON (Marechal) father of the Duc de Vissembourg and the Prince
Chiavari. [Beatrix.]

VERNOU (Felicien), a Parisian journalist. He used his influence in
starting Marie Godeschal, usually called Mariette, at the Porte Saint-
Martin. The husband of an ugly, vulgar, and crabbed woman, he had by
her children that were by no means welcome. He lived in wretched
lodgings on the rue Mandar, when Lucien de Rubempre was presented to
him. Vernou was a caustic critic on the side of the oppositon. The
uncongeniality of his domestic life embittered his character and his
genius. He was a finished specimen of the envious man, and pursued
Lucien de Rubempre with an alert and malicious jealousy. [A Bachelor's
Establishment. Lost Illusions. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] In 1834, Blondet recommended him to
Nathan as a "Handy Andy" for a newspaper. [A Daughter of Eve.]
Celestin Crevel invited him to his marriage with Valerie Marneffe.
[Cousin Betty.]

VERNOU (Madame Felicien), wife of the preceding, whose vulgarity was
one of the causes of her husband's bitterness, revealed herself in her
true light to Lucien de Rubempre, when she mentioned a certain Madame
Mahoudeau as one of her friends. [A Distinguished Provincial at
Paris.]

VERT (Michel-Jean-Jerome), nick-named Vermichel, formerly violinist in
the Bourgogne regiment, was occupied, during the Restoration, with the
various callings of fiddler, door-keeper of the Hotel de Ville, drum-
beater of Soulanges, jailer of the local prison, and finally bailiff's
deputy in the service of Brunet. He was intimate friend of Fourchon,
with whom he was in the habit of getting on sprees, and whose hatred
for the Montcornets, owners of Aigues, he shared. [The Peasantry.]

VERT (Madame Michel), wife of the preceding, commonly called
Vermichel, as was the case with her husband; a mustached virago, a
metre in width, and of two hundred and forty pounds weight, but active
in spite of this; she ruled her husband absolutely. [The Peasantry.]

VERVELLE (Antenor), an eccentric bourgeois of Paris, made his fortune
in the cork business. Retiring from the trade, Vervelle became, in his
own way, an amateur artist; wished to form a gallery of paintings, and
believed that he was collecting Flemish specimens, works of Tenier,
Metzu, and Rembrandt; employed Elie Magus to form the collection, and,
with that Jew as go-between, married his daughter Virginie to Pierre
Grassou. Vervelle, at that time, was living in a house of his own on
the rue Boucherat, a part of the rue Saint-Louis (now rue de Turenne),
near the rue Charlot. He also owned a cottage at Ville-d'Avray, in
which the famous Flemish collection was stored--pictures really
painted by Pierre Grassou. [Pierre Grassou.]

VERVELLE (Madame Antenor), wife of the preceding, gladly accepted
Pierre Grassou for a son-in-law, as soon as she found out that Maitre
Cardot was his notary. Madame Vervelle, however, was horrified at the
idea of Joseph Bridau's bursting in Pierre's studio, and "touching up"
the portrait of Mademoiselle Virginie, afterwards Madame Grassou.
[Pierre Grassou.]

VERVELLE (Virginie). (See Grassou, Madame Pierre.)

VEZE (Abbe de), a priest of Mortagne, during the Empire, administered
the last sacrament to Madame Bryond des Tours-Minieres just before her
execution in 1810; he was afterwards one of the Brothers of
Consolation, installed in the home of the Baronne de la Chanterie on
the rue Chanoinesse, Paris. [The Seamy Side of History.]

VIALLET, an excellent gendarme, appointed brigadier at Soulanges,
Bourgogne; replaced Soudry, retired. [The Peasantry.]

VICTOIRE, in 1819, a servant of Charles Claparon, a banker on the rue
de Provence, Paris; "a real Leonarde bedizened like a fish-huckster."
[Cesar Birotteau.]

VICTOR, otherwise known as the Parisian, a mysterious personage who
lived in marital relations with the Marquis d'Aiglemont's eldest
daughter, and made her the mother of several children. Victor, while
dodging the pursuit of the police, who were on his track for the
murder of Mauny, had found refuge for two hours in Versailles, on
Christmas night of one of the last years of the Restoration, in a
house near the Barriere de Montreuil (57, Avenue de Paris), with the
parents of Helene d'Aiglemont, the last named of whom fled with him.
During Louis Philippe's reign, Victor was captain of the "Othello," a
Colombian pirate, and lived very happily with his family--Mademoiselle
d'Aiglemont and the children he had by her. He met with General
d'Aiglemont, his mistress's father, who was at that time a passenger
on board the "Saint-Ferdinand," and saved his life. Victor perished at
sea in a shipwreck. [A Woman of Thirty.]

VICTORINE, a celebrated seamstress of Paris, had among her customers
the Duchesse Cataneo, Louise de Chaulieu, and, probably, Madame de
Bargeton. [Massimilla Doni. Lost Illusions. Letters of Two Brides.]
Her successors assumed and handed down her name; Victorine IV.'s
"intelligent scissors" were praised in the latter part of Louis
Philippe's reign, when Fritot sold Mistress Noswell the Selim shawl.
[Gaudissart II.]

VIDAL & PORCHON, book-sellers on commission, Quai des Augustins,
Paris, in 1821. Lucien de Rubempre had an opportunity to judge of
their method of doing business, when his "Archer of Charles IX." and a
volume of poems were brutally refused by them. Vidal & Porchon had in
stock at that time the works of Keratry, Arlincourt, and Victor
Ducange. Vidal was a stout, blunt man, who traveled for the firm.
Porchon, colder and more diplomatic, seemed to have special charge of
negotiations. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]

VIEN (Joseph-Marie), a celebrated painter, born at Montpellier in
1716, died at Rome in 1809. In 1758, with Allegrain and Loutherbourg,
he aided his friend Sarrasine in abducting Zambinella, with a view to
taking him to the apartments of the sculptor, who was madly in love
with the eunuch, believing him to be a woman. At a later period, Vien
made for Madame de Lantry a copy of the statue modeled by Sarrasine
after Zambinella, and it was from this picture of Vien's that Girodet,
the signer of "Endymion," received his inspiration. This statue of
Sarrasine's was, long afterwards, reproduced by the sculptor Dorlange-
Sallenauve. [Sarrasine. The Member for Arcis.]

VIEUX-CHAPEAU, a soldier in the Seventy-second demi-brigade; was
killed in an engagement with the Chouans, in September, 1799. [The
Chouans.]

VIGNEAU, of the commune of Isere, of which Benassis was creator, so to
speak; he courageously took charge of an abandoned tile-factory, made
a successful business of it, and lived with his family around him,
which consisted of his mother, his mother-in-law, and his wife, who
had formerly been in the service of the Graviers of Grenoble. [The
Country Doctor.]

VIGNEAU (Madame), wife of the preceding, a perfect housekeeper; she
received Genestas cordially, when brought to call by Benassis; Madame
Vigneau was then on the point of becoming a mother. [The Country
Doctor.]

VIGNOL (See Bouffe.)

VIGNON (Claude), a French critic, born in 1799, brought a remarkable
power of analysis to the study of all questions of art, literature,
philosophy, or political problems. A clear, deep, and unerring judge
of men, a strong psychologist, he was famous in Paris as early as
1821, and was present, at the apartments of Florine, then acting at
the Panorama-Dramatique, at the supper following the presentation of
the "Alcade dans l'Embarras," and had a brilliant conversation on the
subject of the press with Emile Blondet, in the presence of a German
diplomatist. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] In 1834, Claude
Vignon was entrusted with the haute critique of the newspaper founded
by Raoul Nathan. [A Daughter of Eve.] For quite a period Vignon had
Felicite des Touches (Camille Maupin) as his mistress. In 1836, he
brought her back from Italy, accompanied by Lora, when he heard the
story of the domestic difficulties of the Bauvans from Maurice de
l'Hostal, French consul at Genoa. [Honorine.] Again, in 1836, at Les
Touches, Vignon, on the point of giving up Camille Maupin, delivered
to his former mistress a veritable dissertation, of surprising
insight, on the subject of the heart, with reference to Calyste du
Guenic, Gennaro Conti, and Beatrix de Rochefide. Such intimate
knowledge of the human heart had gradually saddened and wearied him;
he sought relief for his ennui in debauchery; he paid attention to La
Schontz, really a courtesan of superior stamp, and moulded her.
[Beatrix.] Afterwards, he became ambitious, and was secretary to
Cottin de Wissembourg, minister of war; this position brought him into
contact with Valerie Marneffe, whom he secretly loved; he, Stidmann,
Steinbock, and Massol, were witnesses of her marriage to Crevel, this
being the second time she had been led to the altar. He was counted
among the habitues of Valerie's salon, when "Jean-Jacques Bixiou was
going . . . to cozen Lisbeth Fischer." [Cousin Betty.] He rallied to
the support of Louis Philippe, and as editor of the Journal des
Debats, and master of requests in the Council of State, he gave his
attention to the lawsuit pending between S.-P. Gazonal and the prefect
of the Pyrenees-Orientales; a position as librarian, a chair at the
Sorbonne, and the decoration bore further testimony to the favor that
he enjoyed. [The Unconscious Humorists.] Vignon's reputation remained
undiminished, and, even in our own time, Madame Noemi Rouvier,
sculptor and novelist, signs the critic's name to her works.

VIGOR, manager of the post-station at Ville-aux-Fayes, during the
Restoration; officer in the National Guard of that sub-prefecture of
Bourgogne; brother-in-law of Leclercq, the banker, whose sister he had
married. [The Peasantry.]

VIGOR, son of the preceding, and, like the rest of his family,
interested in protecting Francois Gaubertin from Montcornet; he was
deputy judge of the court of Ville-aux-Fayes in 1823. [The Peasantry.]

VILLEMOT, head-clerk of Tabareau, the bailiff, was entrusted, in
April, 1845, with the work of superintending the details of the
interment of Sylvain Pons, and also to look after the interests of
Schmucke, who had been appointed residuary legatee by the deceased.
Villemot was entirely under the influence of Fraisier, business agent
of the Camusot de Marvilles. [Cousin Pons.]

VILLENOIX (Salomon de), son of a wealthy Jew named Salomon, who in his
old age had married a Catholic. Brought up in his mother's religion;
he raised the Villenoix estate to a barony. [Louis Lambert.]

VILLENOIX (Pauline Salomon de), born about 1800; natural daughter of
the preceding. During the Restoration, she was made to feel her
origin. Her character and her superiority made her an object of envy
in her provincial circle. Her meeting with Louis Lambert at Blois was
the turning point in her life. Community of age, country,
disappointments, and pride of spirit brought them in touch--a
reciprocated passion was the result. Mademoiselle Salomon de Villenoix
was going to marry Lambert, when the scholar's terrible mental malady
asserted itself. She was frequently able to avert the sick man's
paroxysms; she nursed him, advised him, and guided him, notably at
Croisic, where at her suggestion Lambert related in letter-form the
tragic misfortunes of the Cambremers, which he had just learned. On
her return to Villenoix, Pauline took her fiance with her where she
noted down and understood his last thoughts, sublime in their
incoherence; he died in her arms, and from that time forth she
considered herself the widow of Louis Lambert, whom she had buried in
one of the islands of the lake park at Villenoix. [Louis Lambert. A
Seaside Tragedy.] Two years later, being sensibly aged, and living in
almost total retirement from the world at the town of Tours, but full
of sympathy for weak mortals, Pauline de Villenoix protected the Abbe
Francois Birotteau, the victim of Troubert's hatred. [The Vicar of
Tours.]

VILQUIN, the richest ship-owner of Havre, during the Restoration,
purchased the estates of the bankrupt Charles Mignon, with the
exception of a chalet given by Mignon to Dumay; this dwelling, being
in close proximity to the millionaire's superb villa, and being
occupied by the families of Mignon and Dumay, was the despair of
Vilquin, Dumay obstinately refusing to sell it. [Modeste Mignon.]

VILQUIN (Madame), wife of the preceding, had G.-C. d'Estourny as
lover, previous to his amour with Bettina-Caroline Mignon; by her
husband she had three children, two of whom were girls. The eldest of
these, being richly endowed, was eventually Madame Francisque Althor.
[Modeste Mignon.]

VIMEUX, in 1824, an unassuming justice of the peace in a department of
the North, rebuked his son Adolphe for the kind of life he was leading
in Paris. [The Government Clerks.]

VIMEUX (Adolphe), son of the preceding, in 1824, was copyist emeritus
in Xavier Rabourdin's bureau in the Finance Department. A great dandy,
he thought only of his dress, and was satisfied with meagre fare at
the Katcomb's restaurant; he became a debtor of Antoine, the messenger
boy; secretly his ambition was to marry a rich old lady. [The
Government Clerks.]

VINET had a painful career to start with; a disappointment crossed his
path at the very outset. He had seduced a Mademoiselle de Chargeboeuf,
and he supposed that her parents would acknowledge him as son-in-law,
and endow their daughter richly; so he married her, but her family
disowned her, and he therefore had to rely on himself entirely. As an
attorney at Provins, Vinet made his mark by degrees; as head of the
local opposition, with the aid of Goraud, he succeeded in making use
of Denis Rogron, a wealthy retired merchant, established the "Courrier
de Provins," a Liberalist paper, adroitly defended the Rogrons against
the charge of killing Pierrette Lorrain by slow degrees, was elected
to the Chamber of Deputies about 1830, and became also attorney-
general, and probably minister of justice. [Pierrette. The Member for
Arcis. The Middle Classes. Cousin Pons.]

VINET (Madame), wife of the preceding, born Chargeboeuf, and therefore
one of the descendants of the "noble family of La Brie, a name derived
from the exploit of a knight in the expedition of Saint-Louis," was
mother of two children, who suffered for her happiness. Absolutely
controlled by her husband, rejected and sacrificed by her family from
the time of her marriage, Madame Vinet scarcely dared in the Rogrons'
salon to speak in defence of Pierrette Lorrain, their victim.
[Pierrette.]

VINET (Olivier), son of the preceding couple, born in 1816. A
magistrate, like his father, began his career as deputy king's
attorney at Arcis, advanced to the position of king's attorney in the
town of Mantes, and, still further, was deputy king's attorney, but
now in Paris. Supported by his father's influence, and being noted for
his independent raillery, Vinet was dreaded everywhere. Among the
people of Arcis, he mixed only with the little coterie of government
officials, composed of Goulard, Michu, and Marest. [The Member for
Arcis.] Being a rival of Maitre Fraisier in the affections of Madame
Vatinelle of Mantes, he resolved to destroy this contestant in the
race, and so thwarted his career. [Cousin Pons.] At the Thuilliers',
on the rue Saint-Dominique-d'Enfer, Paris, where he displayed his
usual impertinence, Vinet was an aspirant to the hand of Celeste
Colleville, the heiress, who was eventually Madame Felix Phellion.
[The Middle Classes.]

VIOLETTE, a husbandman, tenanted in the department of Aube, near
Arcis, the Grouage farm, that was a part of the Gondreville estate, at
the time that Peyrade and Corentin, in accordance with Fouche's
instructions, undertook the singular abduction of Senator Malin de
Gondreville. A miserly and deceitful man, this fellow Violette
secretly aided with Malin de Gondreville and the powers of the day
against Michu, the mysterious agent of the Cinq-Cygne, Hauteserre, and
Simeuse families. [The Gondreville Mystery.]

VIOLETTE (Jean), a descendant of the preceding; hosier of Arcis in
1837; took in hand Pigoult's business, as successor to Phileas
Beauvisage. In the electoral stir of 1839, Jean Violette seemed to be
entirely at the disposal of the Gondreville faction. [The Member for
Arcis.]

VIRGINIE, cook in the household of Cesar Birotteau, the perfumer, in
1818. [Cesar Birotteau.]

VIRGINIE, during the years 1835-1836, lady's maid, on the rue Neuve-
des-Mathurins (at present rue des Mathurins), Paris, to Marie-Eugenie
du Tillet, who was at that time engrossed in righting the imprudent
conduct of Angelique-Marie de Vandenesse. [A Daughter of Eve.]

VIRGINIE, mistress of a Provencal soldier, who, at a later period,
during Bonaparte's campaign in Egypt, was lost for some time in a
desert, where he lived with a female panther. The jealous mistress was
constantly threatening to stab her lover, and he dubbed her Mignonne,
by antiphrasis; in memory of her he gave the same name to the panther.
[A Passion in the Desert.]

VIRGINIE, a Parisian milliner, whose hats were praised, for a
consideration, by Andoche Finot in his newspaper in 1821. [A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]

VIRLAZ, a rich furrier of Leipsic, from whom his nephew, Frederic
Brunner, inherited, about the middle of Louis-Philippe's reign. In his
lifetime this Jew, head of the house of Virlaz & Co., had the fortune
of Madame Brunner (first of the name) placed in the coffers of the Al-
Sartchild bank. [Cousin Pons.]

VISSARD (Marquis du), in memory of his younger brother, the Chevalier
Rifoel du Vissard, was created a peer of France by Louis XVIII., who
entered him as a lieutenant in the Maison-Rouge, and made him a
prefect upon the dissolution of the Maison-Rouge. [The Seamy Side of
History.]

VISSARD (Charles-Amedee-Louis-Joseph Rifoel, Chevalier du), noble and
headstrong gentleman; played an important part, after 1789, in the
various anti-revolutionary insurrections of western France. In
December, 1799, he was at the Vivetiere, and his impulsiveness was a
contrast with the coolness of Marquis Alphonse de Montauran, also
called Le Gars. [The Chouans.] He took part in the battle of Quiberon,
and, in company with Boislaurier, took a leading part in the uprising
of the Chauffeurs of Mortagne. Several circumstances, indeed, helped
to strengthen his Royalist inclinations. Fergus found in Henriette
Bryond des Tours-Minieres (Contenson, the spy), who secretly betrayed
him. Like his accomplices, Rifoel du Vissard was executed in 1809. At
times during his anti-revolutionary campaigns he assumed the name of
Pierrot. [The Seamy Side of History.]

VISSEMBOURG (Duc de), son of Marechal Vernon; brother of the Prince de
Chiavari; between 1835 and 1840 presided over a horticultural society,
the vice-president of which was Fabien du Ronceret. [Beatrix.]

VITAGLIANI, tenor at the Argentina, Rome, when Zambinella took the
soprano parts in 1758. Vitagliani was acquainted with J.-E. Sarrasine.
[Sarrasine.]

VITAL, born about 1810, a Parisian hatter, who succeeded Finot Pere,
whose store on rue du Coq was very popular about 1845, and deservedly
so, apparently. He amused J.-J. Bixiou and Leon de Lora by his
ridiculous pretensions. They wished him to supply S.-P. Gazonal with
a hat, and he proposed to sell him a hat like that of Lousteau. On
this occasion Vital showed them the head-covering that he had devised
for Claude Vignon, who was undecided in politics. Vital really
pretended to make each hat according to the personality of the person
ordering it. He praised the Prince de Bethune's hat and dreamed of the
time when high hats would go out of style. [The Unconscious
Humorists.]

VITAL (Madame), wife of the preceding, believed in her husband's
genius and greatness. She was in the store when the hatter received a
call from Bixiou, Lora and Gazonal. [The Unconscious Humorists.]

VITEL, born in 1776, Paris justice of the peace in 1845, an
acquaintance of Doctor Poulain; was succeeded by Maitre Fraisier, a
protege of the Camusot de Marvilles. [Cousin Pons.]

VITELOT, partner of Sonet, the marble-cutter; designed tombstones. He
failed to obtain the contract for monuments to Marsay, the minister,
and to Keller, the officer. It was given to Stidmann. The plans made
by Vitelot having been retouched, were submitted to Wilhelm Schmucke
for the grave of Sylvain Pons, who was buried in Pere-Lachaise.
[Cousin Pons.]

VITELOT (Madame), wife of the preceding, severely rebuked an agent of
the firm for bringing in as a customer W. Schmucke, heir-contestant to
the Pons property. [Cousin Pons.]

VIVET (Madeleine), servant to the Camusot de Marvilles; during nearly
twenty-five years was their feminine Maitre-Jacques. She tried in vain
to gain Sylvain Pons for a husband, and thus to become their cousin.
Madeleine Vivet, having failed in her matrimonial attempts, took a
dislike for Pons, and persecuted him in a thousand ways. [Scenes from
a Courtesan's Life. Cousin Pons.]

VOLFGANG,[*] cashier of Baron du Saint-Empire, F. de Nucingen, when
this well-known Parisian banker of rue Saint-Lazare fell madly in love
with Esther van Gobseck, and when Jacques Falleix's discomfiture
occurred. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]

[*] He lived on rue de L'Arcade, near rue des Mathurins, Paris.

VORDAC (Marquise de), born in 1769, mistress of the rich Lord Dudley;
she had by him a son, Henry. To legitimize this child she arranged a
marriage with Marsay, a bankrupt old gentleman of tarnished
reputation. He demanded payment of the interest on a hundred thousand
francs as a reward for his marriage, and he died without having known
his wife. The widow of Marsay became by her second marriage the well-
known Marquise de Vordac. She neglected her duties as mother until
late in life, and paid no attention to Henri de Marsay except to
propose Miss Stevens as a suitable wife for him. [The Thirteen.]

VULPATO (La), noble Venetian, very frequently present in Fenice; about
1820 tried to interest Emilio Memmi, Prince of Varese, and Massimilla
Doni, Duchesse Cataneo, in each other. [Massimilla Doni.]

VYDER, anagram formed from d'Ervy, and one of the three names taken
successively by Baron Hector Hulot d'Ervy, after deserting his wife.
He hid under this assumed name, when he became a petition-writer in
Paris, in the lower part of Petite Pologne, opposite rue de la
Pepiniere, on Passage du Soleil, to-day called Galerie de Cherbourg.
[Cousin Betty.]

W

WADMANN, an Englishman who owned, near the Marville estate in
Normandie, a cottage and pasture-lands, which Madame Camusot de
Marville talked of buying in 1845, when he was about to leave for
England after twenty years' sojourn in France. [Cousin Pons.]

WAHLENFER or WALHENFER, wealthy German merchant who was murdered at
the "Red Inn," near Andenach, Rhenish Prussia, October, 1799. The deed
was done by Jean-Frederic Taillefer, then a surgeon and under-
assistant-major in the French army, who suffered his comrade, Prosper
Magnan, to be executed for the crime. Wahlenfer was a short, heavy-set
man of rotund appearance, with frank and cordial manners. He was
proprietor of a large pin-manufactory on the outskirts of Neuwied. He
was from Aix-la-Chapelle. Possibly Wahlenfer was an assumed name. [The
Red Inn.]

WALLENROD-TUSTALL-BARTENSTILD (Baron de), born in 1742, banker at
Frankfort-on-the-Main; married in 1804, his only daughter, Bettina, to
Charles Mignon de la Bastie, then only a lieutenant in the French
army; died in 1814, following some disastrous speculations in cotton.
[Modeste Mignon.]

WATSCHILDINE, a London firm which did business with F. de Nucingen,
the banker. On a dark autumn evening in 1821, the cashier, Rodolphe
Castanier, was surprised by the satanic John Melmoth, while he was in
the act of forging the name of his employer on some letters of credit
drawn on the Watschildine establishment. [Melmoth Reconciled.]

WATTEBLED, grocer in Soulanges, Bourgogne, in 1823; father of the
beautiful Madame Plissoud; was in middle class society; kept a store
on the first floor of a house belonging to Soudry, the mayor. [The
Peasantry.]

WATTEVILLE (Baron de), Besancon gentleman of Swiss descent; last
descendant of the well known Dom Jean de Watteville, the renegade Abbe
of Baumes (1613-1703); small and very thin, rather deficient mentally;
spent his life in a cabinet-maker's establishment "enjoying utter
ignorance"; collected shells and geological specimens; usually in good
humor. After living in the Comte, "like a bug in a rug," in 1815 he
married Clotilde-Louise de Rupt, who domineered over him completely.
As soon as her parents died, about 1819, he lived with her in the
beautiful Rupt house on rue de la Prefecture, a piece of property
which included a large garden extending along the rue du Perron. By
his wife, the Baron de Watteville had one daughter, whom he loved
devotedly, so much, indeed, that he lost all authority over her. M. de
Watteville died in 1836, as a result of his fall into the lake on his
estate of Rouxey, near Besancon. He was buried on an islet in this
same lake, and his wife, making great show of her sorrow, had erected
thereon a Gothic monument of marble like the one to Heloise and
Abelard in the Pere-Lachaise. [Albert Savarus.]

WATTEVILLE (Baronne de), wife of the preceding, and after his death of
Amedee de Soulas. (See Soulas, Madame A. de.)

WATTEVILLE (Rosalie de), only daughter of the preceding couple; born
in 1816; a blonde with colorless cheeks and pale-blue eyes; slender
and frail of body; resembled one of Albert Durer's saints. Reared
under her mother's stern oversight, accustomed to the most rigid
religious observances, kept in ignorance of all worldly matters, she
entirely concealed uner her modesty of manner and retiring disposition
her iron character, and her romantic audacity, so like that of her
great-uncle, the Abbe de Watteville; and which was increased by the
resoluteness and pride of the Rupt blood; although destined to marry
Amedee de Soulas, "la fleur de pois"[*] of Besancon, she became
enamoured of the attorney, Albert Savaron de Savarus. By successfully
carrying out her schemes she separated him from the Duchesse
d'Argaiolo, although these two were mutually in love--a separation
which caused Savarus great despair. He never knew of Rosalie's
affection for him, and withdrew to the Grande Chartreuse. Mademoiselle
de Watteville then lived for some time in Paris with her mother, who
was then the wife of Amedee de Soulas. She tried to see the Duchesse
d'Argaiolo, who, believing Savarus faithless, had given her hand to
the Duc de Rhetore. In February, 1838, on meeting her at a charity
ball given for the benefit of the former civil pensioners, Rosalie
made an appointment with her for the Opera ball, when she told her
former rival the secret of her manoeuvres against Madame de Rhetore,
and of her conduct as regards the attorney. Mademoiselle de Watteville
retired finally to Rouxey--a place which she left, only to take a trip
in 1841 on an unknown mission, from which she came back seriously
crippled, having lost an arm and a leg in a boiler explosion on a
steamboat. Henceforth she devoted her life to the exercises of
religion, and left her retreat no more. [Albert Savarus.]

[*] Title of one of the first editions of "A Marriage Settlement."

WERBRUST, associated with Palma, Parisian discounter on rue Saint-
Denis and rue Saint-Martin, during the Restoration; knew the story of
the glory and decay of Cesar Birotteau, the perfumer, who was mayor of
the second district; was the friend of the banker, Jean-Baptiste
d'Aldrigger, at whose burial he was present; carried on business with
the Baron de Nucingen, making a shrewd speculation when the latter
settled for the third time with his creditors in 1836. [Cesar
Birotteau. The Firm of Nucingen.]

WERCHAUFFEN (Baron de), one of Schirmer's aliases. (See Schirmer.)

WIERZCHOWNIA (Adam de), Polish gentleman, who, after the last division
of Poland, found refuge in Sweden, where he sought consolation in the
study of chemistry, a study for which he had always felt a strong
liking. Poverty compelled him to give up his study, and he joined the
French army. In 1809, while on the way to Douai, he was quartered for
one night with M. Balthazar Claes. During a conversation with his
host, he explained to him his ideas on the subject of "identity of
matter" and the absolute, thus bringing misfortune on a whole family,
for from that moment Balthazar Claes devoted time and money to this
quest of the absolute. Adam de Wierzchownia, while dying at Dresden,
in 1812, of a wound received during the last wars, wrote a final
letter to Balthazar Claes, informing him of the different thoughts
relative to the search in question, which had been in his mind since
their first meeting. By this writing, he increased the misfortunes of
the Claes family. Adam de Wierzchownia had an angular wasted
countenance, large head which was bald, eyes like tongues of fire, a
large mustache. His calmness of manner frightened Madame Balthazar
Claes.[*] [The Quest of the Absolute.]

[*] Under the title of /Gold, or the Dream of a Savant/, there is a
play by Bayard and Bieville, which presents the misfortunes of the
Claes. This was given at the Gymnase, November 11, 1837, by M.
Bouffe and Madame E. Sauvage, both of whom are still alive.

WILLEMSENS (Marie-Augusta). (See Brandon,[*] Comtesse de.)

[*] Lady Brandon was the mother of Louis Gaston and Marie Gaston.

WIMPHEN (De), married a friend of Madame d'Aiglemont's childhood. [A
Woman of Thirty.]

WIMPHEN (Madame Louisa de), childhood friend of Madame Julie
d'Aiglemont in school at Ecouen. In 1814, Madame d'Aiglemont wrote to
the companion, who was then on the point of marrying, of her own
disillusionment, and confidentially advised her to remain single. This
letter, however, was not sent, for the Comtesse de Listomere-Landon,
aunt of Julie d'Aiglemont by marriage, having found out about it,
discouraged such an impropriety on the part of her niece. Unlike her
friend, Madame de Wimphen married happily. She retained the confidence
of Madame d'Aiglemont, and was present, indeed, at the important
interview between Julie and Lord Grenville. After M. de Wimphen's
arrival to accompany his wife home, these two lovers were left alone,
until the unexpected arrival of M. d'Aiglemont made it necessary for
Lord Grenville to conceal himself. The Englishman died shortly after
this as a result of the night's exposure, when he was obliged to stay
in the cold on the outside of a window-sill. This happened also
immediately after his fingers were bruised by a rapidly closed door.
[A Woman of Thirty.]

WIRTH, valet of the banker, J.-B. d'Aldrigger; remained in the service
of Mesdames d'Aldrigger, mother and daughters, after the death of the
head of the family. He showed them the same devotion, of which he had
often given proof. Wirth was a kind of Alsatian Caleb or Gaspard, aged
and serious, but with much of the cunning mingled with his simple
nature. Seeing in Godefroid de Beaudenord a good husband for Isaure
d'Aldrigger, he was able to entrap him easily, and thus was partly
responsible for their marriage. [The Firm of Nucingen.]

WISCH (Johann). Fictitious name given in a newspaper for Johann
Fischer, when he had been accused of peculation. [Cousin Betty.]

WISSEMBOURG (Prince de), one of the titles of Marechal Cottin, the Duc
d'Orfano. [Cousin Betty.]

WITSCHNAU. (See Gaudin.)

X

XIMEUSE, fief situated in Lorraine; original spelling of the name
Simeuse, which came to to be written with an S on account of its
pronunciation. [The Gondreville Mystery.]

Y

YSEMBOURG (Prince d'), marshal of France, the Conde of the Republic.
Madame Nourrisson, his confidential servant, looked upon him as a
"simpleton," because he gave two thousand francs to one of the most
renowned countesses of the Imperial Court, who came to him one day,
with streaming eyes, begging him to give her the assistance upon which
her children's life depended. She soon spent the money for a robe,
which she needed to wear so as to be dressed stylishly at an embassy
ball. This story was told by Madame Nourrisson, in 1845, to Leon de
Lora, Bixiou, and Gazonal. [The Unconscious Humorists.]

Z

ZAMBINELLA, a eunuch, who sang at the Theatre Argentina, Rome, the
leading soprano parts; he was very beautiful. Sarassine, a French
sculptor, believing him to be a woman, became enamored of him, and
used him as a model for an excellent statue of Adonis, which may still
be seen at the Musee d'Albani, and which Dorlange-Sallenauve copied
nearly a century later. When he was over eighty years old and very
wealthy, Zambinella lived, under the Restoration, with his niece, who
was wife of the mysterious Lanty. While residing with the Lantys
Zambinella died in Rome, 1830. The early life of Zambinella was
unknown to the Parisian world. A mesmerist believed the old man, who
was a sort of traveling mummy, to be the famous Balsamo, also known as
Cagliostro, while the Bailli de Ferette took him to be the Comte de
Saint-Germain. [Sarrasine. The Member for Arcis.]

ZARNOWICKI (Roman[*]), Polish general who, as a refugee in Paris,
lived on the ground floor of the little two-story house on rue de
Marbeuf, of which Doctor Halpersohn occupied the other floor in 1836.
[The Seamy Side of History.]

[*] Probably a given name.

NOTE.

The /Repertory of the Comedie Humaine/, as the reader can see for
himself, should include only those episodes introducing characters
inter-related and continually recurring. Consequently, the stories
entitled /The Exiles/, /About Catherine de Medici/, /Maitre
Cornelius/, /The Unknown Masterpiece/, /The Elixir of Life/, /Christ
in Flanders/, which antedate the eighteenth century, and /Seraphita/,
which deals with the supernatural, are omitted, together with the
/Analytical Studies/. But /The Hated Son/ furnishes some indispensable
information concerning a few biographies. The /Dramas/ are outside the
action of the /Comedie/, so contribute no names.

According to Theophile Gautier, /The Comedie Humaine/ embraces two
thousand characters. His reckoning is nearly exact; but as a result of
cross-references, surnames, assumed names and the like, that number is
far exceeded in this work, which, nevertheless, omits many characters
outside the action, as: Chevet, Decamps, Delacroix, Finot Sr., the
child of Calyste and Sabine du Guenic, Noemi Magus, Meyerbeer,
Herbaut, Houbigant, Tanrade, Mousqueton, Arnal, Barrot, Bonald,
Berryer, Gautier, Gozlan, Hugo, Hyacinthe, Lafont, Lamartine,
Lassailly, F. Lemaitre, Charles X., Louis Philippe, Odry, Talma,
Thiers, Villele, Rossini, Rousseau, Mlle. Dejazet, Mlle. Georges, etc.

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