Repertory of The Comedie Humaine, Complete, A — Z. Anatole Cerfberr
BONNEBAULT, retired cavalry soldier, the Lovelace of the village of Blangy, Burgundy, and its suburbs in 1823. Bonnebault was the lover of Marie Tonsard who was perfectly foolish about him. He had still other "good friends" and lived at their expense. Their generosity did not suffice for his dissipations, his cafe bills and his unbridled taste for billiards. He dreamed of marrying Aglae Socquard, only daughter of Pere Socquard, proprietor of the "Cafe de la Paix" at Soulanges. Bonnebault obtained three thousand francs from General de Montcornet by coming to him to confess voluntarily that he had been commissioned to kill him for this price. The revelation, with other things, lead the general to weary of his fierce struggle with the peasantry, and to put up for sale his property at Aigues, which became the prey of Gaubertin, Rigou and Soudry. Bonnebault was squint-eyed and his physical appearance did not belie his depravity. [The Peasantry.]
BONNEBAULT (Mere), grandmother of Bonnebault the veteran. In 1823, at Conches, Burgandy, where she lived, she owned a cow which she did not hesitate to pasture in the fields belonging to General de Montcornet. The numerous depredations of the old woman, added to convictions for many similar offences, caused the general to decide to confiscate the cow. [The Peasantry.]
BONNET (Abbe), Cure of Montegnac near Limoges from 1814 on. In this capacity, he assisted at the public confession of his penitent, Mme. Graslin, in the summer of 1844. Upon leaving the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, he was sent to this village of Montegnac, which he never after wished to leave. Here, sometimes unaided, sometimes with the help of Mme. Graslin, he toiled for a material and moral betterment, bringing about an entire regeneration of a wretched country. It was he who brought the outlawed Tascheron back into the Church, and who accompanied him to the very foot of the scaffold, with a devotion which caused his own very sensitive nature much cringing. Born in 1788, he had embraced the ecclesiastical calling through choice, and all his studies had been to that end. He belonged to a family of more than easy circumstancaes. His father was a self-made man, stern and unyielding. Abbe Bonnet had an older brother, and a sister whom he counseled with his mother to marry as soon as possible, in order to release the young woman from the terrible paternal yoke. [The Country Parson.]
BONNET, older brother of Abbe Bonnet, who enlisted as a private about the beginning of the Empire. He became a general in 1813; fell at Leipsic. [The Country Parson.]
BONNET (Germain), valet de chambre of Canalis in 1829, at the time when the poet went to Havre to contest the hand of Modeste Mignon. A servant full of finesse and irreproachable in appearance, he was of the greatest service to his master. He courted Philoxene Jacmin, chambermaid of Mme. de Chaulieu. Here the pantry imitated the parlor, for the academician's mistress was the great lady herself. [Modest Mignon.]
BONTEMS, a country landowner in the neighborhood of Bayeux, who feathered his nest well during the Revolution, by purchasing government confiscations at his own terms. He was pronounced "red cap," and became president of his district. His daughter, Angelique Bontems, married Granville during the Empire; but at this time Bontems was dead. [A Second Home.]
BONTEMS (Madame), wife of the preceding; outwardly pious, inwardly vain; mother of Angelique Bontems, whom she had reared in much the same attitude, and whose marriage with a Granville was, in consequence, so unhappy. [A Second Home.]
BONTEMS (Angelique). (See Granville, Madame de.)
BORAIN (Mademoiselle), the most stylish costumer in Provins, at the time of Charles X. She was commissioned by the Rogrons to make a complete wardrobe for Pierrette Lorrain, when that young girl was sent them from Brittany. [Pierrette.]
BORDEVIN (Madame), Parisian butcher in rue Charlot, at the time when Sylvain Pons dwelt hard by in rue de Normandie. Mme. Bordevin was related to Mme. Sabatier. [Cousin Pons.]
BORDIN, procureur at the Chatelet before the Revolution; then advocate of the Court of First Instance of the Seine, under the Empire. In 1798 he instructed and advised with M. Alain, a creditor of Monegod's. Both had been clerks at the procureur's. In 1806, the Marquis de Chargeboeuf went to Paris to hunt for Master Bordin, who defended the Simeuses before the Criminal Court of Troyes in the trial regarding the abduction and sequestration of Senator Malin. In 1809 he also defended Henriette Bryond des Tours-Minieres, nee La Chanterie, in the trial docketed as the "Chauffeurs of Mortagne." [The Gondreville Mystery. The Seamy Side of History.] In 1816 Bordin was consulted by Mme. d'Espard regarding her husband. [The Commission in Lunacy.] During the Restoration a banker at Alencon made quarterly payments of one hundred and fifty livres to the Chevalier de Valois through the Parisian medium of Bordin. [Jealousies of a Country Town.] For ten years Bordin represented the nobility. Derville succeeded him. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
BORDIN (Jerome-Sebastien), was also procureur at the Chatelet, and, in 1806, advocate of the Seine Court. He succeeded Master Guerbet, and sold his practice to Sauvagnest, who disposed of it to Desroches. [A Start in Life.]
BORN (Comte de), brother of the Vicomtesse de Grandlieu. In the winter of 1829–1830, he is discovered at the home of his sister, taking part in a conversation in which the advocate Derville related the marital infelicities of M. de Restaud, and the story of his will and his death. The Comte de Born seized the chance to exploit the character of Maxime de Trailles, the lover of Mme. de Restaud. [Gobseck.]
BORNICHE, son-in-law of M. Hochon, the old miser of Issoudun. He died of chagrin at business failures, and at not having received any assistance from his father or mother. His wife preceded him but a short time to the tomb. They left a son and a daughter, Baruch and Adolphine, who were brought up by their maternal grandfather, with Francois Hochon, another grandchild of the goodman's. Borniche was probably a Calvinist. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
BORNICHE (Monsieur and Madame), father and mother of the preceding. They were still living in 1823, when their son and their daughter-in-law had been deceased some time. In April of this year, old Mme. Borniche and her friend Mme. Hochon, who ruled socially in Issoudun, assisted at the wedding of La Rabouilleuse with Jean-Jacques Rouget. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
BORNICHE (Baruch), grandson of the preceding, and of M. and Mme. Hochon. Born in 1800. Early left an orphan, he and his sister were reared by his grandfather on the maternal side. He had been one of the accomplices of Maxence Gilet, and took part in the nocturnal raids of the "Knights of Idlesse." When his conduct became known to his grandfather, in 1822, the latter lost no time in removing him from Issoudun, sending him to Monegod's office, Paris, to study law. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
BORNICHE (Adolphine), sister of Baruch Borniche; born in 1804. Brought up almost a recluse in the frigid, dreary house of her grandfather, Hochon, she spent most of her time peering through the windows, in the hope of discovering some of the terrible things which—as Dame Rumor had it—occurred in the home of Jean-Jacques Rouget, next door. She likewise awaited with some impatience the arrival of Joseph Bridau in Issoudun, wishing to inspire some sentiment in him, and taking the liveliest interest in the painter, on account of the monstrosities which were attributed to him because of his being an artist. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
BOUCARD, head-clerk of the attorney Derville in 1818, at the time when Colonel Chabert sought to recover his rights with his wife who had been remarried to Comte Ferraud. [Colonel Chabert.]
BOUCHER, Besancon merchant in 1834, who was the first client of Albert Savarus in that city. He assumed financial control of the "Revue de l'Est," founded by the lawyer. M. Boucher was related by marriage to one of the ablest editors of great theological works. [Albert Savarus.]
BOUCHER (Alfred), eldest son of the preceding. Born in 1812. A youth, eager for literary fame, whom Albert Savarus put on the staff of his "Revue de l'Est," giving him his themes and subjects. Alfred Boucher conceived a strong admiration for the managing editor, who treated him as a friend. The first number of the "Revue" contained a "Meditation" by Alfred. This Alfred Boucher believed he was exploiting Savarus, whereas the contrary was the case. [Albert Savarus.]
BOUFFE (Marie), alias Vignol, actor born in Paris, September 4, 1800. He appeared about 1822 at the Panorama-Dramatique theatre, on the Boulevard du Temple, Paris, playing the part of the Alcade in a three-act imbroglio by Raoul Nathan and Du Bruel entitled "L'Alcade dans l'embarras." At the first night performance he announced that the authors