Repertory of The Comedie Humaine, Complete, A — Z. Anatole Cerfberr
were Raoul and Cursy. Although very young at the time, this artist made his first great success in this role, and revealed his talent for depicting an old man. The critique of Lucien de Rubempre established his position. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
BOUGIVAL (La). (See Cabirolle, Madame.)
BOUGNIOL (Mesdemoiselles), proprietors of an inn at Guerande (Loire-Inferieure), at the time of Louis Philippe. They had as guests some artist friends of Felicite des Touches—Camille Maupin—who had come from Paris to see her. [Beatrix.]
BOURBONNE (De), wealthy resident of Tours, time of Louis XVIII. and Charles X. An uncle of Octave de Camps. In 1824 he visited Paris to ascertain the cause of the ruin of his nephew and sole heir, which ruin was generally credited to dissipations with Mme. Firmiani. M. de Bourbonne, a retired musketeer in easy circumstances, was well connected. He had entry into the Faubourg Saint-Germain through the Listomeres, the Lenoncourts and the Vandenesses. He caused himself to be presented at Mme. Firmiani's as M. de Rouxellay, the name of his estate. The advice of Bourbonne, which was marked by much perspicacity, if followed, would have extricated Francois Birotteau from Troubert's clutches; for the uncle of M. de Camps fathomed the plottings of the future Bishop of Troyes. Bourbonne saw a great deal more than did the Listomeres of Tours. [Madame Firmiani. The Vicar of Tours.]
BOURDET (Benjamin), old soldier of the Empire, formerly serving under Philippe Bridau's command. He lived quietly in the suburbs of Vatan, in touch with Fario. In 1822 he placed himself at the entire disposal of the Spaniard, and also of the officer who previously had put him under obligations. Secretly he served them in their hatred of and plots against Maxence Gilet. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
BOURGEAT, foundling of Saint-Flour. Parisian water-carrier about the end of the eighteenth century. The friend and protector of the young Desplein, the future famous surgeon. He lived in rue Quatre-Vents in an humble house rendered doubly famous by the sojourn of Desplein and by that of Daniel d'Arthez. A fervent Churchman of unswerving faith. The future famous savant (Desplein) watched by his bedside at the last and closed his eyes. [The Atheist's Mass.]
BOURGET, uncle of the Chaussard brothers. An old man who became implicated in the trial of the Chauffeurs of Mortagne in 1809. He died during the taking of the testimony, while making some confessions. His wife, also apprehended, appeared before the court and was sentenced to twenty-two years' imprisonment. [The Seamy Side of History.]
BOURGNEUFS (The), a family ruined by the De Camps and living in poverty and seclusion at Saint-Germain en Laye, during the early part of the nineteenth centruy. This family consisted of: the aged father, who ran a lottery-office; the mother, almost always sick; and two delightful daughters, who took care of the home and attended to the correspondence. The Bourgneufs were rescued from their troubles by Octave de Camps who, prompted by Mme. Firmiani, and at the cost of his entire property, restored to them the fortune made away with by his father. [Madame Firmiani.]
BOURGNIER (Du). (See Bousquier, Du.)
BOURIGNARD (Gratien-Henri-Victor-Jean-Joseph), father of Mme. Jules Desmarets. One of the "Thirteen" and the former chief of the Order of the Devorants under the title of Ferragus XXIII. He had been a laborer, but afterwards was a contractor of buildings. His daughter was born to an abandoned woman. About 1807 he was sentenced to twenty years of hard labor, but he managed to escape during a journey of the chain-gang from Paris to Toulon, and he returned to Paris. In 1820 he lived there under diverse names and disguises, lodging successively on rue des Vieux Augustins (now rue d'Argout), corner of rue Soly (an insignificant street which disappeared when the Hotel des Postes was rebuilt); then at number seven rue Joquelet; finally at Mme. E. Gruget's, number twelve rue des Enfants-Rouges (now part of the rue des Archives running from rue Pastourelle to rue Portefoin), changing lodgings at this time to evade the investigations of Auguste de Maulincour. Stunned by the death of his daughter, whom he adored and with whom he held secret interviews to prevent her becoming amenable to the law, he passed his last days in an indifferent, almost idiotic way, idly watching match games at bowling on the Place de l'Observatoire; the ground between the Luxembourg and the Boulevard de Montparnasse was the scene of these games. One of the assumed names of Bourignard was the Comte de Funcal. In 1815, Bourignard, alias Ferragus, assisted Henri de Marsay, another member of the "Thirteen," in his raid on Hotel San-Real, where dwelt Paquita Valdes. [The Thirteen.]
BOURLAC (Bernard-Jean-Baptiste-Macloud, Baron de), former procureur-general of the Royal Court of Rouen, grand officer of the Legion of Honor. Born in 1771. He fell in love with and married the daughter of the Pole, Tarlowski, a colonel in the French Imperial Guard. By her he had a daughter, Vanda, who became the Baronne de Mergi. A widower and reserved by nature, he came to Paris in 1829 to take care of Vanda, who was seized by a strange and very dangerous malady. After having lived in the Quartier du Roule in 1838, with his daughter and grandson, he dwelt for several years, in very straitened circumstances, in a tumble-down house on the Boulevard du Montparnasse, where Godefroid, a recent initiate into the "Brotherhood of the Consolation" and under the direction of Mme. de la Chanterie and her associates, came to his relief. Afterwards it was discovered that the Baron de Bourlac was none other than the terrible magistrate who had pronounced judgment on this noble woman and her daughter during the trial of the Chauffeurs of Mortagne in 1809. Nevertheless, the aiding of the family was not abated in the least. Vanda was cured, thanks to a foreign physician, Halpersohn, procured by Godefroid. M. de Bourlac was enabled to publish his great work on the "Spirit of Modern Law." At Sorbonne a chair of comparative legislation was created for him. At last he obtained forgiveness from Mme. de la Chanterie, at whose feet he flung himself. [The Seamy Side of History.] In 1817 the Baron de Bourlac, then procureur-general, and superior of Soudry the younger, royal procureur, helped, with the assistance also of the latter, to secure for Sibilet the position of estate-keeper to the General de Montcornet at Aigues. [The Peasantry.]
BOURNIER, natural son of Gaubertin and of Mme. Socquard, the wife of the cafe manager of Soulanges. His existence was unknown to Mme. Gaubertin. He was sent to Paris where, under Leclercq, he learned the printer's trade and finally became a foreman. Gaubertin then brought him to Ville-aux-Fayes where he established a printing office and a paper known as "Le Courrier de l'Avonne", entirely devoted to the interests of the triumvirate, Rigou, Gaubertin and Soudry. [The Peasantry.]
BOSQUIER (Du), or Croisier (Du), or Bourguier (Du), a descendant of an old Alencon family. Born about 1760. He had been commissary agent in the army from 1793 to 1799; had done business with Ouvrard, and kept a running account with Barras, Bernadotte and Fouche. He was at that time one of the great folk of finance. Discharged by Bonaparte in 1800, he withdrew to his natal town. After selling the Beauseant house, which he owned, for the benefit of his creditors, he had remaining an income of not more than twelve hundred francs. About 1816 he married Mlle. Cormon, a spinster who had been courted also by the Chevalier de Valois and Athanase Granson. This marriage set him on his feet again financially. He took the lead in the party of the opposition, established a Liberal paper called "Le Courrier de l'Orne," and was elected Receiver-General of the Exchequer, after the Revolution of 1830. He waged bitter war on the white flag Royalists, his hatred of them causing him secretly to condone the excesses of Victurnien d'Esgrignon, until the latter involved him in an affair, when Bousquier had him arrested, thinking thus to dispose of him summarily. The affair was smoothed over only by tremendous pressure. But the young nobleman provoked Du Bousquier into a duel where the latter dangerously wounded him. Afterwards Bousquier gave him in marriage the hand of his niece, Mlle. Duval, dowered with three millions. [Jealousies of a Country Town.] Probably he was the father of Flavie Minoret, the daughter of a celebrated Opera danseuse. But he never acknowledged this child, and she was dowered by Princesse Galathionne and married Colleville. [The Middle Classes.]
BOSQUIER (Madame du), born Cormon (Rose-Marie-Victoire) in 1773. She was a very wealthy heiress, living with her maternal uncle, the Abbe de Sponde, in an old house of Alencon (rue du Val-Noble), and receiving, in 1816, the aristocracy of the town, with which she was related through marriage. Courted simultaneously by Athanase Granson, the Chevalier de Valois and Du Bousquier, she gave her hand to the old commissariat, whose athletic figure and passe libertinism had impressed her vaguely. But her secret desires were utterly dashed by him; she confessed later that she couldn't endure the idea of dying a maid. Mme. du Bousquier was very devout. She was descended from