Repertory of The Comedie Humaine, Complete, A — Z. Anatole Cerfberr
to marry Amelie de Soulanges, who belonged to a great family. But his manoeuvres were frustrated by Bixiou. The Revolution of 1830 resulted in the loss to Philippe Bridau of a portion of the fortune which he had obtained from his uncle by his marriage. Once more he entered military service, under the July Government, which made him a colonel. In 1839 he fell in an engagement with the Arabs in Africa. [A Bachelor's Establishment. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
BRIDAU (Joseph), painter; younger brother of Philippe Bridau; born in 1799. He studied with Gros, and made his first exhibit at the Salon of 1823. He received great stimulus from his fellow-members of the "Cenacle," in rue Quatre-Vents, also from his master, from Gerard and from Mlle. des Touches. Moreover he was a hard-worker and an artist of genius. He was decorated in 1827, and about 1839, through the interest of the Comte de Serizy, for whose home he had formerly done some work, he married the only daughter of a retired farmer, now a millionaire. On the death of his brother Philippe, he inherited his house in rue de Berlin, his estate of Brambourg, and his title of comte. [A Bachelor's Establishment. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. A Start in Life.] Joseph Bridau made some vignettes for the works of Canalis. [Modeste Mignon.] He was intimate with Hippolyte Schinner, whom he had known at Gros' studio. [The Purse.] Shortly after 1830, he was present at an "at home" at Mlle. des Touches, when Henri de Marsay told about his first love affair. [Another Study of Woman.] In 1832 he rushed in to see Pierre Grassou, borrowed five hundred francs of him, and told him to "cater to his talent" and even to plunge into literature since he was nothing more than a poor painter. At this same time, Joseph Bridau painted the dining-hall in the D'Arthez chateau. [Pierre Grassou.] He was a friend of Marie Gaston, and was attendant at his marriage with Louise de Chaulieu, widow of Macumer, in 1833. [Letters of Two Brides.] He also assisted at the wedding of Steinbock with Hortense Hulot, and in 1838, at the instigation of Stidmann, clubbed in with Leon de Lora to raise four thousand francs for the Pole, who was imprisoned for debt. He had made the portrait of Josepha Mirah. [Cousin Betty.] In 1839, at Mme. Montcornet's, Joseph Bridau praised the talent and character displayed by Dorlange, the sculptor. [The Member for Arcis.]
BRIDAU (Flore Brazier, Madame Philippe), born in 1787 at Vatan Indre, known as "La Rabouilleuse," on account of her uncle having put her to work, when a child, at stirring up (to "rabouiller") the streamlets, so that he might find crayfishes. She was noticed on account of her great beauty by Dr. Rouget of Issoudun, and taken to his home in 1799. Jean-Jacques Rouget, the doctor's son become much enamored of her, but obtained favor only through his money. On her part she was smitten with Maxence Gilet, whom she entertained in the house of the old bachelor at the latter's expense. But everything was changed by the arrival of Philippe Bridau at Issoudun. Gilet was killed in a duel, and Rouget married La Rabouilleuse in 1823. Left a widow soon after, she married the soldier. She died in Paris in 1828, abandoned by her husband, in the greatest distress, a prey to innumerable terrible complaints, the products of the dissolute life into which Philippe Bridau had designedly thrown her. She dwelt then on rue du Houssay, on the fifth floor. She left here for the Dubois Hospital in Faubourg Saint-Denis. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
BRIDAU (Madame Joseph), only daughter of Leger, an old farmer, afterwards a multi-millionaire at Beaumont-sur-Oise; married to the painter Joseph Bridau about 1839. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
BRIGAUT (Major), of Pen-Hoel, Vendee; retired major of the Catholic Army which contested with the French Republic. A man of iron, but devout and entirely unselfish. He had served under Charette, Mercier, the Baron du Guenic and the Marquis de Montauran. He died in 1819, six months after Mme. Lorrain, the widow of a major in the Imperial Army, whom he was said to have consoled on the loss of her husband. Major Brigaut had received twenty-seven wounds. [Pierrette. The Chouans.]
BRIGAUT (Jacques), son of Major Brigaut; born about 1811. Childhood companion of Pierrette Lorrain, whom he loved in innocent fashion similar to that of Paul and Virginia, and whose love was reciprocated in the same way. When Pierrette was sent to Provins, to the home of the Rogrons, her relatives, Jacques also went to this town and worked at the carpenter's trade. He was present at the death-bed of the young girl and immediately thereafter enlisted as a soldier; he became head of a battalion, after having several times sought death vainly. [Pierrette.]
BRIGITTE. (See Cottin, Madame.)
BRIGITTE, servant of Chesnel from 1795 on. In 1824 she was still with him in rue du Bercail, Alencon, at the time of the pranks of the young D'Esgrignon. Brigette humored the gormandizing of her master, the only weakness of the goodman. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
BRIGNOLET, clerk with lawyer Bordin in 1806. [A Start in Life.]
BRISETOUT (Heloise), mistress of Celestin Crevel in 1838, at the time when he was elected mayor. She succeeded Josepha Mirah, in a little house on rue Chauchat, after having lived on rue Notre-Dame-de Lorette. [Cousin Betty.] In 1844–1845 she was premiere danseuse in the Theatre du Boulevard, when she was claimed by both Bixiou and Gaudissart, her manager. She was a very literary young woman, much spoken of in Bohemian circles for elegance and graciousness. She knew all the great artists, and favored her kinsman, the musician Garangeot. [Cousin Pons.] Towards the end of the reign of Louis Philippe, she had Isidore Baudoyer for a "protector"; he was then mayor of the arrondissement of Paris, which included the Palais Royale. [The Middle Classes.]
BRISSET, a celebrated physician of Paris, time of Louis Philippe. a materialist and successor to Bichat, and Cabanis. At the head of the "Organists," opposed to Cameristus head of the "Vitalists." He was called in consultation regarding Raphael de Valentin, whose condition was serious. [The Magic Skin.]
BROCHON, a half-pay soldier who, in 1822, tended the horses and did chores for Moreau, manager of Presles, the estate of the Comte de Serizy. [A Start in Life.]
BROSSARD (Madame), widow received at Mme. de Bargeton's at Angouleme in 1821. Poor but well-born, she sought to marry her daughter, and in the end, despite her precise dignity and "sour-sweetness," she got along fairly well with the other sex. [Lost Illusions.]
BROSSARD (Camille du), daughter of the preceding. born in 1794. Fleshy and imposing. Posed as a good pianist. Not yet married at twenty-seven. [Lost Illusions.]
BROSSETTE (Abbe), born about 1790; cure of Blangy, Burgundy, in 1823, at the time when General de Montcornet was struggling with the peasantry. The abbe himself was an object of their defiance and hatred. He was the fourth son of a good bourgeoisie family of Autun, a faithful prelate, an obstinate Royalist and a man of intelligence. [The Peasantry.] In 1840 he became a cure at Paris, in the faubourg Saint-Germain, and at the request of Mme. de Grandlieu, he interested himself in removing Calyste du Guenic from the clutches of Mme. de Rochefide and restoring him to his wife. [Beatrix.]
BROUET (Joseph), a Chouan who died of wounds received in the fight of La Pelerine or at the siege of Fougeres, in 1799. [The Chouans.]
BROUSSON (Doctor), attended the banker Jean-Frederic Taillefer, a short time before the financier's death. [The Red Inn.]
BRUCE (Gabriel), alias Gros-Jean, one of the fiercest Chouans of the Fontaine division. Implicated in the affair of the "Chauffeurs of Mortagne" in 1809. Condemned to death for contumacy. [The Seamy Side of History.]
BRUEL (Du), chief of division to the Ministers of the Interior, under the Empire. A friend of Bridau senior, retired on the advent of Restoration. He was on very friendly terms with the widow Bridau, coming each evening for a game of cards at her house, on rue Mazarine, with his old-time colleagues, Claparon and Desroches. These three old employes were called the "Three Sages of Greece" by Mmes. Bridau and Descoings. M. du Bruel was descended of a contractor ennobled at the end of the reign of Louis XIV. He died about 1821. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
BRUEL (Madame du), wife of the preceding. She survived him. She was the mother of the dramatic author Jean-Francois du Bruel, christened Cursy on the Parisian bill-boards. Although a bourgeoisie of strict ideas, Mme. du Bruel welcomed the dancer Tullia, who became her daughter-in-law. [A Prince of Bohemia.]
BRUEL (Jean-Francois du), son of the preceding; born about 1797. In 1816 he obtained a place under the Minister of Finance, thanks to the favor of the Duc de Navarreins. [A Bachelor's Establishment.] He was sub-chief of Rabourdin's office when the latter, in 1824, contested with M. Baudoyer for a place of division