Repertory of The Comedie Humaine, Complete, A — Z. Anatole Cerfberr
CAMUSOT DE MARVILLE, son of Camusot the silk-merchant by his first marriage. Born about 1794. During Louis Philippe's reign he took the name of a Norman estate and green, Marville, in order to distinguish between himself and a half-brother. In 1824, then a judge at Alencon, he helped render an alibi decision in favor of Victurnien d'Esgrignon, who really was guilty. [Cousin Pons. Jealousies of a Country Town.] He was judge at Paris in 1828, and was appointed to replace Popinot in the court which was to render a decision concerning the appeal for interdiction presented by Mme. d'Espard against her husband. [The Commission in Lunacy.] In May, 1830, in the capacity of judge of instruction, he prepared a report tending to the liberation of Lucien de Rubempre, accused of assassinating Esther Gobseck. But the suicide of the poet rendered the proposed measure useless, besides upsetting, momentarily, the ambitious projects of the magistrate. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] Camusot de Marville had been president of the Court of Nantes. In 1844 he was president of the Royal Court of Paris and commander of the Legion of Honor. At this time he lived in a house on rue de Hanovre, purchased by him in 1834, where he received the musician Pons, a cousin of his. The President de Marville was elected deputy in 1846. [Cousin Pons.]
CAMUSOT DE MARVILLE (Madame), born Thirion, Marie-Cecile-Amelie, in 1798. Daughter of an usher of the Cabinet of Louis XVIII. Wife of the magistrate. In 1814 she frequented the studio of the painter Servin, who had a class for young ladies. This studio contained two factions; Mlle. Thirion headed the party of the nobility, though of ordinary birth, and persecuted Ginevra di Piombo, of the Bonapartist party. [The Vendetta.] In 1818 she was invited to accompany her father and mother to the famous ball of Cesar Birotteau. It was about the time her marriage with Camusot de Marville was being considered. [Cesar Birotteau.] This wedding took place in 1819, and immediately the imperious young woman gained the upper hand with the judge, making him follow her own will absolutely and in the interests of her boundless ambition. It was she who brought about the discharge of young d'Esgrignon in 1824, and the suicide of Lucien de Rubempre in 1830. Through her, the Marquis d'Espard failed of interdiction. However, Mme. de Marville had no influence over her father-in-law, the senior Camusot, whom she bored dreadfully and importuned excessively. She caused, also, by her evil treatment, the death of Sylvain Pons "the poor relation," inheriting with her husband his fine collection of curios. [Jealousies of a Country Town. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. Cousin Pons.]
CAMUSOT (Charles), son of the preceding couple. He died young, at a time when his parents had neither land nor title of Marville, and when they were in almost straitened circumstances. [Cousin Pons.]
CAMUSOT DE MARVILLE (Cecile). (See Popinot, Vicomtesse.)
CANALIS (Constant-Cyr-Melchior, Baron de), poet—chief of the "Angelic" school—deputy minister, peer of France, member of the French Academy, commander of the Legion of Honor. Born at Canalis, Correze, in 1800. About 1821 he became the lover of Mme. de Chaulieu, who was constantly aiding him to high positions, but who, at the same time, was always very exacting. Not long after, Canalis is seen at the opera in Mme. d'Espard's box, being presented to Lucien de Rubempre. From 1824 he was the fashionable poet. [Letters of Two Brides. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] In 1829 he lived at number 29 rue Paradis-Poissoniere (now simply rue Paradis) and was master of requests in the Council of State. This is the time when he was in correspondence with Modeste Mignon and wished to espouse that rich heiress. [Modeste Mignon.] Shortly after 1830, now a great man, he was present at Mlle. des Touches', when Henri de Marsay told of his first love affair. Canalis took part in the conversation and uttered a most vigorous tirade against Napoleon. [The Magic Skin. Another Study of Woman.] In 1838 he married the daughter of Moreau (de l'Oise), who brought him a very large dowry. [A Start in Life.] In October, 1840, he and Mme. de Rochefide were present at a performance at the Varietes theatre, where that dangerous woman was encountered again after a lapse of three years by Calyste du Guenic. [Beatrix.] In 1845 Canalis was pointed out in the Chamber of Deputies by Leon de Lora to Palafox Gazonal. [The Unconscious Humorists.] In 1845, he consented to act as second to Sallenauve in his duel with Maxime de Trailles. [The Member for Arcis.]
CANALIS (Baronne Melchior de), wife of the preceding and daughter of M. and Mme. Moreau (de l'Oise). About the middle of the reign of Louis Philippe, she being then recently married, she made a journey to Seine-et-Oise. She went first to Beaumont and Presles. Mme. de Canalis with her daughter and the Academician, occupied Pierrotin's stage-coach. [A Start in Life.]
CANE (Marco-Facino), known as Pere Canet, a blind old man, an inmate of the Hospital des Quinze-Vingts, who during the Restoration followed the vocation of musician, at Paris. He played the clarionet at a ball of the working-people of rue de Charenton, on the occasion of the wedding of Mme. Vaillant's sister. He said he was a Venetian, Prince de Varese, a descendant of the condottiere Facino Cane, whose conquests fell into the hands of the Duke of Milan. He told strange stories regarding his patrician youth. He died in 1820, more than an octogenarian. He was the last of the Canes on the senior branch, and he transmitted the title of Prince de Varese to a relative, Emilio Memmi. [Facino Cane. Massimilla Doni.]
CANTE-CROIX (Marquis de), under-lieutenant in one of the regiments which tarried at Angouleme from November, 1807, to March, 1808, while on its way to Spain. He was a Colonel at Wagram on July 6, 1809, although only twenty-six years old, when a shot crushed over his heart the picture of Mme. de Bargeton, whom he loved. [Lost Illusions.]
CANTINET, an old glass-dealer, and beadle of Saint-Francois church, Marais, Paris, in 1845; dwelt on rue d'Orleans. A drunken idler. [Cousin Pons.]
CANTINET (Madame), wife of preceding; renter of seats in Saint-Francois. Last nurse of Sylvain Pons, and a tool to the interests of Fraisier and Poulain. [Cousin Pons.]
CANTINET, Junior, would have been made beadle of Saint-Francois, where his father and mother were employed, but he preferred the theatre. He was connected with the Cirque-Olympique in 1845. He caused his mother sorrow, by a dissolute life and by forcible inroads on the maternal purse. [Cousin Pons.]
CAPRAJA, a noble Venetian, a recognized dilettante, living only by and through music. Nicknamed "Il Fanatico." Known by the Duke and Duchess Cataneo and their friends. [Massimilla Doni.]
CARABINE, assumed name of Seraphine Sinet, which name see.
CARBONNEAU, physician whom the Comte de Mortsauf spoke of consulting about his wife, in 1820, instead of Dr. Origet, whom he fancied to be unsatisfactory. [The Lily of the Valley.]
CARCADO (Madame de), founder of a Parisian benevolent society, for which Mme. de la Baudraye was appointed collector, in March, 1843, on the request of some priests, friends of Mme. Piedefer. This choice resulted, noteworthily, in the re-entrance into society of the "muse," who had been beguiled and compromised by her relations with Lousteau. [The Muse of the Department.]
CARDANET (Madame de), grandmother of Mme. de Senonches. [Lost Illusions.]
CARDINAL (Madame), Parisian fish-vender, daughter of one Toupillier, a carrier. Widow of a well-known marketman. Niece of Toupillier the pauper of Saint-Sulpice, from whom in 1840, with Cerizet's assistance, she tried to capture the hidden treasure. This woman had three sisters, four brothers, and three uncles, who would have shared with her the pauper's bequest. The scheming of Mme. Cardinal and Cerizet was frustrated by M. du Portail—Corentin. [The Middle Classes.]
CARDINAL (Olympe). (See Cerizet, Madame.)
CARDOT (Jean-Jerome-Severin), born in 1755. Head-clerk in an old silk-house, the "Golden Cocoon," rue des Bourdonnais. He bought the establishment in 1793, at the "maximum" moment, and in ten years had made a large fortune, thanks to the dowry of one hundred thousand francs brought him by his wife; she was a Demoiselle Husson, and gave him four children. Of these, the elder daughter married Camusot, who succeeded his father-in-law; the second, Marianne, married Protez, of the firm of Protez & Chiffreville; the elder son became a notary; the younger son, Joseph, took an interest in Matifat's drug business. Cardot was the "protector" of the actress, Florentine, whom he discovered and started. In 1822 he lived at Belleville in one of the first houses above Courtille; he had then been a widower for six years. He was an uncle of Oscar Husson, and had taken some interest in and helped the dolt, until an incident occurred that changed everything: the old man discovered the young fellow asleep one