HUSSON (Oscar), born about 1804, son of the preceding and of M. Husson
--army-contractor; led a checkered career, explained by his origin and
childhood. He scarcely knew his father, who made and soon lost a
fortune. The previous fast life of his mother, who afterwards married
again, gave rise to or upheld some more or less influential
connections and made her, during the first Empire, the titular _femme
de chambre_ to Madame Mere--Letitia Bonaparte. Napoleon's fall marked
the ruin of the Hussons. Oscar and his mother--now married to M.
Clapart--lived in a modest apartment on rue de la Cerisaie, Paris.
Oscar obtained a license and became clerk in Desroches' law office in
Paris, being coached by Godeschal. During this time he became
acquainted with two young men, his cousins the Marests. One of them
had previously instigated an early escapade of Oscar's, and it was now
followed by one much more serious, on rue de Vendome at the house of
Florentine Cabirolle, who was then maintained by Cardot, Oscar's
wealthy uncle. Husson was forced to abandon law and enter military
service. He was in the cavalry regiment of the Duc de Maufrigneuse and
the Vicomte de Serizy. The interest of the dauphiness and of Abbe
Gaudron obtained for him promotion and a decoration. He became in turn
aide-de-camp to La Fayette, captain, officer of the Legion of Honor
and lieutenant-colonel. A noteworthy deed made him famous on Algerian
territory during the affair of La Macta; Husson lost his left arm in
the vain attempt to save Vicomte de Serizy. Put on half-pay, he
obtained the post of collector for Beaumont-sur-Oise. He then married
--1838--Georgette Pierrotin and met again the accomplices or witnesses
of his earlier escapades--one of the Marests, the Moreaus, etc. [A
Start in Life.]
HUSSON (Madame Oscar), wife of the preceding; born Georgette
Pierrotin; daughter of the proprietor of the stage-service of Oise. [A
Start in Life.]
HYDE DE NEUVILLE (Jean-Guillaume, Baron)--1776-1857--belonged to the
Martignac ministry of 1828; was, in 1797, one of the most active
Bourbon agents. Kept civil war aflame in the West, and held a
conference in 1799 with First Consul Bonaparte relative to the
restoration of Louis XVIII. [The Chouans.]
I
IDAMORE, nick-name of Chardin junior while he was _claqueur_ in a
theatre on the Boulevard du Temple, Paris. [Cousin Betty.]
ISEMBERG (Marechal, Duc d'), probably belonged to the Imperial
nobility. He lost at the gaming table, in November, 1809, in a grand
fete given at Paris at Senator Malin de Gondreville's home, while the
Duchesse de Lansac was acting as peacemaker between a youthful married
couple. [Domestic Peace.]
J
JACMIN (Philoxene), of Honfleur; perhaps cousin of Jean Butscha; maid
to Eleonore de Chaulieu; in love with Germain Bonnet, valet of
Melchior de Canalis. [Modeste Mignon.]
JACOMETY, head jailer of the Conciergerie, at Paris, in May, 1830,
during Rubempre's imprisonment. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
JACQUELIN, born in Normandy about 1776; in 1816 was employed by Mlle.
Cormon, an old maid of Alencon. He married when she espoused M. du
Bousquier. After the double marriage Jacquelin remained for some time
in the service of the niece of the Abbe de Sponde. [Jealousies of a
Country Town.]
JACQUES, for a considerable period butler of Claire de Beauseant,
following her to Bayeux. Essentially "aristocratic, intelligent and
discreet," he understood the sufferings of his mistress. [Father
Goriot. The Deserted Woman.]
JACQUET (Claude-Joseph), a worthy bourgeois of the Restoration; head
of a family, and something of a crank. He performed the duties of a
deputy-mayor in Paris, and also had charge of the archives in the
Department of Foreign Affairs. Was greatly indebted to his friend
Jules Desmarets; so he deciphered for him, about 1820, a code letter
of Gratien Bourignard. When Clemence Desmarets died, Jacquet comforted
the broker in the Saint-Roch church and in the Pere-Lachaise cemetery.
[The Thirteen.]
JACQUINOT, said to have succeeded Cardot as notary at Paris, time of
Louis Philippe [The Middle Classes.]; but since Cardot was succeeded
by Berthier, his son-in-law, a discrepancy is apparent.
JACQUOTTE, left the service of a cure for that of Dr. Benassis, whose
house she managed with a devotion and care not unmixed with despotism.
[The Country Doctor.]
JAN,* a painter who cared not a fig for glory. About 1838 he covered
with flowers and decorated the door of a bed-chamber in a suite owned
by Crevel on rue du Dauphin, Paris. [Cousin Betty.]
* Perhaps the fresco-painter, Laurent-Jan, author of "Unrepentant
Misanthropy," and the friend of Balzac, to whom the latter
dedicated his drama, "Vautrin."
JANVIER, priest in a village of Isere in 1829, a "veritable Fenelon
shrunk to a cure's proportions"; knew, understood and assisted
Benassis. [The Country Doctor.]
JAPHET (Baron), celebrated chemist who subjected to hydrofluoric acid,
to chloride of nitrogen, and to the action of the voltaic battery the
mysterious "magic skin" of Raphael de Valentin. To his stupefaction
the savant wrought no change on the tissue. [The Magic Skin.]
JEAN, coachman and trusted servant of M. de Merret, at Vendome, in
1816. [La Grande Breteche.]
JEAN, landscape gardener and farm-hand for Felix Grandet, enagaged
about November, 1819, in a field on the bank of the Loire, filling
holes left by removed populars and planting other trees. [Eugenie
Grandet.]
JEAN, one of the keepers of Pere-Lachaise cemetery in 1820-21;
conducted Desmarets and Jacquet to the tomb of Clemence Bourignard,
who had recently been interred.* [The Thirteen.]
* In 1868, at Paris, MM. Ferdinand Dugue and Peaucellier presented a
play at the Gaite theatre, where one of the chief characters was
Clemence Bourignard-Desmarets.
JEAN, lay brother of an abbey until 1791, when he found a home with
Niseron, cure of Blangy, Burgundy; seldom left Gregoire Rigou, whose
factotum he finally became. [The Peasantry.]
JEANNETTE, born in 1758; cook for Ragon at Paris in 1818, in rue du
Petit-Lion-Saint-Sulpice; distinguished herself at the Sunday
receptions. [Cesar Birotteau.]
JEANRENAUD (Madame), a Protestant, widow of a salt bargeman, by whom
she had a son. A stout, ugly and vulgar woman, who recovered, during
the Restoration, a fortune that had been stolen by the Catholic
ancestors of D'Espard and was restored to him despite a suit to
restrain him by injunction. Mme. Jeanrenaud lived at Villeparisis, and
then at Paris, where she dwelt successively on rue de la Vrilliere
--No. 8--and on Grand rue Verte. [The Commission in Lunacy.]
JEANRENAUD, son of the preceding, born about 1792. He served as
officer in the Imperial Guard, and, through the influence of
D'Espard-Negrepelisse, became, in 1828, chief of squadron in the First
regiment of the Cuirassiers of the Guard. Charles X. made him a baron.
He then married a niece of Monegod. His beautiful villa on Lake Geneva
is mentioned by Albert Savarus in "L'Ambitieux par Amour," published in
the reign of Louis Philippe. [The Commission in Lunacy. Albert
Savarus.]
JENNY was, during the Restoration, maid and confidante of Aquilina de
la Garde; afterwards, but for a very brief time, mistress of
Castanier. [Melmoth Reconciled.]
JEROME (Pere), second-hand book-seller on Pont Notre-Dame, Paris, in
1821, at the time when Rubempre was making a start there. [A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
JEROME, valet successively of Galard and of Albert Savarus at
Besancon. He may have served the Parisian lawyer less sedulously
because of Mariette, a servant at the Wattevilles, whose dowry he was
after. [Albert Savarus.]
JOHNSON (Samuel), assumed name of the police-agent, Peyrade.
JOLIVARD, clerk of registry, rue de Normandie, Paris, about the end of
Louis Philippe's reign. He lived on the first floor of the house owned
by Pillerault, attended by the Cibots and tenanted by the Chapoulots,
Pons and Schmucke. [Cousin Pons.]
JONATHAS, valet of M. de Valentin senior; foster-father of Raphael de
Valentin, whose steward he afterwards became when the young man was a
multi-millionaire. He served him faithfully and survived him. [The
Magic Skin.]
JORDY (De) had been successively captain in a regiment of
Royal-Suedois and professor in the Ecole Militaire. He had a refined
nature and a tender heart; was the type of a poor but uncomplaining
gentleman. His soul must have been the scene of sad secrets. Certain
signs led one to believe that he had had children whom he had adored
and lost. M. de Jordy lived modestly and quietly at Nemours. A
similiarity of tastes and character drew him towards Denis Minoret
whose intimate friend he became, and at whose home he conceived a
liking for the doctor's young ward--Mme. Savinien de Portenduere. He
had great influence over her, and left her an income of fourteen
hundred francs when he died in 1823. [Ursule Mirouet.]
JOSEPH, with Charles and Francois, was of the establishment of
Montcornet at Aigues, Burgundy, about 1823. [The Peasantry.]
JOSEPH, faithful servant of Rastignac at Paris, under the Restoration.
In 1828 he carried to the Marquise de Listomere a letter written by
his master to Mme. de Nucingen. This error, for which Joseph could
hardly be held responsible, caused the scorn of the marquise when she
discoverd that the missive was intended for another. [The Magic Skin.
A Study of Woman.]
JOSEPH, in the service of F. du Tillet, Paris, when his master was
fairly launched in society and received Birotteau in state. [Cesar
Birotteau.]
JOSEPH, given name of a worthy chimney-builder of rue Saint-Lazare,
Paris, about the end of the reign of Louis Philippe. Of Italian
origin, the head of a family, saved from ruin by Adeline Hulot, who
acted for Mme. de la Chanterie. Joseph was in touch with the scribe,
Vyder, and when he took Mme. Hulot to see the latter she recognized in
him her husband. [Cousin Betty.]