LA GAUDINIERE (Madame), born La Bertelliere, mother of Madame Felix
Grandet; very avaricious; died in 1806; leaving the Felix Grandets an
inheritance, "the amount of which no one knew." [Eugenie Grandet.]
LAGINSKI (Comte Adam Mitgislas), a wealthy man who had been
proscribed, belonged to one of the oldest and most illustrious
families of Poland, and counted among his relations the Sapiehas, the
Radziwills, the Mniszechs, the Rezwuskis, the Czartoriskis, the
Lecszinskis, and the Lubomirskis. He had relations in the German
nobility and his mother was a Radziwill. Young, plain, yet with a
certain distinguished bearing, with an income of eighty thousand
francs, Laginski was a leading light in Paris, during the reign of
Louis Philippe. After the Revolution of July, while still
unsophisticated, he attended an entertainment at the home of Felicite
des Touches in Chaussee-d'Antin on rue du Mont-Blanc, and had the
opportunity of listening to the delightful chats between Henri de
Marsay and Emile Blondet. Comte Adam Laginski, during the autumn of
1835, married the object of his affections, Mademoiselle Clementine du
Rouvre, niece of the Ronquerolles. The friendship of his steward, Paz,
saved him from the ruin into which his creole-like carelessness, his
frivolity and his recklessness were dragging him. He lived in perfect
contentment with his wife, ignorant of the domestic troubles which
were kept from his notice. Thanks to the devotion of Paz and of Madame
Laginska, he was cured of a malady which had been pronounced fatal by
Doctor Horace Bianchon. Comte Adam Laginski lived on rue de la
Pepiniere, now absorbed in part by rue de la Boetie. He occupied one
of the most palatial and artistic houses of the period, so called, of
Louis Philippe. He attended the celebration given in 1838 at the first
opening of Josepha Mirah's residence on rue de la Ville-l'Eveque. In
this same year he attended the wedding of Wenceslas Steinbock.
[Another Study of Woman. The Imaginary Mistress. Cousin Betty.]
LAGINSKA (Comtesse Adam), born Clementine du Rouvre in 1816, wife of
the preceding, niece, on her mother's side, of the Marquis de
Ronquerolles and of Madame de Serizy. She was one of the charming
group of young women, which included Mesdames de l'Estorade, de
Portenduere, Marie de Vandenesse, du Guenic and de Maufrigneuse.
Captain Paz was secretly in love with the countess, who, becoming
aware of her steward's affection, ended by having very nearly the same
kind of feeling for him. The unselfish virtue of Paz was all that
saved her; not only at this juncture, but in another more dangerous
one, when he rescued her from M. de la Palferine, who was escorting
her to the Opera ball and who was on the point of taking her to a
private room in a restaurant--January, 1842. [The Imaginary Mistress.]
LAGOUNIA (Perez de), woolen-draper at Tarragone in Catalonia, in the
time of Napoleon, under obligations to La Marana. He reared as his own
daughter, in a very pious manner, Juana, a child of the celebrated
Italian courtesan, until her mother visited her, during the time of
the French occupation in 1808. [The Maranas.]
LAGOUNIA (Donna de), wife of the preceding, divided with him the care
of Juana Marana until the girl's mother came to Tarragone at the time
it was sacked by the French. [The Maranas.]
LA GRAVE (Mesdemoiselles), kept a boarding-house in 1824 on rue
Notre-Dame-des Champs in Paris. In this house M. and Madame Phellion
gave lessons. [The Government Clerks.]
LAGUERRE (Mademoiselle), given name, probably, Sophie, born in 1740,
died in 1815, one of the most celebrated courtesans of the eighteenth
century; opera singer, and fervent follower of Piccini. In 1790,
frightened by the march of public affairs, she established herself at
the Aigues, in Bourgogne, property procured for her by Bouret, from
its former owner. Before Buoret, the grandfather of La Palferine,
entertained her, and she brought about his ruin. The recklessness of
this woman, surrounded as she was by such notorious knaves as
Gaubertin, Fourchon, Tonsard, and Madame Soudry, prepared no little
trouble for Montcornet, the succeeding proprietor. Sophie Laguerre's
fortune was divided among eleven families of poor farmers, all living
in the neighborhood of Amiens, who were ignorant of their relationship
with her. [The Peasantry. A Prince of Bohemia.] M. H. Gourdon de
Genouillac wrote a biography of the singer, containing many details
which are at variance with the facts here cited. Among other things we
are told that the given name of Mademoiselle Laguerre was Josephine
and not Sophie.