MENE-A-BIEN, cognomen of Coupiau.
MERGI (De), magistrate during the Empire and the Restoration, whose
activity was rewarded by both governments, inasmuch as he always
struck the members of the party out of power. In 1809 the court over
which he presided was charged with the cases of the "Chauffeurs of
Mortagne." Mergi showed great hatred in his dealings with Madame de la
Chanterie. [The Seamy Side of History.]
MERGI (De), son of the preceding, married Vanda de Bourlac. [The Seamy
Side of History.]
MERGI (Baronne Vanda de), born Bourlac, of Polish origin on her
mother's side, belonged to the family of Tarlowski, married the son of
Mergi, the celebrated magistrate, and having survived him, was
condemned to poverty and sickness; was aided in Paris by Godefroid, a
messenger from Madame de la Chanterie, and attended by her father and
Doctors Bianchon, Desplein, Haudry and Moise Halpersohn, the last of
whom finally saved her. [The Seamy Side of History.]
MERGI (Auguste de), during the last half of Louis Philippe's reign was
in turn a collegian, university student and humble clerk in the Palais
at Paris; looked after the needs of his mother, Vanda de Mergi, with
sincerest devotion. For her sake he stole four thousand francs from
Moise Halpersohn, but remained unpunished, thanks to one of the
Brothers of Consolation, who boarded with Madame de la Chanterie. [The
Seamy Side of History.]
MERKSTUS, banker at Douai, under the Restoration had a bill of
exchange for ten thousand francs signed by Balthazar Claes, and, in
1819, presented it to the latter for collection. [The Quest of the
Absolute.]
MERLE, captain in the Seventy-second demi-brigade; jolly and careless.
Killed at La Vivetiere in December, 1799, by Pille-Miche (Cibot). [The
Chouans.]
MERLIN, of Douai, belonged to the convention, of which he was, for two
years, one of the five directors; attorney-general in the court of
appeal; in September, 1805, rejected the appeal of the Simeuses, of
the Hauteserres, and of Michu, men who had been condemned for
kidnapping Senator Malin. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
MERLIN (Hector), came to Paris from Limoges, expecting to become a
journalist; a Royalist; during the two years in which Lucien de
Rubempre made his literary and political beginning, Merlin was
especially noted. At that time he was Suzanne du Val-Noble's lover,
and a polemical writer for a paper of the Right-Centre; he also
brought honor to Andoche Finot's little gazette by his contributions.
As a journalist he was dangerous, and could, if necessary, fill the
chair of the editor-in-chief. In March, 1822, with Theodore Gaillard,
he established the "Reveil," another kind of "Drapeau Blanc." Merlin
had an unattractive face, lighted by two pale-blue eyes, which were
fearfully sharp; his voice had in it something of the mewing of a cat,
something of the hyena's asthmatic gasping. [A Distinguished
Provincial at Paris.]
MERLIN DE LA BLOTTIERE (Mademoiselle), of a noble family of Tours
(1826); Francois Birotteau's friend. [The Vicar of Tours.]
MERRET (De), gentleman of Picardie, proprietor of the Grande Breteche,
near Vendome, under the Empire; had the room walled up, where he knew
the Spaniard Bagos de Feredia, lover of his wife, was in hiding. He
died in 1816 at Paris as a result of excesses. [La Grande Breteche.]
MERRET (Madame Josephine de), wife of the preceding, mistress of Bagos
de Feredia, whom she saw perish almost under her eyes, after she had
refused to give him up to her husband. She died in the same year as
Merret, at La Grande Breteche, as a result of the excitement she had
undergone. The story of Madame de Merret was the subject of a
vaudeville production given at the Gymnase-Dramatique under the title
of "Valentine." [La Grande Breteche.]
METIVIER, paper merchant on rue Serpente in Paris, under the
Restoration; correspondent of David Sechard, friend of Gobseck and of
Bidault, accompanying them frequently to the cafe Themis, between rue
Dauphine and the Quai des Augustins. Having two daughters, and an
income of a hundred thousand francs, he withdrew from business. [Lost
Illusions. The Government Clerks. The Middle Classes.]
METIVIER, nephew and successor of the preceding, one of whose
daughters he married. He was interested in the book business, in
connection with Morand and Barbet; took advantage of Bourlac in 1838;
lived on rue Saint-Dominique d'Enfer, in the Thuillier house in 1840;
engaged in usurious transactions with Jeanne-Marie-Brigitte, Cerizet,
Dutocq, discounters of various kinds and titles. [The Seamy Side of
History. The Middle Classes.]
MEYNARDIE (Madame), at Paris, under the Restoration, in all
probability, had an establishment or shop in which Ida Gruget was
employed; undoubtedly controlled a house of ill-fame, in which Esther
van Gobseck was a boarder. [The Thirteen. Scenes from a Courtesan's
Life.]
MEYRAUX, medical doctor; a scholarly young Parisian, with whom Louis
Lambert associated, November, 1819. Until his death in 1832 Meyraux
was a member of the rue des Quatre-Vents Cenacle, over which Daniel
d'Arthez presided. [Louis Lambert. A Distinguished Provincial at
Paris.]
MICHAUD (Justin), an old chief quartermaster to the cuirassiers of the
Imperial Guard, chevalier of the Legion of Honor. He married one of
the Montcornet maids, Olympe Charel, and became, under the
Restoration, head warden of the Montcornet estates at Blangy in
Bourgogne. Unknown to himself he was secretly beloved by Genevieve
Niseron. His military frankness and loyal devotion succumbed before an
intrigue formed against him by Sibilet, steward of Aigues, and by the
Rigous, Soudrys, Gaubertins, Fourchons and Tonsards. On account of the
complicity of Courtecuisse and Vaudoyer the bullet fired by Francois
Tonsard, in 1823, overcame the vigilance of Michaud. [The Peasantry.]
MICHAUD (Madame Justin), born Olympe Charel, a virtuous and pretty
farmer's daughter of Le Perche; wife of the preceding; chambermaid of
Madame de Montcornet--born Troisville--before her marriage and
induction to Aigues in Bourgogne. Her marriage to Justin Michaud was
the outcome of mutual love. She had in her employ Cornevin, Juliette
and Gounod; sheltered Genevieve Niseron, whose strange disposition she
seemed to understand. For her husband, who was thoroughly hated in the
Canton of Blangy, she often trembled, and on the same night that
Michaud was murdered she died from over-anxiety, soon after giving
birth to a child which did not survive her. [The Peasantry.]
MICHEL, writer at Socquard's cafe and coffee-house keeper at Soulanges
in 1823. He also looked after his patron's vineyard and garden. [The
Peasantry.]