MIROUET (Valentin), celebrated harpsichordist and instrument-maker;
one of the best known French organists; father-in-law of Doctor
Minoret; died in 1785. His business was bought by Erard. [Ursule
Mirouet.]
MIROUET (Joseph), natural son of the preceding and brother-in-law of
Doctor Denis Minoret. He was a good musician and of a Bohemian
disposition. He was a regiment musician during the wars in the latter
part of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries.
He passed through Germany, and while there married Dinah Grollman, by
whom he had a daughter, Ursule, later the Vicomtesse de Portenduere,
who had been left a penniless orphan in her early youth. [Ursule
Mirouet.]
MITANT (La), a very poor woman of Conches in Bourgogne, who was
condemned for having let her cow graze on the Montcornet estate. In
1823 the animal was seized by the deputy, Brunet, and his assistants,
Vermichel and Fourchon. [The Peasantry.]
MITOUFLET, old grenadier of the Imperial Guard, husband of a wealthy
vineyard proprietress, kept the tavern Soleil d'Or at Vouvray in
Touraine. After 1830 Felix Gaudissart lived there and Mitouflet served
as his second in a harmless duel brought on by a practical joke played
on the illustrious traveling salesman, dupe of the insane Margaritis.
[Gaudissart the Great.]
MITOUFLET, usher to the minister of war under Louis Philippe, in the
time of Cottin de Wissembourg, Hulot d'Ervy and Marneffe. [Cousin
Betty.]
MITRAL, a bachelor, whose eyes and face were snuff-colored, a bailiff
in Paris during the Restoration, also at the same time a money-lender.
He numbered among his patrons Molineux and Birotteau. He was invited
to the celebrated ball given in December, 1818, by the perfumer. Being
a maternal uncle of Isidore Baudoyer, connected in a friendly way with
Bidault--Gigonnet--and Esther-Jean van Gobseck, Mitral, by their
good-will, obtained his nephew's appointment to the Treasury, December,
1824. He spent his time then in Isle-Adam, the Marais and the
Saint-Marceau section, places of residence of his numerous family. In
possession of a fortune, which undoubtedly would go later to the
Isidore Baudoyers, Mitral retired to the Seine-et-Oise division.
[Cesar Birotteau. The Government Clerks.]
MIZERAI, in 1836 a restaurant-keeper on rue Michel-le-Comte, Paris.
Zephirin Marcas took his dinners with him at the rate of nine sous.
[Z. Marcas.]
MODINIER, steward to Monsieur de Watteville; "governor" of Rouxey, the
patrimonial estate of the Wattevilles. [Albert Savarus.]
MOINOT, in 1815 mail-carrier for the Chaussee-d'Antin; married and the
father of four children; lived in the fifth story at 11, rue des
Trois-Freres, now known as rue Taitbout. He innocently exposed the
address of Paquita Valdes to Laurent, a servant of Marsay, who
artfully tried to obtain it for him. "My name," said the mail-carrier
to the servant, "is written just like _Moineau_ (sparrow)--M-o-i-n-o-t."
"Certainly," replied Laurent. [The Thirteen.]
MOISE, Jew, who was formerly a leader of the _rouleurs_ in the South.
His wife, La Gonore, was a widow in 1830. [Scenes from a Courtesan's
Life.]
MOISE, a Troyes musician, whom Madame Beauvisage thought of employing
in 1839 as the instructor of her daughter, Cecile, at Arcis-sur-Aube.
[The Member for Arcis.]
MOLINEUX (Jean-Baptiste), Parisian landlord, miserly and selfish.
Mesdames Crochard lived in one of his houses between rue du
Tourniquet-Saint-Jean and rue la Tixeranderie, in 1815. Mesdames
Leseigneur de Rouville and Hippolyte Schinner were also his tenants,
at about the same time, on rue de Surene. Jean-Baptiste Molineux lived
on Cour-Batave during the first part of Louis XVIII.'s reign. He then
owned the house next to Cesar Birotteau's shop on rue Saint-Honore.
Molineux was one of the many guests present at the famous ball of
December 17, 1818, and a few months later was the annoying assignee
connected with the perfumer's failure. [A Second Home. The Purse.
Cesar Birotteau.]
MOLLOT, through the influence of his wife, Sophie, appointed clerk to
the justice of the peace at Arcis-sur-Aube; often visited Madame
Marion, and saw at her home Goulard, Beauvisage, Giguet, and Herbelot.
[The Member for Arcis.]
MOLLOT (Madame Sophie), wife of the preceding, a prying, prating
woman, who disturbed herself greatly over Maxime de Trailles during
the electoral campaign in the division of Arcis-sur-Aube, April, 1839.
[The Member for Arcis.]
MOLLOT (Earnestine), daughter of the preceding couple, was, in 1839, a
young girl of marriageable age. [The Member for Arcis.]
MONGENOD, born in 1764; son of a grand council attorney, who left him
an income of five or six thousand. Becoming bankrupt during the
Revolution, he became first a clerk with Frederic Alain, under Bordin,
the solicitor. He was unsuccessful in several ventures: as a
journalist with the "Sentinelle," started or built up by him; as a
musical composer with the "Peruviens," an opera-comique given in 1798
at the Feydau theatre.[*] His marriage and the family expenses
attendant rendered his financial condition more and more embarrassing.
Mongenod had lent money to Frederic Alain, so that he might be present
at the opening performance of the "Marriage de Figaro." He borrowed,
in turn, from Alain a sum of money which he was unable to return at
the time agreed. He set out thereupon for America, made a fortune,
returned January, 1816, and reimbursed Alain. From this time dates the
opening of the celebrated Parisian banking-house of Mongenod & Co. The
firm-name changed to Mongenod & Son, and then to Mongenod Brothers. In
1819 the bankruptcy of the perfumer, Cesar Birotteau, having taken
place, Mongenod became personally interested at the Bourse,[+] in the
affair, negotiating with merchants and discounters. Mongenod died in
1827. [The Seamy Side of History. Cesar Birotteau.]
[*] The Feydau theatre, with its dependencies on the thoroughfare of
the same name, existed in Paris until 1826 on the site now taken
by the rue de la Bourse.
[+] The Bourse temporarily occupied a building on rue Feydau, while
the present palace was building.
MONGENOD (Madame Charlotte), wife of the preceding, in the year 1798
bore up bravely under her poverty, even selling her hair for twelve
francs that her family might have bread. Wealthy, and a widow after
1827, Madame Mongenod remained the chief adviser and support of the
bank, operated in Paris on rue de la Victoire, by her two sons,
Frederic and Louis. [The Seamy Side of History.]
MONGENOD (Frederic), eldest of the preceding couple's three children,
received from his thankful parents the given name of M. Alain and
became, after 1827, the head of his father's banking-house on rue de
la Victoire. His honesty is shown by the character of his patrons,
among whom were the Marquis d'Espard, Charles Mignon de la Bastie, the
Baronne de la Chanterie and Godefroid. [The Commission in Lunacy. The
Seamy Side of History.]
MONGENOD (Louis), younger brother of the preceding, with whom he had
business association on rue de la Victoire, where he was receiving the
prudent advice of his mother, Madame Charlotte Mongenod, when
Godefroid visited him in 1836. [The Seamy Side of History.]
MONGENOD (Mademoiselle), daughter of Frederic and Charlotte Mongenod,
born in 1799; she was offered in marriage, January, 1816, to Frederic
Alain, who would not accept this token of gratitude from the wealthy
Mongenods. Mademoiselle Mongenod married the Vicomte de Fontaine. [The
Seamy Side of History.]
MONISTROL, native of Auvergne, a Parisian broker, towards the last
years of Louis Phillippe's reign, successively on rue de Lappe and the
new Beaumarchais boulevard. He was one of the pioneers in the curio
business, along with the Popinots, Ponses, and the Remonencqs. This
kind of business afterwards developed enormously. [Cousin Pons.]
MONTAURAN (Marquis Alophonse de), was, in the closing years of the
eighteenth century, connected with nearly all of the well-known
Royalist intrigues in France and elsewhere. He frequently visited,
along with Flamet de la Billardiere and the Comte de Fontaine, the
home of Ragon, the perfumer, who was proprietor of the "Reine des
Roses," from which went forth the Royalist correspondence between the
West and Paris. Too young to have been at Versailles, Alphonse de
Montauran had not "the courtly manners for which Lauzun, Adhemar,
Coigny, and so many others were noted." His education was incomplete.
Towards the autumn of 1799 he especially distinguished himself. His
attractive appearance, his youth, and a mingled gallantry and
authoritativeness, brought him to the notice of Louis XVIII., who
appointed him governor of Bretagne, Normandie, Maine and Anjou. Under
the name of Gras, having become commander of the Chouans, in
September, the marquis conducted them in an attack against the Blues
on the plateau of La Pelerine, which extends between Fougeres,
Ille-et-Vilaine, and Ernee, Mayenne. Madame du Gua did not leave him
even then. Alphonse de Montauran sought the hand of Mademoiselle
d'Uxelles, after leaving this, the last mistress of Charette.
Nevertheless, he fell in love with Marie de Verneuil, the spy, who
had entered Bretagne with the express intention of delivering him to
the Blues. He married her in Fougeres, but the Republicans murdered
him and his wife a few hours after their marriage. [Cesar Birotteau.
The Chouans.]
MONTAURAN (Marquise Alphonse de), wife of the preceding; born
Marie-Nathalie de Verneuil at La Chanterie near Alencon, natural
daughter of Mademoiselle Blanche de Casteran, who was abbess of
Notre-Dame de Seez at the time of her death, and of Victor-Amedee,
Duc de Verneuil, who owned her and left her an inheritance, at the
expense of her legitimate brother. A lawsuit between brother and
sister resulted. Marie-Nathalie lived then with her guardian, the
Marechal Duc de Lenoncourt, and was supposed to be his mistress.
After vainly trying to bring him to the point of marriage she was
cast off by him. She passed through divers political and social paths
during the Revolutionary period. After having shone in court circles
she had Danton for a lover. During the autumn of 1799 Fouche hired
Marie de Verneuil to betray Alphonse de Montauran, but the lovely spy
and the chief of the Chouans fell in love with each other. They were
united in marriage a few hours before their death towards the end of
that year, 1799, in which Jacobites and Chouans fought on Bretagne
soil. Madame de Montauran was attired in her husband's clothes when a
Republican bullet killed her. [The Chouans.]
MONTAURAN (Marquis de), younger brother of Alphonse de Montauran, was
in London, in 1799, when he received a letter from Colonel Hulot
containing Alphonse's last wishes. Montauran complied with them;
returned to France, but did not fight against his country. He kept his
wealth through the intervention of Colonel Hulot and finally served
the Bourbons in the gendarmerie, where he himself became a colonel.
When Louis Philippe came to the throne, Montauran believed an absolute
retirement necessary. Under the name of M. Nicolas, he became one of
the Brothers of Consolation, who met in Madame de la Chanterie's home
on rue Chanoinesse. He saved M. Auguste de Mergi from being
prosecuted. In 1841 Montauran was seen on rue du Montparnasse, where
he assisted at the funeral of the elder Hulot. [The Chouans. The Seamy
Side of History. Cousin Betty.]
MONTBAURON (Marquise de), Raphael de Valentin's aunt, died on the
scaffold during the Revolution. [The Magic Skin.]
MONTCORNET (Marechal, Comte de), Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor,
Commander of Saint-Louis, born in 1774, son of a cabinet-maker in the
Faubourg Saint-Antoine, "child of Paris," mingled in almost all of the
wars in the latter part of the eighteenth and beginning of the
nineteenth centuries. He commanded in Spain and in Pomerania, and was
colonel of cuirassiers in the Imperial Guard. He took the place of his
friend, Martial de la Roche-Hugon in the affections of Madame de
Vaudremont. The Comte de Montcornet was in intimate relations with
Madame or Mademoiselle Fortin, mother of Valerie Crevel. Towards 1815,
Montcornet bought, for about a hundred thousand francs, the Aigues,
Sophie Laguerre's old estate, situated between Conches and Blangy,
near Soulanges and Ville-aux-Fayes. The Restoration allured him. He
wished to have his origin overlooked, to gain position under the new
regime, to efface all memory of the expressive nick-name received from
the Bourgogne peasantry, who called him the "Upholsterer." In the
early part of 1819 he married Virginie de Troisville. His property,
increased by an income of sixty thousand francs, allowed him to live
in state. In winter he occupied his beautiful Parisian mansion on rue
Neuve-des-Mathurins, now called rue des Mathurins, and visited many
places, especially the homes of Raoul Nathan and of Esther Gobseck.
During the summer the count, then mayor of Blangy, lived at Aigues.
His unpopularity and the hatred of the Gaubertins, Rigous, Sibilets,
Soudrys, Tonsards, and Fourchons rendered his sojourn there
unbearable, and he decided to dispose of the estate. Montcornet,
although of violent disposition and weak character, could not avoid
being a subordinate in his own family. The monarchy of 1830
overwhelmed Montcornet, then lieutenant-general unattached, with
gifts, and gave a division of the army into his command. The count,
now become marshal, was a frequent visitor at the Vaudeville.[*]
Montcornet died in 1837. He never acknowledged his daughter, Valerie
Crevel, and left her nothing. He is probably buried in Pere-Lachaise
cemetery, where a monument was to be raised for him under W.
Steinbock's supervision. Marechal de Montcornet's motto was: "Sound
the Charge." [Domestic Peace. Lost Illusions. A Distinguished
Provincial at Paris. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. The Peasantry. A
Man of Business. Cousin Betty.]
[*] A Parisian theatre, situated until 1838 on rue de Chartres. Rue de
Chartres, which also disappeared, although later, was located
between the Palais-Royal square and the Place du Carrousel.