PIMENTEL (Marquis and Marquise de), enjoyed extended influence during
the Restoration, not only with the society element of Paris, but
especially in the department of Charente, where they spent their
summers. They were reputed to be the wealthiest land-owners around
Angouleme, were on intimate terms with their peers, the Rastignacs,
together with whom they composed the shining lights of the Bargeton
circle. [Lost Illusions.]
PINAUD (Jacques), a "poor linen-merchant," the name under which M.
d'Orgemont, a wealthy broker of Fougeres, tried to conceal his
identity from the Chouans, in 1799, to avoid being a victim of their
robbery. [The Chouans.]
PINGRET, uncle of Monsieur and Madame des Vauneaulx; a miser, who
lived in an isolated house in the Faubourg Saint-Etienne, near
Limoges; robbed and murdered, with his servant Jeanne Malassis, one
night in March, 1829, by Jean-Francois Tascheron. [The Country
Parson.]
PINSON, long a famous Parisian restaurant-keeper of the rue de
l'Ancienne-Comedie, at whose establishment Theodose de la Peyrade,
reduced, in the time of Louis Philippe, to the uttermost depths of
poverty, dined, at the expense of Cerizet and Dutocq, at a cost of
forty-seven francs; there also these three men concluded a compact to
further their mutual interests. [The Middle Classes.]
PIOMBO (Baron Bartolomeo di), born in 1738, a fellow-countryman and
friend of Napoleon Bonaparte, whose mother he had protected during the
Corsican troubles. After a terrible vendetta, carried out in Corsica
against all the Portas except one, he had to leave his country, and
went in great poverty to Paris with his family. Through the
intercession of Lucien Bonaparte, he saw the First Consul (October,
1800) and obtained property, titles and employment. Piombo was not
without gratitude; the friend of Daru, Drouot, and Carnot, he gave
evidence of devotion to his benefactor until the latter's death. The
return of the Bourbons did not deprive him entirely of the resources
that he had acquired. For his Corsican property Bartolomeo received of
Madame Letitia Bonaparte a sum which allowed him to purchase and
occupy the Portenduere mansion. The marriage of his adored daughter,
Ginevra, who, against her father's will, became the wife of the last
of the Portas, was a source of vexation and grief to Piombo, that
nothing could diminish. [The Vendetta.]
PIOMBO (Baronne Elisa di), born in 1745, wife of the preceding and
mother of Madame Porta, was unable to obtain from Bartolomeo the
pardon of Ginevra, whom he would not see after her marriage. [The
Vendetta.]