PIQUOIZEAU, porter of Frederic de Nucingen, when Rodolphe Castanier
was cashier at the baron's bank. [Melmoth Reconciled.]
PLAISIR, an "illustrious hair-dresser" of Paris; in September, 1816,
on the rue Taitbout, he waited on Caroline Crochard de Bellefeuille,
at that time mistress of the Comte de Granville. [A Second Home.]
PLANCHETTE, an eminent professor of mechanics, consulted by Raphael de
Valentin on the subject of the wonderful piece of shagreen that the
young man had in his possession; he took him to Spieghalter, the
mechanician, and to Baron Japhet, the chemist, who tried in vain to
stretch this skin. The failure of science in this effort was a cause
of amazement to Planchette and Japhet. "They were like Christians come
from the tomb without finding a God in heaven." Planchette was a tall,
thin man, and a sort of poet always in deep contemplation. [The Magic
Skin.]
PLANTIN, a Parisian publicist, was, in 1834, editor of a review, and
aspired to the position of master of requests in the Council of State,
when Blondet recommended him to Raoul Nathan, who was starting a great
newspaper. [A Daughter of Eve.]
PLISSOUD, like Brunet, court-crier at Soulanges (Bourgogne), and
afterwards Brunet's unfortunate competitor. He belonged, during the
Restoration, to the "second" society of his village, witnessed his
exclusion from the "first" by reason of the misconduct of his wife,
who was born Euphemie Wattebled. Being a gambler and a drinker,
Plissoud did not save any money; for, though he was appointed to many
offices, they were all lacking in lucrativeness; he was insurance
agent, as well as agent for a society that insured against the chances
for conscription. Being an enemy of Soudry's party, Maitre Plissoud
might readily have served, especially for pecuniary considerations,
the interests of Montcornet, proprietor at Aigues. [The Peasantry.]
PLISSOUD (Madame Euphemie), wife of the preceding and daughter of
Wattebled; ruled the "second" society of Soulanges, as Madame Soudry
did the first, and though married to Plissoud, lived with Lupin as if
she were his wife. [The Peasantry.]
POIDEVIN, was, in the month of November, 1806, second clerk of Maitre
Bordin, a Paris attorney. [A Start in Life.]
POINCET, an old and unfortunate public scribe, and interpreter at the
Palais de Justice of Paris; about 1815, he went with Christemio to see
Henri de Marsay, in order to translate the words of the messenger of
Paquita Valdes. [The Thirteen.]
POIREL (Abbe), a priest of Tours; advanced to the canonry at the time
that Monsieur Troubert and Mademoiselle Gamard persecuted Abbe
Francois Birotteau. [The Vicar of Tours.]
POIRET, the elder, born at Troyes. He was the son of a clerk and of a
woman whose wicked ways were notorious and who died in a hospital.
Going to Paris with a younger brother, they became clerks in the
Department of Finance under Robert Lindet; there he met Antoine, the
office boy; he left the department, in 1816, with a retiring pension,
and was replaced by Saillard. [The Government Clerks.] Afflicted with
cretinism he remained a bachelor because of the horror inspired by the
memory of his mother's immoral life; he was a confirmed _idemiste_,
repeating, with slight variation, the words of those with whom he was
conversing. Poiret established himself on the rue Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve,
at Madame Vauquer's private boarding-house; he occupied the second story
at the widow's house, became intimate with Christine-Michelle Michonneau
and married her, when Horace Bianchon demanded the exclusion of this
young woman from the house for denouncing Jacques Collin (1819). [Father
Goriot.] Poiret often afterwards met M. Clapart, an old comrade whom he
had found again on the rue de la Cerisaie; had apartments on the rue des
Poules and lost his health. [A Start in Life. Scenes from a Courtesan's
Life.] He died during the reign of Louis Philippe. [The Middle Classes.]
POIRET (Madame), wife of the preceding, born Christine-Michelle
Michonneau, in 1779, doubtless had a stormy youth. Pretending to have
been persecuted by the heirs of a rich old man for whom she had cared,
Christine-Michelle Michonneau went, during the Restoration, to board
with Madame Vauquer, the third floor of the house on rue
Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve; made Poiret her squire; made a deal with
Bibi-Lupin--Gondureau--to betray Jacques Collin, one of Madame Vauquer's
guests. Having thus sated her cupidity and her bitter feelings,
Mademoiselle Michonneau was forced to leave the house on rue
Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve, at the formal demand of Bianchon, another of the
guests. [Father Goriot.] Accompanied by Poiret, whom she afterwards
married, she moved to the rue des Poules and rented furnished rooms.
Being summoned before the examining magistrate Camusot (May, 1830), she
recognized Jacques Collin in the pseudo Abbe Carlos Herrera. [Scenes
from a Courtesan's Life.] Ten years later, Madame Poiret, now a widow,
was living on a corner of the rue des Postes, and numbered Cerizet
among her lodgers. [The Middle Classes.]
POIRET, the younger, brother of Poiret the elder, and brother-in-law
of the preceding, born in 1771; had the same start, the same
instincts, and the same weakness of intellect as the elder; ran the
same career, overwhelmed with work under Lindet; remained at the
Treasury as copying clerk ten years longer than Poiret the elder, was
also book-keeper for two merchants, one of whom was Camusot of the
Cocon d'Or; he lived on the rue du Martroi; dined regularly at the
Veau qui Tette, on the Place du Chatelet; bought his hats of Tournan,
on rue Saint-Martin; and, a victim of J.-J. Bixiou's practical jokes,
he wound up by being business clerk in the office of Xavier Rabourdin.
Being retired on January 1, 1825, Poiret the younger counted on living
at Madame Vauquer's boarding-house. [The Government Clerks.]
POLISSARD, appraiser of the wood of the Ronquerolles estate in 1821;
at this time, probably on the recommendation of Gaubertin, he employed
as agent for the wood-merchant, Vaudoyer, a peasant of Ronquerolles,
who had shortly before been discharged from the post of forest-keeper
of Blangy (Bourgogne). [The Peasantry.]
POLLET, book-publisher in Paris, in 1821; a rival of Doguereau;
published "Leonide ou La Vieille de Suresnes," a romance by Victor
Ducange; had business relations with Porchon and Vidal; was at their
establishment, when Lucien de Rubempre presented to them his "Archer
de Charles IX." [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
POMBRETON (Marquis de), a genuine anomaly; lieutenant of the black
musketeers under the old regime, friend of the Chevalier de Valois,
who prided himself on having lent him for assistance in leaving the
country, twelve hundred pistoles. Pombreton returned this loan
afterwards, almost beyond a question of doubt, but the fact of the
case always remained unknown, for M. de Valois, an unusually
successful gamester, was interested in spreading a report of the
return of this loan, to shadow the resources that he derived from the
gaming table; and so five years later, about 1821, Etienne Lousteau
declared that the Pombreton succession and the Maubreuil[*] affair
were among the most profitable "stereotypes" of journalism. Finally,
Le Courrier de l'Orne of M. du Bousquier published, about 1830, these
lines: "A certificate for an income of a thousand francs a year will
be awarded to the person who can show the existence of a M. de
Pombreton before, during, or after the emigration." [Lost Illusions. A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris. Jealousies of a Country Town.]
[*] Maubreuil died at the end of the Second Empire.