PORRIQUET, an elderly student of the classics, was teacher of Raphael
de Valentin, whom he had as a pupil in the sixth class, in the third
class, and in rhetoric. Retired from the university without a pension
after the Revolution of July, on suspicion of Carlism, seventy years
of age, without means, and with a nephew whose expenses he was paying
at the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, he went to solicit the aid of his
dear "foster-child," to obtain the position of principal of a
provincial school, and suffered rough treatment at the hands of the
_carus alumnus_, every act of whose shortened Valentin's existence.
[The Magic Skin.]
PORTA (Luigi), born in 1793, strikingly like his sister Nina. He was
the last member that remained, at the beginning of the nineteenth
century, of the Corsican family of Porta, by reason of a bloody
vendetta between his kinspeople and the Piombos. Luigi Porta alone was
saved, by Elisa Vanni, according to Giacomo; he lived at Genoa, where
he enlisted, and found himself, when quite young, in the affair of the
Beresina. Under the Restoration he was already an officer of high
rank; he put an end to his military career and was hunted by the
authorities at the same time as Labedoyere. Luiga Porta found Paris a
safe place of refuge. Servin, the Bonapartist painter, who had opened
a studio of drawing, where he taught his art to young ladies,
concealed the officer. One of his pupils, Ginevra di Piombo,
discovered the outlaw's hiding-place, aided him, fell in love with
him, made him fall in love with her, and married him, despite the
opposition of her father, Bartolomeo di Piombo. Luigi Porta chose as a
witness, when he was married, his former comrade, Louis Vergniaud,
also known to Hyacinthe Chabert. He lived from hand to mouth by doing
secretary's work, lost his wife, and, crushed by poverty, went to tell
the Piombos of her death. He died almost immediately after her (1820).
[The Vendetta.]
PORTA (Madame Luigi), wife of the preceding, born Ginevra di Piombo
about 1790; shared, in Corsica as in Paris, the stormy life of her
father and mother, whose adored child she was. In Servin's, the
painter's studio, where with her talent she shone above the whole
class, Ginevra knew Mesdames Tiphaine and Camusot de Marville, at that
time Mesdemoiselles Roguin and Thirion. Defended by Laure alone, she
endured the cruelly planned persecution of Amelie Thirion, a Royalist,
and an envious woman, especially when the favorite drawing pupil
discovered and aided Luigi Porta, whom she married shortly afterwards,
against the will of Bartolomeo di Piombo. Madame Porta lived most
wretchedly; she resorted to Magus to dispose of copies of paintings at
a meagre price; brought a son into the world, Barthelemy; could not
nurse him, lost him, and died of grief and exhaustion in the year
1820. [The Vendetta.]
PORTAIL (Du), name assumed by Corentin, when as "prefect of secret
police of diplomacy and political affairs," he lived on the rue
Honore-Chevalier, in the reign of Louis Philippe. [The Government
Clerks.]
PORTENDUERE (Comte Luc-Savinien de), grandson of Admiral de
Portenduere, born about 1788, represented the elder branch of the
Portendueres, of whom Madame de Portenduere and her son Savinien
represented the younger branch. Under the Restoration, being the
husband of a rich wife, the father of three children and member for
Isere, he lived, according to the season of the year, in the chateau
of Portenduere or the Portenduere mansion, which were situated, the
one in Dauphine, and the other in Paris, and extended no aid to the
Vicomte Savinien, though he was harassed by his creditors. [Ursule
Mirouet.]
PORTENDUERE (Madame de,) born Kergarouet, a Breton, proud of her noble
descent and of her race. She married a post-captain, nephew of the
famous Admiral de Portenduere, the rival of the Suffrens, the
Kergarouets, and the Simeuses; bore him a son, Savinien; she survived
her husband; was on intimate terms with the Rouvres, her country
neighbors; for, having but little means, she lived, during the
Restoration, in the little village of Nemours, on the rue des
Bourgeois, where Denis Minoret was domiciled. Savinien's prodigal
dissipation and the long opposition to his marriage to Ursule Mirouet
saddened, or at least distrubed, Madame de Portenduere's last days.
[Ursule Mirouet.]
PORTENDUERE (Vicomte Savinien de), son of preceding, born in 1806;
cousin of the Comte de Portenduere, who was descended from the famous
admiral of this name, and great nephew of Vice-Admiral Kergarouet.
During the Restoration he left the little town of Nemours and his
mother's society to go and try the life in Paris, where, in spite of
his relationship with the Fontaines, he fell in love with Emilie de
Fontaine, who did not reciprocate his love, but married first Admiral
de Kergarouet, and afterwards the Marquis de Vandenesse. [The Ball at
Sceaux.] Savinien also became enamored of Leontine de Serizy; was on
intimate terms with Marsay, Rastignac, Rubempre, Maxime de Trailles,
Blondet and Finot; soon lost a considerable sum of money, and, laden
with debts, became a boarder at Sainte-Pelagie; he then received
Marsay, Rastignac and Rubempre, the latter wishing to relieve his
distress, much to the amusement of Florine, afterwards Madame Nathan.
[Secrets from a Courtesan's Life.] Urged by Ursule Mirouet, his ward,
Denis Minoret, who was one of Savinien's neighbors at Nemours, raised
the sum necessary to liquidate young Portenduere's debt, and freed him
of its burden. The viscount enlisted in the marine service, and
retired with the rank and insignia of an ensign, two years after the
Revolution of July, and five years before being able to marry Ursule
Mirouet. [Ursule Mirouet.] The Vicomte and Vicomtesse de Portenduere
made a charming couple, recalling two other happy families of Paris,
the Langinskis and the Ernest de la Basties. In 1840 they lived on the
Rue Saint-Peres, became the intimate friends of the Calyste du
Guenics, and shared their box at the Italiens. [Beatrix.]
PORTENDUERE (Vicomtesse Savinien de), wife of the preceding, born in
1814. The orphan daughter of an unfortunate artist, Joseph Mirouet,
the military musician, and Dinah Grollman, a German; natural
granddaughter of Valentine Mirouet, the famous harpsichordist, and
consequently niece of the rich Dr. Denis Minoret; she was adopted by
the last named, and became his ward, so much the more adored as, in
appearance and character, she recalled Madame Denis Minoret, deceased.
Ursule's girlhood and youth, passed at Nemours, were marked
alternately by joy and bitterness. Her guardian's servants, as well as
his intimate friends, overwhelmed her with indications of interest. A
distinguished performer, the future viscountess received lessons in
harmony from Schmucke, the pianist, who was summoned from Paris. Being
of a religious nature, she converted Denis Minoret, who was an
adherent of Voltaire's teachings; but the influence she acquired over
him called forth against the young girl the fierce animosity of
Minoret-Levrault, Massin, Cremiere, Dionis and Goupil, who, foreseeing
that she would be the doctor's residuary legatee, abused her,
slandered her, and persecuted her most cruelly. Ursule was also
scornfully treated by Madame de Portenduere, with whose son, Savinien,
she was in love. Later, the relenting of Minoret-Levrault and Goupil,
shown in various ways, and her marriage to the Vicomte de Portenduere,
at last approved by his mother, offered Ursule some consolation for
the loss of Denis Minoret. [Ursule Mirouet.] Paris adopted her, and
made much of her; she made a glorious success in society as a singer.
[Another Study of Woman.] Amid her own great happiness, the
viscountess showed herself the devoted friend, in 1840, of Madame
Calyste du Guenic, just after her confinement, who was almost dying of
grief over the treachery of her husband. [Beatrix.]
POSTEL was pupil and clerk of Chardon the druggist of L'Houmeau, a
suburb of Angouleme; succeeded Chardon after his death; was kind to
his former patron's unfortunate family; desired, but without success,
to marry Eve, who was afterwards Madame David Sechard, and became the
husband of Leonie Marron, by whom he had several sickly children.
[Lost Illusions.]
POSTEL (Madame), wife of the preceding, born Leonie Marron, daughter
of Doctor Marron, a practitioner in Marsac (Charente); through
jealousy she was disagreeable to the beautiful Madame Sechard; through
cupidity she fawned upon the Abbe Marron, from whom she hoped to
inherit. [Lost Illusions.]
POTASSE, sobriquet of the Protez family, manufacturers of chemicals,
as associates of Cochin; known by Minard, Phellion, Thuiller and
Colleville, types of Parisians of the middle class, about 1840. [The
Middle Classes.]
POTEL, former officer of the Imperial forces, retired, during the
Restoration, to Issoudun, with Captain Renard; he took sides with
Maxence Gilet against the officers, Mignonnet and Carpentier, declared
enemies of the chief of the "Knights of Idlesse." [A Bachelor's
Establishment.]
POULAIN (Madame), born in 1778. She married a trousers-maker, who died
in very reduced circumstances; for from the sale of his business she
received only about eleven hundred francs for income. She lived then,
for twenty years, on work which some fellow-countrymen of the late
Poulain gave to her, and the meagre profits of which afforded her the
opportunity of starting in a professional career her son, the future
physician, whom she dreamed of seeing gain a rich marriage settlement.
Madame Poulain, though deprived of an education, was very tactful, and
she was in the habit of retiring when patients came to consult her
son. This she did when Madame Cibot called at the office on rue
d'Orleans, late in 1844 or early in 1845. [Cousin Pons.]
POULAIN (Doctor), born about 1805, friendless and without fortune;
strove in vain to gain the patronage of the Paris "four hundred" after
1835. He kept constantly near him his mother, widow of a
trousers-maker. As a poor neighborhood physician he afterwards lived
with his mother on rue d'Orleans at the Marais. He became acquainted
with Madame Cibot, door-keeper at a house on rue de Normandie, the
proprietor of which, C.-J. Pillerault, uncle of the Popinots and
ordinarily under Horace Bianchon's treatment, he cured. By Madame
Cibot, Poulain was called also to attend Pons in a case of
inflammation of the liver. Aided by his friend Fraisier, he arranged
matters to suit the Camusots de Marville, the rightful heirs of the
musician. Such a service had its reward. In 1845, following the death
of Pons, and that of his residuary legatee, Schmucke, soon after,
Poulain was given an appointment in the Quinze-Vingts hospital as head
physician of this great infirmary. [Cousin Pons.]
POUPART, or Poupard, from Arcis-sur-Aube, husband of Gothard's sister;
one of the heroes of the Simeuse affair; proprietor of the Mulet
tavern. Being devoted to the interest of the Cadignans, the
Cinq-Cygnes and the Hauterserres, in 1839, during the electoral
campaign, he gave lodging to Maxime de Trailles, a government envoy,
and to Paradis, the count's servant. [The Member for Arcis.]
POUTIN, colonel of the Second lancers, an acquaintance of Marechal
Cottin, minister of war in 1841, to whom he told that many years
before this one of his men at Severne, having stolen money to buy his
mistress a shawl, repented of his deed and ate broken glass so as to
escape dishonor. The Prince of Wissembourg told this story to Hulot
d'Ervy, while upbraiding him for his dishonesty. [Cousin Betty.]
PRELARD (Madame), born in 1808, pretty, at first mistress of the
assassin Auguste, who was executed. She remained constantly in the
clutches of Jacques Collin, and was married by Jacqueline Collin, aunt
of the pseudo-Herrera, to the head of a Paris hardware-house on Quai
aux Fleurs, the Bouclier d'Achille. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
PREVOST (Madame), well-known florist, whose store still remains in the
Palais-Royal. Early in 1830, Frederic de Nucingen bought a ten louis
bouquet there for Esther van Gobseck. [Scenes from a Courtesan's
Life.]
PRIEUR (Madame), laundress at Angouleme, for whom Mademoiselle
Chardon, afterwards Madame David Sechard, worked. [Lost Illusions.]
PRON (Monsieur and Madame), both teachers. M. Pron taught rhetoric in
1840 at a college in Paris directed by priests. Madame Pron, born
Barniol, and therefore sister-in-law of Madame Barniol-Phellion,
succeeded Mesdemoiselles La Grave, about the same time, as director of
their young ladies' boarding-school. M. and Madame Pron lived in the
Quartier Saint-Jacques, and frequently visited the Thuilliers. [The
Middle Classes.]
PROTEZ AND CHIFFREVILLE, manufactured chemicals; sold a hundred
thousand francs' worth to the inventor, Balthazar Claes, about 1812.
[The Quest of the Absolute.] On account of their friendly relations
with Cochin, of the Treasury, all the Protezes and the Chiffrevilles
were invited to the celebrated ball given by Cesar Birotteau, Sunday,
December 17, 1818, on rue Saint Honore. [Cesar Birotteau.]
PROUST, clerk to Maitre Bordin, a Paris attorney, in November, 1806;
this fact became known a few years later by Godeschal, Oscar Husson
and Marest, when they reviewed the books of the attorneys who had been
employed in Bordin's office. [A Start in Life.]
PROVENCAL (Le), born in 1777, undoubtedly in the vicinity of Arles. A
common soldier during the wars at the close of the eighteenth century,
he took part in the expedition of General Desaix into upper Egypt.
Having been taken prisoner by the Maugrabins he escaped only to lose
himself in the desert, where he found nothing to eat but dates.
Reduced to the dangerous friendship of a female panther, he tamed her,
singularly enough, first by his thoughtless caresses, afterwards by
premeditation. He ironically named her Mignonne, as he had previously
called Virginie, one of his mistresses. Le Provencal finally killed
his pet, not without regret, having been moved to great terror by the
wild animal's fierce love. About the same time the soldier was
discoverd by some of his own company. Thirty years afterwards, an aged
ruin of the Imperial wars, his right leg gone, he was one day visiting
the menagerie of Martin the trainer, and recalled his adventure for
the delectation of the young spectator. [A Passion in the Desert.]
Q
QUELUS (Abbe), priest of Tours or of its vicinity, called frequently
on the Chessels, neighbors of the Mortsaufs, at the beginning of the
century. [The Lily of the Valley.]
QUEVERDO, faithful steward of the immense domain of Baron de Macumer,
in Sardinia. After the defeat of the Liberals in Spain, in 1823, he
was told to look out for his master's safety. Some fishers for coral
agreed to pick him up on the coast of Andalusia and set him off at
Macumer. [Letters of Two Brides.]
QUILLET (Francois), office-boy employed by Raoul Nathan's journal on
rue Feydau, Paris, 1835. He aided his employer by lending him the name
of Francois Quillet. Raoul, in great despair, while occupying a
furnished room on rue du Mail, threw several creditors off his track
by the use of this assumed name. [A Daughter of Eve.]
R
RABOUILLEUSE (La), name assumed by Flore Brazier, who became in turn
Madame Jean-Jacques Rouget and Madame Philippe Bridau. (See this last
name.)
RABOURDIN (Xavier), born in 1784; his father was unknown to him. His
mother, a beautiful and fastidious woman, who lived in luxury, left
him a penniless orphan of sixteen. At this time he left the Lycee
Napoleon and became a super-numerary clerk in the Treasury Department.
He was soon promoted, becoming second head clerk at twenty-two and
head clerk at twenty-five. An unknown, but influential friend, was
responsible for this progress, and also gave him an introduction into
the home of M. Leprince, a wealthy widower, who had formerly been an
auctioneer. Rabourdin met, loved and married this man's only daughter.
Beginning with this time, when his influential friend probably died,
Rabourdin saw the end of his own rapid progress. Despite his faithful,
intelligent efforts, he occupied at forty the same position. In 1824
the death of M. Flamet de la Billardiere left open the place of
division chief. This office, to which Rabourdin had long aspired, was
given to the incapable Baudoyer, who had been at the head of a bureau,
through the influence of money and the Church. Disgusted, Rabourdin
sent in his resignation. He had been responsible for a rather
remarkable plan for executive and social reform, and this possibly
contributed to his overthrow. During his career as a minister
Rabourdin lived on rue Duphot. He had by his wife two children,
Charles, born in 1815, and a daughter, born two years later. About
1830 Rabourdin paid a visit to the Bureau of Finances, where he saw
once more his former pages, nephews of Antoine, who had retired from
service by that time. From these he learned that Colleville and
Baudoyer were tax-collectors in Paris. [The Government Clerks.] Under
the Empire he was a guest at the evening receptions given by M.
Guillaume, the cloth-dealer of rue Saint-Denis. [At the Sign of the
Cat and Racket.] Later he and his wife were invited to attend the
famous ball tendered by Cesar Birotteau, December 17, 1818. [Cesar
Birotteau.] In 1840, being still a widower, Rabourdin was one of the
directors of a proposed railway. At this time he began to lodge in a
house on the Place de la Madeleine, which had been recently bought by
the Thuilliers, whom he had known in the Bureau of Finance. [The
Middle Classes.]
RABOURDIN (Madame), born Celestine Leprince, in 1796; beautiful, tall
and of good figure; reared by an artistic mother; a painter and a good
musician; spoke many tongues and even had some knowledge of science.
She was married when very young through the instrumentality of her
father, who was then a widower. Her reception-rooms were not open to
Jean-Jacques Bixiou, but she was frequently visited by the poet
Canalis, the painter Schinner, Doctor Bianchon, who was especially
fond of her company; Lucien de Rubempre, Octave de Camps, the Comte de
Granville, the Vicomte de Fontaine, F. du Bruel, Andoche Finot,
Derville, Chatelet, then deputy; Ferdinand du Tillet, Paul de
Mannerville, and the Vicomte de Portenduere. A rival, Madame
Colleville, had dubbed Madame Rabourdin "The Celimene of rue Duphot."
Having been over-indulged by her mother, Celestine Leprince thought
herself entitled to a man of high rank. Consequently, although M.
Rabourdin pleased her, she hesitated at first about marrying him, as
she did not consider him of high enough station. This did not prevent
her loving him sincerely. Although she was very extravagant, she
remained always strictly faithful to him. By listening to the demands
of Chardin des Lupeaulx, secretary-general in the Department of
Finance, who was in love with her, she might have obtained for her
husband the position of division chief. Madame Rabourdin's reception
days were Wednesdays and Fridays. She died in 1840. [The Commission in
Lunacy. The Government Clerks.]
RABOURDIN (Charles), law-student, son of the preceding couple, born in
1815, lived from 1836 to 1838 in a house on rue Corneille, Paris.
There he became acquainted with Z. Marcas, helped him in his distress,
attended him on his death-bed, and, with Justi, a medical student, as
his only companion, followed the body of this great, but unknown man
to the beggar's grave in Montparnasse cemetery. After having told some
friends the short, but pitiful story of Z. Marcas, Charles Rabourdin,
following the advice of the deceased, left the country, and sailed
from Havre for the Malayan islands; for he had not been able to gain a
foothold in France. [Z. Marcas.]