CYDALISE, magnificent woman of Valognes, Normandy, who launched out in
Paris in 1840 to make capital out of her beauty. Born in 1824, she was
then only sixteen. She served as an instrument for Montes the
Brazilian who, in order to avenge himself on Mme. Marneffe--now Mme.
Crevel--inoculated the young girl with a terrible disease through one
of his negroes. He in turn obtained it from Cydalise and transmitted
it to the faithless Valerie who died as also did her husband. Cydalise
probably accompanied Montes to Brazil, the only place where this
horrible ailment is curable. [Cousin Betty.]
D
DALLOT, mason in the suburbs of l'Isle-Adam in the early days of the
Restoration, who was to marry a peasant woman of small wit named
Genevieve. After having courted her for the sake of her little
property, he deserted her for a woman of more means and also of a
sharper intelligence. This separation was so cruel a blow to Genevieve
that she became idiotic. [Farewell.]
DANNEPONT, alias La Pouraille, one of the assassins of M. and Mme.
Crottat. Imprisoned for his crime in 1830 at the Conciergerie, and
under sentence of capital punishment; an escaped convict who had been
sought on account of other crimes by the police for five years past.
Born about 1785 and sent to the galleys at the age of nineteen. There
he had known Jacques Collin--Vautrin. Riganson, Selerier and he formed
a sort of triumvirate. A short, skinny, dried-up fellow with a face
like a marten. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
DAUPHIN, pastry-cook of Arcis-sur-Aube; well-known Republican. In
1830, in an electoral caucus, he questioned Sallenauve, a candidate
for deputy, about Danton. [The Member for Arcis.]
DAURIAT, editor and bookman of Paris, on Palais-Royale, Galleries de
Bois during the Restoration. He purchased for three thousand francs a
collection of sonnets "Marguerites" from Lucien de Rubempre, who had
scored a book of Nathan's. But he did not publish the sonnets until a
long time afterwards, and with a success that the author declared to
be posthumous. Dauriat's shop was the rendezvous of writers and
politicians of note at this time. [A Distinguished Provincial at
Paris. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] Dauriat, who was Canalis'
publisher, was asked in 1829 by Modeste Mignon for personal
information concerning the poet, to which he made a rather ironical
reply. In speaking of celebrated authors Dauriat was wont to say, "I
have made Canalis. I have made Nathan." [Modeste Mignon.]
DAVID (Madame), woman living in the outskirts of Brives, who died of
fright on account of the Chauffeurs, time of the Directory. [The
Country Parson.]
DELBECQ, secretary and steward of Comte Ferraud during the
Restoration. Retired attorney. A capable, ambitious man in the service
of the countess, whom he aided to rid herself of Colonel Chabert when
that officer claimed his former wife. [Colonel Chabert.]
DENISART, name assumed by Cerizet.
DERVILLE, attorney at Paris, rue Vivienne, from 1819 to 1840. Born in
1794, the seventh child of an insignificant bourgeois of Noyon. In
1816 he was only second clerk and dwelt on rue des Gres, having for a
neighbor the well-known usurer Gobseck, who later advanced him one
hundred and fifty thousand francs at 15 per cent., with which he
purchased the practice of his patron, a man of pleasure now somewhat
short of funds. Through Gobseck he met his future wife, Jenny Malvaut;
through the same man he learned the Restaud secrets. In the winter of
1829-1830 he told of their troubles to the Vicomtesse de Grandlieu.
Derville had re-established the fortune of the feminine representative
of the Grandlieu's younger branch, at the time of the Bourbon's
re-entry, and therefore was on a friendly footing at her home.
[Gobseck.] He had been a clerk at Bordin's. [A Start in Life. The
Gondreville Mystery.] He was attorney for Colonel Chabert who sought
his conjugal rights with Comtesse Ferraud. He became keenly interested
in the old officer, aiding him and being greatly grieved when, some
years later, he found him plunged into idiocy in the Bicetre hospital.
[Colonel Chabert.] Derville was also attorney for Comte de Serizy,
Mme. de Nucingen and the Ducs de Grandlieu and de Chaulieu, whose
entire confidence he possessed. In 1830, under the name of Saint-
Denis, he and Corentin inquired of the Sechards at Angouleme
concerning the real resources of Lucien de Rubempre. [Father Goriot.
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
DERVILLE (Madame), born Jenny Malvaut; wife of Derville the attorney;
young Parisian girl, though born in the country. In 1826 she lived
alone, but maintaining a virtuous life, supported by her work. She was
on the fifth floor of a gloomy house on rue Montmartre, where Gobseck
had called to collect a note signed by her. He pointed her out to
Derville, who married her without a dowry. Later she inherited from an
uncle, a farmer who had become wealthy, seventy thousand francs with
which she aided her husband to cancel his debt with Gobseck.
[Gobseck.] Being anxious for an invitation to the ball given by
Birotteau, she paid a rather unexpected visit to the perfumer's wife.
She made much of the latter and of Mlle. Birotteau, and was invited
with her husband to the festivities. It appears that some years before
her marriage she had worked as dressmaker for the Birotteaus. [Cesar
Birotteau.]
DESCOINGS (Monsieur and Madame), father-in-law and mother-in-law of
Dr. Rouget of Issoudun. Dealers in wool, acting as selling agents for
owners, and buying agents for fleece merchants of Berry. They also
bought state lands. Rich and miserly. Died during the Republic within
two years of each other and before 1799. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
DESCOINGS, son of the preceding; younger brother of Mme. Rouget, the
doctor's wife; grocer at Paris, on rue Saint-Honore, not far from
Robespierre's quarters. Descoings had married for love the widow of
Bixiou, his predecessor. She was twelve years his senior but well
preserved and "plump as a thrush after harvest." Accused of
foreclosing, he was sent to the scaffold, in company with Andre
Chenier, on the seventh Thermidor of year 2, July 25, 1794. The death
of the grocer caused a greater sensation than did that of the poet.
Cesar Birotteau moved the plant of the perfumery "Queen of Roses" into
Descoings' shop around 1800. The successor of the executed man managed
his business badly; the inventor of the the "Eau Carminative" went
bankrupt. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
DESCOINGS (Madame), born in 1744; widow of two husbands, Bixiou and
Descoings, the latter succeeding the former in the grocer shop on rue
Saint-Honore, Paris. Grandmother of Jean-Jacques Bixiou, the
cartoonist. After the death of M. Bridau, chief of division in the
Department of the Interior, Mme. Descoings, now a widow, came in 1819
to live with her niece, the widow Bridau, nee Agathe Rouget, bringing
to the common fund an income of six thousand francs. An excellent
woman, known in her day as "the pretty grocer." She ran the household,
but had likewise a decided mania for lottery, and always for the same
numbers; she "nursed a trey." She ended by ruining her niece who had
blindly entrusted her interests to her, but Mme. Descoings repaid for
her foolish doings by an absolute devotion,--all the while continuing
to place her money on the evasive combinations. One day her hoardings
were stolen from her mattress by Philippe Bridau. On this account she
was unable to renew her lottery tickets. Then it was that the famous
trey turned up. Madame Descoings died of grief, December 31, 1821. Had
it not been for the theft she would have become a millionaire. [A
Bachelor's Establishment.]
DESFONDRILLES, substitute judge at Provins during the Restoration;
made president of the court of that town, time of Louis Philippe. An
old fellow more archaeologist than judge, who found delight in the
petty squabbles under his eyes. He forsook Tiphaine's party for the
Liberals headed by lawyer Vinet. [Pierrette.]
DESLANDES, surgeon of Azay-le-Rideau in 1817. Called in to bleed Mme.
de Mortsauf, whose life was saved by this operation. [The Lily of the
Valley.]
DESMARETS (Jules), Parisian stock-broker under the Restoration.
Hardworking and upright, being reared in sternness and poverty. When
only a clerk he fell in love with a charming young girl met at his
patron's home, and he married her despite the irregularity connected
with her birth. With the money he obtained by his wife's mother he was
able to purchase the position of the stock-broker for whom he had
clerked; and for several years he was very happy in a mutual love and
a liberal competence--an income of two hundred and fifty thousand
francs. In 1820 he and his wife lived in a large mansion on rue
Menars. In the early years of his wedded life he killed in a duel--
though unknown to his wife--a man who had vilified Mme. Desmarets. The
flawless happiness which abode with this well-mated couple was cut
short by the death of the wife, mortally wounded by a doubt, held for
a moment only by her husband, concerning her faithfulness. Desmarets,
bereaved, sold his place to Martin Falleix's brother and left Paris in
despair. [The Thirteen.] M. and Mme. Desmarets were invited to the
famous ball given by Cesar Birotteau in 1818. After the bankruptcy of
the perfumer, the broker kindly gave him useful tips about placing
funds laboriously scraped together towards the complete reimbursing of
the creditors. [Cesar Birotteau.]
DESMARETS (Madame Jules), wife of the preceding; natural daughter of
Bourignard alias Ferragus, and of a married woman who passed for her
godmother. She had no civil status, but when she married Jules
Desmarets her name, Clemence, and her age were publicly announced.
Despite herself, Mme. Desmarets was loved by a young officer of the
Royal Guard, Auguste de Maulincour. Mme. Desmaret's secret visits to
her father, a man of mystery, unknown to her husband, caused the
downfall of their absolute happiness. Desmarets thought himself
deceived, and she died on account of his suspicions, in 1820 or 1821.
The remains of Clemence were placed at first in Pere Lachaise, but
afterwards were disinterred, incinerated and sent to Jules Desmarets
by Bourignard, assisted by twelve friends who thus thought to dull the
edge of the keenest of conjugal sorrows. [The Thirteen.] M. and Mme.
Desmarets were often alluded to as M. and Mme. Jules. At the ball
given by Cesar Birotteau, Mme. Desmarets shone as the most beautiful
woman, according to the perfumer's wife herself. [Cesar Birotteau.]
DESMARETS, Parisian notary during the Restoration; elder brother of
the broker, Jules Desmarets. The notary was set up in business by his
younger brother and grew rich rapidly. He received his brother's will.
He accompanied him to Mme. Desmarets' funeral. [The Thirteen.]
DESPLEIN, famous surgeon of Paris, born about the middle of the
eighteenth century. Sprung of a poor provincial family, he spent a
youth full of suffering, being enabled to pass his examinations only
through assistance rendered him by his neighbor in poverty, Bourgeat
the water-carrier. For two years he lived with him on the sixth floor
of a wretched house on rue des Quatre-Vents, where later was
established the "Cenacle" with Daniel d'Arthez as host--on which
account the house came to be spoken of as the "bowl for great men."
Desplein, evicted by his landlord whom he could not pay, lodged next
with his friend the Auvergnat in the Court de Rohan, Passage du
Commerce. Afterwards, when an "intern" at Hotel-Dieu, he remembered
the good deeds of Bourgeat, nursed him as a devoted son, and, in the
time of the Empire, established in honor of this simple man who
professed religious sentiments a quarterly mass at Saint-Sulpice, at
which he piously assisted, though himself an outspoken atheist. [The
Atheist's Mass.] In 1806 Desplein had predicted speedy death for an
old fellow then fifty-six years old, but who was still alive in 1846.
[Cousin Pons.] The surgeon was present at the death caused by despair
of M. Chardon, an old military doctor. [Lost Illusions.] Desplein
attended the last hours of Mme. Jules Desmarets, who died in 1820 or
1821; also of the chief of division, Flamet de la Billardiere, who
died in 1824. [The Thirteen. The Government Clerks.] In March, 1828,
at Provins, he performed an operation of trepanning on Pierrette
Lorrain. [Pierrette.] In the same year he undertook a bold operation
upon Mme. Philippe Bridau whose abuse of strong drink had induced a
"magnificent malady" that he believed had disappeared. This operation
was reported in the "Gazette des Hopitaux;" but the patient died. [A
Bachelor's Establishment.] In 1829 Desplein was summoned on behalf of
Vanda de Mergi, daughter of Baron de Bourlac. [The Seamy Side of
History.] In the latter part of the same year he operated successfully
upon Mme. Mignon for blindness. In February, 1830, on account of the
foregoing, he was a witness at Modeste Mignon's wedding with Ernest de
la Briere. [Modeste Mignon.] In the beginning of the same yaer, 1830,
he was called by Corentin to visit Baron de Nucingen, love-sick for
Esther Gobseck; and Mme. de Serizy ill on account of the suicide of
Lucien de Rubempre. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] He and his
assistant, Bianchon, waited on Mme. de Bauvan, who was on the verge of
death at the close of 1830 and beginning of 1831. [Honorine.] Desplein
had an only daughter whose marriage in 1829 was arranged with the
Prince of Loudon.
DESROCHES, clerk of the Minister of the Interior under the Empire;
friend of Bridau Senior, who had procured him the position. He was
also on friendly terms with the chief's widow, at whose home he met,
nearly every evening, his colleagues Du Bruel and Claparon. A dry,
crusty man, who would never become sub-chief, despite his ability. He
earned only one thousand eight hundred francs by running a department
for stamped paper. Retired after the second return of Louis XVIII., he
talked of entering as chief of bureau into an insurance company with a
graduated salary. In 1821, despite his scarcely tender disposition,
Desroches undertook with much discretion and confidence to extricate
Philippe Bridau out of a predicament--the latter having made a "loan"
on the cash-box of the newspaper for which he was working; he brought
about his resignation without any scandal. Desroches was a man of good
"judgment." He remained to the last a friend of the widow Bridau after
the death of MM. du Bruel and Claparon. He was a persistent fisherman.
[A Bachelor's Establishment.]
DESROCHES (Madame), wife of the preceding. A widow, in 1826, she
sought the hand of Mlle. Matifat for her son, Desroches the attorney.
[The Firm of Nucingen.]
DESROCHES, son of the two foregoing; born about 1795, reared strictly
by a very harsh father. He went into Derville's office as fourth clerk
in 1818, and on the following year passed to the second clerkship. He
saw Colonel Chabert at Derville's. In 1821 or 1822 he purchased a
lawyer's office with bare title on rue de Bethizy. He was shrewd and
quick and therefore was not long in finding a clientele composed of
litterateurs, artists, actresses, famous lorettes and elegant
Bohemians. He was counsellor for Agathe and Joseph Bridau, and also
gave excellent advice to Philippe Bridau who was setting out for
Issoudun about 1822. [A Bachelor's Establishment. Colonel Chabert. A
Start in Life.] Desroches was advocate for Charles de Vandenesse,
pleading against his brother Felix; for the Marquise d'Espard, seeking
interdiction against her husband; and for the Secretary-General
Chardin des Lupeaulx, with whom he counseled astutely. [A Woman of
Thirty. The Commission in Lunacy. The Government Clerks.] Lucien de
Rubempre consulted Desroches about the seizure of the furniture of
Coralie, his mistress, in 1822. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
Vautrin appreciated the attorney; he said that the latter would be
able to "recover" the Rubempre property, to improve it and make it
capable of yielding Lucien an income of thirty thousand francs, which
would probably have allowed him to wed Clotilde de Grandlieu. [Scenes
from a Courtesan's Life.] In 1826 Desroches made a short-lived attempt
to marry Malvina d'Aldrigger. [The Firm of Nucingen.] About 1840 he
related, at Mlle. Turquet's--Malaga's--home, then maintained by Cardot
the notary, and in the presence of Bixiou, Lousteau and Nathan, who
were invited by the tabellion, the tricks employed by Cerizet to
obtain the face value of a note out of Maxime de Trailles. [A Man of
Business.] Indeed, Desroches was Cerizet's lawyer when the latter had
a quarrel with Theodose de la Peyrade in 1840. He also looked after
the interests of the contractor, Sauvaignou, at the same time. [The
Middle Classes.] Desroches' office was probably located for a time on
rue de Buci. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
DESROYS, clerk with the Minister of Finance in Baudoyer's bureau,
under the Restoration. The son of a Conventionalist who had not
favored the King's death. A Republican; friend of Michel Chrestien. He
did not associate with any of his colleagues, but kept his manner of
life so concealed that none knew where he lived. In December, 1824, he
was discharged because of his opinions concerning the denunciation of
Dutocq. [The Government Clerks.]
DESROZIERS, musician; prize-winner at Rome; died in that city through
typhoid fever in 1836. Friend of the sculptor Dorlange, to whom he
recounted the story of Zambinella, the death of Sarrasine and the
marriage of the Count of Lanty. Desroziers gave music lessons to
Marianina, daughter of the count. The musician employed his friend,
who was momentarily in need of money, to undertake a copy of a statue
of Adonis, which reproduced Zambinella's features. This copy he sold
to M. de Lanty. [The Member for Arcis.]
DESROZIERS, printer at Moulins, department of the Allier. After 1830
he published a small volume containing the works of "Jan Diaz, son of
a Spanish prisoner, and born in 1807 at Bourges." This volume had an
introductory sketch on Jan Diaz by M. de Clagny. [The Muse of the
Department.]
DEY (Comtesse de), born about 1755. Widow of a lieutenant-general
retired to Carentan, department of the Manche, where she died suddenly
in November, 1793, through a shock to her maternal sensibilities. [The
Conscript.]
DEY (Auguste, Comte de), only son of Mme. de Dey. Made lieutenant of
the dragoons when only eighteen, and followed the princes in
emigration as a point of honor. He was idolized by his mother, who had
remained in France in order to preserve his fortune for him. He
participated in the Granville expedition. Imprisoned as a result of
this affair, he wrote Mme. de Dey that he would arrive at her home,
disguised and a fugitive, within three days' time. But he was shot in
the Morbihan at the exact moment when his mother expired from the
shock of having received instead of her son the conscript Julien
Jussieu. [The Conscript.]
DIARD (Pierre-Francois), born in the suburbs of Nice; the son of a
merchant-provost; quartermaster of the Sixth regiment of the line, in
1808, then chief of battalion in the Imperial Guard; retired with this
rank on account of a rather severe wound received in Germany;
afterwards an administrator and business man; excessive gambler.
Husband of Juana Mancini who had been the mistress of Captain
Montefiore, Diard's most intimate friend. In 1823, at Bordeaux, Diard
killed and robbed Montefiore, whom he met by accident. Upon his return
home he confessed his crime to his wife who vainly besought him to
commit suicide; and she herself finally blew out his brains with a
pistol shot. [The Maranas.]
DIARD (Maria-Juana-Pepita), daughter of La Marana, a Venetian
courtesan, and a young Italian nobleman, Mancini, who acknowledged
her. Wife of Pierre-Francois Diard whom she accepted on her mother's
request, after having given herself to Montefiore who did not wish to
marry her. Juana had been reared very strictly in the Spanish home of
Perez de Lagounia, at Tarragone, and she bore her father's name. She
was the descendant of a long line of courtesans, a feminine branch
that had never made legal marriages. The blood of her ancestors was in
her veins; she showed this involuntarily by the way in which she
yielded to Montefiore. Although she did not love her husband, yet she
remained entirely faithful to him, and she killed him for honor's
sake. She had two children. [The Maranas.]
DIARD (Juan), first child of Mme. Diard. Born seven months after his
mother's marriage, and perhaps the son of Montefiore. He was the image
of Juana, who secretly petted him extravagantly, although she
pretended to like her younger son the better. By a "species of
admirable flattery" Diard had made Juan his choice. [The Maranas.]
DIARD (Francisque), second son of M. and Mme. Diard, born in Paris. A
counterpart of his father, and the favorite--only outwardly--of his
mother. [The Maranas.]
DIAZ (Jan), assumed name of Mme. Dinah de la Baudraye.
DIODATI, owner of a villa on Lake Geneva in 1823-1824.--Character in a
novel called "L'Ambitieux par Amour" published by Albert Savarus in
the "Revue de l'Est" in 1834. [Albert Savarus.]
DIONIS, notary at Nemours from about 1813 till the early part of the
reign of Louis Philippe. He was a Cremiere-Dionis, but was always
known by the latter name. A shrewd, double-faced individual, who was
secretly a partner with Massin-Levrault the money-lender. He concerned
himself with the inheritance left by Dr. Minoret, giving advice to the
three legatees of the old physician. After the Revolution of 1830, he
was elected mayor of Nemours, instead of M. Levrault, and about 1837
he became deputy. He was then received at court balls, in company with
his wife, and Mme. Dionis was "enthroned" in the village because of
her "ways of the throne." The couple had at least one daughter.
[Ursule Mirouet.] Dionis breakfasted familiarly with Rastignac,
Minister of Public Works, from 1839 to 1845. [The Member for Arcis.]
DOGUEREAU, publisher on rue de Coq, Paris, in 1821, having been
established since the first of the century; retired professor of
rhetoric. Lucien de Rubempre offered him his romance, "The Archer of
Charles IX.," but the publisher would not give him more than four
hundred francs for it, so the trade was not concluded. [A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]
DOISY, porter of the Lepitre Institution, quarter du Marais, Paris,
about 1814, at the time when Felix de Vandenesse came there to
complete his course of study. This young man contracted a debt of one
hundred francs on Doisy's account, which resulted in a very severe
reprimand from his mother. [The Lily of the Valley.]
DOMINIS (Abbe de), priest of Tours during the Restoration; preceptor
of Jacques de Mortsauf. [The Lily of the Valley.]
DOMMANGET, an accoucheur-physician, famous in Paris at the time of
Louis Philippe. In 1840 he was called in to visit Mme. Calyste du
Guenic, whom he had accouched, and who had taken a dangerous relapse
on learning of her husband's infidelity. She was nursing her son at
this time. On being taken into her confidence, Dommanget treated and
cured her ailment by purely moral methods. [Beatrix.]