Works of Honore De Balzac

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Works of Honore De Balzac Page 1576

by Honoré de Balzac


  HULOT (Madame Victorin), wife of preceding, born Celestine Crevel; married as a result of a meeting between her father and her father-in-law, who were both libertines. She took part in the dissensions between the two families, replaced Lisbeth Fischer in the care of the house on rue Louis-le-Grand, and probably never saw the second Mme. Celestin Crevel, unless at the death-bed of the retired perfumer. Cousin Betty.

  HULOT (Hortense). (See Steinbock, Comtesse Wenceslas.)

  HULOT D’ERVY (Baronne Hector), nee Agathe Piquetard of Isigny, where she became the second wife of Hector Hulot d’Ervy. Went to Paris as kitchen-maid for Hulot about December, 1845, and was married to her master, then a widower, on February 1, 1846. Cousin Betty.

  HUMANN, celebrated Parisian tailor of 1836 and succeeding years. At the instance of the students Rabourdin and Juste he clothed the poverty-stricken Zephirin Marcas “as a politician.” Z. Marcas.

  HUSSON (Madame.) (See Mme. Clapart.)

  HUSSON (Oscar), born about 1804, son of the preceding and of M. Husson — army-contractor; led a checkered career, explained by his origin and childhood. He scarcely knew his father, who made and soon lost a fortune. The previous fast life of his mother, who afterwards married again, gave rise to or upheld some more or less influential connections and made her, during the first Empire, the titular femme de chambre to Madame Mere — Letitia Bonaparte. Napoleon’s fall marked the ruin of the Hussons. Oscar and his mother — now married to M. Clapart — lived in a modest apartment on rue de la Cerisaie, Paris. Oscar obtained a license and became clerk in Desroches’ law office in Paris, being coached by Godeschal. During this time he became acquainted with two young men, his cousins the Marests. One of them had previously instigated an early escapade of Oscar’s, and it was now followed by one much more serious, on rue de Vendome at the house of Florentine Cabirolle, who was then maintained by Cardot, Oscar’s wealthy uncle. Husson was forced to abandon law and enter military service. He was in the cavalry regiment of the Duc de Maufrigneuse and the Vicomte de Serizy. The interest of the dauphiness and of Abbe Gaudron obtained for him promotion and a decoration. He became in turn aide-de-camp to La Fayette, captain, officer of the Legion of Honor and lieutenant-colonel. A noteworthy deed made him famous on Algerian territory during the affair of La Macta; Husson lost his left arm in the vain attempt to save Vicomte de Serizy. Put on half-pay, he obtained the post of collector for Beaumont-sur-Oise. He then married — 1838 — Georgette Pierrotin and met again the accomplices or witnesses of his earlier escapades — one of the Marests, the Moreaus, etc. A Start in Life.

  HUSSON (Madame Oscar), wife of the preceding; born Georgette Pierrotin; daughter of the proprietor of the stage-service of Oise. A Start in Life.

  HYDE DE NEUVILLE (Jean-Guillaume, Baron) — 1776-1857 — belonged to the Martignac ministry of 1828; was, in 1797, one of the most active Bourbon agents. Kept civil war aflame in the West, and held a conference in 1799 with First Consul Bonaparte relative to the restoration of Louis XVIII. The Chouans.

  I

  IDAMORE, nick-name of Chardin junior while he was claqueur in a theatre on the Boulevard du Temple, Paris. Cousin Betty.

  ISEMBERG (Marechal, Duc d’), probably belonged to the Imperial nobility. He lost at the gaming table, in November, 1809, in a grand fete given at Paris at Senator Malin de Gondreville’s home, while the Duchesse de Lansac was acting as peacemaker between a youthful married couple. Domestic Peace.

  J

  JACMIN (Philoxene), of Honfleur; perhaps cousin of Jean Butscha; maid to Eleonore de Chaulieu; in love with Germain Bonnet, valet of Melchior de Canalis. Modeste Mignon.

  JACOMETY, head jailer of the Conciergerie, at Paris, in May, 1830, during Rubempre’s imprisonment. Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life.

  JACQUELIN, born in Normandy about 1776; in 1816 was employed by Mlle. Cormon, an old maid of Alencon. He married when she espoused M. du Bousquier. After the double marriage Jacquelin remained for some time in the service of the niece of the Abbe de Sponde. Jealousies of a Country Town.

  JACQUES, for a considerable period butler of Claire de Beauseant, following her to Bayeux. Essentially “aristocratic, intelligent and discreet,” he understood the sufferings of his mistress. Father Goriot. The Deserted Woman.

  JACQUET (Claude-Joseph), a worthy bourgeois of the Restoration; head of a family, and something of a crank. He performed the duties of a deputy-mayor in Paris, and also had charge of the archives in the Department of Foreign Affairs. Was greatly indebted to his friend Jules Desmarets; so he deciphered for him, about 1820, a code letter of Gratien Bourignard. When Clemence Desmarets died, Jacquet comforted the broker in the Saint-Roch church and in the Pere-Lachaise cemetery. The Thirteen.

  JACQUINOT, said to have succeeded Cardot as notary at Paris, time of Louis Philippe The Middle Classes.; but since Cardot was succeeded by Berthier, his son-in-law, a discrepancy is apparent.

  JACQUOTTE, left the service of a cure for that of Dr. Benassis, whose house she managed with a devotion and care not unmixed with despotism. The Country Doctor.

  JAN,* a painter who cared not a fig for glory. About 1838 he covered with flowers and decorated the door of a bed-chamber in a suite owned by Crevel on rue du Dauphin, Paris. Cousin Betty.

  * Perhaps the fresco-painter, Laurent-Jan, author of “Unrepentant Misanthropy,” and the friend of Balzac, to whom the latter dedicated his drama, “Vautrin.”

  JANVIER, priest in a village of Isere in 1829, a “veritable Fenelon shrunk to a cure’s proportions”; knew, understood and assisted Benassis. The Country Doctor.

  JAPHET (Baron), celebrated chemist who subjected to hydrofluoric acid, to chloride of nitrogen, and to the action of the voltaic battery the mysterious “magic skin” of Raphael de Valentin. To his stupefaction the savant wrought no change on the tissue. The Magic Skin.

  JEAN, coachman and trusted servant of M. de Merret, at Vendome, in 1816. La Grande Breteche.

  JEAN, landscape gardener and farm-hand for Felix Grandet, enagaged about November, 1819, in a field on the bank of the Loire, filling holes left by removed populars and planting other trees. Eugenie Grandet.

  JEAN, one of the keepers of Pere-Lachaise cemetery in 1820-21; conducted Desmarets and Jacquet to the tomb of Clemence Bourignard, who had recently been interred.* The Thirteen.

  * In 1868, at Paris, MM. Ferdinand Dugue and Peaucellier presented a play at the Gaite theatre, where one of the chief characters was Clemence Bourignard-Desmarets.

  JEAN, lay brother of an abbey until 1791, when he found a home with Niseron, cure of Blangy, Burgundy; seldom left Gregoire Rigou, whose factotum he finally became. The Peasantry.

  JEANNETTE, born in 1758; cook for Ragon at Paris in 1818, in rue du Petit-Lion-Saint-Sulpice; distinguished herself at the Sunday receptions. Cesar Birotteau.

  JEANRENAUD (Madame), a Protestant, widow of a salt bargeman, by whom she had a son. A stout, ugly and vulgar woman, who recovered, during the Restoration, a fortune that had been stolen by the Catholic ancestors of D’Espard and was restored to him despite a suit to restrain him by injunction. Mme. Jeanrenaud lived at Villeparisis, and then at Paris, where she dwelt successively on rue de la Vrilliere — No. 8 — and on Grand rue Verte. The Commission in Lunacy.

  JEANRENAUD, son of the preceding, born about 1792. He served as officer in the Imperial Guard, and, through the influence of D’Espard-Negrepelisse, became, in 1828, chief of squadron in the First regiment of the Cuirassiers of the Guard. Charles X. made him a baron. He then married a niece of Monegod. His beautiful villa on Lake Geneva is mentioned by Albert Savarus in “L’Ambitieux par Amour,” published in the reign of Louis Philippe. The Commission in Lunacy. Albert Savarus.

  JENNY was, during the Restoration, maid and confidante of Aquilina de la Garde; afterwards, but for a very brief time, mistress of Castanier. Melmoth Reconciled.

  JEROME (Pere), second-hand book-seller on Pont Notre-Dame, Paris, in 1821, at the time when Rubempre was making a start there. A Distinguishe
d Provincial at Paris.

  JEROME, valet successively of Galard and of Albert Savarus at Besancon. He may have served the Parisian lawyer less sedulously because of Mariette, a servant at the Wattevilles, whose dowry he was after. Albert Savarus.

  JOHNSON (Samuel), assumed name of the police-agent, Peyrade.

  JOLIVARD, clerk of registry, rue de Normandie, Paris, about the end of Louis Philippe’s reign. He lived on the first floor of the house owned by Pillerault, attended by the Cibots and tenanted by the Chapoulots, Pons and Schmucke. Cousin Pons.

  JONATHAS, valet of M. de Valentin senior; foster-father of Raphael de Valentin, whose steward he afterwards became when the young man was a multi-millionaire. He served him faithfully and survived him. The Magic Skin.

  JORDY (De) had been successively captain in a regiment of Royal-Suedois and professor in the Ecole Militaire. He had a refined nature and a tender heart; was the type of a poor but uncomplaining gentleman. His soul must have been the scene of sad secrets. Certain signs led one to believe that he had had children whom he had adored and lost. M. de Jordy lived modestly and quietly at Nemours. A similiarity of tastes and character drew him towards Denis Minoret whose intimate friend he became, and at whose home he conceived a liking for the doctor’s young ward — Mme. Savinien de Portenduere. He had great influence over her, and left her an income of fourteen hundred francs when he died in 1823. Ursule Mirouet.

  JOSEPH, with Charles and Francois, was of the establishment of Montcornet at Aigues, Burgundy, about 1823. The Peasantry.

  JOSEPH, faithful servant of Rastignac at Paris, under the Restoration. In 1828 he carried to the Marquise de Listomere a letter written by his master to Mme. de Nucingen. This error, for which Joseph could hardly be held responsible, caused the scorn of the marquise when she discoverd that the missive was intended for another. The Magic Skin. A Study of Woman.

  JOSEPH, in the service of F. du Tillet, Paris, when his master was fairly launched in society and received Birotteau in state. Cesar Birotteau.

  JOSEPH, given name of a worthy chimney-builder of rue Saint-Lazare, Paris, about the end of the reign of Louis Philippe. Of Italian origin, the head of a family, saved from ruin by Adeline Hulot, who acted for Mme. de la Chanterie. Joseph was in touch with the scribe, Vyder, and when he took Mme. Hulot to see the latter she recognized in him her husband. Cousin Betty.

  JOSEPHA, (See Mirah, Josepha.)

  JOSETTE, cook for Claes at Douai; greatly attached to Josephine, Marguerite and Felicie Claes. Died about the end of the Restoration. The Quest of the Absolute.

  JOSETTE, old housekeeper for Maitre Mathias of Bordeaux during the Restoration. She accompanied her master when he bade farewell to Paul de Manerville the emigrant. A Marriage Settlement.

  JOSETTE, in and previous to 1816 chambermaid of Victoire-Rose Cormon of Alencon. She married Jacquelin when her mistress married du Bousquier. Jealousies of a Country Town.

  JUDICI (Atala), born about 1829, of Lombard descent; had a paternal grandfather, who was a wealthy chimney-builder of Paris during the first Empire, an employer of Joseph; he died in 1819. Mlle. Judici did not inherit her grandfather’s fortune, for it was run through with by her father. In 1844 she was given by her mother — so the story goes — to Hector Hulot for fifteen thousand francs. She then left her family, who lived on rue de Charonne, and lived on Passage du Soleil. The pretty Atala was obliged to leave Hulot when his wife found him. Mme. Hulot promised her a dowry and to wed her to Joseph’s oldest son. She was sometimes called Judix, which is a French corruption of the Italian name. Cousin Betty.

  JUDITH. (See Mme. Genestas.)

  JULIEN, one of the turnkeys of the Conciergerie in 1830, during the trial of Herrera — Vautrin — and Rubempre. Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life.

  JULIEN, probably a native of Champagne; a young man in 1839, and in the service of Sub-Prefect Goulard, in Arcis-sur-Aube. He learned through Anicette, and revealed to the Beauvisages and Mollots, the Legitimist plots of the Chateau de Cinq-Cygne, where lived Georges de Maufrigneuse, Daniel d’Arthez, Laurence de Cinq-Cygne, Diane de Cadignan and Berthe de Maufrigneuse. The Member for Arcis.

  JULLIARD, head of the firm of Julliard in Paris, about 1806. At the “Ver Chinois,” rue Saint-Denis, he sold silk in bolls. Sylvie Rogron was assistant saleswoman. Twenty years later he met her again in their native country of Provins, where he had retired in 1815, the head of a family grouped about the Guepins and the Guenees, thus forming three great clans. Pierrette.

  JULLIARD, elder son of the preceding; married the only daughter of a rich farmer and also conceived a platonic affection at Provins for Melanie Tiphaine, the most beautiful woman of the official colony during the Restoration. Julliard followed commerce and literature; he maintained a stage line, and a journal christened “La Ruche,” in which latter he burned incense to Mme. Tiphaine. Pierrette.

  JUSSIEU (Julien), youthful conscript in the great draft of 1793. Sent with a note for lodgment to the home of Mme. de Dey at Carentan, where he was the innocent cause of that woman’s sudden death; she was just then expecting the return of her son, a Royalist hunted by the Republican troops. The Conscript.

  JUSTE, born in 1811, studied medicine in Paris, and afterwards went to Asia to practice. In 1836 he lived on rue Corneille with Charles Rabourdin, when they helped the poverty-stricken Zephirin Marcas. Z. Marcas.

  JUSTIN, old and experienced valet of the Vidame de Pamiers; was secretly slain by order of Bourignard because he had discovered the real name, but carefully concealed, of the father of Mme. Desmarets. The Thirteen.

  JUSTINE, was maid to the Comtesse Foedora, in Paris, when her mistress received calls from M. de Valentin. The Magic Skin.

  K

  KATT, a Flemish woman, the nurse of Lydie de la Peyrade, whom she attended constantly in Paris on rue des Moineaux about 1829, and during her mistress’ period of insanity on Rue Honore Chevalier in 1840. Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life. The Middle Classes.

  KELLER (Francois), one of the influential and wealthy Parisian bankers, during a period extending perhaps from 1809 to 1839. As such, in November, 1809, under the Empire, he was one of the guests at a fine reception, given by Comte Malin de Gondreville, meeting there Isemberg, Montcornet, Mesdames de Lansac and de Vandemont, and a mixed company composed of members of the aristocracy and people illustrious under the Empire. At this time, moreover, Francois Keller was in the family of Malin de Gondreville, one of whose daughters he had married. This marriage, besides making him the brother-in-law of the Marechal de Carigliano, gave him assurance of the deputyship, which he obtained in 1816 and held until 1836. The district electors of Arcis-sur-Aube kept him in the legislature during that long period. Francois Keller had, by his marriage with Mademoiselle de Gondreville, one son, Charles, who died before his parents in the spring of 1839. As deputy, Francois Keller became one of the most noted orators of the Left Centre. He shone as a member of the opposition, especially from 1819 to 1825. Adroitly he drew about himself the robe of philanthropy. Politics never turned his attention from finance. Francois Keller, seconded by his brother and partner, Adolphe Keller, refused to aid the needy perfumer, Cesar Birotteau. Between 1821 and 1823 the creditors of Guillaume Grandet, the bankrupt, unanimously selected him and M. des Grassins of Saumur as adjusters. Despite his display of Puritanical virtues, the private career of Francois Keller was not spotless. In 1825 it was known that he had an illegitimate and costly liaison with Flavie Colleville. Rallying to the support of the new monarchy from 1830 to 1836, Francois Keller saw his Philippist zeal rewarded in 1839. He exchanged his commission at the Palais-Bourbon for a peerage, and received the title of count. Domestic Peace. Cesar Birotteau. Eugenie Grandet. The Government Clerks. The Member for Arcis.

  KELLER (Madame Francois), wife of the preceding; daughter of Malin de Gondreville; mother of Charles Keller, who died in 1839. Under the Restoration, she inspired a warm passion in the heart of the son of the Duchesse de Marigny. Domestic Peace. The Member for Arcis.
The Thirteen.

  KELLER, (Charles), born in 1809, son of the preceding couple, grandson of the Comte de Gondreville, nephew of the Marechale de Carigliano; his life was prematurely ended in 1839, at a time when a brilliant future seemed before him. As a major of staff at the side of the Prince Royal, Ferdinand d’Orleans, he took the field in Algeria. His bravery urged him on in pursuit of the Emir Abd-el-Kader, and he gave up his life in the face of the enemy. Becoming viscount as a result of the knighting of his father, and assured of the favors of the heir presumptive to the throne, Charles Keller, at the moment when death surprised him, was on the point of taking his seat in the Lower Chamber; for the body of electors of the district of Arcis-sur-Aube were almost sure to elect a man whom the Tuileries desired so ardently. The Member for Arcis.

  KELLER (Adolphe), brother — probably younger — of Francois and his partner; a very shrewd man, who was really in charge of the business, a “regular lynx.” On account of his intimate relations with Nucingen and F. du Tillet, he flatly refused to aid Cesar Birotteau, who implored his assistance. The Middle Classes. Pierrette. Cesar Birotteau.

  KERGAROUET (Comte de), born about the middle of the eighteenth century; of the Bretagne nobility; entered the navy, served long and valiantly upon the sea, commanded the “Belle-Poule,” and died a vice-admiral. Possessor of a great fortune, by his charity he made amends for the foulness of some of his youthful love affairs (1771 and following), and at Paris, near the Madeleine, towards the beginning of the nineteenth century, with much delicacy, he helped the Baronne Leseigneur de Rouville. A little later, at the age of seventy-two, having for a long time been a widower and retired from the navy, while enjoying the hospitality of his relatives, the Fontaines and the Planat de Baudrys, who lived in the neighborhood of Sceaux, Kergarouet married his niece, one of the daughters of Fontaine. He died before her. M. de Kergarouet was also a relative of the Portendueres and did not forget them. The Purse. The Ball at Sceaux. Ursule Mirouet.

 

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