Works of Honore De Balzac

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Works of Honore De Balzac Page 1595

by Honoré de Balzac


  SAN-ESTEBAN (Marquise de), a foreign and aristocratic sounding assumed name, under which Jacqueline Collin disguised herself when she visited the Conciergerie, in May, 1830, to see Jacques Collin, himself under the incognito of Carlos Herrera. Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life.

  SAN-REAL (Don Hijos, Marquis de), born about 1735, a powerful nobleman; he enjoyed the friendship of Ferdinand VII., King of Spain, and married a natural daughter of Lord Dudley, Margarita-Euphemia Porraberil (born of a Spanish mother), with whom he lived in Paris, in 1815, in a mansion on the rue Saint-Lazare, near Nucingen. The Thirteen.

  SAN REAL (Marquise de), wife of the preceding, born Margarita-Euphemia Porraberil, natural daughter of Lord Dudley and a Spanish woman, and sister of Henri de Marsay; had the restless energy of her brother, whom she resembled also in appearance. Brought up at Havana, she was then taken back to Madrid, accompanied by a creole girl of the Antilles, Paquita Valdes, with whom she maintained passionate unnatural relations, that marriage did not interrupt and which were being continued in Paris in 1815, when the marquise, meeting a rival in her brother, Henri de Marsay, killed Paquita. After this murder, Madame de San Real retired to Spain to the convent of Los Dolores. The Thirteen.

  SANSON (Charles-Henri), public executioner in the period of the Revolution, and beheader of Louis XVI.; he attended two masses commemorating the death of the King, celebrated in 1793 and 1794, by the Abbe de Marolles, to whom his identity was afterwards disclosed by Ragon. An Episode under the Terror.

  SANSON, son of the preceding, born about 1770, descended, as was his father, from headsmen of Rouen. After having been captain of cavalry he assisted his father in the execution of Louis XVI.; was his agent when scaffolds were operated at the same time in the Place Louis XV. and the Place du Trone, and eventually succeeded him. Sanson was prepared to “accommodate” Theodore Calvi in May, 1830; he awaited the condemning order, which was not issued. He had the appearance of a rather distinguished Englishman. At least Sanson gave Jacques Collin that impression, when he met the ex-convict, then confined at the Conciergerie. Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life. Sanson lived in the rue des Marais (the district of the Faubourg Saint-Martin), which is a much shorter street now than formerly.

  SARCUS was justice of the peace, in the reign of Louis XVIII., at Soulanges (Bourgogne), where he lived on his fifteen hundred francs, together with the rent of a house in which he lived, and three hundred francs from the public funds. Sarcus married the elder sister of Vermut, the druggist of Soulanges, by whom he had a daughter, Adeline, afterwards Madame Adolphe Sibilet. This functionary of inferior order, a handsome little old man with iron-gray hair, was none the less the politician of the first order in the society of Soulanges, which was completely under Madame Soudry’s sway, and which counted almost all Montcornet’s enemies. The Peasantry.

  SARCUS, cousin in the third degree of the preceding; called Sarcus the Rich; in 1817 a counselor at the prefecture of the department of Bourgogne, which Monsieur de la Roche-Hugon and Monsieur de Casteran governed successively under the Restoration, and which included as dependencies Ville-aux-Fayes, Soulanges, Blangy, and Aigues. He recommended Sibilet as steward for Aigues, which was Montcornet’s estate. Sarcus the Rich was a member of the Chamber of Deputies; he was also said to be right-hand man to the prefect. The Peasantry.

  SARCUS (Madame), wife of the preceding; born Vallat, in 1778, of a family connected with the Gaubertins, was supposed in her youth to have favored Monsieur Lupin, who, in 1823, was still paying devoted attentions to this woman of forty-five, the mother of an engineer. The Peasantry.

  SARCUS, son of the preceding couple, became, in 1823, general engineer of bridges and causeways of Ville-aux-Fayes, thus completing the group of powerful native families hostile to the Montcornets. The Peasantry.

  SARCUS-TAUPIN, a miller at Soulanges, who enjoyed an income of fifty thousand francs; the Nucingen of his town; was father of a daughter whose hand was sought by Lupin, the notary, and by President Gendrin for their respective sons. The Peasantry.

  SARRASINE (Matthieu or Mathieu), a laborer in the neighborhood of Saint-Die, father of a rich lawyer of Franche-Comte, and grandfather of the sculptor, Ernest-Jean Sarrasine. Sarrasine.

  SARRASINE, a rich lawyer of Franche-Comte in the eighteenth century, father of the sculptor, Ernest-Jean Sarrasine. Sarrasine.

  SARRASINE (Ernest-Jean), a famous French sculptor, son of the preceding and grandson of Matthieu Sarrasine. When quite young he showed a calling for art strong enough to combat the will of his father, who wished him to adopt the legal profession; he went to Paris, entered Bouchardon’s studio, found a friend and protector in this master; became acquainted with Madame Geoffrin, Sophie Arnould, the Baron d’Holbach, and J.-J. Rousseau. Having become the lover of Clotilde, the famous singer at the Opera, Sarrasine won the sculptor’s prize founded by Marigny, a brother of La Pompadour, and received praise from Diderot. He then went to Rome to live (1758); became intimate with Vien, Louthrebourg,* Allegrain, Vitagliani, Cicognara, and Chigi. He then fell madly in love with the eunuch Zambinella, uncle of the Lanty-Duvignons; believing him to be a woman, he made a magnificent bust of the singular singer, who was kept by Cicognara, and, having carried him off, was murdered at the instigation of his rival in the same year, 1758. The story of Sarrasine’s life was related, during the Restoration, to Beatrix de Rochefide. Sarrasine. The Member for Arcis.

  * Or Louthrebourg, and also Lauterbourg, intentionally left out in the Repertory because of the various ways of spelling the name.

  SAUTELOUP, familiarly called “Father Sauteloup,” had the task, in May, 1830, of reading to Theodore Calvi, who was condemned to death and a prisoner in the Conciegerie, the denial of his petition for appeal. Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life.

  SAUVAGE (Madame), a person of repulsive appearance, and of doubtful morality, the servant-mistress of Maitre Fraisier; on the death of Pons, kept house for Schmucke, who inherited from Pons to the prejudice of the Camusot de Marvilles. Cousin Pons.

  SAUVAGE, first deputy of the king’s attorney at Alencon; a young magistrate, married, harsh, stiff, ambitious, and selfish; took sides against Victurnien d’Esgrignon in the notorious affair known as the D’Esgrignon-Du-Bousquier case; after the famous lawsuit he was sent to Corsica. Jealousies of a Country Town.

  SAUVAGNEST, successor of the attorney Bordin, and predecessor of Maitre Desroches; was an attorney in Paris. A Start in Life.

  SAUVAIGNOU (of Marseilles), a head carpenter, had a hand in the sale of the house on the Place de la Madeleine which was bought in 1840, by the Thuilliers at the urgent instance of Cerizet, Claparon, Dutocq, and especially Theodose de la Peyrade. The Middle Classes.

  SAUVIAT (Jerome-Baptiste), born in Auvergne, about 1747; a traveling tradesman from 1792 to 1796; of commercial tastes, rough, energetic, and avaricious; of a profoundly religious nature; was imprisoned during the Terror; barely escaped being beheaded for abetting the escape of a bishop; married Mademoiselle Champagnac at Limoges in 1797; had by her a daughter, Veronique (Madame Pierre Graslin); after the death of his father-in-law, he bought, in the same town, the house which he was occupying as tenant and where he sold old iron; he continued his business there; retired from business in wealth, but still, at a later period, went as superintendent into a porcelain factory with J.-F. Tascheron; gave his attention to that work for at least three years, and died then through an accident in 1827. The Country Parson.

  SAUVIAT (Madame), wife of the preceding; born Champagnac, about 1767; daughter of a coppersmith of Limoges, who became a widower in 1797, and from whom she afterwards inherited. Madame Sauviat lived, in turn, near the rue de la Vieille-Poste, a suburb of Limoges, and at Montegnac. Like Sauviat, she was industrious, rough, grasping, economical, and hard, but pious withal; and like him, too, she adored Veronique, whose terrible secret she knew, — a sort of Marcellange affair.* The Country Parson.

  * A famous criminal case of the time.

  SAVARON DE SAVARUS, a noble and
wealthy family, whose various members known in the eighteenth century were as follows: Savaron de Savarus (of Tournai), a Fleming, true to Flemish traditions, with whom the Claes and the Pierquins seem to have had transactions. The Quest of the Absolute. Mademoiselle Savarus, a native of Brabant, a wealthy unmarried heiress; Savarus (Albert), a French attorney, descended, but not lineally, from the Comte de Savarus. Albert Savarus.

  SAVARUS (Albert Savaron de), of the family of the preceding list, but natural son of the Comte de Savarus, was born about 1798; was secretary to a minister of Charles X., and was also Master of Requests. The Revolution of 1830 fatally interrupted a very promising career; a deep love, which was reciprocated, for the Duchesse d’Argaiolo (afterwards Madame Alphonse de Rhetore), restored to Savarus his energetic and enterprising spirit; he succeeded in being admitted to the bar of Besancon, built up a good practice, succeeded brilliantly, founded the “Revue de l’Est,” in which he published an autobiographic novel, “L’Ambitieux par Amour,” and met with warm support in his candidacy for the Chamber of Deputies (1834). Albert Savarus, with his mask of a deep thinker, might have seen all his dreams realized, but for the romantic and jealous fancies of Rosalie de Watteville, who discovered and undid the advocate’s plans, by bringing about the second marriage of Madame d’Argaiolo. His hopes thus baffled, Albert Savarus became a friar of the parent institution of the Carthusians, which was situated near Grenoble, and was known as Brother Albert. The Quest of the Absolute. Albert Savarus.

  SCHERBELLOFF, Scherbelloff, or Sherbelloff (Princesse), maternal grandmother of Madame de Montcornet. The Peasantry. Jealousies of a Country Town.

  SCHILTZ married a Barnheim (of Baden), and had by her a daughter, Josephine, afterwards Madame Fabien du Ronceret; was an “intrepid officer, a chief among those bold Alsatian partisans who almost saved the Emperor in the campaign of France.” He died at Metz, despoiled and ruined. Beatrix.

  SCHILTZ (Josephine), otherwise known as Madame Schontz. (See Ronceret, Madame Fabien du.)

  SCHINNER (Mademoiselle), mother of Hippolyte Schinner, the painter, and daughter of an Alsatian farmer; being seduced by a coarse but wealthy man, she refused the money offered as compensation for refusing to legitimize their liaison, and consoled herself in the joys of maternity, the duties whereof she fulfilled with the most perfect devotion. At the time of her son’s marriage she was living in Paris, and shared with him an apartment situated near the artist’s studio, and not far from the Madeleine, on the rue des Champs-Elysees. The Purse.

  SCHINNER (Hippolyte), a painter, natural son of the preceding; of Alsatian origin, and recognized by his mother only; a pupil of Gros, in whose studio he formed a close intimacy with Joseph Bridau. A Bachelor’s Establishment. He was married during the reign of Louis XVIII.; he was at that time a knight of the Legion of Honor, and was already a celebrated character. While working in Paris, near the Madeleine, in a house belonging to Molineux, he met the other occupants, Madame and Mademoiselle Leseigneur de Rouville, and seems to have imitated with respect to them the delicate conduct of their benefactor and friend, Kergarouet; was touched by the cordiality extended to him by the baroness in spite of his poverty; he loved Adelaide de Rouville, and the passion being reciprocated, he married her. The Purse. Being associated with Pierre Grassou, he gave him excellent advice, which this indifferent artist was scarceley able to profit by. Pierre Grassou. In 1822, the Comte de Serizy employed Schinner to decorate the chateau of Presles; Joseph Bridau, who was trying his hand, completed the master’s work, and even, in a passing fit of levity, appropriated his name. A Start in Life. Schinner was mentioned in the autobiographical novel of Albert Savarus, “L’Ambitieux par Amour.” Albert Savarus. He was the friend of Xavier Rabourdin. The Government Clerks. He drew vignettes for the works of Canalis. Modeste Mignon. To him we owe the remarkable ceilings of Adam Laginski’s house situated on the rue de la Pepiniere. The Imaginary Mistress. About 1845, Hippolyte Schinner lived not far from the rue de Berlin, near Leon de Lora, to whom he had been first instructor. The Unconscious Humorists.

  SCHINNER (Madame), wife of Hippolyte Schinner, born Adelaide Leseigneur de Rouville, daughter of the Baron and Baronne de Rouville, her father being a naval officer; lived during the Restoration in Paris with her mother, boarding at a house situated on the rue de Surene and belonging to Molineux. Bereft of her father, the future Madame Schinner would then have found it difficult to await the slow adjustment of her father’s pension, had not their old friend, Admiral de Kergarouet, come in his unobtrusive way to the assistance of herself and her mother. About the same time she nursed their neighbor, Hippolyte Schinner, who was suffering from the effects of a fall, and conceived for him a love that was returned; the gift of a little embroidered purse on the part of the young woman brought about the marriage. The Purse.

  SCHMUCKE (Wilhelm), a German Catholic, and a man of great musical talent; open-hearted, absent-minded, kind, sincere, of simple manners, of gentle and upright bearing. Originally he was precentor to the Margrave of Anspach; he had known Hoffman, the eccentric writer of Berlin, in whose memory he afterwards had a cat named Murr. Schmucke then went to Paris; in 1835-36, he lived there in a small apartment on the Quai Conti, at the corner of the rue de Nevers.* Previous to this, in the Quartier du Marais, he gave lessons in harmony, that were much appreciated, to the daughters of the Granvilles, afterwards Mesdames de Vandenesse and du Tillet; at a later period the former lady asked him to endorse some notes of hand for Raoul Nathan’s benefit. A Daughter of Eve. Schmucke was also instructor of Lydie Peyrade before her marriage with Theodose de la Peyrade. Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life; but those whom he regarded as his favorite pupils were Mesdames de Vandenesse and du Tillet, and the future Vicomtesse de Portenduere, Mademoiselle Mirouet of Nemours, the three “Saint-Cecilias” who combined to pay him an annuity. Ursule Mirouet. The former precentor, now of ugly and aged appearance, readily obtained a welcome with the principals of boarding-schools for young ladies. At a distribution of prizes he was brought in contact with Sylvain Pons for whom he immediately felt an affection that proved to be mutual (1834). Their intimacy brought them under the same roof, rue de Normandie, as tenants of C.-J. Pillerault (1836). Schmucke lived for nine years in perfect happiness. Gaudissart, having become manager of a theatre, employed him in his orchestra, entrusted him with the work of making copies of the music, and employed him to play the piano and various instruments that were not used in the boulevard theatres: the viol d’amore, English horn, violoncello, harp, castanets, bells, saxhorns, etc. Pons made him his residuary legatee (April, 1845); but the innocent German was not strong enough to contend with Maitre Fraisier, agent of the Camusot de Marvilles, who were ignored in this will. In spite of Topinard, to whom, in despair at the death of his friend, he went to demand hospitality, in the Bordin district, Schmucke allowed himself to be swindled, and was soon carried off by apoplexy. Cousin Pons.

  * Perhaps the former lodging place of Napoleon Bonaparte.

  SCHONTZ (Madame), name borne by Mademoiselle Schiltz, afterwards Madame Fabien du Ronceret. (See this last name.)

  SCHWAB (Wilhelm), born at Strasbourg in the early part of the nineteenth century, of the German family of Kehl, had Frederic (Fritz) Brunner as his friend, whose follies he shared, whose poverty he relieved, and with whom he went to Paris; there they went to the Hotel du Rhin, rue du Mail, kept by Johann Graff, father of Emilie, and brother of the famous tailor, Wolfgang Graff. Schwab kept books for this rival of Humann and Staub. Several years later he played the flute at the theatre at which Sylvain Pons directed the orchestra. During an intermission at the first brilliant performance of “La Fiancee du Diable,” presented in the fall of 1844, Schwab invited Pons through Schmucke to his approaching wedding; he married Mademoiselle Emilie Graff — a love-match — and joined in business with Frederic Brunner, who was a banker and enriched by the inheritance of his father’s property. Cousin Pons.

  SCHWAB (Madame Wilhelm), wife of the preceding; born Mademoiselle
Emilie Graff; an accomplished beauty, niece of Wolfgang Graff, the wealthy tailor, who provided her with dowry. Cousin Pons.

  SCIO (Madame), a prominent singer of the Theatre Feydeau in 1798, was very beautiful in “Les Peruviens,” a comic opera by Mongenod, produced with very indifferent success. The Seamy Side of History.

  SCOEVOLA (Mucius). Under this assumed name was concealed, during the Terror, a man who had been huntsman to the Prince de Conti, to whom he owed his fortune. A plasterer, and proprietor of a small house in Paris, on about the highest point of the Faubourg Saint-Martin,* near the rue d’Allemagne, he affected an exaggerated civism, which masked an unfailing fidelity to the Bourbons, and he in some mysterious way afforded protection to Sisters Marthe and Agathe (Mesdemoiselles de Beauseant and de Langeais), nuns who had escaped from the Abbey of Chelles, and were, with Abbe de Marolles, taking refuge under his roof. An Episode under the Terror.

  * His parish was the Saint-Laurent church, which for a while during the Revolution had the name of Temple of Fidelity.

  SECHARD (Jerome-Nicolas), born in 1743. After having been a workman in a printer’s shop of Angouleme situated on the Place du Murier, though very illiterate, he became its owner at the beginning of the Revolution; was acquainted at that time with the Marquis de Maucombe, married a woman that was provided with a certain competency, but soon lost her, after having by her a son, David. In the reign of Louis XVIII., fearing the competition of Cointet, J.-N. Sechard retired from active life, selling his business to his son, whom he intentionally deceived in the trade, and moved to Marsac, near Angouleme, where he raised grapes, and drank to excess. During all the latter part of his life, Sechard mercilessly aggravated the commercial difficulties which his son David was struggling against. The old miser died about 1829, leaving property of some value. Lost Illusions.

 

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