Part 40

TABOUREAU, formerly a day-laborer, and afterwards, during the Restoration, a grain-dealer and money-lender in the commune of Isere, of which Doctor Benassis was mayor. He was a thin man, very wrinkled, bent almost double, with thin lips, and a hooked chin that almost made connection with his nose, little gray eyes spotted with black, and as sly as a horse-trader. [The Country Doctor.]

TAILLEFER (Jean-Frederic), born about 1779 at Beauvais; by means of a crime, in 1799, he laid the foundations of his fortune, which was considerable. In an inn near Andernach, Rhenish Prussia, Jean-Frederic Taillefer, then a surgeon in the army, killed and robbed, one night, a rich native tradesman, Monsieur Walhenfer, by name; however, he was never incommoded by this murder; for accusing appearances pointed to his friend, colleague and fellow-countryman, Prosper Magnan, who was executed. Returning to Paris, J.-F. Taillefer was from that time forth a wealthy and honored personage. He was captain of the first company of grenadiers of the National Guard, and an influencial banker; received much attention during the funeral obsequies of J.-B. d'Aldrigger; made successful speculations in Nucingen's third venture. He was married twice, and was brutal in his treatment of his first wife (a relative of Madame Couture) who bore him two children, Frederic-Michel and Victorine. He was owner of a magnificent mansion on the rue Joubert. In Louis Philippe's reign he entertained in this mansion with one of the most brilliant affairs ever known, according to the account of the guests present, among whom were Blondet, Rastignac, Valentin, Cardot, Aquilina de la Garde, and Euphrasie. M. Taillefer suffered, nevertheless, morally and physically; in the first place because of the crime that he had previously committed, for remorse for this deed came over him every fall, that being the time of its perpetration; in the second place, because of gout in the head, according to Doctor Brousson's diagnosis. Though well cared for by his second wife, and by his daughter of the first wife, Jean-Frederic died some time after a sumptuous feast given at his house. An evening passed in the salon of a banker, father of Mademoiselle Fanny, hastened Taillefer's end; for there he was obliged to listen to Hermann's story about the unjust martyrdom of Magnan. The funeral notice read as follows: "You are invited to be present at the funeral services of M. Jean-Frederic Taillefer, of the firm Taillefer & Company, formerly contractor for supplies, in his life-time Knight of the Legion of Honor and of the Golden Spur, Captain of the National Guard of Paris, died May 1st, at his mansion, rue Joubert. The services will be conducted at --, etc. In behalf of----," etc. [The Firm of Nucingen. Father Goriot. The Magic Skin. The Red Inn.]

TAILLEFER (Madame), first wife of the preceding, and mother of Frederic-Michel and Victorine Taillefer. As the result of the harsh treatment by her husband, who unjustly suspected her of being unfaithful, she died of a broken heart, presumably at quite an early age. [Father Goriot.]

TAILLEFER (Madame), second wife of Jean-Frederic Taillefer, who married her as a speculation, but even then made her happy. She seemed to be devoted to him. [The Red Inn.]

TAILLEFER (Frederic-Michel), son of Jean-Frederic Taillefer by his first wife, did not even try to protect his sister, Victorine, from her father's unjust persecutions. Designated heir of the whole of his father's great fortune, he was killed, in 1819, near Clignancourt, by a dexterous and unerring stroke, in a duel with Colonel Franchessini, the duel being instigated by Jacques Collin, in the interest of Eugene de Rastignac, though the latter knew nothing of the matter. [Father Goriot.]

TAILLEFER (Victorine), sister of the preceding, and daughter of Jean-Frederic Taillefer by his first wife; a distant cousin of Madame Couture; her mother having died in 1819, she wrongfully passed in her father's opinion for "the child of adulterous connections"; was turned away from her father's house, and sought protection with her kinswoman, Madame Couture, the widow of Couture the ordainer, on the rue Neuve-Saint-Genevieve, in Madame Vauquer's boarding-house; there she fell in love with Eugene de Rastignac; by the death of her brother she became heir to all the property of her father, Jean-Frederic Taillefer, whose death-bed she comforted in every way possible. Victorine Taillefer probably remained single. [Father Goriot. The Red Inn.]

TALLEYRAND-PERIGORD (Charles-Maurice de), Prince de Benevent, Bishop of Autun, ambassador and minister, born in Paris, in 1754, died in 1838, at his home on the rue Saint-Florentin.[*] Talleyrand gave attention to the insurrectional stir that arose in Bretagne, under the direction of the Marquis de Montauran, about 1799. [The Chouans.] The following year (June, 1800), on the eve of the battle of Marengo, M. de Talleyrand conferred with Malin de Gondreville, Fouche, Carnot, and Sieyes, about the political situation. In 1804 he received M. de Chargeboeuf, M. d'Hauteserre the elder, and the Abbe Goujet, who came to urge him to have the names of Robert and Adrien d'Hauteserre and Paul-Marie and Marie-Paul de Simeuse erased from the list of emigrants; some time afterwards, when these latter were condemned, despite their innocence, as guilty of the abduction and detention of Senator Malin, he made every effort to secure their pardon, at the earnest instance of Maitre Bordin, as well as the Marquis de Chargeboeuf. At the hour of the execution of the Duc d'Enghien, which he had perhaps advised, he was found with Madame de Luynes in time to give her the news of it, at the exact moment of its happening. M. de Talleyrand was very fond of Antoinette de Langeais. A frequent visitor of the Chaulieus, he was even more intimate with their near relative, the elderly Princesse de Vauremont, who made him executor of her will. [The Gondreville Mystery. The Thirteen. Letters of Two Brides.] Fritot, in selling his famous "Selim" shawl to Mistress Noswell, made use of a cunning that certainly would not have deceived the illustrious diplomat; one day, indeed, on noticing the hesitation of a fashionable lady as between two bracelets, Talleyrand asked the opinion of the clerk who was showing the jewelry, and advised the purchase of the one rejected by the latter. [Gaudissart II.]

[*] Alexander I., Czar of Russia, once stayed at this house, which is now owned and occupied by the Baron Alphonse de Rothschild.

TARLOWSKI, a Pole; colonel in the Imperial Guard; ordnance officer under Napoleon Bonaparte; friend of Poniatowski; made a match between his daughter and Bourlac. [The Seamy Side of History.]

TASCHERON, a very upright farmer, in a small way, in the market town of Montegnac, nine leagues distant from Limoges; left his village in August, 1829, immediately after the execution of his son, Jean-Francois. With his wife, parents, children and grandchildren, he sailed for America, where he prospered and founded the town of Tascheronville in the State of Ohio. [The Country Parson.]

TASCHERON (Jean-Francois), one of the sons of the preceding, born about 1805, a porcelain maker, working successively with Messieurs Graslin and Philippart; at the end of Charles X.'s reign, he committed a triple crime which, owing to his excellent character and antecedents, seemed for a long time inexplicable. Jean-Francois Tascheron fell in love with the wife of his first employer, Pierre Graslin, and she reciprocated the passion; to prepare a way for them to escape together, he went one night to the house of Pingret, a rich and miserly husbandman in the Faubourg Saint-Etienne, robbed him of a large sum of money, and, thinking to assure his safety, murdered the old man and his servant, Jeanne Malassis. Being arrested, despite his precautions, Jean-Francois Tascheron made especial effort not to compromise Madame Graslin. Condemned to death, he refused to confess, and was deaf to the prayers of Pascal, the chaplain, yielding somewhat, however, to his other visitors, the Abbe Bonnet, his mother, and his sister Denise; as a result of their influence he restored a considerable portion of the hundred thousand francs stolen. He was executed at Limoges, in August, 1829. He was the natural father of Francois Graslin. [The Country Parson.]

TASCHERON (Louis-Marie), a brother of the preceding; with Denise Tascheron (afterwards Denise Gerard) he fulfilled a double mission: he destroyed the traces of the crime of Jean-Francois, that might betray Madame Graslin, and restored the rest of the stolen money to Pingret's heirs, Monsieur and Madame de Vanneaulx. [The Country Parson.]

TASCHERON (Denise), a sister of the preceding. (See Gerard, Madame Gregoire.)

TAUPIN, cure of Soulanges (Bourgogne), cousin of the Sarcus family and Sarcus-Taupin, the miller. He was a man of ready wit, of happy disposition, and on good terms with all his parishioners. [The Peasantry.]

TERNNICK (De), Duc de Casa-Real, which name see.

TERRASSE AND DUCLOS, keepers of records at the Palais, in 1822; consulted at that time with success by Godeschal. [A Start in Life.]

THELUSSON, a banker, one of whose clerks was Lemprun before he entered the Banque de France as messenger. [The Middle Classs.]

THERESE, lady's-maid to Madame de Nucingen during the Restoration and the reign of Louis Philippe. [Father Goriot. A Daughter of Eve.]

THERESE, lady's-maid to Madame Xavier Rabourdin, on the rue Duphot, Paris, in 1824. [The Government Clerks.]

THERESE, lady's-maid to Madame de Rochefide in the latter part of Charles X.'s reign, and during the reign of Louis Philippe. [Beatrix.]

THERESE (Sister), the name under which Antoinette de Langeais died, after she had taken the veil, and retired to the convent of bare-footed Carmelites on an island belonging to Spain, probably the island of Leon. [The Thirteen.]

THIBON (Baron), chief of the Comptoir d'Escompte, in 1818, had been a colleague of Cesar Birotteau, the perfumer. [Cesar Birotteau.]

THIRION, usher to the closet of King Louis XVIII., was on terms of intimacy with the Ragons, and was invited to Cesar Birotteau's famous ball on December 17, 1818, together with his wife and his daughter Amelie, one of Servin's pupils who married Camusot de Marville. [The Vendetta. Cesar Birotteau.] The emoluments of his position, obtained by the patronage that his zeal deservedly acquired, enabled him to lay by a considerable sum, which the Camusot de Marvilles inherited. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]

THOMAS was owner of a large house in Bretagne, that Marie de Verneuil (Madame Alphonse de Montauran) bought for Francine de Cottin, her lady's maid, and a niece of Thomas. [The Chouans.]

THOMAS (Madame) was a milliner in Paris towards the latter part of the reign of Charles X.; it was to her establishment that Frederic de Nucingen, after being driven to the famous pastry shop of Madame Domas, an error arising from his Alsatian pronunciation, betook himself in quest of a black satin cape, lined with pink, for Esther van Gobseck. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]

THOMIRE contributed to the material splendors of the famous entertainment given by Frederic Taillefer, about 1831, at his mansion on the rue Joubert, Paris. [The Magic Skin.]

THOREC, an anagram of Hector, and one of the names successively assumed by Baron Hector Hulot d'Ervy, after deserting his conjugal roof. [Cousin Betty.]

THOREIN, a carpenter, was employed in making changes in Cesar Birotteau's apartments some days before the famous ball given by the perfumer on December 17, 1818. [Cesar Birotteau.]

THOUL, anagram of the word Hulot, and one of the names successively assumed by Baron Hector Hulot d'Ervy, after his desertion of the conjugal roof. [Cousin Betty.]

THOUVENIN, famous in his work, but an unreliable tradesman, was employed, in 1818, by Madame Anselme Popinot (then Mademoiselle Birotteau) to rebind for her father, the perfumer, the works of various authors. [Cesar Birotteau.] Thouvenin, as an artist, was in love with his own works--like Servais, the favorite gilder of Elie Magus. [Cousin Pons.]

THUILLIER was first door-keeper of the minister of finance in the second half of the eighteenth century; by furnishing meals to the clerks he realized from his position a regular annual income of almost four thousand francs; being married and the father of two children, Marie-Jeanne-Brigitte and Louis-Jerome, he retired from active duties about 1806, and, losing his wife in 1810, he himself died in 1814. He was commonly called "Stout Father Thuillier." [The Government Clerks. The Middle Classes.]

THUILLIER (Marie-Jeanne-Brigitte), daughter of the preceding, born in 1787, of independent disposition and of obstinate will, chose the single state to become, as it were, the ambitious mother of Louis-Jerome, a brother younger than herself by four years. She began life by making coin-bags at the Bank of France, then engaged in money-lending; took every advantage of her debtors, among others Fleury, her father's colleague at the Treasury. Being now rich, she met the Lempruns and the Galards; took upon herself the management of the small fortune of their heir, Celeste Lemprum, whom she had selected specially to be the wife of her brother; after their marriage she lived with her brother's family; was also one of Mademoiselle Colleville's god-mothers. On the rue Saint-Dominique-d'Enfer, and on the Place de la Madeleine, she showed herself many times to be the friend of Theodose de la Peyrade, who vainly sought the hand of the future Madame Phellion. [The Government Clerks. The Middle Classes.]

THUILLIER (Louis-Jerome), younger brother of the preceding, born in 1791. Thanks to his father's position, he entered the Department of Finance as clerk at an early age. Louis-Jerome Thuillier, being exempted from military service on account of weak eyes, married Celeste Lemprun, Galard's wealthy granddaughter, about 1814. Ten years later he had reached the advancement of reporting clerk, in Xavier Rabourdin's office, Flamet de la Billardiere's division. His pleasing exterior gave him a series of successes in love affairs, that was continued after his marriage, but cut short by the Restoration, bringing back, as it did, with peace, the gallants escaped from the battlefield. Among his amorous conquests may be counted Madame Flavie Colleville, wife of his intimate friend and colleague at the Treasury; of their relations was born Celeste Colleville--Madame Felix Phellion. Having been deputy-chief for two years (since January 5, 1828), he left the Treasury at the outbreak of the Revolution of 1830. In him the office lost an expert in equivocal jests. Having left the department, Thuillier turned his energies in another direction. Marie-Jeanne-Brigette, his elder sister, turning him to the intricacies of real estate, made him leave their lodging-place on the rue d'Argenteuil, to purchase a house on the rue Saint-Dominique-d'Enfer, which had formerly belonged to President Lecamus and to Petitot, the artist. Thuillier's conceit and vanity, now that he had become a well-known and important citizen, were greatly flattered when Theodose de la Peyrade hired apartments from him. M. Thuillier was manager of the "Echo de la Bievre," signed a certain pamphlet on political economy, was candidate for the Chamber of Deputies, purchased a second house, in 1840, on the Place de la Madeleine, and was chosen to succeed J.-J. Popinot as member of the General Council of the Seine. [The Government Clerks. The Middle Classes.]

THUILLIER (Madame), wife of the preceding; born Celeste Lemprun, in 1794; only daughter of the oldest messenger in the Bank of France, and, on her mother's side, granddaughter od Galard, a well-to-do truck-gardener of Auteuil; a transparent blonde, slender, sweet-tempered, religious, and barren. In her married life, Madame Thuillier was swayed beneath the despotism of her sister-in-law, Marie-Jeanne-Brigitte, but derived some consolation from the affection of Celeste Colleville, and, about 1841, contributed as far as her influence permitted, to the marriage of this her god-daughter. [The Middle Classes.]

TIENNETTE, born in 1769, a Breton who wore her native costume, was, in 1829, the devoted servant of Madame de Portenduere the elder, on the rue des Bourgeois (now Bezout), Nemours. [Ursule Mirouet.]

TILLET (Ferdinand du), had legally a right only to the first part of his name, which was given him on the morning of Saint-Ferdinand's day by the curate of the church of Tillet, a town near Andelys (Eure). Ferdinand was the son of an unknown great nobleman and a poor countrywoman of Normandie, who was delivered of her son one night in the curate's garden, and then drowned herself. The priest took in the new born son of the betrayed mother and took care of him. His protector being dead, Ferdinand resolved to make his own way in the world, took the name of his village, was first commercial traveler, and, in 1814, he became head clerk in Birotteau's perfumery establishment on the rue Saint-Honore, Paris. While there he tried, but without success, to win Constance Birotteau, his patron's wife, and stole three thousand francs from the cash drawer. They discovered the theft and forgave the offender, but in such a way that Du Tillet himself was offended. He left the business and started a bank; being the lover of Madame Roguin, the notary's wife, he became involved in the business scheme known as "the lands of the Madeleine," the original cause of Birotteau's failure and of his own fortune (1818). Ferdinand du Tillet, now a lynx of almost equal prominence with Nucingen, with whom he was on very intimate terms, being loved by Mademoiselle Malvina d'Aldrigger, being looked up to by the Kellers also, and being further the patron of Tiphaine, the Provins Royalist, was able to crush Birotteau, and triumphed over him, even on December 17, 1818, the evening of the famous ball given by the perfumer; Jules Desmarets, Benjamin de la Billiardiere, and he were the only perfect types present of worldly propriety and distinction. [Cesar Birotteau. The Firm of Nucingen. The Middle Classes. A Bachelor's Establishment. Pierrette.] Once started, M. du Tillet seldom left the Chaussee d'Antin, the financial quarter of Paris, during the Restoration and the reign of Louis Philippe. It was there that he received Birotteau, imploring aid, and gave him a letter of recommendation for Nucingen, the result of which was quite different from what the unfortunate merchant had anticipated. Indeed, it was agreed between the two business men, if the i's in the letter in question were not dotted, to give a negative answer; by this intentional omission, Du Tillet ruined the unfortunate Birotteau. He had his bank on the rue Joubert when Rodolphe Castanier, the dishonest cashier, robbed Nucingen. [Melmoth Reconciled.] Ferdinand du Tillet was now a consequential personage, when Lucien de Rubempre was making his start in Paris (1821). [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] Ten years later he married his last daughter to the Comte de Granville, a peer of France, and "one of the most illustrious names of the French magistracy." He occupied one of the elegant mansions on the rue Neuve-des-Mathurins, now rue des Mathurins; for a long time he kept Madame Roguin as his mistress; was often seen, in the Faubourg Saint-Honore, with the Marquise d'Espard, being found there on the day that Diane de Cadignan was slandered in the presence of Daniel d'Arthez, who was very much in love with her. With Massol and Raoul Nathan he founded a prominent newspaper, which he used for his financial interests. He did not hesitate to get rid of Nathan, who was loaded down with debts; but he found Nathan before him once more, however, as candidate for the Chamber of Deputies, to succeed Nucingen, who had been made a peer of France; this time, also, he triumphed over his rival, and was elected. [The Secrets of a Princess. A Daughter of Eve.] M. du Tillet was no more sparing of Maxime de Trailles, but harassed him pitilessly, when the count was sent into Champagne as electoral agent of the government. [The Member for Arcis.] He was present at the fete given by Josepha Mirah, by way of a house-warming, in her mansion on the rue de la Ville-l'Eveque; Celestin Crevel and Valerie Marneffe invited him to their wedding. [Cousin Betty.] At the end of the monarchy of July, being a deputy, with his seat in the Left Centre, Ferdinand du Tillet kept in the most magnificent style Seraphine Sinet, the Opera girl, more familiarly called Carabine. [The Unconscious Humorists.] There is a biography of Ferdinand du Tillet, elaborated by the brilliant pen of Jules Claretie, in "Le Temps" of September 5, 1884, under title of "Life in Paris."

TILLET (Madame Ferdinand du), wife of the preceding, born Marie-Eugenie de Granville in 1814, one of the four children of the Comte and Comtesse de Granville, and younger sister of Madame Felix de Vandenesse; a blonde like her mother; in her marriage, which took place in 1831, was a renewal of the griefs that had sobered the years of her youth. Eugenie du Tillet's natural playfulness of spirit could find vent only with her eldest sister, Angelique-Marie, and their harmony teacher, W. Schmucke, in whose company the two sisters forgot their father's neglect and the convent-like rigidness of a devotee's home. Poor in the midst of wealth, deserted by her husband, and bent beneath an inflexible yoke, Madame du Tillet could lend but too little aid to her sister--then Madame de Vandenesse--in the trouble caused by a passion she had conceived for Raoul Nathan. However, she supplied her with two powerful allies--Delphine de Nucingen and W. Schmucke. As a result of her marriage Madame du Tillet had two children. [A Daughter of Eve.]

TINTENIAC, known for his part in the Quiberon affair, had among his confederates Jacques Horeau, who was executed in 1809 with the Chauffeurs of Orne. [The Seamy Side of History.]

TINTI (Clarina), born in Sicily about 1803; was maid in an inn, when her glorious voice came under the notice of a great nobleman, her fellow-countryman, the Duke Cataneo, who had her educated. At the age of sixteen, she made her debut with brilliant success at several Italian theatres. In 1820, she was "prima donna assoluta" of the Fenice theatre, Venice. Being loved by Genovese, the famous tenor, Tinti was usually engaged with him. Of a passionate nature, beautiful and capricious, Clarina became enamored of Prince Emilio du Varese, at that time the lover of the Duchesse Cataneo, and became, for a while, the mistress of that descendant of the Memmis: the ruined palace of Varese, which Cataneo hired for Tinti, was the scene of these ephemeral relations. [Massimilla Doni.] In the winter of 1823-1824, at the home of Prince Gandolphini, in Geneva, with Genovese, Princesse Gandolphini, and an exiled Italian prince, she sang the famous quartette, "Mi manca la voce." [Albert Savarus.]

TIPHAINE, of Provins, brother of Madame Guenee-Galardon, rich in his own right, and expecting something more by way of inheritance from his father, adopted the legal profession; married a granddaughter of Chevrel, a prominent banker of Paris; had children by his marriage; presided over the court of his native town in the latter part of Charles X.'s reign. At that time an ardent Royalist, and resting secure under the patronage of the well-known financiers, Ferdinand du Tillet and Frederic de Nucingen, M. Tiphaine contended against Gouraud, Vinet, and Rogron, the local representatives of the Liberal party, and for a considerable time upheld the cause of Mademoiselle Pierrette Lorrain, their victim. Tiphaine, however, suited himself to the circumstances, and came over to Louis Philippe, the "revolutionist," under whose reign he became a member of the Chamber of Deputies; he was "one of the most esteemed orators of the Centre"; secured his appointment to the judgeship of the court of first instance of the Seine, and still later he was made president of the royal court. [Pierrette.]