Chapter 7 of 45 · 3980 words · ~20 min read

Part 7

BRAULARD, born in 1782. The head _claquer_ at the theatre of the Panorama-Dramatique, and then at the Gymnase, about 1822. The lover of Mlle. Millot. At this time he lived in rue Faubourg du Temple, in a rather comfortable flat where he gave fine dinners to actresses, managing editors and authors--among others, Adele Dupuis, Finot, Ducange and Frederic du Petit-Mere. He was credited with having gained an income of twenty thousand francs by discounting authors' and other complimentary tickets. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] When chief _claquer_, about 1843, he had in his following Chardin, alias Idamore [Cousin Betty], and commanded his "Romans" at the Boulevard theatre, which presented operas, spectaculars and ballets at popular prices, and was run by Felix Gaudissart. [Cousin Pons.]

BRAZIER, this family included the following: A peasant of Vatan (Indre), the paternal uncle and guardian of Mlle. Flore Brazier, known as "La Rabouilleuse." In 1799 he placed her in the house of Dr. Rouget on very satisfactory conditions for himself, Brazier. Rendered comparatively rich by the doctor, he died two years before the latter, in 1805, from a fall received on leaving an inn where he spent his time after becoming well-to-do. His wife, who was a very harsh aunt of Flore's. Lastly the brother and brother-in-law of this girl's guardians, the real father of "La Rabouilleuse," who died in 1799, a demented widower, in the hospital of Bourges. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]

BRAZIER (Flore). (See Bridau, Madame Philippe.)

BREAUTEY (Comtesse de), a venerable woman of Provins, who maintained the only aristocratic salon in that city, in 1827-1828. [Pierrette.]

BREBIAN (Alexandre de), member of the Angouleme aristocracy in 1821. He frequented the Bargeton receptions. An artist like his friend Bartas, he also was daft over drawing and would ruin every album in the department with his grotesque productions. He posed as Mme. de Bartas' lover, since Bartas paid court to Mme. de Brebian. [Lost Illusions.]

BREBIAN (Charlotte de), wife of the preceding. Currently called "Lolotte." [Lost Illusions.]

BREINTMAYER, a banking house of Strasbourg, entrusted by Michu in 1803 with the transmission of funds to the De Simeuses, young officers of the army of Conde. [The Gondreville Mystery.]

BREZACS (The), Auvergnats, dealers in general merchandise and the furnishings of chateaux during the Revolution, the Empire and the Restoration. They had business dealings with Pierre Graslin, Jean-Baptiste Sauviat and Martin Falleix. [The Country Parson. The Government Clerks.]

BRIDAU, father of Philippe and Joseph Bridau; one of the secretaries of Roland, Minister of the Interior in 1792, and the right arm of succeeding ministers. He was attached fanatically to Napoleon, who could appreciate him, and who made him chief of division in 1804. He died in 1808, at the moment when he had been promised the offices of director general and councillor of state with the title of comte. He first met Agathe Rouget, whom he made his wife, at the home of the grocer Descoings, the man whom he tried to save from the scaffold. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]

BRIDAU (Agathe Rouget, Madame), wife of the preceding; born in 1773. Legal daughter of Dr. Rouget of Issoudun, but possibly the natural daughter of Sub-delegate Lousteau. The doctor did not waste any affection upon her, and lost no time in sending her to Paris, where she was reared by her uncle, the grocer Descoings. She died at the close of 1828. Of her two sons, Philippe and Joseph, Mme. Bridau always preferred the elder, though he caused her nothing but grief. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]

BRIDAU (Philippe), elder son of Bridau and Agathe Rouget. Born in 1796. Placed in the Saint-Cyr school in 1813, he remained but six months, leaving it to become under-lieutenant of the cavalry. On account of a skirmish of the advance guard he was made full lieutenant, during the French campaign, then captain after the battle of La Fere-Champenoise, where Napoleon made him artillery officer. He was decorated at Montereau. After witnessing the farewell at Fontainebleu, he came back to his mother in July, 1814, being then hardly nineteen. He did not wish to serve the Bourbons. In March, 1815, Philippe Bridau rejoined the Emperor at Lyons, accompanying him to the Tuileries. He was promised a captaincy in a squadron of dragoons of the Guard, and made officer of the Legion of Honor at Waterloo. Reduced to half-pay, during the Restoration, he nevertheless preserved his rank and officer's cross. He rejoined General Lallemand in Texas, returning from America in October, 1819, thoroughly degenerated. He ran an opposition newspaper in Paris in 1820-1821. He led a most dissolute life; was the lover of Mariette Godeschal; and attended all the parties of Tullia, Florentine, Florine, Coralie, Matifat and Camusot. Not content with using the income of his brother Joseph, he stole a coffer entrusted to him, and despoiled of her last savings Mme. Descoings, who died of grief. Involved in a military plot in 1822, he was sent to Issoudun, under the surveillance of the police. There he created a disturbance in the "bachelor's establishment" of his uncle, Jean-Jacques Rouget; killed in a duel Maxence Gilet, the lover of Flore Brazier; brought about the girl's marriage with his uncle; and married her himself when she became a widow in 1824. When Charles X. succeeded to the throne, Philippe Bridau re-entered the army as lieutenant-colonel of the Duc de Maufrigneuse's regiment. In 1827 he passed with this grade into a regiment of cavalry of the Royal Guard, and was made Comte de Brambourg from the name of an estate which he had purchased. He was promised further the office of commander in the Legion of Honor, as well as in the Order of Saint-Louis. After having consciously caused the death of his wife, Flore Brazier, he tried to marry Amelie de Soulanges, who belonged to a great family. But his manoeuvres were frustrated by Bixiou. The Revolution of 1830 resulted in the loss to Philippe Bridau of a portion of the fortune which he had obtained from his uncle by his marriage. Once more he entered military service, under the July Government, which made him a colonel. In 1839 he fell in an engagement with the Arabs in Africa. [A Bachelor's Establishment. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]

BRIDAU (Joseph), painter; younger brother of Philippe Bridau; born in 1799. He studied with Gros, and made his first exhibit at the Salon of 1823. He received great stimulus from his fellow-members of the "Cenacle," in rue Quatre-Vents, also from his master, from Gerard and from Mlle. des Touches. Moreover he was a hard-worker and an artist of genius. He was decorated in 1827, and about 1839, through the interest of the Comte de Serizy, for whose home he had formerly done some work, he married the only daughter of a retired farmer, now a millionaire. On the death of his brother Philippe, he inherited his house in rue de Berlin, his estate of Brambourg, and his title of comte. [A Bachelor's Establishment. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. A Start in Life.] Joseph Bridau made some vignettes for the works of Canalis. [Modeste Mignon.] He was intimate with Hippolyte Schinner, whom he had known at Gros' studio. [The Purse.] Shortly after 1830, he was present at an "at home" at Mlle. des Touches, when Henri de Marsay told about his first love affair. [Another Study of Woman.] In 1832 he rushed in to see Pierre Grassou, borrowed five hundred francs of him, and told him to "cater to his talent" and even to plunge into literature since he was nothing more than a poor painter. At this same time, Joseph Bridau painted the dining-hall in the D'Arthez chateau. [Pierre Grassou.] He was a friend of Marie Gaston, and was attendant at his marriage with Louise de Chaulieu, widow of Macumer, in 1833. [Letters of Two Brides.] He also assisted at the wedding of Steinbock with Hortense Hulot, and in 1838, at the instigation of Stidmann, clubbed in with Leon de Lora to raise four thousand francs for the Pole, who was imprisoned for debt. He had made the portrait of Josepha Mirah. [Cousin Betty.] In 1839, at Mme. Montcornet's, Joseph Bridau praised the talent and character displayed by Dorlange, the sculptor. [The Member for Arcis.]

BRIDAU (Flore Brazier, Madame Philippe), born in 1787 at Vatan Indre, known as "La Rabouilleuse," on account of her uncle having put her to work, when a child, at stirring up (to "rabouiller") the streamlets, so that he might find crayfishes. She was noticed on account of her great beauty by Dr. Rouget of Issoudun, and taken to his home in 1799. Jean-Jacques Rouget, the doctor's son become much enamored of her, but obtained favor only through his money. On her part she was smitten with Maxence Gilet, whom she entertained in the house of the old bachelor at the latter's expense. But everything was changed by the arrival of Philippe Bridau at Issoudun. Gilet was killed in a duel, and Rouget married La Rabouilleuse in 1823. Left a widow soon after, she married the soldier. She died in Paris in 1828, abandoned by her husband, in the greatest distress, a prey to innumerable terrible complaints, the products of the dissolute life into which Philippe Bridau had designedly thrown her. She dwelt then on rue du Houssay, on the fifth floor. She left here for the Dubois Hospital in Faubourg Saint-Denis. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]

BRIDAU (Madame Joseph), only daughter of Leger, an old farmer, afterwards a multi-millionaire at Beaumont-sur-Oise; married to the painter Joseph Bridau about 1839. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]

BRIGAUT (Major), of Pen-Hoel, Vendee; retired major of the Catholic Army which contested with the French Republic. A man of iron, but devout and entirely unselfish. He had served under Charette, Mercier, the Baron du Guenic and the Marquis de Montauran. He died in 1819, six months after Mme. Lorrain, the widow of a major in the Imperial Army, whom he was said to have consoled on the loss of her husband. Major Brigaut had received twenty-seven wounds. [Pierrette. The Chouans.]

BRIGAUT (Jacques), son of Major Brigaut; born about 1811. Childhood companion of Pierrette Lorrain, whom he loved in innocent fashion similar to that of Paul and Virginia, and whose love was reciprocated in the same way. When Pierrette was sent to Provins, to the home of the Rogrons, her relatives, Jacques also went to this town and worked at the carpenter's trade. He was present at the death-bed of the young girl and immediately thereafter enlisted as a soldier; he became head of a battalion, after having several times sought death vainly. [Pierrette.]

BRIGITTE. (See Cottin, Madame.)

BRIGITTE, servant of Chesnel from 1795 on. In 1824 she was still with him in rue du Bercail, Alencon, at the time of the pranks of the young D'Esgrignon. Brigette humored the gormandizing of her master, the only weakness of the goodman. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]

BRIGNOLET, clerk with lawyer Bordin in 1806. [A Start in Life.]

BRISETOUT (Heloise), mistress of Celestin Crevel in 1838, at the time when he was elected mayor. She succeeded Josepha Mirah, in a little house on rue Chauchat, after having lived on rue Notre-Dame-de Lorette. [Cousin Betty.] In 1844-1845 she was _premiere danseuse_ in the Theatre du Boulevard, when she was claimed by both Bixiou and Gaudissart, her manager. She was a very literary young woman, much spoken of in Bohemian circles for elegance and graciousness. She knew all the great artists, and favored her kinsman, the musician Garangeot. [Cousin Pons.] Towards the end of the reign of Louis Philippe, she had Isidore Baudoyer for a "protector"; he was then mayor of the arrondissement of Paris, which included the Palais Royale. [The Middle Classes.]

BRISSET, a celebrated physician of Paris, time of Louis Philippe. a materialist and successor to Bichat, and Cabanis. At the head of the "Organists," opposed to Cameristus head of the "Vitalists." He was called in consultation regarding Raphael de Valentin, whose condition was serious. [The Magic Skin.]

BROCHON, a half-pay soldier who, in 1822, tended the horses and did chores for Moreau, manager of Presles, the estate of the Comte de Serizy. [A Start in Life.]

BROSSARD (Madame), widow received at Mme. de Bargeton's at Angouleme in 1821. Poor but well-born, she sought to marry her daughter, and in the end, despite her precise dignity and "sour-sweetness," she got along fairly well with the other sex. [Lost Illusions.]

BROSSARD (Camille du), daughter of the preceding. born in 1794. Fleshy and imposing. Posed as a good pianist. Not yet married at twenty-seven. [Lost Illusions.]

BROSSETTE (Abbe), born about 1790; cure of Blangy, Burgundy, in 1823, at the time when General de Montcornet was struggling with the peasantry. The abbe himself was an object of their defiance and hatred. He was the fourth son of a good bourgeoisie family of Autun, a faithful prelate, an obstinate Royalist and a man of intelligence. [The Peasantry.] In 1840 he became a cure at Paris, in the faubourg Saint-Germain, and at the request of Mme. de Grandlieu, he interested himself in removing Calyste du Guenic from the clutches of Mme. de Rochefide and restoring him to his wife. [Beatrix.]

BROUET (Joseph), a Chouan who died of wounds received in the fight of La Pelerine or at the siege of Fougeres, in 1799. [The Chouans.]

BROUSSON (Doctor), attended the banker Jean-Frederic Taillefer, a short time before the financier's death. [The Red Inn.]

BRUCE (Gabriel), alias Gros-Jean, one of the fiercest Chouans of the Fontaine division. Implicated in the affair of the "Chauffeurs of Mortagne" in 1809. Condemned to death for contumacy. [The Seamy Side of History.]

BRUEL (Du), chief of division to the Ministers of the Interior, under the Empire. A friend of Bridau senior, retired on the advent of Restoration. He was on very friendly terms with the widow Bridau, coming each evening for a game of cards at her house, on rue Mazarine, with his old-time colleagues, Claparon and Desroches. These three old employes were called the "Three Sages of Greece" by Mmes. Bridau and Descoings. M. du Bruel was descended of a contractor ennobled at the end of the reign of Louis XIV. He died about 1821. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]

BRUEL (Madame du), wife of the preceding. She survived him. She was the mother of the dramatic author Jean-Francois du Bruel, christened Cursy on the Parisian bill-boards. Although a bourgeoisie of strict ideas, Mme. du Bruel welcomed the dancer Tullia, who became her daughter-in-law. [A Prince of Bohemia.]

BRUEL (Jean-Francois du), son of the preceding; born about 1797. In 1816 he obtained a place under the Minister of Finance, thanks to the favor of the Duc de Navarreins. [A Bachelor's Establishment.] He was sub-chief of Rabourdin's office when the latter, in 1824, contested with M. Baudoyer for a place of division chief. [The Government Clerks.] In November, 1825, Jean-Francois du Bruel assisted at a breakfast given at the "Rocher de Cancale" to the clerks of Desroches' office by Frederic Marest who was treating to celebrate his incoming. He was present also at the orgy which followed at Florentine's home. [A Start in Life.] M. du Bruel successively rose to be chief of bureau, director, councillor of state, deputy, peer of France and commander of the Legion of Honor; he received the title of count and entered one of the classes in the Institute. All this was accomplished through his wife, Claudine Chaffaroux, formerly the dancer, Tullia, whom he married in 1829. [A Prince of Bohemia. The Middle Classes.] For a long time he wrote vaudeville sketches over the name of Cursy. Nathan, the poet, found it necessary to unite with him. Du Bruel would make use of the author's ideas, condensing them into small, sprightly skits which always scored successes for the actors. Du Bruel and Nathan discovered the actress Florine. They were the authors of "L'Alcade dans l'embarras," an imbroglio in three acts, played at the Theatre du Panorama-Dramatique about 1822, when Florine made her debut, playing with Coralie and Bouffe, the latter under the name of Vignol. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. A Daughter of Eve.]

BRUEL (Claudine Chaffaroux, Madame du), born at Nanterre in 1799. One of the _premiere danseuses_ of the Opera from 1817 to 1827. For several years she was the mistress of the Duc de Rhetore [A Bachelor's Establishment.], and afterwards of Jean-Francois du Bruel, who was much in love with her in 1823, and married her in 1829. She had then left the stage. About 1834 she met Charles Edouard de la Palferine and formed a violent attachment for him. In order to please him and pose in his eyes as a great lady, she urged her husband to the constant pursuit of honors, and finally achieved the title of countess. Nevertheless she continued to play the lady of propriety and found entrance into bourgeoisie society. [A Prince of Bhoemia. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. Letters of Two Brides.] In 1840, to please Mme. Colleville, her friend, she tried to obtain a decoration for Thuillier. [The Middle Classes.] Mme. du Bruel bore the name of Tullia on the stage and in the "gallant" circle. She lived then in rue Chauchat, in a house afterwards occupied by Mmes. Mirah and Brisetout, when Claudine moved after her marriage to rue de la Victoire.

BRUNET, bailiff at Blagny, Burgundy, in 1823. He was also councillor of the Canton during the Terror, having for practitioners Michel Vert alias Vermichel and Fourchon the elder. [The Peasantry.]

BRUNNER (Gedeon), father of Frederic Brunner. At the time of the French Restoration and of Louis Philippe he owned the great Holland House at Frankford-on-the-Main. One of the early railway projectors. He died about 1844, leaving four millions. Calvinist. Twice married. [Cousin Pons.]

BRUNNER (Madame), first wife of Gedeon Brunner, and mother of Frederic Brunner. A relative of the Virlaz family, well-to-do Jewish furriers of Leipsic. A converted Jew. Her dowry was the basis of her husband's fortune. She died young, leaving a son aged but twelve. [Cousin Pons.]

BRUNNER (Madame), second wife of Gedeon Brunner. The only daughter of a German inn-keeper. She had been very badly spoiled by her parents. Sterile, dissipated and prodigal, she made her husband very unhappy, thus avenging the first Mme. Brunner. She was a step-mother of the most abominable sort, launching her stepson into an unbridled life, hoping that debauchery would devour both the child and the Jewish fortune. After ten years of wedded life she died before her parents, having made great inroads upon Gedeon Brunner's property. [Cousin Pons.]

BRUNNER (Frederic), only son of Gedeon Brunner, born within the first four years of the century. He ran through his maternal inheritance by silly dissipations, and then helped his friend Wilhelm Schwab to make away with the hundred thousand francs his parents had left him. Without resources and cast adrift by his father he went to Paris in 1835, where, upon the recommendation of Graff, the inn-keeper, he obtained a position with Keller at six hundred francs per annum. In 1843 he was only two thousand francs ahead; but Gedeon Brunner having died, he became a multi-millionaire. Then for friendship's sake he founded, with his chum Wilhelm, the banking house of "Brunner, Schwab & Co.," on rue Richelieu, between rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs and rue Villedo, in a magnificent building belonging to the tailor, Wolfgang Graff. Frederic Brunner had been presented by Sylvain Pons to the Camusots de Marville; he would have married their daughter had she not been the only child. The breaking off of this match involved also, the relations of Pons with the De Marville family and resulted in the death of the musician. [Cousin Pons.]

BRUNO, _valet de chambre_ of Corentin at Passy, on rue des Vignes, in 1830. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] About 1840 he was again in the service of Corentin, who was now known as M. du Portail and lived on rue Honore-Chevalier, at Paris. [The Middle Classes.] This name is sometimes spelled Bruneau.

BRUTUS, proprietor of the Hotel des Trois-Maures in the Grand-Rue, Alencon, in 1799, where Alphonse de Montauran met Mlle. de Verneuil for the first time. [The Chouans.]

BUNEAUD (Madame), ran a bourgeoisie boarding-house in opposition to Mme. Vauquer on the heights of Sainte-Genevieve, Paris, in 1819. [Father Goriot.]

BUTIFER, noted hunter, poacher and smuggler, living in the village hard by Grenoble, where Dr. Benassis located, during the Restoration. When the doctor arrived in the country, Butifer drew a bead on him, in a corner of the forest. Later, however, he became entirely devoted to him. He was charged by Genestas with the physical education of this officer's adopted son. It may be that Butifer enlisted in Genestas' regiment, after the death of Dr. Benassis. [The Country Doctor.]

BUTSCHA (Jean), head-clerk of Maitre Latournelle, a notary at Havre in 1829. Born about 1804. The natural son of a Swedish sailor and a Demoiselle Jacmin of Honfleur. A hunchback. A type of intelligence and devotion. Entirely subservient to Modeste Mignon, whom he loved without hope; he aided, by many adroit methods, to bring about her marriage with Ernest de la Briere. Butscha decided that this union would make the young lady happy. [Modeste Mignon.]

C

CABIROLLE, in charge of the stages of Minoret-Levrault, postmaster of Nemours. Probably a widower, with one son. About 1837, a sexagenarian, he married Antoinette Patris, called La Bougival, who was over fifty, but whose income amounted to twelve hundred francs. [Ursule Mirouet.]

CABIROLLE, son of the preceding. In 1830 he was Dr. Minoret's coachman at Nemours. Later he was coachman for Savinien de Portenduere, after the vicomte's marriage with Ursule Mirouet. [Ursule Mirouet.]

CABIROLLE (Madame), wife of Cabirolle senior. Born Antoinette Patris in 1786, of a poor family of La Bresse. Widow of a workman named Pierre alias Bougival; she was usually designated by the latter name. After having been Ursule Mirouet's nurse, she became Dr. Minoret's servant, marrying Cabirolle about 1837. [Ursule Mirouet.]

CABIROLLE (Madame), mother of Florentine, the _danseuse_. Formerly janitress on rue Pastourelle, but living in 1820 with her daughter on rue de Crussol in a modest affluence assured by Cardot the old silk-dealer, since 1817. According to Girondeau, she was a woman of sense. [A Start in Life. A Bachelor's Establishment.]

CABIROLLE (Agathe-Florentine), known as Florentine; born in 1804. In 1817, upon leaving Coulon's class, she was discovered by Cardot, the old silk-merchant, and established by him with her mother in a relatively comfortable flat on rue de Crussol. After having been featured at the Gaite theatre, in 1820, she danced for the first time in a spectacular drama entitled "The Ruins of Babylon."* Immediately afterwards she succeeded Mariette as _premiere danseuse_ at the theatre of the Porte-Saint-Martin. Then in 1823 she made her debut at the Opera in a trio skit with Mariette and Tullia. At the time when Cardot "protected" her, she had for a lover the retired Captain Girondeau, and was intimate with Philippe Bridau, to whom she gave money when in need. In 1825 Florentine occupied Coralie's old flat, now for some three years, and it was at this place that Oscar Husson lost at play the money entrusted to him by his employer, Desroches the attorney, and was surprised by his uncle, Cardot. [A Start in Life. Lost Illusions. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. A Bachelor's Establishment.]

* By Renee-Charles Guilbert de Pixerecourt; played for the first time at Paris in 1810.

CABOT (Armand-Hippolyte), a native of Toulouse who, in 1800, established a hair-dressing salon on the Place de la Bourse, Paris. On the advice of his customer, the poet Parny, he had taken the name of Marius, a sobriquet which stuck to the establishment. In 1845 Cabot had earned an income of twenty-four thousand francs and lived at Libourne, while a fifth Marius, called Mougin, managed the business founded by him. [The Unconscious Humorists.]