Works of Honore De Balzac

by Honoré de Balzac

  GONDRIN (Abbe), young Parisian priest about the middle of the reign of Louis Philippe. Exquisite and eloquent. Knew the Thuilliers. The Middle Classes.

  GONDUREAU, assumed name of Bibi-Lupin.

  GONORE (La), widow of Moses the Jew, chief of the southern rouleurs, in May, 1830; mistress of Dannepont the thief and assassin; ran a house of ill-repute on rue Sainte-Barbe for Mme. Nourrisson. Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life.

  GORDES (Mademoiselle de), at the head of an aristocratic salon of Alencon, about 1816, while her father, the aged Marquis de Gordes, was still living with her. Jealousies of a Country Town.

  GORENFLOT, mason of Vendome, who walled up the closet concealing Mme. de Merret’s lover, the Spaniard Bagos de Feredia. La Grande Breteche.

  GORENFLOT, probably posed for Quasimodo of Hugo’s “Notre-Dame.” Decrepit, misshapen, deaf, diminutive, he lived in Paris about 1839, and was organ-blower and bell-ringer in the church of Saint-Louis en l’Ile. He also acted as messenger in the confidential financial correspondence between Bricheteau and Dorlange-Sallenauve. The Member for Arcis.

  GORIOT,* (Jean-Joachim), born about 1750; started as a porter in the grain market. During the first Revolution, although he had received no education, but having a trader’s instinct, he began the manufacture of vermicelli and made a fortune out of it. Thrift and fortune favored him under the Terror. He passed for a bold citizen and fierce patriot. Prosperity enabled him to marry from choice the only daughter of a wealthy farmer of Brie, who died young and adored. Upon their two children, Anastasie and Delphine, he lavished all the tenderness of which their mother had been the recipient, spoiling them with fine things. Goriot’s griefs date from the day he set each up in housekeeping in magnificent fashion on Chaussee-d’Antin. Far from being grateful for his pecuniary sacrifices, his sons-in-law, Restaud and Nucingen, and his daughters themselves, were ashamed of his bourgeois exterior. In 1813 he had retired saddened and impoverished to the Vauquer boarding-house on rue Nueve-Sainte-Genevieve. The quarrels of his daughters and the greedy demands for money increased and in 1819 followed him thither. Almost all the guests of the house and especially Mme. Vauquer herself — whose ambitious designs upon him had come to naught — united in persecuting Goriot, now well-nigh poverty-stricken. He found an agreeable respite when he acted as a go-between for the illicit love affair of Mme. de Nucingen and Rastignac, his fellow-lodger. The financial distress of Mme. de Restaud, Trailles’ victim, gave Goriot the finishing blow. He was compelled to give up the final and most precious bit of his silver plate, and beg the assistance of Gobseck the usurer. He was crushed. A serious attack of apoplexy carried him off. He died on rue Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve. Rastignac watched over him, and Bianchon, then an interne, attended him. Only two men, Christophe, Mme. Vauquer’s servant, and Rastignac, followed the remains to Saint-Etienne du Mont and to Pere-Lachaise. The empty carriages of his daughters followed as far as the cemetery. Father Goriot.

  * Two Parisian theatres and five authors have depicted Goriot’s life on the stage; March 6, 1835, at the Vaudeville, Ancelot and Paul Dupont; the same year, the month following, at the Varietes, Theaulon, Alexis de Comberousse and Jaime Pere. Also the Boeuf Gras of a carnival in a succeeding year bore the name of Goriot.

  GORITZA (Princesse), a charming Hungarian, celebrated for her beauty, towards the end of Louis XV.’s reign, and to whom the youthful Chevalier de Valois became so attached that he came near fighting on her account with M. de Lauzun; nor could he ever speak of her without emotion. From 1816 to 1830, the Alencon aristocracy were given glimpses of the princess’s portrait, which adorned the chevalier’s gold snuff-box. Jealousies of a Country Town.

  GORJU (Madame), wife of the mayor of Sancerre, in 1836, and mother of a daughter “whose figure threatened to change with her first child,” and who sometimes came with her to the receptions of Mme. de la Baudraye, the “Muse of the Department.” One evening, in the fall of 1836, she heard Lousteau reading ironically fragments of “Olympia.” The Muse of the Department.

  GOTHARD, born in 1788; lived about 1803 in Arcis-sur-Aube, where his courage and address obtained for him the place of groom to Laurence de Cinq-Cygne. Devoted servant of the countess; he was one of the principals acquitted in the trial which ended with the execution of Michu. The Gondreville Mystery. Gothard never left the service of the Cinq-Cygne family. Thirty-six years later he was their steward. With his brother-in-law, Poupard, the Arcis tavern-keeper, he electioneered for his masters. The Member for Arcis.

  GOUJET (Abbe), cure of Cinq-Cygne, Aube, about 1792, discovered for the son of Beauvisage the farmer, who were still good Catholics, the Greek name of Phileas, one of the few saints not abolished by the new regime. The Member for Arcis. Former abbe of the Minimes, and a friend of Hauteserre. Was the tutor of Adrien and Robert Hauteserre; enjoyed a game of boston with their parents — 1803. His political prudence sometimes led him to censure the audacity of their kinswoman, Mlle. de Cinq-Cygne. Nevertheless, he held his own with the persecutor of the house, Corentin the police-agent; and attended Michu when that victim of a remarkable trial, known as “the abduction of Gondreville,” went to the scaffold. During the Restoration he became Bishop of Troyes. The Gondreville Mystery.

  GOUJET (Mademoiselle), sister of the foregoing; good-natured old maid, ugly and parsimonious, who lived with her brother. Almost every evening she played boston at the Hauteserres and was terrified by Corentin’s visits. The Gondreville Mystery.

  GOULARD, mayor of Cinq-Cygne, Aube, in 1803. Tall, stout and miserly; married a wealthy tradeswoman of Troyes, whose property, augmented by all the lands of the rich abbey of Valdes-Preux, adjoined Cinq-Cygne. Goulard lived in the old abbey, which was very near the chateau of Cinq-Cygne. Despite his revolutionary proclivities, he closed his eyes to the actions of the Hauteserres and Simeuses who were Royalist plotters. The Gondreville Mystery.

  GOULARD (Antonin), native of Arcis, like Simon Giguet. Born about 1807; son of the former huntsman of the Simeuse family, enriched by the purchase of public lands. (See preceding biography.) Early left motherless, he came to Arcis to live with his father, who abandoned the abbey of Valpreux. Went to the Imperial lyceum, where he had Simon Giguet for school-mate, whom he afterwards met again on the benches of the Law school at Paris. Obtained, through Gondreville, the Cross of the Legion of Honor. The royal government of 1830 opened up for him a career in the public service. In 1839 he became sub-prefect for Arcis-sur-Aube, during the electoral period. The delegate, Trailles, satisfied Antonin’s rancor against Giguet: his official recommendations caused the latter’s defeat. Both the would-be prefect and the sub-prefect vainly sought the hand of Cecile Beauvisage. Goulard cultivated the society of officialdom: Marest, Vinet, Martener, Michu. The Member for Arcis.

  GOUNOD, nephew of Vatel, keeper of the Montcornet estate at Aigues, Burgundy. About 1823 he probably became assistant to the head-keeper, Michaud. The Peasantry.

  GOUPIL (Jean-Sebastien-Marie), born in 1802; a sort of humpless hunchback; son of a well-to-do farmer. After running through with his inheritance, in Paris, he became head-clerk of the notary Cremiere-Dionis, of Nemours — 1829. On account of Francois Minoret-Levrault, he annoyed in many ways, even anonymously, Ursule Mirouet, after the death of Dr. Minoret. Afterwards he repented his actions, repaid their instigator, and succeeded the notary, Cremiere-Dionis. Thanks to his wit, he became honorable, straightforward and completely transformed. Once established, Goupil married Mlle. Massin, eldest daughter of Massin-Levrault junior, clerk to the justice of the peace at Nemours. She was homely, had a dowry of 80,000 francs, and gave him rickety, dropsical children. Goupil took part in the “three glorious days” and had obtained a July decoration. He was very proud of the ribbon. Ursule Mirouet.

  GOURAUD (General, Baron), born in 1782, probably at Provins. Under the Empire he commanded the Second regiment of hussars, which gave him his rank. The Restoration caused his impoverished years at Provins. He mixed in politics and the opposition there, sought
the hand and above all the dowry of Sylvie Rogron, persecuted the apparent heiress of the old maid, Mlle. Pierrette Lorrain — 1827 — and, seconded by Vinet the attorney, reaped in July, 1830, the fruits of his cunning liberalism. Thanks to Vinet, the ambitious parvenu, Gouraud married, in spite of his gray hair and stout frame, a girl of twenty-five, Mlle. Matifat, of the well-known drug-firm of rue des Lombards, who brought with her fifty thousand crowns. Titles, offices and emoluments now flowed in rapidly. He resumed the service, became general, commanded a division near the capital and obtained a peerage. His conduct during the ministry of Casimir Perier was thus rewarded. Futhermore he received the grand ribbon of the Legion of Honor, after having stormed the barricades of Saint-Merri, and was “delighted to thrash the bourgeois who had been an eye-sore to him” for fifteen years. Pierrette. About 1845 he had stock in Gaudissart’s theatre. Cousin Pons.

  GOURDON, the elder, husband of the only daugher of the old head-keeper of streams and forests, Gendrin-Wattebled; was in 1823 physician at Soulanges and attended Michaud. Nevertheless he went among the best people of Soulanges, headed by Mme. Soudry, who regarded him in the light of an unknown and neglected savant, when he was but a parrot of Buffon and Cuvier, a simple collector and taxidermist. The Peasantry.

  GOURDON, the younger, brother of the preceding; wrote the poem of “La Bilboqueide” published by Bournier. Married the niece and only heiress of Abbe Tupin, cure of Soulanges, where he himself had been in 1823 clerk for Sarcus. He was wealthier than the justice. Mme. Soudry and her set gave admiring welcome to the poet, preferring him to Lamartine, with whose works they slowly became acquainted. The Peasantry.

  GOUSSARD (Laurent) was a member of the revolutionary municipality of Arcis-sur-Aube. Particular friend of Danton, he made use of the tribune’s influence to save the head of the ex-superior of the Ursulines at Arcis, Mother Marie des Anges, whose gratitude for his generous and skillful action caused substantial enrichment to this purchaser of the grounds of the convent, which was sold as “public land.” Thus it was that forty years afterwards this adroit Liberal owned several mills on the river Aube, and was still at the head of the advanced Left in that district. The various candidates for deputy in the spring of 1839, Keller, Giguet, Beauvisage, Dorlange-Sallenauve, and the government agent, Trailles, treated Goussard with the consideration he deserved. The Member for Arcis.

  GRADOS had in his hands the notes of Vergniaud the herder. By means of funds from Derville the lawyer, Grados was paid in 1818 by Colonel Chabert. Colonel Chabert.

  GRAFF (Johann), brother of a tailor established in Paris under Louis Philippe. Came himself to Paris after having been head-waiter in the hotel of Gedeon Brunner at Frankfort; and ran the Hotel du Rhin in rue du Mail where Frederic Brunner and Wilhelm Schwab alighted penniless in 1835. The landlord obtained small positions for the two young men; for the former with Keller; for the latter with his brother the tailor. Cousin Pons.

  GRAFF (Wolfgang), brother of the foregoing, and rich tailor of Paris, at whose shop in 1838 Lisbeth Fischer fitted out Wenceslas Steinbock. On his brother’s recommendation, he employed Wilhelm Schwab, and, six years later, took him into the family by giving him Emilie Graff in marriage. Cousin Betty. Cousin Pons.

  GRANCEY (Abbe de), born in 1764. Took orders because of a disapointment in love; became priest in 1786, and cure in 1788. A distinguished prelate who refused three bishoprics in order not to leave Besancon. In 1834 he became vicar-general of that diocese. The abbe had a handsome head. He gave free vent to cutting speeches. Was acquainted with Albert Savarus whom he liked and aided. A frequenter of the Watteville salon he found out and rebuked Rosalie, the singular and determined enemy of the advocate. He also intervened between Madame and Mademoiselle de Watteville. He died at the end of the winter of 1836-37. Albert Savarus.

  GRANCOUR (Abbe de), one of the vicars-general of the bishopric of Limoges, about the end of the Restoration; and the physical antithesis of the other vicar, the attenuated and moody Abbe Dutheil whose lofty and independent liberal doctrines he, with cowardly caution, secretly shared. Grancour frequented the Graslin salon and doubtless knew of the Tascheron tragedy. The Country Parson.

  GRANDEMAIN was in 1822 at Paris clerk for Desroches. A Start in Life.

  GRANDET (Felix), of Saumur, born between 1745 and 1749. Well-to-do master-cooper, passably educated. In the first years of the Republic he married the daughter of a rich lumber merchant, by whom he had in 1796 one child, Eugenie. With their united capital, he bought at a bargain the best vineyards about Saumur, in addition to an old abbey and several farms. Under the Consulate he became successively member of the district government and mayor of Saumur. But the Empire, which supposed him to be a Jacobin, retired him from the latter office, although he was the town’s largest tax-payer. Under the Restoration the despotism of his extraordinary avarice disturbed the peace of his family. His younger brother, Guillaume, failed and killed himself, leaving in Felix’s hands the settlement of his affairs, and sending to him his son Charles, who had hastened to Saumur, not knowing his father’s ruin. Eugenie loved her cousin and combated her father’s niggardliness, which looked after his own interests to the neglect of his brother. The struggle between Eugenie and her father broke Mme. Grandet’s heart. The phases of the terrible duel were violent and numerous. Felix Grandet’s passion resorted to stratagem and stubborn force. Death alone could settle with this domestic tyrant. In 1827, an octogenarian and worth seventeen millions, he was carried off by a stroke of paralysis. Eugenie Grandet.

  GRANDET (Madame Felix), wife of the preceding; born about 1770; daughter of a rich lumber merchant, M. de la Gaudiniere; married in the beginning of the Republic, and gave birth to one child, Eugenie, in 1796. In 1806 she added considerably to the combined wealth of the family through two large inheritances — from her mother and M. de la Bertelliere, her maternal grandfather. A devout, shrinking, insignificant creature, bowed beneath the domestic yoke, Mme. Grandet never left Saumur, where she died in October, 1822, of lung trouble, aggravated by grief at her daughter’s rebellion and her husband’s severity. Eugenie Grandet.

  GRANDET (Victor-Ange-Guillaume), younger brother of Felix Grandet; became rich at Paris in wine-dealing. In 1815 before the battle of Waterloo, Frederic de Nucingen bought of him one hundred and fifty thousand bottles of champagne at thirty sous, and sold them at six francs; the allies drank them during the invasion — 1817-19. The Firm of Nucingen. The beginning of the Restoration favored Guillaume. He was the husband of a charming woman, the natural daughter of a great lord, who died young after giving him a child. Was colonel of the National Guard, judge of the Court of Commerce, governor of one of the arrondissements of Paris and deputy. Saumur accused him of aspiring still higher and wishing to become the father-in-law of a petty duchess of the imperial court. The bankruptcy of Maitre Roguin was the partial cause of the ruin of Guillaume, who blew out his brains to avoid disgrace, in November, 1819. In his last requests, Guillaume implored his elder brother to care for Charles whom the suicide had rendered doubly an orphan. Eugenie Grandet.

  GRANDET, (Charles), only lawful child of the foregoing; nephew of Felix Grandet; born in 1797. He led at first the gay life of a young gallant, and maintained relations with a certain Annette, a married woman of good society. The tragic death of his father in November, 1819, astounded him and led him to Saumur. He thought himself in love with his cousin Eugenie to whom he swore fidelity. Shortly thereafter he left for India, where he took the name of Carl Sepherd to escape the consequences of treasonable actions. He returned to France in 1827 enormously wealthy, debarked at Bordeaux in June of that year, accompanying the Aubrions whose daughter Mathilde he married, and allowed Eugenie Grandet to complete the settlement with the creditors of his father. Eugenie Grandet. By his marriage he became Comte d’Aubrion. The Firm of Nucingen.

  GRANDET (Eugenie).* (See Bonfons, Eugenie Cruchot de.)

  * The incidents of her life have been dramatized by Bayard for the Gymnase-Dramatique, u
nder the title of “The Miser’s Daughter.”

  GRANDLIEU (Comtesse de), related to the Herouvilles; lived in the first part of the seventeenth century; probably ancestress of the Grandlieus, well known in France two centuries later. The Hated Son.

  GRANDLIEU (Mademoiselle), under the first Empire married an imperial chamberlain, perhaps also the prefect of Orne, and was received, alone, in Alencon among the exclusive and aristocratic set lorded over by the Esgrignons. Jealousies of a Country Town.

  GRANDLIEU (Duc Ferdinand de), born about 1773; may have descended from the Comtesse de Grandlieu who lived early in the seventeenth century, and consequently connected with the old and worthy nobility of the Duchy of Brittany whose device was “Caveo non timeo.” At the end of the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth centuries, Ferdinand de Grandlieu was the head of the elder branch, wealthy and ducal, of the house of Grandlieu. Under the Consulate and the Empire his high and assured rank enabled him to intercede with Talleyrand in behalf of M. d’Hauteserre and M. de Simeuse, compromised in the fictitious abduction of Malin de Gondreville. Grandlieu by his marriage with an Ajuda of the elder branch, connected with the Barganzas and of Portuguese descent, had several daughters, the eldest of whom assumed the veil in 1822. His other daughters were Clotilde-Frederique, born in 1802; Josephine the third; Sabine born in 1809; Marie-Athenais, born about 1820. An uncle by marriage of Mme. de Langeais, he had at Paris, in Faubourg Saint-Germain, a hotel where, during the reign of Louis XVIII., the Princesse de Blamont-Chauvry, the Vidame de Pamiers and the Duc de Navarreins assembled to consider a startling escapade of Antoinette de Langeais. At least ten years later Grandlieu availed himself of his intimate friend Henri de Chaulieu and also of Corentin — Saint-Denis — in order to stay the suit against Lucien de Rubempre which was about to compromise his daughter Clotilde-Frederique. The Gondreville Mystery. The Thirteen. A Bachelor’s Establishment. Modeste Mignon. Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life.