Works of Honore De Balzac

by Honoré de Balzac

  SPIEGHALTER, a German mechanician, who lived in Paris on the rue de la Sante, in the early part of Louis Philippe’s reign, made unsuccessful efforts, with the aid of pressure, hammering and rolling, to stretch the anomalous piece of shagreen submitted to him by Raphael de Valentin, at the suggestion of Planchette, professor of mechanics. The Magic Skin.

  SPONDE (Abbe de), born about 1746, was grand vicar of the bishopric of Seez. Maternal uncle, guardian, guest, and boarder of Madame du Bousquier — nee Cormon — of Alencon; he died in 1819, almost blind, and strangely depressed by his niece’s recent marriage. Entirely removed from worldly interests, he led an ascetic life, and an uneventful one, entirely consumed in thoughts of salvation, mortifications of the flesh, and secret works of charity. Jealousies of a Country Town.

  STAEL-HOLSTEIN (Anne-Louise-Germaine Necker, Baronne de), daughter of the famous Necker of Geneva, born in Paris in 1766; became the wife of the Swiss minister to France; author of “l’Allemagne,” of “Corinne,” and of “Delphine”; noted for her struggle against Napoleon Bonaparte; mother-in-law of the Duc Victor de Broglie and grandmother of the generation of the Broglies of the present day; died in the year 1817. At various times she lived in the Vendomois in temporary exile. During one of her first stays in the Loire, she was greeted with the singular formula of admiration, “Fameuse garce!” The Chouans. At a later period, Madame de Stael came upon Louis Lambert, then a ragged urchin, absorbed in reading a translation of Swedenborg’s “Heaven and Hell.” She was struck with him, and had him educated at the college of Vendome, where he had the future minister, Jules Dufaure, as his boon companion; but she forgot her protege, who was ruined rather than benefited by this passing interest. Louis Lambert. About 1823 Louise de Chaulieu (Madame Marie Gaston) believed that Madame de Stael was still alive, though she died in 1817. Letters of Two Brides.

  STANHOPE (Lady Esther), niece of Pitt, met Lamartine in Syria, who described her in his “Voyage en Orient”; had sent Lady Dudley an Arabian horse, that the latter gave to Felix de Vandenesse in exchange for a Rembrandt. The Lily of the Valley. Madame de Bargeton, growing weary of Angouleme in the first years of the Restoration, was envious of this “blue-stocking of the desert.” Lady Esther’s father, Earl Charles Stanhope, Viscount Mahon, a peer of England, and a distinguished scholar, invented a printing press, known to fame as the Stanhope press, of which the miserly and mechanical Jerome-Nicholas Sechard expressed a contemptuous opinion to his son. Lost Illusions.

  STAUB, a German, and a Parisian tailor of reputation; in 1821, made for Lucien de Rubempre, presumably on credit, some garments that he went in person to try on the poet at the Hotel du Gaillard-Bois, on the rue de l’Echelle. Shortly afterwards, he again favored Lucien, who was brought to his establishment by Coralie. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.

  STEIBELT, a famous musician, during the Empire was the instructor of Felicite des Touches at Nantes. Beatrix.

  STEINBOCK (Count Wenceslas), born at Prelie (Livonia) in 1809; great-nephew of one of Charles XII.’s generals. An exile from his youth, he went to Paris to live, and, from inclination as much as on account of his poverty, he became a carver and sculptor. As assistant to Francois Souchet, a fellow-countryman of Laginski’s, Wenceslas Steinbock worked on the decorations of the Pole’s mansion, on the rue de la Pepiniere. The Imaginary Mistress. Living amid squalor on the rue du Doyenne, he was saved from suicide by his spinster neighbor, Lisbeth Fischer, who restored his courage and determination, and aided him with her resources. Wenceslas Steinbock then worked and succeeded. A chance that brought one of his works to the notice of the Hulot d’Ervys brought him into connection with these people; he fell in love with their daughter, and, the love being returned, he married her. Orders then came in quick succession to Wenceslas, living, as he did, on the rue Saint-Dominique-Saint-Germain, near the Esplanade des Invalides, not far from the marble stores, where the government had allowed him a studio. His services were secured for the work of a monument to be erected to the Marechal de Montcornet. But Lisbeth Fischer’s vindictive hatred, as well as his own weakness of character, caused him to fall beneath the fatal dominion of Valerie Marneffe, whose lover he became; with Stidmann, Vignon, and Massol, he witnessed that woman’s second marriage. Steinbock returned to the conjugal domicile on the rue Louis-le-Grand, towards the latter part of Louis Philippe’s reign. An exhausted artist, he confined himself to the barren role of critic; idle reverie replaced power of conception. Cousin Betty.

  STEINBOCK (Countess Wenceslas), wife of the preceding; born Hortense Hulot d’Ervy in 1817; daughter of Hector Hulot d’Ervy and Adeline Fischer; younger sister of Victorin Hulot. Beautiful, and occupying a brilliant position in society through her parents, but lacking dowry, she made choice of husband for herself. Endowed with enduring pride of spirit, Madame Steinbock could with difficulty excuse Wenceslas for being unfaithful, and pardoned his disloyalty only after a long while. Her trials ended with the last years of Louis Philippe’s reign. The wisdom and foresight of her brother Victorin, coupled with the results of the wills of the Marechal Hulot, Lisbeth Fischer, and Valerie Crevel, at last brought wealth to the countess’s household, who lived successively on the rue Saint-Dominique-Saint-Germain, the rue Plumet, and the rue Louis-le-Grand. Cousin Betty.

  STEINBOCK (Wenceslas), only son of the preceding couple, born when his parents were living together, stayed with his mother after their separation. Cousin Betty.

  STEINGEL, an Alsatian, natural son of General Steingel, who fell at the beginning of the Italian campaigns during the Republic; was, in Bourgogne, about 1823, under head-keeper Michaud, one of the three keepers of Montcornet’s estates. The Gondreville Mystery. The Peasantry.

  STEVENS (Miss Dinah), born in 1791, daughter of an English brewer, ugly enough, saving, and puritanical, had an income of two hundred and forty thousand francs and expectations of as much more at her father’s death; the Marquise de Vordac, who met her at some watering-place in 1827, spoke of her to her son Marsay, as a very fine match, and Marsay pretended that he was to marry the heiress; which he probably did, for he left a widow that erected to him, at Pere-Lachaise, a superb monument, the work of Stidmann. A Marriage Settlement. Cousin Pons.

  STIDMANN, a celebrated carver and sculptor of Paris at the times of the Restoration and Louis Philippe; Wenceslas Steinbock’s teacher; he carved, for the consideration of seven thousand francs, a representation of a fox-chase on the ruby-set gold handle of a riding whip that Ernest de la Briere gave to Modeste Mignon. Modeste Mignon. At the request of Fabien de Ronceret, Stidmann undertook to decorate an apartment for him on the rue Blanche Beatrix., he made the originals of a chimney-piece for the Hulot d’Ervys; was among the guests invited by Mademoiselle Brisetout at her little house-warming on the rue Chauchat (1838); the same year he was present at the celebration of Wenceslas Steinbock’s marriage with Hortense Hulot; knew Dorlange-Sallenauve; with Vignon, Steinbock and Massol, he was a witness of Valerie Marneffe’s second marriage to Celestin Crevel; entertained a secret love for Madame Steinbock when she was neglected by her husband The Member for Arcis. Cousin Betty.; executed the work of Charles Keller’s and Marsay’s monuments. Cousin Pons. In 1845 Stidmann entered the Institute. The Unconscious Humorists.

  STOPFER (Monsieur and Madame), formerly coopers at Neuchatel, in 1823; were proprietors of an inn at Gersau (canton of Lucerne), near the lake, to which Rodolphe came. The same village sheltered the Gandolphinis, disguised under the name of Lovelace. Albert Savarus.

  SUCY (General Baron Philippe de), born in 1789, served under the Empire; on one occasion, at the crossing of the Beresina, he tried to assure the safety of his mistress, Stephanie de Vandieres, a general’s wife, of whom he afterwards lost all trace. Seven years later, however, being a colonel and an officer in the Legion of Honor, while hunting with his friend, the Marquis d’Albon, near the Isle-Adam, Sucy found Madame de Vandieres insane, under the charge of the alienist Fanjat, and he undertook to restore her reason. With this end
in view, he arranged an exact reproduction of the parting scenes of 1812, on an estate of his at Saint-Germain. The mad-woman recognized him indeed, but she died immediately. Having gained the promotion of general, Sucy committed suicide, the prey of incurable despair. Farewell.

  SUZANNE, real given name of Madame Theodore Gaillard.

  SUZANNET was, with the Abbe Vernal, the Comte de Fontaine, and M. de Chatillon, one of the four Vendean chiefs at the time of the uprising in the West in 1799. The Chouans.

  SUZETTE, during the first years of Louis XVIII.’s reign, was lady’s-maid to Antoinette de Langeais, in Paris, about the time that the duchess was receiving attentions from Montriveau. The Thirteen.

  SUZON was for a long time valet de chambre for Maxime de Trailles. A Man of Business. The Member for Arcis.

  SYLVIE, cook for Madame Vauquer, the widow, on the rue Neuve-Saint-Genevieve, during the years 1819 and 1820, at the time when Jean-Joachim Goriot, Eugene de Rastignac, Jacques Collin, Horace Bianchon, the Poirets, Madame Couture, and Victorine Taillefer boarded there. Father Goriot.

  T

  TABAREAU, bailiff of the justice of the peace in the eighth ward of Paris in 1844-1845. He was on good terms with Fraisier, the business agent. Madame Cibot, door-keeper, on the rue de Normandie, retained Tabareau to make a demand for her upon Schmucke for the payment of three thousand one hundred and ninety-two francs, due her from the German musician and Pons, for board, lodging, taxes, etc. Cousin Pons.

  TABAREAU (Mademoiselle), only child of Tabareau, the bailiff; a large, red-haired consumptive; was heir, through her mother, of a house on the Place Royale; a fact which made her hand sought by Fraisier, the business agent. Cousin Pons.

  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, immediat
ely 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.