Repertory of The Comedie Humaine, Complete, A — ZCerfberr, Anatole
General
Repertory of The Comedie Humaine, Complete, A — Z
Cerfberr, Anatole
Balzac, Honoré de, 1799-1850. Comédie humaine
GOMEZ, captain of the "Saint Ferdinand," a Spanish brig which in 1833
conveyed the newly-enriched Marquis d'Aiglemont from America to
France. Gomez was boarded by a Columbian corsair whose captain, the
Parisian, ordered him cast overboard. [A Woman of Thirty.]
GONDRAND (Abbe), confessor, under the Restoration, at Paris, of the
Duchesse Antoinette de Langeais, whose excellent dinners and petty
sins he dealt with at his ease in her salon where Montriveau often
found him. [The Thirteen.]
GONDREVILLE (Malin, his real name; more frequently known as the Comte
de), born in 1763, probably at Arcis-sur-Aube. Short and stout;
grandson of a mason employed by Marquis de Simeuse in the building of
the Gondreville chateau; only son of the owner of a house at Arcis
where dwelt his friend Grevin in 1839. On the recommendation of
Danton, he entered the office of the attorney at the chatelet, Paris,
in 1787. Head clerk for Maitre Bordin in the same city, the same year.
Returned to the country two years later to become a lawyer at Troyes.
Became an obscure and cowardly member of the Convention. Acquired the
friendship of Talleyrand and Fouche, in June, 1800, under singular and
opportune circumstances. Successively and rapidly became tribune,
councillor of state, count of the Empire--created Comte de Gondreville
--and finally senator. As councillor of state, Gondreville devoted his
attention to the preparation of the code. He cut a dash at Paris. He
had purchased one of the finest mansions in Faubourg Saint-Germain and
married the only daughter of Sibuelle, a wealthy contractor of "shady"
character whom Gondreville made co-receiver of Aube, with Marion. The
marriage was celebrated during the Directory or the Consulate. Three
children were the result of this union: Charles de Gondreville,
Marechale de Carigliano, Mme. Francois Keller. In his own interest,
Malin attached himself to Bonaparte. Later, in the presence of the
Emperor and of Dubois, the prefect of police, Gondreville selfishly
simulated a false generosity and asked that the Hauteserres and
Simeuses be striken from the list of the proscribed. Afterwards they
were falsely accused of kidnapping him. As senator in 1809, Malin gave
a grand ball at Paris, when he vainly awaited the Emperor's
appearance, and when Mme. de Lansac reconciled the Soulanges family.
Louis XVIII. made him a peer of France. His wide experience and
ownership of many secrets aided Gondreville, whose counsels hindered
Decazes and helped Villele. Charles X. disliked him because he
remained too intimate with Talleyrand. Under Louis Philippe this bond
was relaxed. The July monarchy heaped honors upon him by making him
peer once more. One evening in 1833 he met at the home of the
Princesse de Cadignan, Henri de Marsay, the prime minister, who had an
inexhaustible fund of political stories, new to all the company save
Gondreville. He was much engrossed with the elections of 1839, and
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