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
LA PEYRADE (Charles-Marie-Theodose de), born near Avignon in 1813, one
of eleven children of the police-agent Peyrade's youngest brother, who
lived in poverty on a small estate called Canquoelle; a bold
Southerner of fair skin; given to reflection; ambitious, tactful and
astute. In 1829 he left the department of Vaucluse and went to Paris
on foot in search of Peyrade who, he had reason to believe, was
wealthy, but of whose business he was ignorant. Theodose departed
through the Barriere d'Enfer, which has been destroyed since 1860, at
the moment when Jacques Collin murdered his uncle. At that time he
entered a house of ill-fame, where he had unwittingly for mistress
Lydie Peyrade, his full-blooded cousin. Theodose then lived for three
years on a hundred louis which Corentin had secretly given to him. On
giving him the money, the national chief of police quietly advised him
to become an attorney. Journalism, however, at first, seemed a
tempting career to M. de la Peyrade, and he went into politics,
finally becoming editor of a paper managed by Cerizet. The failure of
this journal left Theodose once more very poor. Nevertheless, through
Corentin, who secretly paid the expenses of his studies, he was able
to begin and continue a course in law. Once licensed, M. de la Peyrade
became a barrister and professing to be entirely converted to
Socialism, he freely pleaded the cause of the poor before the
magistrate of the eleventh or twelfth district. He occupied the third
story of the Thuillier house on rue Saint-Dominique-d'Enfer. He fell
into the hands of Dutocq and Cerizet and suffered under the pressure
of these grasping creditors. Theodose now decided that he would marry
M. Thuillier's natural daughter, Mademoiselle Celeste Colleville, but,
with Felix Phellion's love to contend with, despite the combined
support, gained with difficulty, of Madame Colleville and of M. and
Mademoiselle Thuillier, he failed through Corentin's circumvention.
His marriage with Lydie Peyrade repaired the wrong which he had
formerly done unwittingly. As successor to Corentin he became national
chief-of-police in 1840. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. The Middle
Classes.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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