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
BOSQUIER (Du), or Croisier (Du), or Bourguier (Du), a descendant of an
old Alencon family. Born about 1760. He had been commissary agent in
the army from 1793 to 1799; had done business with Ouvrard, and kept a
running account with Barras, Bernadotte and Fouche. He was at that
time one of the great folk of finance. Discharged by Bonaparte in
1800, he withdrew to his natal town. After selling the Beauseant
house, which he owned, for the benefit of his creditors, he had
remaining an income of not more than twelve hundred francs. About 1816
he married Mlle. Cormon, a spinster who had been courted also by the
Chevalier de Valois and Athanase Granson. This marriage set him on his
feet again financially. He took the lead in the party of the
opposition, established a Liberal paper called "Le Courrier de
l'Orne," and was elected Receiver-General of the Exchequer, after the
Revolution of 1830. He waged bitter war on the white flag Royalists,
his hatred of them causing him secretly to condone the excesses of
Victurnien d'Esgrignon, until the latter involved him in an affair,
when Bousquier had him arrested, thinking thus to dispose of him
summarily. The affair was smoothed over only by tremendous pressure.
But the young nobleman provoked Du Bousquier into a duel where the
latter dangerously wounded him. Afterwards Bousquier gave him in
marriage the hand of his niece, Mlle. Duval, dowered with three
millions. [Jealousies of a Country Town.] Probably he was the father
of Flavie Minoret, the daughter of a celebrated Opera danseuse. But he
never acknowledged this child, and she was dowered by Princesse
Galathionne and married Colleville. [The Middle Classes.]
BOSQUIER (Madame du), born Cormon (Rose-Marie-Victoire) in 1773. She
was a very wealthy heiress, living with her maternal uncle, the Abbe
de Sponde, in an old house of Alencon (rue du Val-Noble), and
receiving, in 1816, the aristocracy of the town, with which she was
related through marriage. Courted simultaneously by Athanase Granson,
the Chevalier de Valois and Du Bousquier, she gave her hand to the old
commissariat, whose athletic figure and _passe_ libertinism had
impressed her vaguely. But her secret desires were utterly dashed by
him; she confessed later that she couldn't endure the idea of dying a
maid. Mme. du Bousquier was very devout. She was descended from the
stewards of the ancient Ducs d'Alencon. In this same year of 1816, she
hoped in vain to wed a Troisville, but he was already married. She
found it difficult to brook the state of hostility declared between M.
du Bousquier and the Esgrignons. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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