Repertory of The Comedie Humaine, Part 1

Name: Repertory of The Comedie Humaine, Part 1
Author: Cerfberr, Anatole

Cerfberr, Anatole

Balzac, Honoré de, 1799-1850. Comédie humaine

FLORVILLE (La), actress at the Panorama-Dramatique in 1821. Among her
contemporaries were Coralie, Florine, and Bouffe, or Vignol. On the
first night performance of "The Alcade," she played in a curtain-
raiser, "Bertram." For a few days she was the mistress of a Russian
prince who took her to Saint-Mande, paying her manager a good sum for
her absence from the theatre. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]

FOEDORA (Comtesse), born about 1805. Of Russian lower class origin and
wonderfully beautiful. Espoused perhaps morganatically by a great lord
of the land. Left a widow she reigned over Paris in 1827. Supposed to
have an income of eighty thousand francs. She received in her drawing-
rooms all the notables of the period, and there "appeared all the
works of fiction that were not published anywhere else." Raphael de
Valentin was presented to the countess by Rastignac and fell
desperately in love with her. But he left her house one day never to
return, being definitely persuaded that she was "a woman without a
heart." Her memory was cruel, and her address enough to drive a
diplomat to despair. Although the Russian ambassador did not receive
her, she had entry into the set of Mme. de Serizy; visited with Mme.
de Nucingen and Mme. de Restaud; received the Duchesse de Carigliano,
the haughtiest of the Bonapartist clique. She had listened to many
young dandies, and to the son of a peer of France, who had offered her
their names in exchange for her fortune. [The Magic Skin.]

FONTAINE (Madame), fortune teller, Paris, rue Vielle-du-Temple, time
of Louis Philippe. At one time a cook. Born in 1767. Earned a
considerable amount of money, but previously had lost heavily in a
lottery. After the suppression of this game of chance she saved up for
the benefit of a nephew. In her divinations Mme. Fontaine made use of
a giant toad named Astaroth, and of a black hen with bristling
feathers, called Cleopatra or Bilouche. These two animals caught
Gazonal's eye in 1845, when in company with De Lora and Bixiou he
visited the fortune-teller's. The Southerner, however, asked only a
five-franc divination, while in the same year Mme. Cibot, who came to
consult her on an important matter, had to pay a hundred francs.
According to Bixiou, "a third of the lorettes, a fourth of the
statesmen and a half of the artists" consulted Mme. Fontaine. She was
the Egeria of a minister, and also looked for "a tidy fortune," which
Bilouche had promised her. [The Unconscious Humorists. Cousin Pons.]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Repertory of The Comedie Humaine, Part 1Cerfberr, Anatole

General

Repertory of The Comedie Humaine, Part 1

Cerfberr, Anatole

Balzac, Honoré de, 1799-1850. Comédie humaine

FLORVILLE (La), actress at the Panorama-Dramatique in 1821. Among her
contemporaries were Coralie, Florine, and Bouffe, or Vignol. On the
first night performance of "The Alcade," she played in a curtain-
raiser, "Bertram." For a few days she was the mistress of a Russian
prince who took her to Saint-Mande, paying her manager a good sum for
her absence from the theatre. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]

FOEDORA (Comtesse), born about 1805. Of Russian lower class origin and
wonderfully beautiful. Espoused perhaps morganatically by a great lord
of the land. Left a widow she reigned over Paris in 1827. Supposed to
have an income of eighty thousand francs. She received in her drawing-
rooms all the notables of the period, and there "appeared all the
works of fiction that were not published anywhere else." Raphael de
Valentin was presented to the countess by Rastignac and fell
desperately in love with her. But he left her house one day never to
return, being definitely persuaded that she was "a woman without a
heart." Her memory was cruel, and her address enough to drive a
diplomat to despair. Although the Russian ambassador did not receive
her, she had entry into the set of Mme. de Serizy; visited with Mme.
de Nucingen and Mme. de Restaud; received the Duchesse de Carigliano,
the haughtiest of the Bonapartist clique. She had listened to many
young dandies, and to the son of a peer of France, who had offered her
their names in exchange for her fortune. [The Magic Skin.]

FONTAINE (Madame), fortune teller, Paris, rue Vielle-du-Temple, time
of Louis Philippe. At one time a cook. Born in 1767. Earned a
considerable amount of money, but previously had lost heavily in a
lottery. After the suppression of this game of chance she saved up for
the benefit of a nephew. In her divinations Mme. Fontaine made use of
a giant toad named Astaroth, and of a black hen with bristling
feathers, called Cleopatra or Bilouche. These two animals caught
Gazonal's eye in 1845, when in company with De Lora and Bixiou he
visited the fortune-teller's. The Southerner, however, asked only a
five-franc divination, while in the same year Mme. Cibot, who came to
consult her on an important matter, had to pay a hundred francs.
According to Bixiou, "a third of the lorettes, a fourth of the
statesmen and a half of the artists" consulted Mme. Fontaine. She was
the Egeria of a minister, and also looked for "a tidy fortune," which
Bilouche had promised her. [The Unconscious Humorists. Cousin Pons.]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Repertory of The Comedie Humaine, Part 1

Repertory of The Comedie Humaine, Part 1

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