Part 31

GODARD (Mademoiselle), sister of the foregoing, and lived on rue Richelieu, Pais, where in 1824 she ran a florist's shop. Mlle. Godard employed Zelie Lorain who became later the wife of Minard. She received him and Dutocq. [The Government Clerks.]

GODARD (Manon), serving-woman of Mme. de la Chanterie; arrested in 1809, between Alencon and Mortagne, implicated in the Chauffeurs trial which ended in the capital punishment of Mme. des Tours-Minieres, daughter of Mme. de la Chanterie. Manon Godard was sentenced by default to twenty-two years imprisonment, and gave herself up in order not to abandon her mistress. A long time after the baroness was set free, time of Louis Philippe, Manon was still living with her, on rue Chanoinesse, in the house which sheltered Alain, Montauran and Godefroid. [The Seamy Side of History.]

GODDET, retired surgeon-major of the Third regiment of the line; the leading physician of Issoudun in 1823. His son was one of the "Knights of Idlesse." Goddet junior pretended to pay court to Mme. Fichet, in order to reach her daughter who had the best dowry in Issoudun. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]

GODEFROID, known by his given name; born about 1806, probably at Paris; son of a wealthy merchant; educated at the Liautard Institution; naturally feeble, morally and physically; tried his hand at and made a failure of: law, governmental work, letters, pleasure, journalism, politics and marriage. At the close of 1836 he found himself poor and forsaken; thereupon he tried to pay his debts and live economically. He left Chaussee-d'Antin and took up his abode on rue Chanoinesse, where he became one of Mme. de la Chanteries' boarders, known as the "Brotherhood of the Consolation." The recommendation of the Monegods, bankers, led to his admission. Abbe de Veze, Montauran, Tresnes, Alain, and above all the baroness initiated him, coached him, and entrusted to him various charitable missions. Among others, about the middle of the reign of Louis Philippe, he took charge of and relieved the frightful poverty of the Bourlacs and the Mergis, the head of which as an imperial judge in 1809 had sentenced Mme. de la Chanterie and her daughter. After he succeeded with this generous undertaking, Godefroid was admitted to the Brotherhood. [The Seamy Side of History.]

GODENARS (Abbe de), born about 1795; one of the vicars-general of the archbishop of Besancon between 1830 and 1840. From 1835 on he tried to get a bishopric. One evening he was present at the aristocratic salon of the Wattevilles, at the time of the sudden flight of Albert Savarus, caused by their young daughter. [Albert Savarus.]

GODESCHAL (Francois-Claude-Marie), born about 1804. In 1818, at Paris, he was third clerk in the law office of Derville, rue Vivienne, when the unfortunate Chabert appeared upon the scene. [Colonel Chabert.] In 1820, then an orphan and poor, he and his sister, the dancer Mariette, to whom he was devoted, lived on an eighth floor on rue Vielle-du- Temple. He had already given evidence of a practical temperament, independent and self-seeking, but upright and capable of generous outbursts. [A Bachelor's Establishment.] In 1822, having risen to second clerk, he left Maitre Derville to become head-clerk in Desroches' office, who was greatly pleased with him. Godeschal even undertook to reform Oscar Husson. [A Start in Life.] Six years later, while still Desroches' head-clerk, he drew up a petition wherein Mme. d'Espard prayed a guardian for her husband. [The Commission in Lunacy.] Under Louis Philippe he became one of the advocates of Paris and paid half his fees--1840--proposing to pay the other half with the dowry of Celeste Colleville, whose hand was refused him, despite the recommendation of Cardot the notary. Was engaged for Peyrade, in the purchase of a house near the Madeleine. [The Middle Classes.] About 1845 Godeschal was still practicing, and numbered among his clients the Camusots de Marville. [Cousin Pons.]

GODESCHAL (Marie), born about 1804. She maintained, almost all her life, the nearest and most tender relations with her brother Godeschal the notary. Without relatives or means, she kept house with him in 1820, on the eighth floor of a house on rue Vielle-du-Temple, Paris. Ambition and love for her brother caused her to become a dancer. She had studied her profession from her tenth year. The famous Vestris instructed her and predicted great things for her. Under the name of Mariette, she was engaged at the Porte-Saint-Martin and the Royal Academy of Music. Her success displeased the famous Begrand. In January, 1821, her angelic beauty, maintained despite her profession, opened to her the doors of the Opera. Then she had lovers. The aristocratic and elegant Maufrigneuse protected her for several years. Mariette also favored Philippe Bridau and was the innocent cause of a theft committed by him in order to enable him to contend with Maufrigneuse. Four months later she went to London, where she won the rich members of the House of Lords, and returned as premiere to the Academy of Music. She was intimate with Florentine Cabirolle, who often received in the Marais. There it was that Mariette kept Oscar Husson out of serious trouble. Mariette attended many festivities. And at the close of the reign of Louis Philippe, she was still a leading figure in the Opera. [A Bachelor's Establishment. A Start in Life. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. Cousin Pons.]

GODIN, under Louis Philippe, a Parisian bourgeois engaged in a lively dispute with a friend of La Palferine's. [A Prince of Bohemia.]

GODIN (La), peasant woman of Conches, Burgundy, about 1823, whose cow Vermichel threatened to seize for the Comte de Montcornet. [The Peasantry.]

GODIVET, recorder of registry of Arcis-sur-Aube in 1839. Through the scheming of Pigoult he was chosen as one of two agents for an electoral meeting called by Simon Giguet, one of the candidates, and presided over by Phileas Beauvisage. [The Member for Arcis.]

GODOLLO (Comtesse Torna de), probably a Hungarian; police spy reporting to Corentin. Was ordered to prevent the marriage of Theodose de la Peyrade and Celeste Colleville. To accomplish this she went to live in the Thuilliers' house, Paris, in 1840, cultivated them and finally ruled them. She sometimes assumed the name of Mme. Komorn. Her wit and beauty exercised a passing effect upon Peyrade. [The Middle Classes.]

GOGUELAT, infantryman of the first Empire, entered the Guard in 1812; was decorated by Napoleon on the battlefield of Valontina; returned during the Restoration to the village of Isere, of which Benassis was mayor, and became postman. [The Country Doctor.]

GOHIER, goldsmith to the King of France in 1824; supplied Elisabeth Baudoyer with the monstrance with which she decorated the church of Saint Paul, in order to bring about Isidore Baudoyer's promotion in office. [The Government Clerks.]

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 gave his influence to his grandson, Charles Keller, for Arcis. He concerned himself little with the candidates, who were finally elected; Dorlange-Sallenauve, Phileas Beauvisage, Trailles and Giguet. [The Gondreville Mystery. A Start in Life. Domestic Peace. The Member for Arcis.]

GONDREVILLE (Comtesse Malin de), born Sibuelle; wife of foregoing; person whose complete insignificance was manifest at the great ball given in Paris by the count in 1809. [Domestic Peace.]

GONDREVILLE (Charles de), son of the preceding, and sub-lieutenant of dragoons in 1818. Young and wealthy, he died in the Spanish campaign of 1823. His death caused great sorrow to his mistress, Mme. Colleville. [The Middle Classes.]

GONDRIN, born in 1774, in the department of Isere. Conscripted in 1792 and put in the artillery. Was in the Italian and Egyptian campaigns under Bonaparte, as a private, and returned east after the Peace of Amiens. Enrolled, during the Empire, in the pontoon corps of the Guard, he marched through Germany and Russia; was in the battle at Beresina aiding to build the bridge by which the remnant of the army escaped; with forty-one comrades, received the praise of General Eble who singled him out particularly. Returned to Wilna, as the only survivor of the corps after the death of Eble and in the beginning of the Restoration. Unable to read or write, deaf and decrepit, Gondrin forlornly left Paris which had treated him inhospitably, and returned to the village in Dauphine, where the mayor, Dr. Benassis, gave him work as a ditcher and continued to aid him in 1829. [The Country Doctor.]

GONDRIN (Abbe), young Parisian priest about the middle of the reign of Louis Philippe. Exquisite and eloquent. Knew the Thuilliers. [The Middle Classes.]

GONDUREAU, assumed name of Bibi-Lupin.

GONORE (La), widow of Moses the Jew, chief of the southern /rouleurs/, in May, 1830; mistress of Dannepont the thief and assassin; ran a house of ill-repute on rue Sainte-Barbe for Mme. Nourrisson. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]

GORDES (Mademoiselle de), at the head of an aristocratic salon of Alencon, about 1816, while her father, the aged Marquis de Gordes, was still living with her. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]

GORENFLOT, mason of Vendome, who walled up the closet concealing Mme. de Merret's lover, the Spaniard Bagos de Feredia. [La Grande Breteche.]

GORENFLOT, probably posed for Quasimodo of Hugo's "Notre-Dame." Decrepit, misshapen, deaf, diminutive, he lived in Paris about 1839, and was organ-blower and bell-ringer in the church of Saint-Louis en l'Ile. He also acted as messenger in the confidential financial correspondence between Bricheteau and Dorlange-Sallenauve. [The Member for Arcis.]

GORIOT,* (Jean-Joachim), born about 1750; started as a porter in the grain market. During the first Revolution, although he had received no education, but having a trader's instinct, he began the manufacture of vermicelli and made a fortune out of it. Thrift and fortune favored him under the Terror. He passed for a bold citizen and fierce patriot. Prosperity enabled him to marry from choice the only daughter of a wealthy farmer of Brie, who died young and adored. Upon their two children, Anastasie and Delphine, he lavished all the tenderness of which their mother had been the recipient, spoiling them with fine things. Goriot's griefs date from the day he set each up in housekeeping in magnificent fashion on Chaussee-d'Antin. Far from being grateful for his pecuniary sacrifices, his sons-in-law, Restaud and Nucingen, and his daughters themselves, were ashamed of his bourgeois exterior. In 1813 he had retired saddened and impoverished to the Vauquer boarding-house on rue Nueve-Sainte-Genevieve. The quarrels of his daughters and the greedy demands for money increased and in 1819 followed him thither. Almost all the guests of the house and especially Mme. Vauquer herself--whose ambitious designs upon him had come to naught--united in persecuting Goriot, now well-nigh poverty-stricken. He found an agreeable respite when he acted as a go- between for the illicit love affair of Mme. de Nucingen and Rastignac, his fellow-lodger. The financial distress of Mme. de Restaud, Trailles' victim, gave Goriot the finishing blow. He was compelled to give up the final and most precious bit of his silver plate, and beg the assistance of Gobseck the usurer. He was crushed. A serious attack of apoplexy carried him off. He died on rue Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve. Rastignac watched over him, and Bianchon, then an interne, attended him. Only two men, Christophe, Mme. Vauquer's servant, and Rastignac, followed the remains to Saint-Etienne du Mont and to Pere-Lachaise. The empty carriages of his daughters followed as far as the cemetery. [Father Goriot.]

* Two Parisian theatres and five authors have depicted Goriot's life on the stage; March 6, 1835, at the Vaudeville, Ancelot and Paul Dupont; the same year, the month following, at the Varietes, Theaulon, Alexis de Comberousse and Jaime Pere. Also the /Boeuf Gras/ of a carnival in a succeeding year bore the name of Goriot.

GORITZA (Princesse), a charming Hungarian, celebrated for her beauty, towards the end of Louis XV.'s reign, and to whom the youthful Chevalier de Valois became so attached that he came near fighting on her account with M. de Lauzun; nor could he ever speak of her without emotion. From 1816 to 1830, the Alencon aristocracy were given glimpses of the princess's portrait, which adorned the chevalier's gold snuff-box. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]