Repertory of The Comedie Humaine Part 52

[*] Lady Brandon was the mother of Louis Gaston and Marie Gaston.

WIMPHEN (De), married a friend of Madame d'Aiglemont's childhood. [A Woman of Thirty.]

WIMPHEN (Madame Louisa de), childhood friend of Madame Julie d'Aiglemont in school at Ecouen. In 1814, Madame d'Aiglemont wrote to the companion, who was then on the point of marrying, of her own disillusionment, and confidentially advised her to remain single. This letter, however, was not sent, for the Comtesse de Listomere-Landon, aunt of Julie d'Aiglemont by marriage, having found out about it, discouraged such an impropriety on the part of her niece. Unlike her friend, Madame de Wimphen married happily. She retained the confidence of Madame d'Aiglemont, and was present, indeed, at the important interview between Julie and Lord Grenville. After M. de Wimphen's arrival to accompany his wife home, these two lovers were left alone, until the unexpected arrival of M. d'Aiglemont made it necessary for Lord Grenville to conceal himself. The Englishman died shortly after this as a result of the night's exposure, when he was obliged to stay in the cold on the outside of a window-sill. This happened also immediately after his fingers were bruised by a rapidly closed door.

[A Woman of Thirty.]

WIRTH, valet of the banker, J.-B. d'Aldrigger; remained in the service of Mesdames d'Aldrigger, mother and daughters, after the death of the head of the family. He showed them the same devotion, of which he had often given proof. Wirth was a kind of Alsatian Caleb or Gaspard, aged and serious, but with much of the cunning mingled with his simple nature. Seeing in G.o.defroid de Beaudenord a good husband for Isaure d'Aldrigger, he was able to entrap him easily, and thus was partly responsible for their marriage. [The Firm of Nucingen.]

WISCH (Johann). Fict.i.tious name given in a newspaper for Johann Fischer, when he had been accused of peculation. [Cousin Betty.]

WISSEMBOURG (Prince de), one of the t.i.tles of Marechal Cottin, the Duc d'Orfano. [Cousin Betty.]

WITSCHNAU. (See Gaudin.)

X

XIMEUSE, fief situated in Lorraine; original spelling of the name Simeuse, which came to to be written with an S on account of its p.r.o.nunciation. [The Gondreville Mystery.]

Y

YSEMBOURG (Prince d'), marshal of France, the Conde of the Republic.

Madame Nourrisson, his confidential servant, looked upon him as a "simpleton," because he gave two thousand francs to one of the most renowned countesses of the Imperial Court, who came to him one day, with streaming eyes, begging him to give her the a.s.sistance upon which her children's life depended. She soon spent the money for a robe, which she needed to wear so as to be dressed stylishly at an emba.s.sy ball. This story was told by Madame Nourrisson, in 1845, to Leon de Lora, Bixiou, and Gazonal. [The Unconscious Humorists.]

Z

ZAMBINELLA, a eunuch, who sang at the Theatre Argentina, Rome, the leading soprano parts; he was very beautiful. Sara.s.sine, a French sculptor, believing him to be a woman, became enamored of him, and used him as a model for an excellent statue of Adonis, which may still be seen at the Musee d'Albani, and which Dorlange-Sallenauve copied nearly a century later. When he was over eighty years old and very wealthy, Zambinella lived, under the Restoration, with his niece, who was wife of the mysterious Lanty. While residing with the Lantys Zambinella died in Rome, 1830. The early life of Zambinella was unknown to the Parisian world. A mesmerist believed the old man, who was a sort of traveling mummy, to be the famous Balsamo, also known as Cagliostro, while the Bailli de Ferette took him to be the Comte de Saint-Germain. [Sarrasine. The Member for Arcis.]

ZARNOWICKI (Roman[*]), Polish general who, as a refugee in Paris, lived on the ground floor of the little two-story house on rue de Marbeuf, of which Doctor Halpersohn occupied the other floor in 1836.

[The Seamy Side of History.]

[*] Probably a given name.

NOTE.

The _Repertory of the Comedie Humaine_, as the reader can see for himself, should include only those episodes introducing characters inter-related and continually recurring. Consequently, the stories ent.i.tled _The Exiles_, _About Catherine de Medici_, _Maitre Cornelius_, _The Unknown Masterpiece_, _The Elixir of Life_, _Christ in Flanders_, which antedate the eighteenth century, and _Seraphita_, which deals with the supernatural, are omitted, together with the _a.n.a.lytical Studies_. But _The Hated Son_ furnishes some indispensable information concerning a few biographies. The _Dramas_ are outside the action of the _Comedie_, so contribute no names.

According to Theophile Gautier, _The Comedie Humaine_ embraces two thousand characters. His reckoning is nearly exact; but as a result of cross-references, surnames, a.s.sumed names and the like, that number is far exceeded in this work, which, nevertheless, omits many characters outside the action, as: Chevet, Decamps, Delacroix, Finot Sr., the child of Calyste and Sabine du Guenic, Noemi Magus, Meyerbeer, Herbaut, Houbigant, Tanrade, Mousqueton, Arnal, Barrot, Bonald, Berryer, Gautier, Gozlan, Hugo, Hyacinthe, Lafont, Lamartine, La.s.sailly, F. Lemaitre, Charles X., Louis Philippe, Odry, Talma, Thiers, Villele, Rossini, Rousseau, Mlle. Dejazet, Mlle. Georges, etc.