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Repertory of the Comedie Humaine-1 [86]

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her nephew. [Modeste Mignon.] The third son, director of a Paris municipality, then director-general in the Department of Finance, married the only daughter of M. Grossetete, receiver-general at Bourges. Of the three daughters, the first married M. Planat at Baudry, receiver-general; the second married Baron de Villaine, a magistrate of bourgeois origin ennobled by the king; the third, Emilie, married her old uncle, the Comte de Kergarouet, and after his death, Marquis Charles de Vandenesse. [The Ball at Sceaux.] The Comte de Fontaine and his family were present at the Birotteau ball, and after the perfumer's bankruptcy procured a situation for him. [Cesar Birotteau.] He died in 1824. [The Government Clerks.]

FONTAINE (Baronne de), born Anna Grossetete, only daughter of the receiver-general of Bourges. Attended the school of Mlles. Chamarolles with Dinah Piedefer, who became Mme. de la Baudraye. Thanks to her fortune she married the third son of the Comte de Fontaine. She removed to Paris after her marriage and kept up correspondence with her old school-mate who now lived at Sancerre. She kept her informed as to the prevailing styles. Later at the first performance of one of Nathan's dramas, about the middle of the reign of Louis Philippe, Anna de Fontaine affected not to recognize this same Mme. de la Baudraye, then the known mistress of Etienne Lousteau. [The Muse of the Department.]

FONTANIEU (Madame), friend and neighbor of Mme. Vernier at Vouvray in 1831. The jolliest gossip and greatest joker in town. She was present at the interview between the insane Margaritis and Felix Gaudissart, when the drummer was so much at sea. [Gaudissart the Great.]

FONTANON (Abbe), born about 1770. Canon of Bayeux cathedral in the beginning of the nineteenth century when he "guided the consciences" of Mme. and Mlle. Bontems. In November, 1808, he got himself enrolled with the Parisian clergy, hoping thus to obtain a curacy and eventually a bishopric. He became again the confessor of Mlle. Bontems, now the wife of M. de Granville, and contributed to the trouble of that household by the narrowness of his provincial Catholicism and his inflexible bigotry. He finally disclosed to the magistrate's wife the relations of Granville with Caroline Crochard. He also brought sorrow to the last moments of Mme. Crochard, the mother. [A Second Home.] In December, 1824, at Saint-Roch he pronounced the funeral oration of Baron Flamet de la Billardiere. [The Government Clerks.] Previous to 1824 Abbe Fontanon was vicar at the church of Saint Paul, rue Saint-Antoine. [Honorine.] Confessor of Mme. de Lanty in 1839, and always eager to pry into family secrets, he undertook an affair with Dorlange-Sallenauve in the interest of Mariannina de Lanty. [The Member for Arcis.]

FORTIN (Madame), mother of Mme. Marneffe. Mistress of General de Montcornet, who had lavished money on her during his visits to Paris which she had entirely squandered, under the Empire, in the wildest dissipations. For twenty years she queened it, but died in poverty though still believing herself rich. Her daughter inherited from her the tastes of a courtesan. [Cousin Betty.]

FORTIN (Valerie), daughter of preceding and of General de Montcornet. (See Crevel, Madame.)

FOSSEUSE (La), orphan daughter of a grave-digger, whence the nick- name. Born in 1807. Frail, nervous, independent, retiring at first, she tried hiring out, but then fell into vagrant habits. Reared in a village on the outskirts of Grenoble, where Dr. Benassis came to live during the Restoration, she became an object of special attention on the part of the physician who became keenly interested in the gentle, loyal, peculiar and impressionable creature. La Fosseuse though homely was not without charm. She may have loved her benefactor. [The Country Doctor.]

FOUCHE (Joseph), Duc d'Otrante, born near Nantes in 1753; died in exile at Trieste in 1820. Oratorian, member of the National Convention, councillor of state, minister of police under the Consulate and Empire, also chief of the department of the Interior
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