第19章 B(8)

Barbe-Josephine Pillerault. By her he had an only daughter, Cesarine, who married Anselme Popinot in 1822. Successively captain, then chief of battalion in the National Guard and adjunct-mayor of the eleventh arrondissement, Birotteau was appointed Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1818. To celebrate his nomination in the Order, he gave a grand ball* which, on account of the very radical changes necessitated in his apartments, and coupled with some bad speculations, brought about his total ruin; he filed a petition in bankruptcy the year following. By stubborn effort and the most rigid economy, Birotteau was able to indemnify his creditors completely, three years later (1822). But he died soon after the formal court reinstating. He numbered among his patrons in 1818 the following: the Duc and Duchesse de Lenoncourt, the Princesse de Blamont-Chauvry, the Marquise d'Espard, the two Vandenesses, Marsay, Ronquerolles, and the Marquis d'Aiglemont. [Cesar Birotteau. A Bachelor's Establishment.] Cesar Birotteau was likewise on friendly terms with the Guillaumes, clothing dealers in the rue Saint-Denis. [At the Sign of the Cat and Racket.]

* The 17th of December was really Thursday and not Sunday, as erroneously given.

BIROTTEAU (Madame), born Constance-Barbe-Josephine Pillerault in 1782.

Married Cesar Birotteau in May, 1800. Previous to her marriage she was head "saleslady" at the "Little Sailor"* novelty shop, corner of Quai Anjou and rue des Deux Ponts, Paris. Her surviving relative and guardian was her uncle, Claude-Joseph Pillerault. [Cesar Birotteau.]

* This shop still exists at the same place, No. 43 Quai d'Anjou and 40 rue des Deux-Ponts, being run by M. L. Bellevaut.

BIROTTEAU (Cesarine). (See Popinot, Madame Anselme.)

BIXIOU,* Parisian grocer, in rue Saint-Honore, before the Revolution in the eighteenth century. He had a clerk called Descoings, who married his widow. The grocer Bixiou was the grandfather of Jean-

Jacques Bixiou, the celebrated cartoonist. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]

* Pronounced "Bissiou."

BIXIOU, son of the preceding and father of Jean-Jacques Bixiou. He was a colonel of the Twenty-first Regiment; killed at the battle of Dresden, on the 26th or 27th of August, 1813. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]

BIXIOU (Jean-Jacques), famous artist; son of Colonel Bixiou who was killed at Dresden; grandson of Mme. Descoings, whose first husband was the grocer Bixiou. Born in 1797, he pursued a course of study at the Lyceum, to which he had obtained a scholarship. He had for friends Philippe and Joseph Bridau, and Master Desroches. Later he entered the painter Gros's studio. Then in 1819, through the influence of the Ducs de Maufrigneuse and de Rhetore, whom he met at some dancer's, he obtained a position with the Minister of Finance. He remained with this administration until December, 1824, when he resigned. In this same year he was one of the best men for Philippe Bridau, who married Flore Brazier, known as La Rabouilleuse, the widow of J.-J. Rouget.

After this woman's death, in 1828, he was led, disguised as a priest, to the residence of the Soulanges, where he told the comte about the scandal connected with her death, knowingly caused by her husband; he told, also, about the bad habits and vulgarities of Philippe Bridau, and thus caused the breaking off of the marriage of this weather-beaten soldier with Mlle. Amelie de Soulanges. A talented cartoonist, distinguished practical joker, and recognized as one of the kings of /bon mot/, he led a free and easy life. He was on speaking terms with all the artists and all the lorettes of his day. Among others he knew the painter, Hippolyte Schinner. He turned a pretty penny, during the trial of De Fualdes and de Castaing, by illustrating in a fantastic way the account of this trial. [A Bachelor's Establishment. The Government Clerks. The Purse.] He designed some vignettes for the writing of Canalis. [Modeste Mignon.] With Blondet, Lousteau and Nathan he was a habitue of the house of Esther Gobseck, rue Saint-

Georges, in 1829, 1830. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] In a private room of a well-known restaurant, in 1836, he wittily related to Finot, Blondet and Couture the source of Nucingen's fortune. [The Firm of Nucingen.] In January, 1837, his friend Lousteau had him come especially to upbraid him, Lousteau, on account of the latter's irregular ways with Mme. de la Baudraye, while she, concealed in an ante-room, heard it all. This scene had been arranged beforehand; its object was to give Lousteau a chance to declare, apparently, his unquenchable attachment for his mistress. [The Muse of the Department.] In 1838 he attended the house-warming of Heloise Brisetout in rue Chauchat. In the same year he was attendant at the marriage of Steinbock with Hortense Hulot, and of Crevel with the widow Marneffe. [Cousin Betty.] In 1839 the sculptor Dorlange-

Sallenauve knew of Bixiou and complained of his slanders. [The Member for Arcis.] Mme. Schontz treated him most cordially in 1838, and he had to pass for her "special," although their relations, in fact, did not transcend the bounds of friendship. [Beatrix.] In 1840, at the home of Marguerite Turquet, maintained by the notary Cardot, when Lousteau, Nathan and La Palferine were also present, he heard a story by Desroches. [A Man of Business.] About 1844, Bixiou helped in a high comedy relative to a Selim shawl sold by Fritot to Mistress Noswell.

Bixiou himself had purchased, in a shop with M. du Ronceret, a shawl for Mme. Schontz. [Gaudissart II.] In 1845 Bixiou showed Paris and the "Unconscious Humorists" to a Pyrrenean named Gazonal, in company with Leon de Lora, a cousin of the countryman. At this time Bixiou dwelt at number 112 rue Richelieu, sixth floor; when he had a regular position he had lived in rue de Ponthieu. [The Unconscious Humorists.] In the rue Richelieu period he was the lover of Heloise Brisetout. [Cousin Pons.]