第203章 Z

ZAMBINELLA, a eunuch, who sang at the Theatre Argentina, Rome, the leading soprano parts; he was very beautiful. Sarassine, 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 entitled /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 /Analytical 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, assumed 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, Lassailly, F. Lemaitre, Charles X., Louis Philippe, Odry, Talma, Thiers, Villele, Rossini, Rousseau, Mlle. Dejazet, Mlle. Georges, etc.