LOURDOIS, during the Empire wealthy master-painter of interiors; contractor with thirty thousand francs income, of Liberal views. Charged an enormous sum for the famous decorations in Cesar Birotteau's apartments, where he was a guest with his wife and daughter at the grand ball of December 17, 1818. After the failure of the perfumer, a little later, he treated him somewhat slightingly. [At the Sign of the Cat and Racket. Cesar Birotteau.]
LOUSTEAU, sub-delegate at Issoudun and afterwards the intimate friend of Doctor Rouget, at that time his enemy, because the doctor was possibly the father of Mademoiselle Agathe Rouget, then become Madame Bridau. Lousteau died in 1800. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
LOUSTEAU (Etienne), son of the preceding, born at Sancerre in 1799, nephew of Maximilienne Hochon, born Lousteau, school-mate of Doctor Bianchon. Urged on by his desire for a literary vocation, he entered Paris without money, in 1819, made a beginning with poetry, was the literary partner of Victor Ducange in a melodrama played at the Gaite in 1821, undertook the editing of a small paper devoted to the stage, of which Andoche Finot was proprietor. He had at that time two homes, one in the Quartier Latin, rue de la Harpe, above the Servel cafe, another on rue de Bondy, with Florine his mistress. Not having a better place, he became at times Flicoteaux's guest, in company with Daniel d'Arthez and especially Lucien de Rubempre, whom he trained, piloted, and introduced to Dauriat, in fact, whose first steps he aided, not without feeling regret later in life. For one thousand francs per month, Lousteau rid Philippe Bridau of his wife, Flore, placing her in a house of ill-fame. He was at the Opera, the evening of the masque ball of the year 1824, where Blondet, Bixiou, Rastignac, Jacques Collin, Chatelet and Madame d'Espard discovered Lucien de Rubempre with Esther Gobseck. Lousteau wrote criticisms, did work for various reviews, and for Raoul Nathan's gazette. He lived on rue des Martyrs, and was Madame Schontz's lover. He obtained by some intrigue a deputyship at Sancerre; carried on a long liaison with Dinah de la Baudraye; just escaped a marriage with Madame Berthier, then Felicie Cardot; was father of Madame de la Baudraye's children, and spoke as follows concerning the birth of the eldest: "Madame la Baronne de la Baudraye is happily delivered of a child; M. Etienne Lousteau has the honor of announcing it." During this liaison, Lousteau, for the sum of five hundred francs, gave to Fabien du Ronceret a discourse to be read at a horticultural exhibition, for which the latter was decorated. He attended a house-warming at Mademoiselle Brisetout's, rue Chauchat; asked Dinah and Nathan for the purpose or moral of the "Prince of Bohemia." Lousteau's manner of living underwent little change when Madame de la Baudraye left him. He heard Maitre Desroches recount one of Cerizet's adventures, saw Madame Marneffe marry Crevel, took charge of the "Echo de la Bievre," and undertook the management of a theatre with Ridal, the author of vaudevilles. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. A Bachelor's Establishment. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. A Daughter of Eve. Beatrix. The Muse of the Department. Cousin Betty. A Prince of Bohemia. A Man of Business. The Middle Classes. The Unconscious Humorists.]
LUIGIA, young and beautiful Roman girl of the suburbs, wife of Benedetto, who claimed the right of selling her. She tried to kill herself at the same time she killed him, but did not succeed. Charles de Sallenauve—Dorlange—protected her, taking care of her when she became a widow, and made her his housekeeper in 1839. Luigia soon left her benefactor, the voice of slander having accused them in their mutually innocent relations. [The Member for Arcis.]
LUPEAULX (Clement Chardin des), officer and politician, born about 1785; left in good circumstances by his father; who was ennobled by Louis XV., his coat-of-arms showing "a ferocious wolf of sable bearing a lamb in its jaws," with this motto: "En lupus in historia." A shrewd and ambitious man, ready for all enterprises, even the most compromising, Clement des Lupeaulx knew how to make himself of service to Louis XVIII. in several delicate undertakings. Many influential members of the aristocracy placed in his hands their difficult business and their lawsuits. He served thus as mediator between the Duc de Navarreins and Polydore Milaud de la Baudraye, and attained a kind of mightiness that Annette seemed to fear would be disastrous to Charles Grandet. He accumulated duties and ranks, was master of petitions in the Council of State, secretary-general to the minister of finance, colonel in the National Guard, government commissioner in a joint-stock company; also provided with an inspectorship in the king's house, he became Chevalier de Saint-Louis and officer of the Legion of Honor. An open follower of Voltaire, but an attendant at mass, at all times a Bertrand in pursuit of a Raton, egotistic and vain, a glutton and a libertine, this man of intellect, sought after in all social circles, a kind of minister's "household drudge," openly lived, until 1825, a life of pleasure and anxiety, striving for political success and love conquests. As mistresses he is known to have had Esther van Gobseck, Flavie Colleville; perhaps, even, the Marquise d'Espard. He was seen at the Opera ball in the winter of 1824, at which Lucien de Rubempre reappeared. The close of this year brought about considerable change in the Secretary-General's affairs. Crippled by debt, and in the power of Gobseck, Bidault and Mitral, he was forced to give up one of the treasury departments to Isidore Baudoyer, despite his personal liking for Rabourdin. He gained as a result of this stroke a coronet and a deputyship. He had ambitions for a peerage, the title of gentleman of the king's chamber, a membership in the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-lettres, and the commander's cross. [The Muse of the Department. Eugenie Grandet. A Bachelor's Establishment. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. The Government Clerks. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. Ursule Mirouet.]
LUPEAULX (Des), nephew of the preceding, and, thanks to him, appointed sub-prefect of Ville-aux-Fayes, Bourgogne, in 1821, in the department presided over successively by Martial de la Roche-Hugon and Casteran. As Gaubertin's prospective son-in-law, M. des Lupeaulx, espousing the cause of his fiancee's family, was instrumental in disgusting Montcornet, owner of Aigues, with his property. [The Peasantry.]
LUPIN, born in 1778, son of the last steward of the Soulanges in Bourgogne; in time he became manager of the domain, notary and deputy mayor of the city of Soulanges. Although married and a man of family, M. Lupin, still in excellent physical condition, was, in 1823, a brilliant figure in Madame Soudry's reception-room, where he was known for his tenor voice and his extreme gallantries—the latter characteristic being proved by two liaisons carried on with two middle-class women, Madame Sarcus, wife of Sarcus the Rich, and Euphemie Plissoud. [The Peasantry.]
LUPIN (Madame), wife of the preceding, called "Bebelle;" only daughter of a salt-merchant enriched by the Revolution; had a platonic affection for the chief clerk, Bonnac. Madame Lupin was fat, awkward, of very ordinary appearance, and weak intellectually. On account of these characteristics Lupin and the Soudry adherents neglected her. [The Peasantry.]
LUPIN (Amaury), only son of the preceding couple, perhaps the lover of Adeline Sarcus, who became Madame Adolphe Sibilet; was on the point of marrying one of Gaubertin's daughters, the same one, doubtless, that was wooed and won by M. des Lupeaulx. In the midst of this liaison and of these matrimonial designs, Amaury Lupin was sent to Paris in 1822 by his father to study the notary's profession with Maitre Crottat, where he had for a companion another clerk, Georges Marest, with whom he committed some indiscretions and went into debt. Amaury went with his friend to the Lion d'Argent, rue d'Enghien in the Saint-Denis section, when Marest took Pierrotin's carriage to Isle-Adam. On the way they met Oscar Husson, and made fun of him. The following year Amaury Lupin returned to Soulanges in Bourgogne. [The Peasantry. A Start in Life.]