ROGUIN (Mathilde-Melanie). (See Tiphaine, Madame.)
ROMETTE (La). (See Paccard, Jeromette.)
RONCERET (Du), president of the Alencon tribunal under the Restoration; was then a tall man, very thin, with forehead sloping back to his thin chestnut hair; eyes of different colors, and compressed lips. Not having been courted by the nobility, he turned his attention to the middle classes, and then in the suit against Victurnien d'Esgrignon, charged with forgery, he immediately took part in the prosecution. That a preliminary trial might be avoided he kept away from Alencon, but a judgment which acquitted Victurnien was rendered during his absence. M. du Ronceret, in Machiavelli fashion, manoeuvred to gain for his son Fabien the hand of a wealthy heiress of the city, Mademoiselle Blandureau, who had also been sought by Judge Blondet for his son Joseph. In this contest the judge won over his chief. [Jealousies of a Country Town.] M. du Ronceret died in 1837, while holding the presidency of chamber at the Royal Court of Caen. The Du Roncerets, ennobled under Louis XV., had arms bearing the word "Servir" as a motto and a squire's helmet. [Beatrix.]
RONCERET (Madame du), wife of the preceding, tall and ill-formed; of serious disposition; dressed herself in the most absurd costumes of gorgeous colors; spent much time at her toilet, and never went to a ball without first decorating her head with a turban, such as the English were then wearing. Madame du Ronceret received each week, and each quarter gave a great three-course dinner, which was spoken of in Alencon, for the president then endeavored, with his miserly abundance, to compete with M. du Bousquier's elegance. In the Victurnien d'Esgrignon affair, Madame du Ronceret, at the instigation of her husband, urged the deputy, Sauvages, to work against the young nobleman. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]
RONCERET (Fabien-Felicien du), or Duronceret, son of the preceding couple; born about 1802, educated at Alencon; was here the companion in dissipation of Victurnien d'Esgrignon, whose evil nature he stimulated at M. du Bousquier's instigation. [Jealousies of a Country Town.] At first a judge in Alencon, Du Ronceret resigned after the death of his father and went to Paris in 1838, with the intention of pushing himself into notice by first causing an uproar. He became acquainted in Bohemian circles where he was called "The Heir," on account of some prodigalities. Having made the acquaintance of Couture, the journalist, he was presented by him to Madame Schontz, a popular courtesan of the day, and became his successor in an elegantly furnished establishment in a first floor on rue Blanche. He there began as vice-president of a horticultural society. After an opening session, during which he delivered an address which he had paid Lousteau five hundred francs to compose, and where he made himself noticed by a flower given him by Judge Blondet, he was decorated. Later he married Madame Schontz, who wished to enter middle-class society. Ronceret expected, with her influence, to become president of the court and officer of the Legion of Honor [Beatrix.] While purchasing a shawl for his wife at M. Fritot's, in company with Bixiou, Fabien du Ronceret was present about 1844 at the comedy which took place when the Selim shawl was sold to Mistress Noswell. [Gaudissart II.]
RONCERET (Madame Fabien du), born Josephine Schiltz in 1805, wife of the preceding, daughter of a colonel under the Empire; fatherless and motherless, at nine years of age she was sent to Saint-Denis by Napoleon in 1814, and remained in that educational institution, as assistant-mistress, until 1827. At this time Josephine Schiltz, who was a god-child of the Empress, began the adventurous life of a courtesan, after the example of some of her companions who were, like her, at the end of their patience. She now changed her name from Schiltz to Schontz, and she was also known under the assumed name of Little Aurelie. Animated, intelligent and pretty, after having sacrificed herself to true love, after having known "some poor but dishonorable writers," after having tried intimacy with several rich simpletons, she was met in a day of distress, at Valentino Mussard's, by Arthur de Rochefide, who loved her madly. Having been abandoned by his wife for two years, he lived with her in free union. This evil state of affairs existed until the time when Josephine Schiltz was married by Fabien du Ronceret. In order to have revenge on the Marquis de Rochefide for abandoning her, she gave him a peculiar disease, which she had made Fabien du Ronceret contract, and which also was conveyed to Calyste du Guenic. During her life as a courtesan, her rivals were Suzanne de Val-Noble, Fanny Beaupre, Mariette, Antonia, and Florine. She was intimate with Finot, Nathan, Claude Vignon, to whom she probably owed her critical mind, Bixiou, Leon de Lora, Victor de Vernisset, La Palferine, Gobeneim, Vermanton the cynical philosphoer, etc. She even hoped to marry one of these. In 1836 she lived on rue Flechier, and was the mistress of Lousteau, to whom she wished to marry Felicie Cardot, the notary's daughter. Later she belonged to Stidmann. In 1838 she was present at Josepha's house-warming on rue de la Ville-l'Eveque. In 1840, at the first performance at the Ambigu, she met Madame de la Baudraye, then Lousteau's mistress. Josephine Schiltz finally became the wife of President du Ronceret. [Beatrix. The Muse of the Department. Cousin Betty. The Unconscious Humorists.]
RONQUEROLLES (Marquis de), brother of Madame de Serizy; uncle of the Comtesse Laginska; one of "The Thirteen," and one of the most efficient governmental diplomats under Louis Philippe; next to the Prince de Talleyrand the shrewdest ambassador; was of great service to Marsay during his service as a minister; was sent to Russia in 1838 on a secret mission. Having lost his two children during the cholera scourge of 1832, he was left without a direct heir. He had been a deputy on the Right Centre under the Restoration, representing a department in Bourgogne, where he was proprietor of a forest and of a castle next to the Aigues in the commune of Blangy. When Gaubertin, the steward, was discharged by the Comte de Montcornet, Soudry spoke as follows: "Patience! We have Messieurs de Soulanges and de Ronquerolles." [The Imaginary Mistress. The Peasantry. Ursule Mirouet.] M. de Ronquerolles was an intimate friend of the Marquis d'Aiglemont; they even addressed each other familiarly as thou instead of you. [A Woman of Thirty.] He alone knew of Marsay's first love and the name of "Charlotte's" husband. [Another Study of Woman.] In 1820 the Marquis de Ronquerolles, while at a ball at the Elysee-Bourbon, in the Duchesse de Berri's house, provoked Auguste de Maulincour, of whom Ferragus Bourignard had complained, to a duel. Also, as a result of his membership in the Thirteen, Ronquerolles, along with Marsay, helped General de Montriveau abduct the Duchesse de Langeais from the convent of bare-footed Carmelites, where she had taken refuge. [The Thirteen.] In 1839 he was M. de Rhetore's second in a duel fought with Dorlange-Sallenauve, the sculptor, in connection with Marie Gaston. [The Member for Arcis.]
ROSALIE, rosy-cheeked and buxom, waiting-maid to Madame de Merret at Vendome; then, after the death of her mistress, servant employed by Madame Lepas, tavern-keeper in that town. She finally told Horace Bianchon the drama of La Grande Breteche and the misfortunes of the Merrets. [La Grande Breteche.]
ROSALIE, chambermaid to Madame Moreau at Presles in 1822. [A Start in Life.]
ROSE, maid in the service of Armande-Louise-Marie de Chaulieu in 1823, at the time when this young lady, having left the Carmelites of Blois, came to live with her father on the Boulevard des Invalides in Paris. [Letters of Two Brides.]