GOUJET (Abbe), cure of Cinq-Cygne, Aube, about 1792, discovered for the son of Beauvisage the farmer, who were still good Catholics, the Greek name of Phileas, one of the few saints not abolished by the new regime. [The Member for Arcis.] Former abbe of the Minimes, and a friend of Hauteserre. Was the tutor of Adrien and Robert Hauteserre; enjoyed a game of boston with their parents—1803. His political prudence sometimes led him to censure the audacity of their kinswoman, Mlle. de Cinq-Cygne. Nevertheless, he held his own with the persecutor of the house, Corentin the police-agent; and attended Michu when that victim of a remarkable trial, known as "the abduction of Gondreville," went to the scaffold. During the Restoration he became Bishop of Troyes. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
GOUJET (Mademoiselle), sister of the foregoing; good-natured old maid, ugly and parsimonious, who lived with her brother. Almost every evening she played boston at the Hauteserres and was terrified by Corentin's visits. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
GOULARD, mayor of Cinq-Cygne, Aube, in 1803. Tall, stout and miserly; married a wealthy tradeswoman of Troyes, whose property, augmented by all the lands of the rich abbey of Valdes-Preux, adjoined Cinq-Cygne. Goulard lived in the old abbey, which was very near the chateau of Cinq-Cygne. Despite his revolutionary proclivities, he closed his eyes to the actions of the Hauteserres and Simeuses who were Royalist plotters. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
GOULARD (Antonin), native of Arcis, like Simon Giguet. Born about 1807; son of the former huntsman of the Simeuse family, enriched by the purchase of public lands. (See preceding biography.) Early left motherless, he came to Arcis to live with his father, who abandoned the abbey of Valpreux. Went to the Imperial lyceum, where he had Simon Giguet for school-mate, whom he afterwards met again on the benches of the Law school at Paris. Obtained, through Gondreville, the Cross of the Legion of Honor. The royal government of 1830 opened up for him a career in the public service. In 1839 he became sub-prefect for Arcis-sur-Aube, during the electoral period. The delegate, Trailles, satisfied Antonin's rancor against Giguet: his official recommendations caused the latter's defeat. Both the would-be prefect and the sub-prefect vainly sought the hand of Cecile Beauvisage. Goulard cultivated the society of officialdom: Marest, Vinet, Martener, Michu. [The Member for Arcis.]
GOUNOD, nephew of Vatel, keeper of the Montcornet estate at Aigues, Burgundy. About 1823 he probably became assistant to the head-keeper, Michaud. [The Peasantry.]
GOUPIL (Jean-Sebastien-Marie), born in 1802; a sort of humpless hunchback; son of a well-to-do farmer. After running through with his inheritance, in Paris, he became head-clerk of the notary Cremiere-Dionis, of Nemours—1829. On account of Francois Minoret-Levrault, he annoyed in many ways, even anonymously, Ursule Mirouet, after the death of Dr. Minoret. Afterwards he repented his actions, repaid their instigator, and succeeded the notary, Cremiere-Dionis. Thanks to his wit, he became honorable, straightforward and completely transformed. Once established, Goupil married Mlle. Massin, eldest daughter of Massin-Levrault junior, clerk to the justice of the peace at Nemours. She was homely, had a dowry of 80,000 francs, and gave him rickety, dropsical children. Goupil took part in the "three glorious days" and had obtained a July decoration. He was very proud of the ribbon. [Ursule Mirouet.]
GOURAUD (General, Baron), born in 1782, probably at Provins. Under the Empire he commanded the Second regiment of hussars, which gave him his rank. The Restoration caused his impoverished years at Provins. He mixed in politics and the opposition there, sought the hand and above all the dowry of Sylvie Rogron, persecuted the apparent heiress of the old maid, Mlle. Pierrette Lorrain—1827—and, seconded by Vinet the attorney, reaped in July, 1830, the fruits of his cunning liberalism. Thanks to Vinet, the ambitious parvenu, Gouraud married, in spite of his gray hair and stout frame, a girl of twenty-five, Mlle. Matifat, of the well-known drug-firm of rue des Lombards, who brought with her fifty thousand crowns. Titles, offices and emoluments now flowed in rapidly. He resumed the service, became general, commanded a division near the capital and obtained a peerage. His conduct during the ministry of Casimir Perier was thus rewarded. Futhermore he received the grand ribbon of the Legion of Honor, after having stormed the barricades of Saint-Merri, and was "delighted to thrash the bourgeois who had been an eye-sore to him" for fifteen years. [Pierrette.] About 1845 he had stock in Gaudissart's theatre. [Cousin Pons.]
GOURDON, the elder, husband of the only daugher of the old head-keeper of streams and forests, Gendrin-Wattebled; was in 1823 physician at Soulanges and attended Michaud. Nevertheless he went among the best people of Soulanges, headed by Mme. Soudry, who regarded him in the light of an unknown and neglected savant, when he was but a parrot of Buffon and Cuvier, a simple collector and taxidermist. [The Peasantry.]
GOURDON, the younger, brother of the preceding; wrote the poem of "La Bilboqueide" published by Bournier. Married the niece and only heiress of Abbe Tupin, cure of Soulanges, where he himself had been in 1823 clerk for Sarcus. He was wealthier than the justice. Mme. Soudry and her set gave admiring welcome to the poet, preferring him to Lamartine, with whose works they slowly became acquainted. [The Peasantry.]
GOUSSARD (Laurent) was a member of the revolutionary municipality of Arcis-sur-Aube. Particular friend of Danton, he made use of the tribune's influence to save the head of the ex-superior of the Ursulines at Arcis, Mother Marie des Anges, whose gratitude for his generous and skillful action caused substantial enrichment to this purchaser of the grounds of the convent, which was sold as "public land." Thus it was that forty years afterwards this adroit Liberal owned several mills on the river Aube, and was still at the head of the advanced Left in that district. The various candidates for deputy in the spring of 1839, Keller, Giguet, Beauvisage, Dorlange-Sallenauve, and the government agent, Trailles, treated Goussard with the consideration he deserved. [The Member for Arcis.]