BEAUMESNIL (Mademoiselle), a celebrated actress of the Theatre- Francais, Paris. Mature at the time of the Restoration. She was the mistress of the police-officer Peyrade, by whom she had a daughter, Lydie, whom he acknowledged. The last home of Mlle. Beaumesnil was on rue de Tournon. It was there that she suffered the loss by theft of her valuable diamonds, through Charles Crochard, her real lover. This was at the beginning of the reign of Louis Philippe. [The Middle Classes. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. A Second Home.]
BEAUPIED, or Beau-Pied, an alias of Jean Falcon. (See that name.)
BEAUPRE (Fanny), an actress at the Theatre de la Porte-Saint-Martin, Paris, time of Charles X. Young and beautiful, in 1825, she made a name for herself in the role of marquise in a melodrama entitled "La Famille d'Anglade." At this time she had replaced Coralie, then dead, in the affections of Camusot the silk-merchant. It was at Fanny Beaupre's that Oscar Husson, one of the clerks of lawyer Desroches, lost in gaming the sum of five hundred francs belonging to his employer, and that he was discovered lying dead-drunk on a sofa by his uncle Cardot. [A Start in Life.] In 1829 Fanny Beaupre, for a money consideration, posed as the best friend of the Duc d'Herouville. [Modeste Mignon.] In 1842, after his liaison with Mme. de la Baudraye, Lousteau lived maritally with her. [The Muse of the Department.] A frequent inmate of the mansion magnificently fitted up for Esther Gobseck by the Baron de Nucingen, she knew all the fast set of the years 1829 and 1830. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
BEAUSEANT (Marquis and Comte de), the father and eldest brother of the Vicomte de Beauseant, husband of Claire de Bourgogne. [The Deserted Woman.] In 1819, the marquis and the comte dwelt together in their house, rue Saint-Dominique, Paris. [Father Goriot.] While the Revolution was on, the marquis had emigrated. The Abbe de Marolles had dealings with him. [An Episode under the Terror.]
BEAUSEANT (Marquise de). In 1824 a Marquise de Beauseant, then rather old, is found to have dealings with the Chaulieus. It was probably the widow of the marquis of this name, and the mother of the Comte and Vicomte de Beauseant. [Letters of Two Brides.] The Marquise de Beauseant was a native of Champagne, coming of a very old family. [The Deserted Woman.]
BEAUSEANT (Vicomte de), husband of Claire de Bourgogne. He understood the relations of his wife with Miguel d'Ajuda-Pinto, and, whether he liked it or not, he respected this species of morganatic alliance recognized by society. The Vicomte de Beauseant had his residence in Paris on the rue de Grenelle in 1819. At that time he kept a dancer and liked nothing better than high living. He became a marquis on the death of his father and eldest brother. He was a polished man, courtly, methodical, and ceremonious. He insisted upon living selfishly. His death would have allowed Mme. de Beauseant to wed Gaston de Nueil. [Father Goriot. The Deserted Woman.]
BEAUSEANT (Vicomtesse de), born Clair de Bourgogne, in 1792. Wife of the preceding and cousin of Eugene de Rastignac. Of a family almost royal. Deceived by her lover, Miguel d'Ajuda-Pinto, who, while continuing his intimacy with her, asked and obtained the hand of Berthe de Rochefide, the vicomtesse left Paris secretly before this wedding and on the morning following a grand ball which was given at her home where she shone in all her pride and splendor. In 1822 this "deserted woman" had lived for three years in the most rigid seclusion at Courcelles near Bayeux. Gaston de Nueil, a young man of three and twenty, who had been sent to Normandy for his health, succeeded in making her acquaintance, was immediately smitten with her and, after a long seige, became her lover. This was at Geneva, whither she had fled. Their intimacy lasted for nine years, being broken by the marriage of the young man. In 1819 the Vicomtesse de Beauseant received at Paris the most famous "high-rollers" of the day— Malincour, Ronquerolles, Maxime de Trailles, Marsay, Vandenesse, together with an intermingling of the most elegant dames, as Lady Brandon, the Duchesse de Langeais, the Comtesse de Kergarouet, Mme. de Serizy, the Duchesse Carigliano, the Comtesse Ferraud, Mme. de Lantry, the Marquise d'Aiglemont, Mme. Firmiani, the Marquise de Listomere, the Marquise d'Espard and the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse. She was equally intimate with Grandlieu, and the General de Montriveau. Rastignac, then poor at the time of his start in the world, also received cards to her receptions. [Father Goriot. The Deserted Woman. Albert Savarus.]
BEAUSSIER, a bourgeois of Issoudun under the Restoration. Upon seeing Joseph Bridau in the diligence, while the artist and his mother were on a journey in 1822, he remarked that he would not care to meet him at night in the corner of a forest—he looked so much like a highwayman. That same evening Beaussier, accompanied by his wife, came to call at Hochon's in order to get a nearer view of the painter. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
BEAUSSIER the younger, known as Beaussier the Great; son of the preceding and one of the Knights of Idlesse at Issoudun, commanded by Maxence Gilet, under the Restoration. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
BEAUVISAGE, physician of the Convent des Carmelites at Blois, time of
Louis XVIII. He was known by Louise de Chaulieu and by Renee de
Maucombe, who were reared in the convent. According to Louise de
Chaulieu, he certainly belied his name. [Letters of Two Brides.]