第161章 R(11)

ROUGET (Doctor), an Issoudun physician under Louis XVI. and the Republic; born in 1737; died in 1805; married the most beautiful girl of the city, whom, it is said, he made very unhappy. He had by her two children: a son, Jean-Jacques; and, ten years later, a daughter, Agathe, who became Madame Bridau. The birth of this daughter brought about a rupture between the doctor and his intimate friend, the sub-delegate Lousteau, whom Rouget, doubtless wrongly, accused of being the girl's father. Each of these men charged the other with being the father of Maxence Gilet, who was in reality the son of a dragoon officer, stationed at Bourges. Doctor Rouget, who passed for a very disagreeable, unaccommodating man, was selfish and spiteful. He quickly got rid of his daughter, whom he hated. After his wife, his mother-in-law and his father-in-law had died, he was very rich, and although his life was apparently regular and free from scandal, he was in reality very dissipated. In 1799, filled with admiration for the beauty of the little Rabouilleuse, Flore Brazier, he received her into his own home, where she stayed, becoming first the mistress, and afterwards the wife of his son, Jean-Jacques, and eventually Madame Philippe Bridau, Comtesse de Bramboug. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]

ROUGET (Madame), born Descoings, wife of the preceding, daughter of rich and avaricous wool-dealers at Issoudun, elder sister of the grocer, Descoings, who married the widow of M. Bixiou and afterwards died with Andre Chenier, July 25, 1794, on the scaffold. As a young woman, although in very poor health, she was celebrated for her beauty. Not being gifted with a very sound intellect, when married it was thought that she was very badly treated by Doctor Rouget. Her husband believed that she was unfaithful to him for the sake of the sub-delegate, Lousteau. Madame Rouget, deprived of her dearly-beloved daughter, and finding her son lacking altogether in affection for her, declined rapidly and died early in 1799, unwept by her husband, who had counted correctly on her early death. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]

ROUGET (Jean-Jacques), born at Issoudun in 1768, son of the preceding couple, brother of Madame Bridau, who was ten years his junior.

Entirely lacking in intellect, he became wildly in love with Flore Brazier, whom he knew as a child in his father's house. He made this girl his servant-mistress soon after the doctor's death, and allowed her lover, Maxence Gilet, near her. He finally married her in 1823, being urged to do so by his nephew, Philippe Bridau, who soon took Rouget to Paris, and there arranged for the old man's early death by starting him into dissipation. [A Bachelor's Establishment.] After the death of J.-J. Rouget, the Baudrayes of Sancerre bought part of his furniture, and had it removed from Issoudun to Anzy, where they placed it in their castle, which had formerly belonged to the Cadignans. [The Muse of the Department.]

ROUGET (Madame Jean-Jacques). (See Bridau, Madame Philippe.)

ROUSSE (La), significant name given Madame Prelard. (See this last name.)

ROUSSEAU, driver of the public hack which carried the taxes collected at Caen. This conveyance was attacked and plundered by robbers in May, 1809, in the forest of Chesnay, near Mortagne, Orne. Rousseau, being looked upon as an accomplice of the robbers, was included in the prosecution which took place soon after; but he was acquitted. [The Seamy Side of History.]

ROUSTAN, Mameluke, in the service of Napoleon Bonaparte. He was with his master on the eve of the battle of Jena, October 13, 1806, when Laurence de Cinq-Cygne and M. de Chargeboeuf observed him holding the Emperor's horse as Napoleon dismounted. This was just before these two approached the Emperor to ask pardon for the Hauteserres and the Simeuses, who had been condemned as accomplices in the abduction of Senator Malin. [The Gondreville Mystery.]

ROUVILLE (de), (See Leseigneur, Madame.)

ROUVRE (Marquis du), father of the Comtesse Clementine Laginska; threw away a considerable fortune, by means of which he had brought about his marriage with a Ronquerolles maiden. This fortune was partly eaten up by Florine, "one of the most charming actresses of Paris." [The Imaginary Mistress.] M. du Rouvre was the brother-in-law of the Comte de Serizy, who, like him, had married a Ronquerolles. Having been a marquis under the old regime, M. du Rouvre was created count and made chamberlain by the Emperor. [A Start in Life.] In 1829, M. du Rouvre, then ruined, lived at Nemours. He had near this city a castle which he sold at great loss to Minoret-Levrault. [Ursule Mirouet.]

ROUVRE (Chevalier du), younger brother of the Marquis du Rouvre; an eccentric old bachelor, who became wealthy by dealing in houses and real estate, and is supposed to have left his fortune to his niece, the Comtesse Clementine Laginska. [The Imaginary Mistress. Ursule Mirouet.]

ROUZEAU, an Angouleme printer, predecessor and master of Jerome-

Nicolas Sechard, in the eighteenth century. [Lost Illusions.]