EMILE, a "lion of the most triumphant kind," of the acquaintance of Mme. Komorn--Countess Godollo. One evening in 1840 or 1841 this woman, in order to avoid Theodose de la Peyrade, on the Boulevard des Italiens, took the dandy's arm and requested him to take her to Mabille. [The Middle Classes.]
ESGRIGNON (Charles-Marie-Victor-Ange-Carol, Marquis d'), or, Des Grignons--following the earlier name--commander of the Order of Saint-
Louis; born about 1750, died in 1830. Head of a very ancient family of the Francs, the Karawls who came from the North to conquer the Gauls, and who were entrusted with the defence of a French highway. The Esgrignons, quasi-princes under the house of Valois and all-powerful under Henry IV., were very little known at the court of Louis XVIII.; and the marquis, ruined by the Revolution, lived in rather reduced circumstances at Alencon in an old gable-roofed house formerly belonging to him, which had been sold as common property, and which the faithful notary Chesnel had repurchased, together with certain portions of his other estates. The Marquis d'Esgrignon, though not having to emigrate, was still obliged to conceal himself. He participated in the Vendean struggle against the Republic, and was one of the members of the Committee Royal of Alencon. In 1800, at the age of fifty, in the hope of perpetuating his race, he married Mlle. de Nouastre, who died in child-birth, leaving the marquis an only son. M. d'Esgrignon always overlooked the escapades of this child, whose reputation was preserved by Chesnel; and he passed away shortly after the downfall of Charles X., saying: "The Gauls triumph." [The Chouans.
Jealousies of a Country Town.]
ESGRIGNON (Madame d') nee Nouastre; of blood the purest and noblest; married at twenty-two, in 1800, to Marquis Carol d'Esgrignon, a man of fifty. She soon died at the birth of an only son. She was "the prettiest of human beings; in her person were reawakened the charms--now fanciful--of the feminine figures of the sixteenth century."
[Jealousies of a Country Town.]
ESGRIGNON (Victurnien, Comte, then Marquis d'), only son of Marquis Carol d'Esgrignon; born about 1800 at Alencon. Handsome and intelligent, reared with extreme indulgence and kindness by his aunt, Mlle. Armande d'Esgrignon, he gave himself over without restraint to all the whims usual to the ingenuous egoism of his age. From eighteen to twenty-one he squandered eighty thousand francs without the knowledge of his father and his aunt; the devoted Chesnel footed all the bills. The youthful d'Esgrignon was systematically urged to wrong-doing by an ally of his own age, Fabien du Ronceret, a perfidious fellow of the town whom M. du Croisier employed. About 1823 Victurnien d'Esgrignon was sent to Paris. There he had the misfortune to fall into the society of the Parisian /roues/--Marsay, Ronquerolles, Trailles, Chardin des Lupeaulx, Vandenesse, Ajuda-Pinto, Beaudenord, Martial de la Roche-Hugon, Manerville, people met at the homes of Marquise d'Espard, the Duchesses de Grandlieu, de Carigliano, de Chaulieu, the Marquises d'Aiglemont and de Listomere, Mme. Firmiani and the Comtesse de Serizy; at the opera and at the embassies--being welcomed on account of his good name and seeming fortune. It was not long until he became the lover of the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, ruined himself for her and ended by forging a note against M. du Croisier for one hundred thousand francs. His aunt took him back quickly to Alencon, and by a great effort he was rescued from legal proceedings.
Following this he fought a duel with M. du Croisier, who wounded him dangerously. Nevertheless, shortly after the death of his father, Victurnien d'Esgrignon married Mlle. Duval, niece of the retired contractor. He did not give himself over to his wife, but instead betook himself to his former gay life of a bachelor. [Jealousies of a Country Town. Letters of Two Brides.] According to Marguerite Turquet "the little D'Esgrignon was well soaked" by Antonia. [A Man of Business.] In 1832 Victurnien d'Esgrignon declared before a numerous company at Mme. d'Espard's that the Princesse de Cadignan--Mme. de Maufrigneuse--was a dangerous woman. "To her I owe the disgrace of my marriage," he added. Daniel d'Arthez, who was then in love with this woman, was present at the conversation. [The Secrets of a Princess.]
In 1838 Victurnien d'Esgrignon was present with some artists, lorettes and men about town, at the opening of the house on rue de la Ville-
Eveque given to Josepha Mirah, by the Duc d'Herouville. The young marquis himself had been Josepha's lover; Baron Hulot and he had been rivals for her on another occasion. [Cousin Betty.]
