Page:Repertory of the Comedie Humaine.djvu/167

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DUCANGE (Victor), novelist and playwright of France: born in 1783 at La Haye; died in 1833; one of the collaborators on "Thirty Years," or "A Gambler's Life," and the author of "Leonide." Victor Ducange was present at Braulard's, the head-claquer's, in 1821, at a dinner where were also Adele Dupois, Frederic Dupetit-Mere and Mlle. Millot, Braulard's mistress. (A Distinguished Provincial at Paris)

DUDLEY (Lord), statesman; one of the most distinguished of the older English peers living in Paris after 1816; husband of Lady Arabella Dudley; natural father of Henri de Marsay, to whom he paid small attention, and who became the lover of Arabella. He was "profoundly immoral." He reckoned among his illegitimate progeny, Euphemia Porraberil, and among the women he maintained a certain Hortense who lived on rue Tronchet. Before removing to France, Lord Dudley lived in his native land with two sons born in wedlock, but who were astonishingly like Marsay. (The Lily of the Valley, The Thirteen, A Man of Business) Lord Dudley was present at Mlle. des Touches, shortly after 1830, when Marsay, then prime minister, told of his first love affair, these two statesmen exchanged philosophical reflections. (Another Study of Woman) In 1834 he chanced to be present at a grand ball given by his wife, when he gambled in a salon with bankers, ambassadors and retired ministers. (A Daughter of Eve)

DUDLEY (Lady Arabella), wife of the preceding; member of an illustrious English family that was free of any mesalliance from the time of the Conquest; exceedingly wealthy; one of those almost regal ladies; the idol of the highest French society during the Restoration. She did not live with her husband to whom she had left two sons who resembled Marsay, whose mistress she had been. In some way she succeeded in taking Felix de Vandenesse away from Mme. de Mortsauf, thus causing that virtuous woman keen anguish. She was born, so she said, in Lancashire, where women die of love. (The Lily of the Valley) In the early years of the reign of Charles X., at least during the summers, she lived at