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LEPITRE, strong Royalist, had some relations with M. de Vandenesse, when they wished to rescue Marie-Antoinette from the Temple. Later, under the Empire, having become head of an academy, in the old Joyeuse house, Quartier Saint-Antoine, Paris, Lepitre counted among his pupils a son of M. de Vandenesse, Felix. Lepitre was fat, like Louis XVIII., and club-footed. (The Lily of the Valley)

LEPITRE (Madame), wife of the preceding, reared Felix de Vandenesse. (The Lily of the Valley)

LEPRINCE (Monsieur and Madame). M. Leprince was a Parisian auctioneer towards the end of the Empire and at the beginning of the Restoration. He finally sold his business at a great profit; but being injured by one of Nucingen's failures, he lost in some speculations on the Bourse some of the profits that he had realized. He was the father-in-law of Xavier Rabourdin, whose fortune he risked in these dangerous speculations, that his son-in-law's domestic comfort might be increased. Crushed by misfortune he died under Louis XVIII., leaving some rare paintings which beautified the parlor of his children's home on rue Duphot. Madame Leprince, who died before the bankrupt auctioneer, a distinguished woman and a natural artist, worshiped and, consequently, spoiled her only child, Celestine, who became Madame Xavier Rabourdin. She communicated to her daughter some of her own tastes, and thoughtlessly, perhaps, developed in her a love of luxury, intelligent and refined. (The Government Clerks)

LEROI (Pierre), called also Marche-a-terre, a Fougeres Chouan, who played an important part during the civil war of 1799 in Bretagne, where he gave evidence of courage and heartlessness. He survived the tragedy of this period, for he was seen on the Place d'Alencon in 1809 when Cibot&mdash;Pille-Miche&mdash;was tried at the bar as a chauffeur and attempted to escape. In 1827, nearly twenty years later, this same Pierre Leroi was known as a peaceable cattle-trader in the markets of his province. (The Chouans, The Seamy Side of History, Jealousies of a Country Town)