Page:Repertory of the Comedie Humaine.djvu/340

 at the beginning of the nineteenth century; kept the "Reine des Roses," which later was handled by Ragon and Birotteau; typical member of the middle classes, narrow in views and pleased with himself, vulgar in language and, perhaps, in action. He married and had a daughter, whom he took, with his wife, to the celebrated ball tendered by Cesar Birotteau on rue Saint-Honore, Sunday, December 17, 1818. As a friend of the Collevilles, Thuilliers and Saillards, Matifat obtained for them invitations from Cesar Birotteau. In 1821 he supported on rue de Bondy an actress, who was shortly transferred from the Panorama to the Gymnase-Dramatique. Although called Florine, her true name was Sophie Grignault, and she became subsequently Madame Nathan. J.-J. Bixiou and Madame Desroches visited Matifat frequently during the year 1826, sometimes on rue du Cherche-Midi, sometimes in the suburbs of Paris. Having become a widower, Matifat remarried under Louis Philippe, and retired from business. He was a silent partner in the theatre directed by Gaudissart. (Cesar Birotteau, A Bachelor's Establishment, Lost Illusions, A Distinguished Provincial at Paris, The Firm of Nucingen, Cousin Pons)

MATIFAT (Madame), first wife of the preceding, a woman who wore a turban and gaudy colors. She shone, under the Restoration, in bourgeois circles and died probably during the reign of Louis Philippe. (Cesar Birotteau, The Firm of Nucingen)

MATIFAT (Mademoiselle), daughter of the preceding couple, attended the Birotteau ball, was sought in marriage by Adolphe Cochin and Maitre Desroches; married General Baron Gouraud, a poor man much her elder, bringing to him a dowry of fifty thousand crowns and expectations of an estate on rue du Cherche-Midi and a house at Luzarches. (Cesar Birotteau, The Firm of Nucingen, Pierrette)

MAUCOMBE (Comte de), of a Provencal family already celebrated under King Rene. During the Revolution he "clothed himself in the humble garments of a provincial proof-reader," in the printing office of Jerome-Nicolas