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 with Hyacinthe Chabert and Luigi Porta, was quartermaster of hussars when he left the service. During the Restoration he was, in turn, cow-keeper on the rue du Petit-Banquier, keeper of a livery-stable, and cabman. As cow-keeper, Vergniaud, having a wife and three sons, being in debt to Grados, and giving too generously to Chabert, ended in insolvency; even then he aided Luigi Porta, again in trouble, and was his witness when that Corsican married Mademoiselle di Piombo. Louis Vergniaud, being a party to the conspiracies against Louis XVIII., was imprisoned for his share in these crimes. (Colonel Chabert, The Vendetta)

VERMANTON, a cynic philosopher, and a habitue of Madame Schontz's salon, between 1835 and 1840, when she was keeping house with Arthur de Rochefide. (Beatrix)

VERMICHEL, common nick-name of Vert (Michel-Jean-Jerome.)

VERMUT, a druggist of Soulanges, in Bourgogne, during the Restoration; brother-in-law of Sarcus, the Soulanges justice of the peace, who had married his eldest sister. Though quite a distinguished chemist, Vermut was the object of the pleasantries and contemptuous remarks of the Soudry salon, especially at the hands of the Gourdons. Despite the slight esteem "of the first society of Soulanges," Vermut gave evidence of ability, when he disturbed Madame Pigeron by finding traces of poison in the body of her dead husband. (The Peasantry)

VERMUT (Madame), wife of the preceding; life and soul of the salon of Madame Soudry, who, however, declared that she was "bad form," and reproached her for flirting with Gourdon, author of "La Bilboqueide." (The Peasantry)

VERNAL (Abbe), one of the four Vendean leaders, in 1799, when Montauran was opposing Hulot, the other three being Chatillon, Suzannet, and the Comte de Fontaine. (The Chouans)

VERNET (Joseph), born in 1714, died in 1789, a famous French