DUROC (Gerard-Christophe-Michel), Duc de Frioul; grand marshal of the palace of Napoleon; born at Pont-a-Mousson, in 1772; killed on the battlefield in 1813. On October 13, 1806, the eve of the battle of Jena, he conducted the Marquis de Chargeboeuf and Laurence de Cinq-
Cygne to the Emperor's presence. [The Gondreville Mystery.] In April, 1813, he was at a dress-parade at the Carrousel, Paris, when Napoleon addressed him, regarding Mlle. de Chatillonest, noted by him in the throng, in language which made the grand marshal smile. [A Woman of Thirty.]
DURUT (Jean-Francois), a criminal whom Prudence Servien helped convict to hard labor by her testimony in the Court of Assizes. Durut took oath to Prudence, before the same tribunal, that, once free, he would kill her. However, he was executed at the bagne of Toulon four years later (1829). Jacques Collin, alias Vautrin, to obtain Prudence's affections, boasted of having freed her from Durut, whose threat held her in perpetual terror. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
DUTHEIL (Abbe), one of the two vicars-general of the Bishop of Limoges during the Restoration. One of the lights of the Gallican clergy. Made a bishop in August, 1831, and promoted to archbishop in 1840. He presided at the public confession of Mme. Graslin, whose friend and advisor he was, and whose funeral procession he followed in 1844. [The Country Parson.]
DUTOCQ, born in 1786. In 1814 he entered the Department of Finance, succeeding Poiret senior who was displaced in the bureau directed by Rabourdin. He was order clerk. Idle and incapable, he hated his chief and caused his overthrow. Very despicable and very prying, he tried to make his place secure by acting as spy in the bureau. Chardin des Lupeaulx, the secretary-general, was advised by him of the slightest developments. After 1816, Dutocq outwardly affected very pronounced religious tendencies because he believed them useful to his advancement. He eagerly collected old engravings, possessing complete "his Charlet," which he desired to give or lend to the minister's wife. At this time he dwelt on rue Saint-Louis-Saint-Honore (in 1854 this street disappeared) near Palais Royal, on the fifth floor of an enclosed house, and boarded in a pension of rue de Beaune. [The Government Clerks.] In 1840, retired, he clerked for a justice of the peace of the Pantheon municipality, and lived in Thuillier's house, rue Saint-Dominique d'Enfer. He was a bachelor and had all the vices which, however, he religiously concealed. He kept in with his superiors by fawning. He was concerned with the villainous intrigues of Cerizet, his copy-clerk, and with Theodose de la Peyrade, the tricky lawyer. [The Middle Classes.]
DUVAL, wealthy forge-master of Alencon, whose daughter the grand-niece of M. du Croisier (du Bousquier), was married in 1830 to Victurnien d'Esgrignon. Her dowry was three million francs.
[Jealousies of a Country Town.]
DUVAL, famous professor of chemistry at Paris in 1843. A friend of Dr.
Bianchon, at whose instance he analyzed the blood of M. and Mme.
Crevel, who were infected by a peculiar cutaneous disease of which they died. [Cousin Betty.]
DUVIGNON. (See Lanty, de.)
DUVIVIER, jeweler at Vendome during the Empire. Mme. de Merret declared to her husband that she had purchased of this merchant an ebony crucifix encrusted with silver; but in truth she had obtained it of her lover, Bagos de Feredia. She swore falsely on this very crucifix. [La Grande Breteche.]
