VIGNEAU (Madame), wife of the preceding, a perfect housekeeper; she received Genestas cordially, when brought to call by Benassis; Madame Vigneau was then on the point of becoming a mother. [The Country Doctor.]

VIGNOL (See Bouffe.)

VIGNON (Claude), a French critic, born in 1799, brought a remarkable power of analysis to the study of all questions of art, literature, philosophy, or political problems.  A clear, deep, and unerring judge of men, a strong psychologist, he was famous in Paris as early as 1821, and was present, at the apartments of Florine, then acting at the Panorama-Dramatique, at the supper following the presentation of the “Alcade dans l’Embarras,” and had a brilliant conversation on the subject of the press with Emile Blondet, in the presence of a German diplomatist. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.] In 1834, Claude Vignon was entrusted with the haute critique of the newspaper founded by Raoul Nathan. [A Daughter of Eve.] For quite a period Vignon had Felicite des Touches (Camille Maupin) as his mistress.  In 1836, he brought her back from Italy, accompanied by Lora, when he heard the story of the domestic difficulties of the Bauvans from Maurice de l’Hostal, French consul at Genoa. [Honorine.] Again, in 1836, at Les Touches, Vignon, on the point of giving up Camille Maupin, delivered to his former mistress a veritable dissertation, of surprising insight, on the subject of the heart, with reference to Calyste du Guenic, Gennaro Conti, and Beatrix de Rochefide.  Such intimate knowledge of the human heart had gradually saddened and wearied him; he sought relief for his ennui in debauchery; he paid attention to La Schontz, really a courtesan of superior stamp, and moulded her. [Beatrix.] Afterwards, he became ambitious, and was secretary to Cottin de Wissembourg, minister of war; this position brought him into contact with Valerie Marneffe, whom he secretly loved; he, Stidmann, Steinbock, and Massol, were witnesses of her marriage to Crevel, this being the second time she had been led to the altar.  He was counted among the habitues of Valerie’s salon, when “Jean-Jacques Bixiou was going . . . to cozen Lisbeth Fischer.” [Cousin Betty.] He rallied to the support of Louis Philippe, and as editor of the Journal des Debats, and master of requests in the Council of State, he gave his attention to the lawsuit pending between S.-P.  Gazonal and the prefect of the Pyrenees-Orientales; a position as librarian, a chair at the Sorbonne, and the decoration bore further testimony to the favor that he enjoyed. [The Unconscious Humorists.] Vignon’s reputation remained undiminished, and, even in our own time, Madame Noemi Rouvier, sculptor and novelist, signs the critic’s name to her works.

VIGOR, manager of the post-station at Ville-aux-Fayes, during the Restoration; officer in the National Guard of that sub-prefecture of Bourgogne; brother-in-law of Leclercq, the banker, whose sister he had married. [The Peasantry.]