BOURNIER, natural son of Gaubertin and of Mme. Socquard, the wife of the cafe manager of Soulanges.  His existence was unknown to Mme. Gaubertin.  He was sent to Paris where, under Leclercq, he learned the printer’s trade and finally became a foreman.  Gaubertin then brought him to Ville-aux-Fayes where he established a printing office and a paper known as “Le Courrier de l’Avonne”, entirely devoted to the interests of the triumvirate, Rigou, Gaubertin and Soudry. [The Peasantry.]

BOSQUIER (Du), or Croisier (Du), or Bourguier (Du), a descendant of an old Alencon family.  Born about 1760.  He had been commissary agent in the army from 1793 to 1799; had done business with Ouvrard, and kept a running account with Barras, Bernadotte and Fouche.  He was at that time one of the great folk of finance.  Discharged by Bonaparte in 1800, he withdrew to his natal town.  After selling the Beauseant house, which he owned, for the benefit of his creditors, he had remaining an income of not more than twelve hundred francs.  About 1816 he married Mlle. Cormon, a spinster who had been courted also by the Chevalier de Valois and Athanase Granson.  This marriage set him on his feet again financially.  He took the lead in the party of the opposition, established a Liberal paper called “Le Courrier de l’Orne,” and was elected Receiver-General of the Exchequer, after the Revolution of 1830.  He waged bitter war on the white flag Royalists, his hatred of them causing him secretly to condone the excesses of Victurnien d’Esgrignon, until the latter involved him in an affair, when Bousquier had him arrested, thinking thus to dispose of him summarily.  The affair was smoothed over only by tremendous pressure.  But the young nobleman provoked Du Bousquier into a duel where the latter dangerously wounded him.  Afterwards Bousquier gave him in marriage the hand of his niece, Mlle. Duval, dowered with three millions. [Jealousies of a Country Town.] Probably he was the father of Flavie Minoret, the daughter of a celebrated Opera danseuse.  But he never acknowledged this child, and she was dowered by Princesse Galathionne and married Colleville. [The Middle Classes.]

BOSQUIER (Madame du), born Cormon (Rose-Marie-Victoire) in 1773.  She was a very wealthy heiress, living with her maternal uncle, the Abbe de Sponde, in an old house of Alencon (rue du Val-Noble), and receiving, in 1816, the aristocracy of the town, with which she was related through marriage.  Courted simultaneously by Athanase Granson, the Chevalier de Valois and Du Bousquier, she gave her hand to the old commissariat, whose athletic figure and passe libertinism had impressed her vaguely.  But her secret desires were utterly dashed by him; she confessed later that she couldn’t endure the idea of dying a maid.  Mme. du Bousquier was very devout.  She was descended from the stewards of the ancient Ducs d’Alencon.  In this same year of 1816, she hoped in vain to wed a Troisville, but he was already married.  She found it difficult to brook the state of hostility declared between M. du Bousquier and the Esgrignons. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]