CAMERISTUS, celebrated physician of Paris under Louis Philippe; the Ballanche of medicine and one of the defenders of the abstract doctrines of Van Helmont; chief of the "Vitalists" opposed to Brisset who headed the "Organists." He as well as Brisset was called in consultation regarding a very serious malady afflicting Raphael de Valentin. [The Magic Skin.]

CAMPS (Octave de), lover then husband of Mme. Firmiani. She made him restore the entire fortune of a family named Bourgneuf, ruined in a lawsuit by Octave's father, thus reducing him to the necessity of making a living by teaching mathematics. He was only twenty-two years old when he met Mme. Firmiani. He married her first at Gretna Green. The marriage at Paris took place in 1824 or 1825. Before marriage, Octave de Camps lived on rue de l'Observance. He was a descendant of the famous Abbe de Camps, so well known among bookmen and savants. [Madame Firmiani.] Octave de Camps reappears as an ironmaster, during the reign of Louis Philippe. At this time he rarely resided at Paris. [The Member for Arcis.]

CAMPS (Madame Octave de), nee Cadignan; niece of the old Prince de Cadignan; cousin of the Duc de Maufrigneuse. In 1813, at the age of sixteen, she married M. Firmiani, receiver-general in the department of Montenotte. M. Firmiani died in Greece about 1822, and she became Mme. de Camps in 1824 or 1825. At this time she dwelt on rue du Bac and had entree into the home of Princesse de Blamont-Chauvry, the oracle of Faubourg Saint-Germain. An accomplished and excellent lady, loved even by her rivals, the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, her cousin, Mme. de Macumer--Louise de Chaulieu--and the Marquise d'Espard. [Madame Firmiani.] She welcomed and protected Mme. Xavier Rabourdin. [The Government Clerks.] At the close of 1824 she gave a ball where Charles de Vandenesse made the acquaintance of Mme. d'Aiglemont whose lover he became. [A Woman of Thirty.] In 1834 Mme. Octave de Camps tried to check the slanders going the rounds at the expense of Mme. Felix de Vandenesse, who had compromised herself somewhat on account of the poet Nathan; and Mme. de Camps gave the young woman some good advice. [A Daughter of Eve.] On another occasion she gave exceedingly good counsel to Mme. de l'Estorade, who was afraid of being smitten with Sallenauve. [The Member for Arcis.] Mme. Firmiani, "that was," shared her time between Paris and the furnaces of M. de Camps; but she gave the latter much the preference--at least so said one of her intimate friends, Mme. de l'Estorade. [The Member for Arcis.]

CAMUSET, one of Bourignard's assumed names.

CAMUSOT, silk-merchant, rue des Bourdonnais, Paris, under the Restoration. Born in 1765. Son-in-law and successor of Cardot, whose eldest daughter he had married. At that time he was a widower, his first wife being a Demoiselle Pons, sole heiress of the celebrated Pons family, embroiderers to the Court during the Empire. About 1834 Camusot retired from business, and became a member of the Manufacturers' Council, deputy, peer of France and baron. He had four children. In 1821-1822 he maintained Coralie, who became so violently enamored of Lucien de Rubempre. Although she abandoned him for Lucien, he promised the poet, after the actress' death, that he would purchase for her a permanent plot in the cemetery of Pere-Lachaise. [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. A Bachelor's Establishment. Cousin Pons.] Later he was intimate with Fanny Beaupre for some time. [The Muse of the Department.] He and his wife were present at Cesar Birotteau's big ball in December, 1818; he was also chosen commissary- judge of the perfumer's bankruptcy, instead of Gobenheim-Keller, who was first designated. [Cesar Birotteau.] He had dealings with the Guillaumes, clothing merchants, rue Saint-Denis. [At the Sign of the Cat and Racket.]

CAMUSOT DE MARVILLE, son of Camusot the silk-merchant by his first marriage. Born about 1794. During Louis Philippe's reign he took the name of a Norman estate and green, Marville, in order to distinguish between himself and a half-brother. In 1824, then a judge at Alencon, he helped render an alibi decision in favor of Victurnien d'Esgrignon, who really was guilty. [Cousin Pons. Jealousies of a Country Town.] He was judge at Paris in 1828, and was appointed to replace Popinot in the court which was to render a decision concerning the appeal for interdiction presented by Mme. d'Espard against her husband. [The Commission in Lunacy.] In May, 1830, in the capacity of judge of instruction, he prepared a report tending to the liberation of Lucien de Rubempre, accused of assassinating Esther Gobseck. But the suicide of the poet rendered the proposed measure useless, besides upsetting, momentarily, the ambitious projects of the magistrate. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] Camusot de Marville had been president of the Court of Nantes. In 1844 he was president of the Royal Court of Paris and commander of the Legion of Honor. At this time he lived in a house on rue de Hanovre, purchased by him in 1834, where he received the musician Pons, a cousin of his. The President de Marville was elected deputy in 1846. [Cousin Pons.]

CAMUSOT DE MARVILLE (Madame), born Thirion, Marie-Cecile-Amelie, in 1798. Daughter of an usher of the Cabinet of Louis XVIII. Wife of the magistrate. In 1814 she frequented the studio of the painter Servin, who had a class for young ladies. This studio contained two factions; Mlle. Thirion headed the party of the nobility, though of ordinary birth, and persecuted Ginevra di Piombo, of the Bonapartist party. [The Vendetta.] In 1818 she was invited to accompany her father and mother to the famous ball of Cesar Birotteau. It was about the time her marriage with Camusot de Marville was being considered. [Cesar Birotteau.] This wedding took place in 1819, and immediately the imperious young woman gained the upper hand with the judge, making him follow her own will absolutely and in the interests of her boundless ambition. It was she who brought about the discharge of young d'Esgrignon in 1824, and the suicide of Lucien de Rubempre in 1830. Through her, the Marquis d'Espard failed of interdiction. However, Mme. de Marville had no influence over her father-in-law, the senior Camusot, whom she bored dreadfully and importuned excessively. She caused, also, by her evil treatment, the death of Sylvain Pons "the poor relation," inheriting with her husband his fine collection of curios. [Jealousies of a Country Town. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. Cousin Pons.]

CAMUSOT (Charles), son of the preceding couple. He died young, at a time when his parents had neither land nor title of Marville, and when they were in almost straitened circumstances. [Cousin Pons.]