POLISSARD, appraiser of the wood of the Ronquerolles estate in 1821; at this time, probably on the recommendation of Gaubertin, he employed as agent for the wood-merchant, Vaudoyer, a peasant of Ronquerolles, who had shortly before been discharged from the post of forest-keeper of Blangy (Bourgogne). [The Peasantry.]

POLLET, book-publisher in Paris, in 1821; a rival of Doguereau; published “Leonide ou La Vieille de Suresnes,” a romance by Victor Ducange; had business relations with Porchon and Vidal; was at their establishment, when Lucien de Rubempre presented to them his “Archer de Charles IX.” [A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.]

POMBRETON (Marquis de), a genuine anomaly; lieutenant of the black musketeers under the old regime, friend of the Chevalier de Valois, who prided himself on having lent him for assistance in leaving the country, twelve hundred pistoles.  Pombreton returned this loan afterwards, almost beyond a question of doubt, but the fact of the case always remained unknown, for M. de Valois, an unusually successful gamester, was interested in spreading a report of the return of this loan, to shadow the resources that he derived from the gaming table; and so five years later, about 1821, Etienne Lousteau declared that the Pombreton succession and the Maubreuil[*] affair were among the most profitable “stereotypes” of journalism.  Finally, Le Courrier de l’Orne of M. du Bousquier published, about 1830, these lines:  “A certificate for an income of a thousand francs a year will be awarded to the person who can show the existence of a M. de Pombreton before, during, or after the emigration.” [Lost Illusions.  A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.  Jealousies of a Country Town.]

[*] Maubreuil died at the end of the Second Empire.

POMPONNE (La). (See Toupinet, Madame.)

PONS (Sylvain)[*], born about 1785; son of the old age of Monsieur and Madame Pons, who, before 1789, founded the famous Parisian house for the embroidery of uniforms that was bought, in 1815, by M. Rivet, first cousin of the first Madame Camusot of the Cocon d’Or, sole heir of the famous Pons brothers, embroiderers to the Court; under the Empire, he won the Prix de Rome for musical composition, returned to Paris about 1810, and was for many years famous for his romances and melodies which were full of delicacy and good taste.  From his stay in Italy, Pons brought back the tastes of the bibliomaniac and a love for works of art.  His passion for collecting consumed almost his entire patrimony.  Pons became Sauvageot’s rival.  Monistrol and Elie Magus felt a hidden but envious appreciation of the artistic treasures ingeniously and economically collected by the musician.  Being ignorant of the rare value of his museum, he went from house to house, giving private lessons in harmony.  This lack of knowledge proved his ruin afterwards, for he became all the more fond of paintings, stones and furniture, as lyric glory was denied him, and his ugliness, coupled with