Source note

BONNET (Germain), valet de chambre of Canalis in 1829, at the time when the poet went to Havre to contest the hand of Modeste Mignon. A servant full of finesse and irreproachable in appearance, he was of the greatest service to his master. He courted Philoxene Jacmin, chambermaid of Mme. de Chaulieu. Here the pantry imitated the parlor, for the academician's mistress was the great lady herself. [Modeste Mignon.]