at. Son Excellence
Eugene Rougon.

LANTIER (AUGUSTE), the lover of Gervaise Macquart; he accompanied her
to Paris, when she left home with their two children. La Fortune des
Rougon.

Soon after their arrival in Paris, he deserted Gervaise for a girl named
Adele, with whom he lived for several years, during which he appears to
have done little work. After Adele left him he renewed friendship with
Gervaise and Coupeau, her husband, and induced them to take him into
their home as a lodger. Once established there, he paid nothing for his
support, and soon Gervaise was supporting him as well as her husband,
who by this time was doing nothing. Gervaise, having become disgusted
with her husband's intemperance, resumed her old relations with Lantier,
and these continued till she was financially ruined, and her shop
was taken over by Virginie Poisson. Lantier, having transferred his
affections to Virginie, was allowed to retain his old position as
lodger, and soon resumed his former tactics of paying no rent and living
off his landlord. In course of time he succeeded in eating the Poissons'
stock of sweetmeats and bringing them to ruin, and then began to look
out for some one else to support him. L'Assommoir.

LANTIER (CLAUDE), son of Gervaise Macquart and Auguste Lantier, was born
at Plassans in 1842. He was brought up by his paternal grandmother, but
when she died, in 1850, he was taken to Paris by his parents. La Fortune
des Rougon.

After Lantier's desertion of Gervaise, and her subsequent marriage to
Coupeau, Claude continued to reside with his mother, but a few years
later an old gentleman of Plassans, a lover of pictures, who had been
greatly struck by some daubs done by the child, offered to pay for his
education. The offer was accepted, and Claude returned to Plassans.
L'Assommoir.

Some years later his benefactor died, leaving him an income of a
thousand francs a year, enough to prevent him dying of hunger in the
artistic career which he had decided to follow. Having come to Paris
with an intense hatred of romanticism, he was struck by the artistic
possibilities of the _Halles Centrales_, the great provision markets
of Paris, which he haunted in search of subjects for his brush. He was
induced by Florent to attend one of the republican meetings in Lebigre's
cafe, but was not in sympathy with the movement, and declined to take
part in it. He occasionally visited his aunt, Madame Lisa Quenu, but
revolted against h