第61章 F(1)
FAILLE & BOUCHOT, Parisian perfumers who failed in 1818. They gave an order for ten thousand phials of peculiar shape to hold a new cosmetic, which phials Anselme Popinot purchased for four sous each on six months' time, with the intention of filling them with the "Cephalic Oil" invented by Cesar Birotteau. [Cesar Birotteau.]
FALCON (Jean), alias Beaupied, or more often Beau-Pied, sergeant in the Seventy-second demi-brigade in 1799, under the command of Colonel Hulot. Jean Falcon was the clown of his company. Formerly he had served in the artillery. [The Chouans.] In 1808, still under the command of Hulot, he was one in the army of Spain and in the troops led by Murat. In that year he was witness of the death of Bega, the French surgeon, assassinated by a Spaniard. [The Muse of the Department.] In 1841 he was body-servant of his old-time colonel, now become a marshal. For thirty years he had been in his employ. [Cousin Betty.]
FALCON (Marie-Cornelie), famous singer of the Opera; born at Paris on January 28, 1812. On July 20, 1832, she made a brilliant debut in the role of Alice, in "Robert le Diable." She also created with equal success the parts of Rachel in "La Juive" and Valentine in "The Huguenots." In 1836 the composer Conti declared to Calyste du Guenic that he was madly enamored of this singer, "the youngest and prettiest of her time." He even wished to marry her--so he said--but this remark was probably a thrust at Calyste, who was smitten with the Marquise de Rochefide, whose lover the musician was at this time. [Beatrix.]
Cornelie Falcon disappears from the scene in 1840, after a famous evening when, before a sympathetic audience, she mourned on account of the ruin of her voice. She married a financier, M. Malencon, and is now a grandmother. Mme. Falcon has given, in the provinces, her name to designate tragic "sopranos." "La Vierge de l'Opera," interestingly delineated by M. Emmanuel Gonzales, reveals--according to him--certain incidents in her career.
FALLEIX (Martin), Auvergnat coppersmith on rue du Faubourg Saint-
Antoine, Paris; born about 1796; he had come from the country with his kettle under his arm. He was patronized by Bidault, alias Gigonnet, who advanced him capital though at heavy interest. The usurer also introduced him to Saillard, the cashier of the Minister of Finance, who with his savings enabled him to open a foundry. Martin Falleix obtained a brevet for invention and a gold medal at the Exposition of 1824. Mme. Baudoyer undertook his education, deciding he would do for a son-in-law. On his side he worked for the interests of his future father-in-law. [The Government Clerks.] About 1826 he discussed on the Bourse, with Du Tillet, Werbrust and Claparon, the third liquidation of Nucingen, which solidly established the fortune of that celebrated Alsatian banker. [The Firm of Nucingen.]
FALLEIX (Jacques), brother of the preceding; stock-broker, one of the shrewdest and richest, the successor of Jules Desmarets and stock-broker for the firm of Nucingen. On rue Saint-George he fitted up a most elegant little house for his mistress, Mme. du Val-Noble. He failed in 1829, the victim of one of the Nucingen liquidations. [The Government Clerks. The Thirteen. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.]
FANCHETTE, servant of Doctor Rouget at Issoudun, at the close of the eighteenth century; a stout Berrichonne who, before the advent of La Cognette, was thought to be the best cook in town. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
FANJAT, physician and something of an alienist; uncle of Comtesse Stephanie de Vandieres. She was supposed to have perished in the disaster of the Russian campaign. He found her near Strasbourg, in 1816, a lunatic, and took her to the ancient convent of Bon-Hommes, in the outskirts of l'Isle Adam, Seine-et-Oise, where he tended her with a tender care. In 1819 he had the sorrow of seeing her expire as a result of a tragic scene when, recovering her reason all at once, she recognized her former lover Philippe de Sucy, whom she had not seen since 1812. [Farewell.]
FANNY, aged servant in the employ of Lady Brandon, at La Grenadiere under the Restoration. She closed the eyes of her mistress, whom she adored, then conducted the two children from that house to one of a cousin of hers, an old retired dressmaker of Tours, rue de la Guerche (now rue Marceau), where she intended to live with them; but the elder of the sons of Lady Brandon enlisted in the navy and placed his brother in college, under the guidance of Fanny. [La Grenadiere.]
FANNY, young girl of romantic temperament, fair and blonde, the only daughter of a banker of Paris. One evening at her father's house she asked the Bavarian Hermann for a "dreadful German story," and thus innocently led to the death of Frederic Taillefer who had in his youth committed a secret murder, now related in his hearing. [The Red Inn.]
FARIO, old Spanish prisoner of war at Issoudun during the Empire.
After peace was declared he remained there making a small business venture in grains. He was of Grenada and had been a peasant. He was the butt of many scurvy tricks on the part of the "Knights of Idlesse," and he avenged himself by stabbing their leader, Maxence Gilet. This attempted assassination was momentarily charged to Joseph Bridau. Fario finally obtained full satisfaction for his vindictive spirit by witnessing a duel where Gilet fell mortally wounded by the hand of Philippe Bridau. Gilet had previously become disconcerted by the presence of the grain-dealer on the field of battle. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]