FERRARO (Count), Italian colonel whom Castanier had known during the
Empire, and whose death in the Zembin swamps Castanier alone had
witnessed. The latter therefore intended to assume Ferraro's
personality in Italy after forging certain letters of credit. [Melmoth
Reconciled.]
FERRAUD (Comte), son of a returned councillor of the Parisian
Parliament who had emigrated during the Terror, and who was ruined by
these events. Born in 1781. During the Consulate he returned to
France, at which time he declined certain offers made by Bonaparte. He
remained ever true to the tenets of Louis XVIII. Of pleasing presence
he won his way, and the Faubourg Saint-Germain regarded him as an
ornament. About 1809 he married the widow of Colonel Chabert, who had
an income of forty thousand francs. By her he had two children, a son
and a daughter. He resided on rue de Varenne, having a pretty villa in
the Montmorency Valley. During the Restoration he was made
director-general in a ministry, and councillor of state. [Colonel
Chabert.]
FERRAUD (Comtesse), born Rose Chapotel; wife of Comte Ferraud. During
the Republic, or at the commencement of the Empire, she married her
first husband, an officer named Hyacinthe and known as Chabert, who
was left for dead on the battlefield of Eylau, in 1807. About 1818 he
tried to reassert his marital rights. Colonel Chabert claimed to have
taken Rose Chapotel out of a questionable place at Palais-Royal.
During the Restoration this woman was a countess and one of the queens
of Parisian society. When brought face to face with her first husband
she feigned at first not to recognize him, then she displayed such a
dislike for him that he abandoned his idea of legal restitution.
[Colonel Chabert.] The Comtesse Ferraud was the last mistress of Louis
XVIII., and remained in favor at the court of Charles X. She and
Mesdames de Listomere, d'Espard, de Camps and de Nucingen were invited
to the select receptions of the Minister of Finance, in 1824. [The
Government Clerks.]
FERRAUD (Jules), son of Comte Ferraud and Rose Chapotel, the Comtesse
Ferraud. While still a child, in 1817 or 1818, he was one day at his
mother's house when Colonel Chabert called. She wept and he asked
hotly if the officer was responsible for the grief of the countess.
The latter with her two children then played a maternal comedy which
was successful with the ingenuous soldier. [Colonel Chabert.]
FESSARD, grocer at Saumur during the Restoration. Astonished one day
by Nanon's, the servant's, purchase of a wax-candle, he asked if "the
three magi were visiting them." [Eugenie Grandet.]
FICHET (Mademoiselle), the richest heiress of Issoudun during the
Restoration. Godet, junior, one of the "Knights of Idlesse" paid court
to her mother in the hope of obtaining, as a reward for his devotion,
the hand of the young girl. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
FINOT (Andoche), managing-editor of journals and reviews, times of the
Restoration and Louis Philippe. Son of a hatter of rue du Coq (now rue
Marengo). Finot was abandoned by his father, a hard trader, and made a
poor beginning. He wrote a bombastic announcement for Popinot's
"Cephalic Oil." His first work was attending to announcements and
personals in the papers. He was invited to the Birotteau ball. Finot
was acquainted with Felix Gaudissart, who introduced him to little
Anselme, as a great promoter. He was previously on the editorial staff
of the "Courrier des Spectacles," and he had a piece performed at the
Gaite. [Cesar Birotteau.] In 1820 he ran a little theatrical paper
whose office was located on rue du Sentier. He was nephew of
Giroudeau, a captain of dragoons; was witness of the marriage of J.-J.
Rouget. [A Bachelor's Establishment.] in 1821 Finot's paper was on rue
Saint-Fiacre. Etienne Lousteau, Hector Merlin, Felicien Vernou,
Nathan, F. du Bruel and Blondet all contributed to it. Then it was
that Lucien de Rubempre made his reputation by a remarkable report of
"L'Alcade dans l'embarras," a three act drama performed at the
Panorama-Dramatique. Finot then lived on rue Feydeau. [A Distinguished
Provincial at Paris.] In 1824 he was at the Opera ball in a group of
dandies and litterateurs, which surrounded Lucien de Rubempre, who was
flirting with Esther Gobseck. [Scenes from a Courtesan's Life.] In
this year Finot was guest at an entertainment at the home of
Rabourdin, the chief of bureau, when he allowed himself to be won over
to that official's cause by his friend Chardin des Lupeaulx, who had
asked him to exert the voice of the press against Baudoyer, the rival
of Rabourdin. [The Government Clerks.] In 1825 he was present at a
breakfast given at the Rocher de Cancale, by Frederic Marest in
celebration of his entrance to the law office of Desroches; he was
also at the orgy which followed at the home of Florine. [A Start in
Life.] In 1831 Gaudissart said that his friend Finot had an income of
thirty thousand francs, that he would be councillor of state, and was
booked for a peer of France. He aspired to end up as his
"shareholder." [Gaudissart the Great.] In 1836 Finot was dining with
Blondet, his fellow-editor, and with Couture, a man about town, in a
private room of a well-known restaurant, when he heard the story of
the financial trickeries of Nucingen, wittily related by Bixiou. [The
Firm of Nucingen.] Finot concealed "a brutal nature under a mild
exterior," and his "impertinent stupidity was flecked with wit as the
bread of a laborer is flecked with garlic." [Scenes from a Courtesan's
Life.]
FIRMIANI, a respectable quadragenarian who in 1813 married the lady
who afterwards became Mme. Octave de Camps. He was unable, so it was
said, to offer her more than his name and his fortune. He was formerly
receiver-general in the department of Montenotte. He died in Greece in
1823. [Madame Firmiani.]