163 SIR GEORGE POLLOCK, G.C.B., G.C.S.I. LINES SUGGESTED BY THE FIELD-MARSHAL'S FUNERAL IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY, OCTOBER 16, 1872. After a well-spent life, work nobly done, Hailed the impending storm; then came a star- Type of a race who shall to time unborn Be linked with India's welfare and true glory! Hark! the procession comes-what solemn music !— A green old age "—the elements of good All "mixed in him;" while some friends, loath to part, I. A.‡ *The pall-bearers consisted of three Knights Commanders of the Bath and three Knights Commanders of the Star of India. The Right Hon. Lord Lawrence, G. C.B., G.C.S.I. (late Viceroy of India.) "Indian Artilleryman."-The above "Lines" Arrow, 26th October, 1872.-See also Appendix IV. are from the Broad 165 FALCIERI: AN INDIA OFFICE SKETCH; A CONNECTING LINK WITH LORD BYRON. "His motley household came-not last nor least, Battista, who, upon the moonlight sea Of Venice, had so ably, zealously, Served, and, at parting, thrown his oar away To follow through the world; who, without stain Had worn so long that honourable badge, ROGERS' "Italy." (Bologna.) In THE men in London who connect the past romantic and poetical age with the distracting, busy present, are fast dying out; so we like to come across those who are still living. It is known to few that a remarkable man now holds the post of one of the senior messengers in the India Office. Giovanni Battista Fal cieri is the man on whose shoulder Lord Byron died at Missolonghi, at seven o'clock in the evening, on the 19th April, 1824. He is a fine-looking, hale old man, of seventy-four years of age. and speaks with the highest respect of his noble master. fact, any one who dared speak against the great poet might excite the indignation of Falcieri to a dangerous extent; and we doubt very much if even such Byronic detractors as Mrs. Stowe would altogether be safe. Falcieri used to swim with Lord Byron; but he was not with him till long after the famous feat of swimming the Hellespont.* The old chasseur tells with infinite pride that, while wearing a costume (uniform ?) similar to that of his master, he would be occasionally saluted for his lordship. "Tita" is the Italian abbreviation of his name; and on an informant remarking on the difference of climate between England and Italy, he replied that he had not visited Italy for nearly forty years. He came over with the corpse of Lord Byron-afterwards returned to Italy-and, on his re-visiting England, was eventually appointed to service in the Board of Control Office, from which, on the Indian Government passing * 3rd of May, 1810. entirely to the Crown, through the influence of Sir John Cam Hobhouse (Lord Broughton), Falcieri was appointed to the India Office, where he is to be found daily, with every promise of reaching a green old age" '—one of the few connecting links between the times of Byron and our own. 66 The writer penned the above very brief sketch of a faithful servant upwards of two years ago, * and great was the delight of Falcieri when he read it in a popular journal; but greater still was his satisfaction when he received a letter from America quoting the same as a record of interest—the paragraph had been copied into an English illustrated weekly paper, which has a circulation in America—and requesting more information about the famous "Tita" of Lord Byron. Alas! now 66 Tita" has gone after his famous master. He died on Tuesday, the 23rd of December, 1874, at 60, Seymour Street, Portman Square. + For upwards of a year the old man had been absent from his messenger duties in the India Office, in the vestibule of which (nearest to St. James's Park) he sat, under his friend Mr. Badrick (the polite and intelligent Head Office Keeper), arranging and stamping letters, answering in broken English the questions of distinguished and ordinary Anglo-Indians, and, in spite of his reticence, lighting up at the very mention of the names of Shelley and Lord Byron. His habits were strictly abstemious; but, like poor humanity in general, Falcieri could not long carry on a conflict with the frosts of age." A stroke of paralysis was the first monitor; and then, towards the close of last year, congestion of the lungs set in, to which he rapidly succumbed; and "Tita" was no more! During what seemed his convalescence, Falcieri occasionally hobbled down to the Office, where the present writer talked with him about a month before he died. He was born in the year 1798, just ten years after Lord Byron, making him, at his decease, seventy-six years of age. He was buried at Kensal Green on the 29th December, Mr. Badrick, and one of the senior messengers of the India Office (Mr. H. Girard), following their respected old friend to the grave. Surely, such a distinguished member of the useful corps of messengers had never died before; distinguished, not on account of himself, but of him who admired the faithful "Tita," and died on his shoulder ; the mighty genius whose chief characteristic, like that of * November, 1872. The additional notes and brief reminiscences now given, were written in January and February 1875. +A Times Correspondent (January 9th) is in error when remarking that Falcieri died at Ramsgate. the ocean he so loved to describe, was restlessness; and, of whom our most brilliant essayist wrote (coupling Lord Byron with Napoleon) :-" Two men have died within our recollection, who, at a time of life at which many people have hardly completed their education, had raised themselves, each in his own department, to the height of glory. One of them died at Longwood; the other at Missolonghi.".* Although very far from being an Anglo-Indian, yet having so long breathed the same atmosphere as Anglo-Indians, for this reason, but chiefly on account of his illustrious master, whose works, next to those of Shakspeare and Scott, have excited more interest in India than those of any other writer, we think Falcieri worthy of a place in our little volume. The interest caused by the death of Falcieri, which was evident from the care taken to collate what was at hand regarding him in the principal London journals, is another reason for the writer's endeavouring to give something new about him; and we agree that "the minutest associations connected with Byron should be precious to his countrymen, and in Tita Falcieri there disappears a most interesting relic of the Byronic legends." The following authentic sketch is given, with but few alterations; and, on perusing it, perhaps, the readers of Rogers' "Table-Talk will bring to memory what Mrs. Barbauld said to the "banker poet," that she thought Byron wrote best "when he wrote about the sea or swimming :" THE late Giovanni Battista Falcieri (better known to the friends of Lord Byron as "Tita") entered the poet's service in 1818, being then twenty years of age, as gondolier. He was afterwards his personal attendant and chasseur, attending his lordship in his equestrian and swimming exercises, and also with the carriage. Falcieri was accustomed to speak with pride on the richness of his uniform-a cocked hat with a plume of feathers; scarlet coat, richly embroidered with gold lace; pantaloons, also similarly embroidered; Hessian boots, with tassels; sword and sash completed his equipment when out on special occasions in attendance on his lordship. He appeared to enjoy the reminiscences of their swimming excur * 66 'Macaulay's Critical and Historical Essays:" "Moore's Life of Lord Byron." The beautiful lines from Rogers which head this sketch, as "D. R." well remarks in a note to the Times (6th January), "exactly show the faithful character of the man.' Rogers, in a note, says :-"The principal gondolier (il fante di poppa) was almost always in the confidence of his master, and employed on occasions that required judgment and address." |