FLEUR-DE-LIS (i. e. lily-flower), a badge of ultimately three
golden _fleurs-de-lis_ on a blue field, borne from the days of Clovis on
their arms by the kings of France.
FLEURY, ANDRÉ HERCULE DE. CARDINAL, French statesman, born at
Lodève, in Languedoc; studied philosophy in Paris; became a doctor of the
Sorbonne and almoner to the Queen and King Louis XIV., who subsequently
made him bishop of Frèjus and tutor to his son Louis; in 1726 he was
chosen Prime Minister by Louis XV., and created a cardinal; he carried
through a successful war with Germany, which resulted in the acquisition
of Lorraine by France, but although honest and cautious, he cannot be
styled a great statesman (1653-1743).
FLEURY, CLAUDE, ABBÉ, an ecclesiastical historian, born in Paris;
was at the outset of his career a successful advocate, but afterwards
entered the Church; as tutor he educated various princes, including an
illegitimate son of Louis XIV., who in reward appointed him to the priory
of Argenteuil; was chosen confessor to the young Louis XV., and in 1696
was elected to the Academy; his chief work is his great "Ecclesiastical
History" in 20 vols., on which he laboured for 30 years, and the
learning, ability, and impartiality of which procured for him the esteem
of all parties (1640-1723).
FLINDERS, MATTHEW, a naval officer, born in Lincolnshire; explored
the coast of Australia, experiencing not a few adventures, and adding
materially to our geographical knowledge (1760-1814).
FLINT, 1, a maritime county (77) of North Wales, between Lancashire
and Denbigh, of which a detached portion lies to the N. of Shropshire;
low stretches of sand form its foreshore, but inland it is hilly, with
here and there a picturesque and fertile valley in which dairy-farming is
extensively carried on. 2, a seaport (5), on the estuary of the Dee, 13
m. NW. of Chester; has ruins of a castle with interesting historical
associations; in the neighbourhood are copper-works and lead and coal
mines.
FLINT, ROBERT, a theologian, born in Dumfriesshire; professor of
Divinity in Edinburgh University; an eminent scholar, a vigorous thinker,
and a man of broad sympathies, who takes a deep interest in all the vital
questions of the times, and has contributed to the solution of them; has
written on Theism, the Philosophy of History, Socialism, &c.; _b_. 1838.
FLOATING ISLANDS are sometimes formed of masses of driftwood on
which débris, vegetation, &c., gradually form a soil, but are more
commonly portions of river banks detached by the force of the current
when swollen and drifted put, sometimes as much as 100 m., to sea,
carrying with them plants, reptiles, and larger animals, and thus
contributing to the distribution to distant shores of animal and
vegetable life; they are to be met with off the mouths of the larger
American, Asian, and African rivers, and sometimes in inland seas and
lakes; Derwent Lake, in England, has a notable one, which sinks, and
rises periodically; they are also made artificially in districts subject
to floods as asylums of refuge.
FLODDEN, BATTLE OF, fought on Flodden Hill, a low spur of the
Cheviots, 6 m. S. of Coldstream, between James IV. of Scotland and the
English under the Earl of Surrey on the 9th of September 1513, which
resulted in the crushing defeat of the Scots, who lost their king and the
flower of their nobility, an event celebrated in Jean Elliot's "Flowers
of the Forest"; a spirited account is given in the sixth canto of Scott's
"Marmion."
FLOOD, HENRY, an Irish Nationalist, trained at Dublin and Oxford
Universities; entering the Irish Parliament, he by his fervid oratory
soon won a place in the front rank of Irish politicians; in 1769 he was
put on trial for killing an opponent in a duel, but was acquitted; from
1775 to 1781 he was Vice-Treasurer of Ireland; to Grattan's Irish Bill of
Right he offered bitter opposition, holding it to be an altogether
inadequate measure; in 1783 he was returned to the English House of
Commons, but failed to make his mark (1732-1791).
FLORA, goddess of the blossom of flowers and the spring, an early
Roman divinity; had in the time of NUMA a flamen (q. v.) to
herself.
FLORENCE (137), a famous Italian city, situated 50 m. from the sea;
it lies in the valley of the Arno, and is built on both sides of the
river, but chiefly on the N.; the outlying suburbs are singularly
beautiful, and are surrounded by finely wooded hills, bright with gay
villas and charming gardens; the old city itself is characterised by a
sombre grandness, and is full of fine buildings of historic and artistic
interest; chief amongst these is the cathedral, or Duomo, begun in 1298,
with its grand dome and campanile (293 ft.), by Giotto. It is the city of
Dante, Petrarch, Michael Angelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Boccaccio,
Machiavelli, Galileo and many more of Italy's great men, and has a
history of exceptional interest; it has many fine art galleries; is an
educational centre, and carries on a trade in straw-plaiting and silk.
FLORIAN, JEAN PIERRE DE, a French novelist and writer of fables; was
the friend of Voltaire, from whom he received his first literary impulse;
was the author of several romances plays, &c., but his finest work is
found in his Fables, in which department of literature he ranks next La
Fontaine (1755-1794).
FLORIDA (391), "Land of Flowers," the most southern of the American
States, forms a bold peninsula on the E. side of the Gulf of Mexico, and
has on its eastern shore the Atlantic; has a coast-line of 1150 m.; the
chief physical feature is the amount of water surface, made up of 19
navigable rivers and lakes and ponds to the number of 1200, besides
swamps and marshes; the climate is, however, equable, and for the most
part healthy; fruit-growing is largely engaged in; the timber trade
flourishes, also the phosphate industry, and cotton and the sugar-cane
are extensively cultivated; a successful business in cigar-making has
also of recent years sprung up, and there are valuable fisheries along
the coast; Florida was admitted into the Union in 1845; the capital is
Tallahassee.
FLORIO, JOHN, the translator of Montaigne, born in London, of
Italian parents; was a tutor of foreign languages for some years at
Oxford, and in 1581 became a member of Magdalen College and teacher of
French and Italian; published two works of a miscellaneous character,
called "First Fruits" and "Second Fruits," and an English-Italian
dictionary called a "World of Words," but his fame rests on his
translation of Montaigne, which Shakespeare used so freely (1553-1625).
FLORUS, a Latin historian, contemporary of Trajan.
FLUDD, ROBERT, physician and theosophist, born at Milgate, Kent;
studied at Oxford, and travelled on the Continent, where he came under
the influence of Paracelsus's writings; settled in London as a doctor,
and published a work embodying a vague theosophy (1574-1637).
FLUSHING (13), a Dutch seaport, strongly fortified, on the island of
Walcheren, at the mouth of the western Scheldt; has an active shipping
trade, docks, arsenals, &c.
FLUXIONS, a method, invented by Sir Isaac Newton, of determining the
rate of increase or decrease of a quantity or magnitude whose value
depends on that of another which itself varies in value at a uniform and
given rate. See CALCULUS, DIFFERENTIAL, AND INTEGRAL.
FLYING DUTCHMAN, a Dutch captain, fated for his sins to scour the
sea and never reach port, who appeared from time to time to sea-captains
as on a black spectral ship, and from the very terror he inspired made
them change their course; there are many versions of this fable in the
German mythology.
FO, the name in China for Buddha.
FO-HI, or FUH-HE, the mythical founder of the Chinese dynasty,
is said to have introduced cattle-rearing, instituted marriage, and
invented letters.
FOIX, GASTON DE, illustrious French captain, nephew of Louis XII.,
was from his daring exploits called the Thunderbolt of Italy; he beat the
Swiss, routed the Papal troops, captured Brescia from the Venetians, and
gained the battle of Ravenna against the Spaniards, but was slain when
pursuing the fugitives (1489-1512).
FOIX, GASTON III. DE, French captain, surnamed Phoebus on account of
his beauty and handsome presence; distinguished in the wars against the
English and in the Jacquerie revolt, in which he rescued the dauphin at
Meaux (1331-1391).
FOLEY, JOHN HENRY, an eminent sculptor, born in Dublin; his first
success was achieved in a series of classical figures, including some
Shakespearian subjects; statues of Hampden, Burke, J. S. Mill, Goldsmith,
&c., brought him further fame, and he was commissioned by the Queen to
execute the figure of Prince Albert in the Albert Memorial; his vigour
and genius were further revealed in the noble equestrian statues of
Hardinge and Outram (1818-1874).
FOLKESTONE (24), a seaport and watering-place on the coast of Kent,
7 m. SW. of Dover; has a fine harbour and esplanade; is much engaged in
the herring and mackerel fisheries, and is steam-packet station for
Boulogne; a fine railway viaduct spans the valley in which the old town
lies.
FONBLANQUE, ALBANY WILLIAM, journalistic editor, after serving on
the staff of the _Times_ and the _Morning Chronicle_ became editor of the
_Examiner_, which he conducted successfully from 1830 to 1847; Carlyle
was introduced to him on his visit to London in 1831, and describes him
as "a tall, loose, lank-haired, wrinkly, wintry, vehement-looking flail
of a man," but "the best of the Fourth Estate" then extant; "I rather
like the man," he adds, "has the air of a true-hearted Radical"
(1793-1872).
FONTAINEBLEAU, a town on the left bank of the Seine, 35 m. SE. of
Paris, and famous for a château or palace of the kings of France, and the
forest that surrounds it. This château, founded towards the end of the
10th century, was enlarged and embellished by successive kings, beginning
with Francis I., and was the place where Napoleon signed his abdication
in 1814.
FONTANES, LOUIS, MARQUIS DE, poet and man of letters, born at Niort,
Poitou; came to Paris and achieved some celebrity by his poems and
translations from Pope and Gray; changing from the Royalist side, he,
during the Revolution, edited two journals in the Republican interest,
and held the post of professor of Literature at the College of the Four
Nations; was for some time a refugee in England, but afterwards returned
and became a zealous supporter of Napoleon, on the downfall of whom he
embraced the Bourbon cause, and was raised to the peerage (1757-1821).
FONTENELLE, BERNARD LE BOVIER DE, a miscellaneous French writer,
born at Rouen, a nephew of Corneille, whose Life he wrote; was designed
for the bar, but under his uncle's patronage embarked on a literary
career in Paris; he vehemently upheld the moderns in the famous literary
quarrel of Moderns _versus_ Ancients, and brought upon himself the
satirical attacks of Boileau and Racine; became Secretary and then
President of the Académie des Sciences; died in his hundredth year; his
vigorous and versatile nature found vent in a wide variety of
writings--literary, scientific, and historical; author of "Dialogues of
the Dead," in imitation of Lucian, and "Conversations on the Plurality of
Worlds"; is credited with the saying, "A man may have his hand full of
truth, and yet only care to open his little finger," and this other, "No
man was ever written down but by himself" (1657-1757).
FONTENOY, a village in Belgium, 5 m. SW. of Tournay, where Marshal
Saxe beat the English, Dutch, and Austrians under the Duke of Cumberland
in 1745.
FOOCHOW (630), a Chinese city, the capital of the province of
Fu-chien, situated on the Min, 125 m. NE. of Amoy. Massive walls 30 ft.
high enclose the original town, but the extensive suburbs reach down to
the river, which is bridged, and is a convenient waterway for trading
with the interior; it was made a free port in 1842, and is the centre of
a busy trade in tea, timber, and textiles.
FOOLS, FEAST OF, a festival of wild mirth in the Middle Ages, held
on 1st January, in which the Ass of Scripture celebrity played a chief
part, and in which many of the rites and ceremonies of the Church were
travestied.
FOOT-POUND, the name given in mechanics to the force required to
raise 1 lb. through 1 foot, the unit of work.
FOOTE, SAMUEL, a celebrated English actor and playwright, born at
Truro, Cornwall, of a good family; was educated at Oxford, and studied
law, but ruined himself by gaming, and took to the stage; he became the
successful lessee of Haymarket Theatre in 1747, where, by his inimitable
powers of mimicry and clever comedies, he firmly established himself in
popular favour (1720-1777).
FORBES, ARCHIBALD, a noted war-correspondent, born in Morayshire;
was educated at Aberdeen University; served in a cavalry regiment, acted
as war-correspondent for the _Daily News_ during the Franco-German war,
and has since been the brilliant chronicler of war news in all parts of
the globe; has published several volumes; _b_. 1838.
FORBES, DUNCAN, of Culloden, a distinguished lawyer and patriotic
politician, born at Bunchrew; was trained at Edinburgh and Leyden, and
called to the Scotch bar in 1709; took an active part in putting down the
rebellion of 1715, and in 1722 entered Parliament; three years later he
was appointed Lord Advocate and Lord President of the Court of Session;
succeeded his brother in the estates of Culloden and Bunchrew; during the
1745 rebellion he was active in the Hanoverian interest, and did much to
quell the uprising; Forbes was a devoted Scot, and unweariedly strove to
allay the Jacobite discontent and to establish the country in peace, and
used his great influence and wealth to further these ends, services
which, in the end, impoverished him, and received little or no
recognition at the hands of Government (1685-1747).
FORBES, EDWARD, a noted naturalist, born at Douglas, in the Isle of
Man; studied medicine at Edinburgh, where he became smitten with the love
of natural science, to which he devoted his life; in 1841 he accompanied
the _Beacon_ as naturalist, and returning in 1843 found himself elected
to the chair of Botany in King's College, London; various geological
appointments followed, and in 1852 he became President of the Geological
Society, and two years later received the chair of Natural History in
Edinburgh; Forbes was a prolific author, and his writings cover the whole
field of natural science, to every section of which he has made
contributions of great value (1815-1854).
FORBES, JAMES DAVID, physicist, born at Edinburgh, the grandson of
Sir William, and the son of the first lady-love of Sir Walter Scott, and
very like her; was called to the bar in 1830; physical science, however,
was his ruling passion, and in 1833 he became professor of Natural
Philosophy in Edinburgh University, from which he was called in 1859 to
the Principalship of the United College, St. Andrews, in which he
succeeded Sir David Brewster, whom he had defeated in obtaining the
Edinburgh chair; he made some valuable contributions to natural science,
including discoveries in the polarisation of heat and in regard to the
motion of glaciers, to investigate which he travelled in Norway and in
the Alps (1809-1868).
FORBES, SIR JOHN, physician, born at Cuttlebrae, Banffshire; entered
the navy as assistant-surgeon in 1807, and became M.D. of Edinburgh ten
years later; practised at Penzance and Chichester, but finally settled at
London in 1840, where he became physician to the Queen; was for twelve
years editor of the _British and Foreign Medical Review_, which he
founded in 1836, and was joint-author of the "Cyclopædia of Practical
Medicine"; first to use the stethoscope in England (1787-1861).
FORBES, SIR WILLIAM, an eminent banker, son of a Scotch advocate and
baronet, born in Edinburgh; became partner in the banking firm of Messrs.
John Coutts & Co.; two years later a new company was formed, of which he
rose to be manager, and which in 1830 became the Union Bank of Scotland;
he is author of a Life of his friend Beattie, the Scottish poet, and of
"Memoirs of a Banking-House" (1739-1806).
FORD, JOHN, dramatist, born at Islington, North Devon; studied at
Oxford, and entered the Middle Temple in 1602, but was never called to
the bar; in 1606 appeared his first poetic work "Fame's Memorial," an
elegy on the death of the Earl of Devonshire, and for the next 33 years
he was a prolific writer of plays, chiefly tragedies, collaborating in
some cases with Dekker and Webster; "The Broken Heart" was greatly
admired by Charles Lamb, and "Perkin Warbeck" is considered by Stopford
Brooke the best historical drama after Shakespeare; there is little of
the lighter graces about his work, and he is prone to go beyond the
bounds of nature in his treatment of the tragic, but his grip on the
greater human passions, and his power of moving presentment, are
undoubted (1586-1639).
FORDUN, JOHN OF, a Scottish chronicler; lived in the 14th century;
was a canon of Aberdeen Cathedral, and wrote a chronicle of Scottish
history, bringing the story up to 1153; materials for further volumes,
which he left, were utilised by Walter Bower, an abbot of Inchcolm, in
the Forth, who extended the account to 1437, but often tampered with
Fordun's narrative; the work is the chief authority in Scottish history
up to the time it treats of.
FORELAND, NORTH AND SOUTH, two rocky promontories on the E. coast of
Kent, which lie 16 m. apart; have the Downs and Goodwin Sands between
them; they are well marked with lighthouses.
FORENSIC MEDICINE, or MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE, a branch of legal
science in which the principles of medicine are applied to the purposes
of the law, and originating out of the frequency with which medical
points arise in the administration of justice, e. g. in murder trials
and in cases where insanity is involved.
FOREST LAWS, laws enacted in ancient times for the purpose of
guarding the royal forest lands as hunting preserves, and which were up
to the time of Henry III. of excessive harshness, death being a not
infrequent penalty for infringement. The privileges of forest (at one
time the sole prerogative of the sovereign, but by him capable of being
vested in another), which might include the right to the wild animals in
the forests lying in the domains of a private estate, have now fallen
into abeyance, as also the special Forest Courts, while many of the royal
forests, which in Henry VIII.'s time numbered 69, have been
disafforested.
FORFAR (13), the county town of Forfarshire, 14 m. NE. of Dundee;
manufactures linen; was once an important royal residence, and was made a
royal burgh by David I.
FORFARSHIRE or ANGUS (278), a maritime county on the E. side of
Scotland, lying N. of the Firth of Tay; Strathmore and the Carse of
Gowrie are fertile valleys, where agriculture and cattle-rearing
flourish, and which, with the Braes of Angus in the N. and the Sidlaw
Hills to the S., make up a finely diversified county; jute and linen are
the most important articles of manufacture, of which Dundee and Arbroath
are centres; Forfarshire is a county particularly rich in
antiquities--Roman remains, castles, priories, &c.
FORMOSA (3,500), a large island off the coast of China, from which
it is separated by the Fukien Channel, 90 m. broad. Formosa was ceded to
Japan by the Chinese in 1895; it is an island of much natural beauty, and
is traversed N. and S. by a fine range of hills; is famed for its
bamboos, and exports coal, rice, tea, &c. Name also of a large territory
in the Argentine.
FORNARINA, a Roman lady of great beauty, a friend of Raphael's, and
who frequently posed as a model to him.
FORRES (3), a royal burgh in Elginshire, on the Findhorn, 2 m. from
the sea and 10 m. SW. of Elgin by railway; has ruins of a castle--once a
royal residence--and a famous "Stan'in Stane," Sueno's Stone, 25 ft.
high, placed in the year 900.
FORREST, EDWIN, a celebrated American actor, born in Philadelphia;
went on the stage at 14, and from the provinces made his way to New York,
where his rendering of Othello at the age of 20 raised him to the front
rank among actors; he made three tours in England, but during his last in
1845 he entirely lost the popular favour through his conduct in an
embittered quarrel with Macready; after his final appearance on the stage
in 1871 he continued for a short while to give Shakespearian readings; he
was a tragedian of the highest order, and in his profession amassed a
large fortune (1806-1872).
FORS CLAVIGERA, the name given by Ruskin to a series of letters to
workmen, written during the seventies of this century, and employed by
him to designate three great powers which go to fashion human destiny,
viz., _Force_, wearing, as it were, (_clava_) the club of Hercules;
_For_titude, wearing, as it were, (_clavis_) the key of Ulysses; and
_For_tune, wearing, as it were, (_clavus_) the nail of Lycurgus; that is
to say, Faculty waiting on the right moment, and then striking in. See
Shakespeare's "Time and tide in the affairs of men," &c., the "flood" in
which is the "Third Fors." The letters are represented as written at the
dictation of the Third Fors, or, as it seems to the author, the right
moment, or the occurrence of it.
FÖRSTER, ERNST, an art critic, brother of succeeding, author of a
number of elaborate and important works bearing on the history of art in
Germany and Italy; was the son-in-law of Jean Paul, whose works he
edited, and to whose biography he made contributions of great value
(1800-1885).
FÖRSTER, FRIEDRICH CHRISTOPH, German poet and historian; his poetic
gifts were first called into exercise during the war of liberation, in
which he served as a volunteer, and the series of spirited war-songs he
then wrote procured him a wide-spread fame; afterwards he lived in
Berlin, teaching in the school of artillery, and subsequently becoming
custodian of the Royal Art Museum; besides poems he wrote several
historical and biographical works (1791-1868).
FORSTER, JOHANN GEORGE ADAM, naturalist, son of the succeeding;
accompanied his father in the voyage with Cook, and contributed to the
literature anent the expedition; subsequently became professor of Natural
History at Cassel and at Wilna, and eventually librarian to the Elector
of Mayence in 1788; his works are published in 9 vols. (1754-1794).
FORSTER, JOHANN REINHOLD, a German naturalist and traveller, born in
Prussia; accompanied Captain Cook as a naturalist on his second
expedition to the South Seas, and in connection with which he wrote a
volume of observations; died professor of Natural History and Mineralogy
at Halle (1729-1798).
FORSTER, JOHN, a noted English writer, born at Newcastle; was
educated for the bar, but took to journalism, and soon made his mark as a
political writer in the _Examiner_; he subsequently edited the _Foreign
Quarterly Review_, the _Daily News_ (succeeding Dickens), and the
_Examiner_ (1847-56); he was the author of several historical sketches,
but his best-known works are the admirable biographies of Goldsmith,
Landor, and Dickens (1812-1876).
FORSTER, WILLIAM EDWARD, statesman, born at Bradpole, Dorset, son of
a Quaker; entered upon a commercial career in a worsted manufactory at
Bradford, but from the first politics engaged his paramount attention,
and in 1861 he became member of Parliament for Bradford; became in
succession Under-Secretary for the Colonies, Vice-president of the
Council of Education, and a Privy Councillor; his chief legislative
measure was the Elementary Education Bill of 1870, which, as a member of
Mr. Gladstone's Cabinet, he carried through Parliament, two years after
which the Ballot Act was introduced by him; in 1874 he visited the United
States, and on his return was elected Lord Rector of Aberdeen University;
as Irish Secretary in 1880 he made an earnest effort to grapple with the
Irish problem, but losing the support of his colleagues, over the
imprisonment of Mr. Parnell and other Land League leaders, he resigned;
he was married to Jane, eldest daughter of Dr. Arnold of Rugby; his
transparent honesty and rugged independence of character won him
universal esteem (1819-1886).
FORT AUGUSTUS, a small village on the Caledonian Canal, 33 m. SW. of
Inverness; the fort, built in 1716 and enlarged in 1730, was utilised as
a barrack during the disturbances in the Highlands, but after being
dismantled and again garrisoned down to 1857, it finally, in 1876, passed
into the hands of the BENEDICTINES (q. v.), who have converted
it into an abbey and college.
FORT GEORGE, a fortress on the Moray Firth, 12 m. NE. of Inverness;
was built in 1748, and is now the head-quarters of the Seaforth
Highlanders.
FORT WILLIAM, a small police-burgh in Inverness-shire, 66 m. SW. of
Inverness, near the southern end of the Caledonian Canal; the railway
station stands on the site of the old fort, which in 1655 was built by
Monk; a meteorological observatory was erected here in 1889.
FORTESCUE, SIR JOHN, an eminent English lawyer, born in
Somersetshire; flourished in the 15th century; was called to the bar at
Lincoln's Inn, and in 1442 became Lord Chief-Justice of the Court of
King's Bench; he was a staunch Lancastrian during the Wars of the Roses,
and shared the exile of Queen Margaret and her son Edward, for whom he
wrote in dialogue form his famous "De Laudibus Legum," a treatise still
read; the fate of the Lancastrian cause was sealed on the field of
Tewkesbury, and he himself was taken prisoner; he died at the advanced
age of 90.
FORTH, a river of Scotland, formed by the junction of Duchray Water
and the Avondhu, streams which rise one on Ben Lomond and the other on
Ben Venue, and which, after 14 and 9 m., unite at Aberfoyle; the river
thence flows with many windings, called Links, through some of the
fairest country of the eastern lowlands to Alloa (51½ m.), where begins
the Firth, which stretches 51 m. to the German Ocean, and which at
Queensferry is spanned by a massive railway bridge known as the Forth
Bridge (1882-1890).
FORTUNA, a Roman divinity, the goddess of luck, and especially good
luck, to whom Servius Tullius, in acknowledgment of her favours to him,
erected several temples in Rome; is represented in art as standing poised
on a globe or a wheel, to express her inconstancy.
FORTUNATUS, a character in a popular German legend, who possessed a
_purse_ out of which he was able to provide himself with money as often
as he needed it and _cap_, by putting on of which, and wishing to be
anywhere, he was straightway there; these he got, by his own free
election and choice, conceded to him by the Upper Powers, and they proved
a curse to him rather than a blessing, he finding out when too late that
"the god Wish is not the true God."
FORTY THIEVES, a fraternity in the "Arabian Nights" who inhabited a
secret den in a forest, the gate of which would open only to the magic
word "Sesamë."
FORUM, a public place in Rome and Roman cities where the courts of
justice were held, and popular assemblies for civic business.
FORWARDS, MARSHAL, MARSHAL BLÜCHER (q. v.).
FOSCARI, a Doge of Venice from 1423 to his death; his reign was
distinguished by the glories of conquest, but his life was embittered by
the misfortunes of his sons, and the judicial tortures inflicted on one
of them which he was compelled to witness; he died at the age of 87,
broken-hearted (1370-1457).
FOSCOLO, UGO, an Italian patriot and author, born at Zante; his
literary career began in Venice with the successful performance of his
tragedy "Trieste," but on the Austrian occupation of the town he joined
the French army; disappointed in the hope that France would unite with
and free Italy, he returned to literary work in Milan, and in 1809 was
called to the chair of Eloquenco in Pavia; but the conquering Austrians
again forced him to become a refugee, first in Switzerland and finally in
England, where he died; he was the author of various essays, poems, etc.,
and of a translation of Sterne's "Sentimental Journey" (1778-1827).
FOSTER, BIRKET, a celebrated artist, born at North Shields; his
earliest work was done in wood-engraving under the direction of Landells,
and many of his sketches appeared in the _Illustrated London News_;
following this he executed, in collaboration with John Gilbert, a series
of illustrations for the works of Goldsmith, Cowper, Scott, and other
poets, in which he exhibited a rare skill in rural scenes; subsequent
work has been in water-colours, and in 1861 he was elected a member of
the Water-Colour Society (1825-1899).
FOSTER, JOHN, an English essayist, born in Halifax, Yorkshire; was
trained for the Baptist ministry, and for 25 years officiated in various
congregations, but met with little success; from 1817 he devoted himself
solely to literature, and became a contributor to the _Eclectic Review_,
for which he wrote no fewer than 184 articles; his best-known work is an
"Essay on the Evils of Popular Ignorance," in which he advocates a system
of national education (1770-1843).
FOTHERINGAY, a village in Northamptonshire, on the Nen, 9 m. SW. of
Peterborough; the ruined castle there was the scene of the execution of
Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1587.
FOUCAULT, JOHN BERNARD, a French physicist, born in Paris;
distinguished for his studies in optics and problems connected with
light; demonstrated the rate of the rotation of the globe by the
oscillation of a pendulum (1819-1868).
FOUCHÉ, JOSEPH, Duke of Otranto, born at Nantes, a member of the
National Convention, and voted for the death of Louis XVI.; became
Minister of Police under Napoleon; falling into disfavour, was sent into
exile, but recalled to Paris in 1814; advised Napoleon to abdicate at
that time and again after Waterloo; served under Louis XVIII. for a time,
but was obliged at length to quit France for good; died at Trieste
(1763-1820).
FOULA, a high and rocky islet among the Shetlands, 32 m. W. of
Lerwick; its sandstone cliffs on the NW. are 1220 ft. in height, and rise
sheer from the water; it is sparsely peopled; fishing is the almost sole
pursuit.
FOULD, ACHILLE, French statesman, born at Paris; entered political
life in 1842; became an authority in finance, served in that capacity
under Louis Napoleon (1800-1865).
FOULIS, ROBERT and ANDREW, celebrated printers; were brought up
in Glasgow, where Robert, the elder, after practising as a barber, took
to printing, and in 1743 became printer to the university; his press was
far-famed for the beauty and accuracy of editions of the classics; Andrew
was trained for the ministry, but subsequently joined his brother; an
academy, started by the brothers in 1753 for engraving, moulding, etc.,
although a complete success artistically, involved them in expense, and
eventually financial ruin; they have been called the "Scottish Elzevirs"
(Robert, 1707-1776; Andrew, 1712-1775).
FOULON, a French financier, nicknamed the _Ame damnée_, Familiar
demon, of the parlement of Paris prior to the Revolution; "once, when it
was objected to some financial scheme of his, 'What will the people do?'
made answer, 'The people may eat grass,'" words which the people never
forgot; when attacked by them "he defended himself like a mad lion, but
was borne down, trampled, hanged, and mangled," his head thereafter
paraded through the city on a pike and the mouth stuffed with grass
(1715-1789).
FOUNDLING HOSPITALS are institutions for the rearing of children who
have been deserted by their parents, and exist with varying regulations
in most civilised countries; the first foundling hospital was established
at Milan in 787, and others arose in Germany, Italy, and France before
the 14th century; the Paris foundling hospital is a noted institution of
the kind, and offers every encouragement for children to be brought in,
and admits legitimate orphans and children pronounced incorrigible
criminals by the court; the London foundling hospital was founded by
Captain Thomas Coram, and supports about 500 illegitimates.
FOUQUIER-TINVILLE, a merciless revolutionary, born near Artois;
member of the Jacobin Club, Attorney-General of the Revolutionary
Tribunal, purveyor of the guillotine; was guillotined himself after the
fall of Robespierre (1747-1795).
FOURTH ESTATE, the daily press, so called by Edmund Burke, pointing,
in the House of Commons, to the reporters' gallery.
FOURTH OF JULY, the anniversary of the declaration of American
Independence in 1776.
FOWLER, SIR JOHN, K.C.M.G., civil engineer, born at Sheffield; was
actively engaged in the construction of numerous railways (notably the
London and Brighton), and in dock and bridge building; carried through
important works in Egypt in 1885, and, along with Sir B. Baker, he
designed the Forth Bridge, on the completion of which he received a
baronetcy (1817-1889).
FOX, CHARLES JAMES, an eminent Whig statesman, third son of Henry
Fox, first Lord Holland, born in London; was educated at Eton and Oxford,
and at the age of 19 sat in Parliament for Midhurst; under Lord North he
held office, but quarrelled with the premier and went over to the Whigs,
then led by Rockingham; here he came under the influence of Burke, and
with him offered uncompromising opposition to the American War; in the
Rockingham ministry which followed he was Foreign Secretary, and
subsequently joined North in the short-lived coalition ministry of 1783;
during the next 14 years he was the great opponent of Pitt's Government,
and his brilliant powers of debate were never more effectively displayed
than in his speeches against Warren Hastings and in the debates arising
out of the French Revolution, in which he advocated a policy of
non-intervention; his sympathy with the French revolutionaries cost him
the friendship of Burke; during a retirement of five years he wrote his
"History of James II."; on Pitt's death in 1806 he again came into office
as Foreign Secretary, but died shortly afterwards when about to plead in
the House of Commons the cause of slave abolition; Fox stands in the
front rank of our parliamentary debaters, and was a man of quick and
generous sympathies, but the reckless dissipation of his private life
diminished his popular influence, and probably accounts for the fact that
he never reached the highest office of State (1749-1806).
FOX, GEORGE, the first of the Quakers, born at Drayton,
Leicestershire; son of a poor weaver, and till his twentieth year plied
the trade of a shoemaker; conceived, as he drudged at this task, that he
had a call from above to withdraw from the world and give himself up to a
higher ministry; stitched for himself one day a suit of leather, and so
encased wandered through the country, rapt in his thoughts and bearing
witness to the truth that God had revealed to him; about 1646 began his
crusade against the religion of mere formality, and calling upon men to
trust to the "inner light" alone; his quaint garb won him the title of
"the man with the leather breeches," and his mode of speech with his
"thou's" and "thee's" subjected him to general ridicule; but despite
these eccentricities he by his earnestness gathered disciples about him
who believed what he said and adopted his principles, and in the
prosecution of his mission he visited Wales, Scotland, America, and
various parts of Germany, not without results; he had no kindly feeling
towards Cromwell, with whom he had three interviews, and who in his
public conduct seemed to him to pay no regard to the claims of the "inner
light" and the disciples of it (1624-1690). See "SARTOR RESARTUS,"
BOOK III. CHAP. I.
FOX, WILLIAM JOHNSON, religious and political orator, born near
Southwold, Suffolk; was trained for the Independent ministry, but seceded
to the Unitarians, and subsequently established himself as a preacher of
pronounced rationalism at Finsbury; as a supporter of the Anti-Corn-Law
movement he won celebrity as an impassioned orator, and from 1847 to 1863
represented Oldham in Parliament; he was editor of the _Monthly
Repository_, and a frequent contributor to the _Westminster Review_, and
published various works on political and religious topics (1786-1864).
FOXE, JOHN, martyrologist, born at Boston, Lincolnshire; in 1545 he
resigned his Fellowship in Magdalen College, Oxford, on account of his
espousing the doctrines of the Reformation, and for some years after he
acted as a private tutor in noble families; during Queen Mary's reign he
sought refuge on the Continent, where he formed acquaintance with Knox
and other leading Reformers; he returned to England on the accession of
Elizabeth, and was appointed a prebend in Salisbury cathedral, but his
Nonconformist leanings precluded his further preferment; his most famous
work is his "Book of Martyrs," first published in Latin on the Continent,
the noble English version appearing in 1563 (1516-1587).
FOYERS, FALL OF, a fine cascade, having a fall of 165 ft., on the
lower portion of the Foyers, a river of Inverness-shire, which enters
Loch Ness on the E. side, 10 in. NE. of Fort Augustus.
FRA DIAVOLO, chief of a band of Italian brigands, born in Calabria;
leader in sundry Italian insurrections; was hanged at Naples for
treachery, in spite of remonstrances from England; gave name to an opera
by Auber, but only the name (1760-1806).
FRACAS`TORO, GIROLAMO, a learned physician and poet, born at Verona;
became professor of Dialectic at Padua in his twentieth year;
subsequently practised as a physician, but eventually gave himself up to
literature (1483-1553).
FRAGONARD, JEAN HONORÉ, a French artist, born at Grasse; gained the
"prix de Rome" in 1752, and afterwards studied in Rome; was a member of
the French Academy, and during the Revolution became keeper of the Musée;
many of his paintings are in the Louvre, and are characterised by their
free and luscious colouring (1732-1806).
FRANC, a silver coin 835/1000 fine, the monetary unity of France
since 1799, weighs 5 grammes and equals about 9½ d. in English currency
(£1 = 25.3 francs); has been adopted by Belgium and Switzerland, while
under other names a similar coin is in use in Spain (peseta), Italy
(lira), and Greece (drachma).
FRANCE (38,343), the land of the French; a nation standing in the
front rank among the powers of Europe. It occupies a geographical
position of peculiar advantage in the western portion of it, having a
southern foreshore on the Mediterranean and a western and northern
seaboard washed by the Atlantic and the English Channel, possessing
altogether a coast-line, rather undeveloped however, of upwards of 2000
m., while to the E. it abuts upon Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and
Italy. It is divided into 87 departments, including Corsica. It is mainly
composed of lowland and plateau, but has the Cévennes in the S., while
the Pyrenees and Alps (with the Vosges and Ardennes farther N.) lie on
its southern and eastern boundaries. Rivers abound and form, with the
splendid railway, canal, and telegraph systems, an unrivalled means of
internal communication; but there are singularly few lakes. It enjoys on
the whole a fine climate, which favours the vineyards in the centre (the
finest in the world), the olive groves in the S., and the wheat and
beetroot region in the N. The mineral wealth is inconsiderable, and what
of coal and iron there is lies widely apart. Her manufactures, which
include silk, wine, and woollen goods, are of the best, and in fine
artistic work she is without an equal. The colonies are together larger
in area than the mother-country, and include Algeria, Madagascar, and
Cochin China. The French are a people of keen intelligence, of bright,
impulsive, and vivacious nature; urbane, cultured, and pleasure-loving in
the cities, thrifty and industrious in the country; few races have given
so rich a bequest to the literature and art of the world. Roman
Catholicism is the dominant form of religion, but Protestantism and the
Jewish religion are also State supported, as also Mohammedanism in
Algiers. Free compulsory education is in vogue. The Government is a
Republic, and there are two chambers--a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies.
Originally occupied by Celts, the country, then called Gallia, was
conquered by the Romans between 58 and 51 B.C., who occupied it till the
4th century, when it was overrun by the Teutons, including the Franks,
who became dominant; and about 870 the country, under Charles the Bald,
became known as France. The unsettling effects of the great cataclysm of
1789 have been apparent in the series of political changes which have
swept across the country this century; within that time it has been
thrice a monarchy, thrice an empire, and thrice a republic.
FRANCESCA, PISTRO DELLA, an Italian painter, sometimes called Piero
Borghese after his native place; did fresco-work in Florence and at
Loretto; painted pictures for the Duke of Rimini, notably "The
Flagellation"; was a friend of Raphael's father; some of his pictures are
in the London National Gallery (1420-1492).
FRANCESCA DA RIMINI, a beautiful Italian lady of the 13th century,
whose pathetic love story finds a place in Dante's "Inferno"; she was
betrothed by her father, the Lord of Ravenna, to Giovanni of Rimini, but
her affections were engaged by Paolo, his brother; the lovers were found
together by Giovanni and murdered by him.
FRANCESCO DI PAULA or ST. FRANCIS OF PAOLA, founder of the
order of the Minims, born at Paula, in Calabria; was trained in a
Franciscan convent, but at the age of 19 took up his abode in a cave,
where the severe purity and piety of his life attracted to him many
disciples; subsequently he founded an ascetic brotherhood, first called
the Hermits of St. Francis of Assisi, but afterwards changed to
Minim-Hermits of St. Francis of Paola; he eventually lived in France,
where convents were built for him and his brotherhood under royal
patronage (1416-1507).
FRANCHE-COMTÉ, an ancient province in the E. of France, added to the
crown of France in the reign of Louis XIV. at the peace of Nimeguen in
1671.
FRANCIA, DR. JOSÉ GASPAR RODRIGUEZ DA, dictator of Paraguay, born
near Asunçion, in Paraguay; graduated as a doctor of theology, but
subsequently took to law, in the practice of which profession he was
engaged for 30 years, and won a high reputation for ability and
undeviating honesty; in the revolutionary uprising which spread
throughout Spanish South America, Paraguay played a conspicuous part, and
when in 1811 she declared her independence, Francia was elected secretary
of the first national junta, and two years later one of two consuls;
eventually, in 1814, he became dictator, a position he held till his
death; he ruled the country with a strong hand and with scrupulous, if
somewhat rough, justice, making it part of his policy to allow no
intercourse, political or commercial, with other countries; the country
flourished under his rule, but fell into disorder after his death; he is
the subject of a well-known essay by Carlyle, who finds him a man very
much after his own heart (1757-1840).
FRANCIS, ST., OF ASSISI, founder of the Franciscan order, born at
Assisi, in Umbria; began life as a soldier, but during a serious illness
his thoughts were turned from earth to heaven, and he devoted himself to
a life of poverty and self-denial, with the result that his enthusiasm
provoked emulation, and some of his neighbours associated with him and
formed a brotherhood, which gave rise to the order; St. Dominic and he
were contemporaries, "the former teaching Christian men how to behave,
and the latter what they should think"; each sent a little company of
disciples to teach and preach in Florence, where their influence soon
made itself felt, St. Francis in 1212 and St. Dominic in 1220.
FRANCIS, ST., OF SALES, bishop of Geneva, born In the château of
Sales, near Amiens, founder of the Order of the Visitation; was sent to
persuade the Calvinists of Geneva back to the Church of Rome, and applied
himself zealously to the reform of his diocese and the monasteries
(1567-1622).
FRANCIS JOSEPH, emperor of Austria and king of Hungary; succeeded to
the throne in 1848 on the abdication of his uncle, Ferdinand I.; the
Hungarian difficulty has been the chief problem of his reign, with which
he at first dealt in a spirit of harsh oppression, but since 1866 a
milder policy has been adopted, and the desire for national autonomy was
met by the creation of a dual monarchy in 1867, Francis being crowned
king of Hungary; other important events have been the cession of Lombardy
to Sardinia in 1859 and of Venetia in 1866, after an unsuccessful war
with Prussia; _b_. 1830.
FRANCISCANS, or MINORITES, an order of monks founded by St.
Francis of Assisi in 1208; according to Ruskin, they were the order that
preached with St James the gospel of Works as distinct from the
Dominicans, who preached with St. Paul the gospel of Faith, and their
gospel required three things: "to work without money and be poor, to work
without pleasure and be chaste, and to work according to orders and be
obedient"; these were the rules they were sworn to obey at first, but
they gradually forsook the austerity they enjoined, acquired great
wealth, instituted a highly sensuous ceremonial, and became invested with
privileges which excited the jealousy of the regular clergy; with the
order were associated a number of men eminent in the Church, and many no
less so in philosophy, literature, and art.
FRANCK, SEBASTIAN, early German writer, born at Donauwörth; from a
Catholic priest became a Protestant, but fell into disfavour for
promulgating the doctrine that regeneration of life is of more importance
than reform of dogma, and in 1531 was banished from Strasburg;
subsequently he became a soap-boiler and eventually a printer; his most
noted work is his "Chronica," a rough attempt--the first in Germany--at a
general history (1499-1542).
FRANCKE, AUGUST HERMANN, a German religious philanthropist, born at
Lübeck; was professor of Oriental Languages and subsequently of Theology
at Halle; he founded various educational institutions and a large
orphanage, all of which still exist and afford education for some 3000
children annually; he was active in promoting PIETISM, q. v.
(1663-1727).
FRANCONIA, the name formerly applied to a loosely defined district
in Central Germany, which, as the home of the Franks, was regarded as the
heart of the Holy Roman Empire; the emperors long continued to be crowned
within its boundaries; subsequently it was divided into two duchies, East
Franconia and Rhenish Franconia; the latter was abolished in 1501 and the
former much diminished; from 1806 to 1837 the name had no official
existence, but in 1837 the names Upper, Middle, and Lower Franconia were
given to the three northern divisions of Bavaria.
FRANC-TIREURS (i. e. free-shooters), French volunteers, chiefly
peasants, who carried on a guerilla warfare against the Germans in the
Franco-German War; were at first denied the status of regular soldiers by
the Germans and mercilessly shot when captured, but subsequently, having
joined in the movements of the regular army, they were when captured
treated as prisoners of war.
FRANKENSTEIN, a monster of romance created without a soul, yet not
without craving for human sympathy, who found existence on these terms a
curse, as a man with high cravings might find science to be without God.
FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN (180), one of the old free cities of Germany,
a centre of importance under the Kaisers and the seat of the Diet of the
Germanic Confederation, and one of the great banking cities of the world;
it is the birthplace of the poet Goethe, and is associated with his early
history.
FRANKFORT-ON-THE-ODER (56), a town of Prussia, in the province of
Brandenburg, 51 m. SE. of Berlin, is a well-built town; has a university
incorporated with Breslau in 1811, and is actively engaged in the
manufacture of machinery, chemicals, paper, &c.
FRANKLAND, SIR EDWARD, an eminent chemist, born at Churchtown,
Lancashire; has held successively the chairs of Chemistry in Owens
College, in Bartholomew's Hospital, in the Royal Institution, in the
Royal College of Chemistry, and in the Normal School of Science, South
Kensington, the latter of which he resigned in 1885; has published
various works, and was engaged with Lockyer in researches on the
atmosphere of the sun; _b_. 1825.
FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN, born in Boston, was the youngest son of a
tallow-chandler and one of a family of 17; received a meagre education,
and at the age of 12 became apprenticed to his brother, a printer and
proprietor of a small newspaper, to whose columns he began to contribute;
but subsequently quarrelling with him made his way almost penniless to
Philadelphia, where he worked as a printer; in 1724 he came to England
under promises of assistance, which were not fulfilled, and for 18 months
laboured at his printing trade in London, when he returned to
Philadelphia, and there, by steady industry, won a secure position as a
printer and proprietor of the _Pennsylvania Gazette_; in 1732 began to
appear his _Poor Richard's Almanac_, which, with its famous maxims of
prudential philosophy, had a phenomenal success; four years later he
entered upon a public career, rising through various offices to the
position of Deputy Postmaster-General for the Colonies, and sitting in
the Assembly; carried through important political missions to England in
1757 and 1764, and was prominent in the deliberations which ended in the
declaration of American independence in 1776; he visited France and
helped to bring about the French alliance, and made an unavailing effort
to bring in Canada, and, as American minister, signed the Treaty of
Independence in 1783; was subsequently minister to France, and was twice
unanimously elected President of Pennsylvania; his name is also
associated with discoveries in natural science, notably the discovery of
the identity of electricity and lightning, which he achieved by means of
a kite; received degrees from Oxford and Edinburgh Universities, and was
elected an F.R.S.; in 1730 he married Deborah Reid, by whom he had two
children (1706-1790).
FRANKLIN, SIR JOHN, a famous Arctic explorer, born at Spilsby,
Lincolnshire; entered the navy in 1800; was a midshipman; was present at
the battle of Copenhagen; shortly afterwards accompanied an expedition,
under Captain Minders, to explore and survey the coasts of Australia; was
wrecked, and returned home on board the _Camden_ as a signal-midshipman;
he subsequently distinguished himself at the battle of Trafalgar, and
took part in the attack on New Orleans; in 1818 he was second in command
of an expedition sent out under Captain Buchan to discover a North-West
Passage, which, although unsuccessful, contributed to reveal Franklin's
admirable qualities as a leader, and in 1819 he was chosen to head
another Arctic expedition, which, after exploring the Saskatchewan and
Copper-Mine Rivers and adjacent territory, returned in 1822; Franklin was
created a post-captain, and for services in a further expedition in
search of a North-West Passage was, in 1829, knighted; after further
services he was in 1845 put in command of an expedition, consisting of
the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, for the discovery of the North-West Passage;
the expedition never returned, and for many years a painful interest was
manifested in the various expeditions (17 in all) which were sent out to
search for the lost party; many relics of this unfortunate explorer were
found, demonstrating the discovery of the North-West Passage; but the
story of his fate has never been precisely ascertained (1786-1847).
FRANKS, the name given in the 3rd century to a confederation of
Germanic tribes, who subsequently grouped themselves into two main bodies
called the Salians and the Ripuarians, the former dwelling on the Upper
Rhine, and the latter on the Middle Rhine. Under their king, Clovis, the
Salians overran Central Gaul, subjugating the Ripuarians, and extending
their territory from the Scheldt to the Loire, whence in course of time
there generally developed the kingdom of France. The Franks were of a
tall and martial bearing, and thoroughly democratic in their political
instincts.
FRANZ, ROBERT, musical composer, born at Halle; his first songs
appeared in 1843, and were cordially appreciated by Mendelssohn and other
masters; in 1868 ill-health forced him to resign his musical appointments
in Halle, but by the efforts of Liszt, Joachim, and others, funds were
raised by means of concerts to ensure him a competence for life; he
published upwards of 250 songs (1815-1892).
FRANZENSBAD or FRANZENSBRUNN (2), a watering-place on the NW.
frontier of Bohemia, 3 m. NW. of Eger; is 1460 ft. above sea-level,
amidst a mountainous country; is much frequented by invalids for its
mineral springs.
FRANZ-JOSEF LAND, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, N. of Nova
Zembla; was discovered and partly explored in 1873-74 by Payer and
Weyprecht; consists of two main divisions, Wilczek Land to the E., and
Zichy Land to the W., between which runs Austria Sound. Arctic animals
are found in good numbers. It is considered an excellent base for
expeditions in quest of the North Pole.
FRASER, ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, philosopher, born at Ardchattan,
Argyllshire; after a university training at Edinburgh and Glasgow he
entered the Free Church; was for a brief term Free Church minister of
Cramond, from which he was transferred to a chair in the Free Church
College, but in 1856 succeeded Sir William Hamilton as professor of Logic
and Metaphysics at Edinburgh, a position he held till 1891, when he
resigned; his writings include the standard edition of Berkeley, with
notes and a life, monographs on Locke and Berkeley in the series of
"Philosophical Classics," and two vols. on the "Philosophy of Theism,"
being the Gifford Lectures delivered 1895-96; _b_. 1819.
FRASER, JAMES, bishop of Manchester, born near Cheltenham, became a
Fellow of Oriel after graduating with highest honours, and in 1847 was
appointed to a college living; he issued in 1862-1864 valuable reports on
education in Canada and the United States after visiting these countries;
and in 1870 was appointed bishop by Mr. Gladstone; his strong sense and
wide sympathy and interest in the labour questions won him universal
respect (1818-1885).
FRASER RIVER, the chief river of British Columbia, is formed by the
junction near Fort George of two streams, one rising in the Rockies, the
other flowing out of the Lakes Stuart and Fraser; it discharges into the
Georgian Gulf, 800 m. below Fort George. Rich deposits of gold are found
in the lower basin, and an active industry in salmon-catching and canning
is carried on.
FRATICELLI (i. e. Little Brethren), a religious sect which arose
in Italy in the 13th century, and continued to exist until the close of
the 15th. They were an offshoot from the FRANCISCANS (q. v.),
who sought in their lives to enforce more rigidly the laws of St.
Francis, and declined to accept the pontifical explanations of monastic
rules; ultimately they broke away from the authority of the Church, and
despite the efforts of various popes to reconcile them, and the bitter
persecutions of others, maintained a separate organisation, going the
length of appointing their own cardinals and pope, having declared the
Church in a state of apostasy. Their régime of life was of the severest
nature; they begged from door to door their daily food, and went clothed
in rags.
FRAUNHOFER, JOSEPH VON, German optician, born in Straubing, Bavaria;
after serving an apprenticeship as a glass-cutter in Münich, he rose to
be manager of an optical institute there, and eventually attained to the
position of professor in the Academy of Sciences; his name is associated
with many discoveries in optical science as well as inventions and
improvements in the optician's art; but he is chiefly remembered for his
discovery of the dark lines in the solar spectrum, since called after him
the Fraunhofer lines (1787-1826).
FREDEGONDA, wife of Chilpéric I. of Neustria; a woman of low birth,
but of great beauty and insatiable ambition, who scrupled at no crime to
attain her end; made away with Galswintha, Chilpéric's second wife, and
superseded her on the throne; slew Siegbert, who had been sent to avenge
Galswintha's death, and imprisoned Brunhilda, her sister, of Austrasia,
and finally assassinated her husband and governed Neustria in the name of
her son, Clotaire II. (543-597).
FREDERICK I., surnamed Barbarossa (Red-beard), of the house of
Swabia, emperor of the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE (q. v.) from 1152 till
1190; "a magnificent, magnanimous man, the greatest of all the Kaisers";
his reign is the most brilliant in the annals of the empire, and he
himself among the most honoured of German heroes; his vast empire he
ruled with iron rigour, quelling its rival factions and extending his
sovereign rights to Poland, Hungary, Denmark, and Burgundy; the great
struggle of his reign, however, was with Pope Alexander III. and the
Lombard cities, whose right to independence he acknowledged by the treaty
of Constanz (1183); he "died some unknown sudden death" at 70 in the
crusade against Saladin and the Moslem power; his lifelong ambition was
to secure the independence of the empire, and to subdue the States of
Italy to the imperial sway (1123-1190).
FREDERICK II., called the Wonder of the World, grandson of the
preceding; he was crowned emperor in 1215, at Aix-la-Chapelle, having
driven Otto IV. from the throne; he gave much attention to the
consolidating of his Italian possessions, encouraged learning and art,
founded the university of Naples, and had the laws carefully codified; in
these attempts at harmonising the various elements of his empire he was
opposed by the Papal power and the Lombards; in 1228 he gained possession
of Jerusalem, of which he crowned himself king; his later years were
spent in struggles with the Papal and Lombard powers, and darkened by the
treachery of his son Henry and of an intimate friend; he was a man of
outstanding intellectual force and learning, but lacked the moral
greatness of his grandfather (1194-1250).
FREDERICK III., emperor of Germany, born at Potsdam; bred for the
army; rose to command; did signal service at Königgratz in 1860, and
again in 1870 in the Franco-German War; married the Princess Royal of
England; succeeded his father, but fell a victim to a serious throat
malady after a reign of only 101 days, June 18 (1831-1888).
FREDERICK V., Electoral Prince Palatine; succeeded to the Palatinate
in 1610, and three years later married Elizabeth, daughter of James I. of
England; an attempt to head the Protestant union of Germany and his
usurpation of the crown of Bohemia brought about his ruin and expulsion
from the Palatinate in 1620 by the Spaniards and Bavarians; he took
refuge in Holland, but two years later his principality was given to
Bavaria by the emperor (1596-1632).
FREDERICK III., of Denmark, succeeded to the throne in 1648; during
his reign the arrogance and oppression of the nobles drove the commons,
headed by the clergy, to seek redress of the king by proclaiming the
constitution a hereditary and absolute monarchy (1609-1670).
FREDERICK V., of Denmark, ascended the throne in 1746; during his
reign Denmark made great progress, manufactures were established,
commerce extended, while science and the fine arts were liberally
patronised (1723-1766).
FREDERICK VI., of Denmark, became regent in 1784 during the insanity
of his father, who died in 1808; his reign is noted for the abolishment
of feudal serfdom and the prohibition of the slave-trade in Danish
colonies, and the granting of a liberal constitution in 1831; while his
participation in the maritime confederation between Russia, Sweden, and
Prussia led to the destruction of the Danish fleet off Copenhagen in 1800
by the British, and his sympathy and alliance with Napoleon brought about
the bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807, and the cession of Norway to
Sweden in 1814 (1768-1839).
FREDERICK I., first king of Prussia, third elector of Brandenburg,
and son of the Great Elector Frederick-William, whom as elector he
succeeded in 1688; he extended his territory by purchase; supported
William of Orange in his English expedition, and lent assistance to the
Grand Alliance against France, for which he received the title of king of
Prussia, being crowned such in Königsberg in 1701; he was "an expensive
Herr, and much given to magnificent ceremonies, etiquettes, and
solemnities" (1657-1713).
FREDERICK II., king of Prussia from 1740 to 1786, surnamed "The
Great," grandson of the preceding, and nephew of George I. of England,
born at Berlin; the irksome restraints of his early military education
induced him to make an attempt, which failed, to escape to England, an
episode which incensed his father, and nearly brought him to the
scaffold; after his marriage in 1733 he resided at Rheinsburg, indulging
his taste for music and French literature, and corresponding with
Voltaire; he came to the throne with the ambition of extending and
consolidating his power; from Austria, after two wars (1740-1744), he
wrested Silesia, and again in the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), and in
1778 by force of arms acquired the duchy of Franconia; as administrator
he was eminently efficient, the country flourished under his just, if
severe, rule; his many wars imposed no debt on the nation; national
industries were fostered, and religious toleration encouraged; he was not
so successful in his literary attempts as his military, and all he wrote
was in French, the spirit of it as well as the letter; he is accounted
the creator of the Prussian monarchy "the first," says Carlyle, "who, in
a highly public manner, announced its creation; announced to all men that
it was, in very deed, created; standing on its own feet there, and would
go a great way on the impulse it got from him and others" (1712-1786).
FREDERICK CHARLES, PRINCE, nephew of William I. of Germany; bred for
the army; distinguished himself in the wars against Denmark and Austria,
and in the Franco-German War (1828-1885).
FREDERICK-WILLIAM I., king of Prussia, born at Berlin, ascended the
throne in 1713; in 1720, at the peace of Stockholm, he received part of
Pomerania with Stettin for espousing the cause of Denmark in her war with
Russia and Poland against Sweden; the rest of his reign was passed in
improving the internal conditions of his country and her military
resources; in praise of him as a sternly genuine man and king, Carlyle
has much to say in the early volumes of his "Frederick"; "No Baresark of
them" ("the primeval sons of Thor"), among whom he ranks him, "no
Baresark of them, not Odin's self, I think, was a bit of truer human
stuff; his value to me in these times, rare and great" (1688-1740).
FREDERICK-WILLIAM II., king of Prussia, nephew of FREDERICK THE
GREAT (q. v.); succeeded to the throne in 1786, but soon lost
favour by indolence and favouritism; in 1788 the freedom of the press was
withdrawn, and religious freedom curtailed; he involved himself in a weak
and vacillating foreign policy, wasting the funds accumulated by his
uncle in a useless war with Holland; at the partition of Poland in 1793
and 1795 various districts were added to the kingdom (1744-1797).
FREDERICK-WILLIAM III., king of Prussia from 1797 till 1840; incited
by the queen and the commons he abandoned his position of neutrality
towards Napoleon and declared war in 1806; defeat followed at Jena and in
other battles, and by the treaty of Tilsit (1807) Prussia was deprived of
half her possessions; under the able administration of Stein the country
began to recover itself, and a war for freedom succeeded in breaking the
power of France at the victory of Leipzig (1813), and at the treaty of
Vienna (1815) her lost territory was restored; his remaining years were
spent in consolidating and developing his dominions, but his policy was
sometimes reactionary in its effects (1770-1840).
FREDERICK-WILLIAM IV., king of Prussia from 1840 till 1861; his
reign is marked by the persistent demands of the people for a
constitutional form of government, which was finally granted in 1850; a
year previous he had declined the imperial crown offered by the Frankfort
Diet; in 1857 he became insane, and his brother was appointed regent
(1795-1861).
FREDERIKSHALD, a fortified seaport of Norway, 65 m. SE. of
Christiania; was burnt in 1826, but handsomely restored in modern style;
timber is the main trade; in the immediate neighbourhood is the
impregnable fortress of Frederiksteen, associated with the death of
Charles XII. of Sweden, who fell fighting in the trenches before its
walls in 1718.
FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, an ecclesiastical body formed by those who
left the Established Church in 1843 on the ground that they were not free
in their connection with the State to enforce certain obligations which
they considered lay on them as a Church of Christ, to whom, and not to
the State, they held themselves as a Church subject.
FREE CITIES OF GERMANY, were cities which enjoyed sovereign rights
within their own walls, independent representation in the Diet, and owned
allegiance solely to the emperor. Their internal government was sometimes
democratic, sometimes the opposite. Their peculiar privileges were
obtained either by force of arms, by purchase, or by gift of the
emperors, who found in them a convenient means of checking the power of
their feudal lords. Most of them lost their privileges in 1803, and since
1866 only Lübeck, Bremen, and Hamburg remain in the category of free
cities.
FREE PORT, name given to a port at which ships of all nations may
discharge or load cargo without payment of customs or other duties, save
harbour dues. They were created in various Continental countries during
the Middle Ages for the purpose of stimulating trade, but Copenhagen and,
in a restricted sense, Hamburg and Bremen are now the only free ports in
Europe. The system of bonded warehousing has superseded them.
FREE SOILERS, a political party which arose in the United States in
1848 to oppose slave-extension. In 1856 their principles were adopted,
and the party absorbed in the newly-formed Republican party.
FREE TRADE, the name given to the commercial policy of England,
first elaborately set forth with cogent reasoning by Adam Smith in his
"Wealth of Nations," and of which the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 was
the first step towards its adoption. Strictly used, the term is
applicable only to international or foreign trade, and signifies a policy
of strict non-intervention in the free competition of foreign goods with
home goods in the home markets. Differential duties, artificial
encouragements (e. g. bounties, drawbacks), to the home producer, all
of which are characteristic of a protective system of trading, are
withheld, the belief being entertained by free-traders that the
industrial interests of a country are best served by permitting the
capital to flow into those channels of trade into which the character and
resources of the country naturally dispose it to do, and also by bringing
the consumer as near as possible to the cheapest producer. But it is not
considered a violation of the Free Trade principles to impose a duty for
revenue purposes on such imported articles as have no home competitor,
e. g. tea.
FREEMAN, EDWARD AUGUSTUS, historian, born at Mitchley Abbey,
Staffordshire; was a Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford; examiner in the
School of Law and Modern History; in 1884 he was elected Regius Professor
of Modern History at Oxford; most of his life was spent in country
retirement at Somerleaze, varied by Continental travel; he is the author
of many scholarly works ranging over the whole field of history, his
fame, however, mainly resting on his great "History of the Norman
Conquest" (1823-1892).
FREEMASONRY, in modern times is the name given to a world-wide
institution of the nature of a friendly benevolent society, having for
its objects the promotion of social intercourse amongst its members, and,
in its own language, "the practice of moral and social virtue," the
exercise of charity being particularly commended. By a peculiar grip of
the hand and certain passwords members are enabled to recognise each
other, and the existence of masonic lodges in all countries enables the
freemason to find friendly intercourse and assistance wherever he goes.
Its origin is found in the masonic brotherhoods of the Middle Ages, and
some of the names, forms, and symbols of these old craft guilds are still
preserved. In an age when great cathedrals and monasteries were rapidly
springing up masons were in great demand, and had to travel from place to
place, hence signs were adopted by which true masons might be known
amongst each other and assisted. The idea of utilising this secret method
of recognition for general, social, and charitable purposes, without
reference to the mason's craft, seems to have originated in the Edinburgh
Lodge, where, in 1600, speculative or theoretical masons were admitted.
In its present form of organisation it dates back to 1813, when the
"United Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of England" was
formed, and of which, since 1874, the Prince of Wales has been
Grand-Master, and which has nearly 2000 local lodges under its
protection.
FREEPORT, SIR ANDREW, a London merchant; a member of the imaginary
club under whose auspices the _Spectator_ was issued.
FREIBERG (29), in the centre of the Saxon mining district, 20 m. SW.
of Dresden; is an old town, which arose upon the discovery of its silver
mines in 1163. It has a fine old cathedral, and a famous school of mines;
and the manufactures comprise gold and silver work, wire, chemicals, etc.
FREIBURG, 1, a Swiss canton (119) between Bern and Vaud, and having
three esclaves in the latter; the population consists chiefly of French
Catholics; is hilly; dairy-farming, watchmaking, and straw-plaiting are
the chief industries. 2, Capital (12) of the canton, is situated on the
Saane, 19 m. SW. of Bern; the river is spanned by a suspension bridge,
and there is an old Gothic cathedral with one of the finest-toned organs
in Europe.
FREIBURG (49), in Breisgau, an important town in Baden, at the W.
side of the Black Forest, and 32 m. NE. of Basel; has a Gothic cathedral
famous for its architectural beauty, a university with 87 professors and
teachers and 884 students; has important manufactures in silk, cotton,
thread, paper, etc.; is the seat of a Catholic archbishop, and is
associated with many stirring events in German history.
FREILIGRATH, FERDINAND, a popular German poet, born at Detmold; was
engaged in commerce in his early years, but the success of a small
collection of poems in 1838 induced him to adopt a literary career;
subsequently his democratic principles, expressed in stirring verse,
involved him in trouble, and in 1846 he became a refugee in London; he
was permitted to return in 1848, and shortly afterwards was the
successful defendant in a celebrated trial for the publication of his
poem "The Dead to the Living," after which fresh prosecution drove him to
London in 1851, where, till his return in 1868, he engaged in poetical
work, translating Burns, Shakespeare, and other English poets
(1810-1876).
FREISCHÜTZ (i. e. Freeshooter), a legendary hunter who made a
compact with the devil whereby of seven balls six should infallibly hit
the mark, and the seventh be under the direction of the devil, a legend
which was rife among the troopers in the 13th and 14th centuries, and has
given name to one of Weber's operas.
FRÉMONT, JOHN CHARLES, an American explorer, born at Savannah,
Georgia; at first a teacher of mathematics in the navy, subsequently took
to civil-engineering and surveying; in 1843 explored the South Pass of
the Rockies, and proved the practicability of an overland route; explored
the Great Salt Lake, the watershed between the Mississippi and Pacific,
and the upper reaches of the Rio Grande; he rendered valuable services in
the Mexican War, but was deprived of his captaincy for disobedience;
after unsuccessfully standing for the Presidency in the anti-slavery
interest, he again served in the army as major-general; a scheme for a
southern railway to the Pacific brought him into trouble with the French
government in 1873, when he was tried and condemned for fraud, unjustly
it would seem; from 1878 to 1882 he was governor of Arizona; he was the
recipient of distinctions from various geographical societies
(1813-1890).
FRENCH PHILOSOPHISM, an analysis of things conducted on the
presumption that scientific knowledge is the key to unlock the mystery
and resolve the riddle of the universe.
FRENCH REVOLUTION, according to Carlyle "the open violent revolt,
and victory, of disimprisoned Anarchy against corrupt, worn-out
Authority, the crowning Phenomenon of our Modern Time," but for which, he
once protested to Mr. Froude, he would not have known what to make of
this world at all; it was a sign to him that the God of judgment still
sat sovereign at the heart of it.
FRERE, SIR HENRY BARTLE EDWARD, a distinguished diplomatist and
colonial governor, born near Abergavenny; entering the East India Company
in 1834, he rendered important services as administrator in Mahratta and
as Resident in Sattara in 1847; as the chief-commissioner in Sind he did
much to open up the country by means of canals, roads, etc.; during the
Mutiny, which arrested these works of improvement, he distinguished
himself by the prompt manner in which he suppressed the rising in his own
province; from 1862 to 1867 he was governor of Bombay; in 1867 was
knighted, and five years later carried through important diplomatic work
in Zanzibar, signing the treaty abolishing the slave-trade; his last
appointment was as governor of the Cape and High-Commissioner for the
settlement of South African affairs; the Kaffir and Zulu Wars involved
him in trouble, and in 1880 he was recalled, having effected little
(1815-1884).
FRERE, JOHN HOOKHAM, English politician and author, born in London,
uncle of the preceding; he was a staunch supporter of Pitt, and in 1799
became Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs; a year later he was envoy to
Lisbon, and subsequently minister to Spain; in 1821 he retired to Malta,
where he devoted himself to scholarly pursuits, twice declining a
peerage; in his early days he was a contributor to the _Anti-Jacobin_,
and shares with his school-fellow Canning the authorship of the "Needy
Knife-Grinder"; but he is best known by his fine translations of some of
Aristophanes' plays (1769-1841).
FRESCO, the art of painting on walls freshly laid with plaster, or
which have been damped so as to permit of the colour sinking into the
lime; there were two methods, the _fresco secco_ and the _fresco buon_;
in the first the wall was sprinkled with water, and the colours were then
worked into the damp surface; in the second process, in which finer and
more permanent effects were obtained, the artist worked upon the fresh
plaster of the wall (which is laid for him as he proceeds), pouncing or
tracing his designs with a stylus; only colours which are natural earths
can be employed, as they require to be mixed with lime ere being applied,
and are subject to the destroying effect of that substance; as a method
of mural decoration it was known to the ancients, and some of the finest
specimens are to be seen in the Italian cathedrals of the 14th and 15th
centuries; the art is still in vogue, but can only be practised
successfully in a dry climate.
FRESNEL, AUGUSTIN JEAN, French physicist, born at Broglie, Eure; as
an engineer he rose to be head of the Department of Public Works at
Paris; in 1825 he was elected an F.R.S. of London; he made discoveries
in optical science which helped to confirm the undulatory theory of
light, also invented a compound lighthouse lens (1783-1827).
FRESNO (11), a town in California, on the Southern Pacific Railway,
207 m. SE. of San Francisco; the surrounding district, extensively
irrigated, produces abundance of fruit, and raisins and wine are largely
exported.
FREUND, WILHELM, German philologist, born at Kempen, in Posen;
studied education at Berlin and Breslau, and was chiefly occupied in
teaching till 1870, when he retired in order to devote himself to his
literary pursuits; besides classical school-books and some works on
philology, he compiled an elaborate Latin dictionary in 4 vols., which
has been the basis of the standard English-Latin dictionaries since; _b_.
1806.
FREYR, figures in the Scandinavian mythology as the god who rules
the rain and sunshine, and whose gifts were peace, wealth, and abundant
harvests; the wooing of Gerda, daughter of the giant Gymer, by Freyr is
one of the most beautiful stories in the northern mythology; his festival
was celebrated at Christmas, and his first temple was built at Upsala by
the Swedes, who especially honoured him.
FREYTAG, GUSTAV, an eminent German novelist and dramatist, born at
Kreuzburg, Silesia; from 1839 was teacher of German language and
literature at Breslau, and became editor of a journal, a position he held
till 1870; was a member of the North German Diet, and accompanied the
Crown Prince during the war of 1870-71; from 1879 resided at Wiesbaden;
his many novels and plays and poems, which reveal a powerful and
realistic genius, place him in the front rank of modern German
littérateurs; several of his novels have been translated into English,
amongst which his masterpiece, "Soll und Haben" (Debit and Credit)
(1816-1895).
FRIAR (i. e. brother), a name applied generally to members of
religious brotherhoods, but which in its strict significance indicated an
order lower than that of priest, the latter being called "father," while
they differed from monks in that they travelled about, whereas the monk
remained secluded in his monastery; in the 13th century arose the Grey
Friars or Franciscans, the Black Friars or Dominicans, the White Friars
or Carmelites, Augustinians or Austin Friars, and later the Crutched
Friars or Trinitarians.
FRIAR JOHN, a friar of Seville, in Rabelais' "Pantagruel," notorious
for his irreverence in the discharge of his religious duties and for his
lewd, lusty ways.
FRIAR TUCK, Robin Hood's chaplain and steward, introduced by Scott
into "Ivanhoe" as a kind of clerical Falstaff.
FRIDAY, the young savage, the attendant of Robinson Crusoe, so
called as discovered on a Friday.
FRIDAY, the sixth day of the week, so called as consecrated to
Freyia or Frigga, the wife of Odin; is proverbially a day of ill luck;
held sacred among Catholics as the day of the crucifixion, and the
Mohammedan Sunday in commemoration as the day on which, as they believe,
Adam was created.
FRIEDLAND, VALENTIN, an eminent scholar and educationist, born in
Upper Lusatia; friend of Luther and Melanchthon; his fame as a teacher
attracted to Goldberg, in Silesia, where he taught, pupils from far and
near; the secret of his success lay in his inculcating on his pupils
respect for their own honour; had a great faith in the intelligence that
evinced itself in clear expression (1490-1556).
FRIEND OF MAN, Marquis de Mirabeau, so called from the title of one
of his works, "L'Ami des Hommes."
FRIENDLY ISLANDS, islands of the S. Pacific, some 180 in number,
mostly of coral or volcanic origin, and of which 30 are inhabited; the
natives rank high among the South Sea islanders for intelligence. See
TONGA ISLANDS.
FRIENDLY SOCIETIES, associations of individuals for the purpose of
mutual benefit in sickness and distress, and of old and wide-spread
institution and under various names and forms.
FRIENDS, SOCIETY OF, a community of Christians popularly known as
Quakers, founded in 1648 by GEORGE FOX (q. v.), distinguished
for their plainness of speech and manners, and differing from other sects
chiefly in the exclusive deference they pay to the "inner light," and
their rejection of both clergy and sacrament as media of grace; they
refuse to take oath, are averse to war, and have always been opposed to
slavery.
FRIENDS OF THE PEOPLE, an association formed as far back as 1792 to
secure by constitutional means parliamentary reform.
FRIES, ELIAS, Swedish cryptogamic botanist, professor at Upsala;
wrote on fungi and lichens (1794-1878).
FRIES, JAKOB FRIEDRICH, a German Kantian philosopher; was professor
at Jena; aimed at reconciling the Kantian philosophy with Faith, or the
intuitions of the Pure Reason (1773-1843).
FRIESLAND, the most northerly province of Holland, with a rich soil;
divided into East and West Friesland; low-lying and pastoral; protected
by dykes.
FRIGGA, a Scandinavian goddess, the wife of Odin; worshipped among
the Saxons as a goddess mother; was the earth deified, or the Norse
Demeter.
FRISIANS, a Low German people, who occupied originally the shores of
the North Sea from the mouths of the Rhine and Ems; distinguished for
their free institutions; tribes of them at one time invaded Britain,
where traces of their presence may still be noted.
FRITH, WILLIAM POWELL, an English painter, born near Ripon,
Yorkshire; his works are numerous, his subjects varied and interesting,
and his most popular pictures have brought large sums; _b_. 1819.
FRITZ, FATHER, name given to Frederick the Great by his subjects
"with a familiarity which did not breed contempt in his case."
FROBISHER, SIR MARTIN, famous English sailor and navigator, born
near Doncaster; thrice over enthusiastically essayed the discovery of the
North-West Passage under Elizabeth; accompanied Drake to the West Indies;
was knighted for his services against the Armada; conducted several
expeditions against Spain; was mortally wounded when leading an attack on
Brest, and died on his passage home (1535-1594).
FROEBEL, FRIEDRICH, a devoted German educationist on the principles
of Pestalozzi, which combined physical, moral, and intellectual training,
commencing with the years of childhood; was the founder of the famous
_Kindergarten_ system (1782-1852).
FROGMORE, a royal palace and mausoleum in Windsor Park, the
burial-place of Prince Albert.
FROISSART, JEAN, a French chronicler and poet, born at Valenciennes;
visited England in the reign of Edward III., at whose Court, and
particularly with the Queen, he became a great favourite for his tales of
chivalry, and whence he was sent to Scotland to collect more materials
for his chronicles, where he became the guest of the king and the Earl of
Douglas; after this he wandered from place to place, ranging as far as
Venice and Rome, to add to his store; he died in Flanders, and his
chronicles, which extend from 1322 to 1400, are written without order,
but with grace and _naïveté_ (1337-1410).
FROMENTIN, EUGÈNE, an eminent French painter and author, born at
Rochelle; was the author of two travel-sketches, and a brilliant novel
"Dominique" (1820-1876).
FRONDE, a name given to a revolt in France opposed to the Court of
Anne of Austria and Mazarin during the minority of Louis XIV. The war
which arose, and which was due to the despotism of Mazarin, passed
through two phases: it was first a war on the part of the people and the
parlement, called the Old Fronde, which lasted from 1648 till 1649, and
then a war on the part of the nobles, called the New Fronde, which lasted
till 1652, when the revolt was crushed by Turenne to the triumph of the
royal power. The name is derived from the mimic fights with slings in
which the boys of Paris indulged themselves, and which even went so far
as to beat back at times the civic guard sent to suppress them.
FROUDE, HURRELL, elder brother of the succeeding, a leader in the
Tractarian movement; author of Tracts IX. and LXIII. (1803-1836).
FROUDE, JAMES ANTHONY, an English historian and man of letters, born
at Totnes, Devon; trained originally for the Church, he gave himself to
literature, his chief work being the "History of England from the Fall of
Wolsey to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada," in 12 vols., of which the
first appeared in 1854 and the last in 1870, but it is with Carlyle and
his "Life of Carlyle" that his name has of late been most intimately
associated, and in connection with which he will ere long honourably
figure in the history of the literature of England, though he has other
claims to regard as the author of the "Nemesis of Faith," "Short Studies
on Great Subjects," a "Life of Cæsar," a "Life of Bunyan," "The English
in Ireland in the Eighteenth Century," and "English Seamen in the
Sixteenth Century"; he ranks as one of the masters of English prose, and
as a man of penetration, insight, and enlarged views, if somewhat
careless about minor details (1818-1894).
FROUDE, WILLIAM, another brother, a civil engineer, assistant to
Brunel; made important discoveries in hydro-dynamics of great practical
avail (1810-1879).
FRY, MRS. ELIZABETH, philanthropist, born at Norwich, third daughter
of John Gurney, the Quaker banker; married Joseph Fry of Plashet, Essex;
devoted her life to prison reform and the reform of criminals, as well as
other benevolent enterprises; she has been called "the female Howard"
(1780-1845).
FUAD-MAHMED, PASHA, a Turkish statesman, diplomatist, and man of
letters; studied medicine, but soon turned himself to politics; was much
esteemed and honoured at foreign courts, at which he represented Turkey,
for his skill, sagacity, and finesse; became Minister of Foreign Affairs
in 1852; was hostile to the pretensions of Russia, and gave umbrage to
the Czar; published a Turkish grammar, which is received with favour
(1814-1869).
FUDGE FAMILY, THE, a satiric piece by Thomas Moore, published in
1818.
FUENTES, COUNT, a Spanish general and statesman, eminent both in war
and diplomacy; commanded the Spanish infantry at the siege of Rocroi when
he was eighty-two, borne on a litter in the midst of the fight, and
perished by the sword, the Great Condé having attacked the besiegers
(1560-1643).
FUERO-FUEGO, a Wisigoth Spanish law of the 7th century, a curious
monument of the legislation of the Middle Ages.
FUGGER, the name of a family of Augsburg who rose from the loom by
way of commerce to great wealth and eminence in Germany, particularly
under the Emperors Maximilian and Charles V., the real founder of the
wealth being Jacob, who died 1409.
FULHAM, a suburb of London, on the Middlesex bank of the Thames,
opposite Putney, with the palace and burying-place of the bishops of
London.
FULLAH, a people of the Upper Soudan whose territory extends between
Senegal and Darfur, a race of superior physique and intelligence, and of
a certain polish of manners, and with Caucasian type of feature.
FULLER, ANDREW, an eminent Baptist minister, born in Cambridgeshire,
was settled at Kettering, and a zealous controversialist in defence of
the gospel against hyper-Calvinism on the one hand and Socinianism on the
other, but he is chiefly distinguished in connection with the foundation
of the Baptist Missionary Society, to which he for most part devoted the
energies of his life (1754-1815).
FULLER, MARGARET, an American authoress, born at Cambridgepont,
Mass., a woman of speculative ability and high aims, a friend of Emerson,
and much esteemed by Carlyle, though he thought her enthusiasm
extravagant and beyond the range of accomplishment; she was one of the
leaders of the transcendental movement in America; visited Europe, and
Italy in particular; engaged there in the struggle for political
independence; married the young Marquis of Ossoli; sailed for New York,
and was drowned with her husband and child on the sand-bars of Long
Island (1810-1850).
FULLER, THOMAS, historian, divine, and wit, born in
Northamptonshire, son of the rector of Sarum; entering into holy orders,
he held in succession several benefices in the Church of England, and was
a prebend in Salisbury Cathedral; taking sides with the king, he lost
favour under the Commonwealth; wrote a number of works, in which one
finds combined gaiety and piety, good sense and whimsical fancy; composed
among other works the "History of the Holy War," a "History of the
Crusades," "The Holy and the Profane States," the "Church History of
Great Britain," and the "Worthies of England," the last his principal
work, and published posthumously; he was a man of great shrewdness, broad
sympathies, and a kindly nature; was an author much admired by Charles
Lamb (1608-1661).
FULTON, ROBERT, an American engineer, born in Pennsylvania; began
life as a miniature portrait and landscape painter, in which he made some
progress, but soon turned to engineering; he was one of the first to
apply steam to the propulsion of vessels, and devoted much attention to
the invention of submarine boats and torpedoes; he built a steamboat to
navigate the Hudson River, with a very slow rate of progress however,
making only five miles an hour (1615-1765).
FUM, a grotesque animal figure, six cubits high, one of four
presumed to preside over the destinies of China.
FUNCHAL (19), the capital of Madeira, at the head of a bay on the S.
coast, and the base of a mountain 4000 ft. high, extends a mile along the
shore, and slopes up the sides of the mountain; famous as a health
resort, more at one time than now.
FUNDY BAY, an arm of the sea between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia;
it is of difficult navigation owing to the strong and rapid rush of the
tides.
FÜNEN (221), the second in size of the Danish islands, separated
from Zealand on the E. by the Great Belt and from Jutland on the W. by
the Little Belt; is flat except on S. and W., fertile, well cultivated,
and yields crops of cereals.
FURIES. See ERINNYES.
FURNIVALL, FREDERICK JAMES, English barrister, born at Egham, in
Surrey; devoted to the study of Early and Middle English Literature;
founder and director of numerous societies for promoting the study of
special works, such as the Early English Text, Chaucer, Ballad, and New
Shakespeare Societies, and editor of publications in connection with
them; was in his early days a great authority on boating and
boat-building; _b_. 1825.
FÜRST, JULIUS, a distinguished German Orientalist, born in Posen, of
Jewish descent; a specialist in Hebrew and Aramaic; author of a Hebrew
and Chaldee Manual (1805-1873).
FÜRST, WALTER, of Uri, a Swiss patriot, who, along with William
Tell, contributed to establish the liberty and independence of
Switzerland; _d_. 1317.
FUSELI, HENRY, properly FUSOLI, a famous portrait-painter, born
at Zurich; coming to England at the age of 22, he became acquainted with
Sir Joshua Reynolds, who advised him to go to Rome; after eight years
spent in study of the Italian masters, and Michael Angelo in particular,
he returned to England and became an R.A.; he painted a series of
pictures, afterwards exhibited as the "Milton Gallery" (1741-1825).
FUST JOHANN, a rich burgher of Mainz, associated with Gutenberg and
Schöffer, to whom along with them the invention of printing has been
ascribed; _d_. 1466.
FYNE, LOCH, an Argyllshire arm of the sea, extending N. from Bute to
Inveraray, and from 1 m. to 5 m. broad; famed for its herrings.
FYZABAD (78), capital of Oudh, in India, at one time, 78 m. E. of
Lucknow; much decayed.
G
GABELENTZ, HANS CONON VON DER, a distinguished German philologist,
born at Altenburg: was master, it is said, of 80 languages, contributed
treatises on several of them, his most important work being on the
Melanesian (1807-1874).
GABELLE, an indirect tax, specially one on salt, the term applied to
a State monopoly in France in that article, and the exaction in
connection with which was a source of much discontent; the people were
obliged to purchase it at government warehouses and at extravagant, often
very unequal, rates; the impost dates from 1286; was abolished in 1789.
GABELSBERGER, FRANZ XAVIER, inventor of the shorthand in use in
German countries as well as elsewhere (1789-1849).
GABERLUNZIE, a licensed beggar, or any of the mendicant class, so
called from the wallet he carried.
GABINUS, a Roman tribune in 66 B.C., afterwards consul; party to
the banishment of Cicero, 57 B.C.
GABOON and FRENCH CONGO (5,000), a French Colony in W. Africa
fronting the Atlantic, between the Cameroon country and the Congo State,
and stretching inland as far as the head-waters of the Congo River; in
the NW. is the great Gaboon estuary, 40 m. long and 10 broad at its
mouth, with Libreville on its N. bank; along the coast the climate is hot
and unhealthy, but it improves inland; the natives belong to the Bantu
stock; the French settled in it first in 1842, but only since the
explorations of De Brazza in 1876-86 have they begun to extend and
colonise it.
GABRIEL, an angel, one of the seven archangels, "the power of God,"
who is represented in the traditions of both the Jews and the Moslems as
discharging the highest functions, and in Christian tradition as
announcing to the Virgin Mary her election of God to be the mother of the
Messiah; he ranks fully higher among Moslems than Jews.
GABRIEL, a French architect, born in Paris (1710-1782).
GABRIELLES D'ESTRÉES, the mistress of Henry IV. of France, who for
State reasons was not allowed to marry her (1571-1599).
GAD, one of the Jewish tribes inhabiting the E. of the Jordan.
GADAMES or GHADAMES (7 to 10), an oasis and town in Africa,
situated in the SW. corner of Tripoli, on the N. border of the Sahara;
the fertility of the oasis is due to hot springs, from which the place
takes its name; high walls protect the soil and the fruit of it, which is
abundant, from sand-storms; it is an entrepôt for trade with the
interior; the inhabitants are Berber Mohammedans.
GADDI, GADDO, a Florentine painter and worker in mosaic, friend of
Cimabue and Giotto (1239-1312).
GADDI, TADDEO, son of the preceding, and pupil of Giotto both in
architecture and fresco-painting (1300-1366).
GADDI, AGNOLO, son of the preceding, and a painter of frescoes
(1350-1396).
GADES, the ancient name of CADIZ (q. v.).
GADSHILL, an eminence in Kent, 3 m. NW. of Rochester, associated
with the name of Falstaff, also of Dickens, who resided here from 1856 to
1870, and where he died.
GAETA (17), a fortified seaport of S. Italy, finely situated on a
steep promontory 50 m. NW. of Naples; it was a favourite watering-place
of the ancient Roman nobility, and the beauty of its bay is celebrated by
Virgil and Horace; it is rich in classic remains, and in its day has
witnessed many sieges; the inhabitants are chiefly employed with fishing
and a light coast trade.
GAGE, THOMAS, English general, son of Viscount Gage; he served in
the Seven Years' War, and took part in 1755 in Braddock's disastrous
expedition in America; in 1760 he became military governor of Montreal,
and three years later commander-in-chief of the British forces in
America; as governor of Massachusetts he precipitated the revolution by
his ill-timed severity, and after the battle of Bunker's Hill was
recalled to England (1721-1787).
GAIA or GE, in the Greek mythology the primeval goddess of the
earth, the _alma mater_ of living things, both in heaven and on earth,
called subsequently Demeter, i. e. Gemeter, Earth-mother.
GAILLARD, French historian, born at Amiens; devoted his life to
history (1726-1806).
GAINSBOROUGH, THOMAS, one of England's greatest artists in portrait
and landscape painting, born at Sudbury, Suffolk; he early displayed a
talent for drawing, and at 14 was sent to London to study art; when 19 he
started as a portrait-painter at Ipswich, having by this time married
Margaret Burr, a young lady with £200 a year; patronised by Sir Philip
Thicknesse, he removed in 1760 to Bath, where he rose into high favour,
and in 1774 he sought a wider field in London; he shared the honours of
painting portraits with Reynolds and of landscape with Wilson; his
portraits have more of grace, if less of genius, than Reynolds, while his
landscapes inaugurated a freer and more genial manner of dealing with
nature, while as a colourist Ruskin declares him the greatest since
Rubens; among his most famous pictures are portraits of Mrs. Siddons,
the Duchess of Devonshire, and the Hon. Mrs. Graham, "Shepherd Boy in the
Shower," "The Seashore," &c. (1727-1788).
GAIUS, a Roman jurist of the 2nd century, whose "Institutes" served
for the basis of Justinian's.
GALAHAD, SIR, son of Lancelot, one of the Knights of the Round
Table; distinguished for the immaculate purity of his character and life;
was successful in his search for the Holy Graal.
GALAOR, a hero of Spanish romance, brother of Amadis de Gaul, the
model of a courtly paladin, and always ready with his sword to avenge the
wrongs of the widow and the orphan.
GALAPÁGOS, a sparsely populated group of islands (13 in number),
barren on the N., but well wooded on the S., situated on the equator, 600
m. W. of Ecuador, and which, although belonging to Ecuador, all bear
English names, bestowed upon them, it would appear, by the buccaneers of
the 17th century; Albemarle Island makes up more than half of their area;
they are volcanic in formation, and some of their 2000 craters are not
yet inactive; their fauna is of peculiar scientific interest as
exhibiting many species unknown elsewhere; besides the islands proper
there is a vast number of islets and rocks.
GALATA, a faubourg of Constantinople where the European merchants
reside.
GALATEA, a nymph whom Polyphemus made love to, but who preferred
Acis to him, whom therefore he made away with by crushing him under a
rock, in consequence of which the nymph threw herself into the sea.
GALATIA, a high-lying Roman province in Asia Minor that had been
invaded and taken possession of by a horde of Gauls in the 3rd century
B.C., whence the name.
GALATIANS, EPISTLE TO THE, an epistle of St. Paul to the churches in
Galatia, which was an especial favourite with Luther, as, with its
doctrine of spiritual freedom in Christ, it might well be, for it
corroborated the great revelation first made to him by a neighbour monk;
"man is not saved by singing masses, but by the grace of God"; it is a
didactic epistle, in assertion, on the one hand, of freedom from the law,
and, on the other, of the power of the spirit.
GALATZ or GALACZ (59), the great river-port of Roumania, on the
Danube, 8 m. above the Sulina mouth of the river and 166 m. NE. of
Bucharest; the new town is well laid out, and contains some fine
buildings; its harbour is one of the finest on the Danube; a great export
trade is carried on in cereals, while textiles and metals are the chief
imports.
GALAXY, the Milky Way, a band of light seen after sunset across the
heavens, consisting of an innumerable multitude of stars, or suns rather,
stretching away into the depths of space.
GALBA, a Roman emperor from June 68 to January 69, elected at the
age of 70 by the Gallic legions to succeed Nero, but for his severity and
avarice was slain by the Prætorian guard, who proclaimed Otho emperor in
his stead.
GALE, THEOPHILUS, a Nonconformist divine; author of the "Court of
the Gentiles," in which he attempts to prove that the theology and
philosophy of the Gentiles was borrowed from the Scriptures (1628-1678).
GALE, THOMAS, dean of York; edited classics, wrote on early English
history (1636-1702).
GALEN, or CLAUDIUS GALENUS, a famous Greek physician, born at
Pergamus, in Illyria, where, after studying in various cities, he settled
in 158; subsequently he went to Rome, and eventually became physician to
the emperors M. Aurelius, L. Verus, and Severus; of his voluminous
writings 83 treatises are still extant, and these treat on a varied array
of subjects, philosophical as well as professional; for centuries after
his death his works were accepted as authoritative in the matter of
medicine (131-201).
GALE`RIUS, VALERIUS MAXIMUS, Roman emperor, born in Dacia, of lowly
parentage; rose from a common soldier to be the son-in-law of the Emperor
Diocletian, who in 292 raised him to the dignity of a Cæsar; in 305, on
the death of Diocletian, he became head of the Eastern Empire, which he
continued to be till his death in 311; his name is associated with a
cruel persecution of the Christians under Diocletian.
GALGACUS, a Caledonian chief defeated by Agricola at the battle of
the Grampians in 85, after a desperate resistance.
GALIA`NI, FERDINANDO, an Italian political economist, man of
letters, and a wit; held with honour several important offices under the
Neapolitan Government; was attaché to the embassy at Paris, and the
associate of Grimm and Diderot (1728-1787).
GALICIA, 1, an old province (1,919) of Spain, formerly a kingdom in
the NW. corner of it, fronting the Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic; now
divided into the four minor provinces, Coruña, Lugo, Orense, Pontevedra;
the county is hilly, well watered, fertile, and favoured with a fine
climate, but cultivated only very partially; some mining is carried on.
2, A crownland (6,607) in the NE. of Austria, between Russia and the
Carpathians; the inhabitants are mainly Slavs, but there is a goodly
number of Jews, Germans, Poles, &c.; the land is fertile, consists
chiefly of extensive plains, well watered by the Dneister and other large
rivers, and yields abundance of cereals, while one-fourth is covered with
forest; timber is largely exported, and salt; many of the useful metals
are found, and productive petroleum wells; it has an independent Diet,
but an Austrian governor; Austria annexed it in 1772.
GALILÆANS, a fanatical sect, followers of one Judas of Galilee, who
fiercely resented the taxation of the Romans, and whose violence
contributed to induce the latter to vow the extermination of the whole
race.
GALILEE, the northern division of Palestine, divided into Upper,
hilly, Lower, level, about 60 m. long and 30 broad.
GALILEE, SEA OF, an expansion of the Jordan, 12½ m. long, and at the
most 8 m. broad, enclosed by steep mountains, except on NW.
GALILEO, an illustrious Italian mathematician, physicist, and
astronomer, born at Pisa, demonstrated the isochronism of the pendulum,
invented the thermometer and the hydrostatic balance, propounded the law
of falling bodies, constructed the first astronomical telescope, and by
means of it satisfied himself of, and proved, the truth of the Copernican
doctrine, that the sun and not the earth is the centre of the planetary
system, and that the earth revolves round it like the other planets which
reflect its light; his insistence on this truth provoked the hostility of
the Church, and an ecclesiastical decree which pronounced the Copernican
theory heresy; for the profession of it he was brought to the bar of the
Inquisition, where he was compelled to forswear it by oath, concluding
his recantation, it is said, with the exclamation, "still, it moves";
before his end he became blind, and died in Florence at 78, the year
Newton was born (1564-1642).
GALITZIN, the name of a Russian family distinguished for their
ability and success in both war and peace from the 16th century onwards.
GALL, FRANZ JOSEPH, the founder of phrenology, born at Tiefenbronn,
on the borders of Baden and Würtemberg; in 1785 he established himself as
a physician in Vienna, where for many years he carried on a series of
elaborate investigations on the nature of the brain and its relation to
the outer cranium, visiting with that view lunatic asylums, &c.; in 1796
he gave publicity to his views in a series of lectures in Vienna, which
were, however, condemned as subversive of morality and religion; being
joined by Spurzheim, who adopted his theories, he undertook a lecturing
tour through a large part of Europe, and eventually settled at Paris,
where he published his phrenological work "Fonctions du Cerveau"; it is a
curious fact that on his death his skull was found to be twice the usual
thickness, and that there was a tumour in the cerebellum (1758-1828).
GALL, ST., an Irish monk who, about 585, accompanied St. Columban to
France in his missionary labours, banished from which he went to
Switzerland, and founded a monastery on the Lake of Constance, which bore
his name; _d_. about 646.
GALLAND, ANTOINE, French Orientalist, born in Picardy, professor of
Arabic in the College of France; was the first to translate the "Arabian
Nights" into any European tongue (1646-1715).
GALLAS, an Ethiopian race occupying the S. and E. of Abyssinia,
energetic, intelligent, and warlike; follow mostly pastoral occupations;
number over four millions, and are mostly heathens.
GALLE or POINT DE GALLE (33), fortified seaport town, prettily
situated on a rocky promontory in the SW. of Ceylon; there is a good
harbour, but the shipping, which at one time was extensive, has declined
since the rise of Colombo.
GALLICAN CHURCH, the Catholic Church in France which, while
sincerely devoted to the Catholic faith and the Holy See, resolutely
refused to concede certain rights and privileges which belonged to it
from the earliest times; it steadfastly contended that infallibility was
vested not in the Pope alone, but in the entire episcopal body under him
as its head; maintained the supreme authority of general councils and
that of the holy canons in the government of the Church, and insisted
that there was a distinction between the temporal and the spiritual
power; contentions summed up in a declaration of the French clergy in
1682, the body of whom opposed to which are known by the name of
"Ultramontanists."
GALLICANISM, the name given to the contention of the GALLICAN
CHURCH (q. v.).
GALLIENUS, PUBLIUS LICINIUS, Roman Emperor from 260 to 268, and for
seven years (253-260) associated in the government with his father, the
Emperor Valerian; under his lax rule the empire was subjected to hostile
inroads on all sides, while in the provinces a succession of usurpers,
known as the Thirty Tyrants, sprang up, disowning allegiance, and
aspiring to the title of Cæsar; in his later years he roused himself to
vigorous resistance, but in 268 was murdered by his own soldiers whilst
pressing the rebel Aureolus at the siege of Milan.
GALLIGANTUA, the wizard giant slain by Jack the Giant-killer.
GALLIO, the Roman proconsul of Achaia in the days of St. Paul,
before whom the Jews of Corinth brought an appeal against the latter, but
which he treated with careless indifference as no affair of his, in
consequence of which his name has become the synonym of an easy-going
ruler or prince.
GALLIPOLI, 1, a fortified seaport town (8) in Southern Italy, 59 m.
S. of Brindisi; stands on a rocky islet in the Gulf of Taranto, close to
the mainland, with which it is connected by a bridge of 12 arches; a fine
cathedral and huge tanks hewn out of the solid rock for the storage of
olive-oil are objects of interest. 2, A seaport (15) of Turkey in Europe,
stands on a peninsula of the same name at the western end of the Sea of
Marmora, at the mouth of the Dardanelles, 90 m. S. of Adrianople; it was
the first city captured by the Turks in Europe (1356), and is now the
naval arsenal of Turkey and head-quarters of the Turkish navy.
GALLOWAY, a district in the SW. of Scotland, co-extensive with
Wigtown and Kirkcudbright, though formerly of considerably greater
extent; the lack of mineral wealth has retarded its development, and the
industry of the population is limited chiefly to agriculture, the rearing
of sheep and cattle, and fishing, and it is still noted for a small but
hardy breed of horses called Galloways; the province derives its name
from Gall-Gael, or foreign Gaels, as the early inhabitants were called,
who up to the time of the Reformation maintained the characteristics,
language, &c., of a distinct people; in 1455 Galloway ceased to exist as
a separate lordship; in the extreme S. of Wigtown is the bold and rocky
promontory, the MULL OF GALLOWAY, the extremity of the peninsula
called the Rhinns of Galloway; the Mull, which is the most southerly
point in Scotland, rises to a height of 210 ft., and is crowned by a
powerful lighthouse.
GALSWINTHE, the sister of Brunhilda and the second wife of Chilpéric
I.; was strangled to death in 568.
GALT, JOHN, Scotch novelist, born at Irvine; educated at Greenock,
where he held a post in the Custom-house for a time; essayed literature,
wrote "The Ayrshire Legatees," "The Annals of the Parish," "Sir Andrew
Wylie," "The Entail," and "The Provost"; died of paralysis at Greenock;
Carlyle, who met him in London in 1832, says, "He had the air of a broad,
gaucie, Greenock burgher; mouth indicating sly humour and
self-satisfaction; eyes, old and without lashes, gave me a _wae_ interest
for him; says little, but that little peaceable, clear, and _gutmüthig_"
(1779-1839).
GALVANISED IRON, plate-iron coated with zinc, which renders it less
liable to be affected by moisture and subject to corrosion.
GALVANISM, the mere contact with two dissimilar metals, the science
of what is now called Voltaic or current electricity, produced, as in the
above instance, from the contact of dissimilar metals, especially that of
acids on metals.
GALVANI, LUIGI, an Italian physician, born at Bologna; celebrated
for his discoveries in animal magnetism called after him Galvanism, due
to an observation he made of the convulsive motion produced in the leg of
a recently-killed frog (1737-1798).
GALVESTON (38), the chief seaport of Texas, situated on a low island
of the same name at the entrance of Galveston Bay into the Gulf of
Mexico; it has a splendid harbour, and is an important centre of the
cotton trade, ranking as the third cotton port of the world; the city is
well laid out, and is the see of a Roman Catholic bishop; it has a
medical college and several foundries.