[1] For a full account of this celebrated case see Howell, _State
Trials_ (1813), vol. xix.
FIELDING, WILLIAM STEVENS (1848- ), Canadian journalist and statesman,
was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the 24th of November 1848. From
1864 to 1884 he was one of the staff of the _Morning Chronicle_, the
chief Liberal paper of the province, and worked at all departments of
newspaper life. In 1882 he entered the local legislature as Liberal
member for Halifax, and from 1884 to 1896 was premier and provincial
secretary of the province, but in the latter year became finance
minister in the Dominion administration of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and was
elected to the House of Commons for Shelburne and Queen's county. He
opposed Confederation in 1864-1867, and as late as 1886 won a provincial
election on the promise to advocate the repeal of the British North
America Act. His administration as finance minister of Canada was
important, since in 1897 he introduced a new tariff, granting to the
manufactures of Great Britain a preference, subsequently increased; and
later he imposed a special surtax on German imports owing to unfriendly
tariff legislation by that country. In 1902 he represented Canada at the
Colonial Conference in London.
FIELD-MOUSE, the popular designation of such mouse-like British rodents
as are not true or "house" mice. The term thus includes the long-tailed
field mouse, _Mus (Micromys) sylvaticus_, easily recognized by its white
belly, and sometimes called the wood-mouse; and the two species of
short-tailed field-mice, _Microtus agrestis_ and _Evotomys glareolus_,
together with their representatives in Skomer island and the Orkneys
(see MOUSE and VOLE).
FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD, the French _Camp du drap d'or_, the name
given to the place between Guines and Ardres where Henry VIII. of
England met Francis I. of France in June 1520. The most elaborate
arrangements were made for the accommodation of the two monarchs and
their large retinues; and on Henry's part especially no efforts were
spared to make a great impression in Europe by this meeting. Before the
castle of Guines a temporary palace, covering an area of nearly 12,000
sq. yds., was erected for the reception of the English king. It was
decorated in the most sumptuous fashion, and like the chapel, served by
thirty-five priests, was furnished with a profusion of golden ornaments.
Some idea of the size of Henry's following may be gathered from the fact
that in one month 2200 sheep and other viands in a similar proportion
were consumed. In the fields beyond the castle, tents to the number of
2800 were erected for less distinguished visitors, and the whole scene
was one of the greatest animation. Ladies gorgeously clad, and knights,
showing by their dress and bearing their anxiety to revive the glories
and the follies of the age of chivalry, jostled mountebanks, mendicants
and vendors of all kinds.
Journeying from Calais Henry reached his headquarters at Guines on the
4th of June 1520, and Francis took up his residence at Ardres. After
Cardinal Wolsey, with a splendid train had visited the French king, the
two monarchs met at the Val Dore, a spot midway between the two places,
on the 7th. The following days were taken up with tournaments, in which
both kings took part, banquets and other entertainments, and after
Wolsey had said mass the two sovereigns separated on the 24th. This
meeting made a great impression on contemporaries, but its political
results were very small.
The _Ordonnance_ for the _Field_ is printed by J.S. Brewer in the
_Calendar of State Papers, Henry VIII_. vol. iii. (1867). See also
J.S. Brewer, _Reign of Henry VIII_. (1884).
FIELDS, JAMES THOMAS (1817-1881), American publisher and author, was
born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on the 31st of December 1817. At the
age of seventeen he went to Boston as clerk in a bookseller's shop.
Afterwards he wrote for the newspapers, and in 1835 he read an
anniversary poem entitled "Commerce" before the Boston Mercantile
Library Association. In 1839 he became junior partner in the publishing
and bookselling firm known after 1846 as Ticknor & Fields, and after
1868 as Fields, Osgood & Company. He was the publisher of the foremost
contemporary American writers, with whom he was on terms of close
personal friendship, and he was the American publisher of some of the
best-known British writers of his time, some of whom, also, he knew
intimately. The first collected edition of De Quincey's works (20 vols.,
1850-1855) was published by his firm. As a publisher he was
characterized by a somewhat rare combination of keen business acumen and
sound, discriminating literary taste, and as a man he was known for his
geniality and charm of manner. In 1862-1870, as the successor of James
Russell Lowell, he edited the _Atlantic Monthly_. In 1871 Fields retired
from business and from his editorial duties, and devoted himself to
lecturing and to writing. Of his books the chief were the collection of
sketches and essays entitled _Underbrush_ (1877) and the chapters of
reminiscence composing _Yesterdays with Authors_ (1871), in which he
recorded his personal friendship with Wordsworth, Thackeray, Dickens,
Hawthorne and others. He died in Boston on the 24th of April 1881.
His second wife, ANNIE ADAMS FIELDS (b. 1834), whom he married in 1854,
published _Under the Olive_ (1880), a book of verses; _James T. Fields:
Biographical Notes and Personal Sketches_ (1882); _Authors and Friends_
(1896); _The Life and Letters of Harriet Beecher Stowe_ (1897); and
_Orpheus_ (1900).
FIENNES, NATHANIEL (c. 1608-1669) English politician, second son of
William, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele, by Elizabeth, daughter of John
Temple, of Stow in Buckinghamshire, was born in 1607 or 1608, and
educated at Winchester and at New College, Oxford, where as founder's
kin he was admitted a perpetual fellow in 1624. After about five years'
residence he left without taking a degree, travelled abroad, and in
Switzerland imbibed or strengthened those religious principles and that
hostility to the Laudian church which were to be the chief motive in his
future political career. He returned to Scotland in 1639, and
established communications with the Covenanters and the Opposition in
England, and as member for Banbury in both the Short and Long
Parliaments he took a prominent part in the attacks upon the church. He
spoke against the illegal canons on the 14th of December 1640, and again
on the 9th of February 1641 on the occasion of the reception of the
London petition, when he argued against episcopacy as constituting a
political as well as a religious danger and made a great impression on
the House, his name being added immediately to the committee appointed
to deal with church affairs. He took a leading part in the examination
into the army plot; was one of the commissioners appointed to attend the
king to Scotland in August 1641; and was nominated one of the committee
of safety in July 1642. On the outbreak of hostilities he took arms
immediately, commanded a troop of horse in the army of Lord Essex, was
present at the relief of Coventry in August, and at the fight at
Worcester in September, where he distinguished himself, and subsequently
at Edgehill. Of the last two engagements he wrote accounts, viz. _True
and Exact Relation of both the Battles fought by ... Earl of Essex ...
against the Bloudy Cavaliers_ (1642). (See also _A Narrative of the Late
Battle before Worcester taken by a Gentleman of the Inns of Court from
the mouth of Master Fiennes_, 1642). In February 1643 Fiennes was sent
down to Bristol, arrested Colonel Essex the governor, executed the two
leaders of a plot to deliver up the city, and received a commission
himself as governor on the 1st of May 1643. On the arrival, however, of
Prince Rupert on the 22nd of July the place was in no condition to
resist an attack, and Fiennes capitulated. He addressed to Essex a
letter in his defence (Thomason Tracts E. 65, 26), drew up for the
parliament a _Relation concerning the Surrender_ ... (1643), answered by
Prynne and Clement Walker accusing him of treachery and cowardice, to
which he opposed _Col. Fiennes his Reply_.... He was tried at St Albans
by the council of war in December, was pronounced guilty of having
surrendered the place improperly, and sentenced to death. He was,
however, pardoned, and the facility with which Bristol subsequently
capitulated to the parliamentary army induced Cromwell and the generals
to exonerate him completely. His military career nevertheless now came
to an end. He went abroad, and it was some time before he reappeared on
the political scene. In September 1647 he was included in the army
committee, and on the 3rd of January 1648 he became a member of the
committee of safety. He was, however, in favour of accepting the king's
terms at Newport in December, and in consequence was excluded from the
House by Pride's Purge. An opponent of church government in any form, he
was no friend to the rigid and tyrannical Presbyterianism of the day,
and inclined to Independency and Cromwell's party. He was a member of
the council of state in 1654, and in June 1655 he received the strange
appointment of commissioner for the custody of the great seal, for which
he was certainly in no way fitted. In the parliament of 1654 he was
returned for Oxford county and in that of 1656 for the university, while
in January 1658 he was included in Cromwell's House of Lords. He was in
favour of the Protector's assumption of the royal title and urged his
acceptance of it on several occasions. His public career closes with
addresses delivered in his capacity as chief commissioner of the great
seal at the beginning of the sessions of January 20, 1658, and January
2, 1659, in which the religious basis of Cromwell's government is
especially insisted upon, the feature to which Fiennes throughout his
career had attached most value. On the reassembling of the Long
Parliament he was superseded; he took no part in the Restoration, and
died at Newton Tony in Wiltshire on the 16th of December 1669. Fiennes
married (1), Elizabeth, daughter of the famous parliamentarian Sir John
Eliot, by whom he had one son, afterwards 3rd Viscount Saye and Sele;
and (2), Frances, daughter of Richard Whitehead of Tuderley, Hants, by
whom he had three daughters.
Besides the pamphlets already cited, a number of his speeches and
other political tracts were published (see Gen. Catalogue, British
Museum). Wood also attributed to him _Monarchy Asserted_ (1666)
(reprinted in Somers Tracts, vi. 346 [ed. Scott]), but there seems no
reason to ascribe to him with Clement Walker the authorship of
Sprigge's _Anglia Rediviva_.
FIERI FACIAS, usually abbreviated _fi. fa._ (Lat. "that you cause to be
made"), in English law, a writ of execution after judgment obtained in
action of debt or damages. It is addressed to the sheriff, and commands
him to make good the amount out of the goods of the person against whom
judgment has been obtained. (See EXECUTION.)
FIESCHI, GIUSEPPE MARCO (1790-1836), the chief conspirator in the
attempt on the life of Louis Philippe in July 1835, was a native of
Murato in Corsica. He served under Murat, then returned to Corsica,
where he was condemned to ten years' imprisonment and perpetual
surveillance by the police for theft and forgery. After a period of
vagabondage he eluded the police and obtained a small post in Paris by
means of forged papers; but losing it on account of his suspicious
manner of living, he resolved to revenge himself on society. He took
lodgings on the Boulevard du Temple, and there, with two members of the
Societe des Droits de l'Homme, Morey and Pepin by name, contrived an
"infernal machine," constructed with twenty gun barrels, to be fired
simultaneously. On the 28th of July 1835, as Louis Philippe was passing
along the boulevard to the Bastille, accompanied by his three sons and a
numerous staff, the machine was exploded. A ball grazed the king's
forehead, and his horse, with those of the duke of Nemours and of the
prince de Joinville, was shot; Marshal Mortier was killed, with
seventeen other persons, and many were wounded; but the king and the
princes escaped as if by miracle. Fieschi himself was severely wounded
by the discharge of his machine, and vainly attempted to escape. The
attentions of the most skilful physicians were lavished upon him, and
his life was saved for the stroke of justice. On his trial he named his
accomplices, displayed much bravado, and expected or pretended to expect
ultimate pardon. He was condemned to death, and was guillotined on the
19th of February 1836. Morey and Pepin were also executed, another
accomplice was sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment and one was
acquitted. No less than seven plots against the life of Louis Philippe
had been discovered by the police within the year, and apologists were
not wanting in the revolutionary press for the crime of Fieschi.
See _Proces de Fieschi, precede de sa vie privee, sa condamnation par
la Cour des Pairs et celles de ses complices_ (2 vols., 1836); also P.
Thureau-Dangin, _Hist, de la monarchie de Juillet_ (vol. iv. ch. xii.,
1884).
FIESCO (DE' FIESCHI), GIOVANNI LUIGI (c. 1523-1547), count of Lavagna,
was descended from one of the greatest families of Liguria, first
mentioned in the 10th century. Among his ancestors were two popes
(Innocent IV. and Adrian V.), many cardinals, a king of Sicily, three
saints, and many generals and admirals of Genoa and other states.
Sinibaldo Fiesco, his father, had been a close friend of Andrea Doria
(q.v.), and had rendered many important services to the Genoese
republic. On his death in 1532 Giovanni found himself at the age of nine
the head of the family and possessor of immense estates. He grew up to
be a handsome, intelligent youth, of attractive manners and very
ambitious. He married Eleonora Cibo, marchioness of Massa, in 1540, a
woman of great beauty and family influence. There were many reasons
which inspired his hatred of the Doria family; the almost absolute power
wielded by the aged admiral and the insolence of his nephew and heir
Giannettino Doria, the commander of the galleys, were galling to him as
to many other Genoese, and it is said that Giannettino was the lover of
Fiesco's wife. Moreover, the Fiesco belonged to the French or popular
party, while the Doria were aristocrats and Imperialists. When Fiesco
determined to conspire against Doria he found friends in many quarters.
Pope Paul III. was the first to encourage him, while both Pier Luigi
Farnese, duke of Parma, and Francis I. of France gave him much
assistance and promised him many advantages. Among his associates in
Genoa were his brothers Girolamo and Ottobuono, Verrina and R. Sacco. A
number of armed men from the Fiesco fiefs were secretly brought to
Genoa, and it was agreed that on the 2nd of January 1547, during the
interregnum before the election of the new doge, the galleys in the port
should be seized and the city gates held. The first part of the
programme was easily carried out, and Giannettino Doria, aroused by the
tumult, rushed down to the port and was killed, but Andrea escaped from
the city in time. The conspirators attempted to gain possession of the
government, but unfortunately for them Giovanni Luigi, while crossing a
plank from the quay to one of the galleys, fell into the water and was
drowned. The news spread consternation among the Fiesco faction, and
Girolamo Fiesco found few adherents. They came to terms with the senate
and were granted a general amnesty. Doria returned to Genoa on the 4th
thirsting for revenge, and in spite of the amnesty he confiscated the
Fiesco estates; Girolamo had shut himself up, with Verrina and Sacco and
other conspirators, in his castle of Montobbia, which the Genoese at
Doria's instigation besieged and captured. Girolamo Fiesco and Verrina
were tried, tortured and executed; all their estates were seized, some
of which, including Torriglia, Doria obtained for himself. Ottobuono
Fiesco, who had escaped, was captured eight years afterwards and put to
death by Doria's orders.
There are many accounts of the conspiracy, of which perhaps the best
is contained in E. Petit's _Andre Doria_ (Paris, 1887), chs. xi. and
xii., where all the chief authorities are quoted; see also Calligari,
_La Congiura del Fiesco_ (Venice 1892), and Gavazzo, _Nuovi documenti
sulla congiura del conte Fiesco_ (Genoa, 1886); E. Bernabo-Brea, in
his _Sulla congiura di Giovanni Luigi Fieschi_, publishes many
important documents, while L. Capelloni's _Congiura del Fiesco_,
edited by Olivieri, and A. Mascardi's _Congiura del conte Giovanni
Luigi de' Fieschi_ (Antwerp, 1629) may be commended among the earlier
works. The Fiesco conspiracy has been the subject of many poems and
dramas, of which the most famous is that by Schiller. See also under
DORIA, ANDREA; FARNESE. (L. V.*)
FIESOLE (anc. _Faesulae_, q.v.), a town and episcopal see of Tuscany,
Italy, in the province of Florence, from which it is 3 m. N.E. by
electric tramway. Pop. (1901) town 4951, commune 16,816. It is situated
on a hill 970 ft. above sea-level, and commands a fine view. The
cathedral of S. Romolo is an early and simple example of the Tuscan
Romanesque style; it is a small basilica, begun in 1028 and restored in
1256. The picturesque battlemented campanile belongs to 1213. The tomb
of the bishop Leonardo Salutati (d. 1466). with a beautiful portrait
bust by the sculptor, Mino da Fiesole (1431-1484), is fine. The
13th-century Palazzo Pretorio contains a small museum of antiquities.
The Franciscan monastery commands a fine view. The church of S. Maria
Primerana has some works of art, and S. Alessandro, which is attributed
to the 6th century, contains fifteen ancient columns of cipollino. The
inhabitants of Fiesole are largely engaged in straw-plaiting.
Below Fiesole, between it and Florence, lies San Domenico di Fiesole
(485 ft.); in the Dominican monastery the painter, Fra Giovanni Angelico
da Fiesole (1387-1455), lived until he went to S. Marco at Florence.
Here, too, is the Badia di Fiesole, founded in 1028 and re-erected about
1456-1466 by a follower of Brunelleschi. It is an irregular pile of
buildings, in fine and simple early Renaissance style; a small part of
the original facade of 1028 in black and white marble is preserved. The
interior of the Church is decorated with sculptures by pupils of
Desiderio da Settignano. The slopes of the hill on which Fiesole stands
are covered with fine villas. To the S.E. of Fiesole lies Monte Ceceri
(1453 ft.), with quarries of grey _pietra serena_, largely used in
Florence for building. To the E. of this lies the 14th-century castle of
Vincigliata restored and fitted up in the medieval style.
FIFE, an eastern county of Scotland, bounded N. by the Firth of Tay, E.
by the North Sea, S. by the Firth of Forth, and W. by the shires of
Perth, Kinross and Clackmannan. The Isle of May, Inchkeith, Inchcolm,
Inchgarvie and the islet of Oxcar belong to the shire. It has an area of
322,844, acres or 504 sq. m. Its coast-line measure 108 m. The Lomond
Hills to the S. and S.W. of Falkland, of which West Lomond is 1713 ft.
high and East Lomond 1471 ft., Saline Hill (1178 ft.) to the N.W. of
Dunfermline, and Benarty (1131 ft.) on the confines of Kinross are the
chief heights. Of the rivers the Eden is the longest; formed on the
borders of Kinross-shire by the confluence of Beattie Burn and Carmore
Burn, it pursues a wandering course for 25 m. N.E., partly through the
Howe, or Hollow of Fife, and empties into the North Sea. There is good
trout fishing in its upper waters, but weirs prevent salmon from
ascending it. The Leven drains the loch of that name and enters the
Forth at the town of Leven after flowing eastward for 15 m. There are
numerous factories at various points on its banks. The Ore, rising not
far from Roscobie Hills to the north of Dunfermline, follows a mainly
north-easterly course for 15 m. till it joins the Leven at Windygates.
The old loch of Ore which was an expansion of its water was long ago
reclaimed. Motray Water finds its source in the parish of Kilmany, a few
miles W. by N. of Cupar, makes a bold sweep towards the north-east, and
then, taking a southerly turn, enters the head-waters of St Andrews Bay,
after a course of 12 m. The principal lochs are Loch Fitty, Loch Gelly,
Loch Glow and Loch Lindores; they are small but afford some sport for
trout, perch and pike. "Freshwater mussels" occur in Loch Fitty. There
are no glens, and the only large valley is the fertile Stratheden, which
supplies part of the title of the combined baronies of Stratheden
(created 1836) and Campbell (created 1841).
_Geology._--Between Damhead and Tayport on the northern side of the
low-lying Howe of Fife the higher ground is formed of Lower Old Red
Sandstone volcanic rocks, consisting of red and purple porphyrites and
andesites and some coarse agglomerates, which, in the neighbourhood of
Auchtermuchty, are rounded and conglomeratic. These rocks have a
gentle dip towards the S.S.E. They are overlaid unconformably by the
soft red sandstones of the Upper Old Red series which underlie the
Howe of Fife from Loch Leven to the coast. The quarries in these rocks
in Dura Den are famous for fossil fishes. Following the Old Red rocks
conformably are the Carboniferous formations which occupy the
remainder of the county, and are well exposed on the coast and in the
numerous quarries. The Carboniferous rocks include, at the base, the
Calciferous Sandstone series of dark shales with thin limestones,
sandstones and coals. They are best developed around Fife Ness,
between St Andrews and Elie, and again around Burntisland between
Kirkcaldy and Inverkeithing Bay. In the Carboniferous Limestone
series, which comes next in upward succession, are the valuable
gas-coals and ironstones worked in the coal-fields of Dunfermline,
Saline, Oakley, Torryburn, Kirkcaldy and Markinch. The true Coal
Measures lie in the district around Dysart and Leven, East Wemyss and
Kinglassie, and they are separated from the coal-bearing
Carboniferous Limestone series by the sandstones and conglomerates of
the Millstone Grit, Fourteen seams of coal are found in the Dysart
Coal Measures, associated with sandstones, shales and clay ironstones.
Fife is remarkably rich in evidences of former volcanic activity.
Besides the Old Red Sandstone volcanic rocks previously mentioned,
there are many beds of contemporaneous basaltic lavas and tuffs in the
Carboniferous rocks; Saline Hill and Knock Hill were the sites of
vents, which at that time threw out ashes; these interbedded rocks are
well exposed on the shore between Burntisland and and Seafield Tower.
There were also many intrusive sheets of dolerite and basalt forced
into the lower Carboniferous rocks, and these now play an important
part in the scenery of the county. They form the summits of the Lomond
Hills and Benarty, and they may be followed from Cult Hill by the
Cleish Hills to Blairadam; and again near Dunfermline, Burntisland,
Torryburn, Auchtertool and St Andrews. Later, in Permian times,
eastern Fife was the seat of further volcanic action, and great
numbers of "necks" or vents pierce the Carboniferous rocks; Largo Law
is a striking example. In one of these necks on the shore at Kincraig
Point is a fine example of columnar basalt; the "Rock and Spindle"
near St Andrews is another. Last of all in Tertiary times, east and
west rifts in the Old Red Sandstone were filled by basalt dikes.
Glacial deposits, ridges of gravel and sand, boulder clay, &c.,
brought from the N. W., cover much of the older rocks, and traces of
old raised beaches are found round the coast and in the Howe cf Fife.
In the 25-ft. beach in the East Neuk of Fife is an island sea-cliff
with small caves.
_Climate and Agriculture._--Since the higher hills all lie in the west,
most of the county is exposed to the full force of the east winds from
the North Sea, which often, save in the more sheltered areas, check the
progress of vegetation. At an elevation of 500 or 600 ft. above the sea
harvests are three or four weeks later than in the valleys and low-lying
coast-land. The climate, on the whole, is mild, proximity to the sea
qualifying the heat in summer and the cold in winter. The average annual
rainfall is 31 in., rather less in the East Neuk district and around St
Andrews, somewhat more as the hills are approached, late summer and
autumn being the wet season. The average temperature for January is 38
deg. F., for July 59.5 deg., and for the year 47.6 deg. Four-fifths of
the total area is under cultivation, and though the acreage under grain
is smaller than it was, the yield of each crop is still extraordinarily
good, oats, barley, wheat being the order of acreage. Of the green crops
most attention is given to turnips. Potatoes also do well. The acreage
under permanent pasture and wood is very considerable. Cattle are mainly
kept for feeding purposes, and dairy farming, though attracting more
notice, has never been followed more than to supply local markets.
Sheep-farming, however, is on the increase, and the raising of horses,
especially farm horses, is an important pursuit. They are strong, active
and hardy, with a large admixture, or purely, of Clydesdale blood. The
ponies, hunters and carriage horses so bred are highly esteemed. The
strain of pigs has been improved by the introduction of Berkshires.
North of the Eden the soil, though generally thin, is fertile, but the
sandy waste of Tents Moor is beyond redemption. From St Andrews
southwards all along the coast the land is very productive. That
adjacent to the East Neuk consists chiefly of clay and rich loam. From
Leven to Inverkeithing it varies from a light sand to a rich clayey
loam. Excepting Stratheden and Strathleven, which are mostly rich,
fertile loam, the interior is principally cold and stiff clay or thin
loam with strong clayey subsoil. Part of the Howe of Fife is light and
shingly and covered with heather. Some small peat mosses still exist,
and near Lochgelly there is a tract of waste, partly moss and partly
heath. The character of the farm management may be judged by its
results. The best methods are pursued, and houses, steadings and
cottages are all in good order, commodious and comfortable. Rabbits,
hares, pheasants and partridges are common in certain districts; roe
deer are occasionally seen; wild geese, ducks and teal haunt the lochs;
pigeon-houses are fairly numerous; and grouse and blackcock are
plentiful on the Lomond moors. The shire is well suited for fox-hunting,
and there are packs in both the eastern and the western division of
Fife.
_Mining._--Next to Lanarkshire, Fife is the largest coal-producing
county in Scotland. The coal-field may roughly be divided into the
Dunfermline basin (including Halbeath, Lochgelly and Kelty), where the
principal house coals are found, and the Wemyss or Dysart basin
(including Methil and the hinterland), where gas-coal of the best
quality is obtained. Coal is also extensively worked at Culross,
Carnock, Falfield, Donibristle, Ladybank, Kilconquhar and elsewhere.
Beds of ironstone, limestone, sandstone and shale lie in many places
contiguous to the coal. Blackband ironstone is worked at Lochgelly and
Oakley, where there are large smelting furnaces. Oil shale is worked at
Burntisland and Airdrie near Crail. Among the principal limestone
quarries are those at Charlestown, Burntisland and Cults. Freestone of
superior quality is quarried at Strathmiglo, Burntisland and
Dunfermline. Whinstone of unusual hardness and durability is obtained in
nearly every district. Lead has been worked in the Lomond Hills and
copper and zinc have been met with, though not in paying quantities. It
is of interest to note that in the trap tufa at Elie there have been
found pyropes (a variety of dark-red garnet), which are regarded as the
most valuable of Scottish precious stones and are sold under the name of
Elie rubies.
_Other Industries._--The staple manufacture is linen, ranging from the
finest damasks to the coarsest ducks and sackings. Its chief seats are
at Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline, but it is carried on at many of the inland
towns and villages, especially those situated near the Eden and Leven,
on the banks of which rivers, as well as at Kirkcaldy, Dunfermline and
Ceres, are found the bleaching-greens. Kirkcaldy is famous for its
oil-cloth and linoleum. Most of the leading towns possess breweries and
tanneries, and the largest distilleries are at Cameron Bridge and
Burntisland. Woollen cloth is made to a small extent in several towns,
and fishing-net at Kirkcaldy, Largo and West Wemyss. Paper is
manufactured at Guardbridge, Markinch and Leslie; earthenware at
Kirkcaldy; tobacco at Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy; engineering works and
iron foundries are found at Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline; and shipbuilding
is carried on at Kinghorn, Dysart, Burntisland, Inverkeithing and
Tayport. From Inverkeithing all the way round the coast to Newburgh
there are harbours at different points. They are mostly of moderate
dimensions, the principal port being Kirkcaldy. The largest salmon
fisheries are conducted at Newburgh and the chief seat of the herring
fishery is Anstruther, but most of the coast towns take some part in the
fishing either off the shore, or at stations farther north, or in the
deep sea.
_Communications._--The North British railway possesses a monopoly in the
shire. From the Forth Bridge the main line follows the coast as far as
Dysart and then turns northwards to Ladybank, where it diverges to the
north-east for Cupar and the Tay Bridge. From Thornton Junction a branch
runs to Dunfermline and another to Methil, and here begins also the
coast line for Leven, Crail and St Andrews which touches the main line
again at Leuchars Junction; at Markinch a branch runs to Leslie; at
Ladybank there are branches to Mawcarse Junction, and to Newburgh and
Perth; and at Leuchars Junction a loop line runs to Tayport and Newport,
joining the main at Wormit. From the Forth Bridge the system also
connects, via Dunfermline, with Alloa and Stirling in the W. and with
Kinross and Perth in the N. From Dunfermline there is a branch to
Charlestown, which on that account is sometimes called the port of
Dunfermline.
_Population and Government._--The population was 190,365 in 1891, and
218,840 in 1901, when 844 persons spoke Gaelic and English and 3 Gaelic
only. The chief towns are the Anstruthers (pop. in 1901, 4233),
Buckhaven (8828), Burntisland (4846), Cowdenbeath (7908), Cupar (4511),
Dunfermline (25,250), Dysart (3562), Kelty (3986), Kirkcaldy (34,079),
Leslie (3587), Leven (5577), Lochgelly (5472), Lumphinnans (2071),
Newport (2869), St Andrews (7621), Tayport (3325) and Wemyss (2522). For
parliamentary purposes Fife is divided into an eastern and a western
division, each returning one member. It also includes the Kirkcaldy
district of parliamentary burghs (comprising Burntisland, Dysart,
Kinghorn and Kirkcaldy), and the St Andrews district (the two
Anstruthers, Crail, Cupar, Kilrenny, Pittenweem and St Andrews); while
Culross, Dunfermline and Inverkeithing are grouped with the Stirling
district. As regards education the county is under school-board
jurisdiction, and in respect of higher education its equipment is
effective. St Andrews contains several excellent schools; at Cupar there
is the Bell-Baxter school; at Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy there are high
schools and at Anstruther there is the Waid Academy.
_History._--In remote times the term Fife was applied to the peninsula
lying between the estuaries of the Tay and Forth and separated from the
rest of the mainland by the Ochil Hills. Its earliest inhabitants were
Picts of the northern branch and their country was long known as
Pictavia. Doubtless it was owing to the fact that the territory was long
subject to the rule of an independent king that Fife itself came to be
called distinctively The Kingdom, a name of which the natives are still
proud. The Romans effected no settlement in the province, though it is
probable that they temporarily occupied points here and there. In any
case the Romans left no impression on the civilization of the natives.
With the arrival of the missionaries--especially St Serf, St Kenneth, St
Rule, St Adrian, St Moran and St Fillan--and conversion of the Picts
went on apace. Interesting memorials of these devout missionaries exist
in the numerous coast caves between Dysart and St Andrews and in the
crosses and sculptured stones, some doubtless of pre-Christian origin,
to be seen at various places. The word Fife, according to Skene, seems
to be identical with the Jutland _Fibh_ (pronounced _Fife_) meaning
"forest," and was probably first used by the Frisians to describe the
country behind the coasts of the Forth and Tay, where Frisian tribes are
supposed to have settled at the close of the 4th century. The next
immigration was Danish, which left lasting traces in many place-names
(such as the frequent use of _law_ for hill). An ancient division of the
Kingdom into Fife and Fothrif survived for a period for ecclesiastical
purposes. The line of demarcation ran from Leven to the east of Cults,
thence to the west of Collessie and thence to the east of Auchtermuchty.
To the east of this line lay Fife proper. In 1426 the first shire of
Kinross was formed, consisting of Kinross and Orwell, and was enlarged
to its present dimensions by the transference from Fife of the parishes
of Portmoak, Cleish and Tulliebole. Although the county has lain outside
of the main stream of Scottish history, its records are far from dull or
unimportant. During the reigns of the earlier Stuarts, Dunfermline,
Falkland and St Andrews were often the scene of solemn pageantry and
romantic episodes. Out of the seventy royal burghs in Scotland no fewer
than eighteen are situated in the shire. However, notwithstanding the
marked preference of the Stuarts, the Kingdom did not hesitate to play
the leading part in the momentous dramas of the Reformation and the
Covenant, and by the 18th century the people had ceased to regard the
old royal line with any but sentimental interest, and the Jacobite
risings of 1715 and 1745 evoked only the most lukewarm support.
See Sir Robert Sibbald, _History of the Sheriffdoms of Fife and
Kinross_; Rev. J.W. Taylor, _Historical Antiquities of Fife_ (1875);
A.H. Millar, _Fife, Pictorial and Historical_ (Cupar, 1895); Sheriff
Aeneas Mackay, sketch of the _History of Fife_ (Edinburgh, 1890);
_History of Fife and Kinross_ (Scottish County History series)
(Edinburgh, 1896); John Geddie, _The Fringe of Fife_ (Edinburgh,
1894).
FIFE (Fr. _fifre_; Med. Ger. _Schweizerpfeiff_, _Feldpfeiff_; Ital.
_ottavino_), originally the small primitive cylindrical transverse
flute, now the small B[flat] military flute, usually conoidal in bore,
used in a drum and fife band. The pitch of the fife lies between that of
the concert flute and piccolo. The fife, like the flute, is an open
pipe, for although the upper end is stopped by means of a cork, an
outlet is provided by the embouchure which is never entirely closed by
the lips. The six finger-holes of the primitive flute, with the open end
of the tube for a key-note, gave the diatonic scale of the fundamental
octave; the second octave was produced by overblowing the notes of the
fundamental scale an octave higher; part of a third octave was obtained
by means of the higher harmonics produced by using certain of the
finger-holes as vent-holes. The modern fife has, in addition to the six
finger-holes, 4, 5 or 6 keys. Mersenne describes and figures the fife,
which had in his day the compass of a fifteenth.[1] The fife, which, he
states, differed from the German flute only in having a louder and more
brilliant tone and a shorter and narrower bore, was the instrument used
by the Swiss with the drum. The sackbut, or serpent, was used as its
bass, for, as Mersenne explains, the bass instrument could not be made
long enough, nor could the hands reach the holes, although some flutes
were actually made with keys and had the tube doubled back as in the
bassoon.[2]
The words _fife_ and the Fr. _fifre_ were undoubtedly derived from the
Ger. _Pfeiff_, the fife being called by Praetorius[3]
_Schweizerpfeiff_ and _Feldpfeiff_, while Martin Agricola,[4] writing
a century earlier (1529), mentions the transverse flute by the names
of _Querchpfeiff_ or _Schweizerpfeiff_, which Sebastian Virdung[5]
writes _Zwerchpfeiff_. The Old English spelling was _phife_, _phiphe_
or _ffyffe_. The fife was in use in England in the middle of the 16th
century, for at a muster of the citizens of London in 1540, _droumes_
and ffyffes are mentioned. At the battle of St Quentin (1557) the list
of the English army[6] employed states that one trumpet was allowed to
each cavalry troop of 100 men, and a drum and fife to each hundred of
foot. A drumme and _phife_ were also employed at one shilling per diem
for the "Trayne of Artillery."[7] This was the nucleus of the modern
military band, and may be regarded as the first step in its formation.
In England the adoption of the fife as a military instrument was due
to the initiative of Henry VIII., who sent to Vienna for ten good
drums and as many fifers.[8] Ralph Smith[9] gives rules for drummers
and fifers who, in addition to the duty of giving signals in peace and
war to the company, were expected to be brave, secret and ingenious,
and masters of several languages, for they were oft sent to parley
with the enemy and were entrusted with honourable but dangerous
missions. In 1585 the drum and fife formed part of the furniture for
war among the companies of the city of London.[10] Queen Elizabeth
(according to Michaud, _Biogr. universelle_, tome xiii. p. 60) had a
peculiar taste for noisy music, and during meals had a concert of
twelve trumpets, two kettledrums, with fifes and drums. The fife
became such a favourite military instrument during the 16th and 17th
centuries in England that it displaced the bagpipe; it was, however,
in turn superseded early in the 18th century by the hautboy (see
OBOE), introduced from France. In the middle of the 18th century the
fife was reintroduced into the British army band by the duke of
Cumberland[11] in the Guards in 1745, commemorated by William
Hogarth's picture of the "March of the Guards towards Scotland in
1745," in which are seen a drummer and fifer; and by Colonel Bedford
into the royal regiment of artillery in 1748, at the end of the war,
when a Hanoverian fifer, John Ulrich, was brought over from Flanders
as instructor.[12] In 1747 the 19th regiment, known as Green Howards,
also had the advantage of a Hanoverian fifer as teacher, a youth
presented by his colonel to Lieutenant-Colonel Williams commanding the
regiment at Bois-le-Duc. Drum and fife bands in a short time became
common in all infantry regiments, while among the cavalry the trumpet
prevailed.
For the acoustics, construction and origin of the fife see FLUTE.
Illustrations of the fife may be seen in Cowdray's picture of an
encampment at Portsmouth in 1548; in Sandford's "Coronation Procession
of James II.," and in C.R. Day's _Descriptive Catalogue_, pl. i. (F)
(description No. 42, p. 27). (K. S.)