The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 201

FISCHER, ERNST KUNO BERTHOLD, a German historian of philosophy, born at Sandewalde, Silesia; as a student of Erdmann at Halle he was smitten with the love of philosophy, and gave his life to the study of it; after graduating he went to Heidelberg and there established himself as a private lecturer, in which capacity he was eminently successful, but in 1853 was deprived of his status by Government, probably on account of the alleged Pantheistic trend of his teaching; in 1856, however, he was elected to the chair of Philosophy in Jena, and 16 years later was called back to Heidelberg as Zeller's successor; his chief work is a "History of Modern Philosophy"; _b_. 1824.

FISHER, JOHN, bishop of Rochester, born at Beverley; was distinguished at Cambridge, and became chaplain and confessor to the Countess of Richmond, Henry VII.'s mother, who had him appointed professor of Divinity at his _alma mater_; in 1504 he was elected Chancellor of the University and made bishop of Rochester, but incurred the royal displeasure by opposing Henry VIII.'s divorce of Catherine of Aragon, and by upholding the Pope's supremacy; became involved in the deceptions of Elizabeth Barton, maid of Kent, and was sent to the Tower in 1534 for refusing to take the oath of succession; was created a cardinal, but was beheaded by order of the king ere his hat arrived; was beatified in 1886 (1469-1535).

FISKE, JOHN, American writer, born at Hartford, Conn., U.S.; studied at Harvard; in 1869 lectured at his old university as a Positivist, and was under-librarian from 1872 to 1879; he is the author of a number of works on Darwinism, American history, philosophy, etc.; _b_. 1842.

FITCH, JOHN, an American inventor, born in Connecticut; led a life of adventure, at one time acting as gunsmith to the American revolutionaries and at another falling into the hands of Indians whilst trading in the West; in 1785 he brought out a model steamboat with side wheels, and in 1788 and in 1790 constructed larger vessels, one of the latter being for some time employed as a pa.s.senger boat; some of his plans are said to have fallen into Robert Fulton's hands and given him the idea of his steamship; disheartened by the ill-success of a trip to France he committed suicide at Bardstown, Kentucky (1743-1798).

FITZ-BOODLE, GEORGE, Thackeray's pseudonym in _Fraser's Magazine_.

FITZGERALD, EDWARD, English scholar, born in Suffolk; at Cambridge, where he graduated in 1830, he formed close friendships with James Spedding and Thackeray, and afterwards was on intimate terms with Carlyle and Tennyson; his life was quietly spent in his country residence in Suffolk, varied by yachting expeditions and visits to London, where he made the round of his friends; his first book, "Euphranor," a dialogue on youth, appeared when he was 42, "Polonius" followed and some Spanish translations, but his fame rests on his translations of Persian poetry, and especially on his rendering of the 11th-century poet, Omar Khayyam (1809-1883).

FITZGERALD, LADY, a daughter of Egalite and Mme. Genlis, called Pamela; distinguished for her beauty and enthusiasm for liberty, and who became the wife of LORD FITZGERALD, the Irish patriot (q. v.); _d_. 1831.

FITZGERALD, LORD EDWARD, the younger son of the Duke of Leinster, born at Carlton Castle, near Dublin; spent his early years in France; joined the English army and served with distinction in the American War; in 1784 he was elected to the Irish Parliament, and opposed the English Government; was attracted to France by the Revolution, but returned to Ireland and joined the United Irishmen in 1796, and began plotting the rising of 1798; his scheme was betrayed, and he was arrested in Dublin after a determined resistance, during which he received wounds of which he died in prison (1763-1798).

FITZHERBERT, MRS., a Roman Catholic lady, maiden name Maria Anne Smythe, with whom, after her second widowhood, George IV., while Prince of Wales, contracted a secret marriage in 1785, which, however, under the Royal Marriage Act, was declared invalid (1756-1837).

FITZROY, ROBERT, admiral, navigator, and meteorologist, born at Ampton Hall, near Bury St. Edmunds; entered the navy at 14, and in 1828-1830 conducted a survey of the coasts of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, a work he continued while commanding the _Beagle_ (1831-1836), in which Darwin accompanied him; in 1843-1845 was governor of New Zealand; in his later years devoted himself to meteorology, and, on the retired list, rose to be vice-admiral; published accounts of his voyages, etc.; under pressure of work his mind gave way, and he committed suicide (1805-1865).

FITZWILLIAM, WILLIAM, EARL, a politician of George the Third's time; the excesses of the French Revolution caused him to come over from the Whigs and support Pitt; favoured Catholic emanc.i.p.ation during his Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland, but was recalled; held office under Grenville in 1806, and took some part in the Reform Bill agitation of the day (1748-1833).

FIUME (29), a seaport of Hungary, on the Adriatic, at the rocky entrance of the Fiumara, 40 m. SE. of Trieste; a new town of s.p.a.cious and colonnaded streets and many fine buildings, has grown up on the ground sloping down from the old town; has an excellent harbour, and flourishing industries in paper, torpedoes, tobacco, etc., besides being the entrepot of an important and increasing commerce.

FLACIUS or VLACICH, MATTHIAS, surnamed Illyricus, a German theologian, born at Albona, in Illyria; was the pupil of Luther and Melanchthon; became professor of the Old Testament Scriptures at Wittenberg, but four years later lost his position on account of certain attacks he made on Melanchthon; subsequently he was elected professor at Jena, but was again deposed for heterodox notions on original sin; died in poverty; was author of an ecclesiastical history and other works (1520-1575).

FLAGELLANTS, a set of medieval fanatics, who first arose in Italy in 1260, and subsequently appeared in other quarters of Europe, and who thought by self-flagellation to atone for sin and avert divine judgment, hoping by a limited number of stripes to compensate for a century of scourgings; the practice arose at a time when it was reckoned that the final judgment of the world was at hand.

FLAHAULT DE LA BILLARDERIE, AUGUSTE CHARLES JOSEPH, COMTE DE, a French soldier and diplomatist, born at Paris; was aide-de-camp to Napoleon, and for distinguished services in the Peninsular war and at Leipzig was made a general and count; fought at Waterloo, and two years later married Margaret Elphinston, who by inheritance became Baroness Keith; he was amba.s.sador at the Courts of Venice (1841-48) and at London (1860) (1785-1870).

FLAMBARD, RANDOLPH, a Norman who came over with the Conqueror to England and became chaplain to William Rufus, whom he abetted and pandered to in his vices, in return for which, and a heavy sum he paid, he was in 1099 made bishop of Durham.

FLAMBOYANT, the name given, from the flame-like windings of its tracery, to a florid style of architecture in vogue in France during the 15th and 16th centuries.

FLAMENS, priests elected in Rome by the people and consecrated by the chief pontiff to the service of a particular G.o.d, such as Jupiter, Mars, &c.

FLAMINIUS, CAIUS, a Roman tribune and consul, who constructed the Flaminian Way; perished at Lake Trasimene, where he was defeated by Hannibal in the Second Punic War, 217 B.C.

FLAMINIUS, T. QUINTUS, a Roman consul, who defeated Philip of Macedon and proclaimed the freedom of Greece, and it was his close neighbourhood to Hannibal that induced the latter to take poison rather than fall into his hands (230-174 B.C.).

FLAMMARION, CAMILLE, French astronomer, born at Montigny-le-Roi; he was attached to the Paris Observatory in 1858, and by means of books and lectures has spent a busy life in popularising his science; many of his works have been translated into English; _b_. 1842.

FLAMSTEED, JOHN, the first astronomer-royal of England, born near Derby; his devotion to astronomy gained him the favour of Sir Jonas Moore, who was the means of getting him the appointment of astronomer-royal in 1675; from the Observatory of Greenwich, specially built for his use, he catalogued the fixed stars and supplied Newton with useful information bearing on his lunar theory; in 1675 he took holy orders, and was presented to the living of Burstow in Surrey, which he held till his death (1646-1719).

FLANDERS, the land of the Flemings, borders upon the North Sea, formerly extended from the Scheldt to the Somme, and included, besides the present Belgian provinces of East and West Flanders, part of Zealand, and also of Artois, in France; the ancient county dates from 862, in which year Charles the Bold of France, as suzerain, raised it to the status of a sovereign county, and bestowed it upon his son Baldwin I.; it has successively belonged to Spain and Austria, and in Louis XIV.'s reign a portion of it was ceded to France, now known as French Flanders, while Zealand pa.s.sed into the hands of the Dutch; the remainder was in 1714 made the Austrian Netherlands, and in 1831 was incorporated with the new kingdom of BELGIUM (q. v.).

FLANDRIN, a French painter, born at Lyons; was a pupil of Ingres; represented the religious movement in art in the 19th century (1809-1864).

FLAUBERT, GUSTAVE, a realistic romancer, born at Rouen; author of "Madame Bovary," a study of provincial life, which became the subject of a prosecution, and "Salammbo," wonderful for its vigour and skill in description; he indulged in repulsive subjects (1821-1880).

FLAVEL, JOHN, an English Nonconformist divine of spiritualising tendencies, much read by pious people of his cla.s.s; _d_. 1691.

FLAXMAN, JOHN, an eminent sculptor, born at York; was brought up in London, where his father carried on business as a moulder of plaster figures; his love of drawing and modelling soon marked him out as an artist, and helped by friends he devoted himself to art; exhibited at the age of 12, and won the silver medal of the Royal Academy at 14; for some years he supplied the Wedgwoods with designs for their famous pottery, and in 1787 he went to Rome, which for seven years became his home; in 1810 became professor of Sculpture to the Royal Academy; besides many fine statues of eminent men and much exquisite work in bas-reliefs, he executed a series of n.o.ble designs ill.u.s.trating Homer, Dante, and aeschylus; he was a Swedenborgian by religious creed (1755-1826).

FLECHIER, a famous French pulpit orator, bishop of Nimes; his funeral orations compare with Bossuet's (1632-1710).

FLEET MARRIAGES, clandestine marriages, suppressed in 1754, performed without license by the chaplains of Fleet Prison, London.

FLEET PRISON, a celebrated London jail in Farringdon Street; was a debtor's prison as far back as the 12th century.

FLEETWOOD, CHARLES, a Cromwellian officer; fought as lieutenant-general against the king at Worcester, and acted as lord-deputy in Ireland; on the death of Cromwell advised the abdication of Richard; _d_. 1692.

FLEGEL, African explorer, born in Wilna, of German descent; made three journeys from Europe to explore the Niger territory, in which he made important discoveries; was suddenly stricken down in the last (1855-1886).

FLEISCHER, HEINRICH LEBERECHT, Orientalist, born at Schandau, Saxony; after a university training at Leipzig he undertook a catalogue of the Oriental MSS. in the royal library at Dresden, and in 1836 became professor of Oriental Languages at Leipzig; did important work as a critical editor of Oriental works and MSS. (1801-1888).