the son of Sir Edward Filmer, of East Sutton, in Kent; was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge,and afterwards studied the law; and died in 1747. He wrote The Anarchy of limited and mixed Monarchy; and Patriarcha. It was to refute the slavish doctrines of Filmer that Locke wrote his Treatises on Government. FINIGUERRA,TOMMASO, or, by abbreviation, MASO, a native of Florence, is believed to have been born between 1410 and 1415, and to have died before 1477. He was an eminent sculptor and goldsmith, and had been a pupil of Ghiberti. The arts are indebted to him for the discovery of the method of taking impressions from engraved metal plates. be judge of the court of common pleas; and he died in 1538. Among his legal works are, The Grand Abridgment; The New Natura Brevium; and The Office and Authority of Justices of Peace. The Book of Husbandry, and a treatise Of the Surveying of Lands, are also generally attributed to him; but some suppose them to have been written by his brother John. FITZPATRICK, RICHARD, a whig poli. tician and wit, was born in 1748, and was educated at Eton. At the age of eighteen he entered the army, and he rose to the rank of lieutenant-general. From 1774 till the period of his decease, in 1813, he was a member of the House of Commons. During the coalition in 1783, and the whig administration in 1806, he was secretary at war. He contributed to the Rolliad and the Probationary Odes, and wrote various small poems. Of his senatorial eloquence the best specimen is his speech, delivered in 1796, on a motion to effect the liberation of M. de la Fayette. FIXLMILLNER, PLACIDUS, an Aus FINLAY, JOHN, a native of Glasgow, was born in 1782, and was educated at the university of his native city, at which he distinguished himself by his talents, and was much beloved for the sweetness of his disposition. His poem of Wallace of Ellerslie was given to the world when he was only nineteen. He died at Moffat, in 1810. Besides his Wallace, he pub-trian astronomer and mathematician, was lished A Collection of Historical and born, in 1721, near Lintz, and died in Romantic Ballads, 2 vols.; wrote A Life of 1791. He was a monk of the monastery Cervantes; and edited editions of Blair's of Kremsmunster, and held several moGrave, and Smith's Wealth of Nations. nastic offices, besides being professor of His poetry is characterized by no trifling canon law, and apostolical notary of the portion of elegance and animation. Roman court. He is the author of Decennium Astronomicum; Reipublicæ Sacræ Origines Divinæ; and other works. Fixl millner was one of the first who calculated tha orbit of the Georgium Sidus. FISHER, JOHN, a learned and virtuous catholic divine, was born at Beverley, in Yorkshire, in 1459, and was educated at Michael House, Cambridge, of which he subsequently became master. By his influence, the countess of Richmond, to whom he was confessor, was induced to found St. John's and Christ's Colleges. In 1504 he was made bishop of Rochester. At a later period he conscientiously refused to be translated to a rich bishopric. After having held his see for thirty years with honour, and acquired considerable reputation as an opponent of Luther, he incurred the hatred of the imperious tyrant Henry the Eighth, by the part which he took in opposing the divorce from Catherine of Arragon. His countenancing the Maid of Kent afforded a pretext for fining and imprisoning him on a charge of misprision of treason, and his accepting a cardinal's hat sealed his doom. He was beheaded in 1535. He wrote A Commentary on the Seven Penitential Psalms; Sermons; and various controversial treatises. FITZHERBERT, Sir ANTHONY, an able judge, was born at Norbury, in Derbyshire, and studied at Oxford and one of the inns of court. He rose, in 1523, to FLACCUS, CAIUS VALERIUS, a Roman poet, was a native of Padua. He flourished in the reign of Vespasian, and was a friend of Martial. Flaccus died early, leaving his poem of the Argonautics unfinished. Some have considered him as second only to Virgil, while others, not less erroneously, have spoken slightingly of his talents. FLAMINIO, MARK ANTHONY, a Genoese, born in 1498, at Seravalle, was educated by his father; was secretary to Cardinals Pole and Farnese, at the council of Trent; and died, at Rome, in 1550. His Latin poetry, which is almost all on sacred subjects, is remarkable for its purity of style, and for its sweetness and elegance. FLAMSTEED, JOHN, a celebrated astronomer, was born, in 1646, at Denby, in Derbyshire, and was educated at Derby free school; but his weak state of health did not then allow him to proceed to the university. Some years afterwards, however, he entered himself of Jesus College, Cambridge. To astronomy his attention is said to have been directed by perusing | Thenceforth he was constantly employed, Sacrobosco's wrok De Sphæra; and he and his productions are consequently numerous. Among these may be mentioned the monuments of Collins, the poet; Miss Cromwell; Earl Howe; Lord Nelson; Sir Joshua Reynolds; Countess Spencer; and the Baring family. In 1818 he completed drawings and a model for the shield of Achilles, as described in the Iliad; from which four casts in silver have since been made. He died December 9, 1826. "To the aid of his art," says a celebrated reviewer," he brought a loftier and more poetical mind than any of our preceding sculptors; and learning unites with good sense and natural genius in all the works which come from his hand." Flaxman was professor of sculpture at the Royal Academy. He is the author of a Charac ter of Romney the painter; some articles astronomers of his time. He was appointed in Rees's Cyclopædia; and a Letter relaastronomer royal, and the observatory at Greenwich was erected for him. Flam-which monument he proposed should tive to the projected National Monument cultivated the science with such assiduity as to become one of the most eminent steed was also in orders, and held the be a statue of Britannia, two hundred feet living of Burstow, in Surrey. He died high, placed on Greenwich Hill. in 1719. His greatest work is, Historia Cœlestis Britannica, three vols. folio. FLAVEL, JOHN, an eminent nonconformist divine, a native of Worcestershire, born in 1627, was educated at University College, Oxford; and became minister of the parish of Dartmouth, from which, however, he was ejected in 1662. He retired to the neighbouring village of Slapton, and, in spite of the danger to which it exposed him, continued to preach. After the lapse of more than twenty years, he again collected a congregation at Dartmouth. He died in 1691. His theological works, in two volumes folio, are still popular among the Calvinists. FLAXMAN, JOHN, a distinguished modern sculptor, the son of a sculptor who worked for Roubilliac and Scheemaker, was born, in 1755, at York; and, in 1770, was admitted a student of the Royal Academy. Modelling in wax and clay was one of his first occupations; and he also painted in oil colours. In 1787 he went to Italy. During his seven years studies there, he executed several important works, and made his drawings to illustrate Homer, Eschylus, and Dante. To these he subsequently added illustrations of Hesiod. The engravings from these designs spread his fame throughout Europe as an artist of truly classical taste. In 1794 he returned to England; and his first work after his return, Lord Mansfield's monument in Westminster Abbey, placed him in the first rank of modern sculptors. FLECHIER, ESPRIT, a celebrated French prelate and preacher, was born, in 1632, at Pernes, near Avignon. He first became known in the capital of France by a Latin poem, on the famous Carousal, given by Louis XIV. in 1662. His Sermons and Funeral Orations soon raised him to such a pitch of reputation that the duke of Montausier recommended him to fill the office of reader to the dauphin. It was not till 1685 that he obtained the bishopric of Lavaur. When the monarch gave it to him, he said, "Do not be surprised that I have been so tardy in rewarding your merit; I was loath to be deprived of the pleasure of hearing you preach." In 1678, he was removed to the bishopric of Nimes. In his episcopal character he gained the love of even the protestants of his diocese, by his uniform piety, charity, and mildness. He died in 1710. Flechier has been called the French Isocrates; his eloquence partakes, indeed, of the beauties and defects of that of the Grecian orator. His principal works are, A History of Theodosius the Great; A Life of Cardinal Ximenes; Funeral Órations; and Sermons. FLEETWOOD, CHARLES, the son of Sir William Fleetwood, entered the military service early in life; espoused the cause of the parliament against Charles I.; rose to the rank of lieutenant-general, and contributed to the victory of Worcester; married the daughter of Cromwell; was appointed lord deputy of Ireland; joined in deposing Richard Cromwell; and died soon after the restoration. FLETCHER, PHINEAS, a brother of the foregoing, and, like him, a poet, was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, to which latter seminary he went in 1600. In 1621 he obtained the living of Hilgay, in Suffolk, and he is believed to have died there about 1650. He is the author of The Purple Island, in twelve cantos; Piscatory Eclogues; Poetical Miscellanies; and a drama intituled Sicelides. Notwithstanding his conceits and other faults, which, however, are the faults of the age, his works, as Headley rightly observes, give him a claim "to a very high rank among our old English classics." FLETCHER, ANDREW, a Scotch political writer, the son of Sir Robert Fletcher, of Salton, was born in 1653, and was educated by Dr. Gilbert Burnet. His spirited FLEETWOOD, WILLIAM, an eminent opposition to the tyranny of the governprelate, was born in 1656, in the Towerment having rendered it prudent for him of London, where his father resided; was to withdraw to Holland, he was outlawed. educated at Eton and King's College, In 1685, he bore a part in the enterprise Cambridge; and, after having held several of the duke of Monmouth, but, in consevaluable but minor preferments, was made quence of Fletcher having shot a gentleman bishop of St. Asaph in 1706. From St. who refused him a horse, the duke disAsaph he was translated to Ely, in 1714. missed him. He next served in Hungary, He died in 1723. His principal works as a volunteer, against the Turks. The are, An Essay on Miracles; Inscriptionum revolution of 1688 restored him to his Antiquarum Sylloge; Chronicon Pretio-country, and, till the union, which he sum, or an Account of English Money; and Practical Discourses. FLETCHER, JOHN, a dramatist, the son of Bishop Fletcher, was born in Northamptonshire, in 1576; received his education at Bene't College, Cambridge; and died of the plague in 1625. Fletcher was the coadjutor of Beaumont in the composition of those admirable dramas which bear their joint name, and which have ranked them among the most eminent of our ancient theatrical writers. Fletcher is said to have been eminent for fancy; Beaumont for judgment. That Fletcher possessed the quality attributed to him is rendered certain by that beautiful dramatic pastoral The Faithful Shepherdess, the only piece of his sole composition. FLETCHER, GILES, a son of Dr. Giles Fletcher, who wrote a curious Account of the Russe Commonwealth, was born in 1588; was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge; and died in 1623, at his living of Alderton, in Suffolk. Wood describes him as "equally beloved by the muses and graces." That the muses smiled on him is sufficiently proved by his fine poem of Christ's Victory and Triumph, in which some defects are amply redeemed by numerous passages of great originality and beauty. strenuously opposed, he continued to be one of the most active members of the Scottish parliament. He died in 1716. His tracts and speeches have been collected in an octavo volume. Of liberty, according to his idea of it, he was a warm friend; but his plan to provide for the poor, by means of domestic slavery, may authorise us to entertain some doubts as to the correctness of his notions of liberty. FLEURY, CLAUDE, a divine and historian, born at Paris, in 1640, was an advocate, but subsequently took orders, became preceptor to the princes of Conti, and the count de Vermandois, and sub-preceptor to the duke of Burgundy and his royal brothers. He obtained the abbey of Loc Dieu, and the priory of Argenteuil, and was for six years confessor to the youthful Louis XV. He died in 1722. His most important works are, Ecclesiastical History, thirteen vols. 4to.; Manners of the Israelites; Manners of the Christians; and a Treatise on Public Law. FLEURY, ANDREW HERCULES DE, a cardinal and statesman, was born, in 1653, at Lodeve, in Languedoc; was educated at the Jesuits' College, in Paris; was made bishop of Frejus in 1698; was left by the will of Louis XIV. preceptor to his suc. cessor; and became prime minister of whose recall he was one of the first to propose, made him a peer, and a privy counsellor. He died in 1821. His last work was an Ode on the Violation of the Tombs of St. Denis. By his countrymen he is considered as standing among the highest of their poets of the second class, and in the ranks of their first rate orators. FONTENELLE, BERNARD LE BOVIER DE, a French author of learning and of varied talents, a nephew of Corneille, born at Rouen, in 1657, was the son of an advocate; studied at the Jesuits' college, in his native city, and displayed early talent; pleaded one cause, which be lost; and then devoted himself to literature. At the outset of his literary career he was not fortunate. Some of his verses, indeed, were praised, but his tragedy of Aspar was damned; and Boilean, Racine, and La Bruyere were his enemies. His Dialogues of the Dead, however, published in 1683, established his reputation, and it was fully sustained by the Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds, and the History of Oracles. The last of these, which was avowedly borrowed from the work of Van Daale, exposed Fontenelle to a charge of being heterodox. In 1691, after having been four times rejected, he was received into the French Academy, of which, nine years later, he was chosen the secretary. One of his best productions is the History of that Academy which had so long re. pulsed him. It seems to have been rather as performing the duty of an academician, than as a labour of love, that he wrote The Elements of the Geometry of Infinites. "Sir," said he to the regent, when he presented it to him, "here is a book which not more than eight men in Europe can understand, and the author is not one of the eight." The life and the popularity of Fontenelle were protracted far beyond what is the usual period. Till nearly his hundredth year, he continued to be admired in the literary and the social circle. He died in 1757, without pain. "I do not suffer," said he to his physician," but I feel a difficulty of existing." There are numerous editions of his works; the best is that of 1800, with the notes of Lalande. FOOTE, SAMUEL, a comic writer and actor, was born, about 1721, of a good family, at Truro, in Cornwall; was educated at Worcester College, Oxford; and studied, or rather did not study, at the Temple, with a view to the bar. Dissipation melted away his small fortune, and turned his attention to the stage as a resource. His first appearance was in Othello; but he soon relinquished the buskin, for which nature bad certainly not qualified him. Fortunately for himself, and for the public amusement, he hit upon a new kind of entertainment, in which, for his sole benefit, he was at once author and actor. In 1747 he opened the Haymarket Theatre with a dramatic piece, called The Diversions of the Morning, in which well known characters were mimicked and satirized. The title of this was soon altered to Mr. Foote giving Tea to his Friends. In the ensuing season he presented The Auction of Pictures. This course he pursued at the different theatres for some years. In 1760 he began to occupy the Haymarket Theatre yearly, with a regular company, when the other theatres were shut up; and, in 1766, he obtained a regular patent. The loss of Foote's leg, by an accident, is said to have induced the duke of York to obtain the patent, to console the author in some measure for the misfortune. Foote continued to act, to write, and to satirize, with unabated vigour, till 1777, when a discarded man servant brought against him a charge of an unnameable nature. Foote was tried and honourably acquitted, but the disgrace sunk deep into his mind, and he died in the autumn of the same year. He wrote twenty-six dramatic pieces, which, though slight in their construction, abound with wit, humour, ridicule, and satire. It must, however, be owned that he does not always apply the lash with a strict regard to delicacy or justice. In conversation, he possessed such varied powers of pleasing, that even Johnson, who disliked him, confessed him to be irresistible. FORBES, DUNCAN, a Scottish judge, was born at Culloden, in 1685; studied at Paris, Utrecht, and Edinburgh; was, successively, solicitor-general, lord advocate, and president of session, in Scotland; and died in 1747. Forbes was learned, pious, and a true lover of his country. It was mainly by his influence and exertions that the rebellion of 1745 was prevented from spreading more widely among the clans. He was, however, treated with the grossest ingratitude, being unable to obtain repayment of the sums which he had liberally advanced to uphold the cause of the government. He wrote Thoughts on Religion; and other works. The papers relative to his transactions in 1745-6 have been published in two volumes 4to. FORBES, Sir WILLIAM, a native of Scotland, born in 1739 at Pitsligo, was one of the first who, with Sir James Hunter Blair, founded a banking establishment at Edinburgh. As a commercial character he was distinguished by liberality of conduct. His intellectual powers were of a superior order; and he was early a member of the Literary Club, in London, to which Johnson and other eminent men belonged. He died in 1807. His only work is, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Dr. Beattie. FORBES, JAMES, a native of London, born in 1749, was sent out to India, as a writer, in his youth, and returned from thence, with a fortune, in 1784. During his residence in India, he travelled over a considerable part of it, and made notes and drawings, which afterwards formed the basis of Oriental Memoirs, four volumes 4to. He is also the author of Letters from France; and of Reflections on the Character of the Hindoos. Forbes died in 1819. In FORBIN, CLAUDE, count de, an eminent French naval officer, was born, in 1656, near Aix, in Provence, and entered very early into the naval service. 1685, he accompanied the French ambassador to Siam, and the Siamese monarch thought so highly of his talents that he retained him for two years, as high admiral, general, and governor of Bancock. Forbin returned to France in 1688, and continued his maritime career, signalizing himself on numberless occasions, till 1710, when his infirmities compelled him to retire. He died in 1733. FORCELLINI, GILES, a lexicographer, was born, in 1688, near Feltre, in the Venetian territory. His great work, The Complete Lexicon of the Latin Language, in four volumes folio, was the labour of the largest part of his life. He also assisted Facciolato in a new edition of Calepino's Dictionary. FORD, JOHN, one of our early dramatists, was born, in 1586, at Ilsington, in Devonshire; became a member of the Middle Temple in 1602; and died about 1639. He joined with Dekker and Rowley in several plays, and was the sole author of eleven pieces, of which the principal are, The Lover's Melancholy; Love's Sacrifice; 'Tis Pity She's a Whore; Perkin Warbeck; and The Broken Heart. "Ford (says Charles Lamb) was of the first order of poets. He sought for sublimity not by parcels in metaphors or visible images, but directly where she has her full residence in the heart of man; in the actions and sufferings of the greatest minds.” FORDUN, JOHN DE, a Scotch historian, of whose life nothing certain is known. The dedication of his Scotichronicon to the bishop of Glasgow bears the date of 1377, at which period he is supposed to have held the benefice of Fordun. Though it contains much that is fabulous or absurd, his History is a valuable document. FORDYCE, JAMES, a Scotch divine, was born, in 1720, at Aberdeen; was educated at Marischal College; and was, successively, minister at Brechin, Alloa, and Monkwell Street, London. In 1782, he relinquished the pastoral office, and retired first to Hampshire, and afterwards to Bath. He died at Bath, in 1796. He wrote Sermons to Young Women; Addresses to Young Men; Addresses to the Deity; and some single Sermons.-His brother, DAVID, born in 1711, and died in 1750, was also in orders; and wrote Dialogues concerning Education; Theodorus, a Dialogue on the Art of Preaching; and the Treatise on Moral Philosophy, in Dodsley's Preceptor. FORDYCE, GEORGE, an eminent physician, was born at Aberdeen, in 1736; was educated at Marischal College, and studied medicine at Edinburgh and Leyden; settled in London in 1757, and acquired much reputation as a lecturer on chemistry, the materia medica, and the therapeutic art; rose into considerable practice; became a fellow of the college; physician of St. Thomas's Hospital; and a member of the Royal Society, and of the Literary Club; and died in 1802. He wrote Elements of the Practice of Physic; A Treatise on Digestion; Elements of Agriculture and Vegetation; and other works. FORMEY, JOHN HENRY SAMUEL, a multifarious and able writer, was born at Berlin in 1711, and died there in 1797. He was, at his outset in life, pastor of the French church at Berlin, but relinquished the ministry in 1739, on being appointed professor of philosophy at the French col |