Skip to main content

Full text of "Dictionary of national biography"

See other formats 


DICTIONARY 

OF 

NATIONAL    BIOGRAPHY 

FINCH FORMAN 


.TV 

\j 


DICTIONARY  ,•'" 


OF 


NATIONAL    BIOGRAPHY 


EDITED    BY 


LESLIE     STEPHEN 


VOL.  XIX. 
FINCH FORMAN 


MACMILLAN      AND      CO, 

LONDON  :  SMITH,  ELDER,  &  CO. 
1889 


28 


fe°  -, 

b  /    1  4  f 


LIST   OF   WEITEES 

IN  THE  NINETEENTH   VOLUME. 


0.  A OSMUND  AIRY. 

J.  G.  A.    .  .  J.  Or.  ALGER. 

T.  A.  A.   .  .  T.  A.  ARCHER. 

G-.  F.  E.  B.   G-.  F.  EUSSELL  BARKER. 

T.  B THOMAS  BAYNE. 

W.  B-E.    .  .  WILLIAM  BAYNE. 
Gr.  T.  B.   .  .  Gr.  T.  BETTANY. 

A.  C.  B.    .  .  A.  C.  BICKLEY. 

B.  H.  B.  .  .  THE  EEV.  B.  H.  BLACKER. 

W.  Gr.  B.  .  .  THE  EEV.  PROFESSOR  BLAIKIE,D.D. 

G-.  C.  B.    .  .  G.  C.  BOASE. 

E.  T.  B.  .  .  Miss  BRADLEY. 

J.  B-N.  .  .  .  THE  EEV.  JOHN  BROWN. 

A.  H.  B.  .  .  A.  H.  BULLEN. 

J.  B-Y.  .  .  .  JAMES  BURNLEY. 

E.  C-N.  .  .  .  EDWIN  CANNAN. 

H.  M.  C.  .  .  H.  MANNERS  CHICHESTER. 

A.  M.  C.  .  .  Miss  A.  M.  CLERKE. 

W.  C-E.    .  .  WALTER  CLODE. 

S.  C SIDNEY  COLVIN. 

J.  C THE  EEV.  JAMES  COOPER. 

T.  C THOMPSON  COOPER,  F.S.A. 

C.  H.  C.   .  .  C.  H.  COOTE. 

W.  P.  C.  .  .  W.  P.  COURTNEY. 

C.  C CHARLES  CREIGHTON,  M.D. 

M.  C THE  EEV.  PROFESSOR  CREIGHTON. 

L.  C.    ,         .  LIONEL  GUST. 


C.  H.  D.  .  .  C.  H.  DERBY. 
R.  D EGBERT  DUNLOP. 

F.  E FRANCIS  ESPINASSE. 

L.  F Louis  FAGAN. 

A.  E.  M.  F.  THE  EEV.  A.  E.  M.  FINLAYSON. 
C.  H.  F.   .  .  C.  H.  FIRTH. 

B.  Q1 ElCHARD   GrARNETT,   LL.D  . 

J.  T.  Gr.    .  .  J.  T.  GILBERT,  F.S.A. 
E.  C.  K.  Gr.  E.  C.  K.  GONNER. 

G.  Gr GORDON  GOODWIN. 

A.  G THE  EEV.  ALEXANDER  GORDON. 

W.  A.  G. .  .  W.  A.  GREENHILL,  M.D. 

J.  A.  H.   .  .  J.  A.  HAMILTON. 

T.  H THE  EEV.  THOMAS  HAMILTON,  D.D. 

E.  H EGBERT  HARRISON. 

W.  J.  H.  .  .  PROFESSOR  W.  JEROME  HARRISON. 
T.  F.  H.   .  .  T.  F.  HENDERSON. 
E.  H-R.    .  .  THE  EEV.  EICHARD  HOOPER. 
W.  H.    ...  THE  EEV.  WILLIAM  HUNT. 

B.  D.  J.    .  .  B.  D.  JACKSON. 
T.  E.  K.   .  .  T.  E.  KEBBEL. 
J.  K JOSEPH  KNIGHT. 

J.  K.  L.   .  .  PROFESSOR  J.  K.  LAUGHTON. 

S.  L.  L.    .  .  S.  L.  LEE. 

H.  E.  L.  .  .  THE  EEV.  H.  E.  LUARD,  D.D. 

G.  P.  M.    .  .  G.  P.  MACDONELL. 

W.  D.  M.    .  THE  EEV.  W.  D.  MACRAY,  F.S.A. 


VI 


List  of  Writers. 


F.  W.  M..  .  PROFESSOR  F.  W.  MAITLAND. 
J.  A.  F.  M.   J.   A.  FULLER  MAITLAND. 
C.  T.  M.  .    .  C.  TRICE  MARTIN,  F.S.A. 

F.  T.  M.  .  .  F.  T.  MARZIALS. 

L.    M.    M.  .    .    MlSS   MlDDLETON. 

C.  M COSMO  MONKHOUSE. 

N.  M NORMAN  MOORE,  M.D. 

J.  B.  M.  .  .  J.  BASS  MULLINGER. 

T.  0 THE  EEV.  THOMAS  OLDEN. 

J.  0 JOHN  ORMSBY. 

J.  H.  0.   .  .  THE  REV.  CANON  OVERTON. 

H.  P HENRY  PATON. 

J.  F.  P..  .  .  J.  F.  PAYNE,  M.D. 

G.  G.  P.  .  .  THE  REV.  CANON  PERRY. 

N.  P,  .  .  .  .  THE  REV.  NICHOLAS  POCOCK. 
R.  L.  P.  .  .  R.  L.  POOLE. 
J.  M.  R.  .  .  J.  M.  RIGG. 


C.  J.  R..  . 
J,  H.  R.  . 
G.  B.  S.  . 
G.  W.  S.  . 
L.  S.  .  .  . 
H.  M.  S. . 
C.  W.  S.  . 
E.  C.  S.  . 
H.  R.  T.  . 
T.  F.  T.  . 

E.  V.  .  .  . 
R.  H.  V.  . 
A.  V.  ... 
M.  G.  W.. 

F.  W-T.    . 
W.  A.  W. 
W.  W.    . 


.  THE  REV.  C.  J.  ROBINSON. 
.  J.  HORACE  ROUND. 
.  G.  BARNETT  SMITH. 
.  THE  REV.  G.  W.  SPROTT,  D.D. 
.  LESLIE  STEPHEN. 
.  H.  MORSE  STEPHENS. 
.  C.  W.  SUTTON. 
.  Miss  SUTTON-. 
.  H.  R.  TEDDER. 
.  PROFESSOR  T.  F.  TOUT. 
.  THE  REV.  CANON  VBNABLKS. 
.  COLONEL  VETCH,  R.E. 
.  ALSAGER  VIAN. 
.  THE  REV.  M.  G.  WATKINS. 
.  FRANCIS  WATT. 
.  W.  ALDIS  WRIGHT,  LL.D. 
.  WARWICK  WROTH,  F.S.A. 


DICTIONARY 


OF 


NATIONAL     BIOGRAPHY 


Finch 


Finch 


FINCH,  ANNE.     [See  CONWAY, 
VISCOUNTESS,  d.  1679.] 

FINCH,  ANNE,  COUNTESS  OP  WINCHIL- 
SEA  (d.  1720),  poetess,  was  the  daughter  of 
Sir  William  Kingsmill  of  Sidmonton,  near 
Southampton,  and  the  wife  of  Heneage  Finch, 
second  son  of  Heneage,  second  earl  of  Win- 
chilsea  [q.  v.]  Her  husband  succeeded  to  the 
title  as  fourth  earl  on  the  death  of  his  nephew 
Charles  in  1712.  Finch  was  gentleman  of  the 
bedchamber  to  James  II  when  Duke  of  York, 
and  his  wife  maid  of  honour  to  the  second 
duchess.  Anne  Finch  was  a  friend  of  Pope, 
of  Rowe,  and  other  men  of  letters.  Her  most 
considerable  work,  a  poem  on '  Spleen/  written 
in  stanzas  after  Cowley's  manner,  and  pub- 
lished in  Gildon's  '  Miscellany,'  1701,  inspired 
Howe  to  compose  some  verses  in  her  honour, 
entitled  '  An  Epistle  to  Flavia.'  Pope  ad- 
dressed '  an  impromptu  to  Lady  Winchilsea ' 
(Miscellanies,  1727),  in  which  he  declared 
that  '  Fate  doomed  the  fall  of  every  female 
wit'  before  <  Ardelia's'  talent.  She  replied 
by  comparing  '  Alexander'  to  Orpheus,  who 
she  said  would  have  written  like  him  had  he 
lived  in  London.  The  only  collected  edition 
of  her  poems  was  printed  in  1713,  containing 
a  tragedy  never  acted,  called  '  Aristomenes, 
or  the  Royal  Shepherd,'  and  dedicated  to 
the  Countess  of  Hertford,  with  '  an  Epi- 
logue to  [Rowe's]  Jane  Shore,  to  be  spoken 
by  Mrs.  Oldfield  the  night  before  the  poet's 
day '  (printed  in  the  General  Dictionary,  x.  178, 
from  a  manuscript  in  the  countess's  posses- 
sion). Another  poem,  entitled  '  The  Prodigy,' 
written  at  Tunbridge  Wells,  called  forth 
Cibber's  regret  that  the  countess's  rank  made 
her  only  write  occasionally  as  a  pastime. 
Wordsworth  sent  a  selection  of  her  poems 
with  a  commendatory  sonnet  of  his  own  to 
Lady  Mary  Lowther,  and  remarked  in  a  pre- 

YOL.   XIX. 


fatpry  essay  to  his  volume  of  1815  that  Lady 
Winchilsea's  '  nocturnal  reverie  'was  almost 
unique  in  its  own  day,  because  it  employed 
new  images  <  of  external  nature.'  On  her 
death,  5  Aug.  1720,  she  left  a  number  of  un- 
published manuscripts  to  her  friends,  the 
Countess  of  Hertford  and  a  clergyman  named 
Creake,  and  by  their  permission  some  of  these 
poems  were  printed  by  Birch  in  the  <  General 
Dictionary/  She  left  no  children.  Her  hus- 
band died  30  Sept,  1726.  Her  published  works 
were :  1.  The  poem  on  '  Spleen,'  in  <  A  New 
Miscellany  of  Original  Poems,'  published  by 
Charles  Gildon,  London,  1701,  8vo;  repub- 
lished  under  the  title  of '  The  Spleen,  a  Pin- 
darique  Ode ;  with  a  Prospect  of  Death,  a  Pin- 
darique Essay/  London,  1709,  8vo.  2.  'Mis- 
cellany Poems,  written  by  a  Lady/ 1713, 8vo. 
[General  Diet.  x.  178 ;  Biog.  Brit.  vii.  Suppl. 
p.  204  ;  Cibber's  Lives  of  the  Poets,  iii.  321 ;  Wai- 
pole's  Royal  and  Noble  Authors,  ed.  Park,  iv.  87; 
Collins's  Peerage,  ed.  1779,  iii.  282;  Cat.  of  Printed 
Books,  Brit.  Mus.]  £.  T.  B. 

FINCH,  DANIEL,  second  EAEL  OF 
NOTTINGHAM  and  sixth  EAKL  OF  WINCHILSEA 
(1647-1730),  born  in  1647,  was  the  eldest  son 
of  Heneage  Finch,  first  earl  of  Nottingham 
[q.  v.],  by  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Daniel  Har- 
vey, a  London  merchant.  Like  his  father  he 
was  educated  at  Westminster  School,  and 
proceeded  to  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  as  a 
gentleman-commoner  in  1662.  He  left  with- 
out a  degree,  entered  the  Inner  Temple,  and 
was  chosen  F.R.S.  26  Nov.  1668.'  He  seems 
to  have  been  first  elected  to  parliament  for 
Great  Bedwin,  Wiltshire,  10  Feb.  1672-3, 
but  does  not  appear  to  have  sat  till  he  was 
returned  by  the  borough  of  Lichfield  7  Aug. 
1679.  He  had  been  made  a  lord  at  the 
admiralty  14  May.  He  adhered  to  the 
tory  politics  of  his  family,  became  a  privy 

B 


Finch 

councillor  4  Feb.  1679-80,  and  was  first  lord 
of  the  admiralty  from  19  Feb.  following  to 
22  May  1684.  He  was  elected  M.P.  by  both 
Lichfield  and  Newtown  in  March  1681,  but 
was  called  to  the  House  of  Lords  by  his 
father's  death,  18  Dec.  1682.  As  a  privy 
councillor  he  signed  the  order  for  the  pro- 
clamation of  James  II,  and  up  to  the  time  of 
Monmouth's  insurrection  was  one  of  that 
king's  steadiest  supporters.  But  the  ecclesias- 
tical policy  afterwards  adopted  by  the  govern- 
ment damped  the  loyalty  of  the  cavaliers  and 
laid  the  foundation  of  that  new  tory  party 
which  held  itself  aloof  from  the  Jacobites. 
Nottingham  came  in  time  to  be  recognised  as 
their  head.  Their  distinguishing  tenet  was 
devotion  to  the  established  church  in  pre- 
ference even  to  hereditary  right.  In  the  reign 
of  Anne  they  were  called  the  Hanoverian 
tories,  and  sometimes  known  by  the  nickname 
of  the  *  Whimsicals.'  Nottingham's  career 
was  consistent  throughout.  He  was  one  of 
the  last  men  in  England  to  accept  the  re- 
volution settlement;  but  having  once  ac- 
cepted it,  he  was  one  of  the  very  few  eminent 
statesmen  of  his  time  who  never  seem  to 
have  intrigued  against  it.  Though  Swift  ac- 
cuses him  of  having  corresponded  with  the 
Stuarts,  the  charge,  made  in  a  moment  of  great 
exasperation,  is  not  countenanced  by  any  of 
his  contemporaries.  His  private  character  is 
universally  represented  as  stainless.  Howe 
tells  us  that  he  had  an  intrigue  with  an  opera 
singer,  Signora  Margaretta,  afterwards  Mrs. 
Tofts.  But  this  was  empty  gossip.  Both  his 
principles  and  his  virtues  marked  him  out  to 
be  a  leader  of  the  clergy,  with  whom  his  influ- 
ence was  unbounded.  This  influence  was  the 
secret  of  Nottingham's  importance  for  nearly 
a  generation  after  the  death  of  Charles  II. 

In  the  spring  of  1688  the  whigs  resolved  to 
take  Nottingham  into  their  confidence,  and 
invite  his  co-operation  in  the  intended  revo- 
lution. He  was  for  a  time  inclined  to  join  in 
the  appeal  to  the  Prince  of  Orange ;  but  on 
second  thoughts  he  declared  that  he  could 
take  no  active  part  against  his  rightful  sove- 
reign. He  admitted  that  his  share  in  their 
confidence  had  given  the  whigs  the  right  to 
assassinate  him  on  breaking  with  them,  and 
some  of  them  were  rather  inclined  to  take  him 
at  his  word.  But  they  ended  by  relying  on  his 
honour,  and  had  no  reason  to  regret  it. 

Nottingham  was  a  prominent  figure  in  the 
parliamentary  debates  which  folio  wed  James's 
flight  from  England.  The  tories  were  in  favour 
of  Bancroft's  plan — a  regency,  that  is,  during 
the  minority  of  the  Prince  of  Wales;  and  this 
was  the  policy  proposed  by  Lord  Nottingham 
in  the  House  of  Lords.  The  motion  was  only 
lost  by  51  votes  to  49 ;  and  then  the  lords  pro- 


Finch 


ceeded  to  consider  the  resolution  which  had 
been  adopted  by  the  commons  declaring  the 
throne  vacant.  This  was  opposed  by  Notting- 
ham, and  the  resolution  was  rejected  by  55 
votes  to  41.  But  the  House  of  Commons  re- 
fused to  give  way,  and  the  House  of  Lords 
found  it  necessary  to  yield.  Nottingham 
proposed  a  modification  of  the  oaths  of  alle- 
giance and  supremacy  for  the  sake  of  tender 
consciences,  which  was  accepted  by  both 
houses,  and  he  then  fairly  threw  in  his  lot 
with  the  new  regime,  though  he  still  main- 
tained in  theory  his  allegiance  to  the  Stuarts. 
Nottingham,  according  to  Bishop  Burnet,  was 
the  author  of  the  distinction  between  the  king 
dejure  and  the  king  de  facto,  in  which  the  old 
cavalier  party  found  so  welcome  a  refuge. 

In  December  1688  he  was  made  one  of  the 
secretaries  of  state  with  charge  of  the  war 
department,  an  office  which  he  retained  till 
December  1693.  One  of  his  first  duties  was 
the  introduction  of  the  Toleration  Act.  He 
seems  to  have  sincerely  believed  it  to  be  con- 
ducive to  the  stability  of  the  church.  It  left 
the  Act  of  Uniformity,  the  Test  and  Corpora- 
tion Acts,  the  Conventicle  Act,  the  Five  Mile 
Act,  and  the  act  making  attendance  at  church 
compulsory,  in  full  force,  only  enacting  that 
on  certain  conditions  dissenters  might  be  ex- 
empted from  the  penalties  attaching  to  the 
violation  of  the  law.  These  conditions  were 
intended  to  serve  as  a  test  by  which  dan- 
gerous dissenters  could  be  distinguished  from 
harmless  ones.  Those,  it  was  thought,  who 
would  subscribe  five  of  the  Thirty -nine 
Articles,  take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  and  sign 
the  declaration  against  popery  might  be  safely 
trusted.  Ten  years  before,  Nottingham,  as 
a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons,  had 
framed  a  bill  on  much  the  same  lines,  which 
only  failed  to  become  law  by  an  artifice.  At 
the  same  time  he  now  brought  in  a  less  popular 
measure,  a  comprehension  bill,  for  enabling 
dissenters  to  conform  to  the  church  of  Eng- 
land. The  Bishop  of  London  supported  the 
bill  in  the  House  of  Lords,  where,  oddly 
enough,  it  was  violently  opposed  by  Bishop 
Burnet.  But  Nottingham  would  probably 
have  succeeded  in  his  efforts  had  it  not  been 
for  the  dissenters  themselves.  Those  who 
were  unwilling  to  accept  the  compromise 
were  naturally  interested  in  preventing  others 
from  accepting  it,  and  between  the  active 
hostility  of  its  enemies  and  the  lukewarm 
support  of  its  friends,  the  measure  fell  to  the 
ground.  An  attempt  made  at  the  same  time 
by  some  members  of  the  whig  party  to  repeal 
the  Test  Act  was  dropped  with  it. 

When  William  III  set  out  for  Ireland  in 
the  summer  of  1690  he  left  behind  him  a 
council  of  nine,  of  whom  Nottingham  was 


ad 
he 


Finch 


Finch 


one,  to  act  as  the  advisers  of  Mary,  and  it  fell 
to  his  lot  to  bring  her  the  tidings  of  the  battle 
of  theBoyne.  Nottingham,  who  was  admitted 
to  a  greater  share  of  the  queen's  confidence 
than  any  other  English  statesman,  always 
said  that  if  she  survived  her  husband  William 
she  would  bring  about  the  restoration  of  her 
father  James.  He  had,  however,  bitter  enemies 
in  parliament.  He  was  hated  by  the  extreme 
men  of  both  sides,  and  was  perhaps  not  much 
loved  even  by  those  who  respected  him.  Much 
discontent  was  caused  by  the  failure  to  follow 
up  the  victory  of  La  Hogue  in  May  1692. 
The  public  threw  the  blame  on  Admiral  Rus- 
sell, the  commander  of  the  allied  fleet,  and 
Russell  in  turn  threw  the  blame  on  Notting- 
ham, from  whom  he  received  his  orders.  A 
parliamentary  inquiry  ended  in  nothing ;  but 
Russell  was  acquitted  of  all  blame  by  the 
House  of  Commons,  though  Nottingham  was 
defended  by  the  lords.  The  king  found  it 
necessary  to  do  something  ;  he  was  very  un- 
willing to  part  with  Nottingham,  and  accord- 
ingly persuaded  Russell  to  accept  a  post  in 
the  household,  Admirals  Killigrew  and  De- 
laval,  both  tories,  being  entrusted  with  the 
command  of  the  Channel  fleet.  They  thus 
became  responsible  for  the  disaster  which 
happened  to  the  convoy  under  the  command 
of  Sir  George  Rooke  [q.v.]  in  the  Bay  of  Lagos 
in  June  1693,  and  when  parliament  met  in 
November  they  were  forced  to  retire.  Russell 
was  appointed  first  lord  of  the  admiralty  and 
commander  of  the  Channel  fleet,  and  Notting- 
ham's resignation  was  inevitable.  The  king 
parted  from  him  with  great  reluctance.  He 
thanked  him  for  his  past  services,  and  declared 
that  he  had  no  fault  to  find  with  him. 

Nottingham  remained  out  of  office  till  the 
accession  of  Anne.  Six  weeks  after  William's 
death  (8  March  1702)  he  was  appointed  secre- 
tary of  state,  with  Sir  Charles  Hedges  for  his 
colleague.  •  Though  a  consistent  anti-Jacobite, 
Nottingham  was  a  staunch  tory.  He  upheld 
during  the  war  of  the  Spanish  succession  the 
doctrine,  thenceforward  identified  with  the 
tory  policy,  that  in  a  continental  war  we 
should  act  rather  as  auxiliaries  than  as  prin- 
cipals, and  that  our  operations  should  be  ex- 
clusively maritime.  This  opinion,  whenever 
the  opportunity  offered,  Nottingham  upheld 
in  his  place  in  parliament.  But  his  heart  was 
in  the  church  question,  to  which  he  was  ready 
to  sacrifice  even  his  party  allegiance. 

As  soon  as  the  new  parliament  assembled 
a  bill  for  the  prevention  of  occasional  con- 
formity was  introduced  in  the  House  of 
Commons  by  St.  John,  no  doubt  after  due 
consultation  with  the  leader  of  the  church 
party.  Both  the  Corporation  Act  and  the 
Test  Act  were  designed  to  keep  all  places  of 


public  trust  or  authority  in  the  hands  of 
members  of  the  church  of  England.  And 
the  question  that  arose  during  the  last  years 
ot  the  seventeenth  century  was  simply  this, 
whether  the  evasion  of  the  law  by  dissenters 
should  be  connived  at  or  prevented.  It  was 
supposed  that  no  honest  dissenters  would  com- 
municate according  to  the  rites  of  the  church 
of  England  merely  to  obtain  a  qualification  for 
office,  but  it  was  found  in  practice  that  the 
large  majority  of  them  did  so,  and  indeed 
had  been  in  the  habit  of  so  communicating 
before  the  passing  of  the  Test  Act.  Notting- 
ham had  shown  both  in  1679  and  1689  that  he 
was  no  bigot,  and  it  is  possible  that  circum- 
stances of  which  we  know  nothing  may  have 
contributed  to  make  him  prefer  an  attempt 
to  enforce  the  test  to  the  alternative  policy 
of  connivance  at  conduct  which  could  hardly 
raise  the  reputation  of  the  occasional  con- 
formists themselves.  Three  sessions  running, 
1702,  1703,  and  1704,  the  bill  was  passed 
through  the  commons,  and  Nottingham 
exerted  himself  to  the  utmost  to  get  it  car- 
ried through  the  upper  house.  But  it  was  all 
in  vain,  and  the  question  was  allowed  to  rest 
again  for  seven  years. 

Nottingham  resigned  in  1704,  when  he 
found  it  impossible  to  agree  with  his  whig 
colleagues.  He  told  the  queen  that  she  must 
either  get  rid  of  the  whig  members  of  the 
cabinet  or  accept  his  own  resignation.  Greatly 
to  the  minister's  mortification  she  decided 
on  the  latter,  and  from  this  time  Notting- 
ham's zeal  as  a  political  tory  began  to  cool, 
and  the  very  next  year  he  took  his  revenge 
on  the  court  by  persuading  some  of  his  tory 
friends  to  join  with  him  in  an  address  to  the 
crown,  begging  that  the  Elect ress  Sophia 
might  be  invited  to  reside  in  England.  Anne, 
who  was  exceedingly  sensitive  on  this  point, 
never  forgave  Nottingham,  and  he  in  his  turn 
continued  to  drift  further  and  further  away 
from  his  old  associates.  Against  Harley  he 
was  supposed  to  nurture  a  special  grudge. 
He  had  committed  the  grave  offence  of  ac- 
cepting the  seals  which  Nottingham  had 
thrown  up,  and  the  ex-secretary  was  quite 
willing  to  retaliate  whenever  an  opportunity 
should  occur. 

In  1710  the  trial  of  Sacheverell  took  place. 
Nottingham  throughout  took  Sacheverell's 
side,  and  signed  all  the  protests  recorded  by 
the  opposition  peers  against  the  proceedings 
of  his  accusers. 

His  rupture  with  the  court  may  be  said 
to  have  been  complete  when,  on  the  death 
of  Lord  Rochester,  lord  president  of  the  coun- 
cil, in  April  1711,  the  post  was  conferred  on 
the  Duke  of  Buckingham.  The  privy  seal, 
which  became  vacant  about  the  same  time, 


Finch 


Finch 


was  given  to  Bishop  Robinson,  and  from 
that  moment  it  is  no  want  of  charity  to  con- 
clude that  Nottingham  felt  his  cup  was  full. 
"When  it  was  known  that  the  new  govern- 
ment were  bent  on  putting  an  end  to  the 
war,  the  whig  opposition  became  furious. 
But  in  the  House  of  Commons  the  tories 
had  a  large  majority,  and  in  the  House  of 
Lords  the  whigs  required  some  help  from 
the  other  side.  Nottingham  was  in  a  similar 
predicament  with  regard  to  the  Occasional 
Conformity  Bill.  He  was  sure  of  the  com- 
mons, but  in  the  upper  house  he  had  hither- 
to been  unsuccessful,  and  was  likely  to  be 
so  unless  the  opposition  could  be  disarmed. 
The  bargain  was  soon  struck.  The  whigs 
agreed  to  withdraw  their  resistance  to  the 
Church  Bill  on  condition  that  Nottingham 
in  turn  would  support  them  in  an  attack 
upon  the  government.  He  readily  accepted 
an  offer  which  enabled  him  to  gratify  his  love 
of  the  church  and  his  hatred  of  the  ministry 
at  the  same  moment.  On  7  Dec.  1711  he 
moved  an  amendment  to  the  address,  declar- 
ing that  no  peace  would  be  acceptable  to  this 
country  which  left  Spain  and  the  Indies  in 
the  possession  of  the  house  of  Bourbon.  It 
was  carried  by  a  majority  of  twelve,  and 
Harley  and  St.  John  replied  by  the  creation 
of  twelve  new  peers. 

Nottingham,  however,  claimed  his  reward. 
A  week  after  the  division  the  Occasional  Con- 
formity Bill  was  reintroduced  into  the  House 
of  Lords,  and  on  22  Dec.  received  the  royal 
assent.  It  provided  that  l  if  any  officer,  civil 
or  military,  or  any  magistrate  of  a  corporation 
obliged  by  the  acts  of  Charles  the  Second  to 
receive  the  sacrament,  should  during  his  con- 
tinuance in  office  attend  any  conventicle  or 
religious  meeting  of  dissenters  such  person 
should  forfeit  40/.,  be  disabled  from  holding 
his  office,  and  incapable  of  being  appointed 
to  another  till  he  could  prove  that  he  had  not 
been  to  chapel  for  twelve  months.'  In  this 
unprincipled  transaction  Nottingham,  though 
sincere  enough  in  his  zeal  for  the  church,  was 
actuated  quite  as  much  by  jealousy  of  the 
Earl  of  Oxford  as  by  disapproval  of  the  policy 
of  Bolingbroke.  Nottingham  can  have  had  no 
concern  in  a  tract  published  L*  1713  bearing 
his  name.  The  tract,  entitled  '  Observations 
on  the  State  of  the  Na<  ion/  maintains  the 
ultra  low-church  view  <~.i  church  government 
and  doctrine.  It  wa?  reissued  in  the '  Somers 
Tracts'  in  1751  as '  The  Memorial  of  the  State 
of  England  in  Vindication  of  the  Church,  the 
Queen,  and  the  Administration.' 

Nottingham,  who  probably  expected  that 
the  vote  of  the  House  of  Lords  would  bring 
the  ministry  to  the  ground  and  pave  the  way 
for  his  own  return  to  office,  was  mistaken. 


It  is  to  his  credit  that  having  gained  all  that 
he  thought  necessary  for  the  church  in  1711 
he  opposed  the  Schism  Bill,  which  was  car- 
ried in  June  1714  to  please  the  still  more 
ultra  section  of  the  high  church  tories.  Yet 
by  so  doing  he  again  served  his  own  interests, 
for  it  helped  to  cement  his  good  understand- 
ing with  the  whigs  and'  to  insure  his  being 
recommended  for  high  office  on  the  accession 
of  George  I.  The  new  king  landed  at  Green- 
wich on  18  Sept.  1714,  and  in  the  first  Ha- 
noverian ministry  Nottingham  was  made  pre- 
sident of  the  council,  with  a  seat  in  the* 
cabinet,  then  consisting  of  nine  peers.  But  he- 
only  held  office  for  about  a  year  and  a  half. 
In  February  1716  it  was  moved  in  the  House 
of  Lords  that  an  address  should  be  presented 
to  the  king  in  favour  of  showing  mercy  to  the 
Jacobite  peers,  then  lying  under  sentence  of 
death  for  their  share  in  the  rebellion  of  1715. 
The  government  opposed  the  motion,  but 
Nottingham  supported  the  address,  which 
was  carried  by  a  majority  of  five.  It  produced 
no  effect,  except  on  the*  unlucky  intercessor, 
who  was  immediately  deprived  of  his  appoint- 
ment, and  never  again  employed  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  crown.  His  only  parliamentary 
appearances  of  any  importance  after  this  date 
were  in  opposition  to  the  Septennial  Bill  in 
1716,  and  the  repeal  of  the  Occasional  Con- 
formity Bill  in  1719.  His  name  appears  in 
the  protest  against  the  first ;  but  the  second 
passed  with  less  difficulty,  and  no  protest 
appears  on  the  nrnutes. 

After  his  re+  Irement  from  office  Notting- 
ham lived  pri  cipally  at  Burley-on-the-Hill, 
near  Oakhem,  Rutlandshire,  a  very  fine  coun- 
try seat  which  had  been  purchased  by  his 
father  from  the  second  Duke  of  Buckingham, 
and  which  is  still  in  possession  of  a  branch  of 
the  Finch  family.  It  was  here  that  he  wrote 
'  The  Answer  of  the  Earl  of  Nottingham  to 
Mr.  Whiston's  Letter  to  him  concerning  the 
eternity  of  the  Son  of  God/  1721,  which  re- 
stored all  his  popularity  with  the  clergy,  rather 
damaged  by  his  acceptance  of  office  with  the 
whigs.  The  pamphlet  rapidly  reached  an 
eighth  edition.  Nottingham  died  1  Jan. 
1729-30,  shortly  after  he  had  succeeded  ta 
the  earldom  of  Winchilsea  on  the  decease  of 
John,  fifth  earl,  9  Sept.  1729,  the  last  heir  in 
the  elder  branch  of  Sir  Moyle  Finch,  whose 
heir  Thomas  was  first  earl  of  Winchilsea  [see 
under  FINCH,  SIK  THOMAS].  Nottingham 
married,  first  Lady  Essex  Rich,  second  daugh- 
ter and  coheiress  of  Robert,  earl  of  Warwick, 
and  secondly  Anne,  daughter  of  Christopher, 
viscount  Hatton.  By  his  first  wife  he  had  a 
daughter,  Mary ;  by  his  second  five  sons  and 
seven  daughters.  Edward  Finch-Hatton,  the 
youngest  son,  is  separately  noticed. 


Finch 


5 


Finch 


In  person  Nottingham  was  tall,  thin, 
-and  dark-complexioned.  His  manner  was  so 
solemn  and  the  expression  of  his  countenance 
was,  generally  speaking,  so  lugubrious,  that  he 
acquired  the  nicknames  of  Don  Diego  and  Don 
Dismal,  he  and  his  brother,  Heneage,  first  earl 
of  Aylesford  [q.  v.],  being  known  as  the  Dis- 
mals. He  figures  as  Don  Diego  in  the '  History 
of  John  Bull '  and  in  the <  Tatler '  (1709),  and 
Swift  in  his  correspondence  is  always  making 
fun  of  him.  He  is  the  subject  of  a  famous 
ballad,  '  An  Orator  Dismal  of  Nottingham- 
shire,' by  the  same  eminent  hand.  When  he 
joined  the  whigs  in  1711  the  '  Post  Boy  ' 
(6  Dec.)  offered  a  reward  of  ten  shillings 
to  any  one  who  should  restore  him  to  his 
friends,  promising  that  all  should  be  forgiven. 
Reference  is  there  made  to  his  '  long  pockets.' 

[Macaulay's  Hist,  of  England;  Stanhope's  Hist, 
of  England  and  Queen  Anne  ;  Burnet's  Hist,  of 
his  own  Time ;  Somerville's  Hist,  of  Queen  Anne 
and  Political  Transactions;  Somers  Tracts;  Swift's 
Diary  and  Correspondence;  Coxe'sLife  of  Marl- 
borough  ;  Wai  pole's  Letters  ;  Cunningham's  Hist, 
of  the  Eevolution ;  Wyon's  Eeign  of  Queen  Anne ; 
Stoughton's  Eeligion  in  England;  Doyle's  Baron- 
age; W  elch's  Alumni  Westmonast.  p.  570;  Wood's 
Athense  Oxon  (Bliss),  iv.  651.]  T.  E.  K. 

FINCH,  EDWARD  (/.  1630-1641), 
royalist  divine,  is  said  by  Walker  and  others 
to  have  been  brother  of  John,  lord  Finch  of 
Fordwich  [q.  v.],  and  thus  younger  son  of 
Sir  Henry  Finch  [q.  v.],  by  Ursula,  daughter 
of  John  Thwaites  of  Kent.  The  genealogists 
state  that  John  was  Sir  Henry's  only  son, 
but  there  is  little  doubt  that  they  are  wrong. 
On  9  Dec.  1630  Edward  was  admitted  to  the 
vicarage  of  Christ  Church,  Newgate.  Walker 
celebrates  him  as  the  first  of  the  parochial 
clergy  actually  dispossessed  by  the  committee 
for  scandalous  ministers.  A  resolution  of  par- 
liament, 8  May  1641,  declared  him  unfit  to 
hold  any  benefice.  The  articles  against  him 
allege  that  he  had  set  up  the  communion- 
table altarwise,  and  preached  in  a  surplice ;  I 
they  also  detail  a  list  of  charges  more  or  less 
affecting  his  character.  Walker,  who  had  not 
seen  the  pamphlet  containing  the  articles  and 
evidence  in  the  case,  makes  the  best  of  Finch's 
printed  defence,  but  on  Finch's  own  showing 
there  was  ground  for  scandal.  Finch  died 
soon  after  his  sequestration ;  his  successor, 
William  Jenkyn,  was  admitted  on  1  Feb. 
1642,  '  per  mort.  Finch.'  There  is  a  doubt 
as  to  whether  he  was  married.  It  was  said 
that  he  had  lived  seven  years,  apart  from  his 
wife,  but  he  denied  that  he  had  a  wife. 

Finch  published  '  An  Answer  to  the  Ar- 
ticles/ &c.,  London,  1641,  4to.  This  was  in 
reply  to  '  The  Petition  and  Articles  .  .  .  ex- 
hibited in  Parliament  against  Edward  Finch, 


Vicar  of  Christ's  Church,  London,  and  brother 
to  Sir  J.  Finch,  late  Lord  Keeper,'  &c.,  1641, 
4to.  This  pamphlet  has  a  woodcut  of  Finch, 
and  a  cut  representing  his  journey  to  Ham- 
mersmith with  a  party  of  alleged  loose  cha- 
racters. The  main  point  of  Finch's  defence 
on  this  charge  was  that  one  of  the  party  was 
his  sister. 

[Walker's  Sufferings,  1714,  i.  69  sq.,  ii.  170; 
Calamy's  Continuation,  1727,  i.  17,  18;  pam- 
phlets above  cited.]  A.  G. 

FINCH,  EDWARD  (1664-1738),  com- 
poser, bom  in  1664,  was  the  fifth  son  of 
Heneage,  first  earl  of  Nottingham  [q.  v.]  He 
proceeded  M.A .  in  1079,  and  became  fellow  of 
Christ's  College,  Cambridge.  He  represented 
the  university  of  Cambridge  in  the  parlia- 
ment of  1689-90.  He  was  ordained  deacon 
at  York  in  1700,  became  rector  of  Wigan,  was 
appointed  prebendary  of  York  26  April  1704, 
and  resided  in  the  north  end  of  the  treasurer's 
house  in  the  Close,  taking  an  active  interest 
in  musical  matters,  as  appears  from  the  family 
correspondence.  Finch  was  installed  pre- 
bendary of  Canterbury  8  Feb.  1710.  He 
died  14  Feb.  1737-8,  aged  75,  at  York,  where 
a  monument  erected  by  him  in  the  minster 
to  his  wife  and  brother  (Henry,  dean  of 
York)  bears  a  bust  and  inscription  to  his 
memory. 

Finch's  '  Te  Deum '  and  anthem,  '  Grant, 
we  beseech  Thee/  both  written  in  five  parts, 
are  to  be  found  in  Dr.  Tud  way's  '  Collection 
of  Services'  (Harleian  MSS.  7337-42)  ;  <A 
Grammar  of  Thorough  Bass,'  with  examples, 
a  manuscript  of  sixty-six  pages,  is  in  the  Euing 
Library  at  Glasgow.  Of  Finch's  manuscript 
letters,  that  addressed  to  his  brother  Daniel, 
second  Earl  of  Nottingham  [q.  v.],  and  dated 
Winwick,  12  July  1702,  is  of  interest ;  he 
there  enunciates  his  views  of  a  sinecure  and 
discusses  other  questions  of  preferment. 

[Collins's  Peerage,  iii.  290;  Graduati  Canta- 
brigienses,  1823,  p.  168;  Le  Neve's  Fasti,  iii. 
650;  Diet,  of  Musicians,  1827,  i.  247;  Wil.is's 
Survey  of  Cathedrals,  1742,  i.  176;  Drake's 
Eboracum,  1736,  pp.  51 3", 559, 570;  Addit.  MSS. 
28569  f.  130,  29588  f.  88,  32496  f.  48  b ; 
Hasted's  Hist,  of  Canterbury,  1801,  ii.  63  ;  Har- 
leian MSS.  2264  f.  267,  7342  p.  306;  Gent. 
Mag.  viii.  109;  Brown's  Biog.  Diet,  of  Musi- 
cians, p.  246.]  L.  M.  M. 

FINCH,  EDWARD  (1756-1843),  gene- 
ral, fourth  son  of  Heneage,  third  earl  of  Ayles- 
ford, by  Lady  Charlotte  Seymour,  daughter 
of  Charles,  sixth  duke  of  Somerset,  was  born 
on  26  April  1756.  He  went  to  Westminster 
School  as  a  queen's  scholar  in  1768,  and  was 
elected  to  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  in 
1773,  proceeding  B.A.  in  1777.  He  entered 


Finch 


Finch 


the  army  as  a  cornet  in  the  llth  dragoons  on 
27  Dec.  1778,  exchanged  into  the  20th  light 
dragoons,  and  on  7  Oct.  1779  was  promoted 
lieutenant  into  the  87th  regiment.  He  ac- 
companied this  regiment  to  the  West  Indies 
in  January  1780,  and  served  there  and  in 
America  until  he  was  promoted  lieutenant 
and  captain  into  the  2nd  or  Coldstream  guards 
on  5  Feb.  1783.  On  11  May  1789  he  was 
elected  M.P.  for  Cambridge,  a  seat  which  he 
held  for  thirty  years,  and  on  3  Oct.  1792  he 
was  promoted  captain  and  lieutenant-colonel. 
He  accompanied  the  brigade  of  guards  to 
Flanders  under  General  Lake  in  1793,  and 
served  throughout  the  campaigns  under  the 
Duke  of  York  with  great  credit.  He  was 
present  at  the  actions  of  Caesar's  Camp  and 
Famars,  in  the  famous  engagement  of  Lin- 
celles,  and  at  the  battles  of  Hondschoten, 
Lannoy,  Turcoing,  and  round  Tournay.  He 
remained  with  his  corps  until  the  withdrawal 
of  the  British  troops  from  the  continent  in 
April  1795.  He  was  promoted  colonel  on 
3  May  1796,  and  nominated  to  command  the 
light  companies  of  the  guards  in  Coote's  ex- 
pedition to  cut  the  sluices  at  Ostend  [see 
COOTE,  SIB  EYEE,  1762-1824],  but  was  pre- 
vented from  going  by  an  accidental  injury  he 
received  the  day  before  the  expedition  sailed. 
He  was  present  with  the  guards  in  the  sup- 

?ression  of  the  Irish  rebellion  of  1798,  and  in 
799  commanded  the  1st  battalion  of  the 
Coldstreams  in  the  expedition  to  the  Helder 
and  at  the  battles  of  Bergen.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  Finch  was  appointed  to  the  command 
of  the  brigade  of  cavalry,  consisting  of  the 
12th  and  26th  light  dragoons,  which  ac- 
companied Sir  Ralph  Abercromby's  army  to 
Egypt.  His  regiments  hardly  came  into 
action  at  all  in  the  famous  battles  of  March 
1801,  for  the  ground  was  not  well  adapted 
for  cavalry,  and  he  only  covered  the  siege 
operations  against  Alexandria.  He  received 
the  thanks  of  parliament  with  the  other 
generals,  and  on  1  Jan.  1801  he  was  pro- 
moted major-general.  In  1803  he  took  com- 
mand of  the  1st  brigade  of  guards,  then 
stationed  at  Chelmsford,  consisting  of  the 
1st  battalion  of  the  Coldstreams  and  the  1st 
battalion  3rd  guards,  and  commanded  that 
brigade  in  the  expedition  to  Denmark  in 
1809,  and  at  the  siege  of  Copenhagen.  In 
1804  he  was  appointed  a  groom  of  the  bed- 
chamber to  the  king,  on  25  April  1808  he  was 
promoted  lieutenant-general,  and  on  3  Aug. 
1808  appointed  colonel  of  the  54th  regiment. 
On  18  Sept.  1809  he  was  transferred  to  the 
colonelcy  of  the  22nd  foot,  and  on  12  Aug. 
1819  he  was  promoted  general.  His  seniority 
to  Lord  Wellington  prevented  him  from  being 
employed  in  the  Peninsula,  and  he  never  saw 


service  after  1809.  He  continued  to  sit  in  the 
House  of  Commons  for  Cambridge,  through 
the  influence  of  the  Duke  of  Rutland,  until 
December  1819,  when  he  accepted  the  Chil- 
tern  Hundreds,  and  throughout  the  thirty 
years  of  his  parliamentary  career  his  seat  was 
only  once  contested,  in  1818.  Finch,  after 
1819,  entirely  retired  from  public  life,  and  he 
died  on  27  Oct.  1843,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
seven,  being  at  the  time  of  his  death  the  sixth 
general  in  order  of  seniority  in  the  English 
army. 

[Royal  Military  Calendar ;  Hart's  Army  List ; 
Mackinnon's  History  of  the  Coldstream  Guards; 
Welch's  Alumni  Westmonast. p.  397  ;  Gent.  Mag. 
December  1843.]  H.  M.  S. 

FINCH,  FRANCIS  OLIVER  (1802- 
1862),  water-colour  painter,  son  of  Francis 
Finch,  a  merchant  in  Friday  Street,Cheapside, 
London,  was  born  22  Nov.  1802,  and  spent  his 
boyhood  at  Stone,  near  Aylesbury.  When 
twelve  years  of  age,  at  that  time  fatherless, 
he  was  placed  under  John  Varley,  with  whom 
he  worked  altogether  five  years,  a  friend 
having  paid  a  premium  of  200/.  Among  his 
earliest  patrons  was  Lord  Northwick,  a  patron 
of  the  fine  arts,  who  employed  the  youth  in 
making  views  of  his  mansion  and  grounds. 
Some  time  after  leaving  his  master's  studio 
the  same  friend  who  had  assisted  in  placing 
him  there  afforded  him  the  benefit  of  a  tour 
through  Scotland.  After  his  return  he  doubted 
for  some  time  whether  he  should  continue 
the  practice  of  landscape  or  enter  as  a  student 
at  the  Royal  Academy.  He  joined  Sass's 
life  academy  and  produced  several  portraits, 
but  circumstances  drawing  him  back  to  land- 
scape-painting he  became  a  candidate  for  ad- 
mission into  the  then  newly  formed  Society 
of  Painters  in  Water  Colours.  On  11  Feb. 
1822  he  was  elected  an  associate,  and  on 
4  June  1827  a  member  of  that  society.  He 
first  exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy  in  1817, 
at  that  period  living  at  44  Conduit  Street, 
Bond  Street.  He  married  in  the  spring  of 
1837,  and  resided  for  some  time  in  Charlotte 
Street  and  afterwards  in  Argyle  Square, 
Euston  Road.  On  10  Oct.  1861  Finch  lost 
the  use  of  his  limbs,  and  died  27  Aug.  1862. 
He  possessed  a  fine  voice,  and  was  a  thorough 
musician,  as  well  as  a  poet.  He  printed  a 
collection  of  sonnets  entitled  '  An  Artist's 
Dream.'  Among  his  best  works  may  be 
mentioned  '  Garmallon's  Tomb,'  oil  (1820)  ; 
4  View  of  Loch  Lomond'  (1822)  :  'View  on 
the  River  Tay'  (1827);  'View  of  Wind- 
sor Castle '  (1829) ;  '  View  of  the  College 
of  Aberdeen '  (1832)  ;  scene  from  Milton's 
'Comus'  (1835);  'Alpine  Scene,  Evening ' 
(1838);  'A  WTatch  Tower'  (1840);  'The 


Finch 


7 


Finch 


Thames  near  Cookham,  Berkshire '  (1845) ; 
'  Ruined  Temple,  Evening '  (1852)  ;  <  Rocky 
Glen,  Evening '  (1855) ;  '  The  Curfew— Gray's 
Elegy'  (1860) ;  l  Pastoral  Retreat '  (1861)  ; 
and  l  Moonlight  over  the  Sea '  (1862).  His 
portrait  has  been  engraved  by  A.  Roffe. 

[Memoir  and  Eemains  of  F.  0.  Finch,  by  Mrs. 
E.  Finch,  London,  1865,  8vo.]  L.  F. 

FINCH,  SIR  HENEAGE  (d.  1631), 
speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons,  was  the 
fourth  son  of  Sir  Moyle  Finch  of  Eastwell, 
Kent,  and  grandson  of  Sir  Thomas  Finch 
[q.  v.]  His  mother  was  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  Sir  Thomas  Heneage  of  Copt  Hall,  Essex, 
and  granddaughter  on  the  mother's  side  of 
Thomas,  lord  Berkeley  of  Berkeley  Castle. 
Admitted  a  member  of  the  Inner  Temple  in 
November  1597,  he  was  called  to  the  bar  in 
1606.  At  a  by-election  in  1607  he  was  re- 
turned to  parliament  for  Rye.  He  spoke  in 
July  1610  in  the  debate  on  '  impositions,' 
maintaining  the  following  positions :  (1) '  that 
the  king,  though  upon  a  restraint  for  a  time, 
may  impose  for  a  time,  much  more  for  ever;' 
(2)  ( that  he  may  dispense  with  a  law  for  ever, 
because  the  law  is  for  ever ; '  (3) '  that  he  may 
make  a  bulwark  in  any  land,  but  not  take 
money  not  to  do  it ; '  (4)  *  that  the  king  hath 
power  only  to  make  war.  If  all  the  subjects 
will  make  war  without  the  king,  it  is  no  war ' 
(Parl.  Debates,  1610,  Camden  Soc.,  p.  116). 
He  was  one  of  the  lawyers  who  argued  before 
the  king  and  council  on  6  April  1612  the  moot 
point  '  whether  baronets  and  bannerets  were 
the  same  promiscuously ; '  and  desiring  to  give 
dignity  to  the  argument,  opened l  with  a  phi- 
losophical preamble,  omne  principium  motus 
est  intrmsecum,'  at  which  the  king,  being 
much  displeased,  said :  '  Though  I  am  a  king 
of  men.  yet  I  am  no  king  of  time,  for  I  grow 
old  with  this ; '  and  therefore,  if  he  had  any- 
thing to  speak  to  the  matter,  bade  him  utter 
it.  Whereupon  Finch,  with  great  boldness, 
undertook  to  prove  much,  but  did  nothing 
(Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  10th  Rep.  App.  pt.  iv.  9). 
In  1616  he  was  employed  in  conjunction  with 
Bacon  in  an  attempt  to  reduce  the  statute 
law  to  some  sort  of  consistency  with  itself 
(SPEDDING,  Letters  and  Life  of  Bacon,  vi.  71). 
In  1620-1  he  was  returned  to  parliament  for 
"West  Looe,  otherwise  Portpighan,  Cornwall. 
He  took  part  in  the  debate  of  3  Dec.  1621  on 
the  Spanish  match,  supporting  the  proposal 
to  petition  the  king  against  it  (Parl.  Hist. 
i.  1320).  In  the  preceding  February  he  had 
been  appointed  recorder  of  London  (Index  to 
Remembrancia,  p.  295),  and  he  represented 
the  city  in  parliament  between  1623  and 
1626.  On  22  June  1623  he  was  knighted  at 
Wanstead,  and  three  days  later  he  was  called 
to  the  degree  of  serjeant-at-law.  On  8  July 


following  he  was  further  honoured  by  the 
elevation  of  his  mother,  then  a  widow,  to  the 
peerage  as  Viscountess  Maidstone,  with  re- 
mainder to  her  heirs  male.  This  honour  was 
procured  through  the  interest  of  Sir  Arthur 
Ingram  at  the  price  of  a  capital  sum  of 
13,000/.  and  an  annuity  of  500/.,  to  secure 
which  Copt  Hall  manor  and  park  were  mort- 
gaged. She  was  afterwards,  viz.  on  12  July 
1628,  created  Countess  of  Winchilsea,  also 
with  remainder  to  her  heirs  male.  She  died 
in  1633,  and  was  buried  at  Eastwell  under  a 
splendid  monument.  Sir  Heneage's  eldest 
brother,  Thomas,  succeeded  her  as  first  earl 
of  Winchilsea  (cf.  art.  FINCH,  SIB  THOMAS  ; 
NICHOLS,  Progr.  James  I,  iii.  768,  875,  878; 
DUGDALE,  Chron.  Ser.  105;  COLLINS,  Peerage, 
ed.  Brydges,  iii.  387 ;  Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom. 
1619-23,  pp.  223, 623;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  4th. 
Rep.  App.  283  b,  290  a).  On  7  July  1625  Finch 
read  the  report  of  a  committee  of  the  House 
of  Commons  to  which  had  been  referred  the 
consideration  of  two  works  recently  published 
by  Richard  Montagu,  afterwards  bishop  of 
Chichester,  viz. '  A  New  Gag  for  an  Old  Goose ' 
and  'Appello  Csesarem,'  which  were  thought 
to  savour  somewhat  rankly  of  Arminianism 
and  popery.  The  result  of  the  report  was  that 
the  publication  of  the  books  was  treated  as 
a  breach  of  privilege  and  Montagu  arrested. 
The  plague  then  raging  severely,  the  debtors 
in  the  Fleet  petitioned  the  House  of  Com- 
mons for  a  habeas  corpus.  Finch  on  9  July 
spoke  in  favour  of  granting  a  release,  but  so 
as  to  save  the  rights  of  the  creditors.  On 
9  Aug.  he  was  present  at  a  conference  with 
the  lords  touching  certain  pardons  illegally 
granted  by  the  king  to  some  Jesuits,  but  is 
not  recorded  to  have  done  more  than  read 
the  lord  keeper's  speech.  On  10  Aug.  he 
spoke  in  favour  of  granting  the  subsidies  in 
reversion  demanded  by  the  king,  but  advised 
that  the  grant  should  be  accompanied  with 
a  protestation  never  to  do  the  like  upon  any 
necessity  hereafter  (Commons7  Debates,  1625, 
Camden  Soc.,  pp.  47, 51, 65, 94, 113 ;  Commons' 
Journ.  i.  805 ;  Parl.  Hist.  ii.  18-19,  35).  On 
6  Feb.  1625-6  he  was  elected  to  the  speaker's 
chair  (Commons'  Journ.  i.  816).  His  speech 
at  the  opening  of  parliament  was  divided  be- 
tween the  conventional  self-abasement,  praise 
of  the  'temperate'  character  of  the  laws, 
'  yielding  a  due  observance  to  the  prerogative 
royal,  and  yet  preserving  the  right  and  liberty 
of  the  subject,'  fulsome  flattery  of  the  king, 
and  denunciation  of  popery  and  Spain.  In 
1628  he  was  elected  to  the  bench  of  his  inn. 
On  10  April  1631  he  was  nominated  one  of 
the  commissioners  for  the  repair  of  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral.  He  died  on  5  Dec.  following  and 
was  buried  at  Ravenstone  in  Buckingham- 


Finch 


8 


Finch 


shire  (Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1625-6  p.  248, 
1631-3  pp.  6,  207  ;  NICHOLS,  Progr.  James  I, 
'  iii.  768 ;  Parl.  Hist.  ii.  41).  Finch  married 
twice.  His  first  wife  was  Frances,  daughter 
of  Sir  Edmund  Bell  of  Beaupre  Hall,  Norfolk, 
and  granddaughter  of  Sir  Robert  Bell  [q.  v.], 
chief  baron  of  the  exchequer  and  speaker  of 
the  House  of  Commons  in  the  reign  of  Eliza- 
beth. She  died  on  11  April  1627,  and  on 
16  April  1629  Finch  married,  at  St.  Dunstan's 
in  the  West,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  William 
Cradock  of  Staffordshire,  relict  of  Richard 
Bennett,  mercer  and  alderman  of  London,  an 
ancestor  of  the  Earls  of  Arlington.  By  his 
first  wife  Finch  had  issue  seven  sons  and  four 
daughters.  His  eldest  son,  Heneage  [q.  v.], 
was  lord  keeper  and  first  earl  of  Nottingham. 
Another  son,  Sir  John  [q.  v.],  was  a  physician. 
For  the  hand  of  Mrs.  Bennett,  who  brought 
Finch  a  fortune,  he  had  several  rivals,  among 
them  Sir  Sackville  Crow  and  Dr.  Raven,  a 
conjunction  which  afforded  much  amusement 
to  the  town.  Another  suitor  was  Sir  Edward 
Dering(Cb//.  Top.et  Gen.v.2lS',  Proceedings 
in  Kent,  1640,  Camden  Soc.)  By  this  lady 
Finch  had  issue  two  daughters  only,  viz. 
(1)  Elizabeth,  who  married  Edward  Madison, 
and  (2)  Anne,  who  married  Edward,  viscount 
and  earl  of  Conway. 

Finch  compiled  '  A  Brief  Collection  touch- 
ing the  Power  and  Jurisdiction  of  Bishops,' 
which  remains  in  manuscript  (Hist.  MSS. 
Comm.  4th  Rep.  App.  353). 

[Morant's  Essex,  i.  47;  Berry's  County  Ge- 
nealogies (Kent),  p.  207  ;  Hasted's  Kent,  iii.  199, 
387  ;  Official  Return  of  Lists  of  Members  of 
Parliament;  Inner  Temple  Books;  Collins's  Peer- 
age, ed.  Brydges,  iii.  387  ;  Manning's  Lives  of 
the  Speakers.]  J.  M.  R. 

FINCH,  HENEAGE,  first  EARL  OF  NOT- 
TINGHAM (1621-1682),  successively  solicitor- 
general,  lord  keeper,  and  lord  chancellor,  was 
born  23  Dec.  1621,  probably  at  Eastwell  in 
Kent  (WooD,  Athence  Oxon.},  and  was  the 
eldest  son  of  Sir  Heneage  Finch  [q.  v.],  knight, 
recorder  of  London,  and  speaker  in  Charles  I's 
first  parliament,  and  of  Frances,  daughter  of 
Sir  Edmund  Bell  of  Beaupre  Hall  in  Nor- 
folk. He  was  grandson  of  Elizabeth,  created 
*t  Countess  of  Winchilsea  by  Charles  I  [see 
*  under  FINCH,  SIR  THOMAS],  and  —p1-  —  of 
Sir  John,  lord  Finch  [q.  v.],  keeper  of  the 
seals  to  Charles  I.  He  was  educated  at  West- 
minster School,  whence  he  went  to  Christ 
Church,  entering  in  the  Lent  term  of  1635.  He 
then  joined  the  Inner  Temple,  where  he  soon 
became  a  distinguished  student,  with  special 
proficiency  in  municipal  law.  He  took  no 
part  in  the  troubles  of  the  civil  war,  and 
during  the  usurpation  conducted  an  exten- 
sive private  practice  (COLLINS,  Peerage}.  Of 


this,  however,  there  does  not  seem  to  be  any 
direct  evidence.  By  the  time  of  the  Restora- 
tion he  was  evidently  well  known,  for  he 
was  returned  for  the  Convention  parliament 
both  for  Canterbury  and  St.  Michael's  in 
Cornwall,  electing  to  sit  for  the  former.  In 
honour  of  the  occasion  he  was  entertained 
by  the  city  at  a  banquet  (Hist .  MSS.  Comm. 
9th  Rep.  165  £).  On  6  June  1660  he  was 
made  solicitor-general,  and  on  the  next  day 
was  created  a  baronet  of  Ravenstone  in  Buck- 
inghamshire (COLLINS,  Peerage).  He  at  once 
became  the  official  representative  of  the  court 
and  of  the  church  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
In  the  great  debate  of  9  July  1660  on  the 
future  form  of  the  church,  Finch  in  an  un- 
compromising speech  treated  the  matter  as 
not  open  to  argument,  since  there  was  '  no 
law  for  altering  government  by  bishops ; '  he 
jeered  at  'tender  consciences,'  and  hoped  the 
house  would  not '  cant  after  Cromwell.'  On 
30  July  he  urged  the  expulsion  from  their 
livings  of  all  ministers  who  had  been  pre- 
sented without  the  consent  of  the  patrons, 
and  opposed  any  abatement  in  the  articles 
or  oaths.  In  the  matter  of  the  Indemnity 
Bill  he  was  deputed  by  the  commons  to 
manage  the  conference  between  the  two 
houses  on  16  Aug.,  and  strongly  supported 
the  exclusion  from  pardon  of  the  late  king's 
judges,  a  compromise  which  he  felt  to  be 
necessary  to  secure  the  passing  of  the  mea- 
sure so  warmly  desired  by  the  king  and 
Clarendon.  On  12  Sept.  he  spoke  against 
the  motion  that  the  king  should  be  desired 
to  marry  a  protestant,  and  on  21  Nov.  pro- 
posed the  important  constitutional  change 
whereby  the  courts  of  wards  and  purveyance 
were  abolished,  and  the  revenue  hitherto 
raised  by  them  was  for  the  future  levied  on 
the  excise.  It  is  significant  of  the  real  ob- 
jects of  the  court  that  as  law  officer  of  the 
crown  he  opposed  (28  Nov.)  the  bill  brought 
in  by  Sir  Matthew  Hale  for  giving  effect  to 
the  king's  declaration  regarding  ecclesiasti- 
cal affairs  by  embodying  it  in  an  act.  And 
in  the  debate  regarding  the  ill-conduct  of 
the  troops,  on  14  Dec.,  he  spoke  against  the 
proposal  to  accompany  the  bill  of  supply 
with  a  complaint  of  grievances  (Parl.  Hist. 
vol.  iv.)  lie  was  of  course  one  of  the  pro- 
secuting counsel  in  the  trial  of  the  regicides 
in  October  1660,  where  he  is  described  in  one 
account  as  effectually  answering  Cooke,  the 
framer  of  the  impeachment  of  Charles  I  (Hist. 
MSS.  Comm.  5th  Rep.  181  b\  though  by  the 
report  in  the  state  trials  he  appears  only  to  have 
formally  opened  the  case  against  the  prisoner. 
In  April  1661  Finch  was  elected  to 
Charles's  second  parliament,  both  for  the 
university  of  Oxford  and  for  Beaumaris  in 


Finch 


Finch 


Anglesey,  electing  to  sit  for  the  former 
(Journals  of  the  House  of  Commons,  13  May 
1661).  He  was  carried  by  the  influence  of 
Clarendon,  whose  son  Laurence  Hyde  stood 
with  him,  of  the  Bishop  of  Oxford,  and  of  the 
heads  of  houses,  against  strong  opposition 
aroused  apparently  by  the  conduct  of  their 
former  representative,  Selden  (Cal.  State 
Papers,  1660-1).  He  appears  to  have  dis- 
appointed his  constituents  by  not  assisting 
to  get  rid  of  the  hearth-tax  (WooD,  Athence 
Oxon.}  In  this  year  also  he  was  made  trea- 
surer and  autumn  reader  of  the  Inner  Temple. 
He  chose  as  the  subject  of  his  lectures,  which 
excited  much  attention,  lasting  from  4  to 
17  Aug.,  the  statute  of  the  39th  of  Elizabeth, 
concerning  the  recovery  of  debts  of  the  crown, 
which  had  never  previously  been  discussed. 
The  favour  in  which  he  stood  was  shown  by 
the  presence  of  the  king  and  all  the  great  offi- 
cers of  state  at  a  banquet  in  his  honour  on 
the  15th  in  the  Inner  Temple  (ib. ;  PEPYS, 
Diary ;  DUGDALE,  Origines  Juridiciales).  It 
is  noticeable  that  in  one  matter  upon  which 
Charles  seemed  really  bent,  toleration  of  dis- 
sent, he  certainly  opposed  the  court.  In 
February  1663  he  was  made  chairman  of  the 
committee  of  the  commons  which  drew  up 
in  the  most  uncompromising  terms  an  ad- 
dress to  the  king  praying  for  the  withdrawal 
of  his  declaration  of  indulgence  (Parl.  Hist. 
vol.  iv.),  and  in  March  was  the  representative 
of  the  house  in  the  conference  with  the  lords 
about  a  bill  against  the  priests  and  Jesuits 
(Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  Ser.  1663-4).  In 
October  1664  he  was  leading  counsel  for  the 
Canary  merchants  in  their  endeavour  to  ac- 
quire a  new  charter  (EVELYN,  Diary,  27  Oct.) 
When  the  house  met  at  Oxford  in  1665  he 
again  vehemently  espoused  the  intolerant 
policy  of  the  Anglican  church  by  pressing  for- 
ward the  Five  Mile  Act ;  and  at  the  proroga- 
tion he,  with  Hyde,  Colonel  Strangways,  and 
Sir  John  Birkenhead,  received  the  honorary 
degree  of  D.C.L.  (7  Nov.),  having  with  the  two 
latter  (Commons'  Journals,  31  Oct.  1665),  by 
order  of  the  commons,  communicated  to  the 
university  on  31  Oct.  1665  the  thanks  of  the 
house  for  its  '  loyalty  in  the  late  rebellion, 
especially  in  refusing  to  submit  to  the  visi- 
tation of  the  usurped  powers,  and  to  take  the 
solemn  league  and  covenant'  (Cal.  State 
Papers,  Dom.  Ser.  1664-5).  In  the  debate 
on  the  Five  Mile  Act,  when  Vaughan  wished 
to  add  the  word  '  legally '  to  i  commissioned 
by  him,'  Finch  pointed  out  that  the  addition 
was  unnecessary,  and  his  argument  was 
adopted  by  Anglesey  in  the  lords,  where 
Southampton  moved  the  same  addition  (BuK- 
:NET,  Own  Time,  i.  225).  In  the  session  of 
1666  he  spoke  against  the  Irish  Cattle  Bill 


(Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  Ser.  1666-7),  and 
in  October  1667  on  Clarendon's  impeachment. 
The  account  is  obscure,  but  apparently  he  did 
what  he  could  to  check  the  violence  of  the 
commons,  insisting  on  sworn  evidence,  though 
willing  that  it  should  be  kept  secret.  On 
18  Feb.  1668  he  did  the  court  good  sendee 
by  shelving  the  bill  for  holding  frequent  par- 
liaments on  the  ground  of  informal  intro- 
duction (Parl.  Hist.) ;  and  in  the  same  month, 
in  the  celebrated  Skinner  controversy,  he 
pleaded  against  Skinner  before  the  lords  on 
behalf  of  the  East  India  Company  (PEPYS, 
22  Feb.  1668).  In  December  1668,  on  the 
motion  for  impeaching  the  Earl  of  Orrery, 
he  warned  the  house  against  acting  upon 
'out-of-door  accusation'  (Parl.  Hist.}  On 
10  May  1670  he  became  attorney-general, 
and  soon  afterwards  councillor  to  Queen 
Catherine.  He  was  chamberlain  of  Chester 
from  1673  to  1676.  He  exercised  a  mode- 
rating influence  in  the  debates  on  the  bill 
for  'preventing  malicious  maiming,'  which 
followed  the  outrage  on  Sir  John  Coventry 
[q.  v.],  and  he  successfully  opposed  the 
proposal  for  a  double  assessment  of  default- 
ing members  of  the  house  by  the  argu- 
ment that  by  tacking  it  to  the  subsidy  bill 
a  matter  affecting  the  commons  only  would 
come  before  the  lords.  In  April  1671  he 
conducted  with  great  skill  the  conferences 
between  the  lords  and  commons  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  interference  of  the  former  in 
'money  bills,  from  which  dates  practically  the 
cessation  of  the  practice.  His  ability  in  the 
conduct  of  this  matter  was  recognised  by  the 
formal  thanks  of  the  house.  On  6  Feb.  1673 
he  argued  in  favour  of  the  '  chancellor's  writs/ 
the  writs  issued  for  parliamentary  elections 
during  the  recess  by  Shaftesbury,  on  the 
ground  that  parliamentary  privilege  was  then 
dormant,  but  could  not  make  head  against 
the  determination  of  the  house  to  suffer  no 
court  interference.  In  the  great  debate  of 
10  Feb.  on  the  king's  declaration  of  indul- 
gence, while  repudiating  the  doctrine  ad- 
vanced by  Shaftesbury  of  a  distinction  be- 
tween the  exercise  of  the  royal  power  in 
ecclesiastical  and  temporal  affairs,  he  de- 
fended the  legality  and  expediency  of  the 
declaration.  *  A  mathematical  security,'  he 
said, «  we  cannot  have  ;  a  moral  one  we  have 
from  the  king.'  Seeing  the  temper  of  the 
house,  however,  he  concluded  by  the  illogical 
motion  that  the  king  be  petitioned  '  that  it 
might  be  so  no  more.'  In  March  1673  he 
passionately  opposed  the  Naturalisation  of 
Foreigners  Bill,  and  in  October  did  his  best 
in  vain  to  combat  the  determination  of  the 
commons  to  refuse  further  supplies  for  the 
Dutch  war  (Parl.  Hist.) 


Finch 


IO 


Finch 


On  the  dismissal  of  Shaftesbury,  Finch  be- 
came lord  keeper  of  the  seals,  9  Nov.  1673, 
and  as  such  was  made  on  4  Jan.  1674  the 
unconscious  mouthpiece  of  the  first  direct 
lie  which  Charles   had  ventured  openly  to 
tell  his  parliament  (ib.}     On  10  Jan.  he  was 
raised  to  the  peerage  as  Baron  Finch  of  Daven- 
trv,  from  the  manor  in  Northamptonshire  of 
which  he  was  owner  (COLLINS,  Peerage).   On 
19  Dec.  he  surrendered  the  seals,  to  receive 
them   again  immediately  with  the  higher 
title  of  lord  chancellor,  the  office  carrying 
with  it  apparently  a  salary  of  4,000/.  a  year 
(Autobiography  of  Roger  North,  p.  165).    In 
the  same  year  he  was  made  lord-lieutenant 
of  Somersetshire.     In  1675  he  was,  accord- 
ing to  Burnet,  one  of  the  chief  arguers  for 
the  non-resisting  test  (Own  Time,  i.  383). 
As  lord  chancellor  he  had  at  the  beginning 
of  each  session  to  supply  an  elaboration  of 
the  king's  speech,  and  this  he  did,  '  spoiling 
what  the  king  had  said  so  well  by  over- 
straining to  do  it  better'  (RALPH).    In  this 
year  he  conducted  the  case  of  the  lords  in 
the  great  Fagg  controversy.     In  1677  he 
presided  as  lord  high  steward  of  England  on 
the  trial  of  the  Earl  of  Pembroke  for  man- 
slaughter (WooD,  Athena  Oxon.}    A  signal 
instance  of  the  adroitness,  joined,  it  should 
be  said,  with  unimpeached  probity,  by  which, 
almost  alone  among  his  contemporaries,  he 
managed  to  secure  at  once  permanence  in 
office  and  freedom  from  parliamentary  attack, 
occurred  in  the  matter  of  Danby's  impeach- 
ment.     Charles,  to  the  great  anger  of  the 
commons,  had  given  Danby  a  pardon  in  bar 
of  the  impeachment.     The  house  appointed 
a  committee,  who  demanded  from  Finch  an 
explanation  of  the  fact  that  the  pardon  bore 
the  great  seal.     Finch's  statement  was  that 
he  neither  advised,  drew,  nor  altered  it ;  that 
the  kin^  commanded  him  to  bring  the  seal 
from  \N  hitehall,  and  being  there  he  laid  it 
upon  the  table  ;  thereupon  his  majesty  com- 
manded the  seal  to  be  taken  out  of  the  bag, 
•which  it  was  not  in  his  power  to  hinder ; 
and  the  king  wrote  his  name  on  the  top  of 
the  parchment,  and  then  directed  to  have  it 
sealed,  whereupon  the  person  who  usually 
carried  the  purse  affixed  the  seal  to  it.     He 
added  that  at  the  time  he  did  not  regard 
himself  as  having  the  custody  of  the  sea] 
i  I'.'rl.  lli*t.  iv.  1114).     AVhen  the  case  of 
nby  was  before  the  lords  he  argued  for 
tlu»  right  of  bishops  to  vote  in  trials  for  trea- 
son, and  carried  his  view  as  to  preliminaries 
though  not  as  to  final  judgment  (BURNET 
UK);  COLLINS,  Peerage}.  There 
is  among  Sir  Charles  Bunbury's  manuscript.* 

.   Sull'olk.   a   treatise  on  the  i 
power  of  granting  pardons,  ascribed  with 


most  probability  to  Finch  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm. 
3rd  Rep.  241 «).   Some  autograph  notes,  cer- 
ainly  his,  on  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  of  1679 
Belong  to  Alfred  Morrison,  esq.  (ib.  9th  Rep. 
457  a}.     He  conducted  the  examination  be- 
fore the  privy  council  of  the  '  party '  lords 
who  came  from  Scotland  in  1678  to  complain 
of  Lauderdale,  and,  though  evidently  holding 
a  brief  for  the  duke,  was  unable  to  shake 
their  position  (BURNET,  Own  Time,  i.  420). 
That  Finch  was  not  above  using  the  ordi- 
nary jargon  of  court  flattery  appears  in  his 
exclamation,  when  Charles  tried  the  experi- 
ment of  a  newly  modelled  privy  council, 
'  It  looked  like  a  thing  from  heaven  fallen 
into  his  master's  breast.'     During  the  popish 
terror  Finch  appears  to  have  given  no  offence 
to  either  side.    He  presided,  however,  as  lord 
high  steward  at  the  trial  of  Lord  Stafford, 
and  his  conduct  formed  a  pleasing  contrast 
to  that  which  so  often  disgraced  the  courts 
in  the  latter  years  of  Charles's  reign.     He 
showed  personal  courtesy  to  the  prisoner, 
provided  him  with  all  proper  means  of  de- 
fence, and  pronounced  sentence  in  a  speech 
greatly  admired  at  the  time,  '  one  of  the  best 
he  had  ever  made '  (BuRNET,  Own  Time,  i. 
492).  He,  however,  gave  his  own  vote'against 
Stafford,  and  complied  so  far  with  the  pre- 
vailing fashion  as  to  assume  the  whole  truth 
of  the  '  plot,'  and  even  to  father  the  absurd 
cry  that  London  had  been  burned  by  the 
papists  (ib.  i.  492;  State  Trials).     Burnet 
accounts  for  his  patronage  of  the  plot  as  the 
result  of  fear  of  parliamentary  attack  in  con- 
sequence of  his  conduct   in  the  matter  of 
Danby's  pardon  (ib.  ii.  261).     Only  one  slip 
does  Finch  appear  to  have  made  in  his  discreet 
avoidance  of  giving  offence.    In  1679,  on  re- 
ceiving Gregory,  the  new  speaker  of  the 
house,  he  allowed  himself  to  declare  that  the 
king  '  always  supports  the  creatures  of  his 
power.'    Shaftesbury  at  once  fastened  on  the 
expression;  Finch  was  compelled  to  apolo- 
gise, and  a  resolution  was  carried  not  to  enter 
it  upon  the  minutes  of  the  house  (RANKE, 
Hist.  England,  iv.  77).     In  the  great  ques- 
tion of  the  succession,  Finch  was  of  course 
against  exclusion.     But  by  Charles's  com- 
mand he  proposed  the  middle  and  entirely 
impracticable  scheme  of '  limitations '  (ib.  iv. 
80).     On  12  May  1681  he  was  created  Earl 
of  Nottingham,  and  died  18  Dec.  1682,  in  the 
sixty-first  year  of  his  age,  after  a  life  spent  in 
unremitting  official  and  professional  toil.    He 
was  buried   at  Ravenstone,  near  Newport 
Pntnu'll  in  Buckinghamshire,  of  which  place 
-  the  owner  and  benefactor  (COLLINS, 
Peerage}.     He  married   Elizabeth    Harvey, 
daughter  of  Daniel  Harvey,  merchant  of  Lon- 
don (probably  one  of  the  members  for  Surrey  in 


Finch 


Finch 


the  Convention  parliament),  by  whom  he  had 
a  numerous  family.  The  eldest  son,  Daniel 
[q.  v.],  became  second  earl.  Heneage,  the 
second  son  [q.  v.],  was  solicitor-general,  and 
was  created  earl  of  Aylesford.  The  fifth  son, 
Edward  [q.  v.],  was  a  musical  composer.  Not- 
tingham's favourite  residence,  Kensington 
House,  he  bought  of  his  younger  brother  John 
[q.  v.]  His  son  Daniel  [q.  v.]  sold  it  to  Wil- 
liam III. 

^  The  fact  that  throughout  an  unceasing  offi- 
cial career  of  more  than  twenty  years,  in  a 
time  of  passion  and  intrigue,  Finch  was  never 
once  the  subject  of  parliamentary  attack,  nor 
ever  lost  the  royal  confidence,  is  a  remark- 
able testimony  both  to  his  probity  and  dis- 
cretion. His  success  in  the  early  part  of 
the  reign  arose  from  the  fact  that  he  was 
in  the  first  place  a  constitutional  lawyer 
of  the  highest  repute,  'well  versed  in  the 
laws'  (BuKNET,  Own  Time,i.  365).  Dryden 
bears  the  same  testimony  in  '  Absalom  and 
Achitophel,'  where  he  is  described  as  Amri. 
These  qualifications  made  him  a  man  of  ex- 
treme usefulness  at  a  time  when  the  consti- 
tution had  to  be  restored  after  many  years 
of  dislocation.  Until  he  finally  left  the 
house  scarcely  a  committee  of  importance 
was  formed  on  which  he  was  not  placed, 
usually  as  chairman.  He  was  appointed  to 
draw  up  the  letter  of  congratulation  from 
the  commons  to  Charles  on  his  arrival  in 
England;  and  he  had  the  management  of 
almost  all  the  important  controversies  which 
were  so  frequently  held  with  the  lords.  His 
forensic  eloquence  is  testified  to  on  all  hands ; 
though  Burnet  says  he  was  too  eloquent  on 
the  bench,  in  the  lords,  and  in  the  commons, 
and  calls  his  speaking  laboured  and  affected. 
Roger  North  in  his  autobiography  (p.  198) 
confirms  this  view,  saying  that  his  love  of 
*  a  handsome  turn  of  expression  gave  him  a 
character  of  a  trifler  which  he  did  not  so 
much  deserve.'  In  the  high-flown  language 
of  the  time  he  was  named  the  English  Ros- 
cius  and  the  English  Cicero. 

Burnet  states  to  his  credit  that,  though 
he  used  all  the  vehemence  of  a  special  pleader 
to  justify  the  court  before  the  lords,  yet,  as 
a  judge,  Finch  carried  on  the  high  tradition 
of  his  predecessor,  Shaftesbury.  In  his  own 
court  he  could  resist  the  strongest  applica- 
tions even  from  the  king  himself,  though  he 
did  it  nowhere  else.  The  same  historian  calls 
him  '  ill-bred,  and  both  vain  and  haughty ; 
he  had  no  knowledge  of  foreign  affairs,  and 
yet  he  loved  to  talk  of  them  perpetually.' 
Burnet's  last  words  about  him  are,  how- 
ever, a  recognition  of  the  purity  and  fitness 
of  his  presentations  of  clergymen  to  livings 
in  the  chancellor's  gift.  His  portrait  was 


painted  by  Lely.     There  is  a  print  by  Hou- 
braken. 

[The  chief  authorities  are  the  Journals  of  the 
House  of  Commons;  Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  (Bliss), 
iv.  66;  Parliamentary  History;  Burnet's  Own 
lime;  Collins s  Peerage.]  Q.  A 

FINCH,  HENEAGE,  second  EARL  OP 
WnrcHJMHA  (d.  1689),  was  the  son  of 

Ihomas,  the  first  earl,  whose  mother  Eliza- 
beth had  been  created  Countess  of  Winchil- 
sea  in  her  widowhood  by  Charles  I  (1628). 
Heneage,  educated  at  Emmanuel  College^ 
Cambridge,  succeeded  to  the  title  of  Viscount 
Maidstone  in  1633,  and  of  Earl  of  Winchilsea 
in  1639.     He  distinguished  himself  on  the 
royalist  side  during  the  great  rebellion,  pro- 
viding auxiliary  troops  (horse  and  foot)  at  his 
own  expense,  and   supplying   '  with  great 
hazard '  Charles  II's  *  necessities  in  foreign 
parts.'    He  was  a  friend  of  Monck  and  was 
made  governor   of  Dover  Castle   in  1660. 
Upon  the  Restoration  he  was  created  a  baron, 
by  the  title  of  Lord  Fitzherbert  of  Eastwell 
(from  which  family  the  Finches  claimed  de- 
scent), 26  June  1660,  and  on  10  July  was 
appointed  lord-lieutenant  of  Kent.    Early  in 
1661  he  went  on  an  important  embassy  to 
Sultan  Mahomet  Chan  IV,  and  published  an 
account  of  it  the  same  year.     He  remained  as 
English  ambassador  at  Constantinople  eight 
years,  and  on  his  return  journey  wrote  from 
Naples  to  the  king  a  description,  which  was 
afterwards  printed,  of  the  eruption  of  Mount 
Etna.     He  was  reinstated  on  his  arrival  in 
England  lord-lieutenant  of  Kent  and  go- 
vernor of  Dover  Castle,  but  was,  with  a  long 
list  of  other  lieutenants,  dismissed  from  the 
former  post  in  1687.     When  James  II  was 
stopped  at  Feversham  by  the  Kentish  fisher- 
men, he  wrote  to  Winchilsea,. who  was  at 
Canterbury,  asking  him  to  come  to  him.   The 
earl  arrived  before  night  (12  Dec.),  and  in- 
terposed on  behalf  of  the  king  besides  moving 
him  to  a  more  suitable  lodging  in  a  private 
house  (Add.  MS.  32095,  f.  298 ;  RALPH,  His- 
tory, i.    1068).     When  James  fled  for  the 
second  time,  Winchilsea  was  one  of  those 
who  voted  for  offering  the  vacant  throne  to 
William  and  Mary,  and  in  March  1689  was 
again  made  lord-lieutenant  of  Kent.     He 
died  in  August  the  same  year.    He  married 
four  times  :  (1)  Diana,  daughter  of  Francis, 
fifth  lord  Willoughby  of  Parham  ;  (2)  Mary, 
daughter  of  William  Seymour,  marquis  of 
Hertford;    (3)  Catherine,  daughter  of  Sir 
Thomas  Norcliff ;  (4)  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
John  Ayres,  esq.     Out  of  twenty-seven  chil- 
dren sixteen  lived  to  '  some  maturity.' 

His  published  works  were :  1.  'Narrative 
of  the  Success  of  his  Embassy  to  Turkey. 


Finch 


12 


Finch 


The  Voyage  of  the  Right  Honourable  He- 
neage  Finch  from  Smyrna  to  Constantinople. 
His  Arrival  there,  and  the  manner  of  his 
Entertainment  and  Audience  with  the  Grand 
Vizier  and  Grand  Seignieur,'  London,  1661. 
2.  'A  true  and  exact  Relation  of  the  late 
prodigious  Earthquake  and  Eruption  of  Mount 
Etna,  or  Mount  Gibello,  as  it  came  in  a  Letter 
written  to  his  Majesty  from  Naples.  By  the 
Right  Honourable  the  Earl  of  Winchelsea, 
his  Majesty's  late  Ambassador  at  Constanti- 
nople, who  on  his  return  from  thence,  visit- 
ing Catania,  in  the  Island  of  Sicily,  was  an 
eye-witness  of  that  dreadful  spectacle.  To- 
gether with  a  more  particular  Narrative  of 
the  same,  as  it  is  collected  out  of  several 
relations  sent  from  Catania.  With  a  View 
of  the  Mountain  and  Conflagration,'  London, 
1669,  fol. 

[Collins's  Peerage,  ed.  1779,  iii.  280  ;  Walpole's 
Eoyal  and  Noble  Authors,  ed.  Park,  iii.  316; 
Kycaut's  Hist,  of  the  Turks,  ii.  97,  &c. ;  Luttrell's 
Relation  of  State  Affairs,  i.  422,  575  ;  Brit.  Mus. 
Cat. ;  Doyle's  Baronage.]  E.  T.  B. 

FINCH,  HENEAGE,  first  EAEL  OF 
AYLESFORD  (1647  P-1719),  second  son  of 
Heneage  Finch,  first  earl  of  Nottingham  [q.  v.], 
was  educated  at  Westminster  School  and 
Christ  Church,  Oxford.  He  left  the  univer- 
sity without  a  degree,  and  entering  the  legal 
profession  was  admitted  a  barrister  of  the 
Inner  Temple.  His  name  soon  became  known 
as  the  author  of  various  reports  of  celebrated 
trials  and  other  legal  tracts;  he  was  appointed 
king's  counsel  10  July  1677,  and  solicitor- 
general  in  1679,  entering  parliament  as  mem- 
ber for  the  university  of  Oxford  in  the  same 
year.  In  1686  he  was  deprived  of  the  solicitor- 
generalship  by  James  II,  and  two  years  later 
pleaded  as  leading  counsel  on  the  side  of  the 
seven  bishops.  He  sat  for  Guildford  in  the 
parliament  of  1685,  again  representing  the 
university  of  Oxford  in  the  Convention  par- 
liament of  1689-90,  and  all  subsequent  ones 
(except  that  elected  in  1698),  till  his  pro- 
motion to  the  peerage  in  1703  {Members  of 
Parliament  Blue  Book,  pt.  i.  see  Index).  Bur- 
net  relates  that  in  the  debate  on  the  Act  of 
Settlement  of  1701  Finch  attempted  to  alter 
the  clause  for  abjuring  the  Prince  of  Wales 
into  an  obligation  not  to  assist  him,  and  pressed 
his  point  *  with  unusual  vehemence  in  a  debate 
that  he  resumed  seventeen  times  in  one  ses- 
sion against  all  rules '  (BURNET,  History  of  his 
cvm  Time,  ed.  1823,  iv.  537-8  and  note).  In 
August  1702  he  was  chosen  by  the  university 
to  present  a  complimentary  address  to  Queen 
Anne  on  her  visit  to  Oxford,  and  in  1703  was 
created,  *  in  consideration  of  his  great  merit 
and  abilities,'  Baron  Guernsey,  and  sworn  of 
the  privy  council.  Burnet  remarks  that  there 


were  great  reflections  on  the  promotion  of 
Finch  and  others,  to  make,  it  was  said,  a 
majority  for  the  Stuarts  in  the  House  of 
Lords.  In  1711  he  also  became  master  of  the 
jewel  house.  On  the  accession  of  George  I  he 
was  raised  to  the  peerage,  taking  the  title 
of  Earl  of  Aylesford,  an  estate  having  been 
left  to  him  there,  with  a  large  fortune,  by  his 
wife's  father.  Besides  this  new  dignity  he 
was  again  sworn  of  the  privy  council,  and 
created  chancellor  of  the  duchy  of  Lancaster, 
which  office  he  resigned  in  1716.  He  died 
22  July  1719,  and  was  buried  at  Aylesford, 
Kent.  He  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  and 
coheir  of  Sir  John  Banks  of  Aylesford,  by 
whom  he  had  nine  children. 

His  portrait  appears  in  the  print  engraved 
by  White  in  1689  of  the  counsel  of  the  seven 
bishops. 

[Collins's  Peerage,  ed.  1779,  iv.  316  ;  Sharpe's 
Peerage,  i.  20 ;  Welch's  Alumni  "Westmonas- 
terienses,p.571 ;  Poynter's  Chronicle,  1703,1711 ; 
Luttrell's  Relation  of  State  Affairs;  Burnet's 
History  of  his  own  Time,  ed.  1823,  ii.  106,  397; 
Doyle's  Baronage.]  E.  T.  B. 

FINCH,  SiRHENRY(rf.  1625),  serjeant- 
at-law,  was  the  second  son  of  Sir  Thomas 
Finch  [q.  v.]  of  East  well,  Kent,  by  Catherine, 
daughter  and  heir  of  Sir  Thomas  Moyle.  His 
elder  brother,  Sir  Moyle  Finch,  was  the  father 
of  Sir  Heneage  Finch  [q.  v.],  speaker  of  the 
House  of  Commons  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I, 
whose  son  Heneage  [q.  v.],  first  earl  of  Not- 
tingham, was  lord  chancellor  to  Charles  II. 
Sir  Henry  Finch  was  educated,  according  to 
Wood,  'for  a  time '  at  Oriel  College,  Oxford, 
where,  however,  he  seems  to  have  taken  no 
degree,  and  was  admitted  of  Gray's  Inn  in 
1577,  and  called  to  the  bar  there  in  1585 
(DouTHWAiTE,  Gray's  Inn,  p.  62).  He  seems 
to  be  identical  with  a  certain  Henry  Finch 
of  Canterbury,  who  held  from  the  arch- 
bishop a  lease  of  Salmstone  rectory,  except 
the  timber  and  the  advowson,  between  1583 
and  1600.  In  February  1592-3  he  was  re- 
turned to  parliament  for  Canterbury,  and 
he  retained  the  seat  at  the  election  of  1597. 
He  became  an  (  ancient '  of  his  inn  in  1593, 
and  the  same  year  was  appointed  counsel 
to  the  Cinque  ports.  He  was  reader  at  his 
inn  in  the  autumn  of  1604.  In  1613  he  was 
appointed  recorder  of  Sandwich,  on  11  June 
1616  he  was  called  to  the  degree  of  serjeant- 
at-law,  and  nine  days  later  he  received  the 
honour  of  knighthood  at  Whitehall  (Cal. 
State  Papers,  Dom.  1598-1601  p.  533,  1611- 
1G18  p.  373;  Official  Return  of  Lists  of 
Members  of  Parliament;  DUGDALE,  Chron. 
Ser.  103 ;  NICHOLS,  Progr.  James  I,  iii.  173 ; 
BOYS,  Collections  for  a  History  of  Sandwicht 
pp.  423,  779).  At  this  time  he  was  en- 


Finch  i 

gaged,  in  conjunction  with  Bacon,  Noy,  and 
others,  upon  an  abortive  attempt  at  codifying 
the  statute  law,  described  by  Bacon  as  '  the 
reducing  of  concurrent  statutes  heaped  one 
upon  another  to  one  clear  and  uniform  law.' 
About  the  same  time  his  opinion  was  taken 
by  the  king  on  the  *  conveniency '  of  mono- 
poly patents,  and  to  him,  jointly  with  Bacon 
and  Montague,  was  entrusted  the  conduct  of 
the  business  connected  with  the  patent  in- 
tended to  be  granted  to  the  Inns  of  Court 
(SPEDDING,  Letters  and  Life  of  Bacon,  vi.  71, 
84,  99).     He  took  part  in  the  argument  on 
the   question  whether  baronets   ranked  as 
bannerets  before  the  king  and   council  on 
6  April  1612  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  10th  Rep. 
App.  pt.  iv.  9).   In  1621  he  published  a  work 
entitled  'The  World's  Great  Restauration, 
or  Calling  of  the  Jews,  and  with  them  of  all 
Nations  and  Kingdoms  of  the  Earth  to  the 
Faith  of  Christ,'  in  which  he  seems  to  have 
predicted  as  in  the  near  future  the  restora- 
tion of  temporal  dominion  to  the  Jews  and 
the  establishment  by  them  of  a  world-wide 
empire.     This  caused  King  James  to  treat 
the  work  as  a  libel,  and  accordingly  Finch 
was  arrested  in  April  1621.   He  obtained  his 
liberty  by  disavowing  all  such  portions  of  the 
work  as  might  be  construed  as  derogatory  to 
the  sovereign  and  apologising  for  having  writ- 
ten unadvisedly.  Laud,  in  a  sermon  preached 
in  July  1621,  took  occasion  to  animadvert  on 
the   book.     It  was  suppressed  and  is  now 
extremely  rare  (Notes  and  Queries,  2nd  ser. 
xi.  127 ;  Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1619-23, 
pp.  247,  248).     He  must  have  been  in  em- 
barrassed circumstances  in  1623,  as  his  son 
John  [q.  v.]  having  become  surety  for  him  was 
only  protected  from  arrest  for  debt  by  an  order 
under  the  sign-manual  (Cal.  State  Papers, 
Dom.  1619-23,  p.  515).    He  died  in  October 
1625,  and  was  buried  in  the  parish  church  of 
Boxley,  Kent  (HASTED,  Kent,  iv.  624).    By 
his  wife  Ursula,  daughter  of  John  Thwaites  of 
Kent,  he  was  father  of  John,  lord  Finch  of 
Fordwich  [q.  v.]  (BEEKT,  County  Genealogies 
(Kent),  p.  206),  and  of  Edward  (Jl.  1630- 
1641)  [q.  v.],  royalist  divine,  whom  the  genea- 
logists overlook.  Besides  the '  Great  Restaura- 
tion,' Finch  published  a  legal  treatise  of  con- 
siderable merit  entitled  '  No/zorf^i'ia,  cestas- 
cavoir  un  Description   del   Common   Leys 
d'Angleterre  solonque  les  Rules  del  Art  Pa- 
rallelees  ove  les  Prerogative  le  Roy,  &c.,&c., 
Per Henrie  Finch  de  Graye'slnne,  Apprentice 
del  Ley,'  Lond.  1613,  fol.    It  is  dedicated  in 
remarkably  good  Latin,  '  Augustissimo  Prin- 
cipi  omnique  virtutum  genere  splendidissimo 
Jacobo  Magno  Dei  gratia  Britannise  Regi.'  It 
consists  of  four  books.     The  first  treats  of 
what  is  now  called  jurisprudence,  and  is 


;  Finch 

mainly  devoted  to  expounding  the  distinc- 
tion between  natural  and  '  positive  '  law.  It 
is  learnedly  written,  Plato  and  Cicero  being 
frequently  cited.  The  second  book  deals  with 
the  common  law,  customs,  prerogative,  and 
statute  law ;  the  third  with  procedure,  anc 
the  fourth  with  special  jurisdictions,  e.g.  those 
of  the  admiral  and  the  bishop.  The  treatise 
is  written  in  law  French.  An  English  ver- 
sion, entitled  '  Law,  or  a  Discourse  thereof 
in  Four  Books,  written  in  French  by  Sir 
Henry  Finch,  Knight,  His  Majesty's  Ser- 
jeant-at-law, done  into  English  by  the  same 
author,'  appeared  in  London  in  1627,  8vo  ; 
1636, 12mo;  1678,  8vo:  and  was  edited  with 
notes  by  Danby  Pickering  of  Gray's  Inn,  in 
1789,  8vo.  It  differs  in  some  important  par- 
ticulars from  the  original  work.  Another 
and  much  closer  translation  was  published 
in  the  last  century  under  the  title,  '  A  De- 
scription of  the  Common  Laws  of  England 
according  to  the  Rules  of  Art  compared  with 
the  Prerogatives  of  the  King/  &c.,  London, 
1759,  8vo.  As  an  exposition  of  the  common 
law,  Finch's  Law,  as  it  was  called,  was  only 
superseded  by  Blackstone's '  Commentaries,' 
so  far  as  it  dealt  with  jurisprudence  only  by 
the  great  work  of  Austin.  A  little  abstract 
of  the  work,  entitled  '  A  Summary  of  the 
Common  Law  of  England,'  appeared  in  Lon- 
don in  1673,  8vo. 

[Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  (Bliss),  ii.  387;  Wool- 
rych'sLiv-esofEminentSerjeants-at-law,i.  391-3;. 
Berry's  County  Genealogies  (Kent).]  J.  M.  K. 

FINCH,  HENRY  (1633-1704),  ejected! 
minister,  was  born  at  Standish,  Lancashire,, 
and  baptised  on  8  Sept.  1633.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  the  grammar  schools  of  Standish  and 
Wigan.  Calamy  does  not  say  at  what  uni- 
versity he  graduated.  After  preaching  in  the 
Fylde  country  (between  the  Lune  and  the 
Ribble)  he  was  presented  in  1656  to  the  vicar- 
age of  Walton-on-the-Hill,  Lancashire,  a 
parish  which  then  included  the  town  of  Liver- 
pool. He  was  a  member  of  the  fifth  presby- 
terian  classis  of  Lancashire.  In  July  1659" 
he  took  a  rather  active  part  in  the  plans 
for  the  rising  of  the  '  new  royalists '  under 
Sir  George  Booth  (1622-1684)  [q.v.]  His 
property  was  seized  by  the  parliamentary 
sequestrators,  and  not  restored ;  but  for  the* 
restoration  of  the  monarchy  in  the  following 
year  he  would  probably  have  lost  his  bene- 
fice. Unable  to  accept  the  terms  of  the  Uni- 
formity Act,  he  was  ejected  in  1662.  He- 
retired  to  Warrington,  where  ^  he  lived  for 
some  years  in  dependence  on  his  wife's  rela- 
tives. The  Five  Mile  Act  (1665)  compelled 
him  to  leave,  and  he  settled  in  Manchester 
(not  then  a  corporate  town),  where  he  sup- 
ported himself  by  keeping  a  school.  Both  at 


Finch 

Warrington  and  Manchester  he  attended  the 
ordinary  services  in  the  established  church, 
preaching  only  occasionally  on  Sunday  even- 
ings in  his  own  dwelling  to  such  restricted 
gatherings  as  the  law  allowed.  On  the  in- 
dulgence of  1672  he  took  out  a  license  as  a '  ge- 
neral presbyterian  minister,'  and  officiated  in 
the  licensed'  private  oratory '  (Birch  Chapel), 
which  was  in  the  hands  of  Thomas  Birch  of 
Birch  Hall,  Lancashire,  though  the  legal 
ovvTiers  were  the  warden  and  fellows  of  the 
collegiate  church  of  Manchester.  On  29  Oct. 
1672  he  took  part  in  the  first  ordination  con- 
ducted by  the  ejected  nonconformists,  in  the 
house  of  Robert  Eaton  at  Deansgate,  Man- 
chester. On  the  outbreak  of  the  Monmouth 
rebellion  (1685)  Finch  was  imprisoned  at 
Chester;  this  was  probably  the  occasion  when, 
as  Calamy  relates,  '  they  thrust  a  conformist 
into  his  place '  at  Birch  Chapel,  but  *  that  pro- 
iect  dropt,'  and  Finch  was  allowed  to  resume 
his  ministry. 

The  Toleration  Act  (1689)  was  the  means 
of  calling  attention  to  the  insecurity  of  his 
position.  Birch  Chapel,  being  a  consecrated 
place,  could  not  be  licensed  as  a  dissenting 
meeting-house.  Finch,  however,  stayed  on 
until  the  death  of  Thomas  Birch  the  younger 
in  1697,  when  the  chapel  was  ceded  by  his  son, 
George  Birch,  to  the  legal  owners.  Finch 
then  preached  at  licensed  houses  in  Platt  and 
Birch,  till  his  friends  built  a  meeting-house 
at  Platt  (1700),  Finch  himself  contributing 
20/.  towards  the  erection,  which  cost  95/.  in 
all.  The  opening  discourse  was  preached  by 
Finch's  son-in-law,  James  Grimshaw  of  Lan- 
caster, author  of '  Rest  from  Rebels,'  1716. 

Finch  was  a  member  of  the  provincial  meet- 
ing of  united  ministers  (presbyterian  and 
congregational)  formed  in  Lancashire  in  1693 
on  the  basis  of  the  London  '  agreement '  of 
1691,  involving  a  doctrinal  subscription.  He 
preached  before  this  meeting  on  two  occa- 
sions, 4  Aug.  1696,  and  13  Aug.  1700,  both 
at  Manchester.  Calamy  acknowledges  the 
value  of  Finch's  corrections  to  his  account  of 
the  silenced  ministers.  It  is  interesting  to 
note  that,  though  a  strong  supporter  of  the 
revolution  of  1688,  Finch  was  '  a  charitable 
contributor  while  he  liv'd'  to  the  distressed 
nonjurors.  Finch  died  on  13  Nov.  1704,  and 
was  succeeded  by  Robert  Hesketh,  early  in 
whose  ministry  the  chapel  was  conveyed 
(25-6  Oct.  1706)  in  trust  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  an  'orthodox'  ministry. 

PETER  FIXCH  (1661-1754),  presbyterian 
minister,  son  of  the  above,  was  born  on  6  Oct. 
1661.  On  3  May  1678  he  entered  the  non- 
conformist academy  of  Richard  Frankland 
[q.  v.]  at  Natland,  Westmoreland.  He  soon 
removed  to  the  university  of  Edinburghjwliere 


4  Finch 

he  graduated  M.A.  on  16  July  1680.  His 
first  employment  was  as  chaplain  in  the  family 
of  William  Ashurst,  afterwards  knighted  [see 
ASHURST,  HENRY].  In  1691  he  was  invited 
to  become  colleague  at  Norwich  to  Josiah 
Chorley  [q.  v.] ;  his  first  entry  in  the  pres- 
byterian register  of  baptisms  is  dated  1  June 
1692.  He  remained  at  his  post  for  over  sixty- 
two  years,  and  survived  Edward  Crane  [q.  v.] 
and  Thomas  Dixon  the  younger  [see  under 
DIXON,  THOMAS],  both  of  whom  had  been 
designated  as  his  successor.  Himself  a  strict 
Calvinist,  Ke  contributed  much,  by  his  love 
of  peace,  to  preserve  concord  when  doctri- 
nal differences  threatened  to  divide  his  flock. 
From  1733  John  Taylor,  the  Hebraist,  was 
his  colleague.  He  died  on  his  ninety-third 
birthday,  6  Oct.  1754,  and  was  buried  in  the 
church  of  St.  Peter  Mancroft,  Norwich.  A 
small  portrait  of  him  hangs  in  the  vestry  of 
the  Octagon  Chapel.  His  great-grandson, 
Peter,  was  mayor  of  Norwich  in  1827. 

[Calamy's  Account,  1713,  p.  404  sq. ;  Con- 
tinuation, 1727,  i.  564;  Monthly  Repository, 
1811,  p.  261;  Taylor's  Hist.  Octagon  Chapel, 
Norwich,  1848,  p.  15  sq. ;  Booker's  Hist.  Ancient 
Chapel  of  Birch  (Chetham  Soc.),  1858;  Cat.  of 
Edinb.  Graduates  (Bannatyne  Club),  1858 ; 
Halley's  Lancashire  Nonconformity,  1869,  p. 
94,  &c. ;  Manuscript  Minutes  of  Provincial  Meet- 
ing of  Lancashire  Ministers  (1693-1700),  in  pos- 
session of  trustees  of  Cross  Street  Chapel,  Man- 
chester ;  papers  relating  to  Platt  Chapel,  in 
possession  of  G-.  W.  Rayner  Wood.]  A.  G. 

FINCH,  SIR  JOHN,  BARON  FINCH 
OF  FORDWICH  (1584-1660),  speaker  of  the 
House  of  Commons  and  lord  keeper,  son  of 
Sir  Henry  Finch  [q.  v.],  by  Ursula,  daugh- 
ter of  John  Thwaites,  was  born  on  17  Sept. 
1584,  admitted  a  member  of  Gray's  Inn  in 
February  1600,  and  called  to  the  bar  on 
8  Nov.  1611.  Clarendon  states  that  he  '  led 
a  free  life  on  a  restrained  fortune,'  and  that 
he  '  set  up  upon  the  stock  of  a  good  wit  and 
natural  parts,  without  the  superstructure  of 
much  knowledge  in  the  profession  by  which 
he  was  to  grow '  (Rebellion,  Oxford  ed.  i. 
130),  and  Finch  himself,  on  the  occasion  of 
his  instalment  as  lord  chief  justice,  publicly 
confessed  that  the  first  six  years  of  his 
pupilage  were  mainly  devoted  to  other  pur- 
suits than  the  study  of  the  law  (RTTSHWORTH, 
Hist.  Coll.  ii.  256).  In  1614  he  was  returned 
to  parliament  for  Canterbury.  In  1617  he 
was  elected  a  bencher  of  his  inn,  where,  in 
the  autumn  of  the  following  year,  he  dis- 
charged the  duties  of  reader  (DouTHWAiTE, 
Gray's  Inn,  p.  66).  Foss  says,  without  giv- 
ing his  authority,  that  in  1617  he  was  elected 
recorder  of  Canterbury.  He  was  certainly 
recorder  of  the  city  in  March  1618-19  (Ecje'r- 


Finch 


Finch 


ton  MS.  2584,  f.  177),  and  was  dismissed  by 
the  corporation  shortly  afterwards.  The 
cause  of  his  removal  does  not  appear.  Finch 
himself,  in  a  letter  dated  4  Jan.  1619,  solicit- 
ing the  interest  of  Lord  Zouch,  warden  of 
the  Cinque  ports,  with  the  privy  council, 
from  which  he  had  obtained  a  mandamus 
against  the  corporation  for  his  reinstatement, 
speaks  vaguely  of  the  '  factious  carriage '  of 
one  Sabin  (ib.  f.  100).  The  corporation 
had  refused  to  obey  the  order  of  the  privy 
council,  and  it  remained  as  yet  unenforced. 
On  19  May  1620  the  corporation  wrote 
to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  Lord 
Zouch  praying  that  they  might  not  be  com- 
pelled to  re-elect  Finch,  as  it  would  be 
*  against  their  consciences  and  their  charter, 
and  greatly  to  the  disquiet  of  the  city.'  On 
28  May,  however,  they  changed  their  tone, 
humbly  informing  the  council  that  they  were 
willing  to  re-elect  Mr.  Finch  as  their  recorder,' 
and  craving  '  pardon  for  discontenting  their 
lordships'  (Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1619- 
1623,  pp.  108,  144,  146,  148).  Finch  was 
returned  to  parliament  for  "Winchelsea  in 
February  1623-4,  but  was  unseated  on  peti- 
tion on  the  ground  that  certain  voters  had 
been  excluded  by  the  mayor.  A  new  writ 
issued  on  19  March,  and  Finch  was  re-elected 
(Comm.  Journ.  i.  739).  He  exchanged  Win- 
chelsea for  Canterbury  at  the  election  of 
1625.  On  31  May  the  king,  and  on  13  June 
1625  the  king  and  queen  paid  a  visit  to  Can- 
terbury, and  were  received  with  an  address 
by  Finch  as  recorder.  The  addresses,  notes 
of  which  are  preserved  in  Sloane  MS.  1455,  ff. 
1-6,  must  have  been  remarkable  only  for  the 
style  of  fulsome  adulation  in  which  they 
were  conceived.  In  1626  he  was  knighted 
and  appointed  king's  counsel  and  attorney- 
general  to  the  queen  (  Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom. 
1625-6,  p.  456 ;  Rof  ER,  Fcedera,  Sanderson, 
xiii.  633,  866).  On  17  March  1627-8  he  was 
elected  speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
being  still  member  for  Canterbury  (Comm. 
Journ.  i.  872).  His  speech  to  the  throne, 
couched  though  it  was  in  language  of  the 
most  extravagant  loyalty,  nevertheless  con- 
cluded with  three  petitions:  (1)  that  the 
house  might  be  assured  of  the  immunity  of 
its  members  from  arrest,  (2)  that  freedom  of 
debate  might  be  respected,  (3)  that  access  to 
the  royal  person  might  be  granted  on  suit- 
able occasions  (Par I.  Hist.  ii.  225).  On 
14  April  1628  he  presented  a  petition  against 
the  practice  of  billeting  soldiers  on  private 
citizens.  On  5  May  he  conveyed  to  the  king 
the  answers  of  the  commons  to  various  royal 
messages,  in  particular  to  the  demand  of  the 
king  to  know  whether  the  commons  would 
rest  content  with  his  ( royal  word  and  pro- 


mise for  the  redress  of  their  grievances, 
-bmch  expressed  on  behalf  of  the  commons 
at  once  their  entire  confidence  in  the  royal 
word,  and  their  settled  conviction  that  « no 
less  than  a  public  remedy  will  raise  the  de- 
jected hearts '  of  the  people  at  large  (ib.  pp. 
281,  346).  In  the  debate  on  the  royal  mes- 
sage of  5  June,  enjoining  the  commons  not 
to  meddle  with  affairs  of  state  or  asperse 
ministers,  Sir  John  Eliot  having  risen  osten- 
sibly to  rebut  the  implied  charge  of  aspersing 
ministers,  Finch,  <  apprehending  Sir  John  in- 
tended to  fall  upon  the  duke '  (Buckingham), 
said,  with  tears  in  his  eyes :  <  There  is  a  com- 
mand laid  upon  me  to  interrupt  any  that 
should  go  about  to  lay  aspersion  on  the 
ministers  of  state ; '  upon  which  Eliot  sat 
down,  the  house,  after  some  desultory  con- 
versation, resolved  itself  into  a  committee  of 
public  safety,  and  Finch  repaired  to  the  king, 
from  whom  next  day  he  brought  a  concilia- 
tory message.  On  this  occasion  he  seems  to 
have  acted  as  a  mediator  between  the  king 
and  the  commons.  Sir  Robert  Philips,  who 
replied  to  the  royal  message  on  behalf  of  the 
house,  while  expressing  himself  very  cau- 
tiously on  the  general  question,  lauded  Finch 
as  one  who  had  '  not  only  at  all  times  dis- 
charged the  duty  of  a  good  speaker,  but  of  a 
good  man'  (ib.  pp.  402-7 ;  Cal.  State  Papers, 
Dom.  1628-9,  p.  153).  In  September  and 
October  1628  Finch  was  associated  with  the 
attorney-general,  Sir  Robert  Heath,  in  in- 
vestigating the  circumstances  attending  the 
assassination  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham 
(ib.  pp.  332,  343).  On  25  Feb.  1628-9  Finch 
delivered  a  message  from  the  king  command- 
ing the  adjournment  of  the  house.  Several 
members  objected  that  adjournment  was  a 
matter  for  the  house  to  determine,  and  Sir 
John  Eliot  proceeded  to  present  a  remon- 
strance on  the  subject  of  tonnage  and  pound- 
age, which  Finch  refused  to  read.  Eliot 
then  read  it  him  self.  Finch,  however,  refused 
to  put  the  question,  and,  rising  to  adjourn  the 
debate,  was  forced  back  into  the  chair,  and 
held  there  by  Denzil  Holies,  Valentine,  and 
others,  Holies  swearing  'God's  wounds  he 
should  sit  still  till  it  pleased  them  to  rise.' 
Finch  burst  into  tears,  exclaiming, '  I  will 
not  say  I  will  not,  but  I  dare  not,'  remind- 
ing the  house  that  he  had  been  their  '  faith- 
ful servant,'  and  protesting  '  he  would  sacri- 
fice his  life  for  the  good  of  his  country,  but 
durst  not  sin  against  the  express  command 
of  his  sovereign.'  Meanwhile  with  locked 
doors  the  substance  of  Eliot's  remonstrance 
was  adopted  by  the  house  and  declared  car- 
ried. Shortly  afterwards  parliament  was 
dissolved,  not  to  meet  again  for  eleven  years 
(Parl.  Hist.  ii.  487-91).  In  1631  Finch  was 


Finch 


16 


Finch 


much  employed  in  Star-chamber  and  high 
commission  cases  (Reports  of  Cases  in  the 
Courts  of  Star-chamber  and  High  Commis- 
sion, Camd.  Soc.)  In  the  autumn  of  1633, 
the  Inns  of  Court  having  decided  to  provide 
a  grand  masque  for  the  entertainment  of  the 
king  and  queen,  by  way  at  once  of  testify- 
ing their  loyalty  and  protesting  against  the 
austere  views  lately  published  by  Prynne  in 
his  *  Histrio-Mastix,'  Finch  was  elected  one 
of  the  committee  of  management.  The  per- 
formance, which  took  place  on  Candlemas 
day  (2  Feb.  1633-4),  is  described  at  some 
length  by  Whitelocke,  and  seems  to  have 
been  a  very  splendid  pageant.  The  masquers 
went  in  procession  from  Ely  House,  Holborn, 
by  way  of  Chancery  Lane  and  the  Strand  to 
Whitehall.  The  dancing  took  place  in  the 
palace,  the  queen  herself  dancing  with  some 
of  the  masquers.  The  revels  were  prolonged 
far  into  the  night,  and  terminated  with  a 
stately  banquet.  Finch  was  subsequently 
deputed  to  convey  the  thanks  of  the  members 
of  the  four  inns  to  the  king  and  queen  for 
their  gracious  reception  of  the  masquers. 
The  entertainment  was  afterwards  repeated 
by  royal  command  in  the  Merchant  Taylors' 
Hall  (WHITELOCKE,  Memoirs,  pp.  19,  22). 
About  the  same  time  Finch  was  busily  en- 
gaged in  the  proceedings  taken  against 
Prynne  in  the  Star-chamber.  His  speech,  in 
which  he  charges  Prynne  with  veiling  under 
the  name  of  Herodias  a  libel  on  the  queen,  is 
reported  in  *  Documents  relating  to  William 
Prynne '  (Camd.  Soc.  pp.  10, 11).  Attorney- 
general  Noy  dying  in  the  following  August 
was  succeeded  by  Sir  John  Banks,  and  Sir 
Robert  Heath  having  been  removed  from 
the  chief-justiceship  of  the  court  of  common 
pleas  on  14  Sept.,  Finch  was  appointed  to 
succeed  him  on  16  Oct.,  having  taken  the 
degree  of  serjeant-at-law  on  9  Oct.  Notes 
of  his  speeches  on  being  sworn  in  as  serjeant, 
taking  leave  of  Gray's  Inn  on  12  Oct.,  and 
being  sworn  in  as  chief  justice,  are  preserved 
in  Sloane  MS.  1455,  ff.  7-15.  These  changes 
inspired  some  legal  wit  with  the  following 
couplet : — 

Noy's  floods  are  gone,  the  Banks  appear, 
The  Heath  is  cropt,  the  Finch  sings  there. 

(DUGDALE,  Chron.  Ser.  106-7;  CROKE,  Rep. 
Car.  p.  375 ;  Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1634-5, 
p.  221).  On  the  bench  Finch  distinguished 
himself  by  the  height  to  which  he  carried 
the  royal  prerogative,  and  the  severity  of  his 
sentences.  Thus  a  certain  James  Maxwell 
and  his  wife  Alice  having  been  found  guilty 
in  the  Star-chamber  (17  April  1635)  of  libel- 
ling the  king  and  the  lord  keeper,  and  Lord 
Cottington  proposing  a  fine  of  3,000/.  for  the 


offence  against  the  king  and  the  same  sum  to 
the  lord  keeper,  the  lord  chief  baron  moved 
to  add  in  the  case  of  the  woman  a  whipping, 
in  which  he  was  supported  by  Finch.  The 
motion,  however,  was  lost.  In  another  Star- 
chamber  case  (27  Jan.  1636-7)  one  Elm- 
stone  having  been  sentenced  to  imprisonment 
and  also  to  stand  in  the  pillory  at  Westmin- 
ster, Finch  moved  to  add  that  he  lose  his 
ears.  The  motion  was  lost.  On  Prynne's 
second  trial  (1637)  Finch  surpassed  himself 
in  brutality.  He  drew  the  attention  of  the 
court  to  the  fact  that  some  remnants  of 
Prynne's  ears  still  remained,  and  moved  that 
they  be  cut  close,  and  that  he  be  stigmatised 
with  the  letters  S.  L.  (seditious  libeller)  on 
his  cheeks,  which  proposals  were  adopted 
into  the  sentence.  In  the  case  of  John  Lang- 
ton  (1638),  one  of  the  subordinate  officials  of 
the  exchequer,  charged  with  abuse  of  the  royal 
prerogative,  Finch  doubled  the  fine  of  1,000/. 
proposed  by  Lord  Cottington,  and  added  the 
pillory,  imprisonment,  and  disability  to  hold 
office,  in  which  the  rest  of  the  court  con- 
curred, Archbishop  Laud,  however,  being  for 
raising  the  fine  to  5,000/.  Finch  also  added 
a  whipping  to  the  sentence  of  fine,  pillory, 
and  mutilation  proposed  by  Lord  Cottington 
for  one  Pickering,  a  Roman  catholic,  found 
guilty  in  1638  of  libelling  the  king  and  queen 
by  calling  them  Romanists,  and  sacrilegiously 
converting  part  of  a  churchyard  into  a  "pig- 
sty  (Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1635  p.  31, 
1636-7  p.  398,  1637  p.  214,  1637-8  pp.  384, 
474  ;  COBBETT,  State  Trials,  iii.  717,  725). 

On  12  Feb.  1636-7  the  king  laid  before 
the  judges  a  case  for  their  opinion  on  the 
legality  of  ship-money.  The  opinion  which 
they  all  subscribed,  but  for  which,  according 
to  Clarendon,  Finch  was  mainly  responsible, 
was  to  the  effect  that  the  king  had  an  uncon- 
trolled discretion  in  the  matter.  To  this  opinion 
Finch  and  the  majority  of  his  colleagues 
adhered  on  the  occasion  of  the  trial  of  Hamp- 
den  in  the  exchequer  chamber.  He  delivered  a 
long  P  j  some  what 'rambling  judgment,  con- 
clud^xg^with  the  statement  that  'upon  com- 
mon law  and  the  fundamental  policy  of  the- 
kingdom  the  king  may  charge  his  subjects  for 
the  defence  of  the  kingdom  when  it  is  in  dan- 
ger,' and '  that  the  king  is  sole  j  udge  of  the  dan- 
ger, and  ought  to  direct  the  means  of  defence ' 
(COBBETT,  State  Trials,  iii.  843, 1243).  Of  this 
judgment  Clarendon  says  that  it  made  ship- 
money  '  more  abhorred  and  formidable  than 
all  the  commitments  by  the  council  table-, 
and  all  the  distresses  taken  by  the  sheriffs  in 
England  ;  the  major  part  of  men  looking  upon 
these  proceedings  with  a  kind  of  applause- 
to  themselves,  to  see  other  men  punished  for 
not  doing  as  they  had  done ;  which  delight 


Finch  ] 

was  quickly  determined  when  they  found 
their  own  interest,  by  the  unnecessary  logic 
of  that  argument,  no  less  concluded  than 
Mr.  Hampden's  '  (Rebellion,  i.  127/130).  In 


^^.  .^c^^en's  '  (Rebellion,  i.  127/130).  In 
March  1638-9  Finch  was  sworn  of  the  privy 
council,  and  on  17  Jan.  1639-40  he  obtained 
through  the  influence  of  the  queen  the  place 
of  lord  keeper,  then  vacant  by  the  death  of 
Lord  Coventry.  His  appointment  was  far 
from  giving  universal  satisfaction.  Thus,  Sir 
Richard  Cave  writes  to  Sir  Thomas  Roe, 
under  date  7  Feb.  1639-40:  <  The  lord  keeper 
Ifeeps  such  a  clatter  in  his  new  place  that 
they  are  more  weary  of  him  in  the  chancery 
than  they  were  before  in  the  common  pleas.' 
On  7  April  1640  he  was  created  Baron  Finch  of 
Fordwich  in  Itieni  (Letters  of  Lady  Brilliana 
Harley  (Camd.  Soc.),  p.  32 ;  Cal.  State  Papers, 
Dom.  1639-40  pp.  341,  344,  436,  1640 
p.  12).  The  Short  parliament  of  1640  was 
opened  by  the  king  on  13  April  with  a  few 
words  indicative  of  the  gravity  of  the  situa- 
tion, the  task  of  more  fully  setting  forth  the 
royal  wishes  and  intentions  being  devolved 
upon  the  lord  keeper.  After  dwelling  upon 
the  magnanimity  shown  by  the  king  in  '  se- 
questering the  memory  of  all  former  dis- 
couragements,' and  once  more  summoning  a 
parliament,  Finch  proceeded  to  expatiate  upon 
the  threatening  aspect  of  Scottish  affairs,  and 
the  consequent  necessity  of  obtaining  imme- 
diate supplies.  On  this  theme  he  again  en- 
larged on  20  April,  but  with  no  effect,  the 
commons  resolving  that  grievances  must  take 


r  Finch 

but  his  wife,  Lady  Mabel,  was  permitted  to 
occupy  them  at  the  annual  rent  of  100/.  so 
long  as  they  should  continue  in  sequestration 
(Lords'  Journals,  vi.  568  a,  vii.  272 ;  Add 
MS.  5494,  f.  206).  They  seem  to  have  been 
subsequently  redeemed  for  7,000/.,  though 
Finch  s  name  does  not  appear  in  Dring's 
'Catalogue'  (1733)  (Parl.  Hist.  ii.  528-34 
552-60,  685-98;  COBBETT,  State  Trials,  iv. 
18;  Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1661-2,  p.  328). 
During  his  exile  Finch  seems  to  have  resided 
principally  at  the  Hague.  Here  in  1641 
Evelyn  met  him,  and  lodged  for  a  time  in 
the  same  house  with  him,  the  house,  oddly 
enough,  of  a  Brownist,  where,  says  Evelyn, 
'  we  had  an  extraordinary  good  table '  (Diary, 
26  July  and  19  Aug.  1641).  Two  letters  to 
Finch,  one  from  Henrietta  Maria,  the  other 
from  Elizabeth,  queen  of  Bohemia,  belonging 
to  this  period, maybe  read  in  'Archseologia,' 
xxi.  474  et  seq.  They  are  of  slight  histori- 
cal importance,  but  by  the  familiarity  of  their 
style  serve  to  show  the  intimate  terms  on 
which  he  stood  with  the  writers.  A  letter  to 
Sir  Christopher  Hatton,  dated  3  Jan.  1640-1, 
announcing  his  arrival  at  the  Hague  (Add. 
MSS.  28218  f.  9,  29550  f.  49),  was  printed  in 
1641  (Brit.  Mus.  Cat.  <  Finch ').  Another  to 
Dr.  Cosin,  dean  of  Peterborough,  written  in 
a  very  inflated  style,  but  not  without  touches 
of  humour,  is  undated,  but  must  have  been 
written  in  1641  or  1642,  as  it  contains  a  re- 
ference to  the  '  danger  that  hangs  over  the 
head '  of  Cosin,  viz.  the  prosecution  in  the 


precedence  of  supply.    On  5  May  parliament    high  commission  court  for  innovating  in  re- 
was  dissolved.     One  of  the  first  acts  of  the    ligion,  which  terminated  22  Jan.  1642  in  se- 


Long  parliament  was  the  exhibition  of  articles 
of  impeachment  against  Finch.  The  princi- 
pal counts  in  the  indictment  were  three : 
(1)  his  arbitrary  conduct  when  speaker  on 
the  occasion  of  Eliot's  motion  on  tonnage 
and  poundage ;  (2)  malpractices  on  the  bench 
in  1635  for  the  purpose  of  extending  the 
royal  forest  in  Essex  beyond  its  legal  boun- 
daries ;  (3)  his  conduct  in  Hampden's  case 
{Harleian  Miscellany,  v.  566-9  ;  Somers 
Tracts,  iv.  129-32;  Trevelyan  Papers,  Camd. 
Soc.  iii.  199-200).  Finch  appeared  at  the 
bar  of  the  House  of  Commons  during  the  pre- 
liminary stage  (21  Dec.),  and  made  an  ela- 
borate speech  in  his  own  defence,  but  took 
refuge  in  Holland  before  the  form  of  the  ar- 
ticles was  finally  determined,  arriving  at  the 
Hague  on  31  Dec.  1640.  According  to  Cla- 
rendon (Rebellion,  i.  311,  526)  the  house  was 
'  wonderfully  indisposed  to  hear  anything 
against '  him,  though  Falkland  denounced 
him  as  the  '  chief  transgressor'  in  the  mat- 
ter of  ship-money.  His  estates  in  Kent  and 
Middlesex  were  sequestrated  in  1644,  being 
estimated  as  of  the  annual  value  of  338/. ; 

VOL.   XIX. 


questration.  It  was  printed  in  1642 
and  reprinted  in  1844  (Newcastle  Reprints 
of  Rare  Tracts,  Historical,  i.)  On  14  July 
1647  Finch  petitioned  the  House  of  Lords 
for  leave  to  return  home  to  die  in  his  native 
country.  The  petition  was  ordered  to  be 
considered,  and  was  entered  in  the  journal 
of  the  house,  but  no  leave  appears  to  have 
been  granted  (Lords1  Journals,  vii.  331).  In 
October  1660  Finch  was  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners for  the  trial  of  the  regicides,  but  took 
little  part  in  the  proceedings.  He  died  on  the 
27th  of  the  following  month,  and  was  buried 
in  St.  Martin's  Church,  near  Canterbury.  As 
he  left  no  male  issue  the  peerage  became  ex- 
tinct. Finch  married  first  Eleanor,  daughter 
of  George  Wyat;  and  secondly,  Mabel,  daugh- 
ter of  the  Rev.  Charles  Fotherby,  dean  of 
Canterbury.  Smith  (Obituary,  Camd.  Soc., 
p.  52)  calls  him  a  '  proud  and  impious  man, 
but  loyal  to  his  prince.'  His  character  has 
been  painted  in  black  colours  by  Campbell ; 
but  though  a  bigoted  supporter  of  despotic 
power,  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  he 
was  other  than  a  conscientious  man.  His 

C 


Finch 


18 


Finch 


view  of  the  duty  of  a  judge  was  certainly  very 
humble,  if  we  may  credit  the  statement  of 
Clarendon  (Rebellion,  i.  130)  that  while  lord 
keeper  he  announced  his  intention  of  giving 
effect  on  all  occasions  to  the  mandates  of  the 
privy  council.  It  has,  however,  never  been 
suggested  that  he  was  open  to  pecuniary  cor- 
ruption. Wood  says  that  he  was  the  author 
of  a  *  Manuale  Mathematicum,'  curiously 
written  on  vellum  with  his  own  hand,  for- 
merly preserved  among  the  manuscripts  in 
the  Ashmolean  Museum  (Athence  Oxon.  ed. 
Bliss,  ii.  388),  but  now  missing  from  the  Ash- 
molean collection  at  the  Bodleian  (BLACK, 
Cat.  p.  1505).  He  was  also  one  of  the  first 
donors  to  Gray's  Inn  library  (DOUTHWAITE, 
Grays  Inn,  p.  176). 

[Berry's  County  Genealogies  (Kent)  ;  Camp- 
bell's Lives  of  the  Chancellors ;  Foss's  Lives  of 
the  Judges.]  J.  M.  R. 

FINCH,  SIR  JOHN  (1626-1682),  physi- 
cian, younger  son  of  Sir  Heneage  Finch, 
speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  [q.  v.], 
was  born  in  1626,  and,  after  education  at  Mr. 
Sylvester's  school  in  the  parish  of  All  Saints, 
Oxford,  entered  Balliol  College  as  a  gentleman 
commoner  and  graduated  B.  A.  22  May  1647. 
In  1648  he  left  Oxford,  and  graduated  M. A. 
at  Christ's  College,  Cambridge,  in  1649 ;  then 
went  to  Padua  and  took  the  degree  of  M.D. 
in  that  university.  He  became  English  consul 
at  Padua,  and  was  made  syndic  of  the  univer- 
sity. The  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany  afterwards 
appointed  him  to  a  professorship  at  Pisa.  At 
the  Restoration  he  returned  to  England,  and 
on  26  Feb.  1661  was  elected  an  extraordinary 
fellow  of  the  College  of  Physicians  of  London. 
'  Obpraeclara  doctoris  Harvei  merita,'  say  the 
college  annals,  probably  in  reference  to  the 
fact  that  Harvey  had  been  a  doctor  of  physic 
of  the  university  of  Padua.  Lord  Clarendon 
presented  Finch  to  the  king,  who  knighted 
him  on  10  June  1661,  and  on  26  June  in  the 
same  year  he  was  created  M.D.  at  Cambridge, 
Dr.  Carr  appearing  as  his  proxy.  He  was 
one  of  the  fellows  admitted  by  the  council 
of  the  Royal  Society,  in  virtue  of  the  power 
given  them  for  two  months,  on  20  May  1663. 
The  house  now  called  Kensington  Palace 
belonged  to  Finch,  and  in  1661  he  sold  it  to 
his  elder  brother,  Sir  Heneage  Finch,  after- 
wards Lord  Nottingham.  In  1665  he  was 
sent  as  minister  to  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tus- 
cany,  and  in  1672  was  promoted  to  be  am- 
bassador at  Constantinople.  On  his  voyage 
thither  he  stopped  at  Leghorn  and  at  .Malta 
to  arrange  the  restitution  of  some  ffoods  be- 
longing to  the  basha  of  Tunis  which  had 
been  seized  bv  English  privateers.  On  2  MAJ 
1676  he  left  bis  house  in  Pera,  with  a  n-t  inuc 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty  horses  and  fifty- 


five  carts  of  baggage,  and  after  a  nine  days' 
journey  reached  Adrianople.  The  object  of 
the  visit  was  to  obtain  the  sultan's  confirma- 
tion of  privileges  granted  to  English  residents 
in  his  dominions,  and  after  tedious  delays 
this  was  accomplished  on  8  Sept.  The  town 
was  crowded,  and  the  ambassador,  who  had 
at  first  wretched  lodgings,  was  later  obliged 
to  live  in  tents  in  the  fields  owing  to  an 
epidemic  of  plague,  of  which  some  of  his 
household  died.  He  returned  to  Constanti- 
nople, and  in  1682  to  England.  He  died  of 
pleurisy  on  18  Nov.  1682  in  London,  whence 
his  body  was  conveyed  by  his  kinsmen  to 
Cambridge  and  there  buried,  as  he  had  desired, 
near  that  of  his  friend  Sir  Thomas  Baines 
[q_.v.],  in  the  chapel  of  Christ's  College.  Their 
friendship  is  the  most  interesting  circum- 
stance of  the  life  of  Finch.  It  began  ab 
Cambridge,  where  Henry  More  the  Platonist 
introduced  Finch,  on  his  migration  from  Ox- 
ford, to  Baines,  already  a  member  of  Christ's 
College.  They  pursued  the  same  studies  and 
lived  in  the  same  places,  both  graduated  in 
medicine  at  Padua,  were  admitted  fellows  of 
the  College  of  Physicians  of  London  on  the 
same  day,  and  were  together  created  doctors 
of  physic  at  Cambridge.  When  Finch  had 
been  knighted  he  sought  the  same  honour  for 
Baines,  and  when  he  went  abroad  as  an  am- 
bassador he  took  Sir  Thomas  Baines  with 
him  as  physician  to  the  embassy.  They  con- 
sulted together  on  every  difficulty,  and  at 
Constantinople  were  known  as  the  ambas- 
sador and  the  chevalier,  and  it  was  considered 
as  important  to  secure  the  influence  of  the 
one  as  of  the  other.  Thus  constant  through- 
out life  they  are  buried  side  by  side,  under 
the  same  marble  canopy,  and  are  every  year 
commemorated  as  benefactors  of  their  college, 
where  they  jointly  founded  two  fellowships 
and  two  scholarships,  anxious  to  encourage 
in  future  generations  the  formation  of  friend- 
ships at  the  university  as  true  and  as  lasting 
as  their  own. 

[Hunk's  Coll.  of  Phys.  i.  298;  Pepys's  Diary 
6th  ed.  in.  446 ;  Cambridge  University  Calendar 
1 868 ;  North's  Life  of  the  Hon.  Sir  Dudley  North' 
Knt.,  London,  1744;  tomb  in  the  chapel  of 
Christ's  College,  Cambridge;  Dodd's  Church 
History,  iii.  257;  Wood's  Fasti,  ed.  Bliss  ii 

N.M. 

FINCH,  ROBERT  (1783-1830),  anti- 
quary, born  in  London  on  27  Dec.  1783  was 
the  only  son  of  Thomas  Finch,  F.R  S  '  He 
was  educated  for  a  short  time  at  St.  Paul's 
Schoo  ,  and  at  eighteen  was  admitted  at 

"I  '"  r  A  ?^°xSrd-  He  ^^  RA- 

09.    He  was  ordained  in  1807 

and  officiated  at  Maidstone  and  elsewhere 

ie  went  abroad,  visiting  Portugal^ 


Finch 


Finch 


France,  Switzerland,  Italy,  Greece,  and  the 
Holy  Land.  For  several  years  before  his 
death  he  lived  in  Rome.  He  died  at  his 
residence,  the  Palazzo  del  Re  di  Prussia,  in 
Rome,  on  16  Sept.  1830,  from  malarial  fever. 
Finch  had  a  great  love  of  the  fine  arts,  and 
studied  antiquities  and  topography.  He  left 
his  library,  pictures,  coins,  and  medals  to  the 
Ashmolean  Museum,  Oxford,  and  his  plate 
to  Balliol  College.  He  was  a  fellow  of  the 
Society  of  Antiquaries,  and  a  contributor  to 
the '  Gentleman's  Magazine  'and  other  periodi- 
cals. He  married  in  1820,  when  in  Italy, 
Maria,  eldest  daughter  of  Frederick  Thom- 
son of  Kensington,  but  left  no  issue. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1830,  vol.  c.  pt.  ii.  pp.  567-8.] 

W.  W. 

FINCH,  ROBERT  POOLE  (1724-1803), 
divine,  son  of  the  Rev.  Richard  Finch,  was 
born  at  Greenwich  3  March  1723-4,  entered 
Merchant  Taylors'  School  in  1736,  and  was 
admitted  a  member  of  Peterhouse,  Cambridge, 
whence  he  graduated  B.A.  1743,  M.A.  1747, 
D.D.  1772.  He  became  a  preacher  of  some 
eminence,  published  numerous  sermons,  and 
was  also  an  author  of  a  treatise  upon  oaths 
and  perjury,  which  passed  through  many 
editions.  In  1771  he  was  appointed  rector 
of  St.  Michael's,  Cornhill,  but  resigned  in 
1784,  on  becoming  rector  of  St.  John  the 
Evangelist,  Westminster.  In  1781  he  was 
made  prebendary  of  Westminster,  and  re- 
taining this  appointment  until  his  death, 
18  May  1803,  was  buried  in  the  abbey. 

He  published  in  1788 '  Considerations  upon 
the  Use  and  Abuse  of  Oaths  judicially  taken/ 
which  became  a  standard  work  among  the 
publications  of  the  Society  for  Promoting 
Christian  Knowledge. 

[Robinson's  Reg.  of  Merchant  Taylors'  School ; 
Chester's  Westminster  Abbey  Keg.  p.  469.] 

C.  J.  R. 

FINCH,  SIE  THOMAS  (d.  1563),  mili- 
tary commander,  was  second  son  of  Sir  Wil- 
liam Finch,  who  was  knighted  for  his  services 
at  the  siege  of  Terouenne  in  1513,  and  at- 
tended Henry  VIII  with  a  great  retinue  in 
1520.  His  mother,  his  father's  first  wife,  was 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  James  Cromer  of 
Tunstall,  Kent,  and  widow  of  Sir  Richard 
Lovelace.  An  elder  brother,  Lawrence,  died 
without  issue,  and  Thomas  succeeded  to  his 
father's  property.  He  was  trained  as  a  soldier, 
and  in  1553  was  engaged  in  suppressing 
Wyatt's  rebellion  in  Kent.  On  the  day  after 
Mary's  coronation  (2  Oct.  1553)  he  was 
knighted.  Soon  after  Elizabeth's  accession 
(1559),  Nicholas  Harpsfeld  [q.  v.],  archdeacon 
of  Canterbury,  threatened  violent  resistance 
to  the  new  ecclesiastical  legislation,  and  Finch 


was  despatched  to  Canterbury  to  disarm  his 
household.  Early  in  1563  he  was  appointed, 
in  succession  to  Sir  Adrian  Poynings,  knight- 
marshal  of  the  army  then  engaged  in  war 
about  Havre.  He  at  once  sent  his  half- 
brother,  Sir  Erasmus  Finch,  to  take  tempo- 
rary charge,  and  his  kinsman  Thomas  Finch 
:o  act  as  provost-marshal.  He  himself  em- 
barked in  the  Greyhound  in  March  with  two 
mndred  followers,  among  them  James  and 
John  Wentworth,  brothers  of  Lord  Went- 
worth,  another  brother  of  his  own,  a  brother 
of  Lord  Cobham,  and  a  nephew  of  Ambrose 
Dudley,  earl  of  Warwick.  When  nearing 
Havre  the  ship  was  driven  back  by  contrary 
winds  towards  Rye.  Finch  and  his  friends 
induced  the  captain — '  a  very  good  seaman,' 
says  Stow — l  to  thrust  into  the  haven  before 
the  tide,'  and  '  so  they  all  perished'  with  the 
exception  of  *  seven  of  the  meaner  sort ' 
(19  March).  The  news  reached  the  court 
two  days  later,  and  produced  great  consterna- 
tion (Cecil  to  Sir  Thomas  Smith  in  WEIGHT, 
Queen  Elizabeth,  i.  133).  A  ballad  com- 
memorating the  misfortune  was  licensed  to 
Richard  Griffith  at  the  time  (COLLIEE,  Sta- 
tioners1 Registers,  1557-70,  Shakespeare  Soc. 
73).  Finch  was  buried  at  Eastwell,  Kent. 

Finch  married  Catherine,  daughter  and 
coheiress  of  Sir  Thomas  Moyle,  chancellor 
of  the  court  of  augmentations,  and  thus 
came  into  possession  of  Moyle's  property  of 
Eastwell,  at  his  death  2  Oct.  1560.  He 
owned  other  land  in  Kent,  and  on  9  Dec. 
1558  Aloisi  Pruili,  Cardinal  Pole's  secretary, 
requested  Cecil  to  direct  Finch  to  allow  the 
officers  of  the  cardinal,  then  just  dead,  to 
dispose  of  oxen,  hay,  wood,  and  deer  belong- 
ing to  their  late  master  in  St.  Augustine's 
Park,  Canterbury  (Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom. 
1547-80,  p.  116).  His  widow  remarried  Ni- 
cholas St.  Leger,  and  died  9  Feb.  1586-7. 
Of  his  children,  three  sons  and  a  daughter 
survived  him.  The  second  son,  Sir  Henry 
Finch,  serjeant-at-law,  is  separately  noticed. 
The  third',  Thomas,  died  without  issue  in  the 
expedition  to  Portugal  in  1589.  The  daugh- 
ter, Jane,  married  George  Wyatt  of  Bexley, 
son  of  Sir  Thomas  Wyatt  of  Allington,  Kent. 
Finch's  heir,  Moyle,  created  a  baronet  27  May 
1611,  married  in  1574  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Sir  Thomas  Heneage  of  Copt  Hall,  Essex ; 
inherited  Eastwell  on  his  mother's  death  in 
1587 ;  obtained  a  license  to  enclose  one  thou- 
sand acres  of  land  there,  and  to  embattle  his 
house,  18  Jan.  1589,  and  died  14  Dec.  1614. 
His  widow  was  created,  in  consideration  of 
her  father's  services,  Viscountess  Maidstone, 
8  July  1623,  and  Countess  of  Winchilsea, 
12  July  1628,  both  titles  being  granted  with 
limitation  to  heirs  male.  She  died  and  was 

c2 


Finch 


20 


Finch-Hatton 


buried  at  Eastwell  in  1633.  Her  eldest  son, 
Thomas,  succeeded  her  as  Earl  of  Winchilsea. 
Her  fourth  son,  Sir  Heneage  [q.  v.],  was 
speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons,  1626-31. 

[Collins's  Peerage,  ed.  Brydges,  iii.  378-9  ; 
Hasted's  Kent,  iii.  198-9;  Stow's  Chronicle, 
1614,  pp.  654-5;  Wright's  Queen  Elizabeth, 
i.  127,  133  ;  Froude's  Hist.  vi.  201 ;  Machyn's 
Diary,  pp.  302,  308.]  S.  L.  L. 

FINCH,  WILLIAM  (d.  1613),  merchant, 
was  a  native  of  London.  He  was  agent  to 
an  expedition  sent  by  the  East  India  Com- 
pany, under  Captains  Hawkins  and  Keel- 
ing, in  1607  to  treat  with  the  Great  Mogul. 
Hawkins  and  Finch  landed  at  Surat  on 
24  Aug.  1608.  They  were  violently  opposed 
by  the  Portuguese.  Finch,  however,  obtained 
permission  from  the  governor  of  Cambay  to 
dispose  of  the  goods  in  their  vessels.  In- 
cited by  the  Portuguese,  who  seized  two  of 
the  English  ships,  the  natives  refused  to  have 
dealings  with  the  company's  representatives. 
During  these  squabbles  Finch  fell  ill,  and 
Hawkins,  proceeding  to  Agra  alone,  obtained 
favourable  notice  from  the  Emperor  Jehang- 
hire.  Finch  recovered,  and  joined  Hawkins 
at  Agra  on  14  April  1610.  The  two  re- 
mained at  the  mogul's  court  for  about  a  year 
and  a  half,  Finch  refusing  tempting  offers  to 
attach  himself  permanently  to  the  service  of 
Jehanghire.  Hawkins  returned  to  England, 
but  Finch  delayed  his  departure  in  order  to 
make  further  explorations,  visiting  Byana 
and  Lahore  among  other  places.  Finch 
made  careful  observations  on  the  commerce 
and  natural  products  of  the  districts  visited. 
In  1612  the  mogul  emperor  confirmed  and 
extended  the  privileges  he  had  promised  to 
Finch  and  Hawkins,  and  the  East  India  Com- 
pany in  that  year  set  up  their  first  little  fac- 
tory at  Surat.  Finch  died  at  Babylon  on  his 
way  to  Aleppo  from  drinking  poisoned  water 
in  August  1613. 

[Purchas ;  Pre vest's  Histoire  de  Voyages  ; 
Dow's  Hist,  of  Hindostan  ;  Cal.  State  Papers, 
East  Indies,  1513-1617,  Nos.  449,  649,  650  ] 

J.  B-Y. 

FINCH,  WILLIAM  (1747-1810),  divine, 
son  of  William  Finch  of  Watford,  Hertford- 
shire, was  born  22  July  1747,  entered  Mer- 
chant Taylors'  School  in  1754,  and  was  elected 
thence  in  1764  to  St.  John's  College,  Oxford. 
He  graduated  B.C.L.  in  1770  and  D.C.L.  in 
1775.  In  1797  he  accepted  the  college  living 
of  Tackley,  Oxfordshire,  and  in  the  same 
year  was  appointed  Bampton  lecturer.  He 
took  as  his  subject '  The  Objections  of  Infidel 
Historians  and  other  writers  against  Christi- 
anity.' The  lectures  were  published  in  1797, 
together  with  a  sermon  preached  before  the 


university  on  18  Oct.  1795.  Finch,  who  does 
not  appear  to  have  published  anything  else 
except  a  sermon  preached  before  the  Oxford 
Loyal  Volunteers  (Oxford,  1798),  died  8  June 
1810,  and  was  buried  at  Tackley. 

[Robinson's  Reg.  of  Merchant  Taylors'  School, 
ii.  114 ;  Oxf.  Matr.  Reg. ;  Brit.  Mus.  Libr.  Cat.] 

C.  J.  R. 

FINCH-HATTON,  EDWARD  (d.  1771), 
diplomatist,  was  fifth  son  of  Daniel  Finch 
[q.  v.],  sixth  earl  of  Winchilsea  and  second 
earl  of  Nottingham.  He  proceeded  M.A.  of 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  in  1718,  was 
elected  M.P.for  his  university  to  every  parlia- 
ment that  met  between  1727  and  1764,  and 
instituted  with  his  fellow-member,  Thomas 
Townshend,  the  Members'  Prizes  in  the 
university  for  essays  in  Latin  prose.  He  held 
a  long  succession  of  diplomatic  posts.  He 
was  envoy  extraordinary  and  minister  plenipo- 
tentiary to  Sweden ;  in  the  same  capacity 
was  present  at  the  diet  of  Ratisbon,  1723, 
and  went  to  the  States-General  in  1724.  On 
8  Feb.  1724-5  he  was  appointed  to  the  court 
of  Poland,  and  on  11  Jan.  1739  to  that  of 
Russia.  On  returning  home  he  became  groom 
of  the  royal  bedchamber  (1742),  master  of 
the  robes  (June  1757),  and  surveyor  of  the 
king's  private  woods  in  November  1760.  He 
assumed  in  1764  the  additional  name  of 
Hatton,  under  the  will  of  his  aunt,  Elizabeth 
(5  Oct.  1764),  daughter  of  Christopher,  vis- 
count Hatton.  He  died  16  May  1771.  In 
1746  he  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir 
Thomas  Palmer  of  Wingham,  Kent,  by  whom 
he  had  two  sons,  George  (b.  30  June  1747) 
and  John  Emilius  Daniel  Edward  (b.  19  May 
1755),  besides  three  daughters.  George  Wil- 
liam [q.  v.],  the  eldest  son  of  Edward  Finch- 
Hatton's  heir,  George,  succeeded  as  tenth  earl 
of  Winchilsea  and  sixth  earl  of  Nottingham 
on  the  death  of  his  cousin  in  1826. 

[Collins's  Peerage,  iii.  296-7.] 

FINCH-HATTON,  GEORGE  WIL- 
LIAM, EARL  OF  WINCHILSEA  AND  NOTTING- 
HAM (1791-1858),  politician,  was  born  at 
Kirby,  Northamptonshire,  on  19  May  1791. 
His  father,  George  Finch-Hatton  of  Eastwell 
Park,  near  Ashford,  Kent,  M.P.  for  Rochester 
1772-84,  died  17  Feb.  1823,  having  married  in 
1785  Lady  Elizabeth  Mary,  eldest  daughter  of 
David  Murray,  second  earl  of  Mansfield.  She 
died  1  June  1825.  George  William,  the  elder 
son,  was  educated  at  Christ's  College,  Cam- 
bridge, where  he  proceeded  B.A.  in  1812. 
On  13  Oct.  1809  he  became  a  captain  in  the 
Ashford  regiment  of  Kentish  local  militia,  on 
14  Dec.  1819  commenced  acting  as  a  lieute- 
nant of  the  Northamptonshire  regiment  of 
yeomanry,  and  on  7  Sept.  1820  was  named 


Finch-Hatton 


21 


Finden 


a  deputy-lieutenant  for  the  county  of  Kent. 
His  cousin,  George  Finch,  ninth  earl  of  Win- 
chilsea  and  fifth  earl  of  Nottingham,  having 
died  on  2  Aug.  1826,  he  succeeded  to  these 
peerages.  He  presided  at  a  very  large  and 
influential  meeting  held  on  Pennenden  Heath, 
Kent,  on  10  Oct.  1828,  when  strongly  worded 
resolutions  in  favour  of  protestant  principles 
were  carried.  In  his  place  in  the  House  of 
Lords  he  violently  opposed  almost  every 
liberal  measure  which  was  brought  forward. 
He  was  particularly  noted  as  being  almost 
the  only  English  nobleman  who  was  willing 
to  identify  himself  with  the  Orange  party  in 
Ireland,  and  he  was  accustomed  to  denounce 
in  frantic  terms  Daniel  O'Connell,  Maynooth, 
and  the  system  of  education  carried  out  in 
that  college.  Occasionally  he  took  the  chair 
at  May  meetings  at  Exeter  Hall,  but  his  in- 
temperate language  prevented  him  from  be- 
coming a  leader  in  evangelical  politics.  The 
Catholic  Relief  Bill  of  1829  encountered  his 
most  vehement  hostility,  and  ultimately  led 
to  a  duel  with  the  Duke  of  Wellington.  Lord 
"VVinchilsea,  in  a  letter  to  the  secretary  of 
King's  College,  London,  wrote  that  the  duke, 
'  under  the  cloak  of  some  coloured  show  of 
zeal  for  the  protestant  religion,  carried  on  an 
insidious  design  for  the  infringement  of  our 
liberties  and  the  introduction  of  popery  into 
every  department  of  the  state.'  The  duke  re- 
plied with  a  challenge.  The  meeting  took  place 
inBatterseaFieldson21  March  1829,  the  duke 
being  attended  by  Sir  Henry  Hardinge,  and 
his  opponent  by  Edward  Boscawen,  viscount 
Falmouth.  The  duke  fired  and  missed,  where- 
upon Winchilsea  fired  in  the  air  and  then 
apologised  for  the  language  of  his  letter  (An- 
nual Register,  1829,  pp.  58-63;  STOCQUELEE, 
Life  of  Wellington,  ii.  147-8,  with  portrait  of 
Winchilsea ;  STEINMETZ,  Romance  of  Duel- 
ling, ii.  336-43).  He  was  a  very  frequent 
speaker  in  the  lords,  and  strenuously  opposed 
the  Reform  Bill  and  other  whig  measures. 
He  was  gazetted  lieutenant-colonel  comman- 
dant of  the  East  Kent  regiment  of  yeomanry 
20  Dec.  1830,  named  a  deputy-lieutenant  for 
the  county  of  Lincoln  26  Sept.  1831,  and 
created  a  D.C.L.  of  Oxford  10  June  1834. 
He  died  at  Haverholme  Priory,  near  Slea- 
ford,  Lincolnshire,  8  Jan.  1858. 

He  was  the  writer  of  a  pamphlet  entitled 
1  Earl  of  Winchilsea's  Letter  to  the  "  Times," 
calling  upon  the  Protestants  of  Great  Bri- 
tain to  unite  heart  and  soul  in  addressing 
the  Throne  for  a  Dissolution  of  Parliament,' 
1851. 

Winchilsea  was  married  three  times :  first, 
on  26  July  1814,  to  Georgiana  Charlotte, 
eldest  daughter  of  James  Graham,  third  duke 
of  Montrose,  she  died  at  Haverholme  Priory 


13  Feb.  1835  ;  secondly,  on  15  Feb.  1837,  to 
Lmily  Georgiana,  second  daughter  of  Sir 
Charles  Bagot,  G.C.B.,  she  died  at  Haver- 


.,c. 
&  ?Ty  Margaretta,  eldest  daughter 
of  Edward  Royd  Rice  of  Dane  Court,  Kent. 
[Portraits  of  Eminent  Conservatives  and 
Statesmen,  1st  ser.  1886,  with  portrait;  Doyle's 
Baronage  (1886),  iii.  690,  with  portrait  after 
T.  Philhpps;  Carpenter's  Peerage  for  the  People 
(1841),  pp.  772-3;  Gent.  Mag.  February  1858 
pp.  211-12.]  G.  C.  JB. 

FINDEN,  EDWARD  FRANCIS  (1701- 
1857),  engraver,  was  younger  brother,  fellow- 
pupil,  and  coadj  utor  of  William  Finden  [q.  v.l , 
and  shared  his  successes  and  fortunes.  He 
executed  some  separate  works,  among  early 
ones  being  a  set  of  etchings  for  Duppa's  '  Mis- 
cellaneous Opinions  and  Observations  on  the 
Continent,'  1825,  and  '  Illustrations  of  the 
Vaudois  in  a  Series  of  Views,'  1831.  He  was 
also  a  large  contributor  of  illustrations  to  the 
annuals,  books  of  beauty,  poetry,  and  other 
sentimental  works  then  in  vogue.  The  sepa- 
rate engravings  executed  by  him  included 
1  The  Harvest  Waggon,'  after  Gainsborough ; 
'As  Happy  as  a  King,'  after  W.  Collins; 
'Captain  Macheath  in  Prison,'  after  G.  S. 
Newton  ;  '  The  Little  Gleaner,'  after  Sir  W. 
Beechey;  'The  Princess  Victoria,'  after 
Westall;  'Othello  telling  his  Exploits  to 
Brabantio  and  Desdemona,'  after  Douglas 
Cowper,  &c.  He  died  at  St.  John's  Wood, 
aged  65,  on  9  Feb.  1857. 

[Art  Journal,  1852  ;  Bryan's  Diet,  of  Painters 
and  Engravers,  ed.  Graves ;  Eedgrave's  Diet,  of 
Artists;  Athenaeum,  September  1852;  Encycl. 
Brit.  9th  ed. ;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat.]  L.  C. 

FINDEN,  WILLIAM  (1787-1852),  en- 
graver, was  apprenticed  to  James  Mitan,  an 
engraver,  one  of  the  articles  of  his  appren- 
ticeship being  that  he  was  never  to  be  a  can- 
didate for  academy  honours ;  it  is  probable, 
however,  that  he  derived  much  instruction 
from  his  careful  study  of  the  works  of  James 
Heath  (1766-1834)  [q.  v.]  He  worked  chiefly 
in  conjunction  with  his  younger  brother  and 
fellow-pupil,  Edward  Finden  [q.  v.],  and  was 
at  first  employed  in  his  master's  line  of  engrav- 
ing, illustrating  the  books  published  by  Sharpe, 
Sutton,  and  others,  engraving  Smirke's  draw- 
ings for '  Don  Quixote.'  This  rather  cramped 
style  of  book  illustration  the  Findens  de- 
veloped to  a  very  great  extent.  They  esta- 
blished a  large  school  of  pupils,  who  worked 
under  their  direction,  and  executed  most  of 
the  works  which  bear  the  Findens'  name,  the 
Findens  confining  themselves  principally  to 
supervision,  and  to  giving  the  few  touches 
necessary  to  produce  the  elaborate  finish 


Finden 


22 


Findlater 


and  precision  in  which  their  productions  ex- 
celled. This  mechanical  elaboration  perhaps 
renders  their  works  cold,  and  prevents  their 
great  excellency  from  being  duly  appreciated. 
Among  the  earlier  works  produced  by  Wil- 
liam Finden  were  the  illustrations  to  Sir 
Henry  Ellis's  edition  of  Dugdale's  '  History 
of  St.  Paul's,'  1818,  Dibdin's  '  ^Edes  Althor- 
pianse,'  1822,  &c.  The  brothers  were  both 
employed  in  engraving  the  Elgin  marbles  for 
the  British  Museum,  and  also  on  the  illus- 
trations for  '  The  Arctic  Voyages '  published 
by  Murray;  Brockedon's  'Passes  of  the  Alps,' 
1829;  Campbell's  '  Poetical  Works,'  1828; 
and  Lodge's  '  Portraits,'  1821-34.  They  pub- 
lished on  their  own  account  and  at  their  own 
cost  in  1833  the  illustrations  to  Moore's  'Life 
and  Works  of  Lord  Byron.'  This  last-named 
work  created  a  great  sensation.  It  was  fol- 
lowed by  other  works  of  a  popular  nature, 
1  The  Gallery  of  the  Graces,'  from  pictures  by 
Chalon,  Landseer,  and  others,  1832-4 ; l  Land- 
scape Illustrations  of  the  Bible,'  after  Turner, 
Callcott,  Stanfield,  and  others,  1834-6  ;  l  By- 
ron Beauties,'  1834 ;  '  Landscape  Illustrations 
to  the  Life  and  Poetical  Works  of  George 
Crabbe,'  1834 ;  '  Portraits  of  the  Female 
Aristocracy  of  the  Court  of  Queen  Victoria/ 
after  Chalon,  Hayter,  and  others,  1838-9; 
'Tableaux  of  National  Character,  Beauty, 
and  Costume,'  first  edited  by  Mrs.  S.  C.  Hall, 
then  by  Mary  Russell  Mitford  (among  the 
contributors  of  poetry  was  Elizabeth  Barrett, 
afterwards  Mrs.  Browning  [q.  v.]),  &c.  The 
large  profits  which  the  brothers  Finden  gained 
from  these  works  were  risked  and  finally 
dissipated  in  an  ambitious  production,  '  The 
Royal  Gallery  of  British  Art,'  1838,  &c. ; 
this  publication,  though  admirably  planned 
and  beautifully  executed,  was  unsuited  to  a 
public  whose  taste  for  annuals  and  illustra- 
tions of  poetry  had  been  surfeited  to  excess. 
It  was  the  deathblow  to  the  fortunes  of  the 
two  Findens.  William  Finden  died  a  widower 
after  a  short  illness  on  20  Sept.  1852,  in  his 
sixty-fifth  year,  and  was  buried  in  Highgate 
cemetery ;  one  of  his  last  acts  was  to  sign  a 
petition  to  the  queen  for  the  recognition  of 
the  claims  of  engravers  to  the  full  honours 
of  the  Royal  Academy.  Besides  the  publi- 
cations above  mentioned  and  numerous  other 
illustrative  works  he  produced  some  impor- 
tant single  works,  notably  the  full-length 
portrait  of  George  IV,  painted  by  Sir  Thomas 
Lawrence  for  the  Marchioness  of  Conyngham 
(a  collection  of  progressive  proofs  of  this  en- 
graving is  in  the  print  room  at  the  British 
Museum);  '  Sheep  Washing'  and  '  The  Vil- 
lage Festival,'  by  Sir  David  Wilkie  (in  the 
National  Gallery);  'The  Highlander's  Re- 
turn,' 'The  Highlander's  Home,'  and  'The 


Naughty  Boy,'  after  Sir  Edwin  Landseer; 
and  '  The  Crucifixion,'  after  W.  Hilton,  Fin- 
den's  last  work,  which  was  purchased  by  the 
Art  Union  for  1,470/. 

[For  authorities  see  under  FINDEN,  EDWARD 
FRANCIS.]  L.  C. 

FINDLATER,  ANDREW  (1810-1885), 
compiler,  born  at  Aberdour,  Aberdeenshire, 
in  1810,  was  educated  at  the  university  of 
Aberdeen,  where  he  graduated  and  for  some 
time  attended  the  divinity  classes.  On  leaving 
college  he  became  schoolmaster  at  Tillydesk, 
and  subsequently  head-master  of  Gordon's 
Hospital,  Aberdeen.  In  1853  he  began  a  life- 
long connection  with  the  publishing  firm  of 
Messrs.  Chambers,  Edinburgh.  In  the  same 
year  was  published  his  essay  on  '  Epicurus '  in 
the  '  Encyclopaedia  Metropolitan.'  His  first 
work  for  Messrs.  Chambers  was  an  edition 
of  their  '  Information  for  the  People,'  which 
appeared  in  1857.  Shortly  afterwards  he  was 
entrusted  with  the  editorship  of  their  '  Ency- 
clopaedia,' in  which  he  wrote  several  articles. 
He  also  prepared  for  the '  Educational  Course ' 
of  the  same  firm  manuals  on  language,  astro- 
nomy, physical  geography,  and  physiography, 
and  put  forth  new  editions  of  their  '  Etymo- 
logical Dictionary'  and  the  'Miscellanies.' 
In  addition  to  these  literary  productions,  he 
contributed  a  series  of  essays  entitled  '  Notes 
of  Travel '  and  various  other  articles  to  the 
'  Scotsman.'  In  1864  he  received  the  degree 
of  LL.D.  from  the  university  of  Aberdeen. 
His  work  is  characterised  by  singular  clear- 
ness of  exposition.  His  handbook  on  philo- 
logy, for  which  study  he  had  a  special  liking, 
is  particularly  concise  and  intelligent.  He 
died  on  1  Jan.  1885.  He  married  a  daughter 
of  Thomas  Barclay,  sheriff-clerk  of  Fifeshire, 
who  died  in  1879. 

[Scotsman,  2  Jan.  1885;  private  information.] 

W.  B-E. 

FINDLATER,  CHARLES  (1754-1838), 
agricultural  writer  and  essayist,  was  born 
10  Jan.  1754  in  the  manse  of  West  Linton, 
Peeblesshire.  His  grandfather,  Alexander 
Findlater,  was  a  native  of  Moray,  and 'mar- 
ried into  the  famous  Scotch  family,  Kirkaldy 
of  Grange.  Thomas  (1697-1778),  his  son, 
was  minister  of  West  Linton,  but  his  settle- 
ment there  in  1729  was  resolutely  opposed  by 
certain  of  the  parishioners,  and  led  to  the  rise 
of  a  secessionist  congregation,  which  still  sur- 
vives. Charles  was  Thomas  Findlater's  son 
by  his  second  wife,  Jean,  daughter  of  Wil- 
liam Brown,  an  Edinburgh  bookseller.  He 
graduated  at  Edinburgh  University  14  Nov. 
1770.  In  1777  he  was  ordained  assistant  to 
his  father,  and  in  1790  was  presented  by  the 
Duke  of  Queensberry  to  the  neighbouring 


Findlater 


Findlay 


parish,  Newlands,  where  he  lived  until  1835, 
and  then  retiring  from  duty,  died  at  Glasgow 
28  May  1838,  aged  84.  His  appointment  at 
Newlands,  like  his  father's  at  West  Linton, 
wasfopposed,  and  led  to  the  establishment  of 
a  seceding  congregation,  which  yet  exists. 
He  married  (26  July  1791)  Janet  Hay  Russell 
(who  was  accidentally  burnt  to  death  in  1828). 
He  was  father  of  the  synod  of  Lothian  and 
Tweeddale,  and  was  buried  at  Newlands.  A 
marble  bust  of  him,  executed  at  the  cost  of 
many  admirers,  is  in  the  Peebles  Art  Gallery. 

Himself  of  the  moderate  theological  school, 
Findlater's  liberal  opinions  and  neglect  of 
conventionalities,  united  with  much  kind- 
ness of  heart  and  intellectual  power,  marked 
him  among  his  brother  clergy.  The  cordi- 
ality of  his  friendship  and  correctness  of  his 
life  were  universally  acknowledged.  He  esta- 
blished one  of  the  first  local  savings  banks, 
and  used  to  carry  his  account-book  for  it 
regularly  with  him  on  his  pastoral  visitations. 
He  would  sing  a  song  at  a  cottar's  wedding, 
and  on  many  wintry  Sundays  gather  his  con- 
gregation round  him  in  his  kitchen  and  give 
them  dinner  afterwards. 

Findlater's  books  show  him  to  have  been 
well  read  in  moral  and  political  economy. 
He  published:  1.  { Liberty  and  Equality;  a 
Sermon  or  Essay,  with  an  Appendix  on  God- 
win's system  of  society  in  his  "Political  Jus- 
tice,"' 1800.  This  sermon,  preached  at  New- 
lands,  was  directed  against  the  l  new  doctrine 
of  French  philosophy,  the  monstrous  doc- 
trine of  equality.'  Few  of  his  parishioners 
could  have  understood  a  word  of  it.  Yet 
some  sympathisers  with  the  obnoxious  doc- 
trine attacked  Findlater,  and  he  was  obliged 
to  hide  himself  until  the  lord  advocate,  Sir 
James  Montgomery,  was  able  to  appease  the 
outcry.  The  sermon  was  dedicated  to  Mont- 
gomery when  printed.  2.  *  General  View  of 
the  Agriculture  of  the  County  of  Peebles,' 
Edinburgh,  1802.  This  is  descriptive  rather 
than  didactic.  Restates  that  pigeons  and  bees 
are  rather  disadvantageous  than  otherwise  to 
the  Peebles  farmers  from  their  impoverish- 
ing the  ground,  and,  curiously  enough,  never 
mentions  in  his  survey  either  the  game  or 
the  fish  of  the  county.  The  industry  and 
sobriety  of  the  inhabitants  are  commended, 
1  with  the  exception  of  a  few  instances  of  per- 
version of  principle,  occasioned  by  the  in- 
troduction of  the  French  philosophy,  and 
these  chiefly  confined  to  the  county  town.' 
3.  *  Sermons  or  Essays,  as  the  Reader  shall 
chuse  to  design  them,  upon  Christian  Duties,' 
1830.  In  these  are  contained  '  a  plain  state- 
ment of  some  of  the  most  obvious  principles 
of  political  economy.'  4.  Accounts  of  West 
Linton  and  of  Newlands  in  Sinclair's  'Sta- 


tistical Account '  and  in  the  new  <  Statistical 
Account.' 

[Findlater's  Works  in  the  British  Museum  ; 
Dr.  Hew  Scott's  Fasti  Ecclesiae  Scoticanse,  pt.  i! 
247,  253 ;  Presbytery  and  Synod  Eecords  at 
Newlands;  private  information  from  the  Rev. 
J.  Milne,  minister  of  Newlands.]  M.  Or.  W. 

FINDLATER  and  SEAFIELD,  fourth 
EARL  or.  [See  OGILVT,  JAMES,  1664-1730.] 

FINDLAY,  ALEXANDER  GEORGE 

(1812-1875),  geographer  and  hydrographer, 
born  in  London,  6  Jan.  1812,  was  a  descendant 
of  the  Findlaysof  Arbroath,  Forfarshire.  His 
grandfather  was  a  shipowner  of  that  port,  who 
transferred  his  business  to  the  river  Thames 
about  the  middle  of  last  century.  Findlay's 
father,  Alexander  Findlay,  also  a  geographer, 
was  born  in  London  in  1790,  and  became  one 
of  the  original  fellows  of  the  Royal  Geogra- 
phical Society  on  its  foundation  in  1830. 
Among  his  numerous  undertakings  success- 
fully completed  was  an  atlas  sheet  of  the 
environs  of  London  (1829)  to  a  distance  of 
thirty-two  miles  from  St.  Paul's  (upon  a 
half-inch  scale),  every  line  of  which  was  his 
own  handiwork.  He  died  in  1870.  The  son 
early  devoted  himself  to  the  compilation  of 
geographical  and  hydrographical  works,  and 
his  atlases  of*  Ancient  and  Comparative  Geo- 
graphy '  are  known  all  over  the  world.  In 
1851  ne  completed  the  revision  of  Brookes's 
'  Gazetteer,'  and  the  same  year  published  his 
earliest  important  work,  on  the  '  Coasts  and 
Islands  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,'  in  2  vols.  of 
1 ,400  pages.  By  the  death  of  John  Purdy, 
the  hydrographer,  in  1843,  he  succeeded  to 
the  foremost  position  in  this  branch  of  nau- 
tical research  and  authorship.  His  researches 
in  the  kindred  science  of  meteorology  further 
attracted  the  attention  of  Admiral  Fitzroy, 
who  in  the  earlier  days  of  meteorological  in- 
vestigation invited  him  to  join  an  official  de- 
partment then  about  to  be  established,  but 
Findlay  preferred  an  independent  career.  In 
the  course  of  years  of  immense  labour  he  pre- 
pared and  issued  six  large  nautical  directories, 
which  have  proved  invaluable  to  the  mari- 
time world.  These  directories  are  accom- 
panied by  illustrations,  charts,  &c.,  and  in- 
clude 'the  North  Atlantic  Ocean,'  'The 
South  Atlantic  Ocean/  '  The  Indian  Ocean,' 
1  Indian  Archipelago,  China,  and  Japan,' '  The 
South  Pacific  Ocean,'  and  '  The  North  Pacific 
Ocean.'  '  These  works,'  observes  Sir  Henry 
Rawlinson,  'constitute  a  monument  of  in- 
dustry and  perseverance,  and  are  accepted  as 
standard  authorities  in  every  quarter  of  the 
globe.'  As  a  cartographer  Findlay  exhibited 
a  wide  practical  knowledge  of  the  sailor's 
requirements  which  even  the  hydrographic 


Findlay 


Finet 


department  of  the  admiralty  was  not  able  to 
surpass,  and  he  executed  a  series  of  charts  uni- 
versally known  and  appreciated  by  the  mer- 
cantile marine.  The  Society  of  Arts  awarded 
Findlay  its  medal  for  his  dissertation  on '  The 
English  Lighthouse  System.'  Subsequently 
he  published  'Lighthouses  and  Coast  Fog 
Signals  of  the  World.'  At  the  time  of  Sir 
John  Franklin's  catastrophe  he  carefully  sifted 
all  the  probable  and  possible  routes,  and  as  a 
member  of  the  Arctic  committee  of  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society  materially  assisted  in 
preparing  the  arguments  which  induced  the 
government  to  send  out  the  Alert  and  Dis- 
covery expedition  of  1875.  On  the  death  of 
Laurie,  the  London  geographical  and  print 
publisher,  in  1858,  Findlay  took  up  his  busi- 
ness, which  soon  sprang  into  renewed  activity 
under  his  guidance,  and  in  1885,  on  the  dis- 
persal of  the  navigation  business  of  Van  Keu- 
len  of  Amsterdam,  founded  in  1678,  it  became 
the  oldest  active  firm  in  Europe  for  the  publi- 
cation of  charts  and  nautical  works.  Find- 
lay  devoted  much  time  to  the  labours  of  his 
friend,  Dr.  Livingstone,  in  central  Africa,  and 
he  also  carefully  investigated  the  question  of 
the  sources  of  the  Nile.  For  the  record  of  the 
Burton  and  Speke  explorations  in  the  lake 
regions  of  central  equatorial  Africa  during 
1858-9  he  constructed  a  map  of  the  routes 
traversed.  He  also  wrote  a  paper  on  the  con- 
nection of  Lake  Tanganyika  with  the  Nile, 
accompanying  it  by  a  comparative  series  of 
maps  relating  to  the  northern  end  of  the  lake. 
Findlay  served  on  various  committees  ap- 
pointed by  the  British  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science,  and  contributed 
the  following  papers  to  section  E  :  at  Liver- 
pool in  1853,  '  On  the  Currents  of  the  Atlan- 
tic and  Pacific  Oceans ; '  Exeter,  1869,  '  On 
the  Gulf  Stream,  and  its  supposed  influence 
upon  the  Climate  of  N.-W.  Europe.' 

In  1844  Findlay  was  elected  a  fellow  of 
the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  and  soon 
became  an  active  member  of  its  council  and 
committees.  To  the '  Journal '  of  the  society 
he  contributed  several  papers,  as  well  as  to 
the '  Transactions  of  the  Royal  United  Service 
Institution,'  and  to  the  '  Transactions  of  the 
Society  of  Arts.'  Findlay's  services  were 
pronounced  equally  worthy  of  remembrance 
with  those  of  Arrowsmith  and  Petermann.  In 
1870  the  Societa  Geografica  Italiana  elected 
him  one  of  its  foreign  honorary  members. 
Findlay's  various  publications  embrace  a  total 
of  no  less  than  ten  thousand  pages,  all  of 
which  are  in  active  use.  He  died  at  Dover 
on  3  May  1875. 

[Royal  Geographical  Society's  Journal,  vol. 
xlv.  1875;  Athenaeum,  May  1875;  Bookseller, 
June  1875  ;  private  memoranda.]  G.  B.  S. 


FINDLAY,  ROBERT,  D.D.(1721-1814)r 
Scotch  divine,  son  of  William  Findlay  of 
Waxford,  Ayrshire,  born  23  Nov.  1721,  was 
educated  at  Glasgow,  Leyden,  and  Edinburgh, 
and  was  ordained  a  minister  of  the  kirk  of 
Scotland  in  1744.  He  had  charges  succes- 
sively at  Stevenston  (1743),  Galston  (1745), 
Paisley  (1754),  and  St.  David's  Church,  Glas- 
gow (1756),  was  appointed  professor  of  di- 
vinity in  the  university  of  Glasgow  in  1782, 
and  died  15  June  1814.  He  published  in  the 
« Library '  for  July  1761  « A  Letter  to  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Kennicott  vindicating  the  Jews 
from  the  Charge  of  Corrupting  Deut.  xxvii.  4,' 
which,  on  Kennicott's  replying  in  the  *  Li- 
brary,' he  followed  up  with  '  A  Second  Letter 
to  Dr.  Kennicott  upon  the  same  subject, 
being  an  Answer  to  the  Remarks  in  the  "  Li- 
brary "  for  August  1761,  and  a  further  illus- 
tration of  the  argument.'  This  letter  he 
sent  to  the  '  Library ; '  but  the  editor  of  that 
magazine  having  had  enough  of  the  contro- 
versy, it  appeared  separately  in  January  1762. 
Both  letters  were  signed  '  Philalethes.'  A 
more  ambitious  task  next  engaged  Findlay's 
attention,  viz.  an  examination  of  the  views 
on  the  credibility  of  Josephus  and  the  Jewish 
and  Christian  Scriptures  propounded  by  Vol- 
taire in  his  '  Philosophic  de  1'Histoire.'  This 
work  appeared  under  the  title  of  '  A  Vin- 
dication of  the  Sacred  Books  and  of  Josephus, 
especially  the  former,  from  various  misrepre- 
sentations and  cavils  of  the  celebrated  M.  de 
Voltaire,'  Glasgow,  1770,  8vo.  Findlay  also 
published  a  pamphlet  on  '  The  Divine  Inspi- 
ration of  the  Jewish  Scriptures  and  Old 
Testament,'  London,  1803,  8vo. 

[Irving's  Book  of  Eminent  Scotsmen ;  Brit. 
Mus.  Cat.;  Cleland's  Annals  of  Glasgow,  ii. 
114;  Hew  Scott's  Fasti  Eccl.  Scot.  ii.  26,  116, 
187,  203.]  J.  M.  R. 

FINET  or  FINETT,  SIR  JOHN  (1571- 
1641),  master  of  the  ceremonies,  was  son  of 
Robert  Finet  of  Soulton,  near  Dover,  Kent, 
who  died  early  in  1582.  His  mother  was 
Alice,  daughter  and  coheiress  of  John  Wen- 
lock,  a  captain  of  Calais.  His  great-grand- 
father, John  Finet,  an  Italian  of  Siena,  came 
to  England  as  a  servant  in  the  train  of  Car- 
dinal Campeggio  in  1519,  settled  here  and 
married  a  lady  named  Mantell,  maid  of  honour 
to  Catherine  of  Arragon.  John  was  brought 
up  at  court  and  commended  himself  to 
James  I  by  composing  and  singing  witty 
songs  in  the  royal  presence  after  supper.  Sir 
Anthony  Weldon  (Court  of  Xing  James, 
1812,  i.  399)  credits  Finet's  songs  with  much 
coarseness.  On  17  Jan.  1617-18  he  is  said  to- 
have  offended  his  master  by  the  impropriety 
of  some  verses  that  he  introduced  into  a  play 


Finet 


Finger 


produced  at  court  (Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom. 

17  Jan.  1618).     Finet  was  in  Paris  early  in 
1610,  and  sent  home  an  account  of  the  treat- 
ment accorded  to  duellists  in  France,  dated 
19  Feb.  1609-10  (see  Cott.  MS.  Titus,  C.  iv.) 
He  seems  to  have  been  at  the  time  in  the 
service  of  Lord-treasurer  Salisbury  (  Cal.  State 
Papers,  Dom.  29  April  1612).     Wood  states 
that  he  was  in  France  on  diplomatic  business 
in  1614,  but  on  15  Dec.  1614  he  was  reported 
in  a  contemporary  news-letter  to  have  just 
returned  from  Spain,  whither  he  had  been 
despatched  to  present  gifts  of  armour  and 
animals  to  members  of  the  royal  family  (id. 
15  Dec.  1614).     Next  year  he  was  with  the 
king  at  Cambridge.     On  23  March  1615-16 
he  was  knighted,  and  on  13  Sept.  1619  he 
was  granted  the  reversion  of  the  place  of 
Sir  Lewis   Lewknor,  master  of  the   cere- 
monies, whom  he  had  already  begun  to  assist 
in  the  performance  of  his  duties.  On  19  Feb. 
1624-5  he  was  granted  a  pension  of  120/., 
vacant  by  the  death  of  Sir  William  Button, 
assistant-master  of  the  ceremonies,   and  on 

18  March  1624-5  he  was  formally  admitted 
into  Button's   office   on  the   understanding 
that  on  Finet's  promotion  to  Lewknor's  place 
the  office  should  be  abolished.     On  Lewk- 
nor's death  Finet  succeeded  to  the  mastership 
of  ceremonies  (12  March  1625-6).     Thence- 
forward Finet  was  busily  employed  in  en- 
tertaining foreign   envoys   at   the   English 
court,  and  determining  the  numerous  diffi- 
culties regarding    precedence   which   arose 
among  the  resident  ambassadors.    He  was  in- 
timate with  all  the  courtiers.     Lord  Herbert 
of  Cherbury  (Autobiography,  ed.  S.  L.  Lee, 

?.  164)  had  made  his  acquaintance  before 
616.  In  1636  it  was  proposed  at  Oxford 
to  confer  on  him  the  degree  of  D.C.L.,  but  it 
is  doubtful  if  the  proposal  was  carried  out. 
Finet  died  12  July  1641,  aged  70,  and  was 
buried  on  the  north  side  of  the  church  of  St. 
Martin's-in-the-Fields.  Sir  Charles  Cotterell 
[q.  v.]  was  his  successor  at  court. 

In  1618  Finet  married  Jane,  the  '  lame ' 
daughter  of  Henry,  lord  Wentworth,  of 
Nettlestead,  Suffolk,  whose  brother  Thomas 
was  created  Earl  of  Cleveland  7  Feb.  1624-5. 
By  her  he  had  a  son,  John,  and  two  daugh- 
ters, Lucy  and  Finetta. 

Finet  was  the  author  of  the  following : 
1.  'The  Beginning,  Continvance,  and  Decay 
of  Estates.  Written  in  French  by  R.  de  Lu- 
sing,  L.  of  Alymes,  and  translated  into  Eng- 
lish by  I.  F.'  (London,  1606);  dedication, 
signed  lohn  Finet,  to  Richard  Bancroft,  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  :  an  essay  on  the  his- 
tory of  the  Turks  in  Europe.  2.  'Finetti 
Philoxenis :  some  choice  observations  of  Sr 
John  Finett,  knight,  and  master  of  the  cere- 


monies to  the  two  last  kings,  Touching  the 
Reception  and  Precedence,  the  Treatment 
and  Audience,  the  Puntillios  and  Contests 
of  Forren  Ambassadors  in  England,'  London, 
1656.  The  dedication  to  Philip,  viscount 
Lisle,  is  signed  by  the  editor,  James  Howell 
[q.  v.]  The  incidents  described  by  Finet 
chiefly  concern  the  reign  of  James  I.  A 
manuscript  copy  of  the  book  belongs  to 
C.  Cottrell  Dormer,  esq.,  of  Rousham,  near 
Oxford  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  2nd  Rep.  83).  An 
interesting  letter  from  Finet  to  Lord  Clifford 
is  among  the  Duke  of  Devonshire's  MSS.  at 
Bolton  Abbey  (ib.  3rd  Rep.  39).  Others  are 
at  Hatfield  and  the  Record  Office.  Some 
recipes  by  Finet  appear  in  a  manuscript 
volume  belonging  to  the  late  E.  P.  Shirley 
of  Ettington  Hall,  Oxford  (ib.  5th  Rep.  365). 

[Wood's  Fasti,  ed.  Bliss,  ii.  492-3  ;  Cal.  State 
Papers,  Dom.  1611-41;  Berry's  County  Gene- 
alogies, Kent,  p.  449;  authorities  cited  in  the 
text.]  S.  L.  L. 

FINEUX,  SIB  JOHN  (d.  1525).  [See 
FYNEUX.] 

FINGALL,    second    EAEL    OF. 
PLUNKET,  CHBISIOPHEB,  d.  1649.] 

FINGER,  GODFREY  OK  GOTTFRIED 

(f»  1685-1717),  composer,  a  native  of  Olmiitz 
in  Moravia,  came  to  England  probably  about 
1685.  This  date  is  fixed  by  the  preface  to 
his  first  composition, '  Sonatse  XII,'  in  which 
he  says  that  it  was  the  fame  of  James  II 
which  led  him  to  bid  farewell  to  his  native 
land.  The  work  was  published  in  1688,  but 
from  his  calling  the  king '  tutissimum  contra 
aemulos  et  invidos  zoilos  patrocinium '  it  may 
be  inferred  that  he  had  at  that  time  been 
long  enough  in  England  to  make  enemies, 
who  no  doubt  resented  the  intrusion  of  a 
foreigner.  The  title  of  his  opus  primum  is 
'  Sonatae  XII,  pro  diversis  instruments  .  .  . 
authore  Godefrido  Finger  Olmutio-Moravo 
Capellae  Serenissimi  Regis  Magnaa  Britanisa 
Musico '  (no  publisher's  name  is  given).  A 
beautifully  engraved  frontispiece  shows  the 
composer  protected  by  Minerva,  offering  be- 
fore a  bust  of  the  king  his  musical  produc- 
tion, on  which  is  inscribed  the  motto,  *  Puras 
non  plenas  aspice  manus.'  A  false  interpre- 
tation of  this  title  seems  to  have  given  rise 
to  the  impression  that  Finger  was  appointed 
chapel-master  to  the  king  (ROGER  NORTH, 
Memoirs  of  Mustek,  ed.  Rimbault ;  GROVE, 
Dictionary),  but  it  is  plain  that  no  such  office 
was  claimed  in  the  title,  and  it  is  also  almost 
a  matter  of  certainty  that  Nicholas  Staggins- 
held  the  post  during  the  whole  period  of 
Finger's  residence  in  England.  For  some  time 
Finger  was  no  doubt  a  member  of  the  king's- 


Finger 


band.  His  Op.  2  (published  by  Walsh)  con- 
sisted of  six  sonatas  for  two  flutes,  and  in 
1690  he  published  (privately,  according  to 
Rimbault)  '  VI  Sonatas  or  Solos,'  three  for 
violin  and  three  for  flute,  dedicated  to  the 
Earl  of  Manchester.  On  5  Nov.  1691  a  set 
of  '  Ayres,  Chacones,  Divisions,  and  Sonatas 
for  violins  and  flutes/  composed  by  Finger  and 
John  Banister,  was  advertised  in  the  'Lon- 
don Gazette'  (No.  2712)  as  being  on  sale  at 
Banister's  house.  Shortly  afterwards,  says 
the  authority  above  quoted,  he  joined  God- 
frey Keller  in  a  set  of  sonatas  in  five  parts 
for  flutes  and  hautboys  (PLAYFORD,  General 
Catalogue,  1701).  Other  instrumental  works 
are  stated  by  Hawkins  to  be  in  Estienne 
Roger's  catalogue.  On  5  Feb.  1693  Finger's 
setting  of  Theophilus  Parsons's  ode  on  St. 
Cecilia's  day  was  performed  '  at  the  consort 
in  York-buildings '  (advertised  in  the '  London 
Gazette,'  No.  2945).  He  had  already  begun 
writing  music  for  the  theatre,  having  made  a 
first  attempt  in  this  new  capacity  in  the  pre- 
vious year,  on  the  production  of  Southerne's 

*  Wives'  Excuse '  at  Drury  Lane.    The  list 
of  plays  for  which  he  wrote   music  is,  as 
far  as  can  be  ascertained,  as  follows :  Con- 
greve's  'Love  for  Love,'   1695,   and  'The 
Mourning  Bride,'  1697 ;  Ravenscroft's '  Anato- 
mist,' in  which  was   inserted   the    masque 
by  Motteux,  entitled  '  The  Loves  of  Mars  and 
Venus,'  1697   (the  music,  written   in   con- 
junction with  J.  Eccles,  was  published  by 
Heptinstall    and   dedicated    to   Sir  Robert 
Howard) ;  N.  Lee's « The  Rival  Queens '  (with 
Daniel  Purcell) ;  Elkanah  Settle's    '  Virgin 
Prophetess/  Baker's  '  Humours  of  the  Age/ 
Mrs.  Trotter's  'Love  at  a  Loss/  Gibber's 
'Love  makes  a  Man,'  and  Farquhar's  'Sir 
Harry  Wildair/  all  in  1701.     These  were 
most  probably  written,  though  not  performed, 
before  the  '  Prize  Music/  as  it  wras  called,  was 
publicly  heard.      On   18   March   1699   the 

*  London  Gazette  '  contained  an  advertise- 
ment to  the  effect  that  '  several  persons  of 
quality'  had  offered  a  sum  of  two  hundred 
guineas  for   the  best  musical  settings  of  a 
certain  work  not  named  in  the  advertisement. 
This  was  Congreve's  masque  '  The  Judgment 
of  Paris/  and  the  four  prizes  were  to  be  in 
this  proportion :  one  hundred,  fifty,  thirty, 
and  twenty  guineas.     As  to  how  long  a  time 
was  allowed  for  the  work  information  is  not 
forthcoming;    the    successful    compositions 
were,  however,  performed  early  in  the  new 
century.     The  prizes  were  awarded  in  this 
order :  John  Weldon,  John  Eccles,  Daniel 
Purcell,  and  Godfrey  Finger.     The  early  au- 
thorities seem  to  agree  in  considering  Finger 
to  have  been  the  best  of  the  competitors,  and 
the  award  is  generally  explained  as  the  result 


>  Finger 

of  animosity  against  a  foreigner.  At  this 
point  of  musical  history  English  music  en- 
joyed for  a  brief  space  exceptional  popularity. 
The  foreign  element  which  had  made  its 
appearance  with  the  Elizabethan  inadrigalists 
had  died  out,  and  the  advent  of  the  Italian 
opera  and  Handel  did  not  take  place  until 
a  few  years  later.  The  judges  of  the  com- 
positions were  not  masters  of  the  art,  but 
members  of  the  fashionable  world.  The  Hon. 
Roger  North  says,  in  recounting  the  history 
of  the  affair  in  his  '  Memoirs  of  Musick '  (ed. 
Rimbault,  p.  117) :  '  I  will  not  suppose,  as 
some  did,  that  making  interest  as  for  favour 
and  partiality  influenced  these  determina- 
tions, but  it  is  certain  that  the  comunity  of 
the  masters  were  not  of  the  same  opinion 
with  them.  Mr.  G.  Finger,  a  german,  and  a 
good  musitian,  one  of  the  competitors  who 
had  resided  in  England  many  years,  went 
away  upon  it,  declaring  that  he  thought  he 
was  to  compose  music  for  men  and  not  for 
boys.'  Some  authorities  allege  as  the  reason 
of  his  departure  the  inadequate  performance 
of  his  work,  which  Fetis  states,  but  without 
giving  his  source  of  information,  to  have 
taken  place  on  11  March  1701.  In  1702  he 
was  appointed  chamber-musician  to  Sophia 
Charlotte,  queen  of  Prussia,  and  for  some 
years  he  lived  at  Breslau.  After  the  queen's 
death  an  opera, '  Der  Sieg  der  Schonheit  iiber 
die  Helden/  was  performed  in  Berlin  in  De- 
cember 1706.  It  was  composed  by  Finger 
and  A.  R.  Strieker,  and  the  ballets  were  by 
Volumier.  He  is  said  to  have  produced  an- 
other opera,  '  Roxane '  (Telemann's  account, 
quoted  by  MATTHESON),  but  the  fact  that 
Strieker  wrote  an  opera,  'Alexanders  und 
Roxanens  Heirath/  produced  at  Berlin  in 
1708,  makes  it  uncertain  whether  Telemann 
was  not  in  error,  especially  as  he  does  not 
express  his  meaning  very  lucidly.  In  1717 
he  was  appointed  chapel-master  at  the  court 
of  Gotha.  He  is  said  to  have  held  the 
title  of '  Churpfalzischer  Kammerrath '  at  the 
time  of  his  death,  but  the  date  is  not  forth- 
coming. 

[Sonatse  XII,  &c.,  title  quoted  above ;  Hon. 
Roger  North's  Memoirs  of  Musick,  ed.  Rim- 
bault, 1846,  p.  117  et  seq.  and  notes;  Grove's 
Diet.  i.  524,  &c. ;  Burney's  Hist.  iii.  579,  iv. 
632;  Hawkins's  Hist.  (ed.  1853),  701,  764,  824; 
London  Gazette,  references  given  above  ;  Tetis's 
Dictionnaire,  sub  voce  ;  Mattheson's  Grundlage 
einer  Ehrenpforte,  Hamburg,  1740,  p.  362  ; 
Schneider's  Geschichte  der  Oper,  &c.,  1852,  pp. 
23, 24;  Addit.MS.  in  Brit.  Mus.  31466,  consisting 
of  sixty-six  sonatas  for  violin,  thirteen  of  which 
are  by  Finger.  Manuscript  scores  of  the  music 
in  the  'Rival Queens'  and  the  'Virgin Prophetess' 
are  in  the  Fitzwilliam  Museum  at  Cambridge.] 

J.  A.  F.  M. 


Finglas 


Finlaison 


FINGLAS,  PATRICK  (Jl.  1535),  Irish 
judge,  was  appointed  baron  of  the  exchequer 
in  Ireland  by  Henry  VIII  in  or  before  1520, 
and  afterwards,  by  patent  dated  at  Westmin- 
ster 8  May  1534,  he  was  constituted  chief 
justice  of  the  king's  bench  in  that  kingdom 
in  the  place  of  Sir  Bartholomew  Dillon.  He 
resigned  the  latter  office  in  or  before  1535. 

He  wrote  'A.  Breviat  of  the  getting  of 
Ireland,  and  of  the  Decaie  of  the  same.' 
Printed  in  Harris's  '  Hibernica,'  edit.  1770, 
i.  79-103.  It  appears  that  the  original  ma- 
nuscript of  this  work  is  in  the  Public  Record 
Office  (State  Papers,  Henry  VIII,  Ireland, 
vol.  xii.  art.  7).  It  is  described  in  the  calendar 
as  '  An  Historical  Dissertation  on  the  Con- 
quest of  Ireland,  the  decay  of  that  land,  and 
measures  proposed  to  remedy  the  grievances 
thereof  arising  from  the  oppressions  of  the 
Irish  nobility.' 

[Ware's  Writers  of  Ireland  (Harris),  p.  93 ; 
Liber  Hibernise,  ii.  30,  49 ;  Cal.  of  State  Papers 
relating  to  Ireland,  1509-73  (Hamilton),  pp.  3, 
9,  14,  161.]  T.  C. 

FINGLOW,  JOHN  (d.  1586),  catholic 
divine,  born  at  Barnby,  near  Howden,  York- 
shire, was  educated  at  the  English  College 
of  Douay,  during  its  temporary  removal  to 
Rheims,  where  he  was  ordained  priest  on 
25  March  1581.  Being  sent  on  the  mission 
he  laboured  zealously  in  the  north  of  Eng- 
land until  he  was  apprehended  and  com- 
mitted to  the  Ousebridge  Kidcote  at  York. 
He  was  tried  and  convicted  of  high  treason, 
for  being  a  priest  made  by  Roman  authority, 
and  for  having  reconciled  some  of  the  queen's 
subjects  to  the  catholic  church.  He  was 
executed  at  York  on  8  Aug.  1586. 

[Douay  Diaries,  pp.  10,  28,  160,  176,  178, 
261,  293;  Challoner's  Missionary  Priests  (1741), 
i.  183;  Dodd's  Church  Hist.  ii.  106;  Morris's 
Troubles  of  our  Catholic  Forefathers,  3rd  series ; 
Stanton's  Menology,  p.  387.]  T.  C. 

FININGHAM,  ROBERT  DE  (d.  1460), 
a  brother  in  the  Franciscan  or  Greyfriars' 
monastery  at  Norwich,  where  he  was  also 
educated,  was  born  at  Finingham  in  Suffolk, 
and  nourished  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VI. 
He  was  a  very  learned  man,  skilled,  as  Pits 
expresses  it,  in  all  liberal  arts,  excelling  es- 
pecially in  canon  law,  and  was  the  author 
of  numerous  Latin  works.  The  chief  pur- 
pose of  his  writings  was  in  defence  of  the 
Franciscans  against  the  common  accusation 
that  their  profession  of  poverty  was  hypo- 
critical. The  titles  given  of  his  works  are 
as  follows :  1 . '  Pro  Ordine  Minorum.'  2. '  Pro 
dignitate  Status  eorum.'  3.  '  Casus  Conci- 
liorum  Anglige.'  4. '  De  Casibus  Decretorum.' 
5.  'De  Casibus  Decretalium.'  6.  'De  Extra- 


vagantibus.'     7.  *  De  Excommunicationibus.' 
Tanner  describes  a  manuscript  of  the  last  in 


University  Library  (E.  e.  v.  11). 

[Pits,  De  Anglise  Scriptt.  p.  652  ;  Bale's  Scriptt. 
Brit.  cent.  viii.  §  23 ;  Tanner's  Bibl.  Brit.  p.  280  ; 
Blomefield's  Hist,  of  Norfolk,  iv.  113  ;  Wadding's 
Scriptt.  Min.  Ord.  (1650),  p.  308.]  E.  T.  B. 

FINLAISON,  JOHN  (1783-18CO),  statis- 
tician and  government  actuary,  son  of  Donald 
Finlayson  (who  spelt  the  name  thus),  was 
born  at  Thurso  in  Caithness-shire,  27  Aug. 
1783,  and  at  the  age  of  seven  was  by  the 
death  of  his  father  left  an  orphan.  In  1802 
he  became  factor  to  Sir  Benjamin  Dunbar 
(afterwards  Lord  Duffus),  whose  whole  es- 
tates, together  with  those  of  Lord  Caith- 
ness, were  entrusted  to  his  management  when 
he  was  only  nineteen  years  of  age.  He  soon 
after  went  to  Edinburgh  to  study  for  the 
bar,  but  having  visited  London  in  1804  on 
business,  he  became  attached  to  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  James  Glen,  and  re- 
ceiving the  offer  of  an  appointment  under  the 
board  of  naval  revision,  which  enabled  him 
to  marry  at  once,  he  entered  the  government, 
service  in  July  1805.  He  was  shortly  after 
promoted  to  be  first  clerk  to  the  commission, 
and  filled  that  office  till  the  board  closed  its 
labours  in  August  1808.  For  some  time  pre- 
viously he  had  also  acted  as  secretary  to  a 
committee  of  the  board,  and  in  that  capacity, 
although  but  twenty-three,  he  framed  the 
eleventh  and  twelfth  reports  of  the  commis- 
sion (Eleventh  and  Twelfth  Reports  of  the 
Commissioners  for  Revising  the  Civil  Affairs  of 
His  Majesty's  Navy,  1809;  Parl  Papers, 
1809,  vol.  vi.),  and  was  the  sole  author  of 
the  system  for  the  reform  of  the  victualling 
departments.  The  accounts  had  seldom  been 
less  than  eighteen  months  in  arrear,  but 
by  Finlaison's  system  they  were  produced, 
checked,  and  audited  in  three  weeks,  when 
the  saving  made  in  Deptford  yard  only  in  the 
first  year,  1809,  was  60,000/.  In  1809  he 
was  employed  to  devise  some  plan  for  arrang- 
ing the  records  and  despatches  at  the  admi- 
ralty, and  after  nine  months  of  incessant  ap- 
plication produced  a  system  of  digesting  and 
indexing  the  records  by  which  any  document 
could  be  immediately  found.  This  plan  met 
with  such  universal  approval  that  it  was 
adopted  by  France,  Austria,  and  Russia,  and 
its  inventor  received  as  a  reward  the  order 
of  the  Fleur-de-lys  from  Louis  XVIII  in  1815 
(BAROtf  CHARLES  DTTPIN,  Voyages  dans  la 
Grande-Bretagne,  1821,  pt.  ii.  vol.  i.  pp.  60- 
67).  In  the  same  year  he  was  appointee 
keeper  of  the  records  and  librarian  of  the  ad- 
miralty, and  became  reporter  and  precis  write] 


Finlaison 


Finlaison 


on  all  difficult  and  complicated  inquiries  aris- 
ing from  day  to  day.     During  the  twelve 
years  while  he  held  this  post  he  was  also  en- 
gaged in  many  other  confidential  duties.   He 
was  desired  by  Lord  Mulgrave  to  prepare  the 
materials  for  a  defence  of  the  naval  adminis- 
tration before  parliament  in  1810,  and  with 
three  months'  labour  collected  a  mass  of  in- 
formation which  enabled  Mulgrave  to  make 
a  successful  defence.  In  1811  Finlaison  com- 
piled an  exact  account  of  all  the  enemy's  naval 
forces.     Such  information  had  never  before 
been  obtained  with  even  tolerable  accuracy. 
Experience  proved  it  to  be  correct,  and  it  was 
quoted  in  parliament  as  an  authority.     In 
the  same  year  he  was  employed  to  investi- 
gate the  abuses  of  the  sixpenny  revenue  at 
Greenwich  Hospital,  a  fund  for  the  support 
of  the  out-pensioners,  and  in  his  report  showed 
that  by  other  arrangements,  as  well  as  by 
the  reform  of  abuses  arid  the  abolition  of 
sinecure  places,  the  pensions  might  be  much 
increased.     The  subject  of  the  increase  of 
the  salaries  of  the  government  clerks  having 
twice  been  forced  on  the  notice  of  parlia- 
ment, John  Wilson  Croker  in  1813  directed 
Finlaison  to  fully  inquire  into  the  case  of 
the  admiralty  department,  when,  after  six 
months  of  close  attention,  he  completed  a 
report,  upon  which  was  founded  a  new  system 
of  salaries  in  the  admiralty.   In  1814  he  com- 
piled the  first  official  *  Navy  List,'  a  work  of 
great  labour,  accuracy,  and  usefulness.     It 
was  issued  monthly,  and  he  continued  the 
duty  of  correcting  and  editing  it  until  the 
end  of  1821.    From  1817  to  1818  he  was 
occupied  in  framing  a  biographical  register 
of  every  commissioned  officer  in  the  navy,  in 
number  about  six  thousand,  describing  their 
services,  merits,  and  demerits ;  this  work  he 
engrafted  on  to  his  system  of  the  digest  and 
index,  where  it  formed  a  valuable  work  of  re- 
ference for  the  use  of  the  lords  of  the  admi- 
ralty.    He  introduced  into  the  naval  record 
office  a  hitherto  unknown  degree  of  civility 
towards  the  public  and  of  readiness  to  impart 
information.  Having  as  librarian  found  many 
valuable  state  papers  relating  to  the  Ameri- 
can war,  he  was  in  1813  induced  to  attempt 
the  completion  of  Sir  Redhead  Yorke's '  Naval 
History,'  which  was  intended  to  form  a  part 
of  Campbell's  l  Lives  of  the  Admirals.'     He 
carried  out  his  design  in  part  by  continu- 
ing the  history  down  to  1780.     This  por- 
tion of  the  work  was  printed  for  private  cir- 
culation, but  its  further  progress  was  aban- 
doned.    In  1815  Dr.  Barry  O'Meara,  physi- 
cian to  Napoleon  at  St.  Helena,  commenced 
a  correspondence  with  Finlaison,  his  private 
friend,  on  the  subject  of  the  emperor's  daily 
life.     In  1824,  by  the  desire  of  the  writer, 


the  letters  were  burnt.  Some  copies  of 
:hem,  however,  had  fallen  into  other  hands 
and  were  published  in  1853  in  a  book  en- 
titled '  Napoleon  at  St.  Helena  and  Sir  Hud- 
son Lowe.'  Finlaison  now  completed  a  work 
on  which  he  had  been  employed  since  1812, 
the  fund  for  the  maintenance  of  the  widows 
and  orphans  of  all  who  were  employed  in  the 
civil  departments  of  the  royal  navy.  Through 
Lord  Melville's  intervention  his  efforts  ter- 
minated successfully  in  the  establishment  of 
the  fund  by  order  in  council  17  Sept.  1819. 
The  naval  medical  supplemental  fund  for 
the  widows  of  medical  officers  also  owed  to 
him  its  existence  and  subsequent  prosperity. 
Until  1829  he  remained  the  secretary,  when 
the  directors  treated  him  so  ungenerously 
that  he  resigned,  and  by  mismanagement  this 
fund  was  ruined  in  1860.  The  success  of 
these  charities,  together  with  his  subsequent 
investigation  into  the  condition  of  friendly 
societies,  upon  which  he  was  employed  by  a 
select  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons 
in  1824,  introduced  him  to  a  private  practice 
among  benefit  societies ;  he  constructed  tables 
for  many  of  these,  furnished  the  scheme  of 
some,  and  entirely  constituted  others.  Among 
other  societies  with  which  he  became  con- 
nected were  :  the  London  Life,  the  Amicable 
Society,  the  Royal  Naval  and  Military  Life 
Assurance  Company,  and  the  New  York  Life 
Assurance  and  Trust  Company.  The  govern- 
ment in  1808  instituted  a  new  system  of 
finance  based  upon  the  granting  of  life  an- 
nuities, the  tables  used  being  the  Northamp- 
ton tables  of  mortality.  On  1  Sept.  1819 
Finlaison  made  a  first  report  to  Nicholas 
Vansittart  [q.  v.],  in  which  he  demonstrated 
the  great  loss  that  was  sustained  by  the  go- 
vernment in  granting  life  annuities  at  prices 
much  below  their  value,  the  loss  in  eleven 
years  having  been  two  millions  sterling  (  WAL- 
FORD,  Insurance  Cyclopaedia^  v.  496-514). 
His  report  was  not  printed  till  1824,  when 
he  was  directed  to  make  further  investiga- 
tions into  the  true  laws  of  mortality  prevail- 
ing in  England.  The  result  of  his  studies 
was  the  discovery  that  the  average  duration 
of  human  life  had  increased  during  the  cen- 
tury. His  tables  were  also  the  first  which 
showed  the  difference  between  male  and  fe- 
male lives  ('Life  Annuities.  Report  of  J. 
Finlaison,  Actuary  of  the  National  Debt,  on 
the  Evidence  and  Elementary  Facts  on  which 
the  Tables  of  Life  Annuities  are  founded/ 
1829). 

Before  the  close  of  1819  he  furnished  the 
chancellor  of  the  exchequer  with  a  statement 
of  the  age  of  each  individual  in  the  receipt  of 
naval  half-pay  or  pensions,  fourteen  thousand 
persons,  thence  deducing  the  decrement  of 


Finlaison 


Finlay 


life  among1  them.  In  1821  Mr.  Harrison  em- 
ployed him  for  several  months  in  computa- 
tions relative  to  the  Superannuation  Act,  and 
in  1822  he  was  occupied  in  considerations  re- 
lative to  the  commutation  of  the  naval  and 
military  half-pay  and  pensions.  The  measure 
consequently  suggested  by  him  was  finally 
established  by  negotiations  with  the  Bank  of 
England  in  1823  for  its  acceptance  of  the 
charge  for  public  pensions  in  consideration  of 
the  '  dead  weight '  annuity.  All  the  calcula- 
tions were  made  by  him,  and  it  was  plainly 
stated  in  the  House  of  Commons  that  in  the 
whole  establishment  of  the  Bank  of  England 
there  was  not  one  person  capable  of  computing 
the  new  annuity  at  the  fractional  rate  of  inte- 
rest agreed  upon.  On  1  Jan.  1822  he  was  re- 
moved from  the  admiralty  to  the  treasury, 
and  appointed  actuary  and  principal  account- 
ant of  the  check  department  of  the  national 
debt  office,  the  duties  of  which  position  he 
performed  for  twenty-nine  years.  For  many 
years  after  he  had  sought  to  impress  on  the 
government  the  loss  which  the  country  was 
sustaining  by  the  use  of  erroneous  tables,  he 
was  treated  with  neglect  and  contempt,  and 
it  was  only  by  the  accidental  production  of 
one  of  his  letters  before  Lord  Althorpe's  com- 
mittee of  finance  in  March  1828  that  the 
matter  was  brought  forward.  This  letter 
proved  that  the  revenue  was  losing  8,OOOZ.  a 
week,  and  that  this  loss  was  concealed  by 
the  method  of  preparing  the  yearly  accounts. 
The  immediate  suspension  of  the  life  annuity 
system  took  place,  and,  remodelled  upon  the 
basis  of  Finlaison's  tables,  it  was  resumed  in 
November  1829  with  a  saving  in  five  years 
of  390,000/.  In  1831  he  made  computations 
on  the  duration  of  slave  and  Creole  life,  pre- 
liminary to  the  compensation  made  to  the 
slaveowners  1  Aug.  1834.  He  was  con- 
sulted by  the  ecclesiastical  commissioners  on 
the  means  of  improving  church  property,  on 
the  question  of  church  leases,  and  finally  on 
the  subject  of  church  rates;  he  made  various 
reports  on  these  matters,  and  on  one  occasion 
was  summoned  to  attend  the  cabinet  to  ex- 
plain his  views  to  the  ministers.  On  the 
passing  of  the  General  Registration  Act  in 
1837,  his  opinion  was  taken  on  the  details  of 
the  working  of  the  scheme,  and  he  was  the 
first  witness  called  before  the  parliamentary 
committee  on  church  leases  in  the  following 
year.  The  Institution  of  Actuaries  being 
formed  in  1847,  he  was  elected  the  first  pre- 
sident, and  retained  that  position  until  his 
death.  In  1848  he  wrote  two  reports  on  the 
act  for  lending  money  to  Irish  landlords.  He 
retired  from  the  public  service  in  August 
1851,  and  employed  his  remaining  days  in 
his  favourite  study  of  scripture  chronology, 


and  the  universal  relationship  of  ancient  and 
modern  weights  and  measures.  He  died  at 
15  Lansdowne  Crescent,  Netting  Hill,  Lon- 
don, 13  April  1860.  He  married  in  London, 
first,  m  1805,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  Rev. 
James  Glen,  she  died  at  Brighton  in  1831  ; 
secondly,  in  1836,  Eliza,  daughter  of  Thomas 
Davis  of  Waltham  Abbey.  His  son  Alexan- 
der Glen  Finlaison,  who  was  born  at  White- 
hall on  25  March  1806,  is  also  an  author  and 
an  authority  on  insurance  statistics. 

Finlaison  was  the  author  of :  1. '  Report  of 
the  Secretary  to  the  Supplemental  Fund  for 
the  Relief  of  the  Widows  and  Orphans  of  the 
Medical  Officers  of  the  Royal  Navy/  1817. 

2.  '  Tables  showing  the  Amount  of  Contri- 
butions for  Providing  Relief  in  Sickness/ 1833. 

3.  '  Rules  of  the  Equitable  Friendly  Institu- 
tion, Northampton,  with  Tables/ 1837.  4.  <Ac- 
count  of  some  Applications  of  the  Electric 
Fluid  to  the  Useful  Arts  by  A.  Bain,  with  a 
Vindication  of  his  Claim  to  be  the  First 
Inventor  of  the  Electro-Magnetic  Printing 
Telegraph,  and  also  of  the  Electro-Magnetic 
Clock/  1843.      5.   '  Tables  for  the  use  of 
Friendly  Societies,  for  the  Certificate  of  the 
Actuary  to  the  Commissioners  for  the  Reduc- 
tion of  the  National  Debt.  Constructed  from 
the  original  computations  of  J.  Finlaison,  by 
A.  G.  Finlaison/  1847.     He  also  produced 
some  lyrical  poems  of  considerable  merit. 

[Times,  17  April  1860,  p.  9,  and  23  April, 
p.  9  ;  G-ent.  Mag.  August  1860,  pp.  194-5  ;  As- 
surance Mag.  April  1862,  pp.  147-69  ;  Walford's 
Insurance  Cyclopsedia  (1874),  iii.  300-3  ;  Macau- 
lay's  England  (1858),  i.  284 ;  Southwood  Smith's 
Philosophy  of  Health  (1835),  i.  115-47.] 

GK  C.  B. 

FINLAY,  FRANCIS  DALZELL(1793- 
1857),  Irish  journalist,  son  of  John  Finlay, 
tenant  farmer,  of  Newtownards,  co.  Down,  by 
his  wife,  Jane  Dalzell,  was  born  12  July  1793 
at  Newtownards,  and  began  life  as  a  printer's 
apprentice  in  Belfast,  where  he  started  as  a 
master  printer  in  1820.  The  letterpress  which 
issued  from  his  works  was  distinguished  by 
both  accuracy  and  elegance,  being  far  superior 
to  any  that  had  previously  been  produced  in 
Ireland.  In  1824  he  founded  the  '  Northern 
Whig.'  Liberalism  being  then  a  very  unpo- 
pular creed  in  Ulster,  Finlay  was  frequently 
prosecuted  for  press  offences.  On  21  July 
1826  he  was  indicted  for  publishing  in  the 
'Northern  Whig '  a  libel  tending  to  bring  into 
disrepute  the  character  of  a  certain '  improv- 
ing '  landlord.  The  libel  consisted  in  a  letter 
purporting  to  be  by  a  small  farmer  in  which 
the  improvements  alleged  to  have  been  ef- 
fected by  the  landlord  in  question  were  denied 
to  be  improvements  at  all,  and  in  which  a 
character  for  litigiousness  was  imputed  to 


Finlay 


3° 


Finlay 


the  landlord.  Finlay  was  sentenced  to  three 
months'  imprisonment,  without  the  option  of 
a  fine,  and  the  publication  of  the  '  Northern 
Whig'  was  suspended  from  August  1826 
until  May  1827.  From  the  first  Finlay  ad- 
vocated the  emancipation  of  the  Roman  ca- 
tholics, and  it  was  in  the  columns  of  the 
'  Northern  Whig '  that  William  Sharman 
Crawford  [q.v.]  propounded  his  celebrated 
views  on  tenant-right.  Some  comments  in 
the '  Northern  Whig '  on  the  conduct  of  Lord 
Hertford's  agent  led  to  another  prosecution  for 
libel  in  1830,  which,  however,  was  abandoned 
when  it  transpired  that  Daniel  O'Connell  had 
volunteered  for  the  defence.  On  a  similar 
charge  he  was  found  guilty  on  23  July  1832 
and  sentenced  to  three  months'  imprisonment 
and  fined  50/.  In  spite,  however,  of  these 
proceedings,  the  '  Northern  Whig '  continued 
from  time  to  time  to  give  expression  to  similar 
views  which  were  adjudged  libellous  and 
occasioned  its  proprietor  very  heavy  legal  ex- 
penditure. To  the  extension  of  the  suffrage, 
the  disestablishment  of  the  Irish  church,  and 
the  reform  of  the  land  laws  Finlay  through 
his  paper  gave  a  steady  and  zealous  support ; 
but,  though  a  personal  friend  of  O'Connell, 
he  opposed  the  movement  for  the  repeal  of 
the  union  and  the  later  developments  of  Irish 
disaffection,  such  as  the  Young  Irelandism  of 
Mitchell  and  the  agitation  which  resulted  in 
the  abortive  insurrection  of  Smith  O'Brien. 
He  died  on  10  Sept.  1857,  bequeathing  his 
paper  to  his  son,  Francis  Dalzell  Finlay,  by 
whom  it  was  conducted  until  1874,  when  it 
was  transferred  to  a  limited  company.  Finlay 
married  in  1830  Marianne,  daughter  of  the 
Rev.  William  Porter,  presbyterian  minister, 
of  Newtonlimavady,  co.  Derry. 

[Northern  Whig,  12  Sept.  1857  ;  information 
from  F.  D.  Finlay,  esq.]  J.  M.  K. 

FINLAY,  GEORGE  (1799-1875),  his- 
torian, was  son  of  Captain  John  Finlay,  R.E., 
F.R.S.,  and  brother  of  Kirkman  Finlay  (d. 
1828)  [q.  v.]  His  grandfather,  James  Fin- 
lay,  was  a  Glasgow  merchant.  He  was  born 
21  Dec.  1799,  at  Faversham,  Kent,  where 
his  father  was  inspector  of  the  government 
powder  mills.  The  latter  died  in  1802,  and 
George  was  for  some  time  instructed  by  his 
mother,  to  whose  training  he  attributed  his 
love  of  history.  His  education  was  con- 
tinued at  an  English  boarding-school,  and  in 
the  family  of  his  uncle,  Kirkman  Finlay  of 
Glasgow  [q.  v.],  under  private  tutors.  He 
subsequently  studied  law  in  Glasgow,  and 
proceeded  about  1821  to  the  university  of  Got- 
tingento  acquaint  himself  with  Roman  juris- 
prudence. While  there  he  began  to  doubt 
his  vocation  for  law,  and,  partly  influenced 


by  his  acquaintance  with  a  Greek  fellow- 
student,  '  resolved  to  visit  Greece  and  judge 
for  myself  concerning  the  condition  of  the 
people  and  the  chances  of  the  war.'  In  No- 
vember 1823  he  met  Byron  at  Cephaloiiia. 
1  You  are  young  and  enthusiastic,' said  Byron, 
'  and  therefore  sure  to  be  disappointed  when 
you  know  the  Greeks  as  well  as  I  do.'  The 
number  of  Hellenes  and  Philhellenes  about 
Byron  gave  umbrage  to  the  Ionian  govern- 
ment, which  was  bound  to  remain  neutral. 
Finlay  quitted  the  island  on  a  hint  from  Sir 
Charles  Napier,  and,  after  narrowly  escap- 
ing shipwreck,  made  his  way  successively 
to  Athens  and  Missolonghi,  where  for  two 
months  he  spent  nearly  every  evening  with 
Byron,  who,  Parry  says,  '  wasted  much  of 
his  time '  in  conversation  with  the  future 
historian  and  other  such  frivolous  persons. 
Quitting  Missolonghi  before  Byron's  death, 
Finlay  joined  Odysseus  on  an  expedition  into 
the  Morea,  but,  disgusted  with  the  general 
venality  and  rapacity,  returned  to  the  head- 
quarters of  the  government,  where  things 
were  no  better.  A  malarious  fever  compelled 
him  to  return  to  Scotland,  where  he  passed  his 
examination  in  civil  law,  but  was  soon  again 
in  Greece  at  the  invitation  of  his  intimate 
friend  Frank  Abney  Hastings  [q.  v.],  who 
had  built  a  steamer  in  which  Finlay  took  his 
passage.  He  continued  fighting  for  Greece, 
or  engaged  in  missions  on  her  behalf,  until 
the  termination  of  the  war,  when  he  pur- 
chased an  estate  in  Attica, '  hoping  to  aid  in 
putting  Greece  into  the  road  that  leads  to  a 
rapid  increase  of  production,  population,  and 
material  improvement.'  1 1  lost  my  money 
and  my  labour,  but  I  learned  how  the  sys- 
tem of  tenths  has  produced  a  state  of  society, 
and  habits  of  cultivation,  against  which  one 
man  can  do  nothing.  When  I  had  wasted 
as  much  money  as  I  possessed,  I  turned  my 
attention  to  study.'  His  unfortunate  invest- 
ment had  at  least  the  good  results  of  com- 
pelling his  continual  residence  in  the  country, 
with  which  he  became  most  thoroughly  ac- 
quainted, and  of  stimulating  his  perception 
of  the  evils  which,  in  the  past  as  in  the  pre- 
sent, have  deteriorated  the  Greek  character 
and  injured  the  credit  and  prosperity  of  the 
nation.  The  publication  of  his  great  series 
of  histories  commenced  in  1844,  and  was 
completed  in  1861,  when  he  wrote  the  auto- 
biographical fragment  which  is  almost  the  sole 
authority  for  his  lifgjx-  His  correspondence 
is  lost  or  maccessible^and,  notwithstanding 
his  courteous  hospitality,  acknowledged  by 
many  travellers,  little  more  seems  to  be  known 
of  his  life  in  Greece  than  his  constant  endea- 
vours to  benefit  the  country  by  good  advice, 
j  sometimes  expressed  in  language  of  excessive 

*\  It  is  now  in  the  library  of  the 
British  School  at  Athens.  For  an  account  of 
his  diaries,  letter  books,  and  correspondence, 
and  a  detailed  biblioeraohv  of  his  nublisheH 


Finlay 


Finlay 


if  excusable  acerbity,  but  which,  if  little  fol- 
lowed, was  never  resented  by  the  objects  of 
it.  His  most  important  effort  was  the  series 
of  letters  he  addressed  to  the  '  Times  '  from 
1864  to  1870,  which,  being  translated  by  the 
Greek  newspapers,  produced  more  effect  than 
his  earlier  admonitions.  He  also  contributed 
to  '  Blackwood's  Magazine,'  the  'Athenaeum/ 
and  the  '  Saturday  Review/ and  occasionally 
visited  England,  not  later,  however,  than 
1854.  He  wrote  in  Greek  on  the  stone  age 
in  1869,  and  in  the  following  year  published 
the  French  narrative  of  Benjamin  Brue,  the 
interpreter  who  accompanied  the  Vizier  Ali 
on  his  expedition  into  the  Morea  in  1715. 
Among  his  other  writings  are  an  essay  on  the 
site  of  the  holy  sepulchre  (1847),  and  pam- 
phlets on  Greek  politics  (1836)  and  finance 
(1844).  His  essays  on  classical  topography, 
never  collected  by  himself,  were  published 
in  1842  in  a  German  translation  by  S.  F.  W. 
Hoffmann.  He  died  at  Athens  26  Jan.  1875 ; 
the  date  1876  given  in  the  Oxford  edition  of 
his  history  is  an  unaccountable  mistake. 

Finlay's  great  work  appeared  in  sections, 
as  follows : l  Greece  under  the  Romans/ 1844 ; 
'  Greece  to  its  Conquest  by  the  Turks/  1851 : 
1  Greece  under  Ottoman  and  Venetian  Domi- 
nation/ 1856 ;  'Greek  Revolution/ 1861 .  After 
the  author's  death  the  copyright  of  these  seve- 
ral works  was  offered  to  the  delegates  of  the 
Clarendon  Press  by  his  representatives,  and 
in  1877  all  were  brought  together  under  the 
title  of '  A  History  of  Greece  from  its  Con- 
quest by  the  Romans  to  the  present  time, 
B.C.  146  to  A.D.  1864/  and  published  in  seven 
volumes  under  the  able  editorship  of  the 
Rev.  H.  F.  Tozer.  The  whole  had  been 
thoroughly  revised  by  Finlay  himself,  who, 
besides  aiming  throughout  at  a  greater  con- 
densation of  style,  had  added  several  new 
chapters,  chiefly  on  economical  subjects,  en- 
tirely recast  the  section  on  Mediaeval  Greece 
and  Trebizond,  and  appended  a  continuation 
from  1843  to  the  enactment  of  the  constitu- 
tion of  1864.  The  period  covered  by  the 
history,  therefore,  is  no  less  than  two  thou- 
sand and  ten  years. 

Finlay  is  a  great  historian  of  the  type  of 
Polybius,  Procopius,  and  Machiavelli,  a  man 
of  affairs,  who  has  qualified  himself  for  treat- 
ing of  public  transactions  by  sharing  in  them, 
a  soldier,  a  statesman,  and  an  economist. 
He  is  not  picturesque  or  eloquent,  or  a  mas- 
ter of  the  delineation  of  character,  but  a  sin- 
gular charm  attaches  to  his  pages  from  the 
perpetual  consciousness  of  contact  with  a 
vigorous  intelligence.  In  the  latter  portion 
of  his  work  he  speaks  with  the  authority  of 
an  acute,  though  not  entirely  dispassionate, 
eye-witness ;  in  the  earlier  and  more  exten- 


sive portion  it  is  his  great  glory  to  have  shown 
now  interesting  the  history  of  an  age  of  slavery 
may  be  made,  and  how  much  Gibbon  had 
left  undone.  Gibbon,  as  his  plan  requires, 
exhibits  the  superficial  aspects  of  the  period 
m  a  grand  panorama ;  Finlay  plunges  beneath 
the  surface,  and  brings  to  light  a  wealth  of 
social  particulars  of  which  the  mere  reader 
of  Gibbon  could  have  no  notion.  This  being 
Finlay's  special  department,  it  is  the  more  to 
his  praise  that  he  has  not  smothered  his  story 
beneath  his  erudition.  He  may,  indeed,  even 
appear  at  a  disadvantage  beside  the  Germans 
as  regards  extent  and  profundity  of  research, 
but  this  inferiority  is  more  than  compensated 
by  the  advantages  incidental  to  his  prolonged 
residence  in  the  country.  His  personal  dis- 
appointments had  indeed  caused  a  censorious- 
ness  which  somewhat  defaces  the  latter  part 
of  his  history,  and  is  the  more  to  be  regretted 
as  it  affected  his  estimate  of  the  value  of  his 
own  work,  and  of  its  reception  by  the  world. 
In  character  he  was  a  frank,  high-minded, 
public-spirited  gentleman. 

[Autobiography  prefixed  to  vol.  i.  of  the  Ox- 
ford edition  of  Finlay's  History  ;  Memoir  in 
Athenaeum,  1875;  Sir  Charles  Newton  in  Aca- 
demy, and  Professor  Freeman  in  Saturday  Re vi  ew, 
1875.]  K.  G. 

FINLAY,  JOHN  (1782-1810),  Scottish 
poet,  was  born  of  humble  parents  at  Glasgow 
in  December  1782.  He  was  educated  in  one 
of  the  academies  at  Glasgow,  and  at  the  age 
of  fourteen  entered  the  university,  where  he 
had  as  a  classmate  John  Wilson  ('  Christo- 
pher North '),  who  states  that  he  was  distin- 
guished '  above  most  of  his  contemporaries.' 
While  only  nineteen,  and  still  at  the  uni- 
versity, he  published  f  Wallace,  or  the  Vale 
of  Ellerslie,  and  other  Poems'  in  1802, dedi- 
cated to  Mrs.  Dunlop  of  Dunlop,  the  friend 
of  Burns,  a  second  edition  with  some  addi- 
tions appearing  in  1804,  and  a  third  in  1817. 
Professor  Wilson  describes  it  as  displaying  '  a 
wonderful  power  of  versification/  and  possess- 
ing *  both  the  merits  and  defects  which  we  look 
for  in  the  early  compositions  of  true  genius.' 
The  prospect  of  obtaining  a  situation  in  one 
of  the  public  offices  led  him  to  visit  London 
in  1807,  and  while  there  he  contributed  to 
the  magazines  some  articles  on  antiquarian 
subjects.  Not  finding  suitable  employment 
he  returned  to  Glasgow  in  1808,  and  in  that 
year  he  published  '  Scottish  Historical  and 
Romantic  Ballads,  chiefly  ancient,  with  Ex- 
planatory Notes  and  a  Glossary.'  As  the 
title  indicates,  the  majority  of  the  ballads 
were  not  his  own  composition,  but  Sir  Walter 
Scott  nevertheless  wrote  of  the  book :  '  The 
beauty  of  some  imitations  of  the  old  Scottish 


Finlay 


32 


Finlayson 


"ballads,  with  the  good  sense,  learning,  and 
modesty  of  the  preliminary  dissertations, 
must  make  all  admirers  of  ancient  lore  regret 
the  early  loss  of  this  accomplished  young 
man.'  He  also  published  an  edition  of  Blair's 
4  Grave,'  wrote  a  life  of  Cervantes,  and  super- 
intended an  edition  of  Adam  Smith's '  Wealth 
of  Nations.'  In  1810  he  left  Glasgow  to 
visit  Professor  Wilson  at  Ellerlay,  West- 
moreland, but  on  the  way  thither  was  seized 
with  illness  at  Moffat,  and  died  there  on 
8  Dec.  He  had  begun  to  collect  materials 
for  a  continuation  of  Warton's  '  History  o 
Poetry.' 

[Memoir  with  specimens  of  his  poetry  ii 
Blackwood's  Mag.  ii.  186-92  ;  J.  Grant  Wilson' 
Poets  and  Poetry  of  Scotland,  ii.  46-8 ;  C.  Rogers' 
Scottish  Minstrel,  iii.  57-62.]  T.  F.  H. 

FINLAY,  KIRKMAN  (d.  1828),  phil 
hellene,  was  son  of  Captain-lieutenant  John 
Finlay,  RE.,  F.R.S.,  who  died  at  Glasgow 
in  1802  (Scots  Mag.  Ixiv.  616),  and  brother  o 
George  Finlay  [q.  v.]  His  education  was  carec 
for  by  his  uncle,  Kirkman  Finlay  [q.  v.],  lore 
provost  of  Glasgow.  When  about  twenty 
years  of  age,  being  in  possession  of  a  hand- 
some fortune,  he  proceeded  to  Greece  for  the 
purpose  of  engaging  in  the  war  of  indepen- 
dence. In  February  1824  he  became  ac- 
quainted with  Lord  Byron  and  Prince  Mav- 
rocordatos,  both  then  at  Missolonghi,  who 
entrusted  him  with  conciliatory  messages  for 
Odysseus  and  other  refractory  chiefs.  At 
Byron's  request,  Finlay  with  two  comrades 
set  out  in  March  in  charge  of  powder  and 
other  military  stores,  forwarded  from  Misso- 
longhi to  Odysseus  for  his  war  in  Negropont. 
On  crossing  the  stream  of  the  Phidari,  which 
had  been  much  swollen  by  the  rains,  he 
missed  the  ford,  lost  the  most  valuable  part 
of  his  baggage  and  papers,  and  very  nearly 
his  life.  Finlay  continued  one  of  the  few 
philhellenes,  undaunted  by  disappointment 
and  disgust,  constant  and  persistent  to  the 
cause  he  had  adopted.  On  that  cause  he 
spent  his  fortune,  energies,  and  life.  During 
a  sortie  of  the  Turks  from  the  fortress  of 
Scio  on  29  Jan.  1828  he  was  shot  through 
the  head  at  the  first  attack,  as  he  was  at- 
tempting to  rally  a  body  of  men  under  his 
command.  He  fell  dead  on  the  spot. 

[Moore's  Life  of  Lord  Byron  ;  Count  Gamba's 
Narrative  of  Lord  Byron's  Last  Journey  to 
Greece,  pp.  223-4 ;  Gent.  Mag.  TO!,  xcviii.  pt.  i. 
p.  372.1  G.  G. 

FINLAY,  KIRKMAN  (1773-1842),  lord 
provost  of  Glasgow,  the  son  of  James  Finlay, 
merchant,  was  born  in  Glasgow  in  1773.  He 
was  educated  at  the  grammar  school  and 
at  the  university,  and  at  an  early  age  en- 


tered  on  business  on  his  own  account.  In 
1793  he  took  a  prominent  part  in  opposing 
the  monopoly  of  the  East  India  Company  in 
the  cotton  trade.  He  became  a  magistrate 
of  Glasgow  in  1804,  and  in  1812  he  was 
elected  lord  provost  of  the  city.  He  was 
M.P.  for  Glasgow  from  1812  to  1818,  and 
during  this  time  distinguished  himself  as  a 

Political  economist  of  an  advanced  type.  In 
819  he  was  appointed  rector  of  the  uni- 
versity. He  was  really  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  commerce  of  Glasgow,  on  the  wider 
basis  which  it  took  after  the  failure  of  the 
tobacco  trade  with  America.  He  married 
Janet,  daughter  of  Mr.  John  Struthers.  He 
died  in  1842,  at  Castle  Toward,  a  residence 
which  he  built  on  the  Firth  of  Clyde.  George, 
the  Greek  historian,  and  Kirkman  Finlay, 
both  separately  noticed,  were  his  nephews. 

[MacGeorge's  History  of  Glasgow ;  Glasgow- 
Past  and  Present ;  Irving's  Eminent  Scotsmen  1 

W.  B-E. 

FINLAYSON,  GEORGE  (1790-1823), 
naturalist  and  traveller,  born  of  humble  pa- 
rents at  Thurso  in  1790,  was  clerk  to  Dr. 
Somerville,  chief  of  the  army  medical  staff 
in  Scotland,  and  afterwards  to  Dr.  Farrel,  chief 
of  the  army  medical  staff  in  Ceylon,  whence 
he  was  removed  to  Bengal,  and  attached  to 
the  8th  light  dragoons  as  assistant-surgeon 
in  1819.  In  1821-2  he  accompanied  the 
mission  to  Siam  and  Cochin  China  in  the 
character  of  naturalist,  returning  with  it  to 
Calcutta  in  1823.  By  this  time  his  health 
was  thoroughly  broken,  and  he  soon  after- 
wards died.  The  journal  which  he  had  kept 
during  the  mission  was  edited,  with  a  prefa- 
tory notice  of  the  author,  by  Sir  Stamford 
Raffles,  F.R.S.,  under  the  title  of  '  The  Mis- 
sion to  Siam  and  Hue,  the  capital  of  Cochin 
China,  in  the  years  1821-2,  from  the  Journal 
of  the  late  George  Finlayson,  Esq.,'  London. 
1826,  8vo. 

[Eaffles's  memoir,  noticed  above;   Quarterly 
Review,  1826.]  J.  M.  R. 

FINLAYSON,    JAMES,  D.D.    (1758- 
1808),  divine,  was  born  on  15  Feb.  1758, 
at  Nether  Cambushenie,  in   the  parish  of 
Dunblane,  Perthshire,  where  his  ancestors 
lad  been  settled  for  several  centuries.     He 
made  rapid  progress  at  school,  and  began  his 
tudies  in  the  university  of  Glasgow  at  the  age 
'f  fourteen.  He  held  two  tutorships,  and  sub- 
sequently became  amanuensis  to  Professor 
Anderson,  who  had  discovered  his  abilities, 
n  1782  he  became  domestic  tutor  to  two  sons 
f  Sir  William  Murray  of  Ochtertyre.     As 
;he  family  spent  the  winter  in  Edinburgh, 
?inlayson  continued  his  studies  at  the  uni- 
ersity.     He  was  licensed  to  preach  in  1785. 


Finlayson 


33 


Finlayson 


In  this  year  the  Duke  of  Atholl  offered  Fin- 
layson the  living  of  Dunkeld,  which  he  was 
induced  to  decline,  as  Sir  William  Murray  in- 
formed him  that  an  arrangement  was  pro- 
posed to  procure  for  him  the  chair  of  logic 
in  the  university  of  Edinburgh.  He  was 
offered  the  living  of  Borthwick,  near  Edin- 
burgh, of  which  parish  he  was  ordained 
minister  on  6  April  1787.  He  had  assumed 
the  duties  of  the  logic  professor  in  the  winter 
session  of  1786-7.  He  was  now  rising  into 
reputation  with  a  rapidity  the  more  remark- 
able from  his  modest  disposition.  The  most 
experienced  sages  of  the  church  respected  his 
judgment  in  questions  of  ecclesiastical  policy. 
He  therefore  dedicated  much  of  his  leisure 
to  study  the  laws,  constitution,  and  history 
of  the  Scottish  church,  and  began  to  take  an 
active  part  in  the  details  of  its  political 
government.  This  made  him  gradually  lean 
more  to  the  ecclesiastical  than  to  the  literary 
side  of  his  functions.  He  soon  became  a 
leader  on  the  moderate  side  in  the  church 
courts.  In  1790  he  was  presented  by  the 
magistrates  of  Edinburgh  to  Lady  Tester's 
church ;  in  1793  he  was  appointed  to  succeed 
Robertson,  the  historian,  in  the  collegiate 
church  of  the  old  Grey  Friars;  in  1799,  on  a 
vacancy  occurring  in  the  high  church,  he  was 
chosen  by  the  town  council  to  fill  that  col- 
legiate charge.  This  last  is  considered  the 
most  honourable  appointment  in  the  church 
of  Scotland,  and  it  was,  at  the  time,  rendered 
more  desirable  from  the  circumstance  that 
he  had  for  his  colleague  Hugh  Blair  [q.  v.j, 
whose  funeral  sermon  he  was  called  upon  to 
preach  in  little  more  than  a  year.  The  uni- 
versity of  Edinburgh  conferred  on  Finlayson 
the  degree  of  D.D.  (28  March  1799),  and  in 
1802  he  was  elected  moderator  of  the  general 
assembly.  He  was  elected  king's  almoner  in 
the  same  year,  but  resigned  the  post  almost 
immediately.  These  honours  indicate  the 
general  estimate  of  Finlayson's  merits.  Fin- 
layson established  his  ascendency  on  the 
wisdom  of  his  councils  and  his  knowledge  of 
the  laws  and  constitution  of  the  church,  and 
among  his  own  party  his  sway  was  unlimited. 
Those  who  differed  from  him  in  church  politics 
freely  acknowledged  his  honourable  character 
and  the  purity  of  his  motives :  his  political 
opponents,  in  points  of  business  unconnected 
with  party,  were  occasionally  guided  by  his 
judgment.  His  manner  was  simple  and  un- 
presuming ;  he  was  below  the  average  height. 
He  wrote  the  life  of  Dr.  Hugh  Blair,  and  a 
volume  of  his  sermons  was  published  after 
his  death.  In  1805  his  constitution  began 
to  decline.  In  1807  he  was  constrained  to 
accept  the  assistance  of  one  of  his  earliest 
friends,  Principal  G.  II.  Baird  [q.  v.],  who 

VOL.   XIX. 


taught  the  class  during  the  remainder  of  that 
session.  _  On  25  Jan.  1808,  while  conversing 
with  Baird,  he  was  seized  with  a  paralytic 
affection.  Among  the  few  words  he  was  able 
to  articulate  was  the  following  sentence  •  *  I 
am  about  to  pass  to  a  better  habitation,  where 
ail  who  believe  in  Jesus  shall  enter.'  On  his 
deathbed  the  senatus  academicus  of  the  uni- 
versity and  the  magistrates  of  Edinburgh 
waited  on  him  and  asked  him  to  name  the 
successor  to  his  chair.  In  deference  to  his 
advice,  an  offer  of  the  chair  was  made  to 
Principal  Baird,  the  gentleman  he  had  named 
He  died  on  28  Jan.  1808,  and  was  honoured 
with  a  public  funeral  in  the  cathedral  church 
of  Dunblane.  His  students  and  others  erected 
a  monument  to  his  memory  at  Dunblane,  and 
a  memorial  window  of  stained  glass  was 
placed  in  Grey  Friars  by  his  old  pupil  Prin- 
cipal Lee  of  Edinburgh  University.  He  pub- 
lished :  1.  '  Heads  of  an  Argument  in  sup- 
port of  the  Overture  respecting  Chapels  of 
Ease,'  1798.  2.  <  A  Sermon  on  Preaching,' 
Edinburgh,  1801.  3.  <  Sermons,'  Edinburgh, 


[Life  by  Baird;  Encyclopaedia  Perthensis ; 
Chambers's  Biog.  Diet,  of  Eminent  Scotsmen  ; 
Anderson's  Scottish  Nation ;  Hew  Scott's  Fasti 
Eccl.  Scot. ;  Proceedings  of  the  General  As- 
sembly of  the  Church  of  Scotland ;  private  in- 
formation.] A.  K.  M.  F. 

FINLAYSON"  or  FINLEYSON,  JOHN 
(1770-1854),  disciple  of  Richard  Brothers 
[q.  v.],  was  born  in  Scotland  in  1770.  His 
descendants  make  him  the  second  son  of 
Colonel  John  Hamilton  M'Finlay,  who  mar- 
ried, about  1765,  Lady  Elizabeth  Mary  Alex- 
ander, eldest  sister  of  the  last  Earl  of  Stir- 
ling. He  was  originally  a  writer  at  Cupar- 
Fife,  and  removed  thence  to  Edinburgh.  His 
relations  with  Brothers,  which  began  in  1797, 
are  detailed  in  the  article  on  that  enthusiast. 
He  printed  at  Edinburgh  a  couple  of  pam- 
phlets before  repairingto  London.  In  London 
he  was  '  in  considerable  practice  as  a  house- 
agent.'  Brothers  led  him  to  change  the  spel- 
ling of  his  name,  by  telling  him  his  ancestors 
had  some  l  fine  leys  '  of  land  granted  them  for 
deeds  of  valour.  Brothers,  who  died  (1824) 
in  Finlayson's  house  at  Marylebone,  made  it 
his  dying  charge  to  his  friend  that  he  should 
write  against  a  rival  genius,  Bartholomew 
Prescot  of  Liverpool.  This  Finlayson  did, 
describing Prescot's '  System  of  the  Universe/ 
very  correctly,  as  a '  misapprehended  mistaken 
elaborate  performance,  or  book.' 

He  printed  a  variety  of  pamphlets,  reite- 
rating Brothers's  views,  and  developing  his 
own  peculiar  notions  of  astronomy,  for  which 
he  claimed  a  divine  origin.  The  heavenly 
bodies  were  created,  he  thinks,  partly  'to 

D 


Finlayson 


34 


Finlayson 


amuse  us  in  observing  them.'  The  earth  he 
decides  to  be  a  perfect  sphere,  '  not  shaped 
like  a  garden  turnip,  as  the  Newtonians  make 
it ; '  the  sun  is  a  created  body  '  very  different 
from  anything  we  can  make  here  below ; '  the 
stars  are  '  oval-shaped  immense  masses  of 
frozen  water,  with  their  largest  ends  fore- 
most.' 

Finlayson  was  reduced  in  extreme  and 
widowed  age  to  a  parish  allowance  of  3s.  Qd. 
weekly,  supplemented  by  5s.  from  Busby,  in 
whose  house  Brothers  had  lived  from  1806 
to  1815.  Prescot  and  John  Mason  (a  brush- 
maker),  though  a  disciple  of  Brothers,  refused 
to  assist  him.  He  died  on  19  Sept.  1854,  and 
was  buried  in  the  same  grave  as  Brothers  at 
St.  John's  Wood.  He  married,  in  1808,  Eliza- 
beth Anne  (d.  1848),  daughter  of  Colonel 
Basil  Bruce  (d.  1800),  and  had  ten  children. 
His  eldest  son,  Kichard  Brothers  Finlayson, 
who  took  the  name  of  Richard  Beauford,  was 
a  photographer  at  Galway,  where  he  died  on 
17  Dec.  1886,  aged  75. 

Finlayson  printed :  1.  l  An  Admonition  to 
the  People  of  all  Countries  in  support  of 
Richard  Brothers,'  8vo  (dated  Edinburgh, 
7  Sept.  1797).  2.  The  same,  '  Book  Second,' 
containing  *  The  Restoration  of  the  Hebrews 
to  their  own  Land,'  8vo  (dated  Edinburgh, 
27  Jan.  1798).  3.  'An  Essay/ &c.  8vo  (on Dan. 
xii.  7,  11, 12  ;  dated  London,  2  March  1798). 
4.  '  An  Essay  on  the  First  Resurrection,  and 
on  the  Commencement  of  the  Blessed  Thou- 
sand Years,'  8vo  (dated  London,  14  April 
1798).  5.  '  The  Universe  as  it  is.  Discovery 
of  the  Ten  Tribes  of  Israel  and  their  Restora- 
tion to  their  own  Land/ 1832, 8vo.  6.  'God's 
Creation  of  the  Universe/ 1848, 8vo  (contains 
some  of  his  letters  to  the  authorities  respect- 
ing his  claims  on  Brothers's  estate ;  Mason 
and  Prescot  were  angry  at  this  publication, 
but  Finlayson  had  '  a  dream  and  vision '  of 
Brothers,  approving  all  he  had  done).  7.  'The 
Seven  Seals  of  the  Revelations.'  8.  'The 
Last  Trumpet/  &c.,  1849,  8vo  (incorporates 
No.  7 ;  there  are  several  supplements,  the 
latest  dated  21  Feb.  1850).  Also  nine  large 
sheets  of  the  ground  plan  of  the  New  Jeru- 
salem (with  its  56  squares,  320  streets,  4 
temples,  20  colleges,  47  private  palaces,  16 
markets,  &c.) ;  and  twelve  sheets  of  views 
of  its  public  buildings  ;  all  these  executed  by 
Finlayson  for  Brothers  (the  original  copper- 
plates were  in  the  hands  of  Beauford,  whose 
price  for  a  set  of  the  prints  was  38/.)  Fin- 
layson's  pamphlets  are  scarce ;  he  deposited 
his  stock  with  Mason,  after  whose  death  it 
was  destroyed. 

[Finlayson's  Works  ;  information  from  his 
eldest  son,  and  from  H.  Hodson  Rugg,  M.D.  ; 
tombstone  at  St.  John's  Wood.]  A.  Gr. 


FINLAYSON,  THOMAS  (1809-1872), 
united  presbyterian  minister,  second  son  of 
Thomas  Finlayson,  a  farmer,  was  born  at  Col- 
doch,  Blair  Drummond,  Perthshire,  22  Dec. 
1809.  He  received  his  elementary  education 
at  the  parish  school  of  Kincardine  in  Men- 
teith,  and  preparatory  to  entering  college 
engaged  in  a  special  study  of  the  classics  at 
a  school  in  the  village  of  Doune  in  Kilma- 
dock  parish.  At  the  university  of  Glasgow 
and  at  the  theological  hall  of  the  united 
secession  church  he  went  through  the  usual 
course  of  training,  and  was  licensed  as  a 
preacher  of  the  gospel  in  April  1835  by  the 
presbytery  of  Stirling  and  Falkirk.  Part  of 
his  period  of  study  was  spent  in  teaching  a 
school  at  Dumbarton,  where  he  formed  a 
friendship  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Andrew  Somer- 
ville,  who  afterwards  became  the  secretary 
of  the  foreign  mission  of  the  united  presby- 
terian church.  In  November  1835  Finlayson 
was  ordained  minister  of  the  Union  Street 
congregation,  Greenock,  where  he  founded 
a  missionary  society,  and  in  two  years  per- 
suaded his  people  to  pay  off  the  large  debt 
existing  on  the  church.  After  twelve  years 
of  admirable  ministerial  work  in  Greenock 
he  was  called  to  be  colleague  and  successor 
to  the  Rev.  John  M'Gilchrist  of  Rose  Street 
Church,  Edinburgh,  and,  having  accepted  the 
call,  was  inducted  to  the  ministry  there  in 
September  1847.  The  congregation  to  which 
he  now  became  minister  was  one  of  very 
few  churches  which  at  that  time  set  an  ex- 
ample and  gave  a  tone  to  the  whole  church. 
They  at  once  attached  themselves  to  their 
new  minister.  He  was  elected  moderator  of 
the  supreme  court  of  his  church  in  1867,  and 
shortly  afterwards  received  the  degree  of  D.D. 
from  the  university  of  Edinburgh.  As  one  of 
the  most  ardent  promoters  of  the  manse  fund, 
he  was  the  chief  agent  in  raising  45,000£, 
which  led  to  the  spending  of  120,OOOJ.  in 
building  and  improving  manses  in  two  hun- 
dred localities.  In  the  management  of  the 
augmentation  fund  he  also  took  a  deep  in- 
terest. As  a  preacher  he  excelled  in  distinct 
and  powerful  exhibition  of  the  truth ;  what- 
ever he  had  to  say  came  fresh  from  his  own 
independent  thought,  went  straight  to  the 
heart  of  the  subject,  and  made  an  immediate 
impression  on  his  hearers.  The  untimely 
death  in  1868  of  his  eldest  son  Thomas, 
a  promising  advocate  at  the  Scottish  bar, 
caused  him  intense  grief,  from  which  he  never 
fully  recovered.  On  7  Oct.  1872  his  con- 
gregation celebrated  the  semi-jubilee  of  his 
ministry  in  Edinburgh.  Having  gone  to 
Campbeltown  to  take  part  in  an  induction 
service  there,  he  was  suddenly  attacked  with 
failure  of  the  heart's  action,  and  was  found 


Finn  Barr 


35 


Finn  Barr 


dead  in  his  bed  on  17  Oct.  1872.  He  wa 
buried  in  the  Grange  cemetery,  Edinburgh 
on  22  Oct.  He  married,  in  1836,  Miss  Chrystal 
by  whom  he  had  six  children. 

[Memorials  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Finlayson 
D.D.,  1873,  with  portrait;  John  Smith's  Our 
Scottish  Clergy,  1849,  2nd  ser.  pp.  295-301.] 

G.  C.  B. 

FINN  BARE,,  SAINT  and  BISHOP  (d.  623), 
of  Cork,  was  son  of  Amergin,  of  the  tribe  oi 
Ui  Briuin  Ratha  of  Connaught,  who  were 
descended  from   Eochaidh  Muidmheadhon, 
brother  of  Olioll  Olum,  king   of  Munster. 
Amergin  left  Connaught  for  Munster  and 
settled  in  the  territory  of  Muscraidhe  (Mus- 
kerry),  in  the  county  of  Cork,  where  he  ob- 
tained an  inheritance  and  land  at  a  place 
called  Achaidh  Durbchon  ;  he  was  also  chief 
smith  to  Tigernach,  king  of  the  Ui  Eachach 
of  Munster,  who  lived  at  Rathlin  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Bandon.  Amergin  married 
in  defiance  of  the  king's  prohibition,  and  the 
couple  were  ordered  to  be  burnt  alive.     A 
thunderstorm  which  prevented  the  sentence 
from  being  carried  out  was  regarded  as  a 
divine  interposition,  and  they  were  set  free. 
A  child  having  been  born  from  this  union, 
they  returned  to  Achaidh  Durbchon,  where 
he  was  baptised  by  a  bishop  named  MacCorb, 
who  gave  him  the  name  of  Luan  (or  Lochan 
according  to   another  account).     When  he 
was  seven  years  old  three  clerics  of  Munster — 
Brendan,  Lochan,  and  Fiodhach — who  had 
been  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Leinster,  came  to  re- 
visit their  native  territories,  and  stopping  at 
the  house  of  Amergin  admired   the  child. 
Eventually  they  were  allowed  to  take  him 
away  to  be  educated.     On  their  return  with 
him  they  arrived  at  a  place  called  Sliabh 
Muinchill,  where  it  was  thought  suitable  that 
he  should  read  his  alphabet  (or  elements),  be 
tonsured,  and  have  his  name  changed.     The 
cleric  who  cut  his  hair  is  said  to  have  ob- 
served :  '  Fair  [finn]  is  this  hair  [barra]  of 
Luan.'     Let  this  be  his  name,  said  another, 
1  Barr-finn  or  Finn-barr.'  His  name,  however, 
in  popular  usage,  as  well  as  in  many  autho- 
rities, has  always  been  Barra  or  Bairre.     On 
this  occasion  Brendan  was  observed  to  weep 
and  then  soon  after  to  smile,  and  when  asked 
the  reason  replied, '  I  have  prayed  to  Almighty 
God  to  grant  me  three  territories  in  South 
Munster  for  my  use  and  that  of  my  successors, 
viz.  from  the  Blackwater  to  the  Lee,  from  the 
Lee  to  the  Bandon,  and  from  the  Bandon  to 
Bere  Island,  but  they  have  been  granted  to 
Barra  for  ever.     I  wept  because  I  fear  I  am 
blameworthy  in  God's   sight,  and  I  smiled 
again  for  joy  because  of  the  love  which  God 
manifested  for  Barra.'  The  three  clerics,  with 


Barra  proceeding  on  their  journey,  arrived  at 
™£S  Gabhran, now  Gowran,  in  the  county 
of  Kilkenny.     Here  he  read  his  psalms  and 
began  his  studies,  and  his  diligence  was  shown 
by  his  prayer  that  a  heavy  fall  of  snow  might 
continue  to  block  his  hut  until  he  could  read 
his  'saltair.'  It  is  said  to  have  continued  ac- 
cordingly.  He  next  went  to  Cuil  Caisin  (now 
Coolcashm),  in  the  barony  of  Galmoy,  county 
of  Kilkenny,  where  he  marked  out  and  founded 
that  church,  and  thence  to  Aghaboe,  where  he 
blessed  a  church  and  stayed  for  a  while.   He 
departed  at  the  request  of  his  predecessor,  St. 
Canice,  after  some  negotiation,  and  went  to 
MacCorb,  by  whom  he  had  been  baptised.  The 
latter  had  been  a  fellow-pupil  of  St.  David, 
and  both  were  reputed  to  have  been  pupils 
of  Pope  Gregory,  which  probably  means  that 
they  studied  his  writings,  which'were  held  in 
high  esteem  by  the  Irish.     About  this  time 
Fachtna,  an  aged  chieftain  of  Muscraidhe 
Breogain,  now  the  barony  of  Clanwilliam,  in 
county  of  Tipperary,  whose  son  and  daughter 
Finn  Barr  had  cured,  and  whose  wife  he  was 
said  to  have  brought  to  life,  made  a  grant  to 
him  of  RathMhartir  in  perpetuity.  Here  there 
is  an  important  difference  between  the  Irish 
and  Latin  lives,  the  latter  giving  Fiachna  as 
the  name  of  the  chieftain,  whom  Ussher,  ap- 
pearing to  have  known  only  the  Latin  life, 
identifies  with  the  king  of  West  Munster.  But 
the  Irish  life  evidently  gives  the  correct  ac- 
count.    With  MacCorb  Finn  Barr  read  the 
gospels  of  St.  Matthew  and  the  ecclesiastical 
rules,  to  which  another  authority  adds  the 
Epistles  of  St.  Paul.     It  was  while  in  this 
neighbourhood  that  he  stayed  at  Lough  Eirce, 
in  a  place  called  Eadargabhail  (Addergoole), 
where,  according  to  the  Irish  life,  he  had  a 
school  in  which  many  famous  saints  are  said 
to  have  been  educated.   There  has  been  much 
discussion  as  to  the  situation  of  Lough  Eirce, 
chiefly  o  wing  to  an  error  of  Colgan,  who  placed 
"t  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Cork.     There  is 
a  townland  of  Addergoole  in  the  parish  of 
A.ghmacart  in  the  south  of  Queen's  County, 
and  adjoining  it  in  co.  Kilkenny  is  the  parish  of 
Eirke,  in  a  low-lying  district.    Here  the  site 
of  the  school  must  be  looked  for.    At  Lough 
Eirce  there  was  also  a  female  school,  presided 
over  by  a  sister  of  Finn  Barr's.    Coming  now 
to  his  own  country,  he  founded  a  church  at 
Achaidh  Durbchon.  t  Near  this/  says  the  Irish 
life,  'is  the  grotto  [cuas]  of  Barra,  and  there  is 
a  lake  or  tarn  there,  from  which  a  salmon  is 
>rought  to  him  every  evening.'  This  appears 
o  be  the  lake  of  Gougane  Barra,  at  the  source 
>f  the  river  Lee,  which  probably  derives  its 
name  from  the  cuadhan,  pronounced  cuagan 
the  little  cavity)  of  Barra.     Warned,  as  we 
Te  informed,  by  an  angel  not  to  stay  at  the 

D  2 


Finn  Barr 


Finn  Barr 


hermitage,  as  his  resurrection  was  not  to  be 
there,  he  set  out,  and  crossing  the  Avonmore 
(Blackwater)  proceeded  in  a  north-easterly 
direction  until  he  arrived  at  Cluain,  where 
he  built  a  church.  This  place,  which  has 
been  strangely  confounded  with  Cloyne, 
near  Cork,  is  stated  by  Colgan  to  have  been 
situated  between  Sliabh  g-Crot  (the  Galtees) 
and  Sliabh-Mairge,  and  appears  to  be  Cluain- 
ednech,  now  Clonenagh,  a  townland  near 
Mountrath,  in  the  Queen's  County.  Here, 
when  he  had  stayed  some  time,  he  was  visited 
"by  two  pupils  of  St.  Kuadan,  whose  church  of 
Lothra  was  some  thirty  miles  distant.  These 
clerics,  Cormac  and  Baithin,  had  asked 
Ruadan  for  a  place  to  settle  in.  l  Go/  he 
said,  'and  settle  wherever  the  tongues  of 
your  bells  strike.'  They  went  on  until  they 
arrived  at  the  church  of  Cluain,  where  their 
bells  sounded.  They  were  much  disap- 
pointed at  finding  the  place  already  occupied, 
not  thinking  they  would  be  allowed  to  stay 
there,  but  Barra  gave  them  the  church  an'd 
all  the  property  in  it,  and  leaving  the  place 
returned  to  co.  Cork,  and  came  to  Corcach 
Mor,  or  t  The  Great  Marsh,'  now  the  city  of 
Cork.  Here  he  and  his  companions  were  en- 
gaged in  fasting  and  prayer,  when  Aodh,  son 
of  Conall,  the  king  of  the  territory,  going  in 
search  of  one  of  his  cows  which  had  strayed 
from  the  herd,  met  with  them  and  granted 
them  the  site  of  the  present  cathedral.  Before 
settling  there  finally,  Barra  was  admonished 
by  an  angel,  we  are  told,  to  go  to  the  place  to 
the  westward,  '  where,'  he  said,  f  you  have 
many  waters,  and  where  there  will  be  many 
wise  men  with  you.' 

A  long  time  after  this,  Barra,  with  Eolang, 
David,  and  ten  monks,  is  said  to  have  gone 
to  Home  to  be  consecrated  a  bishop,  but  the 
pope  refused  to  consecrate  him,  saying  the 
rite  would  be  performed  by  Jesus  Christ 
himself.  The  Latin  lives,  instead  of  Barra's 
journey  to  Rome,  tell  of  a  message  brought 
by  MacCorb  from  the  pope  informing  him 
how  he  was  to  be  consecrated.  At  this  time, 
MacCorb  having  died,  Barra  desired  to  have 
Eolang  of  Aghabulloge  as  a  soul-friend  or 
confessor  in  his  place.  According  to  the 
'  Calendar '  of  Oengus,  Eolang  was  originally 
at  Aghaboe,  and  probably  accompanied  Barra, 
whose  pupil  he  had  been.  Eolang  declined, 
say  ing, 'Christ  will  take  your  hand  from  mine 
and  hear  your  confession.'  It  was  reported 
that  Barra  afterwards  wore  a  glove  on  one  of 
his  hands  which  Christ  had  touched,  to  hide 
its  supernatural  brightness.  Seventeen  years 
after  the  foundation  of  Cork,  feeling  that  his 
death  was  near,  he  went  to  Clonenagh,  and 
there  died  suddenly.  His  remains  were 
brought  to  Cork  and  honourably  interred, 


and  in  after  times  his  bones  were  taken  up» 
and  enshrined  in  a  silver  casket.  His  pas- 
toral character  is  thus  described :  'The  man  of 
God  abode  there  [at  Cork],  building  up  not  so- 
much  a  house  of  earthly  stones  as  a  spiritual 
house  of  true  stones,  wrought  by  the  word  and 
toil  through  the  Holy  Spirit.'  His  generosity 
is  often  referred  to.  Cumin  of  Condeire,  in  his 
poem,  says :  '  He  never  saw  any  one  in  want 
whom  he  did  not  relieve; '  and  the '  Calendar' 
of  Oengus  at  25  Sept.  notices '  the  festival  of 
the  loving  man,  the  feast  of  Barre  of  Cork,' 
and  in  his '  Life '  he  is  the  ( amiable  champion  * 
(athleta).  In  after  times,  when  Fursa  was 
at  the  city  of  Cork,  '  he  saw  [in  vision]  a 
golden  ladder  near  the  tomb  of  the  man 
of  God,  to  conduct  souls  to  the  kingdom  of 
Heaven,  and  he  beheld  the  top  of  it  reach  to 
the  sky.' 

Barra's  travels  are  scarcely  referred  to  in 
his  '  Life.'  He  is  said  to  have  gone  to- 
Britain  with  St.  Maidoc.  In  Reeves's  edition 
of  Adamnan's  '  St.  Columba '  reference  is- 
made  to  '  his  repeated  and  perhaps  protracted' 
visits  to  St.  Columba  at  Hy,'  though  no- 
notice  of  them  is  found  in  his  'Life.'  There- 
is  an  extraordinary  story  in  the  Rawlin- 
son  manuscript  of  his  having  borrowed  a 
horse  from  St.  David  in  "Wales  and  ridden* 
over  to  Ireland,  in  memory  of  which  a  brazen 
horse  was  made  and  kept  at  Cork,  but  there 
is  nothing  of  this  in  the  other  lives.  He  is- 
the  patron  saint  of  Dornoch,  the  episcopal 
seat  of  Caithness,  where  his  festival  is  per- 
formed riding  on  horseback,  a  usage  which 
seems  to  have  some  connection  with  the 
legend  just  mentioned.  The  island  of  Barra 
also  claims  him  as  patron  and  derives  its  name 
from  him.  According  to  Gerald  de  Barre,  or 
Giraldus  Cambrensis,  his  family  name  was 
derived  from  this  island,  and  thus  ultimately 
from  the  saint.  Mr.  Skene  thinks  the  name 
Dunbarre  is  connected  with  him,  as  Dunblane- 
with  St.  Blane.  The  name  undergoes  many 
modifications.  He  is  termed  Finn  Barr,  Barr- 
f  hinn,  or  Barr-f  hind,  which  by  the  silence 
of  f  h  becomes  Barrind,  and  then  Barrindus. 
He  is  also  Barr-og,  or  Barrocus,  Bairre,  Barra,, 
and  Barre,  the  last  being  his  name  in  popular 
usage.  In  the  parallel  lists  of  Irish  and 
foreign  saints  in  the  '  Book  of  Leinster '  he  is 
said  to  have  been  '  like  Augustine,  bishop  of 
the  Saxons,  in  his  manner  of  life.'  He  died 
on  25  Sept.  most  probably  in  623. 

[Beatha  Barra  MS.  23  a,  44,  Royal  Irish 
Academy;  Codex  Kilkenniensis,  fol.  132  b,  134; 
Codex  Bodl.  Rawlinson  B.  485,  both  published 
by  Dr.  Caulfield  in  his  Life  of  St.  Finn  Barr ; 
Lanigan's  Eccl.  Hist.  ii.  314-18;  Calendar  of 
Oengus  at  25  Sept. ;  Reeves's  Adarnnan,  Ixxiv.J 

T.  0. 


Finnchu 


37 


Finnchu 


FINNCHU,  SAINT  (/.  7th  cent.),  of 
•Brigobann,  now  Brigown,  in  the  county 
of  Cork,  was  son  of  Finnlug,  a  descendant  of 
Eochaidh  Muidhmeadhon,  and  an  inhabi- 
tant of  Cremorne,  county  of  Monaghan.  Finn- 
lug's  first  wife,  Coemell,  was  of  the  Cian- 
machta  of  Glen  Geimhin.  After  a  married  life 
of  thirty  years  Coemell  died,  and  Finnlug 
married  Idnait,  daughter  of  Flann,  also  of  the 
Ciannachta.  Soon  after  he  was  expelled  from 
Ulster  with  his  followers,  and  making  his  way 
to  Munster  the  king,  Aengus  Mac  Nadfraoich, 
granted  him  land  in  the  province  of  Mog-Ruth 
(Fermoy) .  Here  Idnait  gave  birth  to  the  child 
Finnchu,  who  was  baptised  by  Ailbe  of  Imlach 
Ibair  (Emly),  and  '  a  screpall,  that  is  seven 
•pennies  of  gold,  paid  as  a  baptismal  fee.'  The 
form  of  his  name  given  in  the  '  Calendar '  of 
Oengus  is  Chua,  to  which  Finn  (fair)  being 
,-added  makes  Chua-finn,  and  by  transposition 
Finnchua.  The  Irish  life  and  the  '  Martyr- 
ology  of  Donegal'  make  him  son  of  Finn- 
lug,  son  of  Setna,  but  in  other  authorities 
lie  is  son  of  Setna.  He  was  placed  with 
Cumusgach,  king  of  Teffia  (in  Westmeath 
and  Longford),  with  whom  he  remained  seven 
years.  At  the  end  of  that  time  Comgall 
£q.  v.]  of  Bangor  (county  of  Down)  obtained 
leave  to  educate  the  child  as  an  ecclesias- 
tic at  Bangor.  Here  he  distinguished  him- 
self by  his  courage  in  bearding  the  king  of 
Ulaidh,  who  had  insisted  on  grazing  his  horses 
on  the  lands  of  the  monastery.  Nine  years 
later  Comgall  died,  and  Finnchu  succeeded 
him  as  abbot,  though  he  does  not  appear  in 
the  regular  lists.  Seven  years  afterwards  he 
was  expelled  from  Bangor  and  the  whole  of 
Ulaidh,  '  because  of  the  scarcity  of  land.'  He 
then  returned  to  Munster,  where  the  king  of 
Cashel  allowed  him  to  choose  a  place  of  re- 
sidence. Finnchu  said :  *  I  must  not  settle  in 
any  place  save  where  my  bell  will  answer  me 
without  the  help  of  man.'  From  Cashel  he 
proceeded  to  the  territory  of  Fermoy,  and  on 
the  morrow  his  bell  answered  him  at  Fan 
Muilt  (the  wether's  slope).  As  this  was  the 
queen's  home  farm,  he  would  have  been 
evicted  had  he  not  consented  to  pay  rent. 
After  this  Finnchu  '  marked  out  the  place 
and  arranged  his  enclosure,  and  covered  his 
houses,  and  allotted  lands  to  his  households.' 
Hither  came  to  him  Conang,  king  of  the 
Deisi,  who  prostrated  himself  to  him,  and 
Finnchu  gave  him, ( as  a  soul-friend's  jewel,  his 
own  place  in  heaven.'  Then,  in  order  to  obtain 
a  place  in  heaven  instead  of  that  which  he 
had  given  away,  he  suspended  himself  by  the 
armpits  from  hooks  in  the  roof  of  his  cell, 
so  that  '  his  head  did  not  touch  the  roof,  nor 
his  feet  the  floor.'  Thenceforth  the  place  was 
called  Bri  gobann  (Smith's  Hill),  now  Mit- 


chelstown,  from  the  skill  shown  by  the 
smiths  who  manufactured  the  hooks.  During 
seven  years  he  continued  to  practise  this  self- 
mortification  until  he  was  visited  by  St. 
Ronan  Finn  with  an  urgent  request  for  help 
from  the  king  of  Meath,  who  was  distressed 
by  the  inroads  of  British  pirates.  After  much 
persuasion  he  saw  St.  Ronan,  '  though  sorely 
ashamed  of  his  perforated  body  holed  by 
chafers  and  beasts.'  Accompanying  St.  Ronan 
to  Tara,  on  the  night  of  his  arrival  an  inroad 
took  place,  and  by  Finnchu's  advice, '  all,  both 
laymen  and  clerics,  turned  right-handwise 
and  marched  against  the  intruders,'  with  the 
result  that  they  slew  them,  burnt  their  ships, 
and  made  a  mound  of  their  garments. 

At  this  time,  dissensions  having  arisen 
between  the  two  wives  of  Nuadu,  king  of 
Leinster,  he  sent  oif  his  favourite  wife  to 
Munster  *  on  the  safeguard  of  Finnchua  of 
Sliabh  Cua.'  Arrived  near  Brigown  the  saint 
desired  she  should  not  come  any  further  until 
her  child  was  born,  for  at  that  time  '  neither 
wives  nor  women  used  to  come  to  his  church.* 

On  the  birth  of  the  child  he  was  baptised 
by  Finnchu,  and  named  Fintan.  In  a  war 
which  ensued  between  the  king  of  Leinster 
and  the  kinsmen  of  his  neglected  wife,  Finn- 
chu was  successful  in  obtaining  the  victory  for 
the  king.  Fintan  was  with  him,  and  when 
the  king  begged  that  the  boy  might  be  left 
with  him,  Finnchu  consenting  gave  him  '  his 
choice  between  the  life  of  a  layman  and  that 
of  a  cleric.'  Having  chosen  the  latter  the 
land  was  bestowed  on  him,  from  which  he  was 
afterwards  known  as  St.  Fintan  of  Cluain- 
ednech.  The  St.  Fintan  (d.  634)  [q.  v.]  gene- 
rally known  by  this  title  was  the  son  of  Tul- 
chan,  but  it  appears  from  his '  Life '  that  there 
were  four  of  the  name  at  Cluain-ednech.  Re- 
turning to  Munster,  Finnchu  was  next  called 
to  repel  an  attack  from  the  north,  the  queen 
of  Ulaidh  having  instigated  her  husband  to 
invade  Munster  to  provide  territory  for  her 
sons.  The  king  of  Munster  was  then  living 
at  Dun  Ochair  Maige  (the  fort  on  the  brink 
of  the  Maige),  now  Bruree,  in  the  county  of 
Limerick,  and  when  he  and  his  consort  be- 
held 'the  splendid  banners  floating  in  the 
air,  and  the  tents  of  royal  speckled  satin 
pitched  on  the  hill,'  they  sent  for  Finnchn, 
who  had  promised,  if  occasion  required,  to 
come,  'with  the  CennCathach  [head  battler], 
even  his  own  crozier.'  After  vainly  trying 
to  make  peace,  he  '  marched  in  the  van  of 
the  army  with  the  Cenn  Cathach  in  his  hand, 
and  then  passed  right-handwise  round  the 
host.'  For  the  complete  victory  which  fol- 
lowed the  king  awarded  '  a  cow  from  every 
enclosure  from  Cnoc  Brenain  to  Dairinis  of 
Emly,  and  a  milch  cow  to  the  cleric  carrying 


Finnchu 


Finnerty 


his  crozier  in  battle.'  Ciar  Cuircech,  nephew 
of  the  king  of  Kerry,  having  been  sent  adrift 
on  account  of  suspected  treason,  had  been 
taken  by  pirates,  and  was  retained  by  them 
as  guide,  and  for  three  autumns  they  harried 
Kerry,  and  carried  off  the  corn.  The  king 
sent  for  his  relative,  Finnchu  (the  Ciarraige 
and  Finnchu's  mother  being  both  of  the  seed 
of  Ebir).  The  saint  came  to  the  rescue,  and 
1  his  wrath  arose  against  the  maurauders,  and 
the  howling  and  rending  of  a  hound  pos- 
sessed him  on  that  day,  wherefore  the  name 
of  Finnchu  [fair  hound]  clave  to  him.'  Ciar 
was  spared  by  Finnchu,  who  took  him  away, 
and  placed  him  in  the  territory  since  called 
from  him  Kerrycurrihy,  in  the  county  of  Cork. 
The  last  warlike  adventure  in  whichFinnchu 
was  engaged  was  the  repelling  an  invasion  of 
the  Clanna  Neill.  The  people  of  Munster, 
who  were  then  without  an  overking,  elected 
Cairbre  Cromm,  a  man  of  royal  descent,  who 
was  at  this  time  '  in  waste  places  hunting 
wild  swine  and  deer.'  He  consented  to  lead 
them  on  condition  that  Finnchu  accompanied 
him.  On  coming  in  sight  of  the  enemies' 
camp  the  Munster  men  '  flinch  from  the  fight 
in  horror  of  the  Clanna  Neill,'  but  stirred  by 
the  warning  of  Finnchu  that  not  a  homestead 
would  be  left  to  them  if  they  did  not  fight, 
they  gained  the  victory.  Cairbre  Cromm  was 
then  made  king  of  Munster,  but  being  dis- 
satisfied with  his  appearance,  as  '  his  skin  was 
scabrous,'  he  besought  Finnchu  to  bestow  a 
goodly  form  on  him,  and  the  saint  '  obtained 
from  (jod  his  choice  of  form  for  him.'  His 
shape  and  colour  were  then  changed,  so  that 
he  was  afterwards  Cairbre  the  Fair. 

After  this  he  made  a  vow  that  he  would 
not  henceforth  be  the  cause  of  any  battles. 
He  gave  his  blessing  to  the  rulers  of  Munster, 
and  they  promised  to  pay  the  firstlings  of 
cows,  sheep,  and  swine  to  him  and  his  suc- 
cessors, together  with  an  alms  '  from  every 
nose  in  Fermoy.'  Then  he  went  to  his  own 
place,  and  thence  it  is  said  to  Rome,  for  he 
was  penitent  for  the  battles  and  deeds  he  had 
done  for  love  of  brotherhood.  He  is  associated 
in  Oengus  with  two  foreign  saints,  Mammes 
and  Cassian.  Little  of  a  religious  character 
appears  in  the  present  life,  but  in  Oengus  he 
is  said  to  have  been  '  a  flame  against  guilty 
men,'  and  that  '  he  proclaimed  Jesus.'  His 
religion  appears  to  have  chiefly  consisted  in 
ascetic  practices  of  an  extreme  character.  He 
was  supposed  to  lie  the  first  night  in  the  same 
grave  with  every  corpse  buried  in  his  church. 
In  an  Irish  stanza  current  in  the  north  of  the 
county  of  Cork  he  is  associated  with  Molagga, 
Colman  of  Cloyne,  and  Declan,  all  very  early 
saints,  and  he  is  termed  '  Finnchu  the  as- 
cetic.' The  anachronisms  in  this  life  are  more 


formidable  than  usual,  but  may  possibly  be 
explained  by  the  habit  of  using  the  name  of 
a  well-known  king  for  the  reigning  sove- 
reign, as  in  the  case  of  Pharaoh  and  Caesar. 
The  year  of  his  death  is  not  on  record,  but  it 
must  have  been  a  long  time  after  he  left 
Bangor,  which  was  in  608.  His  day  is  25  Nov. 

[The  Irish  life  in  the  Book  of  Lismore,  trans- 
lated by  Whitley  Stokes,  D.C.L. ;  Martyrology 
of  Donegal,  p.  317;  Eeeves's  Eccles.  Autiq.  of 
Down,  &c.,  p.  381 ;  Calendar  of  Oengus,  cxix, 
clxxii.]  T.  0. 

FINNERTY,  PETER  (1766  P-1822), 
journalist,  born  in  or  about  1766,  was  the 
son  of  a  trader  at  Loughrea  in  Gal  way.  He- 
was  brought  up  as  a  printer  in  Dublin,  and 
became  the  publisher  of  '  The  Press,'  a  na- 
tionalist newspaper  started  by  Arthur  O'Con- 
nor in  September  1797.  The  violence  of 
that  journal  caused  it  to  be  prosecuted  by 
the  government.  On  22  Dec.  1797  Finnerty 
was  tried  before  the  Hon.  William  Downes, 
one  of  the  justices  of  the  court  of  king's 
bench  in  Ireland,  upon  an  indictment  for  a 
seditious  libel.  The  prosecution  was  insti- 
tuted in  consequence  of  the  publication  of  a 
letter  signed  'Marcus,'  on  the  subject  of  the 
conviction  and  execution  of  William  Orr,  a 
presbyterian  farmer,  on  a  charge  of  adminis- 
tering the  United  Irish  oath  to  a  private  in 
the  Fifeshire  Fencibles.  Finnerty  refused 
to  divulge  the  writer's  name,  and,  although 
John  Philpot  Curran  made  a  most  eloquent 
speech  in  his  defence,  he  was  found  guilty. 
The  sentence  was  that  he  should  stand  in 
and  upon  the  pillory  for  the  space  of  one 
hour ;  that  he  should  be  imprisoned  for  two- 
years  from  31  Oct.  1797  (the  day  he  was 
arrested)  ;  that  he  should  pay  a  fine  "of  201. 
to  the  king ;  and  that  he  should  give  secu- 
rity for  his  future  good  behaviour  for  seven 
years  from  the  end  of  his  imprisonment,  him- 
self in  500/.,  and  two  sureties  in  250/.  each. 
The  whole  of  this  sentence  was  eventually  car- 
ried into  effect.  Finnerty,  on  30  Dec.,  stood 
for  one  hour  in  the  pillory  opposite  the  ses- 
sions house  in  Green  Street,  in  the  presence 
of  an  immense  concourse  of  sympathising* 
spectators.  He  was  accompanied  by  some 
of  the  leading  men  in  the  country.  On 
being  released  from  the  pillory  he  said  to  the 
people :  '  My  friends,  you  see  how  cheerfully  I 
can  suffer — I  can  suffer  anything,  provided 
it  promotes  the  liberty  of  my  country.'  The 
crowd  cheered  this  brief  address  enthusiasti- 
cally, but  they  were  quickly  dispersed  by  the 
military  (HowELL,  State  Trials,  xxvi.  902- 
1018;  CuKRAtf,  Speeches,  2nd  edit,  by  Davis, 

On  regaining  his  liberty  Finnerty  came  to 


Finney 


39 


Finnian 


London  and  obtained  an  engagement  as  a 
parliamentary  reporter  on  the  staff  of  the 
'Morning  Chronicle.'  In  1809  he  accom- 
panied the  Walcheren  expedition  as  special 
correspondent,  in  order  to  supply  the  '  Chro- 
nicle' with  intelligence,  but  his  bulletins 
soon  induced  the  government  to  ship  him 
home  in  a  man-of-war.  This  he  attributed  to 
Lord  Castlereagh,  whom  he  libelled  accord- 
ingly. On  7  Feb.  1811  he  was  sentenced  by 
the  court  of  queen's  bench  to  eighteen  months' 
imprisonment  in  Lincoln  gaol  for  a  libel 
charging  his  lordship  with  cruelty  in  Ireland. 
The  talent  and  courage  which  he  displayed 
at  the  trial  obtained  for  him  a  public  sub- 
scription of  2,000£.  He  memorialised  the 
House  of  Commons  on  21  June  against  the 
treatment  he  had  experienced  in  prison,  ac- 
cusing the  gaolers  of  cruelty  in  placing  him 
with  felons,  and  refusing  him  air  and  ex- 
ercise. The  memorial  gave  rise  to  several 
discussions,  in  which  he  was  highly  spoken 
of  by  Whitbread,  Burdett,  Eomilly,  and 
Brougham  (HANSARD,  Parl.  Debates,  1811, 
xx.  723-43).  He  died  in  Westminster  on 
11  May  1822,  aged  56. 

Finnerty  was  an  eccentric  Irishman,  ex- 
tremely quick,  ready,  and  hot-headed.  Much  of 
his  time  was  spent  with.PaulHiffernan  [q.  v.], 
Mark  Supple,  and  other  boon  companions  at 
the  Cider  Cellars,  20  Maiden  Lane,  Covent 
Garden.  He  published :  1.  '  Report  of  the 
Speeches  of  Sir  Francis  Burdett  at  the  late 
Election,'  1804, 8vo.  2.  '  Case  of  Peter  Fin- 
nerty, including  a  Full  Report  of  all  the 
Proceedings  which  took  place  in  the  Court 
of  King's  Bench  upon  the  subject  .  .  .  with 
Notes,  and  a  Preface  comprehending  an  Es- 
say upon  the  Law  of  Libel,'  4th  edit.  London, 
1811,  8vo. 

[Phillips's  Curran  and  his  Contemporaries, 
p.  184 ;  Gent.  Mag.  vol.  xcii.  pt.  i.  p.  644  ;  Biog. 
Diet,  of  Living  Authors,  p.  116;  Andrews's 
British  Journalism,  ii.  31,  66 ;  Notes  and  Queries, 
2nd  ser.  ix.  306;  Grant's  Newspaper  Press,  ii. 
224 ;  Hunt's  Fourth  Estate,  ii.  275.]  T.  C. 

FINNEY,  SAMUEL  (1719-1798),  minia- 
ture-painter, born  at  Wilmslow,  Cheshire, 
13  Feb.  1718-19,  was  eldest  son  of  Samuel 
Finney  of  Fulshaw,  Cheshire,  and  Esther, 
daughter  of  Ralph  Davenport  of  Chorley. 
His  family  being  in  pecuniary  difficulties, 
Finney  came  up  to  London  to  study  law,  but 
quitted  that  profession  for  painting.  He 
established  himself  as  a  miniature-painter, 
working  both  in  enamel  and  on  ivory,  and 
was  very  successful.  He  exhibited  minia- 
tures at  the  Exhibition  of  the  Society  of  Ar- 
tists in  1761,  and  in  1765  exhibited  a  minia- 
ture of  Queen  Charlotte,  having  been  ap- 


pointed 'enamel  and  miniature  painter  to  her 
majesty.'  He  was  a  member  of  the  Incor- 
porated Society  of  Artists,  and  in  1766  sub- 
scribed the  declaration  roll  of  that  society. 
Having  amassed  a  fortune  sufficient  to  pay 
off  the  encumbrances  on  the  old  family  estate, 
Finney  in  1769  retired  to  Fulshaw,  became 
a  justice  of  the  peace,  and  devoted  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life  to  quelling  the  riots,  then 
so  prevalent  in  that  part  of  Cheshire,  and  in 
local  improvements.  He  also  compiled  a 
manuscript  history  of  his  family,  part  of 
which  was  printed  in  the  '  Cheshire  and  Lan- 
cashire Historical  Collector,'  vol.  i.  A  small 
portrait  of  Finney  is  in  the  possession  of  his 
descendant,  Mr.  Jenkins  of  Fulshaw ;  it  was 
engraved  by  William  Ford  of  Manchester, 
and  the  plate  was  destroyed  after  twelve 
copies  had  been  struck  off.  He  died  in  1798, 
and  was  buried  at  Wilmslow.  He  was  twice 
married,  but  left  no  children. 

[Kedgrave's  Diet,  of  Artists;  Graves's  Diet. of 
Artists,  1760-1880;  Earwaker's  East  Cheshire, 
i.  154.]  L.  C. 

FINNIAN,  SAINT  (d.  550),  of  Cluaini- 
raird,  now  Clonard,  in  the  county  of  Meath, 
son  of  Finlugh,  son  of  Fintan,  a  descendant  of 
Conall  Cearnach,  one  of  the  heroes  of  the  Red 
Branch,  was  born  in  Leinster.  He  was  bap- 
tised by  a  Saint  Abban,  and  afterwards  placed 
when  of  suitable  age  under  the  charge  of  Fort- 
chern.  With  him  he  read  '  the  Psalms  and 
the  Ecclesiastical  Order.'  On  reaching  the 
age  of  thirty  he  crossed  the  sea,  and  accord- 
ing to  the  Irish  life  went  to  Tours,  called  by 
the  Irish  Torinis.  where  he  became  a  friend 
of  St.  Caeman.  But  the  Latin  life,  the  author 
of  which,  according  to  Dr.  Todd,  had  the  Irish 
before  him,  substitutes  Dairinis,  an  island  in 
the  bay  of  Wexford,  in  which  there  was  a 
well-known  monastery.  The  resemblance  in 
sound  may  have  suggested  the  correction,  as 
Caeman  was  connected  with  Dairinis.  But 
as  the  '  Office  of  St.  Finnian'  also  mentions  a 
visit  to  Tours,  and  two  of  St.  Finnian's  pupils, 
Columcille  and  Columb  Mac  Criomthainn, 
are  said  to  have  visited  Tours,  the  Irish  life 
may  be  correct.  Finnian,  probably  on  his 
way  back,  was  at  Cell  Muine,  or  St.  David's 
in  Wales,  where  he  met  David,  Gildas,  and 
Cathmael  or  Docus.  Here  he  is  said  to  have 
stayed  thirty  years,  and  to  have  spoken  the 
British  language  '  as  if  it  was  his  own  native 
tongue.'  Finnian  was  employed  to  negotiate 
with  the  Saxon  invaders,  and  failing  in  this 
is  said  to  have  overthrown  them  by  super- 
natural means.  An  angel  warned  him  to  re- 
turn to  Ireland,  which  was  in  need  of  his 
teaching,  instead  of  visiting  Rome  as  he 
wished  to  do.  He  obeyed  the  divine  call,  and 


Finnian 


Finnian 


landed,  according  to  Dr.  Lanigan,  first  at  the 
island  of  Dairinis,  where  he  paid  a  second 
visit  to  St.  Caeman.  Leaving  the  island  he 
coasted  along,  and  finally  landed  at  one  of 
the  harbours  of  Wexford,  where  he  was  well 
received  by  Muiredach,  son  of  the  king  of 
Leinster,  who  honoured  him,  not  as  Dr.  Lani- 
gan says,  by  prostrating  himself  before  him, 
but  by  taking  him  on  his  back  across  the 
fields.  The  king  having  offered  him  any  site 
he  pleased  for  a  church,  he  selected  Achad 
Aball,  now  Aghowle,  in  the  barony  of  Shil- 
lelagh, in  the  county  of  Wicklow.  Here  he 
is  said  to  have  dwelt  sixteen  years.  Moving 
about  and  founding  churches  in  several  places, 
he  arrived  at  Kildare,  where  he  '  stayed  for 
a  while,  reading  and  teaching/  and  on  leaving 
was  presented  by  Brigit  with  a  ring  of  gold, 
which  she  told  him  he  would  require.  After- 
wards a  slave  at  Fotharta  Airbrech,  in  the 
north-east  of  the  King's  County,  complained 
that  the  king  demanded  an  ounce  of  gold  for 
his  freedom.  Finnian  having  weighed  the  ring 
(ring  money  ?)  given  him  by  Brigit,  found  it 
to  be  exactly  one  ounce,  and  he  purchased  the 
man's  freedom.  This  slave  was  St.Caisin  of  Dal 
m  Buain.  Crossing  the  Boy  ne,  he  next  founded 
a  church  at  Ross  Findchuill,  also  called  Esgar 
Brannain,  now  Rosnarea.  One  of  a  raiding 
party  from  Fertullagh  in  Westmeath  passing 
by  his  church  became  his  disciple,  and  after- 
wards his  successor  at  Clonard.  This  was 
Bishop  Senach  of  Cluain  Foda  Fine,  now 
Clonfad,  in  the  county  of  Westmeath.  It 
was  probably  at  this  time  that  he  established 
his  school  at  Clonard,  in  A.D.  530,  according 
to  Dr.  Lanigan.  Disciples  came  to  him  from 
all  parts  of  Ireland  till  the  number  is  said  to 
have  reached  three  thousand,  and  he  acquired 
the  title  of  '  the  Tutor  of  the  Saints  of  Ire- 
land.' Many  celebrated  men  were  educated 
under  him,  among  them  Columcille,  Columb 
of  Tir  da  Glas,  the  two  Ciarans,  and  others. 
To  each  of  his  pupils  on  their  departure  he 
gave  a  crozier  or  a  gospel  (i.e.  a  book  of  the 
gospels),  or  some  well-known  sign.  These 
gifts  became  the  sacred  treasures  of  their  re- 
spective churches.  From  his  disciples  he  se- 
lected twelve  who  were  known  as  '  the  twelve 
Apostles  of  Ireland.'  These,  according  to  Dr. 
Todd,  formed  themselves  into  a  kind  of  cor- 
poration, and  exercised  a  sort  of  jurisdiction 
over  the  other  ecclesiastics  of  their  times. 
They  were  especially  jealous  of  the  right 
of  sanctuary  which  they  claimed  for  their 
churches. 

A  bard  named  Gemman,  also  termed  '  the 
master,'  and  mentioned  in  Adamnan's  '  Co- 
lumba'  as  a  tutor,  brought  him  a  poem  cele- 
brating his  praises,  and  asked  in  return  that 
'  the  little  land  he  had  should  be  made  fer- 


tile.' Finnian  replied,  '  Put  the  hymn  which 
thou  hast  made  into  water,  and  scatter  the 
water  over  the  land.'  This  is  in  accordance 
with  Bede's  description  of  the  virtues  of  Irish 
manuscripts  when  immersed  in  water  (EccL 
Hist.  bk.  i.  chap,  i.)  In  the  Latin  life  he 
orders  Gemman  '  to  sing  the  hymn  over  the 
field.'  Some  of  the  pupils  of  Finnian  having 
been  attracted  to  St.  Ruadan  of  Lothra,  for- 
merly one  of  his  disciples,  he  visited  that  saint 
at  the  request  of  his  school,  and  an  amicable 
contest  took  place  between  them,  with  the 
result  that  Ruadan  consented  '  to  live  like 
other  people.'  The  special  reason  for  the 
flocking  of  students  to  Lothra  is  said  to  have 
been  '  a  lime  tree  from  which  there  used  to 
drop  a  sweet  fluid  in  which  every  one  found 
the  flavour  he  wished.'  His  next  journey 
was  into  Luigne,  now  the  barony  of  Leyney, 
co.  Sligo,  whither  he  was  accompanied  by 
Cruimther  (or  presbyter)  Nathi.  Here  he 
founded  a  church  in  a  place  called  Achad 
caoin  conaire,  now  Achonry,  where  his  well 
and  his  flagstone  were  shown. 

When  he  had  thus  'founded  many  churches 
and  monasteries,  and  had  preached  God's 
word  to  the  men  of  Ireland,'  he  returned  to 
Clonard.  Here  his  pupil,  Bishop  Senach,  ob- 
serving '  his  meagreness  and  great  wretched- 
ness,' and  *  seeing  the  worm  coming  out  of 
his  side  in  consequence  of  the  girdle  of  iron 
which  he  wore,'  could  not  restrain  his  tears. 
Finnian  comforted  him  by  reminding  him  that 
he  was  to  be  his  successor.  His  food  was  a 
little  barley  bread,  and  his  drink  water,  ex- 
cept on  Sundays. 

In  the  '  Martyrology  of  Donegal '  he  is  com- 
pared to  St.  Paul,  the  parallel  being  carried 
out  in  detail.  Finnian  was  the  chief  of  the 
second  order  of  Irish  saints ;  he  is  sometimes 
said  to  have  been  a  bishop,  but  it  is  not  so 
stated  in  his  life,  and  it  is  improbable,  as  the 
second  order  were  nearly  all  presbyters.  He 
died  at  Clonard,  and,  according  to  the  '  Chro- 
nicon  Scotorum,'  of  the  pestilence  known  as 
the  Buidhe  Conaill,  or  yellow  plague,  which 
ravaged  Ireland  in  A.D.  550.  The  language 
of  his  life  is  ambiguous,  but  seems  to  agree 
with  this :  '  As  Paul  died  in  Rome  for  the 
sake  of  the  Christian  people,  even  so  Finnian 
died  in  Clonard  that  the  people  of  the  Gael 
might  not  all  die  of  the  yellow  plague.'  The 
'  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters '  place  his  death 
at  548  (549),  which  is  too  early.  Colgan's 
opinion  that  he  lived  as  late  as  563  is  founded 
on  a  statement  referring  not  to  him  but  to 
St.  Finnian  of  Maghbile.  He  is  said  in  the 
Irish  life  to  have  reached  the  age  of  140,  and 
if  his  stay  in  different  places  was  so  long  as 
mentioned,  this  would  seem  to  be  necessary, 
but  the  numbers  can  scarcely  be  intended  to 


Fintan 


Fintan 


fee  taken  literally.  '  Thirty '  seems  to  be  used 
indefinitely  in  the  lives  of  Irish  saints.  St. 
Finnian's  day  in  the  '  Martyrology  of  Done- 
gal' is  12  Dec.,  though  11  Feb.,  3  Jan.,  and 
26  March  have  also  been  mentioned. 

[Lives  from  the  Book  of  Lismore,  translated 
by  Whitley  Stokes,  D.C.L.,  pp.  222-30;  Lani- 
.gan's  Eccl.  Hist.  i.  468,  &c.,  ii.  21,  22 ;  Dr.Todd's 
St.  Patrick,  pp.  98-101 ;  Martyrology  of  Donegal, 
p.  333 ;  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  A.D.  548 ; 
Eeeves's  Adamnan,  p.  136.]  T.  0. 

FINTAN,  SAINT  (d.  595),  of  Cluain- 
•ednech,  according  to  his  pedigree  in  the '  Book 
of  Leinster,'  and  his  life  as  quoted  by  Colgan, 
was  the  son  of  Gabren  and  Findath,  and  a 
descendant  of  Feidlimid  Rectmar.  In  the 
1  Codex  Kilkenniensis '  his  father  is  called 
Crymthann,  but  Gabren  is  added  in  the  mar- 
gin, apparently  as  a  correction.  Again,  in 
the  '  Life  of  Finnchu  '  he  is  said  to  have  been 
the  son  of  Nuadu,  king  of  Leinster,  by  his 
wife,  Anmet.  But  as,  according  to  some  ac- 
counts, there  were  four  Fintans  at  Cluain- 
ednech,  the  son  of  Nuadu  was  evidently  a 
different  person  from  the  subject  of  the  present 
notice.  On  the  eighth  day  after  his  birth  our 
Fintan  was  baptised  at  Cluain  mic  Trein, 
which  may  be  presumed  to  have  been  in  or 
near  Ross,  anciently  called  Ros  mic  Trein. 
He  studied  with  two  companions,  Coemhan 
and  Mocumin,  under  Colum,  son  of  Crim- 
thann,  afterwards  of  Tirdaglas,  now  Terry- 
glas,  barony  of  Lower  Ormond,  county  of 
Tipperary.  Coemhan  became  eventually  abbot 
of  Enach  Truim,  now  Annatrim,  in  Upper 
Ossory,  and  Mocumin,  otherwise  Natcaoim, 
was  also  subsequently  of  Tirdaglas. 

The  party  of  students  and  their  master 
moved  about,  and  on  one  occasion  stayed  at 
Cluain-ednech,  where  there  was  then  no 
monastery.  Here  such  numbers  flocked  to 
them  that  they  had  to  move  to  Sliabh  Bladma, 
now  Slieve  Bloom.  Looking  back  from  the 
mountain-side  it  was  said  that  angels  were 
hovering  over  the  place  they  had  left,  and 
Fintan  was  at  once  advised  to  build  his  mo- 
nastery there,  which  he  did  about  A.D.  548. 
This  place  is  now  Clonenagh,  a  townland  near 
Mountrath  in  the  Queen's  County.  Here  he 
led  a  life  of  the  severest  asceticism,  but  not- 
withstanding the  strictness  of  his  rule  many 
sought  admission  to  his  community.  '  The 
monks  laboured  with  their  hands  after  the 
manner  of  hermits,  tilling  the  earth  with  hoes, 
and,  rejecting  all  animals,  had  not  even  a 
single  cow.  If  any  one  offered  them  milk  or 
butter  it  was  not  accepted ;  no  one  dared  to 
bring  any  flesh  meat.' 

This  mode  of  life  being  felt  as  a  reproach 
by  the  neighbouring  clergy,  a  council  assem- 


bled, at  which  St.  Cainnech  of  Kilkenny  and 
others  were  present,  who  visited  St.  Fintan 
and  requested  him  for  the  love  of  God  to  re- 
lax the  extreme  rigour  of  his  rule.  Fintan 
after  much  persuasion  conceded  the  changes 
proposed  as  regarded  his  community,  but  re- 
fused to  alter  his  own  mode  of  living.  His 
discernment  of  character  is  shown  in  the  case 
of  two  relatives  of  one  of  his  monks.  After 
the  young  man  had  failed  to  convert  them, 
Fintan  visited  them  and  pronounced  that  one 
would  be  converted,  but  that  the  case  of  the 
other  was  hopeless.  He  seems  to  have  been 
kind  to  his  community,  for  when  some  of 
them,  eager,  like  all  the  Irish  of  the  period,  for 
foreign  travel,  went  away  without  his  leave, 
and  proceeded  to  Bangor  in  Ulster,  and  thence 
to  Britain,  he  said  to  those  who  spoke  of 
them,  '  They  are  gone  for  God's  work.' 

A  warlike  party  once  left  the  heads  of 
their  enemies  at  the  gate  of  Clonenagh.  They 
were  buried  by  the  monks  in  their  own  ceme- 
tery, Fintan  saying  that  all  the  saints  who  lay 
in  that  burial-ground  would  pray  for  them,  as 
the  most  important  part  of  their  bodies  was 
buried  there.  At  this  time  the  king  of  North 
Leinster  held  the  son  of  the  king  of  South 
Leinster  (or  Hy  Censelach)  prisoner,  intend- 
ing to  kill  him  as  a  rival,  but  Fintan  and 
twelve  disciples  went  to  the  king  at  a  town 
named  Rathmore,  in  the  north-east  of  the 
county  of  Kildare,  to  remonstrate  with  him. 
The  king  ordered  the  fortress  to  be  firmly 
closed  against  him,  but  Fintan  overcame  all 
resistance,  and  rescued  the  youth,  who  after- 
wards became  a  monk  at  Bangor. 

Walking  on  one  occasion  in  the  plain  of 
the  Liffey,  he  met  Fergna,  son  of  Cobhthach, 
and  kneeled  before  him.  The  man  was  much, 
surprised,  but  Fintan  told  him  he  was  to  be- 
come a  monk.  He  said :  '  I  have  twelve  sons 
and  seven  daughters,  a  dear  wife,  and  peace- 
ful subjects,'  but  he  eventually  gave  up  all. 
Bishop  Brandubh, '  a  humble  man  of  Hy  Cen- 
selach,' went  to  Fintan  to  become  one  of  his 
monks.  Fintan  met  him  in  the  monastery 
of  Achad  Finglas,  near  Slatey,  and  desired 
him  to  remain  in  this  monastery, '  where,'  he 
added,  '  the  mode  of  life  is  more  tolerable 
than  in  mine/ 

His  most  famous  pupil  was  Comgall  [q.v.] 
of  Bangor,  who  came  to  him  at  Cluain-ednech. 
Here  he  joined  the  community,  but  so  hard 
was  the  life  that  he  grew  weary  of  it,  and 
the  devil  tempted  him  to  return  to  his  native 
place.  He  told  Fintan  of  this,  but  shortly 
after,  when  praying  at  a  cross  to  the  west  of 
Cluain-ednech,  a  supernatural  light  broke  in 
on  him,  and  he  became  quite  happy.  Fintan 
then  sent  him  back  to  his  native  place  to 
build  churches  and  rear  up  servants  to  Christ. 


Fintan 


Fintan 


He  subsequently  founded  the  famous  monas- 
tery of  Benchor  (Bangor)  in  Ulster. 

Fintan  when  on  his  deathbed  appointed  as 
his  successor  Fintan  Maeldubh.  In  the '  Lebar 
Brecc '  notes  on  the  '  Calendar '  of  Oengus 
there  are  said  to  have  been  four  Fintans  there. 
His  life  was  a  continual  round  of  fasts,  night 
watches,  and  genuflexions.  He  is  termed  by 
Oengus  '  Fintan  the  Prayerful,'  and  on  the 
same  authority  we  read, '  he  never  ate  during 
his  time,  save  woody  bread  of  barley,  and 
clayey  water  of  clay.'  In  the  parallel  list  of 
Irish  and  foreign  saints,  he,  as  /chief  head  of 
the  monks  of  Ireland,'  is  compared  with 
Benedict,  'head  of  the  monks  of  Europe/ 
His  day  is  17  Feb. 

[Colgan's  Acta  Sanct.  Hibernise,  p.  349,  &c. ; 
Codex  Kilkenniensis ;  Marsh's  Library,  Dublin, 
p.  74  aa  ;  Calendar  of  Oengus,  lii.  liii. ;  Martyr- 
ology  of  Donegal,  p.  51 ;  Lanigan's  Eccl.  Hist.  ii. 
227-30.]  T.  O. 

FINTAN  or  MUNNU,  SAINT  (d.  634), 
of  Tech  Munnu,  now  Taghmon,  co.  Wexford, 
was  son  of  Tulchan,  a  descendant  of  Conall 
Gulban,  son  of  Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages, 
his  mother,  Fedelm,  being  of  the  race  of 
Maine,  son  of  Niall.  He  used  to  leave  his 
father's  sheep  to  go  for  instruction  to  a  holy 
man  named  Cruimther  (or  presbyter)  Grel- 
lan,  who  lived  at  Achad  Breoan.  The  sheep  did 
not  suffer,  and  it  was  even  rumoured  that  two 
wolves  were  seen  guardingthem.  St.  Comgall 
of  Bangor  on  his  way  from  Connaught  met 
with  him  at  Uisnech  (now  Usny),  in  the 
parish  of  Killare,  barony  of  Rathconrath,  co. 
Westmeath.  Comgall  allowed  the  boy  to 
join  him,  and  on  the  first  day  initiated  him 
into  his  discipline  by  refusing  to  allow  him 
a  draught  of  water  until  vespers  in  spite  of 
the  heat. 

Fintan  is  said  to  have  gone  next  to  the 
school  of  St.  Columba  at  Cill  mor  Ditraibh  ; 
but  this  seems  inconsistent  with  the  dates  of 
his  life.  His  regular  studies  were  carried  on 
under  Sinell  of  Cluaininis,  an  island  in  Lough 
Erne,  who  is  described  as  '  the  most  learned 
man  in  Ireland  or  in  Britain.'  With  him 
he  continued  nineteen  years,  studying  the 
Scriptures  in  company  with  nine  others.  In 
making  their  bread  they  were  not  permitted 
to  separate  the  chaff  from  the  wheat ;  but  all 
being  ground  together,  the  flour  was  mixed 
with  water  and  baked  by  means  of  stones 
heated  in  the  fire. 

On  the  completion  of  his  studies  he  went 
to  Hy  to  enter  the  monastery,  but  found  that 
St.  Columba  was  dead,  and  Baithin,  his  suc- 
cessor, refused  to  accept  him,  alleging  that 
St.  Columba  had  anticipated  his  coming,  and 
directed  him  not  to  receive  him.  '  He  will 
not  lik^  this,'  he  added,  'for  he  is  a  rough 


man ;  therefore  assure  him  that  he  will  be 
an  abbot  and  the  head  of  a  congregation.' 
This  story,  which  is  not  only  found  in  his 
lives,  but  in  Adamnan's  '  Life  of  Columba,'  is. 
stated  in  the  latter  to  have  been  communi- 
cated to  the  author  by  Oissene,  who  had  it 
from  the  lips  of  Fintan  himself.  Fintan  is 
described  as  fair,  with  curly  hair  and  a  high 
complexion.  On  his  return  to  Ireland  he  took 
up  his  abode  in  an  island  named  Cuimrige  or 
Cuinrigi,  where  he  founded  a  church  at  a 
place  called  Athcaoin  ;  but  having  ascended 
a  mountain  to  pray  he  was  so  disturbed  by 
the  cries  and  tumult  at  the  battle  of  Slenne 
(perhaps  of  Sleamhain,  near  Mullingar,  A.D. 
602)  that  he  left  the  island.  He  next  passed 
on  to  his  own  neighbourhood  in  the  territory 
of  Ely,  but  did  not  visit  or  salute  any  one. 
Here  he  built  Tech  Telle  (now  Tehelly),  in 
the  north  of  the  King's  County,  where  he  re- 
mained five  years.  He  permitted  his  mother 
to  visit  him  with  his  two  sisters,  but  said 
that  if  she  came  again  he  would  depart  to 
Britain.  Probably  in  allusion  to  this  a  poem 
attributed  to  Colum  Cille,  says :  '  The  mother 
that  bore  thee,  O  Fintan,  0  Munnu,  bore  a 
son  hard  to  her  family.'  Soon  afterwards 
a  virgin  with  five  companions  presented  her- 
self at  Tech  Telle,  and  said  to  the  steward : 
'  Tell  the  strong  man  who  owns  this  place 
to  give  it  to  me,  for  he  and  his  fifty  youths 
are  stronger  than  I  and  my  five,  and  let 
him  build  another  for  himself.'  Fintan  com- 
plied, ordering  his  pupils  to  bring  only  their 
axes,  books,  and  chrismals  with  their  ordinary 
clothing,  and  the  two  oxen  which  drew  the 
wagon  with  the  books.  But  he  refused  to  bless 
her,  and  told  her  that  the  church  would  not 
be  associated  with  her  name,  but  with  that 
of  Telle,  son  of  Segein.  He  and  his  party  th  en 
proceeded  to  the  UiBairrche  (now  the  barony 
of  Slieve  Margy  in  the  Queen's  County), 
where  there  was  a  monastery  of  Comgall  of 
Bangor,  over  which  one  of  his  pupils  named 
Aed  Gophan  (or  Guthbinn  ?)  presided.  He 
was  obliged  to  go  away  into  exile  for  twelve 
years,  and  left  Fintan  to  take  charge  during 
his  absence.  Meanwhile,  Comgall  having 
died,  '  the  family '  of  the  monastery  came  to 
Fintan,  but  he  refused  their  several  requests 
either  to  accept  the  abbacy  of  Bangor,  or  to 
become  one  of  the  monks  there,  but  said 
that  he  would  leave  the  place  if  he  could 
surrender  it  to  Aed  Gophan,  who  entrusted 
it  to  him.  Then  they  said : f  You  had  better  go 
and  seek  for  him,  even  if  you  have  to  go  to 
Rome,  and  we  will  wait  your  return.'  He 
therefore  set  out  with  five  companions,  but 
after  crossing  one  field  he  met  with  Aedh 
returning  after  twelve  years  of  exile.  Leaving 
Ui  Bairrche,  Fintan  came  to  Achad  Liacc,  in 


Fintan 


43 


Firbank 


the  barony  of  Forth,  co.  Wexford.  Here  one 
day  when  in  the  woods  he  met  three  men 
clothed  in  white  garments,  who  told  him, 
'  Here  will  be  your  city/  and  they  marked  out 
in  his  presence  seven  places  in  which  after- 
wards the  chief  buildings  of  his  city  should 
be  erected,  and  Fintan  placed  crosses  there. 
The  chieftain  of  the  country  of  Forth,  named 
Dimma,  who  had  offended  him  by  unseemly 
rejoicing  over  a  homicide, repenting,  'offered 
him  the  land  where  his  city  Taghmon  now  is.' 
He  asked  for  a  reward,  and  when  Fintan 
promised  him  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  said : 
1  That  is  not  enough,  unless  you  also  give  me 
long  life  and  all  my  wishes,  and  allow  me  to 
be  buried  with  your  monks  in  holy  ground.' 
All  these  requests  Fintan  granted  to  him. 
The  community  of  Fintan  consisted  of  fifty 
monks,  and  their  daily  food  was  bread  with 
water  and  a  little  milk.  Dimma,  chieftain 
of  the  territory,  had  placed  his  two  sons  in 
fosterage — one,  Cellach,  at  Airbre  in  Ui  Cenn- 
selaigh  with  St.  Cuan;  the  other,  Cillin, 
with  Fintan  at  Taghmon.  The  father  going 
to  visit  them  found  Cellach  dressed  in  a  blue 
cloak,  with  a  sheaf  of  purple  arrows  on  his 
shoulder,  his  writing  tablet  bound  with  brass, 
and  wearing  shoes  ornamented  with  brass. 
Cillin,  in  a  cloak  of  black  undyed  sheep's 
wool,  a  short  white  tunic,  with  a  black  border 
and  common  shoes,  chanting  psalms  with 
other  boys  behind  the  wagon.  The  king  was 
displeased,  but  Fintan  told  him  that  Cellach 
would  be  slain  by  the  Leinster  people,  while 
Cillin  would  be  '  the  head  of  a  church,  a 
wise  man,  a  scribe,  bishop,  and  anchorite,' 
and  would  go  to  heaven. 

Fintan's  rugged  character  is  illustrated  in 
an  imaginary  dialogue  between  him  and  the 
angel  who  used  to  visit  him.  Fintan  asked 
why  another,  whom  he  mentioned,  was  higher 
in  favour  than  himself.  Because,  was  the  re- 
ply, 'he  never  caused  any  one  to  blush,  whereas 
you  scold  your  monks  shamefully.'  *  Then/ 
Fintan  indignantly  replied,  '  I  will  go  into 
exile  and  never  take  any  more  pains  with  my 
monks.'  '  No/  said  the'  angel,  '  but  the  Lord 
will  visit  you.'  That  night  Fintan  became  a 
leper,  and  continued  so  for  twenty-three  years. 
This  is  referred  to  in  the  '  Calendar '  of  Oen- 
gus,  where  he  is  called  '  crochda/  crucified 
or  bearing  a  cross. 

Fintan's  most  remarkable  appearance  was 
at  the  council  of  Magh  Ailbe  or  Whitefield, 
where  the  propriety  of  adopting  changes  made 
on  the  continent  in  the  Rule  of  Easter  was 
discussed.  Laisrean  or  Molaisse  of  Leighlin, 
with  his  friends,  defended  the  new  system 
and  the  new  order.  Fintan  and  all  others 
maintained  the  old.  The  king  of  Ui  Bairrche, 
impatient  at  Fintan's  delay  in  coming,  spoke 


tauntingly  of  his  leprosy.  When  he  arrived 
the  king  asked  him  to  speak.  '  Why/  said 
Fintan,  turning  fiercely  to  him,  '  do  you  ask 
me,  a  leprous  man,  for  a  speech  ?  When  you 
were  abusing  me  Christ  blushed  at  the  right 
hand  of  the  Father,  for  I  am  a  member  of 
Christ.'  Fintan  proposed  the  ordeal  by  fire  and 
then  by  water,  or  a  contest  in  miraculous 
power ;  but  Laisrean  would  not  risk  the  danger 
of  defeat.  Dr.  Lanigan  is  not  accurate  in 
saying  that  '  Fintan  soon  after  withdrew  his 
opposition,  and  agreed  with  his  brethren  of 
the  south/  for  the  '  Codex  Salmanticensis T 
states  that  the  council  broke  up,  assenting  to 
his  conclusion  :  '  Let  every  one  do  as  he  be- 
lieves, and  as  seems  to  him  right/  words 
which  fairly  express  the  tolerant  spirit  of  the 
Irish  church.  It  is  added  by  the  writer  of 
his  '  Life'  that  whenever  he  addressed  a  guest 
in  rough  or  hasty  language  he  would  not  eat 
until  he  had  apologised,  saying:  'At  that  mo- 
ment I  was  the  son  of  Tulchan  according  to 
the  flesh,  but  now  I  am  spiritually  the  son 
of  God.'  Lanigan  does  not  allow  that  he  was 
at  Clonenagh ;  but  Bishop  Reeves,  following 
Colgan,  holds  that  he  was  *  fourth  in  a  suc- 
cession of  Fintans  there.'  He  has  given  his 
name  to  a  Taghmon,  also  in  Westmeath,  and 
is  commemorated  at  Kilmun  in  Cowall  (Scot- 
land), where  he  is  buried  according  to  the 
'  Breviary  of  Aberdeen.'  There  was  also  a 
church  in  LochLeven  called  after  him.  In  the 
1  Litany '  of  Oengus  f  one  hundred  and  fifty 
true  martyrs '  who  lived  under  his  rule  are 
invoked,  and  two  hundred  and  thirty-three 
are  referred  to  in  the  '  Martyrology '  of  Tam- 
laght ;  but  this  does  not  imply  that  they  were 
all  living  at  one  time.  The  name  Mundu  or 
Munnu  is  interpreted  in  the  *  Lebar  Brecc ' 
as  a  contraction  of  mo-Fhindu,  the  F  in  the 
compound  becoming  silent;  Fintan  is  also 
a  contraction  of  Findu-an.  His  day  is  cele- 
brated 21  Oct. 

[Acta  Sanct.Hibernise  ex  codice  Salman ticensi, 
London,  1888;  Calendar  of  Oengus,  clix. ;  Lani- 
gan's  Eccl.  Hist.  ii.  404-8;  Ussher's  Works,  vi. 
503;  Eeeves's  Adamnan,  pp.  18,  27;  the  Kev. 
James  Gammack,  in  Diet,  of  Christian  Biography, 
ii.  520.]  T.  0. 

FIKBAJSTK,  JOSEPH  (1819-1886),  rail- 
way contractor,  son  of  a  Durham  miner,  was 
born  at  Bishop  Auckland  in  1819.  At  the 
age  of  seven  he  was  sent  to  work  in  a  colliery, 
and  attended  a  night-school.  In  1841  he  se- 
cured a  sub-contract  in  connection  with  the 
Woodhead  tunnel  on  the  Stockton  and  Dar- 
lington railway,  and  in  1845  and  1846  took 
contracts  on  the  Midland  railway.  The  oppo- 
sition to  railway  construction  was  so^  great 
at  this  time  that  on  one  occasion  Firbank 
was  captured  and  kept  a  prisoner  for  twenty- 


Firbank 


44 


Firebrace 


four  hours.  Noblemen  would  not  permit  the 
•contractors  or  their  workmen  to  approach 
their  demesnes.  In  1848  Firbank  was  en- 
gaged on  the  Rugby  and  Stamford  branch 
of  the  North- Western  railway,  and  lost  most 
of  his  savings  by  the  bankruptcy  of  the 
former  contractor  of  the  line.  When  the 
Monmouthshire  Railway  and  Canal  Com- 
pany transformed  their  mineral  tramways 
and  canals  into  passenger  railways  in  1854, 
Firbank  took  the  contract  for  dealing  with 
the  canals  in  the  town  of  Newport,  Mon- 
mouthshire. He  also  took  the  contract  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  lines  for  seven  years, 
and  this  contract  was  several  times  renewed. 

Firbank  established  himself  at  Newport, 
where  he  formed  an  intimate  friendship  with 
Mr.  Crawshaw  Bailey,  the  ironmaster,  who 
supported  him  in  his  early  undertakings.  He 
was  employed  in  South  Wales  for  thirty 
years,  until  the  absorption  of  the  Monmouth- 
shire company  by  the  Great  Western.  In 
1856  Firbank  took  a  contract  for  the  widen- 
ing of  the  London  and  North- Western  rail- 
way near  London,  and  afterwards  (1859-66) 
various  contracts  on  the  Brighton  line.  He 
was  also  engaged  upon  the  Midland  Com- 
pany's Bedford  and  London  extension  (1864- 
1868),  which  involved  great  difficulties  and 
ultimately  cost  the  company  upwards  of 
3,000,000/.  He  was  contractor  in  1870  on 
the  Settle  and  Carlisle  extension  of  the  Mid- 
land railway.  He  was  afterwards  contractor 
for  many  lines,  the  most  difficult  undertaking 
being  the  Birmingham  west  suburban  section 
of  the  Midland  railway. 

In  1884  Firbank  built  the  St.  Pancras 
goods  depot  of  the  Midland  railway.  The 
last  contract  taken  by  him  was  for  the  Bourne- 
mouth direct  line  from  Brokenhurst  to  Christ- 
church.  It  proved  to  be  the  most  troublesome 
of  all  his  undertakings,  and  was  finally  com- 
pleted by  his  son,  Joseph  T.  Firbank.  The 
lines  constructed  by  Firbank  from  1846  to 
1886  amounted  to  forty-nine.  All  through 
his  career  he  was  a  generous  employer,  doing 
his  best  to  promote  the  welfare  of  those  whom 
he  employed. 

Firbank  died  at  his  residence,  near  New- 
port, on  29  June  1886.  He  was  twice  married, 
and  was  survived  by  his  second  wife  and 
seven  children.  Firbank  has  been  described 
as  '  an  excellent  specimen  of  the  class  of 
Englishmen  who  rise  up  not  so  much  by 
any  transcendent  talents,  as  by  intelligence 
and  energy,'  and  above  all  by  a  scrupulous 
1  honesty,  inspiring  confidence'  (SAMUEL 
LAING).  He  was  indefatigable  in  work,  re- 
tiring to  rest  by  nine  o'clock  and  rarely 
rising  later  than  five.  His  business  faculties 
were  very  great.  He  was  a  j  ustice  of  the  peace 


and  deputy -lieutenant  for  the  county  of  Mon- 
mouth. 

[F.  M'Dermott's  Life  and  Work  of  Joseph 
Firbank,  1887.]  G-.  B.  S. 

FIREBRACE,  HENRY  (1619-1691), 
royalist,  sixth  son  of  Robert  Firebrace  of 
Derby,  who  died  in  1645,  by  Susanna,  daugh- 
ter of  John  Hierome,  merchant,  of  London, 
held  the  offices  of  page  of  the  bedchamber, 
yeoman  of  the  robes,  and  clerk  of  the  kitchen 
to  Charles  I,  which  he  obtained  through  the 
interest  of  the  Earl  of  Denbigh.  He  became 
much  attached  to  the  king,  and  was  able  to 
be  of  service  to  him  on  more  than  one  occa- 
sion— at  Uxbridge,  in  connection  with  the 
negotiations  there  in  1644,  Oxford,  and  else- 
where. After  the  king's  surrender  to  the  Scots 
at  Newark,  in  1646,  Firebrace  joined  him 
at  Newcastle,  and  attended  him  to  Holmby 
House  and  Hampton  Court,  and  again  after 
his  flight  to  the  Isle  of  Wight  he  obtained 
permission  to  attend  him  as  page  of  the  bed- 
chamber during  his  confinement  in  Caris- 
brooke  Castle.  Here  he  determined,  if  pos- 
sible, to  effect  the  king's  escape,  and  accord- 
ingly contrived  one  evening,  as  Charles  was 
retiring  to  rest,  to  slip  into  his  hand  a  note 
informing  him  of  a  place  in  the  bedchamber 
where  he  had  secreted  letters  from  friends 
outside.  A  regular  means  of  communication 
was  thus  established  between  the  king  and 
his  most  trusted  supporters.  They  thus  con- 
certed a  plan  of  escape.  At  a  signal  given 
by  Firebrace  Charles  was  to  force  his  body 
through  the  aperture  between  the  bars  of  his 
bedchamber  window,  and  let  himself  down 
by  a  rope ;  Firebrace  was  then  to  conduct 
him  across  the  court  to  the  main  wall  of  the 
castle,  whence  they  were  to  descend  by  an- 
other rope  and  climb  over  the  counterscarp, 
on  the  other  side  of  which  men  and  horses 
were  to  be  in  waiting  to  carry  them  to  a 
vessel.  On  a  night,  the  precise  date  of  which 
cannot  be  fixed,  but  which  was  probably  early 
in  April  1648,  Firebrace  gave  the  signal  by 
throwing  something  against  the  bedchamber 
window.  The  king  thrust  his  head  into  the 
aperture,  and  succeeded  in  squeezing  some 
portion  of  his  body  through  it,  but  then  stuck 
fast,  and  could  with  difficulty  get  back  into 
the  room.  Firebrace  was  not  slow  in  devis- 
ing a  new  plan,  which  he  communicated  to 
the  king  by  a  letter.  A  bar  was  to  be  cut  in 
one  of  the  windows,  from  which  the  king 
would  be  able  to  step  upon  a  wall  and  escape 
over  the  outworks.  The  king,  who  had  al- 
ready begun  filing  one  of  the  bars  of  his  bed- 
chamber window,  expressed  approval  of  the 
new  plan  as  an  alternative  scheme.  In  the 
end,  however,  he  abandoned  an  attempt 


Firebrace 


45 


Firmin 


at  secret  flight  as  impracticable.  In  a 
letter  (26  April)  lie  commanded  Firebrace 
i  heartily  and  particularly  to  thank,  in  my 
name,  A.  C.  F.  Z.,  and  him  who  stayed  for 
me  beyond  the  works,  for  their  hearty  and 
industrious  endeavours  in  this  my  service.' 
The  cipher  letters  are  supposed  to  stand  for 
Francis  Cresset,  Colonel  William  Legg,  groom 
of  the  bedchamber,  Abraham  Doueett,  and 
Edward  Worsely.  The  person  l  who  stayed 
beyond  the  works '  appears  to  have  been  one 
John  Newland  of  Newport,  who  had  provided 
the  vessel  for  the  king's  use.  On  the  day 
before  his  execution  Charles  charged  Dr.  Wil- 
liam Juxon  to  recommend  Firebrace  to  Prince 
Charles  as  one  who  had  been  '  very  faithful 
and  serviceable  to  him  in  his  greatest  extre- 
mities.' After  this  we  lose  sight  of  Firebrace 
until  the  Restoration,  when  he  petitioned  to 
be  appointed  to  one  or  other  of  the  posts 
which  he  had  held  under  the  late  king.  The 
petition,  which  was  supported  by  a  certificate 
from  Juxon,  then  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
of  Charles's  recommendation,  was  granted, 
and  Firebrace  was  appointed  to  the  several 
offices  of  chief  clerk  of  the  kitchen,  clerk- 
comptroller-supernumerary  of  the  household, 
and  assistant  to  the  officers  of  the  green 
cloth.  He  died  on  27  Jan.  1690-1. 

Firebrace  married,  first,  Elizabeth,  daugh- 
ter of  Daniel  Dowell  of  Stoke-Golding, 
Leicestershire ;  secondly,  Alice,  daughter  of 
Richard  Bagnall  of  Reading,  relict  of  John 
Bucknall  of  Creek,  Northamptonshire  ;  and 
thirdly,  Mary,  of  whom  nothing  seems  to  be 
known  except  that  she  was  buried  in  the 
north  cloister  of  Westminster  Abbey  on 
1  Feb.  1687-8.  By  his  first  wife  he  had  issue 
four  sons  and  one  daughter.  His  eldest  son, 
Henry,  became  a  fellow  of  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge,  and  entered  the  church ;  his 
second  son,  Basil  (d.  1724),  went  into  busi- 
ness, was  sheriff  of  London  in  1687,  and  was 
created  a  baronet  on  28  July  1698.  In  De- 
cember 1685  a  royal  bounty  of  1,694/.  was 
paid  him  {Secret  Services  of  Charles  II  and 
James  II,  Camd.  Soc.  p.  114).  Reference  is 
made  to  him  in  Luttrell's  '  Relation.'  The 
dignity  became  extinct  in  1759.  The  origi- 
nal form  of  the  name  Firebrace,  sometimes 
spelt  Ferebras,  is  said  to  have  been  Fier  a 
bras ;  the  family  was  probably  of  Norman 
lineage. 

[Nichols's  Leicestershire,  iv.  pt.  ii.  726  ;  Hist. 
MSS.  Comm.  4th  Kep.  App.  274  b,  7th  Eep.  App. 
224  a  ;  Sir  Thomas  Herbert's  Memoirs,  1702, 
pp.  185-200  ;  Dr.  Peter  Barwick's  Life  of  Dr. 
John  Barwick  (translation  by  Hilkiah  Bedford, 
pp.  87-9,  380-7  ;  Wotton's  Baronetage,  iv.  65- 
77 ;  Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1660-1,  p.  20 ;  Coll. 
Top.  et  Gen.  vii.  163,  viii.  20.]  J.  M.  E. 


FIRMIN,  GILES  (1614-1697),  ejected 
minister,  son  of  Giles  Firmin,  was  born  at 
Ipswich  in  1614.  As  a  schoolboy  he  received 
religious  impressions  from  the  preaching  of 
John  Rogers  at  Dedham,  Essex.  He  matricu- 
lated at  Emmanuel  College,  Cambridge,  in 
December  1629,  his  tutor  being  Thomas  Hill, 
D.D.  [q.  v.]  At  Cambridge  he  studied  medi- 
cine. In  1632  he  went  with  his  father  to 
New  England.  While  at  Boston,  Massa- 
chusetts, he  was  ordained  deacon  of  the  first 
church,  of  which  John  Cotton  was  minister. 
At  Ipswich,  Massachusetts,  he  received  in 
1638  a  grant  of  120  acres  of  land.  He  prac- 
tised medicine  in  New  England,  and  had  the 
repute  of  a  good  anatomist.  About  1647 
he  returned  to  England,  leaving  a  wife  and 
family  in  America.  He  was  shipwrecked 
on  the  coast  of  Spain  ;  Calamy  relates,  as  a 
1  well-attested '  fact,  that  at  the  very  time 
when  he  was  in  danger  of  being  drowned,  his 
little  daughter  of  four  years  old  roused  the- 
family  in  New  England  by  continually  cry- 
ing out  <  My  father ! ' 

In  1648  Firmin  was  appointed  to  the  vi- 
carage of  Shalford,  Essex,  which  had  been 
vacant  a  year  since  the  removal  of  Ralph 
Hilles  to  Pattiswick.  At  Shalford  he  was 
ordained  a  presbyter  by  Stephen  Marshall 
[q.  v.]  and  others.  He  is  returned  in  1650 
as  '  an  able,  godly  preacher.'  He  appears  to 
have  been  a  royalist  in  principle,  for  he 
affirms  that  he  was  one  of  those  who  ' in  the- 
time  of  the  usurpation '  prayed  for  '  the  af- 
flicted royal  family.'  Very  soon  he  got  into 
controversy  on  points  of  discipline.  He  was  a 
strong  advocate  for  the  parochial  system,  in- 
sisted on  imposition  of  hands  as  requisite  for 
the  validity  of  ordination,  and  denied  the 
right  of  parents  who  would  not  submit  to 
discipline  to  claim  baptism  for  their  children. 
With  Baxter  he  opened  a  correspondence  in 
1654,  complaining  to  him  that '  these  separa- 
tists have  almost  undone  us.'  The  quakers 
also  troubled  his  parish.  In  ecclesiastical 
politics  he  followed  Baxter,  preferring  a  re- 
formed episcopacy  to  either  the  presbyterial 
or  the  congregational  model,  but  laying  most 
stress  on  the  need  of  a  well-ordered  parish. 
He  actively  promoted  in  1657  the  '  agree- 
ment of  the  associated  ministers  of  Essex ' 
on  Baxter's  Worcestershire  model. 

After  the  king's  return  he  writes  to  Bax- 
ter (14  Nov.  1660)  that  he  is  most  troubled 
about  forms  of  prayer;  these,  he  says,  'will 
not  downe  in  our  parts.'  He  is  ready  to 
submit  to  bishops,  '  so  they  will  not  force 
me  to  owne  their  power  as  being  of  divine 
authoritie,'  and  adds,  '  some  episcopacies  I 
owne.'  In  spite  of  the  persuasion  of  his  seven 
children  he  refused  to  conform.  As  the  result* 


of  his  ejection  (1662),  Shalford  Church  was 
closed  for  some  months. 

Firmin  retired  to  Ridgewell,  Essex,  per- 
haps on  the  passing  of  the  Five  Mile  Act 
(1665).  He  supported  himself  by  medical 
practice,  and  was  much  in  request.  The 
neighbouring  justices,  who  valued  his  pro- 
fessional services,  took  care  that  he  should 
not  be  molested,  though  he  regularly  held  con- 
venticles, except  once  a  month,  when  there 
was  a  sermon  at  Ridgewell  Church  which 
he  attended.  On  22  July  1672  Daniel  Ray, 
who  had  been  ejected  from  Ridgewell,  took 
out  licenses  qualifying  him  to  use  his  house 
as  a  'presbyterian  meeting-place.'  Firmin  on 
1  Dec.  took  out  similar  licenses.  Ray  removed 
in  1673,  and  Firmin  remained  till  his  death 
in  sole  charge  of  the  congregation.  It  still 
exists,  and  now  ranks  with  the  independents. 

Firmin  retained  robust  health  as  an  octo- 
genarian, and  was  always  ready  to  take  his 
part  in  polemics.  He  had  broken  a  lance 
with  his  old  friend  Baxter  in  1670,  and  in 
1693  he  entered  the  lists  of  the  Crispian  con- 
troversy, which  was  then  breaking  up  the 
newly  formed  *  happy  union '  of  the  London 
presbyterians  and  independents.  He  was 
a  well-read  divine,  if  somewhat  captious. 
Calamy  reckons  him  at  his  best  in  an  experi- 
mental treatise.  He  was  taken  ill  on  a  Sun- 
day night  after  preaching,  and  died  on  the 
following  Saturday,  in  April  1697.  He  mar- 
ried, in  New  England,  Susanna,  daughter  of 
Nathaniel  Ward,  pastor  of  the  church  at 
Ipswich,  Massachusetts. 

Davids  gives  an  imperfect  list  of  seventeen 
of  Firmin's  publications.  His  chief  pieces 
are :  1.  '  A  Serious  Question  Stated,'  &c., 
1651,  4to  (on  infant  baptism).  2.  '  Separa- 
tion Examined,'  &c.,  1651  [i.e.  15  March 
1652],  4to.  3.  '  Stablishing  against  Shaking/ 
&c.,  1656,  4to  (against  the  quakers ;  the 
running  title  is  '  Stablishing  against  Quak- 
ing ; '  answered  by  Edward  Burrough  [q.  v.] 
4.'  Tythes  Vindicated,'  &c.,  1659, 4to.  6.' Pres- 
byterial  Ordination  Vindicated,'  &c.,  1660, 
4to.  6.  '  The  Liturgical  Considerator  Con- 
sidered,' &c.,  1661,  4to  (anon.,  in  answer  to 
Gauden).  7.  <  The  Real  Christian,'  &c.,  1670, 
4to  ;  reprinted,  Glasgow,  1744,  8vo  (in  this 
he  criticises  Baxter ;  it  is  his  best  piece  ac- 
cordingto  Calamy).  8/  The  Question  between 
the  Conformist  and  the  Nonconformist,'  &c., 
1681,  4to.  9.  <  Hai/ovpywi,'  &c.,  1693  (against 
Davis  and  Crisp).  10.  '  Some  Remarks  upon 
the  Anabaptist's  Answer  to  the  Athenian 
Mercuries,'  &c.  (1694),  4to  (apparently  his 
last  piece).  He  wrote  also  in  defence  of 
some  of  the  above,  and  in  opposition  to  John 
Owen,  Daniel  Cawdry  [q.  v.],  Thomas  Grant- 
ham  (d.  1692)  [q.  v.],  and  others. 


[Calamy's  Historical  Account  of  his  Life  and 
Times,  1713,  p.  295;  Continuation,  1727,  p.  458; 
Davids's  Annals  of  Evang.  Nonconf.  in  Essex, 
1863,  pp.  440,  449,  457  ;  Dexter's  Congrega- 
tionalism of  the  last  Three  Hundred  Years, 
1880,  p.  574  n. ;  Firmin's  letters  to  Baxter,  in 
the  collection  of  Baxter  MSS.  at  Dr.  Williams's 
Library  (extracts,  occasionally  needing  correction, 
are  given  by  Davids) ;  Hunter's  manuscripts, 
Addit.  MSS.  24478,  p.  114  6.]  A.  G-. 

FIRMIN,  THOMAS  (1632-1697),  phi- 
lanthropist, son  of  Henry  and  Prudence  Fir- 
min, was  bornat  Ipswich  in  June  1632.  Henry 
Firmin  was  a  parishioner  of  Samuel  Ward, 
the  puritan  incumbent  of  St.  Mary-le-Tower, 
by  whom  in  1635  he  was  accused  of  erro- 
neous tenets ;  the  matter  was  brought  before 
the  high  commission  court,  but  on  Firmin's 
making  satisfactory  submission  the  charge 
(particulars  of  which  are  not  disclosed)  was 
dismissed.  Thomas  was  apprenticed  in  Lon- 
don to  a  mercer,  who  attended  the  services 
of  John  Goodwin  [q.  V.]  the  Arminian,  then 
vicar  of  St.  Stephen's,  Coleman  Street.  He 
learned  shorthand,  and  took  down  Goodwin's 
sermons.  As  an  apprentice  his  alacrity  gained 
him  the  nickname  of '  Spirit.'  An  elder  ap- 
prentice accused  him  of  purloining  5/.,  but 
afterwards  confessed  that  the  theft  was  his 
own.  The  late  story  (KENNETT)  according  to 
which  Firmin,  during  his  apprenticeship,  pre- 
sented -a  petition  in  favour  of  John  Biddle 
[see  BIDDLE,  JOHN],  and  was  dismissed  by 
Cromwell  as  a  '  curl-pate  boy,'  does  not  tally 
with  earlier  accounts.  Kennett,  however, 
gives  as  his  authority  John  Mapletoft,  M.D. 
[q.  v.],  who  was  a  relative  of  Firmin. 

With  a  capital  of  100/.  Firmin  began  busi- 
ness as  a  girdler  and  mercer.  His  shop  was  at 
Three  Kings  Court,  in  Lombard  Street ;  he  had 
a  garden  at  Hoxton,  in  which  he  took  great 
delight.  Slender  as  were  his  means  he  con- 
trived to  keep  a  table  for  his  friends,  especially 
ministers.  His  frank  hospitality  brought  him 
(after  1655)  into  relations  with  such  men  as 
Whitchcote,  Worthington,  Wilkins,  Fowler, 
and  Tillotson.  In  this  way,  somewhat  earlier, 
he  became  acquainted  with  Biddle,  whose  in- 
fluence on  Firmin's  philanthropic  spirit  was 
important.  It  was  from  Biddle  that  he  learned 
to  distrust  mere  almsgiving,  but  rather  to 
make  it  his  business  to  fathom  the  condition 
of  the  poor  by  personal  investigation,  and  to 
reduce  the  causes  of  social  distress  by  eco- 
nomic effort.  Biddle  also  deepened  Firmin's 
convictions  on  the  subject  of  religious  tolera- 
tion, and  without  converting  him  to  his  own 
specific  opinions  made  him  heterodox  in  the 
article  of  the  Trinity.  Biddle  was  Firmin's 
guest  in  1655,  prior  to  his  banishment,  and  it 
was  largely  through  Firmin's  exertions  that  a 


Firmin 


47 


Firmin 


pension  of  one  hundred  crowns  was  granted 
by  Cromwell  to  the  banished  man. 

Sympathy  with  the  oppressed  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  Firmin's  religious  leanings. 
He  expressed  himself  as  hating  popery  '  more 
for  its  persecuting  than  for  its  priestcraft.' 
In  1662  he  raised  money  partly  by  '  collec- 
tions in  churches '  for  the  exiled  anti-trinita- 
rians  of  Poland ;  but  when  (1681)  the  Polish 
Calvinists  met  the  same  fate  Firmin  was  fore- 
most in  efforts  for  their  relief,  collecting  about 
680/.  His  acquaintance  with  religious  con- 
troversies was  gained  in  conversation,  for  he 
was  never  a  student.  There  was  scarcely  a 
divine  of  note  whom  he  did  not  know.  He 
helped  young  clergymen  to  preferment,  and 
it  is  said  that  Tillotson,  after  becoming  dean 
of  Canterbury  (1672),  when  obliged  to  leave 
town,  '  generally  left  it  to  Mr.  Firmin  to  pro- 
vide preachers '  for  his  Tuesday  lecture  at  St. 
Lawrence,  Jewry.  Tillotson  was  aware  that 
Firmin's  freedom  of  opinion  did  not  bias  his 
judgment  of  men. 

Firmin's  first  philanthropic  experiment  was 
occasioned  by  the  trade  disorganisation  of  the 
plague  year  (1665).  He  provided  employ- 
ment at  making  up  clothing  for  hands  thrown 
out  of  work.  It  was  the  only  one  of  his  en- 
terprises by  which  he  suffered  no  pecuniary 
loss.  During  the  great  fire  (1666)  his  Lom- 
bard Street  premises  were  burned.  He  se- 
cured temporary  accommodation  in  Leaden- 
hall  Street,  and  in  a  few  years  was  able  to 
rebuild  in  Lombard  Street,  and  to  carry  on 
his  business  with  increased  success.  In  1676 
he  left  the  management  of  the  concern  in  the 
hands  of  his  nephew  and  partner,  Jonathan 
James  (son  of  his  sister  Prudence),  who  had 
been  his  apprentice ;  he  was  then  worth  about 
9,000/.  Henceforth  he  devoted  his  time  and 
great  part  of  his  means  to  works  of  public 
benefit.  He  had  been  elected  about  1673  a 
governor  of  Christ's  Hospital,  the  first  public 
recognition  of  his  worth. 

He  had  two  schemes  already  in  operation. 
About  1670  he  had  erected  a  building  by  the 
river  for  the  storage  of  corn  and  coals,  to  be 
retailed  to  the  poor  in  hard  times  at  cost 
price ;  how  this  plan  worked  is  not  stated. 
Early  in  1676  he  had  started  a  '  workhouse 
in  Little  Britain,  for  the  employment  of  the 
poor  in  the  linen  manufacture  ; '  he  built  new 
premises  expressly  for  it.  Tillotson  suggests 
that  the  hint  of  this  '  larger  design'  was  taken 
from  the  example  of  Thomas  Gouge  [q.  v.], 
who  was  one  of  the  frequenters  of  Firmin's 
table.  Firmin  employed  as  many  as  seven- 
teen hundred  spinners,  besides  flax-dressers, 
weavers,  &c.  He  paid  them  for  their  work 
at  the  current  rate,  but,  finding  that  they  must 
work  sixteen  hours  a  day  to  earn  sixpence,  he 


added  to  their  earnings  in  various  ways,  giving 
a  sort  of  bonus  in  coal  to  good  workers.  His 
arrangements  for  the  comfort  and  cleanliness 
of  his  hands,  and  for  the  industrial  training 
of  children  rescued  from  the  streets,  were  ad- 
mirable. Nothing  is  said  of  his  directly  fos- 
tering the  education  of  the  children,  but  he 
printed  large  editions  of  a  '  Scripture  Cate- 
chism' (probably  by  Bishop  Edward  Fowler 
[q.v.]),  and  gave  rewards  to  such  as  learned  it. 

The  scheme  never  paid  its  way.  Firmin 
sold  his  linens  at  cost  price,  but  the  sale 
flagged ;  for  the  first  five  years  the  annual 
loss  was  200/.  He  invoked  the  aid  of  the 
press,  in  the  hope  of  getting  the  corporation 
of  London  to  take  the  matter  up  as  a  public 
enterprise,  but  in  vain.  The  scale  of  pro- 
duction was  diminished,  yet  the  loss  increased. 
Two  or  three  friends  helped  to  make  it  good, 
but  the  main  burden  rested  on  Firmin.  In 
1690  the  patentees  of  the  linen  manufacture 
took  over  the  scheme,  retaining  Firmin  as  its 
manager  at  a  salary  of  100/.  a  year,  and  re- 
ducing the  rate  of  wages.  The  new  arrange- 
ment was  unsuccessful,  Firmin's  honorarium 
was  not  paid,  and  the  enterprise  was  once 
more  thrown  on  his  hands.  He  kept  it  up  to 
the  day  of  his  death,  and  nominally  contrived 
to  make  it  pay,  only  however  by  keeping  the 
wages  low,  and  supplementing  them  by  pri- 
vate doles  to  his  workers.  His  last  wish  was 
for  two  months  more  of  life,  in  order  that  he 
might  remodel  his  'workhouse.'  This  was 
done  after  his  death  by  James,  his  partner,  a 
prudent  man,  who  had  saved  Firmin  from 
ruining  himself  by  drawing  too  largely  on  the 
ready  money  of  the  firm.  He  had  put  down 
his  coach  rather  than  drop  some  of  his  spin- 
ners. The  higher  rate  of  wages  obtainable  at 
the  woollen  manufacture  led  Firmin  to  at- 
tempt its  introduction  as  a  London  industry. 
He  took  for  this  purpose  a  house  in  Artillery 
Lane;  but  wool  was  too  dear;  his  hands 
were  too  slow ;  after  losing  money  for  two 
years  and  a  quarter  he  abandoned  the  trial. 

Firmin  deserves  notice  as  a  prison  philan- 
thropist. From  about  1676  he  interested 
himself  in  the  condition  of  prisoners  for  debt, 
freeing  several  hundreds  who  were  detained 
for  small  sums,  and  successfully  promoting 
acts  of  grace  for  the  liberation  of  others.  He 
visited  prisons,  inquired  into  the  treatment 
pursued,  and  prosecuted  harsh  and  extor- 
tionate gaolers.  His  biographer  relates  that 
one  of  these  incriminated  officials  hanged  him- 
self rather  than  face  a  trial. 

Firmin  was  a  strong  patriot  as  regards 
English  manufactures,  strenuously  opposing 
the  importation  of  French  silks.  But  when 
the  protestant  refugees  came  over  from  France 
in  1680  and  following  years  he  was  the  first 


Firmin 


48 


Firmin 


to  assist  them  to  set  up  their  own  trades. 
Most  of  the  moneys  devoted  to  their  relief 
passed  through  his  hands,  he  himself  collect- 
ing some  4,000/.  His  pet  project  of  a  linen 
manufacture  he  started  for  them  at  Ipswich 
in  1682. 

In  politics  Firmin  does  not  seem  to  have 
taken  any  part  till  1685.  His  opposition  to 
James  II's  unconstitutional  proceedings  cost 
him  for  a  time  his  governorship  at  Christ's 
Hospital.  Not  won  by  James's  declaration 
for  liberty  of  conscience  he  largely  aided  the 
circulation  of  pamphlets  which  sounded  the 
alarm  against  it.  His  principles  seem  to  have 
been  republican,  but  he  was  a  devoted  ad- 
herent to  William  of  Orange.  To  Robert 
Frampton  [q.  v.],  the  nonjuring  bishop  of 
Gloucester,  Firmin  remarked,  ( I  hope  you 
will  not  be  a  nonconformist  in  your  old  age.' 
Frampton  retorted  that  Firmin  himself  was 
'  a  nonconformist  to  all  Christendom  besides 
a  few  lowsy  sectarys  in  Poland.'  On  the  pro- 
testant  exodus  from  Ireland  in  1688-9  Firmin 
was  the  principal  commissioner  for  the  relief 
of  the  refugees  ;  more  than  56,OOOZ.  went 
through  his  hands,  and  eight  of  the  protestant 
hierarchy  of  Ireland  addressed  to  him  a  joint 
letter  of  thanks.  He  was  rendering  a  similar 
service  for  the  nonjurors  in  1695,  when  he 
was  stopped  by  the  interference  of  the  go- 
vernment. 

In  conjunction  with  his  friend,  Sir  Robert 
Clayton  [q.  v.],  Firmin  was  an  indefatigable 
governor  of  Christ's  Hospital,  carrying  out 
many  improvements,  both  of  structure  and 
arrangement.  On  Sunday  evenings  it  was 
his  custom  to  attend  the  scholars'  service,  and 
see  that  their  '  pudding-pies '  for  supper  were 
of  proper  '  bigness.'  In  April  1693  he  was 
elected  a  governor  of  St.  Thomas's  Hospital, 
of  which  Clayton  had  been  made  president 
in  the  previous  year.  Firmin  carried  through 
the  work  of  rebuilding  the  hospital  and 
church.  Among  his  admirable  qualities  was 
the  faculty  for  interesting  others  in  benevo- 
lent designs  and  calling  forth  their  liberality. 
He  was  a  kind  of  almoner-general  to  the  me- 
tropolis, keeping  a  register  of  the  poor  he 
visited,  recommending  their  cases,  and  ap- 
prenticing their  children. 

Luke  Milbourn  [q.  v.]  in  1692  speaks  of 
Firmin  as  a  '  hawker '  for  the  Socinians,  f  to 
disperse  their  new-fangled  divinity.'  Only 
four  books  of  this  class  are  known  with  cer- 
tainty to  have  been  promoted  by  him.  In 
1687  was  printed  at  his  expense  '  A  Brief 
History  of  the  Unitarians,  called  also  So- 
cinians.' It  is  in  the  shape  of  four  letters, 
written  for  his  information,  probably  by  Ste- 
phen Nye,  and  is  noteworthy  as  marking  the 
first  appearance  in  English  literature  of  the 


term  '  Unitarian,'  a  name  unknown  to  Biddle. 
In  1689  he  printed '  Brief  Notes  on  the  Creed 
of  St.  Athanasius,'  a  sheet  by  an  unknown 
author.  Tillotson,  who  had  lectured  on  the 
Socinian  controversy  at  St.  Lawrence,  Jewry, 
in  1679-80,  felt  himself  compelled  by 'calum- 
nies '  to  publish  the  lectures  in  1693.  He 
sent  a  copy  to  Firmin,  who  printed  a  letter 
(29  Sept.  1694)  in  reply,  probably  by  Nye, 
under  the  title  '  Considerations  on  the  Ex- 
plications of  the  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity' 
(sometimes  confounded  with  a  tract  of  1693 
with  similar  title,  and  by  the  same  hand). 
This  he  laid  before  Tillotson,  who  remarked 
that  Burnet's  forthcoming  exposition  of  the 
articles  '  shall  humble  your  writers.'  In  1697, 
at  Firmin's  instance,  appeared  '  The  Agree- 
ment of  the  Unitarians  with  the  Catholick 
Church,'  a  work  which  more  closely  expresses- 
his  own  views  than  any  of  the  foregoing. 
He  never  departed  from  the  communion  of 
the  church  of  England,  but  put  a  Sabellian 
sense  on  the  public  forms.  At  the  time  of 
his  death  he  was  meditating  a  plan  of  *  uni- 
tarian  congregations '  to  meet  for  devotional 
purposes  as  fraternities  within  the  church. 

Firmin  was  an  original  member  of  the  '  So- 
ciety for  the  Reformation  of  Manners '  (1691), 
and  was  very  active  in  the  enforcement  of  fines 
for  the  repression  of  profane  swearing.  Kettle- 
well's  biographer  speaks  of  his  disinterested 
charity,  and  Wesley,  who  abridged  his  life- 
for  the '  Arrninian  Magazine,'  calls  him '  truly 
pious.' 

Firmin  had  injured  his  health  by  over- 
exertion  and  neglecting  his  meals,  and  had 
become  consumptive.  He  was  carried  off  in 
a  couple  of  days  by  a  typhoid  fever,  dying 
on  20  Dec.  1697.  Bishop  Fowler  [q.v.J  at- 
tended him  on  his  deathbed.  He  was  buried 
in  the  cloisters  at  Christ's  Hospital,  where  a 
marble  slab  is  placed  to  his  memory.  A  me- 
morial pillar  stands  in  the  grounds  of  Marden 
Park,  Surrey,  the  seat  of  his  friend  Claytonr 
where '  Firmin's  Walk '  perpetuates  his  name. 
There  is  no  portrait  of  Firmin ;  he  is  described 
as  a  little,  active  man,  of  frank  address  and 
engaging  manner.  His  autograph  will  (dated 
7  Feb.  1694)  shows  illiteracy. 

Firmin  died  worth  about  3,000/.  He  was- 
twice  married :  first,  in  1660,  to  a  citizen's- 
daughter  with  a  portion  of  5QOL ;  she  died 
while  Firmin  was  at  Cambridge  on  business, 
leaving  a  son  (d.  about  1690)  and  a  daughter 
(d.  in  infancy)  ;  secondly,  in  1664,  to  Mar- 
garet (d.  14  Jan.  1719,  aged  77),  daughter  of 
Giles  Dentt,  J.P.,  of  Newport,  Essex,  alder- 
man of  London  ;  by  her  he  had  several  chil- 
dren,who  all  died  in  infancy,  except  the  eldest, 
GILES,  born  22  May  1665  (Tillotson  was  his 
godfather).  Giles  received  his  mother's  por- 


Firth 


49 


Firth 


tion  and  became  a  promising  merchant ;  h 
married  Rachel  (d.  11  April  1724),  daughte 
of  Perient  Trott  and  sister  of  Lady  Clayton 
died  at  Oporto  on  22  Jan.  1694,  and  wa 
buried  at  Newport  on  13  April ;  his  wido^ 
afterwards  married  Owen  Griffith,  rector  o 
Blechingley,  Surrey. 

Firmin's    only    known    publication    wa 
*  Some  Proposals  for  the  Imploying  of  the 
Poor,  especially  in  and  about  London,  anc 
for  the  Prevention  of  Begging.     In  a  Lette 
to  a  Friend.     By  T.  F.,'  1678,  4to.     An  en- 
larged issue  appeared  in  1681,  4to  ;  two  edi- 
tions same  year.     It  was  reprinted  in  a  col- 
lection of  '  Tracts  relating  to  the  Poor/  1787 
4to. 

[The  Charitable  Samaritan,  or  a  Short  and 
Impartial  Account  of  ...  Mr.  T.  F.  ...  by  a 
gentleman  of  his  acquaintance,  1698,  4to;  Life 
of  Mr.  Thomas  Firmin,  1698,  8vo,  2nd  edition 
1791,  12mo  (the  writer  had  known  him  since 
1653  ;  appended  is  a  funeral  sermon,  probably 
by  the  same  writer,  '  preached  in  the  country')  ; 
Vindication  of  the  memory  of  Thomas  Firmin 
from  the  Injurious  Reflections  of  ...  Milbourn, 
1698,  4to  (apparently  by  the  writer  of  the  Life) ; 
Account  of  Mr.  Firmin's  Religion,  &c.,  1698, 
8vo ;  Tillotson's  Funeral  Sermon  for  G-ouge, 
1681;  Penn's  Key  Opening  the  Way,  1692; 
Milbourn's  Mysteries  in  Religion,  1692;  Grounds 
and  Occasions  of  the  Controversy  concerning  the 
Unity  of  God,  1698;  Life  of  Kettlewell,  1718, 
p.  420 ;  Kennett's  Register,  1728,  p.  761  ;  Bur- 
net's  Hist,  of  his  own  Time,  1734,  ii.  211  sq.; 
Birch's  Life  of  Tillotson,  1753,  p.  292  sq. ;  Life 
by  Cornish,  1780;  Arminian  Magazine,  1786, 
p.  253;  Wallace's  Antitrin.  Biog.,  1850,  i.  (his- 
torical introduction),  iii.  353  sq.;  Life  of  Bishop 
Frampton  (Evans),  1876,  p.  187;  State  Papers, 
Dom.  Chas.  I,  cclxi.  105;  Cole's  manuscripts,  v. 
27  sq.;  Hunter's  manuscript  (Addit.  MS.  24478, 
p.  1146);  Firmin's  will  at  Somerset  House.] 

A.  G-. 

FIRTH,  MARK  (1819-1880),  founder 
of  Firth  College,  Sheffield,  was  born  at  Shef- 
field25  April  1819  and  left  school  in  1833.  His 
father,  Thomas  Firth,  was  for  several  years 
the  chief  melter  of  steel  to  the  firm  of  San- 
derson Brothers  &  Co.,  Sheffield,  receiving 
70*.  a  week ;  here  his  two  sons,  Mark  and 
Thomas,  on  leaving  school,  joined  him,  and 
each  had  20s.  a  week.  Their  demand  for  an 
increase  of  wages  being  refused,  they  com- 
menced a  business  of  their  own  with  a  six- 
hole  furnace  in  Charlotte  Street  (1843).  At 
first  they  manufactured  steel  exclusively  for 
home  consumption,  and  then  gradually  ex- 
tended their  business  to  Birmingham.  By 
perseverance  and  energy  they  at  last  acquired 
an  immense  American  connection,  and  in 
1849  erected  the  Norfolk  Works  at  Sheffield, 
which  cover  thirteen  acres  of  ground.  In  1848 

VOL.   XIX. 


Thomas  Firth,  senior,  died,  and  Mark  became 
the  head  of  the  firm,  which  soon  acquired 
other  works  at  Whittington  in  Derbyshire 
which  occupy  twenty-two  acres,  and  several 
torges  at  Clay  Wheels,  near  Wadsley.     A 
speciality  of  the  business  was  casting  steel 
blocks  for  ordnance,  and  shot  both  spheri- 
cal and  elongated,  in  addition  to  all  kinds 
of  heavy  forgings  for  engineering  purposes, 
.brom  gun-blocks  of  seven  inches  diameter 
they  went  up  to  sixteen  inches  for  the  81-ton 
gun,  the  heaviest  single  casting  made.    The 
whole  of  the  steel  employed  in  the  manu- 
facture of  guns  for  the  British  government 
was  Firth's  steel.     When  the  government 
found  it  necessary  to  have  a  steel  core  for 
their  great  guns,  the  Firths  laid  down  ma- 
chinery which  cost  them  100,000/.,  it  being 
understood  that  they  should  be  compensated 
for  their  outlay  by  receiving  the  government 
work.     The  principal  feature  of  their  busi- 
ness was  the  refining  and  manufacture  of 
steel,  in  which  they  were  unrivalled.     They 
supplied  foreign  iron,  which  they  imported 
in  immense  quantities  from  Swedish  mines, 
of  which  they  had  concessions.     After  sup- 
plying  the   Italians   with   a   100-ton  gun, 
:hey  cast  a  dozen  similar  ingots  for  massive 
ordnance.   The  British  government  obtained 
bur  of  these,  but  they  were  never  used  in 
;he  armament  of  any  war  ship.     The  Firths 
Burnished  nearly  all  the  steel  gun  tubes  afloat 
n  the  British  navy,  and  a  large  propor- 
tion of  those  used  by  the  French.     Three 
ounger  brothers,  John,  Edward,  and  Henry, 
)ecame  members  of  the  firm  of  T.  Firth  & 
Sons.   Mark  Firth  was  one  of  the  original 
members  of  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute  on 
ts  establishment  in  1869,  and  remained  con- 
nected with  it  to  his  decease.   Having  gained 
a  large  fortune,  he  made  many  donations  to 
lis  native  place.     His  first  gift  of  any  mag- 
litude  was  1,000/.,  which  he  added  to  a 
egacy  of  5,000/.  left  by  his  brother  Thomas 
d.  1858)  for  the  erection  of  a  Methodist 
Sew   Connexion  training  college  and  the 
ducation  of  young  men  about  to  enter  the 
ministry.     In  1869  he  erected  and  endowed 
lark  Firth's  Almshouses  at  Ranmoor,  near 
is  own  residence,  at  a  cost  of  30,0007. ;  in 
his  building  are  thirty-six  houses,  which  are 
eft  to  the  poor  of  Sheffield  for  ever.     For 
bree  successive  years  he  held  the  office  of 
master  cutler,  and  in  his  third  year  enter- 
ained  Henry,  duke  of  Norfolk,  2  Sept.  1869, 
nthe  occasion  of  his  taking  possession  of  his 
states  as  lord  of  Hallamshire.     His  next  gift 
as  a  freehold  park  of  thirty-six  acres  for  a  re- 
reation  ground.    The  Prince  and  Princess  of 
A^ales  opened  this  park  on  16  Aug.  1875,  and 
\rere  for  two  days  Firth's  guests  at  Sheffield. 


Fischer 


Fischer 


Perhaps  the  most  useful  act  of  his  life  was  the 
erection  and  fitting  up  of  Firth  College  at  a 
cost  of  20,000£,  its  endowment  with  5,000/., 
and  the  foundation  of  a  chair  of  chemistry 
with  150/.  a  year.  This  building  was  opened 
"by  Prince  Leopold  20  Oct.  1879,  and  a  great 
educational  work  has  since  been  carried  on 
in  the  institution.  Firth,  who  was  mayor 
of  Sheffield  in  1875,  died  of  apoplexy  and 
paralysis  at  his  seat,  Oakbrook,  28  Nov.  1880, 
and  was  buried  in  Sheffield  general  cemetery 
on  2  Dec.,  when  a  public  procession  nearly 
two  miles  in  length  followed  his  remains  to 
the  grave.  His  personalty  was  sworn  under 
600,000^.  in  January  1881.  He  married  first, 
15  Sept.  1841,  Sarah  Bingham,  who  died  in 
1855,  and  secondly  Caroline  Bradley,  in  Sep- 
tember 1857,  and  left  nine  children. 

[Practical  Magazine  (1876),  vi.  289-91,  with 
portrait ;  Gratty's  Sheffield  Past  and  Present 
(1873),  pp.  305*  312,  332-4,  with  view  of  Firth's 
Almshouses  ;  Hunter's  Hallamshire  (Gatty's  ed. 
1869),  p.  215 ;  Times,  29  Nov.  1880,  p.  9,  and 
3  Dec.,  p.  3  ;  Illustrated  London  News,  21  Aug. 
1875,  pp.  185-90,  and  28  Aug.,  pp.  193,  196, 
208,  with  portrait;  Engineer,  3  Dec.  1880,  p. 
417  ;  Journal  of  Iron  and  Steel  Institute,  1880, 
No.  2,  pp.  687-8.]  G-.  C.  B. 

FISCHER,    JOHANN     CHRISTIAN 

(1733-1800),  oboist  and  composer,  lived 
many  years  in  London,  was  chamber  musi- 
cian to  the  queen  (Charlotte),  and  took  a 
prominent  part  in  the  Bach- Abel  and  other 
concerts  of  modern  classical  music  which 
were  to  bring  about  a  great  change  in  musical 
taste.  Born  at  Freiburg  (Breisgau)  in  1733, 
Fischer  was  in  1760  a  member  of  the  Dresden 
court  band,  and  later  entered  the  service  of 
Frederick  the  Great  for  a  short  time.  In  the 
course  of  his  travels  he  came  to  London,  took 
lodgings,  according  to  an  advertisement  of 
the  time,  at  Stidman's,  peruke-maker,  Frith 
Street,  Soho,  and  announced  his  concert  for 
2  June  1768.  As  early  as  1774  he  joined  the 
quartet  parties  at  court,  but  his  appointment 
as  queen's  musician  dates  from  1780,  with  a 
salary  of  180/.  l  The  original  stipend  of  the 
court  musicians,'  says  Mrs.  Papendiek  in  her 
journals,  '  had  been  100/.;  but  on  giving  up 
their  house  30/.  had  been  added,  and  25/.  for 
the  Ancient  Music  concerts.  They  had  four 
suits  of  clothes,  fine  instruments,  and  able 
masters  to  instruct  them  when  required.'  The 
same  lady  gives  a  lively  account  (p.  143) 
of  the  practical  jokes  played  on  the  popular 
oboist  by  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  his  friends 
(see  also  KELLY,  Reminiscences,  i.  9,  and 
PARKE,  p.  48,  for  anecdotes).  Fischer  esta- 
blished his  reputation  in  England  by  his  bril- 
liant playing  at  the  Professional,  Nobility, 
and  New  Musical  Fund  concerts,  and  espe- 


cially at  the  Handel  commemoration  per- 
formances at  Westminster  Abbey.  In  1780 
he  married  Mary,  the  beautiful  younger 
daughter  of  Gainsborough  ;  it  is  said  that  a 
separation  soon  followed.  Perhaps  it  was 
because  he  was  refused  the  post  of  master  of 
the  king's  band  and  composer  of  minuets  that 
Fischer  left  England  in  1786,  but  in  spite  of 
disappointments  of  various  kinds  he  returned 
in  1790  to  London.  On  the  night  of  29  April 
1800,  while  performing  a  solo  part  in  his  con- 
certo at  the  Queen's  House,  and  '  after  hav- 
ing executed  his  first  movement  in  a  style 
equal  to  his  best  performance  during  any 
part  of  his  life,'  he  was  seized  with  an  apo- 
plectic fit.  Prince  William  of  Gloucester 
supported  him  out  of  the  room,  and  the  king, 
who  was  much  affected,  had  the  best  medical 
assistance  called ;  but  Fischer  died  within  an 
hour  at  his  lodgings  in  Soho,  desiring  in  his 
last  moments  that  all  his  manuscript  music 
might  be  presented  to  his  majesty. 

George  III  has  recorded  his  appreciation 
of  his  faithful  musician's  performance  in  a 
critical  note  appended  in  his  own  handwrit- 
ing to  the  proof-sheets  of  Dr.  Burney's  '  Ac- 
count of  the  Handel  Commemoration.'  The 
testimony  of  the  younger  Parke,  himself  an 
oboist  of  repute,  is  of  even  greater  value. 
After  remarking  that  Fischer  arrived  in  this 
country  in  very  favourable  circumstances,  the 
two  principal  oboe  players,  Vincent  and  Simp- 
son, using  an  instrument  which  in  shape  and 
tone  bore  some  resemblance  to  a  post-horn, 
he  continues  :  t  The  tone  of  Fischer  was  soft 
and  sweet,  his  style  expressive,  and  his  exe- 
cution at  once  neat  and  brilliant.'  A.  B.  C. 
Dario  compared  the  tone  of  his  oboe  to  that 
of  a  clarionet,  Giardini  commented  on  its 
power,  and  Burney  and  Mrs.  Papendiek 
agree  in  praising  him.  Mozart,  on  the  other 
hand,  writing  from  Vienna  4  April  1787,  ob- 
serves that  whereas  Fischer's  performance  had 
pleased  him  upwards  of  twenty  years  ago  in 
Holland,  it  now  appeared  to  him  undeserving 
of  its  reputation.  Mozart  was  even  more  severe 
upon  Fischer's  compositions,  yet  he  paid  a 
substantial  compliment  to  the  celebrated 
minuet  (composed  by  Fischer  for  a  court  ball 
on  the  occasion  of  the  king  of  Denmark's  visit 
to  England)  by  writing  and  often  playing  a 
set  of  variations  upon  it  (Kochel,  No.  179); 
and  Burney  bears  witness  to  the  merit  of  his 
style. 

There  were  published  at  Berlin :  Oboe  con- 
certo ;  pianoforte  concerto ;  popular  rondo ; 
concerto  for  violin,  flute,  or  oboe ;  six  duos 
for  two  flutes,  Op.  2 ;  ten  solos  for  flute  and 
oboe.  In  London  appeared  :  Three  concertos 
for  principal  oboe,  Nos.  8,  9,  10 ;  the  same 
for  pianoforte ;  seven  divertimentos  for  two 


Fischer 


Fish 


flutes ;  ten  sonatas  for  flute ;  three  quartets 
and  two  trios  for  German  flutes,  violin,  viola, 
and  cello,  from  eminent  masters,  revised  by  J. 
C.  Fischer  (GERBER).  Pohl  mentions  'God 
save  great  George  our  King,'  for  four  solo 
voices,  chorus  and  harp  accompaniment,  newly 
harmonised ;  and '  The  Invocation  of  Neptune,' 
solo  quartet  and  chorus. 

Gainsborough's  portrait  of  Fischer,  now  at 
Hampton  Court,  is  full  of  expression;  another 
by  the  same  artist  is  mentioned  by  Thick- 
nesse,  'painted  at  full  length  ....  in  scarlet 
and  gold,  like  a  Colonel  of  the  Foot  Guards.' 
It  is  said  to  have  been  exposed  for  sale  at  a 
picture  dealer's  in  Catherine  Street. 

[Burney's  History  of  Music,  iv.  673  ;  Mendel, 
iii.  540 ;  Grove's  Diet.  i.  528  ;  Pohl's  Mozart 
und  Haydn  in  London,  ii.  53 ;  The  Gazetteer, 
No.12,  p.  246  ;  Mrs.  Papendiek's  Journals,  i.  65, 
ii.  125;  Parke's  Musical  Memoirs,  pp.  48,  334; 
Fulcher's  Life  of  Gainsborough,  pp.  74,  118, 
200;  Thicknesse's  Gainsborough,  1788,  p.  24; 
Times,  1  May  1800;  Gent.  Mag.  vol.  Ixx.  pt.  i. 
p.  488  ;  D'Arblay's  Memoir  of  Burney,  1832,  ii. 
385;  Jahn's  Mozart,  1882,  ii.  343;  Gerber's 
Tonkiinstler-Lexikon,  1812,  i.  137.]  L.  M.  M. 

FISCHER,  JOHN  GEORGE  PAUL 
(1786-1875),  painter,  born  at  Hanover  on 
16  Sept.  1786,  was  the  youngest  of  three  sons 
of  a  line-engraver,  who  died  very  soon  after 
the  birth  of  the  youngest  child,  leaving  his 
family  in  poverty.  Fischer  at  the  age  of 
fourteen  was  placed  as  pupil  with  J.  H. 
Ramberg,  the  fashionable  court  painter,  by 
whom  he  was  employed  in  painting  portraits, 
theatrical  scenery,  and  generally  assisting 
his  master.  He  became  capable  of  earning 
enough  money  to  support  his  mother.  In 
1810  he  betook  himself  to  England,  and  his 
Hanoverian  connection  rendered  it  easy  for 
him  to  obtain  the  patronage  of  royalty.  He 
painted  miniature  portraits  of  Queen  Char- 
lotte and  the  junior  members  of  the  royal 
family,  and  was  employed  by  the  prince  re- 
gent to  paint  a  series  of  military  costumes. 
He  painted  the  present  queen  twice,  once  in 
1819  as  an  infant  in  her  cradle,  and  again  in 
1820.  In  1817  he  began  to  exhibit  at  the 
Royal  Academy,  and  continued  to  do  so  up 
to  1852,  occasionally  contributing  also  to 
the  Suffolk  Street  Exhibition.  His  works 
were  ^  chiefly  portraits  in  miniature,  but  he 
occasionally  exhibited  landscapes  in  water- 
colours.  He  continued  to  paint  up  to  his 
eighty-first  year,  and  died  12  Sept.  1875. 
Fischer  was  an  industrious  but  inferior  artist. 
Some  sketches  by  him  in  the  print  room  at 
the  British  Museum  show  spirit  and  intelli- 
gence, especially  two  pencil  portraits  of  Wil- 
liam Hunt  and  his  wife.  He  published  a  few 
etchings  and  lithographs. 


[Redgrave's  Diet,  of  Artists ;  Graves's  Diet  of 
Artists,  1760-1880 ;  Royal  Academy  Catalogues.] 

L.  C. 

FISH,  SIMON  (d.  1531),  theologian  and 
pamphleteer,  was  a  member  of  the  university 
of  Oxford,  and  entered  Gray's  Inn  about  1525, 
which  is  the  first  date  that  can  be  approxi- 
mately fixed  in  his  life.  In  London  he  formed 
one  of  a  circle  of  young  men  who  gave  ex- 
pression to  the  popular  dislike  of  Wolsey 
and  denounced  the  riches  of  the  church. 
One  of  their  boldest  undertakings  was  the 
production  of  an  interlude,  written  by  one 
Mater  Roo  (a  member  of  Queens'  College, 
Cambridge),  the  object  of  which  was  to  hold 
up  Wolsey  to  ridicule.  Fish  acted  a  part 
in  this  interlude,  and,  fearing  the  wrath  of 
Wolsey,  fled  into  the  Low  Countries,  where 
he  consorted  with  other  English  exiles,  chief 
of  whom  were  Tyndale  and  Roy.  From 
them  it  would  seem  that  he  learned  the 
principles  of  protestantism,  and  he  turned 
his  energies  to  the  promotion  of  the  Refor- 
mation in  England.  Wolsey's  wrath  against 
him  soon  passed  away,  and  he  returned  to 
London,  where  he  acted  as  an  agent  for  the 
sale  of  Tyndale's  New  Testament.  He  lived 
in  a  house  by  the  White  Friars,  and  one 
Necton  confessed  that  he  bought  from  him 
copies  of  Tyndale's  prohibited  book,  '  now 
five,  now  ten,  to  the  number  of  twenty  or 
thirty '  (Necton's  confession  in  STRYPE,  Me- 
morials, i.  App.  No.  22).  Such  conduct  drew  on 
him  suspicion,  and  he  again  fled  to  the  Low 
Countries,  probably  about  the  end  of  1527. 
There  he  wrote  his  famous  *  Supplication  of 
the  Beggars.' 

So  far  it  is  possible  to  adapt  Foxe's  narra- 
tive (Acts  and  Monuments,  ed.  1837,  iv.  656, 
&c.)  to  other  known  facts  about  Fish's  life. 
About  the  date  of  the  '  Supplication '  and  its 
influence  in  England,  Foxe  gives  two  con- 
tradictory accounts  without  seeing  that  they 
are  contradictory:  (1)  He  tells  us  that  Fish 
found  means  to  send  a  copy  of  the  '  Suppli- 
cation '  to  Anne  Boleyn  early  in  1528 ;  Anne 
was  advised  by  her  brother  to  show  it  to 
Henry  VIII,  who  was  much  amused  by  it 
and  kept  the  copy.  On  hearing  this  Mrs. 
Fish  made  suit  to  the  king  for  her  husband's 
return,  but  apparently  received  no  answer. 
However,  on  Wolsey's  fall,  in  October  1529, 
Fish  ventured  to  return,  and  had  a  private 
interview  with  Henry  VIII,  who  'embraced 
him  with  a  loving  countenance,'  and  gave 
him  his  signet  ring  as  a  protection  against 
Sir  Thomas  More,  in  case  the  new  chancellor 
should  continue  the  grudge  of  his  predecessor. 
(2)  He  tells  us  that  the  book  was  brought 
to  the  king  by  two  London  merchants,  who 
read  it  aloud.  When  they  had  done  the 

E  2 


Fish 


Fish 


king  said,  *  If  a  man  should  pull  down  an 
old  stone  wall,  and  begin  at  the  lower  part, 
the  upper  part  thereof  might  chance  to  fall 
upon  his  head/  meaning  that  Fish's  exhor- 
tation to  deal  with  the  monks  and  friars  was 
hazardous  advice  until  the  royal  supremacy 
had  been  established.  After  saying  this  the 
king  took  the  book  and  put  it  away,  com- 
manding the  merchants  to  keep  their  inter- 
view a  secret.  Of  these  accounts  the  first  is 
very  improbable  in  itself,  and  makes  Fish  a 
much  more  important  personage  than  he  was. 
Moreover,  Foxe  evidently  thought  that  Wol- 
sey  was  Fish's  personal  enemy,  and  he  did 
not  know  of  Fish's  return  to  London  and  of 
his  second  flight.  The  second  account  of 
Henry  VIII's  interview  with  the  London 
merchants  is  quite  credible  in  itself,  and  the 
king's  remark  is  so  characteristic  both  of  the 
man  and  of  the  times  as  to  make  the  story  ex- 
tremely probable.  If  this  be  accepted,  Fish's 
'  Supplication '  was  written  in  1528,  was 
brought  secretly  to  London  at  the  end  of 
that  year,  and  was  presented  to  Henry  VIII 
early  in  1529.  Henry  VIII,  who  was  feeling 
his  way  towards  an  ecclesiastical  revolution, 
appreciated  the  advantage  of  winning  popu- 
lar support.  Fish's  pamphlet  was  admirably 
fitted  to  impress  men's  minds,  and  just  before 
the  assembling  of  parliament  in  November 
London  was  flooded  with  copies  of  it,  in  a 
way  which  suggests  the  connivance  of  some 
one  in  authority.  '  The  Supplication  of  the 
Beggars '  was  exactly  suited  to  express  in  a 
humorous  form  the  prevalent  discontent.  It 
purported  to  be  a  petition  from  the  class  of 
beggars,  complaining  that  they  were  robbed 
of  their  alms  by  the  extortions  of  the  begging 
friars  ;  then  the  monks  and  the  clergy  gene- 
rally were  confounded  with  the  friars,  and 
were  denounced  as  impoverishing  the  nation 
and  living  in  idleness.  Statistics  were  given 
in  an  exaggerated  form ;  England  was  said  to 
contain  fifty  thousand  parish  churches  (the 
writer  was  counting  every  hamlet  as  a  parish), 
and  on  that  basis  clerical  revenues  were  com- 
puted, with  the  result  that  a  third  of  the 
national  revenue  was  shown  to  be  in  the 
hands  of  the  church.  The  pamphlet  was 
fudged  by  Sir  Thomas  More  to  be  of  sufficient 
importance  to  need  an  answer, l  The  Suppli- 
cation of  Poor  Soules  in  Purgatory,'  which  is 
fairly  open  to  the  criticism  that  it  makes 
the  penitents  in  purgatory  express  themselves 
in  very  unchastened  language  about  events 
on  earth. 

At  the  end  of  1529  Fish  returned  to  Eng- 
land ;  but,  though  Henrv  VIII  was  ready  to 
use  Fish's  spirited  attack  upon  the  church, 
he  was  not  prepared  to  avow  the  fact,  or  to 
stand  between  him  and  the  enemies  whom 


he  had  raised  up.  It  is  not  surprising  that 
he  was  suspected  of  heresy,  that  his  book 
was  condemned  by  Archbishop  Warham 
(WiLKiNS,  Concilia,  iii.  737),  and  that  he 
was  in  great  difficulties.  Whether  the  pres- 
sure of  his  difficulties  overcame  him,  or  he 
underwent  a  change  of  opinion  we  cannot 
tell ;  but  Sir  Thomas  More  wrote :  '  This  good 
zele  had,  ye  wote  well,  Symon  Fysh  when 
he  made  the  Supplication  of  Beggars ;  but 
God  gave  him  such  grace  afterwards  that  he 
was  sorry  for  that  good  zele,  and  repented 
himself,  and  came  into  the  church  again,  and 
forswore  and  forsook  all  the  whole  hill  of 
those  heresies  out  of  which  the  fountain  of 
that  same  good  zele  sprang'  (  Works, eA.  1557, 
p.  881).  Perhaps  More  overestimated  the 
result  of  his  answer  to  Fish.  At  all  events, 
Fish's  perplexities  were  ended  by  his  death 
of  the  plague  early  in  1531.  Very  soon  after 
his  death  his  wife  married  James  Bainham 
[q.  v.],  who  was  burned  as  a  heretic  in  April 
1532. 

Fish's  '  Supplication '  was  not  only  remark- 
able for  its  vigorous  style  and  for  its  imme- 
diate influence,  but  was  the  model  for  a  series 
of  pamphlets  couched  in  the  same  form.  It 
was  first  printed  in  England  in  1546,  and 
was  embodied  in  Foxe's  l  Acts  and  Monu- 
ments '  (iv.  660,  &c.,  ed.  1837).  It  has  also 
been  edited,  with  three  of  its  successors  in 
the  same  style,  in  '  Four  Supplications/  by 
Furnivall  and  Cooper,  for  the  Early  English 
Text  Society,  1871.  Besides  this  work  Foxe 
also  ascribes  to  Fish  a  t  Summe  of  Scripture 
done  out  of  Dutch/  of  which  a  unique  copy 
exists  in  a  volume  of  pamphlets  in  the  British 
Museum  (C.  37,  a),  where  it  was  first  identi- 
fied by  Mr.  Arber  in  his  introduction  to  a 
'  Proper  Dialogue  in  Rede  me  and  be  not 
Wroth '  (English  Reprints,  1871).  There  are 
also  assigned  to  Fish  *  The  Boke  of  Merchants, 
rightly  necessary  to  all  Folks,  newly  made 
by  the  Lord  Pantopole '  (London,  1547),  and 
'  The  Spiritual  Nosegay'  (1548). 

[Foxe's  Acts  and  Monuments,  iv.  606,  &c. ; 
Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  ed.  Bliss,  i.  59  ;  Tanner's 
Bibliotheca,  p.  280  ;  Furnivall's  Introduction  to 
the  Supplication  (Early  English  Text  Sou.), 
1871.]  M.  C. 

FISH,  WILLIAM  (1775-1866),  a  musi- 
cian of  Norwich,  was  born  in  that  city  in 
1775.  He  commenced  his  musical  career  as 
violinist  (GROVE)  in  the  orchestra  of  the 
theatre,  and,  after  studying  under  Sharp,  the 
oboist,  and  Bond,  the  pianist  and  organist, 
was  fitted  to  take  part  in  various  capacities 
in  the  important  local  concerts  and  cathedral 
festivals.  He  was  organist  of  St.  Andrew's, 
Norwich,  opened  a  music  warehouse,  and  be- 


Fishacre 


S3 


Fisher 


came  well  known  in  the  neighbourhood  as  a 
teacher.  He  died  15  March  1866,  a  later 
date  than  that  suggested  by  the  musical  dic- 
tionaries. Fish's  Opus  I.,  a  sonata  in  the 
Mozartean  manner,  was  followed  by  a  num- 
ber of  less  interesting  pianoforte  pieces,  some 
ballads  (words  and  music  by  the  composer), 
among  which  '  The  Morning  Star '  may  be 
singled  out,  an  oboe  concerto,  and  some  "fan- 
tasias for  the  harp.  His  unpublished  works 
are  said  to  have  included  a  manuscript  can- 
tata to  words  by  Mrs.  Opie,  and  some  pieces 
(presumably  for  band)  played  at  the  Nor- 
wich Theatre. 

[Grove's  Diet.  i.  530  ;  Diet,  of  Musicians,  1827, 
i.  249 ;  History  of  Norfolk,  1829,  ii.  1283  ;  Notes 
from  Eegister  Office,  Norwich ;  Norfolk  News, 
17  March  1866  ;  Fish's  music  in  Brit.  Mus. 
Library.]  L.  M.  M. 

FISHACRE,  FISSAKRE,  FISHAKLE, 
or  FIZACRE,  RICHARD  DE  (d.  1248), 
Dominican  divine,  is  said  to  have  been  a  na- 
tive of  Devonshire  (FULLEK,  i.  442,  iii.  20). 
Trivet  styles  him  'natus  Oxonia/ where,  how- 
ever, other  manuscripts  read  Exonia  (p.  230). 
Bale  makes  him  study  '  the  scurrilities  of  the 
Sophists'  at  Oxford  and  Paris ;  but  the  whole 
story  of  the  latter  visit  is  probably  nothing 
more  than  the  expansion  of  a  very  dubious  sug- 
gestion in  Leland's  i  Commentaries '  (BALE, 
p.  294 ;  LELAND,  ii.  275).  Like  Robert  Bacon 
[q.  v.],  Fishacre  in  his  old  age  became  a  Domi- 
nican ;  but  as  the  two  friends  continued  to 
read  divinity  lectures  for  several  years  after 
entering  the  order  in  the  schools  of  St.  Ed- 
ward, his  entry  can  hardly  be  dated  later 
than  1240,  and  perhaps  like  Robert  Bacon's 
should  be  placed  ten  or  more  years  earlier 
(TRIVET,  pp.  229-30).  The  two  comrades 
died  in  the  same  year,  1248  (MATT.  PARIS, 
v.  16).  In  their  own  days  they  were  con- 
sidered to  be  without  superior,  or  even  equal, 
in  theology  or  other  branches  of  science ; 
nor  was  their  eloquence  in  popular  preach- 
ing less  remarkable  (ib.~)  Leland  calls  Fish- 
acre,  Robert  Bacon's  '  comes  individuus,'  and 
adds  that  the  two  were  as  fast  linked  together 
in  friendship  as  ever  Theseus  was  to  Piri- 
thous.  He  even  hints  that  the  former  died 
of  grief  on  hearing  of  his  friend's  decease 
(LELAND,  ii.  275;  FULLER,  ubi  supra).  Fish- 
acre  was  buried  among  the  Friars  Preachers 
at  Oxford.  He  was  the  first  of  his  order  in 
England  who  wrote  on  the ' Sentences'  (One/ 
MS.  No.  43,  quoted  in  Coxe).  Wood  makes 
him  a  friend  and  auditor  of  Edmund  Rich 
(Hist.  II.  ii.  740). 

Fishacre's  works  are:  1.  Commentaries  on 
Peter  Lombard's  '  Book  of  Sentences,'  four 
books  (manuscripts  at  Oriel  College,  Nos.  31, 
43,  and  Balliol,  No.  57,  Oxford,  and,  accord- 


ing to  Echard,  at  the  Sorbonne  in  Paris,  &c. ) 
2.  .Treatises  on  the  Psalter  (to  the  seventieth 
Psalm  only  according  to  Trivet).  3.  'Super 
Parabolas  Salamonis.'  To  these  Bale  adds 
other  dissertations :  'De  Pcenitate,'  'Postillse 
Morales,' '  Commentarii  Biblia?/  <  Qusestiones 
Variae,"  Quodlibetaquoqueetaliaplura.'  Pits 
says  he  was  the  first  Englishman  to  become  a 
doctor  m  divinity.  The  same  writer  states 
thatThomasWalden,thegreatanti-Wycliffite 
theologian  of  the  early  part  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  often  appeals  to  Fishacre's  authority  • 
while  Bale  adds  that  William  Woodford  (d. 
1397),  the  Franciscan,  and  William  Byntre 
relied  on  him  for  the  same  purpose.  Echard 
assigns  him  another  work, '  De  Indulgentiis.' 
[Matt.  Paris,  ed.  Luard  (Rolls  Ser.),  vol.  v.  ; 
Trivet,  ed.  Hog  (Engl.  Hist. Soc.);  Leland's  Com- 
mentaries, ed.  1709  ;  Bale's  Scriptores,  ed.  1559, 
p.  294;  Pits's  Commentaries,  ed.  1619,  p.  317; 
Fuller's  Worthies,  ed.  1840,  i.  422,  iii.  419-20; 
Anthony  a  Wood's  Hist,  and  Antiquities  of  Ox- 
ford, ed.  Gutch,  ii.  740;  Echard's  Scriptores 
Ordinis  Praedicatorum,  i.  118-19;  Coxe's  Cat.  of 
Oxford  MSS. ;  Tanner's  Scriptores.]  T.  A.  A. 

FISHER,    CATHERINE   MARIA  (d. 

1767),  afterwards  NORRIS,  generally  known  as 
KITTY  FISHER,  courtesan,  seems  to  have  been 
of  German  origin,  since  her  name  is  frequently 
spelt  Fischer,  and  once  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds 
Fisscher.  She  became  the  second  wife  of 
John  Norris  of  Hempsted  Manor,  Benenden, 
Kent,  sometime  M.P.for  Rye.  Her  later  life,  in 
which  she  devoted  herself  to  building  up  her 
husband's  dilapidated  fortunes,  was  in  strik- 
ing contrast  with  her  previous  career,  which 
was  sufficiently  notorious.  Ensign  (after- 
wards Lieutenant-general)  Anthony  George 
Martin  (d.  1800)  is  said  to  have  introduced 
her  into  public  life.  In  London  she  was 
known  as  a  daring  horsewoman,  and  also  cre- 
dited with  the  possession  of  beauty  and  wit. 
A  satire  in  verse, '  Kitty's  Stream,  or  the  No- 
blemen turned  Fishermen.  A  comic  Satire 
addressed  to  the  Gentlemen  in  the  interest  of 

the  celebrated  Miss  K y  F r.  By  Rig- 

dum  Funnidos/  1759,  4to,  of  which  a  copy, 
with  manuscript  notes  by  the  Rev.  John  Mit- 
ford,  is  in  the  British  Museum,  says  that  her 
parentage  was  '  low  and  mean,'  that  she  was 
a  milliner,  and  had  neither  sense  nor  wit, 
but  only  impudence.  Other  tracts  concern- 
ing her,  mentioned  in  the  '  Gentleman's  Ma- 
gazine/ 1760,  are  '  An  odd  Letter  on  a  most 
interesting  subject  to  Miss  K.  F — h — r,'  6d., 
Williams ;  <  Miss  K.  F— 's  Miscellany/  Is., 
Ranger  (inverse) :  and '  Elegy  to  K.  F — h — r.' 
A  further  satire  on  her  among  the  satirical 
tracts  in  the  king's  library  at  the  British 
Museum  is  ( Horse  and  Away  to  St.  James's 
Park  on  a  Trip  for  the  Noontide  Air.  Who 


Fisher 


54 


Fisher 


rides  fastest,  Miss  Kitty  Fisher  or  her  gay 
gallant?'  It  is  a  single  page,  and  claims 
to  have  been  written  and  printed  at  Straw- 
berry Hill.  Mme.  d'Arblay  states  (Memoirs, 
i.  66)  that  Bet  Flint  once  took  Kitty  Fisher 
to  see  Dr.  Johnson,  but  he  was  not  at  home, 
to  her  great  regret.  She  died  at  Bath,  and 
at  her  own  request  was  placed  in  the  coffin 
in  her  best  dress.  This  gave  rise  to '  An  Elegy 
on  Kitty  Fisher  lying  in  state  at  Bath '  (query 
same  as  the  elegy  previously  mentioned  ?), 
an  undated  broadside  with  music  assigned  to 
Mr.  Harrington.  She  was  buried  at  Benenden. 
The  Benenden  registers  give  the  date  of  her 
burial  as  23  March  1767.  It  has  been  attempted 
to  associate  her  with  folklore  in  the  expres- 
sions, '  My  eye,  Kitty  Fisher,'  and  in  a  rhyme 
beginning <  Lucy  Locket  lost  her  pocket,  Kitty 
Fisher  found  it.'  Her  chief  claim  to  recogni- 
tion is  that  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  more  than 
once  painted  her  portrait.  Several  paintings 
of  her  by  him  seem  to  be  in  existence.  One 
was  in  1865  in  the  possession  of  John  Tolle- 
mache,  M.P.,  of  Peckforton,  Cheshire.  Others 
were  in  1867 'lent  to  the  National  Portrait 
Gallery  by  the  Earl  of  Morley  and  by  Lord 
Crewe.  The  last  is  doubtless  that  concern- 
ing which  in  Sir  Joshua's  diary,  under  the 
date  April  1774,  is  the  entry,  '  Mr.  Crewe  for 
Kitty  Fisher's  portrait,  521.  10s.'  This  is 
curious,  however,  in  being  seven  years  after 
Mrs.  Norris's  death.  Mitford  says  in  his 
manuscript  notes  before  mentioned  that  a 
portrait  by  Sir  Joshua  is  '  at  Field-marshal 
Grosvenor's,  Ararat  House,  Richmond,'  and 
one  is  gone  to  America.  Two  portraits,  one 
representing  her  as  Cleopatra  dissolving  the 
pearls,  are  engraved.  In  the  l  Public  Adver- 
tiser '  of  30  March  1759  is  an  appeal  to  the 
public,  signed  C.  Fisher,  against  '  the  base- 
ness of  little  scribblers  and  scurvy  malevo- 
lence.' After  complaining  that  she  has  been 
*  abused  in  public  papers,  exposed  in  print- 
shops,'  &c.,  she  cautions  the  public  against 
some  threatened  memoirs,  which  will  have 
no  foundation  in  truth.  The  character  of 
Kitty  Willis  in  Mrs.  Cowley's  'The  Belle's 
Stratagem '  is  taken  from  Kitty  Fisher.  Hone's 
'  Every-day  Book'  says  in  error  that  '  she  be- 
came Duchess  of  Bolton,'  and  Cunningham's 
1  Handbook  to  London'  states  that  she  lived 
in  Carrington  Street,  Mayfair. 

[Notes  and  Queries,  3rd  ser.  viii.  81,  155,  4th 
ser.  v.  319,  410  ;  Bromley's  Cat.  of  Engraved 
Portraits ;  Ann.  Reg.  ii.  168  ;  Boswell's  Johnson, 
ed.  Birkbeck  Hill ;  works  cited.]  J.  K. 

FISHER,  DANIEL  (1731-1807),  dis- 
senting minister,  born  at  Cockermouth  in 
1731,  was  appointed  in  1771  tutor  in  classics 
and  mathematics  at  Homerton  College,  where 


he  was  afterwards  divinity  tutor.  He  was  a 
rigid  Calvinist  and  staunch  dissenter.  He 
died  at  Hackney  in  1807  after  a  lingering 
illness,  in  which  he  lost  the  use  of  all  his 
faculties.  Two  funeral  sermons  were  preached 
on  the  occasion,  one  of  which,  by  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Palmer,  was  published  under  the 
title  of  'The  General  Union  of  Believers/ 
London,  1807,  8vo. 

[Brit.  Mus.  Cat. ;  Evans's  Cat.  of  Engraved 
British  Portraits,  ii.  152.]  J.  M.  R. 

FISHER,  DAVID,  the  elder  (1788  P- 
1858),  actor,  one  of  the  managers  of  Fisher's 
company,  which  had  a  monopoly  of  the  Suf- 
folk theatres,  was  the  son  of  David  Fisher 
(d.  6  Aug.  1832),  manager  of  the  same  circuit. 
Fisher  made  his  first  appearance  in  London  at 
Drury  Lane,  as  Macbeth,  3  Dec.  1817.  This 
was  followed  on  the  5th  by  Richard  III,  and 
on  the  10th  by  Hamlet.  The  recovery  from  ill- 
ness of  Kean  arrested  his  career.  On  24  Sept. 
1818,  at  Drury  Lane,  then  under  Stephen 
Kemble,  he  played  Jaffier  in  '  Venice  Pre- 
served.' Subsequently  he  appeared  as  Lord 
Townly  in  the  'Provoked  Husband,'  and 
Pyrrhus  in  '  Orestes.'  He  was  the  original 
Titus  in  Howard  Payne's  l  Brutus,  or  the 
Fall  of  Tarquin,'  3  Dec.  1818,  and  Angelo 
in  Buck's  <  Italians,  or  the  Fatal  Accusation/ 
3  April  1819.  He  failed  to  establish  any 
strong  position,  and  discovered  at  the  close 
of  the  second  season  that  his  presence  was 
necessary  on  the  Suffolk  circuit.  On  7  Nov. 
1823  he  appeared  at  Bath  in  { Hamlet,'  and 
subsequently  as  Shylock,  Leon,  and  Jaffier. 
He  was  pronounced  a  sound  actor,  but  with 
no  claim  to  genius,  and  failed  to  please.  Re- 
turning again  to  the  eastern  counties,  he  built 
theatres  at  Bungay,  Beccles,  Halesworth, 
Eye,  Lowestoft,  Dereham,  North  Walsham, 
and  other  places.  About  1838  he  retired  to 
Woodbridge,  where  he  died  20  Aug.  1858. 
He  was  a  musician  and  a  scene-painter,  and 
in  the  former  capacity  was  leader  for  some 
time  of  the  Norwich  choral  concerts. 

[Grenest's  Account  of  the  English  Stage ;  Gent. 
Mag.  1858,  ii.  422 ;  Theatrical  Inquisitor,  vol.  xi.] 

J.  K. 

FISHER,  DAVID,  the  younger  (1816?- 
1887),  actor,  the  son  of  David  Fisher  the  elder 
[q.  v.],  was  born  at  East  Dereham,  Norfolk, 
a  town  on  a  circuit  established  by  his  grand- 
father, and  managed  by  his  father  and  his 
uncle.  An  accident  to  his  leg  disqualified  him 
for  the  stage,  and  he  appeared  as  principal 
violinist  at  local  concerts.  A  recovery,  never 
perfect,  enabled  him  to  join  the  company  at 
the  Prince's  Theatre,  Glasgow.  After  a  stay 
of  four  years  he  appeared  2  Nov.  1853  at 
the  Princess's  Theatre,  under  Charles  Kean's 


Fisher 


55 


Fisher 


management,  as  Victor  in  the '  Lancers,  or  the 
Gentleman's  Son,'  an  adaptation  of  '  Le  Fils 
de  Famille '  of  Bayard.  During  six  years  he 
played  at  this  house  in  various  novelties  and 
revivals,  including  a  trifling  production  from 
his  own  pen  entitled  {  Music  hath  Charms ' 
(June  1858).  In  1859  he  joined  the  Adelphi 
under  B.Webster's  management,where  he  was 
the  original  Abbe  Latour  in  the '  Dead  Heart ' 
of  Watts  Phillips.  In  1863  he  gave,  at  the 
Hanover  Square  Rooms  and  at  St.  James's 
Hall,  an  entertainment  called  'Facts  and 
Fancies/  and  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year 
rejoined  the  Princess's,  then  under  Yining's 
management.  In  1865  he  played,  at  the 
Haymarket,  Orpheus  in  Blanche's  'Orpheus 
in  the  Haymarket.'  In  1866-8  he  was  at 
Liverpool  as  stage-manager  for  Mr.  H.  J. 
Byron,  playing  at  the  Amphitheatre  and 
Alexandra  theatre.  When  the  Globe  Theatre, 
London,  opened,  28  Nov.  1868,  he  was  the  first 
Major  Treherne  in  Byron's  '  Cyril's  Success.' 
He  appeared  in  succession  at  Drury  Lane,  the 
Olympic,  the  Globe,  the  Opera  Comique,  the 
Criterion,  the  Mirror  (Holborn)  Theatre,  now 
destroyed,  and  the  Princess's,  playing  in  pieces 
by  H.  J.  Byron,  Mr.  Boucicault,  and  other 
writers.  His  last  appearance  in  London  was 
at  the  Lyceum  in  1884,  as  Sir  Toby  Belch. 
After  that  period  he  played  in  the  country. 
He  died  in  St.  Augustine's  Road,  Camden 
Town,  on  4  Oct.  1887,  and  was  buried  at 
Highgate  cemetery.  The  '  Era '  says  that  not 
a  single  actor  attended  his  funeral.  Fisher 
•was  below  the  middle  height,  a  stiff-built 
man,  who  tried  to  conceal  his  lameness  by 
a  dancing-master  elegance.  Concerning  his 
Abbe,  Latour,  John  Oxenford  said  in  the 
*  Times '  that  '  he  came  to  the  Adelphi  a  se- 
cond-rate eccentric  comedian,  and  showed 
himself  an  able  supporter  of  the  serious 
drama.'  He  left  a  son  on  the  stage,  who  per- 
petuated the  name  of  David  Fisher  borne  by 
at  least  four  generations  of  actors. 

[Pascoe's  Dramatic  List.  1879;  The  Players, 
1860  ;  Cole's  Life  and  Times  of  Charles  Kean ; 
Era  newspaper,  8  and  15  Oct.;  personal  recol- 
lections.] J.  K. 

FISHER,  EDWARD  (/.  1627-1655), 
theological  writer,  was  the  eldest  son  of  Sir 
Edward  Fisher,  knight,  of  Mickleton,Glouces- 
tershire.  In  1627  he  entered  as  a  gentleman 
commoner  at  Brasenose  College,  Oxford,  and 
graduated  B.A.  on  10  April  1630.  He  was 
noted  for  his  knowledge  of  ecclesiastical  his- 
tory and  his  skill  in  ancient  languages.  He 
-was  a  royalist,  and  a  strong  upholder  of  the 
festivals  of  the  church  against  the  puritans. 
He  based  the  obligation  of  the  Lord's  day 
purely  on  ecclesiastical  authority,  declining 


to  consider  it  a  sabbath.  He  succeeded  to  his 
father's  estate  in  1654,  but  finding  it  much 
encumbered  he  sold  it  in  1656  to  Richard 
Graves.  Getting  into  debt  he  retired  to  Car- 
marthen and  taught  a  school,  but  his  creditors 
found  him  out,  and  he  fled  to  Ireland.  Here 
he  died,  at  what  date  is  not  known.  His 
body  was  brought  to  London  for  burial.  He 
was  married,  but  his  wife  died  before  him. 
The  only  publications  which  can  be  safely 
identified  as  his  are :  1.  *  The  Scriptures  Har- 
mony ...  by  E.  F.,  Esq.,'  &c.,  1643,  4to  (a 
tract  somewhat  on  the  lines  of  HughBrough- 
ton's  *  Concent  of  Scripture/  1588).  2.  '  An 
Appeale  to  thy  Conscience,'  &c.,  without 
place,  'printed  in  the  19th  yeare  of  our 
gracious  lord  King  Charles,'  &c.  (British 
Museum  copy  dated  20  April  1643;  it  is 
quite  anonymous,  but  easily  identified  as 
Fisher's).  3.  « The  Feast  of  Feasts,  or  the 
Celebration  of  the  Sacred  Nativity,'  &c.,0xf. 
1644,  4to  (quite  anonymous,  but  identified 
as  Fisher's  by  the  Bodleian  Catalogue,  and 
in  his  style).  4.  l  A  Christian  Caveat  to  the 
old  and  new  Sabbatarians,  or  a  Vindication 
of  our  Gospel  Festivals  .  .  .  By  a  Lover  of 
Truth ;  a  Defender  of  Christian  Liberty  ;  and 
an  hearty  Desirer  of  Peace,  internall,  ex- 
ternall,  eternall  to  all  men,'  &c.,  1649  (i.e. 
1650),  4to ;  4th  edit.  1652, 4to, <  By  Edward 
Fisher,  Esq.,'  has  appended  'An  Answer  to 
Sixteen  Queries  touching  the  .  .  .  observa- 
tion of  Christmass,  propounded  by  Joseph 
Hemming  of  Uttoxeter '  (reprinted  '  Somers 
Tracts,'  1748,  vol.  iv.)  ;  5th  edit.  1653,  4to  ; 
another  edit.  1655,  4to,  has  appended l  Ques- 
tions preparatory  to  the  more  Christian  Ad- 
ministration of  the  Lord's  Supper  ...  by 
E.  F.,  Esq.'  The  '  Caveat,'  which  reckons 
Christmas  day  and  Good  Friday  as  of  equal 
authority  with  the  Lord's  day,  was  attacked 
by  John  Collinges,  D.D.  [q.  v.  j,  and  by  Giles 
Collier  [q.  v.]  Parts  of  the  '  Caveat '  were 
reprinted  by  the  Seventh  Day  Baptists  of 
America,  in  l  Tracts  on  the  Sabbath/  New 
York,  1853,  18mo. 

In  Tanner's  edition  of  Wood's  '  Athense/ 
1721,  Fisher  is  identified  with  E.  F.,  the 
author  of  the '  Marrow  of  Modern  Divinity ' 
[see  BOSTON",  THOMAS,  the  elder] ;  and  the 
identification  has  been  accepted  by  Bliss, 
Hill  Burton,  and  others.  It  is  doubted  by 
Grub,  and  internal  evidence  completely  dis- 
proves it.  The  author  of  the  '  Marrow  '  has 
been  described  as  '  an  illiterate  barber,'  but 
nothing  seems  known  of  him  except  that 
in  his  dedication  to  John  Warner,  the  lord 
mayor,  he  speaks  of  himself  as  a  '  poore  in- 
habitant '  of  London.  The  following  publi- 
cations, all  cast  into  the  form  of  dialogue, 
and  bearing  the  imprimatur  of  puritan  li- 


Fisher 


Fisher 


censers,  may  be  safely  ascribed  to  the  same 
hand:  1.  'The  Marrow  of  Modem  Divinity  . . 
by  E.  F.,'  &c.,  1645,  8vo  ;  4th  edit.  1646, 8vo, 
has  recommendatory  letters  by  Burroughes, 
Strong,  Sprigge,  and  Prittie.  2.  '  A  Touch- 
stone for  a  Communicant  ...  by  E.  F.,'  £c., 
1647,  12mo  (Caryl's  imprimatur).  3.  'The 
Marrow  of  Modern  Divinity:  the  Second 
Part  ...  by  E.  F.,'  &c.,  1649,  8vo.  The  19th 
edit,  of  the '  Marrow'  was  published  at  Mont- 
rose,  1803,  12mo.  It  was  translated  into 
Welsh  by  John  Edwards,  a  sequestered 
clergyman ;  his  dedication  is  dated  20  July 
1650 ;  later  editions  are  Trefecca,  1782, 12mo ; 
Carmarthen,  1810, 12mo.  4.  '  London's  Gate 
to  the  Lord's  Table,'  &c.,  1647,  12mo ;  the 
title-page  is  anonymous,  but  the  signature 
1  E.  F.'  appears  at  the  end  of  the  dedication  to 
Judge  Henry  Rolle  of  the  pleas,  and  Mar- 
garet his  wife.  5.  'Faith  in  Five  Funda- 
mentall  Principles  .  .  .  by  E.  F.,  a  Seeker  of 
the  Truth,'  &c.,  1650,  12mo. 

[Wood's  Athena  Oxon.  1691  i.  866,  1692  ii. 
132  ;  Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  (Bliss),  iii.  407  sq. ; 
Burton's  History  of  Scotland,  1853,ii.  31 7;  Grub's 
Ecclesiastical  History  of  Scotland,  1861,  iv.  54; 
Cox's  Literature  of  the  Sabbath  Question,  1865, 
i.  237,  &c.  ii.  418;  Rees's  History  of  Protestant 
Nonconformity  in  Wales,  1883,  p.  77  (compare 
Walker's  Sufferings,  1714,  ii.  237);  publications 
of  Fisher  and  E.  F.]  A.  G. 

FISHER,  EDWARD(1730-1785?),mez- 
zotint  engraver,  born  in  Ireland  in  1730,  was 
at  first  a  hatter,  but  took  to  engraving,  went 
to  London,  and  became  a  member  of  the  In- 
corporated Society  of  Artists  in  1766,  where 
he  exhibited  fourteen  times  between  1761 
and  1776.  His  earliest  dated  print  is  1758, 
and  his  latest  1781.  He  resided  in  1761  in 
Leicester  Square,  and  moved  to  Ludgate 
Street  in  1778.  It  is  said  that  Reynolds 
called  him  '  injudiciously  exact '  for  finishing 
too  highly  the  unimportant  parts  of  the  plate. 
After  his  death,  about  1785,  most  of  his 
coppers  were  dispersed  among  several  print- 
sellers,  and  in  some  cases  tampered  with. 
He  engraved  over  sixty  plates  of  portraits, 
including  George,  earl  of  Albemarle,  after 
Reynolds :  Robert  Brown,  after  Chamberlin ; 
"William  Pitt,  earl  of  Chatham,  after  Bromp- 
ton;  Colley  Gibber,  after  Vanloo;  Chris- 
tian VII  of  Denmark,  after  Dance ;  David 
Garrick,  after  Reynolds ;  Simon,  earl  Har- 
court,  after  Hunter ;  Roger  Long,  after  B. 
Wilson ;  Hugh,  earl  of  Northumberland, 
and  Elizabeth,  countess  of  Northumberland, 
after  Reynolds ;  Paul  Sandby,  after  F.  Cotes ; 
Laurence  Sterne,  after  Reynolds ;  and  the 
following  fancy  subjects :  'Lady  in  Flowered 
Dress/  after  Hoare* ;  '  Hope  Nursing  Love,' 
or,  according  to  Bromley,  Theophila  Palmer, 


afterwards  Mrs.  Gwatkin,  after  Reynolds; 
and  '  Heads  from  "  Vicar  of  Wakefield," ' 
ten  plates  engraved  from  his  own  designs 
and  published  in  1776. 

[Redgrave's  Diet,  of  Artists ;  J.  Chaloner 
Smith's  Descriptive  Catalogue  of  British  Mezzo- 
tints, pt.  ii.  p.  485.]  L.  F. 

FISHER,  GEORGE  (1794-1873),  astro- 
nomer, was  born  at  Sunbury  in  Middlesex  on 
31  July  1794.  One  of  a  large  family  left  to- 
the  care  of  a  widowed  mother,  he  received 
little  early  education,  and  entered  the  office 
of  the  Westminster  Insurance  Company  at 
the  age  of  fourteen.  Here  his  devotion  to 
uncongenial  duties  won  the  respect  and  re- 
wards of  his  employers.  His  scientific  aspi- 
rations had,  however,  been  fostered  by  Sir 
Humphry  Davy,  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  Sir  Eve- 
rard  Home,  and  other  eminent  men,  and  he 
entered  St.  Catharine's  College,  Cambridge, 
in  1817,  whence  he  graduated  B.A.  in  1821,, 
M.A.  in  1825.  His  university  career  was  in- 
terrupted by  his  appointment,  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  Royal  Society,  as  astronomer 
to  the  polar  expedition  fitted  out  in  H.M.  ships 
Dorothea  and  Trent  in  1818.  The  highest 
latitude  attained  was  80°  34',  and  both  ves- 
sels returned  to  England  disabled  before  the 
close  of  the  year;  but  Fisher  had  made  a  series 
of  pendulum  experiments  at  Spitsbergen,  from 
which  he  deduced  the  value  -—3  for  the  ellip- 
ticity  of  the  earth.  The  results  of  his  obser- 
vations on  the  ships'  chronometers  were  em- 
bodied in  a  paper  read  before  the  Royal  Society 
on  8  June  1820,  entitled  '  On  the  Errors  in 
Longitude  as  determined  by  Chronometers 
at  Sea,  arising  from  the  Action  of  the  Iron 
in  the  Ships  upon  the  Chronometers '  {Phil. 
Trans,  ex.  196). 

Fisher  soon  afterwards  took  orders,  and 
qualified  himself  by  formally  entering  the 
navy  to  act  as  chaplain  as  well  as  astronomer 
to  Parry's  expedition  for  exploring  the  north- 
west passage  in  1821-3.  A  '  portable'  obser- 
vatory, embarked  on  board  the  Fury,  was  set 
up  first  at  Winter  Island,  later  at  Igloolik, 
and  Captain  Parry  testified  to  the  '  unabated 
zeal  and  perseverance '  with  which  Fishei 
Dursued  his  scientific  inquiries.  He  devotee 
much  care  to  the  preparation  of  the  results 
for  the  press,  and  they  formed  part  of  a/Vo- 
lume, published  at  government  expense  in 
1825,  as  an  appendix  to  Parry's  '  Journal  of  a 
Second  Voyage  for  the  Discovery  of  o/N"orth- 
West  Passage.'  Astronomical,  cbronome- 
trical,  and  magnetic  observations/were  ac- 
companied by  details  of  experiments  on  the 
velocity  of  sound,  and  on  the  liquefaction  of 
chlorine  and  other  gases  at  very  low  tempe- 
ratures, as  well  as  by  an  important  discussion 


Fisher 


57 


Fisher 


of  nearly  four  thousand  observations  on  as- 
tronomical refraction  in  an  arctic  climate. 

Fisher  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  Roya! 
Society  in  1825,  and  of  the  Astronomical  So- 
ciety in  1827,  acted  several  times  as  vice-pre- 
sident of  the  latter  body,  and  was  a  member  o: 
the  council  from  1835  until  1863.  Appointed 
in  1828  chaplain  to  H.M.  ships  Spartiate 
and  Asia  he  carried  on  magnetic  observations 
in  various  parts  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  on 
24  Jan.  1833  laid  a  paper  on  the  subject  be- 
fore the  Royal  Society,  entitled  '  Magnetical 
Experiments  made  principally  in  the  South 
part  of  Europe  and  in  Asia  Minor  during  the 
years  1827  to  1832 '  (ib.  cxxiii.  237 ;  Proc. 
JR.  Soc.  iii.  163).  His  theory  of  '  The  Nature 
and  Origin  of  the  Aurora  Borealis  '  was  com- 
municated to  the  Royal  Society  on  19  June 
1834  (ib.  p.  295),  and  to  the  British  Associa- 
tion at  Cambridge  in  1845  (Report,  pt.  ii.  p. 
22).  Founded  on  a  close  study  of  the  phe- 
nomenon in  arctic  regions,  it  included  the 
ideas,  since  confirmed,  of  its  being  the  polar 
equivalent  of  lightning,  and  of  its  origin  in  a 
zone  surrounding  at  some  distance  each  pole. 
Auroras  were  thus  regarded  as  a  means  of 
restoring  electrical  equilibrium  between  the 
upper  and  lower  strata  of  the  atmosphere, 
disturbed  by  the  development  of  positive 
electricity  through  rapid  congelation. 

Fisher  accepted  in  1834  the  post  of  head- 
master of  Greenwich  Hospital  School,  and 
greatly  improved  the  efficiency  of  the  insti- 
tution. He  erected  an  astronomical  obser- 
vatory in  connection  with  it,  which  he  su- 
perintended during  thirteen  years,  observing 
there  the  solar  eclipse  of  18  July  lSQQ(Monthly 
Notices,  xxi.  19).  At  the  request  of  Lord 
Herbert  in  1845,  he  wrote  text-books  of  alge- 
bra and  geometry  for  use  in  the  school,  of 
which  he  became  principal  in  1860.  His  re- 
tirement followed  in  1863,  and  after  ten  years 
of  well-earned  repose  he  died  without  suffer- 
ing on  14  May  1873. 

Besides  the  papers  already  mentioned 
Fisher  presented  to  the  Royal  Society  ac- 
counts of  magnetic  experiments  made  in 
the  West  Indies  and  North  America  by  Mr. 
James  Napier  (Proc.  R.  Soc.  iii.  253),  and 
on  the  west  coast  of  Africa  by  Commander 
Edward  Belcher  (Phil.  Trans,  cxxii.  493), 
and  reduced  those  made  on  the  coasts  of 
Brazil  and  North  America  from  1834  to  1837 
by  Sir  Everard  Home  (ib.  cxxviii.  343).  He 
contributed  to  the  *  Quarterly  Journal  of  Sci- 
ence '  essays  '  On  the  Figure  of  the  Earth,  as 
deduced  from  the  Measurements  of  Arcs  of 
the  Meridian,  and  Observations  on  Pendu- 
lums '  (vii.  299,  1819)  ;  <  On  the  Variation  of 
the  Compass,  observed  in  the  late  Voyage  of 
Discovery  to  the  North  Pole  '  (ix.  81)  ;  and 


'  On  Refractions  observed  in  High  Latitudes^ 
(xxi.  348,  1826). 

[Monthly  Notices,  xxxiv.  140 ;  Weld's  Hist, 
of  Koyal  Society,  ii.  280;  Royal  Society's  Cata- 
logue of  Scientific  Papers.]  A.  M.  C. 

FISHER,  JAMES  (1697-1775),  one  of 
the  founders  of  the  Scottish  secession  church, 
was  born  on  23  Jan.  1697  at  Barr  in  Ayr- 
shire, where  his  father,  Thomas,  was  minister, 
studied  at  Glasgow  University,  and  was  or- 
dained minister  of  Kinclaven,  Perthshire,  in 
1725.  In  1727  he  married  the  daughter  of 
the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Erskine  [q.  v.]  of  Port- 
moak,  Kinross-shire,  with  whom  he  was  after- 
wards associated  as  a  founder  of  the  secession 
body.  Fisher  concurred  with  Erskine  and 
other  likeminded  ministers  in  their  views  both 
as  to  patronage  and  doctrine,  and  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  majority  of  the  general  assembly, 
by  whom  their  representations  were  wholly 
disregarded.  In  1732  Erskine  preached  a 
sermon  at  the  opening  of  the  synod  of  Perth, 
in  which  he  boldly  denounced  the  policy 
of  the  church  as  unfaithful  to  its  Lord  and 
Master.  For  this  he  was  rebuked  by  the 
general  assembly;  but  against  the  sentence 
he  protested,  and  was  joined  by  three  minis- 
ters, of  whom  Fisher  was  one.  The  protest 
was  declared  to  be  insulting,  and  the  minis- 
ters who  signed  it  were  thrust  out  of  the 
church,  and  ultimately  formed  the  associate 
presbytery.  The  people  of  Kinclaven  adhered 
almost  without  exception  to  their  minister, 
and  the  congregation  increased  by  accessions 
from  neighbouring  parishes.  Fisher  was 
subsequently  translated  to  Glasgow  (8  Oct. 
1741),  but  was  deposed  by  the  associate  anti- 
burgher  synod  4  Aug.  1748.  In  1749  the 
associate  burgher  synod  gave  him  the  office 
of  professor  of  divinity.  His  name  is  asso- 
ciated with  a  catechism  designed  to  explain 
the  '  Shorter  Catechism  of  the  Westminster 
Assembly.'  What  is  known  as  Fisher's '  Cate- 
chism' (2  parts,  Glasgow,  1753, 1760)  was  in 
reality  the  result  of  contributions  by  many 
ministers  of  the  body,  which  were  made  use 
of  by  three  of  the  leading  men,  Ebenezer  and 
Ralph  Erskine  and  Fisher.  Fisher  survived 
the  other  two  ;  and  as  the  duty  of  giving  a 
final  form  to  the  work,  as  well  as  executing 
lis  own  share,  devolved  on  him,  it  is  usually 
spoken  of  as  his.  It  is  a  work  of  great 
care,  learning,  and  ability  ;  it  has  passed 
;hrough  many  editions ;  it  was  long  the  manual 
"or  catechetical  instruction  in  the  secession 
jhurch ;  and  it  was  a  favourite  with  evan- 
gelical men  outside  the  secession  like  Dr. 
^olquhoun  of  Leith  and  Robert  Haldane 
q.  v.]  Fisher  was  the  author  of  various 
ither  works,  chiefly  bearing  on  matters  of 
ontroversy  at  the  time,  and  illustrative  of 


Fisher 


Fisher 


Erskine's  work.  Though  not  so  attractive 
a  preacher  as  the  Erskines,  nor  so  able  an 
apologist  as  Wilson,  yet  by  the  weight  of  his 
character  and  his  public  position  he  exerted 
a  very  powerful  influence  on  the  secession,  and 
contributed  very  materially  to  its  progress 
and  stability.  He  died  28  Sept.  1775,  in  the 
seventy-eighth  year  of  his  age. 

[Scott's  Fasti,  pt.  iv.  802 ;  Memorials  of  the 
Rev.  James  Fisher,  by  John  Brown,  D.D.  (United 
Presbyterian  Fathers),  1849  ;  M'Kerrow's  Hist. 
of  the  Secession  ;  Life  and  Diary  of  the  Rev. 
E.  Erskine,  A.M.,  by  Donald  Fraser;  Walker's 
Theology  and  Theologians  of  Scotland ;  McCrie's 
Story  of  the  Scottish  Church.]  W.  G.  B. 

FISHER,  JASPER  (fi.  1639),  divine 
and  dramatist,  born  in  1591,  was  the  son  of 
William  Fisher  of  Carleton,  Bedfordshire, 
deputy-auditor  for  the  county  of  York  (de- 
scended from  a  Warwickshire  family),  by 
Alice  Roane  of  Wellingborough  (  Visitation 
of  Bedfordshire,  Harl.  Soc.  1884,  xix.  107). 
Fisher  matriculated  at  Magdalen  Hall,  Ox- 
ford, 13  Nov.  1607;  he  was  admitted  B.A. 
28  Jan.  1610-11,  M.A.  27  Jan.  1613-14, 
B.D.  and  D.D.  1639  (CLAKK,  Register,  ii. 
300).  About  1631  (according  to  Wood) 
he  became  rector  of  Wilsden,  Bedfordshire, 
and  in  1633  published  his  one  considerable 
work,  a  play,  entitled  '  Fuimus  Troes,  the 
True  Trojans,  being  a  story  of  the  Britaines 
valour  at  the  Romanes  first  invasion.  Pub- 
lickly  presented  by  the  gentlemen  students 
of  Magdalen  College  in  Oxford,'  London, 
1633,  4to.  The  drama  is  written  in  blank 
verse,  interspersed  with  lyrics ;  Druids,  poets, 
and  a  harper  are  introduced,  and  it  ends  with 
a  masque  and  chorus.  Fisher  held  at  Mag- 
dalen College  the  post  of  divinity  or  philo- 
sophy reader  (WOOD).  He  also  published 
some  sermons,  one  on  Malachi  ii.  7,  1636, 
8vo,  and  '  The  Priest's  Duty  and  Dignity 


all  18  Aug.  1635,  by  J.  F.,  presbyter  and 
rector  of  Wilsden  in  Bedfordshire,  and  pub- 
lished by  command,'  London,  1636,  12mo. 
The  exact  date  of  Fisher's  death  is  uncertain ; 
it  is  only  known  that  he  was  alive  in  1639, 
when  he  proceeded  D.D.  According  to  Oldys's 
manuscript  notes  to  Langbaine  he  became 
blind,  whether  from  old  age  or  an  accident 
is  not  known.  Wood  calls  him  '  an  ingenious 
man,  as  those  that  knew  him  have  divers 
times  informed  me'  (Athence,  ii.  636,  ed. 
Bliss).  He  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
the  Rev.  William  Sams  of  Burstead,  Essex. 
Gideon  Fisher,  who  went  to  Oxford  in  1634 
and  succeeded  to  the  estate  at  Carleton,  was 
the  son,  not  of  Jasper,  but  of  Jasper's  elder 
brother  Gideon  (Visitation  of  Bedfordshire, 
1634,  Harl.  Soc.  107). 


[Brit.  Mus.  Cat.  of  Printed  Books;  Langbaine's 
English  Dramatic  Poets,  1691,  p.  533;  Baker's 
Biographia  Dramatica,  1812.]  E.  T.  B. 

FISHER,  JOHN  (1459P-1535),  bishop 
of  Rochester,  eldest  son  of  Robert  Fisher, 
mercer,  and  Agnes,  his  wife,  was  born  at 
Beverley  in  Yorkshire,  and  probably  received 
liis  earliest  education  in  the  school  attached 
to  the  collegiate  church  in  that  city.  Con- 
siderable discrepancy  exists  in  the  statements 
respecting  the  year  of  Fisher's  birth  (see 
Life  by  Lewis,  i.  1-2).  His  portrait  by  Hol- 
bein bears  the  words,  '  A°  Aetatis  74.'  As 
this  could  scarcely  have  been  painted  after 
his  imprisonment  in  the  Tower,  it  would 
seem  that  Fisher  must  have  been  at  least 
seventy-five  at  the  time  of  his  execution. 
This,  however,  requires  us  to  conclude  that 
he  was  over  twenty-six  at  the  time  of  his 
admission  to  the  B.A.  degree,  an  unusual 
age,  especially  in  those  days.  When  only 
thirteen  years  old  he  lost  his  father;  the  lat- 
ter would  seem  to  have  been  a  man  of  con- 
siderable substance,  and,  judging  from  his 
numerous  bequests  to  different  monastic  and 
other  foundations,  religious  after  the  fashion 
of  his  age.  Fisher  was  subsequently  entered 
at  Michaelhouse,  Cambridge,  under  William 
de  Melton,  fellow,  and  afterwards  master  of 
the  college.  In  1487  he  proceeded  to  his 
degree  of  bachelor  of  arts  ;  was  soon  after 
elected  fellow  of  Michaelhouse,  proceeded  to 
his  degree  of  M.A.  in  1491,  filled  the  office 
of  senior  proctor  in  the  university  in  1494, 
and  became  master  of  his  college  in  1497. 
The  duties  of  the  proctorial  office  necessi- 
tated, at  that  time,  occasional  attendance  at 
court ;  and  Fisher  on  his  appearance  in  this 
capacity  at  Greenwich  attracted  the  notice 
of  the  king's  mother,  Margaret,  countess  of 
Richmond,  who  in  1497  appointed  him  her 
confessor. 

In  1501  he  was  elected  vice-chancellor 
of  the  university.  We  learn  from  his  own 
statements,  as  well  as  from  other  sources, 
that  the  whole  academic  community  was  at 
that  time  in  a  singularly  lifeless  and  im- 
poverished state.  To  rescue  it  from  this 
condition,  by  infusing  new  life  into  its 
studies  and  gaining  for  it  the  help  of  the 
wealthy,  was  one  of  the  chief  services  which 
Fisher  rendered  to  his  age.  In  1503  he  was 
appointed  by  the  Countess  of  Richmond  to 
fill  the  newly  founded  chair  of  divinity, 
which  she  had  instituted  for  the  purpose  of 
providing  gratuitous  theological  instruction 
in  the  university  ;  and  it  appears  to  have 
been  mainly  by  his  advice  that  about  the 
same  time  the  countess  also  founded  the 
Lady  Margaret  preachership,  designed  for 
supplying  evangelical  instruction  of  the  laity 


Fisher 


59 


Fisher 


in  the  surrounding  county  and  elsewhere. 
The  preaching  was  to  be  in  the  vernacular, 
which  had  at  that  period  almost  fallen  into 
disuse  in  the  pulpit. 

A  succession  of  appointments  now  indi- 
cated the  growing  and  widespread  sense  of 
his  services.  In  1504  he  was  elected  to  the 
chancellorship  of  the  university,  an  office  to 
which  he  was  re-elected  annually  for  ten 
years,  and  eventually  for  life.  A  papal  bull 
(14  Oct.  1504)  ratified  his  election  to  the 
see  of  Rochester,  but  for  this  preferment  he 
was  indebted  solely  to  King  Henry's  favour 
and  sense  of  his  '  grete  and  singular  virtue  ' 
(Funeral  Sermon,  ed.  Hymers,  p.  163).  On 
12  April  1505  Fisher  was  elected  to  the  pre- 
sidency of  Queens'  College,  but  held  the  office 
only  for  three  years.  His  appointment  to 
the  post,  it  has  been  conjectured,  was  mainly 
with  the  design  of  providing  him  with  a 
suitable  residence  during  the  time  that  he 
was  superintending  the  erection  of  Christ's 
College,  which  was  founded  by  the  Lady 
Margaret  under  his  auspices  in  1505.  On 
the  death  of  Henry  VII,  Fisher  preached  the 
funeral  sermon  at  St.  Paul's,  and  his  dis- 
course was  subsequently  printed  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  king's  mother.  Three  months 
later  it  devolved  upon  him  to  pay  a  like 
tribute  to  the  memory  of  his  august  bene- 
factress, a  discourse  which  forms  a  memor- 
able record  of  her  virtues  and  good  works. 
By  a  scheme  drawn  up  during  her  lifetime 
it  was  proposed  to  dissolve  an  ancient  hos- 
pital at  Cambridge,  that  of  the  Brethren  of 
St.  John,  and  to  found  a  college  in  its  place. 
Fisher  was  shortly  after  nominated  to  attend 
theLateran  council  in  Rome  (19  April  1512), 
and  a  sum  of  500Z.  had  been  assigned  for  his 
expenses  during  160  days  ;  but  at  the  last 
moment  it  was  decided  that  he  should  not 
be  sent.  This  happened  fortunately  for  the 
carrying  out  of  the  Lady  Margaret's  designs, 
for  Fisher,  by  remaining  in  England,  was 
enabled  to  defeat  in  some  measure  the  efforts 
that  were  made  to  set  aside  her  bequest ;  and 
it  was  mainly  through  his  strenuous  exer- 
tions that  St.  John's  College  was  eventually 
founded,  its  charter  being  given  9  April 
1511.  In  connection  with  the  college  he 
himself  subsequently  founded  four  fellow- 
ships and  two  scholarships,  besides  lecture- 
ships in  Greek  and  Hebrew.  In  1513,  on 
Wolsey's  promotion  to  the  see  of  Lincoln, 
Fisher,  in  the  belief  that  one  who  stood  so  high 
in  the  royal  favour  would  be  better  able  to  fur- 
ther the  interests  of  the  university,  proposed 
to  retire  from  the  office  of  chancellor,  advising 
that  Wolsey  should  be  elected  in  his  place. 
The  university  acted  upon  his  advice ;  but 
Wolsey  having  declined  the  proffered  honour, 


.  „  -„  overburdened 

with  affairs  of  state,  Fisher  was  once  more 
appointed.  Notwithstanding  the  deference 
which  he  showed  to  "Wolsey  on  this  occasion, 
there  existed  between  him  and  the  all-power- 
ful minister  a  strongly  antagonistic  feeling, 
of  which  the  true  solution  is  probably  indi- 
cated by  Burnet  when  he  says  that  Fisher 
being '  a  man  of  strict  life ' '  hated  him  [Wol- 
sey] for  his  vices  '  (Hist,  of  the  Reformation, 
ed.  Pocock,  i.  52).  At  a  council  of  the  clergy 
held  at  Westminster  in  1517,  Fisher  gave 
satisfactory  proof  that  he  was  actuated  by 
no  spirit  of  adulation ;  and  in  a  remarkable 
speech,  wherein  he  severely  censured  the 
greed  for  gain  and  the  love  of  display  and 
of  court  life  which  characterised  many  of  the 
higher  ecclesiastics  of  the  realm,  he  was  gene- 
rally supposed  to  have  glanced  at  the  cardinal 
himself.  In  1523  he  opposed  with  no  less 
courage,  by  a  speech  in  convocation,  Wolsey's 
great  scheme  for  a  subsidy  in  aid  of  the  war 
with  Flanders  (HALL,  p.  72). 

Fisher's  genuine  attachment  to  learning  is 
shown  by  the  sympathy  which  he  evinced 
with  the  new  spirit  of  biblical  criticism  which 
had  accompanied  the  Renaissance.  It  was 
mainly  through  his  influence  that  Erasmus 
was  induced  to  visit  Cambridge,  and  the 
latter  expressly  attributes  it  to  his  powerful 
protection  that  the  study  of  Greek  was  al- 
lowed to  go  on  in  the  university  without  ac- 
tive molestation  of  the  kind  which  it  had  to 
encounter  at  Oxford  (Epist.  vi.  2).  Notwith- 
standing his  advanced  years,  Fisher  himself 
aspired  to  become  a  Greek  scholar,  and  ap- 
pears to  have  made  some  attainments  in  the 
language.  On  the  other  hand,  his  attach- 
ment to  the  papal  cause  remained  unshaken, 
while  his  hostility  to  Luther  and  the  Refor- 
mation was  beyond  question.  He  preached 
in  the  vernacular,  before  Wolsey  and  War- 
ham,  at  Paul's.  Cross,  on  the  occasion  of 
the  burning  of  the  reformer's  writings  in 
the  churchyard  (12  May  1521),  a  discourse 
which  was  severely  handled  by  William  Tyn- 
dale  (LEWIS,  Life,  i.  181-3).  He  replied  to 
Luther's  book  against  the  papal  bull  in  a 
treatise  entitled  'A  Confutation  of  the  Lu- 
theran Assertion '  (1523),  and  was  supposed, 
although  without  foundation,  to  have  been 
the  real  writer  of  the  royal  treatise  against 
Luther,  entitled  '  Assertio  septem  Sacramen- 
torum,'  published  in  1521.  He  again  replied 
to  Luther  in  his  '  Defence  of  the  Christian 
Priesthood'  (1524),  and  again,  for  the  third 
time,  in  his  '  Defence '  of  Henry's  treatise, 
in  reply  to  the  reformer's  attack  (1525).  He 
also  wrote  against  (Ecolampadius  and  Ve- 
lenus. 

With  advancing  years  his  conservative 


Fisher 


Fisher 


instincts  would  appear,  indeed,  sometimes  to 
have  prevailed  over  his  better  judgment.  To 
the  notable  scheme  of  church  reform  brought 
forward  in  the  House  of  Commons  in  1529  he 
offered  strenuous  resistance,  and  his  language 
was  such  that  it  was  construed  into  a  dis- 
respectful reflection  on  that  assembly,  and 
the  speaker  was  directed  to  make  it  a  matter 
of  formal  complaint  to  the  king.  Fisher  was 
summoned  into  the  royal  presence,  and  was 
fain  to  have  recourse  to  a  somewhat  evasive 
explanation,  which  seems  scarcely  in  harmony 
with  his  habitual  moral  courage  and  con- 
scientiousness. The  statutes  which  he  drew 
up  about  this  time,  to  be  the  codes  of  Christ's 
College  and  St.  John's  College,  are  also  charac- 
terised by  a  kind  of  timorous  mistrust,  and, 
while  embodying  a  wise  innovation  on  the 
existing  scheme  of  study,  exhibit  a  pusillani- 
mous anxiety  to  guard  against  all  subsequent 
innovations  whatever.  In  the  revised  sta- 
tutes which  he  gave  to  St.  John's  College  in 
1524  and  1530  this  tendency  is  especially 
apparent :  but  it  is  to  be  observed  that  some 
of  the  new  provisions  in  the  latter  code  were 
taken  from  that  given  by  Wolsey  to  Cardinal 
College  (afterwards  Christ  Church),  Oxford. 
In  1528  the  high  estimation  in  which  his 
services  were  held  by  St.  John's  College  was 
shown  by  the  enactment  of  a  statute  for  the 
annual  celebration  of  his  exequies. 

The  unflinching  firmness  with  which  he 
opposed  the  doctrine  of  the  royal  supremacy 
did  honour  to  his  consistency.  When  con- 
vocation was  called  upon  to  give  its  assent, 
he  asserted  that  the  acceptance  of  such  a 
principle  would  cause  the  clergy  of  England 
'  to  be  hissed  out  of  the  society  of  God's  holy 
catholic  church '  (BAILY,  p.  110)  ;  and  his 
opposition  so  far  prevailed  that  the  form  in 
which  the  assent  of  convocation  was  ulti- 
mately recorded  was  modified  by  the  memor- 
able saving  clause,  '  quantum  per  legem  Dei 
licet '  (11  Feb.  1531). 

His  opposition  to  the  royal  divorce  was 
not  less  honourable  and  consistent,  and  he 
stood  alone  among  the  bishops  of  the  realm 
in  his  refusal  to  recognise  the  validity  of  the 
measure.  As  Queen  Catherine's  confessor 
he  naturally  became  her  chief  confidant. 
Brewer  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  he  was 
'  the  only  adviser  on  whose  sincerity  and 
honesty  she  could  rely.'  From  the  evidence 
of  the  State  Papers  it  would  seem,  however, 
that  Wolsey,  in  his  desire  to  further  Henry's 
wishes,  did  succeed  for  a  time  in  alienating 
Fisher  from  the  queen,  by  skilfully  instilling 
into  the  bishop's  mind  a  complete  misappre- 
hension as  to  the  king's  real  design  in  in- 
quiring into  the  validity  of  his  marriage. 
But  he  could  not  succeed  in  inducing  Fisher 


to  regard  the  papal  dispensation  for  Cathe- 
rine's marriage  as  invalid,  and  in  1528  the 
latter  was  appointed  one  of  her  counsellors. 
On  28  June  1529  he  appeared  in  the  legate's 
court  and  made  his  memorable  declaration 
that  '  to  avoid  the  damnation  of  his  soul,' 
and  f  to  show  himself  not  unfaithful  to  the 
king,'  he  had  come  before  their  lordships  *  to 
assert  and  demonstrate  with  cogent  reasons 
that  this  marriage  of  the  king  and  queen 
could  not  be  dissolved  by  any  power,  divine 
or  human '  (BREWER,  Reign  of  Henry  VIII, 
ii.  346).  Henry  betrayed  how  deeply  he 
was  offended  by  drawing  up  a  reply  (in  the 
form  of  a  speech)  in  which  he  attacked  both 
Fisher's  character  and  motives  with  great 
acrimony  and  violence.  The  copy  sent  to 
Fisher  is  preserved  in  the  Record  Office,  and 
contains  brief  comments  in  his  own  hand- 
writing on  the  royal  assertions  and  misre- 
presentations. In  the  following  year,  one 
Richard  Rouse  having  poisoned  a  vessel  of 
yeast  which  was  placed  in  the  bishop's  kitchen 
'  in  Lambith  Marsh,'  several  members  of  the 
episcopal  household  died  in  consequence. 
By  Sanders  (De  Schismate,  p.  72)  this  event 
was  represented  as  an  attempt  on  the  bishop's 
life  by  Anne  Boleyn,  dictated  by  resentment 
at  his  opposition  to  the  divorce. 

The  weaker  side  of  Fisher's  character 
was  shown  in  the  credence  and  countenance 
which  he  gave  to  the  impostures  of  the  Nun 
of  Kent  [see  BARTON,  ELIZABETH]  ;  while 
the  manner  in  which  the  professedly  inspired 
maid  denounced  the  projected  marriage  of 
Henry  and  Anne  Boleyn  brought  the  bishop 
himself  under  the  suspicion  of  collusion.. 
This  suspicion  was  deepened  by  the  fact  that 
the  nun,  when  interrogated  before  the  Star- 
chamber,  named  him  as  one  of  her  confede- 
rates. He  was  summoned  to  appear  before 
parliament  to  answer  the  charges  preferred 
against  him.  On  28  Jan.  1533-4  he  wrote 
to  Cromwell  describing  himself  as  in  a  piti- 
able state  of  health,  and  begging  to  be  ex- 
cused from  appearing  as  commanded.  In 
another  letter,  written  three  days  later,  he 
speaks  as  though  wearied  out  by  Cromwell's 
importunity  and  frequent  missives.  Crom- 
well in  replying  broadly  denounces  his  ex- 
cuses as  '  mere  craft  and  cunning/  and  ad- 
vises him  to  throw  himself  on  the  royal 
mercy.  Chapuys,  the  imperial  ambassador, 
writing  25  March  to  Charles  V,  says  that 
Fisher,  whom  he  characterises  as  '  the  para- 
gon of  Christian  prelates  both  for  learning' 
and  holiness,'  has  been  condemned  to '  confis- 
cation of  body  and  goods,'  and  attributes  it 
to  the  support  which  he  had  given  to  the 
cause  of  Catherine.  Fisher  was  sentenced, 
along  with  Adyson,  his  chaplain,  to  be  at- 


Fisher 


61 


Fisher 


tainted  of  misprision,  to  be  imprisoned  at  the 
king's  will,  and  to  forfeit  all  his  goods  (Let- 
ters and  Papers  Henry  VIII,  vol.  ii.  No.  70). 
He  was,  however,  ultimately  permitted  to 
compound  for  his  offence  by  a  payment  of 
3001. 

On  13  April  he  was  summoned  to  Lam- 
beth to  take  the  oath  of  compliance  with  the 
Act  of  Succession.  He  expressed  his  willing- 
ness, as  did  Sir  Thomas  More,  to  take  that 
portion  of  the  oath  which  fixed  the  succession 
in  the  offspring  of  the  king  and  Anne  Boleyn, 
but,  like  More,  he  declined  the  oath  in  its 
entirety.  Their  objection  is  sufficiently  in- 
telligible when  we  consider  that  while  one 
clause  declared  the  offspring  of  Catherine  il- 
legitimate, another  forbade  '  faith,  truth,  and 
obedience  '  to  any  { foreign  authority  or  po- 
tentate.' The  commissioners  were  evidently 
unwilling  to  proceed  to  extremities,  and 
Cranmer  advised  that  both  Fisher  and  More 
should  be  held  to  have  yielded  sufficiently 
for  the  requirements  of  the  case.  Both, 
however,  were  ultimately  committed  to  the 
Tower  (Fisher  on  16  April),  and  their  fate 
now  began  to  be  regarded  as  sealed.  On  the 
27th  an  inventory  of  the  bishop's  goods  at 
Rochester  was  taken,  which  has  recently 
been  printed  in  ' Letters  and  Papers'  (u.  s. 
pp.  221-2).  His  library,  which  he  had  de- 
stined for  St.  John's  College,  and,  according 
to  Baily,  the  finest  in  Christendom,  was 
seized  at  the  same  time.  In  his  confinement, 
Fisher's  advanced  age  and  feeble  health  pro- 
cured for  him  no  relaxation  of  the  rigorous 
treatment  ordinarily  extended  to  political 
offenders,  and  Lee,  the  bishop  of  Coventry 
and  Lichfield,  who  visited  him,  described 
him  as  ( nigh  gone,'  and  his  body  as  unable 
'  to  bear  the  clothes  on  the  back.'  He  was 
deprived  of  his  books,  and  allowed  only  in- 
sufficient food,  for  which  he  was  dependent 
on  his  brother  Robert.  It  is  to  the  credit  of 
the  society  of  St.  John's  College  that  they 
ventured  under  the  circumstances  to  address 
to  him  a  letter  of  condolence. 

With  the  passing  of  the  Act  of  Supremacy 
(November  1554)  Fishers  experiences  as  a 
political  offender  entered  upon  a  third  phase. 
Under  the  penalties  attaching  to  two  spe- 
cial clauses  both  Fisher  and  More  were 
again  attainted  of  misprision  of  treason, 
and  the  see  of  Rochester  was  declared  va- 
cant from  2  Jan.  1534-5.  The  bishop  was 
thus  deprived  of  all  privileges  attaching  to 
his  ecclesiastical  dignity.  On  7  May  1535 
he  was  visited  by  Mr.  Secretary  Cromwell 
and  others  of  the  king's  council.  Cromwell 
read  aloud  to  him  the  act,  and  Fisher  inti- 
mated his  inability  to  recognise  the  king  as 
"supreme  head'  of  the  church.  A  second 


act,  whereby  it  was  made  high  treason  to 
deny  the  king's  right  to  that  title,  was  then 
read  to  him :  and  Fisher's  previous  denial, 
extracted  from  him  when  uninformed  as  to 
the  exact  penalties  attaching  thereto,  would 
appear  to  have  constituted  the  sole  evidence 
on  which  he  was  found  guilty  at  his  trial. 
It  is  probable,  however,  that  Henry  would 
still  have  hesitated  to  put  Fisher  to  death 
had  it  not  been  for  the  step  taken  by  the 
new  Roman  pontiff,  Paul  III,  who  on  20  May 
convened  a  consistory  and  created  Fisher 
presbyter  cardinal  of  St.  Vitalis.  Paul  was 
at  that  time  aiming  at  bringing  about  a  re- 
formation of  the  Roman  church,  and  with 
this  view  was  raising  various  ecclesiastics  of 
admitted  merit  and  character  to  the  cardi- 
nalate.  According  to  his  own  express  state- 
ment, volunteered  after  Fisher's  execution, 
he  was  ignorant  of  the  extremely  strained 
relations  existing  between  the  latter  and  the 
English  monarch.  His  act,  however,  roused 
Henry  to  almost  ungovernable  fury.  A  mes- 
senger was  forthwith  despatched  to  Calais 
to  forbid  the  bearer  of  the  cardinal's  hat  from 
Rome  from  proceeding  further,  and  Fisher's 
death  was  now  resolved  upon.  With  the 
design,  apparently,  of  entrapping  him  into 
admissions  which  might  afford  a  further  jus- 
tification of  such  a  measure,  two  clerks  of  the 
council,  Thomas  Bedyl  and  Leighton,  were 
sent  to  the  Tower  for  the  purpose  of  putting 
to  Fisher  thirty  distinct  questions  in  the 
presence  of  Walsingham,  the  lieutenant,  and 
other  witnesses.  Fisher's  replies,  subscribed 
with  his  own  hand,  are  still  extant.  He  had 
already,  in  an  informal  manner,  been  apprised 
of  the  honour  designed  for  him  by  Paul,  and 
among  other  interrogatories  he  was  now 
asked  simply  to  repeat  what  he  had  said  when 
he  first  received  the  intelligence.  He  re- 
plied that  he  had  said,  in  the  presence  of  two 
witnesses  (whom  he  named),  that  *yf  the 
cardinal's  hat  were  layed  at  his  feete  he 
wolde  not  stoupe  to  take  it  up,  he  did  set  so 
little  by  it '  (LEWIS,  Life,  ii.  412).  Accord- 
ing to  the  account  preserved  in  Baily,  how- 
ever, Cromwell  was  the  interrogator  on  this 
occasion,  and  the  question  was  put  hypo- 
thetical ly  ;  whereupon  Fisher  replied :  '  If 
any  such  thing  should  happen,  assure  your- 
self I  should  improve  that  favour  to  the  best 
advantage  that  I  could,  in  assisting  the  holy 
catholic  church  of  Christ,  and  in  that  re- 
spect I  would  receive  it  upon  my  knees ' 
(p.  171).  A  third  account  is  given  by  Sanders 
(see  LEWIS,  Life,  i.  xv,  ii.  178)  ;  but  amid 
such  conflicting  statements  it  seems  reason- 
able to  attach  the  greatest  weight  to  Fisher's 
own  account  upon  oath.  It  is  certain  that 
his  replies,  if  they  did  not  further  incul- 


Fisher 


Fisher 


pate  him,  in  no  way  served  to  soften  Henry's 
resentment,  and  he  was  forthwith  brought 
to  trial  on  the  charge  that  he  did,  '  7  May 
27  Hen.  VIII,  openly  declare  in  English, 
"The  king  our  sovereign  lord  is  not  supreme 
head  in  earth  of  the  church  of  England " ' 
(Letters  and  Papers  Henry  VIII,  vol.  viii. 
No.  886).  The  jury  found  one  bill  against 
Fisher,  and  presented  another,  and  were  then 
discharged.  On  17  June  he  was  brought  to 
the  bar  at  Westminster,  pronounced  guilty, 
and  sentenced  to  die  a  traitor's  death  at  Ty- 
burn. But  on  the  21st  Walsingham  received 
a  writ  in  which  the  sentence  was  changed 
to  one  of  beheading  (instead  of  the  ordinary 
hanging,  disembowelling,  and  quartering), 
and  Tower  Hill  was  assigned  as  the  place 
of  execution,  instead  of  Tyburn.  The  ac- 
counts of  Fisher's  execution,  which  took  place 
22  June  1535,  and  of  the  incidents  which 
immediately  preceded  and  succeeded  that  tra- 
gical event,  are  conflicting,  and  it  seems  that 
on  certain  points  there  was  a  confusion  in 
the  traditions  preserved  of  the  details  with 
those  which  belonged  to  More's  execution, 
which  took  place  just  a  fortnight  later.  (The 
incidents  recorded  by  Baily  are  partly  taken 
from  the  account  by  Maurice  Channey  ;  see 
authorities  at  end  of  art.)  All  the  narra- 
tives, however,  agree  in  representing  Fisher 
as  meeting  death  with  a  calmness,  dignity, 
and  pious  resignation  which  greatly  im- 
pressed the  beholders.  His  head  was  ex- 
posed on  London  Bridge ;  his  body  left  on 
the  scaffold  until  the  evening,  and  then  con- 
veyed to  the  churchyard  of  Allhallows  Bark- 
ing, where  it  was  interred  without  ceremony. 
A  fortnight  later  it  was  removed  to  the  church 
of  St.  Peter  ad  Vincula  in  the  Tower,  and 
there  laid  by  the  side  of  the  body  of  his  friend 
Sir  Thomas  More,  who,  but  a  short  time  be- 
fore his  own  career  was  similarly  terminated, 
had  left  it  on  record  as  his  deliberate  con- 
viction that  there  was  '  in  this  realm  no  one 
man  in  wisdom,  learning,  and  long  approved 
vertue  together,  mete  to  be  matched  and 
compared  with  him '  (MoEE,  English  Works, 
p.  1437). 

The  intelligence  of  Fisher's  fate  was  re- 
ceived with  feelings  approaching  to  conster- 
nation not  only  by  the  nation  but  by  Europe 
.  at  large.  Paul  III  declared  that  he  would 
sooner  have  had  his  two  grandsons  slain,  and 
in  a  letter  (26  July)  to  Francis  I  says  that 
he  '  is  compelled,  at  the  unanimous  sollici- 
tation  of  the  cardinals,  to  declare  Henry 
deprived  of  his  kingdom  and  of  the  royal 
dignity'  (Letters  and  Papers  Henry  VIII, 
vol.  viii.  No.  1117). 

As  a  theologian  Fisher  was  to  some  ex- 
tent an  eclectic;  and,  according  to  Volusenus 


(De  Tranquillitate  Animi,  ed.  1751,  p.  280), 
inclined,  on  the  already  agitated  question  of 
election  and  free  will,  to  something  like  a 
Calvinistic  theory.  The  same  writer  tells  us 
(ib.  p.  250)  that  he  also  frequently  expressed 
his  high  admiration  of  the  expositions  of 
some  of  the  Lutheran  divines,  and  only  won- 
dered how  they  could  proceed  from  heretics. 
Professor  John  E.  B.  Mayor  observes  :  *  If 
bonus  textuarius  is  indeed  bonus  theologus, 
Bishop  Fisher  may  rank  high  among  divines. 
He  is  at  home  in  every  part  of  scripture,  no 
less  than  among  the  fathers.  If  the  matter 
of  his  teaching  is  now  for  the  most  part  trite, 
the  form  is  always  individual  and  life-like. 
Much  of  it  is  in  the  best  sense  catholic,  and 
might  be  illustrated  by  parallel  passages  from 
Luther  and  our  own  reformers'  (pref.  to  Eng- 
lish Works,  p.  xxii). 

The  best  portrait  of  Fisher  is  the  drawing 
by  Hans  Holbein  in  the  possession  of  the 
queen.  Another,  by  the  same  artist,  also  of 
considerable  merit,  is  in  the  hall  of  the  master's 
lodge  at  St.  John's  College.  A  third  (sup- 
posed to  have  been  taken  shortly  before  his 
execution)  is  in  the  college  hall.  There  are 
others  at  Queens',  Christ's,  and  Trinity  Col- 
leges. In  the  combination  room  of  St.  John's 
there  are  also  three  different  engravings. 

A  collected  edition  of  Fisher's  Latin  works, 
one  volume  folio,  was  printed  at  Wiirzburg 
in  1597  by  Fleischmann.  This  contains : 
1.  '  The  Assertio  septem  Sacramentorum '  of 
Henry  VIII  against  Luther,  which  finds  a 
place  in  the  collection  as  being  '  Eoffensis 
tamen  hortatu  et  studio  edita.'  2.  Fisher's 
'  Defence '  of  the  '  Assertio,'  1523.  3.  His 
treatise  in  reply  to  Luther,  '  De  Babylonica 
Captivitate,'  1523.  4.  His  '  Confutatio  As- 
sertionis  Lutheranae,'  first  printed  at  Ant- 
werp, 1523.  5.  *  De  Eucharistia  contra  Joan. 
QEcolampadium  libri  quinque,'  first  printed 
1527.  6.  '  Sacri  Sacerdotii  Defensio  contra 
Lutherum.'  7.  l  Convulsio  calumniarum 
Vlrichi  Veleni  Minhoniensis,  quibus  Petrum 
nunquam  Romse  fuisse  cauillatus  est,'  1525. 

8.  *  Concio  Londini  habita  vernacule,  quando 
Lutheri   scripta   publice  igni   tradebantur/ 
translated  by  Kichard  Pace  into  Latin,  1521. 

9.  '  De   unica  Magdalena  libri  tres,'  1519. 
Also  the  following,  which  the  editor  states 
are  printed  for  the  first  time :  10.  '  Commen- 
tarii  in  vii.  Psalmos  poenitentiales,  interprete 
Joanne  Fen  a  monte  acuto.'     11.  Two  ser- 
mons :  (a)  ( De  Passione  Domini,'  (b)  '  De 
Justitia  Pharisaeorum/    12.  f  Methodus  per- 
veniendi  ad  summam  Christianas  religionis 
perfectionem/     13.    'Epistola  ad   Herman- 
num  Lsetmatium  Goudanum  de   Charitate 
Christiana.'     At  the  end  (whether  printed 
before  or  not  does  not  appear)  are  14.  '  De 


Fisher 


Fisher 


Necessitate  Orandi.'     15.  'Psalmi  vel  pre- 
cationes.' 

An  edition  of  his  English,  works  has  been 
undertaken  for  the  Early  English  Text  So- 
ciety by  Professor  John  E.  B.  Mayor,  of 
which  the  first  volume  (1876)  only  has  as 
yet  appeared.  This  contains  the  originals 
of  8,  10,  11  a,  and  12;  the  two  sermons  of 
the  funerals  of  Henry  VII  and  his  mother  ; 
and  '  A  Spiritual  Consolation,'  addressed  to 
Fisher's  sister,  Elizabeth,  during  his  confine- 
ment in  the  Tower.  Of  these,  the  two 
funeral  discourses  and  the  originals  of  8 
and  10  are  reprinted  from  early  editions  by 
Wynkyn  de  Worde.  An  '  Advertisement ' 
to  this  edition  gives  a  valuable  criticism 
by  the  editor  on  Fisher's  theology,  English 
style,  vocabulary,  &c.  The  second  volume, 
containing  the  '  Letters  '  and  the  '  Life  '  by 
Hall,  is  announced,  under  the  editorship  of 
the  Rev.  Ronald  Bayne. 

A  volume  in  the  Rolls  Office  (27  Hen.  VIII, 
No.  887)  contains  the  following  in  Fisher's 
hand:  1,  prayers  in  English;  2,  fragment 
of  a  '  Commentary  on  the  Salutation  of  the 
Virgin  Mary;'  3,  theological  commonplace 
book,  in  Latin ;  4,  draft  treatises  on  di- 
vinity ;  5  and  6,  treatises  on  the  rights 
and  dignity  of  the  clergy ;  7,  observations 
on  the  history  of  the  Septuagint  Version 
(this  annotated  and  corrected  only  by  Fisher). 
He  also  wrote  a  *  History  of  the  Divorce,' 
which,  if  printed,  was  rigidly  suppressed ;  the 
manuscript,  however,  is  preserved  in  the  Uni- 
versity Library,  Cambridge. 

[Fisher's  Life,  professedly  written  by  Thomas 
Baily,  a  royalist  divine,  was  first  published  in 
1665,  and  was  really  written  by  Richard  Hall, 
of  Christ's  College,  Cambridge,  who  died  in  1604 
[see  art.  BAYLY,  THOMAS]  ;  a  manuscript  in  Uni- 
versity Library,  Cambridge,  No.  1266,  contains 
Maurice  Channey's  account  of  the  martyrdoms 
of  More  and  Fisher;  a  considerable  amount  of 
original  matter  is  also  given  in  the  appendices 
to  the  Life  by  the  Kev.  John  Lewis  (a  pos- 
thumous publication),  ed.  T.  Hudson  Turner, 
2  vols.  1855.  The  following  may  also  be  con- 
sulted: The  Funeral  Sermon  of  Margaret,  Coun 
tess  of  Richmond,  with  Baker's  Preface,  ed. 
Hymers,  1840  ;  Baker's  Hist,  of  St.  John's  Col- 
lege, ed.  Mayor,  2  vols.  1869  ;  Cooper's  Memoir 
of  Margaret,  Countess  of  Richmond  and  Derby, 
1874  ;  Early  Statutes  of  the  College  of  St.  John 
the  Evangelist,  ed.  Mayor,  1859;  Mullinger's 
Hist,  of  the  University  of  Cambridge,  vol.  i.  1873 ; 
a  paper  by  Mr.  Bruce  in  Archseologia,  vol.  xxv. ; 
Letters  and  Papers  of  the  Reign  of  Henry  VIII, 
vols.  iv.  to  viii.,  with  Brewer's  and  Gairdner's 
Prefaces  ;  Brewer's  Reign  of  Henry  VIII,  2  vols., 
1 884  ;  T.  E.  Bridgett's  Life  of  Blessed  John 
Fisher,  Bishop  of  Rochester,  Cardinal  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Church,  and  Martyr  under  Henry  VIII, 
London  and  New  York,  1888.]  J.  B.  M. 


FISHER,    JOHN    (1569-1641),  Jesuit, 
whose  real  name  was  PEECY,  son  of  John 
Percy,  yeoman,  and  his  wife,  Cecilia  Lawson, 
was  born  at  Holmside,  co.  Durham,  on  27  Sept. 
1569.     At  fourteen  years  of  age  he  was  re- 
ceived into  the  family  of  a  catholic  lady,  and 
soon  afterwards  joined  the  Roman  church. 
He  then  proceeded  to  the  English  College  at 
Rheims,  where  he  studied  classics  and  rhetoric 
for  three  years.     On  22  Sept.  1589  he  en- 
tered the  English  College  at  Rome  for  his 
higher  studies.     He  was  ordained  priest  on 
13  March  1592-3,  by  papal  dispensation,before 
the  full  canonical  age,  in  consequence  of  the 
want  of  priests  for  the  mission.  After  publicly 
defending  universal  theology  at  the  Roman 
college,  he  was  admitted  into  the  Society  of 
Jesus  by  Father  Aquaviva,  and  began  his  no- 
viceship  at  Tournay  on  14  May  1594.    In  the 
second  yearof  hisnoviceshiphe  was  orderedto 
England  for  the  sake  of  his  health,  which  had 
been  impaired  by  over-application  to  study. 
On  his  way  through  Holland  he  was  seized 
at  Flushing  by  some  English  soldiers  on  sus- 
picion of  being  a  priest,  and  cruelly  treated. 
Immediately  after  his  arrival  in  London  he 
was  arrested  and  committed  to  Bridewell,from 
which  prison,  after  about  seven  months'  con- 
finement, he  succeeded  in  making  his  escape 
through  the  roof,  together  with  two  other 
priests  and  seven  laymen.     In  1596  he  was 
sent  by  Father  Henry  Garnet  t  to  the  north 
of  England,  where  he  laboured  till  1598,  when 
he  was  appointed  companion  to  Father  John 
Gerard  in  Northamptonshire.   In  that  locality 
he  exercised  his  priestly  functions,  and  he  oc- 
casionally visited  Oxford,  where  he  became  ac- 
quainted with  William  Chillingworth  [q.  v.], 
whom  he  persuaded  to  renounce  the  pro- 
testant  faith  (WooD,  Athence  Oxon.  ed.  Bliss, 
iii.  87).     He  was  professed  of  the  four  vows 
in  1603.     For  some  time  he  and  Gerard  re- 
sided first  at  Stoke  Poges,  and  subsequently 
at  Harrowden,  in  the  house  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Vaux,  widow  of  William,  second  son  of  Lord 
Vaux  of  Harrowden.    Fisher  was  afterwards 
chaplain  to  Sir  Everard  Digby_  [q.  v.]     In 
August  1605  he  went  on  a  pilgrimage  to  St. 
Winifred's  well  with  Sir  Everard  Digby's 
wife,  Mrs.  Vaux,  and  others.    He  was  arrested 
in  November  1610,  with  Father  Nicholas 
Hart,  at  Harrowden,was  conveyed  to  London, 
and  committed  to  the  Gatehouse  prison,  and 
after  upwards  of  a  year's  confinement  was 
released  at  the  instance  of  the  Spanish  am- 
bassador, and  with  Father  Hart  sent  into 
banishment.     Both  of  them  had  been  tried 
and  condemned  to  death,  and  had  received 
several  notices  to  prepare  for  execution. 

After  landing  in    Belgium,  Fisher  dis- 
charged the  duties  at  Brussels  of  vice-prefect 


Fisher 


64 


Fisher 


of  the  English  Jesuit  mission,  in  the  absence 
of  Father  Anthony  Hoskins.  He  was  nex 
professor  of  holy  scripture  at  St.  John's 
Louvain.  At  length  he  returned  to  Eng- 
land, but  was  at  once  seized  and  confined  in 
the  new  prison  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames 
He  appears,  however,  to  have  been  allowec 
considerable  freedom  of  action,  and  it  is  saic 
that  during  his  three  years'  confinement  there 
he  reconciled  150  protestants  to  the  Roman 
church.  He  was  famous  for  his  dialectic 
skill,  and  held  several  controversial  confer- 
ences with  eminent  protestant  theologians 
When  James  I  desired  a  series  of  disputations 
to  be  held  before  the  Countess  of  Bucking- 
ham (who  was  leaning  to  Catholicism),  Fisher 
defended  the  catholic  side  against  Francis 
"White,  afterwards  bishop  of  Ely.  The  king 
and  his  favourite  (Buckingham,  the  countess's 
son)  attended  the  conferences,  the  third  and 
last  of  which  was  held  on  24  May  1622,  when 
Laud,  bishop  of  St.  David's  and  afterward 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  replaced  White. 
The  countess  was  converted  by  the  Jesuit, 
whose  arguments,  however,  failed  to  convince 
her  son  and  the  king.  James  himself  proposed 
to  Fisher  nine  points  in  writing  upon  the 
most  prominent  topics  of  the  controversy,  in 
a  document  headed  '  Certain  Leading  Points 
which  hinder  my  Union  with  the  Church  of 
Rome  until  she  reforms  herself,  or  is  able  to 
satisfy  me.'  Fisher's  replies  to  these  ques- 
tions were  revised  by  Father  John  Floyd 
[q. v.]  The  relation  of  the  conference  between 
Laud  and  Fisher  forms  the  second  volume  of 
Laud's  works  (Oxford  1849).  On  27  June 
1623  another  religious  disputation  was  held 
in  the  house  of  Sir  Humphry  Lynde,  between 
Dr.  White,  then  dean  of  Carlisle,  Dr.  Daniel 
Featley,  and  the  Jesuits  Fisher  and  John 
Sweet. 

When  the  king  of  France  gave  his  daugh- 
ter in  marriage  to  Prince  Charles  (afterwards 
Charles  I)  in  1625,  the  French  ambassador 
obtained  a  free  pardon  for  twenty  priests,  in- 
eluding  Fisher,  who  apparently  enjoyed  some 
ten  years  of  liberty  under  the  royal  letters 
of  pardon.  In  December  1634,  however,  he 
was  arrested,  brought  before  the  privy  coun- 
cil at  Whitehall,  and  ordered  to  depart  from 
the  realm,  after  giving  bail  never  to  return. 
As  he  refused  to  find  sureties,  he  was  impri- 
soned in  the  Gatehouse  till  August  1635, 
when  he  was  released  at  the  urgent  interces- 
sion of  the  queen.  During  the  last  two  years 
of  life  he  suffered  severely  from  cancer.  He 
died  in  London  on  3  Dec.  1641. 

His  works  are:  1.  'A  Treatise  of  Faith; 
wherein  is  briefly  and  plainly  shown  a  Direct 
Way  by  which  every  Man  may  resolve  and 
settle  his  Mind  in  all  Doubts,  Questions,  and 


Controversies  concerning  Matters  of  Faith,' 
London,  1600,  St.  Omer,  1614,  8vo.  2.  'A 
Reply  made  unto  Mr.  Anthony  Wotton  and 
Mr.  John  White,  Ministers,  wherein  it  is 
showed  that  they  have  not  sufficiently  an- 
swered the  Treatise  of  Faith,  and  wherein 
also  the  Chief  Points  of  the  said  Treatise  are 
more  clearly  declared  and  more  strongly  con- 
firmed,' St.  Omer,  1612, 4to.  3.  '  A  Challenge 
to  Protestants,  requiring  a  Catalogue  to  be 
made  of  some  Professors  of  their  Faith  in  all 
Ages  since  Christ.'  At  the  end  of  the  pre- 
ceding work.  4.  An  account  of  the  confer- 
ence in  1622,  under  the  initials  A.  C.  Laud 
answered  this  in  a  reply  to  the  *  Exceptions 
of  A.  C.,'  which  is  printed  with  his  own  ac- 
count of  the  conference.  5.  '  An  Answer  to 
a  Pamphlet,  intitvled :  "  The  Fisher  catched 
in  his  owne  Net. ...  By  A.  C.,"'  s.l.  1623,  4to. 
The  pamphlet  by  Daniel  Featley,  to  which  this 
is  areply,  appeared  in  1623,  and  contains'  The 
Occasion  and  Issue  of  the  late  Conference 
had  between  Dr.  White,  Deane  of  Carleil,  and 
Dr.  Featley,  with  Mr.  Fisher  and  Mr.  Sweet, 
Jesuites.'  6.  '  An  Answere  vnto  the  Nine 
Points  of  Controuersy  proposed  by  our  late 
Soveraygne  (of  Famous  Memory)  vnto  M. 
Fisher.  .  .  .  And  the  Rejoinder  vnto  the  Re- 
ply of  D.  Francis  White,  Minister.  With 
the  Picture  of  the  sayd  Minister,  or  Censure 
of  his  Writings  prefixed  '  [St.  Omer],  1625- 
1626,  8vo. 

Among  the  protestant  writers  who  entered 
into  controversy  with  Fisher  were  G.  Walker, 
G.  Webb,  and  Henry  Rogers. 

[De  Backer's  Bibl.  des  Ecrivains  de  la  Com- 
pagnie  de  Jesus  (1869),  i.  1870  ;  Dodd's  Church 
Hist.  ii.  394;  Foley's  Eecords,  i.  521,  vi.  180, 
212,  526,  vii.  585,  1028,  1032,1098;  Gardiner's 
History  of  England,  iv.  279,  281  ;  Heylyn's  Cyp- 
prianus  Anglicus,  p.  95  ;  Lawson's  Life  of  Laud, 
i.  217-19,  ii.  533  ;  Le  Bas'  Life  of  Laud,  p.  55  ; 
More's  Hist.  Missionis  Anglic.  Soc.  Jesu,  p.  378  ; 
Morris's  Condition  of  Catholics  under  James  I  ; 
Oliver's  Jesuit  Collections,  p.  91 ;  Southwell's 
Bibl.  Scriptorum  Soc.  Jesu,  p.  487 ;  Calendar  of 
State  Papers  ;  Tanner's  Societas  Jesu  Aposto- 
orum  Imitatrix,  p.  707;  Wood's  Athense  Oxon. 
Bliss),  iv.  971.]  T.  C. 

FISHER,    JOHN,    D.D.    (1748-1825), 
3ishop  of  Salisbury,  the  eldest  of  the  nine 
sons  of  the  Rev.  John  Fisher,  successively 
sdcar  of  Hampton,  Middlesex,  vicar  of  Peter- 
borough, rector  of  Calbourne,  Isle  of  Wight, 
and  prebendary  of  Preston  in  the  cathedral 
f  Salisbury,  was  born  at  Hampton  in  1748. 
rlis  father  became  chaplain  to  Bishop  Thomas, 
he  preceptor  of  George  III,  on  his  appoint- 
ment to  the  see  of  Peterborough  in  1747,  and 
was  by  him  presented  to  the  incumbency  of 
St.  John  the  Baptist  in  that  city.     The  son 


Fisher 


Fisher 


received  his  early  education  at  the  free  school 
at  Peterborough,  whence  at  the  age  of  four- 
teen he  was  removed  to  St.  Paul's  School,  of 
which  Dr.  Thicknesse  was  then  head-master. 
In  1766  he  passed  to  Peterhouse,  Cambridge, 
on  a  Pauline  exhibition.  Dr.  Edmund  Law, 
afterwards  bishop  of  Carlisle,  was  then  head 
of  the  college,  and  Fisher  became  the  inti- 
mate friend  of  his  two  distinguished  sons, 
afterwards  respectively  Lord -chief-justice 
Ellenborough  and  Bishop  of  Elphin.  He 
took  his  degree  of  B.A.  in  1770,  appearing 
as  tenth  wrangler,  and  being  also  eminent 
for  his  classical  attainments.  In  1773  he 
became  M.A.,  and  in  the  same  year  was  ap- 
pointed to  a  Northamptonshire  fellowship  at 
St.  John's,  of  which  college  he  was  chosen 
tutor,  the  duties  of  which  office,  we  are  told, 
1  he  fulfilled  to  the  great  advantage  of  his 
pupils,  being  distinguished  not  only  for  his 
various  talents,  but  for  the  suavity  of  his 
manners  and  the  peculiarly  felicitous  manner 
in  which  he  conveyed  instruction.'  Fisher 
then  became  private  tutor  to  Prince  Zarto- 
rinski  Poniatowski,  and  to  the  son  of  Arch- 
bishop George  of  Dublin,  and  spent  some 
time  with  Sir  J.  Cradock,  governor  of  the 
Cape,  but  *  deriving  no  great  benefit  from 
these  connections,'  he  undertook  parochial 
work,  as  curate  of  his  native  parish  of  Hamp- 
ton. In  1780  he  became  B.D.,  and  on  the 
recommendation  of  Bishop  Hurd  he  was  ap- 
pointed preceptor  to  Prince  Edward,  after- 
wards Duke  of  Kent,  father  of  Queen  Vic- 
toria, and  became  royal  chaplain  and  deputy 
derk  of  the  closet.  This  appointment  he 
eld  five  years,  until  in  1785  his  royal  pupil 
•vent  to  the  university  of  Gottingen.  On 
•-his  Fisher  visited  Italy,  where  he  became 
mown  to  Mrs.  Piozzi,  who  describes  him  in 
me  of  her  letters  as '  a  charming  creature,  gene- 
•ally  known  in  society  as  "  the  King's  Fisher  " ' 
'  WH ALLEY,  Correspondence,  ii.  367).  The  fol- 
"  owing  year,  14  July,  he  was  recalled  from 
Naples  by  his  nomination  by  the  king  to  a 
ianonry  at  Windsor,  where  he  took  up  his 
residence,  and  in  September  of  the  next  year 
he  married  Dorothea,  the  only  daughter  of 
J.  F.  Scrivener,  esq.,  of  Sibton  Park,  Suffolk, 
by  whom  he  had  one  son  and  two  daughters. 
The  refined  simplicity  and  courteousness  of 
his  manners  and  the  amenity  of  his  temper 
rendered  Fisher  a  favourite  with  George  III, 
whose  esteem  he  also  gained  by  his  unaffected 
piety  and  his  unswerving  fidelity  to  him. 
The  king,  we  are  told,  treated  him  rather  as 
a  friend  than  as  a  subject,  and  reposed  in 
him  almost  unlimited  confidence.  In  1789 
he  took  the  degree  of  D.D.  From  1793  to 
1797  he  held  the  vicarage  of  Stowey,  in  the 
gift  of  the  chapter  of  Windsor.  When  the 

VOL.   XIX. 


bishopric  of  Exeter  became  vacant  by  the 
death  of  Bishop  Courtenay,  Fisher  was  chosen 
by  the  king  to  be  his  successor,  and  was  con- 
secrated in  Lambeth  Chapel,  16  July  1803. 
In  1805  George  III  appointed  him  to  super- 
intend the  education  of  the  Princess  Char- 
lotte of  Wales.  He  fulfilled  the  duty,  we 
are  told,  'with  exemplary  propriety  and 
credit.'  The  autobiography  of  Miss  C.  Knight 
and  other  contemporary  memoirs  give  some 
glimpse  of  the  difficulties  of  this  post,  which 
he  would  have  thrown  up  but  for  his  respect 
for  his  sovereign.  His  union  of  gentleness, 
firmness,  and  patience  carried  him  through. 
His  chief  concern,  we  are  told,  was  to  train 
the  princess  in  the  self-command  naturally 
foreign  to  her.  At  the  outset  of  his  charge 
a  correspondence  sprang  up  between  him  and 
Hannah  More,  who  had  published  anony- 
mously 'Hints  towards  Forming  the  Cha- 
racter of  a  Princess.'  An  interview  took 
place,  and  Hannah  More  records  that '  the 
bishop  appeared  to  have  a  very  proper  notion 
of  managing  his  royal  pupil,  and  of  casting 
down  all  high  imaginations '  (H.  MOKE,  Cor- 
respondence, ed.  Roberts,  iii.  230).  Fisher 
was  no  favourite  with  Miss  C.  Knight,  who 
narrates  that  he  used  to  come  three  or  four 
times  a  week  to l  do  the  important ; '  his  great 
point  being  to  arm  the  princess  against  popery 
and  whiggism,  *  two  evils  which  he  seemed 
to  think  equally  great ; '  she  adds,  what  is 
contradicted  by  all  other  estimates  of  his 
character,  that  '  his  temper  was  hasty,  and 
his  vanity  easily  alarmed.'  His  '  best  ac- 
complishment,' in  this  lady's  opinion,  was  '  a 
taste  for  drawing,  and  a  love  of  the  fine  arts ' 
(Miss  C.  KNIGHT,  Autobiography,  i.  232  sq.) 
Dr.  Parr  gives  the  following  estimate  of  his 
character : — 

Unsoiled  by  courts  and  unseduced  by  zeal, 
Fisher  endangers  not  the  common  weal. 

In  1804  he  accepted  the  office  of  vice- 
president  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society.  In  1807,  on  the  death  of  Bishop 
Douglas,  Fisher  was  translated  from  Exeter 
to  Salisbury,  where  he  won  general  respect 
and  affection  by  his  faithful  and  unobtrusive 
performance  of  his  episcopal  duties.  His 
mode  of  life  was  dignified,  but  unostentatious. 
He  was  very  liberal  in  works  of  charity,  de- 
voting a  large  portion  of  his  episcopal  re- 
venues to  pious  and  beneficent  uses,  leaving 
his  bishopric  no  richer  than  he  came  to  it, 
his  personal  estate  amounting  at  his  death  to 
no  more  than  20,000/.  In  1818  Fisher,  under 
a  commission  from  Bishop  North,  visited 
the  Channel  Islands  for  the  purpose  of  hold- 
ing confirmations  and  consecrating  a  church, 
being  the  first  time,  since  the  islands  were 


Fisher 


66 


Fisher 


placed  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  see 
Winchester,  that  they  had  enjoyed  episcopal 
visitation  (Ann.  Reg.  Ix.  92,  104).  He  died 
in  Seymour  Street,  London,  after  long  pro- 
tracted sufferings  borne  with  exemplary  pa- 
tience, 8  May  1825,  aged  76,  and  was  buried 
at  Windsor.  He  published  nothing  beyond 
his  primary  charge  as  bishop  of  Exeter,  and 
two  or  three  occasional  sermons,  which  were 
given  to  the  world  under  pressure.  In  his 
charge  he  declared  himself  against  intolerant 
treatment  of  Roman  catholics,  but  expressed 
his  opinion  that  bare  toleration  was  all  that 
peaceable  and  conscientious  dissenters  from 
the  established  church  had  any  claim  to.  In 
the  same  charge  he  repudiated  the  alleged 
Calvinism  of  the  church  of  England,  which 
he  said  was  flatly  contradicted  by  the  articles 
of  the  church.  Fisher  was  a  generous  patron 
both  of  authors  and  of  artists,  whom  he  is 
recorded  to  have  treated  with  liberality  and 
unaffected  kindness.  A  portrait  of  him  hangs 
in  the  dining-room  of  the  palace  at  Salisbury. 
Fisher's  only  published  works  are :  1. l  Charge 
at  the  Primary  Visitation  of  the  Diocese  of 
Exeter,'  Exeter,  1805, 4to.  2.  <  Sermon  at  the 
Meeting  of  the  Charity  Children  in  St.  Paul's, 
3  June  1806,'  London,  1806, 4to.  3.  « Sermon 

? reached  before  the  House  of  Lords,  25  Feb. 
807,  on  the  occasion  of  a  General  Fast,  on 
Is.  xl.  31,'  London,  1807,  4to.  4.  'Sermon  in 
behalf  of  the  S.  P.  G.  on  Is.  Ix.  5,'  London, 
1809,  4to.  5.  '  Sermon  preached  at  the  Con- 
secration of  St.  James's  Church,  Guernsey,  on 
Col.  i.  24,'  Guernsey,  1818. 

[Baker's  St.  John's  College,  ed.  Mayor,  p.  731  ; 
Annual  Eegister,  1825,  also  Ivi.  218,  Ix.  92-104  ; 
Imperial  Mag.  August  1825  ;  Gent.  Mag.  1825, 
ii.  82;  Sandford's  Thomas  Poole,  pp.  65,  170, 
241.]  E.  V. 

FISHER,  JOHN  ABRAHAM  (1744- 
1806),  violinist,  son  of  Richard  Fisher,  was 
born  at  Dunstable  in  1744.  He  was  brought 
up  in  Lord  Tyrawley's  house,  learning  the 
violin  from  Pinto,  and  his  appearance  at  the 
King's  Theatre  (1763),  where  he  played  a  con- 
certo, was  '  by  permission '  of  his  patron.  The 
following  year  Fisher  was  enrolled  in  the 
Royal  Society  of  Musicians.  He  matricu- 
lated at  Magdalen  College,  Oxford,  26  June 
1777  (FOSTEK,  Alumni  Oxon.  ii.  465).  His 
indefatigable  industry  obtained  him  the  de- 
grees of  Bac.  and  Doc.  Mus.  on  5  July  1777, 
his  oratorio  'Providence '  being  performed  at 
the  Sheldonian  Theatre  two  days  previously. 
The  work  was  afterwards  heard  several  times 
in  London ;  but  Fisher's  name  as  a  composer 
is  more  closely  connected  with  theatrical  than 
with  sacred  music.  He  became  entitled  to  a 
sixteenth  share  of  Covent  Garden  Theatre  by 
his  marriage  about  1770  with  Miss  Powell, 


daughter  of  a  proprietor.     He  devoted  his 
musical  talent  and  business  energy  to  the 
theatre.     When  his  wife  died  Fisher  sold  his 
share  in  the  theatre,  and  made  a  professional 
tour  on  the  continent,  visiting  France,  Ger- 
many, and  Russia,  and  reaching  Vienna  in 
1784.    The  Tonkiinstler-Societat  employed 
three  languages  in  a  memorandum — '  Mon- 
sieur Fischer,  ein  Engellander  und  virtuoso 
di  Violino' — which  probably  refers  to  the 
stranger's  performance  at  a  concert  of  the 
society.     Fisher  won  favour  also  at  court, 
and  became  as  widely  known  for  his  eccen- 
tricities as  for  his  ingenious  performances. 
It  was  not  long  before  he  drew  odium  upon 
himself  through  his  marriage  with,  and  sub- 
sequent ill-treatment  of,  Anna  Storace,  the 
prima  donna.   The  wedding  had  taken  place 
with  a  certain  amount  of  eclat,  but  when  the 
virtuoso  bullied  and  even  struck  his  bride, 
the  scandal  soon  became  public,  and  a  separa- 
tion followed.  The  emperor  (Joseph)  ordered 
Fisher  to  quit  his  dominion.     Leaving  his 
young  wife  he  sought  refuge  in  Ireland.    The 
cordiality  with  which  his  old  friend  Owen- 
son  welcomed  him  to  Dublin,  his  personal 
appearance,  and  introduction  into  the  family 
circle,  have  been  amusingly  described  by  Lady 
Morgan,  one  of  Owenson's  daughters.   Fisher 
gave  concerts  at  the  Rotunda,  and  occupied 
himself  as  a  teacher.  He  died  in  May  or  June 
1806.  As  an  executant  Fisher  pleased  by  his 
skill  and  fiery  energy.  In  his  youth  he  appears 
to  have  revelled  in  his  command  of  the  instru- 
ment, and  in  his  maturer  years  he  offended  the 
critics  by  a  showiness  that  bordered  on  char- 
latanism.    Among  Fisher's  compositions,  his 
'  Six  Easy  Solos  for  aViolin '  and i  Six  Duettos ' 
were  useful  to  amateurs  of  the  time  ;  while 
his  '  Vauxhall  and  Marybone  Songs,'  in  three 
books,  were  made  popular  by  the  singing  of 
Mrs.  Weichsel,  Vernon,  and  Bellamy.    An- 
other favourite  book  was  a  collection  of  airs 
forming ( A  comparative  View  of  the  English, 
French,  and  Italian  Schools,'  which,  how- 
ever, contains  no  critical  remarks.  The  songs 
In  vain  I  seek  to  calm  to  rest '  and  '  See 
with  rosy  beam  '  deserve  mention.    The '  Six 
Symphonies '  were  played  at  Vauxhall  and 
the  theatres  ;   the  pantomime,  with  music, 
Master  of  the  Woods,'  was  produced  at  Sad- 
ler's Wells ;  the  l  Harlequin  Jubilee '  at  Co- 
vent  Garden,  and,  with  the  t  Sylphs '  and 
the  '  Sirens,'  gave  evidence  of  the  professor's 
facility  in  manufacturing  musicianly  serio- 
comic measures.      The  'Norwood  Gipsies/ 
1  Prometheus,'   'Macbeth,'   and  lastly  *Zo- 
beide/  point  to  a  more  serious  vein,  though 
belonging  equally  to  Fisher's  theatrical  period, 
about  1770-80 ;  but  the  well-written  anthem, 
Seek  ye  the  Lord,'  sung  at  Bedford  Chapel 


Fisher 


67 


Fisher 


and  Lincoln  Cathedral,  is  of  later  date.  Three 
violin  concertos  were  published  at  Berlin 

1782. 

[Grove's  Diet.  i.  530;  Brown's  Biog.  Diet, 
p.  247 ;  A.  B.  C.  Dario,  p.  20  ;  Pohl's  Mozart  and 
Haydn  in  London,  i.  42,  &c. ;  Royal  Society  of 
Musicians,  entry  2  Sept.  1764;  Oxford  Gradu- 
ates, p.  231 ;  Kelly's  Reminiscences,  i.  231 ;  Mu- 
sical World,  1840,  p.  276;  Hanslick's  Geschichte 
des  Coucertwesens  in  Wien,  p.  108  ;  Mount-Edg- 
cumbe's  Reminiscences,  1834,  p.  59;  Clayton's 
Queens  of  Song,  i.  215 ;  Lady  Morgan's  Memoirs, 
1863,  p.  80 ;  Gent.  Mag.  vol.  Ixxvi.  pt.  i.  p. 
587;  Gerber's  Tonkiinstler-Lexikon,  1770,i.418; 
Fisher's  music  in  Brit.  Mus.  Library.]  L.  M.  M. 

FISHER,  SIR  JOHN  WILLIAM  (1788- 
1876),  surgeon,  son  of  Peter  Fisher  of  Perth, 
by  Mary,  daughter  of  James  Kennay  of  York, 
was  born  in  London  30  Jan.  1788,  and  ap- 
prenticed to  John  Andrews,  a  surgeon  en- 
joying a  large  practice.  After  studying  at 
St.  George's  and  Westminster  Hospitals,  he 
was  admitted  member  of  the  Royal  College 
of  Surgeons  in  1809,  became  a  fellow  in  1836, 
and  was  a  member  of  the  council  in  1843. 
The  university  of  Erlangen,  Bavaria,  con- 
ferred on  him  the  degree  of  M.D.  in  1841. 
He  was  appointed  surgeon  to  the  Bow  Street 
patrol  in  1821  by  Lord  Sidmouth,  and  pro- 
moted to  the  post  of  surgeon-in-chief  to  the 
metropolitan  police  force  at  the  time  of  its 
formation  in  1829,  which  position  he  held  un- 
til his  retirement  on  a  pension  in  1865.  He 
was  knighted  by  the  queen  at  Osborne  on 
2  Sept.  1858.  He  was  a  good  practitioner, 
honourable,  hospitable,  and  steadfast  in  duty. 
He  died  at  33  Park  Lane,  London,  22  March 
1876,  and  was  buried  in  Kensal  Green  ceme- 
tery on  29  March,  when  six  of  his  oldest 
medical  friends  were  the  pallbearers.  His 
will  was  proved  on  22  April,  the  personalty 
being  sworn  under  50,000/.  He  married, 
first,  18  April  1829,  Louisa  Catherine,  eldest 
daughter  of  William  Haymes  of  Kibworth 
Harcourt,  Leicestershire,  she  died  in  London, 
5  Oct.  1860;  and  secondly,  18  June  1862, 
Lilias  Stuart,  second  daughter  of  Colonel 
Alexander  Mackenzie  of  Grinnard,  Ross- 
shire. 

[Proceedings  of  Royal  Medical  and  Chirurgi- 
cal  Soc.  (1880),  viii.  173-4  ;  Illustrated  London 
News,  1  April  1876,  p.  335,  and  27  May,  p.  527  ; 
Lancet,  1  April  1876,  p.  515.]  G.  C.  B. 

FISHER,  JONATHAN  (d.  1812),  land- 
scape-painter, was  a  native  of  Dublin,  and 
originally  a  draper  in  that  city.  Having  a 
taste  for  art,  he  studied  it  by  himself,  and 
eventually  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  pa- 
tronage of  the  nobility.  He  produced  some 
landscapes  which  were  clever  attempts  to  re- 


produce  nature,  but  were  too  mechanical  and 
cold  in  colour  to  be  popular.  They  were, 
however,  very  well  suited  for  engraving,  and 
a  set  of  views  of  Carlingford  Harbour  and 
its  neighbourhood  were  finely  engraved  by 
Thomas  Vivares,  James  Mason,  and  other 
eminent  landscape  engravers  of  the  day.  In 
1792  Fisher  published  a  folio  volume  called 
<  A  Picturesque  Tour  of  Killarney,  consist- 
ing of  20  views  engraved  in  aquatinta,  with 
a  map,  some  general  observations,  &c.'  He 
also  published  other  illustrations  of  scenery 
in  Ireland.  Fisher  did  not  find  art  profitable, 
but  was  fortunate  enough  to  obtain  a  situa- 
tion in  the  Stamp  Office,  Dublin,  which  he 
continued  to  hold  up  to  his  death  in  1812. 
There  is  a  landscape  by  Fisher  in  the  South 
Kensington  Museum,  '  A  View  of  Lyming- 
ton  River,  with  the  Isle  of  Wight  in  the 
distance.'  A  painting  by  him  of '  The  Schom- 
berg  Obelisk  in  the  Boyne '  was  in  the  Irish 
Exhibition  at  London  in  1888. 

[Redgrave's  Diet,  of  Artists;  Catalogues  of  the 
South  Kensington  Museum  and  the  Irish  Exhi- 
bition, 1888  ;  Lowndes's  Bibl.  Man. ;  engravings 
in  Print  Room,  Brit.  Mus.]  L.  C. 

FISHER,  JOSEPH  (rf.1705),  archdeacon 
of  Carlisle,  was  born  at  Whitbridge,  Cum- 
berland, and  matriculated  at  Queen's  College, 
Oxford,  in  Michaelmas  term  1674 :  took  his 
B.A.  degree  8  May  1679,  his  M.A.  6  July 
1682,  was  fellow  of  that  college,  and  on  the 
death  of  Christopher  Harrison,  1695,  was  pre- 
sented to  the  rectory  of  Brough  or  Burgh- 
under-Stanmore, Westmoreland.  Before  that 
time  he  had  filled  the  office  of  lecturer  or 
curate,  living  in  a  merchant's  house  in  Broad 
Street,  London,  to  be  near  his  work.  At  this 
place  he  wrote,  1695,  the  dedicatory  epistle 
to  his  former  pupil  Thomas  Lambard,  pre- 
facing his  printed  sermon,  preached  27  Jan. 
1694  at  Sevenoaks,  Kent,  on  '  The  Honour 
of  Marriage,'  from  Heb.  xiii.  4.  This  is  his 
only  literary  production,  although  we  are 
told  that  he  was  well  skilled  in  Hebrew  and 
the  oriental  languages.  On  the  promotion  of 
William  Nicolson  [q.  v.]  to  the  see  of  Carlisle, 
the  archdeaconry  was  accepted  by  Fisher 
9  July  1702,  and  his  installation  took  place 
14  July.  To  the  archdeaconry  was  attached 
the  living  of  St.  Cuthbert,  Great  Salkeld, 
which  he  held  in  conjunction  with  Brough 
till  his  death,  which  took  place  early  in  1705. 
He  was  succeeded  in  office  by  George  Fleming 
[q.  v.],  afterwards  Sir  George  Fleming,  bishop 
of  Carlisle,  28  March  1705.  He  was  buried 
at  Brough. 

[Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  ed.  Bliss,  i.  539; 
Nicolson's  and  Burn's  Hist,  of  Westmoreland 
and  Cumberland,  i.  569  ;  Le  Neve's  Fasti  Eccles. 

F2 


Fisher 


68 


Fisher 


Angl. ;  Watt's  Bibl.  Brit.  1824 ;  Willis's  Survey 
of  Cathedrals,  i.  307 ;  Jefferson's  Antiquities  of 
Cumberland,  i.  266.]  E.  C.  S. 

FISHER,  MARY  (/.  1652-1697), 
quakeress,  was  born  in  a  village  near  York 
about  1623.  She  joined  the  Friends  before 
1652,  in  which  year'she  was  admitted  a  quaker 
minister.  Shortly  afterwards  she  was  im- 
prisoned in  York  Castle  for  having  addressed 
a  congregation  at  Selby  at  the  close  of  public 
worship.  This  imprisonment  lasted  for  sixteen 
months,  during  which  she  wrote  with  four 
fellow-prisoners  a  tract  called  'False  Pro- 
phets and  Teachers  Described.'  Immediately 
after  her  release  she  proceeded  on  a  mis- 
sionary journey  to  the  south  and  east  of  Eng- 
land, in  company  with  Elizabeth  Williams, 
a  quaker  minister.  At  the  close  of  1653  they 
visited  Cambridge,  and,  preaching  in  front  of 
Sidney  Sussex  College,  were  stoned  by  the 
'  scholars/  whom  Mary  Fisher  irritated  by 
terming  the  college  a  cage  of  unclean  birds. 
The  Friends  were  apprehended  as  disorderly 
persons  by  the  mayor  of  Cambridge,  who 
ordered  them  to  be  whipped  at  the  mar- 
ket cross  'until  the  blood  ran  down  their 
"bodies.'  The  sentence  was  executed  with 
much  barbarity.  This  is  the  first  instance  of 
quakers  being  publicly  flogged.  Shortly  after- 
wards Mary  Fisher '  felt  called  to  declare  the 
truth  in  the  steeple-house  at  Pontefract,'  and 
for  so  doing  was  imprisoned  for  six  months 
in  York  Castle,  at  the  completion  of  which 
term  she  was  imprisoned  for  another  period 
of  three  months,  at  the  request  of  the  mayor 
of  Pontefract,  for  being  unrepentant  and  re- 
fusing to  give  securities  for  good  behaviour. 
In  1655,  while  travelling  in  the  ministry  in 
Buckinghamshire,  she  was  also  imprisoned 
for  several  months  for  l  giving  Christian  ex- 
hortation '  to  a  congregation.  Later  in  this 
year  she  t  felt  moved '  to  visit  the  West  Indies 
and  New  England.  On  her  arrival,  accom- 
panied by  Ann  Austin,  at  Boston  the  autho- 
rities refused  to  allow  them  to  land,  and 
searched  their  "baggage  for  books  and  papers, 
confiscating  more  than  a  hundred  volumes, 
which  were  destroyed.  The  quakeresses  then 
disembarked  and  were  kept  in  close  confine- 
ment in  the  common  gaol,  the  master  of  the 
ship  which  brought  them  being  compelled  to 
pay  for  their  support  and  to  give  a  bond  that 
he  would  remove  them.  During  their  impri- 
sonment they  were  deprived  of  writing  mate- 
rials, and  their  beds  and  bibles  were  confis- 
cated by  the  gaoler  for  his  fees.  They  were 
stripped  naked  to  see  if  they  had  witch-marks 
on  their  persons,  and  would  have  been  starved 
if  some  inhabitants  had  not  bribed  the  gaoler 
to  be  allowed  to  feed  them.  Mary  Fisher 
returned  to  England  in  1657,  visiting  the 


West  Indies  again  at  the  end  of  that  year. 
In  1660  she  deemed  it  her  duty  to  attempt 
to  convert  Mahomet  IV,  and  for  that  purpose- 
made  a  long  and  hazardous  journey,  largely 
on  foot,  to  Smyrna,  where  she  was  ordered 
to  return  home  by  the  English  representative-- 
She retraced  her  steps  to  Venice,  and  at  length- 
succeeded  in  reaching  Adrianople,  where  the- 
sultan  lay  encamped  with  his  army.  The- 
grand  vizier,  hearing  that  an  Englishwoman 
had  arrived  with  a  message  from  the  '  Great 
God  to  the  sultan/  kindly  offered  to  procure- 
her  an  interview  with  the  sultan,  which  he- 
did.  Mary  spoke  through  an  interpreter, 
whom  the  sultan  heard  with  much  patience- 
and  gravity,  and  when  she  had  concluded 
acknowledged  the  truth  of  what  she  said  and! 
offered  her  an  escort  of  soldiers  to  Constan- 
tinople, which  she  declined.  He  then  asked 
her  what  she  thought  of  Mahomet,  '  a  pitfall 
she  avoided  by  declaring  that  she  knew  hint 
not.'  She  afterwards  journeyed  on  foot  to- 
Constantinople,  where  she  obtained  passage- 
in  a  ship  to  England.  In  1662  she  married 
William  Bayley  of  Poole,  a  quaker  minister 
and  master  mariner,  who  was  drowned  at  sea 
in  1675,  and  by  whom  she  is  believed  to  have- 
had  issue.  During  his  lifetime  she  appears 
to  have  chiefly  exercised  her  ministry  in  Dor- 
setshire and  the  adjacent  counties.  Her '  tes- 
timony concerning  her  deceased  husband r 
appears  at  the  end  of  Bayley's  collected  writ- 
ings in  1676.  In  1678  she  married  John 
Cross,  a  quaker  of  London,  in  which  town 
she  resided  until — when  uncertain — they  emi- 
grated to  America.  In  1697  she  was  living  at 
Charlestown,  South  Carolina,  where  she  en- 
tertained Richard  Barrow,  a  quaker,  after  he 
had  been  shipwrecked,  and  from  a  letter  of 
Barrow's  it  appears  she  was  for  a  second  time- 
a  widow.  No  later  particulars  of  her  life  are* 
known.  Mary  Fisher  was  a  devoted,  untiring, 
and  successful  minister,  and  Croese  describes; 
her  as  having  considerable  intellectual  fa- 
culties, which  were  greatly  adorned  by  the- 
gravity  of  her  deportment. 

[Croese's  Hist,  of  the  Quakers,  ii.  1 24 ;  Besse's 
Sufferings,  &c.  i.  85,  ii.  85,  &c. ;  Manuscript 
Sufferings  of  the  Friends ;  Manuscript  Testimony 
of  the  Yearly  Meeting  (London) ;  Neal's  Hist,  of 
New  England,  i.  292 ;  Minutes  of  the  Two  Weeks' 
Meeting  (London) ;  Bowden's  Hist,  of  the  Friends 
in  America,  i.  35  ;  Smith's  Friends'  Books,  i.  22O, 
612  ;  Sewel's  Hist,  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  ed. 
1853,  i.  440,  ii.  225  ;  Bishop's  New  England 
Judged.]  A.  C.  B. 

FISHER,  PAYNE  (1616-1693),  poetr 
son  of  Payne  Fisher,  one  of  the  captains  in 
the  royal  life  guard  while  Charles  I  was  in 
Oxfordshire,  and  grandson  of  Sir  William 
Fisher,  knight,  was  born  at  Warnford,  Dor- 


Fisher 


69 


Fisher 


.setshire,  in  the  house  of  his  maternal  grand- 
father, Sir  Thomas  Neale.  He  matriculated 
at  Hart  Hall,  Oxford,  in  Michaelmas  term, 
1634 ;  three  years  after  he  removed  to  Magda- 
lene College,  Cambridge.  While  at  Cambridge 
he  first  developed  (  a  rambling  head '  and  a 
turn  for  verse-making  (WooD,  Athencs^liss, 
iv.  377).  He  quitted  the  university  very 
speedily,  about  1638,  and  entered  the  army  in 
the  Netherlands.  There  he  fought  in  the  de- 
fence of  Boduc,  but,  returning  to  England 
•before  long,  enlisted  as  an  ensign  in  the  army 
raised  (1639)  by  Charles  I  against  the  Scots, 
and  during  this  campaign  made  acquaintance 
with  the  cavalier  poet,  Lovelace.  Subse- 
quently Fisher  took  service  in  Ireland,  where 
he  rose  to  the  rank  of  captain,  and,  returning 
about  1644,  was  made,  by  Lord  Chichester's 
influence,  sergeant-major  of  a  foot  regiment 
in  the  royalist  army.  By  Rupert's  command 
3ie  marched  at  the  head  of  three  hundred  men 
to  relieve  York,  and  was  present  at  Marston 
Moor,  but,  finding  himself  on  the  losing  side, 
Tie  deserted  the  royalist  cause  after  the  battle, 
.and  retired  to  London,  where  he  lived  as  best 
he  could  by  his  pen. 

Fisher's  first  poem,  published  in  1650,  cele- 
brating the  parliamentary  victory  of  Mars- 
ton  Moor,  was  entitled  '  Marston  Moor, 
Eboracense  carmen;  cum  quibusdam  mis- 
cellaneis  opera  studioque  Pagani  Piscatoris, 
»  .  .'  London,  1650,  4to.  He  always  wrote 
under  the  above  sobriquet,  or  that  of  Fitz- 
paganus  Fisher.  By  his  turn  for  Latin 
r/erse  and  his  adulatory  arts,  or,  as  Wood 
termed  it,  by  his  ability  '  to  shark  money 
from  those  who  delighted  to  see  their  names 
in  print,'  Fisher  soon  became  the  fashion- 
able poet  of  his  day.  He  was  made  poet- 
laureate,  or  in  his  own  words  after  the  Re- 
storation, *  scribbler '  to  Oliver  Cromwell, 
and  his  pen  was  busily  employed  in  the  ser- 
vice of  his  new  master.  He  wrote  not  only 
Latin  panegyrics  and  congratulatory  odes  on 
the  Protector,  dedicating  his  works  to  Brad- 
shaw  and  the  most  important  of  the  parlia- 
mentary magnates,  but  also  composed  a  con- 
stant succession  of  elegies  and  epitaphs  on 
the  deaths  of  their  generals.  Thus  the  '  Ire- 
nodia  Gratulatoria,  sive  illus.  amplissimique 
Oliveri  Cromwellii  .  .  .  Epinicion,' London, 
1652,  was  dedicated  to  the  president  (Brad- 
shaw)  and  the  council  of  state,  and  concluded 
with  odes  on  the  funerals  of  Ludlow  and 
Popham  (London,  1652).  To  another, '  Veni 
vidi,  vici,  the  Triumphs  of  the  most  Excel- 
lent and  Illustrious  Oliver  Cromwell  .  .  . 
set  forth  in  a  panegyric,  written  in  Latin, 
and  faithfully  done  into  English  verse  by  T. 
Manly '  (London,  1652,  8vo),  was  added  an 
elegy  upon  the  death  of  Ireton,  lord  deputy  of 


Ireland.  The  '  Inauguratio  Oliveriana,  with 
other  poems'  (Lond.  1654, 4to),  was  followed 
the  next  year  by  '  Oratio  Anniversaria  in  die 
Inaugurations  .  .  .  Olivari  .  .  .'  (London, 
1655,  fol.),  and  again  other  panegyrics  on  the 
second  anniversary  of  <  his  highness's '  inau- 
guration (the '  Oratio  .  .  .'  and '  Paean  Trium- 
phalis,'  both  London,  1657).  To  the  'Paean' 
was  added  an  epitaph  on  Admiral  Blake, 
which,  like  most  of  Fisher's  odes  and  elegies, 
was  also  published  separately  as  a  '  broad- 
sheet '  (see  list  in  WOOD,  ed.  Bliss,  Athence 
Oxon.  iv.  377,  &c.)  He  celebrated  the  vic- 
tory of  Dunkirk  in  an  '  Epinicion  vel  elo- 
gium  .  .  .  Ludovici  XIIII  .  .  .  pro  nuperis 
victoriis  in  Flandria,  praecipue  pro  desidera- 
tissima  reductione  Dunkirkae  captaa  .  .  .  sub 
confcederatis  auspiciis  Franco-Britannorum ' 
(London  ?  1655  ?).  The  book  has  a  portrait 
of  the  French  king  in  the  beginning,  and 
French  verses  in  praise  of  the  author  at  the 
end.  Fisher  afterwards  presented  Pepys  with 
a  copy  of  this  work  *  with  his  arms,  and  de- 
dicated to  me  very  handsome '  (PEPYS,  Diary \ 
ed.  1849,  i.  118,  121, 122).  It  was  a  usual 
habit  of  the  poet's  to  put  different  dedica- 
tions to  such  of  his  works  as  might  court 
the  favour  of  the  rich  and  powerful.  His 
'vain,  conceited  humour'  was  so  notorious 
that  when  he  once  attempted  to  recite  a 
Latin  elegy  on  Archbishop  Ussher  in  Christ 
Church  Hall,  Oxford  (17  April  1656),  the 
undergraduates  made  such  a  tumult  that  he 
never  attempted  another  recitation  at  the 
university.  He  printed  '  what  he  had  done ' 
in  the  '  Mercurius  Politicus  '  (1658),  which 
called  forth  some  satire  doggerel  from  Samuel 
Woodford  in  '  Naps  upon  Parnassus '  (1658) 
(see  WOOD).  It  was  not  till  1681  that  the 
elegy  on  Ussher  was  separately  issued,  and 
then  an  epitaph  on  the  Earl  of  Ossory  was 
printed  with  it.  With  the  return  of  the 
Stuarts  the  time-server  turned  his  coat,  and 
his  verses  were  now  as  extravagant  in  praise 
of  the  king  as  they  had  been  of  the  Protec- 
tor. His  most  despicable  performance  was  a 
pamphlet  entitled  *  The  Speeches  of  Oliver 
Cromwell,  Henry  Ireton,  and  John  Bradshaw, 
intended  to  have  been  spoken  at  their  exe- 
cution at  Tyburne  30  June  1660,  but  for 
many  weightie  reasons  omitted,  published  by 
Marchiament  Needham  and  Pagan  Fisher, 
servants,  poets,  and  pamphleteers  to  his  In- 
fernal Highness,'  1660,  4to  (Bodl.)  Fisher's 
character  was  too  notorious  for  him  to  gain 
favour  by  his  palpable  flatteries,  and  he  lived 
poor  and  out  of  favour  after  the  Restoration. 
He  spent  several  years  in  the  Fleet  prison, 
whence  he  published  two  works  on  the  monu- 
ments in  the  city  churches,  written  before 
or  just  after  the  great  fire,  and  therefore  of 


Fisher 


Fisher 


some  value.  The  first  of  these  compilations 
is  '  A  Catalogue  of  most  of  the  Memorable 
Tombs,  &c.,  in  the  Demolisht  or  yet  extant 
Churches  of  London  from  St.  Katherine's  be- 
yond the  Tower  to  Temple  Barre,'  written 
1666,  published  1668,  '  two  years  after  the 
great  fire,'  London,  4to.  The  second  is  '  The 
Tombs,  Monuments,  and  Sepulchral  Inscrip- 
tions lately  visible  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  .  .  . 
by  Major  P.  F.,  student  in  antiquity,  grand- 
child to  the  late  Sir  William  Fisher  and  that 
most  memorable  knight,  Sir  Thomas  Neale,  by 
his  wife,  Elizabeth,  sister  to  that  so  publick- 
spirited  patriot,  the  late  Sir  Thomas  Freke ' 
of  Shroton,  Dorsetshire ;  from  the  Fleet,  with 
dedication  to  Charles  II,  after  the  fire,  Lon- 
don, 1684,  4to.  Several  editions  were  pub- 
lished of  both  these  catalogues ;  the  latest 
is  that  revised  and  edited  by  G.  B.  Morgan, 
entitled  'Catalogue  of  the  Tombs  in  the 
Churches  of  the  City  of  London,' 1885.  Fisher 
died  in  great  poverty  in  a  coffee-house  in 
the  Old  Bailey  2  April  1693,  and  was  buried 
6  April  in  a  yard  belonging  to  the  church  of 
St.  Sepulchre's. 

Besides  the  works  above  enumerated,  and 
a  quantity  of  other  odes  and  epitaphs  (see 
list  in  WOOD  and  Brit.  Mus.  Cat.),  Fisher 
edited  poems  on  several  choice  and  various 
subjects,  occasionally  imparted  by  an  eminent 
author  [i.  e.  James  Howell,  q.  v.] ;  collected 
and  published  by  Sergeant-major  P.  F.,  Lon- 
don, 1663;  the  second  edition,  giving  the 
author's  name,  is  entitled  *  Mr.  Howel's 
Poems  upon  divers  emergent  occasions,'  and 
dedicated  to  Dr.  Henry  King,  bishop  of  Chi- 
chester,  with  a  preface  by  Fisher  about 
Howell,  whom  he  describes  as  having  '  as- 
serted the  royal  rights  in  divers  learned 
tracts,'  London,  1664,  8vo.  Fisher  also  pub- 
lished :  1.  '  Deus  et  Ilex,  Rex  et  Episcopus,' 
London,  1675, 4to.  2.  l  Elogia  Sepulchralia,' 
London,  1675,  a  collection  of  some  of  Fisher's 
many  elegies.  3.  '  A  Book  of  Heraldry,'  Lon- 
don, 1682, 8vo.  4.  '  The  Anniversary  of  his 
Sacred  Majesty's  Inauguration,  in  Latin  and 
English ;  from  the  Fleet,  under  the  generous 
jurisdiction  of  R.  Manlove,  warden  thereof,' 
London,  1685. 

Winstanley  sums  up  Fisher's  character  in 
the  following  words :  '  A  notable  undertaker 
in  Latin  verse,  and  had  well  deserved  of  his 
country,  had  not  lucre  of  gain  and  private 
ambition  overswayed  his  pen  to  favour  suc- 
cessful rebellion.'  Winstanley  adds  that 
he  had  intended  to  '  commit  to  memory  the 
monuments  in  the  churches  in  London  and 
Westminster,  but  death  hindered  him'  (Lives 
of  the  Poets,  pp.  192,  193). 

[Chalmers's  Biog.  Diet.  p.  433  ;  Cat.  of  Printed 
Books  in  Brit.  Mus.;  Bodleian  Cat.]  E.  T.  B. 


FISHER,  SAMUEL  (1605-1665), 
quaker,  son  of  John  Fisher,  a  hatter  in  North- 
ampton, was  born  in  Northampton  in  1605. 
After  attending  a  local  school  he  matricu- 
lated at  Trinity  College,  Oxford,  in  1623,  and 
graduated  B.A.  in  1627.  Being  puritanic- 
ally inclined  he  removed  to  New  Inn  Hall, 
whence  he  proceeded  M.A.  in  1630.  Creese- 
(Gen.  Hist,  of  Quakers,  p.  63,  ed.  1696)  says 
he  was  chaplain  to  a  nobleman  for  a  short 
time,  and  became  a  confirmed  puritan.  In 
1632  he  was  presented  to  the  lectureship  of 
Lydd,  Kent,  a  position  variously  estimated 
as  being  worth  from  two  to  five  hundred 
pounds  a  year.  Wood  (Athence  Oxon.  iii.  700, 
ed.  1813)  says  he  was  presented  to  the  vicar- 
age of  Lydd,  but  the  register  shows  this  to 
be  incorrect.  He  rapidly  obtained  the  cha- 
racter of  a  powerful  preacher,  and  was  a 
leader  among  the  puritans  of  the  district.  In 
his  '  Baby-Baptism  '  (p.  12)  Fisher  states  that 
he  was  made  a  priest  (?  presbyter)  by  certain* 
presby terian  divines  after  episcopacy  was  laid 
aside.  While  at  Lydd  Fisher  took  a  warm 
part  in  favour  of  some  anabaptists,  attend- 
ing their  meetings  and  offering  them  the  use 
of  his  pulpit,  in  which  he  was  stopped  by  the 
churchwardens.  About  1643  he  returned 
his  license  to  the  bishop  and  joined  the  bap- 
tists, with  whom  he  had  for  some  time  con- 
sorted, supporting  himself  by  farming.  He 
was  rebaptised,  and  after  taking  an  active* 
part  in  the  baptist  community  became  minis- 
ter to  a  congregation  at  Ashford,  Kent,  some 
time  previous  to  1649,  in  which  year  he  was 
engaged  in  a  controversy  on  infant  baptism 
with  several  ministers  in  the  presence  of  over 
two  thousand  people.  He  also  disputed  with 
Dr.  Channel  at  Petworth,  Sussex,  in  1651,  and 
was  engaged  in  at  least  eight  other  disputes 
within  three  years,  and  is  said  to  have  been 
considered  a  '  great  honour  to  the  baptist 
cause'  (CROSBY,  Hist,  of  the  Baptists,  i.  363). 
He  wrote  several  tractates  in  defence  of  his 
principles,  and  'Baby-Baptism  meer  Babism/ 
In  1654  William  Coton  and  John  Stubbs, 
while  on  a  visit  to  Lydd,  stayed  at  Fisher's 
house,  and  convinced  him  of  the  truth  of 
quakerism.  Shortly  afterwards  he  joined 
the  Friends,  among  whom  he  subsequently 
became  a  minister,  probably  before  his  meet- 
ing with  George  Fox  at  Romney  in  1655. 
On  17  Sept.  1656  Fisher  attended  the  meet- 
ing of  parliament,  and  when  the  Protector 
stated  that  to  his  knowledge  no  man  in  Eng- 
land had  suffered  imprisonment  unjustly  at- 
tempted a  reply.  He  was  prevented  com- 
pleting his  speech,  which  he  afterwards  pub- 
lished. He  subsequently  attempted  to  ad- 
dress the  members  of  parliament  at  a  fast-day 
service  in  St.  Margaret's  Church,  Westmin- 


Fisher 


Fisher 


ster.     He  appears  to  have  laboured  chiefly  in 
Kent,  in  which  county  Besse  (Sufferings,  i. 
289)  says  he  was  '  much  abused '  in  1658,  and 
in  1659  he  was  pulled  out  of  a  meeting  at 
Westminster  by  his  hair  and  severely  beaten. 
In  May  of  this  year  he  went  to  Dunkirk  with 
Edward  Burrough  [q.  v.],  when  the  authori- 
ties ordered  them  to  leave  the  town.     They 
declined,  and  were  then  directed  to  be  mode- 
rate.    After  unsuccessfully  endeavouring  to 
promulgate  their  doctrines  to  the  monks  and 
nuns  for  a  few  days  they  returned  to  Eng- 
land.    During  the  following  year  Fisher  and 
Stubbs  made  a  journey  to  Rome,  travelling 
over  the  Alps  on  foot,  where  they  '  testified 
against  popish  superstition '  to  several  of  the 
cardinals,  and  distributed  copies  of  quaker 
literature,  nor  were  they  molested  or  even 
warned.  ~Wood(Athence  Oxon.  iii.  700)  states 
that  when  Fisher  returned  he  had  a  l  very 
genteel  equipage,'  which,  as  his  means  were 
known  to  be  very  small,  caused  him  to  be 
suspected  of  being  a  Jesuit  and  in  receipt  of 
a  pension  from  the  pope,  and  Fisher  seems 
to  have  undergone  some  amount  of  persecu- 
tion from  this  cause.     Wood  also  states  that 
this  journey  took  place  in  1658,  and  that  it 
extended  to  Constantinople,  whither  Fisher 
went,  hoping  to  convert  the  sultan.  In  1660 
Fisher  held  a  dispute  with  Thomas  Danson 
at  Sandwich,  in  which  he  defended  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Friends  (see  Rusticus  ad  Aca- 
demicos}, and  later  in  this  year  he  was  im- 
prisoned in  Newgate.     The  rest  of  his  life 
was  chiefly  spent  in  or  near  London,  where 
he  was  a  successful  preacher.    In  1661  he  was 
imprisoned  and  treated  with  much  severity 
in  the  Gatehouse  at  Westminster.  In  1662  he 
was  arrested  and  sent  to  the  Bridewell  for 
being  present  at  an  illegal  meeting.     He  was 
again  sent  to  Newgate  for  refusing  to  take 
the  oaths,  and  was  detained  for  upwards  of 
a  year,  during  which  time  he  occupied  him- 
self in  writing  '  The  Bishop  busied  beside  the 
Business.'    During  part  of  this  imprisonment 
he  was  confined  with  other  prisoners  in  a  room 
so  small  that  they  were  unable  to  lie  down  at 
the  same  time.  I  Shortly  after  his  discharge  he 
was  again  arrested  at  Charlwood,  Surrey,  and 
committed  to  the  White  Lion  Prison,  South- 
wark,  where  he  was  confined  for  about  two 
years.   During  the  great  plague  he  was  tem- 
porarily released,  and  retired  to  the  house  of 
Ann  Travers,  a  quakeress  at  Dalston,  near 
London,  where  he  died  of  the  plague  on 
31  Aug.  1665.     His  place  of  burial  is  uncer- 
tain.  Fisher's  works  show  him  to  have  been  a 
man  of  considerable  erudition  and  some  lite- 
rary skill,  but  they  are  disfigured  by  violence 
and  coarseness.    They  were,  however,  quaker 
text-books  for  more  than  a  century.    He  was 


skilful  in  argument,  had  no  little  logical 
acumen,  and  great  controversial  powers. 
Sewel  asserts  that  he  was  '  dextrous  and 
well  skilled  in  the  ancient  poets  and  Hebrew/ 
His  private  life  appears  to  have  been  above 
reproach,  and  the  '  testimonies '  of  the  Friends 
unite  in  giving  him  a  high  personal  charac- 
ter. William  Penn,  who  was  intimately  ac- 
quainted with  him,  praises  his  sweetness  and 
evenness  of  temper,  his  self-denial  and  hu- 
mility, and  Besse  declares  that  he  excelled 
in  <  natural  parts  and  acquired  abilities,'  and 
that  he  '  incessantly  laboured  by  word  and 
writing.'  His  more  important  works  are: 
1. '  Baby-Baptism  meerBabism,  or  an  Answer 
to  Nobody  in  Five  Words,  to  Everybody  who 
finds  himself  concerned  in  it.  (1)  Anti- 
Diabolism,  or  a  True  Account  of  a  Dispute  at 
Ashford  proved  a  True  Counterfeit ;  (2)  An- 
ti-Babism,  or  the  Babish  Disputings  of  the 
Priests  for  Baby-Baptism  Disproved;  (3)  An- 
ti-Rantism,  or  Christ'ndome  Unchrist'nd; 
(4)  Anti-Ranterism,  or  Christ'ndome  New 
Christ'nd;  (5)  Anti-Sacerdotism  the  deep 
dotage  of  the  D.D.  Divines  Discovered,  or 
the  Antichristian  C.C.  Clergy  cleared  to  be 
that  themselves  which  they  have  ever  charged 
Christ's  Clergy  to  be,'  &c.,  1653.  2.  <  Chris- 
tianismus  Redivivus,  Christ'ndom  both  un- 
christ'ned  and  new-christ'ned,'  &c.,  1655. 
3.  <  The  Scorned  Quaker's  True  and  Honest 
Account,  both  why  and  what  he  should  have 
spoken  (as  to  the  sum  and  substance  thereof) 
by  commission  from  God,  but  that  he  had 
not  permission  from  Men,'  &c.,  1656.  4.  'The 
Burden  of  the  Word  of  the  Lord,  as  it  was 
declared  in  part,  and  as  it  lay  upon  me  from 
the  Lord  on  the  19th  day  of  the  4th  mo. 
1656,  to  declare  it  more  fully,'  &c.,  1656. 
5.  '  Rusticus  ad  Academicos  in  Exercita- 
tionibus  Expostulatoriis,  Apologeticis  Qua- 
tuor.  The  Rusticks  Alarm  to  the  Rabbies, 
or  the  Country  correcting  the  University  and 
Clergy/  &c.,  1660.  6.  '  An  Additional  Ap- 
pendix to  the  book  entitled  "  Rusticus  ad 
Academicos," '  1660.  7.  i  Lux  Christi  emer- 
gens,  oriens,  eft'ulgens,  ac  seipsam  expandens 
per  universum,'  &c.,  1660.  8.  l  One  Antidote 
more  against  that  provoking  Sin  of  Swearing,' 
&C.,  1661.  9.  '  'AiroKpVTTTa  aTro/mXvTrra,  Ve- 
lata  Qusedam Revelata,'  &c.,  1661.  10.  ' 'ETTI- 
O-KOTTOS  d-rroa-KOTTos ;  the  Bishop  Busied  beside 
the  Businesse,'  &c.,  1662.  The  foregoing 
works  with  many  less  important  were  re- 
printed in  1679  under  the  title  of  '  The  Tes- 
timony of  Truth  Exalted,'  &c.,  folio. 

[Wood's  Athenae  Oxon.  iii.  700  ;  Fasti,  i.  430, 
ed.  1813;  Croese's  General  Hist,  of  the  Quakers, 
p.  63,  ed.  1696  ;  Sewel's  Hist,  of  the  Quakers, 
vols.  i.  ii.  and  iii.  1833  ;  (rough's  Hist,  of  the 
Quakers,  i.  253  ;  Besse's  Sufferings,  i.  289,  366 ; 


Fisher 


Fisher 


"Wood's  Hist,  of  the  General  Baptists  ;  Crosby's 
Hist,  of  the  Baptists,  i.  359  ;  Britton  and  Bray- 
ley's  Description  of  the  County  of  Northampton ; 
Tuke's  Biographical  Notices  of  ...  Friends,  ii. 
221,  ed.  1815;  W.  and  T.  Evans's  Friends'  Li- 
brary, vol.  ii. ;  Hasted's  Kent,  ii.  517;  Fox's 
Autobiography,  p.  139,  ed.  1765;  Smith's  Cata- 
logue of  Friends'  Book ;  Swarthmore  MSS.] 

A.  C.  B. 

FISHER,  SAMUEL  (ft.  1692),  puritan, 
son  of  Thomas  Fisher  of  Stratford-on-Avon, 
was  born  in  1617,  and  educated  at  the  uni- 
versity of  Oxford,  matriculating  at  Queen's 
College  in  1634,  and  graduating  at  Magdalen 
College— B.A.  15  Dec.  1636,  M.A.  18  June 
1640.  He  took  holy  orders,  and  officiated  at 
St.  Bride's,  London,  at  Withington,  Shrop- 
shire, and  at  Shrewsbury,  where  he  was 
curate  to  Thomas  Blake  [q.  v.]  He  afterwards 
held  the  rectory  of  Thornton-in-the-Moors, 
Cheshire,  from  which  he  was  ejected  at  the 
Restoration.  He  spent  the  rest  of  his  life 
at  Birmingham,  where  he  died,  '  leaving 
the  character  of  an  ancient  divine,  an  able 
preacher,  and  a  godly  life.'  He  published : 
1.  'An  Antidote  against  the  Fear  of  Death; 
being  meditations  in  a  time  and  place  of  great 
mortality '  (the  time,  Wood  informs  us,  being 
July  and  August  1650,  the  place  Shrews- 
bury). 2.  '  A  Love  Token  for  Mourners, 
teaching  spiritual  dumbness  and  submission 
under  God's  smarting  rod,'  in  two  funeral 
sermons,  London,  1655.  3.  A  Fast  sermon, 
preached  30  Jan.  1692-3. 

[Wood's  AthenseOxon.  (Bliss),  iv.  587;  Orme- 
rod's  Cheshire,  ed.  Helsby,  ii.  21 ;  Calamy's 
Abridgment,  i.  124.]  J.  M.  E. 

FISHER,  otherwise  HAWKINS,  THOMAS 
(d.  1577),  M.P.  for  Warwick,  was  of  ob- 
scure origin  and  usually  known  by  the  name 
of  Fisher,  because  his  father  was  '  by  pro- 
fession one  that  sold  fish  by  retail  at  the 
mercate  crosse  in  Warwick.'  The  quick- 
ness of  his  parts  recommended  him  to  the 
notice  of  John  Dudley,  duke  of  Northumber- 
land, then  Viscount  Lisle,  who  received  him 
into  his  service,  and  on  4  May,  34  Hen.  VIII, 
constituted  him  high  steward  and  bailiff  of 
his  manor  of  Kibworth  Beauchamp,  Leicester- 
shire. For  his  exercise  of  that  office  during 
life  Fisher  had  an  annuity  of  61.  13s.  6d. 
granted  to  him,  which  was  'confirmed  in  the 
reign  of  Mary.  He  contrived  to  accumulate 
avast  estate  in  monastery  and  church  lands, 
of  which  a  lengthv  list  is  given  by  Dugdale 
(Warwickshire,  edit.  1656,  p.  365).  In 
38  Hen.  VIII  he  obtained  the  site  of  St. 
Sepulchre's  Priory,  Warwick,  with  the  lands 
adjacent,  and  proceeded  to  pull  the  monas- 
tery to  the  ground,  raising  in  the  place  of 
it  '  a  very  fair  house  as  is  yet  to  be  seen, 


which  being  finished  about  the  8  year  of 
Queen  Eliz.  reign,  he  made  his  principal 
seat.'  He  gave  it  a  new  name  '  somewhat 
alluding  to  his  own,  viz.  Hawkyns-nest,  or 
Hawks-nest,  by  reason  of  its  situation, 
having  a  pleasant  grove  of  loftie  elmes  al- 
most environing  it '  (ib. )  However,  its  old 
designation  of  the  '  Priory'  was  soon  revived 
and  finally  prevailed.  In  1  Edward  VI, 
Bishop's  Itchington,  Warwickshire,  being 
alienated  to  him  from  the  see  of  Coventry 
and  Lichfield,  he  made  an  '  absolute  depopu- 
lation '  of  that  part  called  Nether  Itchington, 
and  even  demolished  the  church  for  the  pur- 
pose of  building  a  large  manor-house  on  its 
site.  He  also  changed  the  name  of  the 
village  to  Fisher's  Itchington,  in  an  attempt 
to  perpetuate  his  own  memory.  Fisher,  who 
was  now  the  chief  citizen  of  Warwick,  next 
appears  as  secretary  to  the  Duke  of  Somer- 
set, protector  of  England.  There  is  a  tra- 
dition that  he  was  colonel  of  a  regiment  in 
the  English  army  under  the  command  of 
Somerset,  when  the  Scots  were  defeated  at 
the  battle  of  Pinkie,  near  Musselburgh, 
10  Sept.  1547,  *  where  he,  taking  the  colours 
of  some  eminent  person  in  which  a  griftbn 
was  depicted,  had  a  grant  by  the  said  duke 
that  he  should  thenceforth,  in  memory  of 
that  notable  exploit,  bear  the  same  in  his 
armes  within  a  border  verrey,  which  the 
duke  added  thereto  in  relation  to  one  of 
the  quarterings  of  his  own  coat  [viz.  Beau- 
champ  of  Hatch]  as  an  honourable  lodge  for 
that  service.'  Towards  the  end  of  June 
1548  he  was  commissioned  by  Somerset  to 
repair  with  all  diligence  into  the  north  to 
the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury  and  Lord  Grey,  with 
instructions  for  the  defence  of  Haddington, 
and  for  the  other  necessary  movements  of 
the  king's  army  and  his  officers  in  Scotland. 
He  was  also  to  repair  to  Sir  John  Luttrell 
at  Broughty,  and  to  commune  with  him  and 
Lord  Gray  of  Scotland,  to  devise  with  them 
some  means  of  communicating  with  the  Earl 
of  Argyll,  and  to  treat  with  the  earl  accord- 
ing to  certain  articles  proposed  (Cal.  State 
Papers,  Scottish  Ser.  1509-89,  i.  89,  92).  In 
March  1549  he  was  appointed  along  with 
Sir  John  Luttrell  to  confer  with  Argyll  and 
other  Scotch  nobles  for  the  return  of  the 
queen  from  France  and  '  accomplishment  of 
the  godly  purpose  of  marriage '  (ib.  p.  97). 
Under  the  strain  of  such  duties  his  health 
gave  way,  and  in  a  melancholy  letter  to 
Secretary  Cecil,  dated  from  the  '  Camp  at 
Enderwick,'  17  Sept.  1549,  he  declares  that 
he  '  would  give  three  parts  of  his  living  to 
be  away ;  and  wishes  to  be  spared  like  ser- 
vice in  future '  (ib.  p.  98).  In  6  Edward  VI 
he  had  a  grant  of  the  bailiwick  of  Banbury, 


Fisher 


73 


Fisher 


Oxfordshire,  being  made  collector  of  the 
king's  revenue  within  that  borough  and  hun- 
dred, as  also  governor  of  the  castle,  with  a 
fee  of  66s.  7d.  a  year  for  exercising  the  office 
of  steward  and  keeping  the  king's  court 
within  that  manor.  It  was  generally  be- 
lieved that  the  Duke  of  Northumberland, 
anticipating  want  of  money  to  pay  the  forces 
which  would  be  required  in  the  event  of  his 
daughter-in-law  Lady  Jane  Grey  being  pro- 
claimed queen,  '  privately  conveyed  a  vast 


tomb,  which  bore  the  recumbent  effigies  of 


T^!£  ?nd  his  first  wife  Winifred,  daughter 
of  William  Holt,  probably  perished  in  the 
great  fire  of  1694;  it  has  been  engraved 
by  Hollar  (DUGDALE,  p.  350).  His  son  and 
heir  ,  EDWAED  FISHEE,  was  thirty  years  old 
at  the  time  of  his  father's  death.  His  in- 
heritance, Dugdale  informs  us,  was  then 
worth.  3,000/.  a  year,  but  he  soon  squan- 
dered it,  and  hastened  his  ruin  by  making  a 
fraudulent  conveyance  to  deceive  Serjeant 


represented  Warwick  in  the  second  parlia- 
ment of  Mary,  1554,  and  in  the  first  (1554), 
second  (1555),  and  third  (1557-8)  of  Philip 
and  Mary  (Lists  of  Members  of  Parliament, 
Official  Return,  pt.  i.  pp.  387,  391,  395,  3" " 
In  1571,  when  Robert  Dudley,  earl  of 
Leicester,  celebrated  the  order  of  St.  Michael 
in  the  collegiate  church  of  Warwick,  the 


A*d en^by  h  m.in,Bisho? s  Itchin^ton  p°°L  ^ iWrf iSSSfiTSSS 

After,  the  attainder  and  execution  of  the  commenced  a  prosecution  against  him  ?n  the 
duke  in  1553,  Fisher  was  questioned  about  j  Star-chamber,  and  had  not  Leicester  inter- 
the  money  by  orders  from  the  queen,  but  he  posed,  his  fine  would  have  been  very  severe 
sturdily  refused  to  deliver  it  up,  and  even  He  ultimately  consented  that  an  act  of  pa?! 
suffered  his  fingers  to  be  pulled  out  of  joint  j  liament  should  be  made  to  confirm  £/£ 
rack  rather  than  discover  it.  Fisher  tate  to  Puckering,  but  being  encumbered 

with  debts  he  was  committed  prisoner  to 
the  Fleet,  where  he  spent  the  rest  of  his 
life.  He  married  Katherine,  daughter  of 
Sir  Richard  Longe,  by  whom  he  had  issue, 
Thomas,  John,  Dorothy,  and  Katherine. 

Fisher  is  sometimes  mistaken  for  the  John 
Fisher  who  compiled  the  <  Black  Book  of 

,.-,.«.  ,   '  Warwick.'   The  latter  was  in  all  probability 

baihft  and  burgesses  of  the  borough  were  John  Fisher,  bailiff  of  Warwick,  in  1565  ' 
invited  to  attend  the  earl  from  the  Priory, 
where  he  was  Fisher's  guest  for  six  or  seven 
days,  and  thence  went  in  grand  procession 
to  the  church.  Immediately  on  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  ceremony,  at  which  he  had  been 
present,  William  Parr,  marquis  of  North- 
ampton, brother  of  Queen  Catherine  Parr, 

J* 1     „ J  T i    _    _  j_    ji          -r»     •  rm  n    -n  • 


[Dugdale's  Warwickshire  (1656),  pp.  364-5, 
and  passim;  Colvile's  Worthies  of  Warwick- 
shire, pp.  287-91  ;  Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom. 
1547-80,  Addenda,  1547-65  ;  Visitation  of  War- 
wickshire, 1619,  Harl.  Soc.  20.]  Gr.  G. 

FISHER,  THOMAS  (1781  ?-1836),anti- 


died  suddenly  at  the  Priory.    The  following    quary,  born  at  Rochester  in  or  about  1781, 

was  the  younger  of  the  two  sons  of  Thomas 

0   -.     .. Fisher,  printer,  bookseller,  and  alderman  of 

Kenil worth,  on  Saturday  night,  17  Aug.,  that  city.  His  father,  who  died  on  29  Aug. 
having  dined  with  Fisher's  son,  Edward,  at  1786,  was  author  of  the  <  Kentish  Traveller's 
his  house  at  Itchington  on  the  Monday  pre- 
viously. After  supping  with  Mrs.  Fisher 
and  her  company,  her  majesty  withdrew  for 
the  kind  purpose  of  visiting  'the  good  man 
of  the  house  .  .  .  who  at  that  time  was 
grevously  vexid  with  the  gowt/  but  with 
most  gracious  words  she  so  '  comfortid  him 


T)              n      77"   ff     \ 

To  rl    aniTT 

Ol,        VI            f 

n  iinnfiil    littln 

•  ESs2?S 

r^l     \ 

1*1      1    *       1  T7 

pllU—  J\ 

ivn    Q08    flQ'i 

v-ol    Ivii    i^r 

p.  606X     In 

86  Fisher  entered  the  India  House  as  an 
extra  clerk,  but  in  April  1816  was  appointed 


that  forgetting,  or  rather  counterfeyting,  his    searcher  of  records,  a  post   for  which  his 

TinVTIO        1~»  £*  T^crilTrorl    ^  in  TV»r\t*£i    Tioo-f-o  +Via-n    rrr\/-\r\         lr-r\r\T«/I  c\A  rff\       o  -r\  A        1  i-t-/^-t»r»T»-rr      r»  -f-fr*  i  »-»•*-*•»  r\  -*\-t-n       -*vr/\ll 


payne,'  he  resolved  '  in  more  haste  than  good    knowledge   and   literary  attainments  well 
spede  to  be  on  horseback  the  next  tyme  of    fitted  him.     From  this  situation  he  retired 

on  a  pension  in  June  1834,  after  having 
spent  in  different  offices  under  the  company 


her  going  abrode.'     Though  his  resolution 
was  put  to  the  proof  as  soon  as  the  following 


Monday,  he  actually  accomplished  it,  at-  altogether  forty-six  years.  He  died  unmar- 
tending  the  queen  on  her  return  to  Kenil- 
worth  and  riding  in  company  with  the  Lord- 
treasurer  Burghley,  to  whom,  it  would  seem, 
he  talked  with  more  freedom  than  discretion 
(NICHOLS,  Progresses  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  i. 
310,  318-19).  Fisher  died  12  Jan.  1576-7, 
and  was  buried  at  the  upper  end  of  the  north 
aisle  in  St.  Mary's  Church,  "Warwick.  His 


ried  on  20  July  1836,  in  his  sixty-fifth  year, 
at  his  lodgings  in  Church  Street,  Stoke  New- 
ington,  and  was  buried  on  the  26th  in  Bun- 
tiill  Fields.  From  the  time  of  his  coming  to 
London  he  had  resided  at  Gloucester  Terrace, 
Hoxton,  in  the  parish  of  Shoreditch. 

Before  he  left  Rochester  Fisher's  talents  < 
as  a  draughtsman  attracted  the  attention  of ;  and     w 

originator  and  publisher  of  "  The  history  ai 
antiquities  of  Rochester  and  its  environs 
1772  (new  eds.,  1817  and  1833)  ;  the  prii 


Fisher 


74 


Fisher 


Isaac  Taylor,  the  engraver.  He  was  besides 
eminent  as  an  antiquary.  Some  plates  in 
the  '  Custumale  Roffense,'  published  by  John 
Thorpe  in  1788,  are  from  drawings  by  Fisher ; 
while  it  appears  from  the  same  work  (pp.  155, 
234,  262)  that  he  had  helped  Samuel  JJenne, 
one  of  the  promoters  of  the  undertaking,  in 
examining  the  architecture  and  monuments 
of  Rochester  Cathedral.  His  first  literary 
effort,  a  description  of  the  Crown  inn  at  Ro- 
chester and  its  curious  cellars,  was  printed 
with  a  view  and  plan  in  the  '  Gentleman's 
Magazine '  for  1789,  under  the  pseudonym  of 
' Antiquitatis  Conservator'  (vol.  lix.  pt.  ii. 
p.  1185).  He  had  previously  contributed 
drawings  for  one  or  two  plates.  In  1795 
Denne  communicated  to  the  Society  of  An- 
tiquaries a  letter  on  the  subject  of  water- 
marks in  paper,  enclosing  drawings  by  Fisher 
of  sixty-four  specimens,  together  with  copies 
of  several  autographs  and  some  curious  docu- 
ments discovered  by  him  in  a  room  over  the 
town  hall  at  Rochester.  The  letter,  accom- 
panied by  the  drawings,  is  printed  in  '  Ar- 
chseologia,'  xii.  114-31.  By  Fisher's  care  the 
records  were  afterwards  placed  in  proper  cus- 
tody. His  next  publications  were  '  An  En- 
Saving  of  a  fragment  of  Jasper  found  near 
illah,  bearing  part  of  an  inscription  in  the 
cuneiform  character,'  s.  sh.  4to,  London,  1802, 
and '  An  Inscription  [in  cuneiform  characters] 
of  the  size  of  the  original,  copied  from  a  stone 
lately  found  among  the  ruins  of  ancient 
Babylon,'  s.  sh.  fol.,  London,  1803.  In  1806 
and  1807  Fisher  was  the  means  of  preserving 
two  beautiful  specimens  of  Roman  mosaic 
discovered  in  the  city  of  London ;  the  one 
before  the  East  India  House  in  Leadenhall 
Street,  and  the  other,  which  was  presented 
to  the  British  Museum,  in  digging  founda- 
tions for  the  enlargement  of  the  Bank  of 
England.  These  he  caused  to  be  engraved 
from  drawings  made  by  himself,  and  he  pub- 
lished a  description  of  them  in  the  '  Gentle- 
man's Magazine,'  vol.  Ixxvii.  pt.  i.  p.  415. 

In  the  summer  of  1804  Fisher  discovered 
some  legendary  paintings  on  the  roof  and 
walls  of  the  chapel  belonging  to  the  ancient 
Guild  of  Holy  Cross  in  Stratford-on-Avon.  A 
work  founded  upon  this  and  muniments  lent 
to  him  by  the  corporation  appeared  in  1807  as 
'  A  Series  of  antient  Allegorical,  Historical, 
and  Legendary  Paintings  .  .  .  discovered  .  .  . 
on  the  walls  of  the  Chapel  of  the  Trinity  at 
Stratford-upon-Avon .  . .  also  Views  and  Sec- 
tions illustrative  of  the  Architecture  of  the 
Chapel/parts  i-iv.  (Appendix,  No.  l,pp.  1-4), 
fol.  (London),  1807.  His  account  of  the 
guild,  with  copious  extracts  from  the  ledger- 
book,  appeared  in  the  '  Gentleman's  Maga- 
zine,' new  ser.  iii.  162,  375. 


Between  1812  and  1816  Fisher  published 
ninety-five  plates  from  his  drawings  of  monu- 
mental and  other  remains  in  Bedfordshire, 
under  the  title  of  '  Collections  Historical, 
Genealogical,  and  Topographical  for  Bedford-1 
shire,'  4to,  London,  1812-16.  A  second  part, 
consisting  of  114  folio  plates,  appeared  only 
a  few  weeks  before  his  death  in  1836.  He 
gave  up  his  intention  of  adding  letterpress 
descriptions  on  account  of  the  tax  of  eleven 
copies  imposed  by  the  Copyright  Act.  He 
published  numerous  remonstrances  in  peti- 
tions to  parliament,  in  pamphlets,  and  in  es- 
says in  periodicals.  See  his  essay  in  the 
'Gentleman's  Magazine 'for  181 3,  vol.  Ixxxiii. 
pt.  ii.  pp.  513-28,  and  his  petition  in  1814, 
printed  in  the  '  Gentleman's  Magazine,'  vol. 
Ixxxvii.  pt.  i.  p.  490.  In  1838  John  Gough 
Nichols  added  descriptions  to  a  new  edition. 

Meanwhile  Fisher  had  printed  at  the  litho- 
graphic press  of  D.  J.  Redman  thirty-seven 
drawings  of '  Monumental  Remains  and  An- 
tiquities in  the  county  of  Bedford,'  of  which 
fifty  copies  were  issued  in  1828.  Fisher  was 
one  of  the  first  to  welcome  lithography  in 
this  country.  As  early  as  1808  he  published 
an  account  of  it,  under  the  title  of  '  Polyan- 
tography,'  with  a  portrait  of  Philip  H.  Andre, 
its  first  introducer  into  England,  in  the 
'  Gentleman's  Magazine,'  vol.  Ixxviii.  pt.  i. 
p.  193.  In  1807  he  published  in  four  litho- 
graphic plates:  1.  'A  Collection  of  all  the 
Characters  .  .  .  which  appear  in  the  Inscrip- 
tion on  a  Stone  found  among  the  Ruins  of 
ancient  Babylon  .  .  .  now  deposited  in  the 
East  Indian  Company's  Library  at  Leaden- 
hall  Street.'  2.  'A  Pedestal,  and  Fragment 
of  a  Statue  of  Hercules  .  .  .  dug  out  of  the 
Foundations  of  the  Wall  of  the  City  of  Lon- 
don.' 3.  '  Ichnography,  with  Architectural 
Illustrations  of  the  old  Church  of  St.  Peter 
le  Poor  in  Broad  Street,  London.'  4.  (  Sir 
W.  Pickering,  from  his  Tomb  in  St.  Helen's 
Church,  London.'  Shortly  afterwards  he  is- 
sued several  plates  of  monumental  brasses  to 
illustrate  Hasted's  l  Kent'  and  Lysons's •'  En- 
virons of  London.'  In  order  to  encourage  a 
deserving  artist,  Hilkiah  Burgess,  Fisher  had 
ten  plates  etched  of  '  Sepulchral  Monuments 
in  Oxford.'  These  were  issued  in  1836. 

Fisher  was  in  1821  elected  F.S.A.  of  Perth, 
and  on  5  May  1836  F.S.A.  of  London,  an 
honour  from  which  he  had  been  hitherto 
debarred,  as  being  both  artist  and  dissenter. 
Many  of  the  more  valuable  biographies  of 
distinguished  Anglo-Indians  in  the  '  Gentle- 
man's Magazine'  were  contributed  by  Fisher. 
That  of  Charles  Grant,  father  of  Lord  Glenelg- 
{Gent.  Mag.  vol.  xciii.  pt.  ii.  p.  561),  was 
afterwards  enlarged  and  printed  for  private 
circulation,  8vo,  London,  1833.  He  was  like- 


Fisher 


75 


Fisher 


wise  a  contributor  to  the  '  European  Maga- 
zine/ the  '  Asiatic  Journal,'  and  to  several 
religious  periodicals.  He  was  one  of  the 
projectors  of  the '  Congregational  Magazine,' 
and  from  1818  to  1823  conducted  the  sta- 
tistical department  of  that  serial.  "When 
elected  a  guardian  of  Shoreditch,  in  which 
parish  he  resided,  he  assisted  John  Ware, 
the  vestry  clerk,  in  the  compilation  of  a  vo- 
lume entitled  '  An  Account  of  the  several 
Charities  and  Estates  held  in  trust  for  the 
use  of  the  Poor  of  the  Parish  of  St.  Leonard, 
Shoreditch,  Middlesex,  and  of  Benefactors 
to  the  same,'  8vo,  London,  1836.  He  was 
also  zealous  in  the  cause  of  anti-slavery. 
In  1825  he  published  *  The  Negro's  Memo- 
rial, or  Abolitionist's  Catechism.  By  an 
Abolitionist,'  8vo,  London.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber, too,  of  various  bible  and  missionary 
societies.  A  few  of  his  letters  to  Thomas 
Orlebar  Marsh,  vicar  of  Steventon,  Bedford- 
shire, are  in  the  British  Museum,  Addit.  MS. 
23205.  His  collections  of  topographical  draw- 
ings and  prints,  portraits  and  miscellaneous 
prints,  books,  and  manuscripts,  were  sold  by 
Evans  on  30  May  1837  and  two  following 


[Gent.  Mag.  new  ser.  vi.  220,  434-8  ;  Notes 
and  Queries,  5th  ser.  xi.  228, 339 ;  Cat.  of  Library 
of  London  Institution,  iii.  350.]  Of.  Or. 

FISHER,  WILLIAM  (1780-1852),  rear- 
admiral,  second  son  of  John  Fisher  of  Yar- 
mouth, Norfolk,  was  born  on  18  Nov.  1780, 
and  entered  the  navy  in  1795.  After  serv- 
ing in  the  North  Sea,  at  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  and  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  as 
acting  lieutenant  of  the  Foudroyant  on  the 
coast  of  Egypt,  he  was  confirmed  in  the 
rank  on  3  Sept.  1801.  In  1805  he  was  lieu- 
tenant of  the  Superb  during  the  chase  of  Ville- 
neuve  to  the  West  Indies ;  and  in  1806  was 
promoted  to  be  commander.  In  1808  he 
commanded  the  Racehorse  of  18  guns  in  the 
Channel,  and  in  the  same  ship,  in  1809-10, 
was  employed  in  surveying  in  the  Mozam- 
bique. In  March  1811  he  was  promoted  to 
post-rank,  and  in  1816-17  commanded  in  suc- 
cession the  Bann  and  Cherub,  each  of  20  guns, 
on  the  coast  of  Guinea,  in  both  of  which 
he  captured  several  slavers  and  pirates,  some 
of  them  after  a  desperate  resistance.  From 
March  1836  to  May  1841  he  commanded  the 
Asia  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  in  1840,  during 
the  operations  on  the  coast  of  Syria  [see  STOP- 
TOED,  SIR  ROBERT],  was  employed  as  senior 
officer  of  the  detached  squadron  off  Alexan- 
dria, with  the  task  of  keeping  open  the  mail 
communication  through  Egypt.  For  this 
service  he  received  the  Turkish  gold  medal 
and  diamond  decoration.  He  had  no  further 


service  afloat,  but  became,  in  due  course,  a 
rear-admiral  in  1847.  During  his  retirement 
he  wrote  two  novels :  <  The  Petrel,  or  Love 
on  the  Ocean '  (1850),  which  passed  through 
three  editions,  and  <  Ralph  Rutherford,  a 
Nautical  Romance  '  (1851).  He  died  in  Lon- 
don, on  30  Sept.  1852.  A  man  who  had 
been  so  long  in  the  navy  during  a  very  stir- 
ring period,  who  had  surveyed  the  Mozam- 
bique, and  captured  slavers  and  pirates,  had 
necessarily  plenty  of  adventures  at  command, 
which  scarcely  needed  the  complications  of 
improbable  love  stories  to  make  them  inte- 
resting ;  but  the  author  had  neither  the  con- 
structive skill  nor  the  literary  talent  necessary 
for  writing  a  good  novel,  and  his  language 
throughout  is  exaggerated  and  stilted  to  the 
point  of  absurdity. 

Fisher  married,  in  1810,  Elizabeth,  sister 
of  Sir  James  Rivett  Carnac,  bart.,  governor 
of  Bombay,  by  whom  he  had  two  children,  a 
daughter  and  a  son. 

[O'Byrne's  Nav.  Biog.  Diet. ;  Gent.  Mag.  1852, 
new  ser.  xxxviii.  634.]  J.  K.  L. 

FISHER,  WILLIAM  WEBSTER, M.D, 

(1798  P-1874),  Downing  professor  of  medi- 
cine at  Cambridge,  a  native  of  Westmore- 
land, was  born  in  or  about  1798.  He  studied 
in  the  first  instance  at  Montpellier,  where 
he  took  the  degree  of  M.D.  in  1825  (D.M.  I. 
'De  1'inflammation  considered  sous  le  rap- 
port de  ses  indications,'  4to,  Montpellier, 
1825).  Two  years  later  he  was  entered  at 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  of  which  his 
brother,  the  Rev.  John  Hutton  Fisher,  was 
then  fellow  and  assistant-tutor.  Subse- 
quently he  removed  to  Downing  College, 
where  he  graduated  as  M.B.  in  1834.  Shortly 
afterwards  he  succeeded  to  a  fellowship,  but 
the  Downing  professorship  of  medicine  fall- 
ing vacant  in  1841,  Fisher  was  elected  and 
resigned  his  fellowship.  He,  however,  held 
some  of  the  college  offices.  In  1841  he  pro- 
ceeded M.D.  His  lectures  were  well  at- 
tended. He  acted  for  many  years  as  one 
of  the  university  examiners  of  students  in 
medicine,  and  was  an  ex  officio  member  of 
the  university  board  of  medical  studies.  In- 
addition  to  fulfilling  the  duties  of  his  pro- 
fessorship, Fisher  had  a  large  practice  as  a 
physician  at  Cambridge.  He  was  formerly 
one  of  the  physicians  to  Addenbrooke's  Hos-- 
pital,  and  on  his  resignation  was  appointed 
consulting  physician  to  that  institution.  Al- 
though for  some  time  he  had  relinquished 
the  practice  of  his  profession,  he  regularly 
delivered  courses  of  lectures  until  1868,  since 
which  time  they  were  read  by  a  deputy, 
P.  W.  Latham,  M.D.,  late  fellow  of  Down- 
ing. Fisher  was  a  fellow  of  the  Cambridge 


Fisk 


76 


Fisken 


Philosophical  Society,  and  a  contributor  to 
its  l  Transactions.'  He  was  highly  esteemed 
in  the  university  for  his  professional  attain- 
jnents  and  his  conversational  powers.  He 
died  at  his  lodge  in  Downing  College,  4  Oct. 
1874,  in  his  seventy-sixth  year. 

[Brit.  Med.  Journ.  10  Oct.  1874,  p.  481 ;  Med. 
Times  and  Gaz.  10  Oct.  1874,  p.  434,  17  Oct. 
1874,  p.  461 ;  Lancet,  10  Oct.  1874,  p.  533.] 

Gr.  G. 

FISK,  WILLIAM  (1796-1872),  painter, 
foorn  in  1796  at  Thorpe-le-Soken,  Essex,  was 
the  son  of  a  yeoman  farmer  at  Can  Hall  in 
that  county,  of  a  family  which  boasted  of  some 
antiquity,  dating  back  to  the  days  of  Henry  IV. 
Drawing  very  early  became  Fisk's  favourite 
occupation,  but  his  inclination  to  art  was 
discouraged  by  his  father,  who  sent  him  to 
school  at  Colchester,  and  at  nineteen  years 
of  age  placed  him  in  a  mercantile  house  in 
London.  In  this  uncongenial  profession  Fisk 
remained  for  ten  years,  though  he  never  ne- 
glected his  artistic  powers,  and  in  1818  sent 
to  the  Royal  Academy  a  portrait  of  Mr.  G. 
Fisk,  and  in  1819  a  portrait  of  a  l  Child  and 
Favourite  Dog.'  He  married  about  1826, 
and  after  the  birth  of  his  eldest  son  he  de- 
voted himself  seriously  to  art  as  a  profession. 
In  1829  he  sent  to  the  Royal  Academy  a 
portrait  of  William  Redmore  Bigg,  R.  A.,  and 
continued  to  exhibit  portraits  there  for  a  few 
years.  At  the  British  Institution  he  ex- 
hibited in  1830  '  The  Widow,'  and  in  1832 
'Puck.'  About  1834  he  took  to  painting 
large  historical  compositions,  by  which  he  is 
best  known.  These  compositions,  though  a 
failure  from  an  artistic  point  of  view,  pos- 
sessed value  from  the  care  Fisk  took  to  ob- 
tain contemporary  portraits  and  authorities 
for  costume,  which  he  faithfully  reproduced 
on  his  canvas.  Some  of  them  were  engraved, 
and  the  popularity  of  the  engravings  led  to 
his  painting  more.  They  comprised  '  Lady 
Jane  Grey,  when  in  confinement  in  the  Tower, 
visited  by  Feckenham '  (British  Institution, 
1834)  ;  '  The  Coronation  of  Robert  Bruce ' 
(Royal  Academy,  1836)  ;  '  La  Journee  des 
Dupes  '  (Royal  Academy,  1837)  ;  '  Leonardo 
da  Vinci  expiring  in  the  arms  of  Francis  I ' 
(Royal  Academy,  1838)  ;  *  The  Chancellor 
Wriothesley  approaching  to  apprehend  Ka- 
therine  Parr  on  a  charge  of  heresy,'  and 
4  Mary,  widow  of  Louis  XII  of  France,  re- 
ceiving Charles  Brandon,  Duke  of  Suffolk, 
ambassador  from  Henry  VIII '  (British  In- 
stitution, 1838)  ;  '  The  Queen  Mother,  Marie 
de  Medici,  demanding  the  dismissal  of  Car- 
dinal Richelieu  '  (British  Institution,  1839)  ; 
*  The  Conspiracy  of  the  Pazzi,  or  the  attempt 
to  assassinate  Lorenzo  de  Medici'  (Royal 
Academy,  1839) ;  the  last-named  picture  was 


in  1840  awarded  the  gold  medal  of  the  Man- 
chester Institution  for  the  best  historical 
picture  exhibited  in  their  gallery.  About 
1840  Fisk  commenced  a  series  of  pictures  con- 
nected with  the  reign  of  Charles  I,  namely, 
*  Cromwell's  Family  interceding  for  the  life 
of  Charles  I '  (Royal  Academy,  1840)  ;  <  The 
Trial  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford '  (never  exhi- 
bited, engraved  by  James  Scott  in  1841,  and 
now  in  the  Walker  Art  Gallery,  Liverpool) ; 
'  The  Trial  of  Charles  I  in  Westminster  Hall ' 
(Royal  Academy,  1842)  ;  l  Charles  I  passing 
through  the  banqueting-house,  Whitehall,  to 
the  Scaffold '  (Royal  Academy,  1843)  ;  '  The 
last  interview  of  Charles  I  with  his  Children ' 
(British  Institution,  1844).  After  these  his 
productions  were  of  a  less  ambitious  nature, 
and  he  eventually  retired  from  active  life  to 
some  property  at  Danbury  in  Essex,  where 
he  died  on  8  Nov.  1872.  He  was  also  a  fre- 
quent contributor  to  the  Suffolk  Street  exhi- 
bition. 

[Art  Journal,  1873,  p.  6;  Redgrave's  Diet,  of 
Artists;  Graves's  Diet,  of  Artists,  1760-1880; 
Catalogues  of  the  Royal  Academy  and  British 
Institution.]  L.  C. 

FISK,  WILLIAM  HENRY  (1827-1884), 
painter  and  drawing-master,  son  of  William 
Fisk  [q.  v.],  was  a  pupil  of  his  father,  and 
also  a  student  of  the  Royal  Academy.  He 
was  a  skilled  draughtsman,  and  as  such  was 
appointed  anatomical  draughtsman  to  the 
Royal  College  of  Surgeons.  In  painting  he 
was  a  landscape-painter,  and  exhibited  for 
the  first  time  in  1846.  In  1850  he  exhibited 
at  the  Royal  Academy,  subsequently  being 
an  occasional  exhibitor  at  the  other  London 
exhibitions  and  also  in  Paris.  He  was  teacher 
of  drawing  and  painting  to  University  Col- 
lege School,  London,  and  in  that  capacity 
was  very  successful  and  of  high  repute.  A 
series  of  drawings  of  trees  which  he  produced 
for  the  queen  were  much  esteemed.  He  was 
a  clear  and  logical  lecturer  on  the  practical 
aspect  of  art,  and  succeeded  in  attracting 
large  audiences  in  London  and  the  provinces. 
He  also  occasionally  contributed  articles  on 
painting  to  the  public  press.  He  died  on 
13  Nov.  1884,  in  his  fifty-eighth  year. 

[Athenaeum,  22  Nov.  1884  ;  Graves's  Diet,  of 
Artists,  1760-1880;  Catalogues  of  the  Royal 
Academy,  &c.]  L.  C. 

FISKEN,  WILLIAM  (d.  1883),  presby- 
terian  minister,  the  son  of  a  farmer,  was  born 
on  Gelleyburn  farm,  near  Crieff,  Perthshire. 
After  attending  school  at  the  neighbouring 
village  of  Muthill,  he  was  sent  to  St.  An- 
drews College  to  study  for  the  ministry  under 
Professor  Duncan.  Subsequently  he  removed 
to  the  university  of  Glasgow,  and  thence  to 


Fisken 


77 


Fitch 


the  Divinity  Hall  of  the  Secession  church. 
"While  there  he  taught  a  school  at  Alyth,  near 
his  birthplace.  Upon  receiving  license  in 
the  presbytery  of  Dundee,  he  commenced  his 
career  as  a  preacher  in  the  Secession  church. 
He  visited  various  places  throughout  the 
country,  including  the  Orkney  Islands,  where 
he  would  have  received  a  call  had  he  cared 
to  accept  it.  He  was  next  sent  to  the  pres- 
bytery at  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  and  preached 
as  a  probationer  at  the  adjoining  village  of 
Stamfordham,  where  in  1847  he  received  a  call, 
and  was  duly  ordained.  He  there  laboured 
zealously  until  his  death.  In  the  double  ca- 
pacity of  governor  and  secretary  he  did  much 
towards  promoting  the  success  of  the  scheme 
of  the  endowed  schools  at  Stamfordham. 
Fisken  and  his  brothers  Thomas  (a  school- 
master at  Stockton-upon-Tees)  and  David 
studied  mechanics.  Thomas  and  he  invented 
the  steam  plough.  A  suit  took  place  between 
the  Fiskens  and  the  Messrs.  Fowler,  the  well- 
known  implement  makers  at  Leeds,  and  the 
finding  of  the  jury  was  that  the  former  were 
the  original  discoverers.  The  appliance  which 
perfected  the  plan  of  the  brothers  occurred  to 
them  both  independently  and  almost  simul- 
taneously. William  Chartres  of  Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne,  the  solicitor  employed  by  the 
Fiskens,  used  to  tell  how  the  two  brothers 
wrote  to  him  on  the  same  day  about  the  final 
discovery,  but  that  he  receivedWilliam'sletter 
first.  Fisken  also  invented  a  potato-sowing 
machine,  a  safety  steam  boiler,  a  propeller, 
an  apparatus  for  heating  churches,  which 
worked  excellently,  and  the  'steam  tackle' 
which,  patented  in  July  1855,  helped  to  render 
the  steam  plough  of  practical  use.  This 
system  of  haulage,  which  obtained  second 
prize  at  the  royal  show  at  Wolverhampton, 
has  undergone  great  modifications  since  its 
early  appearance  in  Scotland  in  1852,  its  ex- 
hibition at  Carlisle  in  1855,  and  at  the  show 
of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  Eng- 
land in  1863  (Journal  of  Royal  Agricultural 
Society,  xx.  193,  xxiv.  368).  Fisken  worked 
on  the  fly-rope  system.  An  endless  rope  set 
into  motion  direct  by  the  fly-wheel  of  the 
engine  drove  windlasses  of  an  extremely  in- 
genious type,  by  which  the  plough  or  other 
implement  was  put  in  motion.  A  great  deal 
of  excellent  work  was  done  on  this  system, 
especially  with  tackle  made  by  Messrs.  Bar- 
ford  &  Perkins  of  Peterborough,  but  for 
some  reason  the  system  never  quite  took  with 
farmers,  and  very  few  sets  of  Fisken's  tackle 
are  now  in  use  (Engineer,  11  Jan.  1884, 
p.  37).  Fisken  was  the  author  of  a  pamphlet 
on  '  The  Cheapest  System  of  Steam  Cultiva- 
tion and  Steam  Cartage,'  and  of  another  '  On 
the  Comparative  Methods  of  Steam  Tackle/ 


which  gained  the  prize  of  the  Bath  and  West? 
of  England  Society.  A  man  of  liberal  views, 
?reat  generosity  of  character,  and  wide  read- 
ing, he  made  friends  wherever  he  went.  He 
died  at  his  manse,  Stamfordham,  on  28  Dec. 
1883,  aged  upwards  of  seventy. 

[Times,  4  and  8  Jan.  1884;  Newcastle  Courant, 
4  Jan.  1884.]  G.  G. 

FITCH,  RALPH  (Jl.  1583-1606),  tra- 
veller in  India,  was  among  the  first  English- 
men known  to  have  made  the  overland  route 
down  the  Euphrates  Valley  towards  India. 
He  left  London  on  12  Feb.  1583  with  other 
merchants  of  the  Levant  Company,  among" 
whom  were  J.  Newberry,  J.  Eldred,  W. 
Leedes,  jeweller,  and  J.  Story,  a  painter. 
He  writes :  f  I  did  ship  myself  in  a  ship  of 
London,  called  the  Tiger,  wherein  we  went 
for  Tripolis  in  Syria,  and  from  thence  we 
took  the  way  for  Aleppo '  (HAKLTJTT,  ii.  250). 
Fitch  and  his  companions  arrived  at  Tripolis 
on  1  May,  thence  they  made  their  way  to- 
Aleppo  in  seven  days  with  the  caravan.  Set- 
ting out  again  on  31  May  for  a  three  days' 
journey  on  camels  to  Bir  (Biredjik)  on  the 
Euphrates,  there  they  bought  a  large  boat, 
and  agreed  with  a  master  and  crew  to  de- 
scend the  river,  noticing  on  their  way  the 
primitive  boat-building  near  the  bituminous 
fountains  at  Hit  (cf.  CHESNEY,  ii.  636).  On 
29  June  Fitch  and  his  company  reached 
Felujah,  where  they  landed.  After  a  week's 
delay,  for  want  of  camels,  they  crossed  the 
great  plain  during  the  night,  on  account  of 
the  heat,  to  Babylon  (i.e.  Bagdad)  on  the- 
Tigris.  On  22  July  they  departed  hence  in 
flat-bottomed  boats  down  this  river  to  Bus- 
sorah  at  the  head  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  where 
they  left  Eldred  for  trade. 

On  4  Sept.  Fitch  and  his  three  companions 
arrived  at  Ormuz,  where  within  a  week 
they  were  all  imprisoned  by  the  Portuguese 
governor  at  the  instance  of  the  Venetians, 
who  dreaded  them  as  their  rivals  in  trade.  On 
11  Oct.  the  Englishmen  were  shipped  for  Goa 
in  the  East  Indies  unto  the  viceroy,  where, 
upon  their  arrival  at  the  end  of  November,  as; 
Fitch  puts  it,  'for  our  better  entertainment, 
we  were  presently  put  into  a  fair  strong  prison, 
where  we  continued  until  22  Dec. '  (HAKLUTT-, 
vol.  ii.  pt.i.  250).  Story  having  turned  monk, 
Fitch,  Newberry,  and  Leedes  were  soon  after- 
wards set  at  liberty  by  two  sureties  procured 
for  them  by  two  Jesuit  fathers,  one  of  whom 
was  Thomas  Stevens,  sometime  of  New  Col- 
lege, Oxford,  who  was  the  first  Englishman 
known  to  have  reached  India  by  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  four  years  before,  i.e.  1579  (cf. 
HAKLUYT,  vol.  ii.  pt.  i.  249).  After  <  employing^ 
the  remains  of  their  money  in  precious  stones, 


Fitch 


Fitch 


on  Whitsunday,  5  April  1584,  Fitch,  and  his 
two  companions,  Newberry  and  Leedes,  es- 
caped across  the  river  from  Goa,  and  made 
the  best  of  their  way  across  the  Deccan  to  Bi- 
japur  and  Golconda,  near  Haiderabad,  thence 
northwards  to  the  court  of  Akbar,  the  Great 
Mogore  (i.e.  Mogul,  Persian  corruption  for 
Mongol),  whom  they  found  either  at  Agra  or 
his  newly  built  town  of  Fatepore  (Fatehpur 
.Sikri),  twelve  miles  south  from  it.  They 
stayed  here  until  28  Sept.  1585,  when  New- 
berry  proceeded  north  to  Lahore,  with  a  view 
to  returning  through  Persia  to  Aleppo  or 
Constantinople  ;  as  Newberry  was  never 
heard  of  afterwards  it  is  supposed  he  was 
murdered  in  the  Punjab.  Story  remained  at 
Goa,  where  he  soon  threw  off  the  monk's  habit 
and  married  a  native  woman,  and  Leedes, 
the  jeweller,  accepted  service  under  the  Em- 
peror Akbar.  From  Agra  Fitch  took  boat 
with  a  fleet  of  180  others  down  the  Jumna 
to  Prage  (Allahabad),  thence  he  proceeded 
down  the  Ganges,  calling  at  Benares  and 
Patna,  to  '  Tanda  in  Gouren/  formerly  one 
of  the  old  capitals  of  Bengal,  the  very  site  of 
which  is  now  unknown.  From  this  point 
Fitch  journeyed  northward  twenty  days  to 
Couch  (Kuch  Behar),  afterwards  returning 
south  to  Hiigli,  the  Porto  Piqueno  of  the 
Portuguese,  one  league  from  Satigam.  His 
next  journey  was  eastward  to  the  country 
of  Tippara,  and  thence  south  to  Chatigam, 
the  Porto  Grande  of  the  Portuguese,  now 
known  as  Chittagong.  Here  he  embarked 
for  a  short  voyage  up  one  of  the  many  mouths 
of  the  Ganges  to  Bacola  (Barisol)  and  Se- 
rampore,  thence  to  Sinnergan,  identified  by 
Cunningham  (xv.  127)  as  Sunargaon,  an 
ancient  city  formerly  the  centre  of  a  cloth- 
making  district,  the  best  to  be  found  in  India 
at  this  period.  On  28  Nov.  1586  he  re-em- 
barked at  Serampore  in  a  small  Portuguese 
vessel  for  Burma.  As  far  as  can  be  learned 
from  this  obscure  part  of  his  narrative,  Fitch, 
after  sailing  southwards  to  Negrais  Point, 
ascended  the  western  arm  of  the  Irawadi  to 
Cosmin  (Kau-smin,  the  old  Taking  name 
for  Bassein),  thence  by  the  inland  naviga- 
tion of  the  Delta,  across  to  Cirion  (Syriam, 
now  known  as  Than-lyeng,  near  Rangoon), 
calling  at  Macao  (Men-Kay  of  Williams's 
map),  and  so  on  to  Pegu.  Fitch's  sketches 
of  Burmese  life  and  manners  as  seen  in  and 
near  Pegu  deserve  perusal  upon  their  own 
merits,  apart  from  the  fact  of  their  having 
been  drawn  by  the  first  Englishman  to  enter 
Burma.  With  a  keen  eye  to  the  prospects 
of  trade,  he  also  proved  himself  to  be  a  per- 
sistent questioner  upon  state  affairs.  In  de- 
scribing the  king  of  Pegu's  dress  and  splen- 
dour of  his  court  retinue,  he  adds :  l  He  [the 


king]  hath  also  houses  full  of  gold  and  silver, 
and  bringen  in  often,  but  spendeth  very  little' 
(HAKLTTYT,  ii.  260).  From  Pegu  Fitch  went 
a  twenty-five  days'  journey  north-east  to 
Tamahey  (Zimme)  in  the  Shan  States  of 
Siam ;  this  must  have  been  towards  the  end 
of  1587,  for  on  10  Jan.  1588  he  sailed  from 
Pegu  for  Malacca,  where  he  arrived  8  Feb., 
soon  after  its  relief  by  P.  de  Lima  Pereira  for 
the  Portuguese  (cf.  LINSCHOTEN,  p.  153). 
On  29  March  Fitch  set  out  on  his  homeward 
journey  from  Malacca  to  Martaban,  and  on 
to  Pegu,  where  he  remained  a  second  time. 
On  17  Sept.  he  went  once  more  to  Cosmin 
(Bassein),  and  there  took  shipping  for  Ben- 
gal, where  he  arrived  in  November.  On 
3  Feb.  1589  he  shipped  for  Cochin  on  the 
Malabar  coast,  where  he  was  detained  for 
want  of  a  passage  nearly  eight  months.  On 
2  Nov.  he  sailed  for  Goa,  where  he  remained 
for  three  days,  probably  in  disguise.  Hence 
he  went  up  the  coast  to  Chaul,  where  after 
another  delay  of  twenty-three  days  in  making 
provision  for  the  shipping  of  his  goods,  he 
left  India  for  Ormus,  where  he  stayed  for 
fifty  days  for  a  passage  to  Bussorah.  On  his 
return  journey  Fitch  ascended  the  Tigris  as 
far  as  Mosul,  journeying  hence  to  Mirdui 
and  Urfah,  he  went  to  Bir,  and  so  passed 
the  Euphrates.  He  concludes  the  account 
of  his  travels  thus :  '  From  Bir  I  went  to 
Aleppo,  where  I  stayed  certain  months  for 
company,  and  then  I  went  to  Tripolis,  where, 
finding  English  shipping,  I  came  with  a  pro- 
sperous voyage  to  London,  where,  by  God's 
assistance,  I  safely  arrived  the  29th  April 
1591,  having  been  eight  years  out  of  my 
native  country '  (HAKLUYT,  vol.  ii.  pt.  i.  265). 
How  far  Fitch's  travels  and  experience  in 
the  East  may  have  contributed  to  the  esta- 
blishment of  the  East  India  Company,  and 
won  their  first  charter  from  Elizabeth,  31  Dec. 
1601,  will  be  best  gleaned  from  one  or  two 
entries  in  their  court  minutes,  which  con- 
tain the  latest  traces  that  can  be  found  of 
him.  Under  date  2  Oct.  1600  we  read: 
'  Orderidthat  Captein  Lancaster  (and  others), 
together  with  Mr.  Eldred  and  Mr.  flitch, 
shall  in  the  meetinge  to-morrow  morning 
conferre  of  the  merchaundize  fitt  to  be  pro- 
vided for  the  (first)  voyage'  (STEVENS, p. 26). 
Again,  29  Jan.  1600-1:  l  Order  is  given  to  .  .  . 
Mr.  Hacklett,  the  histriographer  of  the  viages 
of  the  East  Indies,  beinge  here  before  the 
Comitties,  and  having  read  vnto  them  out 
of  his  notes  and  bookes  .  .  .  was  required  to 
sette  downe  in  wryting  a  note  of  the  prin- 
cipal places  in  the  East  Indies  where  trade 
was  to  be  had,  to  th'  end  the  same  may  be 
used  for  the  better  instruction  of  or  factors  in 
the  said  voyage  '  (id.  p.  123).  Again  court 


Fitch 


79 


Fittler 


minutes,  31  Dec.  1606  :  '  Letters  to  be  ob- 
tained from  K.  James  to  the  king  of  Cam- 
baya,  gouernors  of  Aden,  etc.  .  .  .  their  titles 
to  be  inquired  of  Ralph  Fitch'  (SAINSBURY, 
State  Papers,  No.  36).  This  is  the  latest 
mention  of  Fitch  known  to  us. 

In  1606  was  produced  Shakespeare's  'Mac- 
beth ; '  there  we  read  (act  i.  3)  l  Her  husband's 
to  Aleppo  gone,  master  of  the  Tiger.'  This 
line,  when  compared  with  the  opening  passage 
of  Fitch's  narrative,  is  too  striking  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  mere  coincidence,  and  is  also  one 
of  the  clearest  pieces  of  evidence  known  to 
us  of  Shakespeare's  use  of  the  text  of  Hak- 
luyt. 

[Chesney's  Survey  of  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris, 
1850  ;  Cunningham's  India;  Archaeological  Sur- 
vey Keports,  vol.  xv.,  Calcutta,  1882;  Hak- 
luyt's  Navigations,  1599,  vol.  ii. ;  Linschoten's 
Voyages,  London,  1598;  Stevens  and  Bird- 
wood's  Court  Kecords  of  the  East  India  Com- 
pany, 1599-1603,  London,  1886 ;  Sainsbury's 
State  Papers,  East  Indies,  &c.,  1513-1616, 
London,  1862.]  C.  H.  C. 

FITCH,  THOMAS  (A  1517).  [SeeFicn.] 

FITCH,  WILLIAM  (1563-1611).  [See 
CANFIELD,  BENEDICT.] 

FITCH,  WILLIAM  STEVENSON 
(1793-1859),  antiquary,  born  in  1793,  was 
for  more  than  twenty-one  years  postmaster 
of  Ipswich,  but  devoted  his  leisure  to  study- 
ing the  antiquities  of  Suffolk.  He  made  full 
coTlections  for  a  history  of  that  county.  Most 
of  them  appear  to  have  been  dispersed  by 
auction  after  his  death,  though  the  West 
Suffolk  Archaeological  Association,  of  which 
he  was  a  founder,  purchased  the  drawings 
and  engravings,  arranged  in  more  than  thirty 
quarto  volumes,  and  they  were  deposited  in 
the  museum  of  the  society  at  Bury  St.  Ed- 
munds. Fitch  published  :  1.  '  A  Catalogue 
of  Suffolk  Memorial  Registers,  Royal  Grants/ 
&c.  (in  his  possession),  Great  Yarmouth,  1843, 
8vo.  2. '  Ipswich  and  its  Early  Mints '  (Ips- 
wich), 1848, 4to.  He  contributed  notices  of 
coins  and  antiquities  found  in  Suffolk  to  the 
1  Journal  of  the  British  Archaeological  Asso- 
ciation '  (vols.  i.  ii.  iii.  xxi.),  and  contributed 
to  the  <  Proceedings  of  the  East  Suffolk  Ar- 
chaeological Society.'  Fitch  died  17  July 
1859,  leaving  a  widow,  a  daughter,  and  two 
sons. 

[C.  K.  Smith's  Collect.  Antiqua,  vi.  323-4; 
C.  K.  Smith's  Ketrospections,  i.  245-8;  Gent. 
Mag.  1859,  3rd  ser.  vii.  202  ;  Index  to  Journ. 
Brit.  Arch.  Assoc.  vols.  i-xxx.]  W.  W. 

FITCHETT,  JOHN  (1776-1838),  poet, 
the  son  of  a  wine  merchant  at  Liverpool,  was 
born  on  21  Sept.  1776,  and  having  lost  his 
parents  before  he  attained  the  age  of  ten,  was 


removed  to  Warrington  by  his  testamentary 
guardian,  Mr.  Kerfoot,  and  placed  at  the  War- 
rington grammar  school  under  the  Rev.  Ed- 
ward Owen.  In  1793  he  was  articled  to  his 
guardian,  and  in  due  time,  having  been  ad- 
mitted an  attorney,  was  taken  into  partner- 
ship with  him,  subsequently  attaining  a  high 
place  in  his  profession.  His  first  published 
work,  <  Bewsey,  a  Poem'  (Warrington,  1796, 
4to),  written  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  had  con- 
siderable success.  He  afterwards  wrote  many 
fugitive  pieces,  which  were  collected  and 
printed  at  Warrington  in  1836,  under  the 
title  of  '  Minor  Poems,  composed  at  various 
Times '  (8vo,  pp.  ii,  416).  The  great  work  of  his 
life  was  one  which  occupied  his  leisure  hours 
for  forty  years,  and  in  the  composition  of 
which  he  bestowed  unwearied  industry  and 
acute  research.  It  was  printed  at  Warrington 
for  private  circulation  at  intervals  between 
1808  and  1834,  in  five  quarto  volumes.  It 
was  cast  in  the  form  of  a  romantic  epic  poem, 
the  subject  being  the  life  and  times  of  King 
Alfred,  including,  in  addition  to  a  biography 
of  Alfred,  an  epitome  of  the  antiquities,  to- 
pography, religion,  and  civil  and  religious 
condition  of  the  country.  He  rewrote  part 
of  the  work,  but  did  not  live  to  finish  it.  He 
left  money  for  printing  a  new  edition,  and  the 
work  of  supervising  it  was  undertaken  by  his 
pupil,  clerk,  and  friend,  Robert  Roscoe  [q.  v.] 
(son  of  William  Roscoe  of  Liverpool),  who 
completed  the  task  by  adding  2,585  lines,  the 
entire  work  containing  more  than  131,000 
lines,  and  forming  probably  the  longest  poem 
in  any  language.  This  prodigious  monument 
of  misapplied  learning  and  mental  energy 
was  published  by  Pickering  in  1841-2,  in  six 
volumes,  8vo,  with  the  title  of l  Bang  Alfred, 
a  Poem.' 

Fitchett  died  unmarried  at  Warrington  on 
20  Oct.  1838,  and  was  buried  at  Winwick 
Church.  His  large  and  choice  library  was 
left  to  his  nephew,  John  Fitchett  Marsh,  and 
was  sold,  with  that  gentleman's  augmenta- 
tions, at  Sotheby's  rooms  in  May  1882. 

[Marsh's  Lit.  Hist,  of  "Warrington  in  War- 
rington Mechanics' Inst.  Lectures  (1859),  p.  85; 
Palatine  Note-book,  ii.  168,  175;  Kendrick's 
Profiles  of  Warrington  Worthies;  Notes  and 
Queries,  1st  ser.  x.  215,334;  Manchester  City 
News  Notes  and  Queries,  iii.  89,  98 ;  Lane,  and 
Cheshire  Hist,  and  G-eneal.  Notes,  iii.  35,  55.] 

C.  W.  S. 

FITTLER,  JAMES  (1758-1835),  en- 
graver, was  born  in  London  in  1758,  and 
became  a  student  at  the  Royal  Academy  in 
1778.  Besides  book  illustrations,  he  distin- 
guished himself  by  numerous  works  after 
English  and  foreign  masters,  chiefly  portraits. 
He  engraved  also  landscapes,  marine  subjects, 


Fitton 


Fitton 


and  topographical  views,  and  was  appointed 
marine  engraver  to  George  III.  He  was 
elected  an  associate  of  the  Royal  Academy  in 
1800;  died  at  Turnham  Green  2  Dec.  1835,  and 
was  buried  in  Chiswick  churchyard.  Fittler 
exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy  between 
1776  and  1824.  In  1788  he  resided  at  No.  62 
Upper  Charlotte  Street,  Rathbone  Place. 
Among  his  most  important  works  are  :  two 
views  of  Windsor  Castle,  after  George  Ro- 
bertson ;  a  view  of  Christ  Church  Great 
Gate,  Oxford,  after  William  Delamotte  ; 
*  The  Cutting  of  the  Corvette  la  Chevrette 
from  the  Bay  of  Camaret,  on  the  night  of 
21  July  1801,'  '  Lord  Howe's  Victory,'  and 
<  The  Battle  of  the  Nile,'  after  P.  J.  de  Lou- 
therbourg;  several  naval  fights,  after  Captain 
Mark  Oates,  Thomas  Luny,  and  D.  Serres ; 
a  classical  landscape,  with  a  temple  on  the 
left,  after  Claude  Lorraine ;  the  celebrated 
portrait  known  by  the  name  of  '  Titian's 
Schoolmaster,'  after  Moroni ;  portrait  of  Lord 
Grenville,  after  T.  Phillips  ;  portrait  of  Dr. 
Hodson,  after  T.  Phillips;  Pope  Innocent  X, 
after  Velasquez :  he  also  executed  the  plates 
for  Forster's  t  British  Gallery,'  many  of  those 
for  Bell's  {  British  Theatre,' and  all  the  illus- 
trations in  Dibdin's  '  ^Edes  Althorpianae,' 
published  in  1822,  after  which  time  he  under- 
took no  important  work.  His  prints,  books, 
and  copper-plates  were  sold  at  Sotheby's 
14  July  1825,  and  two  following  days. 
[Redgrave's  Dictionary  of  Artists.]  L.  F. 

FITTON,  SIR  ALEXANDER  (d.  1698), 
lord  chancellor  of  Ireland,  was  the  younger 
son  of  William  Fitton  of  Awrice,  co.  Lime- 
rick, by  Eva,  daughter  of  Sir  Edward  Trevor, 
knt.,  of  Brynkinallt,  Denbighshire  (Harl. 
MS.  2153,  f.  36).  This  William  Fitton  was 
next  male  kinsman  to  Sir  Edward  Fitton, 
bart.,  the  possessor  of  Gawsworth,  Cheshire, 
who  resolved  in  1641  to  restore  the  old  entail 
of  his  estates,  and  settled  them  by  indenture, 
which  he  was  said  to  have  confirmed  by  deed- 
poll,  on  the  above  William  Fitton,  with  re- 
mainder to  his  two  sons.  Sir  Edward  died 
in  August  1643,  shortly  after  the  taking  of 
Bristol,  and  '  his  heart,  his  brain,  and  soft 
entrails '  were  buried  in  a  fragile  urn  in  the 
church  of  St.  Peter  in  that  city  (Gloucester- 
shire Notes  and  Queries,  iii.  353).  On  the 
death  of  Felicia,  lady  Fitton,  in  January 
1654-5,  William  Fitton  became  possessed  of 
Gawsworth.  His  son  Alexander  was  ad- 
mitted a  law  student  of  the  Inner  Temple  in 
1655,  and  was  called  to  the  bar  on  12  May 
1662.  He  married,  about  1655,  Anne,  elder 
daughter  of  Thomas  Jolliife  (or  Jollie)  of 
Cofton,  Worcestershire,  with  whom  he  pro- 
bably received  a  fortune,  for  shortly  after 


the  mortgages  on  the  family  estates  were- 
paid  off;  and  his  elder  brother,  Edward,  hav- 
ing died  without  issue,  he  became,  on  his 
father's  death,  the  possessor  of  the  whole. 
His  wife  died  7  Oct.  1687,  and  was  buried 
in  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  Dublin,  under  the- 
monument  of  her  husband's  ancestor,  Sir  Ed- 
ward Fitton  [q.v.]  Their  issue  was  Anne> 
an  only  child. 

In  1661  Charles,  lord  Gerard  of  Brandon, 
laid  claim  to  Fitton's  estates  in  right  of  his 
mother,  who  was  sister  to  Sir  Edward,  and 
a  will  was  produced,  nineteen  years  after  Sir 
Edward's  death,  giving  the  estates  to  Lord 
Gerard.  A  litigation  took  place,  in  the  course 
of  which  it  was  alleged  by  Lord  Gerard's 
solicitor  that  the  deed-poll  executed  by  Sir  Ed- 
ward Fitton,  upon  which  Fitton  relied,  was, 
forged  by  one  Abraham  Granger.  An  issue 
was  then  directed  by  the  court  of  chancery  to 
try  the  genuineness  of  the  document,  and  the 
jury  finally  found  against  it.  Then  Granger 
withdrew  a  previous  confession,  and  stated 
that  the  deed  was  duly  signed  (ORMEKOD, 
Cheshire,  iii.  259).  The  House  of  Lords  on 
hearing  of  this  ordered  that  Fitton  should  be 
fined  5QQL  and  committed  to  the  king's  bench 
prison  until  he  should  produce  Granger,  and 
find  sureties  for  good  behaviour  during  life. 
Having  lost  his  money  in  the  fruitless  prose- 
cution of  his  case,  Fitton  remained  in  gaol 
until  taken  out  by  James  II  to  be  made 
chancellor  of  Ireland,  when  he  was  knighted. 

On  12  Feb.  1686-7  he  received  the  ap- 
pointment of  lord  chancellor  of  Ireland,  and 
on  1  April  1689  was  raised  to  the  peerage- 
as  Baron  Fitton  of  Gawsworth,  but  this  title,, 
granted  by  James  after  his  abdication,  was- 
not  allowed.  Little  is  known  of  Fitton's. 
qualifications  for  his  office  beyond  his  long^ 
experience  of  litigation.  The  absence  of  any 
complaints  from  the  bar  or  bench  is  so  far  in 
his  favour.  Archbishop  King  has  asserted 
that  Fitton  '  could  not  understand  the  merit 
of  a  cause  of  any  difficulty,  and  therefore 
never  failed  to  give  sentence  according  to  his 
inclination,  having  no  other  rule  to  lead  him  r 
(State  of  the  Protestants  of  Ireland  under 
King  James,  1691,  p.  59).  A  recent  biographer 
says :  '  I  have  looked  carefully  through  those 
[decrees]  made  while  Lord  [Fitton  of]  Gaws- 
worth held  the  seals,  but  could  observe  no- 
thing to  mark  ignorance  of  his  duty,  or  in- 
capacity to  perform  it.  He  confirms  reports, 
dismisses  bills,  decrees  in  favour  of  awards, 
grants  injunctions,  with  the  confidence  of 
an  experienced  equity  judge'  (O'FLASTAGAH , 
Lives  of  the  Lord  Chancellors  of  Ireland, 
1870,  i.  487). 

After  the  flight  of  James  II  from  Ireland, 
Fitton,  Chief  Baron  Rice,  and  Plowden  as- 


Fitton 


81 


Fitton 


sumed  the  office  of  lords  justices  of  Ireland. 
In  1690  Sir  Charles  Porter  was  appointed 
lord  chancellor  in  succession  to  Fitton,  who 
was  attainted ;  fled  to  France ;  and  died  at 
St.  Germains  in  November  1698  (LTJTTRELL, 
Relation,  iv.  586).  The  husbands  of  the  two 
coheiresses  of  the  Fitton  estates,  Lord  Mohun 
and  the  Duke  of  Hamilton,  killed  each  other 
(1712)  in  the  famous  duel  arising  from  a 
dispute  as  to  the  partition, *  and  Gawsworth 
itself  passed  into  an  unlineal  hand  by  a  series 
of  alienations  complicated  beyond  example ' 
{Cheshire,  iii.  295). 

[Authorities  cited  above ;  Burke's  Extinct  Baro- 
netcies (1844),  p.  199 ;  Earwaker's  East  Cheshire, 
ii.  555,  560-3,  591  ;  Nash's  Worcestershire,  i. 
250 ;  Smyth's  Law  Officers  of  Ireland,  p.  36.1 

B.  H.  B. 

FITTON,  SIR  EDWARD,  the  elder  (1527- 
1579),  lord  president  of  Connaught  and  vice- 
treasurer  of  Ireland,  was  the  eldest  son  of  Sir 
Edward  Fitton  of  Gawsworth,  Cheshire,  and 
Mary,  daughter  and  coheiress  of  Guicciard 
Harbottle,  esq.,  of  Northumberland  (ORME- 
KOD,  Cheshire,  iii.  292).  He  was  knighted  by 
Sir  Henry  Sidney  in  1566  (Cal.  Carew  MSS. 
ii.  149),  and  on  the  establishment  of  provincial 
governments  in  Connaught  and  Munster  he 
was  in  1569  appointed  first  lord  president  of 
Connaught  and  Thomond  (patent,  1  June 
1569 ;  Liber  Hibernia,  ii.  189).  Arrived  in 
Ireland  on  Ascension  day  he  was  established 
in  his  office  by  Sir  H.  Sidney  in  July.  On 
15  April  1570  he  wrote  to  Cecil :  '  We  began 
our  government  in  this  province  at  Michael- 
mas, from  thence  till  Christmas  we  passed 
smoothly  .  .  .  but  after  Christmas,  taking  a 
journey  into  Thomond,  all  fell  upside  down  ' 
(State  Papers,  Eliz.  xxx.  43).  Ere  long  he 
found  himself  so  closely  besieged  in  Gal  way 
by  the  Earl  of  Thomond  and  the  sons  of  the 
Earl  of  Clanricarde  that  Sidney  was  obliged 
to  send  a  detachment  to  extricate  him  from 
his  position.  With  their  assistance  and  that 
of  the  Earl  of  Clanricarde,  '  and  such  others 
as  made  profess  ion  of  their  loyalty,'  he  made 
a  dash  at  Shrule  Castle,  a  place  of  strategical 
importance,  which  he  captured.  An  attack 
on  his  camp  by  the  Burkes  was  successfully 
averted ;  but  during  the  conflict  he  was  un- 
horsed and  severely  wounded  in  the  face. 
His  conduct  was  approved  by  the  deputy, 
who  wrote  that  '  he  in  all  his  doings,  both 
formerly  since  these  troubles  began,  and  other- 
wise in  following  the  same,  hath  shewed 
great  worthiness,  as  well  in  device  as  in  at- 
tempt, and  of  good  counsel  according  to  the 
success  and  state  of  things '  (ib.  xxx.  56). 
The  short  period  of  calm  that  followed  served 
only  as  the  prelude  to  a  fresh  storm.  O'Conor 
~)on,  whom  he  held  in  Athlone  Castle  as  se- 

VOL.  XIX. 


cunty  for  the  good  conduct  of  his  sept,  having- 
escaped  one  night  he  next  morning  marched 
against  his  castle  of  Ballintober,  which  he 
speedily  captured.  But  the  Burkes  were  up 
in  arms  and  were  vigorously  supported  by  a 
large  body  of  Scots.  Notwithstanding  all 
his  exertions  he  gradually  lost  ground  during 
1571-2,  and  believing  that  the  Earl  of  Clan- 
ricarde was  secretly  instigating  his  rebellious 
sons  he  arrested  him  and  clapped  him  in 
Dublin  Castle.  His  conduct  in  the  matter 
led  to  a  quarrel  with  Sir  William  Fitzwil- 
liam  [q.  v.],  who  had  succeeded  Sidney  as 
deputy.  Fitzwilliam  complained  that  Fit- 
ton  had  imprisoned  Clanricarde,  and  refused 
to  reveal  the  nature  of  his  offence,  either  to 
the  council  or  to  himself  as  in  duty  bound, 
which,  he  declared,  '  implieth  an  accusation 
of  me.'  When  called  upon  to  explain,  Fitton 
could  only  say  that  the  proofs  of  the  earl's 
guilt,  though  satisfactory  to  himself,  were  not 
likely  to  weigh  much  with  the  council.  After 
six  months'  imprisonment  Clanricarde  was 
allowed  to  return  home,  when  he  endeavoured 
to  signalise  his  loyalty  by  hanging  his  own 
son,  his  brother's  son,hiscousin-german's  son, 
and  one  of  the  captains  of  his  own  galloglasses, 
besides  fifty  of  his  followers  that  bore  armour 
and  weapons  ;  but  he  never  forgave  Fitton 
the  injury  he  had  done  him.  Meanwhile  the 
lord  president,  cooped  up  within  Athlone, 
prayed  earnestly  that  fresh  reinforcements 
might  be  sent  him,  or  that  he  might  be  re- 
lieved of  his  government.  In  midsummer 
1572  the  rebels  burnt  Athlone  to  the  ground, 
and  his  position  becoming  one  of  extreme 
peril  he  was  shortly  afterwards  recalled,  and 
the  office  of  president  allowed  to  sink  for  the 
nonce  into  abeyance. 

In  October  he  retired  to  England,  and 
seems  to  have  spent  his  time  chiefly  at  Gaws- 
worth. In  December,  however,  he  was  ap- 
pointed vice-treasurer  and  treasurer  at  wars 
(queen  to  Fitzwilliam,  Ham.  Cal.  i.  491). 
On  25  March  1573  he  returned  to  Dublin  in 
charge  of  Gerald,  fifteenth  earl  of  Desmond, 
and  on  1  April  entered  upon  his  duties  as 
treasurer.  Shortly  afterwards  a  fresh  quarrel 
broke  out  between  him  and  Fitzwilliam.  It 
arose  out  of  a  brawl  between  his  servant  Ro- 
den  and  one  Burnell,  a  friend  of  Captain 
Harrington,  the  lord  deputy's  nephew.  It 
appears  that  Roden,  having  broken  Burnell's 
head  with  a  dagger,  was  himself  a  day  or  two 
after  run  through  the  body  by  Harrington's 
servant,  Meade.  Meade  was  acquitted  by  the 
coroner's  jury,  but  found  guilty  of  manslaugh- 
ter by  the  queen's  bench.  Thereupon  the 
deputy  stepped  in  with  a  general  pardon, 
which  coming  into  the  possession  of  Fitton 
he  refused  to  surrender  it,  and  was  forthwith 


Fitton 


Fitton 


committed  to  gaol  for  contempt.  Next  day, 
regretting  his  hasty  action,  the  deputy  sum- 
moned him  to  take  his  place  at  the  council 
board ;  but  he,  declining  to  be  thus  thrust 
out  of  gaol  privily,  complained  to  the  queen, 
who,  evidently  without  due  consideration  of 
the  merits  of  the  case,  sharply  reprimanded 
the  deputy,  praised  Fitton  for  his  loyalty,  and 
then  bade  them  become  friends  again.  No 
doubt  Fitzwilliam  lost  his  temper,  but  the 
treasurer's  conduct  was  exasperating  to  the 
last  degree  (BAGWELL,  Ireland,  ii.  256).  On 
18  June  he  was  commissioned,  along  with  the 
Earl  of  Clanricarde,  the  archbishop  of  Tuam, 
and  others,  to  hold  assizes  in  Connaught.  On 
his  return  he  accompanied  the  deputy  to  Kil- 
kenny ;  but  when  it  was  proposed  that  he 
should  proceed  into  Munster  and  endeavour 
to  prevent  the  disturbances  likely  to  arise 
there  owing  to  the  escape  of  the  Earl  of 
Desmond,  he  flatly  refused  to  play  the  part 
of  '  a  harrow  without  pynnes/  protesting  to 
Burghley  that '  if  I  must  neuely  be  throwen 
upon  all  desperate  reckes  (I  meane  not  for  life 
but  for  honesty  and  credit)  I  may  say  my 
hap  is  hard '  (State  Papers,  Eliz.  xlvi.  46). 

In  May  1575  he  escorted  the  Earl  of  Kil- 
dare  and  his  two  sons,  suspected  of  treason, 
into  England,  but  returned  in  September  with 
Sir  H.  Sidney,  Fitzwilliam's  successor,  whom 
he  attended  on  his  northern  journey.  In 
April  1578  he  was  the  cause  of  another 
'  scene '  at  the  council  board  owing  to  his  re- 
fusal, apparently  on  good  grounds,  to  affirm 
with  the  rest  of  the  council  that  there  had 
been  an  increase  in  the  revenue.  The  only 
governor  with  whom  he  seems  to  have  cor- 
dially co-operated  was  Sir  "William  Drury. 
With  him  he  was  indefatigable  in  his  prepa- 
rations to  meet  the  threatened  invasion  of 
James  Fitzmaurice.  He  died  on  3  July  1579 
'from  the  disease  of  the  country,'  caught 
during  an  expedition  into  Longford.  '  I 
know/  wrote  Drury,  '  he  was,  in  many  men's 
opinions,  over  careful  of  his  posterity,  and  was 
not  without  enemies  that  sought  to  interpret 
that  to  his  discredit ;  but  I  wish  in  his  suc- 
cessor that  temperance,  judgment,  and  ability 
to  speak  in  her  majesty's  causes  that  was 
found  in  him.  And  for  my  own  part,  if  I 
should  (as  of  right  I  ought)  measure  my  liking 
of  him  by  his  good  affection  to  me,  truly  my 
particular  loss  is  also  very  great '  (ib.  Ixvii.  25). 

He  was  buried  on  21  Sept.  in  St.  Patrick's 
Cathedral  beside  the '  wyef  of  his  youth,  Anne, 
the  second  daughter  of  Sr  Peter  Warburton, 
of  Areley  in  the  county  of  Chester,  knight, 
who  were  borne  both  in  one  yere,  viz.  he  ye 
last  of  Marche  1527,  and  she  the  first  of 
Maye  in  the  same  yeare,  and  were  maried  on 
Sonday  next  after  Hillaries  daye  1539,  being 


ye  19  daye  of  Januarie,  in  the  12  yere  of  their 
age,  and  lyved  together  in  true  and  lawfull 
matrymonie  iuste  34  yeres,  for  ye  same  Son- 
day  of  the  yeare  wherein  they 'were  maried 
ye  same  Sondaie  34  yeres  following  was  she 
buried,  though  she  faithfully  depted  this  lyef 
9  daies  before,  viz.  on  Saturdaie  ye  9  daie  of 
Januarie  1573,  in  wch  tyme  God  gave  theim 
15  children,  viz.  9  sonnes  and  6  daughters ' 
(from  a  brass  in  St.  Patrick's,  of  which  there 
is  a  rubbing  in  Brit.  Mus.  Add.  MS.  32485, 

Q.1). 

SIR  EDWARD  FITTON  the  younger  (1548  ?- 
1606),  son  and  heir  of  the  above,  being  disap- 
pointed in  his  expectation  of  succeeding  his 
father  as  vice-treasurer,  retired  to  England 
shortly  after  having  been  knighted  by  Sir 
William  Pelham  (Ham.  Cal.  ii.  175 ;  cf.  Do- 
mestic Cal.  Add.  p.  25).  His  interest  in  Ireland 
revived  when  it  was  proposed  to  colonise  Mun- 
ster with  Englishmen,  and  he  was  one  of  the 
first  to  solicit  a  slice  of  the  forfeited  estates 
of  the  Earl  of  Desmond.  On  3  Sept.  1587 
he  passed  his  patent  for  11,515  acres  in  the 
counties  of  Limerick,  Tipperary,  and  Water- 
ford  ;  but  the  speculation  proved  to  be  not 
so  profitable  as  he  had  anticipated,  and  on 
19  Dec.  1588  he  wrote  to  Burghley  that  he 
was  1,500J.  out  of  pocket  through  it,  and 
begged  that  his  rent  might  be  remitted  on 
account  of  his  father's  twenty  years'  service 
and  his  own  (Ham.  Cal.  iv.  87).  He  was 
most  energetic  in  his  proposals  for  the  extir- 
pation of  the  Irish,  but  seems  to  have  taken 
little  care  to  fulfil  the  conditions  of  the  grant, 
and  was  soon  remarked  as  an  absentee.  He 
married  Alice,  daughter  and  sole  heiress  of 
Sir  John  Holcroft  of  Holcroft,  Lancashire, 
who  survived  him  till  5  Feb.  1626,  and  who, 
after  his  death  in  1606,  erected  a  tablet  to 
his  memory  in  Gawsworth  Church,  the  latter 
portion  of  which  appears  to  have  been  vio- 
lently defaced  (ORMEROD,  Cheshire,  iii.  295). 
His  daughter  Mary  is  noticed  below. 

[Authorities  as  in  the  text ;  J.  P.  Earwaker's 
East  Cheshire.]  E.  D. 

FITTON,  MARY  (fl.  1600),  maid  of 
honour  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  alleged  to  be 
'  the  dark  lady  '  mentioned  in  Shakespeare's 
sonnets,  was  the  fourth  child  and  second 
daughter  of  Sir  Edward  Fitton  the  younger 
[see  above],  by  his  wife,  Alice,  daughter  of 
Sir  John  Holcroft.  She  was  baptised  at 
Gawsworth  Church,  Cheshire,  24  June  1578. 
In  1595  Mary  was  one  of  the  maids  of 
honour  to  the  queen.  In  1600  Queen  Eliza- 
beth attended  the  festivities  which  celebrated 
the  marriage  of  Anne  Russell,  another  of  her 
maids  of  honour,  and  Lord  Herbert,  son  of 
the  Earl  of  Worcester.  Mary  Fitton  took  p 


Fitton 


Fitton 


prominent  part  in  the  masque  performed  then 
by  ladies  of  the  court,  and  she  led  the  dances 
(Sidney  Papers,  ii.  201,  203).  Her  vivacity 
made  her  popular  with  the  young  men  at  court, 
and  she  became  the  mistress  of  William  Her- 
bert (1580-1630)  [q.  v.],  the  young  earl  of 
Pembroke.  l  During  the  time  that  the  Earl 
of  Pembroke  favoured  her  she  would  put  off 
her  head-tire,  and  tuck  up  her  clothes,  and 
take  a  large  white  cloak  and  march  as  though 
she  had  been  a  man  to  meet  the  said  earl  out 
of  the  court '  (State  Papers,  Dom.  Add.  vol. 
xxxiv.)  Early  in  1601  she  was  '  proved  with 
child '  (  Cal.  Carew  MSS.  1601-3,  p.  20) .  Pem- 
broke admitted  his  responsibility,  and  both 
were  threatened  with  imprisonment.  The  earl 
'  utterly  renounced  all  marriage/  and  was  sent 
to  the  Fleet  in  March,  but  his  mistress,  who 
was  delivered  of  a  son,  seems  to  have  escaped 
punishment.  The  child  died  soon  after  birth. 
According  to  Sir  Peter  Leicester  (1614-1678) 
Mary  Fitton  also  bore  two  illegitimate  daugh- 
ters to  Sir  Kichard  Leveson,  knight  (SHAKE- 
SPEARE, Sonnets,  ed.  Tyler,  xxii. ;  Academy 
for  15  Dec.  1888,  p.  388).  There  seems  no 
doubt  that  she  married  Captain  William 
Polwhele  in  1607.  But  there  is  some  likeli- 
hood of  his  having  been  her  second  husband, 
for  as  early  as  1599  her  father  corresponded 
with  Sir  Eobert  Cecil  about  her  marriage 
portion.  In  Sir  Peter  Leycester's  manuscripts 
the  name  of  Captain  Lougher  appears  beside 
that  of  Captain  Polwhele  as  one  of  her  hus- 
bands. Recent  examination  of  Leycester's 
manuscripts  (in  the  possession  of  Lord  de 
Tabley)  seems  to  show  that  Mary  Fitton 
married  Polwhele  before  Lougher.  Hence 
it  would  seem  either  that  the  marriage  con- 
jecturally  assigned  to  1599  did  not  take  place, 
and  that,  when  mistress  of  Pembroke  and 
Leveson,  Mary  Fitton  was  unmarried ;  or  that 
her  first  husband's  name  is  lost,  and  that 
Lougher  was  a  third  husband.  On  the  ela- 
borate tomb  erected  by  her  mother  over  her 
father's  grave  in  1606  in  Gaws worth  Church, 
kneeling  figures  of  herself,  her  brothers,  her 
sister,  and  her  mother  still  remain. 

An  attempt  has  been  made  to  identify  Mary 
Fitton  with  the '  mistress '  with  eyes  of '  raven 
black '  to  whom  Shakespeare  appears  to  make 
suit  in  his  sonnets  (cxxvii-clvii.)  There 
seems  little  doubt  that  the  earlier  sonnets 
celebrate  Shakespeare's  friendship  with  Wil- 
liam Herbert,  earl  of  Pembroke,  while  it  has 
been  assumed  that  the  later  sonnets  describe 
how  Shakespeare  supplanted  his  friend  in 
the  affections  of  a  dark-complexioned  beauty 
of  the  court.  This  beauty,  it  is  now  suggested, 
was  Mary  Fitton.  But  there  is  very  little 
beyond  the  fact  that  Mary  Fitton  was  at  one 
time  Herbert's  mistress  to  confirm  the  iden- 


tification, and  it  is  possible  that  the  later  son- 
nets deal  with  a  fictitious  situation.  The 
natural  objection  raised  to  the  circumstance 
that  a  lady  moving  in  high  society  should  have 
entered  into  a  liaison  with  a  man  of  the  low 
social  position  of  an  actor  and  playwright  has 
been  met  by  the  discovery  of  the  fact  that  Wil- 
liam Kemp,  the  actor,  dedicated  to  Mistress 
Anne  Fitton,  whom  he  calls  maid  of  honour  to 
the  queen,  his '  Nine  Daies  Wonder,'  1600,  in 
terms  approaching  familiarity.  Mistress  An ne 
Fitton  was  Mary  Fitton's  elder  sister,  and 
there  is  no  good  reason  for  supposing  (as  has 
been  suggested)  that  Kemp  intended  Mary 
when  he  wrote  Anne.  Anne  Fitton,  bap- 
tised 6  Oct.  1574,  married  about  1595  Sir 
John  Newdegate  of  Erbury,  Warwickshire. 
Kemp's  employment  of  her  maiden  name 
alone  in  his  dedication  is  in  accordance  with 
a  common  contemporary  practice  of  address- 
ing married  women.  The  whole  theory  of  Mary 
Fitton's  identification  with  Shakespeare's 
'  dark  lady '  is  ingenious,  but  the  present 
state  of  the  evidence  does  not  admit  of  its 
definite  acceptance. 

[Shakespeare's  Sonnets— the  first  quarto,  1609 
— a  facsimile  in  photo-lithography,  edited  by 
Thomas  Tyler,  London,  1886,  contains  almost  all 
that  can  be  said  in  favour  of  the  theory  of  Mary 
Fitton's  identification  with  the  'dark  lady '  of  the 
sonnets.  Mr.  Tyler  has  supplemented  this  infor- 
mation by  a  letter  in  the  Academy,  15  Dec.  1888, 
which  is  to  be  incorporated  in  a  volume  on  Shake- 
speare's sonnets.  See  also  J.  P.  Earwaker's  East 
Cheshire,  ii.  566;  Ormerod's  Cheshire ;  Nichols's 
Progresses  of  Queen  Elizabeth  ;  Gerald  Massey's 
Secret  Drama  of  Shakespeare's  sonnets  (1888), 
adverse  to  the  Fitton  theory.]  S.  L.  L. 

FITTON",  MICHAEL  (1766-1852),  lieu- 
tenant in  the  navy,  was  born  in  1766  at 
Gawsworth  in  Cheshire,  the  ancient  seat  of 
his  family.  He  entered  the  navy  in  June  1780, 
on  board  the  Vestal,  with  Captain  George 
Keppel.  On  10  Sept.  the  Vestal  gave  chase  to 
and  captured  the  Mercury  packet,  having  on 
board  Mr.  Laurens,  late  president  of  congress, 
on  his  way  to  Holland  as  ambassador  of  the 
revolted  colonies.  During  the  chase  young 
Fitton,  being  on  the  foretop-gallant  yard, 
hailed  the  deck  to  say  that  there  was  a  man 
overboard  from  the  enemy.  The  Vestal  sent 
a  boat  to  pick  him  up,  when  the  object  was 
found  to  be  a  bag  of  papers,  which,  being  in- 
sufficiently weighted,  was  recovered.  On 
examination  these  papers  were  found  to  com- 
promise the  Dutch  government,  and  led  to  a 
declaration  of  war  against  Holland  a  few 
months  afterwards.  Fitton  continued  with 
Captain  Keppel  during  the  war  in  different 
ships,  and  as  midshipman  of  the  Fortitude 
was  present  at  the  relief  of  Gibraltar  in 1782. 


Fitton 


84 


Fitton 


In  1793  he  was  again  with  Captain  Keppel 
in  the  Defiance  of  74  guns,  as  master's  mate. 
In  1796  he  was  appointed  purser  of  the 
Stork  in  the  West  Indies,  and  in  1799  was 
acting  lieutenant  of  the  Abergavenny  of  54 
guns,  from  which  he  was  almost  immediately 
detached  in  command  of  one  of  her  tenders. 
One  of  his  first  services  was,  in  the  Ferret 
schooner,  to  cruise  in  the  Mona  Passage,  in 
company  with  the  Sparrow  cutter,  com- 
manded by  Mr.  Whylie.  The  two  accident- 
ally separated  for  a  few  days.  On  rejoining, 
Fitton  invited  Whylie  by  signal  to  come  to 
breakfast,  and  while  waiting  caught  a  large 
shark  that  was  under  the  stern.  In  its  stomach 
was  found  a  packet  of  papers  relating  to  an 
American  brig  Nancy.  When  Whylie  came 
on  board,  he  mentioned  that  he  had  detained 
an  American  brig  called  the  Nancy.  Fitton 
then  said  that  he  had  her  papers.  l  Papers  ? ' 
answered  Whylie ;  '  why,  I  sealed  up  her 
papers  and  sent  them  in  with  her.'  <  Just 
so,  replied  Fitton;  'those  were  her  false 
papers ;  here  are  her  real  ones.'  And  so  it 
proved.  The  papers  were  lodged  in  the  ad- 
miralty court  at  Port  Royal,  and  by  them 
the  brig  was  condemned.  The  shark's  jaws 
were  set  up  on  shore,  with  the  inscription, 
'  Lieut.  Fitton  recommends  these  jaws  for  a 
collar  for  neutrals  to  swear  through.'  The 
papers  are  still  preserved  in  the  museum  of 
the  Royal  United  Service  Institution. 

Fitton's  whole  service  during  the  three 
years  in  which  he  commanded  the  Aberga- 
venny's  tenders  was  marked  by  daring  and 
good  fortune  (JAMES,  Nav.  Hist.  1860,  ii. 
398,  iii.  38).  Several  privateers  of  superior 
force  he  captured  or  beat  off.  One,  which  he 
drove  ashore,  he  boarded  by  swimming,  him- 
self and  the  greater  part  of  his  men  plunging 
into  the  sea  with  their  swords  in  their  mouths 
(O'BYENE  ;  a  friend  of  the  present  writer  has 
often  heard  Fitton  tell  the  story).  When  the 
war  was  renewed  in  1803,  Fitton  was  again 
sent  out  to  the  West  Indian  flagship,  and  ap- 
pointed to  command  her  tender,  the  Gipsy 
schooner.  At  the  attack  on  Curacao  in  1804, 
being  the  only  officer  in  the  squadron  who 
was  acquainted  with  the  island,  he  piloted  the 
ships  in,  and  had  virtually  the  direction  of 
the  landing.  On  the  failure  of  the  expedition 
the  Gipsy  was  sent  to  the  admiral  with  des- 
patches, and  Fitton,  in  accordance  with  the 
senior  officer's  recommendation,  was  at  last 
promoted  to  be  lieutenant,  thus  receiving,  as 
'  the  bearer  of  despatches  announcing  a  de- 
feat, what  years  of  active  employment  and 
of  hard  and  responsible  service,  what  more 
than  one  successful  case  of  acknowledged 
skill  and  gallantry  as  a  commanding  officer 
had  failed  to  procure  him '  (JAMES,  iii.  296). 


His  promotion,  however,  made  no  difference 
in  his  employment.  In  the  Gipsy  and  after- 
wards in  the  Pitt,  a  similar  schooner,  he  con- 
tinued to  wage  a  dashing  and  successful  war 
on  the  enemy's  privateers,  and  on  26  Oct. 
1806,  after  a  weary  chase  of  sixty-seven 
hours,  drove  on  shore  and  captured  the  Su- 
perbe,  a  French  ship  of  superior  force,  which 
had  long  been  the  scourge  of  English  trade, 
and  on  board  of  which  a  list  of  captures 
made  showed  a  value  of  147,000/.  The  cap- 
tain of  the  .Superbe  afterwards  equipped  a 
brig  which  he  named  La  Revanche  de  la 
Superbe,  and  sent  an  invitation  to  Fitton  to 
meet  him  at  a  place  named  ;  but  before  the 
message  arrived  Fitton  had  been  superseded 
by  a  friend  of  the  admiral,  Sir  Alexander 
Cochrane,  l  not  to  be  promoted  to  the  rank 
of  commander,  but  to  be  turned  adrift  as  an 
unemployed  lieutenant '  (ib.  iv.  184).  All 
that  he  seems  to  have  got  for  capturing  or 
destroying  near  forty  of  the  enemy's  ships, 
many  of  them  privateers,  was  the  thanks  of 
the  admiralty,  a  sword  valued  at  50/.  from 
the  Patriotic  Society,  and  his  share  of  the 
prize-money,  which,  from  his  being  in  com- 
mand of  a  tender,  was  only  counted  to  him 
as  one  of  the  officers  of  the  flagship.  He 
was  left  unemployed  till  1811,  when  he  was 
appointed  to  the  command  of  a  brig  for  ser- 
vice in  the  North  Sea  and  Baltic,  and  which 
was  paid  out  of  commission  in  1815.  In  1831 
he  was  appointed  a  lieutenant  of  the  ordinary 
at  Plymouth,  and  in  1835  was  admitted  into 
Greenwich  Hospital,  where  he  continued  till 
his  death,  which  took  place  at  Peckham  on 
31  Dec.  1852. 

It  is  now  impossible  to  say  what  was  the 
cause  of  Fitton's  being  so  grievously  ne- 
glected. The  record  of  his  services  is  bril- 
liant beyond  that  of  any  officer  of  his  stand- 
ing ;  and  the  story  of  his  career  is  in  marked 
and  painful  contrast  with  that  of  Sir  Thomas 
Cochrane,  whose  rapid  promotion  by  the  ad- 
miral who  superseded  Fitton  has  been  already 
related. 

[O'Byrne's  Nav.  Biog.  Diet. ;  Gent.  Mag.  1853, 
new  ser.  xl.  312;  United  Service  Journal,  1835, 
pt.  i.  p.  276 ;  Allen's  Battles  of  the  British  Navy 
(see  index).  Allen  was  an  intimate  friend  of 
Fitton  in  the  days  of  his  retirement  at  Green- 
wich, and  his  notices  of  Fitton's  achievements 
may  be  considered  as  practically  related  by 
Fitton  himself.]  J.  K.  L. 

FITTON,    WILLIAM  HENRY,  M.D. 

(1780-1861),  geologist,  born  in  Dublin  in 
January  1780,  was  a  descendant  of  an  an- 
cient family,  originally  of  Gawsworth  in 
Cheshire,  but  long  settled  in  Ireland.  Fitton 
went  to  school  in  Dublin  with  Moore  (the 
poet)  and  Robert  Emmett.  He  carried  off 


Fitton 


Fitzailwin 


the  senior  classical  scholarship  at  Trinity 
College,  Dublin,  in  1798,  and  took  his  B.A. 
degree  there  in  1799.  He  was  destined  for  the 
church,  but  his  bent  towards  natural  science 
induced  him  to  adopt  the  medical  profession. 

Before  1807  he  had  determined  barometri- 
cally the  heights  of  the  principal  mountains 
of  Ireland,  had  made  excursions  to  Wales 
and  to  Cornwall  to  study  their  minerals  and 
rocks,  and  had  been  arrested  on  suspicion  as 
a  rebel  while  engaged  in  collecting  fossils 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Dublin.  In  1808 
Fitton  went  to  the  university  of  Edinburgh, 
where  he  attended  the  lectures  of  Professor 
Jameson,  through  whose  influence  many  able 
men  were  led  to  the  study  of  geology.  In 
1809  Fitton  removed  to  London,  where  he 
continued  to  study  medicine  and  chemistry, 
and  in  1812  he  established  himself  in  North- 
ampton, assured  of  a  good  reception  there  as 
a  physician  by  the  introduction  of  Lord  and 
Lady  Spencer,  and  with  the  anticipation  also 
of  succeeding  to  the  practice  of  Dr.  Kerr,  the 
father  of  Lady  Davy. 

At  Northampton  Fitton's  mother  and 
three  sisters  kept  house  for  him,  till  in  1820 
he  married  Miss  James,  a  lady  of  ample 
fortune,  by  whom  he  had  five  sons  and  three 
daughters.  In  1816  Fitton  was  made  M.D. 
of  Cambridge  University,  but  after  his  mar- 
riage he  gave  up  the  active  practice  of  his 
profession,  removed  to  London,  and  devoted 
himself  entirely  to  scientific  researches, 
mainly  geological.  After  acting  for  several 
years  as  secretary  of  the  Geological  Society, 
Fitton  was  made  president  in  1828.  He  esta- 
blished the  '  Proceedings  '  of  the  society. 

Fitton  was  a  man  of  very  independent 
spirit.  He  strongly  supported  Herschel  in 
opposition  to  the  Duke  of  Sussex  for  the  chair 
of  the  Eoyal  Society.  His  house  was  a 
hospitable  meeting-place  for  scientific  per- 
sons, and  while  president  of  the  Geological 
Society  he  held  a  regular  conversazione  on 
Sundays.  Fitton  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the 
Eoyal  Society  in  1815;  he  also  belonged  to 
the  Linnean,  Astronomical,  and  Geographical 
Societies.  He  was  awarded  the  Wollaston 
medal  by  the  Geological  Society  in  1 852.  He 
died  at  his  house  in  London  on  13  May  1861. 

Fitton's  scientific  work  began  in  1811  with 
his  paper,  <  Notice  respecting  the  Geological 
structure  of  the  vicinity  of  Dublin  ('  Trans. 
Geological  Society,'  1811).  Between  1817 
and  1841  he  contributed  a  series  of  papers 
to  the  '  Edinburgh  Review '  upon  contempo- 
raneous geological  topics,  such  as  '  William 
Smith's  Geological  Map  of  England,' '  Lyell's 
Geology,'  the  '  Silurian  System,'  &c.  But 
Fitton's  best  work  was  done  between  1824 
•  and  1836,  when  he  laid  down  the  proper  suc- 


cession of  the  strata  between  the  oolite  and 
the  chalk ;  dividing  the  '  greensand  '  into  an 
upper  and  a  lower  division,  separated  by  a 
bed  of  clay,  the  gault.  This  work  forms  a 
distinct  landmark  in  the  history  of  geology. 
His  principal  papers  descriptive  of  the  green- 
sand  are  contained  in  the  '  Proceedings '  and 
in  the  '  Transactions'  of  the  Geological  So- 
ciety for  1834-5,  and  in  the « Journal'  of  the 
same  society,  1845-6.  It  was  Fitton's  de- 
light to  instruct  others  in  practical  geology, 
and  many  travellers,  including  Sir  John 
Franklin,  Sir  George  Back,  and  Sir  John 
Richardson,  received  valuable  assistance  from 
him. 

Fitton's  last  paper  (he  published  twenty- 
one  altogether)  was  {  On  the  Structure  of 
North-West  Australia '  in  the  *  Proceedings 
of  the  Geographical  Society '  for  1857. 

[Quart.  Journ.  Geological  Society,  president's 
address,  1862,  p.  xxx ;  Royal  Society's  Cata- 
logue of  Scientific  Papers.]  W.  J.  H. 

FITZAILWIN,  HENRY  (d.  1212), 
first  mayor  of  London,  is  of  doubtful  origin. 
Dr.  Stubbs  holds  that  he  '  may  have  been  an 
hereditary  baron  of  London'  (Const.  Hist. 
i.  631).  Mr.  Loftie  confidently  asserts  that 
he  was  a  grandson  of  Leofstan,  portreeve 
of  London  before  the  Conquest  (London,  pp. 
22, 36,  129).  The  present  writer  has  shown 
(Antiquary,  xv.  107-8)  that  this  is  a  fallacy, 
partly  based  on  the  confusion  of  three  or  four 
Leofstans,  who  are  similarly  confused  by 
Mr.  Freeman  (Norman  Conquest,  v.  469).  It 
is  just  possible  that  the  clue  may  be  found 
in  an  entry  in  the  'Pipe  Roll'  of  1165  (Sot. 
Pip.  11  Hen.  II,  p.  18),  where  a  Henry  Fitz- 
ailwin Fitzleofstan,  with  Alan  his  brother, 
pay  for  succeeding  apparently  to  lands  in 
Essex  or  Hertfordshire,  since  we  learn  that 
our  Henry  Fitzailwin  held  lands  at  Watton 
and  Stone  in  Hertfordshire  by  tenure  of  ser- 
jeanty  (Testa  de  Nevill,  p.  270  d),  which  de- 
scended to  his  heirs  (ib.  pp.  276  b,  266  b).  In 
that  case  his  grandfather  was  a  Leofstan,  but 
as  yet  unidentified.  It  has  been  urged  by  the 
writer  (Academy,  12  Nov.  1887)  that  Henry's 
career  should  be  divided  into  two  periods :  the 
first,  in  which  he  is  styled  Henry  Fitzailwin 
(i.e.  JEthelwine),  and  the  second,  in  which  he 
figures  as  mayor  of  London.  He  appears  as 
a  witness  under  the  former  style  in  a  docu- 
ment printed  by  Palgrave  (Rot.  Cur.  Hey. 
cvii),  in  a  duchy  of  Lancaster  charter  (Box 
A.  No.  163),  and  in  two  of  the  St.  Paul's 
muniments  (9th  Rep.  i.  25,  26).  A  grant  of 
his  also  is  printed  by  Palgrave  (Rot.  Cur. 
Reg.  cv).  As  mayor  he  occurs  far  more  fre- 
quently, namely  five  times,  in  the  St.  Paul's 
muniments  (9th  Rep.  i.  8,  10,  20,  22,  27), 


Fitzailwin 


86 


Fitzalan 


twice  in  the  '  Rot.  Cur.  Reg.'  (pp.  171,  432), 
viz.  in  1198  and  1199,  and  once  in  an  Essex 
charter  of  1197  (Harl  Cart.  83  A,  18).  His 
last  dated  appearance  in  the  first  capacity  is 
30  Nov.  1191,  and  he  first  appears  as  mayor 
in  April  1193  (HovEDE^,  iii.  212).  He  pro- 
bably therefore  became  mayor  between  these 
dates.  This  is  fatal  to  the  well-known  as- 
sertion in  the  '  Cronica  Maiorum  et  Vice- 
comitumLondonise'  (Liber  de  Ant.  Leg.}  that 
'  Henricus  filius  Eylwini  de  London-stane ' 
was  made  mayor  in  '1188'  or  1189,  and  is 
even  at  variance  with  Mr.  Coote's  hypothesis 
that  the  mayoralty  originated  in  the  grant  of 
a  communa  10  Oct.  1191  (vide  infra).  Dr. 
Stubbs,  however,  leans  to  this  date  as  the  com- 
mencement of  Henry's  mayoralty  (Sel.  Chart. 
p.  300;  Const.  Hist.  i.  630).  Though  he  con- 
tinued mayor,  as  far  as  can  be  ascertained, 
uninterruptedly  till  his  death,  the  only  re- 
corded event  of  his  mayoralty  is  his  famous 
'  assize '  (Liber  de  Ant.  Leg.  p.  206 ;  Liber 
Aldus,  p.  319).  And  even  this  is  only  tra- 
ditionally associated  with  his  name.  In  1203 
he  is  found  holding  two  knight's  fees  of  the 
honour  of  '  Peverel  of  London  '  (Rot.  Cane. 
3  John).  He  derived  his  description  as  '  de 
London-stane'  from  his  house,  which  stood 
on  the  north  side  of  St.  Swithin's  Church 
in  Candlewick  (now  Cannon)  Street,  over 
against  London  Stone.  He  also  held  pro- 
perty at  Hoo  in  Kent,  Warlingham  and 
Burnham  in  Surrey,  and  Edmonton  in  Middle- 
sex. He  is  found  presiding  over  a  meet- 
ing of  the  citizens,  24  July  1212,  consequent 
on  the  great  fire  of  the  previous  week  (Liber 
Custumarum,  p.  88).  The  earliest  notice  of 
his  death  is  a  writ  of  5  Oct.  1212,  ordering 
his  lands  to  be  taken  into  the  king's  hands 
(Rot.  Pat.  14  John).  It  is  often  erroneously 
placed  in  1213.  His  wife,  Margaret,  sur- 
vived him  (Rot.  Glaus.  14  John),  as  did  his 
three  younger  sons,  Alan,  Thomas,  and  Ri- 
chard (ib.  15  John),  but  his  eldest  son,  Peter, 
who  had  married  Isabel,  daughter  and  heir 
of  Bartholomew  de  Cheyne,  had  died  before 
him,  leaving  two  daughters,  of  whom  the 
survivor  was  in  1212  Henry  Fitzail win's  heir. 

[Patent  Rolls  (Record  Commission) ;  Close 
Rolls  (ib.);  Testa  de  Nevill  (ib.);  Palgrave's 
Rotuli  Curise  Regis  (ib.) ;  Rot.  Cane,  (ib.) ;  Pipe 
Roll  Society's  works;  Duchy  Charters  (Public 
Record  Office) ;  Boger  Hoveden  (Rolls  Series)  ; 
Riley's  Munimenta  Gildhalle  Londoniensis  (ib.)  ; 
Reports  on  Historical  MSS. ;  Stapleton's  Liber 
de  Antiquis  Legibus  (Camd.  Soc.) ;  Stubbs's  Se- 
lect Charters  and  Constitutional  Hist.  ;  Freeman's 
Norman  Conquest;  Antiquary,  1887;  Academy, 
1887  ;  Coote's  A  Lost  Charter  (London  and 
Middlesex  Arch.  Trans,  vol.  A'.);  Loftie's  London 
(Historic  Towns).]  J.  H.  R. 


FITZALAN,  BERTRAM  (d.  1424),  Car- 
melite, said  to  have  been  a  member  of  the  great 
family  of  the  Fitzalans,  entered  the  Carmelite 
fraternity  at  Lincoln,  and  studied  at  Oxford, 
presumably  in  the  house  of  his  order,  where 
William  Quaplod,  also  a  Carmelite,  who  be- 
came bishop  of  Derry  (not  of  Kildare,  as  Bale 
has  it)  in  1419,  was  his  friend  and  patron. 
Fitzalan,  after  proceeding  to  the  degree  of, 
master,  seems  to  have  returned  to  Lincoln, 
and  to  have  there  founded  a  library,  in  which 
Bale  saw  the  following  works  of  his :  l  Super 
quarto  Sententiarum  liber  i.,'  '  Qusestiones 
Theologiae,'  and '  Ad  plebem  Conciones.'  Pits 
also  assigns  to  him  a  volume  of  '  Excerpta 
qusedam  ex  aliis  auctoribus,'  which  he  men- 
tions as  existing  in  the  library  of  Balliol  Col- 
lege, Oxford.  The  book  has,  however,  either 
been  lost,  or  else  Pits  was  misled  by  a  codex 
there  (clxv.  B)  of  miscellaneous  contents, 
some  of  which  are  by  Cardinal  Peter  Bertrand. 
Fitzalan  died  on  17  May  1424. 

[Leland,  Comm,  de  Scriptt.  Brit.dxxviii.  p.  436 
(ed.  A.  Hall,  1709);  Bale,  Scriptt.  Brit.  Cat. 
vii.  64,  p.  558  ;  Pits,  De  Angl.  Scriptt.  p.  610  et 
seq. ;  Tanner's  Bibl.  Brit.  282.]  R.  L.  P. 

FITZALAN,  BRIAN,  LOKD  OP  BEDALE 
(d.  1306),  was  descended  from  a  younger 
branch  of  the  Counts  of  Brittany  and  Earls 
of  Richmond.  His  father,  Brian  Fitzalan,  an 
itinerant  justice  (Foss,  Judges,  ii.  326),  and 
sheriff  of  Northumberland  between  1227  and 
1235  and  of  Yorkshire  between  1236  and  1239 
(  Thirty-first  Report  of  Deputy-Keeper  of  Re- 
cords, pp.  321, 364),  was  grandson  of  Brian,  a 
younger  son  of  Alan  of  Brittany,  and  brother, 
therefore,  of  Count  Conan,  the  father  of  Con- 
stance, wife  of  Geoffrey  of  Anjou  (DFGDALE, 
Baronage,  i.  53 ;  cf.  Harl.  MS.  1052,  f.  9). 
He  was  summoned  to  the  Welsh  war  of 
1282,  and  in  1287  to  the  armed  council  at 
Gloucester.  In  1290  he  was  appointed  by 
Edward  warden  of  the  castles  of  Forfar, 
Dundee,  Roxburgh,  and  Jedburgh.  They  re- 
mained in  his  custody  till  1292  (STEVENSON, 
Doc.  illustrative  of  Scott,  Hist.  i.  207-8, 350). 
In  1292  he  was  made  by  Edward  one  of  the 
guardians  of  Scotland  during  the  vacancy  of 
the  throne  (Fcedera,  i.  761 ;  cf.  RISHASTGEK, 
p.  250,  Rolls  Ser.)  He  took  a  leading  share 
in  the  judicial  proceedings  which  resulted  in 
John  Baliol  being  declared  by  Edward  king 
of  Scotland,  and  after  witnessing  the  new 
king's  homage  to  Edward  surrendered  his 
rolls  and  official  documents  to  the  new  king 
(Focdera,  i.  782, 785).  In  1294  he  was  sum- 
moned to  repress  the  Welsh  revolt.  In  1295 
he  received  a  summons  to  the  famous  parlia- 
ment of  that  year.  Henceforth  he  was  regu- 
larly summoned,  but  always  as  *  Brian  Fitz- 


Fitzalan 


Fitzalan 


g 

N 


alan,'  though  in  1301  he  subscribed  the  letter 
of  the  magnates  sent  from  the  Lincoln  par- 
liament to  the  pope  as  '  Lord  of  Bedale.'  In 
1296  and  the  succeeding  years  he  was  almost 
constantly  occupied  in  Scotland.  On  10  July 
1296  he  was  present  at  Brechin  when  John 
Baliol  submitted  to  Edward  (STEVENSON,  ii. 
61).  Though  summoned  on  7  July  1297  to 
serve  in  person  beyond  sea,  he  was  on  12  July 
appointed  captain  of  all  garrisons  and  fort- 
resses in  Northumberland.  On  14  Aug.  1297 
he  was  appointed  guardian  of  Scotland  in 
succession  to  Earl  Warenne  (_Fcedera,i.  874). 
An  interesting  letter  is  preserved,  in  which 
he  remonstrates  with  the  king  for  appointing 
one  of  so  small  ability  and  power  as  himself  to 
sogreat  apost.  He  was  only  worth  1,000/.,  and 
feared  that  the  salary  of  his  office,  inadequate 
for  so  great  a  noble  ashispredecessor,would  be 
still  more  insufficient  for  himself  (STEVENSON, 
ii.  222-4).  But  on  24  Sept.  he  was  ordered  to 
go  at  once  to  Scotland  and  act  with  Warenne 
fr.  ii.  232).  On  28  Sept.  the  musters  from 
ottinghamshire  and  Derbyshire  were  or- 
dered to  assemble  under  his  command,  and  in 
October  he  was  made  captain  of  the  marches 
adjoining  Northumberland.  In  1298  Earl 
Warenne  was  again  the  royal  representative 
(HEMINGBURGH,  ii.  155).  In  1299,  1300,  and 
lastly  in  1303,  Fitzalan  was  again  summoned 
against  the  Scots.  His  last  parliamentary 
summonses  were  for  1305  to  Westminster, 
and  for  May  1306,  for  the  occasion  of  making 
Edward,  the  king's  son,  a  knight.  He  died, 
however,  before  June  1306  (see  note  in  ParL 
Writs,  i.  598  ;  cf.  Calendarium  Genealogicum, 
p.  619).  He  was  buried  in  Bedale  Church, 
*  where  he  hath  a  noble  monument,  with  his 
effigies  in  armour  cross-leg'd  thereon  '  (DuG- 
DALE).  He  left  by  his  wife  Matilda  two 
daughters,  Matilda,  aged  8,  and  Catharine, 
aged  6,  who  were  his  coheiresses  (  Cal.  Geneal. 
p.  619).  His  possessions  were  partly  in 
Yorkshire  and  partly  in  Lincolnshire. 

[Parl.  Writs,  i.  598-9  ;  Kymer's  Fcedera,  vol. 
i.  ;  Stevenson's  Documents  illustr.  of  Hist,  of 
Scotland;  Calendarium  Genealogicum;  Dugdale's 
Baronage,  i.  53.]  T.  F.  T. 

FITZALAN,  EDMUND,  EARL  OF 
ARUNDEL  (1285-1326),  son  of  Richard  I 
Eitzalan,  earl  of  Arundel  [q.  v.],  and  his 
Italian  wife  Alisona,  was  born  on  1  May 
1285  (Cal.  Genealogicum,  ii.  622).  In  1302 
he  succeeded  to  his  father's  titles  and  estates. 
On  Whitsunday  (22  May)  1306  he  was 
knighted  by  Edward  I,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
knighting  of  Edward  the  king's  son  and  many 
others,  and  was  at  the  same  time  married  to 
Alice,  sister  and  ultimately  heiress  of  John, 
earl  Warenne  (Ann.  Worcester  in  Ann.  Mon. 


iv.  558 ;  LANGTOFT,  ii.  368).  He  then  served 
in  the  campaign  against  the  Scots,  and  was 
still  in  the  north  when  Edward  I  died.  At 
Edward  H's  coronation  he  was  a  bearer  of 
the  royal  robes  (Fcedera,  ii.  36).  On  2  Dec. 
1307  he  was  beaten  at  the  Wallingford  tour- 
nament by  Gaveston,and  straightway  became 
a  mortal  enemy  of  the  favourite  (MALMES- 
BURY,  in  STUBBS'S  Chron.  Ed.  I  and  Ed.  II, 
Rolls  Series,  ii.  156).  In  1309  he  joined 
Lancaster  in  refusing  to  attend  a  council 
at  York  on  18  Oct.  (HEMINGBURGH,  ii. 
275),  and  in  1310  was  appointed  one  of  the 
lords  ordainers  (Rot.  ParL  i.  443  b).  In 
1312  he  was  one  of  the  five  earls  who  formed 
a  league  against  Gaveston  (MALMESBTJRY,  p. 
175),  and  he  warmly  approved  of  the  capture 
of  the  favourite  at  Scarborough.  Even  after 
Gaveston's  murder  Arundel  adhered  to  the 
confederate  barons  and  was  with  Lancaster 
one  of  the  last  to  be  reconciled  to  the  king. 
In  1314  he  was  one  of  the  earls  who  refused 
to  accompany  Edward  to  the  relief  of  Stir- 
ling, and  thus  caused  the  disaster  of  Ban- 
nockburn  (ib.  p.  201).  In  1316  he  was  ap- 
pointed captain-general  of  the  country  north 
of  the  Trent,  and  in  1318,  after  being  one 
of  the  mediators  of  a  fresh  pacification,  was 
made  a  member  of  the  permanent  council 
then  established  to  watch  the  king.  In 
1319  he  served  against  the  Scots. 

The  Despensers  now  ruled  Edward,  and 
the  marriage  of  Arundel's  eldest  son  to  the 
daughter  of  the  younger  Hugh  was  either 
the  cause  or  the  result  of  an  entire  change 
in  his  political  attitude.  He  consented  in- 
deed to  their  banishment  in  1321,  but  after- 
wards pleaded  the  coercion  of  the  magnates. 
When  Edward's  subsequent  attempt  to  re- 
store them  began,  Arundel  still  seemed  to 
waver  in  his  allegiance.  Finally  in  October 

1321  he  joined  Edward  at  the  siege  of  Leeds 
Castle,  and  henceforth  supported  consistently 
the  royal  cause  ($.p.263,  'propteraffinitatem 
Hugonis  Despenser,'  a  phrase  suggesting  that 
the  marriage  had  already  been  arranged).   In 

1322  he  persuaded  the  Mortimers  to  surrender 
to  the  king  at  Shrewsbury  (Ann.  Paul  in 
STUBBS'S  Chron.  Ed.  I  and  Ed.  II,  i.  301),  acted 
as  one  of  the  judges  of  Thomas  of  Lancaster 
at  Pontefract  (ib.  p.  302),  and  received  large 
grants  from  the  forfeited  estates  of  Badlesmere 
and  the  Mortimers.     The  great  office  of  jus- 
tice of  Wales  was  transferred  from  Mortimer 
to  him  (Abbrev.Eot.  Orig.  i.  %SS),*ndm 
that  capacity  he  received  the  writs  directing 
the   attendance  of  Welsh  members  to  the 
parliament  at  York  (Rot.  Parl.  i.  456).     His 
importance  in  Wales  had  been  ^also  largely 
increased  by  his  acquisitions  of  Kerry,  Chirk, 
and  Cydewain.     In   1325   he  also  became 


Fitzalan 


88 


Fitzalan 


warden  of  the  Welsh  marches  (Par I.  Writs, 
II.  iii.  854),  and  in  1326  he  still  was  justice 
of  Wales  (jRwfcro,  ii.  641).  In  1326  he  and 
his  brother-in-law  Earl  Warenne  were  the 
only  earls  who  adhered  to  the  king  after  the 
invasion  of  Mortimer  and  Isabella.  He  was 
appointed  in  May  chief  captain  of  the  army 
to  be  raised  in  Wales  and  the  west ;  but  he 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  able  to  make 
effectual  head  against  the  enemy  even  in  his 
own  district.  He  was  captured  in  Shrop- 
shire by  John  Charlton,  first  lord  Charlton 
of  Powys  [q.  v.],  and  led  to  the  queen  at 
Hereford,  where  on  17  Nov.  he  was  executed 
without  more  than  the  form  of  a  trial,  to 
gratify  the  rancorous  hostility  of  Mortimer 
to  a  rival  border  chieftain  (Ann.  Paul.  p.  321, 
says  beheaded,  but  KNIGHTON,  c.  2546,  says 
'  distractus  et  suspensus  ').  His  estates  were 
forfeited,  and  the  London  mob  plundered 
his  treasures. 

By  his  wife  Alice,  sister  of  John,  earl 
Warenne,  Arundel  had  a  fairly  numerous 
family.  His  eldest  son,  Richard'  II  Fitzalan 
[q.  v.],  ultimately  succeeded  to  his  title  and 
estates.  He  had  one  other  son,  Edmund, 
who  seems  to  have  embraced  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal profession,  and  to  have  afterwards  aban- 
doned it.  Of  his  daughters,  Aleyne  married 
Roger  L'Estrange,  and  was  still  alive  in  1375 
(NICOLAS,  Testamenta  Vetusta,  p.  94),  and 
Alice  became  the  wife  of  John  Bohun,  earl 
of  Hereford.  A  third  daughter,  Jane,  is  said 
to  have  been  married  to  Lord  Lisle  (compare 
the  genealogies  in  EYTON,  Shropshire,  vii. 
229,  and  in  YEATMAN.  House  of  Arundel, 
p.  324). 

[Rymer's  Fcedera,  vol.  i. ;  Eolls  of  Parliament, 
vol.  ii. ;  Parl.  Writs,  vol.  ii.  ;  Stubbs's Chronicles 
of  Edward  I  and  Edward  II  (Rolls  Series) ; 
Knighton  in  Twysden,  Decem  Scriptores ;  Wal- 
ter of  Hemingburgh  (Engl.Hist.  Soc.) ;  Dugdale's 
Baronage,  i.  316-17;  Doyle's  Official  Baronage, 
i.  70  ;  Tierney's  Hist,  of  Arundel,  212-24  ;  Vin- 
cent's Discoverie  of  Errours  in  Brooke's  Cata- 
logue of  Nobility,  p.  26.]  T.  F.  T. 

FITZALAN,  HENRY,  twelfth  EARL  OF 
ARTTNDEL  (1511  P-1580),  born  about  1511, 
was  the  only  son  of  William  Fitzalan,  eleventh 
earl  of  Arundel,  K.G.,  by  his  second  wife, 
Lady  Anne  Percy,  daughter  of  Henry  Percy, 
fourth  earl  of  Northumberland.  He  was 
named  after  Henry  VIII,  who  personally 
stood  godfather  at  his  baptism  (Life,  King's 
MS.  xvii.  A.  ix.  f.  5).  Upon  entering  his 
fifteenth  year  his  father  proposed  to  place 
him  in  the  household  of  Cardinal  Wolsey, 
but  he  preferred  the  service  of  the  king,  who 
received  him  with  affection  (ib.  if.  3-7).  He 
was  in  the  train  of  Henry  at  the  Calais  in- 
terview of  September  1532  (GAIRDNEE,  Let- 


ters and  Papers  of  Reign  of  Henry  VIII, 
vol.  v.  App.  No.  33).  In  February  1533  he 
was  summoned  to  parliament  by  the  title  of 
Lord  Maltravers  (ib.  vol.  vi.  No.  123).  In 
July  1534  he  was  one  of  the  peers  summoned 
to  attend  the  trial  of  William,  lord  Dacre  of 
Gillesland  (ib.  vol.  vii.  No.  962).  In  May 
1536  he  was  present  at  the  trial  of  Anno- 
Boleyn  and  Lord  Rochford  (ib.  vol.  x.  No. 
876).  In  1540  he  succeeded  Arthur  Planta- 
genet,  viscount  Lisle,  in  the  office  of  deputy 
of  Calais.  During  a  successful  administra- 
tion of  three  years  he  devoted  himself  to  the- 
improvement  of  military  discipline  and  to 
the  strengthening  of  the  town.  At  his  own 
expense  the  fortifications  were  extended  or 
repaired,  and  large  bodies  of  serviceable  re- 
cruits were  raised.  The  death  of  his  father 
in  January  1543-4  recalled  him  home.  On 
24  April  of  that  year  he  was  elected  K.G. 
(Harl.  MS.  4840,  f.  729  ;  BELTZ,  Memorials, 
p.  clxxv),  and  during  the  two  following 
months  appears  to  have  lived  at  Arundel 
Place.  On  war  being  declared  with  France 
Arundel  and  the  Duke  of  Suifolk  embarked 
in  July  1544  with  a  numerous  body  of  troops 
for  the  French  coast ;  Henry  himself  followed 
in  a  few  days,  and  on  26  July  the  whole  force 
of  the  English,  amounting  to  thirty  thousand 
men,  encamped  before  the  walls  of  Boulogne. 
Arundel  on  being  created  '  marshal  of  the 
field'  began  elaborate  preparations  for  in- 
vesting the  town.  The  besieged  made  a  most 
determined  resistance.  In  the  night,  how- 
ever, of  11  Sept.  a  mine  was  successfully 
sprung.  He  immediately  ordered  a  sharp 
cannonade,  and  at  the  head  of  a  chosen  body 
of  troops  marched  to  the  intrenchments,  and 
when  the  artillery  had  effected  a  breach  by 
firing  over  his  head,  successfully  stormed  the 
town.  On  his  return  to  England  Arundel 
was  rewarded  with  the  office  of  lord  cham- 
berlain, which  he  continued  to  fill  during 
the  remainder  of  Henry's  reign.  '  The  boke 
of  Henrie,  Earle  of  Arundel,  Lorde  Chamber- 
leyn  to  Kyng  Henrie  th'  Eighte,'  containing 
thirty-two  folio  leaves  and  consisting  of  in- 
structions to  the  king's  servants  in  the  duties 
j  of  their  several  places,  is  preserved  in  Harl. 
i  MS.  4107,  and  printed  from  another  copy  in 
j  Jeffery's  edition  of  the  '  Antiquarian  Reper- 
tory,' 4to,  1807,  ii.  184-209.  In  his  will  the 
king  bequeathed  him  200/.  At  Henry's  fune- 
ral Arundel  was  present  as  one  of  the  twelve 
assistant  mourners,  and  at  the  offering  brought 
up,  together  with  the  Earl  of  Oxford,  '  the 
king's  broidered  coat  of  armes '  (STRTPE,  Me- 
morials, 8vo  ed.  vol.  ii.  App.  pp.  4,  15). 

On  the  accession  of  Edward  VI,  in  1547, 
Arundel  was  retained  in  the  post  of  lord 
chamberlain  and  chosen  to  act  as  high  con- 


Fitzalan 


89 


Fitzalan 


?xable  at  the  coronation.  He  had  also  been 
"named,  in  the  will  of  Henry  VIII,  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  council  of  twelve,  intended  to  as- 
sist the  executors  in  cases  of  difficulty;  but 
his  influence  was  destroyed  when  Somerset 
became  protector.  Somerset  soon  disgusted 
the  other  members  of  the  cabinet,  and  Arun- 
del  was  among  the  first  to  urge  his  dismissal 
in  favour  of  the  Earl  of  Warwick.  At 
length,  in  1549,  Somerset  was  sent  to  the 
Tower,  while  Arundel,  Warwick,  and  four 
other  lords  were  appointed  to  take  charge  of 
the  king.  Warwick  quickly  grew  jealous 
of  Arundel's  influence.  When  the  bill  for 
the  infliction  of  penalties  on  Somerset  was 
brought  before  parliament  in  1550  Arun- 
del was  still  in  office  ;  but  a  series  of  ridicu- 
lous charges  had  been  collected  against  him 
from  the  last  twelve  years  of  his  life,  and 
when  the  late  protector  obtained  his  release 
the  earl  had  been  dismissed  from  his  employ- 
ments. It  was  asserted  that  he  had  abused 
his  privileges  as  lord  chamberlain  to  enrich 
himself  and  his  friends,  that  he  had  removed 
the  locks  and  bolts  from  the  royal  stores 
at  Westminster,  had  distributed  '  the  king's 
stuff'  among  his  acquaintance,  and  had  been 
guilty  of  various  other  acts  of  embezzle- 
ment. The  proof  of  these  charges  was 
never  exhibited,  and  Edward  himself  in  his 
*  Diary  '  terms  the  offences  only  '  crimes  of 
suspicion  against  him  ; '  but  the  '  suspicion ' 
was  sufficient  for  the  purposes  of  Warwick. 
Arundel  was  removed  from  the  council,  was 
ordered  to  confine  himself  to  his  house,  and 
was  mulcted  in  the  sum  of  12,000/.,  to  be 
paid  in  equal  annual  instalments  of  1,000/. 
each.  His  confinement,  however,  was  of 
short  duration,  and  the  injustice  of  the  ac- 
cusations having  been  ascertained,  8,000/.  of 
the  fine  was  remitted.  Arundel  had  been  sent 
into  Sussex  to  allay  the  insurrection  of  1549. 
By  his  influence  tranquillity  was  perfectly  re- 
stored throughout  Sussex  (  CaL  State  Papers, 
Dom.  1547-80,  p.  19).  When  renewed  symp- 
toms of  uneasiness  appeared  shortly  after  his 
release,  the  council  made  a  second  request 
for  his  assistance  in  repressing  the  disturb- 
ance. Arundel  returned  a  severely  dignified 
refusal.  His  late  punishment,  he  said,  for 
oifences  which  he  had  never  committed  had 
injured  him  both  in  his  fortune  arid  his  health, 
and  he  did  not  understand  why  his  services, 
which  had  formerly  been  so  ill  requited,  were 
again  demanded.  The  council,  after  attempt- 
ing to  frighten  him  into  submission,  were 
glad  to  despatch  the  Duke  of  Somerset  in  his 
stead. 

His  opposition  to  Warwick  and  the  ruling 
party  at  court  subjected  him  to  much  perse- 
cution. Finding  the  necessity  of  offering  a 


united  resistance  to  the  aggressions  of  War- 
wick, he  formed  a  friendship  with  his  old 
enemy  the  Duke  of  Somerset.  On  16  Oct. 
1551  Somerset  was  a  second  time  committed 
to  the  Tower  on  charges  of  felony  and  treason. 
In  the  original  depositions  no  mention  was 
made  of  Arundel  as  an  accomplice,  but  in  a 
few  days  the  evidence  of  one  of  the  accused, 
named  Crane,  began  to  implicate  him ;  by 
degrees  Crane's  recollections  became  more 
vivid,  and  on  8  Nov.  Arundel  was  arrested 
and  conveyed  to  the  Tower  ('King  Ed- 
ward's Diary '  in  Cotton  MS.  Titus,  B.  ii.) 
It  was  said  that  he  had  listened  to  overtures 
from  Somerset,  and  that  he  was  privy  to 
the  intended  massacre  of  Northumberland, 
Northampton,  and  Pembroke,  at  the  house 
of  Lord  Paget.  These  accusations  rest  en- 
tirely on  the  doubtful  testimony  of  Crane 
(Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1547-80,  p.  36). 
During  more  than  twelve  months  that  Arun- 
del was  confined  to  the  Tower,  Northumber- 
land, although  he  plotted  unceasingly  against 
the  life  of  his  prisoner,  never  ventured  to 
bring  him  to  his  trial ;  Arundel's  subsequent 
confession  was  exacted  as  the  condition  of 
his  pardon,  and  on  a  subsequent  occasion  he 
publicly  asserted  his  innocence  in  the  pre- 
sence, and  with  the  assent,  of  Pembroke  him- 
self. On  3  Dec.  1552  he  was  called  before 
the  privy  council,  required  to  sign  a  sub- 
mission and  confession,  and  fined  in  the  sum 
of  six  thousand  marks,  to  be  paid  in  equal 
portions  of  one  thousand  marks  annually  ; 
he  was  bound  in  a  recognisance  of  ten  thou- 
sand marks  to  be  punctual  in  his  payment  of 
the  fine,  and  was  at  length  dismissed  with 
an  admonition  (STEYPE,  Memorials,  ii.  383, 
from  the  Council  Book).  The  declining 
health  of  the  king  suggested  to  Northumber- 
land the  expediency  of  conciliating  the  no- 
bility. Arundel  was  first  restored  to  his  place 
at  the  council  board,  and  four  days  before 
Edward's  death  was  discharged  entirely  of 
his  fine.  In  June  1553  he  strongly  protested 
against  Edward's  '  device '  for  the  succession, 
by  which  the  king's  sisters  were  declared 
illegitimate.  He  ultimately  signed  the  letters 
patent,  but  not  the  bond  appended,  with  a 

|  deliberate  intention  of  deserting  Northum- 
berland whenever  a  chance  should  present 
itself.  On  the  death  of  the  king,  6  July  1553, 
Arundel  entered  with  apparent  ardour  into 
the  designs  of  the  duke.  But  on  the  very 
same  evening,  while  the  council  were  still  dis- 

1  cussing  the  measures  necessary  to  be  adopted 
before  they  proclaimed  the  Lady  Jane,  he 
contrived  to  forward  a  letter  to  Mary,  in 
which  he  informed  her  of  her  brother's  death; 
assured  her  that  Northumberland's  motive  in 
conceding  it  was  '  to  entrap  her  before  she 


Fitzalan 


Fitzalan 


knew  of  it ; '  and  concluded  by  urging  her  to 
retire  to  a  position  of  safety.  Mary  followed 
his  advice  ;  while  Arundel  continued  during 
more  than  ten  days  to  concur  in  Northumber- 
land's schemes  with  a  view  to  his  betrayal. 
He  attended  the  meetings  of  the  council,  he 
signed  the  letter  to  Mary  denouncing  her  as 
illegitimate,  and  asserted  the  title  of  her 
rival ;  he  accompanied  Northumberland  and 
others  when  they  informed  Jane  of  her  ac- 
cession to  the  crown,  and  attended  her  on 
the  progress  from  Sion  House  to  the  Tower 
preparatory  to  her  coronation.  Arundel  and 
the  other  secret  partisans  of  Mary  persuaded 
Northumberland  to  take  the  command  in 
person  of  the  force  raised  to  attack  Mary, 
and  assured  him  of  their  sympathy  when 
-he  started.  His  speeches  strongly  betrayed 
his  distrust  of  Arundel  (Sxow,  Annales,  ed. 
Howes,  1615,  pp.  610,  611 ;  HOLINSHED, 
Chronicles,  ed.  Hooker,  1587,  iii.  1086). 

Arundel  lost  no  time  in  endeavouring  to 
sound  the  dispositions  of  the  councillors.  They 
were  still  under  the  eyes  of  the  Tower  gar- 
rison. Their  first  meeting  to  form  their  plans 
was  within  the  Tower  walls,  and  Arundel 
said  '  he  liked  not  the  air.'  On  19  July  1553 
they  managed  to  pass  the  gates  under  pre- 
tence, says  Bishop  Godwin,  of  conference  with 
the  French  ambassador,  Lavall  (Annals  of 
Queen  Mary,  pp.  107,  108),  and  made  their 
way  to  Pembroke's  house  at  Baynard's 
Castle,  above  London  Bridge,  when  they  sent 
for  the  mayor,  the  aldermen,  and  other  city 
magnates.  Arundel  opened  the  proceedings 
in  a  vehement  speech.  He  denounced  the 
ambition  and  violence  of  Northumberland, 
asserted  the  right  of  the  two  daughters  of 
Henry  VIII  to  the  throne,  and  concluded 
by  calling  on  the  assembly  to  unite  with  him 
in  vindicating  the  claim  of  the  Lady  Mary. 
Pembroke  pledged  himself  to  die  in  the  cause, 
amid  general  applause.  The  same  evening 
Mary  was  proclaimed  queen  at  the  cross  at 
Cheapside,  and  at  St.  Paul's.  Pembroke  took 
possession  of  the  Tower,  and  Arundel,  with 
Lord  Paget,  galloped  off  with  the  great  seal 
and  a  letter  from  the  council,  which  he  de- 
livered to  Mary  at  Framlingham  Castle  in 
Suffolk  (tjie  draft  of  this  letter  is  printed  in 
Sir  Henry  Ellis's  2nd  series  of  '  Original 
Letters,'  ii.  243,  from  Lansdowne  MS.  3). 
He  then  hastened  to  Cambridge  to  secure 
Northumberland.  Their  meeting  is  described 
by  Stow  (p.  612)  and  by  Holinshed  (iii. 
1088).  In  Harl.  MS.  787,  f.  61,  is  a  copy  of 
the  piteous  letter  which  Northumberland 
addressed  to  Arundel  the  night  before  his 
execution  (cf.  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  5th  Rep.  p. 
213). 

In  reward  of  his  exertions  Mary  bestowed 


on  Arundel  the  office  of  lord  steward  of  the 
household  ;  to  this  were  added  a  seat  at  the 
council  board,  a  license  for  two  hundred 
retainers  beyond  his  ordinary  attendants 
(STRYPE,  Memorials,  iii.  480),  and  a  variety 
of  local  privileges  connected  with  his  posses- 
sions in  Sussex.  He  was  also  appointed  to 
act  as  lord  high  constable  at  the  coronation, 
and  was  deputed  to  confer  on  any  number 
of  persons  not  exceeding  sixty  the  dignity 
of  knighthood  (HARDY,  Syllabus  of  Rymer's 
Fcedera,  ii.  792).  Though  favoured  by  the 
queen  he  deemed  it  politic  to  make  some 
show  of  resenting  her  derogatory  treatment 
of  Elizabeth.  In  September  1553  he  was 
a  commissioner  for  Bishop  Bonner's  restitu- 
tion (STRYPE,  Memorials,  iii.  23).  On  1  Jan. 
1553-4  he  was  nominated  a  commissioner 
to  treat  of  the  queen's  marriage,  and  on  17 
Feb.  1554  he  was  lord  high  steward  on  the 
trial  of  the  Duke  of  Suffolk.  He  bore,  too, 
a  part  in  checking  the  progress  of  Wyatt's 
shortlived  rebellion.  On  Philip's  landing  at 
Southampton,  20  July  1554,  Arundel  re- 
ceived him  and  immediately  presented  him 
with  the  George  and  Garter  (SPEED,  Historic 
of  Great  Britaine,  ed.  1632,  p.  1121).  Along 
with  William,  marquis  of  Winchester  and 
others,  he  received  from  Philip  and  Mary, 
6  Feb.  1555,  a  grant  of  a  charter  of  incor- 
poration by  the  name  of  Merchant  Adven- 
turers of  England  for  the  discovery  of  un- 
known lands  (Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  Ad- 
denda, 1547-65,  p.  437  ;  the  grant  is  printed 
in  HAKLIJYT,  i.  298-304).  In  May  1555  he 
was  selected  with  Cardinal  Pole,  Gardiner, 
and  Lord  Paget  to  urge  the  mediatorial  offices 
of  the  queen  at  the  congress  of  Marque,  and 
to  effect,  if  possible,  a  renewal  of  amity  be- 
tween the  imperial  and  French  crowns.  He 
accompanied  Philip  to  Brussels  in  the  fol- 
lowing September.  In  the  same  year  (1555) 
he  was  elected  high  steward  of  the  university 
of  Oxford.  When  the  troubles  with  France 
commenced,  the  queen  appointed  Arundel, 
26  July  1557,  lieutenant-general  and  captain 
of  the  forces  for  defence  of  the  kingdom 
(Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1547-80,  p.  93). 
The  following  year  he  was  deputed  with 
Thirlby,  bishop  of  Ely,  and  Dr.  Nicholas 
Wotton  to  the  conferences  held  by  England, 
France,  and  Spain,  in  the  abbey  of  Cercamp, 
and  was  actually  engaged  in  arranging  the 
preliminaries  of  a  general  peace,  when  the 
death  of  Mary,  in  November  1558,  caused 
him  to  abruptly  return  home  in  December 
(cf.  MS.  Life,  f.  53;  also  the  letter  addressed 
by  Arundel  and  Wotton  to  their  colleague, 
the  Bishop  of  Ely,  which  is  printed,  from 
the  original  preserved  at  Norfolk  House, 
in  Tierney's  'Hist,  of  Arundel/  pp.  335-7. 


Fitzalan 


Fitzalan 


It  is  dated  '  Ffrom  Arras,  the  xvth  of  No- 
vembre,  1558,'  and  relates  to  a  proposed 
meeting  at  that  town.  Other  letters  and 
despatches  will  be  found  in  Cal.  State  Papers. 
For.  1558). 

By  Elizabeth,  Arundel  was  retained  in  all 
the  employments  which  he  had  held  in  the 
preceding  reign,  although  he  was  trusted  by 
no  one  (FROUDE,  ch.  xxxvi.),  chiefly  because 
she  could  not  afford  to  alienate  so  powerful  a 
subject.  A  commission,  dated  21  Nov.  1558, 
empowers  Arundel,  William,  lord  Howard 
of  Effingham,  Thirlby,  and  Wotton  to  treat 
with  Scotland ;  it  was  made  out  on  27  Sept. 
in  the  last  year  of  Mary,  and  the  alterations 
are  in  the  handwriting  of  .Sir  William  Cecil 
(Cal.  State  Papers, ,  Scottish  Ser.  i.  107).  Dis- 
gusted by  the  '  sinister  worldnge  of  some 
meane  persons  of  her  counsaile,'  Arundel  had 
surrendered  the  staff  of  lord  steward  shortly 
before  the  death  of  Mary  (MS.  Life,  ff.  49- 
51).  Elizabeth  on  her  accession  replaced  it 
in  his  hands ;  she  called  him  to  a  seat  in  the 
council,  and  added  to  his  other  honours  the 
appointments  of  high  constable  for  the  day 
before,  and  high  steward  for  the  day  of  her 
coronation,  on  which  occasion  he  received  a 
commission  to  create  thirty  knights  (HARDY, 
Syllabus  of  Rymer's  Fcedera,  ii.  798, 799).  In 
January  1559  he  was  elected  chancellor  of 
the  university  of  Oxford,  but  resigned  the 
office,  probably  from  religious  motives,  in 
little  more  than  four  months  (WooD,  Fasti 
Oxon.  ed.  Bliss,  i.  86,  87).  In  August  1559 
Elizabeth  visited  him  at  Nonsuch  in  Cheam, 
Surrey,  where  for  five  days  she  was  sump- 
tuously entertained  with  banquets,  masques, 
and  music  (Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1547-80, 
p.  136).  At  her  departure  she  accepted  i  a 
cupboard  of  plate '  (NICHOLS,  Progresses  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  i.  74),  as  she  had  before  re- 
ceived the  perquisites  obtained  by  the  earl  at 
her  coronation.  The  queen  paid  several  sub- 
sequent visits  to  Nonsuch  (LYSONS,  Environs, 
i.  154-5).  In  August  1560  he  was  one  of  the 
commissioners  appointed  to  arrange  a  com- 
mercial treaty  with  the  Hanse  Towns.  Dur- 
ing the  same  year  Arundel,  in  the  queen's 
presence,  sharply  rebuked  Edward,  lord  Clin- 
ton, who  advocated  the  prosecution  of  the 
war  with  Scotland  for  the  arrest  of  English 
subjects  found  attending  mass  at  the  Span- 
ish or  French  chapels,  and  Elizabeth  herself 
could  scarcely  prevent  them  from  coming  to 
blows.  'Those,'  Arundel  exclaimed,  'who 
had  advised  the  war  with  Scotland  were 
traitors  to  their  country '  (FROTJDE,  ch. 
xxxviii.)  Being  a  widower  Arundel  was 
named  among  those  who  might  aspire  to  the 
queen's  hand,  a  fact  which  led  to  a  violent 
quarrel  with  Leicester  in  1561  (ib.  ch.  xl.) 


Upon  the  queen's  dangerous  illness  in  Oc- 
tober 1562  a  meeting  was  held  at  the  house 
of  Arundel  in  November  to  reconsider  the 
succession.  The  Duke  of  Norfolk,  Arun- 
del's  son-in-law,  was  present.  The  object 
was  to  further  the  claims  of  Lady  Catherine 
Grey,  to  whose  son  Norfolk's  infant  daughter 
was  to  be  betrothed.  The  discussion  ended 
at  two  in  the  morning  without  result. 
When  the  queen  heard  of  it  she  sent  for 
Arundel  to  reproach  him,  and  Arundel,  it 
is  said,  replied  that  if  she  intended  to  govern 
England  with  her  caprices  and  fancies  the 
nobility  would  be  forced  to  interfere  (ib.  ch. 
xl.)  In  1564  he  resigned  the  staff  of  lord 
steward  'with  sundry  speeches  of  offence' 
(STRYPE,  Annals,  i.  413),  and  Elizabeth,  to 
resent  the  affront,  restrained  him  to  his 
house. 

Though  released  within  a  month  from  his 
confinement,  Arundel  felt  deeply  the  humilia- 
tion of  his  suit.  Early  in  1566  a  smart  at- 
tack of  gout  afforded  him  a  pretext  for  visit- 
ing the  baths  at  Padua.  He  returned  in 
March  1567.  On  his  arrival  at  Canterbury 
he  was  met  by  a  body  of  more  than  six  hun- 
dred gentlemen  from  Kent,  Sussex,  and  Sur- 
rey ;  at  Blackheath  the  cavalcade  was  joined 
by  the  recorder,  the  aldermen,  and  many  of 
the  chief  merchants  of  London,  and  as  it  drew 
near  to  the  metropolis  the  lord  chancellor, 
the  earls  of  Pembroke,  Huntingdon,  Sussex, 
Warwick,  and  Leicester,  with  others,  to  the 
number  of  two  thousand  horsemen,  came  out 
to  meet  him.  He  passed  in  procession  through 
the  city,  and  having  paid  his  respects  to  the 
queen  at  Westminster  went  by  water  to  his 
house  in  the  Strand. 

It  has  often  been  asserted,  but  quite  erro- 
neously, that  on  this  occasion  Arundel  ap- 
peared in  the  first  coach,  and  presented  to 
Elizabeth  the  first  pair  of  silk  stockings  ever 
seen  in  England.  The  subject  has  been  fully 
discussed  by  J.  G.  Nichols  in  the  '  Gentle- 
man's Magazine '  for  1833  (vol.  ciii.  pt.  ii.  p. 
212,  n.  12).  That  he  sent  the  queen  some 
valuable  presents  appears  from  her  letter 
to  him,  dated  at  Westminster,  16  March 
1567  (Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1547-80,  p. 
289). 

Arundel  was  now  partially  restored  to  fa- 
vour, so  that  when  the  conferences  relative 
to  the  accusations  brought  by  the  Earl  of 
Murray  against  the  Queen  of  Scots  were  re- 
moved in  November  1568  from  Yorkto  West- 
minster, he  was  joined  in  the  commission  (ib. 
Scottish  Ser.  ii.  864).  His  hopes  of  gaining 
Elizabeth  in  marriage  had  long  been  buried. 
As  the  leader  of  the  old  nobility  and  the  ca- 
tholic party  he  now  resolved  that  the  Queen 
of  Scots  should  marry  Norfolk ;  Cecil  and 


Fitzalan 


Fitzalan 


Bacon  were  to  be  overthrown,  Elizabeth  de- 
posed, and  the  catholic  religion  restored.  He 
became  intimate  with  Leslie,  bishop  of  Ross, 
and  with  Don  Gueran,  the  Spanish  ambassa- 
dor. In  1569  he  undertook  to  carry  Leslie's 
letter  to  Elizabeth,  wherein  it  was  falsely  as- 
serted that  the  king  of  Spain  had  directed 
the  Duke  of  Alva  and  Don  Gueran  *  to  treat 
and  conclude  with  the  Queen  of  Scots  for  her 
marriage  in  three  several  ways,'  and  thus 
alarm  the  queen  by  the  prospect  of  a  possible 
league  between  France  and  Spain  and  the 
papacy.  He  followed  up  the  blow  by  lay- 
ing in  writing  before  her  his  own  objections 
to  extreme  measures  against  Mary  Stuart 
(FROTJDE,  ch.  li.)  When  at  length  the  dis- 
covery of  the  proposed  marriage  determined 
Elizabeth  to  commit  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  to 
the  Tower,  Arundel  was  also  placed  under 
arrest,  and  restrained  to  his  house  in  the 
Strand  in  September  1569  (Cal.  State  Papers, 
Scottish  Ser.  ii.  880).  The  northern  insur- 
rection which  broke  out  a  few  weeks  later 
added  to  the  length  and  rigour  of  his  confine- 
ment. From  Arundel  House  he  was  removed 
to  Eton  College,  and  thence  to  Nonsuch  (ib. 
Dom.  Addenda,  1566-79,  pp.  269,  279,  284, 
286),  where  a  close  imprisonment  brought  on 
a  return  of  the  gout,  and  by  withdrawing 
him  from  his  concerns  contributed  to  involve 
Mm  in  many  pecuniary  difficulties,  which, 
however,  his  son-in-law,  Lord  Lumley,  did 
much  to  alleviate.  Though  his  name  appeared 
conspicuously  in  the  depositions  of  the  pri- 
soners examined  after  the  northern  rebellion, 
lie  had  been  too  prudent  to  commit  himself 
to  open  treason.  *  He  was  able  to  represent 
his  share  of  the  conspiracy  as  part  of  an  honest 
policy  conceived  in  Elizabeth's  interests,  and 
Elizabeth  dared  not  openly  break  with  the 
still  powerful  party  among  the  nobles  to 
which  Arundel  belonged.'  Leicester,  desiring 
to  injure  Cecil,  had  little  difficulty  in  inducing 
the  queen  to  recall  Arundel  to  the  council 
board  during  the  following  year.  "With 
Arundel  was  recalled  also  Lord  Lumley,  and 
both  of  them  renewed  their  treasonable  com- 
munications with  Don  Gueran  and  La  Mothe 
F6nelon.  He  violently  opposed  himself  to 
Elizabeth's  matrimonial  treaty  with  the  Duke 
of  Alencon.  He  strongly  remonstrated 
against  the  Earl  of  Lennox  being  sent  with 
Sir  William  Drury's  army  to  Scotland  as  the 
representative  of  James.  At  length  the  dis- 
covery of  the  Ridolfi  conspiracy,  to  which  he 
was  privy,  in  September  1571,  afforded  in- 
dubitable evidence  that  he  had  been  for  years 
conspiring  for  a  religious  revolution  and 
Elizabeth's  overthrow  (FROTJDR,  ch.  Ivi.) 
He  was  again  placed  under  a  guard  at  his 
own  house,  and  did  not  regain  his  liberty 


until  December  1572  (Cal.  State  Papers, 
Dom.  Addenda,  1566-79,  p.  454). 

Arundel  passed  the  remainder  of  his  day§ 
in  seclusion.  He  died  24  Feb.  1579-80  at 
Arundel  House  in  the  Strand,  and  on 
22  March  was  buried,  in  accordance  with  his 
desire,  in  the  collegiate  chapel  at  Arundel, 
where  his  monument,  with  a  long  biogra- 
phical inscription  from  the  pen  of  Lord  Lum- 
ley, may  still  be  seen  (TIERNEY,  Hist,  of 
Arundel,  pp.  628-9,  and  ;  College  Chapel  at 
Arundel,'  Sussex  Archaol.  Coll  iii.  84-7).  The 
programme  of  his  funeral  is  printed  in  the 
*  Sussex  Archaeological  Collections,'  xii.  261- 
262.  In  his  will,  dated  30  Dec.  1579,  and 
proved  27  Feb.  1579-80,  he  appointed  Lum- 
ley his  sole  executor  and  residuary  legatee 
(registered  in  P.  C.  C.  1,  Arundell).  In  person 
Arundel  appears  to  have  been  of  the  middle 
size,  well  proportioned  in  limb,  '  stronge  of 
bone,  furnished  with  cleane  and  firme  fleshe, 
voide  of  fogines  and  fatnes.'  His  counte- 
nance was  regular  and  expressive,  his  voice 
powerful  and  pleasing ;  but  the  rapidity  of 
his  utterance  often  made  his  meaning  '  some- 
what harde  to  the  unskilfull'  (MS.  Life.  ff. 
63,  68).  His  dislike  of  l  new-fangled  and 
curious  tearmes '  was  not  more  remarkable 
than  his  aversion  to  the  use  of  foreign  lan- 
guages, although  he  could  speak  French 
(PTJTTENHAM,  Arte  of  English  Poesie,  1589, 
p.  227).  According  to  his  anonymous  bio- 
grapher he  was  '  not  unlearned,'  and  with  the 
counsel  of  Humphrey  Lhuyd  [q.  v.],  who 
lived  with  him,  he  formed  a  library,  described 
by  the  same  authority  as  '  righte  worthye  of 
remembrance.'  His  collection  merged  in  that 
of  Lord  Lumley  [q.  v.]  With  Lumley  and 
Lhuyd  he  became  a  member  of  the  Eliza- 
bethan Society  of  Antiquaries  enumerated  in 
the  introduction  to  vol.  i.  of  the  *  Archteo- 
logia,'  p.  xix. 

Arundel  was  twice  married.  His  first  wife, 
whom  he  had  married  before  November  1532 
(GAIRDNER,  vol.  v.  No.  1557),  wasKatherine, 
second  daughter  of  Thomas  Grey,  marquis  of 
Dorset,  K.G.,  by  whom  he  had  one  son,  Henry, 
lord  Maltravers,  born  in  1538,  who  died  at 
Brussels,  30  June  1556,  and  two  daughters, 
Jane  and  Mary.  Jane  was  married  before 
March  1552  to  John,  lord  Lumley,  but  had 
no  issue,  and  nursed  her  father  after  the 
death  of  his  second  wife,  and  died  in  1576-7. 
Mary,  born  about  1541,  became  the  wife  (be- 
tween 1552  and  1554)  of  Thomas  Howard, 
duke  of  Norfolk,  and  the  mother  of  Philip 
Howard,  who  inherited  the  earldom  of  Arun- 
del. She  died  25  Aug.  1557,  and  was  buried 
at  St.  Clement  Danes.  Both  these  ladies 
were  eminent  for  their  classical  attainments. 
Their  learned  exercises  are  preserved  in  the 


Fitzalan 


93 


Fitzalan 


British  Museum  among  the  Royal  MSS., 
having  been  handed  down  with  Lord  Lum- 
ley's  library  (Gent.  Mag.  vol.  ciii.  pt.  ii.  pp. 
494-500).  Arundel  married  secondly  Mary, 
daughter  of  Sir  John  Arundell  of  Lanherne, 
Cornwall,  and  widow  of  Robert  Ratcliffe, 
first  earl  of  Sussex  of  that  family,  and  K.G. 
She  had  no  children  by  Arundel,  and  dying 
21  Oct.  1557  at  Arundel  House,  was  buried 
1  Sept.  in  the  neighbouring  church  of  St. 
Clement  Danes,  but  was  afterwards  rein- 
terred  at  Arundel  (Sussex  Archceol.  Coll.  iii. 
81-2).  A  curious  account  of  her  funeral  is 
contained  in  a  contemporary  diary,  Cotton 
MS.  Vitellius,  F.  v.  Arundel  thus  died  the 
last  earl  of  his  family. 

His  portrait  was  painted  by  Sir  Anthony 
More ;  another  by  Hans  Holbein,  now  in  the 
collection  of  the  Marquis  of  Bath,  has  sup- 
plied one  of  the  best  illustrations  of  Lodge's 
1  Portraits.'  A  third  portrait,  dated  1556,  is 
at  Parham  House,  Sussex.  There  is  also  an 
engraved  likeness  of  him  in  armour,  half- 
length,  with  a  round  cap  and  ruff,  the  work 
of  an  unknown  artist. 

[The  chief  authority  is  The  Life  of  Henrye 
Fitzallen,  last  Earle  of  Arundell  of  that  name, 
supposed  to  have  been  written  by  his  chaplain  in 
the  interval  between  the  earl's  death  in  February 
1580  and  the  following  April,  and  now  pre- 
served among  the  King's  MSS.  xvii.  A.  ix.  in 
the  British  Museum.  It  has  been  largely  drawn 
on  by  Tierney  (Hist,  of  Arundel,  pp.  319-50), 
and  printed  by  J.  Gr.  Nichols  in  Gent.  Mag. 
for  1833  (vol.  ciii.  pt.  ii.  pp.  11,  118,  210,  490), 
accompanied  by  notes  and  extracts  from  other 
writers,  and  is  also  cursorily  noticed  in  Dalla- 
way's  History  of  the  Rape  of  Arundel.  The  Life 
in  Lodge's  Portraits  is  both  inadequate  and  in- 
accurate. Other  authorities  are  Dugdale's  Baron- 
age, i.  324  ;  Chronicle  of  Queen  Jane  (Camd. 
Soc.) ;  Fronde's  Hist,  of  England ;  Tytler's  Eng- 
land under  Edward  VI  and  Mary ;  Sussex  Archseol 
Coll. ;  Gal.  State  Papers,  For.  1547-69,  Venetian, 
1554-8;  Nicolas's  Historic  Peerage  (Courthope) 
p.  30 ;  Nichols's  Literary  Remains  of  Edward  VI 
(Roxb.  Club),  1857.]  '  G.  G-. 

FITZALAN,  JOHN  II,  LORD  OF  OSWES- 
TRY,  CLTJN,  VXD  ARUNDEL  (1223-1267), was 
the  son  of  John  I  Fitzalan,  one  of  the  barons 
confederated  against  King  John,  and  of  his 
first  wife  Isabella,  sister  and  finally  one  o1 
the  four  coheiresses  of  Hugh  of  Albini,  last 
earl  of  Arundel  of  that  house.  In  his  father's 
lifetime  he  was  married  to  Matilda,  daughter 
of  Theobald  le  Butiler  and  Rohese  de  Ver- 
dun. In  1240  his  father's  death  put  him  in 
possession  of  the  great  Shropshire  estates  o 
his  house,  of  which  the  lordship  of  Oswestry 
had  been  in  its  possession  since  the  days  o:' 
Henry  I,  and  that  of  Clun  since  the  reign  o 
Henry  II.  Until  1244,  when  he  attained 


his  majority,  the  estates  remained  in  the 
ustody  of  John  L'Estrange,  sheriff  of  Shrop- 
hire,  while  in  1242  his  father's  executors 
were  quarrelling  with  Rohese  de  Verdun, 
apparently  about  his  wife's  portion  (Rot. 
Finium,  i.  387).  In  1243  he  received  his 
mother's  share  of  one-fourth  of  the  inherit- 
ance of  the  Albinis,  including  the  town  and 
castle  of  Arundel.  In  1244  he  entered  into 
actual  possession  of  all  his  estates. 

In  general  politics  Fitzalan's  attitude  was 
rather  inconsistent.     He  was  no  friend  of 
breigners.      In   1258    he   quarrelled  with 
Archbishop  Boniface  about  the  right  of  hunt- 
ng  in  Arundel  Forest,  and  in  1263  carried 
on  a  sharp  feud  with  Peter  of  Aquablanca, 
;he  Poitevin  bishop  of  Hereford.     In  the 
course  of  this  he  seized  and  plundered  the 
jishop's  stronghold  of  Bishop's  Castle  (WEBB, 
Introduction   to  Expenses  Roll  of  Bishop 
Swinfield,  I.  xxi-xxii.  Camd.  Soc.)     In  1258 
he  seems  to  have  adhered  to  the  baronial 
party  against  Henry  III,  and  so  late  as  De- 
cember 1261  was  among  those  still  unrecon- 
ciled to  the  king.     Yet  in  1258  and  1260  he 
tiad  acted  as  chief  captain  of  the  English 
troops  against  Llewelyn  of  Wales,  who  was 
on  the  baronial  side.     Finally  he  seems  to 
have  adopted  the  middle  policy  of  his  patron 
Edward,  the  king's  son,  whom  in  1263  he 
attended  in  Wales,  acting  in  the  same  year 
as  conservator  of  the  peace  in  Shropshire  and 
Staffordshire.     He  joined  Edward  and  other 
magnates  in  the  agreement  to  refer  all  dis- 
putes to  the  arbitration  of  St.  Louis  (Fce- 
dera,  i.  433).    In  April  1264  he  was  actively 
on  the  king's  side,  and  besieged  with  Earl 
Warenne  in  Rochester  Castle  (LELAND,  Col- 
lectanea, i.  321).     After  the  king  had  re- 
lieved the  siege,  Fitzalan  joined  the  royal 
army  and  was  taken  prisoner  at  the  battle 
of  Lewes  (14  May).    Next  year  Montfort's 
government  required  him  to  surrender  either 
his  son  or  Arundel  Castle  as  a  pledge  of  his 
faithfulness  (Fcedera,  i.  454).     He  died  in 
November  1267,  having  in  October  made  his 
will,  in  which  he  ordered  that  his  body  should 
be  buried  in  the  family  foundation  of  Haugh- 
mond,  Shropshire.     He  was  succeeded  (Co- 
lend.   Geneal.  i.  132)  by  his  son  John  III 
Fitzalan  (1246-1272),  who  in  his  turn  was 
succeeded  by  his  son  Richard  I  Fitzalan 

"  John  Fitzalan  is  loosely  described  by  Ri- 
shanger  (p.  28,  Rolls  Ser. ;  cf.  p.  25  Chron.  de 
Bello,  Camd.  Soc.)  as  Earl  of  Arundel,  but  m 
all  writs  and  official  documents  he  is  simply 
spoken  of  as  John  Fitzalan,  and  he  never 
described  himself  in  higher  terms  than  lord 
of  Arundel.  His  history  does  not,  then,  bear 
out  the  notion  that  the  possession  of  the 


Fitzalan 


94 


Fitzalan 


castle  of  Arundel  conferred  an  earl's  dignity 
on  its  holders  (but  cf.  TIEENEY,  Hist.  Arun- 
del, who  holds  the  contrary  view).  His  son 
John  also  is  never  spoken  of  by  contemporaries 
as  Earl  of  Arundel. 

[Kymer's  Fcedera,  i.  399,  412,  420,  434,  454  ; 
Eot.  Finium,  i.  387,  411,  417;  Eyton's  Shrop- 
shire, vii.  253-6  ;  Dugdale's  Baronage,  i.  314-15  ; 
Doyle's  Official  Baronage,  i.  68-9;  Lords'  Ke- 
porton  the  Dignityof  a  Peer,  pp.  411-15  (1819) ; 
Yeatman's  Genealogical  Hist,  of  the  House  of 
Arundel,  pp.  334-5  ;  Tierney's  Hist,  of  Arundel, 
193-200.]  T.  F.  T. 

FITZALAN,  JOHN  VI,  EAEL  OF 
AEUNDEL  (1408-1435),  born  in  1408,  was  the 
son  of  John  Fitzalan,  lord  Maltravers,  and 
of  his  wife,  Eleanor,  daughter  of  Sir  John 
Berkeley  of  Beverston.  His  father,  the  grand- 
son of  Sir  John  Arundel,  marshal  of  England, 
and  of  Eleanor,  heiress  of  the  house  of  Mal- 
travers, inherited,  in  accordance  with  an 
entail  made  by  Earl  Kichard  II  [see  FITZ- 
ALAN, RICHARD  II],  the  castle  and  earldom  of 
Arundel  after  the  decease,  without  heirs  male, 
of  Earl  Thomas  [see  FITZALAN,  THOMAS],  and 
was  in  1416  summoned  to  parliament  as  Earl 
of  Arundel.  But  Thomas  Mowbray,  duke 
of  Norfolk,  the  husband  of  Earl  Thomas's 
eldest  sister,  contested  his  claim  both  to  the 
estate  and  title,  and  he  received  no  further 
summons  as  earl.  On  his  death,  in  1421,  the 
question  was  still  unsettled,  and  the  long 
minority  both  of  his  son  and  of  John,  duke 
of  Norfolk,  his  rival,  still  further  put  off  the 
suit. 

The  younger  John,  called  Lord  Maltravers, 
was  knighted  in  1426,  at  the  same  time  as 
Henry  VI  at  Leicester  (Fcedera,  x.  357). 
On  attaining  his  majority  he  was  summoned 
to  parliament  as  a  baron  (12  July  1429). 
But  he  still  claimed  the  earldom,  and  official 
documents  describe  him  as  '  John,  calling 
himself  Earl  of  Arundel '  (NICOLAS,  Proceed- 
ings and  Ord.  of  Privy  Council,  iv.  28).  At 
last,  in  November  1433,  on  his  renewed 
petition,  it  was  decided  in  parliament  that 
his  claims  were  good,  and  '  John,  now  Earl 
of  Arundel,  was  admitted  to  the  place  and 
seat  anciently  belonging  to  the  earls  of 
Arundel  in  parliament  and  council'  (Rot. 
Parl.  iv.  441-3  ;  cf.  Lords'  Report  on  the 
Dignity  of  a  Peer,  p.  405  sq. ;  and  TIEENEY, 
Hist,  of  Arundel,  pp.  107-39,  for  very  diffe- 
rent comments  on  the  whole  case). 

Arundel's  petition  had  been  sent  from  the 
field  in  France,  where  his  distinguished  ser- 
vices had  warmly  enlisted  the  regent  Bed- 
ford in  his  favour,  and  possibly  hastened  the 
favourable  decision.  In  February  1430  he 
had  entered  into  indentures  to  serve  Henry 
in  the  French  wars,  and  on  23  April  was 


among  the  magnates  that  disembarked  with 
the  young  king  at  Calais  (WAUBIN,  Chro- 
niques,  1422-31,  p.  360).  In  June  he  joined 
Bedford  at  Compiegne,  and  brilliantly  dis- 
tinguished himself  in  the  siege  of  that  place 
(SAiNT-REMY,ii.  181-4).  He  was  thence  sent 
by  Bedford  to  co-operate  with  a  Burgundian 
force  in  saving  Champagne,  from  the  vic- 
torious course  of  the  French  governor,  Bar- 
basan.  He  compelled  Barbasan  to  raise  the 
siege  of  Anglure,  a  place  situated  between 
Troyes  and  Chalons,  but  he  could  not  force 
an  engagement,  and  was  constrained  to  re- 
treat, leaving  Anglure  a  ruin  to  save  it  from 
falling  into  the  enemies'  hands  (WAUEIN, 
pp.  395,  396;  cf.  MAETIN,  Hist,  de  France, 
vi.  245).  In  the  summer  of  1431  he  was  called 
with  Talbot  from  the  siege  of  Louviers  to  de- 
fend the  Beauvaisis  from  invasion,  and  took 
part  in  the  action  in  which  Saintrailles  was 
captured  (SAINT-REMY,  ii.  263).  On  17  Dec. 
he  was  at  Henry  VI's  coronation  at  Paris, 
and  next  day  shared  with  the  bastard  of  St. 
Pol '  the  applause  of  the  ladies  for  being  the 
best  tilters '  at  a  tournament  (MONSTEELET, 
liv.  ii.  ch.  110). 

In  February  1432  Arundel  was  made  cap- 
tain of  the  castle  of  Rouen,  and  on  the  night 
of  3  March  was  surprised  in  his  bed  by  Ri- 
carville  and  120  picked  soldiers,  admitted  by 
the  treachery  of  a  B6arnais  soldier.  Arundel 
had  only  time  to  escape  from  capture ;  but 
the  gallant  attack  was  unsupported  by  a  larger 
force,  and  Arundel  managed  to  confine  the 
assailants  to  the  castle,  where  twelve  days 
later  they  were  forced  to  surrender  (CHEETTEL, 
Rouen  sur  les  Anglais,  p.  113  ;  cf.  Pieces  Jus- 
tificatives,^.^;  MONSTEELET,  liv.  ii.  ch.  113). 
Soon,  after  he  was  despatched  by  Bedford 
with  twelve  hundred  men  to  reconquer  some 
French  fortresses  in  the  Isle  de  France.  He 
captured  several,  but  was  checked  at  Lagny- 
sur-Marne,  where,  after  partial  successes,  the 
greater  part  of  his  troops  deserted.  Not 
even  the  arrival  of  Bedford  could  secure  the 
capture  of  Lagny.  In  November  Arundel 
returned  to  Rouen  as  captain  of  the  town, 
castle,  and  bridge  (LuCE,  Chronique  de  Mont 
Saint-Michel,  ii.  14).  In  1433  he  was  at 
the  head  of  a  separate  army,  which  operated 
mostly  upon  the  southern  Norman  frontier, 
where  his  troops  held  Vernon  on  the  Seine 
and  Verneuil  in  Perche  (STEVENSON,  Wars 
of  English  in  France,  ii.  256, 542, 543) ;  while 
be  was  engaged  on  countless  skirmishes,  fo- 
rays, and  sieges  (POLYDOEE  VEEGIL,  p.  482, 
ed.  1570).  With  such  success  were  his 
dashing  attacks  attended  that  he  was  able 
to  carry  his  arms  beyond  Normandy  into 
Anjou  and  Maine  (ib.)  He  is  described  as 
lieutenant  of  the  king  and  regent  in  the 


Fitzalan 


95 


Fitzalan 


lower  marches  of  Normandy '  (LtrcE,  ii.  20). 
His  cruelty,  no  less  than  his  success,  made 
him  exceptionally  odious  to  French  patriots 
(BLONDEL,  Reductio  Normannice,  pp.  190-6, 
is  very  eloquent  on  this  subject ;  cf.  MON- 
STKELET,  liv.  ii.  ch.  158).  In  the  summer 
of  1534  he  was  despatched  with  Lord  Wil- 
loughby  to  put  down  a  popular  revolt  among 
the  peasants  of  Lower  Normandy.  This  gave 
them  little  difficulty,  though  in  January  1435 
Arundel  was  still  engaged  on  the  task  (LuCE, 
ii.  53).  The  clemency  with  which  he  sought 
to  spare  the  peasants  and  punish  the  leaders 
only  was  so  little  seconded  by  his  troops  that 
it  might  well  have  seemed  to  the  French  a 
new  act  of  cruelty  (PoL.  VEKG.  p.  483).  In 
February  1435  his  approach  led  Alencon 
to  abandon  with  precipitation  the  siege  of 
Avranches  (LucE,  ii.  54). 

In  May  1435  Arundel  was  despatched  by 
Bedford  to  stay  the  progress  of  the  French, 
arms  on  the  Lower  Somme ;  but  on  his  arrival 
at  Gournay  he  found  that  the  enemy  had  re- 
paired the  old  fortress  of  Gerberoy  in  the 
Beauvaisis,  whence  they  were  devastating  all 
the  Vexin.  He  accordingly  marched  by  night 
from  Gournay  to  Gerberoy,  and  arrived  at 
eight  in  the  morning  before  the  latter  place. 
But  La  Hire  and  Saintrailles  had  secretly 
collected  a  large  force  outside  the  walls,  and 
simultaneous  attacks  on  the  English  van  from 
the  castle  and  from  the  outside  soon  put  it  in 
confusion,  while  the  main  body  was  driven 
back  in  panic  retreat  to  Gournay.  Arundel 
and  the  small  remainder  of  the  van  took  up 
a  strong  position  in  the  corner  of  a  field,  pro- 
tected in  the  rear  by  a  hedge,  and  in  front  by 
pointed  stakes ;  but  cannon  were  brought  from 
the  castle,  and  the  second  shot  from  a  culverin 
shattered  Arundel's  ankle.  On  the  return 
of  La  Hire  from  the  pursuit  the  whole  body 
was  slain  or  captured  (MONSTRELET,  liv.  ii. 
ch.  172).  Arundel  was  taken  to  Beauvais, 
where  the  injured  limb  was  amputated.  He 
was  so  disgusted  at  his  defeat  that  he  rejected 
the  aid  of  medicine  (BASisr,  i.  Ill),  and  on 
12  June  he  died.  His  body  was  first  deposited 
in  the  church  of  the  Cordeliers  of  that  town. 
A  faithful  Shropshire  squire,  Fulk  Eyton, 
bought  the  remains  from  the  French,  and  his 
executors  sold  them  to  his  brother  William, 
the  next  earl  but  one,  who  deposited  them  in 
the  noble  tomb  in  the  collegiate  chapel  at 
Arundel,  which  Earl  John  had  himself  de- 
signed for  his  interment  (TiEKNET  in  Sussex 
Arch.  Collections,  xii.  232-9).  His  remains 
show  that  he  was  over  six  feet  in  height.  The 
French  regarded  the  death  of  the  '  English 
Achilles '  with  great  satisfaction.  '  He  was 
a  valiant  knight,'  says  Berry  king-at-arms, 
t  and  if  he  had  lived  he  would  have  wrought 


great  mischief  to  France'  (GODEFROY,  p.  389). 
'He  was,'  says  Polydore  Vergil,  <  a  man  of 
singular  valour,  constancy,  and  gravity.'  But 
his  exploits  were  those  of  a  knight  and  partisan 
rather  than  those  of  a  real  general.  He  had 
just  before  his  death  been  created  Duke  of 
Touraine,  and  in  1432  had  been  made  a  knight 
of  the  Garter. 

Arundel  had  been  twice  married.  His- 
first  wife  was  Constance,  daughter  of  Lord 
Fanhope  ;  his  second  Maud,  daughter  of 
Robert  Lovell,  and  widow  of  Sir  R.  Stafford. 
By  the  latter  he  left  a  son,  Humphrey  (1429- 
1438),  who  succeeded  him  in  the  earldom. 
On  Humphrey's  early  death,  his  uncle,  Wil- 
liam IV  Fitzalan  (1417-1487),  the  younger 
son  of  John  V,  became  Earl  of  Arundel.  He 
was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Thomas  II  Fitz- 
alan (1450-1524),  whose  successor  was  Wil- 
liam V  Fitzalan  (1483-1544),  the  father  of 
Henry  Fitzalan  [q.  v.] 

[Monstrelet's  Chronique,  ed.  Douet  d'Arcq  (Soc. 
de  1'Histoire  de  France) ;  Waurin's  Chroniques, 
1422-31  (Rolls  Series);  Jean  le  Fevre,  Seigneur 
de  Saint-Remy,  Chroniques  (Soc.  de  1'Histoire  de 
France) ;  Thomas  Basin's  Histoire  de  Charles  VII, 
vol.  i.  (Soc.  de  1'Histoire  de  France) ;  Godefroy's 
Histoire  de  Charles  VII,  par  Jean  Chartier, 
Jacques  leBonvier,&c.  (Paris,  1661) ;  Stevenson's 
"Wars  of  English  in  France  (Rolls  Series) ;  Blon- 
del's  De  Reductione  Normannise  (Rolls  Series) ; 
Hall's  Chronicle,  ed.  1809 ;  Polydore  Vergil's  Hist. 
Angl.  ed.  1570;  Rolls  of  ParL,  vol.  iv. ;  Luce's 
Chron.  de  Mont  Saint-Michel,  vol.  ii.  (Soc.  des 
Anciens  Textes  Fra^ais) ;  Doyle's  Official  Baron- 
age, i.  76;  Tierney's  Hist,  of  Arundel,  pp.  106-27, 
292-303,  and  625,  corrected  in  Sussex  Arch.  Coll. 
xii.  232-9  ;  Lords'  Rep.  on  Dignity  of  a  Peer; 
Martin's  Hist,  de  France,  vol.  vi.]  T.  F.  T. 

FITZALAN,  RICHARD  I,  EARL  OF 
ARU^DEL  (1267-1302),  was  the  son  of 
John  III  Fitzalan,  lord  of  Arundel,  by  his 
wife  Isabella,  daughter  of  Roger  Mortimer 
of  Wigmore,  and  was  therefore  the  grandson 
of  John  II  Fitzalan  [q.v.]  He  was  pro- 
bably born  on  3  Feb.  1267  (ElTON,  vii.  258, 
but  cf.  Calendarium  Genealogicum,  i.  347, 
which  makes  him  a  little  older).  His  father 
died  when  he  was  five  years  old,  and  his 
estates  were  scandalously  wasted  by  his 
grandmother  Matilda,  and  her  second  hus- 
band, Richard  de  Amundeville  (EYTOtf,  iv. 
122).  He  was  himself,  however,  under  the 
wardship  of  his  grandfather,  Mortimer,  though 
several  custodians,  among  whom  was  his 
mother  (1280),  successively  held  his  castle 
of  Arundel.  In  1287  he  received  his  first 
writ  of  summons  against  the  rebel  Rhys  ap 
Maredudd,  and  was  enjoined  to  reside  on  his 
Shropshire  estates  until  the  revolt  was  put 
down  (ParL  Writs,  i.  599).  He  is  there 


Fitzalan 


96 


Fitzalan 


described  as  Richard  Fitzalan,  but  in  1292 
he  is  called  Earl  of  Arundel  in  his  pleas,  in 
answer  to  writs  of  quo  warranto  (Placita  de 
•quo  warranto,  pp.  681, 687).  It  is  said,  with- 
out much  evidence,  that  he  had  been  created 
earl  in  1289  (VINCENT,  Discovery,  p.  25), 
when  he  was  knighted  by  Edward  I.  But  the 
title  was  loosely  and  occasionally  assigned 
to  his  father  and  grandfather  also,  though 
certainly  without  any  formal  warranty,  for 
the  doctrine  of  the  act  of  11  Henry  VI,  that 
all  who  possessed  the  castle  of  Arundel  be- 
came earls  without  other  title,  was  certainly 
not  law  in  the  thirteenth  century  (Lords'  He- 
port  on  the  Dignity  of  a  Peer,  but  cf .  DTJGDALE, 
Baronage,  i.  315).  In  1292  his  zeal  to  join 
the  army  was  the  excuse  for  a  humiliating 
submission  to  Bishop  Gilbert  of  Chichester, 
after  a  quarrel  about  his  right  of  hunting 
in  Houghton  forest  (TiERNEY,  pp.  203-7, 
from  Bishop  Rede's  Register).  In  1294  he 
was  again  spoken  of  as  earl  in  his  appoint- 
ment to  command  the  forces  sent  to  relieve 
Bere  Castle,  threatened  by  the  Welsh  in- 
surgent Madoc  (Parl.  Writs,  i.  599).  In 
all  subsequent  writs  he  equally  enjoys  that 
title,  though  his  absence  in  Gascony  pre- 
vented his  being  summoned  to  the  model 
parliament  of  1295.  In  1297  he  again  served 
in  Gascony.  In  1298,  1299,  and  1300  he 
held  command  in  Scotland,  and  in  the  latter 
year  appeared,  a  'beau  chevalier  et  bien 
ame '  and  '  richement  arm6,'  at  the  siege  of 
Carlaverock  (NICOLAS,  Siege  of  Carlaverock, 
p.  50).  His  last  attendance  in  parliament 
was  in  1301  at  Lincoln,  where  he  was  one 
of  the  signatories  of  the  famous  letter  to  the 
pope.  His  last  military  summons  was  to  Car- 
lisle for  24  June  1301.  He  died  on  9  March 
1302  (DOYLE,  i.  70). 

Fi  tzalan  married  Alice  or  Alisona,  daughter 
of  Thomas  I,  marquis  of  Saluzzo  (MtTLETTi, 
Memorie  Storico-diplomatiche  di  Saluzzo,  ii. 
508),  an  alliance  which  is  thought  to  point 
to  a  lengthened  sojourn  in  Italy  in  his  youth. 
By  her  he  left  two  sons,  of  whom  the  elder, 
Edmund  Fitzalan  [q.  v.],  succeeded  him, 
while  the  younger,  John,  was  still  alive  in 
1375  (NICOLAS,  Testamenta  Vetusta,  p.  94). 
Of  their  two  daughters,  one,  Maud,  married 
Philip,  lord  Burnell,  and  the  other,  Margaret, 
married  William  Botiler  of  Wem  (DFGDALE, 
i.  315). 

[Parliamentary  Writs,  i.  599-600;  Calenda- 
Tinm  G-enealogicum,  ii.  622  ;  Nicolas's  Le  Siege 
•de  Carlaverock,  pp.  50,  283-5 ;  Doyle's  Official 
Baronage,  i.  69-70  ;  Dugdale's  Baronage,  i.  315; 
Eyton's  Shropshire,  iv.  122,  123,  vii.  260-1  ; 
Lords'  Report  on  the  Dignity  of  a  Peer,  pp.  420, 
421  ;  Tierney's  Hist,  of  Arundel,  pp.  201-12.] 

T.  F.  T. 


FITZALAN,  RICHARD  II,  EARL  OP 
ARFNDEL  AND  WAEENNE  (1307P-1376),  son 
of  Edmund  Fitzalan,  earl  of  Arundel  [q.  v.], 
and  his  wife,  Alice  Warenne,  was  born  not 
before  1307.  About  1321  his  marriage  to  Isa- 
bella, daughter  of  the  younger  Hugh  le  De- 
spenser,  cemented  the  alliance  between  his 
father  and  the  favourites  of  Edward  II.  In 
1326,  however,  his  father's  execution  deprived 
him  of  the  succession  both  to  title  and  estates. 
In  1330,  after  the  fall  of  Mortimer,  he  peti- 
tioned to  be  reinstated,  and,  after  some  delay, 
was  restored  in  blood  and  to  the  greater  part 
of  Earl  Edmund's  possessions  (Rot.  Parl.  ii. 
50).  He  was,  however,  forbidden  to  con- 
tinue his  efforts  to  avenge  his  father  by 
private  war  against  John  Charlton,  first  lord 
Charlton  of  Powys  [q.  v.]  (ib.  ii.  60).  In 
1331  he  obtained  the  castle  of  Arundel  from 
the  heirs  of  Edmund,  earl  of  Kent.  These 
grants  were  subsequently  more  than  once 
confirmed  (ib.  ii.  226,  256).  In  1334  Arun- 
del received  Mortimer's  castle  of  Chirk, 
and  was  made  justice  of  North  Wales,  his 
large  estates  in  that  region  giving  him  con- 
siderable local  influence.  The  justiceship 
was  afterwards  confirmed  for  life.  He  was 
also  made  life-sheriff  of  Carnarvonshire  and 
governor  of  Carnarvon  Castle.  Arundel  took 
a  conspicuous  part  in  nearly  every  impor- 
tant war  of  Edward  Ill's  long  reign.  After 
surrendering  in  1336  his  'hereditary  right ' 
to  the  stewardship  of  Scotland  to  Edward  for 
a  thousand  marks  (Fc&dera,  ii.  952),  he  was 
made  in  1337  joint  commander  of  the  Eng- 
lish army  in  the  north.  Early  in  1338  he 
and  his  colleague  Salisbury  incurred  no  small 
opprobrium  by  their  signal  failure  to  capture 
Dunbar  (KNIGHTON,  c.  2570 ;  cf.  Liber  Plus- 
cardensis,  i.  284,  ed.  Skene).  On  25  April 
he  was  elevated  to  the  sole  command,  with 
full  powers  to  treat  with  the  Scots  for  truce 
or  peace  (Fcedera,  ii.  1029,  1031),  of  which 
he  availed  himself  to  conclude  a  truce,  as  his 
duty  now  compelled  him  to  follow  the  king  to 
Brabant  (Chron.  de  Melsa,  ii.  385),  where 
he  landed  at  Antwerp  on  13  Dec.  (FROISSART, 
i.  417,  ed.  Luce).  In  the  January  parlia- 
ment of  1340  he  was  nominated  admiral  of 
the  ships  at  Portsmouth  and  the  west  that 
were  to  assemble  at  Mid  Lent  (Rot.  Parl.  ii. 
108).  On  24  June  he  comported  himself 
'  loyally  and  nobly '  at  the  battle  of  Sluys, 
and  was  one  of  the  commissioners  sent  by 
Edward  from  Bruges  in  July  to  acquaint 
parliament  with  the  news  and  to  explain 
to  it  the  king's  financial  necessities  (ib.  ii. 
118  b).  Later  in  the  same  year  he  took 
part  in  the  great  siege  of  Tournay  (LuCE, 
Chronique  des  Quatre  Premiers  Valois,  p.  4, 
ed.  Soc.  de  THistoire  de  France).  In  1342 


Fitzalan 


97 


Fitzalan 


he  was  at  the  great  feast  given  by  Edward  III 
in  honour  of  the  Countess  of  Salisbury  (FROIS- 
SART,  iii.  3).  His  next  active  employment 
was  in  the  same  year  as  warden  of  the  Scot- 
tish marches  in  conjunction  with  the  Earl  of 
Huntingdon.  In  October  of  the  same  year 
he  accompanied  Edward  on  his  expedition  to 
Brittany  (ib.  iii.  225),  and  was  left  by  the 
king  to  besiege  Vannes  (ib.  iii.  227)  while  the 
bulk  of  the  army  advanced  to  Kennes.  In 
January  1343  the  truce  put  an  end  to  the 
siege,  and  in  July  Arundel  was  sent  on  a 
mission  to  Avignon.  In  1344  he  was  ap- 
pointed, with  Henry,  earl  of  Derby,  lieu- 
tenant of  Aquitaine,  where  the  French  war 
had  again  broken  out ;  and  at  the  same  time 
was  commissioned  to  treat  with  Castile,  Por- 
tugal, and  Aragon  (Fcedera,  iii.  8,  9).  In 
1345  he  repudiated  his  wife,  Isabella,  on  the 
ground  that  he  had  never  consented  to  the 
marriage,  and,  having  obtained  papal  recog- 
nition of  the  nullity  of  the  union,  married 
Eleanor,  widow  of  Lord  Beaumont,  and 
daughter  of  Henry,  third  earl  of  Lancas- 
ter. This  business  may  have  prevented  him 
sharing  in  the  warlike  exploits  of  his  new 
brother-in-law,  Derby,  in  Aquitaine.  He 
was,  however,  reappointed  admiral  of  the 
west  in  February  1345,  and  retained  that 
post  until  1347  (NICOLAS,  Hist,  of  Royal 
Navy,  ii.  95).  In  1346  he  accompanied  Ed- 
ward on  his  great  expedition  to  northern 
France  (FROISSART,  iii.  130),  and  commanded 
the  second  of  the  three  divisions  into  which 
the  English  host  was  divided  at  Crecy  (ib. 
iii.  169,  makes  him  joint  commander  with 
Northampton,  but  MURIMUTH,  p.  166,  in- 
cludes the  latter  among  the  leaders  of  the 
first  line).  He  was  afterwards  with  Edward 
at  the  siege  of  Calais  (Rot.  Parl.  ii.  163  b}. 
In  1348  and  1350  Arundel  was  on  commis- 
sions to  treat  with  the  pope  at  Avignon 
(Fcedera,  iii.  165,  201).  In  1350,  however, 
he  took  part  in  the  famous  naval  battle  with 
the  Spaniards  off  Winchelsea  (FROISSART, 
iv.  89).  In  1351  he  was  employed  in  Scot- 
land to  arrange  for  a  final  peace  and  the 
ransom  of  King  David  (Foedera,  iii.  225). 
In  1354  he  was  one  of  the  negotiators  of  a 
proposed  truce  with  France,  at  a  conference 
held  under  papal  mediation  at  Guines  (ib.  iii. 
253),  but  on  the  envoys  proceeding  to  Avig- 
non (ib.  iii.  283),  to  obtain  the  papal  ratifi- 
cation, it  was  found  that  no  real  settlement 
had  been  arrived  at,  and  Innocent  VI  was 
loudly  accused  of  treachery  (Cont.  MFRI- 
MUTH,  p.  184).  In  1355  Arundel  was  one  of 
the  regents  during  the  king's  absence  from 
England  (Fcedera,  iii.  305).  In  1357  he  was 
again  negotiating  in  Scotland,  and  in  1358 
was  at  the  head  of  an  embassy  to  Wenzel, 

TOL.  XIX. 


*•  iii.  392).  In  August 
IdbO  he  was  joint  commissioner  in  complet- 
ing the  ratifications  of  the  treaty  of  Bretigny. 
In  1362  he  was  one  of  the  commissioners  to 
prolong  the  truce  with  Charles  of  Blois  (ib. 
in.  662).  In  1364  he  was  again  engaged  in 
diplomacy  (ib.  iii.  747). 

The  declining  years  of  Arundel's  life  were 
spent  in  comparative  seclusion  from  public 
affairs.  In  1365  he  was  maliciously  cited  to 
the  papal  court  by  "William  de  Lenne,  the 
foreign  bishop  of  Chichester,  with  whom  he 
was  on  bad  terms.  He  was  supported  by 
Edward  in  his  resistance  to  the  bishop,  whose 
temporalities  were  ultimately  seized  by  the 
crown.  He  now  perhaps  enlarged  the  castle 
of  Arundel  (TIERNEY,  Hist,  of  Arundel,  p. 
239).  His  last  military  exploit  was  perhaps 
his  share  in  the  expedition  for  the  relief  of 
Thouars  in  1372. 

Arundel  was  possessed  of  vast  wealth,  espe- 
cially after  1353,  when  he  succeeded,  by  right 
of  his  mother,  to  the  earldom  of  Warenne  or 
Surrey.  He  frequently  aided  Edward  III  in 
his  financial  difficulties  by  large  advances,  so 
that  in  1370  Edward  was  more  than  twenty 
thousand  pounds  in  his  debt.  Yet  at  his 
death  Arundel  left  behind  over  ninety  thou- 
sand marks  in  ready  money,  nearly  half  of 
which  was  stored  up  in  bags  in  the  high  tower 
of  Arundel  (Harl.  MS.  4840,  f.  393,  where  is 
a  curious  inventory  of  all  his  personal  pro- 
perty at  his  death). 

One  of  Arundel's  last  acts  was  to  become, 
with  Bishop  William  of  Wykeham,  a  gene- 
ral attorney  for  John  of  Gaunt  during  his 
journey  to  Spain  (Fcedera,  iii.  1026).  He 
died  on  24  Jan.  1376.  By  his  will,  dated 
5  Dec.  1375,  he  directed  that  his  body  should 
be  buried  without  pomp  in  the  chapter-house 
of  Lewes  priory,  by  the  side  of  his  second 
wife,  and  founded  a  perpetual  chantry  in  the 
chapel  of  St.  George's  within  Arundel  Castle 
(NICOLAS,  Testamenta  Fe£wsta,pp.94-6).  By 
his  first  marriage  his  only  issue  was  one 
daughter.  By  his  second  he  had  three  sons, 
of  whom  Richard,  the  eldest  [see  FITZALAN, 
RICHARD  III],  was  his  successor  to  the  earl- 
dom. John,  the  next,  became  marshal  of  Eng- 
land, and  perished  at  sea  in  1379.  According 
to  the  settlement  made  by  Earl  Richard  in 
1347  (Rot.  Parl.  iv.  442),  the  title  ultimately 
reverted  to  the  marshal's  grandson,  John  VI 
Fitzalan.  The  youngest,  Thomas  [see  ARITN- 
DEL,  THOMAS],  became  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury. Of  his  four  daughters  by  Eleanor,  two 
are  mentioned  in  his  will,  namely  Joan,  mar- 
ried to  Humphrey  Bohun,  earl  of  Hereford, 
and  Alice,  the  wife  of  Thomas  Holland,  earl 
of  Kent.  His  other  daughters,  Mary  and 
Eleanor,  died  before  him. 


Fitzalan 


98 


Fitzalan 


[Rymer's  Fcedera,  vol.  iii.  Record  edit. ;  Rolls 
of  Parl.vol.  ii.;  Dugdale's  Baronage,  i.  316-18  ; 
Doj'le's  Official  Baronage,  i.  71-2  ;  Froissart's 
Chroniques,  vols.  i-iv.  ed.  Luce  (Socie"t6  de 
1'Histoire  de  France) ;  Murimuth  and  his  Cont. 
(Engl.  Hist.  Soc.) ;  Knighton  in  Twysden,  Decem 
Scriptores;  Tierney's  Hist,  of  Arundel,  pp.  225- 
240.]  T.  F.  T. 

FITZALAN",  RICHARD  III,  EARL  OF 
ARFNDEL  AND  SURREY  (1346-1397),  born  in 
1346,  was  the  son  of  Richard  II  Fitzalan,  earl 
of  Arundel  [q.  v.],  and  his  second  wife,  Elea- 
nor, daughter  of  Henry,  third  earl  of  Lan- 
caster. He  served  on  the  expedition  to  the 
Pays  de  Caux  under  Lancaster  (NICOLAS, 
Scrope  andGrosvenor  Roll,  i.  220).  In  January 
1376  he  succeeded  to  his  father's  estates  and 
titles.  Though  the  petitions  of  the  Good 
parliament  contain  complaints  of  the  men  of 
Surrey  and  Sussex  against  the  illegal  juris- 
diction exercised  by  his  novel l  shire-court ' 
at  Arundel  over  the  rapes  of  Chichester  and 
Arundel  (Rot.  Parl.  ii.  348),  he  was  ap- 
pointed one  of  the  standing  council  esta- 
blished in  that  parliament  to  restrain  the 
dotage  of  Edward  III  (Chron.  Any  lice,  1328- 
1388,  p.  Ixviii,  Rolls  Ser.)  At  Richard  II's 
coronation  he  acted  as  chief  butler  (Rot. 
Parl.  iii.  131).  He  was  placed  on  the  council 
of  regency  (ib.  iii.  386),  and  in  1380  put  on  a 
commission  to  regulate  the  royal  household. 
In  1377  he  was  appointed  admiral  of  the 
west.  His  earlier  naval  exploits  were  but 
little  glorious,  yet  French  authorities  credit 
him  with  the  merit  of  having  saved  South- 
ampton from  their  assault  (LtrcE,  Chronique 
des  Quatre  Premiers  Valois,  p.  263,  ed.  Soc. 
de  1'Histoire  de  France).  About  Whitsun- 
tide 1378  he  attacked  Harfleur,  but  was  sub- 
sequently driven  to  sea  (ib.  p.  273).  In  the 
same  year  he  and  the  Earl  of  Salisbury  were 
defeated  by  a  Spanish  fleet,  though  they 
afterwards  compelled  Cherbourg  to  surrender 
(WALSINGHAM,  i.  371).  He  next  accompanied 
John  of  Gaunt  on  his  expedition  to  St.  Malo, 
where  his  negligence  on  the  watch  gave  the 
French  an  opportunity  to  destroy  a  mine  and 
so  compel  the  raising  of  the  siege  (FROISSART, 
liv.  ii.  ch.  xxxvi.  ed.  Buchon).  Arundel 
barely  escaped  with  his  life  (Chronique  des 
Quatre  Premiers  Valois,  p.  275).  The  earl 
showed  an  equal  sluggishness  in  defending 
even  his  own  tenants  when  the  French  ra- 
vaged the  coasts  of  Sussex  (WALS.  i.  439 ; 
cf.  Chron.  Anglice,  p.  168).  In  1381  he  and 
Michael  de  la  Pole  were  approved  in  parlia- 
ment as  councillors  in  constant  attendance 
upon  the  young  king  and  as  governors  of  his 
person  (WALS.  ii.  156;  Rot.  Parl.  iii.  1046). 
In  1383  he  was  proposed  as  lieutenant  of 
Bishop  Spencer  of  Norwich's  crusading  army, 


but  the  bishop  refused  to  accept  him  (ib.  iii. 
155  a).  In  1385  he  took  part  in  the  expedi- 
tion to  Scotland. 

Arundel  definitely  joined  the  baronial  op- 
position that  had  now  reformed  under  Glou- 
cester, the  king's  uncle.  He  took  a  promi- 
nent part  in  the  attack  on  the  royal  favourites 
in  1386,  acted  as  one  of  the  judges  of  M.  de 
la  Pole  (WALS.  ii.  152),  and  was  put  on  the 
commission  appointed  in  parliament  to  reform 
and  govern  the  realm  and  the  royal  household 
(Rot.  Parl.  iii.  221).  His  appointment  as  ad- 
miral was  now  renewed  with  a  wider  com- 
mission, rendered  necessary  by  the  projected 
great  invasion  of  England,  which  brought 
Charles  VI  to  Sluys  (FROISSART,  iii.  47 ;  cf. 
WALLON,  Rich.  II,  liv.  v.  ch.  iii.)  In  the  spring 
of  1387  he  and  Nottingham  prepared  an  expe- 
dition against  the  French,  which,  on  24  March, 
defeated  a  great  fleet  of  Flemish,  French,  and 
Spanish  ships  off  Margate,  and  captured 
nearly  a  hundred  vessels  laden  with  wine 
(WALS.  ii.  154-6 ;  Monk  of  Evesham,  p.  78 ; 
FROISSART,  iii.  53.  The  different  accounts 
vary  hopelessly ;  see  NICOLAS,  Hist,  of  Royal 
Navy,  ii.  317-24).  This  brilliant  victory 
won  Arundel  an  extraordinary  popularity, 
which  was  largely  increased  by  the  libe- 
rality with  which  he  refused  to  turn  the  rich 
booty  to  his  own  advantage.  For  the  whole 
year  wine  was  cheap  in  England  and  dear  in 
Netherlands  (FROISSART,  iii.  54).  Imme- 
diately after  he  sailed  to  Brest  and  relieved 
and  revictualled  the  town,  which  was  still 
held  for  the  English,  and  destroyed  two  forts 
erected  by  the  French  besiegers  over  against 
it  (KNIGHTON,  c.  2692).  He  then  returned 
in  triumph  to  England,  plundering  the  coun- 
try round  Sluys  and  capturing  ships  there 
on  his  way.  All  danger  of  French  invasion 
was  at  an  end. 

In  1387  Richard  II  obtained  from  the 
judges  a  declaration  of  the  illegality  of  the 
commission  of  which  Arundel  was  a  member. 
His  rash  attempt  to  arrest  the  earl  produced 
the  final  conflict.  Northumberland  was  sent 
to  seize  Arundel  at  Reigate,  but,  fearing  the 
number  of  his  retainers,  retired  without  ac- 
complishing his  mission  (Monk  of  Evesham, 
p.  90).  Warned  of  this  treachery,  Arundel 
escaped  by  night  and  joined  Gloucester  and 
Warwick  at  Harringhay,  where  they  took 
arms  (November  1387).  At  Waltham  Cross 
on  15  Nov.  they  first  appealed  of  treason  the 
evil  councillors  of  the  king,  and  on  17  Nov. 
forced  Richard  to  accept  their  charges  at 
Westminster  Hall.  When  the  favourites 
attempted  resistance,  another  meeting  of  the 
confederates  was  held  on  12  Dec.  at  Hunt- 
ingdon, where  Arundel  strongly  urged  the 
capture  and  deposition  of  the  king.  But  the 


Fitzalan 


99 


Fitzalan 


reluctance  of  the  new  associates,  Derby  and 
Nottingham,  caused  this  violent  plan  to  be 
rejected  (Rot.  Parl  iii.  376).  But  Arundel 
continued  the  fiercest  of  the  king's  enemies. 
In  the  parliament  of  February  1388  he  was 
one  of  the  five  lords  who  solemnly  renewed 
the  appeal  (ib.  iii.  229;  KNIGHTON,  cc.  2713- 
2726).  He  specially  pressed  for  the  execu- 
tion of  Burley,  though  Derby  wished  to  save 
Mm,  and  for  three  hours  the  queen  inter- 
ceded on  her  knees  for  his  life  (Chronique  de 
la  Traison,  p.  133). 

In  May  1388  Arundel  again  went  to  sea, 
still  acting  as  admiral,  and  now  also  as  cap- 
tain of  Brest  and  lieutenant  of  the  king  in 
Brittany.  Failing  to  do  anything  great  in 
that  country,  he  sailed  southward,  conquered 
Oleron  and  other  small  islands  off  the  coast, 
and  finally  landed  off  La  Rochelle,  and  took 
thence  great  pillage  (FROISSART,  iii.  112, 113, 
129) .  Next  year,  however,  he  was  superseded 
as  admiral  by  Huntingdon  (KNIGHTOX,  c. 
2735),  and  in  May  was,  with  the  other  lords 
appellant,  removed  from  the  council.  He 
was,  however,  restored  in  December,  when 
Richard  and  his  old  masters  finally  came  to 
terms  (NICOLAS,  Proceedings  of  Privy  Council. 
i.  17). 

For  the  next  few  years  peace  prevailed  at 
home  and  abroad.  The  party  of  the  appel- 
lants began  to  show  signs  of  breaking  up, 
though  Arundel  still  remained  faithful  to  his 
old  policy.  In  1392  he  was  fined  four  hun- 
dred marks  for  marrying  Philippa,  daughter 
of  the  Earl  of  March  and  widow  of  John 
Hastings,  earl  of  Pembroke  (Rot.  Pat.  15 
Rich.  II,  in  DALLAWAY'S  Western  Sussex, 
II.  i.  134,  new  edit.)  A  personal  quarrel  of 
Arundel  with  John  of  Gaunt  marks  the  be- 
ginning of  the  catastrophe  of  Richard  IFs 
reign.  The  new  Countess  of  Arundel  was 
rude  to  Catharine  Swynford  (FnoissART,  iv. 
50).  Henry  Beaufort  [see  BEAIJFOET,  HENRY, 
bishop  of  "Winchester],  if  report  were  true, 
seduced  Alice,  Arundel's  daughter  (PowEL, 
Hist,  of  Cambria,  p.  138,  from  a  pedigree 
of  the  Stradlings,  whose  then  representative 
married  the  daughter  born  of  the  connection; 
cf.  CLARK,  LimbusPatrumMorffanice  et  Glan- 
morganice,  p.  435).  In  1393,  when  Arundel 
was  residing  at  his  castle  of  Holt,  a  revolt 
against  John  of  Gaunt  broke  out  in  Cheshire, 
and  Arundel  showed  such  inactivity  in  assist- 
ing in  the  restoration  of  peace  that  the  duke 
publicly  accused  him  in  parliament  of  conniv- 
ing at  the  rising  (WALS.  ii.  214 ;  Ann.  Ric.  II, 
ed.  Riley,  p.  161).  Arundel  answered  by  a 
long  series  of  complaints  against  Lancaster 
(Rot.  Parl.  iii.  313).  Some  of  these  so  nearly 
touched  the  king  as  to  make  him  very  angry, 
and  Arundel  was  compelled  to  apologise  for 


what  he  had  said.  The  actual  English  words 
that  he  uttered  in  his  recantation  are  pre- 
served in  the  Rolls  of  Parliament.  A  short 
retirement  from  court  now  seems  to  have 
ensued  (Ann.  Ric.  II,  p.  166),  but  Arundel 
soon  returned,  only  to  give  Richard  fresh 
offence  by  coming  late  to  the  queen's  funeral 
and  yet  asking  leave  to  retire  at  once  from 
the  ceremony  (ib.  p.  169;  WALS.  ii.  215). 
The  king  struck  Arundel  with  a  cane  with 
such  force  as  to  shed  blood  and  therefore  to 
pollute  the  precincts  of  Westminster  Abbey. 
On  3  Aug.  Arundel  was  sent  to  the  Tower 
(I'cedera,  vii.  784),  but  was  released  on 
10  Aug.  (ib.  vii.  785),  when  he  re-entered  the 
council.  The  appointment  of  his  brother 
Thomas  as  archbishop  of  Canterbury  may 
mark  the  final  reconciliation. 

After  the  stormy  parliament  of  February 
1397,  Arundeland  Gloucester  withdrew  from 
court,  after  reproaching  the  king  with  the 
loss  of  Brest  and  Cherbourg.  It  was  pro- 
bably after  this,  if  ever,  that  Arundel  enter- 
tained Gloucester,  Warwick,  and  his  brother 
the  archbishop  at  Arundel  Castle,  when  they 
entered  into  a  solemn  conspiracy  against 
Richard  (Chronique  de  la  Traison,  pp.  5-6, 
though  the  date  there  given,  23  July  1396, 
must  be  wrong,  and  28  July  1397,  the  edi- 
tor's conjecture,  is  too  late,  one  manuscript 
says  8  Feb. ;  Chronique  du  Reliyieux  de  Saint- 
Denys,  ii.  476-8,  in  Collection  de  Documents 
Inedits,  cf.  FROISSART,  iv.  56.  The  statement 
is  in  no  English  authority,  and  has  been  much 
questioned,  cf.  WALLON,  ii.  161,  452).  Not- 
tingham, who,  though  Arundel's  son-in-law 
and  one  of  the  appellants,  had  now  deserted 
his  old  party,  informed  Richard  of  the  plot. 
The  king  invited  the  three  chief  conspirators 
to  a  banquet  on  10  July  (Ann.  Ric.  II,  p.  201). 
From  this  Arundel  absented  himself  without 
so  much  as  an  excuse,  but  the  arrest  of  War- 
wick, who  ventured  to  attend,  was  his  justi- 
fication. He  was,  however,  in  a  hopeless 
position.  His  brother  pressed  him  to  sur- 
render, and  persuaded  him  that  the  king  had 
given  satisfactory  promises  of  his  safety  (ib. 
202-3  ;  WALS.  ii.  223).  He  left  accordingly 
his  stronghold  at  Reigate,  and  accompanied 
the  archbishop  to  the  palace.  Richard  at 
once  handed  him  over  into  custody,  while 
Thomas  returned  sorrowfully  to  Lambeth 
(Eulog.  Hist.  iii.  371).  This  was  on  15  July. 
Arundel  was  hurried  off  to  Carisbrooke  and 
thence  after  an  interval  removed  to  the 
Tower.  On  17  Sept.  a  royalist  parliament 
assembled.  The  pardons  of  the  appellants 
were  revoked  (Rot.  Parl.  iii.  350,  351).  On 
20  Sept.  Archbishop  Arundel  was  impeached. 
Next  day  the  new  appellants  laid  their 
charges  against  the  Earl  of  Arundel  before  the 


Fitzalan 


IOO 


Fitzalan 


lords.  He  was  brought  before  them,  arrayed 
in  scarlet.  With  much  passion  he  protested 
that  he  was  no  traitor,  and  that  the  charges 
against  him  were  barred  by  the  pardons  he  had 
received.  A  long  and  angry  altercation  broke 
out  between  him  and  John  of  Gaunt  and 
Henry  of  Derby,  his  old  associate.  He  refused 
to  answer  the  charges,  denounced  his  accusers 
as  liars,  and  when  the  speaker  declared  that 
the  pardon  on  which  he  relied  had  been  re- 
voked by  the  faithful  commons,  exclaimed, 
'  The  faithful  commons  are  not  here '  (Monk 
of  Evesham,  pp.  136-8 ;  Rot.  Parl.  iii.  377 ; 
Ann.  Ric.  pp.  214-19).  He  was,  of  course, 
condemned,  though  Richard  commuted  the 
barbarous  penalty  of  treason  into  simple  de- 
capitation. The  execution  immediately  fol- 
lowed. He  was  hurried  through  the  streets 
of  London  to  Tower  Hill,  amidst  the  lamen- 
tations of  a  sympathising  multitude.  Bru- 
tally illtreated  by  the  bands  of  Cheshiremen 
who  had  been  collected  to  overawe  the  Lon- 
doners, he  displayed  extraordinary  firmness 
and  resolution,  '  no  more  shrinking  or  chang- 
ing colour  than  if  he  were  going  to  a  ban- 
quet' (WALS.  ii.  225-6;  cf.  Religieux  de 
Saint-Deny  s,  ii.  552).  He  rebuked  with  much 
dignity  his  treacherous  kinsfolk  (Nottingham 
was  not  present,  though  Walsingham  and 
Froissart,  iv.  61,  say  that  he  was),  and  ex- 
horted the  hangman  to  sharpen  well  his  axe. 
Slain  by  a  single  stroke,  he  was  buried  in  the 
church  of  the  Augustinian  friars.  The  people 
reverenced  him  as  a  martyr,  and  went  on  pil- 
grimage to  his  tomb.  At  last  Richard,  con- 
science-stricken though  he  was  at  his  death, 
avoided  a  great  political  danger  by  ordering  all 
traces  of  the  place  of  his  burial  to  be  removed. 
But  after  the  fall  of  Richard  the  pilgrimages 
were  renewed,  and  the  next  generation  did 
not  doubt  that  his  merits  had  won  for  him 
a  place  in  the  company  of  the  saints  (ADAM 
OP  USE:,  p.  14,  ed.  Thompson).  Arundel  was 
very  religious  and  a  bountiful  patron  of  the 
church.  So  early  as  1380  he  was  admitted  into 
the  brotherhood  of  the  abbey  of  Tichfield. 
In  the  same  year  he  founded  the  hospital  of 
the  Holy  Trinity  at  Arundel  for  a  warden 
and  twenty  poor  men  (DUGDALE,  Monasticon, 
ed.  Caley,  &c.  vi.  736-7).  Between  1380 
and  1387  he  enlarged  the  chantry  projected 
by  his  father  into  the  college  of  the  Holy 
Trinity,  also  at  Arundel.  This  establishment 
now  included  a  master  and  twelve  secu- 
lar canons,  and  superseded  the  confiscated 
alien  priory  of  St.  Nicholas  (ib.  vi.  1377- 
1379;  TIERNEY,  Arundel,  pp.  594-613).  In 
his  will  he  left  liberal  legacies  to  several 
churches. 

By  his  first  wife,  Elizabeth   (d.  1385), 
daughter  of  William  de  Bohun,  earl  of  North- 


ampton, Arundel  had  three  sons  and  four 
daughters.  The  second  son,  Thomas  [see 
FITZALAN,  THOMAS],  ultimately  became  earl 
of  Arundel.  Of  his  daughter  Elizabeth's 
four  husbands,  the  second  was  Thomas  Mow- 
bray,  earl  of  Nottingham  [q.  v.]  Another 
daughter,  Joan,  married  William,  lord  Ber- 
gavenny.  A  third,  Alice,  married  John,  lord 
Charlton  of  Powys.  By  Philippa  Mortimer 
Arundel  had  no  children. 

[Walsingham's  Chronicle  of  Bichard  II,  ed. 
Riley ;  Eulogium  Historiarum ;  Wright's  Poli- 
tical Poems  and  Songs ;  Chronicon  Anglise,  1328- 
1388  (all  in  Kolls  Series)  ;  Chronique  de  la  Trai- 
son  etMort  de  Richard  (Engl.Hist.  Soc.) ;  French 
Metrical  History  of  the  Deposition  of  Richard  II, 
in  Archseologia,  vol.  xx. ;  Monk  of  Evesham's 
Hist.  Rich.  II,  ed.  Hearne,  1729;  Knighton  in. 
Twysden,  Decem  Scriptores;  Chronique  du  Re- 
ligieux de  Saint-Denys,  vol.  i.  (Documents  In- 
edits  sur  1'Histoire  de  France) ;  Froissart,  vols. 
iii.  and  iv.  ed.  Buchon,  is  often  wrong  in  details ; 
Rolls  of  Parliament,  vols.  ii.  and  iii. ;  Rymer's 
Foedera,  vol.  vii. ;  Dugdale's  Baronage,  i.  318- 
320;  Doyle's  Official  Baronage,  i.  73-4;  Sir 
N.  H.  Nicolas 's  History  of  the  Royal  Navy,  vol. 
ii. ;  Wallon's  Richard  II,  with  good  notes  on 
the  authorities,  is,  with  Stubbs's  Constitutional 
History  of  England,  vol.  ii.,  the  fullest  modern' 
account;  Dallaway's Western  Sussex, n. i.  130-7, 
new  edit. ;  Tierney's  History  of  Arundel,  pp.  240- 
276 ;  Nichols's  Collection  of  Royal  Wills,  pp.  120- 
143,  contains  in  full  Arundel's  long  and  curious 
testament,  written  in  French  and  dated  1392; 
it  is  taken  from  the  Register  of  Archbishop 
Arundel.]  T.  F.  T. 

FITZALAN,  alias  ARUNDEL,  THO- 
MAS (1353-1414),  archbishop  of  Canterbury. 
[See  ARUNDEL.] 

FITZALAN,  THOMAS,  EAKL  OP 
ARUNDEL  AND  SURREY  (1381-1415),  the 
second  and  only  surviving  son  of  Richard  III 
Fitzalan,  earl  of  Arundel  [q.  v.],  and  his  first 
wife,  Elizabeth  Bohun,  was  born  on  13  Oct. 
1381.  He  was  only  sixteen  when  his  father 
was  executed.  Deprived  by  his  father's  sen- 
tence of  the  succession  to  the  family  titles- 
and  estates,  he  was  handed  over  by  King 
Richard  II  to  the  custody  of  his  half-brother, 
John  Holland,  duke  of  Exeter,  who  also  re- 
ceived a  large  portion  of  the  Arundel  estates. 
In  after  years  Fitzalan  retained  a  bitter  re- 
membrance of  the  indignities  he  and  his  sister 
had  experienced  at  Exeter's  hands ;  how  he 
drudged  for  him  like  a  slave,  and  how  many 
a  time  he  had  taken  off  and  blacked  his  boots 
for  him  (Chronique  de  la  Traison,  p.  97).  He 
was  no  better  off  when  confined  in  his  father's 
old  castle  of  Reigate,  under  the  custody  of 
Sir  John  Shelley,  the  steward  of  the  Duke- 
of  Exeter,  who  also  compelled  him  to  sub- 


Fitzalan 


101 


Fitzalan 


mit   to   great  humiliations  {Ann.   Ric.  II, 
ed.  Riley,  p.  241 ;    LELAND,  Collectanea,  i. 
483).     At  last  Fitzalan  managed  to  effect  his 
escape,  and  with  the  assistance  of  a  mercer 
named  William  Scot  arrived  safely  on  the 
•continent,  either  at  Calais  or  at  Sluys.     He 
•joined  his   uncle,  the   deposed  Archbishop 
Arundel,  at  Utrecht,  but  was  so  poor  that  he 
would  have  starved  but  for  the  assistance  of 
iris  powerful  kinsfolk  abroad.     The  conjec- 
ture, based  on  a  slight  correction  of  Froissart's 
story  of  Archbishop  Arundel's  commission 
from  the  Londoners  to  Henry  of  Derby,  that 
Fitzalan  bore  a  special   message  from,  the 
London  citizens  to  Henry,  that  he  should 
overthrow  Richard  and  obtain  the  English 
•crown,  seems  neither  necessary  nor  probable. 
Froissart's  whole  account  of  the  movements 
of  the  exiled   Henry  is  too  inaccurate  to 
make  it  necessary  to  explain  away  his  gross 
blunders.     However,   Archbishop   Arundel 
left  his  German  exile  and  joined  Henry  at 
Paris,  and  his  nephew  doubtless  accompanied 
him,  both  on  this  journey  and  on  the  further 
travels  of  Henry  and  the  archbishop  to  Bou- 
logne.    Fitzalan  embarked  with  Henry  on 
his  voyage  to  England,  and  landed  with  him 
at  Ravenspur  early  in  July  1399.     There  is 
no  foundation  for  the  story  of  the  French  anti- 
Lancastrian  writers  that  when  Richard  II  fell 
into  Henry's  hands  the  latter  entrusted  Fitz- 
alan and  the  son  of  Thomas  of  Woodstock 
{who  was  already  dead)  with  the  custody 
of  the  captive  prince,  with  an  injunction  to 
guard  closely  the  king  who  had  put  both 
their  fathers   to   death   unjustly,  and  that 
they  conveyed  Richard  to  London  '  as  strictly 
.guarded  as  a  thief  or  a  murderer '  (Chronique 
de  la  Traison,  p.  210;  Religieux  de  Saint- 
Denys,  ii.  717 ;  cf.  Archaologia,  xx.  173).    On 
11  Oct.  Fitzalan  was  one  of  those  knighted 
by  Henry  in  the  great  hall  of  the  Tower  of 
London  on  the  occasion  when  the  order  of  the 
Bath  is  generally  considered  to  have  been 
instituted.     Next  day  he  marched,  with  the 
other  newly-made  knights,  in  Henry's  train 
to  Westminster,  all  dressed  alike  and  '  look- 
ing like  priests.'     At  Henry's  coronation,  on 
Monday   13   Oct.,   he    officiated    as   butler 
(ADAM  OP  USE,  p.  33,  ed.  Thompson).    The 
new  king   even   anticipated  the  commons' 
petition  in  his  favour  by  restoring  him  to  his 
father's   titles   and   estates  (Rot.   Parl.  iii. 
435-6 ;  Cal.  Rot.  Pat.  p.  238  b  ;  Cont.  Eulog. 
Hist.  iii.  385).     Though  still  under  age  he 
«,t  once  took  his  seat  as  Earl  of  Arundel,  and 
on  23  Oct.  was  one  of  the  magnates  who  ad- 
vised the  king  to  put  Richard  II  under '  safe 
.and  secret   guard'  (Rot.  Parl.  iii.  426-7). 
Early  in  1400  Arundel  took  the  field  against 
the  Hollands  and  the  other  insurgent  nobles. 


On  the  capture  of  John  Holland,  now  again 
only  Earl  of  Huntingdon,  by  the  followers  of 
:he  Countess  of  Hereford,  in  Essex,  Arundel, 
if  we  can  believe  the  French  authorities, 
hastened  to  join  his  aunt  in  wreaking  an  un- 
worthy revenge  on  his  former  captor  (Chro- 
nique de  la  Traison,  p.  97  sq.)  After  taunt- 
ing Huntingdon  with  his  former  ill-treatment 
of  him,  Arundel  procured  his  immediate 
execution,  despite  the  sympathies  of  the  by- 
standers and  the  royal  order  that  he  should 
be  committed  to  the  Tower  (Fcedera,  viii. 
121).  He  then  marched  through  London 
streets  in  triumph  with  Huntingdon's  head 
on  a  pole,  and  ultimately  bore  it  to  the  king 
(Religieux  de  Saint-Deny s,  ii.  742). 

Arundel's  great  possessions  in  North  Wales 
were  now  endangered  by  the  revolt  of  Owain 
of  Glyndyfrdwy  [see  GLENDOWER,  OWEN], 
who  had  begun  life  as  an  esquire  of  Earl 
Richard.  Earl  Thomas  was  much  employed 
against  the  Welsh  chieftain  during  the  next 
few  years.  In  1401  he  fought  with  Hotspur 
against  the  rebels  near  Cader  Idris.  In  August 
1402  he  commanded  that  division  of  the  three- 
fold expedition  against  the  Welsh  which  as- 
sembled at  Hereford.  Within  a  month  all 
three  armies  were  compelled  by  unseasonable 
storms  to  retreat  to  England.  In  1403  he  was 
again  ordered  to  assemble  an  army  at  Shrews- 
bury. After  attending,  in  October  1404,  the 
parliament  at  Coventry,  where  he  was  one  of 
the  triers  of  petitions  for  Gascony,  he  entered 
into  an  agreement  with  the  king,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  ordinance  of  that  parliament,  to 
remain  for  eight  weeks  with  a  small  force  at 
his  castle  of  Oswestry ;  but  in  February  1405 
he  confessed  that  he  was  able  to  do  nothing 
against  the  insurgents  (Rot.  Parl.  iii.  545-7 ; 
NICOLAS,  Proceedings  of  Privy  Council,  i. 
246-7). 

In  the  early  summer  of  1405  the  revolt  of 
Archbishop  Scrope  and  the  earl  marshal 
brought  Arundel  to  the  north.  After  the 
capture  of  the  two  leaders  Arundel  joined 
Thomas  Beaufort  in  persuading  Henry  to 
disregard  his  uncle,  Archbishop  Arundel's, 
advice  to  respect  the  person  of  the  captive 
archbishop.  On  8  June,  while  Archbishop 
Arundel  was  delayed  at  breakfast  with  King 
Henry,  his  nephew  was  placed  at  the  head 
of  a  commission  which  hastily  condemned 
both  Scrope  and  Mowbray,  and  ordered  their 
immediate  execution  (Ann.  Hen.  IV,  p.  409 ; 
RAYNALDI,  Ann.  Eccl.  viii.  143 ;  but  cf. 
Maidstone,  in  RAINE,  Historians  of  the  Church 
of  York,  ii.  306  sq.,  Rolls  Ser.,  for  a  different 
account).  This  violence  seems  to  have  caused 
a  breach  between  Arundel  and  his  uncle. 
Henceforth  the  earl  inclined  to  the  policy  of 
the  Beauforts  and  the  Prince  of  Wales  against 


Fitzalan 


102 


Fitzalan 


the  policy  of  the  archbishop.  Arundel  next 
accompanied  Henry  in  August  into  Wales, 
where  he  is  said  to  have  successfully  defended 
Haverfordwest  against  Owain  and  his  French 
allies  under  Montmorency  (HALL,  p.  25,  ed. 
1809).  But  in  the  autumn  he  was  engaged 
in  negotiating  a  marriage  with  Beatrix,  bas- 
tard daughter  of  John  I,  king  of  Portugal, 
by  Agnes  Perez,  and  sister  therefore  of  the 
Duke  of  Braganza.  John's^wife  was  a  half- 
sister  of  Henry  IV,  and  English  assistance 
had  enabled  him  to  secure  his  country's  free- 
dom against  Castile.  The  projected  marriage 
was  but  part  of  the  close  alliance  between 
the  two  countries,  and  Henry  IV  actively  in- 
terested himself  in  its  success.  A  s  Arundel's 
means  were  much  straitened  by  the  devasta- 
tion of  his  Welsh  estates,  the  king  advanced 
the  large  sums  necessary  to  bring  the  bride 
'  with  magnificence  and  glory '  to  England. 
On  26  Nov.  the  marriage  was  celebrated  at 
London  in  the  presence  of  the  king  and 
queen  (Ann.  Hen.  IV,  p.  417;  WALSING- 
HAM,  ii.  272 ;  Collectanea  Topog.  et  Geneal. 
i.  80-90). 

In  1406  Arundel  was  present  at  the  famous 
parliament  of  that  year,  and  supported  the 
act  of  succession  then  passed  (Rot.  Parl.  iii. 
576,  582).  In  May  1409  he  was  again  or- 
dered to  remain  on  his  North  Welsh  estates 
to  encounter  Owen  (Fcedera,  viii.  588),  and 
in  November  was  ordered  to  continue  the 
war,  notwithstanding  the  truce  made  by  his 
officers,  which  the  Welsh  persisted  in  not 
observing  (ib.  viii.  611). 

In  1410  Arundel's  ally,  Thomas  Beaufort, 
became  chancellor,  and  the  frequency  of  the 
appearance  of  his  name  in  the  proceedings  of 
the  council  shows  that  he  took,  in  conse- 
quence, a  more  active  part  in  affairs  of  state. 
The  old  differences  with  his  uncle,  now  driven 
from  power,  continued,  and  in  one  letter 
Arundel  complained  to  the  archbishop  that 
he  had  been  misrepresented  (Proceedings  of 
Privy  Council,  ii.  117-18).  The  triumph  of 
the  Beauforts  involved  England  in  a  Bur- 
gundian  foreign  policy,  and  when  in  1411  an 
English  expedition  was  sent  to  help  Philip 
of  Burgundy  against  the  Armagnacs,  Arun- 
del, the  Earl  of  Kyme,  and  Sir  J.  Oldcastle 
were  appointed  its  commanders.  He  was 
one  of  the  commissioners  appointed  to 
negotiate  the  marriage  of  the  Prince  of 
Wales  with  a  sister  of  the  Duke  of  Bur- 
gundy (ib.  ii.  20).  He  was  well  received  by 
Burgundy,  whom  he  accompanied  on  his 
march  to  Paris,  arriving  there  on  23  Oct. 
On  9  Nov.  he  fought  a  sharp  and  successful 
engagement  with  the  Orleanists,  which  re- 
sulted in  the  capture  of  St.  Cloud  (WALSING- 
HAM,  ii.  286 ;  JEAN  LE  FKVRE,  Chroniquc,  i. 


36-43 ;  PIERRE  DE  FENIN,  Memoires,  pp.  22- 
23,  both  in  Soc.  de  1'Histoire  de  France  ;  cf. 
MARTIN,  Histoire  de  France,  v.  521).  The 
result  was  the  retirement  of  the  Armagnacs. 
beyond  the  Loire.  The  English,  having  been 
bought  out  of  their  scruples  against  selling: 
their  prisoners  to  be  tortured  to  death  by 
their  allies,  returned  home  with  large  rewards- 
soon  afterwards.  The  fall  of  the  Beauforts 
and  the  return  of  Archbishop  Arundel  to> 
power  kept  Earl  Thomas  in  retirement  until 
Henry  IV's  death.  Before  this  date  he  had 
become  a  knight  of  the  Garter  (ASHMOLE^ 
Order  of  the  Garter,  p.  710). 

The  day  after  his  accession  Henry  V  turned 
Archbishop  Arundel  out  of  the  chancery  and 
made  the  Earl  of  Arundel  treasurer  in  place 
of  Lord  le  Scrope.  Arundel  was  also  ap- 
pointed on  the  same  day  constable  of  Dover 
Castle  and  warden  of  the  Cinque  ports.  In 
1415  the  commons  petitioned  against  his 
aggressions  and  violence  in  Sussex  (Rot. 
Parl.  iv.  78),  and  an  Italian  merchant  com- 
plained of  his  unjust  imprisonment  and  the 
seizure  of  his  effects  by  him  (ib.  iv.  90).  He 
was  also  engaged  in  a  quarrel  with  Lord 
Furnival  about  some  rights  of  common  in 
Shropshire,  which  ultimately  necessitated  the 
king's  intervention  (Gesta  Hen.  V,  pref.  p. 
xxviii,  Engl.  Hist.  Soc.)  From  such  petty 
difficulties  he  was  removed  by  his  summons- 
to  accompany  Henry  on  his  great  invasion, 
of  France.  He  took  a  leading  part  in  the 
siege  of  Harfleur,  but  was  one  of  the  many 
who  were  compelled  to  return  home  sick  of 
the  dysentery  and  fever  that  devastated  the 
victorious  army.  On  10  Oct.  he  made  his- 
will ;  on  13  Oct.  he  died.  He  was  buried  in  a 
magnificent  tomb  in  the  midst  of  the  choir 
of  the  collegiate  chapel  that  his  father  had 
founded  at  Arundel.  There  is  a  vignette  of 
the  tomb  in  Tierney,  p.  622. 

Earl  Thomas  was  in  character  hot,  impul- 
sive, and  brave.  He  was  a  good  soldier,  and 
faithful  to  his  friends ;  but  he  showed  a  vin- 
dictive thirst  for  revenge  on  the  enemies  of 
his  house,  and  a  recklessness  which  subordi- 
nated personal  to  political  aims.  He  left  no 
children,  so  that  the  bulk  of  his  estates  was 
divided  among  his  three  surviving  sisters, 
while  the  castle  and  lordship  of  Arundel 
passed  to  his  second  cousin,  John  V  Fitzalan 
(1387-1421),  grandson  of  Sir  John  Arundel, 
marshal  of  England,  and  of  his  wife,  Eleanor 
Maltravers  [see  JOHN  VI  FITZALAN,  EARL  OF 
ARUNDEL].  The  earldom  of  Surrey  fell  into 
abeyance  on  Thomas's  death. 

[Annales  Ric.  II  et  Hen.  IV,  ed.  Riley  (Rolls 
Ser.) ;  Eulogium  Historiarum  (Rolls  Ser.) ;  Wals- 
inghatn's  Hist.  Angl.  and  Ypodigma  Neustriaa 
(Rolls Ser.);  Otterbourne's Chronicle,  ed.Hearne; 


Fitzalan 


103 


Fitzaldhelm 


Monk  of  Evesham,  Hist.  Ric.  II,  ed.  Hearne ; 
Chronique  de  la  Traison  et  Mort  de  Richart  II 
(Engl.  Hist.  Soc.) ;  French  Metrical  History  of 
the  Deposition  of  Richard  II  in  Archgeologia, 
vol.  xx. ;  Henrici  V  Gesta  (Engl.  Hist.  Soc.) ; 
Froissart's  Chronique,  ed.  Buchon  ;  Chroniques 
du  Religieux  de  Saint-Denys  (Documents  Inedits 
sur  1'Histoire  de  France) ;  Waurin's  Chroniques 
(Rolls  Ser.);  Hall's  Chronicle,  ed.  1809;  Nico- 
las's  Proceedings  and  Ordinances  of  the  Privy 
Council,  vols.  i.  ii. ;  Rymer's  Fcedera,  vols.  viii. 
ix.,  original  edition ;  Rolls  of  Parliament,  vols. 
iii.  iv. ;  Calendarium  Rotulorum  Patentium,  Re- 
cord Commission  ;  Stubbs's  Constitutional  His- 
tory of  England,  iii. ;  Doyle's  Official  Baronage, 
i.  74 ;  Wylie's  History  of  Henry  IV,  1399-1404 ; 
Biography  in  Tierney's  History  of  Arundel,  pp. 
277-87.]  T.  F.  T. 

FITZALAN,  WILLIAM  (d.  1160),rebel, 
was  the  son  and  heir  of  Alan  Fitzflaald,  by 
Aveline  or  Adeline,  sister  of  Ernulf  de  Hes- 
ding  (EYTON,  Shropshire,  vii.  222-3).  His 
younger  brother,  Walter  Fitzalan  (d.  1177), 
was  'the  undoubted  ancestor  of  the  royal 
house  of  Stuart '  (ib.)  His  father  had  received 
from  Henry  I,  about  the  beginning  of  his 
reign,  extensive  fiefs  in  Shropshire  and  Nor- 
folk. William  was  born  about  1105  and  suc- 
ceeded his  father  about  1114  (ib.  pp.  222, 
232).  His  first  appearance  is  as  a  witness 
to  Stephen's  charter  to  Shrewsbury  Abbey 
(Monasticon,  iii.  519)  in  1136.  He  is  found 
acting  as  castellan  of  Shrewsbury  and  sheriff 
of  Shropshire  in  1138,  when  he  joined  in  the 
revolt  against  Stephen,  being  married  to  a 
niece  of  the  Earl  of  Gloucester  (ORD.  VIT. 
v.  112-13).  After  resisting  the  king's  attack 
for  a  month,  he  fled  with  his  family  (August 
1138),  leaving  the  castle  to  be  defended  by 
his  uncle  Ernulf,  who,  on  his  surrender,  was 
hanged  by  the  king  (ib. ;  Cont.  FLOR.  WIG. 
ii.  110).  He  is  next  found  with  the  empress 
at  Oxford  in  the  summer  of  1141  (EYTOIST, 
vii.  287),  and  shortly  after  at  the  siege  of 
Winchester  (Gesta,  p.  80).  He  again  ap- 
pears in  attendance  on  her  at  Devizes,  wit- 
nessing the  charter  addressed  to  himself  by 
which  she  grants  Aston  to  Shrewsbury  Abbey 
(EYTON,  ix.  58).  It  was  probably  between 
1130  and  1138  that  he  founded  Haughmond 
Abbey  (ib.  286-7).  In  June  1153  he  is  found 
with  Henry,  then  duke  of  Normandy,  at  Lei- 
cester (ib.  p.  288).  With  the  accession  of 
Henry  as  king  he  regained  his  paternal  fief 
on  the  fall  of  Hugh  de  Mortimer  in  July  1155. 
He  is  found  at  Bridgnorth  with  the  king  at 
that  time,  and  on  25  July  received  from  his 
feudal  tenants  a  renewal  of  their  homage  (ib. 
i.  250-1,  vii.  236-7,  288).  His  first  wife, 
Christiana,  being  now  dead,  he  received  from 
Henry  the  hand  of  Isabel  de  Say,  heiress  of 
the  barony  of  Clun  (ib.  vii.  237),  together 


with  the  shrievalty  of  Shropshire,  which  he  re- 
tamed  till  his  death  (Pipe  Rolls,  2-6  Hen.  II) 
which  took  place  in  1160,  about  Easter  (ib. 
6  Hen.  II,  p.  27).  Among  his  benefactions 
he  granted  Wroxeter  Church  to  Haughmond 
in  1155  (EYTON,  vii.  311-12),  and,  though 
not  the  founder  of  Wombridge  Priory,  sanc- 
tioned its  foundation  (ib.  p.  363).  He  was 
succeeded  by  William  Fitzalan  the  second, 
his  son  and  heir  by  his  second  wife.  By  his 
first  he  left  a  daughter,  Christiana,  wife  of 
Hugh  Pantulf. 

[Ordericus  Vitalis  (Societe  de  1'Histoire  de 
France) ;  Gesta  Stephani  (Rolls  Ser.) ;  Florence 
of  Worcester  (Engl.  Hist  Soc.);  Monasticon  An- 
glicanum,  new  ed. ;  Pipe  Rolls  (Record  Com- 
mission and  Pipe  Roll  Soc.) ;  Ey ton's  Hist,  of 
Shropshire.]  J.  H.  R. 

FITZALDHELM,  WILLIAM  (fi.  1157- 
1198),  steward  of  Henry  II  and  governor  of 
Ireland,  is  described  as  the  son  of  Aldhelm, 
the  son  of  William  of  Mortain  (DTJGDALE, 
Baronage,  i.  693;  'if  our  best  genealogists  are 
not  mistaken,'  as  he  cautiously  adds),  whose 
father,  Robert  of  Mortain,  earl  of  Cornwall, 
was  half-brother  of  the  conqueror,  but  after 
Tenchebrai  was  deprived  of  his  earldom,  im- 
prisoned for  over  thirty  years,  and  only  ex- 
changed his  dungeon  for  the  habit  of  aCluniac 
monk  at  Bermondsey .  A  brother  of  Aldhelm 
is  said  to  have  been  the  father  of  Hubert  de 
Burgh  [q.  v.]  But  there  seems  no  early 
authority  for  this  rather  improbable  genea- 
logy, and  the  absence  of  contemporary  refer- 
ences to  his  family  makes  it  probable  that  his 
descent  was  obscure.  Fitzaldhelm  first  appears 
as  king's  steward  (dapifer)  as  witnessing  two 
charters  of  Henry  II  to  the  merchants  of 
Cologne  and  their  London  house,  which  appa- 
rently belong  to  July  1157  (LAPPENBERG,  Ur- 
kundliche  Geschichte  des  hansischen  Stahlhofes 
zu  London,  Urkunden,  pp.  4-5,  '  aus  dem 
Coiner  Copialbuche  von  1326 ').  He  appears 
as  an  officer  of  the  crown  in  the  Pipe  Roll  of 
1159-60, 1160-1,  and  1161-2  (Pipe  Roll  So- 
ciety's publications,  passim).  In  1163  he 
attested  a  charter  which  fixed  the  services  of 
certain  vassals  of  the  Count  of  Flanders  to 
Henry  II  (Fcedera,  i.  23).  He  again  appears 
in  the  Pipe  Rolls  of  1163, 1165,  and  1170,  and 
about  1165  is  described  as  one  of  the  king's 
marshals  and  acted  as  a  royal  justice  (HEARNE, 
Liber  Niger,  i.  73,74;  EYTON,  pp.  80,85, 139). 
In  October  1170  he  was  one  of  the  two  justices 
consulted  by  Becket's  agents  prior  to  their 
appearance  before  the  younger  king  at  West- 
minster (Memorials  of  Becket,  vii.  389).  In 
July  1171  he  was  with  Henry  in  Normandy 
and  witnessed  at  Bur-le-Roy  a  charter  in 
favour  of  Newstead  Priory  (DUGDALE,  Monas- 


Fitzaldhelm 


104 


Fitzaldhelm 


ticon,  vi.  966  ;  EYTON,  p.  159).  Almost  im- 
mediately afterwards  Henry  was  at  Valognes, 
whence  he  despatched  Fitzaldhelm  to  Ireland 
to  act  as  the  royal  representative  until  Henry 
obtained  leisure  to  settle  the  affairs  of  the 
island  in  person  (Fcedera,  i.  36,  dated  by  the 
Record  commissioners'  editors  in  1181,  but 
assigned  to  this  date  with  more  probability 
by  ETTON,  Itinerary,  p.  159 ;  GILBERT, 
Viceroys,  p.  41,  gives  the  date  1176-7).  In 
the  letter  of  appointment  he  is  described  as 
the  king's  steward.  It  cost  27s.  6d.  to  con- 
vey him  and  his  associates,  with  their  armour, 
to  Ireland  (Calendar  of  Documents,  Ireland, 
1171-1251,  No.  40).  On  18  Oct.  he,  with 
his  followers,  was  at  Waterford  to  meet  the 
king,  who  had  landed  close  by  on  the  pre- 
vious day  (BENEDICTUS  ABBAS,  i.  25;  RE- 
GAN'S statement  that  he  accompanied  Henry, 
p.  124,  is  of  less  authority).  He  remained 
in  Ireland  with  Henry,  witnessing  among 
other  acts  the  charter  which  gave  Dublin  to 
the  men  of  Bristol  (GILBERT,  Historical  and 
Municipal  Documents  of  Ireland,  p.  1).  He 
was  sent  by  Henry  with  Hugh  de  Lacy  on 
a  mission  to  Roderick  O'Conor,  king  of  Con- 
naught,  to  receive  his  homage  (GiRALDtrs 
CAMBRENSIS  in  Opera,  v.  279,  Rolls  Ser.) 
He  also  made  a  recognition  of  the  lands  given 
to  the  monks  of  St.  Mary's  Abbey,  Dublin, 
before  his  arrival  in  Ireland  (Chartulary  of 
St.  Mary's,  i.  138,  Rolls  Ser.)  Giraldus  also 
says  that  when  Henry  went  home  he  left 
Fitzaldhelm  behind  as  joint-governor  of  Wex- 
ford  (ib.  p.  286),  but  this  may  be  a  confusion 
with  a  later  appointment  (REGAN,  p.  39,  says 
that  Strongbow  was  governor  of  Wexford  in 
1174).  Fitzaldhelm  was  also  sent  in  1174 
or  1175  with  the  prior  of  Wallingford  to 

Produce  the  bull  of  Pope  Adrian,  granting 
reland  to  Henry,  and  a  confirmatory  bull 
of  Alexander  III  to  a  synod  of  bishops  at 
Waterford  (Exp.  Hib.  p.  315).  He  soon  left 
Ireland,  for  he  appears  as  a  witness  of  the 
treaty  of  Falaise  in  October  \V7  ^(Fcedera,  i. 
30 ;  BEKED.  ABBAS,  i.  99),  and  in  1175  and 
1176  he  was  constantly  in  attendance  at  court 
in  discharge  of  his  duties  as  steward  or  sene- 
schal (ETTON,  pp.  191,  194,  195,  198,  from 
Pipe  Rolls ;  LAPPENBERG,  Stahlhof,  p.  5). 

On  5  April  1176  Strongbow,  conqueror 
and  justiciar  of  Ireland,  died  (DiCETO,  i.  407), 
and  Henry  sent  Fitzaldhelm  to  Ireland  to 
take  his  place  (BENED.  ABBAS,  i.  125;  HOVE- 
DEN,  ii.  100)  and  to  seize  all  the  fortresses 
which  his  predecessor  had  held.  With  him 
were  associated  several  other  rulers,  very 
different  lists  of  which  are  given  by  Giraldus 
(Exp.  Hib.  p.  334)  and  'Benedict  of  Peter- 
borough '  (BENED.  ABBAS,  i.  161).  It  was 
at  this  time  that  Wexford  and  its  elaborately 


defined  dependencies  were  assigned  to  Fitz- 
aldhelm (ib.  i.  163).  It  is  remarkable  that 
he  is  never  called  'justice'  of  Ireland,  like 
most  viceroys  of  the  period,  but  generally 
1  dapifer  regis '  (e.g.  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  10th 
Rep.  pt.  v.  p.  211).  Giraldus  calls  him  'pro- 
curator' (Exp.  Hib.  p.  334).  Fitzaldhelm 
had  no  easy  task  before  him.  John  de  Courci 

&}.  v.],  one  of  his  colleagues,  almost  at  once 
efied  his  prohibition,  and,  under  the  pretext 
of  disgust  at  his  inactivity,  set  forth  on  his 
famous  expedition  to  Ulster  (BENED.  ABBAS, 
i.  137).  He  also  had  a  difference  with  Car- 
dinal Vivian,  the  papal  legate,  which  led  to 
Vivian's  withdrawal  to  Scotland  (WlLL. 
NEWBURGH,  i.  239,  Rolls  Ser.)  But  his  most 
formidable  opponents  were  the  ring  of  Welsh 
adventurers  who  resented  the  intrusion  of  a 
royal  emissary  to  reap  the  fruits  of  their  pri- 
vate exploits.  Their  literary  representative, 
Giraldus,  draws  the  blackest  picture  of  Fitz- 
aldhelm, which,  though  suspicious,  cannot  be 
checked  from  other  contemporary  sources. 
Fitzaldhelm  was  fat,  greedy,  profligate,  and 
gluttonous.  Plausible  and  insinuating,  he 
was  thoroughly  deceitful.  He  was  only  brave 
against  the  weak,  and  shirked  the  duties  of 
his  office.  His  inactivity  drove  De  Courci 
and  the  choicer  spirits  into  Ulster.  From 
the  day  on  which  Raymond,  the  acting  go- 
vernor, came  to  meet  him  at  Waterford  he 
envied  the  bravery,  the  devotion,  and  the 
success  of  the  Geraldines,  and  vowed  to 
humble  their  pride.  When  Maurice  Fitzgerald 
died  he  cheated  his  sons  of  their  stronghold 
of  Wicklow,  though  compelled  ultimately  to 
give  them  Ferns  as  an  inadequate  compensa- 
tion. He  refused  to  restore  Offaly  to  Fitz- 
stephen,  and  deprived  Raymond  of  his  lands 
in  the  valley  of  the  Liffey.  His  nephew, 
Walter  the  German,  was  suborned  by  Irish 
chieftains  to  procure  the  destruction  of  Ferns. 
He  went  on  progress  through  the  secure  coast 
towns,  but  feared  to  penetrate  into  the  moun- 
tainous haunts  of  the  natives.  He  had  little 
share  in  Miles  de  Cogan's  dashing  raid  into 
Connaught.  The  only  good  thing  that  he 
did  was  to  transfer  the  wonder-working  staff 
of  Jesus  from  Armagh  to  Dublin.  Giraldus 
forgets  that  Fitzaldhelm  was  also  the  founder 
of  the  monastery  of  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury 
at  Donore  in  the  western  suburbs  of  Dublin 
(charter  of  foundation  printed  in  LELAND, 
Hist,  of  Ireland,  i.  127 ;  cf.  Monasticon,  vi. 
1140).  It  was  also  during  his  tenure  of  office 
that  John  became  lord  of  Ireland.  At  last 
Henry  listened  to  the  complaints  which  a 
deputation  from  Ireland  laid  before  him  at 
Windsor  just  after  Christmas  1178  (BENED. 
ABBAS,  i.  221),  and  removed  Fitzaldhelm  and 
his  colleagues  from  office,  and  for  a  long  time 


Fitzaldhelm 


Fitzaldhelm 


withheld  all  marks  of  favour  from  him  (ib.  • 
Exp.  Hib.  ccxv-xx,  334-47,  for  the  whole 
history  of  Fitzaldhelm's  government,  but  it 
should  be  checked  by  the  less  rhetorical  and 
more  impartial  account  of  BENED.  ABBAS, 
with  which  it  is  often  in  direct  conflict). 
This  makes  it  probable  that  Fitzaldhelm 
was  not  quite  equal  to  the  difficulties  of  his 
position.  Substantially  his  fall  was  a  great 
triumph  for  the  Geraldines. 

Fitzaldhelm  now  resumed  his  duties  as 
1  dapifer '  at  the  English  court.  From  1181 
onwards  he  was  sufficiently  in  favour  for  his 
name  to  appear  again  in  the  records  (e.g. 
EYTON,  pp.  245,  267).  In  1188  he  became 
sheriff  of  Cumberland,  and  in  1189  acted 
also  as  justice  in  Yorkshire,  Northumberland, 
and  his  own  county  (ib.  pp.  298,  336).  He 
remained  sheriff  of  Cumberland  until  1198 
(Thirty-first  Report  of  Deputy-Keeper  of 
Records,  p.  276).  In  1189  he  witnessed  a 
charter  of  Christ  Church,  Canterbury  (GEK- 
VASE,  Op.  Hist.  i.  503).  In  1194  he  attested 
a  grant  of  lands  to  the  cook  of  Queen  Elea- 
nor (Foedera,  i.  63).  These  are  the  last  ap- 
pearances of  his  name  in  the  records.  He  is 
said  to  have  married  Juliana,  daughter  of  Ro- 
bert Doisnell  (HEAKNE,  ii'fer  Niger  Scaccarii, 
i.  73). 

Fitzaldhelm  has  been  generally  identified 
with  a  WILLIAM  DE  BUEGH  (d.  1204),  who 
occupies  a  very  prominent  position  in  the 
first  years  of  John's  reign  in  Ireland.  A 
William  de  Burgh  appears  with  his  wife 
Eleanor  in  the  <  Pipe  Roll '  of  1  Richard  I 
(p.  176),  but  he  is  undoubtedly  different  from 
Fitzaldhelm,  as  the  latter  appears  by  his  re- 
gular name  in  the  same  roll.  In  1199  Wil- 
liam de  Burgh  received  from  John  large 
grants  of  land  and  castles  in  Ireland  (Rot. 
Chart,  pp.  19  b,  71  b,  84  b,  107  b  ;  the  earliest 
grants  of  John  to  him  were  before  the  latter 
became  king,  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  3rd  Rep. 
p.  231).  Of  these  Limerick  was  the  most 
important.  In  1200  he  became  the  terror 
of  the  Irish  of  Connaught.  He  supported 
the  pretender,  Cathal  Carrach,in  his  attempts 
to  dispossess  Cathal  Crobhderg,  the  head  of 
the  O'Conors,  from  the  throne  of  Connaught. 
*  There  was  no  church  from  the  Shannon 
westwards  to  the  sea  that  they  did  not  pillage 
or  destroy,  and  they  used  to  strip  the  priests 
in  the  churches  and  carry  off  the  women 
without  regard  to  saint  or  sanctuary  or  to  any 
power  upon  earth'  (Annals  of  Loch  Ce,  i.  213). 
Cathal  Crobhderg  was  expelled  and  took  re- 
fuge with  John  de  Courci.  But  in  1202  he 
made  terms  with  William  de  Burgh,  and  a 
fresh  expedition  from  Munster  again  devas- 
tated Connaught  (the  Four  Masters,  iii.  129, 
put  this  expedition  in  1 201 ).  Cathal  Carrach 


was  slain,  but  the  treacherous  Cathal  Crobh- 
derg contrived  a  plot  to  assassinate  in  detail 
the  followers  of  De  Burgh.  Nine  hundred 
or  more  were  murdered,  but  the  remainder 
rallied  and  the  erection  of  the  strong  castle 
of  Meelick  secured  some  sort  of  conquest 
of  Connaught  for  the  invaders.  A  quarrel 
between  De  Burgh  and  the  king's  justice, 
Meiler  Fitzhenry  [q.  v.],  fora  time  favoured 
the  Irish.  In  1203,  while  De  Burgh  was  in 
Connaught,  Meiler  invaded  his  Munster  es- 
tates (Ann.  Loch  Ce,  i.  229-31).  This  brought 
William  back  to  Limerick,  but  Meiler  had 
already  seized  his  castles.  The  result  was 
an  appeal  to  King  John.  William  appeared 
before  John  in  Normandy  (Rot.  de  Libe- 
rate, 5  John,  p.  67,  summarised  in  Cal.  Doc. 
Ireland,  1171-1251,  No.  187),  leaving  his 
sons  as  hostages  in  the  justiciar's  hands.  In 
March  1204  a  commission,  at  the  head  of 
which  was  Walter  de  Lacy,  was  appointed 
to  hear  the  complaints  against  De  Burgh 
(Pat.  5  John,  m.  2 ;  Cal.  Doc.  Ireland,  No. 
209).  The  result  was  the  restoration  of  his 
Munster  estates,  though  Connaught, '  whereof 
he  was  disseised  by  reason  of  certain  ap- 
peals and  the  dissension  between  the  justi- 
ciary and  himself/  was  retained  in  the  king's 
hands  '  until  the  king  knows  how  he  shall 
have  discharged  himself  (Pat.  6  John,  m.  8 ; 
Cal.  Doc.  Ireland,  No.  230).  Connaught, 
however,  had  not  been  restored  when  soon 
after  William  de  Burgh  died, '  the  destroyer 
of  all  Erinn,  of  nobility  and  chieftainship ' 
(Ann.  Loch  Ce,  i.  235).  The  Irish  believed 
that  '  God  and  the  saints  took  vengeance  on 
him,  for  he  died  of  a  singular  disease  too 
shameful  to  be  described '  (Four  Masters,  iii. 
143).  He  was  the  uncle  of  Hubert  de  Burgh 
[q.  v.]  He  was  the  father  of  Richard  de 
Burgh  [q.  v.]  (Rot.  Glaus,  p.  551),  who  in 
1222-3  received  a  fresh  grant  of  Connaught 
and  became  the  founder  of  the  great  house 
of  the  De  Burghs.  He  founded  the  abbey 
of  Athassell  for  Austin  canons  (AKCHDALL, 
Monast.  Hiber.  p.  640),  and  is  said  to  have 
been  buried  there. 

[For  Fitzaldhelm :  G-iraldus  Cambrensis,  Ex- 
pugnatio  Hibernica,  in  Opera,  vol.  v.  ed.  Dimock 
(Bolls  Ser.);  Benedictus  Abbas,  ed.  Stubbs  (Eolls 
Ser.);  Eymer's  Foedera,  vol.  i.  (Kecord  ed.); 
Eyton's  Itinerary,  &c.  of  Henry  II ;  Pipe  Koll, 
1  Richard  I  (Record  ed.),  and  the  French  poem 
on  the  conquest  of  Ireland,  ed.  Michel.  For 
De  Burgh  :  Annals  of  Loch  Ce,  i.  211-35  (Eolls 
Ser.) ;  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters ;  Eotuli 
Chartarum,  Eotuli  Literarum  Patentium,  Eotuli 
de  Oblatis,  Eotuli  de  Liberate.  For  both :  Sweet- 
man's  Calendar  of  Documents  relating  to  Ireland, 
1171-1251;  Book  of  Howth;  Gilbert's  Viceroys 
of  Ireland;  Dugdale's  Baronage ;  Lodge's  Peerage 
of  Ireland  (Archdall).]  T.  F.  T. 


Fitzalwyn 


106 


Fitzclarence 


FITZALWYN,  HENRY.      [See  FITZ- 

AILWIN.] 

FITZCHARLES,  CHARLES,  EARL  OF 
PLYMOUTH  (1657  P-1680),  born  in  or  about 
1657,  was  the  illegitimate  son  of  Charles  II, 
by  Catherine,  daughter  of  Thomas  Pegge  of 
Yeldersley,  Derbyshire.  '  In  the  time  of  his 
youth/  writes  the  courtly  Dugdale,  '  giving 
much  testimony  of  his  singular  accomplish- 
ments,' he  was  elevated  to  the  peerage,  28  July 
1675,  as  Baron  of  Dartmouth,  Viscount  Tot- 
ness,  and  Earl  of  Plymouth,  '  to  the  end  he 
might  be  the  more  encouraged  to  persist  in 
the  paths  of  virtue,  and  thereby  be  the  better 
fitted  for  the  managery  of  great  affairs  when 
he  should  attain  to  riper  years'  (Baronage, 
iii.  487).  He  married  on  19  Sept.  1678  at 
Wimbledon,  Surrey,  Lady  Bridget  Osborne, 
third  daughter  of  Thomas,  first  duke  of  Leeds, 
but  died  without  issue  at  Tangier  on  17  Oct. 
1680,  aged  23,  and  was  buried  on  18  Jan. 
1680-1  in  Westminster  Abbey  (CHESTER,  Re- 
gisters of  Westminster  Abbey,  p.  201).  His 
wife  remarried,  about  August  1706,  Philip 
Bisse,  bishop  of  Hereford,  and  died  on  9  May 
1718  (Hist.  Reg.  1718,  Chron.  Diary,  p.  21 ; 
Political  State,  xv.  553).  According  to  Wood 
(Fasti  Oxon.  ed.  Bliss,  ii.  270)  he  was  com- 
monly called  '  Don  Carlos.' 

[Authorities  as  above.]  Gr.  G-. 

FITZCLARENCE,  LOUD  ADOLPHUS 
(1802-1856),  rear-admiral,  an  illegitimate 
son  of  William  IV,  by  Mrs.  Jordan,  entered 
the  navy  in  1814,  on  board  the  Impregnable, 
bearing  the  flag  of  his  father,  then  Duke  of 
Clarence.  Afterwards  he  served  in  the  Medi- 
terranean, on  the  North  American  station, 
or  the  coast  of  Portugal,  and  was  promoted 
to  be  lieutenant  in  April  1821.  In  May  1823 
he  was  made  commander,  and  captain  in 
December  1824.  In  1826  he  commanded  the 
Ariadne  in  the  Mediterranean,  in  1827  the 
Challenger,  in  1828  the  Pallas,  and  in  July 
1830  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the 
royal  yacht,  which  he  retained  till  promoted 
to  flag  rank,  17  Sept.  1853.  He  died  17  May 
1856.  On  his  father's  accession  to  the  throne 
he  was  granted,  24  May  1831,  the  title  and 
precedency  of  the  younger  son  of  a  mar- 

Siis,  and  24  Feb.  1832  was  nominated  a 
.C.H. 

[O'Byrne's  Naval  Biog. Diet.;  Foster's  Peerage, 
s.n.  '  Munster.']  J.  K.  L. 

FITZCLARENCE,  GEORGE  AUGUS- 
TUS FREDERICK,  first  EARL  OF  MUNSTER 
(1794-1842),  major-general,  president  of  the 
Royal  Asiatic  Society  of  London,  the  eldest 
of  the  numerous  children  of  the  Duke  of 


Clarence,  afterwards  William  IV,  by  Mrs. 
Jordan  (1762  P-1816)  [q.  v.],  was  born  in 
1794.  He  was  sent  to  a  private  school  at 
Sunbury,  and  afterwards  to  the  Royal  Mili- 
tary College  at  Marlow,  and  on  5  Feb.  1807, 
before  he  was  fourteen,  was  appointed  cornet 
in  the  10th  hussars.  He  went  with  his 
regiment  to  Spain  next  year,  and  was  aide- 
de-camp  to  General  Slade  at  Corunna.  He 
returned  to  the  Peninsula  the  year  after  as 
galloper  to  Sir  Charles  Stewart,  afterwards 
second  marquis  of  Londonderry,  then  Lord 
Wellington's  adjutant-general,  and  made  the 
campaigns  of  1 809-1 1 .  He  was  wounded  and 
taken  prisoner  at  Fuentes  d'Onoro,  but  effected 
his  escape  in  the  melee.  He  was  promoted 
to  a  troop  in  the  10th  hussars  at  home  soon 
after.  He  accompanied  his  regiment  to 
Spain  in  1813,  and  made  the  campaigns  of 
1813-14  in  Spain  and  the  south  of  France, 
first  as  a  deputy  assistant  adjutant-general 
(GURWOOD,  Wellington  Despatches,  vi.  452), 
and  afterwards  with  his  regiment,  while 
leading  a  squadron  of  which  he  was  severely 
wounded  at  Toulouse.  On  the  return  of  the 
regiment  to  England  he  was  one  of  the  chief 
witnesses  against  the  commanding  officer, 
Colonel  Quentin,  who  was  tried  by  a  general 
court-martial  at  Whitehall,  in  October  1814, 
on  charges  of  incapacity  and  misconduct  in 
the  field.  The  charges  were  partly  proved  ; 
but  as  the  officers  were  believed  to  have 
combined  against  their  colonel,  the  whole  of 
them  were  removed  to  other  regiments,  '  as 
a  warning  in  support  of  subordination,'  a 
proceeding  which  acquired  for  them  the 
name  of  the  'elegant  extracts.'  Fitzcla- 
rence and  his  younger  brother  Henry,  who 
died  in  India,  were  thus  transferred  to  the 
since  disbanded  24th  light  dragoons,  then 
in  India,  where  George  became  aide-de-camp 
to  the  Marquis  of  Hastings,  governor-gene- 
ral and  commander-in-chief,  in  which  ca- 
pacity he  made  the  campaigns  of  1816-17 
against  the  Mahrattas.  When  peace  was 
arranged  with  the  Maharajah  Scindiah  the 
event  was  considered  of  sufficient  importance 
to  send  the  despatches  in  duplicate,  and 
Fitzclarence  was  entrusted  with  the  dupli- 
cates sent  by  overland  route.  He  started 
from  the  western  frontier  of  Bundelkund, 
the  furthest  point  reached  by  the  grand 
army,  7  Dec.  1817,  and  travelling  through 
districts  infested  by  the  Pindarrees,  witnessed 
the  defeat  of  the  latter  by  General  Doveton 
at  Jubbulpore,  reached  Bombay,  and  quitted 
it  in  the  H.E.I.C.  cruiser  Mercury  for  Kosseir 
7  Feb.  1818,  crossed  the  desert,  explored  the 
pyramids  with  Salt  and  Belzoni,  descended 
the  Nile,  and  reached  London,  via  Alexandria 
and  Malta,  16  June  1818.  He  subsequently 


Fitzclarence 


107 


Fitzclarence 


published  an  account  of  his  travels,  entitlec 
'  Journal  of  a  Route  across  India  and  through 
Egypt  to  England  in  1817-18,'  London,  1819 
4to,  a  work  exhibiting  much  observation 
and  containing  some  curious  plates  of  Indian 
military  costumes  of  the  day  from  sketches 
by  the  author. 

Fitzclarence  became  a  brevet  lieutenant- 
colonel  in  1819,  and  the  same  year  marriec 
a  natural  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Eglinton 
and  sister  of  his  old  brother  officer,  Colonel 
Wyndham,  M.P.,  by  whom  he  had  a  nume- 
rous family.  He  subsequently  obtained  a 
troop  in  the  14th  light  dragoons,  commanded 
the  6th  carabiniers  for  a  short  time  as  regi- 
mental major  in  Ireland,  and  served  as 
captain  and  lieutenant-colonel  Coldstream 
guards  from  July  1825  to  December  1828, 
afterwards  retiring  as  lieutenant-colonel  on 
half-pay  unattached.  In  May  1830  he  was 
raised  to  the  peerage,  under  the  titles  of  the 
Earl  of  Munster  (one  of  the  titles  of  the  Duke 
of  Clarence)  and  Baron  Tewkesbury  in  the 
United  Kingdom,  his  younger  brothers  and 
sisters  at  the  same  time  being  given  the  pre- 
cedence of  the  younger  children  of  a  marquis. 
For  a  short  time  he  was  adj  utant-general  at  the 
Horse  Guards,  a  post  which  he  resigned.  The 
Duke  of  Wellington  appointed  him  lieutenant 
of  the  Tower  and  colonel  1st  Tower  Hamlets 
militia,  but  refers  to  him  (  Wellington  Cor- 
respondence, vii.  195,  498)  as  having  done  a 
good  deal  of  mischief  by  meddling  with  Mrs. 
Fitzherbert's  affairs.  He  appears  to  have 
busied  himself  a  good  deal  with  politics  be- 
fore the  passing  of  the  Reform  Bill  (ib.  viii. 
260,  274,  306, 326),  and  after  the  resignation 
of  the  whig  cabinet  in  1832  became  very  un- 
popular, on  the  supposition  that  he  had  at- 
tempted to  influence  the  king  against  reform, 
a  charge  he  emphatically  denied  (Parl.  De- 
bates, 3rd  ser.  xiii.  179-80).  At  the  brevet 
on  the  birth  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  he  be- 
came a  major-general,  and  was  soon  after 
appointed  to  command  the  Plymouth  district. 
His  health  had  been  for  some  time  impaired 
by  suppressed  gout,  which  appears  to  have 
unhinged  his  mind.  He  committed  suicide 
by  shooting  himself,  at  his  residence  in  Upper 
Belgraye  Street,  20  March  1842.  He  was 
buried  in  the  parish  church  at  Hampton. 

Munster  was  a  privy  councillor,  governor 
and  captain  of  Windsor  Castle,  a  fellow  of 
the  Royal  Society,  and  of  the  Royal  Geo- 
graphical, Antiquarian,  Astronomical,  and 
Geological  societies  of  London.  He  became 
a  member  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society  on  its 
first  formation  in  1824,  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  council  in  March  1825,  in  1826  was 
one  of  the  committee  commissioned  to  draw 
up  a  plan  for  a  committee  of  correspondence, 


was  many  years  vice-president,  and  was 
chosen  president  the  year  before  his  death. 
On  4  Oct.  1827  he  was  nominated  by 
the  society  member  of  a  committee  to  pre- 
pare a  plan  for  publishing  translations  of 
oriental  works,  and  was  subsequently  ap- 
pointed deputy-chairman  and  vice-president 
of  the  Oriental  Translation  Fund,  which  was 
largely  indebted  to  his  activity  in  obtaining 
subscriptions  and  making  the  necessary  ar- 
rangements, and  particularly  in  securing  the 
co-operation  of  the  Propaganda  Fide  and 
other  learned  bodies  in  Rome  (OrientalTransl. 
Fund,  3rd  Rep.,  1830).  He  was  also  presi- 
dent of  the  Society  for  the  Publication  of 
Oriental  Texts.  He  communicated  to  the 
SocietS  Asiatique  of  Paris  a  paper  on  the 
employment  of  Mohammedan  mercenaries 
in  Christian  armies,  which  appeared  in  the 
1  Journal  Asiatique,'  56  cahier  (February 
1827),  and  was  translated  in  the  'Naval  and 
Military  Magazine '  (ii.  33,  iii.  113-520),  a 
magazine  of  which  four  volumes  only  ap- 
peared. With  the  aid  of  his  secretary  and 
amanuensis,  Dr.  Aloys  Sprenger  (the  German 
orientalist,  afterwards  principal  of  Delhi 
College),  Munster  had  collected  an  immense 
mass  of  information  from  the  great  continental 
libraries  and  other  sources  for  a  '  History  of 
the  Art  of  War  among  Eastern  Nations'  (see 
Ann.  Rep.  p.  v,  Journal  Royal  Asiatic  Society, 
vol.  vii.)  With  this  object  he  sent  out,  two 
years  before  his  death,  an  Arabic  circular, 
« Kitab-i-fibrist  al  Kutub,'  &c.  (or  'A  List 
of  Desiderata  in  Books  in  Arabic,  Persian, 
Turkish,  and  Hindustani  on  the  Art  of  War 
among  Mohammedans'),  compiled,  under  the 
order  of  Munster,  by  Aloys  Sprenger,  London, 
1840.  Munster  was  likewise  the  author  of 
'An  Account  of  the  British  Campaign  in  Spain 
and  Portugal  in  1809,'  London,  1831,  which 
originally  appeared  in  Colburn's '  United  Ser- 
vice Magazine.' 

Munster  is  described  as  having  been  a 
most  amiable  man  in  private  life,  and  much 
beloved  by  his  old  comrades  of  the  10th 
tiussars. 

[Burke's  Peerage,  under '  Munster ; '  Jerdan's 
Nat.  Portraits,  vol.  iii.,  with  portrait  after  At- 
kinson ;  Proceedings  of  Court-martial  on  Colonel 
Quentin,  printed  from  the  shorthand  writer's 
notes  (1814);  Fitzclarence's  Account  of  a  Journey 
across  India,  &c.  (1819);  Wellington  Corre- 
spondence, vols.  vii.  and  viii. ;  Greville  Corre- 
spondence, 1st  ser.  ii.  10,  43,  168;  Koyal  Asiatic 
Society,  London,  Comm.  of  Correspondence  (Lon- 
don, 1829) ;  Annual  Report  in  Journal  Royal 
Asiatic  Society,  London,  vol.  vii.  (1843);  Gent. 
VTag.  new  ser.  xvii.  358,  xviii.  677  (will) ;  a 
etter  from  Lord  Munster  to  the  Duke  of  Mont- 
rose  in  1830  is  in  Egerton  MS.  29300,  f.  119.] 

H.  M.  C. 


Fitzcount 


108 


Fitzcount 


FITZCOUNT,  BRIAN  (f.  1125-1142), 
•warrior  and  author,  was  the  son  of  Count 
Alan  'Fergan'  (Anglo-Saxon  Chron.  1127) 
of  Brittany  (d.  1119),  but  apparently  ille- 
gitimate. From  a  most  interesting  letter 
addressed  to  him  by  Gilbert  Foliot  (vide 
infra),  we  learn  that  Henry  I  reared  him 
from  his  youth  up,  knighted  him,  and  pro- 
vided for  him  in  life.  A  chief  means  by 
•which  he  was  provided  for  was  his  marriage 
with  '  Matilda  de  Wallingford,'  as  she  was 
•styled,  who  brought  him  the  lands  of  Miles 
Crispin  (  Testa  de  Nevill,  p.  115),  whose  widow 
(ib.)  or  daughter  she  was.  He  was  further 
made  firmarius  of  Wallingford  (but  not,  as 
asserted,  given  it  for  himself),  then  an  im- 
portant town  with  a  strong  fortress.  This 
3>ost  he  held  at  least  as  early  as  1127  (Pipe 
Roll,  31  Hen.  I,  p.  139).  He  was  despatched 
in  that  year  (1 127)  with  the  Earl  of  Gloucester 
to  escort  the  Empress  Maud  to  Normandy 
(Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle},  and  was  engaged 
with  him  shortly  afterwards  in  auditing  the 
national  accounts  at  the  treasury  at  "Win- 
chester (Pipe  Roll,  31  Hen.  I,  pp.  130-1).  He 
also  purchased  for  himself  the  office  and  part 
of  the  land  of  Nigel  de  Oilli  (ib.  p.  139), 
and  held  land  by  1130  in  at  least  twelve 
counties  (ib.  passim).  From  the  evidence  of 
charters  it  is  clear  that  he  was  constantly 
at  court  for  the  last  ten  years  of  the  reign. 
Though  a  devoted  adherent  of  the  Empress 
Maud,  he  witnessed  as  a  '  constable'  Ste- 
phen's charter  of  liberties  (1136),  as  did  the 
Earl  of  Gloucester.  On  her  landing  (1139), 
however,  he  at  once  declared  for  her  ( Gesta, 
p.  57),  met  the  Earl  of  Gloucester  as  he 
marched  from  Arundel  to  Bristol,  and  con- 
certed with  him  their  plans  (WiLL.  MALM. 
ii.  725).  Stephen  promptly  besieged  Wal- 
lingford, but  failing  to  take  it,  retired,  leaving 
a  blockading  force  (  Gesta,  pp.  57-8).  But  the 
blockade  was  raised,  and  Brian  relieved  by 
a  dashing  attack  from  Gloucester  (ib.  p.  59). 
Thenceforth  Wallingford,  throughout  the 
war,  was  a  thorn  in  Stephen's  side,  and  Brian 
was  one  of  the  three  chief  supporters  of  the 
empress,  the  other  five  being  her  brother 
Robert  and  Miles  of  Gloucester  [q.  v.]  These 
three  attended  her  on  her  first  visit  to  Win- 
chester (March  1141),  and  were  sureties  for 
her  to  the  legate  (WILL.  MALM.  ii.  743). 
Charters  prove  that  Brian  accompanied  her 
to  London  (June  1141),  and  that  at  Oxford 
lie  was  with  her  again  (25  July  1141). 
Thence  he  marched  with  her  to  Winchester 
(Gesta,  p.  80),  and  on  her  defeat  fled  with 
her  to  Devizes,  '  showing  that  as  before  they 
had  loved  one  another,  so  now  neither  ad- 
versity nor  danger  could  sever  them'  (ib. 
p.  83). 


A  Brien  de  Walingofort 

Commanda  a  mener  la  dame 

E  dist,  sor  la  peril  de  s'alme, 

Qu'en  mil  lieu  ne  s'aresteiisent.   (MEYER) 

He  is  again  found  with  her  at  Bristol  towards 
the  close  of  the  year  (Monasticon,  vi.  137), 
and  at  Oxford  in  the  spring  of  1142.  And 
when  escaping  from  Oxford  in  December 
following,  it  was  to  Brian's  castle  that  the 
empress  fled  (HEN.  HUNT.  p.  276). 

It  was  at  some  time  after  the  landing  of 
the  empress  (1139)  that  Gilbert  Foliot  wrote 
to  Brian  that  long  and  instructive  letter, 
from  which  we  learn  that  this  fighting  baron 
had  apparently  composed  an  eloquent  treatise 
in  defence  of  the  rights  of  the  empress  (ed. 
Giles,  ep.  Ixxix.)  Another  ecclesiastic,  the 
Bishop  of  Winchester,  endeavoured  in  vain 
to  shake  his  allegiance  on  behalf  of  the  king, 
his  brother.  Their  correspondence  is  still 
extant  in  the  '  Liber  Epistolaris '  of  Richard 
de  Bury  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  4th  Rep.  p.  390  b). 
Brian  must  therefore  have  received,  for  these 
days,  an  unusually  good  education,  probably 
at  the  court  of  Henry  *  Beauclerc.' 

His  later  history  is  very  obscure.  On  the 
capture  of  William  Martel  at  Wilton  in  1143 
he  was  sent  prisoner  to  Brian,  who  placed 
him  in  a  special  dungeon,  which  he  named 
'cloere  Brien'  (MATT.  PARIS,  ii.  174).  In 
1146  he  was  again  besieged  by  Stephen,  who 
was  joined  by  the  Earl  of  Chester  (HEN. 
HUNT.  p.  279),  but  he  surprised  and  captured 
shortly  after  a  castle  of  the  Bishop  of  Win- 
chester (Gesta,  p.  133).  In  1152  Stephen 
besieged  him  a  third  time,  and  he  found  him- 
self hard  pressed;  but  in  1153  he  was  bril- 
liantly relieved  by  Henry  (HEN.  HUNT.  pp. 
284, 287).  Thus  the  t  clever  Breton,'  as  Ger- 
vase  (i.  153)  terms  him,  held  his  fortress  to 
the  end.  At  this  point  he  disappears  from 
view. 

The  story  that  he  went  on  crusade  comes 
from  the  utterly  untrustworthy  account  of 
him  in  the  *  Abergavenny  Chronicle'  (Mon. 
Angl.iv.QIS).  An  authentic  charter  of  1141-2 
(Pipe  Roll  Soc.)  proves  that  he  held  Aber- 
gavenny, but,  like  everything  else,  in  right  of 
his  wife.  She,  who  died  without  issue  (Note- 
book, iii.  536),  founded  Oakburn  Priory, 
Wiltshire,  circa  1151  (Mon.  Angl.  vi.  1016). 

[Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle  (Rolls  Series) ;  Gesta 
Stephani(ib.) ;  Henry  of  Huntingdon  (ib.) ;  Matt. 
Paris's  Chronica  Major  (ib.)  ;  Gervase  of  Can- 
terbury (ib.) ;  Pipe  Roll  of  31  Hen.  I  (Record 
Commission) ;  Testa  de  Nevill  (ib.) ;  William  of 
Malmesbury  (Engl.  Hist.  Soc.);  Monasticon  An- 
glicanum  (new  edit.);  Round's  Charters  (Pipe 
Roll  Soc.);  Maitland's  Bracton's  Note-book; 
Meyer's  L'histoire  de  Guillaume  le  Marechal  (Ro- 
mania, vol.  xi.);  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  4th  Rep.; 


Fitzgeffrey 


109 


Fitzgeffrey 


Giles's  Letters  of  Foliot  (Patres  Ecclesiae  Angli- 
canse);  Athenaeum,  22  Oct.  1887;  the  Rev.  A.  D. 
Crake's  Brian  Fitzcount  (1888)  is  an  historical 
romance,  founded  on  Brian's  legendary  career.] 

J.  H.  R. 

FITZGEFFREY,  CHARLES  (1575?- 
1638),  poet  and  divine,  son  of  Alexander 
Fitzgeffrey,  a  clergyman  who  had  migrated 
from  Bedfordshire,  was  born  at  Fowey  in 
Cornwall  about  1575.  He  was  entered  in 
1590  at  Broadgates  Hall,  Oxford,  proceeded 
B.A.  31  Jan.  ]  596-7,  and  M.A.  4  July  1600. 
In  1596  he  published  at  Oxford  a  spirited 
poem  entitled '  Sir  Francis  Drake,  his  Hono- 
rable Lifes  Commendation  and  his  Tragical 
Deathes  Lamentation/  8vo.  It  was  dedi- 
cated to  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  commendatory 
verses  were  prefixed  by  Richard  Rous,  Francis 
Rous,  'D.W.,'  and  Thomas  Mychelbourne. 
A  second  edition,  with  a  revised  text  and 
additional  commendatory  verses,  was  pub- 
lished in  the  same  year.  Meres,  in  '  Palladis 
Tamia,'  1598,  has  a  complimentary  notice  of 
*  yong  Charles  Fitz-Ieffrey,  that  high  touring 
Falcon ; '  and  several  quotations  from  the 
poem  occur  in  '  England's  Parnassus,'  1600. 
In  1601  Fitzgeffrey  published  an  interest- 
ing volume  of  Latin  epigrams  and  epitaphs : 
1  Caroli  Fitzgeofridi  Affaniae ;  sive  Epigram- 
matum  libri  tres;  Ejusdem  Cenotaphia,'  8vo. 
Epigrams  are  addressed  to  Drayton,  Daniel, 
Sir  John  Harington,  William  Percy,  and 
Thomas  Campion ;  and  there  are  epitaphs  on 
Spenser,  Tarlton,  and  Nashe.  Fitzgeffrey's 
most  intimate  friends  were  the  brothers  Ed- 
ward, Laurence,  and  Thomas  Mychelbourne, 
who  are  so  frequently  mentioned  in  Cam- 
pion's Latin  epigrams.  There  is  an  epigram 
1  To  my  deare  freind  Mr.  Charles  Fitz-Ieffrey' 
among  the  poems  '  To  Worthy  Persons '  ap- 
pended to  John  Davies  of  Hereford's  'Scourge 
of  Folly,'  n.  d.,  1610-11.  It  appears  from 
the  epigram  (*  To  thee  that  now  dost  mind 
but  Holy  Writ,'  &c.)  that  Fitzgeffrey  was 
then  in  orders.  By  his  friend  Sir  Anthony 
Rous  he  was  presented  to  the  living  of 
St.  Dominic,  Eastwellshire.  In  1620  he  pub- 
lished l  Death's  Sermon  unto  the  Living,'  4to, 
2nd  ed.  1622,  a  funeral  sermon  on  the  wife 
of  Sir  Anthony  Rous  ;  in  1622  <  Elisha,  his 
Lamentation  for  his  Owne,'4to,  a  funeral  ser- 
mon on  Sir  Anthony;  in  1631  'The  Curse  of 
Corne-horders :  with  the  Blessing  of  season- 
able Selling.  In  three  sermons,'  4to,  dedicated 
to  Sir  Reginald  Mohune,  reprinted  in  1648 
under  the  title  '  God's  Blessing  upon  the 
Providers  of  Corne,'  &c. ;  in  1634  a  devotional 
poem,  '  The  Blessed  Birth-Day  celebrated  in 
some  Pious  Meditations  on  the  Angels  An- 
them,' 4to,  reprinted  in  1636  and  1651 ;  and 
in  1637/  Compassion  to  wards  Captives,  chiefly 


towards  our  Brethren  and  Country-men  who 
are  in  miserable  bondage  in  Barbaric:  urged 
and  pressed  in  three  sermons  .  .  .  preached 
in  Plymouth  in  October  1636,'  4to,  with  a 
dedication  to  John  Cause,  mayor  of  Plymouth. 
Fitzgeffrey  died  24  Feb.  1637-8,  and  was- 
buned  under  the  communion-table  of  his- 
church.  Robert  Chamberlain  has  some  verses 
to  his  memory  in '  Nocturnall  Lucubrations  r 
1638. 

Fitzgeffrey  prefixed  commendatory  verses 
to  Storer's  '  Life  and  Death  of  Thomas,  Earl  of 
Cromwell,'  1599  (two  copies  of  Latin  verse  and 
two  English  sonnets),  Davies  of  Hereford's- 
'Microcosmus,'1603,  Sylvester's  'Bartas,  his. 
Devine  Weekes  and  Workes,'  1605,  and  Wil- 
liam Vaughan's  '  Golden  Grove,'  1608.  He  was 
among  the  contributors  to  '  Oxoniensis  Aca- 
demies funebre  officium  in  Memoriam  Eliza- 
bethee,'  1603, 4to,  and  '  Academise  Oxoniensis 
Pietas  erga  Jacobum,'  1603,  4to.  There  is  an 
epigram  to  him  in  John  Dunbar's  'Epigram- 
maton  Centuries  Sex,'  1616;  Campion  ad- 
dressed two  epigrams  to  him,  and  Robert 
Hay  man  in  '  Quodlibets,'  1620,  has  an  epi- 
gram to  him,  from  which  it  appears  that  he 
was  blind  of  one  eye.  A  letter  of  Fitzgef- 
frey, dated  from  Fowey,  March  1633,  giving 
an  account  of  a  thunderstorm,  is  preserved  at 
Kimbolton  Castle.  '  Sir  Francis  Drake '  and 
'  The  Blessed  Birth-Day '  have  been  reprinted 
in  Dr.  Grosart's  '  Occasional  Issues.' 

[Wood's  Athense,  ed.  Bliss,  ii.  607-9 ;  Dr.  Gro- 
sart's Memorial  Introduction  to  Fitzgeffrey's 
Poems;  Boase  and  Courtney's Bibliotheca  Cornu- 
biensis;  Hunter's  Chorus  Vatum.]  A.  H.  B. 

FITZGEFFREY,  HENRY  (fl.  1617), 
writer  of  satires  and  epigrams,  is  commonly 
assumed  to  have  been  a  son  of  Charles  Fitz- 
geffrey [q.  v.],  but  no  evidence  in  support  of 
the  conjecture  has  been  adduced.  A  Henry 
Fitz-Jeffrey,  who  is  on  the  list  of  Westmin- 
ster scholars  elected  to  Cambridge  in  1611 
(WELCH,  Alumni  Westmonast.  p.  81),  may, 
or  may  not,  be  the  satirist.  In  1617  ap- 
peared *  Certain  Elegies,  done  by  Sundrie 
excellent  Wits.  With  Satyres  and  Epi- 
grames,'  8vo ;  2nd  edition,  1618 ;  3rd  edition, 
1620;  4th  edition,  undated.  The  elegies- 
are  by  Ffrancis]  Bfeaumont],  N[athaniel  ?] 
H[ooke?J,  and  Mpchael]  D[rayton].  They 
are  followed  by  '  The  Author  in  Praise  of 
his  own  Booke,'  four  lines ;  and  '  Of  his  deare 
Friend  the  Author  H.  F.,'  eight  lines,  signed 
<Nath.  Gvrlyn,'  to  which  is  appended  'The 
Author's  Answer.'  In  the  first  satire  there 
are  some  curious  notices  of  popular  fugitive* 
tracts.  After  the  second  satire  is  a  cojpy  of 
commendatory  verses  by  J.  Stephens.  Then- 
follows  'The  Second  Booke:  of  SatyricalL 


Fitzgerald 


no 


Fitzgerald 


Epigram's/  with  a  dedication  '  To  his  True 
Friend  Tho :  Fletcher  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  Gent. ; ' 
and  at  the  end  of  the  epigrams  is  another  copy 
of  commendatory  verses  by  Stephens.  'The 
Third  Booke  of  Humours:  Intituled  Notes 
from  Black-Fryers,'  opens  with  an  epigram 
*  To  his  Lou  :  Chamber-Fellow  and  nearest 
Friend  Nat.  Gvrlin  of  Lincolnes-Inn,  Gent.' 
The  notes  are  followed  by  some  more  verses 
of  Stephens,  the  epilogue  '  The  Author  for 
Himselfe/  and  finally  a  verse  'Post-script 
to  his  Book-binder/  Twelve  copies  of  the 
little  volume  were  reprinted,  from  the  edi- 
tion of  1620,  for  E.  V.  Utterson  at  the  Bel- 
dornie  Press  in  1843. 

[Corser's  Collectanea  Anglo-Poetica,  pt.  yi. 
pp.  356-60  :  Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  ed.  Bliss,  ii. 
608.]  A.  H.  B. 

FITZGERALD,  DAVID  (U1176),  bishop 
of  St.  David's.  [See  DAVID  the  Second.] 

FITZGERALD,  LOKD  EDWARD  (1763- 
1798),  Irish  rebel,  was  one  of  the  seventeen 
children  of  James  Fitzgerald,  viscount  and 
first  duke  of  Leinster  [q.  v.],  by  Emilia  Mary, 
daughter  of  Charles,  duke  of  Richmond.  His 
father  died  in  1773,  and  his  mother  married 
William  Ogilvie.  The  Duke  of  Richmond 
lent  his  house  at  Aubigny  in  France  to  the 
family,  who  resided  there  till  1779  ;  Ogilvie 
undertook  Edward's  education,  which  had 
been  commenced  by  a  tutor  named  Lynch. 
The  boy  had  a  marked  military  bent,  and  on 
returning  to  England  joined  the  Sussex  mi- 
litia, of  which  his  uncle,  the  Duke  of  Rich- 
mond, was  colonel.  He  next  entered  the  96th 
infantry  as  lieutenant,  served  with  it  in  Ire- 
land, exchanged  into  the  19th  in  order  to 
get  foreign  service,  and  in  1781  went  out  to 
Charleston.  His  skill  in  covering  a  retreat 
got  him  the  post  of  aide-de-camp  to  Lord 
Rawdon,  on  whose  retirement  he  rejoined  his 
regiment.  At  the  engagement  of  Eutaw 
Springs,  August  1781,  he  was  wounded  in 
the  thigh,  was  left  senseless  on  the  field,  and 
might  have  succumbed  had  not  a  negro,  Tony, 
carried  him  to  his  hut  and  nursed  him.  Tony 
was  thenceforth,  to  the  end  of  Fitzgerald's 
life,  his  devoted  servant  or  slave.  After  his 
recovery  Fitzgerald  was  on  O'Hara's  staff  at 
St.  Lucia,  but  soon  returned  to  Ireland,  where 
his  eldest  brother  had  him  elected  M.P.  for 
Athy.  He  voted  in  the  Dublin  parliament 
in  the  small  minority  with  Grattan  and  Cur- 
ran.  After  a  course  of  professional  study  at 
Woolwich  a  disappointment  in  love  drove 
him  to  New  Brunswick  to  join  his  regiment, 
the  54th,  of  which  he  was  now  major.  Cob- 
bett  was  the  sergeant-major,  and  was  grateful 
to  Fitzgerald  for  procuring  him  his  discharge, 


describing  him  to  Pitt  in  1800  as  the  only 
really  honest  officer  he  had  ever  known.  In- 
fected by  the  fashionable  Rousseau  admiration 
for  savage  life,  Fitzgerald  made  his  way  by 
compass  through  the  woods  from  Frederick- 
ton  to  Quebec,  was  formally  admitted  at  De- 
troit into  the  Bear  tribe,  and  went  down  the 
Mississippi  to  New  Orleans,  but  was  refused 
the  expected  permission  to  visit  the  Mexican 
mines.  On  returning  home  he  found  himself 
M.P.  for  Kildare,  became  intimate  with  the 
whig  leaders  in  London,  joined  in  April  1792 
their  Society  of  the  Friends  of  the  People, 
shared  their  enthusiasm  for  the  French  revo- 
lution, and  in  October  1792  visited  Paris. 
He  stayed  at  the  same  hotel  as  Paine,  took 
his  meals  with  him,  and  at  a  British  dinner 
to  celebrate  French  victories  joined  in  Sir 
Robert  Smith's  toast  to  the  abolition  of  all 
hereditary  titles.  Cashiered  from  the  army 
for  attendance  at  this  revolutionary  banquet, 
he  was  not,  however,  so  immersed  in  politics 
as  to  neglect  the  theatres.  Hence  his  brief 
courtship  and  his  marriage,  27  Dec.  1792  [see 
FITZGEKALD,  PAMELA].  He  tookhis  bride  over 
to  Ireland,  and  six  days  after  his  arrival  at 
Dublin  caused  a  scene  in  parliament  by  de- 
scribing the  lord-lieutenant  and  the  majority 
as  '  the  worst  subjects  the  king  has.'  He  was 
ordered  into  custody,  but  refused  to  make  any 
serious  apology.  When  not  attending  parlia- 
ment he  enjoyed  the  society  of  his  wife  and 
child  and  of  his  flowers  at  Kildare.  His  dis- 
missal from  the  army  and  the  political  reaction 
consequent  on  the  atrocities  in  France  con- 
verted the  light-hearted  young  nobleman  into 
a  stern  conspirator.  Early  in  1796  he  joined 
the  United  Irishmen,  who  now  avowedly 
aimed  at  an  independent  Irish  republic,  and  in 
May  he  went  with  Arthur  O'Connor  to  Bale  to 
confer  with  Hoche  on  a  French  invasion  ;  but 
the  Directory,  apprehensive  of  accusations  of 
Orleanism,  on  account  of  Pamela's  supposed 
kinship  with  the  Orleans  family,  declined  to 
negotiate  with  Fitzgerald,  who  rejoined  his 
wife  at  Hamburg,  leaving  O'Connor  to  treat 
with  Hoche.  Returning  to  Ireland  he  visited 
Belfast  with  O'Connor,  then  a  candidate  for 
Antrim,  but  in  July  1797  he  declined  to  solicit 
re-election,  telling  the  Kildare  voters  that 
under  martial  law  free  elections  were  impos- 
sible, but  that  he  hoped  hereafter  to  represent 
them  in  a  free  parliament.  In  the  following 
autumn  the  United  Irishmen  became  a  mili- 
tary organisation,  280,000  men,  according  to 
a  list  given  by  Fitzgerald  to  Thomas  Rey- 
nolds, being  prepared  with  arms,  and  a  mili- 
tary committee,  headed  by  Fitzgerald,  was 
deputed  to  prepare  a  scheme  of  co-operation 
with  the  French,  or  of  a  rising  if  their  arrival 
could  not  be  awaited.  Fitzgerald  was  him- 


I  tzgerald 


Fitzgerald 


self  colonel  of  the  so-called  Kildare  regiment, 
but  induced  Reynolds  to  take  his  place.  The 
latter  alleges  that  three  months  after  his  ap- 
pointment he  learned  the  intention  of  the 
conspirators  to  begin  the  rising  by  murdering 
eighty  leading  noblemen  and  dignitaries,  and 
that  to  save  their  lives  he  gave  the  authori- 
ties information  which  led  to  the  arrest,  on 
12  March  1798,  at  Oliver  Bond's  house,  of  the 
Leinster  provincial  committee.  He  does  not 
state  whether  Fitzgerald  was  cognisant  of  the 
intended  murders,  but  anxious  for  his  escape 
he  had  on  the  llth  given  him  a  vague  warn- 
ing and  urged  flight,  whereupon  Fitzgerald 
expressed  a  desire  to  go  to  France  that  he 
might  induce  Talleyrand  to  hasten  the  inva- 
sion. Owing  perhaps  to  Reynolds's  warning, 
Fitzgerald  was  not  at  Bond's  meeting ;  but 
being  told  there  was  no  warrant  against  him- 
self was  about  to  enter  his  own  house,  then 
being  searched  by  the  police,  when  Tony,  on 
the  look-out,  gave  him  timely  notice.  So  far 
from  distrusting  Reynolds,  Fitzgerald,  while 
in  concealment,  sent  for  him  on  the  14th  and 
15th,  the  first  time  to  propose  taking  refuge 
in  Kilkee  Castle,  the  property  of  the  Duke  of 
Leinster,  then  occupied  by  Reynolds.  Rey- 
nolds objected  to  the  plan  as  unsafe,  and  next 
day  took  him  fifty  guineas  and  a  case  of 
pocket  pistols.  Reynolds  clearly  gave  no  in- 
formation of  these  interviews,  and  Lord-chan- 
cellor Clare,  if  not  other  members  of  the  Irish 
government,  was  also  desirous  of  an  escape. 
Fitzgerald,  however,  remained  in  or  near  Dub- 
lin, paid  two  secret  visits,  once  in  female  at- 
tire, to  his  wife,  who  had  prudently  removed 
from  Leinster  House,  walked  along  the  canal 
at  night,  and  actively  continued  preparations 
for  a  rising  fixed  for  23  May.  The  authori- 
ties were  therefore  obliged  in  self-defence  to 
take  more  serious  steps  for  his  apprehension, 
and  on  11  May  they  offered  a  reward  of  1,00(V. 
Madden  gives  reasons  for  thinking  that  the 
F.  H.  or  J.  H.  (the  first  initial  was  indis- 
tinctly written  in  the  original  document  from 
which  he  copied  the  entry)  to  whom  on 
20  June  the  sum  was  paid,  was  John  Hughes, 
a  Belfast  bookseller,  one  of  Fitzgerald's  so- 
called  body-guard.  However;  this  may  be, 
the  authorities  knew  that  on  the  19th  he 
would  be  at  Murphy's,  a  feather  dealer.  Fitz- 
gerald, having  dined,  was  lying  with  his  coat 
off  on  a  bed  upstairs,  and  Murphy  was  asking 
him  to  come  down  to  tea,  when  Major  Swan 
and  Ryan  mounted  the  stairs  and  entered  the 
room.  After  a  desperate  struggle,  in  which 
Ryan  was  mortally  wounded,  Fitzgerald  was 
captured.  Shot  in  the  right  arm  by  Major 
Sirr,  who  had  also  entered  the  room,  his 
wound  was  pronounced  free  from  danger, 
whereupon  he  said,  '  I  am  sorry  for  it.'  He 


was  taken  first  to  the  castle  and  then  to 
Newgate.  Inflammation  set  in ;  his  brother 
Henry  and  his  aunt  (Lady  Louisa  Conolly) 
were  allowed  to  see  him  in  his  last  moments, 
and  on  4  June  he  expired.  His  remains  were 
interred  in  St.  Werburgh  Church,  Dublin, 
and  Sirr,  forty-three  years  later,  was  buried 
a  few  paces  off  in  the  churchyard.  A  bill  of 
attainder  was  passed  against  Fitzgerald,  but 
the  government  allowed  his  Kilrush  estate, 
worth  about  700/.  a  year,  to  be  bought  by 
Ogilvie  at  the  price  of  the  mortgage,  10,400/., 
and  in  1819  the  attainder  was  repealed.  Fitz- 
gerald was  of  small  stature  (Reynolds  says 
5  feet  5  inches,  Murphy  5  feet  7  inches),  and 
Moore,  who  once  saw  him  in  1797,  speaks  of 
his  peculiar  dress,  elastic  gait,  healthy  com- 
plexion, and  the  soft  expression  given  to  his 
eyes  by  long  dark  eyelashes.  He  left  three 
children :  Edward  Fox  (1794-1863),  an  offi- 
cer in  the  army ;  Pamela,  wife  of  General 
Sir  Guy  Campbell ;  and  Lucy  Louisa,  wife 
of  Captain  G.  F.  Lyon,  R.N. 

[Moore's  Life  of  Lord  E.  Fitzgerald  ;  Life  of 
Thomas  Reynolds  ;  Madden's  United  Irishmen  ; 
Teeling's  Personal  Narrative  of  the  Irish  Rebel- 
lion.] J.  G-.  A. 

FITZGERALD,  EDWARD  (1770?- 
1807),  Irish  insurgent  leader,  born  at  New- 
park,  co.  Wexford,  about  1770,  was  a  country 
gentleman  of  considerable  means.  At  the 
breaking  out  of  the  insurrection  in  1798  he 
was  confined  in  Wexford  gaol  on  suspicion, 
but  on  being  released  by  the  populace,  com- 
manded in  some  of  the  engagements  that 
took  place  in  different  parts  of  the  county 
during  the  occupation  of  the  town,  exhibit- 
ing, it  is  said,  far  better  generalship  than 
the  commander-in-chief,Bagenal  Beauchamp 
Harvey  [q.  v.]  Madden  commends  his  hu- 
manity to  the  prisoners  that  fell  into  his 
hands  at  Gorey.  At  the  battle  of  Arklow 
he  commanded  the  Shemalier  gunsmen.  He 
afterwards  joined  in  the  expedition  against 
Hacketstown,  and  surrendered  upon  terms 
to  General  Wilford  in  the  middle  of  July. 
With  Garrett,  Byrne,  and  others  he  was  de- 
tained in  custody  in  Dublin  until  the  ensu- 
ing year,  when  he  was  permitted  to  reside  in 
England.  He  was,  however,  re-arrested  on 
25  March  1800,  imprisoned  for  a  while,  and 
then  allowed  to  retire  to  Hamburg,  where  he 
died  in  1807.  In  person  Fitzgerald  is  de- 
scribed as  a  '  handsome,  finely  formed  man ; ' 
he  was  besides  a  speaker  of  great  eloquence. 

[Madden's  United  Irishmen;  Webb's  Com- 
pendium of  Irish  Biog.  pp.  194-5.] 

FITZGERALD,  EDWARD  (1809- 
1883),  poet  and  translator,  born  at  Bredfield 
House,  nearWoodbridge,  Suffolk,  on  31  March 


Fitzgerald 


112 


Fitzgerald 


1809,  was  the  third  son  of  John  Purcell,  who, 
on  the  death  of  his  wife's  father  in  1818,  took 
the  name  and  arms  of  Fitzgerald.  In  1821 
Fitzgerald  was  sent  to  King  Edward  the 
Sixth's  Grammar  School  at  Bury  St.  Ed- 
munds, under  the  charge  of  Dr.  Malkin.  In 
1826  he  entered  at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge, 
and  took  his  degree  in  1830.  He  made  life- 
long friendships  with  his  schoolfellows,  James 
Spedding  and  W.  B.  Donne  [q.  v.T,  and  with 
his  college  contemporaries,  W.  M.  Thackeray, 
"W.  H.  Thompson,  afterwards  master  of 
Trinity,  and  John  Allen,  afterwards  arch- 
deacon of  Salop.  The  three  brothers  Tenny- 
son were  also  at  Cambridge  at  the  same 
time,  but  he  did  not  know  them  till  a  later 
period.  With  Frederic,  the  eldest,  he  kept 
up  a  correspondence  for  several  years,  and 
the  laureate  dedicated  to  him  his  poem  '  Ti- 
resias,'  but,  as  Fitzgerald  died  just  before  it 
was  published,  their  long  friendship  is  fur- 
ther commemorated  in  the  touching  epi- 
logue. Carlyle  was  a  friend  of  a  later  date, 
but  firm  and  true  to  the  last.  Fitzgerald 
spent  the  greater  part  of  his  life  in  Suffolk. 
His  youth  was  passed  at  Bredfield,  where  he 
was  born,  and  where  he  lived,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a  short  sojourn  in  France,  till 
about  1825.  His  home  was  then  for  some 
time  at  Wherstead  Lodge,  near  Ipswich,  till 
1835,  when  the  family  removed  to  Boulge 
Hall  in  the  adjoining  parish  to  Bredfield, 
and  for  several  years  Fitzgerald  occupied  a 
small  cottage  close  by  the  park  gates.  Here 
his  chief  friends  were  George  Crabbe,  the 
son  of  the  poet  and  vicar  of  Bredfield,  and 
Bernard  Barton,  the  quaker  poet  of  Wood- 
bridge,  whose  daughter  he  afterwards  mar- 
ried. He  had  no  liking  for  the  conventional 
usages  of  society,  and  was  therefore  some- 
what of  a  recluse.  But  he  was  by  no  means 
unsocial,  and  to  those  whom  he  admitted  to 
his  intimacy  he  was  the  most  delightful  of 
companions.  His  habits  were  extremely 
simple ;  his  charity  large  and  generous,  but 
always  discriminating ;  his  nature  tender  and 
affectionate.  He  lived  at  Boulge  till  about 
the  end  of  1853,  and  then  settled  for  a  time 
at  Farlingay  Hall,  an  old  farmhouse  just 
outside  Woodbridge,  where  Carlyle  visited 
him  in  1855.  About  the  end  of  1860  he 
went  to  live  in  Woodbridge  itself,  taking 
lodgings  on  the  Market  Hill,  and  there  he  re- 
mained till,  at  the  beginning  of  1874,  he  re- 
moved to  his  own  house,  Little  Grange,  which 
he  had  enlarged  some  years  before,  and  where 
he  continued  till  his  death.  His  chief  out- 
door amusement  was  boating,  and  the  great 
part  of  each  summer  was  spent  in  his  yacht, 
in  which  he  cruised  about  the  neighbouring 
coast.  But  he  gradually  withdrew  from  the 


sea,  and  after  the  death  of  his  old  boatman 
in  1877,  the  river  had  no  longer  any  pleasure 
for  him,  and  he  was  driven  to  console  him- 
self with  his  garden.  On  14  June  1883  he 
died  suddenly  while  on  a  visit  at  Merton  Rec- 
tory, Norfolk,  and  was  buried  at  Boulge. 

Beyond  occasional  contributions  to  peri- 
odical literature  Fitzgerald  does  not  appear 
to  have  published  anything  till  he  wrote  a 
short  memoir  of  Bernard  Barton,  prefixed  to 
a  collection  of  his  letters  and  poems,  which 
was  made  after  the  poet's  death  in  1849.  In 
1851  was  issued  '  Euphranor,  a  Dialogue  on 
Youth,'  which  contains  some  beautiful  Eng- 
lish prose.  In  1852  appeared  <  Polonius :  a 
Collection  of  Wise  Saws  and  Modern  In- 
stances,' with  a  preface  on  proverbs  and  apho- 
risms. Both  these  were  anonymous.  In 
1853  he  brought  out  the  only  book  to  which 
he  ever  attached  his  name,  '  Six  Dramas  of 
Calderon,  freely  translated  by  Edward  Fitz- 
Gerald,'  but  the  reception  it  met  with  at  the 
hands  of  reviewers,  who  did  not  take  the 
trouble  to  understand  his  object,  did  not  en- 
courage him  to  repeat  the  experiment.  He 
consequently  never  issued,  except  to  his  per- 
sonal friends,  the  translations  or  adaptations 
of  '  La  Vida  es  Sueno '  and  <  El  Magico  Pro- 
digioso.'  These  translations  never  professed 
to  be  close  renderings  of  their  originals.  They 
were  rather  intended  to  produce,  in  one  who 
could  not  read  the  language  from  which 
they  were  rendered,  something  of  the  same 
effect  as  is  conveyed  by  the  original  to- 
those  familiar  with  it.  On  this  principle  he 
translated  the  l  Agamemnon '  of  ^schylus, 
which  was  first  issued  privately  without 
date,  and  was  afterwards  published  anony- 
mously in  1876.  A  year  or  two  before  his 
death  he  completed  on  the  same  lines  a  trans- 
lation of  the  f  QEdipus  Tyrannus '  and  the 
'  (Edipus  Coloneus '  of  Sophocles.  But  the 
work  on  which  his  fame  will  mainly  rest  is 
his  marvellous  rendering  of  the  'Quatrains' 
of  Omar  Khayyam,  the  astronomer  poet  of 
Persia,  which  he  has  made  to  live  in  a  way 
that  no  translation  ever  lived  before.  In  his 
hands  the  '  Quatrains '  became  a  new  poem, 
and  their  popularity  is  attested  by  the  four 
editions  which  appeared  in  his  lifetime.  But 
when  they  were  first  published  in  1859  they 
fell  upon  an  unregarding  public,  as  heedless 
of  their  merits  as  the  editor  of  a  magazine  in 
whose  hands  they  had  been  for  two  years 
previously.  His  Persian  studies,  which  wer& 
begun  at  the  suggestion  of  his  friend,  Pro- 
fessor Cowell,  first  led  him  in  1856  to- 
translate  the  '  Salaman  and  Absal '  of  Jami. 
After  this  he  was  attracted  to  Attar's 'Man- 
tik-ut-tair,'  and  by  1859  he  had  made  a 
kind  of  abridged  translation  of  it,  which  he- 


Fitzgerald 


Fitzgerald 


•called  the  l  Bird  Parliament ; '  but  it  remained 
in  manuscript  till  his  death. 

Fitzgerald  was  a  great  admirer  of  Crabbe's 
poetry,  and,  in  order  to  rescue  it  from  the 
disregard  into  which  it  had  fallen,  he  con- 
densed the  '  Tales  of  the  Hall '  by  liberal 
omission  and  the  introduction  of  prose  in 
place  of  the  more  diffuse  narrative  in  verse. 
The  preface  to  these  *  Readings  in  Crabbe,' 
in  which  he  pleaded  for  more  attention  to  a 
neglected  poet,  was  the  last  work  on  which 
ke  employed  his  pen. 

An  edition  of  his  collected  writings,  with 
selections  from  his  correspondence,  is  now 
(1889)  in  the  press,  under  the  editorship  of 
the  writer  of  this  article. 

[Fitzgerald's  Collected  Works,  ed.  W.  Aldis 
Wright,  LL.D.]  W.  A.  W. 

FITZGERALD,    LADY    ELIZABETH, 

called  the  FAIR  GERALDINE  (1528  P-1589), 
was  youngest  daughter  of  Gerald  Fitzgerald, 
ninth  earl  of  Kildare  [q.v.],byhis  second  wife, 
Lady  Elizabeth,  fourth  daughter  of  Thomas 
Grey,  marquis  of  Dorset.  Born  apparently 
about  1528  at  her  father's  castle  at  May- 
nooth,  she  was  brought  to  England  by  her 
mother  in  1533,  when  her  father  was  involved 
in  his  son's  treasonable  practices.  Her  father 
was  executed  in  1534,  and  she  lived  with  her 
mother  at  Beaumanoir,  Leicestershire,  the 
liouse  of  her  uncle,  Lord  Leonard  Grey.  In 
1538  she  entered  the  household  of  the  Prin- 
cess Mary  at  Hunsdon,  and  when  that  esta- 
blishment was  broken  up  in  1540,  she  trans- 
ferred her  services  to  Queen  Catherine 
Howard  at  Hampton  Court.  At  Hunsdon 
Henry  Howard,  earl  of  Surrey  [q.  v.],  first 
saw  her.  He  renewed  his  acquaintance  with 
her  at  Hampton,  and  began  about  1540  the 
series  of  songs  and  sonnets,  first  printed  in 
Tottel's  '  Miscellany '  (1557),  in'which  he  ex- 
tolled her  beauty  and  declared  his  love  for  her. 
One  sonnet,  in  which  he  refers  to  the  Floren- 
tine origin  ascribed  to  the  Geraldine  family  and 
to  the  Lady  Elizabeth's  education,  is  entitled 
•*  Description  and  Praise  of  his  love  Geraldine.' 
Although  many  others  describe  the  course  of 
his  passion,  the  lady  is  only  mentioned  by 
name  in  this  one  poem.  Surrey  at  the  time 
of  composing  these  sonnets  was  a  married 
man,  his  wife  being  Lady  Frances,  daughter 
of  John  Vere,  fifteenth  earl  of  Oxford.  This 
marriage  took  place  in  1534,  and  a  first  child 
was  born  in  1536.  Surrey's  relationship  with 
Lady  Elizabeth  would  seem  to  have  been 
wholly  Platonic,  and  an  imitation  of  Petrarch's 
association  with  Laura.  According  to  Nashe's 
romance,  called  '  The  Unfortunate  Traveller, 
or  the  Life  of  Jack  Wilton  '  (1594),  Surrey 
while  in  Venice  consulted  Cornelius  Agrippa 

VOL.    XIX. 


as  to  the  welfare  of  his  ladylove,  and  saw  her 
image  in  a  magic  mirror.  When  he  arrived 
in  Florence  he  challenged  to  combat  all  who 
disputed  his  mistress's  loveliness.  Drayton 
utilised  these  stories  in  his  beantiful  poetical 
epistle  of  '  The  Lady  Geraldine  to  the  Earl 
of  Surrey,'  first  published  in  his  « Heroicall 
Epistle,'  1578.  Sir  Walter  Scott  has  also 
introduced  the  first  episode  into  his  '  Lay  of 
the  Last  Minstrel '  (canto  vi.  stanzas  xvi- 
xx.)  Although  these  reports  were  widely 
disseminated  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
there  seems  no  foundation  for  them.  They 
are  to  all  appearance  the  outcome  of  Nashe's 
imagination. 

In  1543  Lady  Elizabeth,  who  was  then 
no  more  than  fifteen,  married  Sir  Anthony 
Browne  (d.  1548)  [q.  v.],  a  widower  aged 
sixty.  The  poverty-stricken  condition  of 
her  family  perhaps  explains  this  union,  which 
Surrey  has  been  assumed  to  deplore  in  his 
later  verse.  The  wedding  was  attended  by 
Henry  VIII  and  his  daughter  Mary,  and  a 
sermon  was  preached  by  Ridley.  Surrey  was 
executed  in  1547,  and  Lady  Elizabeth's  hus- 
band died  in  1548.  About  1552  she  became 
the  third  wife  of  Edward  Fiennes  de  Clinton, 
earl  of  Lincoln  (1512-1585)  [q.  v.]  She 
would  seem  to  have  been  greatly  in  her 
second  husband's  confidence,  and  the  fac- 
simile of  a  letter  (dated  14  Sept.  1558), 
written  partly  by  her,  acting  as  her  husband's 
secretary,  and  partly  by  himself,  is  printed 
by  the  Rev.  James  Graves  in  the  t  Journal 
of  the  Archaeological  and  Historical  Asso- 
ciation of  Ireland'  (1873).  Clinton  died  in 
1585,  and  made  his  wife  executrix  of  his 
will,  but  she  appears  to  have  been  on  bad 
terms  with  the  children  of  her  husband's 
second  marriage.  She  died  in  March  1589, 
leaving  no  issue,  and  was  buried  by  her  se- 
cond husband  in  St.  George's  Chapel,  Wind- 
sor, where  she  had  already  erected  an  elabo- 
rate monument  to  his  memory.  Her  sister 
Margaret  was  chief  mourner,  and  sixty-one 
old  women,  numbering  the  years  of  her  life, 
followed  her  to  the  grave.  A  fine  portrait  by 
C.  Ketel,  showing  a  lady  with  auburn  hair, 
of  very  attractive  appearance,  is  at  Woburn 
Abbey.  A  copy  belonging  to  the  Duke  of 
Leinster  is  at  Carton,  Maynooth.  An  en- 
graving by  Scriven  was  published  in  1809, 
and  Mr.  Graves  gives  a  photograph  from  the 
original  painting  in  the  journal  noticed  above. 

[Rev.  James  Graves  in  Archaeological  and  His- 
torical Association  of  Ireland,  1873,  pp.  560 
etseq.  publ.  Kilkenny  Archseolog.  Soc.;  Tottel's 
Miscellany,  1557,  reprinted  by  Arber ;  Poems  of 
Surrey  and  Wyatt,  ed.  Dr.  Nott,  1815  ;  Nashe's 
works,  ed.  G-rosart,  vol.  v. ;  Duke  of  Leinster's 
Earls  of  Kildare,  1858,  pp.  126-9.]  S.  L.  L. 


Fitzgerald 


114 


Fitzgerald 


FITZGERALD,  GEORGE,  sixteenth  j 
EARL  OF  KILDARE  (1611-1660),  was  son  of  j 
Thomas,  second  son  of  William  Fitzgerald,  | 
thirteenth  earl  of  Kildare,  by  Frances,  daugh- 
ter of  Thomas  Randolph,  postmaster-general 
in  England  under  Queen  Elizabeth.  George 
Fitzgerald  was  in  his  ninth  year  when,  in 
1620,  he  inherited  the  Kildare  peerage,  on 
the  death  of  Gerald,  the  fifteenth  earl,  at 
the  age  of  eight  years  and  ten  months.  Earl 
George  was  given  in  wardship  by  the  king 
to  the  Duke  of  Lennox.  On  the  decease  of 
the  latter  his  widow  transferred  the  ward- 
ship of  the  minor  and  his  estates  to  Richard 
Boyle,  earl  of  Cork,  for  6,600/.  Kildare 
studied  for  a  time  at  Christ  Church,  Oxford, 
and  in  his  eighteenth  year  married  Joan, 
fourth  daughter  of  Lord  Cork.  He  appears 
to  have  been  much  under  the  influence  of  that 
astute  adventurer ;  but  occasional  differences 
occurred  between  them,  for  the  settlement 
of  which  the  intervention  of  the  lord  deputy, 
Wentworth,  was  obtained.  A  portrait  of 
Kildare,  painted  in  1632,  in  which  he  is  re- 
presented as  of  diminutive  stature,  is  extant ' 
at  Carton,  the  residence  of  the  Duke  of  Lein- 
ster.  There  is  also  preserved  at  Carton  a 
transcript,  made  in  1633  for  Kildare,  of  an 
ancient  volume  known  as  the  f  Red  Book  of 
the  Earls  of  Kildare.'  Kildare  sat  for  the 
first  time  in  the  House  of  Peers,  Ireland,  in 
1634,  and  was  appointed  colonel  of  a  foot 
regiment  in  the  English  army  in  Ireland. 
With  pecuniary  advances  from  Lord  Cork 
Kildare  rebuilt  the  decayed  castle  of  his  an- 
cestors at  Maynooth  in  the  county  of  Kildare. 
James  Shirley,  the  dramatist,  during  his  visit 
to  Dublin  in  1637-8,  was  befriended  by  Kil- 
dare, and  dedicated  to  him  his  tragi-comedy 
entitled  '  The  Royal  Master/  acted  at  the 
castle  and  the  theatre,  Dublin,  in  1638.  Kil- 
dare was  about  that  time  committed  to  prison 
for  having  disobeyed  an  order  made  by  the 
lord  deputy  for  the  delivery  of  documents 
connected  with  a  suit  at  law  with  Lord  Digby. 
In  1641  Kildare  was  appointed  governor  of 
the  county  of  Kildare,  and  subsequently  took 
part  with  the  leaders  of  the  protestant  party 
in  Ireland  in  opposing  the  movements  of  the 
Irish  catholics  to  obtain  from  Charles  I  re- 
dress of  their  grievances.  Correspondence 
between  Kildare  and  the  viceroy,  Ormonde, 
in  1644  appears  in  the  third  and  fourth  vo- 
lumes of  the l  History  of  the  Irish  Confedera- 
tion and  War.'  In  January  1645-6  Kildare 
and  the  Marquis  of  Clanricarde  became  sure- 
ties to  the  extent  of  10,000/.  each  for  the 
Earl  of  Glamorgan,  on  the  occasion  of  his 
liberation  from  prison  at  Dublin.  Kildare 
acted  as  governor  of  Dublin  under  the  par- 
liamentarian colonel,  Michael  Jones,  in  1647, 


and  in  1649  he  received  a  pension  of  46s. 
weekly  from  the  government.  In  a  subse- 
quent petition  to  the  chief  justice  of  Munster 
Kildare  stated  that  during  eleven  years  he 
and  his  family  had  been  driven  to  great  ex- 
tremities and  endured  much  hardship  in 
England  and  Ireland  through  his  constant 
adherence  and  faithful  affection  to  the  par- 
liament of  England ;  that  he  was  then,  for 
debt,  under  restraint  in  London,  and  had 
despatched  his  wife  and  some  of  his  servants 
to  Ireland  in  hopes  to  raise  a  considerable 
sum  out  of  his  estate  for  his  enlargement 
and  subsistence.  By  his  wife,  who  died  in 
1656,  he  had  three  sons  and  six  daughters. 
Kildare  died  early  in  1660.  He  was  buried 
at  Kildare.  His  second  son,  Wentworth 
Fitzgerald,  succeeded  him  as  seventeenth  earl 
of  Kildare. 

[Archives  of  the  Duke  of  Leinster ;  Ormonde 
Archives  (Kilkenny  Castle) ;  Diaries  of  the  Earl 
of  Cork  ;  Carte  Papers  (Bodleian  Library),  vol. 
xvi. ;  History  of  the  Irish  Confederation  and 
War,  1643-6  (Dublin,  1885-9) ;  Works  of  James 
Shirley,  1-833 ;  History  of  the  City  of  Dublin, 
1854;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  9th  Rep.  1884;  The 
Earls  of  Kildare,  by  the  Marquis  of  Kildare, 
1858-62.]  J.  T.  G. 

FITZGERALD,    GEORGE    ROBERT 

(1748  P-1786),  known  as  <  Fighting  Fitz- 
gerald,' was  a  descendant  of  the  Desmond 
branch  of  the  great  Geraldine  family,  an- 
ciently settled  in  Waterford,  but  removed  in 
the  time  of  Cromwell  to  county  Mayo.  He 
was  the  eldest  son  of  George  Fitzgerald,  who 
was  for  some  time  an  officer  in  the  Austrian 
service,  by  Lady  Mary  Hervey,  formerly  maid 
of  honour  to  the  Princess  Amelia,  and  sister 
to  the  Earl  of  Bristol,  bishop  of  Deny.  He 
was  educated  at  Eton,  which  he  left  to  join 
the  army,  his  first  quarters  being  at  Gal  way. 
He  soon  became  noted  for  his  gallantry,  his 
recklessness,  and  his  duels.  Having  at  Dublin 
made  the  acquaintance  of  the  sister  of  the 
Right  Hon.  Thomas  Conolly  of  Castletown, 
cousin  of  the  Duke  of  Leinster,  he  married 
her  against  the  wishes  of  her  parents,  re- 
ceiving with  her  a  fortune  of  10,000/.  Soon 
afterwards  he  went  to  the  continent,  where 
his  wife  died,  leaving  an  only  daughter.  In 
1773  he  gained  celebrity  in  connection  with 
a  fracas  at  Vauxhall  relating  to  an  actress, 
Mrs.  Hartley.  A  clergyman,  the  Rev.  Henry 
Bate  [see  DUDLEY,  SIR  HENRY  BATE],  who 
protected  the  actress  against  the  familiarities 
of  Fitzgerald  and  his  friends,  had,  however, 
much  the  best  of  the  quarrel  (see  The  Vaux- 
hall Dispute,  or  the  Macaronies  Defeated; 
being  a  compilation  of  all  the  Letters,  Squibs, 
4*c.,  on  both  sides  of  the  Dispute,  1773).  Fitz- 
gerald married  a  second  time  the  only  daugh- 


Fitzgerald 


Fitzgerald 


ter  and  heiress  of  Mr.  Vaughan  of  Carrow- 
more,  Mayo.  He  now  began  to  take  an 
active  interest  in  politics.  He  was  a  strong 
supporter  of  the  legislative  independence  of 
Ireland,  and  assisted  in  the  formation  of  the 
volunteer  companies.  On  his  estate  in  county 
Mayo  he  boasted  with  truth  that  he  had  in- 
troduced numerous  improvements,  much  at- 
tention being  devoted  by  him  to  the  growth 
of  wheat.  His  serious  occupations  were  re- 
lieved by  wild  adventures,  including  a  habit 
introduced  by  him  of  hunting  at  night.  For 
a  sum  of  8,OOOZ.  per  annum  paid  down  his 
father  granted  him  a  rent-charge  of  1,000^. 
per  annum,  and  agreed  to  settle  his  whole 
estates  on  him  and  his  issue  male.  As,  how- 
ever, it  now  seemed  unlikely  that  young 
Fitzgerald  would  ever  have  any  issue  male, 
he  became  jealous  of  his  younger  brother, 
whose  issue  would  ultimately  inherit  the 
property.  The  father  having  fallen  in  arrears 
in  the  payment  of  the  rent-charge  to  the 
amount  of  12,000/.,  young  Fitzgerald,  by  an 
order  of  the  court  of  exchequer,  got  posses- 
sion of  the  property,  his  father  being  allowed 
a  comparatively  small  annuity.  This  an- 
nuity the  son  neglected  to  pay,  and  carried 
off  his  younger  brother  to  his  house  at  Tur- 
lough.  Thereupon  his  brother  brought  an 
action  against  him  for  forcible  abduction, 
and  being  found  guilty  he  was  sentenced  to 
three  years' imprisonment  and  a  fine  of  1,000/. 
The  sentence  proved  for  a  time  a  dead-letter. 
He  retreated  to  Sligo  with  his  father,  and, 
being  closely  followed,  embarked  with  him 
in  a  boat  for  a  small  island  in  Sligo  Bay. 
Here  his  father  proposed  to  him  that  if  he 
would  pay  him  3,000/.  to  clear  his  debts, 
and  give  him  a  small  yearly  stipend,  he 
would  convey  to  him  the  reversion  in  the 
estate  and  exonerate  him  of  all  blame  in  the 
forcible  abduction.  To  this  he  agreed,  and, 
proceeding  by  unfrequented  roads,  the  two 
together  reached  Dublin.  No  sooner  had 
they  reached  it  than  the  father  set  him  at 
defiance.  A  reward  of  3,0001.  having  pre- 
viously been  offered  for  his  capture,  it  was 
not  long  before  he  was  arrested.  He  endea- 
voured to  move  for  a  new  trial,  but  with- 
out effect,  and  he  was  sent  to  prison,  where 
he  remained  till  a  serious  illness  induced  the 
authorities  to  liberate  him.  Soon  afterwards 
one  Patrick  Randal  McDonnell,  who  had  been 
in  league  against  him,  was  shot  at  and 
wounded  in  the  leg.  One  Murphy,  a  re- 
tainer of  Fitzgerald,  was  arrested  on  sus- 
picion, but  would  reveal  nothing.  Fitzgerald 
now  procured  a  warrant  for  the  arrest  of 
M'Donnell  and  others  for  false  imprisonment 
of  Murphy,  but  it  could  not  be  immediately 
executed  on  account  of  McDonnell's  illness 


from  the  wound  in  his  leg.  Knowing,  how- 
ever, that  McDonnell  would  on  a  certain  day 
proceed  from  Castlebar  to  Chancery  Hall, 
they  beset  him  on  his  return  and  took  him 
prisoner.  In  the  scuffle  one  of  the  escort  was 
shot.  The  volunteers  coming  up,  the  tables 
were,  however,  turned  against  Fitzgerald, 
who  was  captured  and  lodged  in  gaol.  While 
there  he  was  in  some  inexplicable  way  at- 
tacked by  a  mob  of  men,  who  left  him  in  a 
very  weak  condition  on  the  supposition  that 
he  was  dead  ;  but  he  survived  to  stand  his 
trial  for  murder,  and  being  found  guilty  was 
executed  at  Castlebar  in  the  evening  of  Mon- 
day, 12  June  1786.  He  was  interred  at  mid- 
night in  the  family  tomb  in  a  chapel  which, 
now  in  ruins,  adjoins  a  round  tower. 

[Memoirs  of  G.  E.  Fitzgerald,  1786  ;  Life,  in 
Dublin  University  Magazine,  xvi.  1-21,  179- 
197,  304-24,  reprinted  in  1852  ;  Appeal  to  the 
Jockey  Club,  &c.,  1 775  ;  Case  of  G.  E.  Fitzgerald, 
1786  ;  Gent.  Mag.  vol.  Ivi.  pt.  i.  346-7,  434, 
518-20  ;  Sir  Jonah  Barrington's  Memoirs.] 

T.  F.  H. 

FITZGERALD,  GERALD,  LORD  OF 
OFPALY  (d.  1204),  was  the  son  of  Maurice 
Fitzgerald  (d.  1176)  [q.  v.],  the  invader  of 
Ireland.  Though  the  Geraldines  had  already 
become  a  well-known  family,  Gerald  is  more 
often  called  Fitzmaurice  than  Fitzgerald.  Ac- 
companying his  father  from  Wales  to  Ireland, 
he  and  his  brother  Alexander  showed  great 
valour  in  the  battle  against  Roderick  O'Conor, 
outside  the  walls  of  Dublin  in  1171  (Exp. 
Hib.  in  GIRALDTJS,  Opera,  v.  268,  Rolls  Ser.) 
After  his  father's  death,  William  Fitzaldhelm 
[q.  v.]  deprived  him  and  his  brothers  of  their 
stronghold  of  Wicklow,  though  after  a  time 
compelled  to  give  them  Ferns  in  exchange 
(ib.  p.  337).  He  had  already  received  from 
Strongbow,  Naas  and  other  districts  in  Kil- 
dare,  and  had  erected  Maynooth  Castle  (GiL- 
BEET,  Viceroys  of  Ireland,  p.  93).  In  1199, 
though  receiving  King  John's  letters  of  pro- 
tection, he  was  ordered  to  do  right  to  Maurice 
Fitzphilip  for  the  lands  of  '  Gessil  and  Lega' 
(?  Leix),  whereof  he  had  already  deforced 
Maurice  {Chart.  1  John,  m.  6,  p.  i. ;  Oblate 
1  John,  m.  12;  Cal.  Doc.  Ireland,  Nos.  101, 
102).  But  on  his  death,  Gerald  was  still  in 
possession  of  those  estates  {Cal.  Doc.  Ireland, 
No.  195).  He  is  often  described  as  '  Baron 
Offaly,'  the  middle  cantred  of  which  had  been 
among  his  father's  possessions.  He  died  be- 
fore 15  Jan.  1204  (ib.  No.  195),  though  gene- 
rally said  to  have  died  in  1205  (Book  of 
Howth,  p.  118,  which  describes  him  erro- 
neously as  justice  of  Ireland).  He  married 
Catherine,  daughter  of  Hamon  of  Valognes, 
justiciar  of  Ireland  between  1197  and  1199 
(GILBERT,  Viceroys,  pp.  57,  93).  He  left  by 


Fitzgerald 


116 


Fitzgerald 


her  two  sons  (LODGE,  Peerage  of  Ireland,  i. 
59).  one  of  whom,  his  successor,  was  Maurice 
Fitzgerald,  lord  of  Offaly  (1194  P-1257)  [q.  v.] 
Gerald  is  described  by  his  cousin,  Giraldus 
Cambrensis,  as  small  in  stature,  but  distin- 
guished for  prudence  and  honesty  (Exp.  Hib. 
p.  354).  He  was  the  ancestor  of  the  earls  of 
Kildare. 

[Authorities  referred  to  in  text.]     T.  F.  T. 

FITZGERALD,  GERALD,  fourth  EAEL 
OF  DESMOND  (d.  1398),  justiciar  of  Ireland, 
was  the  son  of  Maurice  Fitzthomas,  the  first 
earl  of  Desmond  [q.  v.],  by  his  second  wife, 
Evelina  or  Eleanor  Fitzmaurice,  and  was 
generally  styled  Gerald  Fitzmaurice.  He 
was  in  1356  taken  prisoner  by  the  Irish,  but 
released  on  a  truce  being  made  (  Cal.  Rot.  Pat. 
et  Claus.  Hib.  p.  59).  His  father's  death  in  the 
same  year  was  soon  followed  by  that  of  his 
elder  brother,  Maurice,  the  second  earl.  This 
produced  great  disturbances  in  Munster.  To 
appease  them  Edward  III  granted  to  Gerald 
the  lands  of  his  brother  Maurice,  together  with 
the  custody  of  his  idiot  brother,  Nicholas,  who 
seems  to  have  been  regarded  as  incompetent 
to  succeed  (id.  p.  72).  This  was  on  3  July 
1359.  On  20  July  the  king  renewed  the  grant 
on  condition  of  Gerald's  marrying  Eleanor,  the 
daughter  of  James  Butler,  earl  of  Ormonde, 
then  justiciar  of  Ireland  (Feeder  a,  iii.  433). 
The  peerage  writers  describe  Gerald  as  the 
fourth  earl,  on  the  assumption  that  either 
Nicholas  or  another  brother,  John,  previously 
bore  the  title  (LODGE,  Peerage  of  Ireland,  i. 
65 ;  cf. l  Pedigree  of  the  Desmonds,' in  GRAVES, 
Unpublished  Geraldine  Documents,  pt.  ii.) 
But  the  authorities  only  know  of  Maurice 
and  his  father  as  his  predecessors  in  the  title. 
The  '  Book  of  Howth  '  (p.  118)  describes  him 
rightly  as  third  earl. 

In  1367  Desmond  succeeded  Lionel,  duke 
of  Clarence,  as  justiciar  of  Ireland  (GRACE, 
Annals,  p.  154).  The  appointment  was  a 
confession  of  weakness  of  the  home  govern- 
ment, for  Gerald  carried  on  even  further  than 
his  father  that  policy  of  amalgamation  with 
the  native  Irish  which  it  had  been  Lionel's 
main  object  to  prevent.  The  period  of  his 
rule  was  almost  exceptionally  turbulent.  A 
great  meeting  was  held  at  Kilkenny  to  in- 
duce the  Birminghams  to  live  in  peace  with 
the  government,  and  the  king's  officials  peti- 
tioned for  the  removal  of  the  exchequer  from 
Carlow,  where  it  was  exposed  to  the  Irish 
attacks.  In  1368  the  Irish  parliament  peti- 
tioned that  all  who  held  land  in  Irelanc 
should  be  compelled  to  defend  their  estates 
in  person  or  by  sufficient  deputies.  In  1369 
Desmond  was  superseded  by  Sir  William  de 
Windsor.  In  the  same  vear  Desmond  was 


lefeated  near  Nenagh  and  taken  prisoner  by 
3rien  O'Brien,  king  of  Thomond,  whose  vic- 
orious  army  now  plundered  and  destroyed 
"  imerick  (Annals  of  Loch  Ce,  ii.  43  ;  Annals 
if  the  Four  Masters,  iii.  649).  It  was  one  of 
he  greatest  victories  ever  won  by  the  Irish 
if  Munster.  In  1370  Windsor  led  an  ex- 
jedition  to  effect  Desmond's  release,  but  in 
.372  O'Brien  was  again  in  arms  and  threaten- 
ng  Limerick  (Cal.  Rot.  Pat.  et  Claus.  Hib. 
p.  846). 

In  1377  Desmond  was  at  war  with  Richard 
de  Burgh  (ib.  p.  103  b\  In  1381  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  t  repress  the  malice  of  the  rebels ; 
n  Munster,  where  no  justiciar  ventured  to 
show  his  face  after  the  death  of  the  Earl  of 
March  (ib.  pp.  114,  115).  In  1386  he  again 
acted  as  deputy  of  the  justiciar  in  Munster 
[ib.  p.  127  6).  In  1393  he  obtained  from  the 
council  an  order  compelling  the  town  of  Cork 
;o  pay  him  a  rent  already  granted  '  consider- 
ng  the  great  expenses  which  he  continually 
sustains  in  the  king's  wars  in  Munster '  (King's 
Council  in  Ireland,  16  Richard  II,  p.  126, 
Rolls  Ser.)  During  the  latter  part  of  his  life 
tie  was  constantly  at  war  with  his  hereditary 
foes,  the  Butlers  (ib.  p.  261 ;  cf.  Cal.  Rot.  Pat. 
et  Claus.  Hib.  pp.  121,  122  6). 

Desmond  is  generally  described  in  the  re- 
cords as  the  chief  upholder  of  the  king's  cause 
in  Munster.  Yet  his  policy  was  to  set  the  law 
at  defiance  and  adopt  Irish  customs  and  sym- 
pathies. He  obtained  in  1388  a  royal  license 
to  allow  his  son  James  to  be  fostered  among 
his  old  enemies,  the  O'Briens,  notwithstanding 
the  statute  of  Kilkenny  (Cal.  Rot.  Pat.  et 
Claus.  Hib.  p.  139).  The  Irish  annalists  are 
enthusiastic  in  his  praises.  The '  Four  Masters ' 
describe  him  as  '  a  cheerful  and  courteous 
man,  who  excelled  all  the  English  and  many 
of  the  Irish  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Irish 
language,  poetry,  and  history '  (iv.  761,  cf. 
note  on  p.  760).  He  was  a  man  of  some  cul- 
ture and  refinement.  He  was  called  '  Gerald 
the  poet,'  and  some  short  French  verses  attri- 
buted to  him  still  survive  in  the  '  Book  of 
Ross  or  Waterford,'  in  Harl.  MS.  913,  f.  15  b, 
with  the  title  '  Proverbia  Comitis  Desmond/ 
'  The  point  of  these  is  not  very  evident  beyond 
an  ingenious  play  on  words '  (CROKER,  Popular 
Songs  of  Ireland,  p.  287).  He  is  also  de- 
scribed as  a  mathematician  and  magician. 
He  died  in  1398,  but  the  Munster  peasantry 
long  believed  that  he  had  only  disappeared 
beneath  the  waters  of  Lough  Air,  near  Lime- 
rick, and  that  every  seven  years  he  revisited 
its  castle. 

By  his  wife,  Eleanor  Butler,  who  died  in 
1392,  and  is  described  as  a  '  charitable  and 
bountiful  woman  '  (Annals  of  Loch  Ce,  ii.  75), 
Desmond  left  several  children.  The  eldest 


Fitzgerald 


117 


Fitzgerald 


son,  John,  the  fifth  earl,  according  to  the  ordi- 
nary reckoning,  was  drowned  in  the  river 
Suir,  within  a  few  months  of  his  father's  death 
{Four  Masters,  iv.  761).  The  next  son,  Mau- 
rice, died  without  male  issue  in  1410.  The 
third  son,  James,  the  O'Brien's  foster-son, 
usurped  the  earldom  from  his  nephew  Tho- 
mas, the  sixth  earl,  son  of  John.  James  was 
the  father  of  Thomas  Fitzgerald,  eighth  earl 
of  Desmond  [q.  v.]  Two  daughters  of  Gerald 
and  Eleanor  are  also  mentioned  ('  Pedigree 
of  the  Desmonds,'  in  GRAVES,  Unpublished 
Geraldine  Documents,  pt.  ii.) 

[Chartularies,  &c.,  of  St.  Mary's  Abbey,  Dub- 
lin ;  Annals  of  Loch  Ce,  both  in  Eolls 'Series; 
Calendar  of  the  Patent  and  Close  Eolls  of  Ireland, 
Eecord  Coram.;  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters; 
Clyn's  Annals  and  Grace's  Annals  (Irish  Archaeo- 
logical Soc.) ;  Lodge's  Peerage  of  Ireland,  vol.  i. 
(Archdall) ;  Graves's  Unpublished  Geraldine 
Documents,  first  printed  in  Journal  of  Kilkenny 
Archaeological  Society,  and  then  separately  ;  Gil- 
bert's Viceroys  of  Ireland ;  and  the  other  autho- 
rities referred  to  in  the  text.]  T.  F.  T. 

FITZGERALD,  GERALD,  eighth  EARL 
OF  KILDARE  (d.  1513),  was  son  of  Thomas 
Fitzgerald,  seventh  earl  of  Kildare  [q.  v.], 
by  his  wife  Joan,  daughter  of  James,  earl  of 
Desmond.  Gerald  became  Earl  of  Kildare 
on  the  death  of  his  father  in  1477,  and  was 
elected  by  the  council  at  Dublin  to  succeed 
him  as  deputy-governor  in  Ireland.  Ed- 
ward IV,  however,  nominated  Henry,  lord 
Grey,  to  that  office.  In  connection  with  the 
appointment  serious  complications  arose.  Kil- 
dare and  Grey  respectively  asserted  rights 
as  governors,  and  presided  over  rival  parlia- 
ments of  the  English  settlement  in  Ireland. 
After  the  termination  of  the  contest  Kildare 
was,  in  1481,  appointed  as  deputy  in  Ireland 
for  the  viceroy,  Richard,  duke  of  York,  and 
during  the  closing  years  of  Edward  IV 
advanced  much  in  wealth  and  influence. 
He  married  Alison,  daughter  of  Sir  Row- 
land Fitzeustace,  baron  of  Portlester,  and 
formed  alliances  with  the  most  important 
Irish  and  Anglo-Irish  families.  Richard  III, 
on  his  accession,  laboured  to  secure  the  in- 
terest of  Kildare,  and  appointed  him  deputy- 
governor  in  Ireland  for  his  son,  Prince  Ed- 
ward. Kildare  identified  himself  prominently 
with  the  Yorkist  movement  in  Ireland,  which 
led  to  the  battle  at  Stoke.  In  1488,  through 
the  medium  of  Sir  Richard  Edgecombe,  Kil- 
dare was  taken  into  favour  by  Henry  VII,  and 
received  pardon  under  the  great  seal.  As 
lord  deputy  he  acted  energetically  against 
some  of  the  hostile  Irish,  but  was  subse- 
quently suspected  of  favouring  the  claims 
of  Perkin  Warbeck.  Kildare  deferred  com- 
pliance with  a  royal  mandate  for  his  appear- 


ance in  England.  His  messengers,  sent  with 
despatches  to  the  king,  were  imprisoned  at 
London,  for  which  no  explanation  was  ac- 
corded to  him.  In  a  letter  to  the  Earl  of 
Ormonde  Kildare  complained  of  this  treat- 
ment, and  mentioned  that  he  understood  that 
he  had  been  falsely  accused  of  having  favoured 
Perkin  Warbeck.  He  declared  that  he  had 
never  aided  or  supported  him,  and  that  his 
loyalty  had  been  certified  to  the  king  by  the 
principal  lords  of  Ireland.  At  the  same  time 
the  Earl  of  Desmond,  and  other  chief  per- 
sonages in  Ireland,  by  letter  entreated  the 
king  not  to  require  Kildare  to  attend  on  him 
in  England,  as  they  alleged  that  the  English 
interest  in  Ireland  would  be  severely  preju- 
diced by  his  absence,  and  they  assured  the 
king  that  he  was  a  true  and  faithful  subject. 
Kildare  was  attainted  in  a  parliament  con- 
vened by  Sir  Edward  Poynings  at  Drogheda 
in  November  1494,  and  sent  as  prisoner  to 
the  Tower  of  London.  After  a  detention 
there  for  two  years  the  earl  was  pardoned, 
and  appointed  lord  deputy  in  1496.  In  that 
year  he  married,  as  his  second  wife,  Eliza- 
beth St.  John,  first  cousin  to  Henry  VII. 
In  1498  Kildare  presided  at  the  first  parlia- 
ment held  in  Ireland  under  Poynings'  law. 
The  statutes  enacted  on  that  occasion  were 
afterwards  officially  declared  to  have  been 
lost,  but  they  have  been  brought  to  light  and 
published  by  the  writer  of  the  present  notice. 
Of  Kildare's  military  operations  the  most 
important  was  that  in  1504  at  Cnoctuagh, 
near  Galway,  in  which  he  obtained  a  victory 
over  forces  commanded  by  some  of  the  chief 
nobles  of  Connacht  and  Munster.  He  was 
installed  as  a  knight  of  the  Garter  in  May 
1505,  and  continued  as  deputy  in  Ireland  in 
the  early  years  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII. 
Kildare  died  in  September  1513  of  a  wound 
which  he  received  in  an  engagement  with  a 
sept  of  Leinster.  He  was  interred  in  a 
chapel  which  he  had  erected  in  the  convent 
of  the  Holy  Trinity,  now  known  as  Christ 
Church,  Dublin.  Contemporary  chroniclers 
styled  him '  the  great  earl,'  and  described  him 
as  l  a  mighty  made  man,  full  of  honour  and 
courage,  soon  hot  and  soon  cold,  somewhat 
headlong  and  unruly  towards  the  nobles 
whom  he  fancied  not.'  His  son  Gerald  suc- 
ceeded as  ninth  earl  [q.  v.]  A  covenant  in 
the  Irish  language,  executed  about  1510,  be- 
tween Kildare  and  the  sept  of  MacGeoghegan, 
extant  in  the  British  Museum,  has  been  re- 
produced in  the  third  part  of  '  Facsimiles  of 
National  MSS.  of  Ireland/  London,  1879. 

[Archives  of  the  Duke  of  Leinster;  Unpub- 
lished Statute  Eolls  of  Ireland ;  Patent  Eolls, 
Henry  VII ;  State  Papers,  Public  Eecord  Office, 
London;  Harleian  MS.  433;  Holinshed's  Chro- 


Fitzgerald 


118 


Fitzgerald 


nicies,  1586  ;  Obits  of  Christ  Church,  Dublin, 
1844;  Papers  of  Richard  in,  1861  ;  Earls  of 
Kildare,  1862;  Hist,  of  Viceroys  of  Ireland, 
1865  ;  Eeport  of  Hist.  MSS.  Commission,  1883.] 

J.  T.  G. 

FITZGERALD,  GERALD,  ninth  EAEL 
or  KILDARE  (1487-1534),  son  of  Gerald  Fitz- 
gerald, eighth  earl  [q.  v.],  by  his  first  wife, 
Alison  Eustace,  daughter  and  coheiress  of 
Rowland,  baron  of  Portlester,  was  born  in 
1487.  Sent  into  England  in  1493  as  a  pledge 
of  his  father's  loyalty,  his  youth  was  spent 
at  court,  where  he  was  treated  as  befitted  his 
rank.  In  1 503  he  married  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  Sir  John  Zouche  of  Codnor  in  Derbyshire, 
*  a  woman  of  rare  probity  of  mind  and  every 
way  commendable.'  Shortly  after  his  mar- 
riage he  was  allowed  to  return  to  Ireland, 
and  on  28  Feb.  1504  was  appointed  lord  high 
treasurer.  In  the  same  year  he  accompanied 
his  father,  the  lord  deputy,  on  an  expedition 
against  Mac  William  of  Clanricarde  and 
(JBrien  of  Thomond.  In  the  battle  of  Knock- 
doe  on  19  Aug.  he  commanded  the  reserve, 
but '  seeing  the  battle  joining,  could  not  stand 
still  to  wait  his  time  as  was  appointed/  and 
by  his  indiscreet  valour  allowed  the  Irish 
horse  to  capture  the  baggage  train,  together 
with  a  number  of  English  gentlemen  (An- 
nals of  the  Four  Masters,  ed.  O'Donovan,  v. 
1277  ;  Book  of  Howth,  p.  185 ;  HARDIM AN, 
Galway,  p.  76).  The  account  in  the  '  Book  of 
Howth '  must  be  received  with  caution ;  Ware 
prudently  remarks  regarding  Mac  William  and 
O'Brien :  '  De  particulari  eorum  machinatione 
non  possum  aliquid  pro  certo  affirmare'  (An- 
nales,  p.  71).  In  May  1508  he  was  again  in 
England,  but  for  what  purpose  is  not  clear 
(BERN AUDI  ANDREW  Annales,  p.  115).  On 
9  Nov.  1610  he  obtained  from  Henry  VIII  a 
grant  during  pleasure,  afterwards  confirmed 
in  tail  male,  of  the  manor  of  Ardmolghan,  co. 
Meath.  His  father  dying  on  30  Sept.  1513, 
he  was  elected  lord  justice  by  the  council 
pending  his  appointment  as  lord  deputy.  In 
the  following  year  he  undertook  an  expedi- 
tion against  the  O'Moores  and  O'Reillies,  and 
having  slain  Hugh  O'Reilly  he  returned  to 
Dublin  laden  with  plunder.  For  this  and 
other  services  done  against  the  '  wild  Irish ' 
he  was  rewarded  with  the  customs  and  dues 
of  the  ports  of  Strangford  and  Ardglass. 
As  yet  nothing  had  happened  to  mar  the 
friendly  relations  between  him  and  his  bro- 
ther-in-law, Piers  Butler.  In  1514  he  pre- 
sented Sir  Piers  with  a  chief  horse,  a  grey 
hackney,  and  a  haubergeon,  and  about  the 
same  time  united  with  him  to  frame  regula- 
tions for  the  government  of  the  counties  of 
Kilkenny  and  Tipperary.  In  June  1515  he 
crossed  over  into  England  to  confer  with  the 


king  about  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom,  and  in 
October  he  was  authorised  to  summon  a  par- 
liament, which  met  in  January  1516.  At 
the  same  time  (October  1515)  he  was,  by 
license  of  the  king,  permitted  to  carry  into 
execution  a  scheme,  originated  by  his  father, 
for  the  foundation  and  endowment  of  a  col- 
lege in  honour  of  the  Virgin  at  Maynooth, 
co.  Kildare,  which,  however,  was  shortly 
afterwards  suppressed  with  other  religious 
houses  in  1538.  In  1516  he  conducted  an 
expedition  against  the  O'Tooles,  who  by 
their  constant  depredations  considerably  an- 
noyed the  citizens  of  Dublin.  Marching  west 
he  next  invaded  Ely  O'Carroll,  where  he  was 
joined  by  several  noblemen  of  Munster  and 
Leinster,  including  Piers,  earl  of  Ormonde, 
and  James,  eldest  son  of  the  Earl  of  Desmond. 
Having  captured  and  razed  the  castle  of 
Lemyvannan  (Leim-Ui-Bhanain,  i.e.  O'Ba- 
nan's  leap)  he  marched  rapidly  on  Clonmel, 
which  having  surrendered  on  conditions  he 
returned  to  Dublin  in  December  '  laden  with 
booty,  hostages,  and  honour.'  In  March  1517 
he  held  a  parliament  at  Dublin,  after  which 
he  invaded  Lecale,  where  he  stormed  and  re- 
captured the  castle  of  Dundrum.  Thence  he 
marched  against  Phelim  Magennis,  whom  he 
defeated  and  took  prisoner,  and  having  cap- 
tured the  castle  of  Dungannon  and  laid  waste 
Tyrone,  l  he  reduced  Ireland  to  a  quiet  condi- 
tion.' Shortly  after  his  return,  in  October, 
his  wife,  whom  he  dearly  loved,  died  at  Lucan, 
and  was  by  him  buried  with  great  pomp  near 
his  mother  in  the  monastery  of  the  Friars 
Observant  at  Kilcullen,  co.  Kildare.  Hitherto 
there  had  been  no  question  made  of  his  loyalty. 
In  1515,  however,  Sir  Piers  Butler  [q.  v.] 
succeeded  to  the  earldom  of  Ormonde,  and 
shortly  afterwards  the  old  hereditary  feud 
between  the  two  houses  broke  out  with  re- 
doubled violence.  (There  is  a  judicious  account 
of  this  quarrel  in  the  '  History  of  St.  Canice's 
Cathedral.'  Mr.  Froude's  narrative  is  dis- 
torted by  his  extreme  partiality  for  Ormonde. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  story  in  Stanihurst, 
manifestly  derived  from  Geraldine  sources, 
must  be  received  with  caution.  One  notice- 
able feature  is  the  vehement  animosity  of  the 
Countess  of  Ormonde  towards  her  brother.) 
At  the  instigation  of  Ormonde  a  charge  of 
maladministration  was  preferred  against  him 
in  1518,  and  early  in  the  following  year  he 
sailed  for  England.  The  investigation  of  the 
charges  against  him  was  committed  to  Wol- 
sey,  but  Wolsey,  either  from  policy  or  pres- 
sure of  other  business,  continually  postponed 
the  inquiry.  In  1520  Kildare  married  the 
Lady  Elizabeth  Grey,  fourth  daughter  of 
Thomas,  marquis  of  Dorset,  granddaughter 
of  Elizabeth  Woodville,  queen  of  Edward  IV 


Fitzgerald 


119 


Fitzgerald 


and  first  cousin  of  Henry  VIII.  The  same 
year  he  was  removed  from  office  and  the  Earl 
of  Surrey  appointed  lord-lieutenant.  Poly- 
dore  Vergil  was  perhaps  not  an  unprejudiced 
observer,  but  he  undoubtedly  expressed  the 
general  feeling  when  he  remarked  that  in 
making  this  change  Wolsey  was  actuated 
rather  by  hatred  of  Kildare  than  by  any  love 
for  Surrey  (Historia  Anglica,  lib.  xxvii.)  In 
June  Kildare  accompanied  Henry  to  the 
Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold,  where  he  was  dis- 
tinguished for  his  gallant  bearing.  Fretting, 
however,  under  his  detention,  he  seems  to 
have  entered  into  treasonable  negotiations 
with  the  wild  Irish  to  invade  the  Pale,  but 
the  charge  was  never  brought  home  to  him, 
and  it  ought  to  be  noted  that  the  chief  wit- 
ness against  him,  O'Carroll,  was  a  kinsman 
of  Ormonde's.  He  was  placed  under  restraint, 
and  though  shortly  afterwards  released,  it 
was  not  till  July  1523  that  he  was  allowed 
to  return  to  Ireland.  In  1521  Ormonde  had 
been  appointed  deputy  to  the  Earl  of  Surrey. 
For  a  brief  period  peace  prevailed  between 
the  two  rivals,  but  in  October  the  feud  broke 
out  afresh.  In  November  they  consented  to 
a  treaty  of  peace  '  for  one  year  only.'  But 
the  murder  of  Robert  Talbot,  a  retainer  of 
Ormonde's,  suspected  of  spying  upon  Kildare, 
by  James  Fitzgerald,  in  December,  at  once 
led  to  further  acts  of  hostility  on  both  sides. 
A  new  charge  of  treason  was  preferred  against 
Mm,  but  by  the  influence  of  the  Marquis  of 
Dorset  the  commission  of  investigation  was 
appointed  to  sit  in  Ireland,  with  the  result 
that  in  August  1524  Ormonde  was  removed 
from  office  and  Kildare  established  in  his 
stead.  Immediately  afterwards  he  was  or- 
dered to  arrest  the  Earl  of  Desmond,  believed 
to  be  engaged  in  treasonable  negotiations 
with  Francis  I,  '  but  whether  willingly  or 
wittingly  he  omitted  the  opportunity,  as  being 
loath  to  be  the  minister  of  his  cousin  Des- 
mond's ruin,  or  that  it  lay  not  in  his  power 
and  hands  to  do  him  hurt  or  harm,  he  missed 
the  mark  at  which  he  aimed  '  (RussEL,  Nar- 
rative). On  his  return  he  advanced  into 
Ulster  to  the  assistance  of  his  son-in-law,  Con 
O'Neill,  assailed  on  one  side  by  O'Donnell 
and  on  the  other  by  his  rival,  Hugh  O'Neill. 
In  May  1525  he  held  a  parliament  at  Dublin, 
and  shortly  afterwards  *  crucified '  Maurice 
Kavanagh,  archdeacon  of  Leighlin,  for  the 
murder  of  his  kinsman,  Maurice  Doran,  bishop 
of  Leighlin  (DowLiNG,  Annals').  The  same 
year  the  charge  of  treasonable  practices  was 
renewed  against  him  by  the  Earl  of  Ossory 
{he  had  recently  resigned  the  earldom  of  Or- 
monde to  Sir  Thomas  Boleyn  [q.  v.])  on  the 
ground  that  he  had  wilfully  neglected  to  ar- 
rest the  Earl  of  Desmond  and  that  he  had 


connected  himself  by  marriage  with  the  'Irish 
enemy.'  Accordingly,  in  compliance  with  a 
summons  from  Henry  he  passed  over  next 
year  into  England,  and  was  immediately 
clapped  in  the  Tower.  As  to  the  story  told 
by  Stanihurst  of  his  trial  before  the  council 
and  of  Wolsey 's  abortive  attempt  to  have  him 
secretly  executed,  it  can  only  be  said  that 
there  is  perhaps  a  grain  of  truth  in  it.  But 
that  Wolsey's  hatred  should  have  led  him  to 
commit  such  an  egregious  piece  of  folly  is 
incredible,  if  indeed  it  is  not  absolutely  dis- 
proved by  state  documents  (State  Papers, 
Hen.  VIII,  ii.  138).  However  this  may  have 
been,  he  was  shortly  liberated  on  bail  and 
went  to  reside  at  Newington  in  Middlesex, 
a  seat  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk's.  His  deten- 
tion proving  irksome,  he,  in  July  1528,  sent 
his  daughter  Alice,  lady  Slane,  to  instigate 
his  Irish  allies  to  invade  the  Pale ;  but  his 
intrigues  being  suspected  he  was  again  con- 
fined to  the  Tower,  and  the  office  of  deputy 
transferred  to  Ossory.  In  1530,  on  the  ap- 
pointment of  Sir  W.  Skeffington,  he  was 
allowed  to  return  to  Ireland,  and  in  1531  ac- 
companied him  on  an  expedition  against 
O'Donnell.  But  he  regarded  the  appointment 
with  unconcealed  dislike,  and  Ossory,  ever 
ready  to  strike  a  blow  at  him,  combined  with 
the  deputy.  Once  again  was  he  compelled 
to  appear  in  England,  but  this  time  he  ac- 
quitted himself  so  successfully  as  to  obtain 
Skeffington's  removal  and  his  own  appoint- 
ment. On  his  return  in  August  1532  he  re- 
ceived an  ovation  from  the  populace  of  Dub- 
lin and  forthwith  proceeded  with  little  cere- 
mony to  remove  his  enemies  from  office.  In 
May  1533  he  held  a  parliament  at  Dublin, 
and  afterwards  went  to  the  assistance  of  his 
son-in-law,  O'Carroll  (son  of  Mulrony),  whose 
position  was  challenged  by  the  sons  of  John 
O'Carroll ;  but  during  the  siege  of  Birr  Castle 
he  received  a  bullet  wound  in  his  side,  which 
partially  deprived  him  of  the  use  of  his  limbs 
and  speech  (Cox's  assertion  that  he  was 
wounded  in  the  head  is  without  foundation 
in  fact).  Meanwhile  Ossory,  Archbishop 
Allen,  and  Robert  Cowley  were  busily  com- 
plaining of  his  conduct  to  the  king,  and  in 
consequence  of  their  representations  he  was 
again  summoned  to  England.  Suffering 
acutely  from  his  wound  he,  on  3  Oct.,  sent 
his  wife  to  make  his  excuses,  but  the  king 
was  resolved  on  his  coming,  and  gave  him 
permission  to  appoint  a  vice-deputy.  Ac- 
cordingly, having  held  a  council  at  Drogheda 
in  February  1534,  at  which  he  delivered  up 
the  sword  of  state  to  his  son  and  heir,  Tho- 
mas, lord  Oflaly  [q.  v.],  he  shortly  afterwards 
set  sail  on  his  last  and  fatal  voyage  (his 
speech  before  the  council  recorded  by  Stani- 


Fitzgerald 


120 


Fitzgerald 


hurst,  has  every  appearance  of  being  apocry- 
phal). On  his  arrival  in  April  he  was  ex- 
amined before  the  council,  and  his  reply  being 
deemed  unsatisfactory,  he  was  committed  to 
the  Tower,  though  so  ill  both  in  brain  and 
body,  according  to  Chapuys,  that  he  could 
do  nothing  either  good  or  evil.  He  would 
have  been  put  there  immediately  on  his 
arrival,  says  the  imperial  ambassador,  *  had 
it  not  been  that  the  king  always  hoped  to 
bring  over  and  entrap  his  son.'  On  being  in- 
formed of  Lord  Thomas's  rebellion  he  did  not 
care  to  blame  him,  but  showed  himself  very 
glad  of  it,  '  only  wishing  his  son  a  little  more 
age  and  experience.'  About  the  beginning  of 
September  he  was  allowed  somewhat  greater 
liberty,  his  wife  being  permitted  to  visit  him 
freely,  there  being  some  proposal  when  he 
got  a  little  better  to  send  him  into  Ireland 
to  influence  his  son  ;  but  he  died  before  the 
month  expired,  and  was  buried  in  St.  Peter's 
Church  in  the  Tower.  Valiant  even  to  rash- 
ness, beloved  by  his  friends  and  dependents, 
a  faithful  husband,  a  lover  of  hospitality,  he 
•was  by  no  means  a  match  for  his  rival  in 
diplomacy,  and  whatever  of  treason  there 
may  have  been  in  his  actions  it  was  due  rather 
to  imprudence  than  to  premeditated  dis- 
loyalty. The  office  of  deputy  he  regarded  as 
the  prerogative  of  his  house.  By  the  admis- 
sion of  his  enemies  he  was  '  the  greatest  im- 
prover of  his  lands '  in  Ireland.  Methodical 
in  his  habits  he  in  1518  commenced  an  im- 
port ant  book  called  'Kildare's Rental'  (edited 
by  H.  Hore  in '  Kilkenny  Arch.  Soc.  Journal,' 
1859, 62,66),which  affords  us  a  curious  glimpse 
of  the  peculiar  relations  existing  between 
landlords  and  their  tenantry  at  this  period. 
His  picture,  painted  in  1530  by  Holbein,  is 
preserved  in  the  library  at  Carton,  Maynooth, 
co.  Kildare. 

[There  is  a  serviceable  but  rather  uncritical 
life  in  The  Earls  of  Kildare,  by  C.  W.  Fitzgerald, 
late  Duke  of  Leinster.  The  chief  authorities  are 
the  State  Papers  (printed),  Henry  VIII,  vol.  ii., 
supplemented  by  Mr.  Gairdner's  admirable  ca- 
lendars ;  Sir  James  Ware's  Annals ;  Annals  of 
the  Four  Masters  ;  Annals  of  Loch  Ce ;  Lodge's 
Peerage  (Archdall).]  E.  D. 

FITZGERALD,  GERALD,  fifteenth 
EARL  OF  DESMOND  (d.  1583),  was  the  son 
of  James,  fourteenth  earl  [q.  v.],  whom  he 
succeeded  in  1558,  doing  homage  before  the 
lord  deputy,  Sussex,  at  Waterford  (28  Nov.) 
Shortly  afterwards,  attended  by '  one  hundred 
prime  gentlemen,'  he  crossed  over  into  Eng- 
land, where  he  was  graciously  received  by 
Elizabeth,  and  confirmed  by  her  (22  June 
1559)  in  all  the  lands,  jurisdictions,  seignories, 
and  privileges  that  were  held  in  times  past 
by  his  predecessors.  Already,  during  the  life- 


time of  his  father,  he  had  become  notorious 
for  his  turbulent  disposition,  and  for  his  prone- 
ness  to  private  war.  In  1560  a  dispute  arose^ 
between  him  and  Thomas  Butler,  tenth  earl 
of  Ormonde  [q.  v.],  about  the  prize  wine» 
of  Youghal  and  Kinsale,  which  the  latter 
claimed,  and  certain  debatable  lands  on  th& 
river  Suir,  into  which  Desmond  swore  Or- 
monde had  entered  by  force .  The  dispute,  con- 
ducted in  the  usual  Irish  fashion,  obliged  the 
government  to  intervene,  and  the  two  earls- 
were  accordingly  summoned  to  submit  their 
claims  in  person  to  Elizabeth.  Ormonde  alone- 
showed  any  willingness  to  obey ;  but  at  last, 
after  alleging  many  frivolous  pretexts  for  his. 
non-compliance,  Desmond  appeared  at  court 
about  the  beginning  of  May  1562,  attended  b  j 
a  numerous  retinue.  Being  charged  before- 
the  council  with  openly  defying  the  law  ia 
Ireland,  he  answered  contumaciously,  and  re- 
fusing to  apologise  was  forthwith  committed 
into  the  custody  of  the  lord  treasurer,  st, 
slight  confinement,  as  the  queen  wrote  to  his- 
countess,  which  would  do  him  no  harm,  and 
which  Sir  William  Fitzwilliam  hoped  would 
have  the  effect  of  bringing  him  to  such  senses 
as  he  had.  Though  soon  released,  he  was  not 
allowed  to  return  to  Ireland  till  the  begin- 
ning of  1564,  after  he  had  consented  to  such 
stipulations  as  were  deemed  essential  to  the* 
public  peace  (MoKRiN,  Patent  Rolls,  i.  485). 
Almost  immediately  after  his  return  he  in- 
volved himself  in  a  quarrel  between  the- 
Earl  of  Thomond  and  his  rival  Sir  Don- 
nell  O'Brien.  In  October  he  and  Ormonde- 
were  again  on  evil  terms  with  one  another, 
and  in  November  the  latter  complained  to* 
Cecil  that  he  was  continually  invading  his 
territories,  killing  the  queen's  subjects,  and 
carrying  off  his  cattle,  and  that  in  self-de- 
fence he  must  retaliate.  The  death  of  the- 
Countess  Joan,  the  wife  of  Desmond,  and 
the  mother  of  Ormonde,  early  in  1565,  re- 
moved the  last  restraint  on  his  conduct,  and 
on  1  Feb.  he  entered  the  territories  of  Sir  Mau- 
rice Fitzgerald,  viscount  Decies,  and  baron  of 
Dromana,  with  a  considerable  body  of  men  in 
order  to  enforce  his  claim  to  certain  disputed 
arrears  of  rents  and  services.  The  Baron  of  Dro- 
mana, however,  being  anxious  to  liberate  him- 
self from  his  feudal  superior,  had  meanwhile- 
enlisted  the  support  of  the  Earl  of  Ormonde^ 
who,  nothing  loth,  under  this  plausible  pretext 
of  maintaining  the  peace  to  revenge  himself  on 
his  rival,  immediately  assembled  his  men  and? 
marched  southwards.  The  two  armies  met 
at  the  ford  of  Affane  on  the  Blackwater ;  a 
bloody  skirmish  followed,  in  which  Desmond 
was  wounded  in  the  thigh  with  a  bullet  and' 
taken  prisoner.  The  queen,  enraged  at  thi» 
fresh  outbreak,  summoned  both  earls  to  ap- 


Fitzgerald 


121 


Fitzgerald 


pear  before  her.  On  Easter  Tuesday  Desmond 
arrived  at  Liverpool  in  custody  of  Captain 
Nicholas  Heron,  having  suffered  much  from 
sea-sickness.  Ormonde  was  already  at  court. 
Charges  and  counter-charges  of  high  treason 
followed.  Eventually  the  two  earls  sub- 
mitted, and  consented  to  enter  into  recogni- 
sances of  20,000/.  each  to  stand  to  such  order 
for  their  controversies  as  her  majesty  should 
think  good.  On  7  Jan.  1566  the  lord  deputy 
was  informed  that  the  earls  were  reconciled 
and  licensed  to  depart  into  Ireland,  but  Des- 
mond was  not  to  leave  Dublin  until  he  had 
paid  what  debts  he  had  incurred.  The  ori- 
ginal controversy  between  them,  however, 
remained,  and  seemed  likely  to  remain,  un- 
decided. '  I  will  never,'  wrote  Sir  H.  Sidney 
to  Cecil  on  27  April,  '  unpressed,  upon  my 
allegiance,  deal  in  the  great  matters  of  my 
lord  of  Ormonde,  until  another  chancellor 
come,  or  some  other  commissioner  out  of 
England,  to  be  joined  with  me  for  hearing 
and  determining  of  that  cause ;  for  how  in- 
differently soever  I  shall  deal,  I  know  it  will 
not  be  thought  favourably  enough  on  my  lord 
of  Ormonde's  side.'  He  protested  that  he  was 
not  prejudiced  against  Ormonde,  only  the 
case  had  been  '  forejudged.'  On  12  Dec.  he 
renewed  his  request,  and  soon  afterwards 
(27  Jan.  1567)  began  a  tour  of  inspection 
through  Munster,  in  consequence  of  which 
he  was  most  unfavourably  impressed  with 
Desmond's  character.  At  Youghal  he  entered 
into  an  examination  of  the  controversy  be- 
tween the  earls,  and  having  found  that  the 
disputed  lands  were  in  the  possession  of  Or- 
monde '  at  the  time  of  the  fray-making,'  he 
gave  judgment  accordingly,  <  whereat  the  Earl 
of  Desmond  did  not  a  little  stir,  and  fell  into 
some  disallowable  heats  and  passions.'  'From 
this  time  forward,  nor  never  since,'  he  wrote 
to  Elizabeth,  t  found  I  any  willingness  in 
him  to  come  to  any  conformity  or  good  order,' 
but,  on  the  contrary,  found  him  to  be  '  a  man 
void  of  judgment  to  govern  and  will  to  be 
ruled,'  the  cause  in  short  of  the  turbulent 
state  of  Munster.  He  therefore  arrested  him 
at  Kilmallock,  and,  carrying  him  to  Dublin, 
locked  him  up  in  the  Castle,  leaving  his  bro- 
ther, Sir  John  of  Desmond,  of  whose  capa- 
bilities he  seems  to  have  had  a  higher  opinion, 
seneschal  or  captain  of  the  country.  In 
August  1567  Sidney  left  Ireland,  and  during 
his  absence,  as  he  himself  said,  Sir  John  was 
by  the  lord  justices  inveigled  up  to  Dublin, 
taken  prisoner,  sent  over  to  England  with 
the  earl,  and  both  of  them  committed  to  the 
Tower.  '  And  truly,  Mr.  Secretary,'  said  he, 
*  this  kind  of  dealing  with  Sir  John  of  Des- 
mond was  the  origin  of  James  Fitzmaurice's 
rebellion.'  The  earl  and  Sir  John  landed  at 


Graycoite,  near  Beaumaris,  on  14  Dec.,  and 
on  their  arrival  in  London  they  were  con^- 
fined  to  the  Tower,  where  they  remained 
until  midwinter  1570,  when  the  state  of  Sir 
John's  health  necessitated  his  removal.  They 
were  then  placed  under  the  supervision  of 
Sir  Warham  St.  Leger,  at  his  house  at  South- 
wark.  In  August  1571  St.  Leger  complained 
to  the  council  that  the  earl  had  refused  to 
accompany  him  into  Kent,  and  that  during 
his  absence  he  had  rashly  ranged  abroad  into 
sundry  parts  of  London.  Next  summer  he 
tried  to  bribe  Martin  Frobisher,  who  revealed 
the  plot  to  Burghley,  to  assist  him  to  escape 
by  sea.  Meanwhile,  on  30  June  1569,  the 
question  of  the  prize  wines  had  been  settled 
in  Ormonde's  favour.  In  the  following  year 
Eleanor,  countess  of  Desmond  (the  earl's 
second  wife),  came  to  England,  where  she 
remained  with  her  husband  till  his  release. 
The  government  was  undecided  what  to  do 
with  him.  Sir  John  Perrot,  then  president 
of  Munster,  strenuously  urged  that  he  should 
be  detained  for  another  year  or  two,  but  that 
Sir  John  should  be  allowed  to  return.  How- 
ever, in  March  1573,  after  signing  articles 
for  his  future  good  conduct  {Cal.  Carew 
MSS.  i.  430),  he  was  permitted  to  return  to 
Ireland,  to  Perrot's  disgust,  who  marvelled 
much  that  her  majesty  should  so  act  in  re- 
gard to  '  a  man  rather  meet  to  keep  Bedlam 
than  to  come  to  a  new  reformed  country/ 
The  Irish  government  thought  with  Perrot, 
and  on  his  arrival  in  Dublin  on  Lady-day 
they  rearrested  him ;  but  on  16  Nov.  he 
managed  to  escape,  and  within  a  month  after- 
wards he  had  destroyed  almost  every  trace  of 
Perrot's  government  in  the  province.  Eliza- 
beth was  now  anxious  to  recapture  him,  and 
a  certain  Edward  Fitzgerald,  brother  of  the 
Earl  of  Kildare,  and  -presumably persona  grata, 
was  in  December  commissioned  to  remonstrate 
with  him.  The  attempt  failed,  as  did  also  the 
intervention  of  the  Earl  of  Essex  in  June  1574. 
Desmond  was  profuse  in  his  protestations  of 
loyalty,  but  refused  to  surrender  uncondi- 
tionally. Eequired  to  consent  to  the  aboli- 
tion of  coyne  and  livery,  the  surrender  of 
certain  castles  and  other  things  embodied  in 
the  articles  of  8  July,  he  declined,  and  his 
conduct  was  approved  by  his  kinsmen,  who 
bound  themselves  by  oath  (18  July)  '  to 
maintain  and  defend  this  our  advice  against 
the  lord  deputy  or  any  others  that  will  covet 
the  earl's  inheritance  '  (this  combination, 
printed  in  MORRIN'S  Patent  Rolls,  ii.  109,  and 
the  deed  of  feoffment  that  followed,  have  an 
interesting  history.  See  Wallop  to  Burghley, 
Ham.  Cal.  iii.  63).  Thereupon  he  was  pro- 
claimed, a  price  set  on  his  head,  and  in 
August  Fitzwilliam  and  Ormonde  advanced 


Fitzgerald 


122 


Fitzgerald 


into  Munster,  attacked  Derrinlaur  Castle,  cap- 
tured it,  and  put  the  garrison  to  the  sword. 
Convinced  of  the  necessity  of  temporising, 
Desmond  appeared  at  Cork  and  humbly  sub- 
mitted himself  (2  Sept.)  ;  but  on  10  Sept.  he 
made  over  all  his  lands  to  Lord  Dunboyne, 
Lord  Power,  and  Sir  John  Fitzedmund  Fitz- 
gerald of  Cloyne  [q.  v.],  in  trust  for  himself 
and  his  wife  during  their  joint  lives,  with 
provision  for  his  daughters  and  remainder 
to  his  son  James  (Carew  MSS.  i.  481).  This 
feoffment,  though  suspicious,  does  not  neces- 
sarily imply  that  he  had,  when  he  made  it, 
any  premeditated  intention  of  rebelling.  In 
March  1575  James  Fitzmaurice  [q.  v.]  left 
Ireland  for  the  express  purpose  of  soliciting 
foreign  aid,  but  whether  he  did  so,  as  Mac- 
Geoghegan  asserts,  with  the  connivance  of 
the  earl  is  extremely  doubtful.  Certain  it  is 
that  during  the  government  of  Sir  H.  Sidney 
(1575-8)  he  manifested  no  rebellious  inten- 
tions, though  occasionally  resenting  Presi- 
dent Drury  s  arbitrary  conduct,  and  he  even 
revealed  to  the  deputy  the  nature  of  Fitz- 
maurice's  negotiations  on  the  continent. 
'  This  and  other  good  shows  in  the  Earl  of 
Desmond,' wrote  Sidney  to  the  queen/ maketh 
demonstration  that  his  light  and  loose  deal- 
ings (whereunto  he  runneth  many  times 
rashly)  proceedeth  rather  of  imperfection  of 
judgement,  than  of  malicious  intendment 
against  your  majesty/  '  I  hold  him,'  he  added, 
'  the  least  dangerous  man  of  four  or  five  of 
those  that  are  next  him  in  right  and  succes- 
sion .  .  .  being  such  an  impotent  and  weak 
body,  as  neither  can  he  get  up  on  horseback, 
but  that  he  is  holpen  and  lift  up,  neither 
when  he  is  on  horseback  can  of  himself  alight 
down  without  help,  and  therefore,  in  mine 
opinion,  the  less  to  be  feared  or  doubted,  if 
he  would  forget  himself,  as  I  hope  now  he 
will  not.'  Sidney's  is  probably  the  most  cor- 
rect, as  it  is  the  most  charitable,  explanation 
of  his  subsequent  foolhardy  conduct.  On  the 
arrival  of  Fitzmaurice  (17  July  1579)  Des- 
mond rejected  his  overtures  to  join  with  him 
in  re-establishing  the  old  religion,  notified  the 
fact  to  Drury,  protested  his  own  loyalty,  de- 
clared his  intention  of  marching  against  the 
invader,  and  did  what  he  could  in  that  direc- 
tion. The  death  of  Fitzmaurice,  of  whom 
he  seems  to  have  been  extremely  jealous,  and 
the  representations  of  Sanders  exercised  a 
prejudicial  effect  upon  him.  His  conduct 
aroused  the  suspicion  of  Drury,  who  on  7  Sept. 
'  restrained  him  from  liberty '  for  two  days, 
until  he  promised  to  send  his  son  as  hostage 
for  his  conduct  to  Limerick.  Fascinated  by 
the  rhetoric  of  Sanders  and  yet  unwilling  to 
risk  everything  by  openly  rebelling,  he  En- 
deavoured to  temporise.  Warned  by  Malby 


that  he  was  suspected,  he  refused  to  take  the 
only  safe  course  open  to  him,  and  on  1  Nov. 
he  was  proclaimed  a  traitor.  Compelled  to 
act,  he  marched  against  Youghal,  which  he 
sacked,  while  the  Earl  of  Clancar  did  the 
same  for  Kinsale.  This  did  little  to  add  to 
his  strength.  In  March  1580  Pelham  cap- 
tured the  castle  of  Carrigafoyl,  and  in  April 
Askeaton  and  Ballyloughan,  his  last  fort- 
resses, shared  the  same  fate.  On  14  June 
he  and  Sanders  narrowly  escaped  being  sur- 
prised by  Pelham,  and  in  August  he  was  re- 
duced to  such  extremities  that  he  sent  his 
countess  to  the  lord  justice  to  intercede  for 
him.  About  the  same  time  he  applied  to 
Admiral  Winter,  who  was  cruising  in  Kin- 
sale  waters,  to  transport  him  to  England  to 
beg  his  pardon  personally  from  the  queen. 
After  the  destruction  of  the  Spaniards  in 
Fort-del-Ore  the  government  of  Munster  was 
entrusted  to  the  Earl  of  Ormonde,  while 
Captain  Zouche  with  450  men  was  deputed 
to  hunt  him  down.  On  15  June  1581  he 
was  surprised  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Castle- 
mange  and  obliged  to  fly  in  his  shirt  into  the 
woods  of  Aharlow.  During  the  winter  he 
was  compelled  to  keep  his  Christmas  in  Kil- 
quegg  wood,  near  Kilmallock,  where  he  was 
nearly  captured  by  the  garrison  stationed 
there.  In  September  1582  he  was  reported 
to  have  two  hundred  horse  and  two  thousand 
foot  under  his  command.  In  January  1583 
he  had  two  remarkable  escapes.  All  attempts 
to  capture  him  seemed  useless.  The  Munster 
officials  were  at  their  wits'  end.  Fenton  sug- 
gested that  he  should  be  assassinated,  while 
St.  Leger  advised  the  queen  to  adopt  a  policy 
similar  to  that  which  her  father  had  found 
useful  in  the  case  of '  Silken  Thomas.'  Mean- 
while Ormonde,  by  more  legitimate  means, 
was  bringing  him  to  the  end  of  his  resources. 
On  5  June  his  countess  left  him,  and  a  pro- 
clamation of  pardon  deprived  him  of  most  of 
his  followers.  Deserted  by  all  except  a  priest, 
two  horsemen,  one  kerne,  and  a  boy,  he  wan- 
dered about  helplessly  from  one  place  to  an- 
other. On  19  Sept.  he  was  nearly  captured 
on  the  borders  of  Slievloghra.  On  Monday, 
11  Nov.,  just  as  day  was  breaking,  he  was 
surprised  in  a  cabin  in  the  wood  of  Glana- 
ginty  by  five  soldiers  of  the  garrison  of  Castle- 
mange,  led  on  by  Owen  MacDonnell  O'Mo- 
riarty,  whose  brother-in-law  had  just  been 
plundered  by  the  earl.  Fearing  a  rescue,  his 
head  was  cut  off  by  Daniel  O'Kelly  and  sent 
into  England.  His  body  was  conveyed,  ac- 
cording to  tradition,  through  the  byways  of 
the  hills  to  the  little  mountain  churchyard 
of  Kill-na-n-onaim,  or  the  l  Church  of  the 
Name.'  In  1586  an  act  of  parliament  de- 
clared his  estates  forfeited  to  the  crown. 


Fitzgerald 


123 


Fitzgerald 


He  married  (1)  Joan,  daughter  and  heiress 
of  James,  eleventh  earl  of  Desmond,  widow 
of  James,  ninth  earl  of  Ormonde,  and  mother 
of  his  rival,  Thomas,  tenth  earl ;  (2)  Eleanor, 
daughter  of  Edmund  Butler,  lord  Dunboyne, 
by  whom  he  had  James,  called  '  the  Queen's 
Earl '  [q.  v.],  Thomas,  and  five  daughters. 

SIK  JOHN  OF  DESMOND,  who  had  imme- 
diately on  his  landing  joined  Fitzmaurice, 
signalising  his  adhesion  by  the  murder  of 
Captain  Henry  Davells  at  Tralee,  became,  on 
the  death  of  Fitzmaurice  and  till  the  acces- 
sion of  the  earl,  head  of  the  rebel  army. 
Sharing  with  his  brother  in  the  vicissitudes 
of  the  war,  he  was  in  December  1581,  after 
having  been  wounded  on  several  occasions, 
entrapped  by  Captain  Zouche  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Castlelyons.  His  body  was  sent 
to  Cork  and  'was  hanged  in  chaynes  ouer 
the  citty  gates,  where  it  hanged  up  for  3  or 
foure  yeares  togeather  as  a  spectacle  to  all 
the  beholders  to  looke  on,  vntill  at  length 
a  greate  storme  of  wynd  blew  it  off,  but  the 
head  was  sent  to  Dublin,  and  there  fastened 
to  a  pole  and  set  over  the  castle  wall.' 

[The  chief  authorities  are  Hamilton's  Calen- 
dar of  State  Papers,  vols.  i.  and  ii. ;  Collins's  Syd- 
ney State  Papers,  vol.  i. ;  Calendar  of  Carew  MSS. 
vols.  i.  and  ii. ;  O'Daly's  Initium,  incrementa,  et 
exitus  familise  Geraldinorum  ;  O'Sullevan's  His- 
torise  Catholicae  Ibernise  Compendium;  Annals 
of  the  Four  Masters ;  Annals  of  Loch  Ce ;  Morrin's 
Calendar  of  Patent  Rolls,  vols.  i.  and  ii. ;  Un- 
published G-eraldine  Documents,  ed.  Hayman 
and  Graves;  Thomas  Churchyard's  A  Scourge 
for  Rebels ;  Bishop  Carleton's  A  Thankful  Re- 
membrance of  God's  Mercy ;  Kerry  Mag.  vol.  i., 
where,  under  the  title  'Antiquities  of  Tralee,' 
will  be  found  a  most  excellent  discussion  on  that 
part  of  Desmond's  life  which  relates  to  his  re- 
bellion, said  to  be  by  the  late  Archdeacon  Rowan ; 
Cox's  Hibernica  Anglicana,  vol.  i. ;  Bagwell's 
Ireland  under  the  Tudors,  vol.  ii.]  R.  D. 

r  FITZGERALD,  GERALD,  eleventh 
EARL  OF  KILDAKE  (1525-1585),  was  son  of 
Gerald  Fitzgerald,  ninth  earl  of  Kildare  [q.  v.], 
by  his  second  wife,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Grey,  marquis  of  Dorset.  In  1537 
Gerald's  father  was  executed  for  high  treason 
and  attainted,  with  forfeiture  of  title  and 
estates.  Mainly  through  the  exertions  of  his 
tutor,  Thomas Leverous,  subsequently  bishop 
of  Kildare,  Gerald  was  conveyed  to  France, 
whence  he  went  to  Rome,  where  he  was  re- 
ceived by  his  relative,  Cardinal  Pole.  He 
subsequently  took  part  with  knights  of  Rhodes 
in  expeditions  against  the  Moors,  and  entered 
the  service  of  Cosmo  de'  Medici  at  Florence. 
After  the  death  of  Henry  VIII  Gerald  came 
to  England,  and  married  Mabel,  daughter  of 
Sir  Anthony  Browne,  knight  of  the  Garter. 


Edward  VI,  in  1552,  restored  to  him  some 
of  his  paternal  estates.  In  1554  he  served 
against  Sir  Thomas  Wyatt.  Queen  Mary 
conferred  upon  Gerald  the  earldom  of  Kil- 
dare, with  possessions  of  his  father,  which, 
under  the  attainder,  had  been  confiscated. 
The  original  grant  for  the  re-establishment 
of  the  earldom  is  in  the  possession  of  the 
Duke  of  Leinster,  now  the  chief  representa- 
tive of  the  earls  of  Kildare.  The  document 
has,  with  autographs  of  the  eleventh  earl, 
been  reproduced  in  the  fourth  part  of  '  Fac- 
similes of  National  MSS.  of  Ireland.'  Gerald 
conformed  to  the  protestant  religion  early  in 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  He  sat  in  parliament 
in  Ireland  in  1559.  The  attainder  of  his 
family  was  annulled  by  statute  in  1568.  In 
1577  he  attended  before  the  privy  council  in 
England  in  relation  to  complaints  made  con- 
cerning the  assessment  imposed  upon  land- 
holders in  Ireland.  He  took  an  active  part 
in  the  warfare  against  hostile  Irish  and  the 
Spaniards  who  had  landed  in  Munster.  In 
1582,  on  suspicion  of  treason,  the  earl's  es- 
tates were  placed  under  sequestration,  and 
he,  his  son  Henry,  and  his  son-in-law  Lord 
Delvin,  were  imprisoned  in  the  Tower  of 
London.  After  examinations  before  the  lord 
chancellor  of  England  and  other  judges, 
the  earl  was  released  from  the  Tower  on 
giving  a  bond  for  2,000/.,  in  June  1583,  to 
remain  within  twenty  miles  of  London  and 
not  to  come  within  three  miles  of  her  ma- 
jesty's court.  In  the  following  year  the 
queen  granted  him  permission  to  wait  upon 
her,  and  to  return  to  Ireland,  where  he  sat 
in  the  parliament  at  Dublin  in  April  1585. 
He  died  in  London  on  16  Nov.  following,  and 
was  interred  at  Kildare.  He  is  stated  by 
contemporaries  to  have  been  an  expert  horse- 
man, valiant,  small  of  stature,  slender  of 
person,  very  courteous,  but  hard  and  angry 
at  times,  a  great  gatherer  of  money,  and  ad- 
dicted to  gambling. 

[Archives  of  the  Duke  of  Leinster;  Patent 
and  Statute  Rolls  ;  State  Papers,  Public  Record 
Office,  London;  Carew  MSS.,  Lambeth;  Carte 
Papers,  Bodleian  Library ;  The  Earls  of  Kil- 
dare, 1862  ;  Report  of  Hist.  MSS.  Commission, 
1883.]  J.  T.  G. 

FITZGERALD,  JAMES  FITZ  JOHN,  four- 
teenth EARL  OF  DESMOND  (d.  1558),  second 
son  of  Sir  John  Desmond  [see  FITZGEKALD, 
JAMES  Fitzmaurice,  thirteenth  earl],  de  facto 
thirteenth  earl  of  Desmond,  and  More,  daugh- 
ter of  Donogh  O'Brien  of  Carrigogunnell,  co. 
Limerick,  lord  of  Pobble  O'Brien,  imme- 
diately on  the  death  of  his  grandfather  in 
June  1536  assumed  the  position  and  title  of 
Earl  of  Desmond,  and  in  order  to  support  it 


Fitzgerald 


124 


Fitzgerald 


united  himself  with  the  head  of  the  discon- 
tented party  in  Ireland,  O'Brien  of  Thomond. 
Naturally  the  government,  which  had  just 
suppressed  the  rebellion  of  Thomas,  earl  of 
Kildare,  could  not  brook  such  insolence,  and 
accordingly  on  25  July  the  lord  deputy,  Grey, 
marched  against  him,  and  having  come  to 
the  border  of  Cashel  encamped  in  the  field 
three  days  expecting  his  coming,  as  he  had 
promised  the  chief  justice,  with  the  intention 
of  separating  him  from  O'Brien,  '  so  as  we 
might  have  entangled  but  with  one  of  them 
at  once.'  Not  keeping  his  appointment,  the 
deputy  marched  forward  and  took  possession 
of  his  castle  in  Lough  Gur,  the  doors  and 
windows  of  which  had  been  carried  away 
and  the  roof  burnt  by  the  rebels  themselves, 
•which  was  then  entrusted  to  Lord  James 
Butler,  who  made  it  defensible.  But  Fitz- 
gerald had  no  intention  of  imitating  his  un- 
fortunate kinsman  Thomas,  earl  of  Kildare, 
and,  although  he  refused  to  place  his  person 
within  the  power  of  the  deputy,  'he  showed 
himself  in  gesture  and  communication  very 
reasonable,'  offering  to  deliver  up  his  two 
sons  as  hostages  for  his  loyalty,  and  to  sub- 
mit his  claims  to  the  earldom  to  the  decision 
of  Lord  Grey.  Though  renewed  in  Decem- 
ber nothing  for  the  nonce  came  of  the  pro- 
posal. '  And  as  far  as  ever  I  could  perceive,' 
wrote  Grey  to  Cromwell  in  February  1537, 
'  the  stay  that  keepeth  him  from  inclining 
to  the  king's  grace's  pleasure  is  the  fear  and 
doubt  which  he  and  all  the  Geraldines  in 
Munster  have  in  the  Lord  James  Butler, 
both  for  the  old  malice  that  hath  been  be- 
twixt their  bloods,  and  principally  for  that 
he  claimeth  title  by  his  wife  to  the  earldom  of 
Desmond '  (State  Papers,  Hen.  VIII,  ii.  404). 
Grey  argued  in  favour  of  the  acknowledgment 
of  his  claims,  and  in  August  Anthony  St. 
Leger,  who  was  at  the  time  serving  on  the 
commission  '  for  the  order  and  establishment 
to  be  taken  and  made  touching  the  whole 
state  of  Ireland,'  was  advised  by  Cromwell 
*  to  handle  the  said  James  in  a  gentle  sort.' 
Accordingly  on  15  Sept.  he  was  invited  to 
submit  his  claims  to  the  commissioners  at 
Dublin ;  but  suspecting  their  intention  he  de- 
clined to  place  himself  in  their  power,  though 
signing  articles  of  submission  and  promising 
to  deliver  up  his  eldest  son  as  hostage  for  his 
good  faith.  The  negotiations  continued  to 
hang  fire.  In  March  1 538  the  commissioners 
wrote  that  '  he  hath  not  only  delivered  his 
son,  according  to  his  first  promise,  to  the 
hands  of  Mr.  William  Wyse  of  Waterford  to 
be  delivered  unto  us,  but  also  hath  affirmed 
by  his  secretary  and  writing  all  that  he  afore 
promised '  (ib.  p.  550).  Nor  was  he  without 
good  reason  for  his  cautious  conduct.  The 


Ormonde  faction  in  the  council,  violently  op- 
posed to  Grey  and  St.  Leger,  were  assidu- 
ously striving  to  effect  his  ruin  by  entangling 
him  in  rebellious  projects.  In  July  1539 
John  Allen  related  to  Cromwell  how  the 
'  pretended  Earl  of  Desmond  '  had  confede- 
rated with  O'Donnell  and  O'Neill '  to  make 
insurrection  against  the  king's  majesty  and 
his  subjects,  not  only  for  the  utter  exile  and 
destruction  of  them,  but  also  for  the  bringing 
in,  setting  up,  and  restoring  young  Gerald 
(the  sole  surviving  scion  of  the  house  of  Kil- 
dare) to  all  the  possessions  and  pre-eminences 
which  his  father  had  ;  and  so  finally  among 
them  to  exclude  the  king  from  all  his  re- 
galities within  this  land '  (ib.  iii.  136).  In 
April  1540  the  council  informed  the  king  thai 
'  your  grace's  servant  James  Fitzmaurice,  who 
claimed  to  be  Earl  of  Desmond,  was  cruelly 
slain  the  Friday  before  Palm  Sunday,  of  un- 
fortunate chance,  by  Maurice  Fitzjohn,  bro- 
ther to  James  Fitzjohn,  then  usurper  of  the 
earldom  of  Desmond.  After  which  murder 
done,  the  said  James  Fitzjohn  immediately 
resorted  to  your  town  of  Youghal,  where  he 
was  well  received  and  entertained,  and  ere 
he  departed  entered  into  all  such  piles  and 
garrisons  in  the  county  of  Cork  as  your  ma- 
jesty's deputy,  with  the  assistance  of  your 
army  and  me,  the  Earl  of  Ormonde,  obtained 
before  Christmas  last '  (ib.  p.  195).  Ormonde 
was  sent  to  parley  with  him,  but  he  refused 
to  trust  him.  On  the  arrival  of  St.  Leger,  as 
deputy,  however,  he  again  renewed  his  offer 
of  submission,  and  promised,  upon  pledges 
being  given  for  his  safety,  to  meet  him  at 
Cashel.  This  he  did,  and  on  bended  knees 
renounced  the  supremacy  of  the  pope.  '  And 
then,'  writes  St.  Leger, '  considering  the  great 
variance  between  the  Earl  of  Ormonde  and 
him,  concerning  the  title  of  the  earldom  of 
Desmond  ...  I  and  my  fellows  thought  it 
not  good  to  leave  that  cancer  remain,  but 
so  laboured  the  matter  on  both  sides,  that  we 
have  brought  them  to  a  final  end  of  the  said 
title.'  St.  Leger  assured  the  king  '  that  sith 
my  repair  into  this  your  land  I  have  not 
heard  better  counsel  of  no  man  for  the  refor- 
mation of  the  same  than  of  the  said  Earl  of 
Desmond,  who  undoubted  is  a  very  wise  and 
discreet  gentleman,'  for  which  reason,  he  said, 
he  had  sworn  him  of  the  council  and  given 
him  '  gown,  jacket,  doublet,  hose,  shirts,  caps, 
and  a  riding  coat  of  velvet,  which  he  took 
very  thankfully,  and  ware  the  same  in  Lime- 
rick and  in  all  places  where  he  went  with 
me '  (ib.  p.  285).  By  such  conciliatory  con- 
duct did  St.  Leger,  in  the  opinion  of  Justice 
Cusack,  win  over  to  obedience  the  whole  pro- 
vince of  Munster  (Cal.  Carew  MSS.  i.  245). 
In  July  1541  he  was  appointed  chief  executor 


Fitzgerald 


Fitzgerald 


of  the  *  ordinances  for  the  reformation  of  Ire- 
land '  in  Munster,  and  in  token  of  the  renun- 
ciation of  the  privilege  claimed  by  his  ances- 
tors of  not  being  obliged  to  attend  the  great 
councils  of  the  realm,  he  took  his  seat  in  a 
parliament  held  at  Dublin.  In  June  1542  he 
visited  England,  where,  being  admitted  to  the 
presence  of  the  king,  he  was  by  him  graci- 
ously received,  his  title  acknowledged,  and 
the  king  himself  wrote  to  the  Irish  council 
*  that  the  Earl  of  Desmond  hath  here  sub- 
mitted himself  in  so  honest,  lowly,  and  humble 
a  sort  towards  us,  as  we  have  conceived  a  very 
great  hope  that  he  will  prove  a  man  of  great 
honour,  truth,  and  good  service.'  Nor  did  he, 
during  the  rest  of  his  life,  fail  to  justify  this 
opinion.  On  9  July  1543  he  obtained  a  grant 
of  the  crown  lease  of  St.  Mary's  Abbey,  Dub- 
lin, 'for  his  better  supporting  at  his  repair' 
to  parliament.  By  Edward  VI  he  was  created 
lord  treasurer  on  the  death  of  the  Earl  of 
Ormonde  (patent  29  March  1547),  and  on 
15  Oct.,  when  thanking  him  for  his  services 
in  repressing  disorders  in  Munster,  the  king 
offered  to  make  a  companion  of  his  son.  Dur- 
ing the  government  of  Bellingham  he  was 
suspected  of  treasonable  designs,  and  having 
refused  a  peremptory  order  to  appear  in  Dub- 
lin, the  deputy  swooped  down  upon  him  un- 
expectedly in  the  dead  of  winter,  1548,  and 
carried  him  off  prisoner.  He  was  soon  re- 
leased and  continued  in  office  by  Mary.  In 
the  summer  of  1558  he  was  attacked  by  a 
serious  illness,  and  died  at  Askeaton  on  Thurs- 
day 27  Oct.  He  was  buried  in  the  abbey  of 
the  White  Friars,  Tralee.  <  The  loss  of  this 
good  man  was  woful  to  his  country  ;  for  there 
was  no  need  to  watch  cattle,  or  close  doors 
from  Dun-caoin,  in  Kerry,  to  the  green  bor- 
dered meeting  of  the  three  waters,  on  the 
confines  of  the  province  of  Eochaidh,  the  son 
of  Lachta  and  Leinster'  (Annals  of  the  Four 
Masters).  He  married  four  times :  first,  Joan 
Roche,  daughter  of  Maurice,  lord  Fermoy,  and 
his  own  grandniece,  for  which  reason  she  was 
put  away,  and  her  son,  Thomas  Roe  (father 
of  James  Fitzthomas  Fitzgerald,  the  Sugan 
Earl  [q.  v.]),  known  as  Sir  Thomas  of  Des- 
mond, disinherited ;  secondly,  More,  daughter 
of  Sir  Maolrony  McShane  O'Carroll,  lord  of 
Ely  O'Carroll,  by  whom  he  had  Gerald,  his 
heir,  also  John  and  four  daughters — she  died 
in  1548 ;  thirdly,  Catherine,  second  daughter 
of  Piers,  earl  of  Ormonde,  and  widow  of 
Richard,  lord  Power— she  died  at  Askeaton, 
17  March  1553;  and  fourthly,  Ellen,  daugh- 
ter of  Donald  MacCormac,  MacCarthy  Mor, 
"by  whom  he  had  a  son,  Sir  James-Sussex 
Fitzgerald,  and  a  daughter,  Elinor. 

[State  Papers,  Hen.  VIII,  vols.  ii.  and  iii. ; 
Lodge's  Peerage  (Archdall);  Ware's  Annales; 


Stanihurst's  Chronicle;  Cal.  Carew  MSS.  vol  i  - 
Hamilton's  Cal.  vol.  i.;  Liber  Hibernise,  ii  41 ' 
O'Clery's  Book  of  Pedigrees,  Kilkenny  Arch.'  Soc! 
Journal,  1881,  p.  413-1  E.  D. 

FITZGERALD,  JAMES  FITZMAFEICE, 
thirteenth  EARL  or  DESMOND  (d.  1540),  was 
the  son  of  Maurice  Fitzthomas,  only  son 
and  heir-apparent  of  Thomas,  twelfth  earl  of 
Desmond,  and  Joan,  daughter  of  John  Fitz- 
gibbon,  the  White  Knight.  Immediately  on 
the  death  of  his  grandfather,  Thomas,  twelfth 
earl,  in  1534,  the  succession  was  disputed  by 
John  Fitzthomas,  brother  of  the  twelfth  earl, 
and  fourth  son  of  Thomas,  eighth  earl  [q.  v.l 
on  the  ground  of  the  invalidity  of  the  marriage 
of  Maurice  Fitzthomas  with  the  daughter  of 
the  White  Knight.  Whether  it  was  so  or  not 
was  never  determined,  but  John  Fitzthomas 
having  taken  forcible  possession  remained  earl 
de  facto  during  his  life,  and  after  his  death 
in  1536  the  earldom  was  seized  by  his  son 
James,  fourteenth  earl  [q.  v.],  the  title  being 
cleared  by  the  '  accidental '  death  of  James 
Fitzmaurice,  thirteenth  earl  de  jure,  at  the 
hand  of  Maurice  a  totane,  brother  of  the 
fourteenth  earl.  Lodge,  who  correctly  de- 
scribes James  Fitzmaurice  as  thirteenth  earl, 
incorrectly  states  that  he  was  succeeded  by 
his  uncle,  John  Fitzthomas,  which  was  im- 
possible, John  having  died  in  1536.  This 
alteration  makes  Lodge's  fifteenth  and  six- 
teenth earls,  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  respec- 
tively (cp.  Unpublished  Geraldine  Docu- 
ments, edited  by  Hayman  and  Graves,  pt.  ii. 
pp.  103-17). 

James  Fitzmaurice,  thirteenth  earl,  being 
in  England  at  the  time  of  his  grandfather's 
death  was,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Irish 
council,  who  had  their  own  purposes  to  serve 
(State  Papers,  Hen.  VIII,  iii.  106),  allowed 
to  return  home,  being  '  sufficiently  furnished 
with  all  things  fitting  and  necessary  for  such 
a  journey  and  enterprise '  by  the  bounty  of 
the  king.  Landing  at  Cork,  he  was  proceed- 
ing through  the  territory  of  Lord  Roche, 
when  he  was  waylaid  and  slain  by  Sir' 
Maurice  of  Desmond  on  19  March  1540  (ib. 
p.  195).  He  married  Mary,  daughter  of  his 
great-uncle,  Cormoc  Og  MacCarthy,  but  had 
no  male  issue  (LODGE,  Peerage,  Archdall). 
She  remarried  Daniel  O'Sullivan  Mor,  and 
died  in  1548. 

[Authorities  cited  above.]  E.  D. 

^FITZGERALD,  JAMES  FITZMAFRICE 
(d.  1579),  'arch  traitor,'  was  the  second 
son  of  Maurice  Fitzjohn  a  totane,  i.  e.  of  the 
burnings,  and  Julia,  second  daughter  of  Der- 
mot  O'Mulryan  of  Sulloghade,  co.  Tipperary, 
nephew  of  James,  fourteenth,  and  cousin  of 


^ 

For  some  important  corrections  and 
additions  see '  Notes  and  Queries,'  clii.  6 1-2. 


Fitzgerald 


126 


Fitzgerald 


Gerald,  fifteenth  earl  of  Desmond      Earl 
James  had  shown  his  appreciation  of  the  '  ac- 
cident' that  had  removed  his   competitor, 
James  Fitzmaurice,  the  so-called  thirteenth 
earl  [q.  v.J,  from  his  path,  by  rewarding  his 
brother,  Maurice  a  totane,  with  the  barony  of 
Kerry kurrihy.   But  the  cordial  relations  thus 
established  between  the  two  families  came  to 
an  end  with  the  accession  of  Gerald,  fifteenth 
earl  [q.  v.],  who  appears  to  have  regarded  his 
uncle  with  jealousy,  and  to  have  treated  him 
in  a  way  that  was  resented  by  Maurice  and 
his  sons, who  were  soon  at  'hot  wars'  with 
him.     During  the  detention  of  the  earl  and 
his  brother  Sir  John  in  England  (1565-73), 
Fitzmaurice  assumed  the  position  of  captain 
of  Desmond,  in  which  he  was  confirmed  by 
the  warrant  of  the  earl  himself,  though  not 
without  protest  on  the  part  of  Thomas  Roe 
Fitzgerald.    His  conduct  gave  as  little  satis- 
faction to  the  government  as  had  that  of  the 
earl.    In  July  1568  he  entered  Clanmaurice, 
the  country  of  Thomas  Fitzmaurice,  lord  of 
Lixnaw,  nominally  to  distrain  for  rent,  and, 
having  captured  two  hundred  head  of  cattle 
and  wasted  the  country,  was  returning  home- 
wards when  he  was  met  by  Lord  Lixnaw 
himself  (29  July),  and  utterly  defeated  "by 
him.     Hitherto  he  had  lived  on  fairly  good 
terms  with  the  earl  his  cousin ;  but  about 
the  end  of  1568  the  earl  granted  to  Sir  War- 
ham  St.  Leger,  in  return  probably  for  services 
rendered  or  to  be  rendered  to  him  during  his 
confinement,  a  lease  of  the  barony  of  Kerry- 
kurrihy.     This  he  naturally  regarded  as  an 
act  of  base  ingratitude,  and  from  that  moment 
he  seems  to  have  entered  on  a  line  of  conduct 
which  could  only  have  for  its  ultimate  object 
the  usurpation  of  the  earldom  of  Desmond. 
'  James  Fitzmaurice,'  wrote  Sir  H.  Sidney, 
*  understanding  that  I  was  arrived,  and  had 
not  brought  with  me  neither  the  earl  nor  Sir 
John  his  brother,  which  he  thought  I  might 
and  would  have  done,  assembling  as  many  of 
the  Earl  of  Desmond's  people  as  he  could, 
declared  unto  them  that  I  could  not  obtain 
the  enlargement  either  of  the  earl  or  of  his 
brother  John,  and  that  there  was  no  hope  or 
expectation  of  either  of  them  but  to  be  put 
to  death  or  condemned  to  perpetual  prison. 
And  therefore  (say  ing  that  that  country  could 
not  be  without  an  earl  or  a  captain)  willed 
them  to  make  choice  of  one  to  be  their  earl 
or  captain,  as  their  ancestors  had  done.  .  . 
And  according  to  this  his  speech,  he  wrote 
unto  me,  they  forthwith,  and  as  it  had  been 
with  one  voice,  cried  him  to  be  their  captain ' 
(Cal.  Carew  MSS.  ii.  342).    Eleanor,  coun- 
tess of  Desmond,  was  a  shrewd  woman,  and 
she  wrote  to  her  husband  (26  Nov.  1569) 
that  Fitzmaurice  had  rebelled  in  order  to 


bring  him  into  further  displeasure,  and  to 
usurp  all  his  inheritance  '  by  the  example  of 
his  father.'    In  June  1569  he  and  the  Earl 
of  Clancarty  invaded  Kerrykurrihy,  spoiled 
all  the  inhabitants,  took  the  castle-abbey  of 
Tracton,  hanged  the   garrison,  and  vowed 
never  to  depart  from  Cork  unless  Lady  St. 
Leger  and  Lady  Grenville  were  delivered  up 
to  him.    His  policy,  even  now,  seems  to  have 
been  to  create  a  strong  Roman  catholic  and 
anti-English  sentiment,  and  to  make  an  al- 
liance with  him  as  the  head  of  the  Irish  ca- 
tholic party  an  object  of  importance  to  the 
catholic  powers  of  Europe.  And  here  perhaps 
we  may  trace  the  finger  of  Father  Wolf,  the 
Jesuit.     To  this  end  he  seduced  the  brothers 
of  the  Earl  of  Ormonde,  and  entered  into  a 
bond  with  the  Earl  of  Thomond  and  John 
Burke,  son  of  the  Earl  of  Clanricarde.     On 
12  July  he  wrote  to  the  mayor  and  corpora- 
tion of  Cork,  ordering  them  to  '  abolish  out 
of  that  city  that  old  heresy  newly  raised  and 
invented.'   When  Sidney  took  the  field  about 
the  end  of  July  the  rebellion  had  extended 
as  far  as  Kilkenny,  while  at  Cork  Lady  St. 
Leger  and  the  English  inhabitants  were  in 
instant  danger  of  being  surrendered  to  the 
enemy.    By  the  end  of  September  the  deputy 
had  practically  broken  the  back  of  the  re- 
bellion,  and,  leaving   Captain   (afterwards 
Sir)  Humphrey  Gilbert  to  suppress  Fitzmau- 
rice, he  returned  to  Dublin.     Gilbert  soon 
brought  him  '  to  a  very  base  estate,'  compelling 
him  to  seek  safety  in  the  woods  of  Aharlow. 
No  sooner,  however,  had  Gilbert  departed 
than  he  succeeded  in  collecting  a  new  force, 
with  which  he  spoiled  Kilmallock  (9  Feb. 
1570).   On  1  March  a  commission  was  given 
to  Ormonde  '  to  parley,  protect,  or  prosecute ' 
the  Earl  of  Thomond,  James  Fitzmaurice, 
and  others,  but  without  leading  to  any  re- 
sult.  On  27  Feb.  1571  Sir  John  Perrot  landed 
at  Waterford  as  lord  president,  and  prepared 
to  put  him  down  with  a  strong  hand.     But 
tie,  we  are  told, f  knowing  that  the  lord  presi- 
dent did  desire  nothing  more  than  the  finish- 
ing of  those  wars,'  proposed  to  terminate 
them  by  a  duel, '  believing  that  the  presi- 
dent's longing  for  a  speedy  issue,  and  his  ex- 
pectation thereof,  would  keep  him  for  a  time 
?rom  further  action.'     He  had,  indeed,  no 
.ntention  of  fighting,  '  not  so  much,'  he  said, 
'  for  fear  of  his  life,  but  because  on  his  life 
did  depend  the  safety  of  all  such  as  were  of 
lis  party.'    When  Perrot  at  last  discovered 
:he  artifice  he  was  so  enraged  that  he  vowed 
to  hunt  the  fox  out  of  his  hole '  without 
delay.    This  he  eventually  did,  but  not  with- 
out undergoing  enormous  fatigue,  for  his  foe 
was  a  past  master  in  the  art  of  Irish  strategy. 
After  holding  out  for  more  than  a  year  he 


Fitzgerald 


127 


Fitzgerald 


was  forced  to  sue  for  pardon,  l  which  at 
length  the  lord  president  did  consent  to,  and 
James  Fitzmaurice  came  to  Kilmallock,where 
in  the  church  the  lord  president  caused  him 
to  lie  prostrate,  taking  the  point  of  the  lord 
president's  sword  next  his  heart,  in  token 
that  he  had  received  his  life  at  the  queen's 
hands,  by  submitting  himself  unto  her  mercy. 
And  so  he  took  a  solemn  oath  to  be  and 
continue  a  true  subject  unto  the  queen  and 
crown  of  England '  (23  Feb.  1573).  He  gave 
up  one  of  his  sons  as  hostage,  and  Perrot 
wrote  to  Burghley  that  from  his  conduct  he 
almost  expected  him  to  prove  '  a  second  St. 
Paul.'  On  the  return  of  the  Earl  of  Desmond 
he  exerted  himself  to  induce  that  nobleman 
to  assume  a  position  of  irreconcilable  enmity 
to  England,  but,  finding  him  more  inclined 
to  submit  to  '  reasonable  terms,'  he  deter- 
mined to  retire  to  the  continent.  His  object 
in  so  doing,  he  said  to  some,  was  to  obtain 
pardon  from  Elizabeth  through  the  media- 
tion of  the  French  court ;  to  others  he  de- 
clared that  he  was  compelled  to  leave  Ireland 
by  the  unkindness  of  his  cousin.  One  excuse 
was  probably  as  good  as  another.  In  March 
1575,  accompanied  by  the  White  Knight  and 
the  seneschal  of  Imokilly,  he  and  his  family 
sailed  on  board  La  Arganys  for  France,  and 
a  few  days  afterwards  landed  at  St.  Halo, 
where  they  were  all  cordially  received  by  the 
governor.  From  St.  Halo  he  proceeded  to 
Paris,  where  he  had  several  interviews  with 
Catherine  de'  Medici.  He  promised  largely, 
we  are  told,  offering  in  return  for  assistance 
to  make  Henry  III  king  of  Ireland.  During 
1575-6  he  remained  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Paris,  and  received  a  pension  of  five  thousand 
crowns,  which,  considering  the  scarcity  of 
money,  Dr.  Dale  shrewdly  conjectured  was 
not '  pour  ses  beaux  yeux.'  But  finding  that 
he  was  merely  a  pawn  in  the  delicate  game 
that  Elizabeth  and  Catherine  were  playing, 
he,  early  in  1577,  left  France  to  try  his  for- 
tunes at  the  Spanish  court.  Here  the  crown 
of  Ireland  was  offered  to  Don  John ;  but 
Philip,  with  the  Netherlands  and  Portugal 
on  his  hands,  had  no  inclination  to  break 
openly  with  England ;  so,  leaving  his  two 
sons  Maurice  and  Gerald  under  the  protection 
of  Cardinal  Granvelle,  who  had  taken  a  fancy 
to  them,  he  went  on  to  Italy,  where  he  met 
with  a  much  more  satisfactory  reception  from 
Gregory  XIII.  At  the  papal  court  he  fell 
in  with  Stukely,  and  a  plan  was  soon  on  foot 
for  the  invasion  of  Ireland,  the  crown  this 
time  being  promised  to  the  pope's  nephew. 
Leaving  Stukely  to  follow  with  the  main 
body  of  the  invading  force,  Fitzmaurice,  ac- 
companied by  Dr.  Sanders,  papal  nuncio,  and 
Matthew  de  Oviedo,  sailed  from  Ferrol  in 


Galicia  on  17  June  1579  with  a  few  troops 
which  he  had  gathered  together,  having  with 
him  his  own  vessel  and  three  Spanish  shal- 
lops. In  the  Channel  two  English  vessels 
were  captured,  and  on  16  July  they  arrived 
in  the  port  of  Dingle  in  Kerry,  where  they 
took  possession  of  the  Fort  del  Ore.  On  the 
18th  they  cast  anchor  in  Smerwick  harbour, 
where  on  the  25th  they  were  joined  by  two 
galleys  with  a  hundred  soldiers.  Four  days 
later,  however,  their  ships  were  captured  by 
the  English  fleet.  Fitzmaurice's  first  concern 
was  to  despatch  an  urgent  but  ineffectual 
exhortation  to  the  Earls  of  Desmond  and 
Kildare,  as  heads  of  the  Geraldines,  to  join 
with  him  in  throwing  off  the  yoke  of  the 
heretic,  and  then,  leaving  his  soldiers  in  the 
Fort  del  Ore  to  await  the  arrival  of  Stukely, 
he  went  to  pay  a  vow  at  the  monastery  of 
the  Holy  Cross  in  Tipperary.  On  his  way 
thither  he  was  slain  in  a  skirmish  (the  merits 
of  which  are  somewhat  uncertain)  by  his 
cousin,  Theobald  Burke.  He  married  Katha- 
rine, daughter  of  W.  Burke  of  Muskerry,  by 
whom  he  had  two  sons,  Maurice  and  Gerald, 
and  a  daughter. 

[The  chief  authorities  for  his  life  are  Hamil- 
ton's Irish  Calendar ;  Crosby's  Foreign  Calendar ; 
Geraldine  Documents,  ed.  Hayman  and  Graves ; 
Rawlinson's  Life  of  Sir  John  Perrot;  Hogan's 
Ibernia  Ignatiana;  Moran's  Catholic  Archbishops 
of  Dublin ;  Calendar  of  Carew  MSS.  i.  397 ; 
Kerry  Magazine,  No.  31  ;  O'Daly's  Initium, 
incrementa,  et  exitus  familise  Geraldinorum ; 
O'Sullevan's  Historiae  Catholicse  Iberniae  Com- 
pendium ;  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters  ;  Annals 
of  Loch  Ce;  Cox's  Hibernia  Anglicana;  Bagwell's 
Ireland  under  the  Tudors,  vol.  ii.  In  the  Kil- 
kenny Archaeological  Society's  Journal,  July 
1859,  will  be  found  a  collection  of  Irish  letters 
by  Fitzgerald,  translated  and  edited  by  Dr. 
O'Donovan.]  K.  D. 

FITZGERALD,  JAMES,  commonly  called 
the  TOWEE  EAEL,  or  the  QUEEN'S  EARL  OF 
DESMOND  (1570P-1601),  was  elder  son  of 
Gerald  Fitzgerald,  fifteenth  earl  of  Desmond 
(d.  1583)  [q.  v.],  by  his  second  marriage  with 
Eleanor,  daughter  of  Edmund  Butler,  lord 
Dunboyne.  He  was  born  in  England  about 
1570,  and  the  queen  was  his  godmother. 
When  his  father  renounced  his  allegiance  to 
the  English  crown  in  1579,  the  child  seems 
to  have  been  resident  in  Ireland.  His  mother, 
to  dissociate  him  from  his  father's  ill  fortune, 
delivered  him  up  to  Sir  William  Drury,  an 
acting  lord  justice,  who  sent  him  to  Dublin 
Castle.  On  28  Aug.  1582  the  countess  bit- 
terly complained  to  Lord  Burghley  that  his 
education  was  utterly  neglected,  and  peti- 
tioned for  better  treatment  (HAYMAN  and 
GEAVES,91).  On  17  Nov.  1583,  and  on  9  July 


Fitzgerald 


128 


Fitzgerald 


1584  his  gaolers  applied  to  the  English  autho- 
rities for  his  removal  to  the  Tower  of  London. 
Their  second  petition  was  successful,  and 
before  the  close  of  1584  the  lad  was  carried 
to  the  Tower,  to  remain  a  prisoner  there  for 
sixteen  years.  On  17  June  1593  he  wrote 
pathetically  to  Cecil  that '  only  by  being  born 
the  unfortunate  son  of  a  faulty  father,  [he] 
had  never  since  his  infancy  breathed  out  of 
prison.'  Between  1588  and  1598  innumer- 
able accounts  are  extant  detailing  payment  in 
behalf  of  *  James  Garolde,'  as  the  prisoner 
was  called,  for  medicines,  ointments,  pills, 
syrups,  and  the  like,  particulars  which  suggest 
a  very  feeble  state  of  health.  The  '  wages  ' 
of  the  youth's  schoolmaster  appear  in  the  ac- 
counts, and  many  letters  are  extant  to  testify 
to  the  thoroughness  of  the  teaching  as  far  as 
it  went. 

Fitzgerald's  condition  underwent  a  great 
change  in  the  autumn  of  1600.     Tyrone's  re- 
bellion was  still  unchecked.     In  Munster  the 
Geraldine  faction  was  united  by  Tyrone's  in- 
fluence against  the  English  government,  in 
the  support  of  James  Fitzthomas  Fitzgerald, 
the  Sugan  Earl  [q.  v.],  who,  being  the  heir 
of  the  disinherited  elder  son  of  James,  four- 
teenth earl  of  Desmond,  had  been  put  forward 
by  the  rebel  leaders  as  the  only  rightful  earl 
of  Desmond.     To  break  the  union  between 
the  Geraldine  faction  and  the  other  rebels, 
Sir  George  Carew,  president  of  Munster,  sug- 
gested that  the  imprisoned  James  Fitzgerald 
should  be  sent  to  the  province,  and  paraded 
as  the  genuine  earl  of  Desmond.    It  was  con- 
fidently expected  that  the  Geraldine  faction 
would  at  once  transfer  their  allegiance  to  the 
youthful  prisoner.      Elizabeth  disliked  the 
scheme.  Cecil  doubted  its  wisdom,  but  finally 
gave  way.  Fitzgerald  was  to  assume  the  title 
of  Earl  of  Desmond,  and  a  patent  passed  the 
great  seal,  with  the  proviso  that  if  the  earl 
Lad  an  heir,  the  heir  should  bear  the  title  of 
Baron  Inchiquin.     The  new  earl  was  to  have 
none  of  his  father's  lands  restored  to  him, 
and  was  to  be  in  the  custody  of  a  governor, 
Captain  Price,  together  with  a   gentleman 
named  Crosbie,  and  the  protestant  archbishop 
of  Cashel,  Miler  Magrath.     Captain  Price 
was  ordered  to  indoctrinate  his  charge  with 
the  necessity  of  supporting  the  queen,  of  ad- 
hering to  the  protestant  religion,  and  of  main- 
taining a  very  frugal  household.     Cecil  di- 
rected Carew  to  leave  Fitzgerald  all  the  ap- 
pearances of  liberty,  but  he  was  to  be  closely 
watched  and  placed  under  restraint  if  he 
showed  the  slightest  sign  of  sympathy  with 
the  government's  enemies.     The  party  left 
Bristol  for  Cork  on  13  Oct.  1600.     The  earl 
suffered  terribly  from  sea-sickness,  and  was 
landed  at  Youghal.     The  Geraldines  wel- 


comed him  with  enthusiasm,  although  the 
mayor  of  Cork  was  not  very  courteous.    The 
earl  travelled  quickly  to  Carew's  headquarters 
at  Mallow,  and  thence  to  the  centre  of  the 
Geraldine  district  at  Kilmallock  (18  Oct.), 
where  Sir  George  Thornton,  the  English  com- 
mander, provided  him  with  lodging.     The 
people  still  treated  him  with  favour,  and  al- 
though he  found  his  position  irksome,  he  faith- 
fully preached  to  them  Elizabeth's  clemency 
and  the  desirability  of  making  peace  with 
her.    But  on  Sunday,  the  19th,  while  his  fol- 
lowers were  expecting  him  to  join  them  at 
worship  in  the  catholic  chapel,  he  ostenta- 
tiously made  his  way  to  the  protestant  church. 
This  act  broke  the  spell,  and  the  people's  ac- 
clamations changed  to  hooting.    On  14  Nov., 
however,  Thomas  Oge,  an  officer  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Sugan  Earl,  who  held  a  fortress 
called  Castlemang,  surrendered  it  to  the  new 
earl,  and  the  latter  dwelt  with  pride  on  the 
victory  in  a  letter  to  Cecil  (18  Dec.)     But 
this  was  Desmond's  only  success.     Cecil  saw 
that  his  presence  in  Ireland  had  no  effect  on 
the  rebellious  population,  and  his  guardians 
found  him  difficult  to  content  with  the  narrow 
means  at  their  command.    He  resented  living 
on  500/.  a  year,  the  allowance  made  him 
by  the  government,  and  desired  to  marry  a 
certain  widow  Norreys,  to  which  Cecil  ob- 
jected.    Cecil  held  out  hopes  that  a  more 
suitable  marriage  could  be  arranged  in  Eng- 
land.   At  the  end  of  March  1601  he  came  to 
London  with  a  letter  from  Carew  highly  re- 
commending him  for  a  grant  of  land  and  a  set- 
tled income  in  consideration  of  his  loyalty. 
On  31  Aug.  1601  he  appealed  to  Cecil  for  aid, 
and  for  some  of  the  lands  lately  held  by  the 
Sugan  Earl.    He  described  himself  as  penni- 
less, despised,  and  without  the  means  to  pre- 
sent himself  at  court.    Chamberlain,  writing 
to  Carleton,  14  Nov.  1601,  says  that  '  the 
young  earl  of  Desmond  died  here  [i.e.  Lon- 
don] the  last  week '  (Letters  temp.  Eliz.,  Camd. 
Soc.,  122)  ;   but  it  was  not  until  14  Jan. 
1601-2  that  the  privy  council  formally  an- 
nounced his  death,  and  released  the  persons 
who  had  accompanied  him  to  Ireland  from  the 
charge  of  attendance  upon  him.    On  17  Jan. 
1601-2  one  of  these  persons,  named  William 
Power,  appealed  for  pecuniary  assistance  in 
behalf  of  the  earl's  four  sisters,  who  were 
suffering  greatly  from  poverty.    Irish  writers 
suggest  that  the  earl  was  poisoned,  but  there 
is  nothing  to  support  the  suggestion. 

[Hayman  and  Graves's  Unpublished  Geraldine 
Documents,  pt.  ii.  pp.  80  et  seq. ;  Pacata  Hi- 
bernia,  1633,  i.  cap.  14,  p.  800  ;  Gent.  Mag.  1863 
pt.  ii.  414-25,  1864  pt.  ii.  28-39  ;  Cal.  State 
Papers  (Domestic),  1601-3,  pp.  13,  134;  Cal. 
Carew  MSS.  1600-1.]  S.  L.  L. 


Fitzgerald 


129 


Fitzgerald 


FITZGERALD,  JAMES  FITZTHOMAS, 
the  SUGAN  EARL  OF  DESMOND  (d.  1608),  was 
the  eldest  son  of  Sir  Thomas  Fitzgerald,  com- 
monly called  Thomas  Roe  or  Red  Thomas. 
Thomas  Roe  had  been  bastardised  and  disin- 
herited by  his  father,  James  Fitzjohn  Fitz- 
gerald, fourteenth  earl  of  Desmond  [q.  v.],  and 
though  inclined  to  dispute  the  claim  of  his 
younger  brother  Gerald,  fifteenth  earl  [q.  v.], 
to  the  earldom  of  Desmond,  circumstances 
had  proved  too  strong  for  him,  and  he  had 
sunk  into  obscure  privacy.  By  his  wife 
Ellice,  daughter  of  Richard,  lord  Poer,  he 
had  two  sons,  James  and  John,  and  a  daugh- 
ter, who  married  Donald  Pipi  MacCarthy 
Reagh.  When  of  an  age  to  understand  his 
position  James  Fitzthomas  repaired  to  court 
to  petition  Elizabeth  for  a  restoration  of  his 
rights.  His  petition  was  regarded  with  favour, 
some  slight  encouragement  held  out  to  him, 
and  a  small  yearly  allowance  promised  him. 
Consequently,  during  the  rebellion  of  his  uncle 
Gerald,  both  he  and  his  father  remained 
staunch  in  their  allegiance  to  the  crown,  and 
after  the  death  of  the  earl  and  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  rebellion  in  1583  they  naturally 
looked  for  their  restoration  to  the  earldom. 
But  their  petitions  no  longer  found  favour  at 
court,  for  Munster  was  to  be  '  planted '  with 
Englishmen,  and  for  ever  to  be  made  loyal 
to  England.  So  matters  remained  until  1598, 
when  Munster,  in  the  words  of  the  Irish  an- 
nalists, again  became  '  a  trembling  sod.'  In- 
stigated by  his  brother  John  and  by  Hugh 
O'Neill,  earl  of  Tyrone,  James  Fitzthomas 
assumed  the  title  of  Earl  of  Desmond,  and 
before  long  found  himself  at  the  head  of  eight 
thousand  clansmen.  To  the  expostulations 
of  the  Earl  of  Ormonde  he  replied,  on  12  Oct. 
1598,  by  a  statement  of  his  grievances,  and 
by  an  avowal  of  his  intention,  seeing  he  could 
obtain  no  justice,  'tomaintain  his  right,  trust- 
ing in  the  Almighty  to  further  the  same.' 
The  struggle  lasted  for  three  years.  But  in 
October  1600,  while  withdrawing  his  forces 
from  the  open  into  the  woods  of  Aharlow, 
he  was  surprised  by  Captain  Greame  and  the 
garrison  of  Kilmallock.  From  that  day  the 
G'eraldines  never  rallied  again  to  any  pur- 
pose. Dismissing  his  followers  the  earl  took 
to  the  woods  for  safety,  where,  in  May  1601, 
Sir  George  Carew  was  informed  that  he  was 
living'  in  the  habit  of  a  priest,' but  determined 
*  to  die  rather  than  to  depart  the  province,  re- 
taining still  his  traitorly  hopes  to  be  relieved 
out  of  Ulster  or  out  of  Spain'  (Cal.  Carew 
MSS.  iv.  55).  Carew  made  several  attempts 
to  procure  his  capture  or  death,  but  without 
success,  for  '  such  is  the  superstitious  folly 
of  these  people,  as  for  no  price  he  may  be 
had,  holding  the  same  to  be  so  heinous  as  no 

VOL.  XIX. 


priest  will  give  them  absolution'  (id.  iii.  471). 
Eventually,  on  29  May  1601,  he  was  captured 
by  Edmund  Fitzgibbon,  the  White  Knight 
[q.  v.],  while  hiding  in  'an  obscure  cave  many 
fathoms  underground'  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Mitchelstown.  He  was  placed  in  irons 
to  prevent  a  rescue,  '  so  exceedingly  beloved 
of  all  sorts '  was  he,  and  conveyed  to  Shan- 
don  Castle,  where  he  was  immediately  ar- 
raigned and  adjudged  guilty  of  treason.  For 
a  time  Carew  hoped  to  make  use  of  him 
against  a  still  greater  rebel,  Hugh  O'Neill ; 
but  finding  him  to  be  after  all  but  a  l  dull- 
spirited  traitor,'  he  on  13  Aug.  handed  him 
over  to  Sir  Anthony  Cooke,  who  conveyed 
him  to  England,  where,  on  his  arrival,  he  was 
placed  in  the  Tower.  Of  his  life  in  prison 
there  remains  only  the  following  pathetic 
notice :  i  The  demands  of  Sir  John  Peyton, 
Lieutenant  of  Her  Majesty's  Tower  of  Lon- 
don, for  one  quarter  of  a  year,  from  St.  Mi- 
chael's day  1602  till  the  feast  of  our  Lord  God 
next.  For  James  M'Thomas.  Sayd  tyme  at 
31.  per  week,  physicke,  sourgeon,  and  watcher 
with  him  in  his  Lunacy.'  He  is  said  to  have 
died  in  1608,  and  to  have  been  buried  in  the 
chapel  of  the  Tower.  He  married  Ellen, 
widow  of  Maurice,  elder  brother  of  Edmund, 
the  White  Knight,  but  had  no  issue. 

John  Fitzthomas,  his  brother,  who  had 
shared  with  him  in  the  vicissitudes  of  the 
rebellion,  and  who  indeed  seems  to  have  been 
the  prime  instigator  of  it,  after  his  brother's 
capture,  escaped  with  his  wife,  the  daughter 
of  Richard  Comerford  of  Dangenmore,  Kil- 
kenny, into  Spain,  where  he  died  a  few  years 
afterwards  at  Barcelona.  His  son  Gerald, 
known  as  the  Conde  de  Desmond,  entered 
the  service  of  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  II,  and 
was  killed  in  1632.  As  he  left  no  issue,  in  him 
ended  the  heirs  male  of  the  four  eldest  sons 
of  Thomas,  eighth  earl  of  Desmond  [q.  v.] 

[The  principal  references  to  the  life  of  the 
Sugan  Earl  will  be  found  collected  together  in 
the  Unpublished  G-eraldine  Documents,  edited 
by  Hayman  and  Graves,  pt.  ii.]  E.  D. 

FITZGERALD,  JAMES,  first  DUKE  OP 
LEINSTEE,  (1722-1773),  was  the  second  but 
eldest  surviving  son  of  Robert,  nineteenth 
earl  of  Kildare,  and  head  of  the  great  family 
of  the  Geraldines,  by  Lady  Mary  O'Brien, 
eldest  daughter  of  William,  third  earl  of  In- 
chiquin.  He  was  born  on  29  May  1722,  and, 
after  receiving  his  preliminary  education  at 
home,  travelled  on  the  continent  from  Fe- 
bruary 1737  to  September  1739.  In  the  fol- 
lowing year  he  became  heir-apparent  to  the 
earldom  of  Kildare,  on  the  death  of  his  elder 
brother,  and  on  17  Oct.  1741  he  entered  the 
Irish  House  of  Commons  as  member  for  Athy, 


Fitzgerald 


130 


Fitzgerald 


with  the  courtesy  title  of  Lord  Offaly.     On 
20  Feb.   1744  he  succeeded  his  father  as 
twentieth  earl  of  Kildare,  and  in  the  rebellion 
of  the  following  year  he  offered  to  raise  a 
regiment  at  his  own  expense  to  serve  against 
the  Pretender.     He  was  sworn  of  the  Irish 
privy  council  in  1746,  and  on  1  Feb.  1747  he 
received  a  seat  in  the  English  House  of  Lords 
as  Viscount  Leinster  of  Taplow,  Buckingham- 
shire, an  estate  belonging  to  his  uncle,  the  Earl 
of  Inchiquin.    This  peerage  was  conferred  on 
Kildare  on  the  occasion  of  his  marriage  with 
Lady  Emily  Lennox,  second   daughter  of 
Charles,  second  duke  of  Richmond,  and  sister 
of  Lady  Holland,  Lady  Louisa  Conolly,  and 
Lady  Sarah  Napier, which  took  place  on  7  Feb. 
1747.     Kildare  after  his  marriage  took  an 
active  part  in  Irish  politics ;  he  built  Leinster 
House  in  Dublin,  and  exercised  a  princely  hos- 
pitality ;  and  from  his  wealth,  high  birth,  and 
influential  family  connections,  soon  formed 
a  powerful  party.     This  party  followed  im- 
plicitly all  the  directions  of  Kildare,  who 
pursued  an  intermediate  policy  between  the 
radical  ideas  of  Speaker  Boyle  (afterwards 
Earl  of  Shannon)  [see  BOYLE,  HENKY,  1682- 
1764]  and  his  friends,  and  the  ministerialists, 
headed  by  the  primate,  George  Stone,  arch- 
bishop of  Dublin.    Stone  was  an  especial  ob- 
ject of  hatred  to  Kildare,  who  in  1754  sent  a 
most  violent  protest  to  the  king,  attacking 
the  primate's  nomination  to  be  a  lord  deputy 
during  the  absence  of  the  lord-lieutenant,  and 
declaring  the  inalienable  right  of  the  Irish  par- 
liament to  dispose  of  unappropriated  sums  of 
money  when  voted  in  excess  of  the  ministerial 
demands.  Stone's  chief  supporter,  the  Duke  of 
Dorset,  was  at  once  recalled  j  the  primate  was 
struck  out  of  the  Irish  privy  council;  and  the 
Marquis  of  Hartington,  a  personal  friend  of 
Kildare's,was  appointed  lord-lieutenant.  The 
Irish  people,  or  perhaps  it  is  more  correct  to 
say  the  population  of  Dublin,  were  delighted 
at  the  earl's  behaviour ;  a  medal  was  struck 
in  his  honour,  and  he  remained  until  the  day 
of  his  death  one  of  the  most  popular  noblemen 
in  Ireland.     He  justified  the  confidence  of 
the  English  ministry  by  bringing  round  the 
speaker  and  Richard  Malone,  the  chancellor 
of  the  Irish  exchequer,  to  the  support  of  the 
Irish  administration,  and  in  1756  he  accepted 
the  post  of  lord  deputy.   In  1758  he  was  made 
master-general  of  the  ordnance  in  Ireland, 
in  March  1760  he  raised  the  Royal  Irish  regi- 
ment of  artillery,  of  which  he  was  appointed 
colonel,  and  on  3  March  1761  he  was  created 
Earl  of  Offaly  and  Marquis  of  Kildare  in  the 
peerage  of  Ireland.     Five  years  later  he  re- 
ceived the  final  step  in  the  peerage.     There 
were  at  that  time  no  Irish  dukes,  and  the 
marquis  was  eager  to  maintain  his  precedence 


over  all  Irish  noblemen.  The  king  promised 
that  he  should  be  created  a  duke  whenever 
an  English  duke  was  made,  and  in  compliance 
with  this  promise,  when  Sir  Hugh  Smithson- 
Percy,  Earl  Percy, was  promoted  to  be  Duke  of 
Northumberland,  Kildare  was  created  Duke  of 
Leinster  in  the  peerage  of  Ireland  on  16  March 
1766.  After  this  last  promotion  he  began  to 
take  less  part  in  politics,  but  in  1771  he  drew 
up  and  signed  a  protest  in  the  Irish  House  of 
Lords  against  the  petition  of  the  majority 
of  the  Irish  parliament  for  the  continuance  of 
Lord  Townshend  in  the  office  of  lord-lieu- 
tenant. The  duke  died  at  Leinster  House, 
Dublin,  on  19  Nov.  1773,  and  was  buried  at 
Christ  Church  in  that  city.  He  left  a  large 
family,  among  whom  the  most  notable  were 
William  Robert  [q.  v.],  who  succeeded  as 
second  duke  of  Leinster ;  Charles  James,  a 
distinguished  naval  officer,  who  was  created 
Lord  Lecale  in  the  peerage  of  Ireland ;  Lord 
Henry  Fitzgerald,  who  married  Charlotte, 
baroness  De  Ros  in  her  own  right ;  Lord  Ed- 
ward Fitzgerald,  the  rebel  [q.  v.]  ;  and  Lord 
Robert  Stephen  Fitzgerald,  a  diplomatist  of 
some  note,  who  was  minister  ad  interim  in 
Paris  during  the  early  years  of  the  French 
revolution,  and  afterwards  British  representa- 
tive at  Berne. 

[The  Marquia  of  Kildare's  Earls  of  Kildare 
and  their  Ancestors  from  1057  to  1773,  Dublin, 
1858.]  H.  M.  S. 

FITZGERALD,  JAMES  (1742-1835), 
Irish  politician,  descended  from  the  family  of 
the  White  Knight  [see  FITZGIBBON,  EDMUND 
Fitzjohn],  was  younger  son  of  William  Fitz- 
gerald, an  attorney  of  Ennis,  and  younger 
brother  of  Maurice  Fitzgerald,  clerk  of  the 
crown  for  Connaught.  He  was  born  in  1742, 
and  educated  at  Trinity  College,  Dublin,where 
he  greatly  distinguished  himself.  In  1769 
he  was  called  to  the  Irish  bar,  and  he  soon 
obtained  a  large  practice,  and  won  a  great 
reputation  both  as  a  sound  lawyer  and  an 
eloquent  pleader.  In  1772  he  entered  the 
Irish  House  of  Commons  as  member  for 
Ennis  ;  in  1776  he  was  elected  both  for  Kil- 
libegs  and  Tulsk  in  Roscommon,  and  pre- 
ferred to  sit  for  the  latter  borough ;  in  1784 
and  1790  he  was  re-elected  for  Tulsk,  and 
in  1798  he  was  chosen  to  represent  the  county 
of  Kildare  in  the  last  Irish  parliament.  His 
eloquence  soon  made  him  as  great  a  reputa- 
tion in  the  Irish  parliament  as  at  the  Irish 
bar,  and  he  was  recognised  as  one  of  the 
leading  orators  in  the  days  of  Grattan  and 
Flood.  Though  an  eloquent  speaker,  Fitz- 
gerald was  not  much  of  a  statesman ;  he, 
however,  supported  all  the  motions  of  the 
radical  party,  and  in  1782  he  made  his 


Fitzgerald 


Fitzgerald 


most  famous  speech  in  proposing  a  certain 
measure  of  catholic  relief.  In  that  year  he 
married  Catherine,  younger  daughter  of  the 
Rev.  Henry  Vesey,  who  was  grandson  of 
John  Vesey,  archbishop  of  Tuam,  and  cousin 
of  Lord  Glent  worth,  ancestor  of  the  Vis- 
counts de  Vesci.  Fitzgerald  never  sought 
political  office,  but  he  eagerly  accepted  profes- 
sional appointments,  which  helped  him  at  the 
bar.  He  thus  became  in  rapid  succession 
third  Serjeant  in  1 779,  second  Serjeant  in  1784, 
and  prime  Serjeant  in  1787.  In  all  the  de- 
bates which  preceded  the  final  abolition  of 
the  independent  Irish  parliament  Fitzgerald 
distinguished  himself.  He  opposed  the  pro- 
ject of  the  union  with  all  his  might,  and 
he  was  certainly  disinterested  in  his  cause, 
for  in  1799  he  was  dismissed  from  his  post 
of  prime  serjeant  to  make  way  for  St.  George 
Daly,  who  had  been  converted  to  the  unionist 
policy.  The  Irish  bar  insisted  on  showing 
their  respect  for  him,  and  continued  to  give 
him  the  precedence  in  court  over  the  attor- 
ney-general and  solicitor-general  which  he 
had  held  as  prime  serjeant.  When  the  union 
was  carried  Fitzgerald  accepted  it,  and  he 
sat  in  the  imperial  parliament  for  Ennis  from 
1802  to  February  1808,  when  he  resigned  the 
seat  to  his  son,  William  Vesey  Fitzgerald.  He, 
however,  was  re-elected  in  1812,  but  again  re- 
signed in  January  1813,  when  he  finally  re- 
tired from  politics.  His  name,  like  his  son's 
[see  FITZGERALD,  WILLIAM  VESEY,  1783- 
1843],  was  unfortunately  mixed  up  in  the 
Mary  Anne  Clarke  scandal  with  the  Duke 
of  York.  This  son,  who  was  thoroughly  re- 
conciled to  the  union,  held  many  important 
political  offices,  and  in  recognition  of  his  ser- 
vices his  mother  was  created  Baroness  Fitz- 
gerald and  Vesey  on  31  July  1826,  when 
James  Fitzgerald  himself  refused  a  peerage. 
James  Fitzgerald  died  at  Booterstown,  near 
Dublin,  on  20  Jan.  1835,  aged  93 ;  the  baro- 
ness had  predeceased  him  3  Jan.  1832.  His 
youngest  son,  HENRY  VESEY  FITZGERALD, 
was  dean  of  Emly  (1818-26),  and  dean  of 
Kilmore  from  1826  till  his  death,  on  30 March 
1860.  He  succeeded  his  eldest  brother  as 
third  Lord  Fitzgerald  and  Vesey  in  1843. 

[Gent.  Mag.  March  1835;  Blue  Book  of  the 
Members  of  the  House  of  Commons  ;  Blacker's 
Booterstown,  pp.  241-3  ;  Sir  John  Barrington's 
Memoirs  of  the  Union  ;  Grattan's  Life  of  Henry 
Grattan;  Hardy's  Life  of  the  Earl  of  Charle- 
mont.]  H.  M.  S. 

FITZGERALD,  JOHN,  first  EARL  OF 
EJLDARE.  [See  FITZTHOMAS,  JOHN",  d.  1316.] 

FITZGERALD,     JOHN    FITZEDMUND 

(d.  1589),  seneschal  of  Imokilly,  was  the  son 
of  Edmund  Fitzmaurice  Riskard,  seneschal  of 


Imokilly  and  Shylie,  daughter  of  Maolrony" 
O'Carroll.  He  was  a  prominent  actor  in  the 
two  great  rebellions  that  convulsed  Munster 
during  1563  to  1583.  In  1569,  being '  a  prin- 
cipal communicator  with  James  Fitzmaurice/ 
'  arch  traitor '  [q.  v.],  he  was  besieged  in  his 
castle  of  Ballymartyr  by  Sir  Henry  Sidney ; 
but  after  a  stout  defence,  in  which  several  of 
the  besiegers  were  wounded,  finding  the  place 
untenable,  he  '  and  his  company  in  the  dead 
of  night  fl.ed  out  of  the  house  by  a  bog,  which 
joins  hard  to  the  wall  where  no  watch  could 
have  prevented  their  escape.'  He  continued 
to  hold  out  with  Fitzmaurice  in  the  woods 
of  Aharlow  till  February  1573,  when  he 
humbly  submitted  himself  before  Sir  John 
Perrot  in  the  church  of  Kilmallock,  and  was 
pardoned.  In  1575  he  accompanied  Fitz- 
maurice to  France,  but  returned  to  Ireland 
a  few  weeks  afterwards.  From  that  time  till 
the  date  of  Fitzmaurice's  landing  we  hear 
nothing  of  him  with  the  exception  that  on 
16  Nov.  1576  he  complained  to  the  president 
of  Munster,  Sir  William  Drury,  that  the  Earl 
of  Desmond  was  coshering  sixty  horses  and 
a  hundred  horse-boys  on  Imokilly,  an  inci- 
dent quite  sufficient  to  show  how  the  wind 
was  blowing  meanwhile.  Instantly  on  the 
arrival  of  Fitzmaurice  in  July  1579  he  went 
into  rebellion.  An  adept  in  all  the  strata- 
gems of  Irish  warfare,  and  personally  brave 
in  carrying  his  schemes  into  execution,  he 
became,  after  the  death  of  the  '  arch  traitor/ 
the  unquestionable,  though  not  nominal, 
head  of  the  rebellion.  It  was  against  him, 
and  not  the  Earl  of  Desmond,  that  Or- 
monde mainly  directed  his  efforts.  More  than 
once  during  that  terrible  struggle  he  was  re- 
ported to  have  been  slain.  He  was,  indeed, 
once  severely  wounded  and  his  brother  killed, 
but  he  manifested  no  intention  of  submitting. 
In  February  1581  he  narrowly  missed  captur- 
ing Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  In  May  1583  his  aged 
mother  was  taken  and  executed  by  Thomas 
Butler,  tenth  earl  of  Ormonde  [q.  v.]  But  it 
was  not  till  14  June,  when  he  was  reported 
to  have  not  more  than  twenty-four  swords  and 
four  horse,  that  he  consented  to  recognise  the 
hopelessness  of  his  cause.  His  submission 
was  accepted  conditionally;  but  Ormonde, 
who  greatly  respected  him  for  his  bravery, 
pleaded  earnestly  with  Burghley  for  his  par- 
don. He  was,  he  declared,  a  man  '  valiant, 
wise,  and  true  of  his  word.'  Ever  since  his 
submission  '  he  and  his  people  had  been  em- 
ployed in  order  and  husbandry.'  Ormonde's 
intervention  was  successful  so  far  as  his  life 
was  concerned  ;  but  as  for  his  lands,  that  was 
to  be  left  an  open  question.  Thirty-six  thou- 
sand acres  of  good  land,  which  the  under- 
takers had  come  to  regard  as  their  property, 


Fitzgerald 


132 


Fitzgerald 


were  not  to  be  surrendered  by  them  with- 
out &  struggle.  He  was  represented  as  the 
most  dangerous  man  in  the  province,  as  '  hav- 
ing more  intelligence  from  Spain  than  any 
one  else.'  Their  representations  were  not 
without  their  calculated  effect  on  Elizabeth, 
who  had  at  first  been  inclined  to  treat  him 
leniently.  Not  suspecting  any  attack,  he  was 
in  March  1587  arrested  by  Sir  Thomas  Nor- 
reys  and  confined  to  Dublin  Castle,  where  he 
died  in  February  1589  (Ham.  Cal.  iv.  126,  but 
cf.  p.  253),  a  few  days  after  it  had  been  finally 
decided  that  he  should  enjoy  the  profit  of  his 
lands.  He  married  Honora,  daughter  of 
James  Fitzmaurice,  by  whom  he  had  Ed- 
mund and  Richard,  seven  weeks  old  in  1589, 
and  two  daughters,  Catherine  and  Eleanor. 
His  son  and  heir,  Edmund,  at  the  time  of 
his  father's  death  being  a  year  and  a  half  old, 
was  found  by  inquisition  to  be  heir  to  Bally- 
martyr  and  other  lands  in  co.  Cork,  and  was 
granted  in  wardship  to  Captain  Moyle.  He 
obtained  livery  of  his  lands  on  coming  of  age, 
and  in  1647  defended  Ballymartyr  against 
his  nephew,  Lord  Inchiquin,  when  the  castle 
was  burnt  and  himself  outlawed. 

[The  principal  references  to  Fitzgerald's  life 
contained  in  the  State  Papers  will  be  found  in  the 
Unpublished  Geraldine  Documents,  edited  by 
Hayman  and  Graves,  pt.  ii.  pp.  1 18-36.]  K.  D. 

FITZGERALD,  SIR  JOHN  FITZEDMFIO) 
(1528-1612),  dean  of  Cloyne,  son  of  Edmund 
Fitzjames,bornin  1528, was  a  devoted  loyalist, 
being  almost  the  only  gentleman  of  note  who 
refused  to  join  in  the  rebellion  of  James  Fitz- 
maurice Fitzgerald  [q.  v.]  in  1569,  whereupon 
he  was  appointed  sheriff  of  the  county  of  Cork, 
and  for  his  good  services  in  that  office  was 
1  so  maliced  and  hated  of  the  rebels,  as  they 
not  only  burned  all  his  towns  and  villages  to 
the  utter  banishing  of  th'  inhabitants  of  the 
same,  but  also  robbed  and  spoiled  and  con- 
sumed all  his  goods  and  cattle,  and  thereby 
brought  him  from  a  gentleman  of  good  ability 
to  live  to  extreme  poverty,  not  able  to  main- 
tain himself  and  his  people  about  him  in  the 
service  of  her  majesty  as  his  heart  desired.' 
His  petition  for  compensation  was  supported 
by  Sir  Henry  Sidney,  who  declared  that  he 
well  deserved  the  same  both  for  the  losses 
he  had  sustained  as  also  for  his  honesty  and 
civility.  On  the  outbreak  of  Desmond's  re- 
bellion he  again  threw  in  his  lot  with  the 
government,  and  was  again  exposed  to  the 
attacks  of  the  rebels,  insomuch  that  he  was 
obliged  to  take  refuge  in  Cork.  In  January 
1581  his  condition  was  described  to  Burghley 
as  truly  pitiful,  and  in  May  1582  the  queen 
gave  order  that  he  should  receive  an  annuity 
of  one  hundred  marks  and  a  grant  of  one 


hundred  marks  land  of  the  escheats  in  Mun- 
ster.  In  1586  he  strenuously  opposed  the- 
bill  for  the  attainder  of  the  Earl  of  Desmond, 
and  by  trying  to  maintain  the  legality  of  the- 
earl's  feoffment  almost  made  shipwreck  in 
one  moment  of  the  reputation  gained  by  a 
long  life  of  loyalty.  Being  charged  with  con- 
niving at  the  marriage  of  Florence  MacCarthy 
(whose  godfather  he  was)  and  Ellen,  daugh- 
ter of  the  Earl  of  Clancar,  he  denied  it,  de- 
claring to  Burghley  that  on  the  contrary  he- 
had  done  his  best  to  prevent  it ;  while,  as  for 
his  action  in  regard  to  Desmond's  deed  of 
feoffment,  it  was  with  him  a  thing  of  con- 
science and  honesty  before  God  and  the- 
world,  and  not  a  thing  desired  by  him.  His- 
loyalty  was  confirmed  by  Justice  Smythes, 
who  wrote  that  he  was  a  gentleman  '  wise- 
and  considerate  in  all  his  doings,  of  great 
learning  in  good  arts,  and  approved  loyalty 
in  all  times  of  trial,  just  in  his  dealings,  and 
may  serve  for  a  pattern  to  the  most  of  this-- 
country '  (Ham.  Cal.  iv.  46). 

During  the  rebellion  of  the  Sugan  Earl 
[see  FITZGERALD,  JAMES  Fitzthomas]  he  more- 
than  once  proved  himself  'the  best  subject 
the  queen  had  in  Munster,'  and  in  order  '  to 
requite  his  perpetual  loyalty  to  the  crown 
of  England,  as  also  to  encourage  others,'' 
Lord  Mountjoy,  while  visiting  him  at  Cloyne 
(7  March  1601),  on  his  way  from  the  siege  of 
Kinsale  to  Dublin,  knighted  him.  The  castle- 
of  Cloyne  had  originally  been  the  palace  of 
the  bishops  of  Cloyne.  The  way  in  which 
it  came  into  the  possession  of  Fitzgerald  very 
well  illustrates  the  general  laxity  in  ecclesi- 
astical matters  prevailing  during  Elizabeth's- 
reign.  In  order  to  make  leases  of  bishops'" 
lands  valid  it  was  necessary  to  have  them 
confirmed  by  the  dean  and  chapter,  the  church 
thus  having,  as  it  were,  double  security  that 
its  estates  should  not  be  recklessly  given 
away.  In  order  to  obviate  this  difficulty  Fitz- 
gerald, though  a  layman,  got  himself  appointed 
to  the  deanery  of  Cloyne,  after  which  he  filled, 
the  chapter  with  his  dependents.  Thereupon 
Matthew  Shehan,  bishop  of  Cloyne,  in  con- 
sideration of  a  fine  of  40/.,  leased  out  on 
14  July  1575,  at  an  annual  rent  of  five 
marks  for  ever,  the  whole  demesne  of  Cloyne 
to  a  certain  Richard  Fitzmaurice,  one  of  Fitz- 
gerald's dependents.  The  dean  and  chapter 
confirmed  the  grant,  and  Fitzmaurice  handed 
over  his  right  and  title  to  his  master.  Ther 
castle,  which  stood  at  the  south-east  angle  of 
the  four  crossways  in  the  centre  of  the  town  of 
Cloyne,  was  repaired  by  Fitzgerald,  and  only 
disappeared  in  1797,  having  been  recovered 
for  the  church  in  1700.  He  married  Honor 
O'Brien,  niece  of  the  Earl  of  Thomond,  by 
whom  he  had  three  sons :  Edmund,  who 


Fitzgerald 


133 


Fitzgerald 


married  the  widow  of  John  Fitzedmund  Fitz- 
gerald [q.  v.],  seneschal  of  Imokilly ;  Thomas 
(d.  1628),  who  married  Honor,  daughter  of 
O'Sullivan  Beare;  James  (o.s.p.),  and  two 
daughters,  Joan  and  Eleanor.  He  died  on 
15  July  1612,  and  was  buried  with  his  ances- 
tors in  the  cathedral  of  Cloyne.  Two  months 
later  he  was  followed  by  his  eldest  son.  '  In 
the  N.-E.  angle  of  the  north  transept  of  the 
cathedral,'  says  the  late  Kev.  James  Graves, 
'  was  erected,  doubtless  during  his  lifetime, 
a  very  fine  monument  in  the  renaissance  style, 
originally  consisting  of  an  altar-tomb,  above 
which  was  reared  a  pillared  superstructure 
crowned  by  an  ornamented  entablature  ; 
whilst,  from  the  fragments  still  remaining, 
it  would  appear  that  two  kneeling  armed 
figures  surmounted  the  first-named  part  of  the 
monument.'  According  to  the  epitaph  he  was 
*  hospitio  Celebris,  doctrina  clarus  et  armis.' 

[The  principal  references  to  Fitzgerald's  life 
contained  in  the  State  Papers  have  been  collected 
together  in  the  Unpublished  Geraldine  Docu- 
ments, ed.  Hayman  and  Graves,  pt.  ii.  He  must 
be  carefully  distinguished  from  his  relative  the 
*eneschal  of  Imokilly.  See  also  the  Life  and 
Letters  of  Florence  MacCarthy  Keagh,  by  Daniel 
MacCarthy,  bishop  of  Kerry,  and  Dr.  Brady's 
Clerical  and  Parochial  Kecords  of  Cork,  Cloyne, 
and  Eoss,  vol.  iii.]  E.  D. 

FITZGERALD,  SIR  JOHN  FORSTER 

(1784P-1877),  field  marshal,  colonel  18th 
royal  Irish  foot,  was  a  younger  son  of  Ed- 
ward Fitzgerald  of  Carrigoran,  co.  Clare,  who 
sat  for  that  county  in  the  Irish  parliament, 
was  a  colonel  of  Irish  volunteers  in  1782, 
and  died  in  1815,  by  his  second  wife,  the 
daughter  and  coheiress  of  Major  Thomas  Bur- 
ton, 5th  dragoon  guards,  and  granddaughter 
of  Right  Hon.  John  Forster,  lord  chief  jus- 
tice of  Ireland  [q.  v.],  and  consequently  was 
younger  brother  of  the  first  two  baronets  of 
Carrigoran.  The  date  of  his  birth  is  va- 
riously given  as  1784  and  1786.  On  29  Oct. 
1793  he  was  appointed  ensign  in  Captain 
Shee's  independent  company  of  foot  in  Ire- 
land, and  became  lieutenant  in  January  1794. 
In  May  1794  he  was  given  a  half-pay  com- 
pany in  the  old  79th  (royal  Liverpool  volun- 
teers) regiment  of  foot,  which  had  been  dis-  | 
banded  before  he  was  born.  After  seven 
years  as  a  titular  captain  on  the  Irish  half- 
pay  list,  on  31  Oct.  1800  he  was  brought 
into  the  46th  foot,  and  joined  that  corps,  then 
consisting  of  two  strong  battalions  of  short- 
service  soldiers,  in  Ireland.  The  regiment 
was  much  reduced  by  the  discharge  of  the 
latter  at  the  peace  of  Amiens,  and  young 
Fitzgerald  was  again  placed  on  half-pay,  but 
the  year  after  was  brought  on  full  pay  again 
in  the  newly  raised  New  Brunswick  fencibles, 


in  which  he  was  senior  captain  and  brevet 
major.  In  1809  he  was  promoted  major  in 
the  60th  royal  Americans,  afterwards  known 
as  the  60th  rifles,  and  in  1810  became  brevet 
lieutenant-colonel.  He  joined  the  5th  or 
Jager  battalion,  60th,  in  the  Peninsula,  and 
was  present  at  the  storming  of  Badajoz, 
where  he  was  among  the  regimental  com- 
manding officers  specially  commended  by  Sir 
Thomas  Picton  (GrjRwooD,  Well.  Desp.  v. 
379),  at  Salamanca,  Vittoria,  the  Pyrenees, 
and  many  minor  affairs.  Part  of  the  time  he 
was  in  command  of  a  provisional  battalion 
of  light  companies,  and  in  the  Pyrenees  com- 
manded a  brigade  and  was  taken  prisoner  by 
the  French,  but  exchanged  (ib.  vii.  237). 
At  the  end  of  the  war  he  was  made  C.B. 
and  received  the  gold  cross  given  to  com- 
manding officers  of  regiments  and  others  of 
higher  rank  who  had  been  present  in  four 
or  more  general  actions  entitling  them  to  a 
gold  medal  for  each,  which  medals  were  re- 
placed by  the  cross.  He  accompanied  the 
5th  battalion,  60th,  from  the  south  of  France 
to  Ireland  in  1814,  and  thence  in  1816  to 
the  Mediterranean.  In  1818  it  was  brought 
home  from  Gibraltar  and  disbanded,  Fitz- 
gerald, then  senior  major,  with  most  of  the 
other  officers  and  men,  being  transferred  to 
the  2nd  battalion,  60th,  at  Quebec,  which 
then  became  the  1st  battalion  and  was  made 
rifles.  Fitzgerald,  who  became  brevet  colonel 
in  1819,  remained  some  years  in  Canada, 
most  of  the  time  as  commandant  of  Quebec, 
and  afterwards  of  Montreal.  On  5  Feb.  1824 
he  exchanged  with  Lieutenant-colonel  Bun- 
bury  to  the  command  of  the  20th  foot  in 
Bombay,  which  he  held  until  promoted  to 
major-general  in  1830.  He  was  made  K.C.B. 
the  year  after.  In  1838  he  was  appointed 
to  a  divisional  command  at  Madras,  but  was 
afterwards  transferred  to  Bombay,  and  com- 
manded a  division  of  the  Bombay  army  until 
his  promotion  to  lieutenant-general  in  No- 
vember 1841.  He  was  appointed  colonel  of 
the  62nd  foot  in  1843,  transferred  to  the 
colonelcy  18th  royal  Irish  1850,  became  a 
general  1854,  G.C.B.  1862,  and  received  his 
field  marshal's  baton  29  May  1875.  He  re- 
presented Clare  county  in  parliament,  in  the 
liberal  interest,  in  1852-7. 

Fitzgerald  married  first,  in  New  Bruns- 
wick, in  1805,  Charlotte,  daughter  of  the 
Hon.  Robert  Hazen  of  St.  John's,  New 
Brunswick,  by  whom  he  had  a  son,  John 
Forster  Fitzgerald — killed  as  a  captain  14th 
light  dragoons  in  the  second  Sikh  war — and 
two  daughters.  He  married  secondly,  in 
1839,  Jean,  daughter  of  Hon.  Donald  Ogilvy 
of  Clova,  formerly  of  the  Madras  army,  and 
afterwards  colonel  Forfarshire  militia  (see 


Fitzgerald 


134 


Fitzgerald 


DEBRETT,  Peerage,  under  '  Earl  of  Airlie '), 
and  by  her  had  a  family. 

Fitzgerald,  who  some  short  time  before 
had  been  received  into  the  Roman  catholic 
communion,  died  at  Tours  on  24  March  1877, 
being  at  the  time  the  oldest  officer  in  the 
British  army.  By  order  of  the  French  minis- 
ter of  war,  the  garrison  of  Tours  paid  him 
the  funeral  honours  prescribed  for  a  marshal 
of  France. 

[Foster's  Baronetage, under  'Fitzgerald  of  Car- 
rigoran ; '  Debrett's  Peerage,  under '  Cunningham ' 
and  'Airlie;'  Wallace's  Chronicle  King's  Royal 
Rifles  (London,  1879);  Times,  4  April  1877. 
The  records  of  the  old  5th  or  Jager  battalion, 
60th,  with  which  Fitzgerald  served  in  the  Penin- 
sula, were  arranged  by  the  late  Major-general 
Gibbes  Rigaud,  and  have  been  published  in  the 
'Maltese  Cross,'  the  regimental  newspaper  of  the 
1st  battalion  king's  royal  rifles,  in  1886-7.1 

H.  M.  C. 

FITZGERALD,      KATHERINE      (d. 

1604),  the  '  old '  COUNTESS  OF  DESMOND,  was 
daughter  of  Sir  John  Fitzgerald,  lord  of 
Decies,  and  became  the  second  wife  of  Tho- 
mas Fitzgerald,  twelfth  earl  of  Desmond, 
some  time  after  1505.  The  first  wife  of  the 
earl  was  Sheela,  daughter  of  Cormac  Mac- 
Carthy.  To  her  (under  the  equivalent  name 
of  Gilis  ny  Cormyk),  as  '  wife  to  Sir  Thomas 
of  Desmond,'  on  9  June  20  Henry  VII,  i.e. 
1505,  Gerald  (son  of  Thomas)  Fitzgerald, 
eighth  earl  of  Kildare,  granted  a  lease  of 
lands  for  five  years,  a  copy  of  which  is  pre- 
served in  the  rental-book  of  the  ninth  earl, 
now  in  the  possession  of  the  Duke  of  Leins- 
ter.  On  its  first  discovery  it  was  supposed  by 
some  to  be  dated  20  Henry  VIII,  i.e.  1528  ; 
but  the  earlier  date  is  shown  to  be  correct 
not  only  by  a  facsimile  given  in  the  '  Journal 
of  the  Kilkenny  Archseological  Society,'  but 
also  by  the  fact  (unnoticed  by  those  who 
have  commented  on  the  document)  that 
the  Earl  of  Kildare  who  granted  it  died  in 
1513.  The  Earl  of  Desmond  who  was  the 
husband  of  Sheela  and  Katherine  died  in 
1534,  at  the  age  of  eighty.  As  he  left  a 
daughter  by  his  second  wife,  it  may  safely 
be  assumed  that  1524  is  the  latest  date  at 
which  his  marriage  to  her  could  have  taken 
place,  while,  as  we  have  seen,  1506  is  the 
earliest.  The  tradition,  therefore,  preserved 
by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  to  which  Horace 
Walpole  gave  its  popular  currency,  that  this 
second  wife  was  married  in  the  time  of  Ed- 
ward IV,  is  at  once  disposed  of;  but  it  may 
very  probably  be  true  of  her  predecessor. 
In  the  same  way  the  further  tradition  of  her 
having  danced  with  Richard  III  may  be 
accounted  for.  Mr.  Sainthill,  in  his '  Inquiry,' 
referred  to  at  the  end  of  this  article,  endea- 


voured to  support  these  traditions  by  the 
theory  that  Thomas  of  Desmond  might  have 
divorced  his  first  wife  and  married  his  second 
long  before  1505,  but  this  was  a  mere  sug- 
gestion, opposed  to  such  evidence  as  exists. 
That  the  '  old  countess '  was  living  in  1589, 
1  and  many  years  since,'  is  asserted  by  Sir  W. 
Raleigh  in  his  '  History  of  the  World '  (bk.  i. 
ch.  5,  §  5) ;  and  he  had  good  reason  for  know- 
ing the  truth  of  this,  inasmuch  as  in  that  year 
and  in  the  year  preceding  he  granted  leases 
of  lands  in  Cork  at  a  reduced  rent  pending  the 
life  of  'the  ladieCattelyn,  old  countess  dowa- 
ger of  Desmond,'  who  had  some  life-interest  in 
them.  It  appears  from  the  terms  of  these  leases- 
that  her  life  was  not  supposed  to  be  likely 
to  last  more  than  five  years  from  their  date. 
That  her  death  occurred  in  1604  is  stated  in  a 
manuscript  of  Sir  George  Carew's,  preserved 
in  Lambeth  Library  (No.  626).  From  these 
data  it  follows  that,  at  the  lowest  computa- 
tion, she  can  hardly  have  been  less  than  104 
years  old  at  the  time  of  her  decease  ;  and  it 
has  been  thought  by  some  that  the  traditional 
140  may  possibly  have  had  its  rise  in  an 
accidental  transposition  of  these  figures.  It 
is  in  Fynes  Morison's  '  Itinerary,'  published 
in  1617,  that  the  number  140  is  first  given. 
He  visited  Youghal,  near  which  the  Castle 
of  Inchiquin,  in  which  the  countess  resided, 
is  situated,  in  1613,  and  states  that '  in  our 
time '  she  had  lived  to  the  age  of  '  about ' 
140  years,  and  was  able  in  her  last  years  to 
go  on  foot  three  or  four  miles  weekly  to  the 
market  town,  and  that  only  a  few  years 
before  her  death  all  her  teeth  were  renewed. 
From  him  Bacon  appears  to  have  derived 
the  notices  which  he  gives  in  his  '  Hist.  Vitse 
et  Mortis  '  and  his  '  Sylva ; '  and  from  Bacon 
and  Raleigh^  and  a  Desmond  pedigree,  Arch- 
bishop Ussher  makes  mention  of  the  countess 
in  his  'Chronologia  Sacra/  where  he  says 
that '  meo  tempore '  she  was  both  living  and 
lively.  A  diary  kept  by  the  Earl  of  Leicester 
some  thirty  years  later  also  records  the  stories 
which  he  had  heard.  One  additional  and 
original  witness  has,  however,  been  recently 
found,  not  known  to  previous  writers  on  the 
subject,  whose  evidence  corroborates  the 
general  account.  Sir  John  Harington,  who 
was  twice  for  some  time  in  Ireland,  for  the 
first  time  soon  after  1584,  and  for  the  second 
time  in  1599,  speaking  in  1605  of  the  whole- 
someness  of  the  country,  says:  'Where  a 
man  hath  lived  above  140  year,  a  woman, 
and  she  a  countess,  above  120,  the  country  is 
like  to  be  helthy.'  Of  the  case  of  the  man 
whom  he  mentions  nothing  is  known,  but 
his  allusion  to  the  case  of  the  countess  evi- 
dently implies  that  her  story,  as  well  as  that 
of  the  former,  was  then  a  familiar  one.  On 


Fitzgerald 


Fitzgerald 


the  whole,  it  may  be  concluded  that  the 
countess  reached  at  least  the  age  of  104,  and 
that,  until  some  further  evidence,  such  as 
the  date  of  her  marriage,  be  forthcoming,  it 
may  further  reasonably  be  conjectured  that 
the  addition  of  ten  years  would  very  pro- 
bably be  a  nearer  approximation  to  the  truth. 
The  stories  of  her  death  being  caused  by  a 
fall  from  an  apple,  a  walnut,  or  a  cherry  tree, 
may  be  dismissed  as  fictions ;  while  that  of 
her  journey  to  London  to  beg  relief  from 
Queen  Elizabeth  or  James  I  has  been  shown 
by  Mr.  Sainthill  to  belong  to  the  Countess 
Elinor,  widow  of  Gerald,  the  fifteenth  and 
attainted  earl  of  Desmond.  Nine  or  ten 
portraits  of  the  old  countess  are  said  to  be 
in  existence  ;  but  only  two  of  these,  respec- 
tively at  Muckross  Abbey  and  Dupplin  Castle, 
with  possibly  a  third  at  Chatsworth,  are  sup- 
posed to  represent  her,  the  others  being  pic- 
tures of  other  persons  by  Rembrandt  and 
Gerard  Douw. 

[Article  in  the  Quarterly  Review  for  March 
1853,  pp.  329-54;  Archd.  A.  B.  Kowan's  Olde 
Countesse  of  Desmonde,  1860;  Richard  Saint- 
hill's  Old  Countess  of  Desmond,  an  Inquiry,  2  vols. 
(privately  printed),  1861-3;  article  (by  J.  Gough 
Nichols)  in  the  Dublin  Review,  1862,  li.  51-91 ; 
Journal  of  the  Kilkenny  Archseol.  Soc.,  new  ser. 
iv.  Ill,  1864  ;  W.  J.  Thoms's  Longevity  of  Man, 
1879  ;  Sir  J.  Harington's  Short  View  of  the  State 
of  Ireland,  1879,  p.  10  ;  see  also  Notes  and 
Queries,  2nd  ser.  vii.  313,  365,  431,  3rd  ser.  i. 
301,  377,  5th  ser.  xi.  192,  332.]  W.  D.  M. 

FITZGERALD,  MAURICE  (d.  1176), 
English  conqueror  of  Ireland,  was  the  son 

Nesta,  daughter  of  Rhys  the  Great,  king 
of  South  Wales  (Exp.  Hib.  p.  229).  'He 
was  thus  half-brother  to  Robert  Fitzstephen 
[q.  v.]  and  Meiler  Fitzhenry  [q.  v.],  and  bro- 
ther of  David  II  [q.  v.],  bishop  of  St.  David's 
(ib. ;  GIEALD.  Itin.  Cambr.  p.  130 ;  Earls  of 
Kildare,  p.  3).  His  father  Gerald,  according 
to  later  genealogists,  was  grandson  of  Walter 
Fitzother,  who  figures  in  '  Domesday '  as  a 
tenant  at  Windsor  and  elsewhere,  and  lord 
of  manors  in  Surrey,  Hampshire,  Berkshire, 
Middlesex,  and  Buckinghamshire.  In  the 
early  years  of  the  twelfth  century  his  father 
was  steward  of  Pembroke  Castle.  He  was  pro- 
bably dead  by  1136,  in  which  year  the  Welsh 
annals  show  that  Nesta's  second  husband, 
Stephen,  and  the  '  sons  of  Gerald'  were 
fighting  against  the  Welsh  prince,  Owen 
(Domesday,  30  «  1,  36  a  1,  61  b  1,  130  a  1, 
151  a  1  ;  Ann.  Cambr.  pp.  30,  34,  40). 

In  1168,  when  Dermot,  king  of  Leinster, 
was  in  South  Wales  seeking  for  aid  to  re- 
establish himself  in  his  kingdom,  Rhys  ap 
Griffith  had  just  released  his  three-year 
prisoner,  Robert  Fitzstephen,  on  condition 


an 
of 


that  he  should  help  him  against  Henry  II. 
Robert's  half-brother,  Maurice  Fitzgeraldj 
now  petitioned  that  he  might  carry  his  kins- 
man to  Ireland  instead;  for  Dermot  had 
promised  to  give  the  two  knights  Wexford 
and  the  two  adjoining  '  cantreds '  in  return 
for  their  services  (Exp.  Hib.  p.  229 ;  Ann. 
Cambr.  p.  50).  Robert  crossed  at  once  (May 
1169),  but  Maurice  did  not  land  till  some 
months  later,  when  he  reached  Wexford  with 
140  followers.  Here  Dermot  came  to  meet 
him,  and  led  him  to  his  royal  city  of  Ferns. 
In  the  expedition  against  Dublin,  Maurice 
commanded  the  English  contingent,  while 
Robert  Fitzstephen  stayed  behind  to  fortify 
the  rock  of  Carrick,  near  Wexford  (Exp.  Hib. 
pp.  229,  233,  245  ;  REGAN,  p.  56 ;  cf.  Ann. 
Cambr.  p.  52 ;  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters, 
sub  1169,  1170 ;  Annals  of  Boyle,  p.  28). 
Dermot  had  already  fulfilled  his  promise  as 
regards  Wexford,  and  when  the  Earl  of  Clare 
did  not  come  according  to  his  engagement, 
he  offered  his  daughter,  with  the  succession 
to  the  kingdom,  to  Robert  or  Maurice,  an  offer 
which  both  declined  on  the  plea  that  they 
were  already  married  (Exp.  Hib.  p.  246). 
Earl  Richard  at  last  landed  at  Waterford, 
24  Aug.  1170.  The  town  was  taken  next 
day,  Maurice  and  Robert  arriving  with  Der- 
mot in  time  to  save  the  lives  of  the  nobler 
captives  (ib.  p.  255). 

Next  year  Maurice  was  present  at  the  great 
siege  of  Dublin.  His  anxiety  for  the  safety 
of  his  half-brother  Robert,  whom  the  Irish  of 
Wexford  were  besieging  in  the  turf  fort  of 
Carrick,  led  him  to  propose  the  famous  sally 
from  the  city,  when  some  ninety  Norman 
knights  routed  King  Roderic's  army  of  thirty 
thousand  men.  Though  the  English  started 
southwards  on  the  day  after  the  victory,  they 
were  too  late  to  relieve  Robert  Fitzstephen, 
who  had  surrendered  on  receiving  false  news 
as  to  the  fall  of  Dublin  (ib.  p.  266,  &c.) 

Henry  IPs  arrival  seems  to  have  brought 
the  temporary  downfall  of  the  Geraldines. 
The  men  of  Wexford  attempted  to  curry 
favour  with  the  king  by  giving  him  their  pri- 
soner ;  and,  though  Robert  was  soon  set  free, 
he  and  Maurice  were  seemingly  deprived  of 
Wexford  and  the  neighbouring  cantreds  (ib.  p. 
278).  Henry  kept  Wexford  in  his  own  hands, 
entrusting  it  to  William  Fitzaldhelm  before  he 
left  the  country,  but  now,  or  a  little  later,  Earl 
Richard  gave  Maurice  'the  middle  cantred  of 
Ophelan,'  i.e.  the  district  about  Naas  in  Kil- 
dare  (ib.  pp.  286,  314;  REGAN,  pp.  146-7). 
On  leaving  Dublin,  Henry  charged  the  two 
brothers,  at  the  head  of  twenty  knights,  to 
support  the  new  governor  of  this  city,  Hugh 
de  Lacy;  and  it  must  have  been  shortly  after 
this  that  Maurice,  forewarned  by  his  nephew's 


Fitzgerald 


136 


Fitzgerald 


dream,  saved  his  leader's  life  from  the  ambush 
set  for  his  destruction  at  his  interview  with 
O'Rourke,  the  'rex  monoculus'  of  Meath 
(Exp.  Hib.  pp.  286,  292-4). 

The  remainder  of  Maurice's  life  is  obscure. 
During  the  great  rebellion  of  the  young 
princes  (1173-4)  Henry  had  to  withdraw  the 
greater  part  of  his  own  retainers  from  Ire- 
land ;  but  there  seems  to  be  no  evidence  that 
Maurice  accompanied  his  half-brother  Robert 
to  the  king's  assistance  in  England  and  Nor- 
mandy. When  Earl  Richard  was  restored  to 
power,  an  attempt  was  made  to  consolidate 
the  English  interests  by  a  system  of  inter- 
marriage. It  was  now  that  Maurice's  daughter 
Nesta  wedded  Hervey  of  Mountmaurice,  the 
great  enemy  of  the  Irish  Geraldines ;  while 
Maurice's  son  took  Earl  Richard's  daughter, 
Alina,  to  wife.  This  alliance  procured  a  grant 
of  Wicklow  Castle  and  the  restoration  of  Naas, 
which  had  seemingly  been  confiscated,  but 
which  was  henceforward  held  as  a  fief  of 
the  earl.  The  rest  of  Ophelan  in  North  Kil- 
dare  was  divided  between  Maurice's  kinsmen, 
Robert  Fitzstephen  and  Meiler  Fitzhenry  (ib. 
p.  314 ;  REGAN,  pp.  146-7). 

Some  three  years  later,  Maurice  Fitz- 
gerald died  at  Wexford  (c.  1  Sept.  1176), 
*  not  leaving  a  better  man  in  Ireland.'  The 
death  of  Earl  Richard  and  the  appointment 
of  William  Fitzaldhelm  as  governor  caused 
the  momentary  downfall  of  the  Geraldines, 
who  soon  forced  Maurice's  sons  to  give  up 
Wicklow  Castle  in  exchange  for  Ferns  (Exp. 
Hib.  pp.  336-7). 

Giraldus  Cambrensis  has  described  Mau- 
rice's personal  appearance  and  his  character. 
His  face  was  somewhat  highly  coloured  but 
comely,  his  height  moderate,  '  neither  too 
short  nor  too  tall,'  and  his  body  well  propor- 
tioned. In  bravery  no  one  surpassed  him, 
and  as  a  soldier  he  struck  the  happy  mean 
between  rashness  and  over-caution.  He 
was  sober,  modest,  and  chaste,  trustworthy, 
staunch,  and  faithful ;  '  a  man  not,  it  is  true, 
free  from  every  fault,  but  not  guilty  of  any 
rank  offence.'  He  was  little  given  to  talk, 
but  when  he  did  speak  it  was  to  the  point. 
It  would  seem  that  when  he  crossed  over  to 
Ireland  he  was  fairly  advanced  in  life,  since 
the  same  author  applies  to  him  the  epithets 
'  venerabilis  et  venerandus '  (ib.  p.  297).  He 
was  buried  in  the  Grey  Friars  monastery  out- 
side Wexford,  where,  in  Hooker's  days  (1586), 
his  ruined  monument  was  still  to  be  seen 
'  wanting  some  good  and  worthy  man  to  re- 
store so  worthy  a  monument  of  so  worthy  a 
knight '  (HOLINSHED,  vi.  198). 

Maurice  Fitzgerald  left  several  sons  and 
a  daughter,  Nesta.  His  wife  is  said  to  have 
been  Alice,  granddaughter  of  Roger  de  Mont- 


gomery, who  led  the  centre  of  the  Norman 
army  at  Hastings  (Earls  of  Kildare,  p.  10). 
She  was  living  in  1171,  as  Giraldus  tells  us 
that  she  and  some  of  Maurice's  children  were 
with  Fitzstephen  when  the  Irish  were  lay- 
ing siege  to  Carrick  (Exp.  Hib.  p.  266).  Of 
his  sons  two,  Gerald  (d.  1204)  [q.  v.]  and  Alex- 
ander, greatly  distinguished  themselves  in  the 
sally  from  Dublin  (ib.  pp.  268-9).  Alexander 
seems  to  have  left  no  issue  (Nat.  MSS.  of  Ire- 
land, pp.  125-6),  and  Gerald, '  a  man  small  of 
stature,  but  of  no  mean  valour  and  integrity/ 
succeeded  to  his  father's  estates,  and  became, 
through  his  heir,  Maurice  Fitzgerald  II  [q.  v.], 
the  ancestor  of  the  Fitzgeralds  of  OfFaly  and 
Kildare  (Exp.  Hib.  p.  354).  Nesta  married 
Hervey  of  Mountmaurice  ;  William,  another 
son,  must  have  died  before,  or  not  long  after 
his  father,  as  he  can  hardly  be  the  William 
Fitzmaurice  who  died  about  1247  A.D.  (SwEET- 
MAN,  i.  No.  2903,  cf.  Nos.  89, 94).  The  Irish 
genealogists,  however,  make  him  succeed  his 
father  in  Naas,  but  die  without  a  son.  They 
also  assign  Maurice  another  son,  Thomas  the 
Great,  who,  marrying  Eleanor,  daughter  of 
Sir  William  Morrie,  acquired  extensive  pro- 
perty in  Munster,  and  became  the  ancestor 
of  the  earls  of  Desmond,  the  White  Knight, 
the  Knight  of  Kerry,  &c.  (Earls  of  Kildare, 
p.  10).  A  Thomas  Fitzmaurice  (d.  1210-1215) 
appears  not  unfrequently  in  the  Irish  rolls 
(SWEETMAX,  i.  Nos.  406,  529 ;  cf.  Earls  of 
Kildare,  p.  10,  where  his  death  is  assigned  to 
1213)  [see  FITZTHOMAS,  MAURICE,  first  EAEL 
OF  DESMOND]. 

[G-iraldus  Cambrensis,  Expugnatio  Hibernica, 
ed.  Dimock  (Eolls  Series,  vol.  v.) ;  Anglo-Norman 
poem  on  the  Conquest  of  Ireland,  ed.  Thomas 
Wright,  London,  1841,  cited  as  Regan;  Annales 
Cambriae,  ed.  Williams  ab  Ithel  (Rolls  Series) ; 
Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  ed.  O'Donovan  ;  The 
Earls  of  Kildare  and  their  Ancestors,  by  the 
Marquis  of  Kildare  (Dublin,  1858),  represents  the 
popular  genealogy,  &c.,  of  the  Geraldine  family 
at  the  time  the  book  was  written.  See  also  Sir 
William  Bethel's  Pedigree  of  the  Fitzgeralds, 
printed  in  the  Journal  of  the  Hist,  and  Archseolog. 
Society  of  Ireland  for  1868-9  (3rd  ser.  vol.  i.)  ; 
Holinshed,  ed.  1808;  Calendar  of  Documents  re- 
lating to  Ireland,  ed.  Sweetman,  vol.  i. ;  Sweet- 
man's  Cal.  of  Documents,  vol.  i. ;  Annals  of  Boyle, 
ap  O'Conor,  vol.  ii. ;  Nat.  MSS.  of  Ireland,  ed. 
Gilbert.]  T.  A.  A. 

FITZGERALD,  MAURICE  II,  BARON 

OF  OFFALY  (1194  P-1257),  justiciar  of  Ireland, 
was  born  about  1194  (SWEETMAN,  i.  91, 118). 
His  father,  Gerald  (d.  1204)  [q.  v.],  through 
whom  he  was  grandson  of  the  great  Irish ( con- 
quistador,' Maurice  Fitzgerald  [q.  v.],  died  to- 
wards the  end  of  1203  (ib.  No.  195).  His 
mother  is  said  to  have  been'  Catherine,  daugh- 


Fitzgerald 


137 


Fitzgerald 


ter  of  Hamo  deValois,  lord  justice  of  Ireland 
in  1197 '  (Earls  of  Kildare,  p.  11 ;  LODGE,  i.  59). 
Though  ordered  seisin  of  his  father's  lands  on 
5  July  1215,  he  had  not  entered  into  full  pos- 
session on  19  July  1215,  by  which  time  he  was 
already  a  knight.  In  December  1226  he  was 
engaged  in  a  lawsuit  with  the  Irish  justiciar, 
Geoffry  de  Mariscis.  In  1232  he  was  himself 
appointed  to  this  office  (2  Sept.),  in  succes- 
sion to  Kichard  Burke,  the  head  of  the  great 
house,  which  for  over  a  century  was  to  be 
the  most  powerful  rival  of  the  Fitzgeralds 
(SWEETMAN,  Nos.  793,  1458, 1977). 

These  were  the  days  of  popular  discontent 
against  Peter  des  Roches  and  the  foreign 
favourites.  Maurice,  though  a  vassal  of  the 
great  constitutional  leader,  Richard  the  Earl 
Marshal,  laid  waste  the  earl's  Irish  lands  at 
the  instigation  of  the  king  or  his  councillors. 
The  earl  crossed  the  Channel,  induced,  so  ran 
the  scandal  of  the  day,  by  forged  letters  to 
which  Maurice  had  attached  the  royal  seal. 
The  justiciar,  at  a  conference  held  on  the 
Curragh  of  Kildare,  offered  such  terms  that 
the  earl  preferred  battle,  though  he  had  but 
fifteen  knights  against  a  hundred  and  fifty. 
A  desperate  attempt  on  the  justiciar's  life 
failed.  Earl  Richard  was  defeated,  and  carried 
to  his  own  castle  at  Kildare,  then  in  Maurice's 
hands  (1  April  1234).  He  died  a  fortnight 
later  of  his  wounds,  aggravated,  says  Roger 
of  Wendover,  by  a  physician  hired  for  this 
purpose  by  Maurice  the  justiciar,  who  was 
summoned  to  England  to  defend  his  honour. 
The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  became  surety 
for  his  safety  (24  July),  but  a  reconciliation  at 
Marlborough  (21  Sept.  1234)  with  the  new 
Earl  Gilbert  was  only  apparent.  Next  year 
the  feud  was  further  embittered  by  the  mur- 
der, attributed  to  Earl  Gilbert,  of  Henry 
Clement,  who  represented  the  accused  Irish 
nobles  in  London.  The  two  barons  were  not 
reconciled  till  the  summer  of  1240,  when 
Maurice  Fitzgerald,  hearing  that  the  earl  had 
made  his  peace  with  the  king,  came  to  Lon- 
don offering  to  prove  his  innocence  by  the 
judgment  of  his  peers.  At  Henry's  interces- 
sion, Gilbert  Marshal  reluctantly  accepted 
this  declaration.  Maurice  engaged  to  found 
a  monastery  for  the  soul  of  the  dead  man, 
and  in  acquittance  of  his  vow  is  said  to 
have  founded  the  Dominican  abbey  at  Sligo. 
Matthew  Paris's  words,  when  chronicling  his 
death,  show  that  his  innocence  was  never  be- 
lieved (MATT.  PARIS,  iii.  265-6,  273-6,  327, 
iv.  56-7,  v.  62 :  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters, 
ii.  272-3  ;  Loch  Ce,  p.  319;  SWEETMAN,!.  313, 
317,  374;  Earls  of  Kildare,  p.  12;  Oseney 
Annals,  p.  78 ;  WYKES,  p.  78 ;  Royal  Letters, 
i.  448,  470,  480 ;  cf.  art.  BURGH,  RICHARD 
DE,  d.  1243). 


Roderic  O'Conor  (d.  1198),  king  of  Con- 
naught,  had  been  succeeded  by  his  brother, 
Catnap  Crobdherg  (d.  28  May  1224).  On 
Cathal's  death  the  succession  was  disputed 
between  the  sons  of  Roderic  O'Conor,  Tur- 
lough  and  ^Edh,  and  those  of  Cathal,  ^Edh, 
and  Felim.  After  various  changes  of  fortune, 
in  which  Richard  de  Burgh,  made  justiciar 
of  Ireland  13  Feb.  1228,  played  a  great  part, 
^Edh  O'Conor  was  placed  on  the  throne  in 
1232.  Before  the  end  of  1233  he  was  dis- 
placed by  Felim,  who  destroyed  the  castles 
built  by  Richard  de  Burgh.  In  1235  Maurice 
and  Richard  led  an  army  to  ravage  Con- 
naught,  but  turned  aside  to  attack  Donnchadh 
O'Briain,  prince  of  Munster.  Felim  was 
driven  off  to  O'Domhnaill,  while  Maurice  the 
justiciar  was  mustering  the  spoil  at  Ardcarna, 
launching  his  fleet  on  the  eastern  Atlantic, 
and  storming  the  rock  of  Loch  Ce.  The  ex- 
pedition closed  when  Felim  made  peace  with 
the  justiciar,  and  was  granted  the  five  '  king's 
cantreds.'  Next  year  Maurice  banished  Felim 
again,  and  supplanted  him  by  his  cousin, 
Brian  O'Conor.  A  great  victory  at  Druim- 
raithe  restored  Felim  to  the  throne  ;  he  once 
more  received  the  'king's  cantreds'  (1237) 
(Loch  Ce,  pp.  203-347  ;  Annals  of  Boyle, 
p.  44 ;  Ann.  Four  Masters,  sub  an.) 

In  1238  Maurice  was  warring  in  Ulster. 
With  Hugh  de  Lacy  he  deposed  Domhnall 
MacLochlainn  (d.  1241)  from  his  lordship 
over  the  Cenel  Eoghain,  and  Cenel-Conaill 
in  favour  of  Brian,  son  of  ^Edh  O'Neill. 
Domhnall  recovered  his  office  next  year  and 
maintained  it,  despite  the  justiciar's  efforts, 
till  his  death  in  1241.  Meanwhile  Felim,  who 
had  long  been  suffering  from  the  depreda- 
tions of  the  De  Burghs,  appealed  to  Henry  III 
for  protection.  At  London  (1240)  his  request 
was  granted,  and  he  returned  with  orders  that 
Maurice  should  see  that  he  had  justice.  Next 
year  Maurice  and  Felim  forced  Maelsechlainn 
O'Domhnaill  and  the  Cenel-Conaill  to  give 
hostages.  In  1246  he  was  again  in  Tir-Co- 
naill,  half  of  which  he  now  gave  to  Cormac 
O'Conor.  Maelsechlainn  renewed  his  hos- 
tages for  the  other  half,  but  on  All  Saints* 
day  took  his  revenge  by  burning  the  town 
near  Maurice's  castle  of  Sligo.  In  1247  he 
led  an  army  as  far  as  Sligo  and  Assaroe  (on 
the  Erne),  and  his  retreat  was  cut  off  by 
Maelsechlainn  with  the  Cenel-Conaill  and 
Cenel-Eoghain  (3  July).  Maurice,  by  a  skilful 
manoeuvre,  won  a  great  victory,  in  which 
Maelsechlainn  was  slain  (Loch  Ce;  Ann.  Four 
Masters}. 

During  the  years  of  his  office  Maurice  had 
been  largely  occupied  in  the  attempt  to  sup- 
ply Henry  III  with  funds.  His  salary  as 
justiciar  was  500/.  a  year ;  but  he  seems  to 


Fitzgerald 


138 


Fitzgerald 


have  left  office  in  debt.  In  1233  he  was  or- 
dered to  seize  Miloc  Castle  from  Richard  de 
Burgh,  and  distrain  for  this  noble's  debts  to 
the  king  (February  1234),  and  was  afterwards 
empowered  to  take  further  measures  (Royal 
Letters,  i.  410-14).  In  May  1237  he  was 
bidden  to  let  the  earl's  friends  buy  their  par- 
don. The  marriage  of  Henry's  sister,  Isa- 
bella, to  the  emperor  Frederic  II  brought 
with  it  fresh  demands,  and  Maurice  was  ex- 
pected to  wring  a  scutage  of  two  marks  and 
a  thirtieth  from  his  Irish  subjects.  He  was 
granted  safe-conducts  to  England  in  May 
and  July  1234,  as  well  as  in  1237  and  1242. 
He  seems  to  have  actually  been  in  England 
late  in  1234  or  early  in  1235,  and  perhaps  in 
1244.  He  was  ordered  to  provide  men,  money, 
provisions,  and  galleys  for  the  Gascon  expe- 
dition of  1242.  In  January  1245  he  was 
bidden  to  build  four  wooden  towers  for  the 
expedition  against  Wales  (SwEETMAN,i.  302, 
304, 313,  &c. ;  GRACE,  p.  31).  Accompanied 
by  Felim  he  took  a  part  in  this  war,  in  which 
he  seems  to  have  incurred  the  king's  dis- 
pleasure by  putting  some  of  his  Irish  followers 
to  death  in  Anglesey.  In  1237  the  king  sent 
over  a  commissioner  to  audit  his  accounts,  and 
on  4  Nov.  1245  he  resigned  his  office  to  John 
Fitzgeoffrey,  the  son  of  a  previous  justiciar 
(SWEETMAN,  i.  408, 440,  &c. ;  GRACE,  p.  31 ; 
CAMPION,  pp.76-7;  IlANMER,p.l91,&c.)  Mat- 
ters were  finally  compromised  by  the  infliction 
of  a  fine  of  four  hundred  marks  (2  July  1248). 
This  fine  Maurice  was  at  first  permitted  to 
pay  off  by  instalments ;  later  the  payments 
were  respited  (29  April  1250),  and  finally 
(10  June  1251)  in  a  great  measure  remitted 
(September  1252).  In  August  1248  Mau- 
rice had  gone  to  Gascony  on  the  king's  ser- 
vice. In  December  1253  he  was  again  sum- 
moned to  Gascony  to  take  part  in  the  medi- 
tated war  with  the  king  of  Castile.  A  later 
brief  seems,  however,  to  show  that  the  new 
justiciar  crossed  the  sea  (Loch  Ce,  p.  405), 
leaving  Maurice  as  his  deputy  in  Ireland 
(SWEETMAN,  vol.  i.  Nos.  305-7,  356-7). 

Meanwhile,  though  no  longer  justiciar,  he 
had  been  equally  active  in  Ireland.  In  1248 
he  expelled  Roderic  O'Canannan  from  Tir- 
Conaill.  Next  year  he  invaded  Connaught 
to  avenge  the  death  of  Gerald  Mac  Feorais, 
and  a  little  later  led  an  expedition  from  Mun- 
ster  and  Connaught  to  meet  another  under 
the  justiciar  at  Elphin.  The  united  armies 
deposed  Felim  O'Conor,  setting  up  his  nephew 
Turlough  in  his  place.  Felim  was  restored 
by  Brian  O'Neill  and  the  Cenel-Eoghain  in 
1250.  In  the  same  year,  probably  in  return 
for  Brian's  interference  in  Connaught,  Mau- 
rice invaded  the  land  of  the  Cenel-Eoghain, 
but  failed  to  reduce  its  lord.  In  1253  he  made 


another  futile  attack  upon  Brian  O'Neill  and 
the  Cenel-Eoghain,  and  two  years  later  he 
crossed  over  '  to  meet  the  king  of  the  Saxons ' 
at  about  the  same  time  as  Felim's  envoys. 
The  'Four  Masters '  represent  him  as  in  1257 
accompanying  the  new  lord  justice  against 
Godfrey  O'Domhnaill,  and  distinguished  him- 
self in  a  single  combat  with  Godfrey.  Mat- 
thew Paris,  however,  seems  to  put  Maurice's 
death  in  the  beginning  of  1257,  whereas  the 
'Irish  Annals'  date  Godfrey's  death,  which 
was  due  to  wounds  received  in  this  expedition, 
in  1258.  The  State  Papers  show  conclusively 
that  he  was  alive  on  8  Nov.  1256,  but  dead 
by  Christmas  1257  (Loch  Ce ;  Ann.  Four 
Masters ;  MATT.  PARIS,  v.  642  ;  SWEETMAN, 
ii.  524,  563 ;  cf.  DOWLING,  p.  15). 

Fitzgerald  had  served  the  king  long  and 
faithfully.  In  1255  Henry  wrote  to  thank 
him  for  his  strenuous  defence  of  the  country. 
As  justiciar  he  was  vigorously  engaged  in 
fortifying  castles  against  the  Irish ;  by  2  Nov. 
1236  he  had  already  fortified  three,  and  was 
bidden  to  build  two  more  in  the  coming  sum- 
mer. For  their  construction  he  was  allowed 
to  draft  workmen  from  Kent  (Royal  Letters, 
i.  400 ;  SWEETMAN,  p.  352,  &c.)  On  Richard 
de  Burgh's  resignation  he  was  empowered  to 
take  over  all  the  royal  castles,  even  including 
the  great  stronghold  of  Miloc.  When  the 
same  noble  died  his  castles  were  put  in  Mau- 
rice's charge  (23  Aug.  1243),  and  ten  years 
later  (3  Aug.  1253)  Richard's  son,  Walter, 
brought  an  assize  f  mort  d'ancestor '  against 
the  warden.  His  deposition  from  the  jus- 
ticiarship  was  due  to  his  remissness  on  the 
Welsh  expedition  of  1245;  but,  adds  the 
chronicler,  he  bore  the  disgrace  patiently,  as 
since  his  son's  death  he  had  learned  to  de- 
spise the  honours  of  earth  (SWEETMAN;  MATT. 
PARIS,  iv.  488).  In  character  Maurice  was 
1  miles  strenuus  et  facetus  nulli  secundus.' 
1  He  lived  nobly  all  his  life.'  His  piety  may 
be  seen  from  his  religious  foundations  :  Sligo 
(Dominican),  Ardfert  (Franciscan,  1253), 
and  Youghal  (Franciscan,  1224)  (MATT. 
PARIS,  v.  642  ;  Loch  Ce;  Ann. Four  Masters, 
sub  an. ;  Earls  of  Kildare).  In  1235,  when 
his  soldiers  were  laying  Connaught  waste^ 
Maurice  protected  the  canons  of  Trinity  on 
the  island  of  Loch  Ce.  Later  he  presented 
(1242)  the  hospital  of  Sligo  to  the  same 
foundation  (Loch  Ce,  pp.  329,  359),  and,  ac- 
cording to  Clyn  (p.  8),  he  died  in  the  habit 
of  a  Franciscan. 

Fitzgerald  is  reckoned  the  second  or  third 
baron  of  Offaly.  This  barony  he  held  of  the 
Earl  of  Pembroke  (to  whom  on  30  May  1240 
he  was  ordered  to  do  homage)  or  of  his  heirs. 
He  appears  as  Lord  of  Maynooth  and  Gallos 
in  Decies.  According  to  the  later  genealogists 


Fitzgerald 


139 


Fitzgerald 


(Earls  of  Kildare,}).  15)  Fitzgerald's  wife  was 
Juliana,  daughter  of  John  de  Cogan.  His 
eldest  son  seems  to  have  been  Gerald,  who 
predeceased  him  probably  in  1243,  and  had  a 
son  Maurice,  who  is  noticed  below.  The  justi- 
ciar's  eldest  surviving  son  was  Maurice  Fitz- 
maurice  [q.  v.]  (SWEETMAN,  vol.  ii.  No.  563). 
Another  was  probably  Thomas  MacMaurice 
(d.  1271,  cf.  Loch  Ce,  p.  469),  father  of  John 
Fitzthomas,  the  first  earl  of  Kildare  [q.  v.] 
Robert  Fitzmaurice,  who  figures  so  frequently 
in  the  Irish  documents  of  the  latter  half  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  may  possibly  have  been 
another  son. 

MATJEICE  FITZGEKALD  (d.  1268),  son  of 
Gerald,  the  eldest  son,  inherited  the  barony 
of  Offaly  (SWEETMAN,  vol.  ii.)  He  married 
Agnes,  daughter  of  William  de  Valence,  uncle 
of  Edward  I,  and  appears  to  have  been 
drowned  in  crossing  between  England  and 
Ireland,  28  July  1268  (CLYN,  p.  9  ;  Annals  of 
Ireland,  ii.  290,  316 ;  Loch  Ce,  p.  459 ;  Ann. 
Four  Masters,  ii.  404).  He  must  be  distin- 
guished from  his  uncle  Maurice  Fitzmaurice 
Fitzgerald  (d.  1277)  [q.  v.]  He  left  an  infant 
heir,  GEKALD  FITZMAURICE,  aged  three  and 
a  half  years  (SwEETMAtf,  Nos.  1106,  2163,  p. 
467,  &c. ;  Book  ofHowth,  p.  324 ;  DUGDALE, 
i.  776).  This  child  was  the" ward  of  Thomas 
de  Clare,  brother  to  the  Earl  of  Gloucester, 
and,  by  purchase,  of  William  de  Valence. 
In  1285  he,  as  baron  of  Offaly  in  succession 
to  his  father,  was  attacked  by  the  native 
Irish  of  the  barony.  We  find  this  Gerald 
Fitzmaurice  coming  of  age  about  1286 
(SWEETMAN,  vol.  ii.  Nos.  866-7,  957,  970, 
1039,  &c. ;  vol.  iii.  Nos.  29,  238,  456,  p.  75, 
&c.;  Abbrev.  Plac.  pp.  263,  283),  and  it  is 
probably  he  to  whom  Clyn  refers  (p.  10)  in 
his  crucial  passage  on  the  Geraldine  succes- 
sion where  he  says  that  *  Gerald,  films  Mau- 
ricii,  capitaneus  Geraldinorum '  died  in  1287 
and  left  his  inheritance  to  his  grand-uncle's 
son  John  Fitzthomas  [q.  v.]  Some  genealo- 
gists contend  that  Gerald  Fitzmaurice  was  son 
of  Maurice  Fitzmaurice  Fitzgerald  (d.  1277) 
[q.  v.],  the  justiciar.  But  he  was  clearly  that 
justiciar's  grand-nephew. 

[The  principal  authorities  for  the  life  of 
Maurice  Fitzgerald  are  the  English  State  Docu- 
ments and  the  contemporary  English  chroniclers. 
The  Irish  documents  may  be  found  in  Sweet- 
man's  Calendar  of  Irish  Documents,  vols.  i.  and 
ii.  (Rolls  Series) ;  Rymers  Fcedera,  ed.  1720, 
vol.  i.  The  chief  contemporary  English  chroni- 
clers are  Roger  of  Wendover,  ed.  Coxe  (Engl.  Hist. 
Soc.) ;  Matthew  Paris,  ed.  Luard,  vols.  iii.  iv.  v. 
(Rolls  Series) ;  Thomas  Wykes,  the  Oseney  An- 
nals, the  Dunstable  Annals,  ap.  Riley's  Annales 
Monastic!  (Rolls  Series),  vols.  iii.  iv.  Other  im- 
portant contemporary  documents  are  to  be  found 
in  the  Royal  Letters,  ed.  Shirley,  vol.  i.  (Rolls 


Series);  Documents  of  the  Anglo-Normans  in 
Ireland,  ed..  Gilbert,  vol.  i.  (Rolls  Series).  The 
chief  Irish  Annals  are  the  Annals  of  Loch  Ce 
(Rolls  Series),  vol.  i.  ed.  Hennessy;  Annals  of 
Boyle  ap.  O'Conor's  Scriptores  Rerum  Hiberni- 
carum,  vol.  ii. ;  and  the  collection  known  as  the 
Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  ed.  O'Donovan,  vol. 
ii.  Then  come  the  Latin-writing  Irish  chroni- 
clers :  Clyn  (fl.  1348)  (Irish  Archseol.  Soc.),  ed. 
R.  Butler;  a  fourteenth-century  Annales  Hiber- 
nise,  with  its  fifteenth-century  continuation  and 
expansion,  both  cited  above  as  Annals  of  Ireland, 
ap.  Chartulary  of  St.  Mary's,  Dublin, ed.  Gilbert, 
vol.  ii.  (Rolls  Series);  the  Annals  of  Jas.  Grace 
(fl.  1537)  (Irish  Arch.  Soc.),  ed.  Butler.  Han- 
mer's  Chronicle  of  Ireland  (c.  1571)  and  Campion's 
History  of  Ireland  (1633)  may  be  found  reprinted 
in  the  Ancient  Irish  Histories  (Dublin,  1809), 
but  are  very  untrustworthy,  as  also  are  Ware's 
Annals  (English  edition,  1705)  ;  and  Cox's  Hi- 
bernia  Anglicana  (ed.  1 689).  The  Earls  of  Kil- 
dare, by  the  Marquis  of  Kildare  (Dublin,  1857), 
represents  the  current  genealogy  of  the  Fitz- 
geralds,  and  is  a  careful  compilation  of  facts. 
See,  too,  Lodge's  Peerage  of  Ireland,  ed.  Arch- 
dall,  1789,  vol.  i. ;  Gilbert's  Viceroys  of  Ireland 
(Dublin,  1865);  and  Archdall's  Monasticon  Hi- 
bernicum  (editions  1786  and  1873).  See  also  the 
Book  of  Howth,  ed.  Brewer  and  Bullen,  and 
Hist,  and  Municipal  Documents  of  Ireland,  ed. 
Gilbert  (Rolls  Series).]  T.  A.  A. 

FITZGERALD,  MAURICE  FITZ- 
MATJEICE  (1238  P-1277  ?),  justiciar  of  Ire- 
land, was  the  son  and  heir  of  Maurice  Fitz- 
gerald (d.  1257)  [q.  v.],  the  justiciar  (SWEET- 
MAIST,  vol.  ii.  No.  563).  His  mother  is  said  to 
have  been  Juliana  de  Cogan  (Earls  of  Kildare, 
p.  15).  Being  still  a  minor  at  his  father's 
death  he  was  claimed  as  the  ward  of  Margaret 
de  Quinci,  countess  of  Lincoln,  the  widow  of 
Walter  Marshall,  of  whom  the  elder  Maurice 
had  held  the  barony  of  Offaly  (SwEETMAtf, 
vol.  ii.  No.  563 ;  DOYLE,  ii.  376,  iii.  7  ;  DUG- 
DALE,  i.  102,  607).  He  had  perhaps  come  of 
age  two  years  later  (7  Nov.  1259),  when  he 
was  granted  Athlone  Castle  and  the  shrievalty 
of  Connaught  (SWEETMAN,  vol.  ii.  No.  631). 
Next  year  he  was  defeated  in  an  expedition 
against  Conor  O'Brian  at  Coill-Berrain  in 
Munster,  but  succeeded  in  plundering  the 
O'Donnells,  who  retaliated  on  Cairpre  (Car- 
bery,  co.  Sligo)  in  North  Ireland  (Loch  Ce, 
pp.  435-7  ;  Ann.  Four  Masters,  sub  an.) 
He  led  another  expedition  against  Brian 
Ruadh  O'Brien  in  1272  or  1273.  For  the 
expenses  of  this  campaign  he  received  a  hun- 
dred marks  ;  and  it  was  perhaps  on  this  oc- 
casion that  he  borrowed  from  the  Dublin 
citizens  the  86/.  19s.  which  they  asked  the 
king  to  repay  in  June  1275.  This  expedition 
of  1273  was  a  success,  and,  according  to  the 
Irish  annals,  Maurice  'took  hostages  andob- 
!  tained  sway  over  the  O'Briens ' 


Fitzgerald 


140 


Fitzgerald 


id.  170,  No.  1139 ;  Loch  Ce,  p.  473).  He  is 
«aid  on  this  occasion  to  have  been  aided 
by  Theobald  Butler  (WAKE,  from  Earls  of 
Kildare,  p.  16 ;  but  cf.  WARE,  ed.  1705,  pp. 
57-8). 

Fitzgerald  was  summoned  to  England  in 
1262,  and  in  1264  was  ordered  to  secure  for 
the  young  Earl  of  Gloucester  seisin  of  his 
Irish  lands.  The  new  justiciar,  Richard  de 
Rochelle  (1261-^.  May  1265),was  at  feud  with 
the  Geraldines,  and  within  a  short  time  the 
island  was  in  arms  (DOWLING,  p.  16 ;  CAM- 
PION, p.  77 ;  GRACE,  p.  37  ;  HANMER,  ii.  401- 
402 ;  CLYN,  p.  8;  Earls  of  Kildare,  p.  16). 
The  quarrel  extended  to  the  De  Burghs,  and 
in  1264  Maurice  took  the  justiciar  Theobald 
Butler  and  John  Cogan  prisoners,  and  in- 
carcerated the  former  at  his  castle  of  Leigh 
(Annals  of  Ireland,  ii.  290  ;  GRACE,  p.  37  ; 
'Book  of  Howth,  p.  323).  With  the  justiciar 
it  is  said  that  Walter  de  Burgh,  earl  of  Ulster, 
was  also  taken  (Earls  of  Kildare,  p.  16).  But 
this  statement  seems  due  to  a  confusion  with 
the  reported  action  in  1294  of  Fitzgerald's 
nephew,  John  Fitzthomas,  first  earl  of  Kil- 
dare [q.  v.]  Next  year  he  and  his  nephew, 
Maurice  Fitzgerald  [see  FITZGERALD,  MAU- 
RICE, d.  1257,  ad  fin.~\,  on  whose  behalf  the 
feud  with  the  De  Burghs  may  have  originated, 
received  royal  letters  exhorting  them  to  peace ; 
in  April  1266  he  was  twice  granted  letters  of 
protection  to  England  (SWEETMAN,  Nos.  727, 
795,  798).  About  August  1272  he  was  ap- 
pointed justiciar  of  Ireland  in  the  place  of 
James  Audeley.  On  Henry  Ill's  death  he 
was  renewed  in  the  office  and  received  the 
oaths  of  succession  from  the  Irish  nobles  to 
the  new  king.  About  August  1273  he  was 
supplanted  by  Geoffrey  de  Geneville  (id.  vol. 
ii.  Nos.  924,  927,  &c. ;  RYMER,  ii.  2).  Ac- 
cording to  the  Earl  of  Kildare,  quoting  from 
Ware,  in  1273  '  he  invaded  Offaly,  but  was 
betrayed  by  his  own  people  into  the  hands  of 
the  O'Conors '  (Earls  of  Kildare,  p.  16,  but  cf. 
WARE,  p.  57).  With  this  may  be  connected 
a  later  statement  that  about  23  Aug.  1273  he 
was  deprived  of  part  of  the  barony  of  Offaly. 
But  this  story  seems  altogether  erroneous. 
Fitzmaurice,  although  often  reckoned  one  of 
the  Barons  Offaly,  never  held  the  barony, 
which  passed  on  his  father's  death  in  1257  to 
his  nephew  (son  of  his  elder  brother  Gerald) 
Maurice  (d.  1268),  and  thence  to  Maurice's 
eon  Gerald  Fitzmaurice.  The  latter  Gerald 
was  attacked  by  the  native  Irish  in  1285, 
and  it  is  probably  this  incident  which  has 
found  its  way  disguisedly  into  our  Fitz- 
maurice's  biography  [see  FITZGERALD,  MAU- 
RICE, d.  1257  ?  adf,nJ\  An  entry  in  the  Irish 
treasury  accounts  of  1276-7  shows  that  he  led 
an  expedition  to  Glendory  (Glenmalure,  co. 


Wicklow).  On24  July  1276  he  was  ordered  to 
England  to  do  fealty  for  his  wife's  inheritance 
(SWEETMAN,  ii.  258,  Nos.  1249,  1321-2;  cf. 
CLYN,  p.  9 ;  Cox,  p.  73).  Later  in  the  same 
year  (1277)  he  accompanied  his  son-in-law 
against  Brian  Ruadh  O'Brien,  king  of  Tho- 
mond.  Brian  was  taken  prisoner  and  be- 
headed ;  but  a  little  later  the  two  kinsmen 
were  besieged  in  Slow-Banny,  and  reduced 
to  such  straits  that  they  had  to  give  hostages 
for  their  lives  and  yield  up  the  castle  of  Ros- 
common  (HANMER,  ii.  406 ;  WARE,  p.  58 ; 
Cox,  p.  73 ;  Earls  of  Kildare,  pp.  16,  17 ;  cf. 
Loch  Ce,  i.  481  ;  Annals  of  Ireland,  p.  318). 
Maurice  is  said  to  have  died  shortly  after 
(1277)  at  Ross  (Earls  of  Kildare,  p.  17 ;  cf. 
SWEETMAX,  vol.  ii.  No.  1527). 

Maurice  Fitzmaurice  married  Emelina, 
daughter  and  heiress  of  Emelina  de  Riddles- 
ford,  the  wife  of  Hugh  de  Lacy  (d.  1242),  and 
Stephen  Longs  word  (Abbrev.  Plac.  p.  227  ; 
SWEETMAN,  vol.  ii.  No.  1249,vol.  iii.  No.  1028 ; 
DUGDALE,  Monast.  vi.  443  ;  MATT.  PARIS,  iv. 
232).  This  Emelina  was  probably  born 

c.  1252  A.D.  ( Cal.  Gen.  i.  236).    He  is  wrongly 
said  to  have  been  succeeded  by  a  son  Gerald 
Fitzmaurice,  an  assertion  due  to  a  confu- 
sion noted  under  MAURICE  FITZGERALD  (d. 
1257  ?)  (Earls  of  Kildare,  p.  18  ;  SAINTHILL, 
ii.  47 ;  cf.  CLYN,  p.  10).  He  left  two  daugh- 
ters :  (1)  Juliana,  who  married  Thomas  de 
Clare  (d.  1286),  brother  of  Gilbert  de  Clare, 
earl  of  Gloucester,  and,  secondly,  Adam  de 
Cretinge  (Cal.  Gen.  i.  448,  ii.  431 ;  SWEET- 
MAN,  vol.  ii.  No.  2210,  vol.  iii.  Nos.  940, 
1142 ;    CLYN,  p.  40)  ;    (2)  Amabilia,  who 
seems  to  have  died  unmarried,  and  to  have 
enfeoffed  her  cousin,  John  Fitzthomas  [q.  v.], 
of  part  of  her  estates  (SWEETMAN,  vol.  iii. 
No.  940;  Earls  of  Kildare,  p.  17). 

In  the  complicated  genealogy  of  the  Ge- 
raldines, some  of  the  entries  ascribed  to  this 
Maurice  Fitzmaurice  properly  belong  to  his 
nephew  MAURICE  FITZGERALD  (d.  1268),  who 
is  noticed  under  MAURICE  FITZGERALD  II 
(1194  P-1257). 

[See  authorities  cited  in  text.  For  editions 
and  value  of  the  various  chroniclers  see  MAUKICK 
FITZGERALD  II.]  T.  A.  A. 

FITZGERALD,  MAURICE,  first  EARL 
or  DESMOND.  [See  FITZTHOMAS,  MAURICE, 

d.  1356.] 

FITZGERALD,  MAURICE,  fourth 
EARL  OF  KILDARE  (1318-1390),  justiciar  of 
Ireland,  born  in  1318,  was  the  youngest  son 
of  Thomas  Fitzgerald,  the  second  earl  [q.  v.], 
and  his  wife,  Joan  de  Burgh,  and  was  gene- 
rally called  Maurice  Fitzthomas.  He  lost  his 
father  in  1328,  and  became  earl  on  his  brother 
Earl  Richard's  death  in  1331.  His  lands  re- 


Fitzgerald 


141 


Fitzgerald 


mained  in  the  custody  of  Sir  John  D' Arcy,  his 
mother's  second  husband.  Kildare  was  in- 
volved in  the  opposition  led  by  Maurice  Fitz- 
thomas,  earl  of  Desmond  [q.  v.],  to  the  new 
policy  which  the  justiciar,  Ralph  D'UfFord, 
endeavoured  to  enforce,  of  superseding  the 
'  English  born  in  Ireland '  by '  English  born  in 
England.'  In  1345  Ufford  sent  a  knight  named 
William  Burton  to  Kildare  with  two  writs, 
one  summoning  him  to  an  expedition  to  Mun- 
ster,  the  other  a  secret  warrant  for  his  arrest. 
Burton  was  afraid  to  carry  out  the  latter  in  the 
earl's  own  estates,  but  enticed  him  to  Dublin, 
where  he  was  suddenly  arrested  while  sitting 
in  council  at  the  exchequer  (Ann.  Hid.  Laud 
MS.  p.  386).  Next  year  Kildare  was  released, 
on  23  May,  on  the  surety  of  twenty-four 
manucaptors  (ib.  p.  389).  He  at  once  in- 
vaded the  O'More's  country,  and  compelled 
that  chieftain  to  submit.  In  1347  he  was 
present  with  Edward  III  at  the  siege  and 
capture  of  Calais  (CLYN,  Annals,  p.  34).  He 
was  then  knighted  by  the  king,  and  married 
to  a  daughter  of  Sir  Bartholomew  Burghersh 
(GKACE,  Annals,  p.  143).  There  are  pre- 
served in  the  archives  of  the  Duke  of  Leinster 
some  interesting  indentures  of  fealty  of  various 
Irish  chieftains  to  Kildare  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm. 
9th  Rep.  ii.  270-1). 

On  30  March  1356  Kildare  was  appointed 
justiciar  of  Ireland  (Fcedera,  iii.  326),  but  he 
was  almost  at  once  succeeded  by  Thomas  de 
Rokeby.  On  30  Aug.  1357,  however,  Kildare 
was  made  locum  tenens  for  Almaric  de  St. 
Amand,  who  had  been  appointed  justiciar  on 
14  July,  until  the  arrival  of  the  latter  in 
Ireland  (ib.  iii.  361,  368).  In  1358  his  Lein- 
ster estates  were  invaded  by  the  De  Burghs, 
and  in  the  same  year  he  and  his  county  made 
a  liberal  grant  for  the  war  against  the 
'O'Morthes'  (Cal.  Rot.  Pat.  et  Glaus.  Hib. 
pp.  69, 75).  In  1359  his  mother,  the  Countess 
Joan,  died  (Ann.  Hib.  Laud.  MS.  p.  393). 

In  1359  Kildare  was  made  locum  tenens 
for  James  Butler,  earl  of  Ormonde,  justiciar 
of  Ireland,  and  continued  in  office  in  1360, 
being  on  30  March  1361  definitely  appointed 
as  justiciar  (Ann.  Hib.  Laud.  MS.  p.  394). 
He  resigned,  however,  on  Ormonde's  return 
from  England.  In  1371  Kildare  was  made 
justiciar,  and  again  in  1376,  in  succession 
to  Sir  William  de  Windsor  ;  but  on  neither 
occasion  did  he  hold  the  post  for  any  time. 
On  the  latter  occasion  he  was  specially  in- 
structed to  remain  in  Leinster,  while  the 
custody  of  Munster  was  more  particularly 
entrusted  to  Stephen,  bishop  of  Meath.  He 
refused,  however  (GILBERT,  Viceroys,  p.  243), 
to  take  office  again  in  1378.  In  1386  he  was 
one  of  the  council  of  De  Vere,  the  marquis 
of  Dublin  (ib.  p,  551).  He  died  on  25  Aug. 


1390,  and  was  buried  in  the  church  of  the- 
Holy  Trinity,  now  called  Christ  Church,  in 
Dublin. 

By  his  wife,  Elizabeth  Burghersh,  he  left 
four  sons,  of  whom  the  eldest,  Gerald,  became* 
the  fifth  earl,  and  died  in  1410.  He  was 
succeeded  by  his  son  John,  the  sixth  earl 
(d.  1427),  the  father  of  Thomas  Fitzgerald, 
the  seventh  earl  [q.  v.] 

[Chartularies,  &c.,  of  St.  Mary's  Abbey,  Dub- 
lin (Rolls  Ser.);  Rymer's  Fcedera ;  Clyn's  Annals 
and  Grace's  Annals  (Irish  Archseol.  Soc.) ;  Calen- 
dar of  the  Patent  and  Close  Rolls  of  Ireland ; 
Gilbert's  Viceroys  of  Ireland ;  Kildare's  Earls  of 
Kildare,  pp.  31-5.]  T.  F.  T. 

FITZGERALD,  MAURICE  (1774- 
1849),  hereditary  Knight  of  Kerry  and  Irish 
statesman,  was  the  elder  son  of  Robert  Fitz- 
gerald, knight  of  Kerry,  by  his  third  wife, 
Catherine,  daughter  of  Launcelot  Sandes  of 
Kilcavan,  Queen's  County.  The  dignity  of 
Knight  of  Kerry  was  first  borne  in  the  four- 
teenth century  by  Maurice,  son  of  Maurice 
Fitzgerald  of  Ennismore  and  Rahinnane. 
The  latter  was  third  son  by  a  second  mar- 
riage of  John  Fitzthomas  Fitzgerald  (d.  1261) 
[cf.  FITZTHOMAS,  MAUKICE,  first  EARL  OF 
DESMOND],  stated  to  be  grandson  of  Maurice 
Fitzgerald  (d.  1176)  [q.  v.],  the  founder  of  the 
Geraldine  family  in  Ireland.  Maurice  Fitz- 
gerald was  born  29  Dec.  1774,  and  entered 
public  life  almost  before  he  was  legally  com- 
petent to  do  so.  On  the  representation  of  his 
native  county  suddenly  becoming  vacant  in 
1794,  Fitzgerald  was  elected  to  fill  it.  He  then 
wanted  some  months  of  coming  of  age,  and 
could  not  take  his  seat  in  parliament,  but 
when  he  eventually  made  his  appearance  in 
the  parliament  house  at  Dublin  he  gave  high 
promise.  For  thirty-seven  years  uninter- 
ruptedly he  continued  to  represent  Kerry  in 
the  Irish  and  imperial  parliaments.  The 
Knight  of  Kerry  entered  public  life  at  the 
same  period  as  two  of  his  personal  friends., 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  and  Lord  Castle- 
reagh.  Up  to  the  time  of  the  union  Fitz- 
gerald sat  in  the  Irish  parliament,  and  he 
voted  in  favour  of  that  measure.  He  out- 
lived all  his  colleagues,  and  with  him  ex- 
pired Hhe  last  commoner  of  the  last  Irish 
parliament.'  For  four  years,  1799-1802, 
Fitzgerald  acted  as  a  commissioner  of  excise 
and  customs  in  Ireland.  In  1801  he  was 
returned  for  the  county  of  Kerry  to  the  im- 
perial parliament.  Soon  after  he  entered 
the  House  of  Commons  he  was  called  to  a 
seat  in  the  privy  council,  and  at  the  board" 
of  the  Irish  treasury.  The  latter  office- 
he  resigned  at  the  dissolution  of  the  whig- 
ministry  in  1806.  While  he  had  not  much 
general  sympathy  with  the  whigs,  he  agreed 


Fitzgerald  142 


Fitzgerald 


with  them  on  the  catholic  question.  The 
partial  fusion  of  parties  in  the  Canning 
ministry  called  him  to  office  as  lord  of  the 
English  treasury  (July  1827).  The  passing 
of  the  Catholic  Emancipation  Act,  which 
had  always  been  warmly  supported  by  Fitz- 
gerald, removed  the  only  barrier  between 
him  and  the  tories.  Feeling  himself  bound, 
as  an  emancipationist,  to  support  the  Duke 
of  Wellington,  he  again  took  office  in  1830 
as  vice-treasurer  of  Ireland.  Shortly  after- 
wards his  active  political  career  terminated, 
for  although  he  once  more  held  office  as  a  lord 
of  the  admiralty  in  Sir  Eobert  Peel's  short- 
lived administration  of  December  1834,  he 
never  again  recovered  his  seat  in  parliament, 
which  he  lost  in  the  struggle  attendant  on 
the  Reform  Bill.  He  was  defeated  at  the 
Kerry  election  of  1831,  and  again  in  1835. 
He  was  frequently  invited  to  seek  the  suf- 
frages of  an  English  constituency,but  declined. 
In  1845  Fitzgerald  addressed  a  *  Letter  to 
Sir  Robert  Peel  on  the  Endowment  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  of  Ireland.'  The  Duke 
of  Wellington  and  the  writer  were  the  only 
survivors  of  those  who  professed  Pitt's  poli- 
tics in  the  Irish  parliament,  and  Fitzgerald's 
letter,  while  partly  explanatory  of  Pitt's 
views  and  pledges,  also  established  the  fact 
that  this  great  statesman  was  the  originator 
of  the  '  treasonable  and  sacrilegious  scheme ' 
of  Peel.  When  Pitt  left  office  he  drew  up 
a  paper  explaining  the  causes  of  his  resigna- 
tion, which  was  delivered  by  Lord  Corn- 
wallis  to  the  Knight  of  Kerry  for  circulation 
among  the  leading  Roman  catholics.  Pitt's 
views  were  subsequently  more  fully  re- 
vealed in  the  '  Castlereagh  Correspondence.' 
Fitzgerald  approved  the  means  by  which  the 
union  was  carried,  declaring  it  to  be  a  very 
popular  measure  among  the  Munster  and 
Connaught  population ;  and  with  respect  to 
the  parliament  on  College  Green,  with  whose 
inner  workings  he  was  intimately  acquainted, 
he  stated  that  he  was  '  thoroughly  disgusted 
with  its  political  corruption,  its  narrow  bi- 
gotry, and  the  exclusive  spirit  of  monopoly 
with  which  it  misgoverned  Ireland.'  On  the 
passing  of  the  Act  of  Union,  Lord  Castlereagh 
addressed  a  confidential  letter  to  Fitzgerald, 
acknowledging  the  pledges  given  to  the  Irish 
catholics,  and  announcing  his  intention  to 
support  the  endowment  of  their  church. 

In  private  Fitzgerald  was  an  excellent  friend 
and  landlord.  He  died  at  Glanleam,Valentia, 
7  March  1849,  having  married  (1),  5  Nov.  1801, 
Maria  (d.  1827),  daughter  of  the  Right  Hon. 
David  Digges  la  Touche  of  Marlay,  Dublin ; 
and  (2)  Cecilia  Maria  Knight,  a  widow,  who 
died  15  Oct.  1859.  By  his  first  wife  he  had 
six  sons  and  four  daughters.  His  four  eldest 


sons  predeceased  him,  and  he  was  succeeded 
in  his  '  feudal '  honours  by  his  fifth  son,  Peter 
George  Fitzgerald  [q.  v.] 

[Gent.  Mag.  1849;  Cork  Southern  Reporter 
and  Kerry  Post,  March  1849.]  G.  B.  S. 

FITZGERALD,  PAMELA  (1776  ?- 
1831),  wife  of  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald 
[q.  v.J,  was  described  in  her  marriage  contract 
of  1792  as  Anne  Stephanie  Caroline  Sims, 
daughter  of  Guillaume  de  Brixey  and  Mary 
Sims,  as  a  native  of  Fogo  Island,  New- 
foundland, and  as  about  nineteen  years  of 
age.  Though  she  has  generally  been  regarded 
as  the  daughter  of  JVladame  de  Genlis  by  the 
Duke  of  Orleans  (Egalite),  this  statement  of 
her  Newfoundland  birth  is  confirmed  by  in- 
formation now  obtained  from  Fogo.  Henry 
Sims,  a  respectable  planter  who  died  there  in 
1886,  at  the  age  of  eighty-two,  believed  Pa- 
mela to  have  been  his  cousin.  Mr.  James 
Fitzgerald,  the  present  magistrate  of  Fogo, 
on  arriving  in  the  island  in  1834,  made  the 
acquaintance  of  Sims,  who  informed  him  that 
his  grandfather,  an  Englishman  living  at 
Fogo  in  the  latter  part  of  last  century,  had 
a  daughter  Mary,  that  she  was  delivered  of 
a  child  at  Gander  Bay,  and  in  the  following 
summer  sailed  with  her  infant  for  Bristol,  in 
a  vessel  commanded  by  a  Frenchman  named 
Brixey,  and  that  the  Simses  heard  nothing 
more  of  mother  or  child  until  they  learned 
from  Moore's  book  that  Lord  E.  Fitzgerald 
married  a  Nancy  Sims  from  Fogo.  New- 
foundland had  no  parish  registers  at  that 
date,  but  Henry  Sims's  story  may  be  true, 
though  there  is  the  bare  possibility  of  the 
death  of  the  child  in  infancy,  and  of  the 
transfer  of  her  pedigree  to  a  second  child 
placed  under  Mary's  charge.  It  may  be  con- 
jectured that  when  in  1782  she  was  sent  over 
by  Forth,  ex-secretary  to  the  British  em- 
bassy at  Paris,  to  be  brought  up  with  the 
Orleans  children,  and  familiarise  them  with 
English,  the  object  was  to  divert  attention 
from  the  arrival  a  little  later  of  a  child  known 
as  Fortunee  Elizabeth  Hermine  de  Compton 
(afterwards  Madame  Collard),  who  died  in 
1822  at  Villers  Helon.  Hermine,  who,  un- 
like Pamela,  was  recognised  by  the  Orleans 
family  in  after  life  as  a  quasi-relative,  was  in 
all  probability  Madame  de  Genlis's  daughter 
by  Egalite,  and  was  perhaps  born  at  Spa  in 
1776.  In  a  scene  between  Madame  de  Genlis 
and  Pamela,  witnessed  by  the  latter's  daugh- 
ter, there  was  moreover  a  positive  disclaimer  of 
maternity  (Journal  of  Mary  Frampton,  letter 
of  Lady  Louisa  Howard  to  Mrs.  Mundy,1876). 
Un veracious,  therefore,  though  the  lady  was, 
her  story  may  be  credited  that  Forth  casually 
saw  the  child  at  Christchurch,  that  he  sent 


Fitzgerald 


143 


Fitzgerald 


Orleans  '  the  handsomest  filly  and  the  pret- 
tiest little  girl  in  England,'  that,  enraptured 
by  the  girl's  beauty  and  talents,  she  had  her 
conditionally  baptised,  conferring  on  her  her 
own  name,  Stephanie,  and  the  pet  name, 
Pamela,  and  that  to  guard  against  extortion 
by  the  mother,  she  paid  the  latter  in  1786 
twenty-four  guineas  for  a  legal  renunciation 
of  all  claims.  The  belief  of  the  Fitzgerald 
family,  in  deference  to  which  Moore  retracted 
his  original  acceptance  of  the  Orleans-Genlis 
parentage,  and  Louis-Philippe's  opposite  con- 
duct to  his  two  old  playmates,  strengthen  this 
conclusion.  Against  it  must  be  set  Pamela's 
alleged  likeness  to  the  Orleans  family ;  the 
rumour  of  1785  (see  GRIMM,  Correspondence), 
that  Monsieur  de  Genlis  had  acknowledged 
both  Pamela  and  Hermine  as  his  own  chil- 
dren, sent  away  in  infancy  to  test  the  differ- 
ence between  children  brought  up  with  and 
without  knowledge  of  their  status ;  Egalite's 
settlement  on  Pamela  about  1791  of  fifteen 
hundred  francs,  increased  on  her  marriage  to 
six  thousand  francs ;  and  Madame  de  Genlis's 
statement  in  her  memoirs  (1825),  assigning 
the  paternity  to  a  legendary  Seymour  of  good 
family,  who  married  a  woman  of  low  birth 
named  Sims,  took  her  to  Newfoundland,  and 
there  died,  whereupon  widow  and  child  re- 
turned to  England.  Of  winning  manners, 
though  devoid  of  application  or  reflection, 
Pamela  was  applauded  by  the  mob  on  their 
way  to  Versailles  (Madame  de  Genlis  had 
sent  her  out,  with  grooms  in  Orleans  livery, 
to  ride  through  the  crowd),  was  the  ornament 
of  her  adoptive  mother's  political  receptions, 
and  went  with  her  to  England  in  1791,  when 
Sheridan  is  said  to  have  offered  her  marriage, 
and  been  accepted,  he  being  struck  by  her 
resemblance  to  his  late  wife.  IJo  that  resem- 
blance is  also  attributed  her  conquest  of  Lord 
Edward  Fitzgerald,  who,  objecting  to  '  blue 
stockings/  had  refused  to  meet  the  Genlis 
party  in  England,  but  saw  Pamela  at  a  Paris 
theatre,  was  immediately  introduced  to  her, 
was  invited  to  dinner  next  day,  joined  the 
party  on  the  road,  on  their  expulsion  from 
Paris  as  6migrees,  accompanied  them  to 
Tournai,  and  there  married  her,  27  Dec.  1792. 
The  Tournai  register,  which,  like  the  marriage 
contract,  overstates  her  age  by  at  least  three 
years,  gives  her  father's  name  as  Guillaume 
Berkley,  and  London  as  her  birthplace,  but 
this  may  be  imputed  to  the  carelessness  of 
the  officiating  priest.  The  future  Louis-Phi- 
lippe was  present  at  the  ceremony.  Arrived 
at  Dublin,  Pamela  indulged  her  passion  for 
dancing,  but  failed  to  win  popularity.  Mean- 
while the  Paris  revolutionists,  misled  by  a 
report  of  her  travelling  in  Switzerland  with 
her  adoptive  mother,  issued  a  warrant  against 


her.  She  gave  birth  to  a  son  in  Ireland,  and 
in  1796  her  second  child,  Pamela,  was  born 
at  Hamburg.  Madame  de  Genlis,  then  stay- 
ing there,  represents  herself  as  remonstrating 
against  Lord  Edward's  political  vehemence, 
and  Pamela  as  replying  that  she  avoided  dis- 
cussing politics  with  him  for  obvious  reasons. 
Their  domestic  happiness  seems  to  have  been 
unalloyed.  Her  third  child  was  born  while 
her  husband  was  in  concealment  and  paying 
her  secret  visits.  On  his  arrest  she  was  or- 
dered to  quit  Ireland,  and  after  his  death 
repaired  to  Hamburg,  whence  she  had  had 
an  invitation  from  her  old  companion,  Hen- 
riette  de  Sercey,  Madame  de  Genlis'  niece. 
Henriette  had  married  a  Hamburg  merchant, 
Mathiesson,  and  Pamela  hoped  there  to  be 
able  to  recover  the  Orleans  annuity.  Her 
children  seem  to  have  stayed  behind.  She 
shortly  afterwards  married  Pitcairn,  the  Ame- 
rican consul  at  Hamburg,  by  whom  she  had 
a  daughter  (who  was  married  and  living  at 
New  York  in  1835),  but  a  separation  soon 
ensued.  She  is  next  heard  of  as  encounter- 
ing, about  1812,  in  a  Dover  hotel,  Casimir, 
another  of  Madame  de  Genlis's  adopted  chil- 
dren, and  as  giving  her  English  creditors  the 
slip  by  accompanying  him  to  Paris.  Re- 
suming the  name  of  Fitzgerald,  she  first  lived 
at  the  Abbaye-aux-Bois,  next  lodged  with 
Auber,  the  composer's  father,  and  then  went 
to  Montauban  to  lodge  with  the  Due  de 
la  Force,  commandant  of  Tarn-et-Garonne. 
There  she  is  said  to  have  had  the  freak  of 
acting  as  a  shepherdess  in  the  costume  of 
Fontenelle's  pastoral  heroines.  She  appears 
to  have  paid  at  least  one  visit  to  Paris  about 
1820,  when  Madame  de  Genlis  forgave  her 
abrupt  departure  from  Paris  and  cessation  of 
correspondence.  At  this  period  her  home 
was  at  Toulouse.  After  the  revolution  of 
1830  she  revisited  Paris,  apparently  in  the 
hope  of  royal  favour,  but  received  little  notice, 
and  died  eleven  months  after  her  adoptive 
mother,  in  November  1831,  in  a  small  hotel 
in  the  rue  Richepance.  Though  enjoying  a 
pension  of  at  least  ten  thousand  francs,  she 
is  said  to  have  left  nothing,  so  that  Louis- 
Philippe  had  to  be  applied  to — probably  by 
Talleyrand,  who  attended  it — to  provide  a 
proper  funeral  at  Montmartre.  In  1880,  a 
legal  informality  necessitating  the  removal  of 
her  remains,  they  were  interred  by  her  grand- 
children at  Thames  Ditton. 

[Information  through  Sir  Gr.  W.  Des  Vceux 
from  Mr.  James  Fitzgerald,  J.P.,  Fogo ;  Me- 
moires  de  Madame  de  Genlis  ;  Tournai  register  ; 
Moore's  Life  of  Lord  E.  Fitzgerald ;  Madden's 
United  Irishmen ;  Memoires  d'Alexandre  Dumas ; 
Parisot's  article  in  Biographic  Universelle; 
Times,  25  Aug.  1880.]  J.  G.  A. 


Fitzgerald 


144 


Fitzgerald 


FITZGERALD,  SIR  PETER  GEORGE 
(1808-1880),  nineteenth  Knight  of  Kerry, 
eldest  surviving  son  of  the  Right  Hon.  Mau- 
rice Fitzgerald  [q.  v.]  of  Glanleam,  by  Maria, 
daughter  of  the  Right  Hon.  David  la  Touche 
of  Marlay,  co.  Dublin,  was  born  15  Sept.  1808. 
He  began  life  in  the  banking-house  of  his 
maternal  grandfather  at  Dublin.  He  subse- 
quently entered  the  public  service,  and  was 
appointed  vice-treasurer  of  Ireland  in  the  last 
ministry  of  Sir  Robert  Peel.  Succeeding  his 
father  in  1849,  from  that  period  he  resided 
almost  constantly  on  the  island  of  Valentia,  de- 
voting himself  indefatigably  to  the  duties  of  an 
Irish  landlord,  the  improvement  of  his  estates, 
and  the  welfare  of  his  tenantry.  He  especially 
earned  the  thanks  of  the  people  by  the  erec- 
tion of  substantial  homesteads  in  place  of 
the  wretched  cabins  with  which  the  middle- 
man system  had  covered  the  west  of  Ireland. 
Fitzgerald  manifested  a  keen  interest  in  all 
questions  which  had  a  practical  bearing  on 
the  progress  or  prosperity  of  Ireland ;  and  in 
able  contributions  to  the  '  Times  '  he  depre- 
cated the  censure  which  at  that  time  and 
since  was  cast  indiscriminately  upon  all  Irish 
landlords.  His  own  admirable  personal  quali- 
ties, his  hatred  of  abuses,  his  engaging  man- 
ners, and  his  generous  nature,  made  him  a 
great  favourite  with  the  Irish  peasantry.  His 
hospitality  at  Glanleam  was  enjoyed  by  the 
Prince  of  Wales  and  other  distinguished 
guests.  The  Atlantic  cable  had  its  British 
termination  on  his  estates,  and  he  evinced 
much  public  spirit  and  energy  in  connection 
with  the  successful  laying1  of  the  cable.  He 
married  in  1838  Julia  Hussey,  daughter  of 
Peter  Bodkin  Hussey  of  Farranikilla  House, 
co.  Kerry,  a  lineal  descendant  of  the  Norman 
family  of  Hoses,  which  settled  on  the  promon- 
tory of  Dingle  in  the  thirteenth  century.  By 
this  lady  he  had  four  sons  and  seven  daugh- 
ters. Fitzgerald  was  a  magistrate  and  de- 
puty-lieutenant for  co.  Kerry,  and  was  high 
sheriff  of  Kerry  in  1849,  and  of  co.  Carlow 
in  1875.  On  8  July  1880  the  queen  conferred 
upon  him  a  baronetcy.  Fitzgerald  was  then, 
however,  suffering  from  a  dangerous  malady, 
and  he  died  on  6  Aug.  following.  He  was 
succeeded  in  the  title  and  estates  by  his  eldest 
son,  Captain  Maurice  Fitzgerald,  who  served 
with  distinction  in  the  Ashantee  war,  being 
present  at  the  battles  of  Amoaful,  Becquah, 
and  Ordahau,  and  at  the  capture  of  Coo- 
massie. 

[Times,  9  Aug.  1880;  Guardian,  vol.  xxxv. ; 
Kerry  Evening  Post,  11  Aug.  1880.]  G-.  B.  S. 

FITZGERALD,  RAYMOND,  surnamed 
(LE  GROS<£  1182),  was  the  son  of  William,  the 
elder  brother  of  Maurice  Fitzgerald,  d.  1176 


[q.  v.],  and  Robert  Fitzstephen  [q.  v.]  (Ex* 
pugnatio  Hibernica,  pp.  248,  310),  who  pre- 
ceded him  in  the  invasion  of  Ireland,  whither 
he  was  sent  as  Strongbow's  representative  in 
April  1170  [see  CLARE,  RICHARD  DE,  d.  1176], 
He  landed  at  Dundunnolf,  near  Waterford  (c. 
1  May),  at  the  head  of  ten  knights  and  seventy 
archers,  and  at  once  entrenched  himself  behind 
a  turf  fortification.  Here  he  was  besieged  by 
the  Ostmen  of  Waterford  in  alliance  with  the 
Irish  of  Decies  and  Idrone.  A  sudden  sally 
repelled  the  assailants  with  a  loss  of  seventy 
prisoners.  Raymond  spared  their  lives  against 
the  advice  of  Ilervey  de  Mountmaurice,  who 
had  represented  Strongbow  in  Ireland  before 
he  himself  arrived,  and  a  long  feud  arose  from 
this  (Exp.  Hib.  pp.  250-3  ;  REGAN,  pp.  70-2  ; 
Ann.  Four  Masters,  i.  1177  ;  Annals  of  Inisf. 
p.  114). 

Four  months  later  Earl  Strongbow  reached 
Ireland,  and  the  fall  of  Waterford  was  due 
to  Raymond,  who,  in  the  words  of  Giraldus, 
was  *  totius  exercitus  dux  et  tribunus  mili- 
tiaeque  princeps '  (25  Aug.  1170).  After  the 
earl's  marriage  to  Dermot's  daughter,  Ray- 
mond accompanied  his  lord  to  Ferns.  In  the 
Dublin  expedition  he  led  the  centre  of  the 
army,  having  eight  hundred  ( companions " 
under  his  orders.  There  Raymond  and  Miles 
de  Cogan,  tired  of  negotiations,  broke  into  the 
place  and  drove  its  ruler  Asculf  to  his  shipsy 
21  Sept.  1170  (Exp.  Hib.  pp.  256-8 ;  REGAN, 
pp.  73-82;  Ann.  Four  Masters,  p.  1177,- 
Annals  of  Boyle,  p.  28). 

Raymond  was  soon  afterwards  sent  by  the 
earl  to  place  all  his  conquests  at  the  disposal 
of  Henry  II.  Raymond  seems  to  have  met 
Henry  in  Aquitaine  (c.  December  1170  to 
January  1171).  He  led  the  first  or  second 
squadron  in  the  famous  sally  from  Dublin 
about  July  1171.  He  probably  returned  to* 
England  with  Henry  II  in  April  1172,  as  he 
was  not  one  of  those  to  whom  the  king  gave 
grants  of  Irish  land  on  leaving  the  country. 
A  year  later,  when  Strongbow's  services  in 
Normandy  were  rewarded  by  permission  to- 
return  to  Ireland,  he  insisted  upon  taking 
Raymond  with  him  (Exp.  Hib.  pp.  256-98  -r 
REGAN,  pp.  73-8). 

During  the  earl's  absence  Henry  de  Mount- 
maurice had  apparently  occupied  his  post. 
The  Irish  had  revolted,  the  earl's  soldiers 
were  unpaid,  and  threatened  to  return  to 
England  or  join  the  Irish  unless  Raymond 
became  their  constable.  The  earl  yielded, 
and  Raymond  led  his  old  troops  on  a  plun- 
dering expedition  against  Offaly  ;  Dermofc 
MacCarthy  was  routed  near  Lismore,  and 
four  thousand  head  of  cattle  were  driven  into 
Waterford.  Three  or  four  years  before  the- 
earl  had  given  the  constableship  of  Leinster 


Fitzgerald 


145 


Fitzgerald 


to  Robert  de  Quenci,  along  with  his  sister's 
hand.  Robert  was  soon  slain,  leaving  an 
infant  daughter ;  and  Raymond  now  wished 
to  marry  the  widow,  and  thus  become  the 
.guardian  of  the  baby  heiress.  When  his  peti- 
tion was  refused  Raymond  made  the  death 
-of  his  father  an  excuse  for  crossing  over  into 
"Wales,  and  Hervey  once  more  became  the 
acting  constable.  An  unfortunate  expedition 
into  Munster  was  the  signal  for  a  general 
Irish  rising.  Strongbow  was  besieged  in 
IVaterford  (1174)  ;  Roderic  of  Connaught 
had  burst  into  Meath,  and  was  laying  every- 
thing waste  as  far  as  Dublin  (Exp.  Hib. 
pp.  308-11 ;  REGAN,  pp.  130-7  ;  Ann.  Four 
Masters,  ii.  15-18 ;  Annals  of  Boyle,  p.  29  j 
Annals  of  Inisf.  p.  116). 

The  earl  now  offered  his  sister's  hand  to 
Raymond  in  reward  for  help.  Raymond  and 
his  cousin  Meiler  hurried  over  to  Wexford 
just  in  time  to  save  the  town,  marched  to 
VVaterford,  and  brought  back  the  earl  to 
Wexford.  The  marriage  took  place  a  few 
•days  later,  and  on  the  morrow  Raymond 
starred  for  Meath.  Roderic  retreated  before 
him  and  peace  was  restored,  though  the  new 
constable  did  not  leave  this  province  until 
"he  had  repaired  the  ruined  castles  of  Trim 
and  Duleek  (Exp.  Hib.  pp.  310-14  ;  REGAN, 
/  pp.  142-3 ;  cf.  Ann.  Four  Masters ;  Boyle ; 
Inisfalleri).  A  short  calm  followed.  Ray- 
mond took  part  in  promoting  the  alliances 
T)y  which  the  Normans  solidified  their  inte- 
rests. His  cousin  Nesta  married  Hervey  de 
Mountmaurice,  and  his  influence  brought 
about  the  union  of  William  Fitzgerald  and 
Alina,  the  earl's  daughter  (Exp.  Hib.  p.  314). 

In  the  summer  of  1175  Donald  O'Brien, 
Idng  of  Munster,  threw  off  his  allegiance  to 
Xing  Henry,  and  Raymond  was  despatched 
with  some  eight  hundred  men  against  Lime- 
rick. There  he  found  the  Irish  drawn  up  on 
the  opposite  bank  of  the  river  (Shannon  sic) 
in  such  strength  that  his  soldiers  feared  to 
cross  until  Meiler  Fitzhenry  passed  over 
alone,  and  Raymond,  going  to  his  rescue,  was 
at  last  followed  by  the  army.  The  town  was 
taken,  provisioned  and  garrisoned,  and  the 
constable  turned  back  towards  Leinster  (ib. 
pp.  320-3;  REGAN,  pp.  160-4  ;  cf.  Ann.  Four 
Masters,  Boyle,  and  Inisf.} 

Meanwhile  Hervey  de  Mountmaurice  had 
accused  Raymond  before  the  king  of  en- 
deavouring to  supplant  the  royal  authority 
in  Leinster  and  all  Ireland.  Henry  recalled 
Raymond,  who  was  about  to  obey,  when 
Donald  O'Brien  again  revolted.  The  earl's 
household  refused  to  march  without  Ray- 
mond to  command  them.  The  king's  envoys 
consented,  and  the  constable  started  for  Li- 
merick once  more  at  the  head  of  a  mixed 

VOL.  XIX. 


army  of  English  and  Irish.  On  Easter  eve 
(3  April  1176)  he  forced  his  way  through  the 
pass  of  Cashel,  and  three  days  later  entered 
Limerick,  upon  which  Donald  and  Roderic  of 
Connaught  renewed  their  fealty  to  the  king 
of  England  (Exp.  Hib.  pp.  327-31).  From 
Limerick  he  set  out  for  Cork  to  aid  Dermot 
Macarthy,  prince  of  Desmond,  who  had  been 
expelled  by  his  son  Cormac.  News  of  the 
earl's  death  (c.  1  June  1176)  called  him  back 
to  Limerick,  which  he  now  determined  to 
evacuate  in  order  that  he  might  have  larger 
forces  for  the  defence  of  Connaught  in  the 
event  of  a  general  rebellion  among  the  Irish. 
Donald  O'Brien  undertook  to  hold  the  town 
for  the  king  of  England,  but  fired  it  as  soon 
as  it  was  evacuated  (ib.  pp.  327-34 ;  Ann. 
Four  Masters,  p.  25  ;  Inisf  alien,  p.  117). 

Raymond  now  ruled  Ireland  till  the  coming 
of  William  Fitzaldhelm,  the  new  governor, 
to  whom  he  at  once  handed  over  the  castles 
in  his  possession.  If  we  may  trust  Giraldus, 
Fitzaldhelm,  unmollified  by  this  conduct, 
set  himself  to  destroy  the  whole  power  of 
the  Geraldines,  who  were  soon  despoiled  of 
their  lands.  Raymond  now  lost  his  estates 
near  Dublin  and  Wexford.  Next  year  Hugh 
de  Lacy  succeeded  Fitzaldhelm,  and  a  general 
redistribution  of  Ireland  among  the  English 
adventurers  took  place  in  May  1177.  It  was 
now  that  Robert  Fitzstephen  and  Miles  de 
Cogan  received  the  kingdom  of  South  Mun- 
ster (i.e.  of  Desmond  or  Cork)  from  Lismore 
west  (HovEDEN,ii.  134;  cf.7ra's/a//ew,p.ll7). 
A  few  years  later,  when  Fitzstephen's  sons 
had  perished  (1182  according  to  the  Irish 
Annals)  and  the  Irish  seemed  on  the  point  of 
winning  back  their  land,  Raymond  hurried 
from  Waterford  to  the  help  of  his  uncle,  who 
was  closely  besieged  in  Cork.  According  to 
Giraldus,  who  himself  came  to  Ireland  about 
this  time,  Raymond  succeeded  to  his  uncle's 
estates,  became  master  of  Cork,  and  reduced 
the  country  to  quiet  (Exp.  Hib.  pp.  349-50, 
&c.)  The  date  of  his  death  is  not  given  by 
the  contemporary  English  chroniclers,  but 
the  '  Irish  Annals  '  seem  to  assign  it  to  1182. 
This  is  almost  certainly  a  mistake,  as  the 
latter  writers  associate  his  decease  with  that 
of  Fitzstephen's  son  (Ralph),  while  the  words 
of  Giraldus  are  hardly  compatible  with  such 
a  synchronism  (Annals  of  Loch  Ce,  sub  an. 
1182,  and  the  note,  with  quotations,  from 
the  Annals  of  Ulster  and  Clonmacnoise  ;  cf. 
Ann.  of  Boyle,  p.  31).  Raymond  Fitzgerald 
left  no  legitimate  issue  (Exp.  Hib.  pp.  345, 
409). 

Raymond  Fitzgerald  was  a  man '  big-bodied 
and  broad-set/  somewhat  above  the  middle 
height,  and  inclining  to  corpulence.  His  eyes 
were  large,  full,  and  grey,  his  nose  rather 

L 


Fitzgerald 


146 


Fitzgerald 


prominent,  and  his  features  well-coloured  and 
pleasant.  He  would  spend  sleepless  nights 
in  his  anxiety  for  the  safety  of  his  troops". 
Careless  in  the  matters  of  food  and  drink, 
raiment,  or  personal  comfort,  he  had  the  art 
to  appear  the  servant  rather  than  the  lord  of 
his  followers,  to  whom  he  showed  himself 
liberal  and  gentle.  Though  a  man  of  un- 
doubted spirit,  he  always  tempered  his  valour 
with  prudence,  and,  '  though  he  had  much 
of  the  knight  about  him,  he  had  still  more  of 
the  captain.  He  was  specially  happy  in  this, 
that  he  rarely  or  never  failed  in  any  enter- 
prise he  took  in  hand  through  rashness  or 
imprudence '  (ib.  pp.  323-4 ;  cf.  the  quaint 
englishing  of  this  passage  in  HOLINSHED, 
p.  190;  and  the  Book  of  Howth,  pp.  297-8). 

[It  is  hardly  possible  to  make  G-iraldus's  ac- 
count of  Raymond's  movements  harmonise  com- 
pletely with  that  of  Began,  and  the  Irish  Annals 
give  little  or  no  help  in  settling  the  details  of 
the  chronology  from  1172  to  1176.  Griraldus 
Cambrensis,  Expugnatio  Hibernica,  ed.  Dimock 
(Kolls  Series),  vol.  v. ;  the  Anglo-Norman  poet 
cited  as  Regan,  ed.  Michel  and  Wright  (London, 
1837) ;  Annals  of  Loch  Ce,  ed.  Hennessy  (Rolls 
Series)  ;  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  ed.  O'Dono- 
van;  Annals  of  Inisfallen  and  Boyle,ap.  O'Conor's 
Scriptores  Rerum  Hibernicarum,  vol.  ii. ;  Hove- 
den,  ed.  Stubbs  (Rolls  Series),  vol.  ii.] 

T.  A.  A. 

FITZGERALD,  THOMAS,  second  EARL 
OF  KILDARE  (d.  1328),  twice  justiciar  of 
Ireland,  was  the  son  of  John  Fitzthomas,  the 
first  earl,  and  of  his  wife  Blanche  '  de  Rupe ' 
[see  FITZTHOMAS,  JOH^,  first  EARL  OP  KIL- 
DARE], and  was  therefore  generally  called 
Thomas  Fitzjohn.  On  16  Aug.  1312  his 
marriage  at  Greencastle,  on  Carlingford  Bay, 
with  Joan,  daughter  of  Richard  de  Burgh, 
the  '  red  earl '  of  Ulster,  was  the  symbol  of 
the  union  of  the  two  greatest  Norman  fami- 
lies in  Ireland  (Ann.  Hib.  MS.  Laud  in 
Chart.  St.  Mary's,  ii.  341).  On  8  Sept.  1316 
he  succeeded  to  the  new  earldom  of  Kildare 
on  his  father's  death  (ib.  p.  352).  He  at 
once  gathered  a  great  army  to  fight  against 
Edward  Bruce  and  the  Scots,  and  served 
against  them.  His  free  use  of  the  system  of 
*  bonaght,'  or  '  coigne  and  livery/  to  support 
these  troops  afterwards  became  a  very  bad 
precedent.  In  1317  he  was  thanked  by 
Edward  II  for  his  services  against  Bruce 
(Faedera,  ii.  327),  and  in  the  same  year  he 
received  from  the  king  the  office  of  heredi- 
tary sheriff  for  his  county  of  Kildare,  which 
involved  full  jurisdiction  and  liberties  within 
the  earldom  (ib.  ii.  354).  In  1319  and  again 
in  1320  he  served  on  a  commission  to  inquire 
into  the  treasons  committed  during  the  Bruce 
invasion  (ib.  ii.  396,  417).  In  1320  he  was 


made  justiciar  of  Ireland,  though  he  only 
acted  as  viceroy  for  a  year  (Ann.  Hib.  MS. 
Laud,  p.  361).  During  his  tenure  of  office 
Archbishop  Bicknor  [q.  v.]  attempted  to  found 
a  university  in  Dublin.  Kildare  received  a 
patent  empowering  him  to  subject  to  English 
law  such  of  his  Irish  tenants  as  chose  to  be 
governed  by  it.  In  1322  he  was  summoned 
to  serve  against  the  Scots,  but  the  truce  pre- 
vented his  services  being  required  (Fcedera, 
ii.  501,  523).  In  1324  he  was  at  the  Dublin 
parliament,  where  the  magnates  of  Ireland 
pledged  themselves  to  support  the  crown  ( Rot. 
Glaus.  1Kb.  18  Edw.  II,  p.  30  b,  Record  Comm.) 
In  1324  he  was  accused  of  being  an  adherent 
of  Roger  Mortimer  and  of  corresponding  with 
him  after  his  escape  from  the  Tower  of  Lon- 
don (Parl.  Writs,vol. ii.  pt. iii.  p.  1052).  This 
seems  probably  true,  for  one  of  the  first  acts 
of  Mortimer's  party  after  the  accession  of 
Edward  III  was  to  reappoint  Kildare  justi- 
ciar of  Ireland.  This  was  before  13  Feb.  1327 
(Fcedera,  ii.  688).  He  experienced  some  diffi- 
culty before  the  partisans  of  Edward  II  would 
accept  him.  In  July  several  great  barons, 
including  John  de  Bermingham  [q.  v.],  were 
still  refractory  (ib.  ii.  710).  But  a  local  feud 
which  involved  the  Berminghams,  the  Butlers, 
the  Poers,  and  De  Burghs  in  a  private  war 
with  the  Geraldines  of  Desmond,  because 
Arnold  le  Poer  had  called  Maurice  Fitz- 
thomas, first  earl  of  Desmond  [q.  v.],  a  rhymer, 
was  probably  at  the  bottom  of  this  disobedi- 
ence (Ann.  Hib.  MS.  Laud,  p.  365;  cf.  GIL- 
BERT, Viceroys,  pp.  163-4).  However,  Kil- 
dare compelled  the  chief  offenders  to  sue 
for  pardon  at  the  parliament  of  Kilkenny. 
During  his  viceroyalty  a  native  'king'  of 
Leinster  ventured  to  set  up  his  standard 
within  two  miles  of  Dublin,  but  was  soon 
subdued.  The  burning  of  one  of  the  O'Tooles 
for  heresy  was  another  example  of  Kildare's 
vigour  (GRACE,  pp.  107-8).  In  1327  he 
granted  the  advowson  of  Kilcullen  to  the 
priory  of  Holy  Trinity,  Dublin  (Hist.  M8S. 
Comm.  9th  Rep.  pt.  ii.  p.  269).  He  died,  still 
in  office,  on  9  April  1328  at  Maynooth,  and 
was  buried  in  the  chapel  of  St.  Mary  which 
he  had  built  in  the  Franciscan  convent  at 
Kildare  (ARCHDALL,  Monast.  Hib.  p.  312). 
He  is  described  as  wise  and  prudent  (GRACE, 
p.  76).  His  wife,  Joan  de  Burgh,  remarried, 
on  3  July  1329,  his  successor  as  justiciar,  John 
D'Arcy  (Ann.  Hib.  MS.  Laud,  p.  371).  He 
had  by  her  three  sons,  of  whom  John,  the 
eldest,  died  in  1323  or  1324  at  the  age  of  nine 
(ib.  p.  362),  being  then  in  the  hands  of  the 
king  as  a  hostage  for  his  father  (CLTN",p.  16). 
The  second  Richard  succeeded  his  father  as 
third  earl,  but  died  in  July  1331  (Hist.  MSS. 
Comm.  9th  Rep.  pt.  ii.  p.  268),  aged  12.  The 


Fitzgerald 


147 


Fitzgerald 


youngest   son,   Maurice   Fitzgerald   (1318- 
1390)  [q.  v.],  then  became  the  fourth  earl. 

[Chartularies,  &c.  of  St.  Mary's  Abbey,  Dublin 
(Eolls  Ser.),  especially  Annales  Hibernise,  MS. 
Laud,  in  vol.  ii. ;  Grace's  Annales  Hib.  (Irish 
Archseol.  Soc.)  ;  Calendar  of  Patent  and  Close 
Eolls,  Ireland  (Eecord  Comm.) ;  Book  of  Howth; 
Eymer's  Fcedera,  vol.  ii.,  Eecord  edit.;  Gilbert's 
Viceroys  of  Ireland  ;  Lodge's  Peerage  of  Ireland 
(Archdall),  vol.  i. ;  Marquis  of  Kildare's  Earls 
of  Kildare ;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  9th  Eep.  pt.  ii. 
p.  263  sq.]  T.  F.  T. 

FITZGERALD,  THOMAS,  eighth  EARL 
OF  DESMOND  (1426  P-1468),  deputy  of  Ire- 
land, was  the  son  of  James,  seventh  earl,  and 
of  his  wife  Mary,  daughter  of  Ulick  Burke 
of  Connaught  (LODGE,  Peerage  of  Ireland, 
i.  67).  In  1462  Thomas  succeeded  his  father 
to  the  earldom  (Annals  of  Loch  Ce,  ii.  165, 
says  1463,  and  speaks  of  him  as  'the  chief  of 
the  foreigners  of  the  south').  In  1463  he 
was  made  deputy  to  George,  duke  of  Cla- 
rence, the  lord-lieutenant  of  Ireland.  He 
showed  great  activity.  He  built  border  castles 
to  protect  the  Pale,  especially  in  the  passes 
of  Offaly,  the  ordinary  passage  of  the  O'Conors 
in  their  invasions  ;  but  the  break-up  of  the 
English  power  in  Ireland  was  now  so  com- 
plete that  he  had  to  sanction  the  parliamen- 
tary recognition  of  the  tax  exacted  by  that 
sept  on  the  English  of  Meath,  and  to  relax 
the  prohibition  of  traffic  with  the  '  Irish 
enemies.'  He  carried  on  the  hereditary  feud 
with  the  Butlers,  whose  lands  he  devastated 
in  1463.  He  was  less  successful  in  an  expe- 
dition against  Offaly.  In  1464  he  quarrelled 
with  Sherwood,  bishop  of  Meath,  and  both 
went  to  England  to  lay  their  grievances  before 
the  king  (Ann.  Ireland,  1443-68,  in  Irish 
Archceol.  Miscellany,  p.  253).  The  Irish  par- 
liament certified  that  he  had  'rendered  great 
services  at  intolerable  charges  and  risks,'  had 
'  always  governed  himself  by  English  laws/ 
and  had  '  brought  Ireland  to  a  reasonable 
state  of  peace.'  But  a  Drogheda  merchant 
accused  him  of  extorting  '  coigne  and  livery,' 
and  of  treasonable  relations  with  the  natives. 
In  the  end  Edward  restored  Desmond  to  office 
and  granted  him  six  manors  in  Meath  as  a 
mark  of  his  favour. 

The  period  of  Desmond's  government  of 
Ireland  was  one  of  considerable  legislative 
activity.  But  laws  had  little  effect  in  re- 
pressing the  Irish.  Two  expeditions  of  Des- 
mond against  the  O'Briens  did  not  prevent 
the  border  septs'  attacks  on  Leinster.  The 
Irish  of  Meath  called  in  a  son  of  the  lord  of 
Thomond  to  act  as  their  '  king,'  but  his  death 
of  a  fever  averted  this  danger.  Yet  Des- 
mond's rule  was  so  far  successful,  or  his  hold 
over  Munster  so  strong,  that  for  the  first 


time  for  many  years  representatives  of  the 
county  of  Cork  appeared  in  the  Irish  par- 
liament. 

In  1467  Desmond  was  superseded  as  de- 
puty by  John  Tiptoft,  earl  of  Worcester  [q.v.l 
It  was  believed  that  he  was  a  strong  sup- 
porter of  Warwick  in  his  hostility  to  Ed- 
ward IVs  marriage,  and  had  incurred  the 
hostility  of  Queen  Elizabeth  in  consequence. 
Tiptoft  convoked  a  parliament  at  Drogheda, 
in  which,  on  the  petition  of  the  commons, 
Desmond  was  attainted,  along  with  the  Earl 
of  Kildare  [see  FITZGERALD,  THOMAS,  seventh 
EAEL  OF  KILDARE]  and  Edward  Plunket.  The 
charges  brought  against  them  were  'fosterage 
and  alliance  with  the  Irish,  giving  the  Irish 
horses,  harness,  and  arms,  and  supporting 
them  against  the  faithful  subjects  of  the 
king'  («  Carew  MSS.,'  Book  of  Howth,  &c.  p. 
483).  On  these  charges  Desmond  was  exe- 
cuted at  Drogheda  on  14  Feb.  1468,  at  the 
age  of  forty-two  (CLYN,  Annals,  p.  46,  Irish 
Archaeol.  Soc.)  William  Wyrcester  (Annals 
in  Wars  of  English  in  France,  n.  ii.  789) 
says  that  Edward  was  at  first  displeased 
with  his  execution.  This  suggests  that  the 
actual  charges  rather  than  secret  relations 
with  English  parties  were  the  causes  of 
his  fall.  Desmond  was  soon  looked  on  as 
a  martyr  (GRACE,  p.  165).  It  was  soon  be- 
lieved that  Tiptoft,  with  his  usual  cruelty, 
had  also  put  to  death  two  infant  sons  of 
Desmond  (HALL,  p.  286,  ed.  1809 ;  cf.  Mirrour 
for  Magistrates,  ii.  203,  ed.  1815,  and  note 
in  GILBERT'S  Viceroys,  pp.  589-91),  but  there 
is  no  native  or  contemporary  evidence  for 
this.  Richard  III  described  Desmond  as 
'atrociously  slain  and  murdered  by  colour 
of  the  law  against  all  manhood,  reason,  and 
sound  conscience '  (GAIRDNER,  Letters,  fyc.  of 
Richard  III  and  Henry  VII,  i.  68).  The 
Munster  Geraldines  avenged  his  death  by 
a  bloody  inroad  into  the  Pale.  The  Irish 
writers  celebrate  Desmond  for  '  his  excellent 
good  qualities,  comely  fair  person,  affability, 
eloquence,  hospitality,  martial  feats,  alms- 
deeds,  humanity,  bountifulness  in  bestowing 
good  gifts  to  both  clergy  and  laity,  and  to  all 
the  learned  in  Irish,  as  antiquaries,  poets' 
(Annals  of  Ireland,  1443-68,  p.  263  j  cf.  Four- 
Masters,  iv.  1053).  He  founded  a  college  at 
Youghal  for  a  warden,  eight  fellows,  and 
eight  choristers  (HAYMA^,  Notes  of  the  Re- 
ligious Foundations  of  Youghal,  p.  xxxiii), 
and  procured  an  act  of  parliament  allowing 
the  corporation  to  buy  and  sell  of  the  Irishry 
(HAYMABT,  Annals  of  Youghal,  p.  13).  He 
was  buried  at  Drogheda,  but  Sir  Henry  Sidney 
removed  his  tomb  to  Dublin  (LODGE,  i.  70). 
The  '  Four  Masters  '  (iv.  1053)  say  that  his 
body  was  afterwards  conveyed  to  the  burial- 

L2 


Fitzgerald 


148 


Fitzgerald 


He  mar- 
ried Elizabeth  or  Ellice  Barry,  daughter  of 
Lord  Buttevant,  by  whom  he  had  a  large 
family.  Four  of  his  sons,  James,  Maurice, 
Thomas,  and  John,  became  in  succession 
earls  of  Desmond. 

[Gilbert's  Viceroys  of  Ireland;  Annals  of 
Loch  Ce ;  Annals  of  Ireland  in  Irish  Archaeolo- 
gical Miscellany ;  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters 
(O'Donovan),  with  the  note  on  iv.  1050-2 ;  Carew 
MSS.,  Book  of  Howth,  &c. ;  Hayman's  unpub- 
lished Geraldine  Documents,  i.  11-13;  Lodge's 
Peerage  of  Ireland  (Archdall),  vol.  i.]  T.  F.  T. 

FITZGERALD,  THOMAS,  seventh  EAEL 
OF  KILDARE  (d.  1477),  deputy  of  Ireland, 
was  son  of  John,  sixth  earl,  and  his  wife, 
Margaret  de  la  Herne  (LODGE,  i.  82).  He  suc- 
ceeded to  his  father  in  1427,  when  he  must 
have  been  quite  young.  Between  1455  and 
1459  he  was  deputy  for  Richard,  duke  of  York, 
the  lord-lieutenant.  In  1459  he  warmly  wel- 
comed York  on  his  taking  refuge  in  Ireland. 
The  Lancastrian  government  in  vain  sought 
to  weaken  his  position  by  intriguing  with 
the  native  Irish  against  him.  On  30  April 
1461  Kildare  was  appointed  deputy  to  George, 
duke  of  Clarence  (Cal.  Rot.  Pat.  Hib.  1  Ed- 
ward IV,  p.  268) ;  and  on  5  July  the  confir- 
mation of  a  grant  of  Duke  Richard's  was  Ed- 
ward IV's  further  reward  for  his  fidelity  to 
the  Yorkist  cause  (ib.  p.  268  b).  Next  year 
he  was  superseded  by  Sir  Roland  Fitzeustace, 
but  in  January  1463  he  was  made  lord  chan- 
cellor of  Ireland.  In  1464  he  and  his  wife 
Joan  founded  the  Franciscan  convent  at 
Adare  in  county  Limerick  (Annals  of  the 
Four  Masters,  iv.  1035).  In  1467  he  incurred, 
with  his  brother-in-law  Desmond  [see  FITZ- 
GERALD, THOMAS,  eighth  EARL  OF  DESMOND], 
the  hostility  of  the  new  deputy,  John  Tiptoft, 
earl  of  Worcester.  Both  were  attainted  at 
the  parliament  of  Drogheda,  but  the  reprisals 
which  followed  the  execution  of  Desmond 
brought  out  so  clearly  the  weakness  of  a 
government  deprived  of  the  support  of  the 
Fitzgeralds,  that  Kildare  was  respited.  The 
Archbishop  of  Dublin  and  other  grandees  be- 
came his  sureties,  and  on  his  promise  of  faith- 
ful service  the  parliament  of  1468  repealed 
the  attainder  and  restored  him  to  his  estates. 
In  the  same  year  he  was  reappointed  deputy, 
but  on  the  fall  of  Clarence,  Tiptoft  himself 
became  lord-lieutenant,  and  Edmund  Dudley 
his  deputy.  But  on  Clarence's  reappointment 
Kildare  became  deputy  again,  and  remained 
in  office  until  1475.  By  building  a  dyke  to 
protect  the  Pale,  and  by  excluding '  disloyal 
Irish '  from  garrisons,  he  sought  to  uphold 
the  English  rule.  In  1472  eighty  archers 
were  provided  for  him  as  the  nucleus  of  a 
permanent  force,  but  he  was  expected  to  de- 


fray half  the  cost.  In  1474  the  archers  were 
increased  to  160,  with  63  spearmen ;  and  in 
1475  a  *  Brotherhood  of  St.  George '  was  es- 
tablished for  the  defence  of  the  Pale,  of  which 
Kildare  was  president,  while  his  son  Gerald 
was  its  first  captain.  This  put  a  further  force 
of  120  mounted  archers,  40  men-at-arms, 
and  40  pages  in  his  hands  ('  Carew  MSS.,' 
Book  of  Howth,  &c.,  p.  403).  His  govern- 
ment is  an  epoch  of  some  importance  in  the 
history  of  the  Irish  coinage.  In  1475  he  was 
superseded  by  William  Sherwood,  bishop  of 
Meath.  He  died  on  25  March  1477  and  was 
buried  in  the  monastery  of  All  Hallows 
in  Dublin.  By  his  wife,  Joan,  daughter  of 
James,  seventh  earl  of  Desmond,  and  sister 
of  Thomas,  the  eighth  earl  [q.v.j,  he  is  said 
to  have  left  four  sons  and  two  daughters 
(LODGE,  i.  83).  He  was  succeeded  by  his 
eldest  son,  Gerald  Fitzgerald,  the  eighth  earl 
[q.T.] 

[Gilbert's  Viceroys  of  Ireland ;  Lodge's  Peer- 
age of  Ireland,  vol.  i. ;  Annals  of  the  Four  Mas- 
ters; Carew  MSS.,  Book  of  Howth,  &c.;  Marquis 
of  Kildare's  Earls  of  Kildare,  pp.  38-42.] 

T.  F.  T. 

FITZGERALD,  THOMAS,  LORD  OF- 
FALT,  tenth  EARL  OF  KILDARE  (1513-1537), 
son  of  Gerald  Fitzgerald,  ninth  earl  [q.  v.j, 
by  his  first  wife,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir 
John  Zouche  of  Codnor,  Derbyshire,  was  born 
in  1513.  Like  his  father  he  spent  a  consider- 
able portion  of  his  life  in  England,  but  it  was 
not  till  1534  that  he  began  to  play  an  im- 
portant part  in  history.  In  February  of  that 
year  he  was  appointed  deputy-governor  of 
Ireland  on  the  occasion  of  his  father's  last 
and  ill-fated  j  ourney  to  England.  About  the 
beginning  of  June  a  report  obtained  currency 
in  Ireland,  through  the  machinations  of  the 
Ormonde  faction,  that  his  father  had  been 
summarily  executed  in  the  Tower,  and  that 
his  own  death  and  that  of  his  uncles  had  been 
determined  upon  by  his  government.  Full  of 
indignation  at  what  he  considered  an  act  of 
gross  perfidy,  he  summoned  the  council  to  St. 
Mary's  Abbey,  whither  on  11  June  he  rode 
through  the  city,  accompanied  by  140  horse- 
men with  silken  fringes  on  their  helmets 
(whence  his  sobriquet  '  Silken  Thomas '),  and 
there,  despite  the  remonstrances  of  his  ad- 
visers and  the  chancellor  Cromer,  he  publicly 
renounced  his  allegiance,  and  formally  de- 
clared war  on  the  government.  After  which 
he  returned  to  Oxmantown,  where  he  placed 
himself  at  the  head  of  his  army.  His  enemies, 
terrified  by  his  decisive  action,  took  refuge 
in  Dublin  Castle,  whence  several  of  them 
made  their  way  to  England.  Archbishop 
Allen  was  not  so  fortunate.  By  the  aid  of 


Fitzgerald 


149 


Fitzgerald 


his  servant  Bartholomew  Fitzgerald,  he  ob- 
tained a  small  vessel  in  which  he  hoped  to 
effect  his  escape ;  but  owing  either  to  the 
unskilfulness  of  the  sailors,  or  the  contrari- 
ness of  the  winds,  he  was  driven  ashore  near 
Clontarf,  whence  he  hastened  to  the  neigh- 
bouring village  of  Tartaine  (Artane)  to  the 
house  of  a  Mr.  Hothe.  On  the  following 
day,  28  July,  a  little  before  dawn,  Offaly, 
accompanied  by  his  uncles,  John  and  Oliver 
Fitzgerald,  and  James  Delahide,  arrived 
on  the  spot,  when,  it  is  said,  he  ordered 
the  trembling  wretch  to  be  brought  before 
him,  and  then  commanded  him  to  be  led 
away.  But  his  servants,  either  misunder- 
standing or  disobeying  him,  slew  him  on  the 
spot.  Whether  Thomas  was  privy  to  the 
murder  it  is  impossible  to  say ;  but  it  is  cer- 
tain that  he  shortly  afterwards  despatched 
his  chaplain  to  Rome  to  obtain  absolution 
for  the  crime  (v.  R.  Reyley's  Examination, 
State  Papers,  Hen.  VIII,  ii.  100,  and  GAIBD- 
NER,  Cal.  viii.  278,  Dr.  Ortez  to  Charles  V). 
Meanwhile  he  had  been  endeavouring  by 
every  means  within  his  power  to  strengthen 
his  position.  On  27  July,  Dublin  Castle,  his 
chief  object,  was  besieged,  and  those  of  the 
nobility  who  declined  to  take  an  oath  to  sup- 
port him  clapped  in  the  castle  of  Maynooth. 
His  overtures  to  the  Earl  of  Ossory  were  re- 
jected with  scorn  by  that  astute  and  prudent 
nobleman,  who,  shortly  after  his  return  from 
England  in  August,  created  a  diversion  by 
invading  and  devastating  Carlow  and  Kil- 
dare.  But  an  attempt  made  by  his  son, 
Lord  James  Butler,  to  surprise  Offaly  re- 
coiled on  his  own  head,  and  he  was  only 
rescued  from  his  dilemma  by  the  news  that 
the  citizens  of  Dublin  had  turned  on  the  be- 
siegers of  the  castle  and  made  prisoners  of 
them.  Having  concluded  a  short  truce  with 
him,  Offaly  marched  rapidly  on  Dublin.  An 
assault  made  by  him  on  the  castle  was  re- 
pulsed with  loss,  and  in  a  gallant  sortie  the 
citizens  succeeded  in  completely  routing  his 
army.  He  himself  narrowly  escaped  cap- 
ture, being  obliged  to  conceal  himself  in  the 
Abbey  of  Grey  Friars  in  Francis  Street.  On 
the  same  day  Sir  William  Skeffington  and  an 
English  army  set  sail  from  Beaumaris  ;  but 
encountering  a  storm  in  the  Channel  were 
driven  to  take  shelter  under  Lambay  Island. 
Intending  himself  to  sail  to  Waterford,  he 
allowed  Sir  W.  Brereton,  with  a  portion  of 
the  fleet,  to  make  for  Dublin,  and  shortly 
afterwards  landed  a  small  contingent  near 
Howth  to  support  him  by  land.  It  was, 
however,  intercepted  by  Offaly,  who  there- 
upon retired  to  his  principal  fortress  of  May- 
nooth. During  the  winter  Skeffington  re- 
mained idle,  but  about  the  middle  of  March 


1535  he  concentrated  his  forces  about  May- 
nooth, which  he  carried  on  the  23rd — an  im- 
portant event  from  a  military  point  of  view 
(FEOUDE,  Hist,  of  England,  ii.  317).  The 
garrison,  including  the  commandant  Parese, 
who  was  charged  by  the  Irish,  but  on  insuffi- 
cient evidence,  with  having  betrayed  the 
place,  were  with  one  or  two  exceptions  put 
to  the  sword.  The  '  Pardon  of  Maynooth ' 
practically  determined  the  fate  of  a  rebellion 
which  at  one  time  threatened  to  prove  fatal 
to  the  English  authority  in  Ireland.  Offaly, 
or  as  he  was  now,  since  the  death  of  his 
father  (though  Stanihurst  roundly  asserts 
that  he  never  obtained  recognition  of  his 
title),  Earl  of  Kildare,  who  was  advancing 
to  the  relief  of  the  place  with  seven  thousand 
men,  saw  his  army '  melt  away  from  him  like 
a  snow-drift.'  Still  he  ventured  to  risk  a 
battle  with  Brereton  near  the  Naas,  but  was 
utterly  defeated,  and  obliged  to  seek  shelter 
in  Thomond,  whence  he  meditated  a  flight 
into  Spain.  From  this  he  was  dissuaded  by 
O'Brien,  with  whose  assistance  and  that  of 
O'Conor  Faly  he  managed  for  several  months 
to  keep  up  a  sporadic  sort  of  warfare.  He 
had  married  Frances,  youngest  daughter  of 
Sir  Adrian  Fortescue,  but  he  now  sent  her 
into  England,  declaring  that  he  would  have 
nothing  to  do  with  English  blood.  Seeing 
his  fate  to  be  certain,  his  allies  submitted 
one  by  one  to  the  government.  On  28  July 
Lord  Leonard  Grey  arrived  in  Ireland,  and 
to  him  he  wrote  from  O'Conor's  Castle,  apolo- 
gising for  what  he  had  done,  desiring  pardon 
'  for  his  life  and  lands,'  and  begging  his  kins- 
man to  interest  himself  in  his  behalf.  If 
he  could  obtain  his  forgiveness  he  promised 
to  deserve  it ;  if  not  he  l  must  shift  for  him- 
self the  best  he  could.'  He  was  still  for- 
midable, and  to  reject  his  overtures  might 
prolong  the  war  indefinitely.  Acting  on  his 
own  responsibility,  Grey  guaranteed  his  per- 
sonal safety,  persuaded  him  to  submit  uncon- 
ditionally to  the  king's  mercy,  and  a  few 
weeks  after  his  arrival  had  the  satisfaction 
of  carrying  him  over  into  England.  For  a 
few  days  he  was  allowed  to  remain  at  liberty, 
but  about  the  beginning  of  October  was  sent 
prisoner  to  the  Tower.  '  Many,'  wrote  Cha- 
puys,'  doubt  of  his  life,  although  Lord  Leonard, 
who  promised  him  pardon  on  his  surrender, 
says  that  he  will  not  die.  The  said  Lord 
Leonard,  as  I  hear,  has  pleaded  hard  for  his 
promise  to  the  said  Kildare,  but  they  have 
stopped  his  mouth,  the  king  giving  him  a 
great  rent  and  the  concubine  a  fine  chain 
with  plenty  of  money.  It  is  quite  certain, 
as  I  wrote  last,  that  the  said  Kildare,  with- 
out being  besieged  or  in  danger  from  his 
enemies,  stole  away  from  his  men  to  yield 


Fitzgerald 


150 


Fitzgerald 


himself  to  Lord  Leonard,  I  know  not  from 
what  motive,  inclination  or  despair '  (GAIKD- 
NEB,  Cal.  Hen.  VIII,  ix.  197).  The  govern- 
ment, though  hampered  by  Grey's  promise, 
had  no  intention  of  pardoning  him.  '  Quod 
defertur  non  aufertur,'  said  the  Duke  of  Nor- 
folk, when  asked  his  opinion.  After  suffering 
much  from  neglect,  Earl  Thomas  and  his  five 
uncles,  whose  capture  and  death  reflected  the 
utmost  discredit  on  the  government,  three 
of  them  being  wholly  free  from  participation 
in  the  rebellion,  were  on  3  Feb.  1537  executed 
at  Tyburn,  being  drawn,  hanged,  and  quar- 
tered. One  member  only  of  the  family,  his 
half-brother,  Gerald  Fitzgerald,  afterwards 
eleventh  Earl  of  Kildare  [q.  v.],  managed  to 
escape.  On  1  May  1537,  at  a  parliament  held 
at  Dublin,  Gerald  Fitzgerald,  earl  of  Kildare, 
Thomas  Fitzgerald,  his  son  and  heir,  Sir  John 
and  Oliver  Fitzgerald,  with  other  their  accom- 
plices, were  attainted  for  high  treason.  It  is 
curious  that  this  act  should  have  been  directed 
against  Earl  Gerald,  who  had  not  been  con- 
cerned in  the  rebellion.  In  the  same  year  an 
English  act  was  passed  for  the  attainder  of 
Thomas  '  earl  of  Kildare,'  his  five  uncles  and 
their  accessories.  Thomas  is  described  as  a  man 
of  great  natural  beauty,  '  of  stature  tall  and 
personable;  in  countenance  amiable;  a  white 
lace,  and  withal  somewhat  ruddy,  delicately 
in  each  limb  featured,  a  rolling  tongue  and 
a  rich  utterance,  of  nature  flexible  and  kind, 
very  soon  carried  where  he  fancied,  easily  with 
submission  appeased,  hardly  with  stubborn- 
ness weighed ;  in  matters  of  importance  an 
headlong  hotspur,  yet  nathless  taken  for  a 
young  man  not  devoid  of  wit,  were  it  not  as  it 
fell  out  in  the  end  that  a  fool  had  the  keeping 
thereof.'  Among  the  inscriptions  in  the  Beau- 
champ  Tower  is  that  of  THOMAS  FITZGEKA. 
[The  chief  authorities  for  his  life  are  Lodge's 
Peerage(Archdall),rol.  i.;  State  Papers,  Hen.VIII, 
vol.  ii.,  supplemented  by  Mr.  Gairdner's  Calendar, 
vols.  viii.  and  ix. ;  Ware's  Annales  and  Bishops  ; 
Stanihurst's  Chronicle  ;  Froude's  Hist,  of  Eng- 
land, chap.  viii.  There  is  a  useful  life  by  the 
late  Duke  of  Leinster  in  The  Earls  of  Kildare.l 

E.  D. 

FITZGERALD,  WILLIAM  (1814- 
1883),  bishop  of  Killaloe,  son  of  Maurice 
Fitzgerald,  M.D.,  by  his  second  wife,  Mary, 
daughter  of  Edward  William  Burton  of  Clif- 
den,  county  Galway,  and  younger  brother  of 
Francis  Alexander  Fitzgerald,  third  baron  of 
the  exchequer,  was  born  at  Lifford,  Limerick, 
3  Dec.  1814.  He  was  first  educated  at  Middle- 
ton,  co.  Cork,  and  then  entering  Trinity  Col- 
lege, Dublin,  in  November  1830,  obtained  a 
scholarship  in  1833,  the  primate's  Hebrew 
prize  in  1834,  and  the  Downes's  premium  for 
composition  in  1835  and  1837.  He  took  his 


degree  of  B.A.  1835,  his  M. A.  1848,  and  his 
B.D.  and  D.D.  1853.  He  was  ordained  deacon 
25  April  1838,  and  priest  23  Aug.  1847,  and 
while  serving  as  curate  of  Lackagh,  Kildare, 
made  his  first  essay  as  an  author.  Philip 
Bury  Duncan  of  New  College,  Oxford,  hav- 
ing offered  a  sum  of  50/.  for  an  essay  on 
'  Logomachy,  or  the  Abuse  of  Words,'  Fitz- 
gerald bore  off  the  prize  with  the  special 
commendation  of  the  donor  and  an  additional 
grant  of  25/.  for  the  expense  of  printing  the 
essay.  After  serving  the  curacy  of  Clontarf, 
Dublin,  from  1846-8  he  was  collated  to  the 
vicarage  and  prebend  of  Donoghmore,  in  the 
diocese  of  Dublin,  on  16  Feb.  in  the  latter 
year.  From  1847  to  1852  he  was  professor 
of  moral  philosophy  in  Trinity  College,  Dub- 
lin, and  from  1852  to  1857  was  professor  of 
ecclesiastical  history  in  the  same  university. 
His  next  promotion  was  to  the  vicarage  of  St. 
Anne's,  Dublin,  18  July  1851,  whence  he  re- 
moved to  the  perpetual  curacy  of  Monks- 
town,  Dublin,  on  13  May  1855,  being  in  the 
same  year  also  appointed  prebendary  of  Ti- 
mothan,  Dublin,  and  archdeacon  of  Kildare. 
On  8  March  1857  he  was  consecrated  bishop 
of  Cork,  Cloyne,  and  Ross,  and  in  1862  was 
translated  to  Killaloe  by  letters  patent  dated 
3  Feb.  He  was  a  voluminous  author  both 
under  his  own  name  and  as  an  anonymous 
writer,  and  was  the  chief  contributor  to  the 
series  of  papers  called  '  The  Cautions  for  the 
Times,'  which  was  edited  by  Archbishop 
Whately  in  1853.  His  edition  of  Bishop 
Butler's  '  Analogy '  displays  such  judgment 
and  '  learning  without  pedantry'  that  it 
superseded  all  the  previous  editions.  He  died 
at  Clarisford  House,  Killaloe,  24  Nov.  1883, 
and  was  buried  at  St.  Nicholas  Church,  Cork, 
on  28  Nov.  He  married,  in  1840,  Anne,  elder 
daughter  of  George  Stoney  of  Oakley  Park, 
Queen's  County,  and  by  her,  who  died  20  Oct. 
1859,  he  had  six  children. 

He  was  the  author  of  the  following  works, 
some  of  which  were  the  cause  of  controversy 
and  published  replies  :  1.  l  Episcopacy,  Tra- 
dition, and  the  Sacraments  considered  in 
reference  to  the  Oxford  Tracts,'  1839.  2.<Holy 
Scripture  the  Ultimate  Rule  of  Faith  to  a 
Christian  Man,' 1842.  3. <  Practical  Sermons,' 
1847.  4.  '  A  Disputation  on  Holy  Scripture 
against  the  Papists,  by  W.  Whitaker/  trans- 
lated, Parker  Soc.,  1849.  5.  <  The  Analogy 
of  Religion,  by  G.  Butler,  with  a  Life  of 
the  Author,'  1849;  another  ed.  1860.  6.  'A 
Selection  from  the  Nichomachean  Ethics  of 
Aristotle  with  Notes,'  1850.  7.  '  The  Con- 
nection of  Morality  with  Religion,'  a  ser- 
mon, 1851.  8.  '  The  Irish  Church  Journal,' 
vol.  ii.,  ed.  by  W.  Fitzgerald  and  J.  G. 
Abeltshauser,  1854.  9.  <  National  Humilia- 


Fitzgerald 


Fitzgerald 


tion,  a  step  towards  Amendment/  a  ser- 
mon, 1855.  10.  'Duties  of  the  Parochial 
Clergy,'  a  charge,  1857.  11.  'The  Duty  of 
Catechising  the  Young,'  a  charge,  1858. 
12.  '  A  Letter  to  the  Laity  of  Cork  in  Com- 
munion with  the  United  Church  of  England 
and  Ireland/ 1860.  13.  '  Speech  in  the  House 
of  Lords  on  Lord  Wodehouse's  Bill  for  Le- 
galising Marriage  with  a  Deceased  Wife's 
Sister/  1860.  14.  'Thoughts  on  Present 
Circumstances  of  the  Church  in  Ireland/  a 
charge,  1860.  15.  '  The  Revival  of  Synods 
in  the  United  Church  of  England  and  Ire- 
land/ a  charge,  1861.  16.  '  Some  late  De- 
cisions of  the  Privy  Council  considered/  a 
charge,  1864.  17.  '  A  Charge  to  the  Clergy 
of  Killaloe,'  1867.  18.  '  The  Significance  of 
Christian  Baptism/  three  sermons,  1871. 
19.  '  Remarks  on  the  New  Proposed  Bap- 
tismal Rubric/  1873.  20.  'The  Order  of 
Baptism,  Speeches  by  Bishop  of  Meath  and 
Bishop  of  Killaloe/' 1873.  21.  '  Considera- 
tions upon  the  Proposed  Change  in  the  Form 
of  Ordaining  Priests/ 1874.  22.  '  The  Atha- 
nasian  Creed,  a  Letter  to  the  Dioceses  of 
Killaloe  and  Kilfenora,  Clonfert,  and  Kil- 
macduagh/  1875.  23.  '  Lectures  on  Eccle- 
siastical History,  including  the  Origin  and 
Progress  of  the  English  Reformation/  ed.by 
W.  Fitzgerald  and  J.  Quarry,  2  vols.  1882. 

[W.  M.  Brady's  Records  of  Cork,  Cloyne,  and 
Ross  (1864),  iii.  87-8;  Dublin  University  Mag. 
April  1857,  pp.  416-26.]  GK  C.  B. 

FITZGERALD,  WILLIAM  ROBERT, 

second  DUKE  OF  LEINSTER  (1749-1804), 
second  son  of  James,  first  duke  of  Leinster 
[q.  v.],  by  Lady  Emily  Lennox,  was  born 
on  2  March  1749.  He  succeeded  his  elder 
brother  as  heir-apparent  to  his  father,  and  in 
the  courtesy  title  of  Earl  of  OfFaly  in  1765, 
and  in  the  following  year  took  the  title  of 
Marquis  of  Kildare  when  his  father  was 
created  Duke  of  Leinster.  He  then  travelled 
on  the  continent,  and  in  his  absence  he  was 
elected  M.P.  for  Dublin  by  his  father's  inte- 
rest, after  an  expensive  contest  with  La 
Touche,  head  of  the  principal  Dublin  bank. 
He  was  elected  both  for  the  county  of  Kil- 
dare and  the  city  of  Dublin  to  the  Irish  House 
of  Commons  at  the  general  election  of  1769, 
and  preferred  to  sit  for  Dublin.  In  1772  he 
served  the  office  of  high  sheriff  of  Kildare. 
On  19  Nov.  1773  he  succeeded  his  father  as 
second  Duke  of  Leinster,  and  soon  after  he 
married  Olivia,  only  daughter  and  heiress  of 
St.  George  Ussher,  Lord  St.  George  in  the 
peerage  of  Ireland.  In  the  Irish  House  of 
Commons  he  had  made  no  mark,  and  when 
lie  succeeded  to  the  dukedom  he  rather 
eschewed  politics,  though  his  high  rank  and 


influential  connections  caused  his  support  to 
be  sought  by  all  parties.  When  the  move- 
ment of  the  volunteers  was  started  Leinster 
showed  himself  a  moderate  supporter  of  the 
scheme,  and  he  was  elected  a  general  of  the 
volunteers,  and  colonel  of  the  Dublin  regi- 
ment. In  1783,  when  the  order  of  St.  Patrick 
was  founded  for  the  Irish  nobility  in  imita- 
tion of  the  Scotch  order  of  the  Thistle,  Lein- 
ster was  nominated  first  knight,  and  in  1788 
he  was  appointed  to  the  lucrative  office  of 
master  of  the  rolls.  In  the  movement  of  1798 
the  behaviour  of  the  duke  was  greatly  dis- 
cussed, but  though  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald 
[q.  v.]  was  his  brother  he  himself  was  never 
even  suspected  of  complicity  in  the  rebellion. 
He  made  every  effort  to  save  his  brother's 
life,  alleging  his  own  loyalty,  and  it  was  no 
secret  that  the  determination  of  the  govern- 
ment to  proceed  to  extremities  was  highly 
displeasing  to  him.  At  the  time  of  the  pro- 
posal for  the  abolition  of  the  independent 
Irish  parliament  in  1799,  he  was  therefore  on 
bad  terms  with  the  government,  yet  as  the 
leading  Irish  nobleman  Leinster  was  one  of 
the  first  persons  consulted  by  Lord  Corn- 
wallis.  His  cordial  adhesion  to  the  idea  of 
union  was  not  in  any  way  actuated  by  per- 
sonal motives,  for  by  the  abolition  of  the  Irish 
parliament  his  own  position  as  premier  peer 
and  most  influential  person  in  Ireland  was 
entirely  destroyed,  and  his  support  of  the 
scheme  influenced  many  other  peers.  When 
the  Act  of  Union  was  passed  the  duke  re- 
ceived 28,800/.  as  compensation  for  the  loss 
of  his  borough  influence,  15,000/.  for  the 
borough. of  Kildare,  and  13,800^.  for  the 
borough  of  Athy.  He  died  at  Cartons,  his 
seat  in  Kildare,  on  20  Oct.  1804,  and  was 
buried  in  Kildare  Abbey.  He  left  an  only 
son,  Augustus  Frederick  Fitzgerald,  who 
succeeded  him  as  third  duke  of  Leinster, 
and  by  his  will  he  appointed  a  Mr.  Henry 
and  his  cousin,  Charles  James  Fox,  to  be 
the  boy's  guardians.  In  a  notice  of  his  death 
it  is  said  of  him  that  '  he  was  not  shining  but 
good-tempered  ;  good-natured  and  affable ;  a 
fond  father,  an  indulgent  landlord,  and  a 
kind  master.' 

[The  Marquis  of  Kil  dare's  Earls  of  Kildare  and 
their  Ancestors  ;  Hardy's  Life  of  Lord  Charle- 
mont ;  Moore's  Life  of  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald; 
Cornwallis  Correspondence;  Gent. Mag.  Novem- 
ber 1804.]  H.  M.  S. 

FITZGERALD,  SIR  WILLIAM  RO- 
BERT SEYMOUR  VESEY  (1818-1885), 
governor  of  Bombay,  son  of  William,  second 
baron  Fitzgerald  and  Vesey,  who  died  in 
1843,  was  born  in  1818.  He  matriculated 
from  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  21  Feb.  1833, 


Fitzgerald 


152 


Fitzgerald 


and  migrated  to  Oriel,  where  he  was  New- 
digate  prizeman  in  1835,  and  graduated  B.  A., 
being  placed  second  class  in  classics  in 
1837,  and  M.A.  in  1844.  He  was  called  to 
the  bar  by  the  Honourable  Society  of  Lin- 
coln's Inn  at  Hilary  term  1839,  and  went  the 
northern  circuit.  In  1848  he  was  returned 
for  Horsham,  Sussex,  in  the  conservative  in- 
terest, but  was  unseated  on  petition.  He  was 
returned  again  for  the  same  borough  in  1852, 
and  retained  his  seat  until  1865.  He  was 
under-secretary  of  state  for  foreign  affairs 
under  the  Derby  administration,  in 'which 
Lord  Malmesbury  was  foreign  secretary,  from 
February  1858  to  June  1859.  He  was  ap- 
pointed governor  of  Bombay  in  January  1867, 
and  was  sworn  in  a  member  of  the  privy 
council,  and  made  knight  commander  of  the 
order  of  the  Star  of  India  the  same  year,  and 
honorary  grand  cross  of  the  same  order  in 
1868 ;  he  was  relieved  in  March  1872.  In 
February  1874  Fitzgerald  was  returned  to 
parliament  for  the  third  time  for  the  borough 
of  Horsham,  and  sat  until  November  1875, 
when  he  was  appointed  chief  commissioner  of 
charities  in  England.  Fitzgerald,  who  was 
an  honorary  D.C.L.  Oxon.  (1863),  and  a 
magistrate  and  deputy-lieutenant  of  Sussex, 
died  at  his  residence  in  Warwick  Square, 
London,  28  June  1885.  He  married  in  1846 
Maria  Triphena,  eldest  daughter  of  the  late 
Edward  Seymour,  M.D.,  and  by  her,  who 
died  in  1865,  left  issue. 

[Foster's  Knightage,  1882  ;  Law  Times,  4  July 
1885  ;  Times,  30  June  1885.]  H.  M.  C. 

FITZGERALD,  WILLIAM  THOMAS 
(1759  P-1829),  versifier,  was  born  in  England 
of  an  Irish  father  (see  preface  to  his  '  Tears 
of  Hibernia  dispelled  by  the  Union'),  and 
claimed  connection  with  the  Duke  of  Lein- 
ster's  family.  He  was  educated  partly  at  a 
school  in  Greenwich  and  partly  in  Paris,  and 
entered  the  navy  pay  office  as  a  clerk  in  1782. 
'  On  all  public  occasions,'  as  the  '  Annual  Re- 
gister '  for  1829  remarks,  his  '  pen  was  ever 
ready.'  His  more  notable  productions  are 
either  prologues  for  plays  or  appeals  to  Eng- 
land's loyalty  and  valour.  These  latter  he 
was  in  the  habit  of  reciting,  year  after  year, 
at  the  public  dinners  of  the  Literary  Fund,  of 
which  he  was  one  of  the  vice-presidents.  It  is 
to  this  that  Byron  refers  in  the  first  couplet 
of '  English  Bards  and  Scotch  Reviewers ' : — 
Still  must  I  hear?— shall  hoarse  Fitzgerald  bawl 
His  creaking  couplets  in  a  tavern  hall  ? 

The  'Annual  Register'  for  1803  speaks  of 
the  company  at  the  dinner  for  that  year  as 
being  « roused  almost  to  rapture '  by  Fitz- 
gerald's 'Tyrtaean  compositions,'  and  says 
that  '  words  cannot  convey  an  idea  of  the 


force  and  animation '  with  which  he  recitedy 
'  or  of  the  enthusiasm  with  which  he  was 
encored.'  A  collection  of  Fitzgerald's  poems 
appeared  in  1801  as  i  Miscellaneous  Poemsy 
dedicated  to  the  Right  Honourable  the  Earl 
of  Moira,  by  William  Thomas  Fitzgerald,  esq.,r 
and  they  are  very  bad.  Perhaps  the  one 
which  most  nearly  approaches  the  famous 
parody  in  the  l  Rejected  Addresses'  is  the 
'Address  to  every  Loyal  Briton  on  the 
Threatened  Invasion  of  his  Country;'  but 
the  '  Britons  to  Arms ! '  of  a  later  date  is- 
almost  of  equal  merit.  Fitzgerald's '  Nelson's; 
Triumph'  appeared  in  1798,  his ' Tears  of  Hi- 
bernia dispelled  by  the  Union '  in  1802,  and 
his  'Nelson's  Tomb'  in  1806.  In  1814  Fitz- 
gerald issued  a  collected  edition  of  his  verse* 
in  denunciation  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte.  It 
is,  however,  unquestionably  in  the  'Loyal 
Effusion '  of  the  '  Rejected  Addresses,'  and 
the  opening  couplet  of  '  English  Bards  and 
Scotch  Reviewers'  that  Fitzgerald  will  live. 
It  is  only  just  to  record  that  this  'small  beer 
poet,'  as  Cobbett  called  him,  bore  no  malice 
against  James  and  Horace  Smith  for  their 
parody.  Meeting  one  of  them,  probably  the 
latter,  at  a  Literary  Fund  dinner,  he  came  to* 
him  with  great  good  humour,  and  said, '  I  mean 
to  recite.  .  .  .  You'll  have  some  more  of  "Gods 
bless  the  regent  and  the  Duke  of  York."'  Fitz- 
gerald died  at  Paddington  on  9  July  1829.  A 
portrait  appears  in  the  'European  Magazine-* 
for  1804. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1829,  ii.  471-3;  Annual  Register, 
1829;  notes  to  the  later  editions  of  Eejected 
Addresses.]  F.  T.  M. 

FITZGERALD,  WILLIAM  VESEY,, 

LORD  FITZGERALD  AND  VESEY  (1783-1843)  r 
statesman,  was  the  elder  son  of  the  Right 
Hon.  James  Fitzgerald  [q.  v.],  by  his  wife 
Catherine  Vesey,  who  was  in  1826  created 
Baroness  Fitzgerald  and  Vesey  in  the  peerage- 
of  Ireland.  He  was  born  in  1783,  and  spent 
three  years  at  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  where 
he  made  some  reputation  as  a  young  man  of 
ability,  and  he  entered  the  united  House  of 
Commons  as  member  for  Ennis,  in  his  father'^ 
room,  in  1808.  He  was  greatly  involved  in 
the  famous  scandal  resulting  from  the  con- 
nection of  the  Duke  of  York  with  Mrs.  Mary 
Ann  Clarke  [q.  v.],  but  rendered  services* 
to  the  government  and  the  court  in  bring- 
ing facts  to  light,  and  secured  his  appoint- 
ment as  a  lord  of  the  Irish  treasury  and 
a  privy  councillor  in  Ireland  in  February 
1810.  His  motives  at  this  time  were  im- 
pugned by  Mrs.  Clarke  in  a  '  Letter '  which 
she  published  in  1813,  but  though  there  pro- 
bably was  a  grain  of  truth  in  her  assertions, 
there  was  not  enough  to  damage  Fitzgerald?fe 


Fitzgerald 


153 


Fitzgibbon 


reputation,  and  the  lady  was  condemned  to 
nine  months' imprisonment  for  libel.  In  1812 
he  was  sworn  of  the  English  privy  council, 
and  appointed  a  lord  of  the  treasury  in  Eng- 
land, chancellor  of  the  Irish  exchequer,  and 
first  lord  of  the  Irish  treasury,  and  in  January 
1813  he  again  succeeded  his  father  as  M.P. 
for  Ennis.  He  held  the  above  offices  until 
their  abolition  in  1816,  when  the  English 
and  Irish  treasuries  were  amalgamated,  and 
in  the  same  year  he  assumed  his  mother's 
name  of  Vesey  in  addition  to  his  own,  on 
succeeding  to  some  of  the  Vesey  estates.  In 
1818  he  was  elected  M.P.  for  the  county  of 
Clare.  In  1820  he  was  appointed  minister 
plenipotentiary  and  envoy  extraordinary  to 
the  court  of  Sweden,  where  he  spent  three 
years  in  fruitless  attempts  to  persuade  Berna- 
dotte,  who  had  succeeded  to  the  throne  of  that 
kingdom,  to  repay  the  large  sums  of  money 
advanced  to  him  during  the  war  with  Napo- 
leon. His  efforts  were  of  no  avail,  and  in 
1823  he  was  recalled  in  something  like  dis- 
grace. Lord  Liverpool,  however,  knew  his 
value  as  a  polished  speaker  and  practical 
man  of  business,  and  in  1 826  he  was  appointed 
paymaster-general  to  the  forces.  When  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  formed  his  administra- 
tion in  1828,  he  selected  Vesey-Fitzgerald  to 
take  a  seat  in  his  cabinet  as  president  of  the 
board  of  trade,  and  this  nomination  made  it 
necessary  for  him  to  seek  re-election  for  the 
county  of  Clare.  He  was  opposed  by  Daniel 
O'Connell,  and  was  beaten  at  the  poll,  a  defeat 
involving  important  political  consequences. 
A  seat  was,  however,  found  for  Vesey-Fitz- 
gerald at  Newport  in  Cornwall  in  1829,  and 
in  August  1830  he  was  elected  for  Lost- 
withiel.  In  December  1830  he  went  out  of 
office  with  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  and 
resigned  his  seat  in  parliament,  but  in  the 
following  year  he  was  again  elected  for  Ennis, 
and  sat  for  that  borough  until  his  accession 
to  his  mother's  Irish  peerage  in  February 
1832.  When  Sir  Eobert  Peel  came  into 
office  with  his  tory  cabinet  in  1835,  he  did 
not  forget  the  services  of  Vesey-Fitzgerald, 
who  was  created  an  English  peer,  Lord  Fitz- 
gerald of  Desmond  and  Clan  Gibbon  in  the 
county  of  Cork,  10  Jan.  1835.  He  did  not 
form  part  of  Sir  Robert  Peel's  original  cabinet 
when  he  next  came  into  office  in  1841,  but  he 
succeeded  Lord  Ellenborough  as  president  of 
the  board  of  control  on  28  Oct.  1841,  and  held 
that  office  until  his  death  in  Belgrave  Square, 
London,  on  11  May  1843.  Vesey-Fitzgerald 
was  not  a  great  statesman,  but  he  was  a 
finished  speaker,  a  good  debater,  a  competent 
official,  and  had  refined  literary  tastes.  At 
the  time  of  his  death  he  was  a  trustee  of  the 
British  Museum,  president  of  the  Institute 


of  Irish  Architects,  and  a  fellow  of  the  Society 
of  Antiquaries.  At  his  death  his  United 
Kingdom  peerage  became  extinct,  but  he 
was  succeeded  in  his  Irish  peerage  by  his 
brother  Henry,  dean  of  Kilmore,  at  whose 
death  in  1860  that  also  became  extinct. 

[Gent.  Mag.  July  1843  ;  Mary  Anne  Clarke'* 
Letter  to  the  Right  Hon.  W.  Fitzgerald,  1813  1 

H.  M.  S. 

FITZGIBBON,  EDMUND  FITZJOHN 
(1552  P-1608),  the  White  Knight,  second  son 
of  John  Oge  Fitzgerald,  alias  Fitzgibbon  (d. 
1569),  and  Ellen,  daughter  of  Patrick  Con- 
don, lord  of  Condons,  accompanied  James 
Fitzmaurice  to  France  in  March  1575,  re- 
turning in  July.  Being  by  the  attainder  of 
his  father  (13  Eliz.  c.  3)  deprived  of  his  an- 
cestral possessions,  he  in  1576  obtained  a 
lease  of  a  large  portion  of  them  {Cat.  ofFiants, 
Eliz.  2873),  which  he  surrendered  in  1579, 
receiving  in  return  a  new  one  comprising  the 
lands  contained  in  the  former  and  others 
which  had  in  the  meantime  reverted  to  the 
crown  through  the  death  of  his  mother  (ib. 
3583).  Charged  by  his  hereditary  enemy, 
Lord  Roche,  viscount  Fermoy,  with  aiding 
and  abetting  the  rebellion  of  Gerald,  earl  of 
Desmond,  he  appears  to  have  trimmed  his 
way  through  the  difficulties  that  beset  him 
with  considerable  skill,  but  without  much 
regard  for  his  honour.  The  English  officials-, 
Sir  H.  Wallop  in  particular,  were  greatly  pro1- 
voked  that  the  lands  forfeited  by  his  father's 
rebellion  were  not  to  be  allotted  among  the 
planters,  and  did  their  best  to  blacken  his 
character.  In  1584  he  accompanied  Sir  John 
Perrot  on  his  expedition  against  Sorley  Boy 
MacDonnell,  and  being  wounded  on  that  oc- 
casion was  much  commended  for  his  valour 
by  the  deputy.  In  April  1587  the  government 
thought  it  advisable  to  arrest  him,  though 
it  declined  to  follow  St.  Leger's  advice  to 
make  him  shorter  by  his  head.  In  1589,  when 
all  immediate  danger  had  passed  away,  he 
was  released  on  heavy  recognisances.  In  the 
following  year  he  paid  a  visit  to  England 
and  obtained  a  grant  in  tail  male  of  all  the 
lands  he  held  on  lease  (MoERiN,  Cal.  of  Pa- 
tent Rolls,  ii.  198).  He  was  appointed  sheriff 
of  the  county  of  Cork  in  1596,  and  appears 
to  have  fulfilled  his  duties  satisfactorily.  But 
he  still  continued  to  be  regarded  with  sus- 
picion, and  not  without  reason,  for  it  is  almost 
certain  that  he  was  implicated  in  the  rebel- 
lion of  Hugh  O'Neill.  He,  however,  on 
22  May  1600,  submitted  unconditionally  to 
Sir  George  Thornton,  and  was  ready  enougk 
when  called  upon  to  blame  the  folly  of  his 
son  John,  who  had  joined  the  rebels  (Pac. 
Hib.  i.  74,  133).  Still  Cecil  was  not  quite 
satisfied,  and  advised  Sir  George  Carew  to 


Fitzgibbon 


154 


Fitzgibbon 


take  good  pledges  for  him, '  for,  it  is  said,  you 
•will  be  cozened  by  him  at  last '  (Cal.  Ca- 
rew  MSS.  iii.  462).  In  May  1601  he  again 
fell  under  suspicion  for  not  attempting  to 
capture  the  Sugan  Earl  [see  FITZGEKALD, 
JAMES  Fitzthomas,  d.  1608],  while  passing 
through  his  territories ;  but,  '  being  earnestly 
spurred  on  to  repair  his  former  errors'  by 
Sir  George  Carew,  '  did  his  best  endeavours 
•which  had  the  success  desired.'  His  capture 
of  the  Sugan  Earl  in  the  caves  near  Mitchels- 
town  purchased  him  the  general  malice  of 
the  province.  Such  service  could  not  pass 
unrewarded,  and  on  12  Dec.  1601  the  queen 
declared  her  intention  that  an  act  should  pass 
in  the  next  parliament  in  Ireland  for  restoring 
him  to  his  ancient  blood  and  lineage.  This  in- 
tention was  confirmed  by  James  I  on  7  July 
1604,  and  the  title  of  Baron  of  Clangibbon 
conferred  on  him.  But  as  no  parliament  as- 
sembled before  1613,  and  as  by  that  time 
he  and  his  eldest  son  were  both  dead,  it  took 
no  effect.  In  1606  he  again  fell  under  sus- 
picion, and  was  committed  to  gaol,  but  shortly 
afterwards  liberated  on  promising  to  do  ser- 
vice against  the  rebels.  He  died  at  Castle- 
town  on  Sunday,  23  April  1608,  a  day  after 
the  death  of  his  eldest  son,  Maurice,  They 
were  buried  together  in  the  church  of  Kil- 
beny,  where  they  lay  a  week,  and  were 
then  removed  to  Kilmallock,  and  there  lie  in 
their  own  tomb.  He  married,  first,  Joan 
Tobyn,  daughter  of  the  Lord  of  Cumshionagh, 
co.  Tipperary,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons, 
Maurice  (who  married  Joan  Butler,  daughter 
of  Lord  Dunboyne,  by  whom  he  had  issue 
Maurice  and  Margaret),  and  John,  and  four 
daughters ;  secondly,  Joan,  daughter  of  Lord 
Muskerry,  having  issue  Edmund  and  David, 
who  died  young.  Maurice  and  John  dying, 
Maurice,  the  grandson,  succeeded,  but  dying 
without  issue  the  property  passed  to  Sir  Wil- 
liam Fenton  through  his  wife,  Margaret 
Fitzgibbon. 

[All  the  references  to  Fitzgibbon's  life  contained 
in  the  State  Papers,  the  Carew  MSS.,  and  Pacata 
Hibernia  have  been  collected  together  in  the  Un- 
published Geraldine  Documents,  pt.  iv.,  ed.  Hay- 
man  and  Graves.]  Pv.  D. 

FITZGIBBON,  EDWARD  (1803-1857), 
•who  wrote  under  the  pseudonym  '  Ephemera,' 
eon  of  a  land  agent,  was  born  at  Limerick  in 
1803.  He  was  devotedly  attached  to  fishing 
from  boyhood.  When  he  was  fourteen  years 
old  his  father  died,  and  he  came  to  London. 
At  sixteen  he  was  articled  to  a  surgeon  in  the 
city,  but  quitted  the  profession  in  disgust  two 
years  later,  and  became  a  classical  tutor  in 
various  parts  of  England  for  three  years,  find- 
ing time  everywhere  to  practise  his  favourite 
sport.  He  then  visited  Marseilles,  where 


he  remained  six  years,  devoting  himself  to 
politics  and  the  French  language  and  litera- 
ture, and  becoming  a  welcome  guest  in  all 
literary  and  polite  circles.  Having  taken 
some  part  in  the  revolution  of  1830,  he  re- 
turned to  England  and  recommended  him- 
self to  the  notice  of  Black,  the  editor  of  the 
'  Morning  Chronicle.'  Being  admitted  to  the 
staff,  he  worked  with  success  in  the  gallery  of 
the  House  of  Commons.  For  a  long  series  of 
years  he  wrote  on  angling  for  *  Bell's  Life  in 
London/  his  knowledge  of  the  subject  and 
the  attractive  style  in  which  his  articles 
were  written  giving  them  great  celebrity. 
For  twenty-eight  years  he  was  a  diligent 
worker  for  the  daily  press.  His  '  Lucid  In- 
tervals of  a  Lunatic '  was  a  paper  which  at  the 
time  obtained  much  attention.  He  wrote  often 
for  the  'Observer,'  and  was  a  theatrical  critic 
of  considerable  acumen. 

With  his  fine  genius,  excellent  classical  at- 
tainments, and  perfect  knowledge  of  French, 
Fitzgibbon  would  have  been  more  famous  but 
for  an  unfortunate  weakness.  He  had  perio- 
dical fits  of  drinking.  Physicians  viewed  his 
case  with  much  interest,  as  his  weakness 
seemed  almost  to  amount  to  a  kind  of  mono- 
mania, in  the  intervals  of  which  his  life  was 
marked  by  abstemiousness  and  refined  tastes. 
Fitzgibbon  often  promised  that  he  would 
write  his  experiences  of  intoxication,  which 
his  friends  persuaded  themselves  would  have 
won  him  fame.  But  he  became  a  wreck  some 
years  before  his  death,  on  19  Nov.  1857,  after 
a  month's  illness.  He  died  in  the  communion 
of  the  Roman  catholic  church.  He  left  no 
family,  and  was  buried  in  Highgate  cemetery. 

Fitzgibbon  made  a  great  impression  upon 
all  who  knew  him  by  the  brilliancy  of  his 
gifts.  He  possessed  unblemished  integrity, 
a  kind  and  liberal  disposition,  much  fire  and 
eloquence,  and  the  power  of  attaching  to  him 
many  friends.  From  1830  to  the  time  of  his 
death  his  writings  had  given  a  marvellous 
impulse  to  the  art  of  fishing,  had  caused  a 
great  improvement  in  the  manufacture  and 
sale  of  fishing  tackle,  and  largely  increased 
the  rents  received  by  the  owners  of  rivers  and 
proprietors  of  fishing  rights.  He  once  killed 
fifty-two  salmon  and  grilse  on  the  Shin  river 
in  fifty-five  hours  of  fishing.  His ;  Handbook 
of  Angling'  (1847),  which  reached  a  third 
edition  in  1853,  is  perhaps  the  very  best  of  the 
enormous  number  of  manuals  on  fishing  which 
are  extant.  Besides  it  Fitzgibbon  wrote,  in 
conjunction  with  Shipley  of  Ashbourne,  <  A 
True  Treatise  on  the  Art  of  Fly-fishing  as 
practised  on  the  Dove  and  the  Principal 
Streams  of  the  Midland  Counties,'  1838;  and 
'  The  Book  of  the  Salmon,'  together  with  A. 
Young,  who  added  to  it  many  notes  on  the 


Fitzgibbon 


155 


Fitzgibbon 


life-history  of  this  fish,  1850.  <  Ephemera ' 
regarded  this  as  the  acme  of  his  teachings  on 
fishing.  He  also  edited  and  partly  re- wrote 
the  section  on  '  Angling'  in  Elaine's  'Ency- 
clopaedia of  Rural  Sports '  (1852),  and  pub- 
lished the  best  of  all  the  practical  editions 
of  'The  Compleat  Angler'  of  Walton  and 
Cotton  in  1853. 

[Bell's  Life  in  London,  22  and  29  Nov.  1857  ; 
Francis's  By  Lake  and  River,  p.  221  ;  Annual 
Register,  1857,  p.  347;  Quarterly  Review,  No. 
278,  p.  365.]  M.  G.  W. 

FITZGIBBON,  GERALD  (1793-1882), 
lawyer  and  author,  the  fourth  son  of  an  Irish 
tenant  farmer,  was  born  at  Glin,  co.  Lime- 
rick, on  1  Jan.  1793,  and,  after  receiving  such 
education  as  was  to  be  had  at  home  and 
in  the  vicinity  of  his  father's  farm,  obtained 
employment  as  a  clerk  in  a  mercantile  house 
in  Dublin  in  1814.  His  leisure  hours  he  de- 
voted to  the  study  of  the  classics,  and  in  1817 
entered  Trinity  College,  where  he  graduated 
B.A.  in  1825,  and  proceeded  M.A.  in  1832, 
having  in  1830  been  called  to  the  Irish  bar. 
During  his  college  course  and  preparation 
for  the  bar  he  had  maintained  himself  by 
teaching.  In  the  choice  of  a  profession  he 
was  guided  by  the  advice  of  his  tutor,  Dr. 
(afterwards  Bishop)  Sandes.  His  rise  at  the 
bar  was  rapid,  his  mercantile  experience  stand- 
ing him  in  good  stead,  and  in  1841  he  took 
silk.  In  1844  he  unsuccessfully  defended 
Dr.  (afterwards  Sir  John)  Gray,  one  of  the 
traversers  in  the  celebrated  state  prosecution 
of  that  year,  by  which  O'Connell's  influence 
with  the  Irish  masses  was  destroyed.  In  the 
course  of  the  trial  Fitzgibbon  used  language 
concerning  Cusack  Smith,  the  Irish  attorney- 
general,which  was  construed  by  the  latter  into 
an  imputation  of  dishonourable  motives,  and 
so  keenly  resented  by  him  that  he  sent  Fitz- 
gibbon a  challenge.  Fitzgibbon  returned  the 
cartel,  and  on  the  attorney-general  declining 
to  take  it  back,  drew  the  attention  of  the 
court  to  the  occurrence.  Thereupon  the  chief 
justice  suspended  the  proceedings,  in  order 
to  afford  the  parties  time  for  reflection,  ob- 
serving that  '  the  attorney-general  is  the  last 
man  in  his  profession  who  ought  to  have  al- 
lowed himself  to  be  betrayed  into  such  an 
expression  of  feeling  as  has  been  stated  to 
have  taken  place.'  The  attorney-general  there- 
upon expressed  his  willingness  to  withdraw 
the  note,  in  the  hope  that  Fitzgibbon  would 
withdraw  the  words  which  had  elicited  it, 
and  Fitzgibbon  disclaiming  any  intention  to 
impute  conduct  unworthy  of  a  gentleman  to 
the  attorney-general,  the  matter  dropped,  and 
the  trial  proceeded  (Annual  Register,  1844, 
Chron.  323).  Fitzgibbon  continued  in  large 


practice  until  1860,  when  he  accepted  the  post 
of  receiver-master  in  chancery.  He  published 
in  1868  a  work  entitled  '  Ireland  in  1868,  the 
Battle  Field  for  English  Party  Strife;  its 
Grievances  real  and  fictitious ;  Remedies  abor- 
tive or  mischievous,'  8vo.  The  book,  which 
displays  considerable  literary  ability,  dealt 
with  the  educational,  agrarian,  religious,  and 
other  questions  of  the  hour.  The  last  and  long- 
est chapter,  which  was  entitled  '  The  Former 
and  Present  Condition  of  the  Irish  People,'  was 
published  separately  the  same  year.  Its  de- 
sign is  to  show,  by  the  evidence  of  history  and 
tradition,  that  such  measure  of  prosperity  as 
Ireland  has  enjoyed  has  been  due  to  the  Eng- 
lish connection.  A  second  edition  of  the  ori- 
ginal work  also  appeared  in  the  course  of  the 
year,  with  an  additional  chapter  on  the  land 
question,  in  which  stress  is  laid  on  the  duties 
of  landowners.  This  Fitzgibbon  followed  up 
with  a  pamphlet  entitled  '  The  Land  Difficulty 
of  Ireland,  with  an  Effort  to  Solve  it,'  1869, 
8vo.  The  principal  feature  of  his  plan  of  reform 
was  that  fixity  of  tenure  should  be  granted 
to  the  farmer  conditionally  upon  his  execu- 
ting improvements  to  the  satisfaction  of  a 
public  official  appointed  for  the  purpose.  In 
1871  he  published  '  Roman  Catholic  Priests 
and  National  Schools,'  a  pamphlet  in  which 
the  kind  of  religious  instruction  given  by 
Romanist  priests,  particularly  with  regard  to 
the  dogma  of  eternal  punishment,  is  illus- 
trated from  authorised  works.  A  second  edi- 
tion with  an  appendix  appeared  in  1872. 
Having  in  1871  been  charged  in  the  House 
of  Commons  with  acting  with  inhumanity  in 
the  administration  of  certain  landed  property 
belonging  to  wards  of  the  Irish  court  of 
chancery,  he  published  in  pamphlet  form  a 
vindication  of  his  conduct,  entitled  *  Refuta- 
tion of  a  Libel  on  Gerald  Fitzgibbon,  Esq., 
Master  in  Chancery  in  Ireland,'  1871,  8vo. 
Fitzgibbon  also  published  '  A  Banded  Minis- 
try and  the  Upas  Tree,'  1873,  8vo.  He  re- 
signed his  post  in  1880,  and  died  in  September 
1882.  As  an  advocate  he  enjoyed  a  high  re- 
putation for  patient  and  methodical  industry, 
indefatigable  energy,  and  great  determina- 
tion, combined  with  a  very  delicate  sense  of 
honour,  and  only  a  conscientious  aversion  to 
engage  in  the  struggles  of  party  politics  pre- 
cluded him  from  aspiring  to  judicial  office. 
Fitzgibbon  married  in  1835  Ellen,  daughter 
of  John  Patterson,  merchant,  of  Belfast,  by 
whom  he  had  two  sons,  (1)  Gerald,  now  Lord 
Justice  Fitzgibbon,  (2)  Henry,  now  M.D.  and 
vice-president  of  the  Royal  College  of  Sur- 
geons in  Ireland. 

[Catalogue  of  Dublin  Graduates  ;  British  Mu- 
seum Catalogue;  information  from  members  of 
the  family.]  J.  M.  R. 


Fitzgibbon 


Fitzgibbon 


FITZGIBBON,  JOHN,  EARL  OF  CLARE 
(1749-1802),  lord  chancellor  of  Ireland,  the 
second  son  of  John  Fitzgibbon  of  Mount 
Shannon,  co.  Limerick,  a  successful  Irish 
barrister,  was  born  near  Donnybrook  in  1749. 
At  school  and  at  the  university  of  Dublin  he 
gained  great  distinction.  Grattan  was  his 
great  rival  at  Dublin,  and  had  the  superiority 
in  the  early,  while  Fitzgibbon  succeeded  best 
in  the  later  years  of  the  course.  In  1765 
Fitzgibbon  obtained  an  optime  for  a  trans- 
lation of  the  'Georgics,'  'the  very  rarest 
honour  in  our  academic  course  '  (Dublin  Uni- 
versity Mag.  xxx.  672).  He  graduated  B.A. 
of  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  in  1767,  and  after- 
wards entered  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  where 
he  graduated  M.A.  in  1770.  In  1772  he  was 
called  to  the  Irish  bar,  and  stepped  at  once 
into  a  large  and  growing  practice.  He  re- 
ceived in  his  first  year  3437.  7s.,  between 
1772  and  1783  (when  he  became  attorney- 
general)  8,9737.  6*.  3d.,  and  between  1783 
and  1789  (when  he  became  lord  chancellor) 
36,9397.  3s.  lid.  (ib.  xxx.  675).  His  father 
is  said  to  have  allowed  him  6007.  a  year  in 
addition.  He  conducted  a  successful  elec- 
tion petition  in  1778  against  the  return  of 
Hely  Hutchinson  for  the  university,  suc- 
ceeded to  the  seat,  and,  along  with  Hussey 
Burgh,  represented  the  university  till  1783. 
In  his  early  parliamentary  days  he  gave  a 
moderate  support  to  the  national  claims.  In 
1780  he  opposed  Grattan's  declaration  of  the 
legislative  rights  of  Ireland ;  but,  in  conse- 
quence of  an  appeal  from  his  constituents, 
promised  to  support  it  on  the  next  occasion. 
'  I  have  always  been  of  opinion,'  he  said, 
'that  the  claim  of  the  British  parliament 
to  make  laws  for  the  country  is  a  daring 
usurpation  of  the  rights  of  a  free  people,  and 
have  uniformly  asserted  the  opinion  in  public 
and  in  private.'  The  total  repeal  of  Poy- 
nings's  law,  however,  seemed  to  him  unde- 
sirable. On  the  necessity  of  repealing  the 
Perpetual  Mutiny  Bill  and  of  making  the 
judges  independent,  he  entirely  agreed  with 
his  constituents  (see  his  letter  in  O'FLANA- 
GAN,  Lord  Chancellors  of  Ireland,  ii.  160). 

He  succeeded  in  keeping  on  good  terms 
both  with  the  government  and  with  the 
nationalists.  On  several  important  ques- 
tions he  supported  the  latter,  and  had  his 
reward  in  1783,  when  Grattan,  to  his  own 
subsequent  regret,  pressed  for  his  appoint- 
ment as  attorney-general  (GRATTAN,  Me- 
moirs, iii.  202).  Fitzgibbon  was  never  for- 
tunate enough  to  find  a  suitable  occasion  for 
expressing  the  national  feelings  with  which 
Grattan  credited  him.  Until  the  union  he 
remained  practically  the  directing  head  of 
the  Irish  government,  and  consistently  used 


his  great  influence  to  resist  every  proposal  of 
reform  and  concession.  His  first  conflict  was 
over  the  question  of  parliamentary  reform  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  where  he  now  repre- 
sented Kilmallock.  He  opposed  Flood's  bill 
of  1784  as  the  mandate  of  a  turbulent  mili- 
tary congress;  and,  when  the  sheriffs  of 
Dublin  convened  a  meeting  for  the  purpose 
of  electing  delegates  to  a  national  congress 
to  consider  the  question,  he  wrote  a  letter 
threatening  them  with  prosecution  if  they 
proceeded.  He  had  the  courage  to  appear  at 
the  meeting  and  repeat  his  threat.  Keilly, 
the  sheriff  who  was  present,  yielded,  but  was 
nevertheless  fined  for  contempt  of  the  court 
of  king's  bench  in  calling  an  illegal  meeting. 
In  the  House  of  Commons  Fitzgibbon  de- 
fended both  the  legality  and  the  expediency 
of  this  proceeding,  and  stated  that  it  had  been 
taken  by  his  advice.  In  1785  he  supported 
the  government's  commercial  policy  with 
such  power  as  to  produce  a  special  message 
of  thanks  from  the  king.  In  a  speech  on 
the  treaty  (15  Aug.)  he  referred  to  Curran 
as  '  the  politically  insane  gentleman,'  whose 
declamation  was  better  calculated  for  Sad- 
ler's Wells  than  the  House  of  Commons. 
Curran  retorted  by  saying  that  if  he  acted 
like  Fitzgibbon  he  should  be  glad  of  the  ex- 
cuse of  insanity.  A  duel  followed,  '  but,' 
says  Lord  Plunket  in  narrating  the  incident, 
1  unluckily  they  missed  each  other.'  Curran 
is  reported  to  have  accused  Fitzgibbon  of 
determined  malignity,  shown  by  taking  aim 
for  nearly  half  a  minute  after  his  antagonist 
had  fired  (PHILLIPS,  Curran  and  his  Con- 
temporaries, p.  145).  Mr.  Froude  ingeniously 
suggests  that  Fitzgibbon's  deliberate  aim  was 
'  perhaps  to  make  sure  of  doing  him  no  serious 
harm  '  (English  in  Ireland,  ii.  484).  The  en- 
mity lasted  through  life  ;  and  Curran  freely 
accused  Fitzgibbon  of  purposely  seeking  op- 
portunities to  injure  him. 

In  the  Whiteboy  Act  of  1787  Fitzgibbon 
may  be  said  to  have  begun  his  consistent 
policy  of  repression.  He  was  presumably 
responsible  for  a  clause,  which  had  to  be 
abandoned,  giving  power  to  destroy  any 
popish  chapel  in  or  near  which  an  illegal 
oath  had  been  tendered.  In  later  years  he  re- 
curred repeatedly  to  the  evil  influence  of  the 
priests.  At  the  same  time  he  saw  clearly  the 
causes  of  outrage  which  repressive  measures 
could  not  remove.  In  an  often-quoted  pas- 
sage he  gave  his  experience  of  Munster :  '  If 
landlords  would  take  the  trouble  to  know 
their  tenants,'  he  said,  '  and  not  leave  them 
in  the  hands  of  rapacious  agents  and  middle- 
men, we  should  hear  no  more  of  discontents. 
The  great  source  of  all  these  miseries  arises 
from  the  neglect  of  those  whose  duty  and 


Fitzgibbon 


I57 


Fitzgibbon 


interest  it  is  to  protect  them.'  On  the  other 
hand,  he  steadily  opposed  a  reform  of  the 
tithe  system  such  as  Pitt  advised  in  1785 
and  as  Grattan  urged  in  the  Irish  parliament 
in  1787,  1788,  and  1789  (LECKY,  Hist,  of 
England,  vi.  401). 

In  the  debates  on  the  regency  in  1789  the 
duty  of  advocating  the  case  of  the  govern- 
ment rested  mainly  on  Fitzgibbon.  In  his 
speeches,  which  Mr.  Lecky  has  justly  de- 
scribed as  '  of  admirable  subtlety  and  power,' 
may  be  found  probably  the  best  defence  which 
was  made  of  Pitt's  proposal.  They  show, 
however,  that  the  idea  of  a  union  with  Eng- 
land was  already  in  his  mind,  though  he  spoke 
of  it  as  only  the  least  of  two  evils.  Since  the 
'  only  security  of  your  liberty,'  he  said,  *  is 
your  connection  with  Great  Britain,  he  would 
prefer  a  union,  however  much  to  be  depre- 
cated, to  separation.'  During  the  debate  on 
the  lord-lieutenant's  refusal  to  transmit  to 
the  Prince  of  Wales  the  address  of  the  Irish 
parliament  Fitzgibbon  unguardedly  said  he 
recollected  how  a  vote  of  censure  on  Lord 
Townshend  had  been  followed  by  a  vote  of 
thanks  which  cost  the  nation  half  a  million, 
and  that  therefore  he  would  oppose  the  pre- 
sent censure,  which  might  lead  to  an  address 
which  would  cost  half  a  million  more  (PLOW- 
DEN,  Hist,  of  Ireland,  ii.  286  ;  GRATTAN,  Me- 
moirs, iii.  377.  See  Fitzgibbon's  subsequent 
explanation  in  a  speech  of  19  Feb.  1798,  re- 
printed after  his  reply  to  Lord  Moira  on  the 
same  day). 

In  1789  Fitzgibbon  succeeded  Lord  Lif- 
ford  as  lord  chancellor  of  Ireland,  with  the 
title  of  Baron  Fitzgibbon  of  Lower  Connello. 
Thurlow  for  a  long  time  opposed  his  appoint- 
ment, partly  on  the  ground  that  the  office 
should  not  be  held  by  an  Irishman,  and 
partly  owing  to  reports  of  Fitzgibbon's  un- 
popularity, but  yielded  at  last  to  the  pressure 
of  Fitzgibbon  himself,  the  Marquis  of  Buck- 
ingham, and  others  (BUCKINGHAM,  Courts  and 
Cabinets  of  George  III,  ii.  157;  O'FLANAGAN, 
Lord  Chancellors  of  Ireland,  ii.  200).  In  1793 
he  received  the  title  of  Viscount  Fitzgibbon 
and  in  1795  that  of  Earl  of  Clare,  and  in  1799 
he  was  made  a  peer  of  Great  Britain  as  Lord 
Fitzgibbon  of  Sidbury,  Devonshire. 

In  his  judicial  capacity  he  displayed  great 
rapidity  of  decision,  which,  though  called 
precipitancy  and  attributed  to  his  despotic 
habits,  was  rather  the  simple  result  of  his 
extraordinary  power  of  work  and  of  concen- 
tration. An  anonymous  biographer  says  that 
he  had  heard  Peter  Burro wes  [q.  v.],  an  emi- 
nent counsel  and  strong  political  opponent, 
testify  to  the  extraordinary  correctness  of 
Clare's  judgments  (Dublin  University  Mag. 
xxx.  682).  With  equal  energy  he  devoted 


himself  to  the  task  of  law  reform,  and  down 
to  the  day  of  his  death  he  sought  every  op- 
portunity to  remove  legal  abuses. 

In  politics  he  maintained  an  uncompro- 
mising resistance  to  all  popular  movements, 
and  especially  to  all  attempts  to  improve  the 
position  of  the  Roman  catholics.  A  detailed 
record  of  his  chancellorship  would  be  a  his- 
tory of  Ireland  during  the  same  period.  His 
position  and  opinions  can  be  most  conveni- 
ently indicated  by  a  reference  to  four  speeches 
in  the  Irish  House  of  Lords,  published  by 
himself  or  his  friends,  which  are  of  great  his- 
torical importance  :  1.  A  speech  on  the  pro- 
rogation of  parliament  in  1790,  in  which  he 
angrily  attacked  the  Whig  Club  for  inter- 
fering in  a  question  which  had  been  raised 
concerning  the  election  of  the  lord  mayor  (see 
pamphlet  entitled  Observations  on  the  Vindi- 
cation of  the  Whig  Club;  to  which  are  subjoined 
the  speech  of  the  Lord  Chancellor  as  it  appeared 
in  the  newspapers,  the  Vindication  of  the  Whig 
Club,  &c.,  and  see  also  GRATTAN,  Miscella- 
neous Works,  pp.  266,  270).  2.  A  speech  on 
the  second  reading  of  a  bill  for  the  relief  of 
his  majesty's  Roman  catholic  subjects  in  Ire- 
land, 13  March  1793  (1798;  reprinted  in 
1813).  Reviewing  at  great  length  the  his- 
tory of  the  Roman  catholic  church  in  Ireland, 
and  the  claims  of  the  catholic  church  in 
general,  he  urged  vehemently  the  impolicy 
and  danger  of  entrusting  catholics  with  power 
in  the  state,  but  agreed  that  after  the  pro- 
mises which  had  been  made  it  might  be  es- 
sential to  the  momentary  peace  of  the  country 
that  the  bill  should  pass.  His  peculiar  bit- 
terness on  this  occasion  was  partly  due  to  the 
fact  that  only  a  few  months  before  he  had 
vainly  sought  to  dissuade  the  viceroy  and 
the  English  government  from  any  conciliatory 
language  towards  the  catholics  (LECKY,  Hist, 
of  England,  vi.  528),  and  that  as  a  member 
of  the  government  he  was  speaking  against 
a  government  measure.  Comparing  the 
speech  with  that  of  the  Bishop  of  Killala,  who 
preceded  him,  Grattan  wrote  to  Richard 
Burke :  '  The  bishop  who  had  no  law  was  the 
statesman ;  the  lawyer  who  had  no  religion 
was  the  bigot '  (Memoirs,  v.  557).  The  at- 
tempt at  conciliation  which  Lord  Fitzwilliam 
was  allowed  to  make  for  a  few  months  in 
1794  and  1795  must  have  been  intensely  re- 
pugnant to  him.  Fitzwilliam  had  marked 
out  the  lord  chancellor  as  one  of  the  men  who 
had  to  be  got  rid  of  (BUCKINGHAM,  Courts  and 
Cabinets,  p.  312),  and  the  influence  of  the 
chancellor  had  doubtless  a  good  deal  to  do 
with  the  viceroy's  recall.  On  the  day  of  Lord 
Camden's  arrival  the  Dublin  mob  attacked 
Clare's  house,  and  he  was  saved  only  by  the 
skill  with  which  his  sister  led  off  the  crowd  to 


Fitzgibbon 


158 


Fitzgibbon 


seek  him  elsewhere.   3.  Speech  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  19  Feb.  1798,  on  Lord  Moira's  motion 
(printed  1798).     Lord  Moira  attacked  the 
government  for   its  coercive  policy.     Clare 
justified  that  policy  in  a  long  reply,  contain- 
ing an  elaborate  account  of  the  progress  of 
disaffection,  and  of  the  failure  of  conciliation 
during  a  period,  as  he  considered  it,  of  rapid 
advance.   He  excused  a  case  of  picketing,  on 
the  ground  that  it  led  to  the  discovery  of  two 
hundred  pikes  within  two  days,  and  has  been 
therefore  denounced  as  the  defender  of  torture. 
Clare  himself,  however,  was  inclined  to  temper 
a  rigorous  policy  by  moderation  to  indivi- 
duals.    Both  he  and  Castlereagh  supported 
Cornwallis's  proposal  of  a  general  amnesty 
after  Vinegar  Hill,  and  in  the  case  of  Lord 
Edward  Fitzgerald  he  went  so  far  as  to  warn 
his  friends  that  his  doings  were  fully  known 
to  the  government,  and  to  promise  that  if  he 
would  leave  the  country  every  port  should 
be  open  to  him.     This  did  not  affect  his  de- 
termination to  crush  out  disaffection  at  any 
cost.     (The  share  of  Clare  in  the  govern- 
ment policy  cannot  be  profitably  separated 
from  the  general  history,  as  to  which  see  the 
Cornwallis  and  Castlereagh  Correspondence, 
the  Lords'  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Secrecy, 
which  is  understood  to  have  been  carefully 
edited  by  Clare,  and  Macneven's  Pieces  of  Irish 
History.}     4.  Speech  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
10  Feb.  1800,  on  a  motion  made  by  him  in  fa- 
vour of  a  union  (printed  1800).  Clare  narrated 
the  history  of  the  English  connection,  of  the  re- 
ligious divisions,  and  of  the  land  confiscations, 
recalled  the  circumstances  in  which  the '  final 
adjustment  of  1782  '  was  made,  the  designs 
of  the  revolutionists,  and  the  disorganised 
state  of  Irish  finances,  and  insisted  that  union 
was  the  only  alternative  to  separation  and 
bankruptcy.    Grattan  replied  in  an  indignant 
pamphlet,  vindicating  the  action  of  himself 
and  his  friends,  and  rebuking  Clare  for  the 
insulting  language  in  which  he  spoke  of  his 
country.     The  speech  is  certainly  that  of  an 
advocate,  not  of  an  historian  ;  but  it  is  im- 
possible not  to  admire  its  skilful  marshalling 
of  facts  and  the  vigour  of  its  language.  There 
is  little  doubt  that  the  passing  of  the  Act 
of  Union  was  due  to  Clare  more  than  to 
any  other  man.    For  the  last  seven  years,  he 
said,  he  had  urged  its  necessity  on  the  king's 
ministers,  and  this  statement  is  borne  out  by 
an  unpublished  letter  which  he  wrote  to  Lord 
Auckland  in  1798.   '  As  to  the  subject  of  the 
union  with  the  British  parliament,'  he  said, 
'  I  have  long  been  of  opinion  that  nothing 
short  of  it  can  save  this  country.     I  stated 
this  opinion  very  strongly  to  Mr.  Pitt  in  the 
year  1793,  immediately  after  that  fatal  mis- 
take into  which  he  was  betrayed  by  Mr. 


Burke  and  Mr.  Dundas,  in  receiving  ,an  ap- 
peal from  the  Irish  parliament  by  a  popish 
democracy.'  He  states  his  continued  adhe- 
rence to  this  view,  and  concludes :  '  It  makes 
me  almost  mad  when  I  look  back  at  the  mad- 
ness, folly,  and  corruption  in  both  countries 
which  has  brought  us  to  the  verge  of  de- 
struction '  (British  Museum  Additional  MS. 
29475,  f.  43).  Yet  in  1793  he  told  the  House 
of  Lords  that  a  separation  and  a  union  were 
'  each  to  be  equally  dreaded.'  On  16  Oct. 
1798  he  wrote  to  Castlereagh :  '  I  have  seen 
Mr.  Pitt,  the  chancellor,  and  the  Duke  of 
Portland,  who  seem  to  feel  very  sensibly  the 
critical  situation  of  our  damnable  country 
(highly  complimentary,  but  it  was  between 
themselves),  and  that  the  union  alone  can 
save  it'  (Castlereagh  Correspondence,]..  393). 

Clare  was  equally  eager  that  no  attempt 
should  be  made  to  change,  as  a  part  of  the 
union,  the  existing  catholic  laws.  '  Even 
the  chancellor,'  wrote  Cornwallis  to  Pitt, 
25  Sept.  1798, l  who  is  the  most  right-minded 
politician  in  this  country,  will  not  hear  of 
the  Roman  catholics  sitting  in  the  united 
parliament'  (Cornwallis  Correspondence,  ii. 
416  ;  and  see  letter  of  Lord  Grenville,  5  Nov* 
1798,  in  BUCKINGHAM,  Courts  and  Cabinets, 
ii.  411;  and  CORNWALL  LEWIS,  Adminis- 
trations of  Great  Britain,  p.  185). 

Clare  even  ventured  to  try  humour  in  his 
anxious  desire  for  a  union.  In  1799  appeared 
a  tract  entitled  '  No  Union  !  But  Unite  and 
Fall !  By  Paddy  Whack,  in  a  loving  letter 
to  his  dear  mother,  Sheelah,  of  Dame  Street, 
Dublin,'  of  which  he  is  said  to  have  been  the 
author,  and  in  which  Paddy  Whack  advises 
Sheelah  to  marry  'the  rich,  and  generous, 
and  industrious,  and  kind,  and  liberal,  and 
powerful,  and  free,  honest  John  Bull.'  Its 
humour  is  somewhat  coarse  and  clumsy. 

After  the  union  Clare  appeared  several 
times  in  the  House  of  Lords,  but  he  did  not 
increase  his  reputation.  His  sharp  temper 
brought  him  into  frequent  conflict,  while  the 
studied  disrespect  with  which  he  referred  to 
his  countrymen,  and  his  passionate  insistence 
on  the  madness  of  conceding  anything  to  the 
Roman  catholics,  excited  a  feeling  of  repug- 
nance. '  Good  God  ! '  Pitt  is  reported  to  have 
"aid  when  listening  to  him  on  one  occasion, 
did  you  ever  hear  in  all  your  life  such  a 
rascal  as  that  ? '  (GEATTAN,  Memoirs,  iii.  403). 
He  died  on  28  Jan.  1802.  His  funeral  was 
:ollowed  by  a  Dublin  mob,  whose  curses  vio- 
ently  expressed  the  hate  with  which  a  great 
mrt  of  his  fellow-countrymen  regarded  him 
(account  by  an  eye-witness  in  Dublin  Univ. 
Mag.  xxvii.  559 ;  CLOS-CUERY,  Personal  Re- 
collections, p.  146). 

On  his  deathbed  he  is  said  to  have  sent  for 


Fitzgilbert 


159 


Fitzhamon 


his  wife,  and  requested  her  to  burn  all  his 
papers — :<  should  they  remain  after  me,  hun- 
dreds may  be  compromised ' — and  his  wishes 
were  observed  (Curran  and  his  Contempora- 
ries, p.  154).  A  report  that  he  repented  of 
his  action  with  regard  to  the  union  (PLOAVDEN, 
Hist .  of  Ireland,  ii.  558)  is  based  on  a  sentence 
in  an  abusive  statement  of  his  nephew  Jef- 
freys, who  had  quarrelled  with  his  uncle  over 
private  matters :  '  I  afterwards  saw  Lord  Clare 
die,  repenting  of  his  conduct  on  that  very 
question'  (GRATTAN,  Memoirs,  iii.  403). 

Clare  married  in  1786  Anne,  eldest  daugh- 
ter of  R.  C.  Whaley  of  Whaley  Abbey,  co. 
Wicklow,  who  died  in  1844.  He  left  two 
sons,  both  of  whom  succeeded  to  the  earldom. 
John,  the  elder  (1792-1851),  second  earl,  edu- 
cated at  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  was  governor 
of  Bombay,  1830-4.  Richard  Hobart,  the 
younger  son  (1793-1864),  third  and  last  earl, 
had  an  only  son,  John  Charles  Henry,  viscount 
Fitzgibbon  (1829-1854),  who  fellin the  charge 
of  the  light  brigade  at  Balaklava. 

Clare  has  been  described  as  the  basest  of 
men,  without  one  redeeming  virtue  (see  the 
account  of  him  by  Grattan's  son  in  GRAT- 
TAN'S  Memoirs,  iii.  393),  and  he  has  been 
represented  as  an  unsullied  patriot,  think- 
ing only  of  his  country's  good  (FROUDE, 
English  in  Ireland,  ii.  526).  The  one  picture 
is  as  false  as  the  other.  In  Clare's  cold  and 
unemotional  manner  there  was  a  good  deal 
of  affectation,  and  his  friends  claimed  for  him 
that  in  private  life  he  was  kindly  and  true. 
There  is  evidence  that  he  was  an  indulgent 
landlord — '  the  very  best  of  landlords,'  Plow- 
den  calls  him.  It  is  unreasonable,  moreover, 
to  question  the  general  sincerity  of  his  poli- 
tical opinions.  He  had  a  fixed  purpose  clearly 
before  his  mind,  and  he  held  firmly  to  it,  un- 
deterred by  the  abuse  and  the  hate  which  he 
excited.  He  was  ambitious,  not  very  scru- 
pulous, vain,  and  intolerably  insolent ;  but 
whether  he  used  his  power  for  good  or  evil 
he  acted  with  uniform  courage,  and  in  point 
of  ability  stood  head  and  shoulders  above 
all  the  other  Irishmen  of  his  time  who  sided 
with  the  government  (Curran  and  his  Con- 
temporaries, p.  139  ;  Magee's  funeral  sermon 
in  Annual  Register,  1802,  p.  705  ;  BARRING- 
TOIST,  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Irish  Nation). 

[O'Flanagan's  Lives  of  the  Lord  Chancellors 
of  Ireland ;  G-rattan's  Memoirs;  Phillips's  Curran 
and  his  Contemporaries ;  Dublin  Univ.  Mag. 
xxx.  671  ;  Metropolitan  Mag.  xxiv.  337,  xxv. 
113;  Gent.  Mag.  Ixxii.  185;  Irish  Parliamentary 
Debates ;  Cornwallis  and  Castlereagh  Correspond- 
ence.] G-.  P.  M. 

FITZGILBERT,  RICHARD  (d.  1090?), 
founder  of  the  house  of  Clare.  [See  CLARE, 
RICHARD  DE,  d.  1090  ?] 


FITZGILBERT,  RICHARD  (d.  1136?). 
[See  CLARE,  RICHARD  DE,  d.  1136  ?] 

FITZHAMON,  ROBERT  (d.  1107),  con- 
queror of  Glamorgan,  belonged  to  a  great 
family  whose  ancestor,  Richard,  was  either 
the  son  or  nephew  of  Rollo,  and  which  since 
the  tenth  century  had  possessed  the  lordships 
of  Thorigny,  Creully,  Mezy,  and  Evrecy  in 
Lower  Normandy  (Roman  de  Rou,  ed.  An- 
dresen,  1.  4037  sq.)  Richard's  son,  '  Haim  as 
Denz '  (Haimo  Dentatus),  was  one  of  the 
rebels  slain  at  Val  es  Dunes  in  1047  (ib.  1. 
4057  sq.),  and  Robert  is  generally  described 
as  his  son  (PEZET,  Les  Barons  de  Creully,  p. 
50).  But  William  of  Malmesbury  expressly 
states  that  Robert  was  the  grandson  of  this 
Haimo  ( Gesta  Regum,  bk.  iii.  p.  393,  Engl. 
Hist.  Soc.)  If  so,  Robert's  father  must  have 
been  some  other  Haimo,  probably  the  *  Haimo 
vicecomes '  mentioned  in  the ( Domesday  Book ' 
as  holding  lands  in  chief  in  Kent  and  Surrey, 
and  who  presided  as  sheriff  over  the  great 
suit  between  Odo  and  Lanfranc  in  the  Ken- 
tish shire  moot  (AISTDRESEN,  Roman  de  Rou, 
Anmerkungen,  ii.  768 ;  cf.  LE  PREVOST'S  note 
to  his  edition  of  ORDERICUS  VITALIS,  iii.  14, 
*  grace  aux  renseignements  de  M.  Stapleton  ; ' 
cf.  also  ANSELM,  Epistolce,  iv.  57,  complaining 
of  the  outrages  of  Hamon's  followers) .  Those 
who  regard  Haimo  Dentatus  as  the  grand- 
father of  Robert,  the  conqueror  of  Glamorgan, 
suppose  that  the  former  had,  besides '  Haimo 
vicecomes/  another  son  called  Robert  Fitz- 
hamon, to  whom  the  earlier  notices  of  the 
name  really  refer.  In  that  case,  Haimo  the 
sheriff  was  probably  the  father  of  Haimo 
Dapifer,  a  tenant-in-chief  in  Essex,  though 
Mr.  Ellis  (Introduction  to  Domesday  Book, 
i.  432)  identifies  the  two  Haimos.  There  is, 
however,  no  direct  evidence  for  this,  and  it 
is  quite  certain  that  '  Hamon  the  steward r 
was  brother,  though  hardly,  as  Professor  Free- 
man (William  Rufus,  ii.  82-3)  says,  elder 
brother,  of  Robert  Fitzhamon  (WILLIAM  OP 
JuMiEGEsinDuCHESXE,  Hist.  Norm.  Scriptt. 
Ant.  306  c.)  Robert  held  all  the  family  es- 
tates, and  Haimo  was  still  alive  in!112  (CLARK 
in  Arch.  Journal,  xxxv.  3).  It  is  therefore 
not  quite  certain  whether  the  earlier  notices 
of  Robert  Fitzhamon  refer  to  the  nephew  or 
the  uncle ;  but  in  any  case  a  Robert  Fitzhamon 
is  mentioned  in  Bayeux  charters  of  1064  and 
1074  (ib.  xxxv.  2).  Between  1049  and  1066 
the  same  person  assented  as  lord  to  the  founda- 
tion of  the  priory  of  St.  Gabriel  (DE  LA  RITE, 
Essais  Historiques  sur  la  Ville  de  Caen,  ii. 
409 ;  cf.  Nouveaux  Essais,  ii.  39 ;  PEZET,  p.  23). 
In  1074  he  attested  a  charter  of  William  I 
(Memoires  de  la  Societe  des  Antiquaires  de  la 
Normandie,  xxx.  702).  There  is  no  certain 


Fitzhamon 


160 


Fitzhamon 


mention  of  him  in  '  Domesday  Book/  despite 
the  appearance  of  the  two  Hamons,  his  kins- 
men. 

When  the  feudal  party  under  Odo  of  Ba- 
yeux  revolted  in  1088,  Robert  is  mentioned 
among  the  select  band  of  '  legitimi  et  maturi 
barones '  who  supported  the  royal  cause  (ORD. 
VIT.  ed.  Le  Pre>ost,  iii.  273).  His  Kentish 


ances  against  Odo  as  earl  of  Kent, 
ward  for  his  services  William  assigned  him 
great  estates,  particularly  the  lands  mostly 
in  Gloucestershire,  but  partly  in  Buckingham- 
shire and  Cornwall,  which  had  passed  from 
Brictric  to  Queen  Matilda  (Cont.  WAGE  in 
ELLIS,  ii.  55,  and  Chron.  Angl.  Norm.  i.  73, 
which  is  manifestly  wrong  in  making  Wil- 
liam I  grantor  of  Brictric's  lands  to  Fitz- 
hamon ;  see  FREEMAN,  Norman  Conquest,  iv. 
762-3).  These  Rufus  had  for  a  time  allowed 
Jiis  brother  Henry  to  possess,  but  about  1090 
he  transferred  them  to  Fitzhamon  (ORD. 
VIT.  iii.  350).  It  is  possible  that  the  Glou- 
cestershire estates  were  now  erected  into  an 
honour  (DUGDALE,  Monasticon,  ii.  60).  Ro- 
bert's marriage  with  Sibyl  (ORD.  VIT.  iii. 
118),  daughter  of  Roger  of  Montgomery  and 
sister  of  Robert  of  Belleme  [q.  v.],  must  have 
still  further  improved  his  position  on  the 
Welsh  marches. 

The  next  few  years  were  marked  by  the  de- 
finitive Norman  conquest  of  South  Wales. 
But  while  authentic  history  records  the  set- 
tlements of  Bernard  of  Neufmarche'  in  Bre- 
cheiniog,  and  of  Arnulf  of  Montgomery  in 
Dyfed  and  Ceredigion,  the  history  of  Fitz- 
hamon's  conquest  of  Glamorgan  has  to  be 
constructed  out  of  its  results,  and  the  un- 
trustworthy, though  circumstantial,  legend 
that  cannot  be  traced  further  back  than  to 
fifteenth  or  sixteenth  century  pedigree-mon- 
gers. In  1080  the  building  of  Cardiff,  sub- 
sequently the  chief  castle  of  Fitzhamon's 
lordship,  was  begun  (Brut  y  Tywysogion,  sub 
anno,  Rolls  Ser.),  and  this  event  may  mark  the 
beginning  of  Fitzhamon's  conquests.  If  we  can 
rely  on  the  authenticity  of  the  charter  of  1086 
(Hist.  Glouc.  i.  334),  by  which  William  I  con- 
firmed to  Abbot  Serlo  Fitzhamon's  grant  of 
Llancarvan  to  the  abbey  of  Gloucester,  there 
•can  be  no  doubt  but  that  the  end  of  William's 
reign  saw  the  beginning  of  the  conquest.  But 
probability  suggests  that  it  was  not  until 
«,fter  he  had  obtained  the  honour  of  Glou- 
cester that  he  was  able  to  win  so  large  a  ter- 
ritory as  Glamorgan.  The  legend  fits  in  with 
this,  for  it  tells  us  how  about  1088  Eineon 
[q.  v.],  son  of  Collwyn,  went  to  London  and 
*  agreed  with  Robert  Fitzhamon,  lord  of  Cor- 
fceil  in  France  and  cousin  of  the  Red  King, 
to  come  to  the  assistance  of  lestin,  prince 


of  Morganwg.'  *  Twelve  other  honourable 
knights'  were  persuaded  by  Robert  to  ac- 
company him.  Uniting  his  forces  with  lestin, 
Robert  defeated  and  slew  Rhys  ab  Tewdwr 
at  Hirwaun  Wrgan,  received  from  lestin  his 
recompense  in  sterling  gold,  and  returned  to- 
wards London.  But  Eineon,  disappointed 
by  lestin's  treachery  of  lestin's  daughter,  be- 
sought them  to  return.  At  Mynydd  Bychan, 
near  Cardiff,  lestin  was  put  to  flight  and  de- 
spoiled of  his  country.  f  Robert  Fitzhamon 
and  his  men  took  for  themselves  the  best  of 
the  vale  and  the  rich  lands,  and  allotted  to 
Eineon  the  uplands.'  Robert  himself,  '  their 
prince/  took  the  government  of  all  the  coun- 
try and  the  castles  of  Cardiff,  Trevuvered,  and 
Kenfig,  with  the  lands  belonging  to  them. 
The  rest  of  the  valley  between  the  Taff  and 
the  Neath  he  divided  among  his  twelve  com- 
panions. Such  is  the  story  as  told  in  the  so- 
called  Gwentian  '  Brut  y  Tywysogion/  the 
manuscript  of  which  is  no  older  than  the 
middle  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  same 
story  is  repeated,  with  more  detail  and  with 
long  genealogical  accounts  of  the  descendants 
of  Fitzhamon's  twelve  followers,  in  Powel's 
1  History  of  Cambria/  first  published  in  1584, 
on  the  authority  of  Sir  Edward  Stradling, 
described  as'  a  skilful  and  studious  gentleman 
of  that  country/  but  whose  more  than  doubt- 
ful pedigree  it  was  a  main  purpose  of  the  story 
to  exalt.  There  is  in  some  ways  a  still  fuller 
account  in  Rhys  Meyrick's  l  Book  of  Glamor- 
ganshire Antiquities '  (1578).  The '  Gwentian 
Brut's '  authority  is  singularly  small,  and  the 
details  of  the  pedigrees  in  the  later  versions  are 
of  no  authority  at  all.  Rhys  ab  Tewdwr  was 
really  slain  by  Bernard  of  Neufmarche  and  the 
French  of  Brecheiniog  (Brut  y  Tywysogion, 
sub  anno  1091 ;  but  the  date  of  FLORENCE  OP 
WORCESTER  (ii.  31),  1093,  is  better;  cf. FREE- 
MAN, William  Rufus,  ii.  91 ) .  But  his  death  was 
followed  by  the  French  conquests  of  Dyved 
and  Ceredigion,  which  must  surely  have  suc- 
ceeded the  occupation  of  Glamorgan.  Fitz- 
hamon's grants  to  English  churches  and  the 
inheritance  which  his  daughter  brought  to  her 
husband  equally  prove  Fitzhamon  to  have  been 
the  conqueror  of  Glamorgan.  There  is  almost 
contemporary  proof  of  the  existence  of  some 
at  least  of  his  twelve  followers,  and  for  their 
possession  of  the  lordships  assigned  to  them 
in  the  legend  (e.g.  Liber  Landavensis,  p.  27, 
for  Pagan  of  Turberville,  Maurice  of  London, 
and  Robert  of  St.  Quentin ;  cf.  Hist.  Glouc.  pas- 
sim) .  We  can  gather  from  the  records  of  the 
next  generation  that  Glamorgan  was  orga- 
nised into  what  was  afterwards  called  a  lord- 
ship marcher,  with  institutions  and  govern- 
ment based  on  those  of  an  English  county 
('Vicecomes  Glamorganscirse/  Hist.  Glouc. 


Fitzhamon 


161 


Fitzhamon 


i.  347  ;  '  Comitatus  de  Cardiff/  ib. ;  Liber 
Landavensis,  pp.  27-8,  speaks  of  '  Vicecomes 
de  Cardiff '  when  Robert  of  Gloucester  was 
still  alive).  Except  perhaps  in  name,  Fitz- 
hamon founded  in  Wales  a  county  palatine 
as  completely  organised  as  the  earldom  of 
Pembroke. 

Fitzhamon  was  a  liberal  benefactor  to  the 
church.  He  so  increased  the  wealth  and  im- 
portance of  Tewkesbury  Abbey  that  he  was 
regarded  as  its  second  founder.  Hitherto 
Tewkesbury  had  been  a  cell  of  Cranborne  in 
Dorsetshire,  but  in  the  reign  of  William  Ruf  us 
(ORD.  VIT.  iii.  15),  or  in  1102  (Ann.  Theok.  in 
Ann.  Mon.  i.  44),  the  abbot  Giraldus  trans- 
ferred himself,  with  the  greater  part  of  the 
fraternity,  to  the  grand  new  minster  that  was 
now  rising  under  Robert's  fostering  care  on 
the  banks  of  the  Severn.  William  of  Malmes- 
bury  can  hardly  find  words  to  express  the 
splendour  of  the  buildings  and  the  charity  of 
the  monks  (Gesta  Regum,  bk.  v.  p.  625 ;  cf. 
Gesta  Pont.  p.  295).  The  major  part  of  the 
endowments  was  taken  from  Robert's  Welsh 
conquest.  Among  the  churches  Fitzhamon 
handed  over  to  Tewkesbury  were  the  parish 
church  of  St.  Mary's,  Cardiff,  the  chapel  of  Car- 
diff Castle,  and  the  famous  British  monastery 
at  LI  ant  wit.  He  also  granted  the  monks  of 
Tewkesbury  tithes  of  all  his  domain  revenues 
in  Cardiff,  and  of  all  the  territories  of  himself 
and  his  barons  throughout  Wales  (DUGDALE, 
Monasticon,  ii.  66,  81).  He  was  only  less 
liberal  to  the  great  abbey  of  St.  Peter's,  Glou- 
cester, to  which  he  granted  the  church  of 
Llancarvan  with  some  adjoining  lands,  and 
for  which  he  witnessed  a  grant  of  Henry  I  of 
the  tithe  of  venison  in  the  Forest  of  Dean 
and  the  lands  beyond  the  Severn  (Hist. 
Glouc.  i.  93,  122,  223,  334,  ii.  50,  51,  177, 
301).  Traces  of  Fitzhamon's  concessions 
still  remain  in  the  patronage  of  many  Gla- 
morganshire churches  belonging  to  the  chap- 
ter of  Gloucester. 

Little  reference  is  made  to  Fitzhamon  by 
chroniclers  of  the  time  of  William  Ruf  us, 
but  he  was  in  the  close  confidence  of  the 
king  until  his  death.  Before  William's  fatal 
bunting  expedition  on  2  Aug.  1100,  Fitz- 
hamon, then  in  attendance  at  Winchester, 
had  reported  to  him  the  ominous  dream  of 
the  foreign  monk,  and  his  representations  at 
least  postponed  William's  hunting  until  after 
dinner  (WILL.  MALM.  bk.  iv.  p.  507).  When 
William's  corpse  was  discovered  Fitzhamon 
was  one  of  the  barons  who  stood  around  it 
in  tears.  Fitzhamon's  new  mantle  covered  | 
the  corpse  on  its  last  journey  to  the  cathe-  I 
dral  at  Winchester  (GEOFFRY  GAIMAR,  ed.  i 
Wright,  11.  6357-96,  Caxton  Soc.  The 
details  are  perhaps  mythical,  some  others  j 

VOL.  XIX. 


are  certainly  false ;  the  whole  account  shows 
the  impossibility  of  Pezet's  notion  that  Fitz- 
hamon was  away  on  crusade  with  Robert). 
But  no  former  differences  about  the  lands 
of  Queen  Matilda  prevented  Fitzhamon  and 
his  brother  Hamon  the  steward  from  imme- 
diately attaching  themselves  with  an  equal 
zeal  to  Henry  I.  Both  are  among  the  wit- 
nesses of  the  letter  despatched  by  Henry  im- 
ploring Anselm  to  return  from  exile  (STUBBS, 
Select  Charters,  p.  103).  Fitzhamon  was 
among  the  few  magnates  who  strenuously 
adhered  to  Henry  when  the  mass  of  the 
baronage  openly  or  secretly  favoured  the 
cause  of  Robert  of  Normandy  (WILL.  MALM. 
bk.  v.  p.  620).  When  in  1101  Robert  landed 
in  Hampshire  and  approached  Henry's  army 
at  Alton,  Fitzhamon  and  other  barons  who 
held  estates  both  of  the  king  and  the  duke 
procured  by  their  mediation  peace  between 
the  brothers  (  WACE,  1.  10432  sq.  ed.  Andre- 
sen;  cf.  ORD.  VIT.  iv.  199).  In  March  1103 
he  was  one  of  Henry's  representatives  in 
negotiating  an  alliance  with  Robert,  count  of 
Flanders  (Fcedera,  i.  7,  Record  ed.)  He  also 
witnessed  the  Christmas  charter  of  Henry, 
which  assigned  punishment  to  the  false 
managers  (ib.  i.  12).  When  war  again  broke 
out,  Fitzhamon  still  adhered  to  Henry,  and 
busied  himself  in  Normandy  in  a  partisan  war- 
fare against  the  friends  of  Robert.  Early  in 
1105  he  was  surprised  by  Robert's  troops 
from  Bayeux  and  Caen,  and  forced  to  take 
refuge  in  the  tower  of  the  church  of  Secque- 
ville-en-Bessin.  The  church  was  set  on  fire, 
and  he  was  compelled  to  descend  a  prisoner. 
For  some  time  he  was  imprisoned  at  Bayeux, 
where  the  governor,  Gontier  d'Aulnay,  pro- 
tected him  from  the  fury  of  the  mob,  which 
regarded  him  as  a  traitor  to  the  duke  (WAGE, 
11.  11125-60,  ed.  Andresen;  cf.  Chronique 
de  Normandie  in  BOUQUET,  xiii.  250-1). 
This  news  at  once  brought  Henry  to  Nor- 
mandy, where  he  landed  at  Barfleur  just  be- 
fore Easter  (ORD.  VIT.  iv.  204),  and  at  once 
besieged  Bayeux  to  rescue  his  faithful  fol- 
lower. Gontier  sought  to  win  the  king's 
favour  by  surrendering  Fitzhamon  (ib.  iv. 
219),  but  valiantly  defended  the  town,  which 
Henry  finally  reduced  to  ashes,  not  sparing 
even  the  cathedral.  The  guilt  of  this  sacri- 
lege was,  it  was  believed,  shared  by  Henry 
and  Fitzhamon  (WiLL.  MALM.  bk.  v.  p.  625  ; 
WACE,  1.  11161  sq. ;  cf.  DE  TOUSTAIN,  Essai 
histonque  sur  la  prise  et  Vincendie  de  Bayeux, 
Caen,  1861,  who  satisfactorily  establishes 
the  date  as  May  1105 ;  cf.  LE  PREVOST'S  note 
to  ORD.  VIT.  iv.  219).  So  detested  did  the 
house  of  Fitzhamon  become  in  Bayeux,  that 
a  generation  later  a  long  resistance  was  made 
to  the  appointment  of  his  son-in-law's  bastard 


Fitzhamon 


162 


Fitzharding 


to  the  bishopric  (HERMANT,  Hist,  du  Diocese 
de  Bayeux,  pp.  167-9 ;  CHIGOUESNEL,  Nou- 
velle  Histoire  de  Bayeux,  p.  131).  Yet  Fitz- 
hamon  held  large  estates  under  Bayeux,  and 
was  hereditary  standard-bearer  to  the  church 
of  St.  Mary  there  (Memoires  de  la  Soc.  des 
Ant.  de  la  Normandie,  viii.  426). 

Soon  after  Fitzhamon  bought  from  Robert 
of  Saint  Remi  the  prisoners  taken  at  Bayeux, 
and  intrigued  so  successfully  with  those  of 
them  that  came  from  Caen  that  they  trea- 
cherously procured  the  surrender  of  Caen  to 
Henry  (WAGE,  1. 11259 ;  BOUQUET,  xiii.  251). 
Fitzhamon  next  served  in  the  siege  of  Falaise, 
where  he  was  struck  by  a  lance  on  the  fore- 
head with  such  severity  that  his  faculties  be- 
came deranged  (  WILL.  MALM.  bk.  v.  p.  625 ; 
cf.  Gwentian  Brut,  p.  93).  He  survived,  how- 
ever, until  March  1107.  He  was  buried  in  the 
chapter-house  of  Tewkesbury  Abbey,  whence 
his  body  was  in  1241  transferred  to  the  church 
and  placed  on  the  left  side  of  the  high  altar 
(Ann.  Theok.  in  Ann.  Mon.  i.  120).  In  1397 
the  surviving  rich  chapel  of  stone  was  erected 
over  the  founder's  tomb.  The  '  vast  pillars 
and  mysterious  front  of  the  still  surviving 
minster '  (FREEMAN,  Will.  Rufus,  ii.  84)  still 
testify  to  Fitzhamon's  munificence.  He  may 
have  built  the  older  parts  of  the  castle  of 
Creully  (PEZET). 

By  his  wife,  Sibyl  of  Montgomery,  a  bene- 
factress of  Ramsey  (Cart.  Ramsey,  ii.  274, 
Rolls  Ser.),  Fitzhamon  left  no  son,  and  his 
possessions  passed,  with  the  hand  of  his  daugh- 
ter Mabel,  to  Henry  I's  favourite  bastard, 
Robert,  under  whom  Gloucester  first  became 
an  earldom  (WiLL.  MALM.  Hist.  Nov.  bk.  i. ; 
ROBERT  OF  THORIGNT  in  DTTCHESKE,  306  c,who 
erroneously  calls  her  Sibyl  and  her  mother 
Mabel ;  ORD.  ViT.,iii.  318,  calls  her  Matilda). 
Mabel  was  probably  Fitzhamon's  only  daugh- 
ter (WYKES  in  Ann.  Mon.  iv.  22),  and  cer- 
tainly inherited  all  her  father's  estates,  as 
well  as  those  of  Hamon  the  steward,  her  uncle 
(ROBERT  or  THORIGNY,  306  c).  The  Tewkes- 
bury tradition  was,  however,  that  she  had 
three  younger  sisters,  of  whom  Cecily  became 
abbess  of  Shaftesbury,  Hawyse  abbess  of  the 
nuns'  minster  at  Winchester,  and  Amice  the 
wife  of  the  '  Count  of  Brittany '  (DFGDALE, 
Monasticon,  ii.  60,  452,  473). 

[Ordericus  Vitalis,  ed.  Le  Prevost  (Societe  de 
1'Histoire  de  France) ;  William  of  Malmesbury's 
Gesta  Kegum  and  Hist.  Novella  (Engl.  Hist. 
Soc.) ;  Wace's  Koman  de  Rou,  ed.  Andresen  ;  G-. 
Gaimar's  Estorie  des  Engles  (Caxton  Soc.)  ;  His- 
tory and  Chartulary  of  St.  Peter's,  Gloucester 
(Rolls  Ser.) ;  Dugdale's  Monasticon,  vol.  ii.  ed. 
Caley,  Bandinel,  and  Ellis ;  Gwentian  Brut, 
pp.  69-77  (Cambrian  Archaeological  Associa- 
tion);  Powel's  Hist,  of  Cambria,  ed.  1584,  pp. 
118-41  ;  Merrick's  Book  of  Glamorganshire 


Antiquities,  privately  printed  by  Sir  T.  Phillij 
(1825);  Freeman's  Norman  Conquest,  ii.  244, 
iv.  762-4,  v.  820  ;  Freeman's  William  Rufus,  i. 
62, 197,  ii.  79-89, 613-1 5  ;  G.  T.  Clark's  Land  of 
Morgan,  reprinted  from  Archaeological  Journal, 
xxxiv.  11-39,  xxxv.  1-4;  Pezet's  Les  Barons  de 
Creully,  pp.  21-52  (Bayeux,  1854);  De  Toustain's 
Essai  historique  sur  la  prise  et  1'incendie  de  Bayeux, 
1105.1  T.  F.  T. 

FITZHARDING,  ROBERT  (d.  1170), 
founder  of  the  second  house  of  Berkeley,  ap- 
pears to  have  been  the  second  son  of  Harding, 
son  of  Eadnoth  [q.  v.],  the  staller  (  Gesta  Re- 
gum,  i.  429  ;  ELLIS,  Landholders  of  Glouces- 
tershire, p.  59  ;  EYTON,  Somerset  Domesday, 
i.  58  ;  FREEMAN,  Norman  Conquest,  iv.  760). 
Local  antiquaries  have  endeavoured  to  make 
out  that  he  was  the  grandson  of  a  Danish 
king  or  sea-rover  (SEYER,  i.  315 ;  Bristol, 
Past  and  Present,  i.  56),  a  futile  imagination 
which  has  been  traced  to  John  Trevisa  (MAC- 
LEAN),  and  is  probably  older  than  his  date. 
Robert's  eldest  brother,  Nicolas,  inherited  his 
father's  fief,  Meriet  in  Somerset  (ELLIS). 
Robert  was  provost  or  reeve  of  Bristol,  and 
was  possessed  of  great  wealth ;  he  upheld  the 
cause  of  Robert,  earl  of  Gloucester,  who  fought 
for  the  empress,  and  purchased  several  estates 
from  the  earl,  among  them  the  manor  of  Billes- 
wick  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Frome,  which 
included  the  present  College  Green  of  Bristol, 
and  the  manor  of  Bedminster-with-Redcliff. 
He  had  other  lands,  chiefly  in  Gloucestershire, 
and  held  of  Humphrey  de  Bohun  in  Wilt- 
shire, and  William,  earl  of  Warwick,  in  Wrar- 
wickshire  (Liber  Niger,  pp.  109,  206).  Before 
Henry  II  came  to  the  throne  he  is  said  to 
have  been  assisted  by  Robert,  probably  by 
loans  of  money ;  when  he  became  king  he 
granted  him  the  lordship  of  Berkeley  Hernesse, 
and  Robert  is  held  to  have  been  the  first  of 
the  second  or  present  line  of  the  lords  of  Ber- 
keley [NICOLAS;  see  BERKELEY,  FAMILY  OF]. 
He  granted  a  charter  to  the  tenants  of  his  fee 
near  the  '  bridge  of  Bristou.'  By  his  wife 
Eva  he  had  Maurice,  who  succeeded  him,  and 
four  other  sons  and  three  daughters.  On  his 
estate  in  Billeswick  he  built  in  1142  the 
priory  or  abbey  of  St.  Augustine's  for  black 
canons,  the  present  cathedral,  and  is  said  to 
have  assumed  the  monastic  habit  before  his 
death,  which  occurred  on  5  Feb.  1170  (ELLIS). 
He  also  founded  a  school  in  a  building,  after- 
wards called  Chequer  Hall,  in  Wine  Street, 
Bristol,  for  the  instruction  of  Jews  and  other 
strangers  in  the  Christian  faith.  His  wife 
Eva  was  the  founder  of  a  nunnery  on  StJ 
Michael's  Hill,  Bristol.  Both  Robert  and, 
Eva  were  buried  in  St.  Augustine's  ChurchJ 

[Smyth's  Lives  of  the  Berkeleys,  i.  19-62,  edJ 
Maclean ;  Ellis's  Landholders  of  Gloucestershire! 


Fitzhardinge 


163 


Fitzharris 


named  in  Domesday,  pp.  59,111,  from  Bristol  and 
Glouc.  Archseol.  Soc.'s  Trans,  iv. ;  Eyton's Domes- 
day Studies,  Somerset,  i.  59,  70,  101 ;  Notes  and 
•Queries,  6th  ser.  i.  20 ;  Freeman's  Norman  Con- 
quest, iv.  757-60  ;  Liber  Niger  de  Scaccario,  pp. 
•95,  109,  171,  206  (Hearne) ;  Will.  Malm.  Gesta 
Eegum,  i.  429  (Engl.  Hist.  Soc.) ;  Eobert  of  Glou- 
cester, p.  4 79 /Hearne)  ;  Eieart's  Kalendar,  p.  20 
(Camden  Soc.)  ;  Dugdale's  Monasticon,  vi.  365  ; 
Baronage,  i.  350  ;  Tanner's  Notitia,  p.  480  ;  Eng- 
lish Gilds,  p.  288  (Early  Eng.  Text  Soc,);  Seyer's 
Hist,  of  Bristol,  i.  313;  Nicholls  and  Taylor's 
Bristol,  Past  and  Present,  i.  56-8,  91,  ii.  46, 125 ; 
Britton's  Bristol  Cathedral,  pp..  3-7,  57.1 

W.H. 

FITZHARDINGE,  LORD.  [See  BER- 
KELEY, MAURICE  FREDERICK  FITZHARDINGE, 

1788-1867.] 

FITZHARRIS,  EDWARD  (1648?- 
1681),  conspirator,  son  of  Sir  Edward  Fitz- 
harris, was  born  in  Ireland  about  1648,  and 
bought  up  in  the  Roman  catholic  faith. 
According  to  his  own  relation  he  left  Ireland 
for  France  in  1662  to  learn  the  language, 
returning  home  through  England  in  1665. 
Three  years  later  he  went  to  Prague  with 
the  intention  of  entering  the  service  of  the 
emperor  Leopold  I  in  his  operations  against 
Hungary,  when,  finding  that  the  expedition 
had  been  abandoned,  he  wandered  through 
Flanders  to  England  again.  He  next  ob- 
tained a  captain's  commission  in  one  of  the 
companies  raised  by  Sir  George  Hamilton  in 
Ireland  for  Louis  XIV,  but  on  being  dis- 
charged from  his  command  soon  after  land- 
ing in  France,  he  went  to  Paris, '  and,  having 
but  little  money,  he  lived  there  difficultly 
about  a  year.'  Returning  to  England  in 
October  1672  he  received,  in  the  following 
February,  the  lieutenancy  of  Captain  Syden- 
ham's  company  in  the  Duke  of  Albemarle's 
regiment,  which  he  was  forced  to  resign  on 
the  passing  of  the  Test  Act  in  1673.  For 
the  next  eight  years  he  was  busily  intriguing 
with  influential  Roman  catholics,  among 
others  with  the  Duchess  of  Portsmouth.  At 
length  in  February  1681  he  wrote  a  libel, 
*  The  True  Englishman  speaking  plain  Eng- 
lish in  a  Letter  from  a  Friend  to  a  Friend ' 
(COBBETT,  Parl.  Hist.  vol.  iv.,  Appendix,  No. 
xiii.),  in  which  he  advocated  the  deposition 
of  the  king  and  the  exclusion  of  the  Duke 
of  York.  He  possibly  intended  to  place  this 
in  the  house  of  some  whig,  and  then,  by  dis- 
covering it  himself,  earn  the  wages  of  an  in- 
former. He  was  betrayed  by  an  accomplice, 
Edmond  Everard,  and  sent  first  to  Newgate 
and  afterwards  to  the  Tower,  where  he  pre- 
tended he  could  discover  the  secret  of  Sir 
Edmondbury  Godfrey's  murder.  Eventually 
he  succeeded  in  implicating  Danby.  Fitz- 


harris was  impeached  by  the  commons  of 
high  treason,  not  to  destroy  but  to  serve  him 
in  opposition  to  the  court.  His  impeachment 
brought  into  discussion  an  important  ques- 
tion of  constitutional  law.  The  lords  having 
voted  for  a  trial  at  common  law,  the  com- 
mons declared  this  to  be  a  denial  of  justice. 
Parliament,  however,  was  suddenly  dissolved 
after  eight  days'  session  on  28  March,  pro- 
bably to  avoid  a  threatened  collision  between 
the  two  houses;  others,  according  to  Lut- 
trell,  thought  that  the  court  feared  that 
Fitzharris  might  be  driven  by  the  impeach- 
ment to  awkward  disclosures  (Relation  of 
State  Affairs,  1857,  i.  72).  He  had  had,  in 
fact,  more  than  one  interview  with  the  king 
through  the  Duchess  of  Portsmouth  (BURNET, 
Own  Time,  Oxford  edition,  ii.  280-1).  The 
dissolution  decided  his  fate.  He  was  tried 
before  the  king's  bench  in  Easter  term,  and 
entered  a  plea  against  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
court  on  the  ground  that  proceedings  were 
pending  against  him  before  the  lords.  This 
plea  was  ruled  to  be  insufficient,  and  Fitz- 
harris was  proceeded  against  at  common  law, 
9  June  1681,  and  convicted.  His  wife,  daugh- 
ter of  William  Finch,  commander  in  the 
navy,  exhibited  wonderful  courage  and  re- 
source on  his  behalf.  At  his  request  Burnet 
afterwards  visited  him,  and  soon  satisfied 
himself  that  no  reliance  whatever  could  be 
placed  on  his  testimony.  Francis  Hawkins, 
chaplain  of  the  Tower,  then  took  him  in 
hand  in  the  interests  of  the  court,  and,  by 
insinuating  that  his  life  might  yet  be  spared, 
persuaded  him  to  draw  up  a  pretended  con- 
fession, in  which  Lord  Howard  of  Escrick, 
who  had  befriended  Fitzharris,  was  made  the 
author  of  the  libel,  while  Sir  Robert  Clayton 
[q.  v.]  and  Sir  George  Treby,  before  whom 
his  preliminary  examination  had  been  con- 
ducted, together  with  the  sheriffs,  Slingsby 
Bethel  [q.  v.]  and  Henry  Cornish  [q.  v.],  were 
severally  charged  with  subornation.  'Yet 
at  the  same  time  he  writ  letters  to  his  wife, 
who  was  not  then  admitted  to  him,  which  I 
saw  and  read,'  says  Burnet,  '  in  which  he 
told  her  how  he  was  practised  upon  with 
the  hopes  of  life '  (ib.  ii.  282).  Fitzharris 
was  executed  on  1  July  1681,  the  concocted 
confession  appeared  the  very  next  day,  and 
Hawkins  was  rewarded  for  his  pains  with 
the  deanery  of  Chichester.  The  justices  and 
sheriffs  in  their  reply,  '  Truth  Vindicated,' 
had  little  difficulty  in  proving  the  so-called 
'  confession '  to  be  a  tissue  of  falsehoods.  The 
indictment  against  Lord  Howard  of  Escrick 
was  withdrawn,  as  the  grand  jury_  refused 
to  believe  the  evidence  of  the  two  witnesses, 
Mrs.  Fitzharris  and  her  maidservant.  The 
court,  fearful  of  further  exposures,  persuaded 

M2 


Fitzhenry 


164 


Fitzhenry 


Mrs.  Fitzharris  to  give  up  her  husband's 
letters  under  promise  of  a  pension ;  '  but  so 
many  had  seen  them  before  that,  that  this 
base  practice  turned  much  to  the  reproach 
of  all  their  proceedings '  (BURNET,  ut  supra). 
Jn  1689  Sir  John  Hawles,  solicitor-general 
to  William  III,  published  some  '  Remarks ' 
on  Fitzharris's  trial,  which  he  condemns  as 
being  as  illegal  as  it  was  odious.  During 
the  same  year  the  commons  recommended 
Mrs.  Fitzharris  and  her  three  children  to  the 
bountiful  consideration  of  the  king  (Com- 
mons' Journals,  15  June  1689). 

[Cobbett's State  Trials,  viii.  223-446 ;  Cobbett's 
Parl.  Hist.  vol.  iv.  col.  1314,  Appendix  No.  xiii. ; 
Burnet's  Own  Time,  Oxford  edit.  ii.  271,  278, 
280;  Luttrell's  Eolation  of  State  Affairs,  1857, 
vol.  i. ;  Keresby's  Diary;  North's  Examen ; 
Eachard's  Hist,  of  England,  pp.  1010,  1011; 
Hallam's  Const.  Hist.  8th  edit.  ii.  446;  Macpher- 
son's  Hist,  of  Great  Britain,  vol.  i.ch.  v.pp.  341-3; 
Notes  and  Queries,  3rd  ser.  i.  303.]  G-.  GK 

FITZHENRY,  MEILER  (d.  1220),  jus- 
ticiar  of  Ireland,  was  the  son  of  Henry,  the 
bastard  son  of  King  Henry  I,  by  Nesta,  the 
wife  of  Gerald  of  Windsor,  and  the  daughter 
of  Rhys  ab  Tewdwr,  king  of  South  Wales 
(GIRALDUS  CAMBRENSIS,  Itinerarium  Kam- 
brifs,  in  Opera,  vi.  130,  Rolls  Ser. ;  cf.  An- 
nales  Cambria,  p.  47,  and  Brut  y  Tywyso- 
gion,  p.  189).  He  was  thus  the  first  cousin  of 
Henry  II,  and  related  to  the  noblest  Norman 
and  native  families  of  South  Wales.  Robert 
Fitzstephen  [q.  v.],  Maurice  Fitzgerald  (d. 
1176)  [q.  v.],  and  David  II  [q.  v.],  bishop 
of  St.  David's,  were  his  half-brothers.  Ray- 
mond le  Gros  [see  FITZGERALD,  RAYMOND]  and 
Giraldus  Cambrensis  were  among  his  cousins. 
In  1157  his  father  Henry  was  slain  during 
Henry  II's  campaign  in  Wales,  when  Robert 
Fitzstephen  so  narrowly  escaped  (GIRALDFS, 
Opera,  vi.  130).  Meiler,  then  quite  young, 
now  succeeded  to  his  father's  possessions  of 
Narberth  and  Pebidiog,  the  central  and  north- 
eastern (ib.  i.  59)  parts  of  the  modern  Pem- 
brokeshire. In  1169  he  accompanied  his  uncle 
Fitzstephen  on  his  first  expedition  to  Ireland. 
He  first  distinguished  himself  in  the  invasion 
of  Ossory  along  with  his  cousin  Robert  de 
Barry,  brother  of  Giraldus  (GIRALDUS,  Ex- 
pugnatio  Hibernica,  in  Opera,  v.  234-5).  The 
French  poet  (REG AN,  p.  37)  fully  corroborates 
as  regards  Meiler.  If  the  partial  testimony 
of  their  kinsman  is  to  be  credited,  Robert 
and  Meiler  were  always  first  in  every  daring 
exploit.  In  1173  the  return  of  Strongbow 
to  England  threw  all  Ireland  into  revolt 
Meiler  was  then  in  garrison  at  Waterford,anc 
made  a  rash  sortie  against  the  Irish.  He  pur- 
sued them  into  their  impenetrable  woods  anc 
was  surrounded.  But  he  cut  a  way  through 


hem  with  his  sword,  and  arrived  safely  at 
Waterford  with  three  Irish  axes  in  his  horse 
and  two  on  his  shield  (ib.  pp.  309-10).  In  1174 
ie  returned  with  Raymond  to  Wales,but  when 
Strongbow  brought  Raymond  back  Meiler 
jame  with  him  and  received  as  a  reward  the- 
more  distant  cantred  of  Offaly'  (Carbury  ba- 
rony, co.  Kildare)  (ib.  p.  314,  and  Mr.  Dimock's 
note).   In  October  1175  he  accompanied  Ray- 
mond in  his  expedition  against  Limerick,  was 
s  second  to  swim  over  the  Shannon,  and 
with  his  cousin  David  stood  the  attack  of  the1 
whole  Irish  host  until  the  rest  of  the  army  had 
crossed  over  (cf.  Exp.  Hib.  and  REGAN,  p.  162 
sq.)     He  was  one  of  the  brilliant  band  of 
Geraldines  who  under  Raymond  met  the 
new  governor,  William  Fitzaldhelm  [q.  v.],, 
at  Waterford,  and  at  once  incurred  his  jealous 
iatred  (Exp.  Hib.  p.  335).     Hugh  de  Lacy, 
the  next  justiciar,  took  away  Meiler's  Kildare- 
estate,  but  gave  him  Leix  in  exchange.    This 
was  in  a  still  wilder,  and  therefore,  as  Giral- 
dus thought,  a  more  appropriate  district  than, 
even  the  march  of  Offaly  for  so  thorough 
border  chieftain  (ib.  pp.  355-6).     In  1182' 
Lacy  again  became  justice  and  built  a  castle 
on  Meiler's  Leix  estate  at  '  Tahmeho,'  and? 
gave  him  his  niece  as  a  wife.     It  seems  pro- 
bable that   Meiler  had  already  been  mar- 
ried, but  he  hitherto  had  no  legitimate  chil- 
dren (ib.  p.  345).     This  childlessness  was 
in  Giraldus's  opinion  God's  punishment  to» 
him  for  the  want  of  respect  to  the  church. 
Giraldus   gives   us   a   vivid  picture  of  his- 
cousin  in  his  youth.     He  was  a  dark  manr 
with  black  stern    eyes  and  keen  face.     In. 
stature  he  was  somewhat  short,  but  he  was 
very  strong,  with  a  square  chest,  thin  flanks^, 
bony  arms  and  legs,  and  a  sinewy  rather 
than  fleshy  body.     He  was  high-spirited,, 
proud,  and  brave  to  rashness.     He  was  al- 
ways anxious  to  excel,  but  more  anxious  to 
seem  brave  than  really  to  be  so.     His  only- 
serious  defect  was  his  want  of  reverence  to 
the  church  (ib.  pp.  235,  324-5). 

In  June  1200  Meiler  was  in  attendance  on 
King  John  in  Normandy  (  Chart.  2  John,  m.  29, 
summarised  in  SWEETMAN,  Cal.  Doc.  Ireland, 
1171-1251,  No.  122),  and  on  28  Oct.  of  that 
year  received  a  grant  of  two  cantreds  in  Kerry, 
and  one  in  Cork  (Chart.  2  John,  m.  22,  Cal. 
No.  124).  About  the  same  time  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  '  the  care  and  custody  of  all  Ireland  r 
as  chief  justiciar,  the  king  reserving  to  him- 
self pleas  touching  the  crown,  the  mint,  and 
the  exchange  (Chart.  2  John,  m.  28  dors.,  Cal. 
No.  133).  During  his  six  years'  government 
Meiler  had  to  contend  against  very  great  diffi- 
culties, including  the  factiousness  of  the  Nor- 
man nobles.  John  de  Courci  [q.  v.],  the  con- 
queror of  Ulster,  was  a  constant  source  csff 


Fitzhenry 


165 


Fitzhenry 


trouble  to  him  (Pat.  6  John,  m.  9,  Cat.  No. 
524).  The  establishment  of  Hugh  de  Lacy 
as  Earl  of  Ulster  (29  May  1205)  was  a  great 
triumph  for  Fitzhenry.  Before  long,  however, 
war  broke  out  between  Lacy  and  Fitzhenry 
{Four  Masters,  iii.  155).  Another  lawless 
Norman  noble  was  William  de  Burgh  [see 
Hinder  FiTZALDHELM,WiLLiAM],who  was  now 
•engaged  in  the  conquest  of  Connaught.  But 
while  De  Burgh  was  devastating  that  region, 
Fitzhenry  and  his  assessor,  Walter  de  Lacy, 
led  a  host  into  De  Burgh's  Munster  estates 
(1203,  Annals  of  Loch  Ce,  i.  229,  231).  De 
Burgh  lost  his  estates,  though  on  appeal  to 
King  John  he  ultimately  recovered  them  all, 
except  those  in  Connaught  (Pat.  6  John,  m.  8, 
Cal.  No.  230).  Fitzhenry  had  similar  troubles 
with  Richard  Tirel  (Pat.  5  John,  m.  4,  Cal. 
No.  196)  and  other  nobles.  Walter  de  Lacy, 
at  one  time  his  chief  colleague,  quarrelled 
with  him  in  1206  about  the  baronies  of  Lime- 
rick (Pat.  8  John,  m.  2,  Cal.  No.  315).  In 
1204  he  was  directed  by  the  king  to  build  a 
•castle  in  Dublin  to  serve  as  a  court  of  justice 
,as  well  as  a  means  of  defence.  He  was  also 
to  compel  the  citizens  of  Dublin  to  fortify 
the  city  itself  (Close,  6  John,  m.  18,  Cal.  No. 
.226).  Fitzhenry  continued  to  hold  the  jus- 
ticiarship  until  1208.  The  last  writ  addressed 
to  him  in  that  capacity  is  dated  19  June  1208 
{Pat.  10  John,  m.  5).  Mr.  Gilbert  (  Viceroys, 
p.  59)  says  that  he  was  superseded  between 
1203  and  1205  by  Hugh  de  Lacy,  but  many 
writs  are  addressed  to  him  as  justiciary  during 
these  years  (Cal.  Doc.  Ireland,  pp.  31-44 
passim).  On  several  occasions  assessors  or 
counsellors  were  associated  with  him  in  his 
work,  and  he  was  directed  to  do  nothing  of 
exceptional  importance  without  their  advice 
(e.g.  Hugh  de  Lacy  in  1205,  Close,  5  John, 
m.  22,  Cal.  No.  268). 

Fitzhenry  remained  one  of  the  most  power- 
ful of  Irish  barons,  even  after  he  ceased  to  be 
justiciar.  About  1212  his  name  appears  im- 
mediately after  that  of  William  Marshall  in 
the  spirited  protest  of  the  Irish  barons  against 
the  threatened  deposition  of  John  by  the  pope, 
and  the  declaration  of  their  willingness  to  live 
and  die  for  the  king  (Cal.  Doc.  Ireland,  No. 
448).  Several  gifts  from  the  king  marked 
John's  appreciation  of  his  administration  of 
Ireland  (ib.  No.  398).  But  it  was  not  till 
August  1219  that  all  the  expenses  incurred 
•during  his  viceroy alty  were  defrayed  from  the 
exchequer  (ib.  No.  887).  He  must  by  that 
date  have  been  a  very  old  man.  Already  in 
1216  it  was  thought  likely  that  he  would  die, 
or  at  least  retire  from  the  world  into  a  mo- 
nastery (ib.  No.  691).  There  is  no  reference 
to  his  acts  after  1219,  and  he  died  in  1220 
(CLYN,  Ann.  Hib.  p.  8).  He  had  long  ago 


atoned  for  his  early  want  of  piety  by  the  foun- 
dation in  1202  ('Annals  of  Ireland'  in  Chart. 
St.  Mary's,  ii.  308 ;  DFGDALE,  Monasticon, 
vi.  1138)  of  the  abbey  of  Connall  in  county 
Kildare,  which  he  handed  over  to  the  Austin 
canons  of  Llanthony,  near  Gloucester.  This 
he  endowed  with  large  estates,  with  all  the 
churches  and  benefices  in  his  Irish  lands,  with 
a  tenth  of  his  household  expenses,  rents,  and 
produce  (Chart.  7  John,  m.  7,  Cal.  No.  273). 
He  was  buried  in  the  chapter-house  at  Con- 
nall (Ann.  Ireland,  ii.  314).  He  had  by  the 
niece  of  Hugh  de  Lacy  a  son  named  Meiler, 
who  in  1206  was  old  enough  to  dispossess 
William  de  Braose  of  Limerick  (  Close,  8  John, 
m.  3,  Cal.  No.  310),  and  whose  forays  into 
Tyrconnell  had  already  spread  devastation 
among  the  Irish  (Annals  of  Loch  Ce,\.  231). 
The  brother  of  the  elder  Meiler,  Robert  Fitz- 
henry, died  about  1180  (Exp.  Hib.  p.  354). 

[G-iraldus  Cambrensis,  Expugnatio  Hibernica, 
in  Opera,  vol.  v.  (Eolls  Ser.) ;  The  Anglo-Norman 
Poem  on  the  Conquest  of  Ireland,  wrongly  at- 
tributed to  Regan,  ed.  Michel;  the  Patent,  Close, 
Charter,  Liberate,  and  other  Rolls  for  the  reign 
of  John,  printed  by  the  Record  Commissioners, 
and  summarised,  not  always  with  quite  the  neces- 
sary precision,  in  Sweetman's  Calendar  of  Docu- 
ments relating  to  Ireland,  1171-1251;  Chartu- 
laries,  &c.,  of  St.  Mary's  Abbey,  Dublin  (Rolls 
Ser.) ;  Gilbert's  Viceroys  of  Ireland  is  not  in  this 
part  always  quite  accurate ;  Annals  of  Loch  Ce, 
vol.  i.  (Rolls  Ser.)]  T.  F.  T. 

FITZHENRY,  MRS.  (d.  1790  ?),  actress, 
was  the  daughter  of  an  Irishman  named 
Flanni^an,  who  kept  the  old  Ferry  Boat 
tavern,  Abbey  Street,  Dublin.  She  contri- 
buted by  her  needle  to  the  support  of  her 
father,  and  married  a  lodger  in  his  house,  a 
Captain  Gregory,  commander  of  a  vessel  en- 
gaged in  the  trade  between  Dublin  and  Bor- 
deaux. After  the  death,  by  drowning,  of  her 
husband,  followed  by  that  of  her  father,  she 
proceeded  to  London  in  1753  and  appeared 
at  Covent  Garden  10  Jan.  1754  as  Mrs.  Gre- 
gory, '  her  first  appearance  upon  any  stage/ 
playing  Hermione  in  the '  Distressed  Mother/ 
Alicia  in  '  Jane  Shore '  followed,  23  March 
1754.  Her  Irish  accent  impeded  her  success, 
and  at  the  end  of  the  season  she  went,  at  a 
salary  of  300/.,  soon  raised  to  400/.,  to  Smock 
Alley  Theatre,  Dublin,  under  Sowdon  and 
Victor,  where  she  appeared  (  ?  3  Jan.  1755) 
as  Hermione,  and  played  (14  March  1755) 
Zara  in  the  '  Mourning  Bride,'  Zaphira  in 
*  Barbarossa '  (2  Feb.  1756),  and  Volumnia  in 
'  Coriolanus.'  These  representations  gained 
her  high  reputation.  On  5  Jan.  1757  she  re- 
appeared at  Covent  Garden  as  Hermione,  and 
added  to  her  repertory  Calista  in  the  *  Fair 
Penitent/  and  for  her  benefit  Lady  Macbeth. 


Fitzherbert 


166 


Fitzherbert 


About  this  time  she  married  Fitzhenry,  a 
lawyer,  by  whom  she  had  a  son  and  a  daugh- 
ter. He  also  predeceased  her.  She  reap- 
peared at  Smock  Alley  in  October  1757  as 
Mrs.  Fitzhenry  in  Calista.  At  one  or  other 
of  the  Dublin  theatres,  between  1759  and 

1764,  she  played  Isabella  in  'Measure  for 
Measure,'  Emilia  in  '  Othello,'  Cleopatra  in 
<  All  for  Love,'  the  Queen  in  '  Hamlet '  (then 
held  to  be  a  character  of  primary  importance), 
Mandane  in  the  '  Orphan  of  China,'  Queen 
Katharine,  and   other  parts.     On  15  Oct. 

1765,  as  Calista,  she  made  her  first  appear- 
ance at  Drury  Lane,  and  added  to  her  cha- 
racters, 9  April  1766,  Roxana  in  the  l  Rival 
Queens.'   Returning  to  Dublin  she  played  at 
Smock  Alley  or  Crow  Street  theatres,  both 
for  a  time  under  the  management  of  Mossop, 
the  Countess  of  Salisbury  and  Aspasia  in 
*  Tamerlane.'     Her  last  recorded  appearance 
was  at  Smock  Alley  1773-4  as  Mrs.  Belle- 
ville in  the  '  School  for  Wives.'     Not  long 
after  this  she  retired  with  a  competency  and 
lived  with  her  two  children.     She  returned 
to  the  stage,  Genest  supposes,  on  no  very 
strong  evidence,  about  1782-3,  and  acted  suc- 
cessfully many  of  her  old  parts.     She  then 
finally  retired,  and  is  said  to  have  died  at  Bath 
in  1790.    The  date  and  place  are  doubted  by 
Genest,  a  resident  in  Bath,  who  thinks  there 
is  a  confusion  between  her  and  Mrs.  Fitz- 
maurice,  who  died  in  Bath  about  this  epoch. 
The  monthly  obituary  of  the '  European  Maga- 
zine '  for  November  and  December  1790  says : 
'11  Dec.     Lately  in  Ireland,  Mrs.  Fitzhenry, 
a  celebrated  actress.'     Mrs.  Fitzhenry  was 
an  excellent  actress.     She  lacked,  however, 
the  personal  beauty  of  Mrs.  Yates,  to  whom 
she  was  opposed  by  the  Dublin  managers, 
and  was  in  consequence  treated  with  much 
discourtesy  and  cruelty  in   Dublin.      Her 
acting  was  original,  and  her  character  blame- 
less.    She  was  prudent,  and  it  may  almost  be 
said  sharp,  in  pecuniary  affairs. 

[The  chief  authority  for  the  life  of  Mrs.  Fitz- 
henry is  the  Thespian  Dictionary,  a  not  very 
trustworthy  production.  Other  works  from  which 
information  has  been  derived  are  Genest's  Ac- 
count of  the  English  Stage ;  Hitchcock's  View 
of  the  Irish  Stage  ;  Tate  Wilkinson's  Memoirs ; 
Notes  and  Queries,  7th  ser.  v.  372.  A  notice  in 
Gilliland's  Dramatic  Mirror  is  copied  from  the 
Thespian  Dictionary.]  J.  K. 

FITZHEKBERT,  ALLEYNE,  BARON 
ST.  HELENS  (1753-1839),  was  fifth  and 
youngest  son  of  William  Fitzherbert  of  Tis- 
sington  in  Derbyshire,  who  married  Mary, 
eldest  daughter  of  Littleton  Poyntz  Mey- 
nell  of  Bradley,  near  Ashbourne,  in  the  same 
county.  His  father,  who  was  member  for  the 
borough  of  Derby  and  a  commissioner  of  the 


Doard  of  trade,  committed  suicide  on  2  Jan. 
L772  through  pecuniary  trouble.     He  was- 
numbered  among  the  friends  of  Dr.  Johnson, 
who  bore  witness  to  his  felicity  of  manner 
and  his  general  popularity,  but  depreciated 
the  extent  of  his  learning.     Of  his  mother 
the  same  authority  is  reported  to  have  said 
that  she  had  the  best  understanding  he  ever 
met  with  in  any  human  being.'     Alleyne, 
who  inherited  his  baptismal  name  from  his 
maternal  grandmother,  Judith,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Alleyne  of  Barbadoes,  was  born  in 
1753,  and  received  his  school  education  at 
Derby  and  Eton.     In  July  1770  he  matri- 
culated as  pensioner  at  St.  John's  College, 
Cambridge,  his  private  tutor  being  the  Rev. 
William  Arnald,  and  in  the  following  Octo- 
ber Gray  wrote  to  Mason  that  '  the  little 
Fitzherbert  is  come  as  pensioner  to  St.  John's, 
and  seems  to  have  all  his  wits  about  him/ 
Gray,  attended  by  several  of  his  friends,  paid 
a  visit  to  the  young  undergraduate  in  his  col- 
lege rooms,  and  as  the  poet  rarely  went  out- 
side his  own  college,  his  presence  attracted 
great  attention,  and  the  details  of  the  in- 
terview were  afterwards  communicated  to 
Samuel  Rogers,  and  printed  by  Mitford.  Fitz- 
herbert took  his  degree  of  B.  A.  in  1774,  being 
second  of  the  senior  optimes  in  the  mathe- 
matical tripos,  and  he  was  also  the  senior 
chancellor's  medallist.     Soon  afterwards  he 
went  on  a  tour  through  France  and  Italy, 
and  when  abroad  was  presented  to  one  of  the 
university's  travelling  scholarships.  In  Febru- 
ary 1777  he  began  a  long  course  of  foreign  life 
with  the'  appointment  of  minister  at  Brussels, 
and  this  necessitated  his  taking  the  degree  of 
M.A.  in  that  year  by  proxy.   He  remained  at 
Brussels  until  August  1782,  when  he  was  des- 
patched to  Paris  by  Lord  Shelburne  as  pleni- 
potentiary to  negotiate  a  peace  with  the  crowns 
of  France  and  Spain,  and  with  the  States- 
General  of  the  United  Provinces ;    and  on 
20  Jan.  1783  the  preliminaries  of  peace  with 
the  first  two  powers  were  duly  signed.   The 
peace  with  the  American  colonies,  which  was 
agreed  to  at  about  the  same  date,  was  not 
brought  to  a  conclusion  under  Fitzherbert's 
charge,  but  he  claimed  to  have  taken  a  lead- 
ing share  in  the  previous  negotiations  which 
rendered  it  possible.     This  successful  diplo- 
macy led  to  his  promotion  in  the  summer  of 
1783  to  the  post  of  envoy  extraordinary  to 
the  Empress  Catherine  of  Russia,  and  he  ac- 
companied her  in  her  tour  round  the  Crimea 
in  1787.     His  conversation  was  always  at- 
tractive, and  among  his  best  stories  were  his 
anecdotes  of  the  empress  and  her  court,  some 
of  which  are  preserved  in  Dyce's  *  Recollec- 
tions of  Samuel  Rogers'  (pp.  104-5).     At 
the  close  of  1787  he  returned  to  England  to 


Fitzherbert 


167 


Fitzherbert 


accompany  the  Marquis  of  Buckingham,  the 
newly  appointed  lord-lieutenant  of  Ireland, 
as  his  chief  secretary,  and  he  was  in  conse- 
quence sworn  a  member  of  the  privy  council 
(30  Nov.)  His  health  was  bad,  and  the 
first  Lord  Minto  wrote  to  his  wife  (9  Dec. 
1787)  that  Fitzherbert  was  going  to  Ire- 
land *  with  the  greatest  danger  to  his  life,  his 
health  being  very  bad  in  itself,  and  such  as 
the  business  and  vexation  he  is  going  to  must 
make  much  worse.'  In  spite  of  these  gloomy 
prognostications  he  continued  to  hold  the 
post  until  March  1789,  when  he  resigned  the 
secretaryship,  and  was  sent  to  the  Hague  as 
envoy  extraordinary,  '  with  the  pay  of  am- 
bassador in  ordinary,  in  all  about  4,000/.'  a 
year.  At  this  time  his  reputation  had  reached 
its  highest  point,  and  Fox  described  him  as 
*  a  man  of  parts  and  of  infinite  zeal  and  in- 
dustry/ but  as  years  went  on  his  powers  of 
application  for  the  minor  duties  of  his  offices 
seem  to  have  flagged.  One  hostile  critic  com- 
plained in  1793  that  his  letters  were  left  un- 
answered by  Fitzherbert,  and  in  the  follow- 
ing year  he  was  described  by  the  first  Lord 
Malmesbury  as  '  very  friendly,  but  insouciant 
as  to  business  and  not  attentive  enough  for 
his  post.'  In  more  important  matters  he  acted 
with  promptness  and  energy.  When  differ- 
ences broke  out  between  Great  Britain  and 
Spain  respecting  the  right  of  British  subjects 
to  trade  at  Nootka  Sound  and  to  carry  on  the 
southern  whale  fishery,  he  was  despatched  to 
Madrid  (May  1791)  as  ambassador  extraor- 
dinary, and  under  his  care  all  disputes  were 
settled  in  the  succeeding  October,  for  which 
services  he  was  raised  to  the  Irish  peerage 
with  the  title  of  Baron  St.  Helens.  A  treaty 
of  alliance  between  Great  Britain. and  Spain 
was  concluded  by  him  in  1793,  but  as  the 
climate  of  that  country  did  not  agree  with 
his  health  he  returned  home  early  in  1794. 
Very  shortly  after  his  landing  in  England 
St.  Helens  was  appointed  to  the  ambassa- 
dorship at  the  Hague  (25  March  1794), 
where  he  remained  until  the  French  con- 
quered the  country,  when  the  danger  of  his 
situation  caused  much  anxiety  to  his  friends. 
A  year  or  two  later  a  great  misfortune  hap- 
pened to  him.  On  16  July  1797  his  house, 
containing everythinghe possessed,  was  burnt 
to  the  ground,  and  he  himself  narrowly  es- 
caped a  premature  death.  *  He  has  lost,' 
wrote  Lord  Minto,  '  every  scrap  of  paper  he 
ever  had.  Conceive  how  inconsolable  that 
loss  must  be  to  one  who  has  lived  his  life. 
All  his  books,  many  fine  pictures,  prints  and 
drawings  in  great  abundance,  are  all  gone.' 
His  last  foreign  mission  was  to  St.  Peters- 
burg in  April  1801  to  congratulate  the  Em- 
peror Alexander  on  his  accession  to  the  throne, 


and  to  arrange  a  treaty  between  England  and 
Russia.  The  terms  of  the  agreement  were 
quickly  settled,  and  on  its  completion  he  was 
promoted  to  the  peerage  of  the  United  King- 
dom. In  the  next  September  he  attended  the 
coronation  of  Alexander  in  Moscow,  and  ar- 
ranged a  convention  with  the  Danish  pleni- 
potentiary, which  was  followed  in  March 
1802  by  a  similar  settlement  with  Sweden. 
This  completed  his  services  abroad,  and  on 
5  April  1803  he  retired  from  diplomatic  life 
with  a  pension  of  2,300/.  a  year.  When 
Addington  was  forced  to  resign  the  premier- 
ship, St.  Helens,  who  was  much  attached 
to  George  III,  and  was  admitted  to  more 
intimate  friendship  with  that  king  and  his 
wife  than  any  other  of  the  courtiers,  was 
created  a  lord  of  the  bedchamber  (May  1804), 
and  the  appointment  is  said  to  have  been 
made  against  Pitt's  wishes.  He  declared 
that  he  could  not  live  out  of  London,  and  he 
therefore  dwelt  in  Grafton  Street  all  the  year 
round.  His  consummate  prudence  and  his 
quiet,  polished  manners  are  the  theme  of 
Wraxali's  praise.  Rogers  and  Jeremy  Bent- 
ham  were  included  in  the  list  of  his  friends. 
To  Rogers  he  presented  in  his  last  illness 
Pope's  own  copy  of  Garth's  'Dispensary,' with 
Pope's  manuscript  annotations.  Bentham 
had  been  presented  to  St.  Helens  by  his  elder 
brother,  sometime  member  for  Derbyshire, 
and  many  letters  to  and  from  him  on  sub- 
jects of  political  interest  are  in  Bentham's 
works.  Two  letters  from  him  to  Croker  on 
Wraxall's  anecdotes  are  in  the '  Croker  Papers ' 
(ii.  294-7),  and  a  letter  to  him  from  the  first 
Lord  Malmesbury  is  printed  in  the  latter's 
diaries.  St.  Helens  died  in  Grafton  Street, 
London,  on  19  Feb.  1839,  and  was  buried 
in  the  Harrow  Road  cemetery  on  26  Feb. 
As  he  was  never  married,  the  title  became 
extinct,  and  his  property  passed  to  his  nephew, 
Sir  Henry  Fitzherbert.  From  1805  to  1837 
he  had  been  a  trustee  of  the  British  Museum, 
and  at  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  the  senior 
member  of  the  privy  council. 

SIK  WILLIAM  FITZHERBEKT  (1748-1791), 
gentleman-usher  to  George  III,  born  27  May 
1748,  was  Lord  St.  Helens's  eldest  brother, 
and  was  educated  at  St.  John's  College,  Cam- 
bridge, receiving  the  degree  of  M.A.j9er  literal 
regias  in  1770.  He  was  called  to  the  bar  and 
became  recorder  of  Derby.  After  serving  as 
gentleman-usher  to  the  king,  he  was  promoted 
to  be  gentleman-usher  in  extraordinary,  and 
was  created  a  baronet  in  recognition  of  his 
services  22  Jan.  1784.  He  resigned  his  post 
at  court  soon  afterwards  in  consequence  of  a 
personal  quarrel  with  the  Marquis  of  Salis- 
bury (lord  chamberlain).  He  died  30  July 
1791  at  his  house  at  Tissington,  which  he  had 


Fitzherbert 


168 


Fitzherbert 


inherited  from  his  father  in  1772.  He  was 
author  of '  A  Dialogue  on  the  Revenue  Laws/ 
and  of  a  collection  of  moral '  Maxims.'  He 
is  also  credited  with  an  anonymous  pamphlet 
'On  the  Knights  made  in  1778.'  By  his  wife 
Sarah,  daughter  of  William  Perrin,  esq.,  of 
Jamaica,  whom  he  married  14  Oct.  1777, 
he  was  father  of  two  sons,  Anthony  (1779- 
1798)  and  Henry  (1783-1858),  who  were  re- 
spectively second  and  third  baronets. 

[Gray's  Works  (ed.  1884),  in.  384-5 ;  Hill's 
Boswell,  i.  82-3 ;  Hutton's  Bland-Burges  Papers, 
pp.  141-5,  189-90,  243,  250-1  ;  Collins's  Peer- 
age (Brydges's  ed.),  ix.  156-7;  Lord  Minto's 
Life  and  Letters,  i.  175,  295,  ii.  413-14,  iii.  341 ; 
Wraxall's  Posthumous  Memoirs  (od.  1884),  v. 
35;  Lord  Malmesbury's  Diaries,  i.  504-5,  ii. 
38-9,  iii.  98,  199,  223-5  ;  Bentham's  Works, 
x.  261-2,  305-6,  319-20,  362,  429-31,  xi.  118- 
1 20 ;  Mary  Frampton's  Journal,  p.  83 ;  Gent.  Mag. 
1791  pt.  ii.  777-8,  April  1839  pp.  429-30,  De- 
cember 1839  p.  669;  Catalogue  of  Cambridge 
Graduates ;  Burke's  and  Foster's  Baronetages.] 

W.  P.  C. 

FITZHERBERT,      SIB      ANTHONY 

(1470-1538),  judge,  sixth  son  of  Ralph  Fitz- 
herbert of  Norbury,  Derbyshire,  by  Eliza- 
beth, daughter  of  John  Marshall  of  Upton, 
Leicestershire,  was  a  member  of  Gray's  Inn. 
Wood  states  that  he  *  laid  a  foundation  of 
learning  '  in  Oxford,  but  gives  no  authority. 
The  date  of  his  entering  Gray's  Inn  and  of  his 
call  to  the  bar  are  unknown.  His  shield,  how- 
ever, was  emblazoned  on  the  bay  window  of 
the  hall  not  later  than  1580,  where  it  was  still 
to  be  seen  in  1671,  but  from  which  it  has  since 
disappeared ;  and  he  is  included  in  a  list  of 
Gray's  Inn  readers  compiled  in  the  seven- 
teenth century  from  authentic  materials  by 
Sir  William  Segar,  Garter  king  of  arms,  and 
keeper  of  Gray's  Inn  library  (DOTJTHWAITE, 
Gray's  Inn,  p.  46).  On  18  Nov.  1510  he  was 
called  to  the  degree  of  serjeant-at-law,  and 
on  24  Nov.  1516  he  was  appointed  king's 
Serjeant.  About  1521-2  he  was  raised  to 
the  bench  as  a  justice  of  the  court  of  common 
pleas  and  knighted  (DUGDALE,  Chron,  Ser. 
pp.  79,  80,  81 ;  Letters  and  Papers,  For.  and 
Dom.  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII,  vol.  iii. 
pt.  ii.  p.  889).  In  April  1524  he  was  com- 
missioned to  go  to  Ireland  with  Sir  Ralph 
Egerton,  and  Dr.  James  Denton,  dean  of  Lich- 
field,  to  attempt  the  pacification  of  the  coun- 
try. The  commissioners  arrived  about  mid- 
summer, and  arranged  a  treaty  between  the 
deputy,  the  Earl  of  Ormonde,  and  the  Earl 
of  Kildare  (concluded  28  July  1524),  where- 
by, after  making  many  professions  of  amity, 
they  agreed  to  refer  all  future  differences  to 
arbitration,  the  final  decision,  in  the  event  of 
the  arbitrators  disagreeing,  to  rest  with  the 


lord  chancellor  of  England  and  the  privy 
council,  Kildare  in  the  meantime  making 
various  substantial  concessions.  The  com- 
missioners left  Ireland  in  •  September.  On 
their  return  they  received  the  hearty  thanks 
of  the  king.  During  the  next  few  years  Fitz- 
herbert's  history  is  all  but  a  blank.  There  is, 
however,  extant  a  letter  from  him  to  Wolsey 
dated  at  Carlisle,  30  March  1525,  describing 
the  state  of  the  country  as  very  disturbed, 
and  hinting  that  it  was  the  '  sinister  policy ' 
of  Lord  Dacre  to  make  and  keep  it  so  (State 
Papers,  ii.  104-8  ;  Letters  and  Papers,  For. 
and  Dom.  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII,  vol. 
iv.  pt.  i.  pp.  244,  352,  534;  HALL,  Chron. 
1809,  p.  685). 

On  11  June  1529  Fitzherbert  was  one  of 
the  commissioners  appointed  to  hear  causes  in 
chancery  in  place  of  the  chancellor,  Wolsey 
(RYMER,  Feeder  a,  xiv.  299).  On  1  Dec.  fol- 
lowing he  signed  the  articles  of  impeachment 
exhibited  against  Wolsey,  one  of  them  being 
to  the  effect  that  l  certain  bills  for  extortion 
of  ordinaries '  having  been  found  before  Fitz- 
herbert, Wolsey  had  the  indictments  removed 
into  the  chancery  by  certiorari,  '  and  rebuked 
the  same  Fitzherbert  for  the  same  cause.' 
On  1  June  1533  he  was  present  at  the  coro- 
nation of  Anne  Boleyn.  In  1534  he  was  with 
the  council  at  Ludlow  (CoBBETT,  State  Trials, 
i.  377 ;  Letters  and  Papers,  For.  and  Dom.  of 
the  reign  of  Henry  VIII,  vol.  iv.pt.  iii.  p.  272, 
vi.  263,  vii.  545,  581).  He  was  one  of  the 
commission  that  (29  April  1535)  tried  the 
Carthusians,  Robert  Feron,  John  Hale,  and 
others,  for  high  treason  under  the  statute 
25  Hen.  VIII,  c.  22,  the  offence  consisting  in 
having  met  and  conversed  too  freely  about 
the  king's  marriage.  He  was  also  a  member 
of  the  tribunals  that  tried  Fisher  and  More 
in  the  following  June  and  July.  He  appears 
as  one  of  the  witnesses  to  the  deed  dated 
5  April  1537,  by  which  the  abbot  of  Fur- 
ness  surrendered  his  monastery  to  the  king 
(Letters  relating  to  the  Suppression  of  Monas- 
teries, Camd.  Soc.  p.  154).  He  died  on  27  May 
1538,  and  was  buried  in  the  parish  church  of 
Norbury. 

Fitzherbert  married  twice :  first,  Dorothy, 
daughter  of  Sir  Henry  Willoughby  of  Wol- 
laton,  Nottinghamshire;  second,  Matilda, 
daughter  and  heir  of  Richard  Cotton  of  Ham- 
stall  Ridware,  Staffordshire.  He  had  no  chil- 
dren by  his  first  wife,  but  several  by  his  second 
[cf.  FITZHERBERT,  NICHOLAS  and  THOMAS]. 
The  manor  of  Norbury  is  still  in  the  possession 
of  his  posterity.  The  family  has  been  settled 
at  Norbury  since  1125,  when  William,  prior 
of  Tutbury,  granted  the  manor  to  William 
Fitzherbert.  Though  he  never  attained  the 
position  of  chief  justice,  Fitzherbert  possessed 


Fitzherbert 


169 


Fitzherbert 


a  profound  knowledge  of  English  law  com- 
bined with  a  strong  logical  faculty  and  re- 
markable power  of  lucid  exposition  His 
•earliest  and  greatest  work,  '  La  Graunde 
Abridgement,'  first  printed  in  1514,  is  a  digest 
of  the  year-books  arranged  under  appropriate 
titles  in  alphabetical  order  ;  it  is  also  more 
than  this,  as  some  cases  are  there  mentioned 
which  are  not  to  be  found  in  the  year-books, 
but  which  have  nevertheless  been  accepted 
as  authorities  in  the  courts.  Coke  (Rep.  PL 
pref.)  describes  it  as '  painfully  and  elaborately 
collected,'  and  it  has  always  borne  a  very 
high  character  for  accuracy.  It  was  the  prin- 
cipal source  from  which  Sir  William  Staun- 
forde  [q.  v.]  derived  the  material  for  his  '  Ex- 
position of  the  King's  Prerogative,'  London, 
1557,  4to,  and  is  frequently  cited  by  Richard 
Bellew  [q.  v.]  in  *  Les  Ans  du  Roy  Richard 
le  Second.'  Besides  the  first  edition,  which 
seems  to  have  been  printed  by  Pinson,  an 
edition  appeared  in  1516,  of  which  fine  speci- 
mens are  preserved  in  the  British  Museum 
and  Lincoln's  Inn.  The  work  is  without 
printer's  name  or  any  indication  of  the  place 
of  publication,  but  is  usually  ascribed  toWyn- 
kyn  de  Worde,  whose  frontispiece  is  found  in 
the  second  and  third  volumes.  A  summary  by 
John  Rastell,  entitled '  Tabula  libri  magni  ab- 
breviamenti  librorum  legum  Anglorum,'was 
published  in  London  in  1517,  fol.;  reprinted 
under  a  French  title  in  1567,  4to.  The  ori- 
ginal work  was  reprinted  by  Tottel  in  1565, 
and  again  in  1573, 1577,  and  1786,  fol.  Though 
not  absolutely  the  earliest  work  of  the  kind, 
for  Statham's  abridgment  seems  to  have  had 
slightly  the  start  of  it,  Fitzherbert's  was  em- 
phatically the  '  grand  abridgment,'  the  first 
serious  attempt  to  reduce  the  entire  law  to 
systematic  shape.  As  such  it  served  as  a 
model  to  later  writers,  such  as  Sir  Robert 
Broke  or  Brooke  [q.  v.],  whose  '  Graunde 
Abridgement '  is  indeed  merely  a  revision  of 
Fitzherbert's  with  additional  cases,  and  Henry 
Rolle  [q.  v.],  chief  justice  of  the  king's  bench 
in  1048,  whose  '  Abridgement  des  Plusieurs 
Cases  et  Resolutions  del  commun  Ley,'  pub- 
lished 1668,  was  designed  rather  as  a  supple- 
ment to  Fitzherbert  and  Brooke  than  as  an 
exhaustive  work  (Preface,  §  4).  Two  works 
addressed  to  the  landed  interest  are  also  at- 
tributed to  Fitzherbert,  viz. :  (1)  '  The  Boke 
of  Husbandrie,'  London  (Berthelet),  1523, 
1532,  1534,  1548,  8vo  ;  (Walle)  1555,  8vo ; 
(Marshe)  1560, 8vo ;  (Awdeley)  1562, 16mo ; 
(White)  1598,  4to.  (2)  '  The  Boke  of  Sur- 
vey inge  and  Improvements,' London  (Berthe- 
let), 1523,  1539,  1546, 1567,  8vo  ;  (Marshe) 
1587, 16mo.  '  The  Boke  of  Husbandrie '  is  a 
manual  for  the  farmer  of  the  most  practical 
kind.  'The  Boke  of  Surveyinge  and  Im- 


provements '  is  an  exposition  of  the  law  re- 
lating to  manors  as  regards  the  relation  of 
landlord  and  tenant,  with  observations  on 
their  respective  moral  rights  and  duties  and 
the  best  ways  of  developing  an  estate.  It 
purports  to  be  based  on  the  statute  '  Extenta 
Manerii,'  now  classed  as  of  uncertain  date, 
but  formerly  referred  to  the  fourth  year  of 
Edward  I.  This  is  important,  because  we 
know  that  Fitzherbert  selected  that  statute 
as  the  subject  of  his  reading  at  Gray's  Inn. 
This  book  is  therefore  in  all  probability  an 
expansion  of  the  reading.  The  authenticity 
of  the  '  Boke  of  Husbandrie  '  has  been  called 
in  question,  and  Sir  Anthony's  brother  John 
has  been  suggested  as  its  probable  author  on 
two  grounds :  (1)  That  Fitzherbert's  profes- 
sional engagements  would  not  permit  of  his 
acquiring  the  forty  years'  experience  of  agri- 
culture which  the  author  claims  to  possess ; 
(2)  that  the  author  is  described  in  the  printer's 
note,  not  as  Sir  Anthony,  but  as  Master  Fitz- 
herbarde.  The  latter  argument  applies  equally 
to  the  '  Boke  of  Surveyinge,'  which  is  also 
stated  to  be  the  work  of  Master  Fitzherbarde. 
In  the  prologue  to  the  latter  treatise,  how- 
ever, the  author  distinctly  claims  the  '  Boke 
of  Husbandrie '  as  his  own  work.  He  says 
that  he  has  'of  late  by  experience'  'contrived, 
compiled,  and  made  a  treatise '  for  the  benefit  of 
the*  poor  farmers  and  tenants  and  called  it  the 
book  of  husbandry.'  There  seems  no  reason 
to  doubt  that  this  claim  was  honestly  made. 
The  argument  from  the  designation '  Master  ' 
is  of  no  real  weight.  A  clause  in  Arch- 
bishop Wrarham's  will  (1530)  provides  that 
all  disputes  as  to  the  meaning  of  any  of  its 
provisions  shall  be  referred  to  the  decision 
of '  Magistri  FitzHerbert  unius  justiciarii,  &c.' 
(  Wills  from  Doctors'  Commons,  Camd.  Soc. 

?.  25),  and  Cromwell,  writing  to  Norfolk  on 
5  July  1535,  refers  to  Fitzherbert  as  '  Mr. 
FitzHerberd.'  Even  less  substantial,  if  pos- 
sible, is  the  argument  from  the  claim  of  forty 
years'  experience  put  forward  by  the  author. 
Considering  how  much  of  the  legal  year  con- 
sists of  vacation,  and  how  comparatively  light 
the  pressure  of  legal  business  was  until  re- 
cent times,  there  is  nothing  startling,  much 
less  incredible,  in  the  supposition  that  Fitz- 
herbert during  forty  years  found  leisure  to 
exercise  such  general  supervision  over  his 
farm-bailiffs  as  would  entitle  him  to  say  that 
he  had  had  practical  experience  of  agriculture 
during  that  period. 

Other  works  by  Fitzherbert  are  the  fol- 
lowing: 1.  'La  Novelle  Natura  Brevium,' 
a  manual  of  procedure  described  by  Coke 
(Reports,  pt.  x.  pref.)  as  an  '  exact  work  ex- 
quisitely penned,'  London,  1534, 1537 ;  (Tot- 
tell),  1553  8vo,  1557  16mo,  1567  8vo,  1576 


Fitzherbert 


170 


Fitzherbert 


fol.,  1567,1581,  1588,1598,1609,  1660,  8vo; 
another  edition  in  4to  appeared  in  1635,  an 
English  translation  in  1652  (reprinted  1666), 
8vo.  The  translation  (with  marginalia  by  Sir 
"Wadham  Wyndham,  justice,  and  a  commen- 
tary by  Sir  Matthew  Hale,  chief  justice  of  the 
king's  bench,  1660)  was  republished  in  1635, 
1652,  1718,  1730,  1755,  4to,  and  1794,  8vo. 

2.  'L'Office  et  Auctoritie  de  Justices  de  Peace,' 
apparently  first  published  by  Tottell  in  the 
original  French  in  1583,  8vo,  with  additions, 
by  R.  Crompton,  republished  in  1593,  1606, 
and  1617, 4to.     An  English  translation  had, 
however,  appeared  in  1538,  8vo,  which  was 
frequently  reprinted  under  the  title  of  l  The 
Newe  Booke  of  Justices  of  Peas  made  by 
A.F.Judge,  lately  translated  out  of  Frenche 
into  English.'     The  last  edition  of  the  trans- 
lation   seems    to   have   appeared   in   1594. 

3.  'L'Office  de  Viconts  Bailiffes,  Escheators, 
Constables,  Coroners,'  London,  1538.     This 
treatise  was  translated  and  published  in  the 
same  volume  with  the   translation   of  the 
work  on  justices  of  the  peace,  in  1547, 12mo. 
The  original  was  also  republished  along  with 
the  original  of  the  latter  work,  by  R.  Cromp- 
ton, in  1583.     4   '  A  Treatise  on  the  Diver- 
sity of  Courts,'  a  translation  of  which  was 
annexed  by  W.  Hughes  to  his  translation 
of  Andrew  Home's  'Mirrour  of  Justices,' 
London,  1646,  12mo.     5.  '  The  Reading  on 
the  Stat.  Extenta  Manerii,'  printed  by  Ber- 
thelet  in  1539. 

[Bale's  Script.  Illustr.  Maj.  Brit.  (Basel,  1557), 
p.  710;  Pits,  De  Rebus  Anglicis  (Paris,  1619), 
p.  707 ;  Fuller's  "Worthies  (Derbyshire) ;  Wood's 
Athenae  Oxon.  (Bliss),  i.  110 ;  Biog.  Brit. ;  Foss's 
Lives  of  the  Judges ;  Bridgman's  Legal  Biblio- 
graphy; Ames's  Typogr.  Antiq.  (Dibdin),  ii.  210, 
455,  506-8,  iii.  287  ».,  305  ».,  328,  332,  iv.  424, 
431,  437,  446,  451,  534,  566;  Marvin's  Legal 
Bibliogr. ;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat. ;  Nichols's  Leicester- 
shire, iv.  pt.  ii.  853 ;  Notes  and  Queries,  6th  ser. 
ii.  392,  iii.  196,  iv.  467.]  J.  M.  K. 

FITZHERBERT,  MARIA  ANNE 
(1756-1837),  wife  of  George  IV,  born  in 
July  1756,  was  the  youngest  daughter  of 
Walter  Smythe,  esq.,  of  Brambridge,  Hamp- 
shire, second  son  of  Mr.  John  Smythe  of 
Acton  Burnell,  Shropshire.  Little  is  known 
of  her  childhood  beyond  the  fact  that  she 
visited  Paris,  and  was  taken  to  see  Louis  XV 
at  dinner.  When  the  king  pulled  a  chicken 
to  pieces  with  his  fingers  she  burst  out  laugh- 
ing, upon  which  his  majesty  presented  her 
with  a  box  of  sugar-plums.  She  married  in 
1775  Edward  Weld,  esq.,  of  Fulworth  Castle, 
Dorsetshire,  who  died  in  the  same  year.  In 
1778  his  widow  married  Thomas  Fitzherhert 
of  Swynnerton  in  Staffordshire,  by  whom  she 
was  left  a  widow  a  second  time  in  1781. 


Mrs.  Fitzherbert,  with  a  jointure  of  2,000/.  a 
year,  now  took  up  her  abode  at  Richmond, 
where  she  soon  became  the  centre  of  an  ad- 
miring circle.  In  1785  she  first  saw  the 
Prince  of  Wales  (born  1762).  He  fell,  or 
thought  he  fell,  desperately  in  love  with 
her  at  first  sight,  and  on  one  occasion  pre- 
tended to  stab  himself  in  despair.  On  this- 
occasion  she  was  induced  to  visit  him  at 
Carlton  House  in  company  with  the  Duchess 
of  Devonshire,  but  soon  after  went  abroad 
to  escape  further  solicitations.  After  re- 
maining sometime  in  Holland  and  Germany, 
she  received  an  offer  of  marriage  from  the- 
prince,  which  she  is  said  to  have  accepted 
with  reluctance.  They  were  married  on 
21  Dec.  1785  in  her  own  drawing-room,  by  a 
clergyman  of  the  church  of  England,  and  in 
the  presence  of  her  brother,  Mr.  John  Smythe, 
and  her  uncle,  Mr.  Errington.  By  the  Mar- 
riage Act  of  1772  every  marriage  contracted 
by  a  member  of  the  royal  family  under  twenty- 
five  years  of  age  without  the  king's  consent 
was  invalid ;  and  by  the  Act  of  Settlement 
if  the  heir-apparent  married  a  Roman  catho- 
lic he  forfeited  his  right  to  the  crown.  It- 
was  argued,  however,  that  a  man  could  not 
be  said  to  marry  when  he  merely  went  through 
a  ceremony  which  he  knew  to  be  invalid. 
According  to  one  account,  repeated  by  Lord 
Holland  in  his  '  Memoirs  of  the  Whig  Party/ 
Mrs.  Fitzherbert  took  the  same  view,  said  the 
marriage  was  all  nonsense,  and  knew  well 
enough  that  she  was  about  to  become  the 
prince's  mistress.  The  story  is  discredited 
by  her  well-known  character,  by  the  footing 
on  which  she  was  always  received  by  other 
members  of  the  royal  family,  and  by  the  fact 
that,  even  after  the  marriage  of  the  prince 
regent  with  Caroline  of  Brunswick,  she  was- 
advised  by  her  own  church  (Roman  catholic) 
that  she  might  lawfully  live  with  him.  Nobody 
seems  to  have  thought  the  worse  of  her ;  she 
was  received  in  the  best  society,  and  was 
treated  by  the  prince  at  all  events  as  if  she 
was  his  wife. 

In  April  1787,  on  the  occasion  of  the  prince 
applying  to  parliament  for  the  payment  of  his 
debts,  Fox,  in  his  place  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, formally  denied  that  any  marriage  had 
taken  place.  It  is  unknown  to  this  day  what 
authority  he  had  for  this  statement.  Common 
report  asserted  that  'a  slip  of  paper'  had 
passed  between  the  prince  and  his  friend ;  and 
Lord  Stanhope,  in  his  '  History  of  England/ 
declares  his  unhesitating  belief  that  Fox  had 
the  best  reasons  for  supposing  the  state- 
ment to  be  true.  The  prince  himself,  how- 
ever, affected  to  be  highly  indignant.  The 
next  time  he  saw  Mrs.  Fitzherbert  he  went 
up  to  her  with  the  words,  '  What  do  you 


Fitzherbert 


171 


Fitzherbert 


think,  Maria  ?  Charles  declared  in  the  House 
of  Commons  last  night  that  you  and  I  were 
not  man  and  wife.'  As  the  prince  was  now 
approaching  the  age  at  which  he  could  make 
a  legal  marriage,  the  curiosity  of  parliament 
on  the  subject  is  perfectly  intelligible.  But 
after  a  lame  kind  of  explanation  from  Sheri- 
dan, who  tried  to  explain  away  Fox's  state- 
ment, without  contradicting  it,  the  subject 
dropped,  and  the  prince  and  the  lady  seem  to 
have  lived  happily  together  till  the  appear- 
ance of  the  Princess  Caroline  [see  CAROLINE, 
AMELIA  ELIZABETH,  1768-1821].  At  the 
trial  of  Warren  Hastings  in  1788  Mrs.  Fitz- 
herbert, then  in  the  full  bloom  of  womanly 
beauty,  attracted  more  attention  than  the 
queen  or  the  princesses.  On  the  prince's 
marriage  (8  April  1795)  to  Caroline  she 
ceased  for  a  time  to  live  with  him.  But 
being  advised  by  her  confessor,  who  had  re- 
ceived his  instructions  from  Eome,  that  she 
might  do  so  without  blame,  she  returned  to 
him ;  and  oddly  enough  gave  a  public  break- 
fast to  all  the  fashionable  world  to  celebrate 
the  event.  She  and  the  prince  were  in  con- 
stant pecuniary  difficulties,  and  once  on  their 
return  from  Brighton  to  London  they  had  not 
money  enough  to  pay  for  the  post-horses,  and 
were  obliged  to  borrow  of  an  old  servant,  yet 
these,  she  used  to  say,  were  the  happiest  years 
of  her  life.  As  years  passed  on,  however,  the 
prince  appears  to  have  fallen  'under  other 
influences  ;  and  at  last  at  a  dinner  given  to 
Louis  XVIII  at  Carlton  House,  in  or  about 
1803,  she  received  an  affront  which  she  could 
not  overlook,  and  parted  from  the  prince  for 
ever.  She  was  told  that  she  had  no  fixed 
place  at  the  dinner-table,  and  must  sit '  ac- 
cording to  her  rank,'  that  is  as  plain  Mrs. 
Fitzherbert.  She  was  not  perhaps  sorry  for 
the  excuse  to  break  off  a  connection  which 
the  prince's  new  ties  had  already  made  irk- 
some to  her ;  and  resisting  all  further  impor- 
tunities she  retired  from  court  on  an  annuity 
of  6,000/.  a  year,  which,  as  she  had  no  chil- 
dren, was  perhaps  a  sufficient  maintenance. 
She  was  probably  the  only  woman  to  whom 
George  IV  was  ever  sincerely  attached.  He 
inquired  for  her  in  his  last  illness,  and  he 
died  with  her  portrait  round  his  neck. 

Mrs.  Fitzherbert  survived  him  seven  years, 
dying  at  Brighton  on  29  March  1837.  From 
George  III  and  Queen  Charlotte,  the  Duke  of 
York,  William  IV,  and  Queen  Adelaide  she 
had  always  experienced  the  greatest  kind- 
ness and  attention,  and  seems  never  to  have 
been  made  to  feel  sensible  of  her  equivocal 
position.  The  true  facts  of  the  case  were  long 
unknown  to  the  public. 

[In  1833  a  box  of  papers  was  deposited  with 
Messrs.  Coutts,  under  the  seals  of  the  Duke  of 


Wellington,  Lord  Albemarle,  and  a  near  connec- 
tion of  Mrs.  Fitzherbert,  Lord  Stourton.  Among 
other  documents  the  box  contained  the  marriage 
certificate,  and  a  memorandum  written  by  Mrs. 
Fitzherbert,  attached  to  a  letter  written  by  the 
clergyman  by  whom  the  ceremony  was  per- 
formed, from  which,  however,  she  herself  had 
torn  off  the  signature,  for  fear  it  should  com- 
promise him.  At  her  death  she  left  full  powers- 
with  her  executors  to  use  these  papers  as  they 
pleased  for  the  vindication  of  her  own  character. 
And  on  Lord  Stourton's  death  in  1846  he  as- 
signed all  his  interest  in  and  authority  over 
them  to  his  brother,  the  Hon.  Charles  Langdale, 
with  a  narrative  drawn  up  by  himself,  from 
which  all  that  we  know  of  her  is  derived.  On 
the  appearance  of  Lord  Holland's  Memoirs  of 
the  Whig  Party  in  1854,  containing  statements 
very  injurious  to  Mrs.  Fitzherbert's  reputation, 
Mr.  Langdale  was  anxious  to  avail  himself  of 
the  contents  of  the  sealed  box.  But  the  surviving 
trustees  being  unwilling  to  have  the  seals  broken, 
and  thinking  it  better  to  let  the  whole  story  be 
forgotten,  Mr.  Langdale  made  use  of  the  narra- 
tive entrusted  to  him  to  compose  a  Life  of  Mrs. 
Fitzherbert,  which  was  published  in  London  early 
in  1856,  and  is  so  far  our  only  authority  for 
the  facts  above  stated.  In  an  article  in  the 
Quarterly  Review  in  1854  a  hope  was  expressed 
that  the  contents  of  the  box  will  soon  be  given 
to  the  public ;  but  it  has  not  at  present  been  ful- 
filled.] T.  E.  K 

FITZHERBERT,  NICHOLAS  (1550- 
1612),  secretary  to  Cardinal  Allen,  second  son 
of  John  Fitzherbert  of  Padley,  Derbyshire,  by 
the  daughter  of  Edward  Fleetwood  of  Vache, 
was  grandson  of  Sir  Anthony  Fitzherbert 
[q.  v/j,  and  first  cousin  to  Thomas  Fitzher- 
bert [q.  v.],  the  Jesuit.  He  became  a  student 
in  Exeter  College,  Oxford,  and  was  '  exhibited 
to  by  Sir  Will.  Petre,  about  1568,  but  what 
continuance  he  made  there,'  says  Wood,  i  I 
know  not.'  His  name  appears  in  the  matri- 
culation register  as  a  member  of  Exeter  Col- 
lege in  1571  and  1572,  he  being  then  the 
senior  undergraduate  of  that  college.  About 
that  time  he  went  abroad  in  order  that  he 
might  freely  profess  the  catholic  religion. 
He  matriculated  in  the  university  of  Douay 
during  the  rectorship  of  George  Prielius 
(Douay  Diaries,  p.  275).  He  studied  the 
civil  law  at  Bologna,  where  he  was  residing 
in  1580.  During  his  absence  from  England 
he  was  attainted  of  treason,  1  Jan.  1580,  on 
account  of  his  zeal  for  the  catholic  cause,  and 
especially  for  his  activity  in  raising  funds  for 
the  English  College  at  Rheims.  Afterwards 
he  settled  in  Rome,  and  received  from  Pope 
Gregory  XIII  an  allowance  of  ten  golden 
scudi  a  month.  When  Dr.  Allen  was  raised 
to  the  purple  in  1587,  Fitzherbert  became  his 
secretary,  and  continued  to  reside  in  his  house- 


Fitzherbert 


172 


Fitzherbert 


hold  till  the  cardinal's  death  in  1594.  He 
strenuously  opposed  the  policy  adopted  by 
Father  Parsons  in  reference  to  English  ca- 
tholic affairs.  An  instance  of  this  is  re- 
corded in  the  diary  of  Roger  Baynes,  a  for- 
mer secretary  to  Cardinal  Allen  :  '  Father 
Parsons  returned  from  Naples  to  Home, 
S  Oct.  1598.  All  the  English  in  Rome  came 
to  the  College  to  hear  his  reasons  against  Mr. 
Nicholas  Fitzherbert,' 

He  never  could  be  induced  to  take  orders. 
When  a  proposal  was  made  to  the  see  of 
Rome  in  1607  to  send  a  bishop  to  England, 
Fitzherbert  was  mentioned  by  Father  Augus- 
tine, prior  of  the  English  monks  at  Douay, 
as  a  person  worthy  of  a  mitre.  Fitzherbert, 
however,  deemed  himself  unworthy  even  of 
the  lowest  ecclesiastical  orders  (DoDD,  Church 
Hist.  ii.  159).  While  on  a  journey  to  Rome 
he  was  accidentally  drowned  in  an  attempt 
to  ford  a  brook  called  La  Pesa,  a  few  miles 
south  of  Florence,  on  6  Nov.  1612.  He  was 
buried  in  the  Benedictine  abbey  at  Florence. 

His  works  are:  1.  '  loannis  Casse  Gala- 
thaevs,  sive  de  Moribus,  Liber  Italicvs.  A 
Nicolao  Fierberto  Anglo-Latine  expressvs,' 
Rome,  1595,  8vo.  Dedicated  to  Didacus  de 
Campo,  chamberlain  to  Clement  VIII.  Re- 
printed, together  with  the  original  Tuscan 
'Trattato  .  .  .  cognominato  Galateo  ovvero 
de'  Costumi,  colla  Traduzione  Latina  a  fronte 
di  Niccolo  Fierberto,'  Padua,  1728,  8vo. 
2.  l  Oxoniensis  in  Anglia  Academiae  De- 
scriptio,'  Rome,  1602,  8vo,  dedicated  to  Ber- 
nardinus  Paulinus,  datary  to  Clement  VIII. 
Reprinted  by  Thomas  Hearne  in  vol.  ix.  of 
Leland's  <  Itinerary,'  1712.  3.  '  De  Anti^ui- 
tate  &  Continuatione  Catholicse  Religionis  in 
Anglia,  &  de  Alani  cardinalis  vita  libellus,' 
Rome,  1608  and  1638, 8vo,  dedicated  to  Pope 
Paul  V.  The  biography  was  reprinted  at 
Antwerp,  1621,  8vo,  and  in  Knox's  '  Letters 
and  Memorials  of  Cardinal  Allen,'  1882,  pp. 
3-20. 

[Biog.  Brit.  iii.  1941 ;  Boase's  Eegister  of 
Exeter  Coll.  pp.  185,  208,  223 ;  Dodd's  Church 
Hist.  ii.  158;  Foley's  Records,  ii.  229,  230; 
Knox's  Letters  and  Memorials  of  Card.  Allen, 
pp.  3,  190,201,  375,  465;  Oliver's  Jesuit  Collec- 
tions, p.  93 ;  Pits,  De  Scriptoribus  Anglise,  p.  814 ; 
Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  (Bliss),  vol.  ii.]  T.  C. 

FITZHERBERT,  THOMAS  (1552- 
1640),  Jesuit,  was  the  eldest  son  and  heir  of 
William  Fitzherbert,  esq.,  of  Swynnerton, 
Staffordshire,  by  Isabella,  second 'daughter 
and  coheiress  of  Humphrey  Swynnerton,  esq., 
of  Swynnerton.  He  was  a  grandson  of  Sir 
Anthony  Fitzherbert  [q.  v.],  justice  of  the 
common  pleas.  Born  at  Swynnerton  in  1552, 
he  was  sent  either  to  Exeter  or  to  Lincoln 
College,  Oxford,  in  1568.  Having  openly  de- 


fended the  catholic  faith,  he  was  obliged  to  live 
in  concealment  for  two  years,  and  being  at  last 
seized  in  1572  he  was  imprisoned  for  recusancy. 
After  his  release  he  found  it  prudent  to  remove 
to  London,  where  he  was  an  active  member 
of  the  association  of  young  men  founded  by 
George  Gilbert  in  1580  for  the  assistance  of 
the  Jesuits  Parsons  and  Campion.  In  that 
year  he  married  Dorothy,  the  only  daughter 
of  Edward  East,  esq.,  of  Bledlow,  Bucking- 
hamshire. He  retired  with  his  wife  to  France 
in  1582.  There  he  was  *  a  zealous  solicitor' 
in  the  cause  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots.  After 
the  death  of  his  wife,  in  1588,  he  went  to 
Spain,  where,  on  the  recommendation  of  the 
Duke  of  Feria,  he  received  a  pension  from 
the  king.  His  name  is  repeatedly  mentioned 
in  the  letters  and  reports  preserved  among 
our  State  Papers.  When  on  a  visit  to  Brussels 
in  1595  he  was  charged  before  the  state  of 
Flanders  with  holding  a  correspondence  with 
the  English  secretary  of  state,  and  with  a  de- 
sign to  set  fire  to  the  magazine  at  Mechlin, 
but  was  extricated  by  the  Duke  of  Feria. 
In  1598  Fitzherbert  and  Father  Richard  Wai- 
pole  were  charged  with  conspiring  to  poison 
Queen  Elizabeth.  For  this  plot  Edward  Squire 
was  condemned  and  executed. 

After  a  brief  stay  at  Milan  in  the  service  of 
the  Duke  of  Feria,  Fitzherbert  proceeded  to 
Rome,  where  he  was  ordained  priest  24  March 
1601-2.  For  twelve  years  he  acted  as  agent 
at  Rome  for  the  English  clergy.  In  1606  he 
made  a  private  vow  to  enter  the  Society  of 
Jesus.  In  1607,  when  the  court  of  Rome 
had  some  thoughts  of  sending  a  bishop  to 
England,  Fitzherbert  was  on  the  list,  with 
three  other  candidates.  He  resigned  the 
office  of  agent  for  the  clergy  in  consequence 
of  the  remonstrance  of  the  archpriest  George 
Birkhead  [q.  v.]  and  the  rest  of  the  body, 
who  appointed  Dr.  Richard  Smith,  bishop  of 
Chalcedon,  to  take  his  place.  Dodd  says 
'  they  were  induced  to  it  by  a  jealousy  of 
some  long  standing.  They  had  discovered 
that  Fitzherbert  had  constantly  consulted 
Father  Parsons  and  the  Jesuits  in  all  matters 
relating  to  the  clergy,  and  that,  too,  contrary 
to  the  express  order  lately  directed  to  the 
archpriest  from  Rome.' 

In  1613  he  carried  into  effect  his  vow  to 
enter  the  order  of  Jesuits,  and  in  1616  was 
appointed  superior  of  the  English  mission  at 
Brussels,  an  office  which  he  filled  for  two 
years.  In  1618  he  succeeded  Father  Thomas 
Owen  as  rector  of  the  English  College  at 
Rome,  and  governed  that  establishment  till 
March  1639,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Father 
Thomas  Leeds,  alias  Courtney.  He  died  in 
the  college  on  7  Aug.  (O.S.)  1640,  and  was 
buried  in  the  chapel. 


Fitzherbert 


173 


Fitzherbert 


Wood  says :  l  He  was  a  person  of  excellent 
parts,  had  a  great  command  of  his  tongue  and 
pen,  was  a  noted  politician,  a  singular  lover 
of  his  countrymen,  especially  those  who  were 
catholics,  and  of  so  graceful  behaviour  and 
generous  spirit  that  great  endeavours  were 
used  to  have  him  created  a  cardinal  some 
years  after  Allen's  death,  and  it  might  have 
been  easily  effected,  had  he  not  stood  in  his 
own  way.' 

His  portrait  was  formerly  in  the  English 
College  at  Rome,  and  a  copy  of  it  by  Munch 
was  in  the  sacristy  at  Wardour  Castle. 

His  works  are:  1.  'A  Defence  of  the  Ca- 
tholycke  Cause,  contayning  a  Treatise  of 
sundry  Untruthes  and  Slanders  published  by 
the  heretics, . . .  by  T.  F.  With  an  Apology  of 
his  innocence  in  a  fayned  Conspiracy  against 
her  Majesty's  person,  for  the  which  one  Ed- 
ward Squyre  was  wrongfully  condemned  and 
executed  in  November  1598,'  St.  Omer,  1602, 
8vo.  2.  '  A  Treatise  concerning  Policy  and 
Religion,  wherein  the  infirmitie  of  humane 
wit  is  amply  declared,  .  .  .  finally  proving 
that  the  Catholique  Roman  Religion  only  doth 
make  a  happy  Commonwealth,'  2  vols.  or 
parts,  Douay,  1606-10,  4to,  and  1615,  4to ; 
3rd  edit.  London,  1696,  8vo.  The  work  is 
dedicated  to  the  author's  son,  Edward  Fitz- 
herbert, who  died  on  25  Nov.  1612.  Wood 
says  that  a  third  part  was  published  at  Lon- 
don in  1652,  4to.  3.  'An  sit  Utilitas  in 
Scelere :  vel  de  Infelicitate  Principis  Mac- 
chiavelliani,  contra  Macchiavellum  et  poli- 
ticos  ems  sectatores,'  Rome,  1610  and  1630, 
8vo.  This  and  the  preceding  work  were 
most  favourably  received  both  by  catholics 
and  protestants.  4.  A  long  preface  to  Father 
Parson's  '  Discussion  of  the  Answer  of  M. 
William  Barlow,  D.D.,  to  the  book  entitled 
"  The  Judgment  of  a  Catholick  Englishman 
concerning  the  Oath  of  Allegiance," '  1612. 
6.  '  A  Supplement  to  the  Discussion  of  M.  D. 
Barlow's  Answer  to  the  Judgment  of  a 
Catholike  Englishman,'  &c.,  St.  Omer,  1613, 
4to,  published  under  the  initials  F.  T.  6.  'A 
Confutation  of  certaine  Absurdities,  Falsi- 
ties, and  Follies,  uttered  by  M.  D.  Andrews 
in  his  Answer  to  Cardinall  Bellarmine's  Apo- 
logy,' St.  Omer,  1613,  4to,  also  published 
under  the  initials  F.  T.  Samuel  Collins,  D.D., 
replied  to  it  in  '  Epphata,  to  F.  T.,  or  a  De- 
fence of  the  Bishop  of  Ely  [Lancelot  An- 
drewes]  concerning  his  Answer  to  Cardinal 
Bellarmine's  Apology  against  the  calumnies 
of  a  scandalous  pamphlet,'  Cambridge,  1617, 
4to.  7.  <  Of  the  Oath  of  Fidelity  or  Allegiance 
against  the  Theological  Disputations  of  Roger 
Widdrington,'  St.  Omer,  1614,  '4to.  Wid- 
drington  (vere  Thomas  Preston)  published 
two  replies  to  this  work.  8.  '  The  Obmutesce 


of  F.  T.  to  the  Epphata  of  D.  Collins ;  or, 
the  Reply  of  F.  T.  to  Dr.  Collins  his  Defence- 
of  my  Lord  of  Winchester's  [Lancelot  An- 
drewes]  Answere  to  Cardinal  Bellarmine's 
Apology,'  St.  Omer,  1621,  8vo.  9.  <  Life  of 
St.  Francis  Xavier,'  Paris,  1632,  4to,  trans- 
lated from  the  Latin  of  Horatius  Tursellinus. 

[Addit.  MS.  5815,  if.  212,  213  b;  Dr.  John 
Campbell,  in  Biog.  Brit. ;  Catholic  Spectator 
(1824),  i.  171 ;  Constable's  Specimens  of  Amend- 
ments to  Dodd's  Church  Hist.  pp.  202-12;  De 
Backer's  Bibl.  des  ficrivains  de  la  Compagnie 
de  Jesus;  Dodd's  Church  Hist,  ii.  410,491-6, 
iii.  77 ;  Erdeswick's  Survey  of  Staffordshire, 
p.  110;  Foley's  Eecords,  ii.  198-233,  vi.  762, 
vii.  258 ;  Gage's  English- American,  p.  208 ; 
Grillow's  Bibl.  Diet, ;  Intrigues  of  Romish  Exiles, 
pp.  31,  35;  Morus,  Hist.  Missionis  Anglic.  Soc. 
Jesu,  p.  235 ;  Morris's  Condition  of  Catholics 
under  James  I,  p.  ccxlii ;  Oliver's  Jesuit  Collec- 
tions, p.  92  ;  Panzani's  Memoirs,  pp.  82,  83  ; 
Pits,  De  Anglise  Scriptoribus,  p.  813 ;  Southwell's 
Bibl.  Scriptorum  Soc.  Jesu,  p.  762  ;  Calendars  of 
State  Papers  ;  Wadsworth's  English-Spanish 
Pilgrim,  p.  65  ;  Wood's  Athene  Oxon.  (Bliss), 
ii.  662.]  T.  C. 

FITZHERBERT,  WILLIAM  (d.  1154), 
archbishop  of  York  and  Saint,  is  also  called 
sometimes  William  of  Thwayt  (Chron.  de 
Melsa,  i.  114,  Rolls  Ser.)  and  most  commonly 
SAINT  WILLIAM  OF  YOEK.  He  was  of  noble 
birth  (WILLIAM  OF  NEWBUKGH,  i.  55,  Rolls 
Ser.),  and  brought  up  in  luxury  (JOHN  OF 
HEXHAM,  c.  274,  in  TWYSDEN),  but  of  his 
father  Herbert  very  little  is  certainly  known. 
John  of  Hexham  calls  him  Herbert  of  Win- 
chester, and  says  that  he  had  been  treasurer 
of  Henry  I.  Hugh  the  Chanter  (in  RAINE, 
Historians  of  the  Church  of  York,  ii.  223) 
says  Herbert  was  also  chamberlain.  Thomas 
Stubbs  (ib.  p.  390)  calls  him  the  '  very- 
strenuous  Count  Herbert,'  and  says  that  his 
wife  was  Emma,  the  sister  of  King  Stephen. 
But  of  her  nothing  else  is  known  (FKEEMAsr,, 
Norman  Conquest,  v.  315),  and  her  very  exist- 
ence depends  on  the  trustworthiness  of  a 
late  authority.  John  of  Hexham  mentions 
that  William  was  a  kinsman  of  Roger,  king 
of  Sicily,  but  it  is  suspicious  that  no  con- 
temporary writer,  even  when  speaking  i» 
some  detail  of  William's  dealings  with  Ste- 
phen and  his  brother  Henry  of  Winchester, 
says  a  word  of  his  relationship  to  the  king. 
One  nephew  of  Stephen  was  almost  elected 
archbishop  before  him.  Another  nephew  of 
Stephen  succeeded  him  as  treasurer  of  York.. 
It  is  hardly  probable  that  William  was  a 
nephew  of  Stephen  also. 

Many  of  William's  kinsfolk  lived  in  York- 
shire, and  his  elder  brother  Herbert  held' 
lands  there,  to  which  he  apparently  suc- 
ceeded about  1140.  William  himself  probably 


Fitzherbert 


174 


Fitzherbert 


became  treasurer  and  canon  of  York  before 
1130,  at  latest  before  1138  (DUGDALE,  Man- 
asticon,  iv.  323-4,  ed.  Caley,  £c.)  In  that 
capacity  lie  accompanied  Archbishop  Thurs- 
tan  on  his  visitation  of  St.  Mary's  Abbey, 
and  witnessed  his  charter  of  foundation  of 
Fountains  Abbey  (WALBRAN,  Memorials  of 
Fountains,  i.  157).  He  also  joined  his  brother 
Herbert  in  conferring  benefactions  on  the 
Austin  Priory  of  Nostell  (Rot.  6%ar£.p.215). 
Stephen  made  him  one  of  his  chaplains,  and 
granted  him  certain  churches  in  the  north 
which  he  had  hitherto  held  of  his  brother  in 
fee  (Monasticon,  vi.  1196). 

On  the  death  of  Archbishop  Thurstan  (Fe- 
bruary 1140)  there  were  great  disputes  in  the 
chapter  as  to  the  choice  of  his  successor. 
"When  the  election  of  Henry  de  Coilli,  King 
Stephen's  nephew,  had  been  determined  upon, 
it  was  rendered  ineffective  by  his  refusal  to 
comply  with  the  papal  request  to  resign  the 
abbey  of  Fecamp  on  accepting  the  arch- 
bishopric. At  last,  in  January  1142,  the 
majority  agreed  to  elect  as  their  archbishop 
"William  the  treasurer.  Their  choice  was, 
however,  hardly  unfettered ;  for  King  Ste- 
phen strongly  pressed  for  his  election,  and 
the  presence  of  William,  earl  of  Albemarle, 
in  the  chapter-house  to  promote  it  doubt- 
less stimulated  their  zeal  (  JOHN  OF  HEXHAM, 
c.  268 ;  cf.  GEKVASE,  Op.  Histor.  i.  123,  Rolls 
Ser.)  A  minority  persisted  in  voting  for  the 
strict  Cistercian,  Henry  Murdac  of  Fountains 
(HovEDEtf,  i.  198,  Rolls  Ser.),  and  the  whole 
of  that  famous  order  believed  that  bribes  of 
the  treasurer  had  supplemented  the  com- 
mands of  the  king.  The  archdeacon  of  York, 
Osbert,  called  Walter  of  London  in  John  of 
Hexham  and  in  the  l  Additions  to  Hugh  the 
Chanter '  (RAIKE,  Historians  of  York,  ii. 
221),  and  other  archdeacons  hurried  to  the 
king  to  complain  of  the  election.  They  were 
seized  by  Albemarle  on  their  way  and  confined 
in  his  castle  of  Bytham,  Lincolnshire.  Wil- 
liam meanwhile  was  well  received  by  Stephen 
at  Lincoln,  and  there  received  the  restitution 
of  his  temporalities.  But  he  was  unable  to 
obtain  consecration  from  Archbishop  Theo- 
bald, and  Henry,  bishop  of  Winchester,  the 
legate,  Stephen's  brother,  who  was  his  friend, 
could  only  direct  him  to  go  to  Rome,  where 
Richard,  abbot  of  Fountains,  William,  abbot 
of  Rievaulx,  and  his  other  enemies  had  already 
appealed  against  his  election  as  tainted  by 
simony  and  royal  influence.  A  strong  letter 
of  St.  Bernard  to  Innocent  II  (S.  BEKSTAKDI, 
Omnia  Opera,  i.  316,  ed.  Mabillon;  also 
printed  in  WALBRAX,  pp.  80-1),  to  the  pope 
that  he  had  made,  showed  that  the  whole 
influence  of  the  Cistercian  order  was  to  be 
directed  against  William.  For  a  time  Inno- 


cent hesitated,  but  at  last,  in  Lent  1143,  he 
decided  that  William  might  be  consecrated 
if  William,  dean  of  York,  would  swear  that 
the  chapter  received  no  royal  commands  from 
Albemarle,  and  if  the  archbishop  elect  would 
clear  himself  on  oath  from  the  charge  of 
bribery.  These  points  were  to  be  ascertained 
in  England,  whither  William  arrived  in  Sep- 
tember. The  Dean  of  York,  who  had  in  the 
meanwhile  been  made  bishop  of  Durham, 
was  unable  to  attend  in  person  the  council 
at  Winchester,  where  the  case  was  to  be 
settled  ;  but  his  agents  gave  the  necessary 
assurances,  and  William's  innocence  was  so 
clearly  established  that  all  clamoured  for  his 
consecration.  On  26  Sept.  the  legate  Henry 
himself  consecrated  William  in  his  own 
cathedral  at  Winchester  (Additions  to  Hugh 
the  Chanter,  p.  222). 

William  now  ruled  at  York  in  peace,  and 
St.  Bernard  could  only  exhort  the  abbot  of 
Rievaulx  to  bear  with  equanimity  the  triumph 
of  his  foe  (Epistolce,  cccliii.  and  ccclx.  in 
Opera,  i.  556,  561,  ed.  Migne).  Meanwhile 
William  busied  himself  in  drawing  up  con- 
stitutions that  prohibited  the  profane  use  of 
the  trees  and  grass  in  churchyards,  and  pre- 
vented clerks  turning  the  money  received  for 
dilapidations  from  the  heirs  of  their  prede- 
cessors to  their  own  personal  uses  (WiLKiNS, 
Concilia,  i.  425-6).  On  a  visit  to  Durham 
William  succeeded  in  reconciling  the  turbu- 
lent William  Comyn  with  Bishop  William 
his  old  friend.  On  the  same  day  he  en- 
throned the  former  dean  of  York  as  bishop 
in  Durham  Cathedral,  and  absolved  Comyn 
from  his  sins  against  the  church  (SYMBOL, 
Hist.  Eccl.  Dunelm.  pp.  283-4,  292;  also 
Anglia  Sacra,  i.  717). 

Though  popular  from  his  extraordinary 
kindness  and  gentleness,  William  was  of  a 
sluggish  temperament.  When  in  1146  the 
cardinal  bishop  Hincmar  arrived  in  England 
on  a  mission  from  the  new  pope,  Lucius  II, 
he  brought  with  him  the  pallium  for  the 
new  archbishop.  Occupied,  as  was  his  wont, 
on  other  matters  of  less  necessity  (JOHN  OP 
HEXHAM,  c.  274),William  neglected  to  obtain 
it  from  Hincmar  at  an  early  opportunity. 
Before  long  Lucius  died.  The  new  pope, 
Eugenius  III,  was  a  violent  Cistercian  and 
the  slave  of  St.  Bernard.  The  enemies  of 
William  took  advantage  of  his  accession 
to  renew  their  complaints  against  William. 
Hincmar  took  his  pall  back  again  to  Rome. 
Bernard  plied  Eugenius  with  new  letters. 
Henry  Murdac,  who  was  now,  through  Ber- 
nard's influence,  abbot  of  Fountains,  led  the 
attack.  In  1147  William  was  compelled  to 
undertake  a  fresh  journey  to  Rome  to  seek 
for  the  pallium.  To  pay  his  expenses  he  was 


Fitzherbert 


Fitzherbert 


compelled  to  sell  the  treasures  and  privileges 
of  the  church  of  York  (ib.  c.  279),  and  this 
of  course  became  a  new  source  of  complaint 
against  him.  Yet  even  now  most  of  the  car- 
dinals were  in  his  favour,  and  Eugenius  was 
much  distracted  between  the  advice  of  his 
*  senate '  and  the  commands  of  the  abbot  of 
Clairvaux.  At  last  he  found  a  pretext  against 
William  in  the  fact  that  William  of  Durham 
had  not  personally  taken  the  pledges  required 
by  Pope  Innocent.  Until  this  was  done  he 
suspended  William  from  his  archiepiscopal 
functions. 

Disgusted  at  his  condemnation  on  a  second 
trial  for  offences  for  which  he  had  been 
already  acquitted,  William  left  Rome  and 
found  a  refuge  with  his  kinsman  Roger  the 
Norman,  king  of  Sicily.  He  was  entertained 
there  by  Robert  of  Salisbury  (or  Selby),  the 
English  chancellor  of  King  Roger.  Mean- 
while his  relatives  and  partisans  in  Yorkshire 
had  revenged  his  wrongs  by  burning  and 
plundering  Fountains  Abbey,  the  centre  of 
the  Cistercian  opposition  to  him  (WALBRAST, 
p.  101).  This  indiscreet  violence  added  a 
new  point  to  the  passionate  appeals  of  Ber- 
nard. In  1147  Murdac  and  the  rest  again 
appeared  against  William  at  a  council  held 
by  Eugenius  at  Rheims.  There,  as  the  Bishop 
of  Durham  had  omitted  to  purge  the  arch- 
bishop on  his  oath  (Chron.  de  Mailros,  s.  a. 
Bannatyne  Club),  Eugenius  finally  deposed 
him  from  his  see.  The  chapter  were  directed 
to  proceed  within  forty  days  to  a  new  elec- 
tion. As  they  could  not  agree  on  any  one 
choice,  Eugenius  cut  the  matter  short  by 
consecrating  at  Trier  Henry  Murdac  himself 
as  archbishop  of  York  (7  Dec.  1147).  But 
such  was  William's  popularity  that  Murdac 
obtained  scanty  recognition  in  Yorkshire, 
where  king  and  people  continued  to  maltreat 
his  followers  (Additions  to  Hugh  the  Chanter, 
p.  225). 

William  showed  great  resignation  to  his 
fate.  His  staunch  friend  Henry  of  Win- 
chester gave  him  an  asylum  in  his  palace, 
and  treated  him  with  all  the  respect  due  to 
an  archbishop.  William  made  no  complaints 
of  his  harsh  treatment.  He  occupied  himself 
in  prayer  and  study.  He  renounced  his 
former  habits  of  luxury.  As  often  as  he 
could  escape  from  the  hospitable  entertain- 
ment of  Bishop  Henry,  he  spent  his  days  with 
the  monks  of  Winchester,  whose  sanctity 
specially  attracted  him  to  eat  and  drink  at 
their  frugal  table  and  sleep  with  them  in 
their  common  dormitory  (Ann.  de  Winton  in 
Ann.  Mon.  ii.  54).  He  remained  at  Winchester 
until  the  death  of  Bernard  and  Eugenius  in 
1153  again  excited  hopes  in  him  of  restitu- 
tion. He  again  hurried  to  Rome,  where, 


without  reflecting  on  the  judgment  passed 
against  him,  he  besought  the  new  pope, 
Anastasius  IV,  to  show  him  mercy.  His 
friend,  if  not  kinsman,  Hugh  of  Puiset,  who 
was  also  seeking  at  Rome  his  recognition  as 
bishop  of  Durham,  did  his  best  to  support 
William's  requests.  The  famous  Cardinal 
Gregory  warmly  espoused  his  cause.  The 
death  of  Archbishop  Murdac,  on  14  Oct. 
1153,  made  it  easy  for  Anastasius  to  accede 
to  William's  prayers.  Without  questioning 
the  legitimacy  of  Murdac's  rule  or  reopening 
the  suits  decided  against  William,  Anastasius 
was  persuaded  to  pity  his  grey  hairs  and  mis- 
fortunes. William  was  restored  to  the  arch- 
bishopric, and  for  the  first  time  received  the 
pallium. 

William  now  returned  to  England.  Pass- 
ing through  Canterbury  he  is  said  to  have 
designated  the  archdeacon  Roger  as  his  suc- 
cessor as  archbishop.  He  next  proceeded  to 
Winchester,  and  celebrated  the  Easter  feast 
of  1154  in  the  city  where  he  had  resided 
when  young,  and  which  had -afforded  him  a 
refuge  in  his  troubles.  Thence  he  turned 
his  course  towards  his  diocese.  As  he  ap- 
proached York  the  new  dean  and  his  old 
enemy,  Archdeacon  Osbert,  endeavoured  to 
prevent  his  entrance  into  the  city  by  declar- 
ing their  intention  of  appealing  against  his 
appointment.  But  William  proceeded  on  his 
way  undismayed  by  their  hostility.  A  great 
procession  of  clergy  and  laity  welcomed  him 
into  the  town.  The  wooden  bridge  over  the 
Ouse  gave  way  under  the  pressure  of  the 
crowd,  and  many  were  precipitated  into  the 
river  ;  but  the  prayers  of  William  saved,  as 
men  thought,  the  lives  of  every  one  of  them. 
In  after  years  a  chapel  dedicated  to  William 
was  erected  on  the  stone  bridge  now  thrown 
over  the  river  to  commemorate  so  signal  a 
miracle.  He  entered  York  on  9  May. 

For  the  next  month  William  ruled  his 
church  in  peace,  though  the  appeal  of  the 
chapter  to  Archbishop  Theobald  was  fraught 
with  fresh  mischief.  But  William  was  no 
longer  the  worldling  whose  wealth  and  laxity 
had  excited  the  suspicions  of  Cistercian  zealots. 
With  great  humility  he  visited  Fountains 
and  promised  full  restitution  for  the  injuries 
his  partisans  had  inflicted  upon  the  abbey. 
The  official  chroniclers  of  the  abbey  had  in 
after  times  nothing  to  say  against  one  who 
could  make  so  complete  a  reparation  (  WAL- 
BRAN,  i.  80).  He  also  visited  the  new  Cis- 
tercian foundation  at  Meaux,  Yorkshire,  and 
in  its  chapter-house  solemnly  confirmed  the 
grants  of  Archbishop  Murdac  to  the  struggling 
community  (  Chron.  de  Melsa,  i.  94, 108).  On 
Trinity  Sunday  he  was  back  at  York,  and 
when  celebrating  high  mass  in  his  cathedral 


Fitzherbert 


176 


Fitzhubert 


I   f^o 


on  that  festival  was  seized  with  a  sudden 
illness.  He  struggled  through  the  service 
and  even  appeared  afterwards  among  the 
guests  assembled  in  his  house.  But  he  felt 
that  his  end  was  near.  Poison  was  at  once 
suspected,  and  antidotes  were  administered. 
But  he  died  on  8  June,  eight  days  after 
his  seizure,  and  Bishop  Hugh  of  Durham 
buried  his  body  in  York  Minster. 

Faction  had  risen  to  such  a  height  at  York 
that  a  circumstantial  story  soon  gained  cre- 
dence among  William's  friends  that  Osbert 
the  archdeacon  had  caused  his  death  by 
poisoning  the  eucharistic  chalice.  A  clerk 
of  William's,  named  Symphorian,  accused 
Osbert  of  the  crime,  in  the  presence  of  King 
Stephen,  and  long  judicial  proceedings  ensued. 
Though  the  matter  seems  never  to  have  been 
brought  to  a  definite  issue,  so  acute  an  ob- 
server as  John  of  Salisbury  was  not  satisfied 
of  Osbert's  innocence  (Ep.  i.  158,  170,  ed. 
Giles).  "William  of  Newburgh  (i.  80-1), 
the  most  critical  historian  of  the  time,  was, 
however,  convinced  by  the  absence  of  positive 
testimony,  and  the  witness  of  an  old  monk 
of  Rievaulx,  then  a  canon  of  York,  that 
William  died  of  a  fever.  Gilbert  Foliot 
{Ep.  i.  152,  ed.  Giles)  was  indignant  at  the 
baselessness  of  the  accusations  against  Osbert, 
but  the  true  issue  became  rather  obscured  by 
clerical  opposition  to  the  desire  of  Stephen, 
and  of  the  accuser,  that  the  case  should  be 
tried  in  the  royal  court.  The  two  biographers 
of  William  omit  all  reference  to  the  story, 
and  the  writers  who  mention  it  generally 

Sualify  it  as  a  rumour  or  gossip.  Yet  before 
Dng  the  misfortunes  and  sufferings  of  Wil- 
liam brought  worshippers  to  his  tomb.  He 
began  to  be  reputed  a  martyr,  and  miracles 
were  worked  by  him.  It  was  believed  that 
when  the  old  minster  was  almost  burnt  down 
and  the  tomb  burst  open  by  the  falling  beam 
the  silken  robe  which  enveloped  the  saint's 
incorruptible  body  was  not  consumed  (Vita 
S.  Will,  in  RAINE,  ii.  279).  The  canons  of 
York,  who  envied  the  local  saints  of  Ripon 
and  Beverley,  were  anxious  for  a  saint  of  their 
own,  and  a  movement  was  started  for  the 
canonisation  of  William.  In  1223  holy  oil 
exuded  from  his  tomb  (MATT.  PARIS,  Hist. 
Major,  iii.  77,  Rolls  Ser.)  A  formal  petition 
to  Honorius  III  led  to  the  usual  investiga- 
tions of  his  claims  to  sanctity  (WALBEAN,  i. 
173-5,  from  Addit.  MS.  15352).  These,  after 
some  doubt,  were  so  well  established  that  in 
1227  Honorius  admitted  him  to  the  calendar 
of  saints.  On  9  Jan.  1283  his  remains  were 
translated  into  a  shrine  behind  the  high  altar, 
through  the  exertions  of  Bishop  Bek  of  Dur- 
ham, and  in  the  presence  of  Edward  I  and 
a  distinguished  company  (details  in  RAINE, 


pp.  228-9,  from  York  Breviary).  But  all  the 
efforts  of  the  York  chapter  could  not  secure 
for  St.  William  more  than  a  local  fame  ;  and 
his  shrine,  though  not  unfrequented,  was 
never  among  the  great  centres  of  popular 
pilgrimage  and  worship.  His  festival  was 
on  8  June,  while  his  translation  was  com- 
memorated on  the  Sunday  next  after  the 
Epiphany. 

[The  fullest  contemporary  sources  for  Wil- 
liam's life  are  John  of  Hexham's  Continuation 
of  Symeon  of  Durham,  printed  in  Twysden's 
Decem  Scriptores,  and  William  of  Newburgh' s 
History,  edited  for  the  Rolls  Series  by  Mr. 
Hewlett ;  his  life  in  the  Actus  Pontificum  Ebora- 
censium,  generally  attributed  to  Thomas  Stubbs, 
was  published  originally  in  Twysden's  Decem 
Scriptores,  cc.  1721-2,  and  is  now  reprinted  by 
Canon  Raine  in  his  Historians  of  the  Church  of 
York,  ii.  388-97.  There  is  a  manuscript  life  of 
Fitzherbert  in  Harl.  MS.  2,  if.  76-88,  written  in 
a  thirteenth-century  hand,  which  contains  little 
special  information.  It  has  been  printed  for  the 
first  time  by  Canon  Raine  in  his  Historians  of 
the  Church  of  York,  ii.  270-91,  and  the  Eight 
Miracles,  pp.  531-50.  This  is  abridged  in  the 
short  life  in  Capgrave's  Nova  Legenda  Anglige, 
pp.  310-11.  A  few  additional  facts  come  from 
the  Additions  to  Hugh  the  Chanter,  in  Raine' s- 
Hist.  Church  of  York,  ii.  220-7.  A  full  life 
is  in  the  Bollandist  Acta  Sanctorum,  tome  ii. 
Junii,  pp.  136-46.  The  modern  life  in  Canon 
Raine's Fasti  Eboracenses,  pp.  220-33,  where  two 
hymns,  addressed  to  St.  William,  are  printed, 
collects  all  the  principal  facts ;  Gervase  of  Can- 
terbury, Hoveden,  Annals  of  Winchester  and 
Waverley  in  Annales  Monastici,  vol.  ii.,  Chron. 
de  Melsa  (all  in  Rolls  Series) ;  Walbran's  Me- 
morials of  Fountains,  and  Raine's  Fabric  Rolls 
of  York  Minster,  both  published  by  Surtees 
Society ;  Chron.  of  Melrose  (Bannatyne  Club)  ; 
Epistles  of  St.  Bernard,  ed.  Migne ;  John  o'f 
Salisbury  and  Gilbert  Foliot,  ed.  Migne  or 
Giles.]  T.  F.  T. 

FITZHERBERT,  SraWILLIAM  (1748- 
1791).  [See  under  FITZHEKBERT,  ALLEYNE.] 

FITZHUBERT,  ROBERT  (fl.  1140), 
freebooter,  is  first  mentioned  in  1139.  His 
origin  is  not  known,  but  he  is  spoken  of  as  a 
kinsman  of  William  of  Ypres  [q.  v.],  and  as 
one  of  those  Flemish  mercenaries  who  had 
flocked  to  England  at  Stephen's  call.  On 
7  Oct.  1139  he  surprised  by  night  the  castle 
of  Malmesbury,  which  the  king  had  seized 
from  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury  a  few  months 
before,  and  burnt  the  village.  The  royal 
garrison  of  the  castle  fled  for  refuge  to  the 
abbey,  but  Robert  soon  pursued  them  thither, 
and,  entering  the  chapter-house  at  the  head 
of  his  followers,  demanded  that  the  fugitives 
should  be  handed  over.  The  terrified  monks 
with  difficulty  induced  him  to  be  content 


Fitzhugh 


177 


Fitzhugh 


with  the  surrender  of  their  horses.  He  was 
already  plundering  far  and  wide,  when  Ste- 
phen, on  his  way  to  attack  Trowbridge,  heard 
of  his  deeds,  and,  turning  aside,  laid  siege  to 
the  castle.  At  the  close  of  a  week  William 
of  Ypres  prevailed  on  Robert  to  surrender, 
and  within  a  fortnight  of  his  surprising  the 
eastle  he  had  lost  it  and  had  set  out  to  join 
the  Earl  of  Gloucester. 

After  five  months  in  the  earl's  service  he 
left  him  secretly,  and  on  the  night  of  26  March 
(1140)  surprised  and  captured  by  escalade 
the  famous  castle  of  Devizes,  then  held  for 
the  king.  The  keep  resisted  for  four  days, 
but  then  fell  into  his  hands.  On  the  Earl 
of  Gloucester  sending  his  son  to  receive  the 
castle  from  Robert,  he  scornfully  turned  him 
«way  from  the  gate,  exclaiming  that  he  had 
captured  the  castle  for  himself.  He  now 
boasted  that  he  would  be  master  by  its  means 
of  all  the  country  from  Winchester  to  Lon- 
don, and  would  send  for  troops  from  Flanders. 
Rashly  inviting  John  Fitzgilbert  [see  MAR- 
SHAL, JOHN],  castellan  of  Marlborough,  to 
join  him  in  his  schemes,  he  was  decoyed  by 
him  to  Marlborough  Castle  and  there  en- 
trapped. The  Earl  of  Gloucester,  on  hearing 
of  this,  hastened  at  once  to  Marlborough, 
and  at  length  by  bribes  and  promises  ob- 
tained possession  of  Robert.  The  prisoner 
•was  then  taken  to  Devizes,  and  the  garrison, 
according  to  the  practice  of  the  time,  warned 
that  he  would  be  hanged  unless  they  sur- 
rendered the  castle.  They  pleaded  the  oath 
they  had  sworn  to  him  that  they  would  never 
do  so,  and  declined.  Two  of  his  nephews 
were  then  hanged,  and  at  last  Robert  him- 
self. The  castle  was  subsequently  sold  by 
the  garrison  to  the  king. 

This  episode  is  dwelt  on  at  some  length 
by  the  chroniclers,  who  were  greatly  im- 
pressed by  the  savage  cruelty,  the  impious 
blasphemy,  and  the  transcendent  wickedness 
of  this  daring  adventurer. 

[Cont.  of  Florence  of  Worcester ;  William  of 
Malmesbury ;  Gesta  Stephani.]  J.  H.  R. 

FITZHUGH,  ROBERT  (d.  1436),  bi- 
ehop  of  London,  the  third  of  the  eight  sons 
of  Henry,  lord  Fitzhugh  (d.  1424),  was  edu- 
cated at  King's  Hall,  Cambridge,  of  which 
he  became  master,  6  July  1424,  and  in  the 
•same  year  was  appointed  chancellor  of  the 
university  (LE  NEVE,  Fasti,  iii.  599,  697). 
Before  this  he  had  enjoyed  a  considerable 
number  of  ecclesiastical  benefices,  which  his 
noble  birth  and  the  leading  position  held 
•by  his  father  readily  secured  for  him.  In 
1401  he  was  appointed  by  the  prior  and  con- 
vent of  Canterbury  to  the  rectory  of  St. 
Leonard's,  Eastcheap,  which  in  July  1406  he 

VOL.  XIX. 


exchanged  for  a  canonry  in  the  cathedral 
church  of  Lismore,  and  was  subsequently  in- 
stalled prebendary  of  Milton  Manor  in  Lin- 
coln Cathedral,  though  he  had  not  then  been 
admitted  to  any  but  the  minor  orders.  In 
1417  he  was  ordained  subdeacon  by  Bishop 
Fordham  of  Ely  at  Downham,  and  deacon  in 
1418,  and  was  made  canon  of  York  in  the 
same  year.  The  next  year,  10  July,  he  ex- 
changed his  prebend  of  Milton  Manor  for  the 
archdeaconry  of  Northampton,  to  which  was 
added  the  prebendal  stall  of  Aylesbury  on 
4  Aug.  As  chancellor  of  Cambridge  he  de- 
livered a  speech  in  convocation  which  we  are 
told  was  much  admired  for  the  elegance  of 
its  latinity.  He  proposed  as  a  remedy  for 
the  great  decrease  of  students  that  the  richer 
benefices  of  the  English  church  should  for  a 
limited  period  be  bestowed  solely  on  gradu- 
ates of  either  university.  This  measure  was 
carried  into  effect  by  Archbishop  Chichele  in 
the  convocation  of  1438  (COOPER,  Annals  of 
Cambridge,  i.  166, 187, 194).  Fitzhugh  went 
on  various  diplomatic  missions  to  Germany 
and  elsewhere.  In  1429  he  was  sent  as  am- 
bassador to  Rome  and  Venice,  and,  while 
absent  from  the  realm  at  the  papal  court, 
was  appointed  bishop  of  London,  Bishop  Gray 
being  translated  to  Lincoln  to  make  room  for 
him.  He  was  consecrated  at  Foligno  on 
16  Sept.  1431.  In  1434  he  was  named  one 
of  the  two  episcopal  delegates  appointed 
with  other  laymen  and  clerics  to  represent 
the  sovereign  and  nation  of  England  at  the 
council  of  Basle.  Letters  of  safe-conduct 
for  a  year  were  given  him,  8  May,  and  license 
was  granted  to  take  with  him  vessels,  jewels, 
and  gold  and  silve,  ^late  to  the  value  of 
two  thousand  markk  TJEis  allowance  was  to 
be  at  the  rate  of  five\  andred  marks,  to  be 
paid  daily,  and  he  was  not  bound  to  remain 
away  for  the  whole  year,  nor  for  more  than 
a  year  (RYMER,  Fcedera,  x.  577,  582,  583 ; 
FULLER,  Church  Hist.  ii.  438-43).  During 
his  stay  at  Basle  he  was  elected  to  the  see  of 
Ely,  vacated  by  the  decease  of  Bishop  Philip 
Morgan  (25  Oct.  1435),  but  died  on  his  way 
home.  His  will  is  dated  at  Dover,  but  he 
is  said  to  have'died  at  St.  Osyth's  in  Essex, 
15  Jan.  1435-6.  He  was  buried  in  his 
cathedral  of  St.  Paul's,  in  the  higher  part 
of  the  choir,  near  the  altar,  his  grave  being 
distinguished  by  his  mitred  effigy  in  brass, 
his  left  hand  bearing  the  crozier,  his  right 
hand  raised  in  benediction.  His  epitaph  thus 
records  the  chief  events  of  his  career,  and 
testifies  to  his  general  popularity : 

Nobilis  antistes  Robertus  Lundoniensis, 
Fili us  Hugonis,  hie  requiescit :  honor 

Doctorum,  flos  Pontificum,  quern  postulat  Ely, 
Romse  Basilicse  regia  facta  refert. 


Fitzjames 


178 


Fitzjames 


Plangit  eum  Papa,  Rex,  grex,  sua  natio  tota, 
Extera  gens  si  quse  noveret  ulla  pium. 

Gemma  pudicitiae,  spectrum  pietatis,  honoris 
Famaque  justitiae  formula  juris  erat. 

He  bequeathed  121.  towards  the  erection 
of  the  schools  at  Cambridge,  and  all  his  pon- 
tificals to  St.  Paul's,  except  a  ring  given 
him  by  the  Venetians,  which  he  had  already 
affixed  to  St.  Erkenwald's  shrine. 

[Dugdale's  St.  Paul's,  pp.  45,  219,  402;  Mil- 
man's  Annals  of  St.  Paul's,  p.  91  ;  Godwin,  De 
Praesulibus,  i.  188 ;  Rymer's  Fcedera,  11.  cc ;  Dug- 
dale's  Baronage,  i.  405;  Fuller's  Church  Hist.  ii. 
438-43.]  E.  V. 

FITZJAMES,  JAMES,  DTTKE  OF  BER- 
WICK (1670-1734),  marshal  of  France,  was 
natural  son  of  James,  duke  of  York,  after- 
wards James  II,  by  Arabella  Churchill  [q.  v.], 
daughter  of  Sir  Winston  Churchill,  and  elder 
sister  of  the  great  Duke  of  Marlborough.  He 
was  born  at  Moulins  in  the  Bourbonnais,  on 
21  Aug.  1670,  and  his  father  gave  him  the 
name  of  James  Fitzjames.  His  handsome 
face  curiously  combined  many  of  the  charac- 
teristics of  his  grandfather,  Charles  I,  and  his 
uncle,  Marlborough.  He  was  educated  en- 
tirely in  France,  first  under  the  care  of  the 
Jesuit  Father  Go  ugh,  at  the  College  de  Juilly, 
then  at  the  College  du  Plessis,  and  finally  at 
the  Jesuit  college  of  La  Fleche.  His  father 
always  showed  the  greatest  affection  for  him, 
and  on  his  accession  to  the  throne  in  1685  he 
sent  young  Fitzjames  to  the  camp  of  Charles, 
duke  of  Lorraine,  who  was  then  besieging 
Buda,  under  the  care  of  a  French  nobleman,  the 
Count  de  Villevison.  Fitzjames  soon  showed 
his  courage,  and  was  distinguished  by  his 
sobriety  in  camp  as  much  as  by  his  desperate 
valour  in  the  final  assault  on  Buda.  At  the 
conclusion  of  the  campaign,  he  paid  a  visit  to 
England ;  and  on  19  March  1687  was  created 
Duke  of  Berwick,  Earl  of  Teignmouth,  and 
Baron  Bosworth  in  the  peerage  of  England. 
He  then  returned  to  Hungary,  and  served  an- 
other campaign  under  the  Duke  of  Lorraine, 
during  which  he  was  present  at  the  great  battle 
of  Mohacz.  He  was  summoned  to  England 
by  James,  who  at  once  made  him  governor  of 
Portsmouth,  and  on  4  Feb.  1688  appointed 
him  colonel  of  the  royal  horse  guards,  the 
Blues,  in  the  place  of  Aubrey  de  Vere,  earl 
of  Oxford.  Berwick  soon  recognised  that  it 
was  impossible  for  him  to  hold  Portsmouth, 
and  he  fled  to  France  to  join  his  father.  He 
proposed  that  James  should  try  to  reconquer 


greatest 

vigour  in  raising  troops  among  the  Irish  Ro- 
man catholics.    He  served  at  the  siege  of 


Derry,  and  commanded  a  detached  force 
against  the  men  of  Enniskillen.  He  was 
present  at  the  battle  of  the  Boyne.  On  the 
departure  of  Tyrconnel  he  was  appointed 
commander-in-chief  of  the  king's  forces  in 
Ireland,  but  on  Sarsfield's  surrender  of  Lime- 
rick he  returned  to  France. 

In  1691  Berwick  joined  the  French  army 
in  the  Netherlands  as  a  volunteer,  and  served 
under  Marshal  Luxembourg  at  the  siege  of 
Mons,  and  in  1692  in  the  victory  won  over 
the  English  and  Dutch  under  William  III 
at  Steenkirk.  In  1693  Berwick  was  ap- 
pointed a  lieutenant-general  in  the  French 
army,  and  in  his  first  campaign  with  this- 
rank  he  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  English 
at  the  battle  of  Neerwinden.  He  was  soon 
released,  and  in  1695  he  married,  against  his 
father's  wish,  the  beautiful  Lady  Honora  Sars- 
field,  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Clanricarde,  and 
widow  of  Patrick  Sarsfield,  hero  of  Limerick. 
She  died  in  1698,  and  in  1700  he  married 
Anne,  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Henry  Bulkeley. 

Berwick  served  the  campaign  of  1702  in 
Flanders  under  Marshal  Boufflers,  and  in 
the  following  year  became  a  naturalised 
Frenchman,  in  order  to  be  eligible  for  the 
rank  of  marshal  of  France.  In  1704  he  was 
sent  to  Spain  in  command  of  a  powerful 
French  army,  to  support  Philip  V,  and  in 
an  admirable  campaign  he  prevented  the 
far  stronger  forces  of  the  allied  English  and 
Portuguese  from  invading  Spain  from  the 
west.  For  his  services  he  was  made  a  knight 
of  the  order  of  the  Golden  Fleece  by  the  king 
of  Spain,  but  complaint  was  made  of  his  pur- 
suing defensive  tactics,  and  at  the  close  of 
the  year  he  was  recalled  and  made  governor 
of  the  Cevennes.  He  had  then  to  fight  against 
the  protestant  mountaineers,  known  as  the 
'  Camisards,'  who  were  in  open  rebellion,  and, 
after  partially  subduing  them,  he  swiftly 
crossed  the  Sardinian  frontier  and  took  Nice, 
for  which  exploit  he  was  made  a  marshal  of 
France  in  1706.  In  the  following  year  Ber- 
wick made  his  great  campaign  against  the 
Anglo-Portuguese  army,  which  had  in  1706 
for  a  short  time  occupied  Madrid.  Philip  V 
of  Spain  begged  Louis  XIV  to  send  him 
Marshal  Berwick,  and  the  newly  made  mar- 
shal entered  Spain  at  the  head  of  a  small 
and  well-equipped  French  army.  He  at  once 
marched  to  the  Portuguese  frontier,  and  after 
a  most  scientific  campaign  he  drew  the  allied 
army  under  Henri  de  Ruvigny,  Lord  Galway, 
and  the  Marquis  Das  Minas  into  an  unfavour- 
able position,  and  then  utterly  defeated  it  in 
the  important  battle  of  Almanza,  the  only 
battle  recorded  in  which  an  English  general 
at  the  head  of  a  French  army  defeated  an 
English  army  commanded  by  a  Frenchman. 


Fitzjames 


179 


Fitzjames 


Berwick  was  made  governor  of  the  Limousin 
by  the  king  of  France,  and  the  king  of  Spain 
arranged  a  marriage  between  Berwick's  only 
son  by  his  first  marriage  and  Donna  Cathe- 
rina  de  Veraguas,  the  richest  heiress  in  Spain, 
and  created  the  boy  Duke  of  Liria  and  a 
grandee  of  the  first  class.  In  1709  the  mar- 
shal was  recalled  from  Spain  to  defend  the 
south-eastern  frontier  of  France  against  the 
Austrians  and  Sardinians  under  Prince 
Eugene.  This  he  did  in  a  series  of  defensive 
campaigns,  unmarked  by  a  single  important 
battle,  which  have  always  been  considered 
as  models  in  the  art  of  war. 

After  the  peace  of  Utrecht  Berwick  was 
long  unemployed.  He  refused  to  co-operate 
in  the  attempt  of  his  legitimate  brother,  the 
*  Old  Pretender,'  to  regain  the  throne  of  Eng- 
land in  1715,  and  preferred  French  politics 
to  English.  He  kept  clear  of  party  intrigues, 
and  his  advice  on  military  questions  was  re- 
ceived with  the  highest  respect.  He  cor- 
dially supported  the  English  alliance  main- 
tained by  the  Regent  Orleans  and  Fleury,  in 
spite  of  his  family  relationship  to  the  exiled 
Stuart  family. 

In  1733  the  war  of  the  Polish  succession 
broke  out,  and  Berwick  was  placed  in  com- 
mand of  the  most  important  French  army, 
which  was  destined  to  invade  Germany  from 
Strasbourg,  and  act  against  Berwick's  old 
adversary,  Prince  Eugene.  He  took  com- 
mand of  his  army,  and  in  October  1733 
occupied  Kehl,  and  then  went  into  winter 
quarters.  In  March  1734  he  again  joined 
his  army  at  Strasbourg ;  on  1  May  he  crossed 
the  Rhine,  and  carried  the  lines  at  Ettlingen, 
and  on  13  May  he  invested  Philipsbourg. 
The  siege  was  carried  on  in  the  most  scien- 
tific manner,  and  the  third  parallel  had  just 
been  opened,  when  on  12  June  the  marshal 
started  on  his  rounds  with  his  eldest  son  by 
his  second  marriage,  the  Due  de  Fitzjames. 
He  had  not  proceeded  far  when  his  head  was 
carried  off  by  a  cannon-ball.  The  news  of 
this  catastrophe  aroused  the  greatest  sorrow 
in  France,  and  the  marshal's  body  was  brought 
to  France  to  be  interred  in  the  church  of  the 
Hopital  des  Invalides  at  Paris. 

Berwick  was  a  cautious  general  of  the  type 
of  Turenne  and  Moreau,  whose  genius  shone 
in  sieges  and  defensive  operations.  He  served 
in  twenty-nine  campaigns,  in  fifteen  of  which 
he  commanded  in  chief,  and  in  six  battles,  of 
which  he  only  commanded  in  one,  the  famous 
victory  of  Almanza.  Montesquieu,  in  the 
6 loge  prefixed  to  the  marshal's  memoirs,  says 
of  him :  '  He  was  brought  up  to  uphold  a 
sinking  cause,  and  to  utilise  in  adversity 
every  latent  resource.  Indeed,  I  have  often 
heard  him  say  that  all  his  life  he  had  earnestly 


desired  the  duty  of  defending'a  first-class  fort- 
ress.' Berwick  left  descendants  both  in 
France  and  Spain,  who  held  the  highest 
ranks  in  both  those  countries,  in  Spain  as 
Dukes  of  Liria  and  in  France  as  Dues  de 
Fitzjames. 

[The  Duke's  Memoires  were  first  published  by 
his  grandson  in  1777;  they  only  go  down  to 
1705,  and  are  generally  published  with  the  pre- 
fatory eloge  by  Montesquieu,  into  whose  hands 
they  were  placed  to  be  prepared  for  the  press, 
and  with  a  continuation  to  1734  by  the  Abb6 
Hook,  who  published  an  English  translation  in 
1779.  They  have  been  many  times  reprinted,  no- 
tably in  Michaud  and  Poujoulat's  great  collection 
of  French  memoirs.  All  French  histories  of  the 
period  and  all  French  biographical  dictionaries 
contain  information  about  Berwick  and  his  cam- 
paigns, and  in  English  reference  may  be  made 
to  James  II  and  the  Duke  of  Berwick,  published 
1876,  and  The  Duke  of  Berwick,  published  1883, 
by  C.  Townshend  Wilson.]  H.  M.  S. 

FITZJAMES,  SIR  JOHN  (1470  P-1542  ?), 
judge,  son  of  John  Fitzjames  of  Redlynch, 
Somersetshire,  and  nephew  of  Richard,  bishop 
of  London  [q.v.],  was  a  member  of  the  Middle 
Temple,  where  he  was  reader  in  the  autumn 
of  1504  and  treasurer  in  1509  (DUGDALB, 
Orig.  pp.  215,  221).  He  also  held  the  office 
of  recorder  of  Bristol  in  1510,  a  place  worth 
19Z.  Qs.  Sd.  per  annum,  which  he  does  not 
seem  to  have  resigned  until  1533,  when  he  was 
succeeded  by  Thomas  Cromwell.  In  1511  he 
was  one  of  the  commissioners  of  sewers  for 
Middlesex  (Letters  and  Papers  of  the  Reign 
of  Henry  VIII,  Foreign  and  Domestic,  i. 
157,  301,  iii.  pt.  ii.  1458,  vi.  263,  vii.  557). 
On  or  about  26  Jan.  1518-19  he  was  ap- 
pointed attorney-general,  and  in  this  capa- 
city seems  to  have  been  sworn  of  the 
council,  as  his  signature  is  appended  to  a 
letter  dated  13  June  1520  from  the  council 
to  the  king,  then  at  Calais,  congratulating 
him  on  his  '  prosperous  and  fortunate  late 
passage.'  About  the  same  time  he  was 
appointed,  with  Sir  Edward  Belknap  and 
William  Roper,  to  assist  the  master  of  the 
wards  in  making  out  his  quarterly  reports. 
He  was  also  attorney-general  for  the  duchy 
of  Lancaster  between  1521  and  1523,  and 
probably  from  a  much  earlier  date  ;  and  he 
seems  to  be  identical  with  a  certain  John 
Fitzjames  who  'acted  as  collector  of  subsi- 
dies for  Somersetshire  between  1523  and 
1534.  As  attorney-general  he  conducted,  in 
May  1521,  the  prosecution  of  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham.  The  same  summer  he  was 
called  to  the  degree  of  serjeant-at-law,  <^n 
6  Feb.  1521-2  he  was  advanced  to  a  puisne 
judgeship  of  the  king's  bench,  and  two  days 
later  he  was  created  chief  baron  of  the 


Fitzjames 


180 


Fitzjames 


exchequer.  About  the  same  time  he  was 
knighted.  In  the  autumn  of  1523  he  was  en- 
trusted by  the  king  with  the  delicate  task  of 
negotiating  a  marriage  between  Lord  Henry 
Percy,  who  was  supposed  to  be  engaged  to 
Anne  Boleyn,  and  Lady  Mary  Talbot,  daugh- 
ter of  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury.  Fitzjames's 
diplomacy  was  crowned  with  success.  On 
23  Jan.  1525-6  he  succeeded  Sir  John  Fyneux 
fq.  v.]  as  chief  justice  of  the  king's  bench. 
He  was  a  trier  of  petitions  in  parliament  in 
November  1529,  and  signed  the  articles  of 
impeachment  exhibited  against  Wolsey  on 
1  Dec.  of  the  same  year.  He  seems  to  have 
exerted  himself  at  Wolsey's  request  to  save 
Christchurch  from  sequestration  (ib.  iii.  pt.  i. 
12,  197,  pt.  ii.  873,  1383,  iv.  pt.  iii.  2690, 
2714,  2928;  COBBETT,  State  Trials,  i.  296; 
BREWEK,  Reign  of  Henry  VIII,  ed.  Gairdner, 
ii.  177  ;  Proceedings  and  Ordinances  of  the 
Priiy  Council,  vii.  338 ;  DUGDALE,  Chron.  Ser. 
80, 81).  Two  letters  are  extant  from  Fitzjames 
to  Cromwell,  one  dated  29  Oct.  1532,  describ- 
ing the  state  of  legal  business  and  the  ravages 
of  the  plague,  the  other,  dated  8  March,  and 
apparently  written  at  Redlynch  in  1533,  in 
which  he  complains  much  of  illness,  and  begs 
to  be  excused  attendance  in  London.  He 
was  present,  however,  at  the  coronation  of 
Anne  Boleyn  on  1  June  1533.  His  name  is 
appended  to  a  proclamation  of  7  Nov.  1534, 
fixing  the  maximum  price  of  French  and 
Gascon  wines  at  41.  per  tun,  pursuant  to 
statute  23  Hen.  VIII,  c.  7.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  special  tribunals  that  tried  in 
April  1535  the  Carthusians,  Robert  Feron, 
John  Hale,  and  others,  for  high  treason  under 
statute  25  Hen.  VIII,  c.  22,  the  offence  con- 
sisting in  having  conversed  too  freely  about 
the  king's  marriage.  He  also  helped  to  try 
Fisher  and  More  in  the  ensuing  June  and 
July.  It  is  probable  that  he  secretly  sympa- 
thised with  the  prisoners,  as  he  preserved  a 
discreet  silence  throughout  the  proceedings, 
broken  only  when  the  lord  chancellor  directly 
appealed  to  him  to  say  whether  the  indict- 
ment against  More  was  or  was  not  sufficient 
by  the  curiously  cautious  utterance,  '  By 
St.  Gillian,  I  must  needs  confess  that  if  the 
act  of  parliament  be  not  unlawful,  then  the 
indictment  is  not  in  my  conscience  invalid.' 
On  2  Sept.  1535  he  wrote  to  Cromwell,  in- 
terceding on  behalf  of  the  abbot  of  Glaston- 
bury,  who  he  thought  was  being  somewhat 
harshly  dealt  with  by  the  visitors  of  the 
monasteries.  In  October  1538  he  made  his 
will,  being  then  '  weak  and  feeble  in  body.' 
He  retired  from  the  bench  in  the  same  year, 
or  early  in  the  following  year,  his  successor, 
Sir  Edward  Montagu,  being  appointed  on 
21  Jan.  1538-9.  The  exact  date  of  his  death 


is  uncertain.  His  will  was  proved  on  1 2  May 
1542.  He  was  buried  in  the  parish  church 
of  Bruton,  Somersetshire  (State  Papers,  i. 
384,  387 ;  Trevelyan  Papers,  Camden  Soc.  ii. 
55-7 ;  Letters  and  Papers  of  the  Reign  of 
Henry  VIII,  Foreign  and  Domestic,  viii. 
229,  350,  384,  ix.  85 ;  COBBETT,  State  Trials, 
i.  393).  The  reputation  of  Fitzjames  suf- 
fered much  at  the  hands  of  Lord  Campbell, 
whose  errors  and  fabrications  were  ably  ex- 
posed by  Foss.  It  is  impossible,  with  the 
meagre  materials  at  our  command,  to  say 
how  far  Fitzjames  may  have  allowed  sub- 
serviency to  the  king  to  pervert  justice.  His 
complicity  in  the  judicial  murders  of  1535 
leaves  an  indelible  stain  on  his  memory.  On 
the  other  hand  he  seems  to  have  been  superior 
to  bribes. 

[Fuller's  "Worthies,  Somersetshire ;  Lloyd's 
State  Worthies,  i.  125-9;  Collinson's  Somerset- 
shire, i.  226;  Hutchins's  Dorset,  ii.  222;  Foss's 
Lives  of  the  Judges.]  J.  M.  E. 

FITZJAMES,  RICHARD  (d.  1522),  bi- 
shop of  London,  son  of  John  and  grandson 
of  James  Fitzjames,  who  married  Eleanor, 
daughter  of  Simon  Draycot,  was  born  at  Red- 
lynch,  in  the  parish  of  Bruton,  Somersetshire. 
Nothing  is  known  of  him  till  he  became  a  stu- 
dent at  Oxford,  which  Wood  says  was  about 
1459.  He  was  elected  fellow  of  Merton  Col- 
lege in  1465,  and  had  taken  his  degree  of 
M.A.  before  he  was  ordained  acolyte  (XIV 
Kal.  Maii,  1471).  Fuller  speaks  of  him  as 
being  of  right  ancient  and  worthy  parent- 
age ;  but  Campbell,  in  his  life  of  his  nephew, 
Sir  John  Fitzjames  [q.  v.],  speaks  of  him 
as  of  low  origin,  though  he  gives  no  autho- 
rity for  the  statement.  He  served  the  office 
of  proctor  in  the  university  of  Oxford  in 
1473,  and  in  1477  became  prebendary  of 
Taunton  in  the  cathedral  church  of  Wells, 
in  succession  to  John  Wansford,  subdean  of 
Wells,  resigned.  He  was  afterwards  chap- 
lain to  Edward  IV,  and  proceeded  to  his 
degrees  in  divinity.  His  name  appears  as 
principal  of  St.  Alban  Hall  from  Michael- 
mas day  1477  to  the  same  day  1481.  In 
1485  he  was  presented  to  the  rectory  of 
Aller  and  the  vicarage  of  Minehead,  both  in 
Somersetshire,  and  in  1495  was  incorporated 
M.A.  at  Cambridge.  He  held  Aller  till  1497, 
when  he  was  succeeded  by  Christopher  Bain- 
bridge,  afterwards  cardinal  and  archbishop 
of  York.  He  was,  says  Wood,  esteemed  a 
frequent  preacher,  but  is  said  to  have  read 
and  not  preached  his  sermons.  On  12  March 
1483  he  succeeded  John  Gygur  in  the  war- 
denship  of  his  college.  This  post  he  held 
till  1507,  and  won  golden  opinions  for  his 
liberality  and  excellent  government  of  the 


Fitzjames 


181 


Fitzjocelin 


college.  He  considerably  enlarged  the  war- 
den's lodge,  and  was  otherwise  so  great  a 
benefactor  to  the  college  as  almost  to  be 
considered  its  second  founder.  Among  other 
reforms  he  procured  an  enactment  that  no 
one  admitted  into  the  society  should  be  or- 
dained till  he  had  completed  his  regency  in 
arts,  the  object  being  to  remedy  the  igno- 
rance of  candidates  for  holy  orders.  In 
1511,  being  at  that  time  bishop  of  London, 
he  was  appointed  by  the  university  to  inquire 
into  its  privileges,  and  the  relation  in  which  it 
stood  to  the  town  of  Oxford.  He  also  contri- 
buted to  the  completion  of  St.  Mary's  Church. 
In  1495  he  became  almoner  to  Henry  VII,  and 
was  consecrated  bishop  of  Rochester,  2  Jan. 
1497,  at  Lambeth  by  Cardinal  Morton,  assisted 
by  the  bishops  of  Llandaff  and  Bangor.  He 
appears  to  have  been  employed  at  Calais  in 
March  1499  in  negotiations  for  a  commercial 
treaty  with  the  Low  Countries,  in  conjunction 
with  Warham  and  Sir  Richard  Hatton,  and 
was  one  of  the  bishops  appointed  to  be  in 
the  procession  for  receiving  the  Princess 
Catherine  of  Arragon  on  her  arrival  in  this 
country  in  1501,  and  to  attend  on  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  on  his  celebration  of 
the  marriage  with  Prince  Arthur.  In  January 
1504  he  was  translated  to  Chichester,  and  to 
London  on  14  March  1506,  soon  after  which 
he  resigned  the  wardenship  of  his  college. 
During  his  tenure  of  this  see  he  did  much 
for  the  restoration  and  beautifying  of  St. 
Paul's  Cathedral.  Bernard  Andr6  comme- 
morates his  preaching  on  Sunday  31  Oct. 
1507  at  Paul's  Cross.  He  lived  on  till  1522, 
and  was  buried  in  the  nave  of  his  own  cathe- 
dral, a  small  chapel  being  erected  over  his 
tomb,  which  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1561. 
In  conjunction  with  his  brother  John,  father 
of  the  lord  chief  justice  of  England  [see  FITZ- 
JAMES, SIK  JOHN],  he  founded  the  school  of 
Bruton,  near  the  village  where  he  was  born. 
The  palace  at  Fulham  was  also  built  by  him. 

He  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  high 
character  and  greatly  respected,  in  this  re- 
spect very  unlike  his  brother  the  chief  justice. 
"While  at  Oxford  he  acted  as  commissary  (an 
office  which  corresponds  to  that  of  the  vice- 
chancellor  of  this  day)  in  1481,  under  the 
chancellorship  of  Lionel  Woodville,  bishop  of 
Salisbury,  and  again  served  the  same  office 
in  1491  and  1492,  under  John  Russell,  bishop 
of  Lincoln ;  and  in  1502,  upon  the  resigna- 
tion of  William  Smith,  bishop  of  Lincoln, 
being  then  warden  of  Merton  and  bishop  of 
Rochester,  became,  as  Wood  says, l  cancel- 
larius  natus.' 

Fitzjames  belonged  to  the  strongly  conser- 
vative type  of  bishop.  In  a  letter  from  Fitz- 
james to  Cardinal  Wolsey  (printed  by  Foxe) 


the  bishop  defended  his  chancellor,  Horsey, 
who  had  been  imprisoned  on  the  charge  of  mur- 
dering Hunne,  a  merchant  tailor  of  London 
charged  with  heresy.  Fitzjames  asked  that 
the  cause  might  be  tried  before  the  council,  be- 
cause he  felt  assured  that  a  jury  in  London 
would  condemn  any  clerk,  be  he  as  innocent 
as  Abel,  as  they  were  so  maliciously  set  '  in 
favorem  hsereticse  pravitatis.'  Horsey  was 
condemned  and  afterwards  pardoned.  Foxe 
prints  a  document  the  authenticity  of  which 
Mr.  Brewer  doubts,  to  the  effect  that  the 
king  orders  Horsey  to  recompense  Roger 
Whapplot  and  Margaret  his  wife,  daughter 
of  Richard  Hunne,  for  the  wasting  of  his 
goods,  which  were  of  no  little  value.  It  ap- 
pears from  Fitzjames's  '  Register '  that  there 
were  a  few  other  cases  of  prosecution  for 
heresy  during  his  episcopate,  all  of  which 
ended  in  a  recantation  and  abjuration.  Fitz- 
james deprecated  Dean  Colet's  efforts  at  church 
reform,  and  from  1511  onwards  the  dean  com- 
plained of  the  persecution  he  suffered  at  his 
bishop's  hands  [see  COLET,  JOHN]. 

[Wood's  Athena?,  ed.  Bliss,  ii.  720;  Wood's  His- 
tory and  Antiquities,  ed.  Gutch ;  Burnet's  Re- 
formation ;  Fuller's  Worthies;  Lupton's  Life  of 
Colet,  1887  ;  Cooper's  Athenae  Cantabr.  i.  25,  26, 
526  ;  Stubbs's  Registrum  Sacrum  Anglicanum ; 
Foxe's  Acts  and  Monuments;  Le  Neve's  Fasti; 
Godwin,  De  Praesulibus;  Brewer's  Calendar  of 
State  Papers ;  Bernard  Andre's  Hist,  of  Henry  VII, 
ed.  Gairdner ;  Gairdner's  Letters  of  Kichard  III 
and  Henry  VII;  Fitzjames's  Register.]  N.  P. 

FITZJOCELIN,   REGINALD  (1140?- 
1191),  archbishop-elect  of  Canterbury,  son  of 
Jocelin  de  Bohun,  bishop  of  Salisbury,  and 
nephew   of  Richard   de   Bohun,  bishop   of 
Coutances  (1151-79),  of  the  house  of  Bohun 
of  St.  George  de  Bohun,  near  Carentan,  was 
born  about  1 140,  for  he  is  said  to  have  been 
thirty-three  in  1174  (Anglia  Sacra,  i.  561), 
and  was  brought  up  in  Italy,  whence  he  was 
called  the  Lombard  (BosHAM,  Materials  for 
Life  of  JSecket,  iii.  524).     He  was  made  arch- 
deacon of  Salisbury  by  his  father,  and  was 
reckoned  a  young  man  of  prudence,  indus- 
try, high  spirit,  and  ability.     Like  most  of 
the  young  archdeacons  of  his  time  he  loved 
pleasure,  and  was  much  given  to  hawking 
(PETEK  OF  BLOIS,  JEp.  61).     In  early  life  he 
was  one  of  the  friends  of  Thomas,  possibly 
while  Thomas  was  chancellor,  and  in  1164 
received    from   Lewis  VII    the    abbey  of 
St.   Exuperius  in   Corbeil   (Archceologia,  1. 
348).     During  the  progress  of  the  quarrel 
between  Henry  II  and  Archbishop  Thomas 
the  archbishop  excommunicated  Reginald's 
father,  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury.     Reginald, 
who  had  a  strong  affection  for  his  father, 
wholly  withdrew  from  the  archbishop,  and 


Fitzjocelin 


182 


Fitzjocelin 


became  one  of  his  most  dangerous  and  out- 
spoken opponents.  He  was  constantly  em- 
ployed by  the  king,  who  sent  him  on  embas- 
sies to  Pope  Alexander  III  in  1167  and  1169, 
and  the  archbishop  complained  of  his  boasting 
of  his  success  at  the  papal  court  (Ep.  Becket, 
vi.  643).  On  15  Aug.  1169  Henry  sent  him 
to  meet  the  pope's  commissioners  at  Dam- 
front,  and  shortly  afterwards  Thomas  wrote 
of  him  in  violent  terms,  declaring  that  he 
had  betrayed  him,  had  spoken  disrespectfully 
of  the  pope  and  the  curia,  and  had  advised 
Henry  to  apply  to  the  pope  to  allow  some 
bishop  to  discharge  duties  that  pertained  to 
his  see  (ib.  vii.  181).  Peter  of  Blois,  who 
was  much  attached  to  Reginald,  sent  a  letter 
to  the  archbishop's  friends,  defending  his  con- 
duct, chiefly  on  the  ground  that  he  was  act- 
ing in  support  of  his  father  (ib.  p.  195).  After 
the  murder  of  the  archbishop  he  was  sent 
in  1171  to  plead  the  king's  innocence  before 
the  pope  (ib.  pp.  471-5 ;  HOVEDEN,  ii.  25).  The 
see  of  Bath  having  been  vacant  for  more  than 
eight  years,  the  king,  in  1173,  procured  the 
election  of  Reginald,  who,  in  company  with 
Richard,  archbishop  elect  of  Canterbury,  went 
to  procure  the  pope's  confirmation.  On  5  May 
1174  he  wrote  to  the  king,  saying  that  though 
the  pope  had  consecrated  Richard  his  own 
matter  was  still  undecided.  Before  long  he 
obtained  his  desire  by,  it  is  said,  offering  the 
pope  a  purse  of  money  (De  Nugis  Curialium, 
p.  35).  He  was  consecrated  at  S.  Jean  de 
Maurienne  by  the  archbishops  of  Canterbury 
and  Tarentaise  on  23  June,  after  having 
cleared  himself  by  oath  of  all  complicity  in 
Thomas's  death,  and  brought  forward  wit- 
nesses to  swear  that  he  had  been  begotten 
before  his  father  became  a  priest  (DiCETO,  i. 
391).  His  election  scandalised  Thomas's 
party,  and  while  it  was  yet  unconfirmed  Peter 
of  Blois  wrote  a  letter,  declaring  that  it  was 
unfair  to  speak  of  him  as  one  of  the  arch- 
bishop's persecutors  and  murderers,  that  he 
had  loved  the  archbishop,  and  only  turned 
against  him  for  his  father's  sake  (Epistolce, 
JBecket,  vii.  554). 

Immediately  after  his  consecration  Re- 
ginald went  to  the  Great  Chartreuse,  and 
persuaded  Hugh  of  Avalon  to  come  over 
to  England  and  take  charge  of  the  house 
which  the  king  had  built  at  Witham  in  So- 
merset (Magna  Vita  S.  Hugonis,  p.  55)  ;  he 
then  rejoined  the  archbishop,  early  in  August 
consecrated  the  church  of  St.  Thomas  the 
Martyr  at  St.  Lo  {Somerset  Archceol.  Proc. 
xix.  11,  94),  and  on  the  8th  met  the  king  at 
Barfleur  (BENEDICT,  i.  74).  On  24  Nov.  he 
was  enthroned  by  the  archbishop  (DiCETO, 
i.  398).  He  enriched  the  church  of  Wells, 
added  to  the  canons'  common  fund,  founded 


several  new  prebends,  and,  as  there  is  reason 
to  believe,  built  a  portion  of  the  nave  of 
the  church.  He  appears  to  have  desired 
to  strengthen  the  cathedral  organisation  by 
bringing  the  rich  abbey  of  Glastonbury  into 
close  connection  with  it,  for  he  made  the 
abbot  a  member  of  the  chapter,  set  apart  a 
prebend  for  him,  and  erected  the  liberty  of 
the  abbey  into  an  archdeaconry.  He  granted 
two  charters  to  the  town  of  Wells,  creating 
it  a  free  borough.  At  Bath  he  founded  the 
hospital  of  St.  John  in  1180  for  the  succour 
of  the  sick  poor  who  came  to  use  the  baths 
there.  He  obtained  from  Richard  I  a  charter 
granting  to  him  and  his  successors  in  the  see 
the  right  of  keeping  sporting  dogs  through- 
out all  Somerset.  He  continued  to  take  an 
active  share  in  public  affairs.  In  1175  he  was 
at  the  council  which  the  archbishop  held  at 
Westminster  in  May  (BENEDICT,  i.  84)  ;  in 
March  1177  he  attended  the  council  called 
by  the  king  which  met  at  London  to  arbi- 
trate between  the  kings  of  Castile  and  Na- 
varre (ib.  pp.  144, 154),  and  two  months  later 
attended  the  councils  which  Henry  held  at 
Geddington  and  Windsor.  He  was  appointed 
one  of  the  commissioners  sent  in  1178  by  the 
kings  of  England  and  France  to  put  down  the 
heretics  of  Toulouse,  and  in  company  with  the 
Viscount  of  Turenne  and  Raymond  of  Cha- 
teauneuf  tried  and  excommunicated  the  here- 
tical preachers  there.  Then,  in  company  with 
the  abbot  of  Clairvaux,  he  visited  the  diocese 
of  Albi,  and  thence  proceeded  to  the  Lateran 
council  which  was  held  in  the  March  of  the  fol- 
lowing year  (ib.  pp.  199-206, 219  ;  HOVEDEN, 
ii.  171).  He  was  on  terms  of  friendship  with 
the  king's  natural  son  Geoffrey,  and  in  1181 
persuaded  him  to  resign  his  claim  to  the  see 
of  Lincoln.  In  1186  he  promoted  the  election 
of  Hugh  of  Avalon  to  the  bishopric  of  Lin- 
coln, was  present  at  the  council  of  Eynsham, 
near  Oxford,  and  attended  the  marriage  of 
William  the  Lion,  the  Scottish  king,  at  Wood- 
stock (BENEDICT,  i.  351).  At  the  coronation 
of  Richard  I  on  3  Sept.  1189  he  walked  on 
the  left  hand  of  the  king  when  he  advanced 
to  the  throne,  the  Bishop  of  Durham  being 
on  his  right  (ib.  ii.  83).  He  attended  the 
council  of  Pipewell  held  on  the  15th  (  HOVE- 
DEN, iii.  15),  and  was  probably  the  'Italus  r 
who  unsuccessfully  offered  the  king  4,OOOJ. 
for  the  chancellorship  (RICHARD  OF  DEVIZES, 
p.  9).  The  next  year  he  obtained  the  lega- 
tine  office  for  the  chancellor,  Bishop  William 
Longchamp  (ib.  p.  14)  ;  he  seems  to  have  been 
requested  to  make  the  application  when  he 
and  others  of  the  king's  counsellors  crossed 
over  in  February  to  meet  Richard  in  Nor- 
mandy. He  took  the  side  of  Geoffrey  against 
the  chancellor,  and  in  October  1191  assisted 


Fitzjohn 


183 


Fitzjohn 


in  overthrowing  Longchamp  (BENEDICT,  ii. 
218).  The  monks  of  Christ  Church  found  in 
him  a  steady  and  powerful  friend  during  their 
quarrel  with  Archbishop  Baldwin.  In  this 
matter  he  largely  employed  the  help  of  his 
kinsman,  Savaric,  archdeacon  of  Northamp- 
ton, the  cousin,  as  he  asserted,  of  the  emperor. 
When  the  death  of  Baldwin  was  known  in 
England  the  monks,  on  27  Nov.,  elected  Re- 
ginald to  the  archbishopric,  acting  somewhat 
hastily,  for  they  were  afraid  that  the  suffragan 
bishops  would  interfere  in  the  election  (GEE- 
VASE,  i.  511).  The  justiciar,  Walter  of  Cou- 
tances,  is  said  to  have  desired  the  office,  and 
the  ministers  called  in  question  the  validity 
of  the  election.  Reginald  went  down  to  his 
old  diocese  to  secure  the  election  of  Savaric 
&s  his  successor,  and  as  he  was  returning  was, 
on  24  Dec.,  seized  with  paralysis  or  apoplexy 
at  Dogmersfield  in  Hampshire,  a  manor  be- 
longing to  the  see  of  Bath.  On  the  25th  he 
sent  to  the  prior  of  Christ  Church,  bidding 
Jiim  hasten  to  him  and  bring  him  the  monas- 
tic habit.  He  died  on  the  26th,  and  was 
buried  near  the  high  altar  of  the  abbey  church 
of  Bath  on  the  29th  (Epp.  Cantuar.  pp.  354, 
355  ;  RICHARD  OF  DEVIZES,  pp.  45, 46,  where 
an  epitaph  is  given).  Peter  of  Blois  notices 
that  he  who  had  no  small  hand  in  causing 
the  demolition  of  the  archbishop's  church  at 
Hackington,  dedicated  to  St.  Stephen  and  St. 
Thomas  the  Martyr,  died  on  St.  Stephen's 
day,  and  was  buried  on  the  day  of  St.  Thomas 
(Epp.  Cantuar.  p.  554). 

[Materials  for  the  history  of  Thomas  Becket, 
archbishop,  iii,  vi,  vii  (Rolls  Ser.) ;  Walter  Map's 
De  Nugis  Curialium  (Camden  Soc.) ;  Benedictus 
Abbas,  i.  and.ii.  passim  (Rolls  Ser.)  ;  Ralph  de 
Diceto,  i.  and  ii.  (Rolls  Ser.) ;  Roger  de  Hoveden, 
ii.  and  iii.  (Rolls  Ser.) ;  Magna  Vita  S.  Hugonis 
(Rolls  Ser.)  ;  Memorials  of  Rich.  I,  ii,  Epp.  Can- 
tuar. (Rolls  Ser.) ;  Gervase,  i.  (Rolls  Ser.) ;  Peter 
of  Blois,  Epistolse,  ed.  Giles  ;  Richard  of  Devizes 
(Engl.  Hist.  Soc.);  Wharton'sAngliaSacra,i.561 ; 
Reginald,  bishop  of  Bath,  Archseologia,  1.  295- 
360  ;  Reynolds's  Wells  Cathedral,  pref.  Ixxsi ; 
Freeman's  Cathedral  Church  of  Wells,  pp.  70, 
170  ;  Somerset  Archseol.  Soc.'s  Journal,  xix.  ii. 
9-11 ;  Dugdale's  Monasticon,  vi.  773  ;  Cassan's 
Bishops  of  Bath  and  Wells,  p.  105.]  W.  H. 

FITZJOHN,  EUSTACE  (d.  1157),  judge 
and  constable  of  Chester,  was  the  son  of  John 
de  Burgh,  and  the  nephew  and  heir  of  Serlo 
de  Burgh,  lord  of  Knaresborough,  and  the 
founder  of  its  castle  (DUGDALE,  Monasticon, 
vi.  957-72  ;  cf.,  however,  Notes  and  Queries, 
•5th  ser.  xii.  83-4).  Like  his  brother,  Pain 
Fitzjohn  [q.  v.],  he  became  attached  to  the 
court  of  Henry  I.  He  witnessed  some  charters 
of  1133.  In  the  only  extant  Pipe  Roll  of 
-Henry's  reign  he  appears  as  acting  as  justice 


itinerant  in  the  north  in  conjunction  with 
Walter  Espec.  He  won  Henry's  special  fa- 
vour (Gesta  Stephani, p. 35,  Engl.  Hist.  Soc.), 
received  grants  that  made  him  very  powerful 
in  Yorkshire,  and  was  reputed  to  be  a  man 
of  great  wisdom  (AiLEED  OP  RIEVAULX  in 
TWYSDEN,  Decem  Scriptores,  c.  343 ;  cf.  WIL- 
LIAM OF  NEWBTIEGH,  i.  108,  Rolls  Ser.)  Dug- 
dale  gives  from  manuscript  sources  a  list  of 
Henry's  donations  to  Eustace  (Baronage, 
i.  91).  He  was  also  governor  of  Bamburgh 
Castle  (JOHN  OF  HEXHAM  in  TWYSDEN,  Decem 
Scriptores,  c.  261).  He  witnessed  the  charter 
of  Archbishop  Thurstan  toBeverley  (Feeder a, 
i.  10).  On  the  death  of  Henry,  Fitzjohn  re- 
mained faithful  to  the  cause  of  Matilda,  and 
was  in  consequence  taken  into  custody  and 
deprived  of  his  governorship  of  Bamburgh 
(JOHN  OF  HEXHAM).  He  joined  David,  king 
of  Scots,  when  that  king  invaded  the  north, 
in  1138  (Gesta  Stephani,  p.  35).  He  sur- 
rendered Alnwick  Castle  to  David  (RiCHAED 
OF  HEXHAM  in  TWYSDEN,  c.  319),  and  held 
out  against  Stephen  in  his  own  castle  of 
Malton  (HENRY  OF  HUNTINGDON,  Hist.  An- 
glorum,  p.  261,  Rolls  Ser.)  He  was  present 
at  the  Battle  of  the  Standard  (AiLEED,  c. 
343),  where  he  and  his  followers  fought  along- 
side the  men  of '  Cumberland '  and  Teviotdale 
in  the  second  line  of  King  David's  host.  In 
the  latter  part  of  Stephen's  reign  he  lived 
quietly  in  the  north  under  the  government 
of  the  Scottish  king,  by  whose  grants  his  pos- 
sessions were  confirmed. 

Fitzjohn  was  a  lavish  patron  of  the  church 
and  the  special  friend  of  new  orders  of  regu- 
lars. In  1131  he  witnessed  the  charter  by 
which  his  colleague,  Walter  Espec  [q.  v.], 
founded  llievaulx,  the  first  Cistercian  house 
established  in  Yorkshire  (Monasticon,  v.  281). 
When  the  first  monks  of  Fountains  were  in 
the  direst  distress  and  had  given  away  their 
last  loaves  in  charity,  Eustace's  timely  present 
of  a  load  of  bread  from  Knaresborough  was 
looked  on  as  little  less  than  a  miracle  (WAL- 
BBAN,  i.  50).  He  also  made  two  gifts  of 
lands  to  Fountains  (ib.  i.  55,  57).  In  1147 
he  founded  the  abbey  of  Alnwick  for  Pre- 
monstratensian  canons.  This  was  the  first 
house  of  that  order  in  England,  and  was 
erected  only  two  years  after  the  order  was 
founded  (Monasticon,  vi.  867-8).  Fitzjohn 
was  a  friend  of  St.  Gilbert  of  Sempringham 
[q.  v.],  and  established  two  of  the  earliest 
nouses  for  the  mixed  convents  of  canons  and 
nuns  called,  after  their  founder,  the  Gil- 
bertines.  Between  1147  and  1154  Fitzjohn, 
in  conjunction  with  his  second  wife,  Agnes, 
founded  a  Gilbert  ine  house  at  Watt  on  in 
Yorkshire  (ib.  vi.  954-7),  and  another  at  Old 
Malton  in  the  same  county  (ib.  vi.  970-4). 


Fitzjohn 


184 


Fitzmaurice 


A  few  years  later  his  grants  to  Malton  were 
confirmed  ( Thirty-first  Report  of  Deputy- 
Keeper  of  Records,  p.  3).  He  also  made  grants 
to  the  monks  of  St.  Peter's,  Gloucester,  the 
church  of  Flamborough,  and  to  the  Austin 
canons  of  Bridlington  (Monasticon,  vi.  286). 
Fitzjohn  made  two  rich  marriages.  His 
first  wife  was  Beatrice,  daughter  and  heiress 
of  Ivo  de  Vesci.  She  brought  him  Alnwick 
and  Malton  (ib.  vi.  868).  She  died  at  the  birth 
of  his  son  by  her,  William  (ib.  vi.  956),  who 
adopted  the  name  of  Vescy,  and  was  active  in 
the  public  service  during  the  reign  of  Henry  II 
(EYTON,  Court  and  Itinerary  of  Henry  II, 
passim),  and  was  sheriff  of  Northumberland 
between  the  fourth  and  sixteenth  years  of 
Henry  II  (Thirty-first  Report  of  Deputy- 
Keeper  of  Records,  p.  320).  He  was  the 
ancestor  of  the  Barons  de  Vescy.  His  son 
Eustace  was  prominent  among  the  northern 
barons,  whose  revolt  from  John  led  to  the 
signing  of  Magna  Charta.  Fitzjohn's  second 
wife  was  Agnes,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Wil- 
liam, baron  of  Halton  and  constable  of  Ches- 
ter (Monast.  vi.  955),  one  of  the  leading  lords 
of  that  palatinate.  He  obtained  from  Earl 
Ranulph  II  of  Chester  a  grant  of  his  father- 
in-law  s  estates  and  titles.  He  was  recog- 
nised in  the  grant  as  leading  counsellor  to  the 
earl,  '  above  all  the  nobles  of  that  country.' 
In  his  new  capacity  he  took  part  in  Henry  II's 
first  disastrous  expedition  into  Wales,  and 
was  slain  (July  1157)  in  the  unequal  fight 
when  the  king's  army  fell  into  an  ambush  at 
Basingwerk.  He  was  then  an  old  man  (  WILL. 
NEWBURGH,  i.  108).  By  his  second  wife  he 
left  a  son,  Richard  Fitzeustace,  the  ancestor 
of  the  Claverings  and  the  Lacies. 

[Besides  the  chronicles  quoted  in  the  article, 
Dugdale's  Baronage,  i.  90-1,  largely  'ex  vet. 
Cartulario  penes  Car.  Fairfax  de  Menstan  in  Com. 
Ebor.,'  which  gives  a  pedigree  of  the  Vescies; 
Dugdale's  Monasticon,  vol.  vi. ;  Walbran's  Me- 
morials of  Fountains  (Surtees  Soc.) ;  Foss's 
Judges  of  England,}.  115-17;  Eyton's  Itinerary 
of  Henry  II;  Thirty-first  Report  of  Deputy- 
Keeper  of  Public  Records.]  T.  F.  T. 

FITZJOHN,  PAIN  (d.  1137),  judge,  was 
a  brother  of  Eustace  Fitzjohn  [q.  v.]  The 
evidence  for  this  is  a  charter  of  Henry  I 
(1133)  to  Cirencester  Priory,  in  which  Eus- 
tace and  William  are  styled  his  brothers. 
He  belonged  to  that  official  class  which  was 
fostered  by  Henry  I.  Mr.  Eyton  (Shrop- 
shire, i.  246-7,  ii.  200)  holds  (on  the  autho- 
rity of  the  '  Shrewsbury  Cartulary')  that  he 
was  given  the  government  of  Salop  about 
1127.  In  the  '  Pipe  Roll'  of  1130  he  is  found 
acting  as  a  justice  itinerant  in  Staffordshire, 
Gloucestershire,  and  Northamptonshire,  in 
conjunction  with  Miles  of  Gloucester,  whose 


son  eventually  married  his  daughter.  He  is 
frequently,  during  the  latter  part  of  the  reign, 
found  as  a  witness  to  royal  charters.  In  1134 
his  castle  of  Caus  on  the  Welsh  border  was 
stormed  and  burnt  in  his  absence  by  the 
Welsh  (ORD.  VIT.  v.  37).  At  the  succession 
of  Stephen  he  was  sheriff  of  Shropshire  and 
Herefordshire.  At  first  he  held  aloof,  but 
was  eventually,  with  Miles  of  Gloucester, 
persuaded  by  Stephen  to  join  him  (Gesta, 
pp.  15,  16).  His  name  is  found  among  the 
witnesses  to  Stephen's  Charter  of  Liberties- 
early  in  1136  (Sel.  Charters,  p.  114).  In  the 
following  year,  when  attacking  some  Welsh 
rebels,  he  was  slain  (10  July  1137),  and  his 
body  being  brought  to  Gloucester,  was  there 
buried  (Gesta,  p.  16;  Cont.  FLOR.  WIG. 
ii.  98).  By  a  charter  granted  shortly  after- 
wards (Duchy  of  Lancaster ;  Royal  Charters, 
No.  20)  Stephen  confirmed  his  whole  pos- 
sessions to  his  daughter  Cicily,  wife  of  Roger, 
son  of  Miles  of  Gloucester.  Dugdale  erro- 
neously assigns  him  Robert  Fitzpain  as  a  son.. 

[Pipe'Roll,  31  Hen.  I  (Record  Comm.);  Flo- 
rence of  Worcester  (Engl.  Hist.  Soc.);  Crests 
Stephani  (Rolls  Series) ;  Ordericus  Vitalis  (Soc. 
de  1'Histoire  de  France) ;  Stubbs's  Select  Charters ; 
Duchy  Charter  (Publ.  Rec.  Office);  Cott.  MS. 
Calig.  A.  vi. ;  Eyton's  Hist,  of  Shropshire.] 

J.  H.  R. 

FITZJOHN,  THOMAS,  second  EARL. 
OP  KILBAEE.  [See  FITZGERALD.  THOMAS. 
d.  1328.] 

FITZMAURICE,     HENRY     PETTY 

(1780-1863),  third  MARQUIS  OF  LANSDOWNE* 
[See  PETTY-FITZMAURICE.] 

FITZMAURICE,  JAMES  (d.  1579), 
'  arch  traitor.'  [See  FITZGERALD,  JAMES- 
FITZMAURICE.] 

FITZMAURICE,  PATRICK,  seven- 
teenth LORD  KERRY  and  BARON  LIXSTAW 
(1551  P-1600),  son  and  heir  of  Thomas  Fitz- 
maurice, sixteenth  lord  Kerry  [q.  v.],  was 
sent  at  an  early  age  into  England  as  a  pledge 
of  his  father's  loyalty.  When  he  had  attained 
the  age  of  twenty  he  was  allowed  by  Eliza- 
beth to  return  to  Ireland  (LODGE,  Peerage 
(Archdall),ii.)  In  1580  he  joined  in  the  rebel- 
lion of  the  Earl  of  Desmond,  but  shortly  after- 
wards with  his  brother  Edmund  was  surprised 
and  confined  to  the  castle  of  Limerick.  In 
August  1581  he  managed  to  escape  with  the 
connivance,  it  was  suspected,  of  his  gaoler, 
John  Sheriff,  clerk  of  the  ordnance  (State 
Papers,  Eliz.  Ixxxv.  9,  14).  In  September 
1582  he  was  reported  to  have  gone  to  Spain 
with  the  catholic  bishop  of  Killaloe  (Ham. 
Cal.  ii.  399)  ;  but  he  was  in  January  1583 
wounded  at  the  Dingle,  and  in  April  1587  cap- 


Fitzmaurice 


185 


Fitzmaurice 


tured  and  committed  to  Dublin  Castle  (ib. 
iii.  278  ;  Cat.  Carew  MSS.  ii.  442).  In  1588 
Sir  William  Herbert  made  a  laudable  effort 
to  procure  his  release,  offering  to  pawn  his 
bond  to  the  uttermost  value  of  his  land  and 
substance  for  his  loyal  and  dutiful  demeanour, 
1  knowing  him  to  be  of  no  turbulent  dispo- 
sition '  (Ham.  Cal.  iii.  502).  He  was,  how- 
ever, opposed  by  St.  Leger  and  Fitzwilliam, 
and  despite  a  loving  attempt  on  the  part  of 
his  wife  to  obtain  his  freedom  (ib.  iv.  208)  he 
remained  in  prison  till  1591-2.  During  the 
last  great  rebellion  that  convulsed  Ireland  in 
Elizabeth's  reign  he,  perhaps  more  from  com- 
pulsion than  free  choice,  threw  in  his  lot  with 
the  rebels  (Carew  Cal.  iii,  203,  300)  ;  but  the 
evident  ruin  that  confronted  him  and  the  loss 
of  his  castle  of  Lixnaw  so  affected  him  that 
he  died  shortly  afterwards,  August  1600  (Pa- 
cata  Hib.  ch.  xi.)  He  was  buried  with  his 
uncle  Donald,  earl  of  Clancar,  in  the  Grey 
Friary  of  Irrelaugh  in  Desmond.  He  married 
Joan  or  Jane,  daughter  of  David,  lord  Fermoy, 
and  by  her  had  Thomas,  his  heir  [q.  v.],  Gerald, 
and  Maurice,  and  two  daughters,  Joan  and 
Eleanor  (LODGE  (Archdall),  vol.  ii.) 

[Authorities  as  in  the  text.]  E.  D. 

FITZMAURICE,  THOMAS,  sixteenth 
LORD  KERRY  and  BARON  LIXNAW  (1502- 
1590),  was  the  youngest  son  of  Edmund 
Fitzmaurice,  tenth  lord  Kerry,  and  Una, 
daughter  of  Teige  MacMahon.  Made  heir 
to  the  ancestral  estates  in  Clanmaurice  by 
the  death  of  his  elder  brothers  and  their 
heirs,  he  owed  his  knowledge  of  that  event 
to  the  fidelity  of  his  old  nurse,  Joan  Harman, 
who,  together  with  her  daughter,  made  her 
way  from  Dingle  to  Milan,  where  he  was 
serving  in  the  imperial  army.  On  his  return 
he  found  his  inheritance  contested  by  a  cer- 
tain John  Fitzrichard,  who,  however,  sur- 
rendered it  in  1552.  He  was  confirmed  in 
his  estate  by  Mary,  and  on  20  Dec.  1589 
executed  a  deed  settling  it  on  his  son  Patrick 
and  heirs  male,  remainder  to  his  own  right 
heirs  (LODGE,  Peerage  (Archdall),  vol.  ii.)  He 
is  said  to  have  sat  in  the  parliament  of  1556, 
and  in  March  1567  he  was  knighted  by  Sir 
H.  Sidney  (Cal.  Carew  MSS.  ii.  149).  His 
conduct  during  the  rebellion  of  James  Fitz- 
maurice (1569-73)  was  suspicious,  but  he 
appears  to  have  regained  the  confidence  of 
the  government,  being  commended  by  Sidney 
on  the  occasion  of  his  visit  to  Munster  in 
1576  (Ham.  Cal.  ii.  90).  Like  most  of  the 
would-be  independent  chiefs  in  that  province, 
he  complained  bitterly  of  the  aggressions  of 
the  Earl  of  Desmond.  Charged  by  Sir  W. 
Pelham  with  conniving  at  that  earl's  re- 
bellion, he  grounded  his  denial  on  the  ancient 


and  perpetual  feud  that  had  existed  between 
his  house  and  the  head  of  the  Geraldines 
(Cal.  Carew  MSS.  ii.  296,  303).  His  sons 
Patrick  and  Edmund,  who  had  openly  joined 
the  rebels,  were  surprised  and  incarcerated 
in  Limerick  Castle.  On  3  Sept.  1581  he  and 
the  Earl  of  Clancar  presented  themselves 
before  the  deputy  at  Dublin  'in  all  their 
bravery.  And  the  best  robe  or  garment  they 
wore  was  a  russet  Irish  mantle  worth  about 
a  crown  apiece,  and  they  had  each  of  them 
a  hat,  a  leather  jerkin,  a  pair  of  hosen  which 
they  called  trews,  and  a  pair  of  brogues,  but 
not  all  worth  a  noble  that  either  of  them  had ' 
(BRADY,  State  Papers).  Two  months  pre- 
viously (23  July)  he  had  given  pledges  of 
his  loyalty  to  Captain  Zouche,  but  in  May 

1582  we   read   that   after   killing   Captain 
Acham  and  some  soldiers  he  went  into  re- 
bellion, whereupon  his  pledges  were  hanged 
by  Zouche  (Ham.   Cal.  ii.  365,  369,  376). 
His  position  indeed  was  intolerable,  what 
with  the  '  oppressions '  of  the  rebels  and  the 
'  heavy  cesses '  of  the  government.    The  Earl 
of  Ormonde  mediated  for  him,  and  in  May 

1583  he  was  pardoned  (ib.  pp.  430,  431,  439, 
468).     He  sat  in  the  parliament  of  1585-6, 
but  he  seems  to  have  been  regarded  with 
suspicion  till  his  death  on  16  Dec.  1590  (ib. 
iv.  346,  383).     He  was  buried  in  the  tomb 
of  Bishop  Philip  Stack,  in  the  cathedral  of 
Ardfert,  Zouche  refusing  to  allow  his  burial 
in  the  tomb  of  his  ancestors  in  the  abbey, 
which  then  served  as  a  military  station.   He 
married,  first,  Margaret,  *  the  fair,'  second 
daughter  of  James  Fitzjohn,  fourteenth  earl 
of  Desmond  (d.  1563),  by   whom   he  had 
Patrick,  his  heir  [q.  v.J,  Edmund,  killed  at 
Kin  sale,  Robert,  slain  m  the  isles  of  Arran, 
and  one  daughter;  secondly,  Catherine,  only 
daughter  and  heir  of  Teige  MacCarthy  Mor 
(o.  s.  p.);  thirdly,  Penelope,  daughter  of  Sir 
Donald  O'Brien,  brother  of  Conor,  third  earl 
of  Thomond. 

He  is  said  to  have  been  the  handsomest 
man  of  his  age,  and  of  such  strength  that 
within  a  few  months  of  his  death  not  mor& 
than  three  men  in  Kerry  could  bend  his  bow. 
1  He  was/  says  the  '  Four  Masters,'  *  the  best 
purchaser  of  wine,  horses,  and  literary  works 
of  any  of  his  wealth  and  patrimony  in  the- 
greater  part  of  Leath-Mogha  at  that  time r 
(LODGE  (Archdall) ;  Annals  of  Four  Masters, 
s.  a.  1590). 

[Authorities  as  in  text.]  B.  D. 

FITZMAURICE,  THOMAS,  eighteenth 
LORD  KERRY  and  BARON  LIXNAW  (1574- 
1630),  was  son  of  Patrick,  seventeenth  lord 
Kerry  [q.  v.],  whom  he  followed  into  rebellion 
in  1598.  After  the  death  of  his  father  and  the 


Fitzmaurice 


186 


Fitzneale 


capture  of  Listowel  Castle  by  Sir  Charles 
AVilmot  in  November  1600,  finding  himself 
excluded  by  name  from  all  pardons  offered 
to  the  rebels  (Cal.  Carew  MSS.  iii.  488,  499), 
he  repaired  into  the  north,  where  he  was 
soon  busily  negotiating  for  aid  with  Tyrone 
and  O'Donnell  (ib.  iv.  10).  Finding  that  he 
was  '  like  to  save  his  head  a  great  while,'  the 
queen  expressed  her  willingness  that  he  should 
be  dealt  with  for  pardon  of  his  life  only 
(ib.  p.  15).  But  by  that  time  he  had  managed 
to  raise  twelve  galleys,  and  felt  no  inclination 
to  submit  (ib.  p.  60).  After  the  repulse  of  the 
northern  army  from  Thomond  in  November 
1601,  he  was  driven  '  to  seek  safety  in  every 
bush '  (ib.  p.  405).  In  Februaryl603  an  attempt 
was  made  to  entrap  him  by  Captain  Boys, 
but  without  success  (RUSSELL  and  PREN- 
DERGAST,  Cal.  i.  5-6).  On  26  Oct.  1603  Sir 
Robert  Boyle,  afterwards  Earl  of  Cork,  wrote 
that  '  none  in  Munster  are  in  action  saving 
MacMorris,  whose  force  is  but  seven  horse 
and  twelve  foot,  and  they  have  fed  on  garrans' 
flesh  these  eight  days.  He  is  creeping  out  of 
his  den  to  implore  mercy  from  the  lord  deputy 
in  that  he  saith  he  never  offended  the  king ' 
(ib.  p.  22).  His  application  was  more  than 
successful,  for  he  obtained  a  regrant  of  all 
the  lands  possessed  by  his  father  (king's 
letter,  26  Oct.  1603 ;  ib.  p.  98 ;  cf.  Erck's 
Cal.  p.  101).  His  son  and  heir,  however, 
was  taken  away  from  him  and  brought  up 
with  the  Earl  of  Thomond  as  a  protestant. 
He  sat  in  the  parliament  of  1615,  when  a 
quarrel  arose  between  him  and  Lords  Slane 
and  Courcy  over  a  question  of  precedency 
(ib.  v.  25),  which  was  ultimately  decided  in 
his  favour  (Cal.  Carew  MSS.  v.  313,  320). 
Between  the  father,  a  catholic  and  an  ex- 
rebel,  and  the  son,  a  protestant  and  '  a  gentle- 
man of  very  good  hope,'  there  was  little  sym- 
pathy. The  former  had  promised  to  assure 
to  the  latter  a  competent  jointure  at  his 
marriage,  but  either  from  inability  or  un- 
willingness refused  to  fulfil  his  promise.  The 
son  complained,  and  the  father  was  arrested 
and  clapped  in  the  Fleet  (RUSSELL  and  PREN- 
DERGAST,  Cal.  v.  289, 361, 392).  After  a  short 
period  of  restraint  he  appears  to  have  agreed  to 
fulfil  his  contract,  and  was  allowed  to  ret  urn 
home.  Again  disdaining  to  acknowledge  the 
bond,  and  falling  under  suspicion  of  treason, 
he  was  rearrested  and  conveved  to  London 
(ib.  pp.  530,  535,  547).  This"  time,  we  may 
presume,  surety  for  his  good  faith  was  taken, 
for  he  was  allowed  to  return  to  Ireland, 
dying  at  Drogheda  on  3  June  1630.  He  was 
buried  at  Casnel,  in  the  chapel  and  tomb  of  St. 
Cormac.  He  married,  first,  Honora,  daughter 
of  Conor,  third  earl  of  Thomond,  by  whom 
he  had  Patrick,  his  heir,  Gerald,  and  Joan  ; 


secondly,  Gyles,  daughter  of  Richard,  lord 
Power  of  Curraghmore,  by  whom  he  had  five 
sons  and  three  daughters  (LODGE  (Archdall), 
vol.  ii.) 

[Authorities  as  given  in  text.]  R.  D. 

FITZNEALE  or  FITZNIGEL,  RI- 
CHARD, otherwise  RICHARD  OF  ELY  (d. 
1198),  bishop  of  London  (1189-98),  was  the 
son — legitimate,  if  born  before  his  father 
was  in  holy  orders — of  Nigel,  bishop  of  Ely, 
treasurer  of  the  kingdom,  the  nephew  of  the 
mighty  Roger,  bishop  of  Salisbury,  chancellor 
and  justiciar  of  Henry  I.  He  received  his 
education  in  the  monastery  of  Ely,  where  he 
acquired  the  reputation  of  a  very  quick-witted 
and  wise  youth '  (Hist.  Eliens. ;  WHARTON, 
Anglia  Sacra,  i.  627),  and  laid  the  foundations 
of  wide  and  accurate  learning  and  literary 
power.  He  belonged  to  a  family  which  for 
nearly  a  century  and  a  half  held  a  leading 
place  in  the  royal  household  and  in  the  legal 
and  financial  administration  of  the  kingdom. 
The  year  of  his  birth  is  not  recorded,  but  he 
must  have  been  still  young  when  in  1169  his 
father,  the  bishop  of  Ely,  purchased  for  him 
for  a  hundred  marks  the  treasurership  which 
he  had  long  filled  himself.  The  flourishing 
condition  of  the  treasury  on  Henry's  death 
proved  the  excellence  of  his  administration, 
more  than  a  hundred  thousand  marks  being 
found  in  the  royal  coffers,  in  spite  of  Henry's 
continued  and  costly  wars.  He  had  been  ap- 
pointed archdeacon  of  Ely  by  his  father  before 
1169,  became  justice  itinerant  in  1179,  and 
held  the  prebendal  stall  of  Cantlers  in  St. 
Paul's  Cathedral.  In  1184  we  find  him  dean 
of  Lincoln,  and  in  1186  the  chapter  elected 
him  bishop  of  that  see,  the  election,  however, 
being  annulled  by  Henry  II,  who  had  re- 
solved that  one  of  the  holiest  and  wisest  men 
of  his  day,  Hugh,  prior  of  Witham,  should 
fill  the  office,  and  compelled  Fitzneale  and 
his  canons  to  elect  the  royal  nominee  (BENE- 
DICT. ABBAS,  i.  345).  On  the  death  of  Gilbert 
Foliot  [q.  v.],  he  was  appointed  to  the  see  of 
London  shortly  before  the  king's  death  in 
1189.  The  canons  of  St.  Paul's  were  sum- 
moned to  Normandy  to  elect  the  king's  no- 
minee, but  political  troubles  and  domestic 
sorrows  allowed  Henry  no  time  or  thought 
for  ecclesiastical  affairs.  The  election  was 
postponed  from  day  to  day,  and  was  still  pend- 
ing on  the  king's  death.  Immediately  after 
his  accession  Richard  I  held  a  great  council 
at  Pipewell  on  5  Sept.  1189,  the  first  act  of 
which  was  to  fill  the  five  sees  then  vacant, 
confirming  his  father's  nomination  of  Fitz- 
neale to  the  see  of  London  (MATT.  PARIS, 
ii.  351),  to  which  he  was  consecrated  in  the 
chapel  at  Lambeth  by  Archbishop  Baldwin  on 


Fitzneale 


187 


Fitzneale 


31  Dec.,  at  the  same  time  with  Richard's  chan- 
cellor, William  Longchamp,  to  the^see  of  Ely. 
His  episcopate  was  nearly  commensurate  with 
the  reign  of  Richard,  and  his  career  was  on 
the  whole  as  peaceful  as  that  of  his  sovereign 
was  warlike.  The  new  king  showed  his  value 
for  Fitzneale's  services  as  treasurer  by  con- 
tinuing him  in  his  office,  which  he  held  un- 
disturbed till  his  death.  Baldwin,  archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  accompanying  Richard  to  the 
Holy  Land  the  same  year,  the  newly  con- 
4secrated  bishop  of  London  was  appointed  to 
act  as  his  commissary  during  the  primate's 
absence  {Annals  ofDunstaple,  iii.  25).  In  this 
capacity  a  correspondence  took  place  between 
Baldwin  and  Fitzneale  in  1190  relative  to 
the  suspension  of  Hugh,  bishop  of  Lichfield, 
who  had  illegally  assumed  the  shrievalty,  and 
his  absolution  on  submission  (MATT.  PARIS, 
ii.  358 ;  DICETO,  ii.  77, 78).  In  the  bitter  con- 
flict between  Longchamp  and  Prince  John 
Fitzneale  took  an  influential  part,  chiefly  as 
a  peacemaker,  an  office  for  which  he  was  spe- 
cially qualified,  not  only  by  his  benignity 
and  the  sweetness  of  his  address,  but  by  his 
practical  common  sense  and  large  experience. 
At  the  personal  meeting  between  John  and 
the  chancellor,  demanded  by  the  latter  to 
settle  the  points  in  dispute,  held  at  Win- 
chester on  25  April  1191,  Fitzneale  was  one 
of  the  three  episcopal  arbitrators,  and  was 
put  in  charge  of  the  castle  of  Bristol,  one  of 
the  strongholds  nominally  surrendered  by 
John.  He  was  present  also  at  the  second 
assembly  held  at  Winchester,  and  took  part 
in  the  new  settlement  then  attempted  (HovE- 
DEX,  iii.  135,  136 ;  Ric.  DEVIZES,  pp.  26,  32, 
33).  When  Geoffrey  Plantagenet,  the  na- 
tural son  of  Henry  II,  recently  appointed 
by  Richard  to  the  see  of  York,  on  his  land- 
ing at  Dover  on  14  Sept.,  had  been  violently 
dragged  from  the  altar  of  St.  Martin's  priory 
by  the  men-at-arms  of  Richenda,  the  wife  of 
the  constable  of  Dover  Castle,  Longchamp's 
sister,  and  committed  to  prison,  the  protests 
of  Fitzneale  against  so  impious  an  act  were 
only  second  in  influence  to  those  of  the  sainted 
Hugh  of  Lincoln  in  obtaining  the  release 
of  the  archbishop-elect,  for  which  Fitzneale 
pledged  his  bishopric  to  the  chancellor.  On 
bis  arriving  in  London  he  afforded  him  a  re- 
ception suitable  to  his  dignity  at  St.  Paul's, 
and  entertained  him  magnificently  at  his 
palace  (DICETO,  ii.  97 ;  MATT.  PARIS,  Chron. 
Maj.  ii.  372 ;  Hist.  Angl  ii.  22). 

When  Longchamp  was  summoned  by  John 
to  give  an  account  of  his  conduct  before  him 
and  the  justiciars  at  Loddon  Bridge,  between 
Reading  and  Windsor,  on  5  Oct.,  Fitzneale 
gave  the  chancellor  security  for  his  safety, 
and  on  his  non-appearance  took  a  leading  part 


in  the  discussion  of  the  complaints  against 
his  administration,  and  joined  in  the  solemn 
excommunication  in  Reading  parish  church  of 
all  concerned  in  Archbishop  Geoffrey's  seizure 
and  imprisonment  (MATT.  PARIS,  Chron.  Maj. 
p.  380;  DICETO,  ii.  98).  On  8  Oct.  he  took  the 
oath  of  fealty  to  King  Richard  in  St.  Paul's, 
together  with  the  bishops  and  barons,  '  salvo 
ordine  suo.'  He  was  present  at  the  deposi- 
tion of  Longchamp  from  his  secular  authority 
on  10  Oct.  (HOVEDEN,  iii.  145, 193).  Perhaps 
as  a  gracious  act  of  courtesy,  perhaps  as 
a  measure  of  policy,  we  find  him  at  this 
period  making  a  present  to  Prince  John  of 
a  wonderful  hawk  which  had  caught  a  pike 
swimming  in  the  water,  and  the  fish  itself 
(MATT.  PARIS,  Chron.  Maj.  ii.  383 ;  DICETO, 
ii.  102).  We  find  him  also  at  the  same  time 
giving  the  benediction  to  the  Abbot  of  West- 
minster at  the  high  altar  of  St.  Paul's  (Di- 
CETO,  ii.  101),  and  in  1195  to  John  de  Cella, 
on  his  appointment  as  abbot  of  St.  Albans 
(MATT.  PARIS,  ii.  411),  and,  not  forgetful  of 
the  privileges  of  his  order,  posting  down  to 
Canterbury  in  company  with  one  of  the  jus- 
ticiars to  protect  the  rights  of  himself  and 
his  brother  bishops  in  the  matter  of  the  election 
to  the  vacant  primatial  see.  He  summoned 
the  whole  episcopal  body  to  meet  him  in 
London  to  decide  the  matter,  and  on  the  monks 
of  Canterbury  anticipating  their  action  by 
the  election  of  Fitzjocelin  of  Bath,  he,  in 
the  name  of  the  bishops,  despatched  an  appeal 
to  the  pope  (DICETO,  ii.  103).  In  December 

1192  he  appears  in  controversy  with  his  former 
friend,  Archbishop  Geoffrey,  who  had  ven- 
tured to  carry  his  cross  erect  in  his  portion  of 
the  province  of  Canterbury.    The  archbishop 
was  visited  with  excommunication,  and  the 
New  Temple,  in  which  he  was  lodged  and 
where  the  oft'ence  took  place,  was  suspended 
from  divine  service  (HOVEDEN,  iii.  187).    In 

1193  he  was  one  of  the  treasurers  of  Richard's 
ransom  (ib.  p.  212),  and  the  following  year 
joined  in  the  sentence  of  excommunication 
passed  on  John  for  open  rebellion  against  his 
royal    brother   in   the   infirmary  chapel  at 
Westminster  Abbey  (ib.  p.  237).      He  was 
also  present  at  Richard's  coronation  at  Win- 
chester on  17  April  1194,  which  succeeded 
his  return  from  his  Austrian  captivity  (ib. 
p.  247),  and  in  1197,  when  Richard  endea- 
voured to  enforce  the  rendering  of  military 
service  for  his  continental  wars  on  the  Eng- 
lish bishops,  a  demand  thwarted  by  the  bold 
independence  of  Hugh  of  Lincoln,  Fitzneale 
followed  Archbishop  Hubert,  by  whom  the 
illegal  measure  was  proposed,  in  declaring  his 
readiness  as  a  loyal  subject  to  take  his  share 
of  the  burden  (GERV.  CANT.  i.  549 ;  Mag.  Vit. 
S.  Hugonis,  pp.  249,  250).    Fitzneale  died 


Fitzneale 


188 


Fitzosbern 


six  months  before,  on  10  Sept.  1198.  Few 
prelates  of  his  day  are  spoken  of  in  more  eulo- 
gistic terms  by  the  contemporary  chroniclers, 
and  a  review  of  the  events  of  his  life  shows 
that  the  eulogy  was  not  undeserved.  TheWin- 
chester  annalist  describes  him  as  '  vir  vene- 
randee  et  piissimse  recordationis  et  plurimge 
scientiae,'  most  benign  and  most  merciful, 
whose  words  distilled  sweetness;  'vir  ex- 
actissimae  liberalitatis  et  munificentise,'  whose 
bounty  was  so  profuse  that  all  others  in 
comparison  with  him  appeared  covetous,  ad- 
mitting all  without  distinction  to  his  table, 
except  those  who  were  repelled  by  their  own 
evil  deeds  (Annal  Wmton.i.70).  It  is,  how- 
ever, on  his  literary  ability  that  Fitzneale's 
fame  most  deservedly  rests.  To  him,  '  the 
first  man  of  letters  who  occupied  the  episcopal 
throne  of  London '  (MiLMAN,  Annals  of  St. 
PauVs},  we  are  almost  certainly  indebted  for 
the  two  most  valuable  authorities  for  the  finan- 
cial and  political  history  of  the  kingdom.  In 
his  preface  to  the  work  Madox  has  proved  by 
unanswerable  arguments  that  the  *  Dialogus 
de  Scaccario,'  termed  by  Bishop  Stubbs '  that 
famous  and  inestimable  treatise,'  on  the  prin- 
ciples and  administration  of  the  English  ex- 
chequer, begun  in  1176,  but  describing  the 
system  of  the  year  1178,  was  written  by 
Fitzneale.  Bishop  Stubbs  has  also  recently 
brought  convincing  evidence  that  in  the  'Acts 
of  King  Henry  and  King  Richard,'  which 
have  long  passed  under  the  name  of  Benedict 
(d.  1193)  [q.  v.],  abbot  of  Peterborough,  we 
have  really,  though  altered  from  its  incon- 
venient tripartite  form,  the  chronicle  of  the 
events  of  Fitzneale's  own  lifetime,  begun  in 
the  days  of  his  youth,  of  which  the  writer  of 
the  '  Dialogue  '  declares  himself  the  author, 
which  was  designated  '  Tricolumnus,'  from 
its  original  division  into  three  columns,  con- 
taining respectively  the  affairs  of  the  church, 
the  affairs  of  the  state,  and  miscellaneous 
matters  and  judgments  of  the  courts  of 
law  (STTJBBS,  Introduction  to  BENEDICTTJS 
ABBAS,  i.  Ivii-lx).  Fitzneale,  distinguished 
among  his  contemporaries  in  the  pursuits  of 
literature,  employed  his  high  position  for  its 
advancement  in  others,  exhibiting  a  large  and 
liberal  patronage  towards  students  and  men 
of  letters.  The  celebrated  Peter  of  Blois  [see 
PETER]  was  appointed  by  him  to  the  archdea- 
conry of  London,  and  he  assigned  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  school  of  his  cathedral  of  St.  Paul's 
the  tithes  of  the  episcopal  manors  of  Fulham 
and  Hornsey.  Ralph  de  Diceto  [q.  v.],  the  dis- 
tinguished chronicler,  was  dean  of  St.  Paul's 
during  the  whole  of  the  episcopate,  and  there 
can  hardly  fail  to  have  been  much  sympathy 
between  two  men  of  such  congenial  tastes 
brought  into  such  close  official  relations. 


[Matt.  Paris,  Chron.  Majora,  vol.  ii. ;  Hist. 
Angl.  vol.  ii.  11.  cc. ;  Hoveden,  vol.  iii.  11.  cc. ; 
Diceto,  vol.  ii.  11.  cc. ;  Richard  of  Devizes,  11.  cc. ; 
Annales  Monastici,  11.  cc.;  Stubbs's  Jntrod.  to 
Benedictus  Abbas ;  Wright's  Historia  Literaria, 
ii.  286-90 ;  Miss  Norgate's  England  under  the 
Angevin  Kings,  ii.  279,  296-301,  305-10,  349, 
439 ;  Dugdate's  St.  Paul's,  pp.  217,  258 ;  Milman's 
Annals  of  St.  Paul's.]  E.  V. 

FITZOSBERN,  WILLIAM,  EARL  OP 
HEREFORD  (d.  1071),  was  the  son  and  heir 
of  Osbern  the  seneschal,  who  was  connected 
with  the  ducal  house  of  Normandy,  and  was 
murdered  while  guardian  to  the  future  Con- 
queror. His  son  became  an  intimate  friend 
of  the  duke,  and  was,  after  him,  in  Mr. 
Freeman's  words,  f  the  prime  agent  in  the 
conquest  of  England.'  On  the  accession  of 
Harold  he  was  the  first  to  urge  the  duke 
to  action,  and  at  the  council  of  Lillebonne 
(1066)  he  took  the  lead  in  pressing  the 
scheme  upon  the  Norman  barons.  He  him- 
self offered  the  duke  a  contribution  of  sixty 
ships.  At  the  battle  of  Hastings  he  is  men- 
tioned by  Wace  as  fighting  in  the  right  wing 
of  the  invading  host.  He  received  vast  estates 
in  the  conquered  land,  chiefly  in  the  west, 
and  became  Earl  of  Hereford.  Florence  of 
Worcester  (ii.  1)  states  that  he  had  already 
received  the  earldom  when  the  Conqueror 
left  England  in  March  1067.  His  English 
career  may  be  dealt  with  under  two  heads : 
first  in  his  capacity  as  Earl  of  Hereford 
(1067-71);  secondly  in  his  special  character 
as  joint  viceroy  during  William's  absence 
in  1067.  In  the  first  of  these,  his  function 
as  earl  was  to  defend  the  English  border 
against  the  South  Welsh.  For  this  purpose 
his  earldom  was  invested  with  a  quasi-pa- 
latine character,  and  was  essentially  of  the 
nature  of  a  military  settlement.  William 
of  Malmesbury  (Gesta  jRegum,  iii.  256)  as- 
serts that  he  attracted  a  large  number  of 
warriors  to  his  standard  by  liberal  rewards, 
and  made  a  special  ordinance  reducing  the 
penalties  to  which  they  would  be  liable  by 
crime.  During  his  brief  tenure  of  the  earl- 
dom he  was  almost  always  engaged  in  border 
warfare  with  the  Welsh,  and  Meredith,  son 
of  Owen,  was  among  the  princes  of  South 
Wales  whom  he  fought  and  overthrew.  In 
Heming's  *  Cartulary  of  Worcester '  are  several 
references  to  his  doings,  in  which  he  usually 
figures  as  a  despoiler  of  the  church.  Several 
of  the  knights  who  followed  him  to  the  west, 
or  joined  him  when  established  there,  are 
mentioned  afterwards  (1086)  in  '  Domesday.' 

As  viceroy  in  William's  absence  he  played 
an  important  part.  To  Bishop  Odo  was  en- 
trusted the  guard  of  Kent  and  of  the  south 
coast,  while  Earl  William  was  left  to  guard 


Fitzosbert 


189 


Fitzosbert 


the  northern  and  western  borders,  with  Here- 
ford and  Norwich  as  his  bases  of  operation. 
He  is  accused  by  Ordericus  and  by  the  Eng- 
lish chronicler  of  great  severity,  and  especially 
of  building  castles  by  forced  labour,  but  in 
the  then  precarious  state  of  the  Norman  rule 
a  stern  policy  was  doubtless  necessary.  There 
were,  however,  outbursts  of  revolt,  especially 
in  his  own  Herefordshire,  where  Eadric  '  the 
Wild '  successfully  defied  him.  We  do  not 
find  that  he  lost  favour  in  consequence  of 
this  with  the  Conqueror,  for  in  January  1069 
he  was  entrusted  with  the  new  castle  which 
William  built  at  York  on  the  suppression  of 
the  local  revolt,  and  shortly  after  he  success- 
fully crushed  an  attempt  to  renew  the  insur- 
rection. From  a  somewhat  obscure  passage 
in  Ordericus  it  would  seem  that  he  was  des- 
patched the  following  September  to  retake 
Shrewsbury,  which  had  been  captured  by 
Eadric  'the  Wild/  who  retired  before  his 
advance.  The  last  deed  assigned  to  him  in 
England  is  the  searching  of  the  monasteries 
by  William,  at  his  advice,  early  in  1070,  and 
the  confiscation  of  all  the  treasures  of  the 
English  found  therein  (FLOR.  WIG.) 

It  was  about  Christmas  1070  that  the  earl 
was  sent  by  William  to  Normandy  to  assist 
his  queen  in  administering  the  duchy.  But 
at  the  same  time  Baldwin,  count  of  Flan- 
ders, died,  leaving  him  one  of  the  guardians 
to  his  son  Arnulf.  The  count's  widow, 
Richildis,  attacked  by  her  brother-in-law, 
offered  her  hand  to  the  earl  if  he  would  come 
to  her  assistance.  He  did  so,  and  was  slain 
at  the  battle  of  Cassel,  where  her  forces  were 
defeated  early  in  1071.  He  was  buried  at 
Cormeilles,  one  of  the  two  monasteries  which 
he  had  founded  in  Normandy. 

His  estates,  according  to  the  practice  of 
the  time,  were  divided  between  his  two  sons ; 
William,  the  elder,  succeeding  to  the  Norman 
fief,  and  Roger,  the  younger  [see  FITZWIL- 
LIAM,  ROGER],  to  the  English  one.  Some 
seventy  years  after  his  death  Herefordshire 
was  granted  to  the  Earl  of  Leicester  as  the 
husband  of  his  heir,  to  be  held  as  fully  and 
freely  as  it  hud  been  by  himself  (Duchy  of 
Lancaster,  R^yal  Charters}. 

[Freeman's  Hist,  of  the  Norman  Conquest 
gives  all  that  is  known  of  William  Fitzosbern's 
life,  together  with  the  authorities,  of  which  Or- 
dericus Vitalis  is  the  chief.]  J.  H.  K. 

FITZOSBERT,  WILLIAM  (d.  1196), 
demagogue,  is  first  mentioned  as  one  of  the 
leaders  of  the  London  crusaders  in  1190,  who 
fought  the  Moors  in  Portugal  (HOVEDEN, 
iii.  42  ;  BENED.  ii.  116).  He  was  a  member 
of  an  eminent  civic  family,  which  was  said 
fco  have  been  conspicuous  for  wearing  the 


beard '  as  a  mark  of  their  hatred  for  the  Nor- 
mans '  (MATT.  PARIS,  ii.  418).  William  him- 
self was  known  as  '  Longbeard,'  from  the 
excess  to  which  he  carried  this  distinction. 
Of  commanding  stature  and  of  great  strength, 
an  effective  popular  speaker,  and  with  some 
knowledge  of  law  (HOVEDEN,  iv.  5),  he  threw 
himself  into  the  social  struggles  of  his  day 
with  an  energy  and  a  success  of  which  the 
measure  is  preserved  in  that  spirit  of  bitter 
partisanship  in  which  the  chroniclers  narrate 
his  career.  William  of  Newburgh,  who,  ac- 
cording to  Dr.  Stubbs, '  treats  him  judicially,' 
but  who  clearly  takes  the  very  worst  view  of 
him,  has  devoted  to  him  a  long  chapter  (lib.  v. 
cap.  20),  in  which  he  traces  William's  con- 
duct to  his  extravagance  and  lack  of  means, 
which  led  him,  when  his  elder  brother,  Ri- 
chard, refused  to  supply  him  with  money, 
first  to  threaten  him,  and  then  to  go  to  the 
king,  whom  he  knew  personally,  and  accuse 
him  of  treason.  That  he  did  bring  this  charge 
(cf.  R.  DE  DICETO,  vol.  ii.)  is  certain  from  the 
'  Rotuli  Curise  Regis '  (p.  69),  which  record 
that  (21  Nov.  1194)  he  accused  his  brother, 
before  the  justices,  of  speaking  treason  against 
the  king  and  primate  and  denouncing  their 
exactions.  Meanwhile  he  appears,  on  the 
one  hand,  to  have  posed  as  zealous  for  the 
interest  of  the  king,  who  was  defrauded,  he 
urged,  by  financial  corruption,  of  the  treasure 
that  should  be  his ;  while,  on  the  other,  he 
accused  the  city  magnates,  who  had  to  ap- 
portion the  heavy  '  aids  '  laid  upon  London 
for  the  king's  ransom  (1194),  of  saving  their 
own  pockets  at  the  expense  of  the  poorer 
payers.  He  made  himself,  on  both  these 
grounds,  hateful  to  the  ruling  class,  but  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  a  seat  on  the  civic  coun- 
cil and  pursued  his  advantage.  He  had  clearly 
found  a  genuine  grievance  in  the  system  of 
assessment,  and  '  fired,'  says  Hoveden, '  with 
zeal  for  justice  and  equity,  he  made  himself 
the  champion  of  the  poor '  (iv.  5).  Addressing 
the  people  on  every  occasion,  especially  at 
their  folkmoot  in  St.  Paul's  churchyard,  he 
roused  them  by  stinging  invective  against  the 
mayor  and  aldermen.  An  abstract  of  one  of 
his  speeches,  or  rather  sermons,  is  given  by 
William  of  Newburgh  (ii.  469),  who  tells  us 
that '  he  conceived  sorrow  and  brought  forth 
iniquity/  The  craftsmen  and  the  populace 
flocked  to  hear  him,  and  he  was  said  to  have 
had  a  following  of  more  than  fifty  thousand 
men.  The  primate,  alarmed  at  the  prospect, 
sided  with  the  magnates  against  him,  but 
William,  crossing  to  France,  appealed  suc- 
cessfully to  the  king  (HOVEDEN,  iv.  5 ;  WILL. 
NEWBURGH,  ii.  468).  The  primate  now  de- 
termined to  crush  him,  took  hostages  from 
his  supporters  for  their  good  behaviour,  and 


Fitzpatrick 


190 


Fitzpatrick 


then  ordered  his  arrest.  Guarded  by  his 
followers,  William  defied  him,  and  the  panic- 
stricken  magnates  were  in  hourly  expecta- 
tion of  a  general  rising  and  of  the  sacking 
of  the  city.  Soon,  however,  surprised  by  a 
party  of  armed  men,  the  demagogue  slew  one 
of  his  assailants  and  fled  for  refuge  to  Bow 
Church,  together  with  a  few  friends,  and,  his 
enemies  said,  with  his  mistress.  He  trusted 
that  the  sanctuary  would  shelter  him  till  his 
followers  assembled ;  but  the  primate,  dread- 
ing the  delay,  ordered  him  to  be  dragged  out 
by  force.  On  his  taking  refuge  in  the  church 
tower,  his  assailants  set  fire  to  the  fabric  and 
smoked  him  out.  Badly  wounded  by  a  citi- 
zen as  he  emerged,  he  was  seized  and  fastened 
to  a  horse's  tail,  and  so  dragged  to  the  Tower. 
Being  there  sentenced  to  death,  he  was  dragged 
in  like  manner  through  the  city  to  the  Elms 
(at  Smithfield)  and  there  hanged  in  chains 
(6  April  1196),  <  dying/  says  Matthew  Paris, 
*  a  shameful  death  for  upholding  the  cause  of 
truth  and  of  the  poor.'  William  of  New- 
burgh  writes  that  he  '  perished,  according  to 
justice,  as  the  instigator  and  contriver  of 
troubles.'  His  nine  faithful  friends  were 
hanged  with  him  (R.  DE  DICETO,  ii.  143; 
GERVASE,  i.  533,  534).  It  is  admitted  by 
William  of  Newburgh  that  his  followers  be- 
wailed him  bitterly  as  a  martyr.  Miracles 
were  wrought  with  the  chain  that  hanged 
him.  The  gibbet  was  carried  off  as  a  relic, 
and  the  very  earth  where  it  stood  scooped 
away.  Crowds  were  attracted  to  the  scene 
of  his  death,  and  the  primate  had  to  station 
on  the  spot  an  armed  guard  to  disperse  them. 
Dr.  Stubbs  pronounces  him  '  a  disreputable 
man,  who,  having  failed  to  obtain  the  king's 
consent  to  a  piece  of  private  spite,  made  poli- 
tical capital  out  of  a  real  grievance  of  the 
people'  {Const.  Hist.  i.  508).  This  is  pro- 
bably the  right 'view. 

[William  of  Newburgh  (Kolls  Ser.) ;  Bene- 
dictus  Abbas  (ib.);  Matthew  Paris,  Chronica 
Major  (ib.) ;  Ralph  de  Diceto  (ib.) ;  Grervrase  of 
Canterbury  (ib.) ;  Palgrave's  Eotuli  Curise  (Re- 
cord Commission)  ;  Stubbs's  Roger  de  Hoveden 
(Rolls  Ser.),  and  Const.  Hist.  vol.  i.]  J.  H.  R. 

FITZPATRICK,  SIR  BARNAB  Y,  LORD 
OF  UPPER  OSSORY  (1535  P-1581),  son  and 
heir  of  Brian  Fitzpatrick  or  MacGillapatrick, 
first  lord  of  Upper  Ossory,  was  born  probably 
about  1535.  Sent  at  an  early  age  into  Eng- 
land as  a  pledge  of  his  father's  loyalty,  he  was 
educated  at  court,  where  he  became  a  fa- 
vourite schoolfellow  and  companion  of  Prince 
Edward,  whose  '  proxy  for  correction '  we  are 
informed  he  was  (FULLER,  Church  Hist.  bk. 
vii.  par.  47).  On  15  Aug.  1551  he  and  Sir 
Robert  Dudley  were  sworn  two  of  the  six 


gentlemen  of  the  king's  privy  chamber  {Ed- 
ward VFs  Diary}.  Edward  VI,  who  con- 
tinued to  take  a  kindly  interest  in  him,  sent 
him  the  same  year  into  France  in  order  to 
perfect  his  education,  sagely  advising  him  to 
'  behave  himself  honestly,  more  following  the 
company  of  gentlemen,  than  pressing  into  the 
company  of  the  ladies  there.'  Introduced  by 
the  lord  admiral,  Lord  Clinton,  to  Henry  II, 
he  was  by  him  appointed  a  gentleman  of  his 
chamber,  in  which  position  he  had  favourable 
opportunities  for  observing  the  course  of 
French  politics.  On  his  departure  on  9  Dec. 
1552  he  was  warmly  commended  for  his  con- 
duct by  Henry  himself  and  the  constable 
Montmorency  (Cal.  State  Papers,  For.  vol.  i.) 
During  his  residence  in  France  Edward  VI 
continued  to  correspond  regularly  with  him, 
and  so  much  of  the  correspondence  as  has 
survived  has  been  printed  in  the  '  Literary  Re- 
mains of  Edward  VI,'  published  by  the  Rox- 
burghe  Club,  i.  63-92.  (Some  of  these  letters 
had  previously  been  printed  by  Fuller  in  his 
'  Worthies,'  Middlesex,  and  his '  Church  His- 
tory of  Britain  ; '  by  Horace  Walpole  in  1772, 
reprinted  in  the '  Dublin  University  Magazine/ 
xliv.  535,  and  by  Halliwell  in  his '  Letters  of 
the  Kings  of  England/  vol.  ii.,  and  in '  Gent. 
Mag.'  Ixii.  704.)  On  his  return  he  took  an 
active  part  in  the  suppression  of  Sir  Thomas 
Wyatt's  rebellion  (1553).  The  same  year  it 
appears  from  the  '  Chronicle  of  Queen  Jane ' 
that  'the  Erie  of  Ormonde,  Sir  [blank]  Cour- 
teney  Knight,  and  Mr.  Barnaby  fell  out  in 
the  night  with  a  certayn  priest  in  the  streate, 
whose  parte  a  gentyllman  comyng  by  by 
chance  took,  and  so  they  fell  by  the  eares ; 
so  that  Barnabye  was  hurte.  The  morrowe 
they  were  ledd  by  the  ii  shery  ves  to  the  coun- 
ter in  the  Pultry,  where  they  remained  [blank] 
daies '  (ed.  Camd.  Soc.  p.  33).  Shortly  after- 
wards he  went  into  Ireland  with  the  Earl  of 
Kildare  and  Brian  O'Conor  Faly  (Annals  of 
Four  Masters ;  Ham.  Cal.  i.  133).  It  is  stated 
both  by  Collins  and  Lodge  that  he  was  in  1558 
present  at  the  siege  of  Leith,  and  that  he  was 
there  knighted  by  the  Duke  of  Norfolk ;  but 
for  this  there  appears  to  be  no  authority. 
He  sat  in  the  parliament  of  1559.  In  1566 
he  was  knighted  by  Sir  H.  Sidney,  who  seems 
to  have  held  him  in  high  estimation  (Cal. 
Carew  MSS.  ii.  148) .  His  proceedings  against 
Edmund  Butler  for  complicity  with  James 
Fitzmaurice  were  deeply  resented  by  the  Earl 
of  Ormonde,  and  led  to  a  lifelong  feud  be- 
tween them  (Ham.  Cal.  i.  457, 466).  In  1573 
he  was  the  victim  of  a  cruel  outrage,  owing 
to  the  abduction  of  his  wife  and  daughter  by 
the  Graces  (ib.  i.  502,  510, 525  ;  Carew,  i.  438 ; 
BAGWELL,  Ireland,  ii.  254).  In  1574  the  Earl 
of  Ormonde  made  fresh  allegations  against 


Fitzpatrick 


191 


Fitzpatrick 


his  loyalty,  and  he  was  summoned  to  Dublin 
to  answer  before  the  council,  where  he  suc- 
cessfully acquitted  himself  {Ham.  Cal.  ii.  23, 
24,  31,  33 ;  Carew,  i.  472).  In  1576  he  suc- 
ceeded his  father,  who  had  long  been  impotent, 
as  Baron  of  Upper  Ossory,  and  two  years  after- 
wards had  the  satisfaction  of  killing  the  great 
rebel  Rory  Qge  O'More  (COLLINS,  Sydney  Let- 
ters, i.%o±\  Somers  Tracts,]..  603).  Owing 
to  a  series  of  charges  preferred  against  him 
by  Ormonde,  who  declared  that  there  was '  not 
a  naughtier  or  more  dangerous  man  in  Ire- 
land than  the  baron  of  Upper  Ossory '  (Ham. 
Cal.  ii.  237 ;  cf.  ib.  pp.  224,  246,  250),  he  and 
Lady  Fitzpatrick  were  on  14  Jan.  1581  com- 
mitted to  Dublin  Castle  (ib.  p.  280).  There 
was,  however, '  nothing  to  touch  him,'  he  being 
in  Sir  H.  Wallop's  opinion  '  as  sound  a  man 
to  her  majesty  as  any  of  his  nation'  (ib.p.  300). 
He,  however,  seems  to  have  been  suddenly 
taken  ill,  and  on  11  Sept.  1581  he  died  in  the 
house  of  William  Kelly,  surgeon,  Dublin,  at 
two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  (LODGE  (Arch- 
dall),  vol.  ii. ;  A.  F.  M.  v.  1753).  He  was,  said 
Sir  H.  Sidney,  '  the  most  sufficient  man  in 
counsel  and  action  for  the  war  that  ever  I 
found  of  that  country  birth ;  great  pity  it  was 
of  his  death'  {Carew,  ii.  344).  He  married 
in  1560  Joan,  daughter  of  Sir  Rowland  Eus- 
tace, viscount  Baltinglas,  by  whom  he  had  an 
only  daughter,  Margaret,  first  wife  of  James, 
lord  Dunboyne.  His  estates  passed  to  his 
brother  Florence  Fitzpatrick  (LODGE,  Arch- 
dall). 

[Authorities  as  in  the  text.]  E.  D. 

FITZPATRICK,     RICHARD,     LOKD 

GOWRAN  (d.  1727),  second  son  of  John  Fitz- 
patrick of  Castletown,  Queen's  County,  by 
Elizabeth,  fourth  daughter  of  Thomas,  vis- 
count Thurles,  and  relict  of  James  Purcell, 
baron  of  Loughmore,  entered  the  royal  navy 
and  was  appointed  on  14  May  1687  com- 
mander of  the  Richmond.  On  24  May  1688 
he  was  made  captain  of  the  Assurance,  from 
which  in  1689  he  was  transferred  to  the  Lark, 
in  which  he  cruised  against  the  French  in 
the  German  Ocean.  Having  distinguished 
himself  on  that  station,  he  was  advanced 
on  11  Jan.  1690  to  the  command  of  the 
St.  Alban's,  a  fourth-rate,  with  which  on 
18  July  he  captured  off  Rame  Head  a  French 
frigate  of  36  guns,  after  a  fight  of  four  hours, 
in  which  the  enemy  lost  forty  men  killed  and 
wounded,  the  casualties  on  board  the  St. 
Alban's  being  only  four;  and  the  French 
ship  was  so  shattered  that  she  had  to  be 
towed  into  Plymouth.  In  February  1690-1 
he  drove  on  shore  two  French  frigates  and 
helped  to  cut  out  fourteen  merchantmen  from 
a  convoy  of  twenty-two.  In  command  of  the 


Burford  (70  guns)  he  served  under  Lord  Ber- 
keley in  1696,  and  in  July  was  detached  to 
make  a  descent  on  the  Groix,  an  island  near 
Belle  Isle,  off  the  west  coast  of  Brittany,  from 
which  he  brought  off  thirteen  hundred  head  of 
cattle,  with  horses,  boats,  and  small  vessels. 
He  was  promoted  to  the  command  of  the 
Ranelagh  (80  guns)  on  the  outbreak  of  the 
war  of  the  Spanish  succession,  and  took  part 
in  Ormonde's  mismanaged  expedition  against 
Cadiz  (1702),  and  in  the  successful  attack  on 
Vigo  which  followed ;  but  soon  after  retired 
from  the  service.  In  1696  he  had  received  a 
grant  of  the  town  and  lands  of  Grantstown 
and  other  lands  in  Queen's  County,  and  on 
27  April  1715  he  was  raised  to  the  Irish  peer- 
age as  Baron  Gowran  of  Gowran,  Kilkenny. 
He  took  his  seat  on  12  Nov.,  and  on  14  Nov. 
helped  to  prepare  an  address  to  the  king  con- 
gratulating him  upon  his  accession.  He  died 
on  9  June  1727.  Fitzpatrick  married  in  1718 
Anne,  younger  daughter  of  Sir  John  Robin- 
son of  Farmingwood,  Northamptonshire,  by 
whom  he  had  two  sons :  John,  who  succeeded 
him  in  the  title  and  estates,  and  Richard. 
The  former,  promoted  to  the  Irish  earldom 
of  Upper  Ossory  on  5  Oct.  1751,  was  father 
of  Richard  Fitzpatrick  (noticed  below). 

[Charnock's  Biog.  Navalis,  ii.  134-8  ;  Bur- 
chell's  Naval  History,  pp.  545,  547 ;  Luttrell's 
Relation  of  State  Affairs,  ii.  80,  435  ;  Hist.  Reg. 
Chron.  Diary  (1727),  p.  23  ;  Lodge's  Peerage  of 
Ireland  (Archdall),  ii.  347-]  J.  M.  E. 

FITZPATRICK,    RICHARD    (1747- 

1813),  general,  politician,  and  wit,  was  second 
son  of  John,  first  earl  of  Upper  Ossory  in  the 
peerage  of  Ireland  and  M.P.  for  Bedfordshire, 
by  Lady  Evelyn  Leveson  Gower,  daughter  of 
the  second  Earl  Gower,  and  was  grandson  of 
Richard  Fitzpatrick,  lord  Gowran  [q.  v.]  He 
was  born  in  January  1747,  and  was  educated 
at  Westminster  School,  where  he  became  the 
intimate  friend  of  Charles  James  Fox.  They 
were  afterwards  connected  by  the  marriage 
of  Stephen  Fox,  the  elder  brother  of  Charles 
James,  to  Lady  Mary  Fitzpatrick,  the  sister  of 
his  friend.  This  schoolboy  friendship  lasted 
until  the  death  of  Fox  in  1806,  and  Fitzpatrick 
is  chiefly  remembered  as  Fox's  companion.  On 
10  July  1765  Fitzpatrick  entered  the  army  as 
an  ensign  in  the  1st,  afterwards  the  Grenadier, 
guards,  and  on  13  Sept.  1772  he  was  gazetted 
lieutenant  and  captain,  but  he  had  no  oppor- 
tunity of  going  on  service,  and  devoted  him- 
self to  the  pleasures  of  London  life.  He  lived 
in  the  same  lodgings  with  Fox  in  Piccadilly, 
and  shared  his  love  for  gambling  and  betting, 
classical  scholarship  and  brilliant  conversa- 
tion. The  two  friends  were  recognised  as  the 
leaders  of  the  young  men  of  fashion  about 


Fitzpatrick 


192 


Fitzpeter 


town,  and  both  were  devoted  to  amateur  thea- 
tricals, in  which  Fitzpatrick  was  voted  to  be 
superior  to  Fox  in  genteel  comedy,  though 
his  inferior  in  tragedy.  Both  indulged  in 
vers  de  societe,  and  Fitzpatrick  published 
'  The  Bath  Picture,  or  a  Slight  Sketch  of  its 
Beauties,'  in  1772,  and  'Dorinda,  a  Town 
Eclogue,'  which  was  printed  at  Horace  Wai- 
pole's  press  at  Strawberry  Hill  in  1775. 
When  Fox  entered  the  House  of  Commons 
he  expressed  the  keenest  desire  that  his  friend 
should  join  him  there,  and  in  1774  Fitzpa- 
trick was  elected  M.P.  for  Tavistock,  a  seat 
which  he  held,  thanks  to  the  friendship  of 
the  Duke  of  Bedford,  for  thirty-three  years. 
Fitzpatrick  had  none  of  Fox's  debating  power, 
but  his  political  influence  was  very  great  on 
account  of  his  confidential  relations  with 
Fox,  who  generally  followed  his  advice. 
Fitzpatrick  was  strongly  opposed  to  the  Ame- 
rican war,  but  when  he  was  ordered  with  a 
relief  belonging  to  his  battalion  to  the  scene 
of  action,  he  at  once  obeyed  and  refused  to 
throw  up  his  commission.  He  arrived  in 
America  in  March  1777,  and  served  with 
credit  in  the  guards  in  the  action  at  West- 
iield,  the  battle  of  Brandy  wine,  the  capture 
of  Philadelphia,  and  the  battle  of  German- 
town,  and  he  returned  to  England  in  May 
1778  on  receiving  the  news  that  he  had  been 
promoted  captain  and  lieutenant-colonel  on 
23  Jan.  in  that  year.  In  1782  he  first  took 
office,  when  Lord  Rockingham  formed  his 
second  administration,  and  in  that  year  he 
accompanied  the  Duke  of  Portland,  when  he 
•went  to  Ireland  as  lord-lieutenant,  as  chief 
secretary.  He  was  promoted  colonel  20  Nov. 
1782,  and  in  April  1783  he  entered  the  coa- 
lition ministry  of  Fox  and  Lord  North  as 
secretary  at  war.  Fitzpatrick  shared  the 
subsequent  exclusion  of  the  whigs  from  power, 
and  he  warmly  supported  the  policy  of  Fox 
^nd  Sheridan  during  the  excitement  caused 
by  the  French  revolution.  During  this  period 
Fitzpatrick  was  better  known  as  a  man  of 
^fashion  and  gallantry,  and  as  a  wit,  than  as 
a  statesman  or  a  soldier ;  he  was  one  of  the 
principal  authors  of  the  '  Rolliad ; '  he  was 
a  constant  attendant  in  the  green-rooms  of 
the  theatres  and  at  Newmarket,  and  he  was 
so  noted  for  his  fine  manners  and  polite  ad- 
dress that  the  Duke  of  Queensberry  left  him 
a  considerable  legacy  on  this  account  alone. 
On  12  Oct.  1793  he  was  promoted  major- 
general,  and  in  1796  he  made  his  most  famous 
speech  in  the  House  of  Commons,  protesting 
against  the  imprisonment  of  Lafayette  and 
his  companions  by  the  Austrians.  In  answer 
to  this  speech  Henry  Dundas  remarked  that 
•*  the  honourable  general's  two  friends  [Fox 
«,nd  Sheridan]  had  only  impaired  the  impres- 


sion made  by  his  speech.'  On  1  Jan.  1798 
Fitzpatrick  was  promoted  lieutenant-general, 
and  on  25  Sept.  1803  general,  and  in  1804 
Pitt  made  him  lieutenant-general  of  the  ord- 
nance. When  the  ministry  of  All  the 
Talents  came  into  power  in  1806,  Fox  ap- 
pointed Fitzpatrick  once  more  secretary  at 
war.  On  20  April  1806  he  was  made  colonel 
of  the  llth  regiment,  from  which  he  was 
transferred  to  the  colonelcy  of  the  47th 
on  25  Feb.  1807.  The  death  of  Fox  pro- 
foundly affected  Fitzpatrick,  and  the  great 
orator  left  him  in  his  will  a  small  personal 
memento  'as  one  of  his  earliest  friends,  whom 
he  loved  excessively.'  In  1807  Fitzpatrick 
was  elected  M.P.  for  Bedfordshire,  and  in 
1812  once  more  for  Tavistock,  but  his  health 
was  seriously  undermined,  and  he  was  little 
better  than  a  wreck  during  the  latter  years 
of  his  life.  He  died  in  South  Street,  May- 
fair,  on  25  April  1813,  leaving  behind  him 
one  of  the  best  known  names  in  the  history 
of  the  social  life  of  the  last  half  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  and  the  proud  title  of  being 
the  most  intimate  friend  of  Charles  James 
Fox. 

[Army  Lists  ;  Military  Panorama,  Life,  with 
portrait,  September  1813;HGent.  Mag.  May  1813, 
and  supplement;  Hamilton's  History  of  the 
Grenadier  Guards ;  Sir  G.  0.  Trevelyan's  Early 
Life  of  Fox ;  Lord  John  Russell's  Memorials  of 
Fox ;  Horace  Walpole's  Letters.]  H.  M.  S. 

FITZPETER,  GEOFFREY,  EAEL  OP 
ESSEX  (d.  1213),  younger  brother  of  Simon 
Fitzpeter,  sheriff  of  Northamptonshire,  Buck- 
inghamshire, and  Bedfordshire  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  II,  marshal  in  1165,  and  justice-itine- 
rant in  Bedfordshire  in  1163  (NORGATE,  Ange- 
vin Kings,  ii.  355,  n.  2),  married  Beatrice, 
daughter  and  coheiress  of  William  de  Say, 
eldest  son  of  William  de  Say,  third  baron, 
who  married  Beatrice,  sister  of  Geoffrey  de 
Mandeville,  earl  of  Essex.  In  1184  Geoffrey 
shared  the  inheritance  of  his  father-in-law 
with  William  de  Bocland,  the  husband  of  his 
wife's  sister  (D  UGD ALE)  .  D  uring  the  last  five 
years  of  Henry's  reign  he  was  sheriff  of  North- 
amptonshire, and  acted  occasionally  as  a  jus- 
tice of  assize  and  judge  of  the  forest-court 
(ETTON,  Itinerary  of  Henry  II;  NORGATE). 
He  took  the  cross,  but  in  1189  paid  a  fine  to 
Richard  I  for  not  going  on  the  crusade  (Ri- 
CHARD  OP  DEVIZES,  p.  8).  On  the  departure  of 
the  king  he  was  left  one  of  the  five  judges  of 
the  king's  court,  and  baron  of  the  exchequer, 
and  was  therefore  one  of  the  counsellors  of 
Hugh,  bishop  of  Durham,  the  chief  justiciar* 
(HOVEDEN,  iii.  16,  28).  On  the  death  of 
William  de  Mandeville,  earl  of  Essex,  in  this 
year,  his  inheritance  was  claimed  by  Geoffrey 
in  right  of  his  wife  as  daughter  of  the  elder 


Fitzpeter 


193 


Fitzpeter 


son  of  Beatrice  de  Say,  aunt  and  heiress  of 
the  earl ;  her  claim  was  disputed  by  her  uncle 
Geoffrey,  who  was  declared  heir  by  his  mother. 
William  Longchamp,the  chancellor,  adjudged 
the  inheritance  to  Geoffrey  de  Say,  on  con- 
dition that  he  paid  seven  thousand  marks, 
and  gave  him  seisin.  As  he  made  default, 
the  chancellor  transferred  the  inheritance  to 
Geoffrey  Fitzpeter  for  three  thousand  marks 
(ib.  Preface,  xlviii,  n.  6 ;  Monasticon,  iv.  145  ; 
Pipe  Roll,  2  Ric.  1).  The  patronage  of  the 
priory  of  Walden  in  Essex  formed  part  of 
the  Mandeville  inheritance ;  but,  while  the 
succession  was  disputed,  the  monks  on  1  Aug. 
1190  prevailed  on  Richard,  bishop  of  London, 
to  change  their  house  into  an  abbey.  When 
Geoffrey  went  to  Walden  he  declared  that 
the  abbot  and  monks  had  defrauded  him  of 
his  rights  by  thus  renouncing  his  patronage ; 
he  seized  their  lands,  and  otherwise  aggrieved 
them.  They  appealed  to  the  Bishop  of  London, 
who  excommunicated  those  who  disturbed 
them,  and  William  Longchamp  also  took  their 
part,  and  caused  some  of  their  rights  to  be  re- 
stored. This  greatly  angered  Geoffrey,  who 
set  at  naught  Longchainp's  authority,  and  con- 
tinued to  aggrieve  the  monks.  Nor  did  he  pay 
any  attention  to  a  papal  mandate  which  they 
procured  on  their  behalf.  About  this  time  his 
wife  Beatrice  died  in  childbed,  and  was  buried 
in  the  priory  of  Chicksand  in  Bedfordshire, 
which  also  formed  part  of  the  Mandeville  in- 
heritance. Towards  the  end  of  his  reign  Ri- 
chard exhorted  Geoffrey  to  satisfy  the  monks, 
but  he  delayed  to  do  so,  and  the  dispute  went 
on  until  in  the  reign  of  John  he  restored  part 
of  the  lands  which  he  had  taken  away,  and  the 
matter  was  arranged  (Monasticon,  iv.  145-8). 
Meanwhile,  in  February  1191,  Richard,  who 
had  heard  many  complaints  against  Long- 
champ,  wrote  from  Messina  to  Geoffrey  and 
the  other  justices  bidding  them  control  him  if 
they  found  it  necessary,  and  informing  them 
that  he  was  sending  over  Walter,  archbishop 
of  Rouen,  to  guide  their  actions  (DiCETO, 
ii.  90,  91).  Geoffrey  took  part  in  the  league 
against  the  chancellor,  served  as  one  of  the 
coadjutors  of  Archbishop  Walter,  the  new 
chief justiciar  (GiRALDtrsCAMBRENSis,  iv.400 ; 
BENEDICTUS,  ii.  213),  and  was  one  of  the  per- 
sons excommunicated  for  the  injuries  done  to 
Longchamp.  When  Hubert  Walter  resigned 
the  chief  justiciarship,  Richard,  on  11  July 
1198,  appointed  Geoffrey  as  his  successor 
(Fcedera,  i.  71).  The  new  justiciar  gathered 
a  large  force,  marched  to  the  relief  of  the  men 
of  William  of  Braose,  who  were  besieged  by 
Gwenwynwyn,  son  of  the  prince  of  Powys, 
in  Maud's  Castle,  and  inflicted  a  severe  defeat 
on  the  Welsh  (HOVEDEN,  iv.  53).  Richard 
was  in  constant  need  of  money,  and  Geoffrey, 

VOL.  XIX. 


as  his  minister,  carried  out  the  oppressive 
measures  by  which  his  wants  were  supplied. 
The  religious  houses  refused  to  pay  the  caru- 
cage,  and  their  compliance  was  enforced  by 
the  outlawry  of  the  whole  body  of  the  clergy. 
A  decree  was  issued  that  all  grants  were  to 
be  confirmed  by  the  new  seal,  and  the  people 
were  oppressed  by  the  over-sharp  administra- 
tion of  justice,  and  by  a  visitation  of  the  forests 
(ib.  pp.  62-6).   When  Richard  died,  Geoffrey 
took  a  prominent  part  in  securing  the  succes- 
sion of  John  at  the  council  of  Northampton. 
At  the  king's  coronation  feast  he  was  girded 
with  the  sword  of  the  earldom  of  Essex, 
though  he  had  been  called  earl  before,  and 
had  exercised  certain  administrative  rights 
which  Roger  of  Hoveden  speaks  of  as  pertain- 
ing to  the  earldom  (ib.  p.  90) ;  the  chronicler 
seems  to  confuse  the  office  of  sheriff  and  the 
title  of  earl.    He  was  sheriff  of  several  coun- 
ties, and  among  other  marks  of  the  king's 
favour  received  grants  of  Berkhamsted  and 
Queenhythe.    He  was  confirmed  in  his  office, 
and  evidently  lived  on  terms  of  some  fami- 
liarity with  the  king  (Foss).     John  is  said 
to  have  made  him  the  agent  of  his  extortion, 
and  he  was  reckoned  among  the  king's  evil 
counsellors ;  he  served  his  master  faithfully, 
and  the  work  he  did  for  him  earned  him  the 
hatred  of  the  oppressed  people.    At  the  same 
time  John  disliked  him,  for  the  earl  was  a 
lawyer,  brought  up  in  the  school  of  Glanville, 
and  though  no  doubt  ready  enough  to  gain 
wealth  for  himself  or  his  master  by  any  means 
within  the  law,  can  scarcely  have  been  will- 
ing to  act  in  defiance  of  it.     He  was  one  of 
the  witnesses  of  John's  charter  of  submission 
to  the  pope  on  15  May  1213,  and  when  the 
king  set  sail  on  his  intended  expedition  to 
Poitou,  was  left  as  his  vicegerent  in  con- 
j  unction  with  the  Bishop  of  Winchester.    He 
was  present  at  the  assembly  held  at  St.  Albans 
on  4  Aug.,  and  promised  on  the  king's  behalf 
that  the  laws  of  Henry  I  should  be  observed. 
He  died  on  2  Oct.     When  the  king  heard  of 
his  death  he  rejoiced,  and  said  with  a  laugh, 
'  When  he  enters  hell  let  him  salute  Hubert, 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  whom  no  doubt  he 
will  find  there;'  adding  that  now  for  the 
first  time  he  was  king  and  lord  of  England. 
Nevertheless  the  death  of  his  minister  left 
him  without  any  hold  on  the  baronage,  and 
was   an  important   step   towards   his  ruin 
(STTJBBS).     By  his  first  wife  Geoffrey  left 
three  sons,  Geoffrey  and  William,  who  both 
succeeded  to  his  earldom,  and  died  without 
issue,  and  Henry,  a  churchman,  and  a  daugh- 
ter, Maud,  who  married  Henry  Bohun,  earl 
of  Hereford ;  and  by  a  second  wife,  Aveline, 
a  son  named  John,  who  inherited  his  father's 
manor  of  Berkhamsted.    Geoffrey  founded 

o 


Fitzralph 


194 


Fitzralph 


Shouldham  Priory  in  Norfolk  (Monasticon, 
vi.  974),  and  a  hospital  at  Sutton  de  la  Hone 
in  Kent  (ib.  p.  669),  and  was  a  benefactor  to 
the  hospital  of  St.  Thomas  of  Acre  in  London 
(ib.  p.  647). 

[Roger  of  Hoveden,  pref.  to  vol.  iii.,  and  16, 
28,  153,  iv.  48,  53,  62-6;  Benedictus,  ii.  158, 
213,  223 ;  Ralph  of  Diceto,  ii.  90  ;  Matt.  Paris,  ii. 
453,  483,  553,  559  ;  Walter  of  Coventry,  ii.  pref. 
(all  Rolls  Ser.)  ;  Roger  of  Wendover,  ii.  137, 262 
(Engl.  Hist.  Soc.) ;  Dugdale's  Baronage,  i.  702, 
and  Monasticon,  iv.  145-8;  Foss's  Judges  of  Eng- 
land, ii.  62  ;  Norgate's  Angevin  Kings,  ii.  355, 
393  ;  Stubbs's  Const.  Hist.  ii.  527.]  W.  H. 

FITZRALPH,  RICHARD,  in  Latin  Ri- 
cardus  films  Radulphi,  often  referred  to  simply 
as  'Armachanus'  or  'Ardmachanus'  (d.  1360), 
archbishop  of  Armagh,  was  born  probably  in 
the  last  years  of  the  thirteenth  century  at 
Dundalk  in  the  county  of  Louth.  The  place 
is  expressly  stated  by  the  author  of  the  St. 
Albans  '  Chronicon  Anglise'  (p.  48,  ed.  E.  M. 
Thompson)  and  in  the  '  Annales  Hibernise ' 
(an.  1337, 1360,  in  Chartularies  of  St.  Mary's 
Abbey,  Dublin,  ii.  381,  393,  ed.  J.  T.  Gilbert, 
1884).  Fitzralph  has  been  claimed  by  Prince 
(  Worthies  of  Devon,  p.  294  et  seq.,  Exeter, 
1701)  for  a  Devon  man,  solely  on  the 
grounds  of  his  consecration  at  Exeter,  and 
of  the  existence  of  a  family  of  Fitzralphs  in 
the  county. 

Fitzralph  was  educated  at  Oxford,  where 
he  is  said  to  have  been  a  disciple  of  John 
Baconthorpe  [q.  v.],  and  where  he  devoted 
himself  with  zeal  and  success  to  the  scholas- 
tic studies  of  the  day,  which  he  afterwards 
came  to  regard  as  the  cause  of  much  profit- 
less waste  of  time  (Summa  in  Qucestionibus 
Armenorum,  xix.  35,  f.  161  a.  col.  1).  He 
became  a  fellow  of  Balliol  College,  and  it 
was  as  an  ex-fellow  that  he  subscribed  in 
1325  his  assent  to  a  settlement  of  a  dispute 
in  the  college  as  to  whether  members  of  the 
foundation  were  at  liberty  to  follow  studies 
in  divinity.  The  decision  was  that  they  were 
not  permitted  to  proceed  beyond  the  study 
of  the  liberal  arts  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  4th 
Rep.  p.  443). 

It  has  been  commonly  stated  that  Fitz- 
ralph was  at  one  time  a  fellow  or  scholar 
of  University  College ;  but  the  assertion  is 
part  of  the  well-known  legend  about  that 
college  fabricated  in  1379,  when  the  society, 
desirous  of  ending  a  wearisome  lawsuit,  en- 
deavoured to  remove  it  to  the  hearing  of  the 
king's  council.  For  this  purpose  they  ad- 
dressed a  petition  to  the  king,  setting  forth 
that  the  college  was  founded  by  his  progeni- 
tor, King  Alfred,  and  thus  lay  under  the 
king's  special  protection.  They  further  added, 
to  show  the  services  which  the  college  had 


performed  in  the  interest  of  religious  educa- 
tion, '  que  les  nobles  Seintz  Joan  de  Beverle, 
Bede,  Richard  Armecan,  et  autres  pluseurs 
famouses  doctours  et  clercs  estoient  jadys 
escolars  en  meisme  votre  college '  (printed 
by  James  Parker,  Early  History  of  Oxford, 
App.  A.  22,  p.  316,  Oxford,  1885  ;  cf.  WIL- 
LIAM SMITH,  Annals  of  University  College, 
pp.  124-8,  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  1728).  This 
audacious  fiction  with  its  wonderful  inversion 
of  chronology  can  scarcely  be  said  to  esta- 
blish any  fact  about  Fitzralph,  except  the 
high,  if  not  saintly,  reputation  which  he  had 
acquired  within  twenty  years  of  his  death. 

Fitzralph  seems  to  have  continued  resi- 
dence at  Oxford  for  some  time  after  the  lapse 
of  his  fellowship,  and  about  1333  he  is  said 
to  have  been  commissary  (or  vice-chancellor) 
of  the  university.  It  is  more  likely,  however, 
that  he  was  chancellor,  although  Anthony  a 
Wood  expressly  states  (Fasti  Oxon.  p.  21) 
that  this  is  an  error ;  for  when  he  goes  on 
to  say  that  the  chancellor  at  that  time  was 
necessarily  resident,  and  that  Fitzralph  could 
not  be  so  since  he  was  dean  of  Lichfield,  it 
is  clear  that  he  has  mistaken  the  date  of  the 
latter's  preferment ;  and  one  can  hardly  doubt 
his  identity  with  '  Richard  Radyn,'  who  ap- 
pears in  Wood's  list  as  chancellor  in  the  very 
year  1333,  but  whose  name  is  written  in  an- 
other copy  '  Richardus  Radi '  (SMITH,  p.  125. 
Radi  being  evidently  Radi,  the  usual  contrac- 
tion for  Radulphi).  Fitzralph  was  now  a 
doctor  of  divinity.  On  10  July  1334  he  was 
collated  to  the  chancellorship  of  Lincoln  Ca- 
thedral (LE  NEVE,  Fasti  Eccl  Anglic,  ii.  92, 
ed.  Hardy),  and  probably  soon  afterwards  was 
made  archdeacon  of  Chester.  The  last  prefer- 
ment must  have  been  some  time  after  133C 
(ib.  i.  561).  Bale,  by  an  error,  calls  him  arch- 
deacon of  Lichfield  (Scriptt.  Brit.  Cat.  v.  93, 
p.  444) ;  it  was  to  the  deanery  of  Lichfield  thai 
he  was  advanced  by  the  provision  of  Pope 
Benedict  XII  in  1337,  and  installed  20  April 
(T.  CHESTERFIELD,  DeEpisc.  Coventr.  etLichf. 
in  WHARTON,  Anglia  Sacra,  i.  443).  An  ex- 
press notice  of  William  de  Chambre  (Cont 
Hist.  Dunelm.  in  Hist .  Dunelm.  Script,  tres,  p 
128,  Surtees  Soc.,  1839)  mentions  Fitzralpl 
in  company  with  Thomas  Bradwardine,  tb  ; 
future  primate,  Walter  Burley,  Robert  Ho1- 
cot,  and  others,  among  those  scholars  w1:.c 
were  entertained  in  the  noble  household  ^ 
Richard  of  Bury,  bishop  of  Durham,  a  re^or- 
ence  which  probably  belongs  to  a  date  sub- 
sequent to  Bury's  elevation  to  the  see  in  1333 
From  his  deanery  at  Lichfield  Fitzralph  was 
advanced  by  provision  of  Clement  VI  to  the 
archbishopric  of  Armagh,  and  was  consecrated 
at  Exeter  by  Bishop  John  of  Grandison  and 
three  other  prelates  on  8  July  1347  (STUBBS, 


Fitzralph 


195 


Fitzralph 


Iteg.  Sacr.  Angl.  p.  55 ;  CHESTERFIELD,  1.  c. ; 
Sin  J.  WARE,  De  Prcesul.  Hibern.  p.  20, 
Dublin,  1665). 

The  fact  that  Fitzralph  owed  both  his 
highest  preferments  to  papal  influence  ren- 
ders it  probable  that  he  was  held  in  favour 
at  the  court  of  Avignon,  though  it  is  certain 
that  he  was  never  made,  as  has  been  stated, 
a  cardinal.  It  has  not,  however,  been  noticed 
•"hat  he  was  frequently  in  Avignon  previously 
io  his  well-known  visit  in  1357.  Among  his 
collected  sermons  (of  which,  either  in  full  or 
in  reports,  the  Bodleian  MS.  144  contains  no 
less  than  eighty-eight)  there  are  some  which 
were  delivered  before  the  pope  on  7  July  1335, 
in  November  1338,  in  December  1341,  in  Sep- 
tember and  December  1342,  and  in  December 
1344,  dates  which  may  possibly  even  point  to  a 
continuous  residence  at  Avignon,  taken  in  con- 
nection with  the  circumstance  that  his  sermons 
preached  in  England  begin  in  1345.  He  was 
cnce  more  in  Avignon  in  August  1349,  having 
been  sent  thither  by  the  king  of  England  on 
business  connected  with  the  j  ubilee  announced 
for  1350.  A  memorial  of  this  remains  in  the 
manuscript  already  referred  to  (f.  246  b),  and 
in  other  copies,  containing  under  this  date 
Fitzralph's  'Propositio  exparte  illustris  prin- 
cipis  domini  regis  Edwardi  III  in  consistorio 
pro  gratia  jubilea  eiusdem  domini  regis  populo 
obtinenda.'  It  is  highly  probable  that  it  was 
this  opportunity  which  brought  Fitzralph 
into  connection  with  the  negotiations  then 
going  on  between  the  Armenian  church  and 
the  pope.  The  Armenians  had  sought  help  from 
Boniface  XII  against  the  advance  of  the  Mus- 
sulman, and  the  pope  had  required  them  as  an 
antecedent  condition  to  abjure  their  heresies, 
which  were  set  out  in  117  articles  (enume- 
rated at  length  in  KAYJTALD.  Ann.  an.  1341, 
xlix  et  seq. ;  summarised  by  GIESELER,  JSccl. 
Hist.  iii.  157  n.  2,  Engl.  trans.,  Philadelphia, 
1843) .  The  Armenians  held  a  council  in  1 342 
(see  the  text  in  MARTENE  and  DURAKD,  Vet. 
Scriptt.  Ampliss.  Coll.  vii.  312  et  seq.) ;  the 
pope  sent  them  legates,  and  a  correspondence 
followed,  which  led  to  the  visit  of  two  of 
•  their  body — Nerses,  archbishop  of  Melasgerd 
(Manasgardensis),  and  John,  elect  of  Khilat 
'*'  (Clatensis) — to  Avignon  for  further  consul- 
>•'  tation.  Fitzralph  took  part  in  the  interviews 
L  which  were  arranged  with  them,  and  at  their 
?quest  wrote  an  elaborate  treatise  in  nine- 
t,een  books,  examining  and  refuting  the  doc- 
trines in  which  the  Armenians  differed  from 
catholic  Christians.  The  book  is  called  on  the 
title-page  '  Richardi  Radulphi  Summa  in 
^uaestionibus  Armenorum,'  but  the  first  book 
s  headed  'Summa  de  Erroribus  Armenorum.' 
"t  was  edited  by  Johannes  Sudoris,  and  printed 
•y  Jean  Petit  at  Paris  in  1511.  The  facts 


that  Fitzralph  dwells  upon  his  personal  in- 
tercourse with  Nerses  and  John,  and  that 
he  mentions  Clement  VI  as  living,  seem  to 
expose  an  error  in  Raynaldus,  who  says  (an. 
1353,  xxv.  vol.  vi.  588)  that  it  was  Inno- 
cent VI  who  invited  them  in  1353.  If  this 
correction  is  accepted,  there  is  no  reason  to 
doubt  that  the  meetings  with  the  Armenians, 
described  at  the  opening  of  Fitzralph's  trea- 
tise, took  place  during  his  visit  to  Avignon 
in  1349.  On  the  other  hand,  the  concluding 
chapter  of  the  last  book,  which  alludes  to  the 
troubles  he  had  suffered  from  opponents,  looks 
as  though  it  were  added  at  a  later  date,  if, 
indeed  (which  is  questionable  on  internal 
grounds),  it  is  the  work  of  Fitzralph  at  all. 
If  his  efforts  to  promote  a  reconciliation 
with  the  Armenian  church  redounded  to 
Fitzralph's  fame  abroad  as  a  champion  of 
catholic  orthodoxy,  in  England  he  had  already 
won  a  position  of  high  eminence  as  a  divine, 
both  by  solid  performances  as  a  teacher  and 
writer  on  school  theology,  and  by  sermons, 
many  of  which  are  extant,  preached  at  various 
places  in  England  and  Ireland.  These,  though 
preserved  or  reported  in  Latin,  are  generally 
stated  to  have  been  delivered  in  English  (<  in 
vulgari ').  One  of  them  was  preached  '  in 
processione  Londonise  facta  pro  rege,'  after 
the  French  campaign  of  1346.  He  appears 
to  have  been  popular  on  all  hands,  and  in 
great  request  as  a  preacher.  His  visit  to 
Avignon,  however,  in  1349,  brought  him,  so 
far  as  is  known,  for  the  first  time  into  that  con- 
flict with  the  mendicant  orders  which  lasted 
until  the  end  of  his  life,  and  left  his  pos- 
thumous reputation  to  be  agitated  between 
the  opposed  parties  in  the  church.  Previously 
he  had  often  preached  in  the  friars'  convents 
at  Avignon.  Thus  we  possess  his  sermon  at 
the  general  chapter  of  the  Dominicans  there, 
8  Sept.  1342  (Bodl.  MS.  144,  f.  141),  and  an- 
other in  the  Franciscan  church  on  St.  Francis's 
day  in  this  very  year  1349.  He  was  charged, 
however,  on  this  visit,  with  a  petition  from  the 
English  clergy  reciting  certain  well-known 
complaints  against  the  friars.  This  memorial, 
f  Propositio  ex  parte  prselatorum  et  omnium 
curatorum  totius  Ecclesiae  coram  papa  in  pleno 
consistorio  . . .  adversus  ordines  mendicantes ' 
(Bodl.  MS.  144,  f.  251  b\  he  presented  on 
5  July  1350.  Before  this,  not  later  than  the 
beginning  of  May,  Pope  Clement  had  ap- 
pointed a  commission,  consisting  of  Fitzralph 
and  two  other  doctors,  to  inquire  into  the  main 
points  at  issue  ;  but  after  long  deliberation 
they  seem  to  have  come  to  no  positive  decision, 
and  Fitzralph  was  urged  by  certain  of  the 
cardinals  to  write  an  independent  treatise  on 
the  subject.  This  work,  as  he  completed  it 
some  years  later,  is  the  treatise  'DePauperie 

o  2 


Fitzralph 


196 


Fitzralph 


Salvatoris'  mentioned  below  (see  the  dedica- 
tion to  that  work).  In  the  meantime  some 
complaints  appear  to  have  been  laid  against 
him  before  the  king  in  respect  of  his  behaviour 
in  Ireland,  where  he  was  said  to  have  pre- 
sumed upon  the  favour  he  enjoyed  at  the 
pope's  hands.  The  king's  decision  went  against 
him.  First,  20  Noy.  1349,  the  archbishop's 
license  to  have  his  cross  borne  before  him  in 
Ireland  was  revoked  (RYMER,  Fcedera,  iii.  pt.  i. 
190  seq.,  ed.  1825),  and  next,  18  Feb.  1349-50, 
the  king  wrote  to  the  Cardinal  of  St.  Anastasia 
to  procure  the  disallowal  of  Fitzralph's  claim 
of  supremacy  over  the  see  of  Dublin,  and  to 
the  archbishop  commanding  his  return  to  his 
diocese  (ib.  192;  the  two  letters  of  18  Feb. 
appear,  in  this  edition  of  the  Fcedera  only, 
also  under  date  1347-8,  at  pp.  154  seq.)  But 
down  to  the  end  of  the  year  at  least  we  find 
Fitzralph's  claims  supported  by  riots  which 
called  for  active  measures  on  the  part  of  the 
government  (ib.  pp.  211  seq.) 

At  Avignon,  as  has  been  seen,  Fitzralph 
had  thus  appeared  as  the  official  spokes- 
man of  the  secular  clergy,  and  this  attitude 
he  maintained  after  his  return  to  Ireland. 
How  matters  reached  a  crisis  six  years  later 
not  uite  certain.  Wadding,  speaking 


s 


for  the  Franciscans,  asserts  that  he  had  at- 
tempted to  possess  himself  of  an  ornament 
from  one  of  their  churches,  and,  being  foiled 
in  this,  proceeded  to  a  general  attack  upon  the 
order,  for  which  he  was  summoned,  at  the 
instance  of  the  warden  of  Armagh,  to  make 
his  defence  at  the  papal  court  (Ann.  Min.  vii. 
127,  ed.  1733).  He  does  not,  however,  name 
his  authority.  Fitzralph's  own  account,  in 
the  '  Defensio  Curatorum,'  is  that  in  1356  he 
visited  London  on  business  connected  with 
his  diocese,  and  there  found  a  controversy 
raging  about  the  question  of  '  evangelical 
poverty.'  On  this  subject  he  at  once  preached 
a  number  of  sermons,  laying  down  nine  pro- 
positions, which  centred  in  the  assertion  that 
poverty  was  neither  of  apostolic  observance 
nor  of  present  obligation,  and  that  mendi- 
cancy was  without  warrant  in  scripture  or 
primitive  tradition.  Out  of  these  '  seven  or 
eight  '  sermons  four  were  printed  by  Johannes 
Sudoris  at  the  end  of  his  edition  of  the 
'  SummainQuaestionibus  Armenorum.'  They 
were  all  preached  in  English  at  St.  Paul's 
Cross,  and  range  in  date  from  the  fourth 
Sunday  in  Advent  to  the  third  Sunday  in 
Lent  1356-7.  The  dean  of  St.  Paul's,  Richard 
Kilmington  (or  Kilwington),  his  old  friend 
from  the  time  when  they  were  together  in 
Bishop  Bury's  household,  stood  by  him  (W. 
REDE,  Vita  Pontif.  ap.  TANNER,  JSibl.  Brit. 
p.  197)  ;  but  the  anger  of  the  English  friars 
was  hotly  excited,  and  the  Franciscan,  Roger 


Conway  [q.  v.],  wrote  a  set  reply  to  the  arch- 
bishop's positions.  It  was  then,  and  in  con1- 
sequence  of  this  discussion,  Fitzralph  asserts 
(Defensio  Curatorum,  ad  init.),  that  his  oppo- 
nents succeeded  in  procuring  his  citation  to 
defend  his  opinions  before  the  pope,  Inno- 
cent VI,  at  Avignon.  The  king  forbade  him> 
1  April  1357,  to  quit  the  country  without 
special  leave  (RYMER,  iii.  pt.  i.  352) ;  but  the- 
prohibition  seems  to  have  been  withdrawn, 
since  he  was  at  the  papal  court  before  8  Nov.,. 
on  which  day  he  preached  a  sermon  in  sup- 
port of  his  position,  which  has  been  frequently 
published,  and  exists  in  numerous  mami- 
scripts,  under  the  title  of  '  Defensio  Cura- 
torum contra  eos  qui  privilegiatos  se  dicuntr 
(printed  by  John  Trechsel,  Lyons,  1496 ;  also« 
in  Goldast's  'Monarchia/  ii.  1392  et  seq., 
Frankfurt,  1614;  Brown's 'Fasciculus  Rerun* 
expetendarum  et  fugiendarum,'  ii.  466  et  seq.r 
and  elsewhere). 

It  was  probably  in  connection  with  thi» 
sermon  that  Fitzralph  completed  and  put 
forth  his  treatise  *  De  Pauperie  Salvatoris,r 
in  seven  books,  of  which  the  first  four  will 
shortly  be  published  for  the  first  time  as  an 
appendix  to  Wycliffe's  book  'De  Dominio> 
Divino'  (edited  by  R.  L.  Poole  for  the  Wyclif 
Society).  The  interest  of  this  work  is  partly 
that  it  resumes  the  catholic  contention: 
against  the  mendicant  orders  which  had1 
been  accepted  by  the  council  of  Vienne  and! 
by  Pope  John  XXII,  and  links  this  to  a 
general  view  of  human  relations  towards  God! 
which  was  taken  up  in  its  entirety  by  Wy- 
cliffe,  and  made  by  him  the  basis  of  a  doc- 
trinal theory  which  was  soon  discovered  to- 
be,  if  not  heretical,  at  least  dangerous.  Fitz- 
ralph, however,  suffered  no  actual  condem- 
nation ;  it  is  hard  to  see  how  he  could  have- 
been  made  to  suffer  for  maintaining  a  position 
which  had  been  upheld  in  recent  years,  though 
in  different  circumstances,  by  the  highest  ec- 
clesiastical authority ;  and  it  is  likely  that 
he  died  at  Avignon  before  judgment  was  pro- 
nounced, or  perhaps  even  contemplated.  A 
notarial  instrument  of  the  case,  of  which, 
there  is  a  copy  in  the  BodleianMS.  158,  f.  174, 
contains  the  information  that  Fitzralph's  case- 
was  entrusted  by  the  pope  to  four  cardinals 
for  examination,  14  Nov.,  and  gives  the  par- 
ticulars on  which  this  should  proceed.  But 
unfortunately  we  have  no  record  of  the  con- 
clusion arrived  at.  Wadding  (Ann.  Min.  viii. 
127  et  seqq.,  ed.  1733)  states  that  while  the- 
inquiry  was  going  on  the  pope  wrote  letters,, 
1  Oct.  1358,  to  the  English  bishops  restraining 
them  for  the  time  from  any  interference  with 
the  practices  of  the  friars  to  which  Fitzralph 
had  made  objections ;  and  that  in  the  end 
silence  was  imposed  upon  the  archbishop,  and 


Fitzralph 


197 


Fitzralph 


the  friars  were  confirmed  in  their  privileges. 
'This  last  fact  is  not  disputed ;  the  friars  gained 
their  point  (cf.  WALSINGHAM,  Hist.  Anglic. 
a.  285,  ed.  H.  T.  Riley)  :  but  whether  they 
.succeeded  in  obtaining  Fitzralph's  condemna- 
tion is  more  than  doubtful.  Hermann  Corner 
{in  ECCAKD,  Corp.  Hist.  Med.  JEvi,  iii.  1097) 
.goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  he  was  arrested  at 
Avignon  and  there  perished  miserably.  But 
Wadding  himself  admits  in  his  margin  that 
lie  died  're  infecta,'  and  the  common  account 
as  that  he  died  in  peace  at  an  advanced  age 
before  any  formal  decision  upon  his  proposi- 
tions had  been  reached  (F.  BOSQUET,  Pontif. 
JKom.  Gall.  Hist.  p.  131,  Paris,  1632).  It  is 
.significant  that  some  time  before  this  a  subsidy 
had  been  levied  upon  the  clergy  of  the  diocese 
•of  Lincoln,  where  he  had  formerly  been  chan- 
cellor, to  contribute  towards  his  expenses 
during  his  stay  at  the  papal  court  (Reg.  Gyne- 
avell.  ap.  TANNER,  284  note  c),  and  Wycliffe 
implies  that  a  collection  of  a  more  general 
kind  was  made  for  his  support  (Fascic.  Zizan. 

£284 ;  Trialogus,  iv.  36,  p.  375,  ed.  G.  V. 
echler)  ;  while  a  Benedictine  chronicler 
asserts  roundly,  under  the  year  1368,  that  it 
was  in  consequence  of  the  default  of  the  Eng- 
lish clergy  and  the  abundant  resources  of 
the  friars  that  the  latter  received  a  confir- 
mation of  their  privileges,  f  adhuc  pendente 
lite' ( Chron.  Angl.  p.  38 ;  WALSINGHAM,  Hist. 
Anglic,  i.  285). 

The  date  of  Fitzralph's  death  was  pro- 
bably 16  Nov.  1360  (WARE,  De  Prcesul.  Hib. 
•p.  21 ;  COTTON,  Fast.  Eccl.  Hib.  iii.  15)  ;  but 
the  '  Chronicon  Anglias,'  p.  48,  and,  among 
modern  writers,  Bale  (1.  c.)  give  the  day  as 
that  of  St.  Edmund  the  king  or  20  Nov. 
The  former  date,  '  16  Kal.  Dec./  has  been 
sometimes  misread  as  16  Dec.  (Ann.  Hib. 
an.  1360,  p.  393 ;  WADDING,  viii.  129),  and 
Wadding  hesitates  whether  the  year  was  1360 
•or  1359,  the  latter  year  being  given  by  Leland 
(Comm.  de  Scriptt.  Brit.  p.  373).  That  Fitz- 
iralph's  death  took  place  at  Avignon  may  be 
accepted  as  certain.  The  discordant  account 
is  in  fact  obviously  derived  from  the  statement 
in  Camden's  edition  of  the '  Annales  Hibernise ' 
(Britannia,  p.  830,  ed.  1607)  that  he  died  '  in 
Hannonia,'  which  was  pointed  out  by  Ware 
*(1.  c.)  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  as  a 
mistake  for  'Avinione'  (see  J.  T.  GILBERT,  in- 
troduction to  the  Chart,  of  St.  Mary's  Abbey, 
Dublin,  ii.  pp.  cxviii,  cxix, where  he  prints '  Avi- 
miona').  Hannonia  then  becomes  localised 
in '  Montes  Hannonise'  or  Mons  in  Hainault, 
;and  Wadding  (1.  c.  p.  129)  conjectures  that 
his  death  took  place  in  the  course  of  his  home- 
ward journey.  In  this  identification  of  the 
^place  he  is  followed  by  Mansi  (note  to  RAY- 
JSALD.  Ann.  vii.  33). 


About  ten  years  after  Fitzralph's  death 
his  bones  are  said  to  have  been  taken  by 
Stephen  de  Valle,  bishop  of  Meath  (1369- 
1379),  and  removed  to  the  church  of  St.  Ni- 
cholas at  Dundalk ;  but  some  doubted  whether 
the  bones  were  his  or  another's  (Ann.  Hib. 
1.  c. ;  WARE,  p.  21).  The  monument  was  still 
shown  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  when  Ussher  wrote  to  Camden 
(30  Oct.  1606)  that  it  '  was  not  long  ago  by 
the  rude  soldiers  defaced'  (CAMDEN,  Epist. 
p.  86, 1691).  However  this  may  be,  the  state- 
ment that  miracles  were  wrought  at  the  tomb 
in  which  his  remains  were  laid  rests  upon 
early  testimony.  The  first  continuator  of 
Higden,  whose  manuscript  is  of  the  first  part 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  asserts  of  the  year 
1377  that l  about  this  time  God,  declaring  the 
righteousness  wrought  by  master  Richard 
whiles  that  he  lived  on  the  earth,  that  that 
might  be  fulfilled  in  him  which  is  said  in  the 
psalm,  "The  righteous  shall  be  in  everlasting 
remembrance,"  through  the  merits  of  the  same 
Richard  worketh  daily  at  his  tomb  at  Dun- 
dalk in  Ireland  many  and  great  miracles, 
whereat  it  is  said  that  the  friars  are  ill- 
pleased  '  (Polychron.  viii.  392,  ed.  J.  R. 
Lumby ;  Chron.  Angl.  p.  400).  A  like  state- 
ment occurs  in  the  '  Chronicon  Angliee ' 
(an.  1360,  p.  48).  In  consequence  of  these  mi- 
racles Ware  says  that  Boniface  IX  caused  a 
commission,  consisting  of  John  Colton,  arch- 
bishop of  Armagh,  and  Richard  Yong,  abbot 
of  Osney,  and  elect  of  Bangor  (therefore  be- 
tween 1400  and  1404),  to  inquire  into  his 
claims  to  canonisation  ;  but  the  inquiry  led 
to  no  positive  action  in  the  matter.  Still, 
popular  usage  seems  to  have  placed  its  own 
interpretation  upon  the  miracles,  and  as  late 
as  the  seventeenth  century  a  Roman  catholic 
priest,  Paul  Harris,  speaks  of  Fitzralph  as 
'called  .  .  .  by  the  inhabitants  of  this  coun- 
trey  S.  Richard  of  Dundalke '  (Admonition 
to  the  Fryars  of  Ireland,  pp.  15,  34,  1634). 
Ussher  had  used  almost  the  same  words  in 
his  letter  already  quoted.  Wood  states  that 
there  was  an  effigy  of  Fitzralph  in  Lichfield 
Cathedral,  but  it  had  been  destroyed  before 
the  time  at  which  he  wrote  (Fasti  Oxon.  p.  21). 

Besides  his  chief  works  already  enume- 
rated Fitzralph  was  the  author  of  a  number 
of  minor  tracts  in  the  mendicant  controversy 
(among  them  a  reply  to  Conway),  sermons 
(one  collection  entitled  '  De  Laudibus  Marise 
Avenioni'),  'Lectura  Sententiarum,'  'Quses- 
tiones  Sententiarum,'  '  Lectura  Theologies,' 
'  De  Statu  universalis  Ecclesise,' l  De  Peccato 
Ignorantise,'  'De  Vafritiis  Judaeorum,'  'Dia- 
logus  de  Rebus  ad  S.  Scripturam  pertinen- 
tibus,'  *  Vita  S.  Manchini  Abbatis,'  and '  Epi- 
stolse  ad  Di versos,'  most  of  which  are  still 


Fitzrichard 


198 


Fitzroy 


extant  in  manuscript.  For  fuller  particulars 
see  Tanner's  '  Bibl.  Brit./  p.  284  et  seq.  The 
statement  that  Fitzralph  translated  the  Bible 
or  parts  of  the  Bible  into  Irish,  though  often 
repeated,  rests  simply  upon  a  guess — given 
merely  as  a  guess — of  Foxe  (Acts  and  Monu- 
ments, ii.  766,  ed.  1854). 

[Authorities  cited  above.]  B.  L.  P. 

FITZRICHARD,  GILBERT  (d.  1115?). 
[See  CLARE,  GILBERT  DE.] 

FITZROBERT,  SIMON,  bishop  of  Chi- 
chester  (d.  1207).  [See  SIMON  DE  WELLS.] 

FITZROY,  AUGUSTUS  HENRY,  third 
DUKE  OF  GRAFTON  (1735-1811),  grandson  of 
Charles  (1683-1757),  second  duke  and  eldest 
surviving  son  of  Lord  Augustus  Fitzroy  (d. 
28  May  1741),  by  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Colonel  William  Cosby  of  Strodbell  in  Ire- 
land, governor  of  New  York,  was  born  1  Oct. 
1735,  and  educated  at  Westminster  School 
and  at  Peterhouse,  Cambridge,  taking  the 
degree  of  M.A.  in  1753,  as  Earl  of  Euston. 
Stonehewer,  the  friend  of  Gray,  was  his  tutor 
at  Cambridge,  and  afterwards  his  private 
secretary  and  intimate  friend.  Grafton  subse- 
quently declined  the  degree  of  LL.D.  usually 
conferred  on  its  chancellor,  from  a  dislike 
to  subscribing  the  articles  of  the  church  of 
England.  He  was  returned  in  December 
1756  as  member  by  the  boroughs  of  Borough- 
bridge  in  Yorkshire  and  Bury  St.  Edmunds 
in  Suffolk,  when  he  chose  the  latter  consti- 
tuency. On  6  May  1757  he  succeeded  as 
third  Duke  of  Grafton,  and  was  at  once 
created  lord-lieutenant  of  Suffolk,  a  position 
which  he  held  until  1763,  when  he  was  dis- 
missed by  Lord  Bute,  and  again  from  1769  to 
1790.  He  was  appointed  in  November  17  56  as 
lord  of  the  bedchamber  to  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
afterwards  George  III,  but  resigned  the  post 
early  in  June  1758.  His  first  active  appearance 
in  politics  was  on  the  accession  to  power  of 
Lord  Bute,  when  he  flung  himself  into  oppo- 
sition. At  this  time  he  was  intimately  allied 
with  Lord  Temple,  and  followed  his  lead  by 
visiting  Wilkes  in  the  Tower  in  May  1763 
'  to  hear  from  himself  his  own  story  and  his 
defence,  and  to  show  that  no  influence  ought 
to  stop  the  means  of  every  man's  justifying 
himself  from  an  accusation,  though  it  should 
be  of  the  most  heinous  nature,'  but  he  offended 
Temple  by  refusing  in  that  month  to  become 
bail  for  Wilkes.  His  rise  in  parliament  was 
so  rapid  that  when  Pitt  was  summoned  by 
the  king  to  form  a  ministry  in  August  1763 
he  had  it  in  contemplation  to  enlist  Grafton 
as  a  member  of  his  cabinet.  In  December 
of  that  year  Horace  Walpole  records  in  his 
letters  that  the  Duke  of  Grafton  is  much  com- 
mended, and,  although  he  had  never  been  in 


office,  he  was  now  in  the  front  rank  of  poli- 
tics. Pitt  was  again  called  upon  to  form  a 
ministry,  when  he  named  Grafton  and  him- 
self as  the  principal  secretaries  of  state ;  but 
the  projected  administration  fell  through  in 
consequence  of  Lord  Temple's  refusal  to  take 
office.  The  Marquis  of  Rockingham  there- 
upon took  the  treasury,  and  Grafton  became 
his  secretary  of  state  for  the  northern  de- 
partment (July  1765).  Then,  as  ever,  he  was- 
anxious  to  obtain  Pitt's  assistance,  but  the 
great  commoner  was  not  enamoured  of  the 
new  cabinet,  and  especially  objected  to  the 
Duke  of  Newcastle's  inclusion  in  it.  Weak 
as  it  was,  without  the  support  of  the  king- 
or  of  Pitt,  and  without  cohesion  among  them- 
selves, the  Rockingham  ministry  dragged  on 
for  some  months.  Grafton  threw  up  the 
seals  in  May  1766,  when  he  stated  in  the 
House  of  Lords  that  he  had  not  gone  out 
of  office  'from  a  love  of  ease  and  indulgence  to- 
his  private  amusements,  as  had  been  falsely 
reported,  but  because  they  wanted  strength, 
which  one  man  only  could  supply ; '  and  that 
'  though  he  had  carried  a  general's  staff,  he 
was  ready  to  take  up  a  mattock  or  spade 
under  that  able  and  great  minister.'  At  the 
end  of  July  all  Grafton's  colleagues  followed 
his  example,  and  Pitt  was  forced  to  take 
upon  himself  the  cares  of  office.  Grafton  very 
reluctantly  accepted  the  headship  of  the 
treasury,  and  Pitt,  to  the  disgust  of  his- 
friends,  took  a  peerage  and  the  privy  seal 
(July  1766).  With  a  view  to  strengthening 
the  cabinet  by  the  inclusion  of  the  Duke  of 
Bedford's  party,  the  first  lord  endeavoured  to 
obtain  Lord  Gower  in  lieu  of  Lord  Egniont 
as  first  lord  of  the  admiralty,  but  in  this  he 
was  unsuccessful.  The  new  ministry  was 
soon  involved  in  difficulty.  Wilkes  came 
to  London,  and  on  1  Nov.  1766  addressed  to 
Grafton  a  letter  in  which  he  professed  loyalty 
and  implored  pardon,  but  on  the  advice  of 
Chatham  no  notice  was  taken  of  the  com- 
munication, and  Wilkes  thereupon  repaired 
to  Paris  and  sent  a  second  communication 
on  12  Dec.  The  state  of  the  East  India 
Company  presented  even  greater  dangers  to 
the  new  administration.  The  views  of  Con- 
way  and  Charles  Townshend  were  antago- 
nistic to  those  of  Chatham,  and  but  for  the 
latter's  illness,  Townshend  would  have  been 
dismissed  from  office.  Their  defeat  over  the 
amount  of  the  land  tax  was  l  a  most  dis- 
heartening circumstance,'  and  when  Towns- 
hend was  taunted  with  the  necessity  of  pro- 
viding some  means  to  recoup  the  reduction,  he, 
1  without  the  concurrence  of  the  rest  of  the 
cabinet,  intimated  that  he  had  thought  of  a 
method  of  taxing  America  without  giving 
offence,  and  the  ministry  found  themselves 


Fitzroy 


i99 


Fitzroy 


under  the  necessity  of  bringing  forward  the 
port  duties  upon  glass,  colours,  paper,  and  tea.' 
Grafton  became  more  anxious  than  ever  for 
Chatham's  advice  in  the  cabinet's  delibera- 
tions, and  for  his  presence  in  parliament.  An 
interview  between  them  was  at  last  arranged 
on  31  May  1767,  but  the  only  effect  of  their 
consultation  was  for  the  ministry  to  continue 
in  its  course,  with  Conway  taking  the  lead  in 
the  commons.  As  Chatham's  malady  be- 
came worse,  it  was  necessary  for  Grafton 
either  to  retire,  which  he  often  threatened, 
or  to  assume  greater  responsibility  in  busi- 
ness. He  adopted  the  latter  alternative,  and 
from  September  1767  the  ministry  was  known 
by  his  name.  Townshend  died  in  that  month 
and  Lord  North  succeeded  as  chancellor  of 
the  exchequer,  and  Lord  Gower  with  the 
members  of  the  Bedford  party  was  included 
in  the  government  in  the  following  Decem- 
ber. The  effect  of  these  changes  was  to 
render  the  ministry  more  united  in  council 
but  to  weaken  its  liberal  character.  Wilkes 
was  returned  for  Middlesex,  and  Grafton, 
though  personally  adverse  to  arbitrary  acts 
of  power,  was  at  the  head  of  affairs  when  an 
elected  representative  to  parliament  was  first 
expelled  the  House  of  Commons,  and  then 
declared  incapable  of  election.  The  cabinet 
decided  that  the  port  duties  levied  in  the 
American  colonies  should  be  repealed,  but 
were  divided  upon  the  question  whether  the 
duty  upon  tea  should  not  be  retained  as  an 
assertion  of  the  right.  Grafton  was  for  the 
repeal  of  all,  but,  '  to  his  great  surprise  and 
mortification,  it  was  carried  against  him  by 
the  casting  vote  of  his  friend  Lord  Rochford, 
whom  he  had  himself  lately  introduced  into 
the  cabinet.'  To  make  matters  worse,  he 
began  to  neglect  business,  and  to  outrage 
the  lax  morality  of  his  day,  thinking,  to  use 
the  strong  language  of  Horace  Walpole, '  the 
world  should  be  postponed  to  a  whore  and  a 
horse  race.'  Junius  thundered  against  him, 
accusing  him,  as  hereditary  ranger  of  Whittle- 
bury  and  Salcey  forests,  of  malversation  in 
claiming  and  cutting  some  of  the  timber — 
an  accusation  which  would  appear  from  the 
official  minutes  in  l  Notes  and  Queries,'  3rd 
ser.  viii.  231-3,  to  have  been  unfounded — 
and  denouncing  him,  both  in  his  letters 
and  in  a  poem  called  '  Harry  and  Nan,'  an 
elegy  in  the  manner  of  Tibullus,  which  was 
printed  in  '  Almon's  Political  Register/  ii. 
431  (1768),  for  what  could  not  be  gain- 
said, his  connection  with  Nancy  Parsons. 
This  woman  was  the  daughter  of  a  tailor  in 
Bond  Street,  and  she  first  lived  with  Hogh- 
ton  or  Horton,  a  West  India  captive  mer- 
chant, with  whom  she  went  to  Jamaica,  but 
from  whom  she  fled  to  England.  She  is  de- 


scribed as  '  the  Duke  of  Graf  ton's  Mrs.  Hor- 
ton, the  Duke  of  Dorset's  Mrs.  Horton,  every- 
body's Mrs.  Horton.'  Her  features  are  well 
known  from  Gainsborough's  portrait,  and  she 
was  endowed  with  rare  powers  of  attraction, 
for  which  Grafton  threw  away  *  his  beauti- 
ful and  most  accomplished  wife,'  and  Charles, 
second  viscount  Maynard,  raised  her  to  the 
peerage  by  marrying  her  12  June  1776.  It 
was  in  April  1768  that  the  prime  minister 
appeared  with  her  at  the  opera  and  thus 
afforded  Junius  an  opportunity  for  some 
of  his  keenest  invectives.  Under  the  in- 
fluence of  these  private  distractions  and  pub- 
lic troubles  over  Wilkes  and  America,  resig- 
nation of  the  premiership  was  often  threat- 
ened by  Grafton.  In  October  1768  Chatham 
resigned  his  place  as  lord  privy  seal,  although 
several  of  his  friends  still  adhered  to  their 
places.  At  the  close  of  1769  Chatham  re- 
covered the  full  possession  of  his  faculties, 
and  the  effect  upon  the  ministry  of  his  re- 
appearance in  the  political  world  was  instan- 
taneous. Lord  Granby  voted  against  them, 
and  then  resigned.  Lord  Camden  was  dis- 
missed from  his  post  of  lord  chancellor,  and 
the  seals  were  given  to  Charles  Yorke.  The 
death  of  the  new  chancellor  followed  imme- 
diately on  his  appointment,  and  Grafton, 
naturally  timid  and  indolent,  and  with  a  set 
of  discontented  friends  around  him,  seized 
the  opportunity  of  resigning  on  28  Jan.  1770. 
His  temporary  difference  with  Chatham  was 
intensified  by  some  words  which  passed  be- 
tween them  in  the  following  March,  when 
Grafton  was  pronounced  unequal  'to  the  go- 
vernment of  a  great  nation.'  After  much 
persuasion  from  the  king's  friends  he  took 
office  as  privy  seal  in  Lord  North's  adminis- 
tration (June  1771),  but,  'with  a  kind  of 
proud  humility,'  refused  a  seat  in  the  cabinet. 
This  step  exposed  him  to  varying  comment. 
The  king  wrote,  {  Nothing  can  be  more  hand- 
some than  his  manner  of  accepting  the  privy 
seal,'  but  Horace  Walpole  sneeringly  wrote, 
that  it  came  '  of  not  being  proud.'  Grafton 
himself  gave  out  in  after  years  that  he  ac- 
cepted this  office  in  the  hope  of  preventing 
the  quarrel  with  America  from  being  pushed 
to  extremities,  and  his  views  probably  always 
leant  to  the  side  of  the  colonists.  In  August 
1775  he  wrote  to  Lord  North,  warmly  urging 
the  desirability  of  a  reconciliation,  but  the 
prime  minister  did  not  reply  for  seven  weeks, 
when  the  substance  of  his  answer  was  a  draft 
of  the  king's  speech.  His  resignation  was 
daily  expected,  and  on  3  Nov.  the  king 
thought  that  the  seal  of  office  should  be 
sent  for,  but  on  9  Nov.  Grafton  resigned,  and 
at  once  took  public  action  against  his  late  col- 
leagues. An  attempt  was  made  in  February 


Fitzroy 


200 


Fitzroy 


1779  to  attach  him  and  some  of  Chatham's 
followers  to  the  North  ministry,  but  it  failed, 
and  he  remained  out  of  office  until  the  foun- 
dation of  the  Rockingham  ministry  in  March 
1782,  when  he  joined  the  cabinet  as  lord  privy 
seal.  Though  he  acquiesced  in  the  acces- 
sion of  Lord  Shelburne  on  Rockingham's 
death  in  the  following  July,  he  did  not  cor- 
dially act  with  his  new  chief,  and  the  down- 
fall of  the  administration  in  April  1783  was 
probably  a  relief  to  him.  From  that  time  he 
remained  out  of  office,  and  to  his  credit  be  it 
said  that  although  he  had  a  numerous  family 
he  obtained  '  no  place,  pension,  or  reversion 
whatever.'  He  had  been  declining  in  health 
for  more  than  two  years,  but  his  fatal  illness 
lasted  for  some  weeks.  He  died  at  Euston 
Hall,  Suffolk,  on  14  March  1811,  and  was 
buried  at  Euston  on  21  March.  He  was  in- 
vested K.G.  at  St.  James's  Palace  20  Sept. 
1769,  was  recorder  of  Thetford  and  Coventry, 
high  steward  of  Dartmouth,  hereditary  ranger 
of  Whittlebury  and  Salcey  forests,  and  the 
holder  of  several  sinecures,  including  places 
in  the  king's  bench,  common  pleas,  and  court 
of  exchequer.  His  first  wife,  whom  he  mar- 
ried 29  Jan.  1756,  was  Anne,  daughter  and 
heiress  of  Henry  Liddell,  baron  Ravensworth. 
After  a  married  life  of  twelve  years  she  eloped 
with  John  Fitzpatrick,  second  earl  of  Upper 
Ossory,  whom  she  married  on  26  March  1769, 
the  act  dissolving  her  first  marriage  having 
come  into  law  three  days  previously.  By  her 
the  duke  had  two  sons,  George  Henry,  fourth 
duke  [q.  v.],  and  Lord  Charles  [q.  v.],  and  a 
daughter,  Georgiana.  He  married  in  May 
1769  Elizabeth,  third  daughter  of  the  Rev. 
Sir  Richard  Wrottesley,  dean  of  Windsor. 
She  is  described  as  '  not  handsome,  but  quiet 
and  reasonable,  and  having  a  very  amiable 
character.'  She  bore  him  twelve  children. 


Grafton's  tastes  first  leant  entirel 


ly  to  plea- 
Wakefield 


Lodge,  his  official  residence  in  Whittlebury 
forest,  and  the  races  of  Newmarket  absorbed 
his  thoughts  and  his  spare  time.  Latterly  he 
became  of  a  more  serious  disposition,  and  he 
was  for  many  years  a  regular  worshipper  at 
the  Unitarian  chapel  in  Essex  Street,  Strand, 
London.  He  was  the  author  of  :  1.  *  Hints 
submitted  to  the  serious  attention  of  the 
Clergy,  Nobility,  and  Gentry,  by  a  Layman/ 
1789,  two  editions,  the  first  edition  having 
been  called  in  in  consequence  of  the  king's 
illness.  It  urged  the  propriety  of  amend- 
ment of  life  by  the  upper  classes,  and  greater 
attention  to  public  worship,  to  insure  which 
a  revision  of  the  liturgy  was  necessary. 
2.  'The  Serious  Reflections  of  a  Rational 
Christian  from  1788  to  1797  '  [anon.],  1797. 
In  favour  of  unitarianism  and  against  the  in- 


fallibility of  the  writers  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments.  It  was  through  some  of  Bishop 
Watson's  little  tracts  that  Grafton  first  turned 
his  attention  to  religious  inquiry,  and  when 
his  views  were  condemned  by  several  writers 
they  found  a  defender  in  the  bishop.  A 
volume  of  (  Considerations  on  the  expediency 
of  Revising  the  Liturgy  and  Articles  of  the 
Church  of  England '  (1790,  two  edits.),  writ- 
ten by  Watson,  was  printed  under  the  duke's 
auspices,  and  seven  hundred  copies  of  an  edi- 
tion of  Griesbach's  Greek  New  Testament, 
with  the  various  readings  in  manuscript, 
printed  at  his  sole  expense  in  1796,  were 
gratuitously  circulated  according  to  his  di- 
rection. Late  in  life  he  wrote  a  '  Memoir ' 
of  his  public  career,  and  several  extracts  from 
it  have  been  published  in  Lord  Stanhope's 
'  History/  Walpole's '  Memoirs  of  George  HI/ 
vol.  iv.,  Appendix,  and  in  Campbell's  '  Lives 
of  the  Chancellors ; '  but  the  whole  work  has 
not  yet  been  printed,  although  it  has  for  some 
time  been  included  among  the  publications 
of  the  Camden  Society.  On  29  Nov.  1768 
Grafton  was  unanimously  elected  chancellor 
of  Cambridge  University,  and  on  1  July  1769 
he  was  installed  in  the  senate  house.  Through 
Stonehewer's  interest  Gray  had  been  ap- 
pointed by  Grafton  to  the  professorship  of 
modern  history  at  Cambridge,  and  he  thought 
himself  bound  in  gratitude  to  write  on  the 
installation.  The  ode  was  begun  in  1768, 
finished  in  April  1769,  and  printed  after  July 
in  that  year.  Much  to  Dr.  Burney's  chagrin 
it  was  set  to  music  by  Dr.  John  Randall,  the 
then  music  professor.  Particulars  of  the  pro- 
ceedings on  this  occasion  may  be  found  in 
Nichols's  'Illustrations  of  Literature/ v.  315- 
317;  Cradock's '  Memoirs/ i.  105-17,  iv.  156-9 ; 
and  in  the  'Gentleman's  Magazine/  xxxix. 
361-2.  His  expenses  on  this  occasion  were 
estimated  at  2,000/.,  and  to  celebrate  his  ap- 
pointment he  offered  500/.  towards  lighting 
and  paving  the  town.  The  duke's  career  dis- 
appointed the  expectations  of  his  friends.  His 
disinterestedness  of  motive  and  the  sincerity 
of  his  friendship  have  received  high  praise,  nor 
was  he  wanting  in  judgment  or  good  sense, 
but  these  qualities  were  allied  with  many 
drawbacks,  and  notably  with  timidity  of 
conduct,  which  led  him  in  times  of  danger 
to  threaten  resignation  of  office,  and  disregard 
of  public  opinion  in  social  life.  It  is  perhaps 
his  highest  praise  that  Fox  in  1775  wrote 
that  he  could  act  with  him  '  with  more  plea- 
sure in  any  possible  situation  than  with  any 
one  I  have  been  acquainted  with/  and  Chat- 
ham in  1777  sent  him  '  unfeigned  respect.' 

[Grrenville  Papers,  passim ;  Stanhope's  His- 
tory, 1713-83, vols.  v-vii. ;  Chatham  Corresp. pas- 
sim ;  Walpole's  Memoirs  of  Eeign  of  George  III; 


Fitzroy 


2OI 


Fitzroy 


Walpole's  Letters,  iii.  138,  ir.  139,  500,  v.  106, 
163,  225,  305,  347,  vii.  89;  Corresp.  of  George  III 
and  North,!.  75-6,  281-3,  ii.  225;  Almon's  Anec- 
dotes, i.  1-34;  Gent.  Mag.  1811,  p.  302;  Tay- 
lor's Sir  Joshua  Keynolds,  i.  176  ;  Dyer's  Cam- 
bridge, ii.  29-31  ;  C.  H.  Cooper's  Annals  of 
Cambridge,  iv.  353-61;  Gray's  works  (1884  ed.), 
L  92-7,  ii.  242,  277,  iii.  318,  342-6;  Baker's 
Northamptonshire,  ii.  170-1  ;  Nichols's  Illustr. 
of  Lit.  vi.  768  ;  Nichols's  Lit.  Anecdotes,  i.  582, 
ii.  67,  viii.  145,  ix.  87,  457,461,  487;  Notes 
and  Queries,  2nd  ser.  ii.  456,  462,  iii.  57  ;  Bels- 
ham's  Lindsey,  pp.  320-36  ;  JohnWilliams's  Bels- 
ham,  pp.  611-12 ;  Uncorrupted  Christianity,  &c., 
a  sermon  on  the  duke's  death  by  Belsham, 
1811.]  W.  P.  C. 

FITZROY,  CHARLES,  first  DUKE  OF 
SOUTHAMPTON  and  CLEVELAND  (1662-1730), 
natural  son  of  Charles  II,  by  Barbara,  coun- 
tess of  Castlemaine  [seeViLLiEES,  BAEBAEA], 
was  born  in  1662  and  baptised  on  18  June  in 
that  year  in  St.  Margaret's  Church,  Westmin- 
ster, the  king,  the  Earl  of  Oxford,  and  Lady 
Suffolk  (sister  of  the  Countess  of  Castlemaine) 
being  sponsors.  The  entry  in  the  register  was 
'  Charles  Palmer,  lord  Limerick,  son  to  the 
Right  Honourable  Roger,  earl  of  Castlemaine, 
by  Barbara,'  and  he  bore  the  title  of  Lord  Lime- 
rick until  1670,  when  the  patent  which  created 
his  mother  Countess  of  Southampton  and 
Duchess  of  Cleveland,  with  remainder  in  tail 
male,  conferred  upon  him  the  right  to  use 
the  title  of  Earl  of  Southampton  during  his 
mother's  life,  and  from  that  date  he  is  com- 
monly referred  to  as  Lord  Southampton.  He 
was  installed  knight  of  the  Garter  on  1  April 
1673,  and  on  10  Sept.  1675  was  created  Baron 
of  Newbury  in  the  county  of  Berkshire,  Earl 
of  Chichester  in  the  county  of  Sussex,  and 
Duke  of  the  county  of  Southampton.  On  the 
death  of  his  mother  in  1709  he  succeeded  to 
the  barony  of  Nonsuch  in  the  county  of  Surrey, 
the  earldom  of  Southampton,  and  the  duke- 
dom of  Cleveland.  He  took  his  seat  in  the 
House  of  Lords  as  Duke  of  Cleveland  on 
14  Jan.  1710.  His  life  was  uneventful.  He 
was  suspected  of  intriguing  for  the  restoration 
of  James  II  in  1691,  received  a  pension  of 
1,000/.  per  annum,  charged  on  the  proceeds 
of  the  lotteries  in  1697,  took  little  or  no 
part  in  the  debates  of  the  House  of  Lords, 
but  joined  in  the  protest  against  the  abandon- 
ment of  the  amendments  to  the  Irish  For- 
feitures and  Land  Tax  Bill  in  1700.  He  died 
in  1730.  Fitzroy  married,  first,  Mary,  daugh- 
ter of  Sir  Henry  Wood,  one  of  the  clerks  of 
the  green  cloth,  through  whom,  as  next  of 
kin  to  her  father,  he  acquired  after  much 
litigation  in  1692  a  life  interest  of  the  annual 
value  of4,000/. ;  secondly,  in  November  1694, 
Ann,  daughter  of  Sir  William  Pulteney  of 


Misterton,  Leicestershire.  By  his  first  wife 
he  had  no  issue  ;  by  his  second,  three  sons 
and  three  daughters.  He  was  succeeded  by 
his  eldest  son  William,  who  died  without 
issue  in  1774.  His  two  other  sons  died  in 
his  lifetime.  Of  his  daughters  one,  Grace, 
married  Henry  Vane  [q.  v.],  third  baron 
Barnard,  and  their  grandson,  William  Harry 
Vane,  created  Duke  of  Cleveland  in  1833,  was 
father  of  the  second,  third,  and  fourth  dukes 
of  this  creation. 

[Gent.  Mag.  new  ser.  1850,  p.  368;  Pepys's 
Diary,  26  July  1662 ;  Hist.MSS.  Comm.  6th  Rep. 
App.  367,  7th  Rep.  App.  2106,  4656;  Nicolas's 
Hist,  of  Knighthood,  ii.  Ixviii ;  Lords'  Journals, 
xix.  37  ;  Luttrell's  Relation  of  State  Affairs,  ii. 
606,  630,  iii.  397,  iv.  636 ;  Cal.  Treas.  Papers, 
1697-1701-2,  p.  76  ;  Hist.  Reg.  Chron.  Diary, 
1730,  p.  58  ;  Nicolas's  Peerage  (Courthope).] 

FITZROY,  CHARLES,  first  BAEON 
SOUTHAMPTON  (1737-1797),  third  son  of  Lord 
Augustus  Fitzroy  (second  son  of  Charles,  se- 
cond duke  of  Grafton),  by  Elizabeth,  daugh- 
ter of  Colonel  William  Cosby,  was  born  on 
25  June  1737.  He  was  gazetted  to  a  lieu- 
tenancy in  the  1st  regiment  of  foot  in  1756, 
was  rapidly  advanced  to  the  rank  of  lieu- 
tenant-colonel, and  served  as  aide-de-camp  to 
Prince  Ferdinand  of  Brunswick  at  the  battle 
of  Minden  (1  Aug.  1759),  when  he  carried  the 
famous  order  for  the  advance  of  the  cavalry, 
which  Lord  George  Sackville  (afterwards 
Sackville-Germain)  neglected.  He  gave  evi- 
dence before  the  court-martial  which  after- 
wards tried  Sackville  [see  GEEMAIN,  GEOEGE 
SACKVILLE].  In  1760  he  was  appointed  groom 
of  the  bedchamber  to  the  king,  an  office 
which  he  resigned  in  1762.  He  was  present 
at  the  battle  of  Kirchdenkern  on  15  July 
1761.  On  11  Sept.  1765  he  succeeded  the 
Marquis  of  Lome  in  the  command  of  the  14th 
regiment  of  dragoons.  On  20  Oct.  1772  he 
was  appointed  colonel  of  the  3rd  or  king's 
own  dragoons.  On  17  Oct.  1780  he  was 
raised  to  the  peerage  as  Baron  Southampton, 
and  on  27  Dec.  following  he  became  groom 
of  the  stole  to  the  Prince  of  Wales.  He 
moved  the  address  to  the  throne  at  the  open- 
ing of  parliament  in  1781,  and  spoke  (18  Feb. 
1782)  on  Lord  Carmarthen's  motion  protest- 
ing against  the  elevation  to  the  peerage  of 
1  any  person  labouring  under  a  heavy  censure 
of  a  court-martial,'  a  motion  aimed  at  Lord 
George  Sackville-Germain,  who  had  just  been 
created  Viscount  Sackville  of  Drayton,  deny- 
ing that,  as  had  been  alleged  or  insinuated, 
the  court-martial  in  question  had  been  ani- 
mated by  a  factious  spirit.  He  also  spoke, 
without  definitely  committing  himself  to 
either  side,  on  the  Regency  Bill  on  16  Feb. 


Fitzroy 


202 


Fitzroy 


1 789.  He  was  advanced  to  the  rank  of  general 
on  25  Oct.  1793.  He  died  on  21  March  1797. 
He  married,  on  27  July  3  758,  Anne,  daughter 
of  Sir  Peter  Warren,  K.B.,  vice-admiral  of 
the  red,  by  whom  he  had  issue  nine  sons  and 
seven  daughters.  He  was  succeeded  by  his 
eldest  son,  George  Ferdinand.  He  was  lord 
of  the  manor  of  Tottenham  Court,  Middlesex, 
and  had  his  principal  seat  at  Fitzroy  Farm, 
near  Highgate,  the  grounds  of  which  he  laid 
out  in  the  artificial  style  then,  in  vogue. 

[Brydges's  Peerage  (Collins),  vii.  451  ;  Gent. 
Mag.  1756  p.  362,  1759  p.  144,  1760  pp.  47, 
136,  1761  p.  331,  1762  p.  391,  1765  p.  444, 
1797  i.  355  ;  Beatson's Polit.  Index,  i.  429,  455  ; 
Lords' Journ.  xxxvi.  180  b  ;  Parl.  Hist.xxii.  637, 
1013,  xxvii.  1274  ;  Walpole's  Journ.  of  the  Keign 
of  Geo.  HI.  ii.  475 ;  Lysons's  Environs,  1795,  iii. 
272  n.]  J.  M.  K. 

FITZROY,  LORD  CHARLES  (1764- 
1829),  general,  the  second  son  of  Augustus 
Henry,  third  duke  of  Graf  ton  [q.  v.],  by  his 
first  wife,  Anne,  daughter  of  Henry  Liddell, 
baron  Ravensworth,  was  born  on  17  July 
1764.  He  took  the  degree  of  M.A.  at 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  in  1784.  Hav- 
ing entered  the  army  as  an  ensign  in  1782  he 
was  appointed  captain  of  the  3rd  foot  guards 
in  1787,  and  in  1788  equerry  to  the  Duke  of 
York,  under  whom  he  served  in  the  campaign 
in  Flanders  in  1793-4,  being  present  at  the 
siege  of  Valenciennes.  In  1795  he  was  ap- 
pointed aide-de-camp  to  the  king  with  the 
rank  of  colonel,  was  advanced  to  the  rank  of 
major-general  in  1798,  and  served  on  the 
Irish  staff  between  February  of  that  year 
and  the  following  April,  and  then  on  the 
English  staff  until  1809,  with  the  exception 
of  '  the  year  of  peace/  1802.  He  also  com- 
manded for  some  years  the  garrison  of  Ips- 
wich. He  was  gazetted  lieutenant-general 
in  January  1805,  and  on  4  Jan.  1814  obtained 
the  rank  of  general.  Between  1784  and 
1796  and  also  from  1802  to  1818  he  repre- 
sented Bury  St.  Edmunds  in  parliament. 
He  never  spoke  in  the  house.  During  the 
last  twenty  years  of  his  life  he  resided  prin- 
cipally at  his  seat  at  Wicken,  near  Stony 
Stratford,  where  he  endeared  himself  to  the 
poor  by  many  acts  of  charity.  He  died  at 
his  house  in*  Berkeley  Square  on  20  Dec. 
1829,  and  was  buried  on  the  30th  at  Wicken. 
Fitzroy  married,  first,  on  20  June  1795,  Fran- 
ces, daughter  of  Edward  Miller  Mundy, 
sometime  M.P.  for  Derbyshire,  by  whom  he 
had  one  son,  Charles  Augustus  [q.  v.] ;  and 
secondly,  on  10  March  1799,  Lady  Frances 
Anne  Stewart,  eldest  daughter  of  Robert,  first 
marquis  of  Londonderry,  by  whom  he  had 
two  sons,  George  and  Robert  [q.  v.],  and  one 
daughter. 


[Collins's  Peerage  (Brydges),  i.  219;  Grad. 
Cant.;  Gent.  Mag.  1788  pt.  i.  278,  1795  pt.  i. 
243,  1798  pt.  i.  90,  1805  pt.  i.  577,  1818  pt. 
ii.  499,  1830  pt.  i.  78  ;  List  of  Members  of  Parl. 
(Official  Return  of)  ;  Cornwallis  Corresp.  (Ross), 
ii.  422.]  J.  M.  R. 

FITZROY,  SIB  CHARLES  AUGUSTUS 

(1796-1858),  colonial  governor,  eldest  son  of 
Lord  Charles  Fitzroy  [q.  v.],  the  second  son  of 
Augustus  Henry,  third  duke  of  Grafton  [q.  v.], 
was  born  10  May  1796.  He  obtained  a  commis- 
sion in  the  Horse  Guards,  and  was  present  at 
the  battle  of  Waterloo,  where  he  was  attached 
to  the  staff  of  Sir  Hussey  Vivian.  After  his 
retirement  from  active  service  he  was  elected  in 
1831  as  member  for  Bury  St.  Edmunds,  and 
voted  for  the  Reform  Bill.  He  did  not  sit  in 
the  reformed  parliament.  In  1837  he  was 
appointed  lieutenant-governor  of  Prince  Ed- 
ward Island,  being  knighted  on  his  departure 
to  the  colony.  In  1841  he  was  appointed 
governor  and  commander-in-chief  of  the 
Leeward  Islands,  where  he  won  great  favour 
by  his  conciliatory  demeanour.  Before  his 
term  of  office  was  completed  he  was  recalled 
(1845),  in  order  that  he  might  be  sent  to  the 
colony  of  New  South  Wales,  then  in  a  state 
of  considerable  excitement  and  in  peculiar 
need  of  a  governor  of  proved  moderation  and 
courtesy.  He  succeeded  Sir  George  Gipps 
[q.  v.]  in  August  1846.  The  colonists  had 
insisted  on  constitutional  changes,  and  had 
been  irritated  by  Gipps's  unsympathetic  be- 
haviour. The  immediate  question  was  the 
claim  of  the  council,  then  partly  composed  of 
nominee  members,  to  specific  appropriation 
of  the  public  funds.  The  appointment  of  Fitz- 
roy enabled  the  colonists  to  agree  to  what  was 
really  a  postponement  of  the  full  acknow- 
ledgment of  their  claim.  Their  confidence 
was  shown  in  the  universal  sympathy  on  the 
occasion  of  the  fatal  accident  to  Lady  Mary 
Fitzroy,  7  Dec.  1847.  Mr.  Gladstone  had 
suggested  to  the  Legislative  Council  of  New 
South  Wales  a  revival  of  the  system  of  trans- 
portation, a  proposal  to  which  a  select  com- 
mittee had  assented  on  the  condition  that  an 
equal  number  of  free  emigrants  should  be  sent 
out  by  the  home  government.  Lord  Grey, 
however,  had  determined  to  send  convicts 
alone.  The  whole  colony  was  roused  to  ex- 
citement by  the  arrival  (11  June  1849)  of 
the  Hashemy  with  convicts  on  board.  The 
convicts  were  landed  and  sent  to  the  up- 
country  districts.  Fitzroy  reported  their 
objections,  but  declared  that  he  would  firmly 
resist  coercion.  Fortunately,  Lord  Grey 
yielded  the  point.  In  1850  Fitzroy  was  ap- 
pointed governor-general  of  Australia,  and 
soon  afterwards  the  Port  Phillip  district  was 
separated  into  the  independent  colony  of  Vic- 


Fitzroy 


203 


Fitzroy 


toria.  Upon  the  discovery  of  gold  Fitzroy 
steadily  pressed  on  the  home  authorities  the 
advisability  of  establishing  a  mint  at  Sydney. 
His  influence  was  also  used  on  behalf  of  a 
favourable  consideration  for  the  Constitu- 
tional Act  which  Wentworth  had  passed 
through  the  colonial  legislature  in  1853.  His 
departure,  17  Jan.  1855,  took  place  amidst 
general  expressions  of  regret,  and  when  news 
of  his  death  reached  the  colony  the  houses  of 
legislature  were  adjourned.  Fitzroy  was  pre- 
sent at  the  opening  of  Sydney  University,  and 
it  was  under  his  auspices  that  the  first  rail- 
way was  commenced,  the  first  stone  of  the 
Fitzroy  Dock  laid,  and  the  building  of  the 
Exchange  begun. 

He  died  in  London  on  16  Feb.  1858.  He 
was  twice  married:  first,  on  11  March  1820, 
to  Lady  Mary  Lennox,  eldest  daughter  of  the 
fourth  Duke  of  Richmond,  who  died  7  Dec. 
1847 ;  secondly,  on  11  Dec.  1855,  to  Margaret 
Gordon. 

[Records  of  the  British  Army,  Royal  Horse 
Guards  ;  Antigua  and  the  Antiguans ;  Rusden's 
Hist,  of  Australia;  Sydney  Morning  Herald; 
European  Mail  (for  Australia),  February  1858.1 

E.  C.  K.  G. 

FITZROY,  GEORGE,  DUKE  OF  NORTH- 
UMBERLAND (1665-1716),  third  and  youngest 
son  of  Charles  II,  by  Barbara,  countess  of 
Castlemaine  [see  VILLIERS,  BARBARA,  DU- 
CHESS OF  CLEVELAND],  born  at  Oxford  in  De- 
cember 1665,  was  created  Baron  of  Pontefract 
in  the  county  of  York,  Viscount  Falmouth  in 
the  county  of  Cornwall,  and  Earl  of  North- 
umberland on  1  Oct.  1674.  He  was  employed 
on  secret  service  at  Venice  in  1682,  and  on  his 
return  to  England  was  created  Duke  of  North- 
umberland (6  April  1683),  and  elected  and 
installed  knight  of  the  Garter  (10  Jan.  and 
8  April  1684).  He  served  as  a  volunteer  on 
the  side  of  the  French  at  the  siege  of  Luxem- 
bourg in  the  summer  of  the  same  year,  return- 
ing to  England  in  the  autumn.  Evelyn,  who 
met  him  at  dinner  at  Sir  Stephen  Fox's  soon 
after  his  return,  describes  him  as  '  of  all  his 
majesty's  children  the  most  accomplished 
and  worth  the  owning,'  and  is  '  extremely 
handsome  and  well  shaped.'  He  particularly 
praises  his  skill  in  horsemanship  (Diary, 
24  Oct.  and  18  Dec.  1684).  He  commanded 
the  second  troop  of  horse  guards  in  1687,  was 
appointed  a  lord  of  his  majesty's  bedchamber 
in  December  1688,  constable  of  Windsor 
Castle  in  1701,  and  succeeded  the  Earl  of 
Oxford  as  colonel  of  the  royal  regiment  of 
horse  March  1702-3.  On  10  Jan.  1709-10 
he  obtained  the  rank  of  lieutenant-general, 
was  sworn  of  the  privy  council  on  7  April 
1713,  and  was  appointed  lord-lieutenant  of 
Surrey  on  9  Oct.  1714.  He  was  also  chief 


butler  of  England.  Frogmore  House,  Berk- 
shire, was  one  of  his  seats.  He  died  without 
issue  at  Epsom  on  28  June  1716.  He  mar- 
ried in  1686  Catherine,  daughter  of  Robert 
Wheatley,  a  poulterer,  of  Bracknell,  Berk- 
shire, and  relict  of  Robert  Lucy  of  Charlecote, 
whom  he  is  said,  with  the  assistance  of  his 
brother,  Henry  Fitzroy  [q.  v.],  first  duke  of 
Graf  ton,  to  have  privately  conveyed  abroad 
soon  afterwards. 

[Lodge's  Peerage  of  Ireland  (Archdall),  iv.  89 ; 
Courthope's  Hist.  Peer.  ;  Burke's  Extinct  Peer- 
age ;  Secret  Services  of  Charles  II  and  James  II 
(Camd.  Soc.),  p.  66  ;  Luttrell's  Relation  of  State 
Affairs,  i.  295,  304,  307,  322,  373,  434,  544,  615, 
v.  46,  268,  277,  278,  vi.  711,  723;  Magn.  Brit. 
Notit.  1702,  p.  549;  Angl.  Notit.  1687  pt.  i. 
p.  179,  1714  pt,  ii.p.  336  ;  Lysons's  Magn.  Brit, 
i.  433  ;  Haydn's  Book  of  Dignities ;  Hist.  Reg. 
i.  352.]  J.  M.  R, 

FITZROY,  GEORGE  HENRY,  fourth 
DUKE  OP  GRAFTON  (1760-1844),  son  of  Au- 
gustus Henry  Fitzroy  [q.  v.],  third  duke,  by 
his  first  wife,  was  born  14  Jan.  1760.  As  Earl 
of  Euston  he  was  sent  at  eighteen  years  of 
age  to  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  where  he 
contracted  an  intimate  friendship  with  the 
younger  Pitt.  He  proceeded  M.A.  in  1799. 
He  was  afterwards  for  a  time  Pitt's  warm 
partisan  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  for 
many  years  his  colleague  in  the  representation 
of  the  university.  In  1784  he  married  the 
Lady  Maria  Charlotte  Waldegrave,  second 
daughter  of  James,  second  earl  of  Waldegrave. 
Euston  entered  parliament  in  1784.  The  con- 
servatives had  resolved  to  attack  a  number 
of  whig  seats,  including  those  of  Cambridge 
University.  The  sitting  members  were  Lord 
JohnTownshend  and  James  (afterwards  Chief 
Justice)  Mansfield.  The  election  excited  great 
interest  throughout  the  country,  and  the 
return  of  Pitt  and  Euston  was  hailed  with 
enthusiasm  by  the  tory  party.  The  numbers 
were :  Pitt,  351 ;  Euston,  299  ;  Townshend, 
278;  and  Mansfield,  181.  Euston's  career 
in  the  House  of  Commons  was  useful,  but 
not  brilliant.  At  the  outset  he  supported  the 
government  of  Pitt,  but  he  rarely  addressed 
the  house.  He  was  appointed  lord-lieutenant 
of  Suffolk  in  1790,  receiver-general  in  the 
courts  of  king's  bench  and  common  pleas,  and 
king's  gamekeeper  at  Newmarket.  For  some 
years  he  was  ranger  of  Hyde  Park  and  of  St. 
James's  Park.  In  addition  to  these  offices, 
conferred  upon  him  by  the  prime  minister,  he 
was  hereditary  ranger  of  Whittlebury  Forest, 
recorder  of  Thetford,  a  trustee  of  the  Hun- 
terian  Museum,  president  of  the  Eclectic 
Society  of  London,  &c.  Twice,  in  1790  and 
1807,  his  seat  at  Cambridge  was  stoutly  con- 
tested, on  the  latter  occasion  by  Lord  Palmer- 


Fitzroy 


204 


Fitzroy 


ston,  but  in  both  instances  unsuccessfully. 
Euston  sat  for  his  university  from  1784  to 
1811,  when  he  succeeded  to  the  peerage  on  the 
•death  of  his  father,  14  March  1811.  A  con- 
siderable time  before  this  event  Euston  had 
changed  his  political  views.  He  was  unable 
to  support  all  the  measures  of  the  government 
in  relation  to  the  war  against  France,  and 
seceded  from  Pitt  when  embarrassments  be- 
gan to  surround  that  minister.  In  fact,  long 
before  the  death  of  Pitt,  Euston  had  become 
a  whig.  From  the  time  of  his  accession  to 
the  dukedom  Euston  steadfastly  cast  his  votes 
and  exercised  all  his  influence  in  favour  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty.  He  did  not,  how- 
ever, show  bitterness  towards  his  former 
friends,  being  considerate  and  urbane  in  speech 
and  action.  \Vhen  the  bill  of  pains  and  penal- 
ties against  the  queen  of  George  IV  was  pre- 
sented to  the  House  of  Lords,  he  spoke  ve- 
hemently against  the  measure,  and  this  was 
almost  the  last  occasion  on  which  he  took  a 
prominent  part  in  the  business  of  parliament. 
For  nearly  twenty  years  he  lived  in  retire- 
ment, surrounded  by  his  numerous  descend- 
ants ;  but  he  had  become  a  widower  in  1808. 
He  received  the  Garter  in  1834.  He  died  at 
his  seat,  Euston  Hall,  Suffolk,  28  Sept.  1844. 
He  was  succeeded  in  the  title  and  estates  by 
his  eldest  son  Henry,  who,  as  Earl  of  Euston, 
had  sat  in  the  House  of  Commons  for  eleven 
years,  first  as  member  for  Bury  St.  Edmunds, 
and  then  as  member  for  Thetford.  The  fifth 
Duke  of  Grafton  married  a  daughter  of  Ad- 
miral Sir  George  Cranfield  Berkeley,  by  whom 
he  had  issue. 

[Times,  30  Sept.  1844 ;  Ipswich  Express,  1  Oct. 
1844 ;  Annual  Eegister,  1844.]  G.  B.  S. 

FITZROY,  HENRY,  DUKE  OP  RICH- 
MOND (1519-1536),  was  the  son  of  Henry  VIII 
and  Elizabeth  Blount,  a  lady  in  waiting  on 
Queen  Catherine  of  Arragon,  daughter  of  John 
Blount,  esq.,  who,  according  to  Wood,  came 
from  Knevet  in  Shropshire,  'perhaps  Kinlet, 
an  old  seat  of  the  Blount  family.  His  mother 
afterwards  married  Gilbert,  son  of  Sir  George 
Talboys  of  Goltho,  Lincolnshire,  and  certain 
manors  in  that  county  and  Yorkshire  were 
assigned  to  her  for  life  by  act  of  parliament. 

At  the  age  of  six,  on  7  June  1525,  he  was 
made  knight  of  the  Garter,  in  which  order 
he  was  subsequently  promoted  to  the  lieu- 
tenancy (17  May  1533).  A  few  days  after 
his  installation  he  was  created  Earl  of  Not- 
tingham and  Duke  of  Richmond  and  Somer- 
set, with  precedence  over  all  dukes  except 
the  king's  lawful  issue.  The  ceremony,  which 
took  place  at  Bridewell  on  18  June  1525, 
is  minutely  described  in  an  heraldic  manu- 
script quoted  in  the  '  Calendar  of  State  Papers 


of  Henry  VIII.'  On  the  same  day  he  was 
appointed  the  king's  lieutenant-general  north 
of  Trent,  and  keeper  of  the  city  and  castle  of 
Carlisle.  The  following  month  (16  July)  he 
received  a  patent  as  lord  high  admiral  of 
England,  Wales,  Ireland,  Normandy,  Gas- 
cony,  and  Aquitaine,  and  on  the  22nd  a  further 
commission  as  warden-general  of  the  marches 
of  Scotland.  He  was  also  receiver  of  Middle- 
ham  and  Sheriff  Hutton,  Yorkshire.  Lands 
and  income  were  at  the  same  time  granted  to 
him  amounting  to  over  4,000/.  in  yearly  value. 
Other  offices  bestowed  on  him  were  the  lord- 
lieutenantship  of  Ireland  in  June  1529,  and 
the  constableship  of  Dover  Castle,  with  the 
wardenry  of  the  Cinque  ports,  about  two 
months  before  his  death.  It  was  commonly 
reported  that  the  king  intended  to  make  him 
king  of  Ireland,  and  perhaps  his  successor, 
for  which  these  high  offices  were  meant  to 
be  a  preparation.  Shortly  after  his  creation 
he  travelled  north,  and  resided  for  some  time 
at  Sheriff  Hutton  and  Pontefract,  where  his 
council  transacted  all  the  business  of  the  bor- 
ders. His  education  was  entrusted  to  Richard 
Croke  [q.  v.],  one  of  the  most  famous  of  the 
pioneers  of  Greek  scholarship  in  England,  and 
to  John  Palsgrave,  author  of '  Lesclarcissement 
de  la  langue  Francoyse/  the  earliest  English 
grammar  of  the  French  language.  Both  his 
tutors  took  great  pains  with  his  education,  in 
spite  of  the  hindrance  of  those  of  his  household 
who  preferred  to  see  him  more  proficient  in 
horsemanship  and  hunting  than  in  literature. 
When  ten  years  old  he  had  already  read  some 
Caesar,  Virgil,  and  Terence,  and  knew  a  little 
Greek.  Croke  appears  to  have  been  much 
attached  to  him,  and  when  in  Italy,  after 
leaving  his  service,  writes  offering  to  send 
him  models  of  a  Roman  military  bridge  and 
of  a  galley.  Singing  and  playing  on  the  vir- 
ginals were  included  in  his  education.  Va- 
rious matrimonial  alliances  were  proposed  for 
him,  some  perhaps  merely  as  a  move  in  the 
game  of  politics.  Within  the  short  space  of 
a  year  there  was  some  talk  of  his  marrying  a 
niece  of  Pope  Clement  VII,  a  Danish  princess, 
a  French  princess,  and  a  daughter  of  Eleanor, 
queen  dowager  of  Portugal,  sister  of  Charles  V, 
who  afterwards  became  queen  of  France ;  but 
he  eventually  married  (25  Nov.  1533)  Mary 
[see  FITZKOY,  MAKY],  daughter  of  Thomas 
Howard,  third  duke  of  Norfolk,  by  his  second 
wife,  and  sister  of  his  friend  Henry,  earl  of 
Surrey,  who  commemorated  their  friendship 
in  his  poems. 

In  the  spring  of  1532  he  came  south,  re- 
siding for  a  time  at  Hatfield,  and  in  the 
autumn  accompanied  his  father  to  Calais,  to 
be  present  at  his  interview  with  Francis  I. 
Thence  he  went  on  to  Paris  with  his  friend 


Fitzroy 


205 


Fitzroy 


the  Earl  of  Surrey,  and  remained  there  till 
September  1533.  On  his  return  he  was  mar- 
ried, and  it  was  intended  he  should  go  to 
Ireland  shortly  after ;  but  this  intention  was 
not  carried  out,  perhaps  owing-  to  the  state 
of  his  health,  and  he  remained  with  the  court. 
He  is  mentioned  as  being  present  at  the  exe- 
cution of  the  Carthusians  in  May  1535,  and 
at  that  of  Anne  Boleyn  in  May  1536.  On 
22  July  the  same  year  he  died  in  '  the  kinges 
place  in  St.  James,'  not  without  suspicion  of 
being  poisoned  by  the  late  queen  and  her 
brother,  Lord  Rochford.  He  was  buried  in 
the  Cluniac  priory  of  Thetford,  but  at  the 
dissolution  his  body  and  tomb,  together  with 
that  of  his  father-in-law,  the  Duke  of  Norfolk, 
were  removed  to  St.  Michael's  Church,  Fram- 
lingham,  Suffolk.  The  tomb  now  stands  on 
the  north  of  the  altar.  l  It  is  of  freestone, 
garnished  round  with  divers  histories  of  the 
Bible,  and  on  the  top  were  twelve  figures, 
each  supporting  a  trophy  of  the  Passion,  but 
all  of  them  are  miserably  defaced.  His  arms 
in  the  Garter,  with  a  ducal  coronet  over 
them,  are  still  perfect.'  A  miniature  portrait 
of  the  young  duke  was  formerly  in  the  Straw- 
berry Hill  collection,  and  was  engraved  by 
Harding.  There  is  a  sketch  of  it  in  Doyle's 
'  Baronage,'  and  also  a  facsimile  of  his  signa- 
ture from  one  of  his  letters,  preserved  among 
the  public  records. 

[Gal.  State  Papers  Hen.  VIII,  vols.  iv-viii. ; 
Grafton's  Chronicle,  pp.  382,  443  ;  Wriothesley's 
Chronicle,  i.  41,  45,  53,  54  ;  Chronicle  of  Calais, 
pp.  41 , 44, 1 64 ;  Friedmann's  Anne  Boleyn,  ii.  176, 
286-7,  294;  Doyle's  Official  Baronage,  iii.  120; 
Blomefield'sNorfolk,ii.  125;  Statute  14  Hen.  VIII 
c.  34,  22  Hen.  VIII  c.  17,  23  Hen.  VIII  c.  28, 
25  Hen.  VIII  c.  30,  26  Hen.  VIII  c.  21,  27 
Hen.  VIII  c.  51, 28  Hen.  VIII  c.  34  ;  Nott's  Life 
of  Surrey,  p.  xxviii ;  Green's  Guide  to  Framling- 
ham,  1878,  p.  16  ;  Dodd's  Church  Hist.  i.  167.1 

C.  T.  M. 

FITZROY,  HENRY,  first  DUKE  OF  GRAF- 
TON  (1663-1690),  second  son  of  Charles  II  by 
Barbara  Villiers,  countess  of  Castlemaine, 
afterwards  Duchess  of  Cleveland  [see  VIL- 
LIERS, BARBARA],  was  born  on  20  Sept.  1663, 
and  was,  after,  it  is  said,  some  hesitation, 
acknowledged  by  Charles  as  his  son.  A  rich 
wife  was  early  provided  for  him  in  Isabella, 
daughter  and  heiress  of  Henry  Bennet,  earl  of 
Arlington.  She  was  only  five  years  old  when, 
on  1  Aug.  1672,  she  was  married  by  Archbishop 
Sheldon  to  her  young  husband  in  the  presence 
of  the  king  and  court  (EvELYsr,  Diary,  I  Aug. 
1672).  On  16  Aug.  he  was  made  Earl  of  Euston, 
the  title  being  derived  from  Arlington's  house 
in  Suffolk,  of  which  he  was  now  the  probable 
heir.  In  September  1675  he  was  made  Duke 
of  Grafton.  Arlington  and  his  family  were 


very  unwilling  to  sanction  the  alliance,  and 
so  late  as  1678  there  were  rumours  that  it 
was  broken  off  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  6th  Rep. 
p.  386)  ;  but  in  1679  the  couple  were  re- 
married, though  Evelyn  looked  with  the 
greatest  anxiety  to  the  union  of  the  'sweetest 
and  most  beautiful  child '  to  a  '  boy  that  had 
been  rudely  bred  '  (Diary,  6  Sept.  1679). 
Grafton  was,  however,  <  exceeding  handsome, 
by  far  surpassing  any  of  the  king's  other 
natural  issue,'  and  his  father's  resolution  to- 
bring  him  up  for  the  sea  soon  made  him,  as 
Evelyn  had  hoped,  '  a  plain,  useful,  and  ro- 
bust officer,  and,  were  he  polished,  a  tolerable 
man.'  He  was  sent  as  a  volunteer  to  learn 
his  profession  under  Sir  John  Berry  [q.  y.]r 
and  in  his  absence  on  30  Sept.  1680  was  in- 
stalled by  proxy  as  knight  of  the  Garter.  In 
1682  he  became  an  elder  brother  of  the  Trinity 
House,  colonel  of  the  first  foot  guards,  and, 
on  the  death  of  Prince  Rupert,  vice-admiral 
of  England  (KENNETT,  iii.  82).  In  1683  he 
became  captain  of  the  Grafton,  a  ship  of  70 
guns.  In  1684  he  visited  Louis  XIV  at 
Conde,  and,  at  some  personal  danger,  won 
experience  of  military  service  at  the  siege  of 
Luxemburg  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  App.  to  7th 
Rep.  pp.  84,  263,  302).  At  the  coronation 
of  James  II  he  acted  as  lord  high  constable. 
He  shared  in  suppressing  the  rebellion  of" 
Monmouth;  showed  great  gallantry  at  the 
skirmish  at  Philip's  Norton,  near  Bath,  on 
27  June,  where  he  fell  into  an  ambuscade, 
and  it  was  only  with  great  risk  that  he  suc- 
ceeded in  effecting  his  retreat  (London  Ga- 
zette, 2  July  1685 ;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  9th  Rep. 
pp.  3,  4).  He  was  also  present  at  Sedgmoor. 
He  first  took  his  seat  in  parliament  on  9  Nov. 
1685  (ib.  llth  Rep.  pt.  ii.  p.  321).  Early 
in  1686  he  fought  two  fatal  duels ;  in  one 
case,  however,  Evelyn  acknowledges l  after  al- 
most insufferable  provocation  from  Mr.  Stan- 
ley, brother  of  Lord  Derby  '  (Diary,  19  Feb. 
1686).  A  few  days  afterwards  he  helped  his 
brother  Northumberland  in  an  attempt  to> 
'spirit  away'  his  wife  (ib.  29  Feb.  1686). 
On  3  July  1687  he  carried  his  complaisance 
to  his  uncle  so  far  as  to  act  as  conductor  for 
the  papal  nuncio  D'Adda  on  his  public  entry 
into  London.  But  soon  after  he  started  with 
a  fleet  on  an  expedition  which  first  conveyed 
the  betrothed  queen  of  Pedro  II  of  Portugal 
from  Rotterdam  to  Lisbon,  where  Grafton 
was  magnificently  entertained.  Thence  he- 
sailed  on  a  cruise  among  the  Barbary  states, 
where  at  Algiers,  Tunis,  and  Tripoli  he  re- 
newed treaties,  and  procured  the  release  of 
English  captives.  He  returned  in  March 
1688,  and,  though  not  much  of  a  politician,, 
and  less  of  a  churchman  (BTJRNET,  iii.  317)r 
was  disgusted  at  his  uncle's  proceedings^ 


Fitzroy 


206 


Fitzroy 


and  hurt  at  Dartmouth  being  preferred  to 
him  in  the  command  of  the  fleet  (CLARKE, 
Life  of  James  II,  ii.  208).  Falling  under  the 
influence  of  Churchill,  he  excited  discontent 
not  only  among  the  ships  at  Portsmouth, 
where  he  now  joined  the  fleet  as  a  volunteer 
(Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  10th  Rep.  pt.  iv.  p.  397), 
but  also  through  his  own  regiment  of  guards. 
He  signed  the  petition  to  James  II  for  a  '  free 
and  regular  parliament.'  Yet  he  accompanied 
James  on  his  march  against  William,  and 
joined  with  Churchill  in  protesting  that  he 
would  serve  him  with  the  last  drop  of  his 
blood.  He  was  suspected,  however,  of  having 
joined  the  conspiracy,  and  on  24  Nov.  ran 
away  with  Churchill  to  join  William  at  Ax- 
minster  (CLARKE,  Life  of  James  II,  ii.  219 ; 
MACPHERSON,  Original  Papers,  i.  280-3).  The 
success  of  William  restored  him  to  his  regi- 
ment, at  the  head  of  which  he  was  sent 
to  siege  Tilbury  fort.  He  was  one  of  the 
forty-nine  lords  who  voted  for  a  regency; 
but  he  took  the  oaths  to  William  and  Mary 
on  the  very  first  day,  and  carried  the  orb  at 
their  coronation.  Disappointed  of  any  great 
command,  he  served  in  his  ship  the  Grafton 
at  the  battle  of  Beachy  Head,  30  June  1690, 
and  showed  great  gallantry  in  assisting  dis- 
tressed Dutch  vessels  in  that  unlucky  action 
(Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  7th  Hep.  p.  482).  Finally 
he  took  service  as  a  volunteer  under  Churchill, 
now  Lord  Marlborough,  on  his  expedition  to 
the  south  of  Ireland.  On  28  Sept.  Graf- 
ton  went  with  four  regiments,  who  '  waded 
through  water  up  to  their  armpits,'  to  effect 
a  landing  under  the  walls  of  Cork,  and  storm 
the  town  through  the  breach.  They  had 
almost  succeeded  when  a  musket-ball  from 
the  walls  broke  two  of  his  ribs,  and  he  was 
conveyed  dangerously  wounded  into  the  cap- 
tured city.  He  lingered  some  time,  but 
died  9  Oct.1690  (London  Gazette,  September 
and  October  1690;  cf.  -Life  of  Joseph  Pike, 
in  Friends' Library,  ii.  368).  His  body  was 
conveyed  to  England  and  buried  at  Euston. 
The  most  popular  and  ablest  of  the  sons  of 
Charles  II,  his  strong  and  decided  charac- 
ter, his  reckless  daring,  and  rough  but  honest 
temperament,  caused  him  to  be  widely  la- 
mented. It  was  generally  believed  that  he 
had  the  prospect  of  a  brilliant  career  as  a 
sailor  (BuRNET,  iii.  317,  iv.  105  ;  cf.  An  Elegy 
on  the  Death  of  the  Duke  of  Grafton,  a  broad- 
side, licensed  27  Oct.  1690;  and  the  ballad  on 
The  Noble  Funeral  of  that  renowned  Champion 
the  Duke  of  Grafton). 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  only  son,  Charles, 
born  on  25  Nov.  1683,  who  died  6  May  1757. 
His  widow,  whose  sweetness  and  beauty 
were  universally  commended,  subsequently 
married  Sir  Thomas  Hanmer. 


[Evelyn's  Diary  ;  London  Gazette ;  Burnet's 
Hist,  of  his  own  Time  ;  Kennett's  Hist,  of 
England,  vol.  iii. ;  Clarke's  Life  of  James  II ; 
Doyle's  Official  Baronage,  ii.  48-9  ;  Charnock's 
Biographia  Navalis,  ii.  98-105;  Ranke's  Engl. 
Hist.  vol.  iv. ;  Granger's  Biog.  Hist.  iii.  199-200; 
Macaulay's  Hist,  of  Engl. ;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm. 
Appendices,  6th,  7th,  and  9th  Keps.]  T.  F.  T. 

FITZROY,  HENRY  (1807-1859),  states- 
man, second  son  of  George  Ferdinand,  second 
Baron  Southampton,  by  his  second  wife, 
Frances  Isabella,  second  daughter  of  Lord 
Robert  Seymour,  was  born  2  May  1807  in 
Great  Stanhope  Street,  Mayfair,  London.  He 
matriculated  at  Magdalen  College,  Oxford,  on 
27  April  1826,  but  afterwards  left  Oxford  and 
graduated  M.  A.  at  Trinity  College,Cambridge, 
in  1828,  and  was  returned  to  parliament  for 
Great  Grimsby  in  1831  and  1832.  He  was 
elected  for  Lewes  on  21  April  1837,  and  con- 
tinued to  represent  it  till  his  death.  He  spoke 
frequently  upon  practical  and  administrative 
topics,  and  in  1845  became  a  lord  of  the  ad- 
miralty in  Sir  Robert  Peel's  government.  In 
December  1852  he  returned  to  office  as  un- 
der-secretary  of  the  home  department,  and 
in  that  capacity  had  charge  of  and  was  largely 
instrumental  in  passing  the  Hackney  Car- 
riages (Metropolis)  Act  and  Aggravated  As- 
saults Act  of  1853, 16  and  17  Viet,  c.  30  and 
33,  and  the  County  Courts  Extension  Act  Ex- 
planation Act  of  1854,  having  been  equally 
active  in  passing  the  County  Courts  Extension 
Act  in  1850, 17  and  18  Viet.  c.  94,  and  13  and 
14  Viet.  c.  61.  Quitting  this  office  in  February 
1855,  he  was  elected  chairman  of  committees  in 
the  following  month,  and  in  Lord  Palmerston's 
administration  of  1859  became  chief  commis- 
sioner of  the  board  of  works,  but  had  not  a 
seat  in  the  cabinet.  After  a  long  and  pain- 
ful illness  he  died  at  Sussex  Square,  Kemp- 
town,  Brighton,  22  Dec.  1859.  He  married, 
29  April  1839,  Hannah  Meyer,  second  daugh- 
ter of  Baron  Nathan  Meyer  Rothschild,  who 
survived  him  five  years,  and  had  issue  Arthur 
Frederic,  who  died  in  1858,  and  Caroline 
Blanche,  who  married  Sir  Coutts  Lindsay, 
bart. 

[Hansard's  Parliamentary  Debates;  Annual 
Register,  1859  ;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxonienses ; 
Gent.  Mag.  1859.]  J.  A.  H. 

FITZROY,  JAMES,  otherwise  CROFTS, 
afterwards  SCOTT,  DUKE  OF  MONMOUTH  and 
BUCCLEUCH  (1649-1685).  [See  SCOTT.] 

FITZROY,  MARY,  DUCHESS  OF  RICH- 
MOND (d.  1557),  was  the  only  surviving  daugh- 
ter of  Thomas  Howard,  third  duke  of  Norfolk 
[q.  v.],  by  his  second  wife,  Lady  Elizabeth 
Stafford,  eldest  daughter  of  Edward  Stafford, 


Fitzroy 


207 


Fitzroy 


duke  of  Buckingham.     Her  childhood  was 

Eassed  in  the  summer  at  Tendring  Hall,  Suf- 
:>lk,  and  in  the  winter  at  Hunsdon,  Hertford- 
shire. In  1533  a  dispensation,  bearing  date 
28  Nov.  of  that  year,  was  obtained  for  her 
marriage  to  Henry  Fitzroy,  duke  of  Rich- 
mond [q.  v.],  the  natural  son  of  Henry  VIII. 
Owing  to  the  tender  age  of  both,  the  duchess 
continued  to  live  with  her  own  friends,  and 
Richmond  probably  went  to  reside  at  Windsor 
Castle.  The  duke  died  on  22  July  1536,  and 
the  duchess  afterwards  remained  a  widow. 
She  had  some  trouble  before  she  could  obtain 
a  settlement  of  her  dowry,  as  appears  from  a 
letter  to  her  father  preserved  in  Cotton  MS. 
Vespasian,  F.  xiii.  f.  75.  A  bill  was  signed  in 
the  duchess's  favour,  2  March,  30  Hen.  VIII 
(1539-40),  by  which  she  received  for  life  the 
manor  of  Swaffham  in  Norfolk,  and  perhaps 
others.  In  1546  her  father  offered  her  in  mar- 
riage to  Sir  Thomas  Seymour,  proposing  other 
alliances  between  the  two  families  (expostula- 
tion addressedto  the  privy  council,  Cotton  MS. 
Titus,  B.  ii.) 

When  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  and  his  son, 
the  Earl  of  Surrey,  were  arrested  in  December 
1546,  three  commissioners  were  sent  to  her 
father's  mansion,  Kenninghall,  near  Thetford, 
Norfolk,  to  examine  her  and  a  certain  Eliza- 
beth Holland, '  an  ambiguous  favourite '  of 
the  duko.  The  commissioners  reached  Ken- 
ninghall by  daybreak,  14  Dec.  The  duchess, 
on  learning  the  object  of  their  visit,  at  first 
almost  fainted.  She  promised  to  conceal 
nothing.  The  two  ladies  were  forthwith 
brought  to  London  (report  of  commissioners 
to  the  king,  State  Papers,  Hen.  VIII,  i. 
888-90;  FROTTDE,  Hist,  of  England,  cabinet 
edit.  1870,  ch.  xxiii.)  From  the  evidence  of 
Sir  Wymound  Carew  it  appeared  that  her 
brother,  the  Earl  of  Surrey,  had  advised  her 
to  become  the  mistress  of  Henry.  Carew's 
evidence  was  supported  by  another  witness, 
who  spoke  of  her  strong  abhorrence  of  the 
proposal.  The  duchess  effectually  screened 
her  father  ;  but  against  her  brother  her  evi- 
dence told  fatally.  She  confirmed  the  story  of 
his  abominable  advice,  and  f  revealed  his  deep 
hate  of  the  "  new  men  " '  (FROUDE,  loc.  cit.) 
Surrey  had  recently  set  up  a  new  altar  at 
Boulogne,  while  his  sister  was  a  patroness 
of  John  Foxe,  the  martyrologist.  When 
Surrey's  children  were  taken  from  their 
mother,  and  committed  to  the  care  of  their 
aunt,  she  immediately  engaged  Foxe  as  their 
preceptor.  The  duchess's  household  was 
usually  kept  at  the  castle  of  Reigate,  which 
was  one  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk's  manors. 

Her  father  appears  to  have  always  retained 
a  kindly  feeling  towards  her.  In  his  will, 
dated  18  July  1554,  he  bequeathed  her  500/. 


as  an  acknowledgment  of  her  exertions  to 
obtain  his  release  from  confinement,  and  of 
her  care  in  the  education  of  his  grandchildren. 
About  two  years  before  she  had  been  granted 
by  the  crown  an  annuity  of  100J.  towards 
the  support  of  the  children. 

The  Duchess  of  Richmond  died  on  9  Dec. 
1557.  A  portrait,  drawn  by  Holbein,  of 
'The  Lady  of  Richmond'  remains  in  the 
royal  collection,  and  is  engraved  by  Barto- 
Lozzi  in  the  volume  of '  Holbein  Heads '  pub- 
lished in  1795  by  John  Chamberlain,  with  a 
biographical  notice  by  Edmund  Lodge.  A 
manuscript  volume  of  poetry,  chiefly  by  Sir 
Thomas  Wyatt,  in  the  library  of  the  Duke  of 
Devonshire,  is  supposed  by  Dr.  Nott  to  have 
belonged  to  the  Duchess  of  Richmond.  At 
p.  143  is  written  '  Madame  Margaret  et  Ma- 
dame de  Richemont.'  Nott  imagined  that 
several  pieces  in  the  volume  were  written  by 
her  hand  (preface  to  Works  of  Wyatt,  p.  ix). 

[Life  by  J.  G-.  Nichols  in  Gent.  Mag.  new 
ser.  xxiii.  480-7  ;  Lord  Herbert's  Reign  of  King 
Henry  VIII;  Letters  and  Papers  of  Reign  of 
Henry  VIII  (Gairdner),  vols.  vi.  vii.]  G.  G. 

FITZROY,  ROBERT  (1805-1865),  vice- 
admiral,  hydrographer,  and  meteorologist, 
second  son  by  a  second  marriage  of  Lord 
Charles  Fitzroy  [q.  v.],  was  grandson  of  Au- 
gustus Henry,  third  duke  of  Grafton  [q.  v.], 
and  on  the  mother's  side  of  the  first  Marquis 
of  Londonderry.  He  was  born  at  Ampton 
Hall,  Suffolk,  on  5  July  1805 ;  entered  the 
navy  from  the  Royal  Naval  College  in  1819, 
and  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant 
on  7  Sept.  1824.  After  serving  in  the  Medi- 
terranean and  on  the  coast  of  South  America, 
he  was  appointed  in  August  1828  to  be  flag- 
lieutenant  to  Rear-admiral  Sir  Robert  Ot  way, 
commander-in-chief  on  the  South  American 
station,  and  on  13  Nov.  1828  was  promoted 
to  the  command  of  the  Beagle  brig,  vacant 
by  the  melancholy  death  of  Commander 
Stokes.  The  Beagle  was  at  that  time,  and  con- 
tinued to  be,  employed  on  the  survey  of  the 
coasts  of  Patagonia,  Tierra  del  Fuego,  and 
more  especially  of  the  Straits  of  Magellan, 
under  the  orders  of  Commander  King  in  the 
Adventure  [see  KING,  PHILIP  PARKER]  .  The 
two  vessels  returned  to  England  in  the 
autumn  of  1830,  and  in  the  following  sum- 
mer Fitzroy  was  again  appointed  to  the 
Beagle,  to  continue  the  survey  of  the  same 
coasts.  The  Beagle  sailed  from  Portsmouth 
on  27  Dec.  1831,  having  Charles  Robert  Dar- 
win [q.  v.]  on  board  as  naturalist  of  the  expedi- 
tion. After  an  absence  of  nearly  five  years,  and 
having,  in  addition  to  the  survey  of  the  Straits 
of  Magellan  and  a  great  part  of  the  coast  of 
South  America,  run  a  chronometric  line  round 
the  world,  thus  approxim  ately  fixing  the  longi- 


Fitzroy 


208 


Fitzroy 


tude  of  many  secondary  meridians,  the  Beagle 
returned  to  England  in  October  1836.  In 
July  1835  Fitzroy  had  been  advanced  to  post 
rank,  and  his  work  for  the  next  few  years 
was  the  reduction  and  discussion  of  his  nu- 
merous observations.  In  1837  he  was  awarded 
the  gold  medal  of  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society,  and  in  1839  he  published  the  '  Nar- 
rative of  the  Surveying  Voyages  of  H.M. 
ships  Adventure  and  Beagle  between  the 
years  1826  and  1836,  describing  their  Exami- 
nation of  the  Southern  Shores  of  South 
America,  and  the  Beagle's  Circumnavigation 
of  the  Globe,'  8  vo,  3  vols. ;  but  the  third  volume 
is  by  Charles  Darwin.  Of  Fitzroy's  work  as 
a  surveyor  it  is  unnecessary  now  to  speak  in 
any  detail.  Though  the  means  at  his  dis- 
posal were  small,  the  results  were  both  great 
and  satisfactory,  and  even  twelve  years  later 
Sir  Francis  Beaufort,  in  a  report  to  the 
House  of  Commons  (10  Feb.  1848),  was  able 
to  say :  '  From  the  Equator  to  Cape  Horn, 
and  from  thence  round  to  the  river  Plata  on 
the  eastern  side  of  America,  all  that  is  imme- 
diately wanted  has  been  already  achieved  by 
the  splendid  survey  of  Captain  Robert  Fitz- 
roy.' At  the  general  election  in  June  1841 
Fitzroy  was  returned  to  parliament  as  mem- 
ber for  Durham,  virtually  as  a  nominee  of  his 
uncle,  the  Marquis  of  Londonderry.  The 
preceding  canvass  led  to  a  violent  quarrel 
with  a  Mr.  Sheppard,  who  agreed  to  contest 
the  city  in  the  conservative  interest  in  con- 
cert with  Fitzroy,  but  afterwards  withdrew, 
without,  as  Fitzroy  thought,  giving  him 
proper  notice.  The  quarrel  led  to  a  challenge ; 
a  meeting  was  arranged,  but  Sheppard  failed 
to  appear,  alleging  that  his  affairs  compelled 
him  to  go  to  London.  He  afterwards  as- 
saulted Fitzroy  in  front  of  the  United  Service 
Club,  and  was  summarily  knocked  down. 
The  matter  was  referred  to  a  few  naval  and 
military  officers  of  high  rank,  who  decided 
that,  under  the  circumstances,  Fitzroy  could 
not  give  his  opponent  a  meeting.  And  so  it 
ended,  both  Fitzroy  and  Sheppard  publishing 
pamphlets  giving  the  angry  correspondence 
in  full  detail  ('  Captain  Fitzroy's  Statement/ 
August  1841,  8vo,  82  pp. ;  '  The  Conduct  of 
Captain  Robert  Fitzroy  .  .  .  ,  by  William 
Sheppard,  esq.,'  1842,  8vo,  80  pp.)  In  Sep- 
tember 1842  Fitzroy  accepted  the  post  of 
conservator  of  the  river  Mersey,  but  resigned 
it  early  in  1843,  on  being  appointed  governor 
and  commander-in-chief  of  New  Zealand. 
He  arrived  in  his  government  in  December, 
at  a  time  of  great  excitement.  Questions 
relating  to  the  purchase  of  land  were  then, 
as  for  a  long  time  afterwards,  the  source  of 
much  trouble.  The  settlers  conceived  their 
interests  to  be  of  paramount  importance. 


Fitzroy  held  that  the  aborigines  had  an  equal 
claim  on  his  care,  and  said  so  with  more 
candour  than  prudence.  His  sentiments 
roused  the  fiercest  indignation  among  men 
whose  near  relations  had  been  massacred  by 
the  Maoris.  His  manner,  in  face  of  this  op- 
position, was  not  conciliatory.  It  was  spoken 
of  as  arrogant  and  dictatorial,  as  savouring- 
more  of  the  quarter-deck  than  of  the  council 
chamber.  His  financial  policy,  too,  proved 
unfortunate,  and  incurred  the  bitter  enmity 
of  the  New  Zealand  Company,  which  was 
strongly  represented  in  parliament.  The  go- 
vernment yielded  to  the  storm,  and  super- 
seded him  in  November  1845. 

In  September  1848  he  was  appointed  super- 
intendent of  the  dockyard  at  Woolwich,  and 
in  March  1849  to  the  command  of  the  Arro- 
gant, a  screw  frigate,  which  had  been  fitted 
out  under  his  own  supervision,  and  in  which 
he  was  desired  to  carry  out  a  series  of  trials. 
In  1850  he  retired  from  active  service,  though 
in  course  of  seniority  he  became  rear-admiral 
in  1857  and  vice-admiral  in  1863.  In  1851 
he  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society, 
and  in  1854,  after  serving  for  a  few  months- 
as  private  secretary  to  his  uncle,  Lord  Har- 
dinge — then  commander-in-chief  of  the  army 
— he  was,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  president 
of  the  Royal  Society,  appointed  to  be  chief 
of  the  meteorological  department  of  the  board 
of  trade.  His  reputation  as  a  practical  me- 
teorologist already  stood  high,  and  it  is  by 
his  more  popular  work  in  this  office  that  his 
name  is  now  best  known,  A  cheap  and  ser- 
viceable barometer,  constructed  on  a  plan 
suggested  by  him,  is  still  commonly  called 
'  the  Fitzroy  barometer,'  and  his  '  Weather 
Book,'  published  in  1863,  inaugurated  a  dis- 
tinct advance  in  the  study  of  the  science. 
He  instituted,  for  the  first  time,  a  system  of 
storm  warnings,  which  have  been  gradually 
developed  into  the  present  daily  forecasts; 
and  by  his  constant  labours  in  connection 
with  the  work  of  the  office,  and  as  secretary 
of  the  Lifeboat  Association,  built  up  a  strong 
claim  to  the  gratitude  of  all  seafaring  men. 
The  toil  proved  too  much  for  a  temperament 
naturally  excitable,  and  a  constitution  already 
tried  by  the  severe  and  anxious  service  in 
the  Straits  of  Magellan.  He  refused  to  take 
the  prescribed  rest,  and  under  the  continued 
strain  his  mind  gave  way,  and  he  committed 
suicide  30  April  1865.  He  married,  in  De- 
cember 1836,  Mary  Henrietta,  daughter  of 
Major-general  Edward  James  O'Brien,  by- 
wh'om  he  had  several  children.  His  eldest 
son,  Robert  O'Brien  Fitzroy,  is  at  the  present 
time  (1888)  a  captain  in  the  navy  and  a  C.B. 

Besides  the  works  already  named,  he  pub- 
lished :  1.  '  Remarks  on  New  Zealand/  1846. 


Fitzsimon 


209 


Fitzsimon 


2.  'Sailing  Directions  for  South  America/ 
1848.  3.  *  Barometer  and  Weather  Guide,' 
1858.  4.  'Passage  Table  and  General  Sailing 
Directions,'  1859.  5.  'Barometer  Manual,' 
1861.  He  was  also  the  author  of  official  re- 
ports to  the  board  of  trade  (1857-65),  of  occa- 
sional papers  in  the  '  Journal  of  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society' — of  which  society  he 
was  for  several  years  a  member  of  council — 
and  in  the  'Journal  of  the  Royal  United 
Service  Institution.' 

[O'Byrne's  Nav.  Biog.  Diet. ;  Journal  of  the 
Hoyal  Greogr.  Soc.  vol.  xxxv.  p.  cxxviii ;  A.  S. 
Thomson's  Story  of  New  Zealand,  ii.  82  ;  E.  J. 
Wakefield's  Adventure  in  New  Zealand,  ii.  504  ; 
Report  from  the  Select  Committee  on  New  Zea- 
land, 29  July  18 44  (Parliamentary  Papers,  1844, 
xiii.) ;  Parliamentary  Debates,  3rd  ser.  (11  March 
1845),  Ixxviii.  col.  644,  and  (5  May  1845)  Ixxx. 
cols.  172,  183.]  J.  K.  L. 

FITZSIMOIST,  HENRY  (1566-1643), 
Jesuit,  born  at  Dublin  on  31  May  1566,  was 
son  of  Nicholas  Fitzsimon,  an  alderman  or 
'  senator '  of  that  city,  by  his  wife  Anne, 
sister  of  Christopher  Sidgreaves  of  Ingle- 
wight,  Lancashire.  At  the  age  of  ten  he 
was  '  inveigled  into  heresy,'  and  afterwards 
he  studied  grammar,  humanities,  and  rhetoric 
for  four  years  at  Manchester.  He  matricu- 
lated at  Oxford,  as  a  member  of  Hart  Hall, 
on  26  April  1583.  '  In  December  following,' 
says  Wood,  '  I  find  one  Henry  Fitz-Simons, 
to  be  elected  student  of  Christ  Church,  but 
whether  he  be  the  same  with  the  former,  I 
•dare  not  say.'  It  does  not  appear  how  long 
he  continued  at  Oxford,  nor  whether  he  took 
a  degree.  In  1587  he  became  a  student  in 
the  university  of  Paris.  At  this  period  he 
imagined  that  he  was  '  able  to  convert  to 
Protestancie  any  encounterer  whatsoever ; ' 
but  at  length  he  was  overcome  in  argument 
by  Father  Thomas  Darbyshire  [q.  v.],  nephew 
•of  Bishop  Bonner,  and  was  reconciled  to  the 
catholic  church.  After  his  conversion  he 
appears  to  have  visited  Rome.  He  went  to 
the  university  of  Pont-a-Mousson  before  the 
close  of  1587,  and  studied  rhetoric  for  one 
year,  philosophy  for  three  years,  from  1588 
to  1591,  and  took  the  degree  of  M.A.,  after 
which  he  read  theology  for  three  months  at 
Pont-a-Mousson,  and  for  seven  weeks  at 
Douay,  privately  studying  casuistry  at  the 
same  time.  He  took  minor  orders,  was  ad- 
mitted into  the  Society  of  Jesus  by  Father 
Mansereus,  the  provincial  of  Flanders,  and 
began  his  noviceship  at  Tournay  on  15  or 
26  April  1592.  On  2  June  1593  he  was 
sent  to  pursue  his  theological  studies  at  Lou- 
vain  under  Father  Leonard  Lessius,  and 
while  there  he  also  formed  an  intimate 
acquaintance  with  Father  Rosweyde  and 

VOL.   XIX. 


Dr.  Peter  Lombard.  He  so  distinguished 
himself  that  he  was  appointed  to  the  chair 
of  philosophy  in  the  university  of  Douay. 

Being  sent,  at  his  own  earnest  petition,  to 
the  Irish  mission,  he  reached  Dublin  late  in 
1597.  Wood  states  that  'he  endeavoured 
to  reconcile  as  many  persons  as  he  could  to 
his  religion,  either  by  private  conference  or 
public  disputes  with  protestant  ministers. 
In  which  work  he  persisted  for  two  years 
without  disturbance,  being  esteem'd  the  chief 
disputant  among  those  of  his  party,  and  so 
ready  and  quick  that  few  or  none  would 
undertake  to  deal  with  him.'  The  hall  of  a 
nobleman's  house  in  Dublin  having  been 
placed  at  his  disposal,  he  caused  it  to  be 
lined  with  tapestry  and  covered  with  car- 
pets, and  had  an  altar  made  and  magnifi- 
cently decorated.  Here  high  mass  was 
celebrated  with  a  full  orchestra,  composed 
of  harps,  lutes,  and  all  kinds  of  instruments 
except  the  organ.  The  catholics  used  to  go 
armed  to  mass  in  order  to  protect  the  priests 
and  themselves.  Father  Field,  superior  of 
the  Irish  Jesuit  mission,  reported  in  Septem- 
ber 1599  that  Fitzsimon  was  working  hard, 
that  crowds  flocked  to  hear  him  and  were 
converted,  that  he  led  rather  an  open,  de- 
monstrative life,  never  dining  without  six  or 
eight  guests,  and  that  when  he  went  through 
the  country,  he  rode  with  three  or  four 
gentlemen,  who  served  as  companions.  His 
zeal  led  to  his  arrest  in  1599,  and  he  was 
committed  to  Dublin  Castle,  where  he  re- 
mained in  confinement  for  about  five  years. 
While  in  prison  he  held  disputations  with 
Dr.  Challenor,  Meredith  Hanmer,  Dean  Rider, 
and  James  Ussher,  afterwards  primate  of  Ire- 
land. On  12  March  1603-4  James  I  ordered 
Fitzsimon's  release,  but  he  was  not  actually 
liberated  until  three  months  later.  About 
1  June  1604  he  was  taken  from  Dublin 
Castle  and  placed  on  board  a  ship  which 
landed  him  at  Bilboa  in  Spain. 

After  some  time  he  left  Spain  for  Flanders, 
and  in  1608  he  was  summoned  on  the  busi- 
ness of  the  Irish  mission  to  Rome,  where  he 
made  his  solemn  profession  of  the  four  vows, 
and  where  he  appears  to  have  remained  till 
after  April  1611,  when  he  returned  to  Flan- 
ders. On  1  July  1620  he  reached  the  im- 
perial camp  in  Bohemia,  and,  in  the  capacity 
of  army  chaplain,  went  through  the  cam- 
paign, of  which  he  wrote  a  history.  He  was 
again  in  Belgium  in  1626.  At  length,  after 
an  exile  of  twenty-six  years,  he  returned  in 
1630  to  his  native  country.  Having  been 
condemned  to  be  hanged  for  complicity  in 
the  rebellion  he  was  forced  to  leave  the 
Dublin  residence  of  the  Jesuits  and  to  fly  by 
night  to  distant  mountains,  in  company  with 


Fitzsimon 


210 


Fitzsimons 


many  catholics  who  were  expelled  from  the 
city  in  the  winter  of  1641.  He  died,  pro- 
bably at  Kilkenny,  on  29  Nov.  1643,  though 
other  accounts  give  1  Feb.  1643-4  and 
29  Nov.  1645  as  the  date  of  his  decease. 

Wood  remarks  that  'by  his  death  the 
Roman  Catholics  lost  a  pillar  of  their  church, 
[he]  being  esteem'd  in  the  better  part  of  his 
life  a  great  ornament  among  them,  and  the 
greatest  defender  of  their  religion  in  his 
time '  (AthencB  Oxon.  ed.  Bliss,  iii.  96). 

His  works  are:  1.  '  Brief  Collections  from 
the  Scriptures,  the  Fathers,  and  principal 
Protestants,  in  proof  of  six  Catholic  Articles,' 
which  John  Rider,  dean  of  St.  Patrick's,  and 
afterwards  bishop  of  Killaloe,  had  challenged 
him  to  prove.  Manuscript  sent  on  2  Jan. 
1600-1  to  Rider,  who  published  an  answer 
entitled  'A  Caveat  to  Irish  Catholics'  on 
28  Sept.  1602.  2.  Manuscript  reply  to  the 
<  Caveat,'  sent  to  Rider  on  4  Feb.  1602-3. 
Rider's '  Rescript '  was  published  on  30  March 
1604.  3.  'A  Catholick  Confutation  x>f 
Mr.  John  Rider's  Claim  to  Antiquitie,  and  a 
calming  Comfort  against  his  Caveat.  In 
which  is  demonstrated  .  .  .  that  all  Anti- 
quitie ...  is  repugnant  to  Protestancie  .  .  . 
And  a  Reply  to  Mr.  Rider's  Rescript,  and  a 
Discoverie  of  Puritan  Partialitie  in  his  be- 
halfe,'  Rouen,  1608,  4to.  4.  '  An  Answer 
to  sundrie  Complaintive  Letters  of  Afflicted 
Catholics,  declaring  the  Severitie  of  divers 
late  Proclamations,'  1608.  Printed  at  the 
end  of  the  preceding  work.  It  was  reprinted 
by  the  Rev.  Edward  Hogan,  S.J.,  under  the 
title  of  '  Words  of  Comfort  to  Persecuted 
Catholics,'  Dublin,  1881,  8vo.  5.  '  Narratio 
Rerum  Ibernicarum,'  or  an  l  Ecclesiastical 
History  of  our  Country.'  He  was  engaged 
on  this  work  in  1611.  It  was  never  printed. 
The  Bollandists  often  quote  Fitzsimon's 
manuscript  collections.  6.  '  The  Justification 
and  Exposition  of  the  Divine  Sacrifice  of  the 
Masse,  and  of  al  Rites  and  Ceremonies 
thereto  belonging'  [Douay],  1611,  4to. 
7.  'Catalogus  prsecipuorum  Sanctorum  Hi- 
bernise.'  Manuscript  finished  9  April  1611. 
The  Bollandists  cite  the  editions  of  1611  and 
1619  ;  there  were  also  those  of  Douay,  1615 
and  1619 ;  Liege,  1619 ;  Lisbon,  1620  ;  Ant- 
werp, 1627.  The  catalogue  was  also  appended 
to  '  Hiberniae  sive  Antiquse  Scotize  Vindicise 
adversus  Thomam  Dempsterum.  Auctore 
G.  F.,'  Antwerp,  1621,  8vo,  and  it  was 
printed  at  Rome  in  Porter's  'Annales.' 
8. '  Britannomachia  Ministrorum  in  plerisque 
fidei  fundamentis  et  articulis  dissidentium,' 
Douay,  1614,  4to.  A  reply  to  this  was  pub- 
lished by  Francis  Mason,  B.D.,  archdeacon 
of  Norfolk,  in  his  '  Vindiciae  Ecclesiaa  Angli- 
canse,'  2nd  edit.  London,  1638,  fol.  9.  <  Pugna 


Pragensis.      A    Candido    Eblanio,'   Briinn, 

1620.  It  went  through  three  editions  at 
least.    10.  '  Buquoy  Quadrimestre  Iter,  Pro- 
gressusque,  quo,  favente  numine,  ac  auspice 
Ferdinando  II  Rom.  Imp.,  Austria  est  con- 
servata,  Bohemia  subjugata,  Moravia  acqui- 
sita,  eademque  opera  Silesia  solicitata,  Hun- 
gariaque  terrefacta.     Accedit  Appendix  Pro- 
gressus  ejusdem  Generalis,  in   initio  Anni 

1621.  Authore  Constantio  Peregrino,' Vienna, 
1621,  4to.     It  was  printed  twice  at  Briinn 
and  twice  at  Vienna,  and  translated  into 
Italian  in  1625  by  Aureli  of  Perugia.     The 
work  was  attacked  by  Berchtold  von  Rau- 
chenstein  in  '  Constantius  Peregrinus  Casti- 

fatus,'  Bruges,  1621,  4to.  Portions  of  Fitz- 
imon's  work  are  printed  by  Hogan,  together 
with  the '  Words  of  Comfort,'  under  the  title 
of 'Diary  of  the  Bohemian  War  of  1620.' 
It  is  erroneously  stated  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum Catalogue  that  'Constantius  Peregri- 
nus' wasBoudewyn  de  Jonge.  11.  Treatise 
to  prove  that  Ireland  was  originally  called 
Scotia.  Manuscript  quoted  in  Fleming's 
'  Life  of  St.  Columba.'  12.  Many  of  his  let- 
ters, some  written  from  his  cell  in  Dublin 
Castle,  are  printed  by  Hogan  with  the  'Words 
of  Comfort  to  Persecuted  Catholics.' 

[Life  by  the  Rev.  Edmund  Hogan,  1881 ; 
Dodd's  Church  Hist.  iii.  112;  Ware's  Writers 
of  Ireland  (Harris),  p.  118;  Foley's  Records, 
vii.  260 ;  Hogan 's  Cat.  of  the  Irish  Province, 
S.  J.,  p.  8  ;  Oliver's  Jesuit  Collections,  p.  245  ; 
Catholic  Miscellany  (1828),  ix.  33;  Bernard's 
Life  of  Ussher  (1656),  p.  32 ;  Duthillceul's  Biblio- 
graphic Douaisienne  (1842),  p.  99  ;  De  Backer's 
Bibl.  de  la  Compagnie  de  Jesus  (1869),  i. 
1875;  Shirley's  Library  at  Lough  Fea,  p.  113  ; 
Lowndes's  Bibl.  Man.  (Bohn),  p.  805  ;  Gillow's 
Bibl.  Diet. ;  Dwyer's  Diocese  of  Killaloe,  p.  86 ; 
Hogan's  Ibernia  Ignatiana,  i.  33,  43,  51,  52, 
72-6,  81,  102,  104,  111,  124,  131,  222;  South- 
well's Bibl.  Scriptorum  Soc.  Jesu,  p.  224 ;  Irish 
Ecclesiastical  Record,  viii.  214,  268,  313,  347, 
504,  553,  ix.  15,  78,  187,  272,  430;  Patrignani's 
Menologio  (1730),  vol.  i.  pt.  ii.  p.  8.]  T.  C. 

FITZSIMONS  or  FITZSYMOND, 
WALTER  (d.  1511),  archbishop  of  Dublin, 
was  precentor  of  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral  in 
1476 ;  he  was  the  chapter's  proxy  in  a  par- 
liament held  in  1478  (King's  Collections  and 
Cod.  Clar.  p.  46) ;  and  was  also  official,  or 
vicar-general,  of  the  diocese.  He  has  been 
described  in  old  records  as  a  learned  divine 
and  philosopher,  a  man  of  great  gravity 
of  character  and  of  a  commanding  aspect. 
Having  first  sued  out  a  charter  of  pardon 
from  Henry  VII,  for  accepting  promotion 
by  a  papal  provision,  he  was  appointed  by 
Pope  Sixtus  IV  to  the  archbishopric  of  Dub- 
lin on  14  June  1484,  and  was  the  first  arch- 


Fitzsimons 


211 


Fitzstephen 


bishop  consecrated  in  St.  Patrick's  (MoNCK 
MASOX,  History  of  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral, 
p.  139).  Along  with  the  Earl  of  Kildare, 
lord  deputy  of  Ireland,  he  espoused,  in  1487, 
the  cause  of  Lambert  Simnel,  to  whose  coro- 
nation in  Christ  Church  Cathedral  he  was 
accessory.  The  pope  directed  an  inquiry  to 
be  held,  and  a  full  report  of  the  matter 
having  been  made,  the  archbishop,  with  the 
bishops  of  Meath  and  Kildare,  was  found 
guilty.  In  the  following  year,  however,  he 
was  permitted  with  others  to  renew  his  al- 
legiance to  the  king,  and  received  pardon 
through  Sir  Richard  Edgecombe.  The  arch- 
bishop, 'when  the  mass  was  ended  in  the  choir 
of  the  said  church  [St.  Mary's  Abbey],  began 
Te  Deum,  and  the  choir  with  the  organs  sung 
it  up  solemnly,  and  at  that  time  all  the  bells 
in  the  church  rang '  (HARRIS,  Hibernica, 
pt.  i.  p.  33).  He  was  subsequently  taken 
into  great  favour  by  the  king,  who  made  him 
lord  deputy  of  Ireland  in  1492,  lord  chancel- 
lor in  1496  and  1501,  and  again,  in  1503,  lord 
deputy. 

Fitzsimons  strenuously  exerted  himself, 
while  holding  the  office  of  lord  deputy  in 
1492,  to  lessen  the  number  of  useless  idlers 
in  Ireland.  He  represented  to  the  king  the 
idleness  of  the  younger  brothers  of  the  nobi- 
lity, and  the  indolence  of  the  common  people 
1  on  account  of  the  great  plenty  of  all  kinds 
of  provisions.'  At  his  suggestion  vagrancy 
was  strictly  forbidden,  and  workhouses  were 
everywhere  erected  for  the  employment  of 
able-bodied  vagabonds,  beadles  being  ap- 
pointed by  him  '  to  look  after  the  several 
cities,  towns,  and  parishes,  to  keep  beggars 
out,  and  to  take  up  strangers '  (Council  Books, 
temp.  Henry  VII). 

In  1496,  the  king,  having  made  his  son 
Henry,  duke  of  York,  lord-lieutenant  of  Ire- 
land, appointed  Fitzsimons  lord  chancellor  of 
Ireland  (RoiER,  Fcedera,  ed.  1727,  vol.  xii.) 
In  the  same  year  Fitzsimons  held  a  provincial 
synod,  on  which  occasion  an  annual  contri- 
bution for  seven  years  was  settled  by  the 
clergy  of  the  province,  to  provide  salaries  for 
lecturers  of  the  university  in  St.  Patrick's 
Cathedral  (ALLEN,  Registry,  i.  105).  In  1509 
he  was  again  lord  chancellor,  by  appointment 
of  Henry  VIII,  and  held  that  office  until  his 
death,  at  Finglas,  near  Dublin,  on  14  May 
1511.  He  was  buried  in  the  nave  of  St. 
Patrick's,  but  no  memorial  of  him  remains. 

[Sir  James  "Ware's  Works,  ed.  Harris,  i.  343  ; 
Cotton's  Fasti  Ecclesiae  Hibernicae,  ii.  17,  110, 
v.  79  ;  D'Alton's  Memoirs  of  the  Archbishops 
of  Dublin,  p.  171  ;  Monck  Mason's  Hist,  of  St. 
Patrick's  Cathedral ;  Leeper's  Hist.  Handbook 
to  St.  Patrick's  (2nd  ed.),  p.  89 ;  Smyth's  Law 
Officers  of  Ireland,  pp.  15,  16.]  B.  H.  B. 


FITZSTEPHEN,  ROBERT  (d.  1183  ?), 
one  of  the  original  Norman  conquerors  of  Ire- 
land, was  the  son  of  Stephen,  constable  of 
Aberteivi  (Cardigan),  and  of  Nesta,  daughter 
of  Rhys  ab  Tewdwr,  king  of  South  Wales. 
Whether  Stephen  was,  as  is  sometimes  stated, 
a  second  husband  of  Nesta  is  at  least  very 
doubtful  (DiMOCK,  Preface  to  Expugn.  Hib.  in 
GIRALDITS  CAMBRENSIS,  Opera,  v.  ci ;  cf.  Cal. 
Carew  MSS.,  Book  of  Howth,  &c.,  p.  435).  If 
the  list  of  Nesta's  children  given  by  her  grand- 
son (GiRALDUSjDe  Rebus  a  se  Gestis  in  Opera, 
i.  59)  is  arranged  in  order  of  their  birth,  her 
amour  with  Stephen  must  have  been  after  her 
marriage  with  Gerald  of  Windsor  and  the 
birth  of  her  eldest  son,  William  Fitzgerald, 
and  before  the  birth  of  her  son,  Meiler  Fitz- 
henry  [q.  v.],  by  Henry  I.  As  Aberteivi  did 
not  fall  into  English  hands  before  1110  or  1111 
(Annales  Cambria,  p.  34),  Robert  could  hardly 
have  been  born  before  that  date.  The  birth  of 
Nesta's  son  by  King  Henry  must  have  fol- 
lowed his  expedition  to  Dy  ved  in  the  summer 
of  1114.  Robert  was  therefore  born  between 
these  two  dates.  In  1157  Robert  followed 
Henry  II's  expedition  into  North  Wales,  and 
narrowly  escaped  the  ambush  in  which  his 
half-brother,  the  king's  son,  was  slain.  His 
inheritance  included  Cardigan  and  Cemmes, 
and  he  became  constable  of  Cardigan  town 
in  succession  apparently  to  his  father.  In  No- 
vember 1166  he  was  betrayed  by  his  own  men 
('  dolo  Rigewarc  clerici,'  Ann.  Cambr.  p.  50) 
into  the  hands  of  his  cousin,  Rhys  ab  Gruffy  dd, 
with  whom  he  was  then  at  war.  He  was-re- 
leased  after  three  years'  captivity  on  the 
mediation  of  his  half-brother,  David  II,  bishop 
of  St.  David's  [q.  v.],  and  at  the  instance  of 
Dermot,  the  exiled  king  of  Leinster,  whom  he 
agreed  to  help  in  restoring  to  his  kingdom  as 
an  easy  release  from  his  promise  to  join  the 
'  Lord  Rhys '  in  his  war  against  the  English.  In 
the  spring  of  1169  Fitzstephen,  with  his  half- 
brother,  Maurice  Fitzgerald  (d.  1176)  [q.  v.], 
landed  in  Ireland  at  Baganbun  or  Bannow, 
near  Wexford  (Exp.  Hib.  p.  230 ;  cf.  REGAN, 
p.  23,  and  Introduction,  p.  xvi).  They  were 
accompanied  by  thirty  knights,  sixty  men-at- 
arms,  and  three  hundred  Welsh  foot  soldiers. 
In  conjunction  with  Dermot's  forces  they  took 
Wexford,  which  was  assigned,  with  the  two 
adjacent  cantreds,  to  Fitzstephen.  The  suc- 
cessful invasion  of  Ossory  followed,  but  the 
approach  of  Roderick  O'Conor,  king  of  Con- 
naught,  now  caused  Dermot's  Irish  followers 
to  desert.  But  Fitzstephen  contemptuously 
rejected  Dermot's  bribes,  and  built  so  strong 
a  camp  at  Ferns  that  Roderick  accepted  terms 
that  left  Dermot  king  of  Leinster.  Mau- 
rice Fitzgerald  now  joined  Fitzstephen  with 
additional  troops  from  Wales.  Fitzstephen 


Fitzstephen 


212 


Fitzstephen 


was  busy  in  fortifying  Carrig,  two  miles  from 
Wexford,  while  Dermot  and  Fitzgerald  were 
attacking  Dublin ;  but  he  marched  westwards 
to  aid  Donnell,  king  of  Limerick,  against  Ro- 
derick. Dermot  now,  if  Giraldus  could  be 
believed,  offered  the  brothers  the  hand  of  his 
daughter  and  the  succession  to  his  throne, 
and  on  their  refusal  to  give  up  their  present 
wives  he  at  their  advice  called  in  Strongbow 
[see  CLARE,  RICHARD  DE,  d.  1176],  who  was 
now  encouraged  by  Fitzstephen's  successes  to 
undertake  what  he  had  formally  feared  to 
venture.  But  Giraldus  is  so  extravagantly 
partial  to  his  uncle  that  the  constant  attempt 
to  exalt  him  over  Strongbow  fails  by  reason 
of  its  obvious  exaggeration.  Fitzstephen's  ex- 
ploits are  reduced  to  more  modest,  though  still 
solid,  proportions  by  the  French  poet,  who 
derived  his  information  from  Maurice  Regan. 
In  1171  Fitzstephen  was  shut  up  in  Carrig 
with  five  knights  and  a  few  archers  by  his 
own  Wexford  subjects,  while  the  mass  of  the 
invaders  were  besieged  by  Roderick  in  Dublin. 
The  false  intelligence,  vouched  for  by  the  oath 
of  two  Irish  bishops,  that  Dublin  had  sur- 
rendered to  the  Irish  induced  him  to  surren- 
der. They  retreated  with  him,  murdering 
the  inferior  prisoners,  to  the  island  of  Begerin 
('  Little  Erin,'  REGAN,  p.  85),  when  the  news 
came  of  the  defeat  of  Roderick  at  Dublin. 
There  the  fears  or  jealousy  of  Strongbow 
(Exp.  Hid.  p.  271)  prevented  his  deliverance; 
but  on  the  arrival  of  Henry  II  in  October 
at  Waterford  the  men  of  Wexford  brought 
their  lord  bound  and  in  chains  before  the 
king.  Henry  ordered  him  still  to  be  kept  in 
prison '  in  Reginald's  Tower/  'because  he  had 
invaded  Ireland  before  getting  his  assent.' 
But  he  released  Fitzstephen  before  his  own 
departure,  though  he  took  away  from  him 
Wexford  and  the  two  cantreds.  Immediately 
afterwards  Henry  left  him  at  Dublin  under 
Hugh  de  Lacy.  By  fighting  with  distinction 
on  Henry's  side  in  the  civil  war  in  1173 
and  1174,  both  in  France  and  England, 
Fitzstephen  completely  recovered  the  king's 
favour.  In  May  1177,  at  a  council  at  Ox- 
ford, he  and  Miles  Cogan  received  a  grant 
of  the  kingdom  of  Cork  on  condition  of  the 
service  of  sixty  knights.  Cork  city,  how- 
ever, the  king  kept  in  his  own  hands  (BEKE- 
DICTUS  ABBAS,  i.  163 ;  the  charter  is  printed 
in  LYTTLETON,  Henry  II,  app.  iii.  to  bk.  v.)  If 
Giraldus  can  be  trusted,  Fitzstephen  was  ac- 
tually associated  with  William  Fitzaldhelm 
[q.  v.]  in  the  government  of  Ireland  (Exp. 
Hib.  p.  334 ;  but  cf.  BEN.  ABB.  i.  161).  On 
their  arrival  in  Ireland  they  decided  by  lot 
that  the  three  eastern  cantreds  should  be 
the  portion  of  Fitzstephen,  while  the  tribute 
of  the  twenty-four  cantreds  farmed  out  and 


the  custody  of  the  city  was  common  to  both. 
Soon  after  he  accompanied  Philip  de  Braose 
on  an  expedition  against  Limerick  with  thirty 
knights,  but  nothing  was  done.  Soon  after 
Maredudd,  a  bastard  son  of  Robert,  a  youth 
of  great  promise,  died  at  Cork. 

For  the  next  five  years  Fitzstephen  and 
Cojan  reigned  in  peace  at  Cork,  the  modest 
ambition  of  the  elderly  leaders  restraining 
the  impetuosity  of  their  youthful  followers 
(Exp.  Hib.  p.  350).  But  in  1182  the  trea- 
cherous murder  of  Miles  Cogan  and  Ralph, 
another  bastard  of  Fitzstephen,  and  Miles's 
son-in-law,  by  a  chieftain  called  Mac  Tire, 
was  followed  by  a  general  revolt  against 
Fitzstephen  throughout  all  Desmond.  The 
old  warrior  was  now  closely  besieged  in 
Cork,  but  was  relieved  by  his  nephew,  Ray- 
mond Fitzgerald  [q.  v.]  In  1183  he  was 
joined  by  his  nephews  Philip  and  Gerald 
de  Barri.  The  latter  boasts  of  the  help  he 
gave  to  his  uncle  (ib.  p.  351).  Fitzstephen 
granted  Philip  three  cantreds  of  his  Desmond 
territory  (Cal.  Doc.  Ireland,  1171-1251,  No. 
340).  He  probably  died  very  soon  after. 
Giraldus  describes  Fitzstephen  as  by  turns 
the  luckiest  and  most  wretched  of  men.  He 
was  rather  short  in  stature,  stout,  and  full 
of  body,  liberal  and  pleasant  in  his  manners. 
His  great  faults  were  his  immoderate  devo- 
tion to  wine  and  women.  He  left  no  legiti- 
mate offspring. 

[The  main  authority  is  Griraldus,  Expugnatio 
Hibernica,  in  Opera,  vol.  v.  (Rolls  Ser.)  See  also 
the  anonymous  French  poem  on  Irish  history, 
said  to  be  translated  from  the  original  of  Maurice 
Regan.]  T.  F.  T. 

FITZSTEPHEN,  WILLIAM  (d.  1190  ?), 
the  biographer  of  Becket,  styles  himself  the 
archbishop's '  concivis.'  lie  was  in  the  closest 
connection  with  Becket  for  ten  years  or  more, 
as  his '  clericus  et  convictor.'  When  Becket 
became  chancellor,  he  appointed  Fitzstephen 
to  be  'dictator  in  cancelleria  ejus.'  Later 
William  became  subdeacon  in  his  chapel,  and 
was  entri]  sted  with  the  duty  of  perusing  letters 
and  petiti  3ns.  Sometimes  at  Becket's bidding, 
he  either  decided  these  cases  on  his  own  au- 
thority, or  was  appointed  advocate  to  one  of 
the  parties — '  patronus  causarum.'  He  was 
present  at  the  great  council  of  Northampton 
(13  Oct.  1164),  and  was  sitting  at  the  arch- 
bishop's feet,  when  Herbert  of  Bosham  gave 
his  master  the  rash  advice  to  excommunicate 
his  enemies  if  they  laid  hands  upon  him.  Wil- 
liam induced  the  archbishop  to  refuse  this 
counsel,  as  the  archbishop  afterwards  con- 
fessed when  during  his  exile  he  met  William 
at  St.  Benedict's  on  the  Loire  (  Vit.  S.  Thomce, 
pp.  1,  2,  59). 


Fitzthedmar 


213 


Fitzthedmar 


Fitzstephen  appears  to  have  escaped  most 
of  the  disadvantages  of  intimacy  withBecket. 
He  has  himself  preserved  a  rhyming  Latin 
poem,  some  ninety  lines  long,  which  he  com- 
posed and  presented  to  Henry  II  in  the  chapel 
of '  Bruhull.'  In  return  for  this  petition  the 
king  pardoned  him.  It  would  appear,  however, 
that  when  Becket  was  reconciled  to  the  king, 
his  old  clerk  once  more  entered  his  service, 
for  he  was  an  eye-witness  of  his  murder : 
*  passionem  ejus  Cantuariae  inspexi.'  Of  the 
rest  of  his  life  we  have  no  certain  knowledge; 
but  Mr.  Foss  is  inclined  to  identify  this  author 
with  William  Fitzstephen,  who  along  with 
his  brother,  Ralph  Fitzstephen,  was  sheriff  of 
Gloucester  from  18  Henry  II  to  1  Richard  I, 
i.e.  1171-90  (Foss,  i.  370;  FULLER,  i.  569). 
This  William  Fitzstephen  is  probably  the 
same  William  Fitzstephen  whom  Henry  II 
in  1176  placed  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  six 
circuits  into  which  he  divided  the  country. 
The  circuit  in  question  included  the  county 
of  Gloucester,  and  his  pleas  are  recorded  in 
that  and  the  four  following  years,  not  only  in 
fourteen  counties,  but  'ad  scaccarium'  also. 
His  name  appears  as  a  justice  itinerant  in 
1  Richard  I  (Foss,  ib.;  cf.  MADOX,  i.  83,  127, 
&c. ;  HOVEDEN,  ii.  88),  about  which  time  he 
perhaps  died. 

William  Fitzstephen's  most  important  work 
is  the  *  Vita  Sancti  Thomae.'  This  is  the  main 
authority  for  the  archbishop's  early  life.  The 
curious  preface,  entitled  '  Descriptio  nobilis- 
simae  civitatis  Londoniae/  is  by  far  the  most 
graphic  and  elaborate  account  of  London 
during  the  twelfth  century  yet  remaining. 
It  has  been  printed  separately  in  Stow's 
'  Survey  of  London,'  and  Hearne's  ed.  of  Le- 
land's  '  Itinerary.'  The  <  Vita  Thomse'  was 
first  printed  in  Sparke's  '  Historic  Anglicanse 
Scriptores'  (1723).  The  chief  later  editions 
are  those  of  Dr.  Giles  (1845),  and  that  by  the 
Rev.  J.  C.  Robertson  (Rolls  Ser.  1877).  To 
the  same  author  are  also  attributed,  though,  as 
it  seems,  on  doubtful  grounds, i  Libri  quinque 
de  Miraculis  B.  Thomas'  (cf.  also  HARDY, 
ii.  382). 

[Materials  for  the  Hist,  of  Thomas  Becket,  ed. 
Robertson  (Rolls  Ser.),  vol.  ii.  contains  Fitz- 
stephen's Vita  Sti  Thomse  ;  Roger  of  Horeden,  ed. 
Stubbs  (Rolls  Ser.),  vol.  ii. ;  Madox's  Hist,  of  the 
Exchequer  (ed.  1769),  vols.  i.  and  ii. ;  Foss's 
Judges,  vol.  i ;  Wright's  Biographia  Literaria, 
vol.  ii. ;  Hardy's  Cat.  of  Manuscript  Materials  for 
Hist,  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  ii.]  T.  A.  A. 

FITZTHEDMAR,  ARNOLD  (1201- 
1274  ?),  alderman  of  London,  was  descended 
on  both  sides  from  German  settlers  in  Lon- 
don, where  he  was  born  on  9  Aug.  1201. 
His  father,  Thedmar,  a  man  of  wealth  and 
position,  was  a  native  of  Bremen.  His  mother, 


Juliana,  was  the  daughter  of  Arnold,  a  citi- 
zen of  Cologne,  and  of  his  wife  Ode.  This 
couple  had  made  a  pilgrimage  to  St.  Thomas's 
shrine  at  Canterbury  to  pray  for  children. 
Their  prayers  being  heard,  they  were  induced 
to  settle  in  London,  where  two  children  were 
born  to  them.  The  elder,  Thomas,  destined 
to  become  a  monk,  died  during  the  fourth 
crusade.  The  younger,  Juliana,  became  the 
wife  of  Thedmar  and  the  mother  of  a  nume- 
rous family,  of  which  only  one  son,  Arnold, 
and  four  daughters  grew  up  to  maturity. 
Wonderful  dreams  preceded  Arnold's  birth. 
On  his  father's  death  he  succeeded  to  all  his 
property.  His  career  illustrates  very  remark- 
ably the  position  of  the  foreign  merchants 
settled  in  London.  English  by  birth,  and 
taking  a  prominent  part  in  London  political 
life,  he  was  still  a  member  of  the  '  domus 
quae  Guildhalla  Teutonicorum  nuncupating' 
the  later  Steelyard,  and  kept  up  close  rela- 
tions with  the  merchants  of  the  country  of 
his  origin.  On  1  Aug.  1251  he  appears  as  a 
witness  to  a  treaty  with  Liibeck  (LAPPET- 
BERG,  Geschichte  des  Stahlhofes,  pp.  11-12, 
'  aus  dem  Liibeck er  Urkundenbuche  ').  He 
is  described  as  '  alderman  of  the  Germans.' 
He  held  the  office  for  at  least  ten  years. 

Fitzthedmar  was  conspicuous  among  the 
few  leading  citizens  who,  in  opposition  to 
the  general  current  of  feeling  in  the  city, 
were  stout  supporters  of  Henry  III  and  his 
son  Edward  throughout  all  the  barons'  wars. 
In  February  1258,  before  the  meeting  of  the 
Mad  parliament,  the  Londoners  accused  the 
mayor  and  other  rulers  of  the  city  of  levying 
the  city  tallages  in  an  unjust  way.  Henry 
appointed  John  Mansel  to  investigate  the 
charges.  Then,  on  11  Feb.,  Fitzthedmar,  who 
had  hitherto  not  been  involved,  was  included 
in  the  attack.  His  special  offence  was  that 
he  had  altered  the  method  of  weighing  used 
in  the  city  without  the  king's  permission. 
Before  long  the  aldermen  were  deposed,  and 
new  ones  appointed,  except  for  Fitzthed- 
mar's  ward,  which  remained  in  the  mayor's 
hands.  But  next  year  the  proceedings  were 
reversed.  On  6  Nov.  1259  a  full  folk-moot 
was  held  in  the  king's  presence  at  Paul's 
Cross,  and  it  was  declared  on  John  Mansel's 
attestation  that  Fitzthedmar  had  been  un- 
justly degraded.  He  was  therefore  restored 
to  royal  favour  and  to  his  aldermanship. 
Between  this  date  and  Michaelmas  1260  Ar- 
nold bought,  on  behalf  of  the  German  mer- 
chants, of  William,  son  of  William  Reyner, 
the  yearly  rent  of  2s.  for  a  piece  of  land 
situated  to  the  east  of  the  Germans'  Guild- 
hall, in  the  parish  of  All  Hallows  in  Thames 
Street  (the  site  of  the  Steelyard).  For  this 
he  paid  two  marks  sterling.  He  is  described 


Fitzthedmar 


214 


Fitzthomas 


in  the  charter  as  '  aldermanus  mercatorum 
Alemaniae  in  Angliam  venientium '  (ib.  Ur- 
kunden,  p.  13).  This  then  seems  to  have  been 
the  office  recently  restored  to  him  by  the  king. 
It  is  often  thought  he  was  also  the  regular 
alderman  of  a  ward,  though  which  ward  is 
unknown.  Immediately  afterwards  the  grant 
of  fresh  privileges  to  the  Germans  in  Lon- 
don, on  the  petition  of  Richard,  king  of  the 
Romans,  seems  to  have  followed  (17  June 
1260). 

Arnold  next  distinguished  himself  by  his 
strong  hostility  to  the  democratic  mayor, 
Thomas  Fitzthomas.  He  and  his  friends 
only  escaped  a  plot  for  their  destruction  by 
the  arrival  of  the  news  of  the  battle  of 
Evesham  (4  Aug.),  in  the  middle  of  the 
folk-moot  at  which  the  attack  was  to  have 
been  made.  This  was  on  Thursday,  6  Aug. 
1265.  Arnold's  loyalty  did  not,  however, 
save  him  from  paying  a  heavy  share  in  the 
fines  imposed  by  the  victorious  king  on  the 
rebellious  city.  At  last  he  got  royal  letters 
which  protected  him  from  further  exactions. 
Many  years  later  the  city  of  Bremen  com- 
plained that  even  one  of  Arnold's  servants, 
Hermann,  a  Bremen  citizen,  had  been  severely 
fined  on  the  same  account,  and  that  his  re- 
sistance had  caused  a  feud  between  London 
and  Bremen  (Fcedera,  i.  534).  In  1270  the 
chest  containing  the  city  archives  (scrinium 
civium)  was  under  Arnold's  care,  while  three 
other  citizens  held  the  keys  of  it.  In  1274 
Arnold  was  among  those  who  resisted  the 
validity  of  the  charters  granted  by  the  mayor, 
Walter  Hervey,  without  the  consent  of  the 
aldermen  and '  discretiores '  of  the  city.  They 
gained  their  point,  and  got  Hervey  removed 
from  his  aldermanship. 

Nearly  all  our  knowledge  of  Arnold's  acts 
comes  from  the  '  Chronica  Majorum  et  Vice- 
comitum  Londoniarum,'  contained  in  the  so- 
called  *  Liber  de  Antiquis  Legibus '  in  the 
Guildhall,  and  edited  by  Mr.  Stapleton  for 
the  Camden  Society  in  1846.  The  special 
particularity  with  which  his  birth,  family, 
and  adventures  are  recorded,  the  scrupulous 
absence  of  comment  on  him,  yet  the  apolo- 
getic tone  of  the  references  to  his  acts,  have 
given  rise  to  the  conjecture  that  he  is  him- 
self its  author.  The  full  references  to  his 
patron,  Richard,  king  of  the  Romans,  in- 
crease the  probability.  The  entrusting  of 
the  city  archives  to  him  just  before  the  time 
that  the  chronicle,  which  contains  a  large 
number  of  official  documents,  closes,  makes 
this  as  near  a  certainty  as  can  be  gathered 
from  merely  indirect  internal  evidence.  The 
chronicle  breaks  off  in  August  1274  with  the 
preparations  for  Edward  I's  coronation.  He 
must  have  died  before  10  Feb.  1275,  on 


which  date  his  will  was  read  and  enrolled  in 
the  Hastings  court  (RiLEY,  Introduction  to 
Chronicle  of  the  Mayors,  &c.,  p.  ix).  He  left 
part  of  his  property  in  the  city  to  the  monks 
of  Bermondsey,  and  to  his  kinsman,  Stephen 
Eswy,  for  his  own  use  and  for  that  of  Ar- 
nold's wife.  The  latter's  name  was  probably 
Dionysia,  who  married  Adam  the  Taylor 
after  Arnold's  death,  and  was  alive  in  1292. 
Another  *  alderman  of  the  Germans '  appears 
as  holding  office  in  1282.  Dr.  Lappenberg's 
conjecture  (p.  16)  that  he  was  alive  in  1292, 
and  even  (p.  156)  in  1302,  is  sufficiently  dis- 
proved by  the  date  of  his  birth.  There  is  no 
reference  in  the  chronicle  to  Arnold's  wife  or 
children,  but  a  John  Thedmar  appears  as  a 
witness  in  1286  (Placita  de  quo  warranto 
14  Ed.  I),  and  again  acts  as  an  executor  in 
1309. 

[Liber  de  Antiquis  Legibus  (Camden  Soc.), 
pp.  34,  37,  43,  115,  165,  238-42,  253;  Kiley's 
Chronicles  of  the  Mayors  and  Sheriffs  of  Lon- 
don, the  above  translated,  with  notes  and  illus- 
trations ;  Lappenberg's  Urkundliche  Greschichte 
des  Hansischen  Stahlhofes  zu  London,  pp.  11, 
14-16,  156,  and  Urkunden,  p.  13 ;  Hardy's  De- 
scriptive Cat.  of  Manuscript  Materials  for  Hist, 
of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  iii.  205.]  T.  F.  T. 

FITZTHOMAS,  JOHN,  first  EAEL  OF 
KILDARE  and  sixth  BARON  OF  OFPALY 
(d.  1316),  belonged  to  the  great  Anglo-Irish 
family  of  the  Fitzgeralds,  though  the  gene- 
alogies are  contradictory.  The  Earl  of  Kil- 
dare  (Earls  ofKildare,  pp.  15-22)  makes  him 
grandson  of  Maurice  Fitzgerald  II  [q.  v.],  the 
justiciar,  who  died  in  1257,  and  so  far  the 
descent  is  undoubted.  In  all  probability  his 
father  was  the  justiciar's  younger  son,  Thomas 
Macmaurice,  whose  death  the  Irish '  Annals ' 
enter  as  taking  place  at  Lough  Mask  Castle, 
co.  Mayo,  in  1271  (Lock  Ce,  p.  469).  In  1287 
died  Gerald  Fitzmaurice  (CLYN,  p.  10),  who 
was  this  Thomas's  grandnephew,  and  being  de- 
scended from  Thomas's  eldest  brother  Gerald, 
had  come  to  own  Offaly  and  Maynooth  [see 
FITZGERALD,  MAURICE,  1194  P-1257  ad  fin.'] 
On  Gerald  Fitzmaurice's  death  (1287)  he  be- 
queathed this  inheritance  to  John  Fitzthomas, 
his  granduncle's  son  and  his  own  first  cousin 
once  removed. 

Besides  the  inheritance  of  this  cousin,  John 
Fitzthomas  seems  about  the  same  time  to 
have  come  in  for  that  of  his  first  cousin,  Ama- 
bilia,  one  of  the  two  coheirs  of  his  uncle 
Maurice  Fitzmaurice  Fitzgerald  [q.  v.],  the 
justiciar,  who  died  in  1277  (SWEETMAN,  ib. ; 
Cal.  Gen.  ib.)  He  makes  his  first  appearance 
in  the  receipt  rolls  of  the  Irish  exchequer  in 
connection  with  a  payment  of  50/.  from  co. 
Limerick  through  his  more  distant  kinsman, 
Thomas  Fitzmaurice,  the  father  of  Maurice 


Fitzthomas 


215 


Fitzthomas 


Fitzthomas  [q.  v.],  first  earl  of  Desmond 
(SWEETMAN,  iii.  54).  In  the  summer  of  1288 
the  new  justiciar  of  Ireland  proclaimed  a 
muster  against  the  Irish  of  Offaly  and  Leix, 
who  were  in  a  state  of  open  rebellion.  They 
had  in  1285  taken  Gerald  Fitzmaurice,  Fitz- 
thomas's  predecessor  in  the  barony,  prisoner  on 
his  own  lands  (ib.  iii.  265;  CLYN,pp.  10, 11). 
John  Fitzthomas  was  one  of  the  three  chief 
leaders  of  the  host,  and  was  appointed  to  guard 
the  marchers  from  Rathemegan  (Rathangan  ? 
in  co.  Kildare)  to  Baly-madan.  The  expedi- 
tion was  on  the  whole  successful,  but  there  is 
an  entry  of  III.  IBs.  kd.  for  the '  rescue  of  John 
Fitzthomas'  (SWEETMAN,  pp.  267,  273);  and 
Clyn,  under  1289,  tells  us  that  '  lord  John 
Fitzthomas  lost  many  horses  and  followers 
(garciones)  in  OfFaly.'  Four  years  later  the 
castle  of  Sligo  was  granted  to  him  (Annals  of 
the  Four  Masters). 

In  1291  Fitzthomas  seems  to  have  been 
in  England,  and  a  little  earlier  had  been  on 
an  expedition  against  the  king's  enemies  in 
Ireland  (SWEETMAN,  No.  915,  p.  428).  In 
May  1292  he  was  empowered  to  treat  with 
the  king's  adversaries.  In  1294  '  Mac  Mau- 
rice' (i.e.  in  all  probability  John  Fitzthomas) 
leagued  with  the  great  Anglo-Norman  family 
of  the  Berminghamsin  a  disastrous  expedition 
against  CalbachMor  O'Conor,  one  of  the  most 
dangerous  of  the  rebellious  Irish  princes  of 
Leinster  (Loch  Cc,  p.  501).  When  Magnus 
O'Conor,  king  of  Connaught,  died  in  1293, 
William  de  Vescy,  the  new  justiciar  (12  Sept. 
1290-18  Oct.  1294),  put  ^Edh  O'Conor,  a 
scion  of  the  rival  race  of  Cathal  Crobdherg, 
on  the  throne,  but  so  great  was  Fit/gerald's 
power  in  Connaught,  that  within  ten  days  the 
new  king  was  a  prisoner.  Before  the  year 
was  out  Fitzgerald  had  set  ^Edh  free,  and 
the  justiciar  had  made  his  own  candidate  king 
(Loch  O',p.509;  Annalsof  the  Four  Masters, 
p.  459).  This  opposition  on  the  part  of  a 
mere  noble  seems  to  have  roused  the  anger 
of  William  de  Vescy  (Abbrev.  Plac.  p.  231 ; 
SWEETMAN,  vol.  ii.  sub  13  Nov.  1278,  Nos. 
2025,  &c.)  The  feud  was  at  its  height  by 
April  1294,  and  William  de  Vescy  accused 
John  Fitzthomas  of  felony.  John  accused 
the  justiciar  of  saying  that  the  great  lords  of 
Ireland  need  care  very  little  for  a  king  like 
Edward,  who  was  '  the  most  perverse  and 
dastard  knight  in  his  realm.'  William  de- 
nied the  charge,  and  offered  wager  of  battle. 
From  Ireland  the  case  was  transferred  to 
Westminster,  and  a  day  appointed  for  the 
combat.  At  the  fixed  time  (24  July)  Wil- 
liam de  Vescy  appeared  in  full  armour,  and, 
as  his  opponent  had  not  arrived,  claimed 
judgment  by  default  (ib.  Nos.  135, 137,  147; 
Abbrev.  Plac.  pp.  231-4;  RYMEK,  ii.  631). 


Other  accounts  represent  that  William  de 
Vescy,  to  avoid  fighting,  fled  to  France,  and 
the  king  gave  to  John  all  that  was  his,  in- 
cluding Kildare  and  Rathangan.  But  it 
would  seem,  from  a  note  to  Butler's  'Grace/ 
that  Kildare  remained  in  the  king's  hands 
till  16  May  1316,  whereas  William  de  Vescy 
was  still  receiving  summons  to  parliament 
in  24  Edward  I,  and  did  not  surrender  Kil- 
dare and  his  Irish  estates  till  1297  (Annals 
of  Ireland,  p.  323;  Parl.  Rolls,  i.  127-34; 
GRACE,  p.  43  ;  and  note  in  Irish  Close  Rolls, 
i.  36,  Nos.  45-6).  The  famous  Fitzgerald 
legend  of  this  quarrel  may  be  read  in  Cam- 
pion, p.  115,  Holinshed,  p.  241,  and  Burke's 
*  Peerage.'  The j  usticiarship  was  transferred 
in  the  same  year  (18  Oct.  1294)  to  William 
de  Oddyngeseles  (SWEETMAN,  vol.  iv.  Nos. 
165-6). 

By  this  time  the  rivalry  of  the  De  Burghs 
and  the  Geraldines  had  become  violent,  and 
in  December  1294  John  Fitzthomas  took 
Richard  de  Burgh,  the  earl  of  Ulster,  pri- 
soner, and  kept  him  in  his  castle  of  Ley  till 
12  March  1295.  For  this  the  lord  of  Offaly 
was  once  more  impleaded  at  Westminster ; 
he  had  to  find  twenty-four  sureties  by  11  Nov., 
and  was  finally  mulcted  in  Sligo  and  all  his 
Connaught  estates  (CLYN,  p.  10 ;  Annals  of 
Ireland,  p.  323;  SWEETMAN,  p.  104;  cf.  CAM- 
PION, p.  79;  Parl.  Rolls,-!.  135-6).  The 
same  year  John  Wogan,  the  new  justiciar, 
made  a  peace  between  the  two  earls  for  two 
years,  and  it  was  made  permanent  about 
28  Oct.  1298  (Annals  of  Ireland,  pp.  325, 
328). 

From  1295  John  Fitzthomas's  name  figures 
frequently  on  the  writs  for  military  ser- 
vice. In  1296  he  accompanied  the  justiciar 
and  Richard  de  Burgh  on  the  Scotch  ex- 
pedition, .and  was  sumptuously  entertained 
by  the  king  of  England  on  Whitsunday 
(13  May).  When  summoned  to  London  for 
a  campaign  against  the  king  of  the  French, 
he  and  the  Earl  of  Ulster  were  allowed  a 
grace  of  three  weeks  (till  1  Aug.)  beyond 
the  English  barons,  '  pour  la  longe  mer  qu'il 
ount  a  passer '  (ib.  p.  326  ;  Annals  of  the 
Four  Masters,  p.  467 ;  Parl.  Writs,  pp.  280, 
284,  &c. ;  Dignity  of  a  Peer,  ii.  278,  322). 
In  1301  he  was  again  serving  in  Scotland 
with  Edward  I  from  August  to  November, 
and  probably  again  in  1303,  unless  he  was  ex- 
cused on  this  occasion  because  of  his  son's 
death  (ib. ;  Parl.  Writs,  i.  367 ;  RYMEE,  ii. 
897).  He  received  similar  summons  to  attend 
the  Earl  of  Ulster  against  the  Scotch  for  the 
nativity  of  St.  John,  1310,  and  for  the  Ban- 
nockburn  campaign  of  1314  (Parl.  Writs,  ii. 
392,  424). 

During  all  these  years  there  seems  to  have 


Fitzthomas 


216 


Fitzthomas 


been  great  confusion  in  Offaly  and  Kildare. 
Ley,  the  chief  stronghold  of  John  Fitz- 
thomas in  Offaly,  had  been  taken  and  burned 
on  25  Aug.  1284 ;  the  castle  of  Kildare  was 
captured  in  1294,  and  the  country  round 
laid  waste  by  bands  of  predatory  Irish  and 
English ;  and  though  the  great  Irish  chief  of 
Offaly,  Calbhach  O'Conor,  was  slain  in  1305, 
yet  two  years  later  'the  robbers  of  Offaly 
burned  the  town  of  Ley,  and  laid  siege  to 
the  castle  till  they  were  driven  back  by  the 
combined  forces  of  John  Fitzthomas  and 
Edmund  Butler.'  In  1309  he  crossed  over 
to  England  with  the  Earl  of  Ulster  and 
Roger  Mortimer.  Three  years  later  (1312) 
his  friendship  with  the  De  Burghs  was  rati- 
fied by  a  double  marriage.  At  Green  Castle 
in  co.  Down  his  ward,  Maurice  Fitzthomas 
[q.  v.],  the  head  of  the  Desmond  branch  of  the 
family,  married  (5  Aug.)  Richard  de  Burgh's 
daughter  Catherine;  and  on  16  Aug.  his 
son  Thomas  Fitzjohn  married  Joan,  another 
daughter  of  the  same  earl.  At  Christmas  he 
held  a  great  court  at  Adare  in  co.  Limerick, 
and  knighted  Nicholas  Fitzmaurice,  the 
knight  of  Kerry  (Annals  of  Ireland,  pp.  319, 
323,  &c. ;  Loch  Ce,  p.  531,  &c. ;  Annals  of 
the  Four  Masters,  pp.  481,  £c.;  CLYN,P.  11). 
On  26  May  1315  Edward  Bruce  landed  at 
Carrickfergus  (Annals  of  Ireland,  p.  348,  &c. ; 
Loch  Ce,  p.  563;  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters], 
and  Barbour  seems  to  make  John  Fitzthomas 
take  part  in  the  Earl  of  Ulster's  expedition 
which,  in  the  ensuing  summer  (July-Sep- 
tember 1315),  forced  the  Scotch  back  from 
Dundalk  to  the  Bann  (BAKBOTJK.  xiv.  140-6). 
After  a  few  months  spent  in  Ulster  Edward 
Bruce  made  a  definite  advance  south,  and  by 
the  beginning  of  1316  was  laying  waste  John 
Fitzthomas's  own  county.  At  Arscoll  in 
co.  Kildare  he  was  met  by  three  hosts,  each 
of  which  outnumbered  his  own.  But  the 
leaders,  Edmund  Butler,  John  Fitzthomas, 
and  Arnold  Poer,  were  at  variance,  and  the 
Scotch  gained  an  easy  victory  (26  Jan.  1316). 
Bruce,  however,  almost  at  once  began  to 
retreat  north,  burning  John  Fitzthomas's 
great  castle  of  Ley  on  his  way  (Annals  of 
Ireland,  pp.  296-7,  244-8;  CLYN,  p.  12). 
John  Fitzthomas  and  the  other  Irish  mag- 
nates gathered  at  Dublin  (c.  2  Feb.)  and 
took  an  oath  of  fealty  to  the  king  of  Eng- 
land's new  agent,  Johnde  Ilotham  (Annals  of 
Ireland,  p.  350  ;  Lib.  Hib.  pt.  iv.  p.  6).  In 
mid-February  the  Scotch  were  still  lying  at 
Greashill  in  Offaly,  while  the  English  army 
lay  at  Kildare  (Annals  of  Ireland,  p.  349). 
A^little  later  John  Fitzthomas  crossed  over 
to  England,  and  it  was  probably  soon  after 
this  that  he  was  created  Earl  of  Kildare. 
The  patent  is  dated  16  May  1316  (see  patent 


in  extenso,  LODGE,  i.  78-9).  Immediately  after 
this  the  Earls  of  Kildare  and  Ulster  seem  to 
have  taken  a  second  oath  (c.  3  July),  and  two 
months  later,  just  as  the  news  of  Robert 
Bruce's  landing  reached  Dublin,  John  Fitz- 
thomas died  at  Laraghbryan,  co.  Kildare, 
on  Sunday,  12  Sept.  (Annals  of  Ireland, 
pp.  247,  352).  He  was  buried  at  the  Fran- 
ciscan monastery  in  Kildare  (ib.  p.  297). 

John  Fitzthomas  is  said  to  have  married 
Blanche  Roche,  daughter  of  John  Baron  of 
Fermoy  (Earls  of  Kildare,  p.  28 ;  LODGE, 
p.  79).  His  children  were  (1)  Gerald,  'his 
son  and  heir'  (d.  1303)  (CLYN,  p.  10;  GKACE, 
p.  47 ;  Annals  of  Ireland,  }>>  331) ;  and  his  suc- 
cessor, (2)  Thomas  Fitzjohn,  second  earl  of 
Kildare  [see  FITZGEEALD,  THOMAS,  d.  1328]. 
To  these  the  Earl  of  Kildare  adds  Joan,  who- 
in  1302  married  Sir  Edmund  Butler  (cf.  An- 
nals of  Ireland,  p.  331),  and  thus  became 
ancestress  to  the  later  marquises  of  Ormonde ; 
and  Elizabeth,  who  married  Sir  Nicholas 
Netterville,  ancestor  of  the  viscounts  Netter- 
ville  (Earls  of  Kildare,  p.  28). 

John  Fitzthomas  seems  to  have  been  one 
of  the  most  unruly  even  of  the  Irish  barons. 
Besides  the  feuds  already  noticed,  he  appears 
to  have  had  another  with  the  De  Lacies  in 
1310  (Pat.  Rolls  of  Ireland,  No.  58,  p.  13, 
cf.  No.  240,  and  p.  16,  No.  50).  He  is  said 
to  have  built  and  endowed  the  Augustinian 
abbey  at  Adare  (Earls  of  Kildare,  p.  27  ; 
AECHDALL,  Monasticon,  p.  414), '  for  the  re- 
demption of  Christian  captives.'  His  fame 
was  of  long  continuance  in  his  own  country, 
where  an  Irish  poet,  in  1601,  wrote  of  him: 
'The  first  Leinster  Earl  without  reproach  . . . 
John  the  redoubtable,  than  whom  no  poet 
was  more  learned'  (Earls  of  Kildare,  p.  28). 
At  one  time  or  another  he  must  have  had 
under  his  control  no  inconsiderable  part  of 
Ireland.  The  fact  that  he  was  never  justiciar 
seems  to  point  to  some  distrust  as  to  his  per- 
fect trustworthiness,  and  his  power  is  shown 
by  his  equality  in  the  quarrel  with  the  great 
house  of  Ulster,  which  latterly  seems  to  have 
been  willing  to  secure  peace  by  mutual  mar- 
riages. His  elder  son,  Gerald,  is  said  to  have 
been  betrothed  to  a  daughter  of  Richard  de 
Burgh ;  but  if  this  was  so,  the  agreement 
seems  to  have  been  broken  short  by  the  young 
noble's  death. 

[Sweetman's  Calendar  of  Documents  relating 
to  Ireland,  vols.  i-v. ;  Rymer's  Fcedera,  ed. 
1720;  Calendarium  Genealogicum,  ed.  Roberts;. 
Irish  Close  and  Patent  Rolls,  ed.  Ball  and  Tres- 
ham,  1828  ;  Parliamentary  Writs  (Palgrave, 
1827);  Liber  Munerum  Hibernise  (Thomas, 
1824);  Report  on  the  Dignity  of  a  Peer;  Book 
of  Howth,  ed.  Bond  and  Brewer  ;  Annals  of  the- 
Four  Masters,  vol.  ii.,  ed.  O'Donovan ;  Annals 


Fitzthomas 


217 


Fitzthomas 


of  Loch  Ce,  ed.  Henessy  (Bolls  Series) ;  Clyn's 
Annals,  ed.  Butler  (Irish  Archseol.  Soc.  Pub- 
lications); Grace's  Annals,  ed.  Butler  (Irish  Ar- 
chseol.  Soc.);  Campion's  Annals  in  Irish  Chroni- 
clers (Dublin,  1809);  Holinshed,  vol. vi.,ed.  1808; 
Annals  of  Ireland  ap.  Cart,  and  Doc.  of  St.  Mary's, 
Dublin,  ed.  Gilbert  (Rolls  Series) ;  Archdall's 
Monasticon,  ed.1789;  Burke's  Extinct  Peerages; 
Marquis  of  Kildare's  Earls  of  Kildare ;  Lynch's 
Feudal  Dignities  of  Ireland;  Barbour's  Bruce,  ed. 
Herrtage  (Early  Engl.  Text  Soc.);  J.  T.  Gilbert's 
Hist,  of  the  Irish  Viceroys;  Eolls  of  Parliament, 
Edward  I.]  T.  A.  A. 

FITZTHOMAS  or  FITZGERALD, 
MAURICE,  first  EAEL  OF  DESMOND  (d.  1356), 
justiciar  of  Ireland,  was  the  son  of  Thomas 
Fitzmaurice  '  of  the  ape,'  justice  of  Ireland 
in  1295,  and  of  his  wife  Margaret ;  the  king's 
cousin'  (Cal.  Doc.  Ireland,  1293-1301,  No. 
533).  His  grandfather,  Maurice  Fitzjohn, 
was  slain  along  with  his  father,  John  Fitz- 
thomas, at  the  battle  of  Callan  (1261).  John 
Fitzthomas  was  the  son  of  Thomas  Fitzmau- 
rice, who  seems  to  have  been  a  younger  son 
of  Maurice  Fitzgerald  (d.  1176)  [q.  v.],  the  in- 
vader and  the  founder  of  the  Geraldine  family. 
The  genealogy  is,  however,  not  quite  clear. 

Maurice's  father  died  in  1298  (Ann.  Hib. 
in  Chart.  St.  Mary's,  ii.  328 ;  Annals  of  Lock 
Ce,  i.  521),  when  Maurice  was  still  a  child. 
He  left  his  vast  estates  in  Munster,  second 
only  to  those  of  the  De  Burghs  among  the 
Anglo-Irish  nobility,  to  be  protected  by  royal 
nominees,whose  services  could  thus  be  cheaply 
rewarded  (e.g.  Cal.  Doc.  Ireland,  1302-7, 
Nos.  38,  43).  In  1299  Maurice's  mother 
married  Reginald  Russel  without  the  royal 
license  (Rot.  Orig.Abbrev.i.lQfy.  The  right 
of  his  marriage  was  assigned  to  Thomas  of 
Berkeley  (Cal.  Doc.  Ireland,  1293-1301, 
No.  773).  John  Fitzthomas,  afterwards  first 
earl  of  Kildare,  ultimately  became  guardian 
of  his  lands.  On  5  Aug.  1312  his  marriage 
to  Catherine,  daughter  of  Richard  de  Burgh, 
second  earl  of  Ulster  [q.  v.],  at  Greencastle, 
reconciled  for  a  time  a  long-standing  family 
feud  (Ann.  Hib.  p.  341 ;  CLYN,  p.  11,  says  on 
25  Dec.  1413).  Barbour  says  he  played  a 
conspicuous  part  in  1315  in  resisting  Edward 
Bruce  (Bruce,  xiv.  140-6,  Early  Engl.  Text 
Soc.),  but  his  authority  is  hardly  conclusive. 
About  this  time,  however,  his  active  career 
begins.  In  1326  the  death  of  the  great  Earl 
of  Ulster,  his  father-in-law,  was  the  begin- 
ning of  new  feuds  in  which  Maurice  vigor- 
ously played  his  part.  In  1327  a  private  war 
broke  out  between  him  and  Arnold  le  Poer 
(Power),  who  had  called  him  a '  rhymer.'  Sup- 
ported by  the  Butlers  and  William  Berming- 
ham,  Maurice  ravaged  his  enemies'  lands  in 
Ofath,  and  drove  his  allies,  the  Burkes,  into 


Connaught.  But  the  intervention  of  the  vice- 
roy [see  FITZGERALD,  THOMAS,  second  EARL 
OP  KILDARE]  led  to  Arnold's  leaving  the 
country  and  Maurice's  craving  pardon  at  a 
parl  iament  at  Kilkenny.  Yet  in  1 328  he  again 
collected  a  strong  army  against  the  Poers. 
He  also  quarrelled  with  the  Earl  of  Ulster,, 
but  in  March  1329  the  justiciar,  Roger  Out- 
law, effected  their  reconciliation. 

In  1329  Maurice  was  created  Earl  of  Des- 
mond, and  received  a  grant  of  the  county 
palatine  of  Kerry,  with  royal  liberties  therein 
to  be  held  of  the  English  crown.  This  was 
|  part  of  the  policy  which  about  the  same  time 
gave  earldoms  to  the  other  leaders  of  the 
English  colony.  At  the  same  time  he  received 
the  grant  of  the  advowson  of  Dungarvan,  and 
a  remission  of  his  rents  to  the  crown  for  that 
term  (Fcedera,  ii.  770).  In  1330  he  helped 
the  viceroy,  D'Arcy,  against  the  clans  of 
Leinster.  Ten  thousand  men,  including  the 
chief  of  the  O'Briens,  followed  his  standards. 
He  defeated  the  O'Nolans  and  the  O'Mores 
and  took  Ley  Castle.  But  Desmond  and  Ulster 
soon  renewed  their  quarrels  (ib.  ii.  793)  until 
the  justiciar  shut  both  up  in  prison.  Des- 
mond, who  had  been  captured  at  Limerick 
(CLYN,  p.  23),  soon  escaped,  and  resisted  the 
next  viceroy,  Anthony  de  Lucy.  He  refused 
to  attend  the  Dublin  parliament  of  June 
1331,  though  he  appeared  after  it  had  been 
transferred  to  Kilkenny,  where  he  swore  oaths 
of  faithfulness,  and  was  pardoned.  But  in 
August  Lucy  seized  him  at  Limerick,  and 
shut  him  up  in  October  in  Dublin  Castle. 
After  eighteen  months'  imprisonment,  Des- 
mond was  liberated  on  the  petition  of  the 
three  estates.  The  greatest  lords  of  Ireland 
bound  themselves  under  heavy  penalties  to> 
be  his  sureties,  and  he  swore  before  the  high 
altar  of  Christ  Church  that  he  would  attend 
the  next  parliament  and  be  faithful  to  the 
king.  In  the  same  year,  1333,  he  broke  his- 
leg  by  a  fall  from  a  horse.  In  1335  he  served 
under  the  viceroy,  D'Arcy,  in  the  expedition 
of  Edward  III  against  Scotland  (Cal.  Rot- 
Glaus.  Hib.  9  Edw.  Ill,  p.  41 ;  CLYN  ,  p.  26).  In 
1339  he  inflicted  a  crushing  defeat  on  the 
MacCarthies  and  Irish  of  Kerry,  of  whom 
twelve  hundred  were  slain. 

A  plan  of  Edward  III  to  supersede  the 
Anglo-Norman  settlers  by  English  ministers 
produced  a  terrible  dissension  between  the 
'  English  born  in  Ireland '  and  the  l  English 
born  in  England '  (GRACE,  p.  133).  Desmond 
took  the  lead  in  the  struggle.  He  refused  to 
attend  the  parliament  of  October  1341  at 
Dublin,  and  collected  a  great  gathering  of 
the  nobles  and  townsfolk  of  English  blood 
at  Kilkenny  in  November.  This  assembly  sent 
a  long  complaint  to  Edward  III  against  th& 


Fitzthomas 


218 


Fitzurse 


policy  of  liis  viceroy,  and  denounced  the  greed 
and  incompetence  of  the  '  needy  men  sent 
from  England  without  knowledge  of  Ireland.' 
But  the  new  justiciar,  Ralph  D' Ufford,  per- 
severed in  the  new  policy.  Desmond  ab- 
sented himself  therefore  from  the  parliament 
of  June  1345  at  Dublin.  Ufford  treated 
this  as  a  declaration  of  war  (CLYN,  p.  31). 
He  invaded  his  territories,  and  captured  his 
castles  of  Iniskilty  and  Castleisland,  where 
he  hanged  the  leaders  of  the  garrison.  Many 
of  the  other  nobles  abandoned  Desmond  in 
alarm.  The  Earl  of  Kildare  was  imprisoned. 
Desmond's  estates  were  declared  forfeited. 
The  grandees  who  had  been  his  sureties  in 
1333  were  ruined  by  Ufford's  insisting  on 
their  forfeiture.  Ufford  died  on  Palm  Sun- 
day 1346,  but  all  that  Desmond  got  by  his 
death  was  a  respite  and  a  safe-conduct.  In 
August  John  Maurice  was  made  seneschal  of 
Clonmel,  Decies,  Dungarvan,  and  other  lands 
formerly  belonging  to  Desmond  (Cal.  Rot. 
Pat.  Hib.  20  Edw.  Ill,  p.  51).  In  September 
1346  he  sailed  from  Youghal  with  his  wife 
and  two  sons  to  answer  his  accusers  or  to 
prosecute  his  complaints  in  England.  He  sur- 
rendered himself  to  the  king,  and  was  retained 
for  some  time  in  prison.  In  1347  he  was  pre- 
sent at  the  siege  of  Calais  (CLYN,  p.  34).  In 
1349  he  was  finally  released  from  his  diffi- 
culties (Cal.  Hot.  Pat.  23  Edw.  Ill,  p.  158), 
received  back  his  lands,  and  was  restored  to 
the  king's  favour.  In  1348  Ralph,  lord  Staf- 
ford, and  others  had  bound  themselves  by- 
heavy  penalties  as  his  sureties  (Fcedera,  iii. 
154).  He  never  ventured  again  on  his  old 
course  of  contumacy. 

In  1355  Desmond  was  taken  under  the 
king's  special  protection  (ib.  iii.  300),  the 
forfeits  of  his  manucaptors  of  1333  were  re- 
stored (ib.  iii.  306),  and  he  himself  was  ap- 
pointed viceroy  of  Ireland  on  8  July,  in  suc- 
cession to  Thomas  Rokesby.  He  remained 
in  office  until  his  death  on  25  Jan.  1356  (Ann. 
Hib.  MS.  Laud,  p.  392 ;  Obits  and  Martyro- 
logy  of  Christ  Church,  p.  61,  Irish  Arch.  Soc. ; 
GILBERT,  Viceroys,  p.  21,  places  his  death  in 
July),  '  not  without  great  sorrow  of  his  fol- 
lowers and  all  lovers  of  peace.'  He  was  buried 
in  the  choir  of  the  church  of  the  Dominicans 
at  Dublin,  but  his  body  was  afterwards  trans- 
ferred to  the  general  burying-place  of  his  race, 
the  church  of  the  same  order  at  Tralee.  He 
is  described  as  '  a  good  man  and  just,  who 
hanged  even  his  own  kinsfolk  for  theft,'  and 
'  well  castigated  the  Irish.'  He  was  the  fore- 
most Irish  noble  of  his  time,  and  the  spokes- 
man of  the  Anglo-Irish  party  which  aspired 
to  practical  independence. 

Desmond  is  said  to  have  been  married 
thrice.  His  first  wife,  Catherine  de  Burgh 


(d.  1331),  was  the  mother  of  Maurice  and 
John,  who  became  in  succession  earls  of  Des- 
mond. An  elder  son,  named  Nicholas,  was  de- 
prived of  his  inheritance  as  an  idiot  (Fcedera, 
iii.  433).  His  second  wife  is  described  as 
Eleanor,  daughter  of  Nicholas  Fitzmaurice, 
lord  of  Kerry.  Her  real  name  was  Evelina 
(Cal.  Rot.  Claus.  32  Edw.  Ill,  p.  67).  She 
was  the  mother  of  Gerald  Fitzgerald  [q.v.], 
the  fourth  earl,  called  ' Gerald  the  poet' 
(LODGE,  Peerage  of  Ireland,  i.  64,  ed.  Arch- 
dall).  His  third  wife  is  said  to  have  been 
Margaret,  daughter  of  O'Brien,  prince  of 
Thomond. 

[A  valuable  communication  from  Mr.  T.  A. 
Archer  has  been  utilised  for  this  article.  The 
Annals  of  Ireland  from  the  15th  Century,  Laudian 
MS.,  published  in  Gilbert's  Cartularies,  &c.,  of 
St.  Mary's  Abbey,  Dublin,  vol.  ii.,  forms  the  '  chief 
authority  for  the  history  of  the  English  settle- 
ment,' and  copious  in  their  accounts  of  Desmond. 
See  also  Grace's  Annales  Hibernise  (Irish  Archseol. 
Soc.);  Clyn's  Annals  of  Ireland  (Irish  Archseol. 
Soc.) ;  Svveetman's  Calendar  and  Documents  re- 
lating to  Ireland  ;  Rymer's  Fcedera ;  Liber  Mu- 
nerum  Hibernise ;  Lynch's  Feudal  Dignities  of 
Ireland ;  Gilbert's  Viceroys  of  Ireland ;  Graves's 
Unpublished  Geraldine  Documents ;  Book  of 
Howth  ;  Lodge's  Peerage  of  Ireland,  vol.  i.] 

T.  F.  T. 

FITZURSE,  REGINALD  (Jl.  1170),  one 
of  the  murderers  of  St.  Thomas  of  Canter- 
bury, was  the  eldest  son  of  Richard  Fitz- 
urse, on  whose  death  about  1168  he  inhe- 
rited the  manor  of  Williton,  Somersetshire 
(CoLLiNSOtf,  iii.  487)  ;  he  also  held  the  manor 
of  Barham,Kent  (HASTED,  iii.  536),  and  lands 
in  Northamptonshire  (Liber  Niger,  p.  216). 
He  is  sometimes  called  a  baron,  for  he  held 
of  the  king  in  chief.  He  was  one  of  the  four 
knights  who  were  stirred  up  by  the  hasty 
words  of  Henry  II  to  plot  the  archbishop's 
death.  They  left  Bures,  near  Bayeux,  where 
the  king  then  was,  and  proceeded,  it  is  said, 
by  different  routes  to  England,  all  meeting 
at  Saltwood,  then  held  by  Ranulf  de  Broc, 
on  28  Dec.  1170.  The  next  day  they  set 
out  with  a  few  men,  and  having  gathered  re- 
inforcements, especially  from  the  abbot  of 
St.  Augustine's,  at  whose  house  they  halted, 
they  entered  the  archbishop's  hall  after  din- 
ner, probably  about  3  P.M.,  and  demanded  to 
see  him.  Reginald  told  him  that  he  bore  a 
message  from  the  king,  and  took  the  most 
prominent  and  offensive  part  in  the  inter- 
view which  ensued  (FITZSTEPHEST,  Becket, 
iii.  123,  Vita  anon.,ib.  iv.  71).  He  had  been 
one  of  Thomas's  tenants  or  men  while  he  was 
chancellor ;  the  archbishop  reminded  him  of 
this ;  the  reminder  increased  his  anger,  and 
he  called  on  all  who  were  on  the  king's  side 


Fitzurse 


219 


Fitzwalter 


to  hinder  the  archbishop  from  escaping. 
When  the  knights  went  out  to  arm  and  post 
their  guards,  Reginald  compelled  one  of  the 
archbishop's  men  to  fasten  his  armour,  and 
snatched  an  axe  from  a  carpenter  who  was 
on  some  repairs.  While  Thomas 


was  being  forced  by  his  monks  to  enter  the 
church,  the  knights  entered  the  cloister,  and 
Reginald  was  foremost  in  bursting  into  the 
church,  shouting  l  King's  men  ! '  He  met  the 
archbishop,  and  after  some  words  tried  to 
drag  him  out  of  the  church.  Thomas  called 
him  '  pander,'  and  said  that  he  ought  not  to 
touch  him,  for  he  owed  him  fealty  [for  the 
whole  story  of  the  murder  see  THOMAS,  SAINT]. 
After  the  murder  had  been  done  the  knights 
rode  to  Saltwood,  glorying,  it  is  said,  in 
their  deed  (Becket,  iv.  158),  though  William 
de  Tracy  afterwards  declared  that  they  were 
overwhelmed  with  a  sense  of  their  guilt.  On 
the  31st  they  proceeded  to  South  Mailing, 
near  Lewes,  one  of  the  archiepiscopal  manors, 
and  there  it  is  said  a  table  cast  their  armour 
from  off  it  (ib.  ii.  285).  They  were  excom- 
municated by  the  pope,  and  the  king  ad- 
vised them  to  flee  into  Scotland.  There, 
however,  the  king  and  people  were  for  hang- 
ing them,  so  they  were  forced  to  return  into 
England  (ib.  iv.  162).  They  took  shelter  in 
Knaresborough,  which  belonged  to  Hugh 
Morville,  and  remained  there  a  year  (BENE- 
DICT, i.  13).  All  shunned  them  and  even 
dogs  refused  to  eat  morsels  of  their  meat  (ib. 
p.  14).  At  last  they  were  forced  by  hunger 
and  misery  to  give  themselves  up  to  the 
king.  He  did  not  know  what  to  do  with 
them,  for  as  murderers  of  a  priest  they  were 
not  amenable  to  lay  jurisdiction  (NEWBURGH, 
ii.  157  ;  JOHN  OF  SALISBTTKY,  Epp.  ii.  273) ; 
so  he  sent  them  to  the  pope,  who  could  in- 
flict no  heavier  penalty  than  fasting  and 
banishment  to  the  Holy  Land.  Before  he  left 
Reginald  Fitzurse  gave  half  his  manor  of 
Willitontohis  brother  and  half  to  the  knights 
of  St.  John.  He  and  his  companions  are  said 
to  have  performed  their  penance  in  the f  Black 
Mountain '(various  explanations  of  this  name 
have  been  given ;  none  are  satisfactory ;  it 
was  evidently  intended  to  indicate  some  place, 
probably  a  religious  house,  near  Jerusalem), 
to  have  died  there,  and  to  have  been  buried 
at  Jerusalem  before  the  door  of  the  Templars' 
church  (HOVEDEN,  ii.  17).  It  was  believed 
that  all  died  within  three  years  of  the  date 
of  their  crime.  There  are  some  legends  about 
their  fate  (STANLEY).  Reginald  Fitzurse  is 
said  to  have  gone  to  Ireland  and  to  have 
there  founded  the  family  of  McMahon  (Fate 
of  Sacrilege,  p.  183). 

[Materials  for  the  History  of  Becket,  vols.  i-iv. 
(Rolls  Ser.) ;  Benedict,  i.  13  (Rolls  Ser.)  ;  Ralph 


de  Diceto,  i.  346  (Rolls  Ser.) ;  William  of  New- 
burgh,  lib.  ii.  c.  25  (Engl.  Hist.  Soc.) ;  John  of 
Salisbury,  Epp.  ii.  273,  ed.  Giles  ;  Gamier,  pp. 
139-51,  ed.  Hippeau;  Stanley's  Memorials  of 
Canterbury,  pp.  71-107,  4th  edit.;  Robertson's 
Becket,  pp.  266-80  ;  Collinson's  Hist,  of  Somer- 
set, iii.  487 ;  Hasted's  Hist,  of  Kent,  iii.  536  ; 
Liber  Niger  de  Scaccario,  p.  216,  ed.  Hearne; 
Spelman's  History  and  Fate  of  Sacrilege,  p.  183, 
ed.  1853  ;  Norgate's  Angevin  Kings,  ii.  432  n.] 

W.  H. 

FITZWALTER,  LORD  (d.  1495).  [See 
RATCLIFFE,  JOHN.] 

FITZW ALTER,  ROBERT  (d.  1235), 
baronial  leader,  lord  of  Dunmow  and  Bay- 
nard's  Castle,  was  the  son  of  Walter  Fitz- 
robert,  by  his  wife  Matilda,  daughter  of 
Richard  de  Lucy,  the  faithful  justiciar  of 
Henry  II.  Walter  was  the  son  of  Robert, 
steward  of  Henry  I,  to  whom  the  king  had 
granted  the  lordship  of  Dunmow  and  of  the 
honour  or  soke  of  Baynard's  Castle  in  the 
south-west  angle  of  the  city  of  London,  both 
of  which  had  become  forfeited  to  the  crown 
by  William  Baynard.  Robert  is  generally 
described  as  the  younger  son  of  Richard 
Fitzgilbert,  founder  of  the  great  house  of 
Clare  [see  CLARE,  RICHARD  DE,  d.  1090  ?], 
who  certainly  had  a  son  of  that  name  (OR- 
DERICUS  VITALIS,  ii.  344,  ed.  Le  Prevost,  Soc. 
de  1'Histoire  de  France).  This  genealogy 
was  accepted  by  Dugdale  (Baronage,  i.  218), 
but  some  doubt  has  been  thrown  upon  it  on 
chronological  grounds  by  Mr.  Eyton  (Addit. 
MS.  31938,  f.  98).  If  it  be  true,  it  connects 
Robert  Fitzwalter  with  the  Norman  counts 
of  Brionne,  descendants  of  Richard  the  Fear- 
less, and  therefore  with  the  higher  ranks  of 
the  nobility  of  the  Conquest  [see  CLARE, 
FAMILY  or].  But  in  any  case  the  house  of 
Fitzwalter  belongs  properly  to  the  adminis- 
trative families,  who  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
twelfth  century  had  stepped  into  the  place  of 
the  old  feudal  houses.  Its  possession  of  the 
soke  of  Baynard's  Castle,  to  which  the  here- 
ditary office  of  standard-bearer  of  the  city 
was  annexed,  and  which  grew  into  an  ordi- 
nary ward  (LoFTiE,  London,  pp.  74-80,  His- 
toric Towns  Series),  brought  it  into  intimate 
relations  with  the  Londoners.  Robert  Fitz- 
walter was  himself  engaged  in  trade,  and 
owned  wine  ships  which  received  special 
privileges  from  King  John  (Eot.  Lit.  Pat. 
i.  73  b). 

Baron  Walter  died  in  1198,  and  was  bu- 
ried at  Little  Dunmow,  in  the  choir  of  the 
priory  of  Austin  canons  (DUGDALE,  Monas- 
ticon,  vi.  147,  ed.  Caley).  Robert  Fitzwalter 
now  succeeded  to  his  estates,  being  already 
more  than  of  full  age.  His  mother  and  father 


Fitzwalter 


220 


Fitzwalter 


are  said  to  have  been  married  in  1148,  though 
this  hardly  seems  likely  (ib.  vi.  147).  He 
was  already  married  to  Gunnor,  daughter 
an d  heiress  of  Robert  of  Valognes  (Rot.  Curiee 
Regis,  i.  157),  from  whom  he  inherited  30£ 
knight's  fees,  mainly  situated  in  the  north, 
so  that  his  interests  now  became  largely 
identical  with  the  '  Aquilonares,'  whom  he 
afterwards  led  in  the  struggle  against  King 
John.  He  also  acquired  two  knight's  fees 
through  her  uncle  Geoffry  of  Valognes,  and 
about  1204  obtained  livery  of  seisin  of  the 
lands  of  his  own  uncle,  Geoffry  de  Lucy, 
bishop  of  Winchester  (DTJGDALE,  Baronage, 
i.  218). 

In  1200  Robert  Fitzwalter  was  surety  for 
half  the  fine  incurred  by  his  brother,  Simon 
Fitzwalter,  for  marrying  without  the  royal 
license  (Rotuli  de  Oblatis,  p.  111).  In  1201 
he  made  an  agreement  in  the  curia  regis 
with  St.  Albans  Abbey  with  respect  to  the 
wood  of  Northawe  ('Ann.  Dunst.'  in  Ann. 
Mon.  iii.  28).  He  was  now  engaged  in  several 
other  lawsuits.  One  of  these  sprang  from 
his  claim  to  the  custody  of  the  castle  of  Hert- 
ford as  of  ancient  right  (Rot.  Curiee  Regis, 
ii.  185).  But  he  withdrew  this  suit  for  a 
time,  though  in  August  1202  he  procured 
his  appointment  as  warden  of  Hertford  Castle 
by  royal  letters  patent  (Rot.  Lit.  Pat.  i. 
176). 

Early  in  1203  Fitzwalter  was  in  attendance 
on  King  John  in  Normandy.  In  February 
and  March  he  was  with  John  at  Rouen  (Rot. 
Norm.  pp.  74,  78,  80,82;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm. 
9th  Rep.  i.  353).  But  he  was  now  made 
joint-governor  of  Vaudreuil  Castle  (near  the 
mouth  of  the  Eure)  with  Saer  de  Quincy 
fq.  v.],  afterwards  Earl  of  Winchester.  After 
Easter  King  Philip  of  France  took  the  field. 
The  governors  of  Vaudreuil  were  so  disgusted 
with  John  that  they  surrendered  at  the  first 
summons.  They  thus  incurred  the  derision 
of  the  whole  French  army,  and  Philip,  dis- 
gusted at  their  cowardice,  shut  them  up  in 
close  confinement  at  Compiegne  (COGGES- 
HALL,  pp.  143-4 ;  MATT.  PARIS,  Hist.  Major,  ii. 
482).  There  they  remained  until  redeemed  by 
the  heavy  ransom  of  five  thousand  marks.  On 
5  July  John  issued  letters  patent  from  Rouen 
to  certify  that  they  had  surrendered  the 
castle  by  his  precept  (Rot.  Lit.  Pat.  i.  31). 
But  at  the  end  of  November  his  cousin  Wil- 
liam of  Albini  was  still  engaged  in  selling 
some  of  Fitzwalter's  lands  to  raise  his  ransom 
(ib.  i.  376). 

In  October  1206  Fitzwalter  witnessed  the 
truce  made  between  John  and  PhilipAugustus 
at  Thouars  (Foedera,  i.  95,  Record  edit.) 
The  misgovernment  of  John  provoked  his 
profound  resentment,  and  in  1212  he  entered 


into  intrigues  with  Eustace  de  Vescy  [q.  v.]  and 
Llewelyn  ab  lorwerth  [q.  v.]  against  the  king. 
John's  suspicions  were  aroused  by  private  in- 
telligence as  he  was  preparing  at  Nottingham 
to  march  against  his  rebellious  son-in-law, 
the  Welsh  prince.  Most  of  the  barons  cleared 
themselves,  but  Fitzwalter  and  De  Vescy, 
who  were  afraid  to  appear,  were  condemned 
to  perpetual  exile  (COGGESHALL,  p.  171). 
But  John  was  so  much  alarmed  that  he  shut 
himself  up  from  his  subjects,  and  abandoned 
his  projected  Welsh  campaign.  Eustace  es- 
caped ito  Scotland,  and  Robert  took  refuge 
in  France  (WALT.  Cov.  ii.  207 ;  '  Ann.  Wav.' 
in  Ann.  Mon.  ii.  268 ;  '  Ann.  Wig.'  in  Ann. 
Mon.  iv.  400).  John  now  seized  upon  Fitz- 
walter's estates,  and  on  14  Jan.  1213  destroyed 
Castle  Baynard.  He  also  demolished  Robert's- 
castle  of  Benington  and  his  woods  in  Essex 
('  Ann.  Dunst.'  in  Ann.  Mon.  iii.  35). 

Fitzwalter  remained  in  exile  until  John's 
submission  to  Innocent  III.  On  13  May 
1213  John  promised  peace  and  security  to 
him  as  part  of  the  conditions  of  his  reconcilia- 
tion with  Rome  (MATT.  PARIS,  ii.  542),  and  on 
27  May  issued  letters  patent  informing  him 
that  he  might  safely  come  to  England  (Rot. 
Lit.  Pat.  i.  99).  On  19  July  his  estates  were 
restored  (ib.  i.  101).  John  also  granted  a 
hundred  marks  to  his  steward  as  compensa- 
tion (Rot.  Lit.  Glaus,  i.  146),  and  directed  a 
general  inquest  into  his  losses  like  those  made 
in  the  case  of  the  clerks  who  had  suffered  by 
the  interdict.  Fitzwalter,  however,  was  a 
vigorous  opponent  of  John's  later  measures. 
It  was  said  that  John  specially  hated  him, 
Archbishop  Langton,  and  Saer  de  Quincy 
(MATT.  PARIS,  ii.  482).  In  1 215  Fitzwalter  was 
the  first  mentioned  in  the  list  of  barons  who- 
assembled  in  Easter  week  (April  19-26)  at 
Stamford  (ib.  ii.  585 ;  WALT.  Cov.  ii.  219). 
He  accompanied  the  revolted  lords  on  the 
march  to  Brackley  in  Northamptonshire 
(27  April).  But  John  now  formally  refused 
to  accept  the  long  list  of  demands  which  they 
forwarded  to  him  at  Oxford.  Thereupon 
the  barons  elected  Fitzwalter  their  general, 
with  the  title  of  l  Marshal  of  the  army  of 
God  and  Holy  Church.'  They  solemnly 
renounced  their  homage  to  John  and  pro- 
ceeded to  besiege  Northampton.  They  failed 
there  and  at  Bedford,  where  Fitzwalter's 
standard-bearer  was  slain.  But  the  adhesion 
of  London  secured  their  success.  On  17  May 
the  lord  of  Baynard's  Castle  entered  the  city 
at  the  head  of  the '  army  of  God,'  though  the 
partisans  of  John  still  held  out  in  the  Tower. 
Fitzwalter  and  the  Earl  of  Essex  specially 
busied  themselves  with  repairing  the  walls 
of  London,  using  for  the  purpose  the  stones 
taken  from  the  demolished  houses  of  the  Jews 


Fitzwalter 


221 


Fitzwalter 


(COGGESHALL,  p.  171).  'On  15  June  John 
gave  way  and  signed  the  Great  Charter. 
Fitzwalter  was  one  of  the  twenty-five  exe- 
cutors appointed  to  see  that  its  provisions 
were  really  carried  out  (MATT.  PARIS,  ii.  605). 
For  a  short  time  nominal  peace  prevailed. 
Fitzwalter  now  got  back  the  custody  of  Hert- 
ford Castle  (Rot.  Lit.  Pat.  i.  144  b}.  But  the 
barons  remained  under  arms,  and  Fitzwalter 
•was  still  acting  as  '  Marshal  of  the  army  of 
God  and  Holy  Church.'  He  now  made  a 
convention  with  John,  by  which  London  re- 
mained in  the  barons'  hands  till  15  Aug. 
(Fcedera,  i.  133).  But  he  was  so  fearful  of 
treachery  that  within  a  fortnight  of  the 
Runnymede  meeting  he  thought  it  wise  to 
postpone  a  tournament  fixed  to  be  held  at 
Stamford  on  the  Monday  after  the  feast  of 
SS.  Peter  and  Paul  (29  June)  for  another 
week,  and  chose  as  the  place  of  its  meeting 
Hounslow  Heath,  that  the  barons  might  be 
near  enough  to  protect  London  (ib.  i.  134). 
After  the  failure  to  arrange  terms  at  a  meet- 
ing at  Staines  on  26  Aug.  open  war  broke  out. 
The  twenty- five  executors  assigned  to  them- 
selves various  counties  to  secure  them  for  their 
side.  Fitzwalter,  who  with  Eustace  de  Vescy 
was  still  the  leading  spirit  of  the  movement, 
became  responsible  for  Northamptonshire 
<WALT.  Cov.  ii.  224).  On  17  Sept.  John 
granted  Fitzwalter's  Cornish  estates  to  his 
young  son  Henry  (Rot.  Lit.  Glaus,  i.  228 ;  cf., 
however,  i.  115  b,  200).  But  the  pope's  annul- 
ling the  charter  had  paralysed  the  clerical 
supporters  of  the  popular  side,  and  the 
thoroughgoing  policy  of  the  twenty-five 
tinder  Fitzwalter's  guidance  had  alienated 
some  of  the  more  moderate  men.  Fearing 
lest  Archbishop  Langton  might  be  forced 
to  surrender  his  castle  of  Rochester,  Fitz- 
walter, with  the  assent  of  the  warden  of  the 
castle,  Reginald  of  Cornhill,  secretly  occupied 
it  with  a  large  force.  John's  troops  soon  ap- 
proached, and  strove,  by  burning  Rochester 
bridge  and  occupying  the  left  bank  of  the 
Medway,  to  cut  off  Fitzwalter  from  his  Lon- 
don confederates.  But  Fitzwalter  succeeded 
in  keeping  his  position,  though  before  long 
lie  was  force  1  (11  Oct.)  to  retreat  to  London, 
and  allow  the  royalists  to  occupy  the  town 
and  besiege  the  castle  (COGGESHALL,  pp. 
174-5).  John  now  tried  to  deceive  him  by 
forged  letters  (ib.  p.  176).  Fitzwalter,  con- 
scious of  the  weakness  of  his  position,  sought 
to  negotiate.  On  9  Nov.  he  received  with 
the  Earl  of  Hertford  and  the  citizens  of 
London  a  safe-conduct  for  a  conference  ; 
but  nothing  came  of  it.  In  vain  the  be- 
leaguered garrison  of  Rochester  bitterly  re- 
proached him  for  deserting  them  (MATT. 
PARIS,  ii.  624).  On  16  Nov.  they  were  forced 


to  surrender.  On  16  Dec.  the  barons,  including 
Fitzwalter,  were  excommunicated  by  name 
(Fcedera,  i.  139).  French  help  was  now  their 
only  refuge.  Fitzwalter  went  over  to  France 
with  the  Earl  of  Winchester  and  offered  the 
throne  to  Louis,  the  son  of  King  Philip, 
putting  into  his  hands  twenty-four  hostages 
and  assuring  him  of  the  support  of  their 
party.  Fitzwalter  was  back  in  England  early 
in  1216.  Louis  landed  in  May,  and,  as  John 
made  great  progress  in  the  east,  Fitzwalter 
busied  himself  in  compelling  Essex  and 
Suffolk,  his  own  counties,  to  accept  the 
foreign  king  (MATT.  PARIS,  ii.  655-6).  The  tide 
of  fortune  now  turned,  but  after  John's  death 
on  19  Oct.  Fitzwalter's  difficulties  increased. 
Gradually  the  English  went  over  to  the  side 
of  Henry  III.  Those  who  remained  in  arms 
were  not  respected  by  the  French.  On  6  Dec. 
Louis  captured  Hertford  Castle  from  the  fol- 
lowers of  the  new  king  Henry.  Fitzwalter 
naturally  asked  for  the  custody  of  a  strong- 
hold that  had  already  been  so  long  under  his 
care.  The  French  urged  that  a  traitor  to  his 
own  lord  was  not  to  be  trusted,  and  Louis 
told  him  he  must  wait  until  the  end  of  the  war 
(ib.  iii.  5).  Fitzwalter  was  too  deeply  pledged 
to  Louis  to  join  the  deserters.  He  was  sent 
from  London  on  30  April  1217  at  the  head 
of  a  strong  French  force  to  raise  the  siege  of 
Mountsorrel  in  Leicestershire,  now  closely 
pressed  by  the  Earl  of  Chester  (WALT.  Cov. 
ii.  237).  On  his  way  he  rested  at  St.  Albans, 
where  his  hungry  troops  ate  up  all  the  sup- 
plies of  the  abbey  (MATT.  PARIS,  iii.  16).  He 
raised  the  siege  of  Mountsorrel  and  advanced 
to  Lincoln.  He  was  met  by  the  regent, 
William  Marshall,  whose  forces  were  now 
joined  by  the  Earl  of  Chester  with  the  army 
that  had  besieged  Mountsorrel.  Fitzwalter 
was  anxious  for  an  immediate  battle.  On 
20  May  the  battle  of  Lincoln  was  fought, 
and  the  baronial  forces  thoroughly  defeated. 
Fitzwalter  himself  was  taken  prisoner  along 
with  his  son  (GERVASE  CANT.  ii.  Ill)  and 
most  of  the  leaders  of  his  party.  The  Lon- 
doners still  held  out  until  Hubert  de  Burgh's 
great  naval  victory  on  24  Aug.  On  11  Sept. 
the  treaty  of  Lambeth  ended  the  struggle. 
But  the  reissue  of  the  charter  as  the  result 
of  the  treaty  showed  that  Fitzwalter's  cause 
had  triumphed  in  spite  of  his  personal  failure. 
On  8  Oct.  1217  Fitzwalter's  release  from 
prison  was  ordered  (Rot.  Lit.  Glaus,  i.  328  b). 
On  24  Jan.  1218  the  king  granted  him  his 
scutage  (ib.  i.  349  £).  In  July  he  received 
the  custody  of  his  nephew,  Walter  Fitzsimon 
Fitzwalter,  whose  father  was  now  dead  (ib. 
i.  379  b ;  Excerpta  e  Rot.  Finium,  i.  15).  In 
the  same  year  he  witnessed  the  understand- 
ing that  the  great  seal  was  to  be  affixed  to 


Fitzwalter 


222 


Fitzwalter 


no  letters  patent  or  charters  until  the  king 
came  of  age  (Foedera,  i.  152).  But  the  fifth 
crusade  must  have  offered  a  convenient  op- 
portunity to  him  and  others.  In  1219  he 
sailed  for  the  Holy  Land  along  with  Earl 
Saer  of  Winchester  and  Earl  William  of 
Arundel.  Before  he  arrived  the  crusading 
host  had  been  diverted  to  the  siege  of  Da- 
mietta.  There  he  seems  to  have  arrived 
along  with  Saer  de  Quincy  and  other  Eng- 
lish, at  the  same  time  as  the  cardinal  legate 
Pelagius  (Floras  Hist.  iv.  44 ;  MATT.  PARIS, 
iii.  41).  This  was  in  the  autumn  of  1219 
(KTJGLER,  Geschichte  der  Kreuzzilge,  p.  319). 
Saer  de  Quincy  died  on  3  Nov.  ('Ann.  Wav.' 
in  Ann.  Mon.  ii.  292).  This  date  makes 
impossible  the  statement  of  Walter  of  Co- 
ventry that  they  only  arrived  after  Damietta 
had  been  captured  (ii.  246).  The  town  fell 
into  the  crusaders'  hands  on  5  Nov.  Fitz- 
walter, therefore,  though  he  is  not  mentioned, 
must  have  taken  part  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  siege  (see  for  all  points  connected  with 
the  crusade  ROHRICHT,  'DieBelagerung  von 
Damiette '  in  VON  RAUMER'S  Hist.  Taschen- 
buch  for  1876,  and  his  other  article  in  For- 
schungen  zur  deutschen  Geschichte,  1876). 
Eracles,  in '  Recueil  des  Histor.  des  Croisades,' 
ii.  343,  says  that  Fitzwalter  arrived  in  the 
seventh  month  of  1219  (cf.  also  Publications 
de  la  Societe  de  V  Orient  Latin,  Serie  His- 
torique,  iii.  55,  62,  65,  69). 

The  crusaders  remained  in  Egypt  until 
August  1221.  But  Fitzwalter  had  gone  home 
sick  ('Ann.  Dunst.'  in  Ann.  Mon.  iii.  56),  pro- 
bably at  some  earlier  period.  He  spent  the  rest 
of  his  life  peaceably  in  England,  thoroughly  re- 
conciled now  to  the  government  of  Henry  III. 
He  must  have  by  this  time  become  well  ad- 
vanced in  years.  He  was  called  '  Robert 
Fitzwalter,  senior,'  in  the  list  of  executors  of 
the  charter,  and  his  son,  presumably  Robert 
Fitzwalter,  junior,  was  taken  prisoner  along 
with  him  at  Lincoln.  On  11  Feb.  1225  Fitz- 
walter was  one  of  the  witnesses  of  Henry  Ill's 
third  confirmation  of  the  great  charter  ('Ann. 
Burton.'  in  Ann.  Mon.  i.  232).  In  June  1230 
he  was  one  of  those  assigned  to  hold  the 
assize  of  arms  in  Essex  and  Hertfordshire 
(SHIRLEY,  Royal  Letters,  i.  375).  He  died 
on  9  Dec.  1235  ('  Ann.  Theok.'  in  Ann.  Mon. 
i.  99 ;  MATT.  PARIS,  iii.  334),  and  was  buried 
before  the  high  altar  at  Dunmow  priory, 
the  chief  foundation  of  his  house.  He  is 
described  by  Matthew  Paris  (iii.  334)  as  a 
'  noble  baron,  illustrious  by  his  birth,  and  re- 
nowned for  his  martial  deeds.'  Administra- 
tion of  his  goods  and  chattels  was  granted 
to  his  executors  on  16  Dec.  (Excerpta  e  Rot. 
Finium,  i.  294).  His  heir,  Walter,  was  at 
the  time  under  age,  so  that  the  son  who 


fought  with  him  at  Lincoln  must  have  been 
dead  (ib.  i.  301).  This  Walter  (d.  1257)  must 
have  been  either  a  younger  son  or  a  grandson. 
After  the  death  of  Gunnor  (she  was  alive  in 
1207)  it  is  said  that  Fitzwalter  married  a 
second  wife,  Rohese,  who  survived  him.  He 
had  also  a  daughter,  Christina,  who  married 
William  Mandeville,  earl  of  Essex  (DOYLE, 
Official  Baronage,  i.  685). 

A  large  legendary  and  romantic  history 
gradually  gathered  round  the  memory  of  the 
first  champion  of  English  liberty.  A  pic- 
turesque tale,  first  found  in  the  manuscript 
chronicle  of  Dunmow  (MS.  Cotton.  Cleop. 
C.  3,  f.  29),  and  reproduced  in  substance  in 
the '  Monasticon '  (ed.  Caley,  Ellis,  and  Ban- 
dinel,  vi.  147),  tells  how  Fitzwalter  had  a 
very  beautiful  daughter  named  Matilda,  who 
indignantly  rejected  the  immoral  advances 
of  King  John.  At  last,  as  the  maiden  proved 
obdurate,  John  caused  her  to  be  poisoned,  so 
that  the  bitterest  sense  of  personal  wrong 
drove  Fitzwalter  to  take  up  the  part  of  a 
constitutional  leader.  So  generally  was  the 
story  believed  that  an  alabaster  figure  on  a 
grey  altar-tomb  in  Little  Dunmow  Church  is 
still  sometimes  pointed  out  as  the  effigy  of 
the  unfortunate  Matilda.  Several  poems  and 
plays  have  been  based  upon  this  picturesque 
romance.  In  them  the  chaste  Matilda  is 
curiously  mixed  up  with  Maid  Marian,  the 
mistress  of  Robin  Hood.  Such  are  the  plays 
called  <  The  Downfall  of  Robert,  Earl  of 
Huntingdon,  afterwards  called  Robin  Hood, 
with  his  Love  to  Chaste  Matilda,  the  Lord 
Fitzwater's  daughter,  afterwards  his  faire 
Maid  Marian/ and  'The  Death  of  Robin  Hood 
with  the  lamentable  Tragedy  of  Chaste  Ma- 
tilda, his  faire  Maid  Marian,  poisoned  at 
Dunmowe  by  King  John.'  Both  were  printed 
in  1601,  and  were  written  by  Henry  Chettle 
[q.  v.]  and  Anthony  Munday  [q.  v.]  They 
are  reprinted  in  the  eighth  volume  of  Haz- 
litt's  '  Dodsley.'  Michael  Drayton  [q.  v.] 
also  published  in  1594  a  poetical  account  of 
'  Matilda,  the  faire  and  chaste  Daughter  of 
the  Lord  Robert  Fitzwalter,'  as  well  as  two 
letters  in  verse,  purporting  to  be  written 
between  her  and  King  John.  Before  1639 
Robert  Davenport  [q.  v.]  wrote  another  play, 
'  The  Tragedy  of  King  John  and  Matilda/ 
It  was  also  believed  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury that  Robert  Fitzwalter,  '  or  one  of  his 
successors,'  was  the  founder  of  the  famous 
Dunmow  custom  of  giving  a  flitch  of  bacon 
to  the  couple  that  had  never  repented  of  their 
union  for  a  year  and  a  day. 

[Matthew  Paris's  Hist.  Major,  vols.  ii.  and 
iii.,  ed.  Luard ;  Flores  Historiarum,  vols.  iii.  and 
iv.  (Engl.  Hist.  Soc.) ;  K.  de  Coggeshall's  Chro- 
nicon  Anglicanum  (Kolls  Ser.)  ;  "Walter  of  Co- 


Fitzwarine 


223 


Fitzwarine 


ventry's  Memoriale  (Rolls  Ser.) ;  Annales  Mo- 
nastic! (Rolls  Ser.) ;  Rymer's  Fcedera,  vol.  i., 
Record  ed. ;  Rotuli  Literarum  Patentium,  Rotuli 
Literarura  Clausarum,  Record  Commission  ; 
Dugdale's  Baronage,  i.  209,  218-20;  Dugdale's 
Monasticon,  vi.  147-9,  ed.  Caley,  Ellis,  and  Ban- 
dinel ;  Thomson's  Essay  on  Magna  Carta,  espe- 
cially pp.  504-11.]  T.F.  T. 

FITZWARINE,  FULK,  was  the  name 
of  several  persons  living  in  Shropshire  in  the 
twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  some  of 
whose  actions  are  attributed  to  one  indi- 
vidual in  the  romance  of  'Foulques  Fitz- 
Warin.'  FTJLK  FITZWARINE  I  was  the  second 
son  of  Warm  de  Metz,  and  of  a  daughter  of 
the  Peverels,  then  very  powerful  in  Shrop- 
shire and  the  marches.  He  was  the  head  of 
his  family  in  1156,  when  Henry  II  had  given 
him  the  Gloucestershire  manor  of  Alveston 
(R.  W.  EYTOX,  Antiquities  of  Shropshire,  vii. 
67),  and  died  1170-1.  He  had  four  sons,  of 
whom  the  eldest,  FULK  II,  married  Hawise, 
daughter  and  coheiress  of  Joceas  of  Dinan, 
and  is  traditionally  stated  to  have  made  a 
claim  uponLudlow,  which  was  never  allowed 
(ib.  vii.  69).  The  Shropshire  Pipe  Roll  of  1177 
shows  that  he  had  been  amerced  forty  merks 
by  Henry  II  for  forest  trespass.  About  1180 
he  successfully  disputed  the  right  of  Shrews- 
bury Abbey  to  the  advowson  of  Alberbury. 
Ten  years  later  he  was  fined  100/.  for  his 
wife's  share  of  an  inheritance  (Hot.  Pipe, 
2  Ric.  I,  'Wilts'),  and  through  her  probably 
acquired  an  interest  in  several  Wiltshire 
manors  (Testa  de  Nevill,  1807,  p.  150).  On 
6  Nov.  1194  he  was  named  as  attorney  for 
his  wife  in  a  suit  of  mort  d'ancestre  on  ac- 
count of  lands  in  the  same  county  (Rot.  Curies 
Regis,  1835,  i.  35,  37) ;  and  was  fined  ten 
merks  to  be  excused  transfretation  to  Nor- 
mandy (Rot.  Cane,  de  3°  Joannis,  1833,  p. 
122).  In  1195  he  is  entered  as  owing  forty 
merks  for  the  castle  of  Whittington  adjudged 
to  him  in  the  curia  regis.  The  fine  remained 
unliquidated  in  1202  (ib.  p.  225).  He  died 
in  1197.  Next  year  his  widow  paid  thirty 
merks  that  she  might  not  be  obliged  to  re- 
marry (Rot.  Pipe,  10  Ric.  I,  <  Wilts  ')•  Her 
name  constantly  appears  as  a  litigant  down 
to  1226  (Testa  de  Nevill,  1807,  p.  128).  Fulk 
had  six  sons,  of  whom  the  eldest,  FULK  III, 
in  the  year  ending  Michaelmas  1200,  was 
'fined  100J.  with  King  John  to  have  judgment 
concerning  Witinton  Castle  and  its  appurte- 
nances as  his  right,  which  had  been  adjudged 
to  him  by  consideration  of  the  curia  regis ' 
(EYTON,  Antiquities,  vii.  72).  The  king  was 
bribed  by  Meuric  de  Powis  to  confirm  the 
latter  in  the  possession  of  Whittington, 
whereupon  in  1201  Fulk,  his  brothers,  and 
friends  rebelled.  The  traditional  story  of  the 


rebellion  may  be  seen  in  the  romance  men- 
tioned later.  The  outlawry  was  revoked  by 
patent  dated  from  Rouen,  11  Nov.  1203  (Rot. 
Patent,  1835,  i.  36).  In  the  next  year  John 
restored  Whittington  (ib.  i.  46).  Probably 
before  1  Oct.  1207  Fulk  married  Matilda, 
daughter  of  Robert  le  Vavasour,  and  widow 
of  Theobald  Walter.  He  received  several 
marks  of  favour  from  the  king  (Rot.  Litt. 
Glaus,  an.  9°  et  an.  14°  Joannis,  1833,  i.  92, 
126,  129),  and  was  with  him  in  1212  at  Al- 
lerton  and  Durham  (Rot.  Chart,  in  turriLond. 
asserv.  1837,  i.  pt.  i.  187,  188),  and  at  Bere 
Regis  in  1213  (ib.  pp.  193,  199).  In  1215 
he  was  making  war  upon  his  neighbours,  had 
lost  the  royal  favour,  and  had  been  despoiled 
of  fiefs  (Rot.  Litt.  Glaus,  i.  270).  He  was  one 
of  the  malcontent  barons  who  met  at  Stam- 
ford and  Brackley  in  1215  (MATT.  PARIS,  Chro- 
nica,  1874,  ii.  585),  and  was  among  those 
specially  excommunicated  in  the  bull  of  In- 
nocent III  of  16  Dec.  (RYMER,  Fcedera,  1816, 
i.  139).  Henry  III  bestowed  some  of  the  lands 
of  the  rebellious  baron  upon  his  own  ad- 
herents (Testa  de  Nevill,  pp.  45,  48,  49,  55, 
56).  The  king  styles  him  '  manifestus  inimi- 
cus  noster '  in  1217  (Rot.  Litt.  Glaus,  i.  321). 
Fulk  made  his  peace  in  the  following  year 
(ib.  pp.  352,  376).  Some  time  between  1220 
and  1230  he  founded  Alberbury  Priory.  In 
1221  and  1222  sufficient  confidence  was  not 
placed  in  him  to  be  permitted  to  strengthen 
Whittington  without  giving  security  for  loyal 
behaviour  (ib.  i.  460,  520).  Full  seisin  was 
granted  to  him  by  writs  of  11  July  and  9  Oct. 
1223  (ib.  pp.  554, 565).  On  30  June  1245  an 
assembly  of  the  barons  sent  him  as  their  re- 
presentative to  order  the  papal  nuncio  to 
quit  the  country  (MATT.  PARIS,  Chronica,  iv. 
420).  His  first  wife  having  died  he  married 
Clarice  de  Auberville  (Excerpta  e  Rot.  Fin. 
1836,  ii.  89).  He  probably  died  about  1256- 
1257.  The  romance  states  that  he  was  blind 
during  the  last  seven  years  of  his  life.  He 
died  before  August  1260,  and  his  affairs  were 
managed  for  some  time  before  his  death  by 
his  son,  FULK  IV,  who  was  drowned  at  the 
battle  of  Lewes  in  1264.  By  the  death  of  an 
infant  in  1420  the  elder  male  line  of  this 
family  became  extinct.  Eleven  Fulk  Fitz- 
warines  in  succession  bore  the  same  Chris- 
tian name. 

In  the  traditional  history  Fulk  I  is  omitted, 
and  the  career  of  his  two  successors  com- 
bined as  that  of l  Fouke  le  Brun,'  the  out- 
law and  popular  hero.  We  are  told  how  he 
roamed  through  the  country  with  his  four 
brothers  (recalling  the  '  Quatre  Fils  Aimon '), 
cousins,  and  friends,  and  the  nimble-witted 
jongleur,  John  de  Rampayne,  seeking  forest 
adventures  of  the  Robin  Hood  type,  spoiling 


Fitzwilliam 


224 


Fitzwilliam 


the  king,  and  succouring  the  poor,  and  how  he 
was  twice  compelled  to  quit  England  and  en- 
counter sea  perils  from  the  Orkneys  to  Bar- 
bary.  The  story  is  preserved  in  a  single 
manuscript  in  French  in  the  British  Museum 
(Reg.  12,  c.  xii.),  first  printed  privately  by 
Sir  T.  Duffus  Hardy,  and  then  published  as 
4  Histoire  de  Foulques  Fitz-Warin,  par  Fran- 
cisque  Michel,'  Paris,  1840,  large  8vo,  and 
•with  an  English  translation  and  notes  by 
Thomas  Wright  for  the  Warton  Club  in  1855. 
It  is  included  by  L.  Moland  and  C.  d'HSri- 
cault  in  '  Nouvelles  Francises  en  prose  du 
xive  siecle,'  Paris,  1858, 12mo.  The  text  and 
a  new  translation  are  given  in  J.  Stevenson's 
edition  of'  Radulphi  de  Coggeshall  Chronicon ' 
(Rolls  Series,  1875).  The  manuscript  was 
transcribed  before  1320,  and  is  evidently  para- 
phrased from  an  earlier  record  written  before 
the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  in  octo- 
syllabic verses,  some  of  which  remain  un- 
altered. An  English  version  in  alliterative 
verse  was  seen  by  Leland,  who  reproduces 
4  Thinges  excerptid  owte  of  an  old  Englisch 
boke  yn  Ryme  of  the  Gestes  of  Guarine ' 
{Collectanea,  1774,  i.  230-7).  Pierre  de  Lang- 
toft  of  Bridlington  (Cottonian  MS.  Julius  A. 
v.),  writing  probably  before  1320,  refers  to 
the  romance,  and  Robert  de  Brunne,  writing 
about  the  same  period,  says  : 

Thus  of  dan  "Waryn  in  his  boke  men  rede. 
It  is  a  compilation  from  family  records  and 
traditions  first  put  into  shape  by  '  an  Anglo- 
Norman  trouvere  in  the  service  of  that  great 
and  powerful  family,  and  displays  an  extra- 
ordinarily minute  knowledge  of  the  topo- 
graphy of  the  borders  of  Wales,  and  more 
•especially  of  Ludlow  and  its  immediate  neigh- 
bourhood' (T.  Wright's  ed.  1855,  p.  xv). 
There  are  historical  anachronisms  and  other 
inaccuracies.  As  a  story  it  is  full  of  interest. 

[Eyton's  Antiquities  of  Shropshire,  ii.  2-12, 
vii.  66-99,  xi.  29-42;  T.  Wright's  Sketch  of 
Ludlow  Castle,  2nd  ed.  1856,  and  Essays  on  the 
Middle  Ages,  1846,  ii.  147-63  ;  Frere's  Biblio- 
.-graphe  Normand,  1860,  ii.  616,  619;  Histoire 
Litteraire  de  la  France,  1877,  xxvii.  164-86; 
Revue  Contemporaine,  1858,  iii.  308-17;  Ward's 
Cat.  of  Romances  in  the  British  Museum,  1883, 
2.  501-8.  The  account  of  the  Fitzwarines  by 
Dugdale  (Baronage,  1675,  pp.  443,  &c.)  is  full  of 
errors.]  H.  R.  T. 

FITZWILLIAM,  CHARLES  WIL- 
LIAM WENTWORTH,  third  EARL  FITZ- 
WILLIAM in  the  peerage  of  the  United  King- 
dom (1786-1857),  only  son  of  William  Went- 
worth  Fitzwilliam  [q.  v.],  second  earl,  by  his 
'first  wife,  Lady  Charlotte  Ponsonby,  youngest 
•daughter  of  the  second  Earl  of  Bessborough, 
•born  in  London  4  May  1786,  was  educated  at 


Trinity  College,  Cambridge.   In  1806  he  mar- 
ried Mary,  fourth  daughter  of  Thomas,  first 
lord  Dundas,  by  whom  he  had  ten  children. 
j  The  countess  di'ed  in  1830.  In  1807  the  earl,  as 
j  Viscount  Milton, was  returned  to  the  House  of 
Commons  for  the  county  of  York,  and  through 
five  successive  parliaments  he  continued  tore- 
present  the  same  constituency.    At  the  elec- 
I  tions  of  1831  he  was  returned,  together  with 
Lord  Althorp,  for  the  county  of  Northampton, 
and  in  1832  he  was  again  elected  a  member 
for  the  northern  division  of  the  same  county. 
This  seat  he  retained  until  his  elevation  to  the 
peerage  by  the  death  of  his  father,  8  Feb.  1833. 
Fitzwilliam  was  a  man  of  chivalrous  honour, 
high  moral  courage,  and  perfect  independence 
and  disinterestedness.     In  the  outset  of  his 
political  career  he  was  opposed  to  parliamen- 
tary reform,  but  afterwards  became  an  ardent 
advocate  of  that  measure,  although  his  family 
possessed  several  pocket  boroughs  and  had 
been  known  for  its  aristocratic  exclusiveness. 
He  was  also  an  early  advocate  of  the  repeal  of 
the  corn  laws,  when  his  own  fortune  depended 
mainly  upon  the  land.  He  took  a  similar  view 
of  the  then  interesting  question  of  the  export 
of  wool.    A  powerful  deputation  of  Yorkshire 
manufacturers  waited  upon  the  earl  (then 
Lord  Milton)  soliciting  him  to  oppose  a  pro- 
jected measure  permitting  the  export.    Fitz- 
william replied  that  he  had  embraced  the 
Slnciples  of  free  trade  without  qualification, 
e  concurred  with  his  father  in  openly  con- 
demning the  conduct  of  the  Manchester  ma- 
gistrates at  the  Peterloo  riots  of  1819,  when 
for  petitioning  that  the  event  might  be  in- 
quired into  the  earl  was  deprived  of  the  lord- 
lieutenancy  of  the  West  Riding.     In  1851 
Fitzwilliam  was  created  a  knight  of  the 
Garter.   In  1853  he  was  appointed  a  deputy- 
lieutenant  for  Northamptonshire,  and  in  1856 
received  the  royal  authorisation  to  adopt  the 
surname  of  Wentworth  before  that  of  Fitz- 
william, as  it  had  been  previously  used  by  his 
father  to  mark  his  descent  from  Thomas,  first 
marquis  of  Rockingham.     The  earl  gave  a 
general  support  in  the  House  of  Lords  to  the 
liberal  government,  but  in  the  debate  of  1857 
relative  to  the  conduct  of  Sir  John  Bowring 
in  the  matter  of  the  Arrow  he  spoke  and 
voted  with  the  opposition.    Fitzwilliam  pub- 
lished in  1839  his  <  First,  Second,  and  Third 
Addresses  to  the  Landowners  of  England 
on  the  Corn  Laws/  in  which  he  supported 
the  free  trade  policy.     By  the  will  of  the 
widow  of  Edmund  Burke,  who  died  in  1812, 
power   was  given  to  Fitzwilliam's  father, 
Walker  King,  bishop  of  Rochester,  and  Wil- 
liam Elliot  to  print  and  publish  such  parts  of 
the  works  of  Burke  as  were  not  published 
before  her  decease,  and  all  the  statesman's 


Fitzwilliam 


225 


Fitzwilliam 


papers  were  bequeathed  to  them  for  this  pur- 
pose. One  considerable  portion  of  the  task 
was  successfully  executed,  but  after  the  death 
of  all  the  three  literary  executors  a  number 
of  Burke's  papers  came  into  the  possession  of 
Fitzwilliam.  Accordingly  in  1844  there  ap- 
peared, in  four  vols.,  the  'Correspondence  of 
the  Right  Hon.  Edmund  Burke  between  the 
year  1744  and  the  period  of  his  decease  in  1797. 
Edited  by  Charles  William,  Earl  Fitzwil- 
liam, and  Lieut.-GeneralSir  Richard  Bourkej 
K.C.B.'  In  1847  Fitzwilliam  published  a 
'Letter,'  addressed  to  a  Northamptonshire 
rector,  in  which  he  recommended  that  Ire- 
land should  be  extricated  out  of  her  difficul- 
ties by  the  application  of  imperial  resources. 
Fitzwilliam  died  at  Went  worth  House,  York- 
shire, 4  Oct.  1857.  His  eldest  son  having  pre- 
deceased him,  he  was  succeeded  as  fourth  earl 
in  the  peerage  of  the  United  Kingdom  by  his 
second  son,  William  Thomas  Spencer,  viscount 
Milton,  born  in  1815,  who  sat  in  the  lower 
house  with  only  one  intermission  from  1837 
to  1857.  The  fourth  earl  married,  in  1838, 
Lady  Frances  Douglas,  eldest  daughter  of  the 
eighteenth  Earl  of  Morton. 

[Times,  5  Oct.  1857;  Gent.  Mag.  1857  ;  Ann. 
Reg.  1857  ;  Leeds  Mercury,  7  Oct.  1857.] 

GK  B.  S. 

FITZWILLIAM,  EDWARD  (1788- 
1852),  actor,  was  born  of  Irish  parents  near 
Holborn  in  London  on  8  Aug.  1788.  In  1806 
he  was  actor  and  property  man  with  Trotter, 
manager  of  the  theatres  at  Southend  and 
Hythe.  At  Gosport  in  1808  he  was  seen  by 
Elliston,  who  engaged  him  for  his  theatre 
at  Birmingham.  As  Hodge  in  '  Love  in  a 
Village '  he  made,  at  the  West  London  Theatre, 
his  first  appearance  in  London.  In  1813  he 
was  a  leading  actor  at  the  Olympic,  under 
Elliston,  with  whom  he  migrated  to  the  Royal 
Circus,  subsequently  known  as  the  Surrey, 
his  first  part  at  this  house  being  Humphrey 
Grizzle  in  'Three  and  the  Deuce.'  Under 
the  management  of  Thomas  Dibdin  [q.  v.]  he 
rose  at  this  house  to  the  height  of  his  popu- 
larity, his  best  parts  being  Leporello,  Dum- 
biedykes  in  the  *  Heart  of  Midlothian,'  Patch, 
Partridge  in  'Tom  Jones/  and  Humphry 
Clinker.  At  the  Surrey  he  met  Miss  Cope- 
land  [see  FITZWILLIAM,  FAKTNY  ELIZABETH], 
whom  on  2  Dec.  1822  he  married.  Fitz- 
william— who  had  once  appeared  at  Drury 
Lane  for  the  benefit  of  T.  P.  Cooke,  playing 
Sancho  in  '  Lovers'  Q.uarrels  '  and  singing  a 
song,  '  Paddy  Carey,'  in  which  he  was  very 
popular — joined  the  regular  company  at  that 
house  10  Nov.  1821  as  O'Rourke  O'Daisy  in 
'  Hit  or  Miss.'  From  this  time  his  reputation 
dwindled.  Padreen  Gar  in  '  Giovanni  in  Ire- 

VOL.   XIX. 


land,'  Loney  Mactwolter  in  the  'Review,' 
and  other  Irish  parts  were  assigned  him. 
After  a  time  he  practically  forsook  the  stage 
and  became  a  comic  vocalist  at  city  entertain- 
ments. Abo  at  1845  he  retired  on  an  annuity 
from  the  Drury  Lane  Theatrical  Fund,  and 
died  at  his  house  in  Regent  Street  30  March 
1852.  In  society,  in  which  he  was  popular, 
he  was  known  as  '  Little  Fitz.'  He  was  about 
5  ft.  3  in.  in  height,  robustly  built,  and  had  a 
good-humoured  characteristically  Irish  phy- 
siognomy. His  son  is  noticed  below. 

[Genest's  Account  of  the  English  Stage  ;  Ox- 
berry's  Dramatic  Biography,  vol.  ii. ;  Biography 
of  the  British  Stage ;  Era  newspaper,  4  April 
1852;  Era  Almanack  various  years;  Oxberry's 
Dramatic  Chronology.]  J.  K. 

FITZWILLIAM,  EDWARD  FRANCIS 
(1824-1857),  song-writer,  born  at  Deal  in 
Kent  on  2  Aug.  1824,  was  the  son  of  Ed- 
ward Fitzwilliam,  an  actor  [q.  v.],  by  his 
wife,  Fanny  Elizabeth  Fitzwilliam,  actress 
[q.  v.]  He  was  educated  at  the  Pimlico 
grammar  school,  at  St.  Edmund's  College, 
Old  Hall,  Hertfordshire,  and  at  the  institu- 
tion of  L'Abbe  Haffre"nique  at  Boulogne. 
Sir  Henry  Bishop  was  his  instructor  in  an 
elementary  course  of  harmony,  and  for  a  few 
months  he  resided  with  John  Barnett  at 
Cheltenham  studying  instrumentation.  When 
in  his  twenty-first  year  he  composed  a '  Stabat 
Mater,'  which  was  performed  at  the  Hanover 
Square  Rooms  on  15  March  1845,  with  much 
success.  In  October  1847  he  was  appointed 
by  Madame  Vestris  musical  director  of  the 
Lyceum  Theatre,  and  remained  there  for  two 
years.  About  this  time  he  wrote  a  cantata 
entitled  '0  Incomprehensible  Creator,'  which 
was  performed  at  Hullah's  concert,  21  May 
1851.  At  Easter  1853  he  became  musical 
director  of  the  Haymarket  Theatre,  and  held 
that  position  until  his  death.  His  principal 
compositions  were  *  The  Queen  of  a  Day,'  a 
comic  opera,  and  f  A.  Summer  Night's  Love/ 
an  operetta,  both  produced  at  the  Haymarket. 
He  also  wrote  the  overture,  act,  and  vocal 
music  of  the  *  Green  Bushes'  for  the  Adelpbi 
Theatre,  the  overtures  and  music  of  all  the 
Haymarket  pantomimes,  and  of  many  that 
were  brought  out  at  the  Theatre  Royal, 
Liverpool.  The  music  of  Perea  Nena's  Span- 
ish ballets,  '  El  Gambusino '  and  '  Los  Cau- 
tivos,'  were  entirely  his  composition.  His 
works  were  distinguished  by  an  intelligence 
which  gave  promise  of  great  excellence  had 
he  lived  to  fully  master  the  technicalities  of 
his  art.  After  suffering  for  two  years  from  con- 
sumption, he  died  at  9  Grove  Place,  Bromp- 
ton,  London,  19  Jan.  1857,  aged  33,  and  was 
buried  (27  Jan.)  in  Kensal  Green  cemetery. 


Fitzwilliam 


226 


Fitzwilliam 


Fitzwilliam's  chief  published  compositions 
were:  1.  *O  Incomprehensible  Creator/  a 
cantata,  1850.  2.  A  '  Te  Deum '  for  solo 
voices  and  chorus,  L86&  &  <A  Set  of 
Songs;  the  Poetry  chiefly  Selected/  1853. 
4.  « Songs  for  a  Winter's  Night;  the  Poetry 
chiefly  Selected/  1855.  5.  'Seaside  Mus- 
ings ;  Six  Morceaux  for  the  Pianoforte,*  1855. 

6.  *  Four-Part  Song  for  Four  Voices,'  1855. 

7.  '  Dramatic  Songs  for  Soprano,  Contralto, 
Tenor,  and  Bass  Voices:  Four  Books  and 
an  Appendix/ 1856.    8.  *  Three  Sacred  Songs 
for  a  Child/  1857.    9.  « Songs  of  a  Student.' 
10.  *  Miniature  Lyrics.'     11 . '  Christmas  Eve, 
a  Lyric  Ode.'    His  music  to  J.  B.  Buck- 
stone's  libretto  for  the  opera  *  I r  ve's  Alarms ' 
was  very  popular,  and  ten  SOL  f  jfrom  that 
piece  were  separately  published  in  1854.  He 
was  also  the  composer   of  songs,  ballads, 
romances,  cavatinas,   serenades,  and  glees, 
and  of  quadrilles,  polkas,  schottisches,  mi- 
nuets, and  marches.     Of  the  music  that  he 
wrote  for  songs  probably  the  best  known  is 
that  composed  for  Barnaul's  l  As  I  laye  a 
thynkynge/  and  for  two  sonsrs  from  the  *  Green 
Bushes '— « The  Maid  with  the  Milking  Pail/ 
and  'The  Jug  of  Punch.'     Some  of  his  com- 
positions appeared  in  Hullah's '  Sacred  Music 
for  Family  Use/  and  in  Davison's  '  Musical 
Bouquet.' 

ELLEX  FITZWILLIAM  (182*2-1 8SO\  actress, 
his  wife,  whom  he  married  on  31  Dec.  1853, 
was  eldest  daughter  of  Thomas  Acton  Chaplin 
(rf.  November  1859).  She  made  her  first  ap- 
pearance in  London  at  the  Adelphi  Theatre 
on  7  Oct.  1841,  when  she  played  Wilhehn  in 
the  aquatic  spectacle  'Die  Hexen  am  Rhein.* 
She  was  for  twenty-two  years  a  prominent 
member  of  the  Haymarket  company  under 
the  management  of  J.  B.  Buckstone.  Leaving 
England  for  Australia  in  1877  she  soon  be- 
came a  great  favourite  in  the  colonies.  After 
a  twelve  months'  ensragement  with  Mr.  Lewis 
of  the  Academy  ofr  Music,  Melbourne,  she 
joined  the  Lingard  company.  She  was 
taken  ill  in  Murrundi,  New  iSouth  Wales, 
but  was  able  to  proceed  to  Xew  Zealand,  and 
acted  at  Auckland,  where  she  died  from  acute 
inflammation,  19  Oct.  1880,  aged  58  (JSra, 
•JH  IVo.  1SSO.  r.  4;  TktatricalTim*,  18Nov! 
1848,  p.  439,  with  portrait  X 

[Era,  25  Jan.  1857,  p.  9  ;  Grove's  Dictionary 
of  Music  (1879),  i.  530;  Planches  Extrava- 
g&xuas  (1879),  iv.  261.]  G.  C.  B. 


JTlTZWIIiTiTAM,  FANNY  ELIZ  \- 
BETH  (1801-1854X  actress,  daughter  of 
Robert  Copeland,  manager  of  t  ho  Dover  thea- 
trical circuit,  was  born  in  1801  at  the  dwel- 

u\l    to  the   IVver  theatre, 
infant  of  two  or  three  years  she 


was  brought  on  the  stage  as  one  of  the  chil- 
dren in  the  *  Stranger.     After  one  or 
similar  experiments  she  played,  when  tv 
years  of  age,  the  piano  at  a  concert  in  Mar- 
gate.    Three  years  later,  as  Norah  in  the 
*  Poor  Soldier/  she  began  a  career  as  leading 
actress  at  the  Dover  theatre.    Her  first  ap- 
pearance in  London  took  place  at  the  Hay- 
market,  at  which  house  she  played  in  1817 
Lucy  in  the  *  Review/  Cicely  in  the  '  Bee- 
hive/ and  the  page  (Cherubin)  in  '  Follies  of 
a  Day'  («Le  Manage  de  Figaro').  Thence  she 
proceeded  to  the  Olympic,  where  she  played 
the  Countess  of  Lovelace  in  '  Rochester.' 
Engaged  by  Thomas  Dibdin  [q.  v.l  she  went 
to  the  Surrey,  where  she  replaced  Mrs.  Eger- 
ton  [q.  v.]  as  Madge  Wildhre  in  the  '  Heart 
of  Midlothian.'    In  June  1819,  in  Dibdin  s 
'  Florence  Macarthy/  she  is  said  to  have  dis- 
played '  distinguished  merit '  (Theatrical  /»- 
yuw«Vor,  xiv.  468).    As  Fanny  in  *  Maid  or 
Wife/  by  Barham  Lavius,  she  made,  5  Dec, 
I  Sill,  her  first  appearance  at  Drury  Lane, 
where,  9  Feb.  1822,  she  was  the  original 
Adeline  in  Howard  Payne's  *  Adeline  or  the 
Victim  of  Seduction.'    On  2  Dec.  1822  she 
married  Edward  Fitiwilliam  [q.  v.]    After 
playing  in  Dublin  and  in  the  country,  at  the 
Coburg,  the  (old)  Royalty,  and  other  theatres 
she  was  enraged  at  "the"  Adelphi,  appearing 
10  Oct.  1825,  in  a  drama  called  *  KiUigrew/ 
On  81  Oct.  1825  she  was  the  original  Kate 
Plowden  in  the  « Pilot,'  Ftaball's  adaptation 
of  the  novel  by  Fenimore  Cooper,    one  was 
also  the  original  Louisa  Lovetrick  in  the 
'Dead  Shot/  and  21   Oct.  1880  Bella  in 
Buckstone's*  Wreck  Ashore,'    Sheplavedin 
other  dramas  of  Buckstone  and  attained  high 
popularity.  In  1832  she  undertook  the  man- 
agement of  Sadler's  Wells,  to  which  house 
she  transferred  the  Adelphi  success,  the '  Pet 
of  the  Petticoats,'  a  ballad  burletta.    At  the 
Adelphi  in  1885  she  gave,  on  the  Wednesdays 
and  Fridays  in  Lent,  a  monologue  entitled 
« The  Widow  Wiggins.'    She  went  in  1887 
with  Webster  to  the  Haymarket,  and  shortly 
afterwards  started  for  America,  opening  at 
New  York  as  Peggy  in  the  '  Country  Girl.' 
On  4  Nov.  she  played  twelve  nights  in  Bos- 
ton, and  AVemyss,  ex-manager  of  the  Chestnut 
Street  Theatre,  who  saw  her,  predicted  that 
she  would  make  more  money  in  the  United 
S      M  than  any  actress,  with  the  exception 
of  Fanny  Kemble,  who  had  visited  them  (see 
his  Thtatriml  Euy>  P-  268,  ed.  1848).    The 
prediction  appears  to  have  been  fulfilled,  since 
America  was  revisited.  Sheplay 
stone  in  New  Orleans  and  went  with  him 
to  Havamiah.    After  visitinsr  man} 
towns  in  England  she  returned  to  the  Adelphi 
and  played,  September  1844,  in  the « Belle  of 


Fitzwilliam 


Fitzwilliam 


***  Hetel  *  and  wfc*  is  c*)M  a 


;  11 

toiteWwat    A  few 
;  later  s£*  returned  to  ta*  Haymtrfc*** 


said  her  Ladr  Teazle  w*s>  o»  aoevu*  of  tfe 
retkit^dt^tbe^h*h*d»<^ 

*  *'  *  %     *.  v-     s.     •* 

gufe,  Iris* 


ballads  and  of  bravura 


l*$a*g 
Fteach 


V 

poouUritT 
fiiouliy.    She 
Uite  er^,  and 


clirine,  mts  edooalod  «t 
Cv^ll^, Oxford,  where  he  entejrvd*s»  servitor 
in  1651,  Mid  was  elected  to  *  demyship  in  the 
same  rear.  At  the  l&storatian.aeeomutgtQ 
Anthony  a  Wood.  *  he  turned  about  and  be- 
c*me  a  great  compiler  to  the  restored  liturgy.* 
But  FiUrrilliam  Mmself  appeals  to  kthe  wal 
I  had  for  the  present  (government  eren  while 
it  was  merelv  to  be  enjoyed  in  hopes,  and  we 
could  only  wish  it  might  be  restored*  (sermon 
wached  in  16B3)Tln  1661  he  was  elected 
Mlow  of  Magdalen,  and  held  his  fellowship 
until  1670.  He  was  made  librarian  of  the 
college  in  1665,  being  at  the  same  time  \wi- 
.'turer  on  music.  His  first  patron 
>.  George  Morley,  afterwards  bishop  of 
^  ucheater,wlkorecommendedhimtothelord 
treasurer,  Thomas  Wriotheslej,  the  vir: 
earl  of  Southampton,  in  166M,  in  whose  fainily 


the  Burl  «f 


^csa  Iwi 
a  ^  t*wa*T 
tv>  the 


Ui  aaiDa% 


Tot*,  afarwaife 
dawgater,  la* 

be 


Uaak  Walton,  who  s«nt  him 
lie  was 


V  :-  :.-•.  V'    -.:  <     :    '-    .  •-  '  .-;. 


ako  on  tonaa> 
well.  H^*-ie 


with  John  Kettle- 


deathbed  in  1^4,     At  the 

bis  pvemrments^,  because  bis 
*W  him  to  take  the  oaths  of  all*- 
^mv  to  the  new  dynasty.  In  January  U$O- 
16dl  be  appeared  as  a  witness  at  the  trial  of 
John  Ashtoa  £%>  T%J  executed  fbr  a  Jacobite 
It  was  npHted  that  Ashton 
a  Roman  catholic,  and  Fitewilli&m  testi- 
fied that  •  be  bad  received  the  sacrament  of 
the  Lord  s  supper  only  six  months  before  in 
Ely  Chapel  '—that  is*  in  the  chapel  at  Kir 
House,  Hatton  Garden,  the  Bishop  of  Ely* 
London  residence,  which  was  *  great  resort 
of  the  nonjurors  until  Bishop  Turner  was 
deprived.  Fitiwilliam  appears  to  have  been 
a  regular  attendant  at  these  services*  tor  he 
admits  that  *he  bad  been  a  hundred  times 
at  prayers  in  their  altered  state,*  that  is, 
when  the  names  of  King  William  and  Queen 
Mary  were  omitted.  llewofessxHlhiswiUiiu^ 
ness  to  submit  peaceably,  though  he  would 
not  take  the  oaths.  His  correspondence  with 
Lady  RusseU  consists  of  fifty-seven  letters 
which  she  wrote  to  him,  and  four  or  five 
which  he  wrote  to  her.  Thomas  Selwood, 
who  edited  the  first  edition  of  Lady  Russell's 
letters  in  : 4  All  the  letters  to  Dr. 

FiUvrilliarn  were*  by  him  returned  in  one 
packet  to  her  ladvship.  \vith  his  desire  they 
might  be  printed  tor  the  benefit  of  the  public? 
The  correspondence  indicates  the  greatest 
veneration  on  the  part  of  Lady  Russell  for 
her  old  instructor,  and  a  pastoral,  almost  a 
parental,  solicitude  on  his  mrt  for  his  old 
pupil  Lady  Russell  consults  him  ou  the 
appointment  of  a  chaplain,  the  education  of 
her  children,  the  marriage  of  her  daughter, 
and,  above  all,  her  own  griefs  xipon  the 
execution  of  Lord  William  Russell,  whom 

vl  •-> 


Fitzwilliam 


Fitzwilliam 


Fitzwilliam  had  attended  before  his  execu- 
tion, and  at  whose  trial  he  was  one  of  the 
witnesses  for  the  defence.  She  expresses  the 
deepest  reverence  for  his  character,  and  the 
utmost  value  for  his  counsel.  After  the 
revolution  she  strove  in  vain  to  convince 
him  that  he  *  might  honestly  submit  to  the 
present  government.'  Fitzwilliam's  replies 
to  her  arguments  show  the  conscientious  and 
unselfish  character  of  the  man,  and  also  give 
some  insight  into  his  life.  He  begs  her  to 
use  her  influence,  not  for  himself,  but  for  his 
parishioners,  '  to  get  some  person  presented 
to  my  living,  upon  my  resignation,  in  whom 
I  may  confide  without  any,  the  least  capitu- 
lation, direct  or  indirect,  beforehand.  He 
whom  I  design  is  one  Mr.  Jekyl,  minister 
of  the  new  chapel,  Westminster,  and  a  fa- 
vourite of  the  present  government.'  Antici- 
pating that  he  would  not  be  able  to  comply, 
he  adds :  '  I  beg  of  your  honour  three  things : 
first,  that  you  would  have  the  same  good 
opinion  of  my  integrity,  and  of  my  zealous 
addiction  to  your  service,  as  ever  you  had ; 
secondly,  that  you  would  permit  me,  in 
entire  trust  and  confidence,  to  make  over  all 
my  worldly  goods  to  you ;  for  I  fear  some 
men's  heats  may  drive  affairs  so  far  as  to 
bring  all  remnants  of  it  into  a  premunire ; 
thirdly,  that  I  may  have  some  room  in  your 
house,  if  any  can  be  spared,  to  set  up  my 
books  in,  and  have  recourse  to  them  if,  on 
refusal,  we  may  be  permitted  to  stay  in  town.' 
If  Lady  Russell  cannot  grant  these  last  re- 
quests, he  intimates  that  he  will  apply  to  one 
of  her  sisters,  Lady  Gainsborough  or  Lady 
Alington.  He  died  in  1699,  having  appointed 
1  my  ever  dear  friend,  and  now  my  truly 
honoured  father,'  Dr.  Ken,  his  sole  executor 
under  his  will,  with  a  life  interest  in  500/., 
which  he  bequeathed  to  the  library  of  Mag- 
dalen College.  He  also  left  books  and  manu- 
scripts to  the  Bodleian  Library. 

The  only  publication  of  Fitzwilliam  extant 
is  '  A  Sermon  preached  at  Ootenham,  near 
Cambridge,  on  9  Sept.  1683,  being  the  day 
set  apart  for  Public  Thanksgiving  for  de- 
liverance of  His  Sacred  Majesty  and  Govern- 
ment from  the  late  Treasonable  Conspiracy,' 
that  is,  the  Rye  House  plot,  for  his  supposed 
complicity  in  which  Lord  William  Russell 
lost  his  life.  Fitzwilliam,  however,  thoroughly 
believed  in  his  innocence,  and  testified  to 
that  effect  at  the  trial.  On  the  anniversaries 
of  the  arrest,  the  trial,  and  the  execution  oJ 
her  husband,  Fitzwilliam  always  sent  letters 
of  comfort  and  advice  to  Lady  Russell. 

Fitzwilliam  was  one  of  the  few  nonjurors 
who  are  mentioned  with  unqualified  praise 
by  Lord  Macaulay.  He  groups  him  with  the 
saintly  John  Kettlewell,  and  thinks  they  are 


deserving  of  'special  mention,  less  on  account 
of  their  abilities  and  learning  than  on  account 
of  their  rare  integrity,  and  of  their  not  less 
rare  candour.' 

[Letters  of  Kachel,  Lady  Russell,  3rd  edition, 
1792,  and  a  new  edition  by  '  J.  R.,'  1853  ;  Some. 
Account  of  the  Life  of  Rachel  Wriothesley,  Lady 
Russell,  by  the  editor  of  Madame  du  Deffand's 
Letters,  3rd  edition,  1820  ;  Lathbury's  Hist,  of 
the  Nonjurors  ;  Life  of  Thomas  Ken,  Bishop  of 
Bath  and  "Wells,  by  a  Layman,  1851 ;  State- 
Trials,  xii.  792  ;  Bloxam's  Register  of  Magdalen- 
College,  Oxford ;  private  information  from  tha 
Dean  of  Wells  (Dr.  Plumptre).]  J.  H.  0. 

FITZWILLIAM,  RALPH  (1256?- 
1316),  baron,  was  the  son  of  William  Fitz- 
ralph  of  Grimthorpe  in  Yorkshire,  and  of  his 
wife  Joan,  daughter  of  Thomas  de  Greystock 
(DFGDALE,  Baronage,  i.  740).  He  was  pro- 
bably born  in  1256,  as  he  is  described  in 
24  Edward  I  as  forty  years  old  and  more 
(Calendarium  Genealogicum,  p.  515).  In 
1277  he  served  on  behalf  of  his  uncle,  Wil- 
liam de  Greystock,  in  the  Welsh  war,  and* 
again  on  his  own  account  in  1282,  and  in 
1287  against  the  same  enemy  (Parl.  Writs, 
i.  615).  In  1291  he  was  first  summoned  to> 
serve  against  the  Scots,  and  in  1295  was  first 
summoned  to  parliament.  In  July  1297  he 
was  appointed  captain  of  the  royal  garrisons 
in  Northumberland  (STEVENSON,  Doc.  Scot- 
land, ii.  195),  and  for  his  services  against  the 
Scots  thanked  in  November,  in  which  month 
he  was  also  appointed  one  of  the  captains  of 
the  Scottish  marches.  In  1298  he  was  put 
at  the  head  of  the  troops  levied  in  Yorkshire. 
He  was  constantly  serving  against  Scotland 
and  in  parliament.  In  1300  he  was  at  the 
siege  of  Carlaverock.  In  1301  he  signed  as 
'  lord  of  Grimthorpe'  the  letter  of  the  barons 
at  the  Lincoln  parliament  to  the  pope.  He 
was  also  employed  as  a  representative  of  the 
East  Riding  before  the  exchequer  in  1300, 
and  as  the  king's  agent  empowered  to  l  use 
all  friendly  ways '  to  exact  a  purveyance  of 
grain  from  the  Yorkshire  monasteries  in 
1302.  In  1304  he  was  commissioned  with 
John  de  Barton  to  act  as  a  justice  to  execute 
the  statute  of  '  trailbaston '  in  Yorkshire 
(HEMINGBUEGH,  ii.  235);  but  in  the  com- 
missions of  '  trailbaston '  in  1305  his  name 
does  not  appear  (Fcedera,  i.  970).  In  the 
reign  of  Edward  II  he  attached  himself  to* 
the  baronial  opposition.  In  1309  he  was  ap- 
pointed a  justice  to  receive  in  Northumber- 
land complaints  of  prises  taken  contrary  to* 
the  statute  of  Stamford.  In  1313  he  was 
among  the  adherents  of  Thomas  of  Lancaster 
who  received  a  pardon  for  their  complicity  in 
the  death  of  Gaveston  (ib.  ii.  231).  In  the 
same  year  he  was  made  '  custos '  of  Cumber- 


Fitzwilliam 


229 


Fitzwilliam 


land,  and  in  1314  one  of  the  justices  of  oyer 
and  terminer  in  Cumberland  and  Westmore- 
land for  the  trial  of  offenders  indicted  before 
the  conservators  of  the  peace.  In  January 
1315  the  magnates  of  the  north  appointed  him 
one  of  the  wardens  of  the  marches.  The  king 
ratified  their  choice,  and  nominated  him 
captain  and  warden  of  Newcastle-upon-Tyne 
and  of  all  Northumberland.  In  March  1315 
he  was  also  made  captain  and  warden  of 
•Carlisle  and  of  the  adjoining  marches.  In 
June  1316  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  war- 
dens to  defend  Yorkshire  against  the  Scots. 
The  last  writ  addressed  to  him  as  a  commis- 
sioner of  array  was  on  15  Sept.  1316.  He 
-died  soon  after,  apparently  about  November, 
certainly  before  February  1317,  and  is  said 
to  have  been  buried  in  Nesham  Priory,  Dur- 
ham (DUGDALE). 

Fitzwilliam  inherited  and  acquired  very  con- 
siderable estates  in  Northumberland,  York- 
shire, and  Cumberland  (Cal.  Inq.  Post  Mor- 
tem, i.  282).  In  1296  he  was  declared  nearest 
heir  to  Gilbert  Fitzwilliam  (CaL  Geneal.  p. 
515).  In  1303  he  got  one-fourth  of  the 
m  anors  in  Northumberland  belonging  to  John 
Yeland  (ib.  p.  646).  In  1306  he  succeeded 
to  the  estates  of  his  cousin  John  de  Grey- 
stock  (ib.  p.  713),  for  the  repose  of  whose 
soul  he  founded  a  chantry  at  Tynemouth. 

Fitzwilliam  married,  about  1282,  Marjory, 
daughter  and  coheiress  of  Hugh  of  Bolebec 
and  widow  of  Nicholas  Corbet.  She  died  be- 
fore 1303.  His  eldest  son  William  died  before 
liim.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  second  son 
Robert,  who  died  before  the  end  of  1317 
<  Cal  Inq.  Post  Mortem,  i.  282).  The  estates 
then  went  to  Ralph,  the  son  of  Robert,  who 
assumed  the  name  of  Greystock.  The  barony 
remained  in  the  family  until  1487,  when  it 
passed  through  females  to  the  Dacres  of  the 
north  (DTJGDALE,  ii.  24). 

[Parl.  Writs, i.  615-16, vol.  ii.  pt.  iii.pp.  880-1 ; 
Hymer's  Foedera,  vols.  i.  and  ii.  Eecord  ed. ; 
Calendarium  Genealogicum;  Stevenson's  Docu- 
ments illustrative  of  the  History  of  Scotland, 
vol.  ii.;  Calendarium  Inquisitionum  Post  Mor- 
tem, vol.  i.;  Dugdale's  Baronage,  i.  740;  Foss's 
Judges  of  England,  iii.  89-91  ;  Biographica 
Juridica,  p.  272.]  T.  F.  T. 

FITZWILLIAM,  RICHARD,  seventh 
VISCOUNT  FITZWILLIAM  of  Meryon  (1745- 
1816),  founder  of  the  Fitzwilliam  Museum  at 
Cambridge,  eldest  son  of  Richard,  sixth  vis- 
count, and  Catharine,  eldest  daughter  and  co- 
heiress of  Sir  Matthew  Decker,  bart.,  of  Rich- 
mond, Surrey,  was  descended  from  a  member 
of  the  English  family  of  Fitzwilliam,  who,  at- 
tending Prince  John  to  Ireland  on  his  appoint- 
ment to  the  office  of  chief  governor,  founded 
the  branch  which  flourished  in  that  kingdom 


till  the  early  part  of  the  present  century. 
He  was  born  in  August  1745,  and  having 
entered  Trinity  Hall,  Cambridge,  graduated 
MA.  in  1764.  On  25  May  1776  he  suc- 
ceeded his  father  in  his  Irish  titles  of  vis- 
count and  baron  and  to  his  large  estates.  He 
was  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  and  was 
likewise  vice-admiral  of  the  province  of  Lein- 
ster.  On  4  Feb.  1816  he  died  unmarried,  in 
Bond  Street,  London,  when  the  greater  por- 
tion of  his  property  passed,  in  accordance 
with  his  will  (dated  18  Aug.  1815,  and 
printed  in  Acts  3  &  4  Wm.  IV,  c.  xxvi.  s.  1, 
and  5  &  6  Viet.  c.  xxiii.  s.  1),  to  George  Au- 
gustus, eleventh  earl  of  Pembroke,  while  the 
titles  devolved  upon  the  viscount's  brother, 
John,  by  whose  death  without  issue  in  1833 
they  became  extinct. 

Playfair,  in  his '  British  Family  Antiquity,' 
gives  ahigh  character  of  Fitzwilliam.  Though 
a  member  of  the  church  of  England  and  Ire- 
land, he  was  the  author  of  a  rather  remark- 
able publication,  entitled '  The  Letters  of  At- 
ticus '  (or,  '  Protestantism  and  Catholicism 
considered  in  their  comparative  Influence  on 
Society ').  These  letters,  composed  in  French, 
and  issued  from  the  press  at  different  dates, 
were  collected  and  reprinted  anonymously 
in  London  in  1811.  Another  edition  appeared 
in  Paris  in  1825 :  and  in  the  following  year,  in 
London,  an  English  version  with  the  author's 
name  on  the  title-page.  He  is  best  known 
by  his  bequest  to  the  university  of  Cambridge, 
of  his  splendid  collection  of  printed  books, 
illuminated  manuscripts,  pictures,  drawings, 
engravings,  &c.,  together  with  the  dividends 
of  100,000/.  South  Sea  annuities  for  the  erec- 
tion of  a  museum.  The  dividends  having 
accumulated  to  more  than  40,000/.,  the  ex- 
isting building  was  commenced  on  2  Nov. 
1837,  from  the  designs  of  George  Basevi 
[q.  v.],  and  the  work  was  carried  on  under 
his  superintendence  until  his  death  in  1845, 
when  C.  R.  Cockerell  [q.  v.],  the  architect 
of  the  public  library,  was  selected  as  his  suc- 
cessor. 

[Lodge's  Peerage  of  Ireland,  ed.  Archdall, 
iv.  306  ;  Graduati  Cantabrigienses ;  Cambridge 
University  Calendar  (1887),  p.  451 ;  Playfair's 
British  Family  Antiquity,  v.  38  ;  Slacker's  Brief 
Sketches  of  the  Parishes  of  Booterstown  and 
Donnybrook,  pp.  89, 108,314;  Gent.  Mag.  (18 16), 
vol.  Ixxxvi.  pt.  i.  pp.  189,  367, 627  ;  Annual  Re- 
gister (1816),  Iviii.  Chron.  213.]  B.  H.  B. 

FITZWILLIAM,  ROGER,  alias  ROGEB 
DE  BRETEFIL,  EARL  OF  HEREFORD  (fl.  1071- 
1075),  was  the  younger  son  of  William  Fitz- 
osbern  [q.  v.],  to  whose  earldom  and  Eng- 
lish estates  he  succeeded  at  his  death  (1071). 
He  is  described  by  William  of  Malmesbury 
as  '  a  youth  of  hateful  perfidy/  and  the  letters 


Fitzwilliam 


230 


Fitzwilliam 


of  Lanfranc  complain  of  his  violence  and 
rebellious  tendencies,  for  which  the  writer 
eventually  excommunicated  him.  In  1075 
he  gave  his  sister  Emma  in  marriage  to  Ralf, 
earl  of  Norfolk,  against  the  will  of  the  Con- 
queror, according  to  Florence  of  Worcester. 
At  the  *  bride-ale'  there  was  hatched  a  con- 
spiracy between  the  two  earls  and  their  friends 
against  William's  rule.  Roger  returning  to 
his  earldom  rose  in  revolt,  but  was  prevented 
by  the  royal  forces  from  crossing  the  line  of 
the  Severn.  For  this  revolt  he  was  fined  in 
the  king's  court  at  the  following  Christmas 
(1075),  and  sentenced  to  forfeiture  of  his  lands 
and  perpetual  imprisonment.  His  rage  against 
the  king,  according  to  Ordericus,  made  Wil- 
liam resolve  to  keep  him  in  prison  so  long  as 
he  lived,  but  on  his  deathbed  he  sanctioned  his 
release.  He  was,  however,  never  released,  and 
when  Ordericus  wrote  in  the  time  of  Henry  I, 
his  two  sons,  Reginald  and  Roger,  were  gal- 
lantly striving  to  regain  by  their  services  that 
royal  favour  which  their  house  had  lost. 

[Freeman's  Norman  Conquest.  The  history 
of  Roger's  revolt  is  told  by  Ordericus  Vitalis  in 
chap.  xiii.  of  his  4th  book.]  J.  H.  R. 

FITZWILLIAM,  SIB  WILLIAM 
(1460  P-1534),  sheriff  of  London,  was  son  of 
John  Fitzwilliam.  His  mother  was  Ellen, 
daughter  of  William  Villiers  of  Brokesby  in 
Leicestershire.  It  has  been  claimed  that  the 
family  was  descended  from  one  William  Fitz- 
william of  Green's  Norton,  who  is  stated  to 
have  been  a  natural  son  of  William  the  Con- 
queror. But  the  existence  of  this  natural  son 
receives  no  confirmation  from  contemporary 
documents,  and  he  is  probably  a  figment  of  the 
genealogists.  Fitzwilliam  lived  and  traded 
in  Bread  Street,  London,  afterwards  in  St. 
Thomas  Apostle,  having  a  country  house  at 
Gaynes  Park,  Chigwell,  Essex.  He  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  livery  of  the  Merchant  Taylors' 
Company  of  London  in  1490,  of  which  he 
was  warden  in  1494  and  1498,  and  master  in 
1499,  obtaining  a  new  charter  for  the  company 
on  6  Jan.  1502.  In  1505  he  was  an  unsuccessful 
candidate  for  the  shrievalty  of  London,  but 
was  appointed  to  the  office  on  the  king's  nomi- 
nation in  1506,  and  was  elected  alderman  of 
Bread  Street  ward  in  the  same  year.  Elected 
sheriff  of  London  in  1510  he  refused  to  serve, 
and  was  in  consequence  disfranchised  and 
fined  one  thousand  marks  by  the  lord  mayor. 
The  franchise  was  restored  and  the  fine  re- 
mitted by  order  of  the  Star-chamber,  10  July 
1511.  He  became  treasurer  and  high  cham- 
berlain to  Cardinal  Wolsey,  who  appointed 
him  one  of  the  king's  council.  In  1515  he 
was  nominated  sheriff  of  Essex,  was  knighted 
in  1522,  and  was  sheriff  of  Northampton  in 


1524.  He  entertained  Wolsey  during  his 
disgrace,  1-5  April  1530,  at  Milton  Manor, 
Northampton  (the  seat  of  the  present  Earl 
Fitzwilliam),  which  he  purchased  in  1506 
from  Richard  W^ittelbury.  Fitzwilliam  re- 
built the  church  of  St.  Andrew's  Under- 
shaft,  London,  and  the  chancel  of  Marholm, 
Northamptonshire.  By  deed  (26  May  1533) 
he  settled  twelve  hundred  marks  on  the 
Merchant  Taylors'  Company  for  certain  re- 
ligious uses  since  applied  (under  scheme  of 
1887)  to  divinity  scholars  at  St.  John's  Col- 
lege, Oxford.  Fitzwilliam  married,  first,  Ann, 
daughter  of  Sir  John  Hawes:  secondly,  Mil- 
dred, daughter  of  Sir  R.  Sackville  of  Buck- 
hurst  ;  thirdly,  Jane,  daughter  of  John  Or- 
mond.  He  had  by  his  first  wife  issue  Sir 
William,  his  heir  (father  of  Sir  William 
Fitzwilliam,  1526-1599  [q.  v.]),  Richard, 
Elizabeth,  and  Ann;  by  his  second  wife,. 
Christopher,  Francis,  and  Thomas.  He  died 
9  Aug.  1534.  His  will  is  dated  21  May  1534. 
He  was  buried  at  Marholm. 

[Bibl.  Top.  Brit.  vol.  x. ;  Gibson's  Castor,  p. 
187;  Manuscript  Records  of  Merchant  Taylors' 
Company  ;  Corporation  of  London  Repertory 
Book ;  Collins's  Peerage,  iv.  387  sq. ;  Testa- 
menta  Vetusta,  ii.  665  ;  G-reyfriars  Chronicle 
(Camd.  Soc.) ;  Cavendish's  Life  of  Wolsey.] 

W.  C-E. 

FITZWILLIAM,  WILLIAM,  EAEL  OF 
SOUTHAMPTON  (d.  1542),  lord  high  admiral  of 
England,  was  the  younger  son  of  Sir  Thomas 
Fitzwilliam  of  Aldwarke,  West  Riding  of 
Yorkshire,  by  Lucy,  daughter  and  coheiress 
of  J  ohn  Neville,  marquis  of  Montacute.  From 
the  time  when  he  was  not  more  than  ten  years 
of  age  he  had  been  brought  up  with  the  king, 
and  was  perfectly  familiar  with  his  personal 
habits,  his  likings  and  dislikings.  He  shared 
in  the  king's  love  of  sportsmanship,  but  was 
ignorant  of  Latin,  and  though  he  spoke  French 
fluently  was  a  poor  French  scholar  (BEE WEE, 
Reign  of  Henry  VIII).  In  1509,  as  one  of 
the  king's  cupbearers,  he  was  awarded  many 
grants  and  privileges ;  two  years  later  he 
obtained  the  place  of  esquire  of  the  body  in 
reversion.  In  1513,  being  one  of  the  chief 
commanders  in  the  fleet  sent  out  against  the 
French,  he  was  '  sore  hurt  with  a  quarell '  in 
a  fight  near  Brest  in  Brittany  (HOLINSHED, 
Chronicles,  ed.  Hooker,  1587,  iii.  816).  Before 
the  end  of  that  year,  on  25  Sept.,  he  was 
knighted  for  his  good  services  at  the  siege  of 
Tournay  (ib.  p.  824),  and  shortly  afterwards 
created  vice-admiral  of  England.  In  1518  he- 
was  treasurer  of  Wolsey's  household.  In 
February  1521  Wolsey  sent  him  as  ambas- 
sador to  the  French  court,  seeing  that  he  would 
be  a  useful  instrument.  He  was  keen,  bold, 
sagacious,  able  to  resist  flattery  and  cajolery, 


Fitzwilliam 


231 


Fitzwilliam 


and  never  lost  his  presence  of  mind.  The 
French  king  received  him  cordially,  talked  of 
sport,  and  presumed  upon  his  want  of  expe- 
rience. Fitzwilliam  meanwhile  kept  his  eyes 
open  to  all  that  went  on,  and  gave  the  highest 
satisfaction  to  Wolsey.  After  many  diffi- 
culties and  much  tedious  negotiations  both 
powers  consented  to  accept,, Henry's  media- 
tion. When  war  was  declared  against  France 
in  the  following  year,  Fitzwilliam  was  ap- 
pointed vice-admiral  of  the  navy,  under  the 
command  of  the  Earl  of  Surrey,  his  special 
duty  being  to  protect  the  English  merchant- 
men from  the  attacks'of  the  enemy  (HEKBEKT, 
Reign  of  Henry  VIII,  p.  123).  He  com- 
manded in  1523  the  fleet  stationed  in  the 
Channel  to  bar  Albany's  passage  to  Scotland. 
On  10  May  1524  he  left  England  to  take  up 
his  appointment  as  captain  of  the  garrison  of 
Guisnes  in  Picardy,  where  he  remained  until 
the  spring  of  1525.  By  April  1525  he  was 
again  in  France,  and  with  Sir  Robert  Wing- 
field  attended  a  council  at  Mechlin,  which 
he  quitted  for  Guisnes  on  21  May.  In  Oc- 
tober 1525  he  was  deputed  with  John  Tay- 
lor, LL.D.,  to  take  the  oath  of  the  lady 
regent,  Louise  of  Savoy,  then  at  Lyons 
(Francis  I  being  a  prisoner  in  Spain),  for  ra- 
tifying the  articles  of  a  treaty  just  concluded 
between  the  crowns  of  England  and  France 
(HoLiNSHED,iii.  892 ;  HEKBEKT, p.  181).  Ill- 
health  obliged  him  to  return  home  in  January 
1526.  On  24  April  of  that  year,  being  then 
comptroller  of  the  king's  household,  he  was 
elected  K.G.  (BELTZ,  Memorials  of  'the  Garter, 
p.  clxxiii).  At  the  end  of  the  year  he  was 
sent,  along  with  Clerk,  bishop  of  Bath  and 
Wells,  to  offer  Francis  I  the  hand  of  the 
Princess  Mary,  and  thus  promote  an  alliance 
with  France. 

In  June  1528  he  narrowly  escaped  falling 
a  victim  to  the  sweating  sickness,  then  epi- 
demic (Letters  and  Papers  of  Reign  of 
Henry  VIII,  ed  Brewer,  iv.  1932).  In  May 
1529  he  accompanied  the  Duke  of  Suffolk  on 
an  embassy  to  France.  During  the  same  year 
he  was  one  of  those  who  subscribed  the  articles 
exhibited  against  Wolsey  (HERBERT,  p.  274). 
He  was  present  when  the  great  seal  was  taken 
from  Wolsey,  17  Oct.  1529,  and  with  Gardiner 
was  appointed  to  see  that  no  part  of  the  car- 
dinal's goods  were  embezzled.  About  this 
time  Fitzwilliam,  *  on  the  part  of  the  king, 
mediated'  a  quarrel  which  had  arisen  between 
the  two  houses  of  parliament  inconsequence  of 
Fisher's  hasty  declaration  '  that  nothing  now 
would  serve  with  the  commons  but  the  ruin 
of  the  church '  (ib.  p.  293).  In  October  1529 
Fitzwilliam  succeeded  More  as  chancellor  of 
the  duchy  of  Lancaster.  For  a  short  time  in 
1533  he  acted  as  lord  privy  seal.  On  26  May 


1535  he  took  passage  for  Calais  to  be  present 
at  the  diet  of  French  and  English  commis- 
sioners, returning  in  June.  In  the  same  capa- 
city of  commissioner  he  arrived  at  Calais  on 
the  following  17  Aug.  to  redress '  such  things 
as  were  out  of  order  in  the  town  and  marches,' 
and  remained  thus  employed  until  October. 
Soon  afterwards  he  was  joined  in  another  em- 
bassy to  France,  with  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  and 
Dr.  Cox.  regarding  the  marriage  of  the  Duke  of 
Angouleme,  the  French  king's  third  son,  with 
the  Princess  Elizabeth  (ib.  p.  383).  He  was  on 
the  council  in  1536,  when  Sir  Henry  Norris 
confessed  to  adultery  with  Anne  Boleyn.  He 
also  formed  one  of  the  tribunal  appointed 
to  try  Norris  and  the  three  other  commoners 
of  a  similar  crime.  Norris  at  his  trial  de- 
clared that  he  was  deceived  into  making  his 
confession  by  Fitzwilliam' s  trickery  (FROTJDE, 
History  of  England,  cabinet  edit.,  1870,  ch.  xi.) 
He  succeeded  the  Duke  of  Richmond  as  lord 
high  admiral  16  Aug.  1536,  and  held  the 
office  until  18  July  1540.  In  the  same  year 
he  took  part  in  the  suppression  of  the  insur- 
rection in  Lincolnshire.  On  18  Oct.  1537, 
having  in  the  meantime  been  made  treasurer 
of  the  king's  household,  Fitzwilliam  was  raised 
to  the  peerage  as  Earl  of  Southampton.  He 
remained  treasurer  for  about  a  year.  In  No- 
vember 1538  he  was  sent  down  to  Warbling- 
ton  in  Hampshire  to  examine  the  Countess 
of  Salisbury,  who  was  implicated  in  the  nun 
of  Kent's  conspiracy  (see  his  letter  to  Crom- 
well in  SIR  H.  ELLIS'S  Original  Letters,  2nd 
ser.  ii.  110-14).  She  denied  all  knowledge  of 
the  plot,  and  was  removed  to  Cowdray,  near 
Midhurst  in  Sussex,  a  place  belonging  to 
Fitzwilliam  himself,  where  she  was  detained 
(FROTJDE,  ch.  xv.)  Cowdray  had  been  sold 
to  Fitzwilliam  by  Sir  David  Owen  in  1528 
(Sussex  Archceol.  Coll.  v.  178,  vii.  40).  In 
1 539,  when  an  invasion  of  England  was  threat- 
ened, he  took  command  of  the  fleet  at  Ports- 
mouth. At  the  parliamentary  election  of  1539 
he  put  out  his  utmost  strength  to  secure  for 
the  king  a  manageable  House  of  Commons, 
going  in  person  round  Surrey,  Sussex,  and 
Hampshire,  where  his  own  property  was  situ- 
ated (Letter  of  Fitzwilliam  to  Cromwell, 
Cotton  MS.  Cleopatra,  E.  4,  cited  in  FROTJDE, 
ch.  xvi.)  On  11  Dec.  1539  he  met  Anne  of 
Cleves  at  Calais  to  conduct  her  to  her  future 
country.  Detained  by  the  bad  weather  for 
fifteen  days,  Fitzwilliam,  to  beguile  the  time, 
taught  the  princess  to  play  at  cards.  Mean- 
while he  wrote  to  advertise  the  king  of  her 
arrival,  and,  thinking  that  he  must  make  the 
best  of  a  matter  which  was  past  remedy,  re- 
peated the  praises  of  the  lady's  appearance. 
Cromwell  afterwards  accused  Fitzwilliam  of 
having  encouraged  false  hopes  in  his  letters 


Fitzwilliam 


232 


Fitzwilliam 


from  Calais  (FROTJDE,  ch.  xvii. ;  deposition 
of  the  Earl  of  Southampton  in  STRYPE,  Me- 
morials, 8vo  ed.  vol.  ii.)  He  witnessed  the 
arrest  of  Cromwell,  10  June  1540,  when,  ac- 
cording to  Marillac,  '  to  show  that  he  was  as 
much  his  enemy  in  adversity  as  in  prosperity 
he  had  pretended  to  be  his  friend,  he  stripped 
the  Garter  off  the  fallen  minister'  (FROTJDE, 
ch.  xvii.)  Shortly  afterwards,  '  upon  some 
discontent  between  Henry  and  the  king  of 
France,  whereupon  the  French  raised  forces 
in  Picardy,  Fitzwilliam,  with  John,  lord 
Russel,  then  newly  made  high  admiral,  car- 
ried over  two  troopes  of  northern  horse  into 
those  parts'  (HERBERT,  p.  484).  He  died  at 
Newcastle-upon-Tyne  in  October  1542,  while 
on  his  march  into  Scotland,  leading  the  van 
of  the  English  army  commanded  by  the  Duke 
of  Norfolk.  In  honour  of  his  memory  '  his 
standard  was  borne  in  the  fore  ward  through- 
out that  whole  expedition'  (ib.  p.  483).  In 
his  will,  dated  10  Sept.  1542,  he  desired  to 
be  buried  in  the  parish  church  of  Midhurst, 
where  a  new  chapel  was  to  be  built  for  a 
tomb  for  himself  and  his  wife  Mabel,  at  an 
expense  of  five  hundred  marks,  '  if  he  should 
die  within  one  hundred  miles  of  it '  (abstract 
of  will  registered  in  P.  C.  C.  16,  Spert,in  NICO- 
LAS, Testamenta  Vetusta,  ii.  707-9).  The 
chapel  remains,  but  there  are  no  signs  of  a 
tomb ;  he  was  therefore  probably  buried  at 
Newcastle.  To  the  king  he  gave  '  his  great 
ship  with  all  her  tackle,  and  his  collar  of  the 
Garter,  with  his  best  George  beset  with  dia- 
monds.' He  married  in  1513  Mabel,  daughter 
of  Henry,  lord  Clifford,  and  sister  of  Henry, 
first  earl  of  Cumberland,  but  by  this  lady, 
who  died  in  1535,  he  had  no  issue.  Conse- 
quently the  earldom  of  Southampton  at  his 
decease  became  extinct,  while  his  entailed 
estates  would  rightly  devolve  upon  his  two 
nieces,  daughters  of  his  elder  brother,  Thomas 
Fitzwilliam,  who  was  slain  at  Flodden  Field 
in  1515:  Alice,  married  to  Sir  James  Fol- 
jambe,  and  Margaret,  the  wife  of  Godfrey 
Foljambe.  The  Cowdray  estate  fell  to  his 
half-brother,  Sir  Anthony  Browne  [q.  v.] 

There  is  a  portrait  of  Fitzwilliam  in  the 
Fitzwilliam  Museum,  Cambridge,  which  is 
considered  to  be  a  copy  of  the  one  by  Holbein, 
destroyed  at  Cowdray  by  the  fire  in  September 
1793  (Sussex  Archaol.  Coll.  vii.  29  n.} 

[Dugdale's  Baronage,  ii.  105-6;  Letters  and 
Papers  of  Reign  of  Henry  VIII,  ed.  Brewer  and 
Gairdner;  Cal.  State  Papers,  Venetian,  vols.  iii. 
iv.  vi.  (Appendix) ;  Collectanea  Topographica  et 
Genealogica,  i.  360,  ii.  69 ;  Sussex  Archseol. 
Coll.]  G.  G. 

FITZWILLIAM,  SIR  WILLIAM  (1526- 
1599),  lord  deputy  of  Ireland,  eldest  son  of 
Sir  William  Fitzwilliam  of  Milton  in  the 


hundred  of  Nassaburgh,  Northamptonshire, 
and  Anne,  daughter  of  Sir  Richard  Sapcote 
of  Elton,  Huntingdonshire,  was  born  at  Mil- 
ton in  1526.  He  was  grandson  of  Sir  William 
Fitzwilliam,  sheriff  of  London  [q.  v.]  Related 
through  his  mother  to  Sir  John  Russell,  first 
earl  of  Bedford,  he  was  on  his  entrance  into 
court  placed  under  the  protection  of  that  noble- 
man, who  presented  him  to  Edward  VI,  by 
whom  he  was  created  marshal  of  the  king's 
bench.  From  a  lease  granted  to  William  Fitz- 
william, esq.,  '  one  of  the  gentlemen  of  the 
king's  chamber,'  of  certain  lands  in  Ireland 
on  10  July  1547,  it  would  appear  that  he  had 
already  at  that  time  formed  a  connection  with 
Ireland,  which  throughout  a  long  life  was  the 
chief  sphere  of  his  labours  (COLLINS,  Peer- 
age; LODGE,  Peerage  (Archdall);  BRIDGES, 
Northamptonshire,  vol.  ii.;  WIFFIN,  House 
of  Russell-,  Cal.  of  Fiants,  Ed.  VI,  70). 

When  the  succession  to  the  throne  was 
threatened  through  Lady  Jane  Grey,  he 
loyally  (though  a  protestant)  stood  by  Mary, 
and  in  1555  was  created  temporary  keeper  of 
the  great  seal  of  Ireland  (Lib.  Hib.  ii.  14). 
Coming  under  the  influence  of  the  Earl  of 
Sussex,  who  spoke  of  him  as  a  friend  to  whom 
he  would  gladly  show  pleasure,  he  took  that 
nobleman's  side  against  Sir  A.  St.  Leger,  be- 
coming one  of  his  fiercest  detractors  at  court 
(Ham.  Cal.  i.  133,  231 ;  Cal.  Carew  MSS. 
i.  257,  260).  On  24  July  1559  he  was  made 
vice-treasurer  and  treasurer  at  wars  in  Ire- 
land, a  post  he  continued  to  hold  till  1  April 
1573,  when  he  was  relieved  by  Sir  Edward 
Fitton  (Lib.  Hib.  ii.  43 ;  Ham.  Cal.  i.  157). 
In  1560,  during  the  temporary  absence  of  the 
Earl  of  Sussex,  he  was  appointed  lord  justice, 
taking  the  oath  and  receiving  the  sword  at 
Christ  Church  on  Thursday  15  Feb.  (patent, 
18  Jan.  1560).  His  conduct  was  approved 
by  the  queen  (Ham.  Cal.  i.  160),  who  again  en- 
trusted the  government  to  him  during  the  ab- 
sence of  Sussex  in  1561  (patent,  10  Jan.  1561). 
Meanwhile  Shane  O'Neill  had  entered  upon 
a  course  of  conduct  which  for  the  next  eight 
years  was  destined  to  perplex  and  madden 
the  government.  On  the  return  of  Sussex 
in  June  a  campaign  was  undertaken  against 
him  which,  though  ending  in  failure,  reflected 
great  credit  on  Fitzwilliam,  by  whose '  worthi- 
ness,' and  that  of  Captain  Warne,  the  English 
army  was,  according  to  Sussex,  saved  from 
annihilation  (ib.  i.  177).  In  August  he  was 
sent  into  England  to  explain  the  state  of 
affairs  to  the  council ;  but  immediately  after- 
wards returned  to  Ireland.  On  Thursday, 
22  Jan.  1562  he  was  again  sworn  chief  go- 
vernor during  the  absence  of  Sussex  from 
16  Jan.  to  24  July  (patent,  20  Dec.  1561). 
On  3  Dec.  he  and  Justice  Plunket  were  des- 


Fitzwilliam 


233 


Fitzwilliam 


patched  into  England  to  acquaint  the  council 
with  the  situation  of  affairs  in  Ireland.  He 
returned  about  the  end  of  January  1563 ;  but 
appears  to  have  spent  the  greater  part  of  that 
year  and  the  beginning  of  the  next  in  Eng- 
land. In  May  1564  Sir  Nicholas  Arnold, 
late  commissioner  for  reforming  and  intro- 
ducing economy  into  the  Irish  government, 
was  appointed  lord  justice,  and  having  in- 
sinuated many  things  against  him  as  vice- 
treasurer,  which  he  wholly  failed  to  substan- 
tiate, the  latter  retorted  by  saying  that  he 
could  have  governed  Ireland  as  well  as  Ar- 
nold and  saved  the  queen  twenty  thousand 
marks  (State  Papers,  Eliz.,  xiii.  57,  xviii.  1, 
2,  3).  Arnold  was  succeeded  by  Sir  Henry 
Sidney,  and  he  being  summoned  home,  Fitz- 
william and  Dr.  R.  Weston  were  on  14  Oct. 
1567  sworn  lords  justices,  much  against  the 
will  of  the  former,  who  declared  that  his  last 
justiceship  had  cost  him  2,000/.  This  was 
bad  enough,  but  to  be  charged  by  the  queen 
with  not  preventing  the  landing  of  the  Scots 
in  Antrim  was  intolerable,  and  he  complained 
bitterly  against  it,  protesting  that  he  had 
for  eight  years  and  more  truly  and  faithfully 
served  her  majesty  without  bribery,  robbery, 
or  friendly  gifts  (ib.  xxiii.  13).  Though  '  not 
bred  up  to  arms/  he,  in  the  spring  of  the  fol- 
lowing year  (1568),  undertook  an  expedition 
into  the  north ;  but  it  was  badly  managed, 
and  ended  in  disgraceful  failure  (BAGWELL, 
Ireland,  ii.  133).  Fortunately  Sidney  re- 
turned in  October  and  relieved  him  from  his 
more  onerous  duties.  In  1570  he  appears  to 
have  resided  chiefly  in  England  ;  but  on 
29  Jan.  1571  he  returned  to  Ireland.  In 
March  Sidney  departed,  and  on  1  April  he 
was  appointed  lord  justice.  He  was  suffer- 
ing severely  at  the  time  from  ague,  and  pro- 
tested his  unfitness  for  the  government,  and 
his  impoverishment  after  thirteen  years'  ser- 
vice, tending  to  his  utter  ruin  (Ham.  Cal. 
i.  454,  457).  His  petition,  supported  by  the 
entreaties  of  Lady  Fitzwilliam,  who  implored 
the  queen  to  allow  her  husband  to  return  to 
England  before  the  winter  came  on,  was  un- 
successful, and  instead  he  was  appointed  lord 
deputy,  and  sworn  into  office  on  13  Jan.  1572 
(patent,  11  Dec.  1571). 

Forced  into  the  gap  against  his  will,  and 
miserably  supplied  with  money,  Fitzwilliam's 
government  (1572-5)  was  not  remarkably 
successful,  though  he  declared  that  Ireland 
in  1575  was  in  a  much  better  state  than  it 
was  in  1571  (ib.  ii.  49).  With  Sir  Edward 
Fitton  in  Connaught  and  Sir  John  Perrot  in 
Munster,  his  attention  was  chiefly  directed 
to  Ulster.  Here  the  grants  of  land  made  by 
Elizabeth  to  Malby,  Chatterton,  Sir  Thomas 
Smith,  and  the  Earl  of  Essex  (1572-3),  lead- 


ing as  they  did  to  serious  complications  with 
the  Irish,  and  with  Turlough  Luineach  O'Neill 
in  particular,  greatly  added  to  his  difficulties ; 
but  his  conduct  in  the  matter  appears  to  have 
been  much  misrepresented.  He  was  not,  he 
declared,  opposed  to  the  plantation  scheme ; 
on  the  contrary,  he  warmly  approved  of  it, 
only  he  objected  to  the  way  in  which  it  was 
carried  into  execution.  There  was  too  much 
talk  about  it.  The  thing  ought  to  have  been 
done  quietly  and  with  celerity.  Instead  of  that 
the  Irish  obtained  wind  of  what  was  intended, 
and  had  time  to  band  together,  thereby  not 
only  obstructing  the  plantation,  but  consi- 
derably embarrassing  him  in  the  government. 
His  views  on  the  subject  were  undoubtedly 
sound,  and  were  indeed  recognised  to  be  so 
by  Essex  himself,  who,  however  much  he 
might  feel  inclined  to  resent  his  unwilling- 
ness to  co-operate  and  the  alacrity  with  which 
he  obeyed  the  order  to  disband,  was  obliged 
to  admit  that  he  had  no  other  choice  in  the 
matter  (Ham.  Cal.  1572-5, passim;  BAGWELL, 
Ireland,  ch.  xxix-xxxii. ;  DEVEKETJX,  Lives  of 
the  Earls  of  Essex,  vol.  i. ;  SHIELEY,  Mona- 
ffhari). 

The  post  of  treasurer,  which  he  resigned 
in  1573  to  Sir  Edward  Fitton,  far  from  being 
a  lucrative  appointment,  had  involved  him  in 
debts  amounting  to  nearly  4,000/.  The  de- 
putyship  profited  him  nothing,  and  unless 
shortly  relieved  he  declared  he  would  be 
obliged  to  sell  Milton ;  as  it  was,  his  wife  had 
already  been  instructed  to  sell  part  of  the 
stock  on  the  property.  At  the  last  moment 
Elizabeth  remitted  1,000/.  and  ' stalled'  the 
rest,  thus  saving  him  from  absolute  beggary. 
These  private  difficulties,  superadded  to  his 
bodily  infirmities,  rendered  him  extremely 
irritable,  and  led  to  one  quarrel  after  another 
with  Sir  E.  Fitton  [q.  v.]  Despite  his  ad- 
vice and  that  of  Sir  J.  Perrot,  the  Earl  of 
Desmond  had  in  1573  been  allowed  to  return 
to  Ireland,  and  though  promptly  rearrested 
in  Dublin,  he  had  a  few  months  later  managed 
to  escape  into  Munster.  Mischief  was  of 
course  anticipated  ;  but  nothing  was  done — 
nothing  indeed  could  be  done  so  long  as  Fitton 
proved  insubordinate.  The  queen  was  enraged, 
declaring  that  her  honour  was  wounded  so 
long  as  the  traitor  was  allowed  to  continue 
abroad  (Ham.  Cal.  ii.  15 ;  Cal.  Carew  MSS. 
i.  464,  466,  473).  Fitzwilliam  replied  that 
he  had  neither  men  nor  credit  to  enable  him 
to  take  the  field.  Compelled  at  length  to  act, 
he  in  August  1574  marched  into  Munster, 
captured  in  rapid  succession  Derinlaur  Castle, 
Castlemagne,  and  Ballymartyr,  and  obliged 
the  earl  to  submit  himself  at  Cork  on  2  Sept. 
For  this  service  he  had  Elizabeth's  thanks 
(Cal.  Carew,  i.  483),  but  he  still  continued 


Fitzwilliam 


234 


Fitzwilliam 


to  be  hampered  by  the  reports  of  his  detrac- 
tors at  court  (just  retribution  for  his  own 
attacks  on  Sir  Anthony  St.  Leger),  and  es- 
pecially of  his  brother-in-law  Sir  H.  Sidney. 
He  was  seriously  ill,  so  ill  in  fact  that  in 
March  1575  he  thought  he  could  not  live  a 
year  longer,  and  that  he  was  likely  to  be 
buried  in  Ireland  and  slandered  in  England. 
Lady  Fitzwilliam,  who  his  enemies  asserted 
was  the  real  lord  deputy,  was  despatched  to 
solicit  his  recall.  His  prayer  was  at  last 
listened  to,  and  the  arrival  of  Sir  H.  Sidney 
on  12  Sept.  restored  him  to  private  life  (Lib. 
Hib.  ii.  4). 

During  the  next  twelve  years  he  remained 
in  England  quietly  engaged,  we  may  pre- 
sume, in  attending  to  his  own  affairs.  In 
1582  there  was  some  talk  of  appointing  him 
successor  to  Lord  Grey  (Ham.  Cal,  ii.  364, 
374,  499),  but  nothing  came  of  it.  He,  how- 
ever, obtained  a  crown  lease  of  Fotheringay 
Castle  (LEMON,  Cal.  ii.  395),  and  it  was 
during  his  governorship  that  Mary  of  Scot- 
land met  her  doom  there.  His  conduct  on 
that  occasion  reflected  great  credit  on  him. 
The  only  one  who  showed  any  respect  for 
her  feelings,  Mary  gratefully  acknowledged 
his  kindness  to  her,  and  in  token  of  her  es- 
teem presented  him  with  the  picture  of  her 
infant  son,  James,  which  is  still  carefully 
preserved  by  his  successors  (Topog.  Brit. 
vol.  iv.) 

On  17  Feb.  1588  he  was  reappointed  lord 
deputy  of  Ireland  in  the  room  of  Sir  John 
Perrot,  and  on  23  June,  being  Sunday,  he 
landed  at  the  Ring's  End,  about  six  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  and  on  Sunday  following  re- 
ceived the  sword  of  state  in  Christ's  Church. 
The  country  was  at  peace,  but  the  period 
was  one  of  critical  importance.  The  timely 
storm  that  dissipated  the  Armada  relieved 
the  government  of  its  chief  danger,  but  there 
were  still  a  number  of  ships  in  the  narrow 
seas  to  cause  considerable  anxiety.  Fitz- 
william's  vigilance  was  worthy  the  high  trust 
reposed  in  him.  A  number  of  Spaniards,  it 
was  reported,  who  had  escaped  the  clutches 
of  the  sea,  were  roaming  about  the  country, 
and  likely,  if  they  were  allowed  to  band  to- 
gether, to  prove  dangerous.  On  22  Sept. 
1588,  therefore,  he  issued  orders  to  the  pro- 
vincial governors  to  take  all  hulls  of  ships, 
stores,  treasure,  &c.,  and  to  apprehend  and 
execute  all  Spaniards  they  might  find  in  their 
districts  (Cal.  Carew  MSS.  ii.  490).  For 
himself  he  proposed  to  make  a  journey  into 
Conn  aught  and  O'Donnell's  country,  '  as  well 
for  the  riddance  of  such  Spaniards  thence 
who  were  reported  to  be  dispersed  in  great 
numbers  throughout  that  province,  as  also 
for  that  the  Irishry  of  that  province  towards 


the  Pale  and  Feagh  MacHugh  O'Byrne,  with 
the  rest  upon  the  mountain's  side,  grew  into 
such  pride  upon  hope  of  those  Spaniards  and 
their  assistants.'  His  design  was  approved  by 
the  council,  and  on  4  Nov.  he  set  out  from 
Dublin.  Proceeding  directly  to  Athlone  and 
thence  to  Sligo,  he  held  on  towards  Bally- 
shannon,  '  where,  as  I  heard,  lay  not  long  be- 
fore twelve  hundred  or  thirteen  hundred  of 
the  dead  bodies.'  A  little  before  coming  to 
Donegal, '  I  being  then  accompanied  with  Sir 
Owen  O'Tool,  whom  by  courteous  entreaty  I 
had  drawn  thither  to  help  the  compounding 
of  some  good  course  for  the  well-ordering  of 
his  country,'  he  was  met  by  O'Donnell  and 
courteously  entertained  by  him.  At  Strabane 
Sir  John  O'Dogherty  came  to  him, '  whereof  I 
was  not  a  little  glad,  for  then  I  made  account 
before  his  and  Sir  Owen  O'Tool's  departures  to- 
settle  her  majesty  in  some  good  surety  for  the 
2,100  beeves  and  1,000  more  for  a  fine,  which 
at  Dungannon,  the  Earl  of  Tyrone's  house, 
upon  handling  of  the  matter,  was  accom- 
plished, and  by  them  both  and  O'Donnell 
agreed  that  they  should  be  cut  upon  the 
country  and  paid,  and  in  the  meantime  that 
Sir  Owen  and  Sir  John  should  go  and  remain 
with  me  till  such  pledges  as  I  then  named 
were  put  in.'  (A  very  different  account  of 
this  transaction  will  be  found  in  Fynes 
Moryson's  history.)  On  23  Dec.  he  returned 
to  Dublin  without  the  loss  of  a  single  man 
(Ham.  Cal.  iv.  53,  73,  92). 

In  January  1589  Sir  Ross  MacMahon,  cap- 
tain of  Monaghan,  exasperated  by  the  exac- 
tions of  the  sheriff,  Captain  Willis,  and  his 
soldiers,  a  collection  of  arrant  rascals  accord- 
ing to  Fizwilliam,  took  the  law  into  his  own 
hand  and  expelled  them  from  his  country. 
Thereupon  in  March  Fitzwilliam  invaded  and 
spoiled  his  country  so  thoroughly  that  he  left 
not  a  house  standing  or  a  grain  of  corn  un- 
burnt.  Shortly  afterwards  Sir  Ross  died,  and 
his  brother,  Hugh,  being  entitled  to  succeed 
him,  was  by  the  deputy  established  in  pos- 
session in  August  (ib.  iv.  224).  The  Irish 
(see  FYNES  MOEYSON)  asserted  that  he  was 
bribed ;  but  this  he  denied.  According  to 
Fitzwilliam  the  new  MacMahon  immediately 
entered  upon  treasonable  courses,  and  was  by 
him  arrested.  Process,  however,  was  for  a 
time  delayed  owing  to  the  unwillingness  of 
the  privy  council  to  proceed  to  extremities  in 
what  might  be  construed  into  a  mere  border 
raid  (ib.  iv.  263).  Convinced  at  last  by  the  de- 

?uty's  representations,  order  was  on  10  Aug. 
590  given  to  proceed  with  his  trial. '  Wherein, 
for  the  avoiding  the  scandal  of  justice  with 
severity,  he  had  the  favour  to  be  tried  in  his 
own  country,  and  by  a  jury  of  the  best  gentle- 
men of  his  own  name  and  blood'  (Add.  MSS. 


Fitzwilliam 


235 


Fitzwilliam 


12503,  f.  389-90.  What  the  Irish  said  about 
this  transaction  may  be  read  in  FYNES  MORY- 
SON'S  History,  bk.  i.  ch.  i. ;  cf.  also  SHIRLEY, 
Monaghan,  ch.  iv.) 

In  1589  a  quarrel  arose  between  him  and 
the  president  of  Connaught,  Sir  Richard 
Bingham,  which  created  considerable  excite- 
ment at  the  time.  Bingham  had  been  charged 
by  the  natives  with  extreme  harshness  in  his 
government  and  as  being  the  sole  cause  for 
their  rebellious  attitude.  The  deputy,  there- 
fore, on  2  June  1589,  undertook  a  journey 
into  that  province  for  the  purpose  of  pacify- 
ing it  and  inquiring  into  the  charges  against 
Bingham.  These  proceedings  Bingham  re- 
sented and  poured  out  the  vials  of  his  wrath 
upon  Fitzwilliam.  The  charges  preferred 
against  him  he  categorically  denied,  with  the 
result  that  the  deputy  was  severely  repri- 
manded by  Elizabeth.  In  reply,  he  could 
only  say  that  'Sir  Richard  hath  unjustly 
dealt  with  me,  as  in  his  answers  in  several 
parts  appeareth,  to  which  upon  the  margin 
I  have  set  down  some  notes  of  truth.  God 
make  him  his,  but  I  fear  if  there  be  an  atheist 
upon  earth,  he  is  one,  for  he  careth  not  what 
he  doeth,  nor  to  say  anything  (how  untrue 
soever),  so  it  may  serve  his  turn  '  (Ham. 
Cal.  iv.  194-281  passim).  Never  of  a  strong 
constitution,  his  health  had  of  recent  years 
been  very  bad.  During  the  journey  into  Con- 
naught  'he  swooned  twice  on  one  day,  and 
after  had  three  fits  of  a  tertian.'  His  enemies 
caricatured  him  as  being  '  blind,  lame,  burst 
and  full  of  dropsy ; '  nevertheless  he  con- 
trived manfully  to  attend  to  his  business,  and 
his  conduct  in  suppressing  the  mutiny  of 
Sir  Thomas  Norreys's  soldiers  (May  1590) 
won  him  the  high  praise  of  Sir  George  Carew 
(Cal.  Carew MSS.  iii.  33).  Hugh  MacMahon 
out  of  the  way,  he  in  October  1591  parti- 
tioned Monaghan  (with  the  exception  of 
Donnamyne,  which  belonged  to  the  Earl  of 
Essex)  among  the  principal  gentlemen  of  the 
MacMahons,  the  termon  or  ecclesiastical 
lands  being  reserved  for  English  officials.  In 
July  1592  he  proceeded  to  Dundalk  in  order 
to  determine  certain  border  disputes  between 
Tyrone  and  Turlough  Lunieach,  and  in  June 
in  the  following  year  he,  at  the  same  place, 
concluded  a  treaty  between  them  (Ham.  Cal. 
iv.  568,  v.  99;  Cal.  Carew  MSS.  iii.  73). 
Hardly  had  he  done  this  when  he  was  called 
upon  to  suppress  the  rebellion  of  Maguire, 
setting  out  from  Dublin  on  4  Dec.  '  into  the 
Cavan,  whither  by  easy  journeys,  yet  through 
very  foul  ways  and  deep  fords  by  reason  of 
continual  rain,  he  arrived  within  five  days 
after  his  departure'  (Ham.  Cal.v.  190).  His 
expedition  was  successful  so  far  as  the  cap- 
ture of  Enniskillen  Castle  and  the  proclaim- 


ing Maguire  traitor  went ;  but  the  rebellion 
was  only  the  first  act  of  a  tragedy,  the  end 
of  which  he  was  not  to  see.  His  health  had 
been  fairly  good  while  in  the  field,  but  on 
his  return  he  was  confined  closely  to  his 
chamber.  On  30  Jan.  1594  he  wrote  :  'It  is 
God's  good  blessing  that  this  state  is  re- 
duced to  that  staidness  of  quiet  that  the  in- 
firmities of  the  governor,  old,  weak  in  body, 
sick  in  stomach,  racked  with  the  stone,  bed- 
rid with  the  gout,  and  disgraced  with  re- 
straints, do  not  make  it  stagger'  (ib.  p.  201). 
In  the  spring  death  seemed  so  near  that  he 
deemed  it  necessary  to  provide  for  the  govern- 
ment by  nominating  lords  justices.  On 
31  July  his  successor,  Sir  W.  Russell,  arrived, 
and  on  12  Aug.  he  and  his  family  sailed  for 
England.  His  infirmities  increased,  and 
eventually  he  lost  his  sight  entirely.  He 
lived  to  hear  of  Tyrone's  rebellion,  and  to 
hear  it  laid  to  his  charge.  One  of  his  last 
acts  was  to  dictate  a  vindication  of  his  con- 
duct during  his  last  deputyship  (Addit.  MS. 
12503,  Brit.  Mus.) 

He  married  Anne,  daughter  of  Sir  William 
Sidney,  and  sister  of  Sir  Henry  Sidney,  by 
whom  he  had  two  sons  (William,  who  suc- 
ceeded him,  and  John,  a  captain  in  the  wars 
in  Scotland)  and  three  daughters.  He  died 
in  1599  at  his  house  at  Milton,  and  was  buried 
in  the  church  of  Marham,  where,  on  the  north 
side,  is  a  noble  monument  erected  to  him  by 
his  widow.  One  of  the  ablest  of  Elizabeth's 
viceroys,  it  was  his  misfortune  to  be  vilified 
by  his  contemporaries  and  to  be  misrepre- 
sented in  history  as  the  most  avaricious 
and  wantonly  cruel  of  English  governors. 

[Authorities  as  in  the  text.  In  addition  to 
the  State  Papers  calendared  by  Mr.  Hamilton 
and  Mr.  Brewer  there  are  in  the  great  Carte 
collection  in  the  Bodleian  at  Oxford  four  volumes 
of  State  Papers  (Iv-viii.)specifically  known  as  the 
'  Fitzwilliara  Papers,'  relating  to  Ireland  during 
the  period  of  his  government  there.]  R.  D. 

FITZWILLIAM,  WILLIAM  WENT- 
WORTH,  second  EARL  FITZWILLIAM  in  the 
peerage  of  the  United  Kingdom  (1748-1833), 
statesman,  eldest  son  of  William,  first  earl 
Fitzwilliam,  was  born  30  May  1748,  and  suc- 
ceeded to  the  earldom  on  the  death  of  his 
father  (9  Aug.  1756).  He  was  educated  at 
Eton,  where  he  began  a  lifelong  friendship 
with  his  schoolfellows  Charles  James  Fox  and 
Lord  Carlisle.  From  Eton  he  proceeded  to 
Cambridge,  and  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of 
Lords  in  1769.  On  11  July  1770  he  married 
Lady  Charlotte  Ponsonby,  youngest  daughter 
of  William,  second  earl  of  Bessborough,  by 
Lady  Caroline  Cavendish,  daughter  of  the 
Duke  of  Devonshire.  He  adhered  to  the  whig 
politics  of  his  family,  and  steadily  opposed 


Fitzwilliam 


236 


Fitzwilliam 


the  North  administration.  On  the  death  of 
his  uncle,  Lord  Rockingham,  in  1782,  he  suc- 
ceeded to  estates  valued  at  40,000/.  a  year. 
He  kept  up  a  princely  establishment  at  Went- 
worth  House  in  Yorkshire,  and  had  probably 
the  finest  stables  and  kennels  in  England. 
In  1783  Fox  had  intended  him  for  the  head 
of  his  new  India  board ;  and  in  their  regency 
arrangements  of  1788  the  whigs  designed  him 
for  the  lord-lieutenancy  of  Ireland.  The 
Prince  of  Wales  in  September  1789  honoured 
him  by  a  visit  at  Wentworth,  when  nearly 
forty  thousand  persons  were  entertained  in 
the  park.  After  the  outbreak  of  the  French 
revolution  Fitzwilliam  acted  with  the  f  old 
whigs,'  and  in  July  1794,  in  company  with 
the  Duke  of  Portland  and  others,  joined  the 
government,  and  was  appointed  president  of 
the  council. 

In  December  1794  Pitt  sent  Fitzwilliam 
to  Ireland  as  lord-lieutenant,  where  he  be- 
came the  centre  of  a  political  misunderstand- 
ing which  it  is  very  difficult  to  unravel. 
Fitzwilliam  was  known  to  be  a  friend  to  the 
Homan  catholic  claims,  and  his  appointment 
in  the  place  of  Lord  Westmorland,  a  favourer 
of  the  protestants,  was  regarded  as  an  indica- 
tion of  approaching  concessions.  Before  Fitz- 
william left  England  Grattan  saw  Pitt,  and 
received  what  he  took  to  be  assurances  that 
the  catholic  claims  would  be  granted,  though 
Pitt  disavowed  this  interpretation  of  his 
words,  and  even  told  Fitzwilliam  that  he  was 
to  give  the  Roman  catholics  no  encourage- 
ment, but  to  postpone  the  question  until  the 
fullest  inquiries  had  been  made.  Fitzwilliam, 
when  he  reached  Dublin,  seems  to  have 
thought  that  delay  was  impossible,  after 
Grattan  had  so  raised  the  hopes  of  the  party, 
and  upon  writing  to  the  government  was  sur- 
prised to  receive  a  repetition  of  his  former  in- 
structions from  the  Duke  of  Portland,  who 
declared  that  no  steps  would  be  taken  at  the 
present  time  in  the  interests  of  the  catholics. 
it  is  impossible  to  say  how  far  Pitt,  Fitzwil- 
liam, or  the  Duke  of  Portland  was  respon- 
sible for  the  misunderstanding.  Fitzwilliam 
was  not  aware  that  Pitt  was  contemplating 
the  union  as  a  condition  antecedent  to  eman- 
cipation, and  therefore  could  hardly  under- 
stand the  premier's  policy.  He  supposed 
himself  to  have  received  instructions  sub- 
sequently disavowed  by  their  author;  nor 
was  this  the  only  point  of  disagreement 
"between  himself  and  the  cabinet.  Pitt,  who 
had  appointed  Fitzwilliam  chiefly  to  please 
his  new  allies,  had  stipulated,  among  other 
things,  that  the  '  supporters  of  government 
should  not  be  displaced  on  the  change.'  Port- 
land explained  this  to  Fitzwilliam,  or,  as  Lord 
Stanhope  thinks,  tried  ineffectually  to  ex- 


plain it.  In  any  case  Fitzwilliam  disregarded 
it  (Life  of  Pitt,  ii.  293).  Fitzwilliam  landed 
at  Dublin  on  the  evening  of  Sunday,  4  Jan. 
1795,  was  in  bed  all  day  on  Monday,  and  on 
Wednesday  morning  Beresford,  commissioner 
of  the  customs,  Cooke,  secretary  at  war,  Wolfe 
and  Toler,  attorney-  and  solicitor-general, 
were  dismissed.  Beresford  appealed  to  the 
government  and  was  at  once  reinstated ;  and 
Fitzwilliam  was  informed  that  the  resigna- 
tions of  Wolfe  and  Toler  would  not  be  ac- 
cepted. But  in  spite  of  this  rebuff  he  did 
not  send  in  his  own  resignation  for  nearly 
three  weeks,  and  remained  at  the  castle  till 
25  March,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Lord 
Camden.  f  The  day  of  his  departure  was  one 
of  general  gloom  ;  the  shops  were  shut ;  no 
business  of  any  kind  was  transacted ;  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  citizens  put  on  mourning, 
while  some  of  the  most  respectable  among 
them  drew  his  coach  down  to  the  water-side ' 
(STANHOPE,  Life  of  Pitt,  ii.  365). 

Fitzwilliam  now  drew  up  his  own  version 
of  the  whole  story  in  two  letters  addressed 
to  the  Earl  of  Carlisle.  He  maintained,  with- 
out the  least  justification,  that  his  dismissal 
was  caused  by  Pitt's  deliberate  wish  to  hu- 
miliate his  new  allies.  On  his  return  to  Eng- 
land motions  for  inquiry  were  made  in  both 
houses  of  parliament,  and  rejected  by  large 
majorities ;  and  Beresford  sent  him  a  chal- 
lenge which  led  to  a  meeting  between  them 
at  old  Tyburn  turnpike  on  26  June.  The 
duel  was  stopped  by  the  constables. 

Fitzwilliam  soon  made  his  peace  with  the 
government,  and  in  1798,  when  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk  was  dismissed  from  the  lord-lieute- 
nancy of  the  West  Riding  for  a  seditious 
toast,  Fitzwilliam  was  appointed  to  succeed 
him.  On  the  formation  of  the  Addington 
ministry  in  February  1801  Fitzwilliam,  with 
the  other  whig  conservatives,  went  into  op- 
position. On  Aldington's  resignation  in  April 
1804  it  was  intended  by  Pitt  to  make  Fitz- 
william one  of  the  secretaries  of  state,  but 
the  allies  standing  out  for  the  admission  of 
Fox,  the  negotiation  came  to  nothing,  and 
Pitt  went  on  without  him.  Under  the 
short-lived  ministry  of  Lord  Grenville  in 
1806  he  was  president  of  the  council;  and 
during  the  political  uncertainty  occasioned 
by  the  king's  illness  in  1811  he  was  sometimes 
spoken  of  as  a  possible  whig  prime  minister. 
All  his  official  hopes,  however,  vanished  with 
the  determination  of  the  prince  regent  to 
keep  the  tory  government  in  power.  He 
was  afterwards  one  of  the  little  knot  of  whig 
magnates  in  the  House  of  Lords  who  pro- 
tested against  the  government  policy,  and 
especially  the  maintenance  of  the  Roman 
catholic  disabilities.  On  31  Jan.  1812  he 


Flakefield 


237 


Flambard 


brought  on  a  resolution  in  the  House  of 
Lords  charging  the  crown  solicitor  in  Ireland 
with  tampering  with  the  panel  of  the  jury 
selected  to  try  one  of  the  catholic  delegates, 
but  was  defeated  by  a  majority  of  162  to  79. 
In  the  following  March  he  was  offered  the 
vacant  Garter,  which  he  declined.  In  1819 
he  attended  a  public  meeting  at  York  con- 
vened for  the  purpose  of  censuring  the  Man- 
chester magistrates  for  their  conduct  in 
regard  to  the  Peterloo  massacre,  and  was 
dismissed  from  the  lord-lieutenancy  for  his 
violent  language. 

The  first  Lady  Fitzwilliam  died  on  13  May 
1822,  leaving  one  son,  Charles  William  Went- 
worth,  third  earl  [q.  v.]  On  21  July  1823 
Fitzwilliam  married  Louisa,  widow  of  the 
first  Lord  Ponsonby,  and  daughter  of  the  third 
Viscount  Molesworth.  She  died,  leaving  no 
issue,  on  1  Sept.  1824.  Fitzwilliam  died  on 
8  Feb.  1833. 

[Diary  of  Lord  Colchester  ;  Cornwallis  Corre- 
spondence ;  Rocki  ngham  Papers ;  Fronde's  English 
in  Ireland;  Plowden's  Hist,  of  Ireland;  Lord 
Stanhope's  Life  of  Pitt ;  Massey's  Hist,  of  Eng- 
land ;  Kose's  Diary ;  Lord  Malmesbury's  Diary.] 

T.  E.  K. 

FLAKEFIELD,  WILLIAM  (fl.  1700), 
first  weaver  of  checked  linen  in  Great  Bri- 
tain, was,  it  is  said,  the  son  of  a  man  ori- 
ginally named  Wilson,  a  native  of  Flakefield, 
in  the  parish  of  East  Kilbride,  Lanarkshire, 
who  became  a  merchant  in  Glasgow  about 
the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and 
was  called  Flakefield  in  order  to  distinguish 
him  from  another  merchant  named  Wilson. 
However  this  may  be,  Richard  Fleckfield  was 
deacon  of  the  incorporation  of  weavers  of 
Glasgow  in  1640,  John  Fleckfield  in  1670, 
and  Robert  Fleckfield  in  1673,  1675,  and  1676 
(CLELAND,  Annals  of  Glasgow,  p.  425).  Wil- 
liam Flakefield  may  probably  have  been  the 
son  of  John  or  Robert  Fleckfield.  After 
having  learnt  the  art  of  weaving,  he  enlisted 
about  1670  in  the  Cameronian  regiment; 
from  this  he  was  afterwards  transferred  to 
the  Scots  guards.  While  on  service  abroad 
he  came  across  a  blue  and  white  check  hand- 
kerchief of  German  make.  He  resolved  im- 
mediately to  imitate  it  when  he  returned  to 
Glasgow,  and  when  he  obtained  his  discharge 
in  1700  he  carried  out  his  intention.  With 
some  difficulty  he  got  together  the  means  for 
making  a  web  of  two  dozen  handkerchiefs. 
The  novelty  of  the  blue  and  white  check  and 
the  unusual  fineness  of  the  texture  made  the 
article  so  popular  that  it  was  soon  very  largely 
manufactured  in  Glasgow  and  its  neighbour- 
hood. As  late  as  1771  striped  and  checkered 
linen  cloth  and  handkerchiefs  were  among 
the  most  important  textile  manufactures  of 


Glasgow  (G  IBSON,  History  of  Glasgow,  pp.  239, 
248).  Probably  in  consequence  of  being  out- 
stripped by  imitators  with  larger  means  of 
carrying  on  the  new  manufacture,  Flakefield 
himself  seems  to  have  obtained  no  benefit 
from  the  success  of  his  scheme,  for  in  his  old 
age  he  was  made  town-drummer  of  Glasgow, 
and  died  in  that  office. 

[Ure's  Hist,  of  Rutherglen  and  East  Kilbride, 
pp.  169-72.]  E.  C-N. 

FLAMBARD,  RANNULF  (d.  1128), 
bishop  of  Durham  and  chief  minister  of  Wil- 
liam Rufus,  was  of  obscure  origin  (OKD.  VIT. 
iii.  310,  iv.  107 ;  WILLIAM  OP  MALMESBUKY, 
ii.  497),  a  phrase  perhaps  not  to  be  taken  too 
strictly  in  those  days  (cf.  ORD.  VIT.  iv.  144). 
Domesday  shows  that  Rannulf  Flambard 
(Flamard,  Flanbard,  or  Flanbart)  was  a  land- 
owner in  Godalming  hundred,  Surrey,  at  Mid- 
dleton-Stoney,  Oxfordshire,  and  at  'Bile'  and 
'  Becleslei '  in  Hampshire.  He  was  also  tenant 
of  a  house  in  Oxford,  and  appears  to  have 
been  dispossessed  of  part  of  his  Hampshire 
property  on  the  making  of  the  New  Forest 
(Domesday,  1  fol.  30b2, 157al,  51a2, 154al). 
He  may  also,  as  Mr.  Freeman  has  remarked, 
be  the  Rannulf  Flamme  who  holds  land,  in 
the  Survey,  at  <  Funtelei '  in  Titchfield  hun- 
dred, Hampshire  (ib.  fol.  49a2).  Orderic  says 
that  he  was  the  son  of  Turstin  of  Bayeux. 
His  mother  was  still  living  in  1101,  and  his 
brother  possibly  in  1130-1,  so  that  he  could 
hardly  have  been  settled  in  this  country 
under  Edward  the  Confessor  (ORD.  VIT.  iii. 
310,  iv.  109-10),  as  has  been  sometimes  held. 

Rannulf  seems  to  have  attached  himself  in 
boyhood  to  the  court  of  William  I,  where  his 
comely  person,  intelligence,  eloquence,  and 
generosity  soon  cleared  the  road  to  success  (ib. 
iii.  310 ;  but  cf.  Cont.  Hist  Dun.  Eccles.  i.  135). 
He  pushed  his  way  by  flattery,  treachery,  and 
coarse  indulgences  (ORD.  VIT.  id.)  Though  no 
scholar,  he  had  a  pliant  wit  and  argumentative* 
1  quickness.  Even  before  the  Conqueror's  death 
he  was  feared  by  many  nobles,  whose  failings 
he  revealed  to  the  king.  Mr.  Freeman  sug- 
gests with  probability  that  he  is  the  Rannulf 
whom  William  I  sent  (c.  1072)  to  force  his 
'  new  customs '  on  the  bishopric  of  Durham, 
and  who  was  driven  from  the  diocese  by  the 
saint's  vengeance  (SIMEON  OF  DURHAM,  i. 
105-7 ;  cf.  FREEMAN,  iv.  521).  According^ 
however,  to  Simeon's  continuator,  who  ap- 
pears to  have  possessed  special  knowledge  as 
to  Rannulf 's  early  career,  Rannulf  was  ori- 
ginally in  the  service  of  Maurice,  bishop  of 
London  (1085-1107),  whom  he  only  left 
'  propter  decaniam  sibi  ablatam/  and  in  the 
hope  of  doing  better  in  the  service  of  the 
king  (apparently  William  II)  (Cont.  Hist* 


Flambard 


238 


Flambard 


Dun.  Eccles.  i.  135).  If  so  it  was  probabb 
late  in  William  I's  days  or  early  in  those  o 
William  II  that  he  acquired  his  surname  O] 
nickname,  Flambard.  The  exact  meaning 
of  the  epithet  is  very  obscure,  but  appears 
to  have  some  reference  to  Rannulf  s  '  con- 
suming '  greed  and  ambition  (ORD.  VIT.  iii 
310-11 ;  cf.  ANSELM,  Epp.  1.  iv.  ep.  ii.  col 
201;  see,  too,  FREEMAN,  William  Rufus 
ii.  555). 

All  the  direct  contemporary  evidence  tends 
to  show  that  it  was  in  the  early  years  of  Wil- 
liam II's  reign  that  Rannulf  came  into  pro- 
minence. He  was  plainly  the  prime  mover 
of  the  shameless  ecclesiastical  policy  which 
reached  its  climax  when  the  see  of  Canter- 
bury was  left  vacant  for  over  four  years,  from 
28  May  1089  to  20  Sept.  1093  (FLORENCE  OF 
WORCESTER,  ii.  45-6;  WILLIAM  OF  MALMES- 
BURY, ii.  407-8 ;  SIMEON  OF  DURHAM,  ii. 
231-2 ;  cf.  HENRY  OF  HUNTINGDON,  pp.  232-3 ; 
and  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle,  ii.  203-4) .  Hence 
it  is  almost  certain  that  he  is  the  *  Rannulf  us ' 
who  was  sent  down  by  the  king  to  open  a 
plea  against  Anselm  at  Canterbury  on  the  day 
of  that  archbishop's  enthronement,  25  Sept. 
1093  (EADMER,  Hist.  Nov.  pp.  41-2). 

Rannulf  does  not  seem  to  have  borne  as 
yet  any  distinct  legal  office  or  title.  He  may 
have  been  the  king's  chancellor,  but  in  con- 
temporary documents  and  chronicles  he  is 
generally  styled  l  Rannulf  the  chaplain '  or 
*  the  king's  clerk '  (Rannulfus  Cappellanus) 
(DUGDALE,  i.  164,  174 ;  cf.  Cont.  Hist.  Dun. 
Eccles.  i.  135 ;  and  the  '  Rannulfe  his  capel- 
lane '  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle,  i.  364). 
Later  he  appears  to  have  held  all  the  autho- 
rity of  the  twelfth-century  justiciar,  even  if 
he  did  not  enjoy  this  specific  title,  which 
is  given  him  by  Orderic  Vitalis  (iv.  107). 
But  his  position  may  very  well  have  been 
somewhat  abnormal,  as  the  chroniclers  give 
him  various  titles  and  run  off  into  rhetorical 
phrases.  In  1094  he  sent  back  from  Hastings 
twenty  thousand  English  soldiers,  whom 
William  had  summoned  to  Normandy,  and 
confiscated  the  10s.  with  which  the  shire  had 
supplied  each  man  for  his  expenses  abroad 
(FLORENCE  OF  WORCESTER,  ii.  35;  SIMEON  OF 
DURHAM,  ii.  224 ;  cf.  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle. 
ii.  197). 

Rannulf  seems  to  have  been  mainly  occu- 
pied in  supplying  the  king  with  the  money 
he  required  for  his  court,  his  new  buildings, 
the  wages  of  his  stipendiary  soldiers,  and,  in 
the  latter  half  of  his  reign,  for  the  purchase  of 
Normandy  and  Aquitaine  from  their  crusad- 
ing dukes  (ORD.  VIT.  iii.  476,  iv.  80).  Ac- 
cording to  Orderic  he  urged  William  Rufus 
'  to  revise  the  description  of  all  England,'  a 
phrase  which  has  generally  been  interpreted  as 


referring  to  the  compilation  of  a  new  Domes- 
day Book.  Both  Dr.  Stubbs  and  Mr.  Free- 
man consider  this  to  be  a  misdated  reference 
to  the  Great  Survey  of  the  previous  reign,  in 
which  they  admit  that  Rannulf  took  a  more 
or  less  prominent  part.  Though  this  is  not  im- 
probable, Orderic's  words  refer  more  naturally 
to  a  revision  of  a  previous  survey.  Orderic 
seems  to  imply  that  the  main  offence  of  this 
survey  lay  in  superseding  the  old  and  vague 
measures  of  land  by  new  ones  made  after  a 
fixed  standard  (ORD.  VIT.  iii.  311 ;  WILLIAM 
OF  MALMESBURY,  ii.  497  ;  cf.  also  STUBBS,  i. 
298-9;  FREEMAN,  Norm.  Cong.  v.  377-8, 
Will.  Rufus,  i.  331,  &c.)  Mr.  Round  seems 
to  have  shown  that  there  was  a  special  levy 
of  45.  the  hide  imposed  for  the  purchase  of 
Normandy  in  1096.  This  might  imply  such 
stringent  application  of  the  Domesday  re- 
cords as  would  justify  Orderic's  words  with 
reference  to  its  revision  (cf.  ROUND,  ap. 
Domesday  Studies,  pp.  83-4). 

Florence  of  Worcester  probably  gives  the 
true  chronology  of  Rannulf  s  rise  when  he 
tells  us  that  he  began  by  buying  the  custody 
of  vacant  bishoprics,  abbeys,  and  other  bene- 
fices. For  these  he  paid  not  only  a  sum  of 
ready  money,  but  an  annual  rent,  and  this 
system  continued  till  the  end  of  the  reign, 
when  the  king  'had  in  his  own  hand  the 
archbishopric  of  Canterbury,  the  bishoprics 
of  Winchester  and  Salisbury,  and  eleven 
abbeys  all  set  out  to  gafol '  (FLORENCE  OF 
WORCESTER,  ii.  46;  Anglo-Saxon  Chron.  i. 
364).  With  these  sources  of  wealth  Ran- 
nulf s  ' craft  and  guile'  raised  him  higher 
and  higher,  till  the  king  made  him  the  head 
of  his  realm,  both  in  matters  of  finance  and 
justice.  Oncein  this  position  Rannulf  turned 
his  hands  against  laymen  as  well  as  clergy, 
the  rich  and  the  poor  (FLORENCE  OF  WOR- 
CESTER, ii.  46). 

All  the  chroniclers  recognise  Rannulf  as 
the  mainspring  of  the  king's  iniquity  (WiL- 
LIAM  OF  MALMESBURY,  ii.  497,  619 ;  cf.  ORD. 
VIT.  iii.  311).  His  rule  was  one  of  violence 
and  legal  chicanery ;  in  those  days  '  almost 
all  justice  slept,  and  money  was  lord '  in  the 
great  man's  courts  (FLORENCE  OF  WORCESTER, 
x  46).  When  William  Rufus  laid  a  tax 
upon  the  land,  Rannulf  levied  it  at  twofold 
or  a  threefold  rate,  thus  winning  from  the 
dng  the  dubious  compliment  of  being  the 
only  man  who  would  rack  his  brains  without 
caring  about  other  men's  hatred  so  long  as 
he  pleased  his  lord  (WILLIAM  OF  MALMES- 
BURY, Gesta  Reg.  ii.  497 ;  cf.  Gesta  Pont. 
).  274).  So  great  was  the  terror  of  these 
days  that  there  went  abroad  a  rumour  that 
he  devil  had  shown  himself  in  the  woods 
o  many  Normans,  and  commented  on  the 


Flambard 


231 


Flambard 


doings  of  Rannulf  and  the  king  (FLORENCE 

OF  WORCESTER,  ii.  46). 

It  was  perhaps  towards  the  end  of  hi 
ministerial  career  that  Rannulf  was  entrappe/ 
by  a  pretended  message  from  his  old  patron, 
Maurice,  the  bishop  of  London,  on  board  a 
boat  belonging  to  a  certain  Gerold,  one  of 
Rannulf  s  own  vassals.  He  was  carried  off 
to  sea  in  a  larger  ship,  full  of  armed  men ; 
but,  after  three  days,  during  which  the  man- 
ner of  his  death  was  disputed,  he  obtained 
his  liberty  by  an  appeal  to  Gerold's  fealty  and 
the  promise  of  a  large  reward  to  the  pirates. 
Gerold  fled,  distrusting  his  lord's  word,  while 
Rannulf,  attended  by  a  great  train  of  knights, 
made  an  imposing  entry  into  London,  became 
a  greater  favourite  with  the  king  than  ever, 
and  was  not  entrapped  again  (Cont.  Hist. 
Dun.  Eccles.  i.  135-8). 

On  the  Whitsuntide  festival  of  1099 
(29  May)  William  Rufus  gave  him  the 
bishopric  of  Durham,  which  had  been  vacant 
since  about  New-year's  day  1096  (Anglo- 
Saxon  Chronicle,  ii.  203;  SIMEON  OF  DURHAM, 
Hist .  Dun.  JEccl.  i.  133-5 ;  HENRY  OF  HUNT- 
INGDON, p.  232  ;  FLORENCE  OF  WORCESTER, 
ii.  44).  A  week  later  (5  June)  Rannulf  was 
consecrated  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  byThomas, 
archbishop  of  York,  to  whom,  however,  he 
would  make  no  profession  of  obedience  (Cont. 
Hist.  Dun.  JEccles.  i.  138 ;  SIMEON  OF  DURHAM, 
Hist.  Reg.  ii.  230 ;  FLORENCE  OF  WORCESTER, 
ii.  44) .  A.  year  later  William  Rufus  was  slain 
(2  Aug.  1100),  and,  immediately  after  his  ac- 
cession, Henry  I  flung  Rannulf  into  the  Tower 
(15  Aug.)  (Cont.  Hist.  Dun.  Eccles.  i.  138  ; 
Anglo-Saxon  Chron.  ii.  204 ;  &c.),  partly,  as 
it  seems,  to  gratify  a  private  grudge  (ORB. 
VIT.  iv.  107). 

Anselm,  when  he  returned  to  England 
(23  Sept.  1100),  found  the  people  rejoicing 
over  Rannulf 's  captivity, '  as  if  over  that  of  a 
ravaging  lion.'  When  brought  up  before  the 
king's  curia '  pro  pecunia  .  .  .  male  retenta,' 
Rannulf  appealed  to  his '  brother  bishop,'  and 
Anselm  offered  to  help  him,  though  at  his 
own  risk,  if  he  could  clear  himself  of  simony. 
Rannulf  failed  to  do  this,  and  was  imprisoned 
in  the  Tower.  He  was  not  severely  treated, 
and  managed  to  escape  by  a  rope  conveyed  to 
him  in  a  wine-stoup,  after  having  intoxicated 
his  warders  at  a  banquet.  He  reached  the  sea- 
coast,  where  he  and  his  mother — according 
to  Orderic,  a  witch  who  had  lost  one  eye  in 
communications  with  devils — embarked  with 
all  their  treasure  in  two  different  ships.  The 
mother,  while  trying  to  subdue  a  storm  with 
Tier  incantations,  was  taken  by  pirates  and  put 
ashore  in  Normandy  l moaning  and  naked' 
(ORD.  VIT.  iv.  108-10;  cf.  WILLIAM  OF 
MALMESBURY,  ii.  620 ;  Anglo-Saxon  Chron. 


..  205 ;  HENRY  OF  HUNTINGDON,  p.  234 ; 
FLORENCE  OF  WORCESTER,  ii.  48).  Anselm, 
writing  to  Paschal  II  early  in  1101,  says 
that  the  bishop  has  escaped  into  Normandy, 
'  and,  joining  himself  with  the  king's  enemies, 
has  made  himself  "Lord  of  the  Pirates," 
whom,  as  is  said  for  a  certainty,  he  has  sent 
out  to  sea '  (ANSELM,  Epp.  1.  iv.  ep.  1 ;  cf. 
HERMANN  OF  LAON,  ii.  c.  6). 

Robert  of  Normandy  received  Rannulf 
eagerly,  and  made  him  ruler  of  Normandy 
(ORD.  VIT.  iv.  110, 116).  Rannulf  in  return 
urged  the  duke  to  invade  England  (FLORENCE 
OF  WORCESTER,  ii.  48 ;  WILLIAM  OF  MALMES- 
BURY, ii.  620;  ORD.  VIT.  iv.  107, 110;  Anglo- 
Saxon  Chron.  ii.  205).  When  the  fleets  of 
Robert  and  Henry  were  mustered,  Rannulf 
counselled  the  bribery  of  the  English  sailors 
(FLORENCE  OF  WORCESTER,  ii.  48).  After 
the  treaty  of  Winchester,  August-September 
1101  (Cont.  Hist.  Dun.  EcclesJ),  or  more  pro- 
bably after  Robert's  defeat  at  Tenchebrai 
(28  Sept.  1106),  Rannulf  obtained  the  king's 
favour.  He  sent  envoys  to  the  king,  who 
came  on  to  Lisieux,  where  the  bishop  received 
him  with  splendour.  There  Henry  pardoned 
Rannulf  s  offences,  and  restored  him  the  see 
of  Durham  (Anglo-Saxon  Chron.  ii.  205, 
208-9;  Cont.  Hist.  Dun.  Eccles.  i.  138-,  ORD. 
VIT.  iv.  273-4 ;  FLORENCE  OF  WORCESTER,  ii. 
49 ;  WILLIAM  OF  MALMESBURY,  p.  625). 

Rannulf  seems  to  have  been  a  fully  or- 
dained priest  by  the  time  Anselm  left  the 
kingdom  (c.  30  Oct.  1097)  (ANSELM,  Epp.  1. 
iv.  ep.  2)  ;  cf.  FLOR.  OF  WORC.  ii.  46),  for  the 
primate  speaks  of  him  as  being  '  professione 
sacerdos.'  A  somewhat  apocryphal  account 
shows  us  Rannulf,  probably  about  the  same 
date,  as  pulling  down  and  rebuilding  the  pri^ 
mitive  church  at  Twyneham  (Christchurch, 
Hampshire),  with  its  surrounding  canon's 
houses  (Reg.  de  Twinham,  ap.  DUGDALE,  vi. 
303).  After  the  peace  of  Winchester  Ran- 
nulf seems  to  have  returned  to  Normandy. 
Gilbert  Maminot,  the  aged  bishop  of  Lisieux, 
died  in  August  1101  (ORD.  VIT.  iv.  116),  and 
in  the  following  June  Rannulf  procured  the 
appointment  of  his  brother  Fulcher,  who, 
though  almost  an  illiterate  person,  held  the 
post  till  his  death  in  January  1102  or  1103 
(i&.)  Rannulf  then  persuaded  the  duke  to 
make  his  son  Thomas,  a  boy  of  some  twelve 
years  of  age,  his  successor,  on  the  condition 
that  should  Thomas  die  the  succession  was 
to  pass  to  Rannulf 's  second  son  (z£.)  During 
the  boyhood  of  these  two  children  Rannulf, 
seemingly  with  Henry's  consent,  ruled  the 
bishopric  for  three  years  '  non  ut  praesul  sed 
ut  preeses '  (ib. ;  cf.  Ivo  OF  CHARTRES,  Epp. 
153,  154, 157,  and  159).  At  last,  apparently 
on  his  final  restoration  to  Durham,  he  gave 


Flambard 


240 


Flambard 


up  all  claim  on  Lisieux  (ORD.  VIT.  iv.  274 ; 
cf.  pp.  116-17). 

Rannulf  was  at  times  in  England  during 
this  period,  and  was  at  Durham  when  the  relics 
of  St.  Cuthbert  and  Bede  were  translated 
(August  1104).  He  was  sceptical  as  to  the 
discovery  till  the  great  day  of  the  ceremony 
— perhaps  till  the  arrival  of  Alexander  of 
Scotland — when  he  preached  a  sermon  to  the 
people  (SiM.  OF  DURH.  Auct.  i.  252, 258, 260 ; 
cf.  SIM.  OF  DURH.  Hist.  Reg.  ii.  236 ;  FLO- 
RENCE OF  WORCESTER,  ii.  53).  He  took  part  in 
Anselm's  great  consecration  of  Roger  of  Salis- 
bury,  and  the  four  other  bishops  at  Canterbury 
(11  Aug.  1107)  (EADMER,  Hist.  Nov.  p.  187). 
Next  year  he  fruitlessly  proposed  to  conse- 
crate Thurgod  to  St.  Andrews  in  Scotland,  on 
the  plea  that  Thomas,  the  new  archbishop  of 
York,  could  not  legally  perform  the  ceremony 
(ib.  pp.  198-9).  At  the  council  of  Northamp- 
ton (1109)  Henry  confirmed  Rannulf  s  claims 
against  the  men  of  Northumberland  (Script. 
Tres,  App.  p.  xxxii).  Ten  years  later  Henry 
sent  him  to  the  council  of  Rheims  with  orders 
to  forbid  the  consecration  of  Thurstan  to  the 
archbishopric  of  York  (19  Oct.  1119) ;  but 
he  arrived  too  late  (ROGER  OF  HOVEDEN, 
i.  173-4).  In  1127  he  set  out  to  attend  the 
great  ecclesiastical  council  at  Westminster 
(13-16  May),  but  was  forced  to  turn  back 
through  sickness,  and  in  the  same  o"r  the 
next  year  assisted  his  suffragan  bishop  of  the 
Orkneys,  Radulph,  and  Archbishop  Thurstan 
in  consecrating  King  Alexander's  nominee  to 
St.  Andrews  (Cont.  of  FLOR.  OF  WORC.  ii. 
86, 89 ;  with  which  cf.  HENRY  OF  HUNTING- 
DON, p.  247). 

The  concluding  years  of  Rannulf  s  life  were 
spent  in  architectural  works.  He  completed 
to  the  very  roof  the  nave  of  the  cathedral, 
begun  by  his  predecessor,  William  of  St.  Ca- 
rilef  [q.  v.1  He  was  a  strenuous  defender  of 
the  liberties  of  his  see,  and  according  to 
Surtees  the  charter  is  still  extant  in  which 
Henry  confers  on  him  the  privileges  of  his 
county  palatine  (SURTEES,  i.  xx).  He  was 
never,  however,  able  to  recover  Carlisle  and 
Teviotdale,  which  had  been  severed  from  his 
see  in  the  days  of  his  exile ;  and  we  are  told 
that  King  Henry's  hatred  caused  William  II's 
charter  to  be  destroyed  (Cont.  Hist.  Dun. 
Eccles.  i.  139-40).  He  renewed  the  walls  of 
Durham,  and  guarded  against  a  fire  by  re- 
moving all  the  mean  dwellings  that  were 
huddled  between  the  cathedral  and  the  castle. 
He  threw  a  stone  bridge  across  the  Wear, 
and  founded  a  great  castle  (Norham)  on  the 
Tweed  to  guard  against  the  incursions  of  the 
Scotch.  His  restless  activity,  says  his  bio- 
grapher, was  impatient  of  ease,  and  he  'passed 
from  one  work  to  another,  reckoning  nothing 


finished  unless  he  had  some  new  project 
ready.'  Two  years  before  his  death  his  health 
began  to  fail.  As  the  dog-days  drew  on  he 
took  to  his  bed  (1128).  The  fearof  death  made 
him  distribute  his  money  to  the  poor,  and 
even  induced  him  to  pay  his  debts.  The  king, 
however,  reclaimed  all  this  wasted  money 
after  the  bishop's  decease.  A  month  before 
his  death  he  had  himself  borne  into  the  church, 
bemoaned  his  evil  doings,  placed  his  ring 
upon  the  altar  as  a  sign  of  restitution,  and 
even  attached  his  golden  ring  to  the  charter 
of  his  penitence  (ib.  pp.  139-41 ;  cf.  SURTEES, 
p.  xx,  note  9).  He  died  on  5  Sept.  1128 
(SIMEON  OF  DURHAM,  Hist.  Reg.  ii.  283 ;  cf. 
FLORENCE  OF  WORCESTER,  ii.  91 ;  Anglo- 
Saxon  Chron.  ii.  225). 

In  earlier  life  Rannulf  was  of  a  comely 
figure  (ORD.  VIT.  iii.  310)  ;  but  in  later  years 
he  became  full-bodied,  and  Orderic  gives  a 
curious  account  of  the  difficulties  he  had  in 
escaping  from  the  Tower  (iv.  109).  He  was 
generous  to  the  poor  (  Cont.  Hist.  Dun.  Eccles. 
i.  140),  and  munificent  to  his  own  friends 
(ORD.  VIT.  iii.  310 ;  cf.  Cont.  Hist.  Dun.  Eccles. 
i.  135-40).  Besides  the  Thomas  mentioned 
above  Rannulf  had  at  least  two  other  chil- 
dren :  Elias,  a  prebendary  of  Lincoln  Cathe- 
dral, and  Radnulf,  the  patron  of  St.  Godric 
(DUGDALE,  vi.  1273 ;  Vita  Sti  Godrici,  c.  xx.), 
in  whom  Rannulf  himself  took  an  interest. 
Foss  adds  a  brother,  Geoffrey, l  whose  daugh- 
ter is  mentioned  in  the  Great  Roll  of  Henry  I ' 
(Foss,  i.  66  ;  but  cf.  Pipe  Roll,  p.  79,  where 
the  entry  is  merely '  Fratris  episcopi ').  Ran- 
nulf's  charters  are  sometimes  signed  by  his 
nephews,  Osbern  (to  whom  he  gave  Bishop 
Middleton  manors)  and  '  Raulf,'  or  Rannulf. 
For  his  other  nephews,  &c.,  see  Surtees,  p. 
xx  and  App.  pp.  cxxv-vi. 

Both  Dr.  Stubbs  and  Mr.  Freeman  con- 
sider Rannulf  to  have  introduced  into  Eng- 
land the  most  oppressive  forms  of  military 
tenure ;  and  he  is  *  distinctly  charged  with 
being  the  author  of  certain  new  and  evil 
customs  with  regard  to  spiritual  holdings' 
(FREEMAN,  v.  377-8).  Under  William  I,  on 
a  prelate's  death,  his  immediate  ecclesiastical 
superior,  whether  bishop  or  archbishop,  be- 
came guardian  of  the  ecclesiastical  estates. 
But  under  Rannulf 's  rule  the  king  claimed 
the  wardship,  and  kept  office  vacant  until  he 
had  sold  it  for  money  (ORD.  VIT.  iii.  313). 
Thus  under  Rannulf 's  influence  the  theory 
arose  that  all  land  on  its  owner's  death  lapsed 
back  to  the  supreme  landowner,  the  king, 
and  had  to  be  '  redeemed'  by  the  next  heir  ; 
the  old  English  heriot  was  transformed  into 
the  l  relief ; '  and  there  came  into  prominence 
those  almost  equally  annoying  feudal  inci- 
dents as  to  marriage,  wardship,  and  right  of 


Flammock 


241 


Flamsteed 


testament  which  Henry  I  had  to  promise  to 
reform  in  his  charter.  These  had  existed  in 
embryo  under  William  the  Conqueror,  or 
even  earlier ;  but  during  Rannulfs  rule  they 
stiffened  into  abuses,  and  in  this  respect 
his  influence  was  permanent ;  for  Henry  I 
did  not  abolish  the  new  customs,  he  only 
amended  them  (FREEMAN,  Norman  Conquest, 
v.  374,  &c.,  and  William  Rufus,  p.  4).  Con- 
stitutionally speaking,  the  days  of  Rannulf  s 
power  mark  the  time  when  the  definite  office 
(of  the  justiciarship)  seems  first  to  stand  out 
distinctly  (Norman  Conquest,  v.  2031). 

[Orderic  Vitalis,  ed.  Le  Prevost  (Soc.  del'Hist. 
de  France),  5  vols.  The  chief  passages  relating 
to  Flambard  are  1.  viii.  c.  8,  x.  c.  18,  xi.  c.  31  ; 
Florence  of  Worcester,  ed.  Thorpe  (Engl.  Hist. 
Soc.);  William  of  Malmesbury,  Gresta  Regum 
Angl.  ed.  Hardy  (Engl.  Hist.  Soc.),  paragraphs 
314,  394,  and  Gesta  Pontificum,  ed.  Stubbs 
(Rolls  Ser.) ;  Simeon  of  Durham  and  his  con- 
tinuators  (ed.  Arnold) ;  Historia  Dunelmensis 
Ecclesiae,  &c.,  vol.  i.;  Historia  Regum,  &c.,  vol.  ii. 
(Rolls  Ser.) ;  Eadmer,  Historia  Novorum,  ed.  Rule 
(Rolls  Ser.)  ;  Letters  of  Anselm,  ap.  Migne's 
Cursus  Theologies,  vol.  clix.  coll.  201-2;  Letters 
of  Ivo,  bishop  of  Chartres,  ap.  Migne,  vol.  clxii. 
coll.  162,  &c. ;  Henry  of  Huntingdon,  ed.  Arnold 
(Rolls  Ser.);  Roger  of  Hoveden,ed.  Stubbs  (Rolls 
Ser.) ;  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle,  ed.  Thorpe,  vol.  i. 
text,  vol.  ii.  translation  (Rolls  Ser.);  Histori<e 
Dunelmensis  Scriptores  Tres,  ed.  Raine  (Surtees 
Soc.  8  39);  Domesday  Book,  vol.  i.(ed.  1783);  Dug- 
dale's  Monasticon,  ed.  1817-30;  Foss's  Judges  ; 
Campbell's  Lives  of  the  Chancellors  (1848); 
Hardy's  List  of  Chancellors,  &c. ;  Domesday 
•Studies,  vol.  i.  (1888);  Stubbs's  Constitutional 
History,  vol.  i.;  Freeman's  Norman  Conquest, 
vols.  iv.  v. ;  William  Rufus,  vols.  i.  ii. ;  Surtees's 
Durham,  vol.  i. ;  Vita  G-odrici,  ed.  Raine.] 

T.  A.  A. 

FLAMMOCK,  THOMAS  (d.1497),  rebel, 
usually  described  as  a  lawyer  and  attorney 
of  Bodmin,  was  eldest  son  of  Richard  Flamank 
or  Flammock  of  Boscarne,  by  Johanna  or  Jane, 
daughter  of  Thomas  Lucombe  of  Bodmin  (cf. 
Visitation  of  Cornwall,  1620,  Harl.  Soc.  71). 
The  family  is  of  great  antiquity  at  Bodmin, 
taving  held  the  manor  of  Nanstallan  in  un- 
interrupted succession  from  the  fourteenth  to 
the  present  century  (1817).  In  early  times 
the  name  appeared  as  Flandrensis,  Flemang, 
Flammank,  and  in  other  forms  (MACLEAN). 
Thomas  Flammock  was  the  chief  instigator 
of  the  Cornish  rebellion  of  1487.  At  the  time 
Henry  VII  was  attempting  to  collect  a  subsidy 
In  Cornwall  for  the  despatch  of  an  army  to 
Scotland  to  punish  James  IV  for  supporting 
Perkin  Warbeck.  Flammock  argued  that  it 
was  the  business  of  the  barons  of  the  north, 
and  of  no  other  of  the  king's  subjects,  to  de- 
fend the  Scottish  border,  and  that  the  tax  was 

VOL.  XIX. 


illegal.  Working  with  another  popular  agi- 
tator and  fellow-townsman,  Michael  Joseph, 
a  blacksmith,  he  suggested  that  the  Cornish- 
men  should  march  on  London  and  present 
a  petition  to  the  king  setting  forth  their 
grievances,  and  urging  the  punishment  of 
Archbishop  Morton  and  Sir  Reginald  Bray, 
and  other  advisers  of  the  king  who  were  held 
responsible  for  his  action.  Flammock  and 
Joseph  modestly  consented  to  lead  the  throng 
until  more  eminent  men  took  their  place. 
Rudely  armed  with  bills  and  bows  and  arrows, 
a  vast  mob  followed  Flammock  to  Taunton, 
where  they  made  their  first  display  of  violence 
and  slew  l  the  provost  of  Perin/  i.e.  Penryn, 
At  Wells,  James,  lord  Audley  [see  TTJCHET, 
JAMES]  ,j  oined  them  and  undertook  the  leader- 
ship. They  marched  thence  by  way  of  Salis- 
bury and  Winchester  to  Blackheath.  London 
was  panic-stricken ;  but  the  rebels  had  grown 
disheartened  by  the  want  of  sympathy  shown 
them  in  their  long  march.  Giles,  lord  Dau- 
beney,  was  directed  to  take  the  field  with  the 
forces  which  had  been  summoned  for  service 
in  Scotland.  On  Saturday,  22  June  1497, 
Daubeney  opened  battle  at  Deptford  Sffand. 
At  the  first  onset  he  was  taken  prisoner,  but 
he  was  soon  released,  and  the  enemy,  who 
had  expected  to  be  attacked  on  the  Monday, 
and  were  thus  taken  by  surprise,  were  soon 
thoroughly  routed.  Each  side  is  said  to  have 
lost  three  hundred  men,  and  fifteen  hundred 
Cornishmen  were  taken  prisoners.  Audley, 
Flammock,  and  Joseph  were  among  the  latter. 
Audley  was  beheaded  at  Tower  Hill.  Flam- 
mock  and  Joseph  were  drawn,  hanged,  and 
quartered  at  Tyburn  (24  June),  and  their 
limbs  exhibited  in  various  parts  of  the  city. 
Most  of  their  followers  were  pardoned.  Flam- 
mock  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John 
Trelawny  of  Menwynick,  and  had  a  daughter 
Joanna,  wife  of  Peter  Fauntleroy. 

[Bacon's  Hist,  of  Henry  VII ;  Thomas  Grains- 
ford's  Hist,  of  Perkin  Warbeck,  1618,  in  Harl. 
Miscellany,  1810,  xi.  422-7  ;  Stow's  Annals,  s.  a. 
1497;  Boase  and  Courtney's Bibl.  Cornub.  p.  1 1 81 ; 
Maclean's  Trigg  Minor,  i.  44,  279-84,  ii.  518 ; 
Polwhele's  Hist,  of  Cornwall,  iv.  53-4 ;  Hals's 
Hist,  of  Cornwall,  p.  24.]  S.  L.  L. 

FLAMSTEED,  JOHN  (1646-1719),  the 
first  astronomer  royal,  born  at  Denby,  five 
miles  from  Derby,  19  Aug.  1646,  was  the 
only  son  of  Stephen  Flamsteed,  a  maltster  ; 
his  mother,  Mary,  daughter  of  John  Spate- 
man,  an  ironmonger  in  Derby,  died  when  he 
was  three  years  old.  He  was  educated  at 
the  free  school  of  Derby,  where  his  father 
resided.  A  cold  caught  in  the  summer  of  1660 
while  bathing  produced  a  rheumatic  affec- 
tion of  the  joints,  accompanied  by  other  ail- 
ments. He  became  unable  to  walk  to  school, 

R 


Flamsteed 


242 


Flamsteed 


and  finally  left  it  in  May  1662.  His  self- 
training  now  began,  and  it  was  directed  to- 
wards astronomy  by  the  opportune  loan  of 
Sacrobosco's  '  De  Sphsera/  In  the  intervals 
of  prostrating  illness  he  also  read  Fale's  '  Art 
of  Dialling/  Stirrup's  '  Complete  Diallist,' 
Gunter's '  Sector '  and '  Canon/  and  Oughtred's 
'  Canones  Sinuum.'  He  observed  the  partial 
solar  eclipse  of  12  Sept.  1662,  constructed  a 
rude  quadrant,  and  calculated  a  table  of  the 
sun's  altitudes,  pursuing  his  studies,  as  he 
said  himself,  '  under  the  discouragement  of 
friends,  the  want  of  health,  and  all  other 
instructors  except  his  better  genius.'  Medi- 
cal treatment,  meantime,  as  varied  as  it  was 
fruitless,  was  procured  for  him  by  his  father. 
In  the  spring  of  1664  he  was  sent  to  one 
Cromwell,  '  cried  up  for  cures  by  the  noncon- 
formist party ; '  in  1665  he  travelled  to  Ire- 
land to  be  'stroked'  by  Valentine  Greatrakes 
[q.  v.]  A  detailed  account  of  the  journey 
was  found  among  his  papers.  He  left  Derby 
16  Aug.,  borrowed  a  horse  in  Dublin,  which 
carried  him  by  easy  stages  to  Cappoquin,  and 


was  operated  upon  11  Sept.,  '  but  found  not 
his  disease  to  stir.'  His  faith  in  the  super- 
natural gifts  of  the  '  stroker/  however,  sur- 
vived the  disappointment,  and  he  tried  again 
at  Worcester  in  the  February  following,  with 
the  same  negative  result,  'though  several 
there  were  cured.' 

His  talents  gradually  brought  him  into 
notice.  Among  his  patrons  was  Imanuel 
Halton  of  Wingfield  Manor,  who  lent  him 
the  '  Rudolphine  Tables/  Riccioli's  '  Alma- 
gest/ and  other  mathematical  books.  For 
his  friend,  William  Litchford,  Flamsteed 
wrote,  in  August  1666,  a  paper  on  the  con- 
struction and  use  of  the  quadrant,  and  in 
1667  explained  the  causes  of,  and  gave  the 
first  rules  for,  the  equation  of  time  in  a  tract, 
the  publication  of  which  in  1673,  with  Hor- 
rocks's  'Posthumous  Works,'  closed  contro- 
versy on  the  subject.  His  first  printed  obser- 
vation was  of  the  solar  eclipse  of  25  Oct.  1668, 
which  afforded  him  the  discovery  '  that  the 
tables  differed  very  much  from  the  heavens.' 
Their  rectification  formed  thenceforth  the 
chief  object  of  his  labours. 

Some  calculations  of  appulses  of  the  moon 
to  fixed  stars,  which  he  forwarded  to  the 
Royal  Society  late  in  1669  under  the  signa- 
ture '  In  Mathesi  a  sole  fundes  '  (an  anagram 
of  '  Johannes  Flamsteedius '),  were  inserted 
in  the  'Philosophical  Transactions'  (iv.  1099), 
and  procured  him  a  letter  of  thanks  from 
Oldenburg  and  a  correspondence  during  five 
years  with  John  Collins  (1625-1683)  [q.  v.] 

About  Easter  1670  he  '  made  a  voyage  to 
see  London  ;  visited  Mr.  Oldenburg  and  Mr. 
Collins,  and  was  by  the  last  carried  to  see 


the  Tower  and  Sir  Jonas  Moore  '  (master  of 
the  ordnance),  '  who  presented  me  with  Mr. 
Townley's  micrometer  and  undertook  to  pro- 
cure me  glasses  for  a  telescope  to  fit  it.' 

On  his  return  from  London  he  made  ac- 
quaintance with  Newton  and  Barrow  at  Cam- 
bridge, and  entered  his  name  at  Jesus  College. 
His  systematic  observations  commenced  in 
October  1671,  and  '  by  the  assistance  of  Mr. 
Townley's  curious  mensurator'  they  'attained 
to  the  preciseness  of  5".'  '  I  had  no  pendu- 
lum movement/  he  adds, '  to  measure  time 
with,  they  being  not  common  in  the  country 
at  that  time.  But  I  took  the  heights  of  the 
stars  for  finding  the  true  time  of  my  obser- 
vations by  a  wood  quadrant  about  eighteen 
inches  radius  fixed  to  the  side  of  my  seven- 
foot  telescope,  which  I  found  performed  well 
enough  for  my  purpose.'  This  was  by  neces- 
sity limited  to  such  determinations  as  needed 
no  great  accuracy  in  time,  such  as  of  the 
lunar  and  planetary  diameters,  and  of  the 
elongations  of  Jupiter's  satellites.  He  soon 
discovered  that  the  varying  dimensions  of  the 
moon  contradicted  all  theories  of  her  motion 
save  that  of  Horrocks,  lately  communicated 
to  him  by  Townley,  and  its  superiority  was 
confirmed  by  an  occultation  of  the  Pleiades 
on  6  Nov.  1671.  He  accordingly  undertook 
to  render  it  practically  available,  fitting  it 
for  publication  in  1673,  at  the  joint  request 
of  Newton  and  Oldenburg,  by  the  addition 
of  numerical  elements  and  a  more  detailed 
explanation  (HoRROCCii  Op.  Posth.  p.  467). 
An  improved  edition  of  these  tables  was 
appended  to  Flamsteed's  '  Doctrine  of  the 
Sphere/  included  in  Sir  Jonas  Moore's  '  New 
System  of  the  Mathematicks '  (vol.  i.  1680). 

A  '  monitum '  of  a  favourable  opposition  of 
Mars  in  September  1672  was  presented  by 
him  both  to  the  Paris  Academy  of  Sciences 
and  to  the  Royal  Society,  and  he  deduced 
from  his  own  observations  of  it  at  Townley 
in  Lancashire  a  solar  parallax  '  not  above 
10",  corresponding  to  a  distance  of,  at  most, 
21,000  terrestrial  radii'  (Phil  Trans,  viii. 
6100).  His  tract  on  the  real  and  apparent 
diameters  of  the  planets,  written  in  1673, 
furnished  Newton  with  the  data  on  the  sub- 
ject, employed  in  the  third  book  of  the  '  Prin- 
cipia ; '  yet  the  oblateness  of  Jupiter's  figure 
was,  strange  to  say,  first  pointed  out  to 
Flamsteed  by  Cassini. 

At  Cambridge  on  5  June  1674,  he  took  a 
degree  of  M. A.  per  literas  regias,  designing 
to  take  orders  and  settle  in  a  small  living 
near  Derby,  which  was  in  the  gift  of  a  friend 
of  his  father's.  He  was  in  London  as  a  guest 
of  Sir  Jonas  Moore's  at  the  Tower  13  July 
to  17  Aug.,  and  by  his  advice  compiled  a 
table  of  the  tides  for  the  king's  use ;  and  the 


Flamsteed 


243 


Flamsteed 


king  and  the  Duke  of  York  were  each  sup- 
plied with  a  barometer  and  thermometer 
made  from  his  models,  besides  a  copy  of  his 
rules  for  forecasting  the  weather  by  their 
means.  Early  in  1675  Moore  again  sum- 
moned him  from  Derby  for  the  purpose  of 
consulting  him  about  the  establishment  of  a 
private  observatory  at  Chelsea  to  be  placed 
under  his  direction. 

A  certain  '  bold  and  indigent  Frenchman/ 
calling  himself  the  Sieur  de  St.  Pierre,  pro- 
posed at  this  juncture  a  scheme  for  finding 
the  longitude  at  sea,  and  through  the  patron- 
age of  the  Duchess  of  Portsmouth  obtained  a 
royal  commission  for  its  examination.  Flam- 
steed  was,  by  Sir  Jonas  Moore's  interest, 
nominated  a  member,  and  easily  showed  the 
Frenchman's  plan  to  be  futile  without  a  far 
more  accurate  knowledge  of  the  places  of  the 
fixed  stars,  and  of  the  moon's  course  among 
them,  than  was  then  possessed.  Charles  II 
thereupon  exclaimed  with  vehemence  that 
'  he  must  have  them  anew  observed,  examined, 
and  corrected  for  the  use  of  his  seamen.' 
Flamsteed  was  accordingly  appointed  'astro- 
nomical observator '  by  a  royal  warrant  dated 
4  March  1675,  directing  him  '  forthwith  to 
apply  himself  with  the  most  exact  care  and 
diligence  to  the  rectifying  the  tables  of  the 
motions  of  the  heavens,  and  the  places  of  the 
fixed  stars,  so  as  to  find  out  the  so  much  de- 
sired longitude  of  places  for  the  perfecting  the 
art  of  navigation.'  A  site  in  Greenwich  Park 
was  chosen  for  the  new  observatory  by  Sir 
Christopher  Wren,  and  the  building  was  has- 
tily run  up  from  his  design  at  a  cost  of  520/., 
realised  by  the  sale  of  spoilt  gunpowder. 

Flamsteed  was  ordained  by  Bishop  Gunning 
at  Ely  House  at  Easter  1675,  and  continued 
to  observe  at  the  Tower  and  afterwards  at 
the  queen's  house  in  Greenwich  Park,  until 
10  July  1676,  when  he  removed  to  the  Royal 
Observatory.  He  found  it  destitute  of  any 
instrument  provided  by  the  government ;  but 
Sir  Jonas  Moore  gave  him  an  iron  sextant  of 
seven  feet  radius,  with  two  clocks  by  Tom- 
pion,  and  he  brought  from  Derby  a  three-foot 
quadrant  and  two  telescopes.  His  salary  was 
100£  a  year,  cut  down  by  taxation  to  90/., 
and  for  this  pittance  he  was  expected,  not 
only  to  reform  astronomy,  but  to  instruct 
two  boys  from  Christ's  Hospital.  His  official 
assistant  was  a  '  surly,  silly  labourer,'  avail- 
able for  moving  the  sextant ;  and  his  large 
outlay  in  procuring  skilled  aid  and  improved 
instruments  obliged  him  to  take  private 
pupils,  numbering,  between  1676  and  1709, 
about  140,  many  of  them  of  the  highest  rank. 
Under  these  multiplied  disadvantages,  and 
in  spite  of  continued  ill-health,  he  achieved 
amazing  results.  The  whole  of  the  theories 


and  tables  of  the  heavenly  bodies  then  in  use 
were  visibly  and  widely  erroneous.  Flam- 
steed  undertook  the  herculean  task  of  revising 
them  single-handed.  '  My  chief  design,'  he 
wrote  to  Dr.  Seth  Ward  on  31  Jan.  1680, 
'  is  to  rectify  the  places  of  the  fixed  stars, 
and,  of  them,  chiefly  those  near  the  ecliptic 
and  in  the  moon's  way '  (BAILY,  Flamsteed, 
p.  119).  His  first  observation  for  the  pur- 
pose was  made  on  19  Sept.  1676,  and  he  had 
executed  some  twenty  thousand  by  1689. 
But  they  were  made  in  the  old  way,  by 
measuring  intermutual  distances,  and  gave 
only  the  relative  places  of  the  stars.  He 
had  as  yet  no  instrument  fit  to  determine  the 
position  of  the  equinox,  but  was  compelled 
to  take  it  on  trust  from  Tycho  Brahe.  A  small 
quadrant,  lent  to  him  by  the  Royal  Society, 
was  withdrawn  after  Sir  Jonas  Moore's  death 
on  27  Aug.  1679,  with  which  event,  he  re- 
marks, '  fell  all  my  hopes  of  having  any  al- 
lowance of  expenses  for  making  such  instru- 
ments as  I  still  wanted.'  After  some  fruitless 
applications  to  government,  he  resolved  to 
construct  at  his  own  cost  a  mural  quadrant 
of  fifty  inches  radius,  which  he  himself  set 
up  and  divided  in  1683.  With  its  aid  he 
took  the  meridional  altitudes  of  a  number  of 
stars  with  an  estimated  error  of  half  a  minute, 
and  formed  a  rough  working  catalogue  of 
some  of  the  principal.  But  the  quadrant 
proved  too  slight  for  stability,  and  the  old 
sextant  was  after  a  time  again  resorted  to. 

In  1684  Flamsteed  was  presented  by  Lord 
North  to  the  living  of  Burstow  in  Surrey, 
and  his  circumstances  were  further  improved 
by  his  father's  death  in  1688.  With  the  aid 
of  Abraham  Sharp  [q.  v.]  he  was  thus  enabled 
to  undertake  the  construction  of  the  mural  arc 
with  which  all  his  most  valuable  work  was 
executed.  Its  completion  marked  a  great 
advance  in  the  art  of  mathematical  instru- 
ment making.  The  limb,  firmly  fixed  in  the 
meridian,  was  of  140°,  and  was  divided  with 
hitherto  unapproached  accuracy  ;  the  radius 
was  of  seven  feet.  Observations  with  it  were 
begun  on  12  Sept.  1689.  'From  this  mo- 
ment,' Baily  writes  (Flamsteed,  p.  xxix), 
1  everything  which  Flamsteed  did  .  .  .  was 
available  to  some  useful  purpose,  his  pre- 
ceding observations  being  only  subsidiary, 
and  dependent  on  results  to  be  afterwards 
deduced  from  some  fixed  instrument  of  this 
kind.'  His  first  concern  was  to  determine 
the  latitude  of  the  observatory,  the  obli- 
quity of  the  ecliptic,  and  the  position  of  the 
equinox ;  and  the  method  employed  for  this 
last  object,  by  which  he  ascertained  abso- 
lute right  ascensions  through  simultaneous 
observations  of  the  sun  and  a  star  near  both 
equinoxes,  was  original,  and  may  be  called 

E  2 


Flamsteed 


244 


Flamsteed 


the  basis  of  modern  astronomy.  He  deter- 
mined in  this  way  in  1690  the  right  ascen- 
sions of  forty  stars  to  serve  as  points  of  refer- 
ence for  the  rest.  The  construction  of  a  cata- 
logue, more  accurate  and  extensive  than  any 
yet  existing,  was  his  primary  purpose  ;  but 
he  continued,  as  he  advanced  with  it,  to  com- 
pute the  errors  and  correct  the  tables  of  the 
sun,  moon,  and  planets. 

Flamsteed  was  elected  into  the  Koyal  So- 
ciety on  8  Feb.  1677  ;  he  sat  on  the  council 
1681-4,  and  again  1698-1700.  But  some 
years  later  he  allowed  his  subscription  to 
drop,  and  his  name  was,  on  9  Nov.  1709, 
erased  from  the  list  of  fellows.  In  Decem- 
ber 1677  Dr.  Bernard  offered  to  resign  the 
Savilian  professorship  of  astronomy  in  his 
favour ;  but  the  project  was  soon  found  to 
be  hopeless,  owing  to  Flamsteed's  not  being 
a  graduate  of  Oxford. 

His  observations  on  the  great  comet,  ex- 
tending from  22  Dec.  1680  to  15  Feb.  1681, 
were  transmitted  to  Newton,  and  turned  to 
account  in  the  '  Principia.'  He  firmly  held 
that  they  referred  to  the  body  already  seen 
in  November,  which  reappeared  after  passing 
the  sun ;  while  Newton  believed  that  there 
were  two  comets,  and  only  acknowledged 
his  error  in  September  1685.  His  letter  on 
the  subject,  however,  shows  no  trace  of  the 
' magisterial  ridicule'  which  Flamsteed,  in 
his  subsequent  ill-humour,  declared  had  been 
thrown  upon  his  opinion. 

In  a  letter  dated  10  Aug.  1691  Newton 
advised  Flamsteed  to  print  at  once  a  pre- 
liminary catalogue  of  a  few  leading  stars. 
But  Flamsteed  had  large  schemes  in  view 
which  he  could  not  bear  to  anticipate  by  par- 
tial publication,  and  importunities  irritated 
without  persuading  him.  Hence  he  drifted 
into  a  position  of  antagonism  to  his  scien- 
tific contemporaries,  which  his  infirmities  of 
temper  deplorably  aggravated. 

He  attributed  Newton's  suggestion  to  the 
inimical  influence  of  Halley  [q.  v.],  of  whom, 
in  his  reply,  he  spoke  in  rancorous  terms. 
He  never,  it  would  seem,  forgave  him  for  in- 
dicating, in  1686,  a  mistake  in  his  tide-tables 
(Phil.  Trans,  xvi.  192),  and  certainly  did 
what  he  could  to  frustrate  his  hopes  of  the 
Savilian  professorship  in  1691.  He  disliked 
him  besides  for  his  '  bantering '  manner,  and 
rejected  all  efforts  towards  reconciliation. 

Newton's  resumption  of  his  toil  upon  the 
lunar  theory  brought  him  into  constant  in- 
tercourse with  the  astronomer  royal.  '  Sir 
Isaac,'  Flamsteed  said  afterwards,  l  worked 
with  the  ore  he  had  dug.'  *  If  he  dug  the 
ore,'  Sir  Isaac  replied,  'I  made  the  gold  ring' 
(BREWSTER,  Memoirs  of  Newton,  ii.  178). 

On  1  Sept.  1694  Newton  visited  the  Royal 


Observatory,  and  Flamsteed,  '  esteeming  him 
to  be  an  obliged  friend/  explained  the  pro- 
gress of  his  work,  and  gave  him  a  hundred 
and  fifty  observed  places  of  the  moon  with 
their  tabular  errors,  for  his  private  use  in 
correcting  the  theory  of  her  motions.  He 
stipulated,  however,  that  they  should  be  im- 
parted to  no  one  else  without  his  consent. 
Similar  communications  were  repeated  at  in- 
tervals during  sixteen  months,  not  without 
chafings  of  spirit  on  both  sides.  Flamsteed 
was  often  ill,  and  always  overworked;  New- 
ton was  in  consequence  frequently  kept  wait- 
ing. There  is  evidence  that  he  was  occa- 
sionally kept  waiting  of  set  purpose ;  and  his 
petulant  letter  of  9  July  1695  is  largely  ex- 
cused by  Flamsteed's  admission  that  '  I  did 
not  think  myself  obliged  to  employ  my  pains 
to  serve  a  person  that  was  so  inconsiderate 
as  to  presume  he  had  a  right  to  that  which 
was  only  a  courtesy.  And  I  therefore  went 
on  with  my  business  of  the  fixed  stars,  leaving 
Mr.  Newton  to  examine  the  lunar  observa- 
tions over  again'  (BAILY,  Flamsteed,  p.  63). 
An  offer  of  a  pecuniary  recompense  for  his 
communications  was  rejected  with  justifiable 
warmth ;  yet  the  consequence  of  their  grudg- 
ing bestowal  probably  was  that  Newton  de- 
sisted in  disgust  from  his  efforts  to  complete 
the  lunar  theory  (EDLESTON,  Correspondence 
of  Newton  and  Cotes,  p.  Ixiv). 

Flamsteed  occasionally  visited  Newton  in 
Jermyn  Street  after  his  appointment  as  war- 
den of  the  mint,  and  found  him  civil,  though 
less  friendly  than  formerly.  He,  however, 
came  to  Greenwich  on  4  Dec.  1698,  and  took 
away  twelve  lunar  places. 

In  January  1694,  on  tabulating  his  obser- 
vations of  the  pole-star,  Flamsteed  was  sur- 
prised to  find  its  polar  distance  always  greater 
in  July  than  in  December.  '  This  is  the  first 
time,  I  am  apt  to  think,'  he  wrote,  'that  any 
real  parallax  hath  been  observed  in  the  fixed 
stars.'  The  apparent  displacements  noted 
by  him  were,  in  fact,  caused  by  the  aberra- 
tion of  light,  the  value  of  which  his  observa- 
tions, discussed  by  Peters,  gave,  with  a  close 
approach  to  accuracy,  as  =20". 676  (GRANT, 
Hist,  of  Astron.  p.  477).  He  might  easily 
have  perceived  that  they  were  of  a  different 
character  from  any  attributable  to  annual 
parallax,  as  J.  J.  Cassini  at  once  pointed  out 
(Mem.  de  VAc.  des  Sciences,  1699,  p.  177). 
Flamsteed's  *  Letter  to  Dr.  Wallis  on  the 
Parallax  of  the  Earth's  Annual  Orb  '  was 
published,  turned  into  Latin,  in  Wallis's 
*  Opera  Mathematica  '  (iii.  701, 1699).  It  con- 
tained a  paragraph,  inserted  for  the  purpose 
of  refuting  the  charge  of  uncommunicative- 
ness  current  against  him,  referring  to  the  lunar 
data  imparted  to  Newton.  Newton  obtained 


Flamsteed 


245 


Flamsteed 


the  suppression  of  the  statement ;  but  Flam- 
steed's  feelings  towards  him  were  thenceforth 
of  unmitigated  bitterness. 

Newton  nevertheless  dined  at  the  Koyal 
Observatory  on  11  April  1704.  The  real 
object  of  the  visit  was  to  ascertain  the  state 
of  the  catalogue,  which  Flamsteed,  '  to  obvi- 
ate clamour,'  had  announced  to  be  sufficiently 
forward  for  printing.  It  was  about  half 
finished,  and  Newton  offered  to  recommend 
its  publication  to  Prince  George  of  Denmark. 
The  astronomer  royal  '  civilly  refused '  the 
proposal.  '  Plainly,'  he  added,  '  his  design 
was  to  get  the  honour  of  all  my  pains  to 
himself.' 

Yet  the  suggested  plan  was  carried  out. 
A  committee  of  the  Royal  Society,  including 
Newton,  Wren,  Arbuthnot,  and  Gregory,  was 
appointed  by  the  prince,  and  on  23  Jan.  1705 
reported  in  favour  of  publication.  The  prince 
undertook  the  expense ;  arrangements  were 
made  for  printing  the  catalogue  and  obser- 
vations, and  articles  between  Flamsteed,  the 
1  referees ;  (as  the  members  of  the  committee 
were  called),  and  the  printers  were  signed 
on  10  Nov.  1705. 

A  prolonged  wrangle  ensued.  Each  party 
accused  the  other  of  wilfully  delaying  the 
press,  and  a  deadlock  of  many  months  was  no 
unfrequent  result  of  the  contentions.  Flam- 
steed  gave  free  vent  to  his  exasperation.  His 
observations  were  made  with  his  own  instru- 
ments, and  computed  by  his  paid  servants. 
He  understood  better  than  any  man  living 
how  such  a  series  ought  to  be  presented,  and 
naturally  thought  it  a  gross  hardship  to  be 
placed  at  the  mercy  of  a  committee  adverse 
to  all  his  views. 

There  were  discreditable  suspicions  on  both 
sides.  ( I  fear,'  Flamsteed  wrote  to  Sharp  on 
28  Nov.  1705,  '  Sir  Isaac  will  still  find  ways 
to  obstruct  the  publication  of  a  work  which 
perhaps  he  thinks  may  make  him  appear  less. 
I  have  some  reason  to  think  he  thrust  him- 
self into  my  affairs  purposely  to  obstruct 
them.'  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  resolved 
at  a  meeting  of  the  referees  on  13  July  1708 
*  that  the  press  shall  go  on  without  further 
delay,'  and  '  that  if  Mr.  Flamsteed  do  not 
take  care  that  the  proofs  be  well  corrected 
and  go  on  with  dispatch,  another  corrector 
be  employed.' 

By  Christmas  1707  the  first  volume,  con- 
taining only  the  observations  made  with  the 
sextant,  1676-89,  was  at  last  printed  off,  but 
as  to  the  arrangement  of  the  second  there 
was  total  disagreement.  While  it  was  at  its 
height  the  prince  died,  on  28  Oct.  1708,  and 
the  publication  was  suspended.  Not  ill- 
pleased,  Flamsteed  resumed  his  work  with 
the  catalogue.  A  board  of  visitors  to  the 


observatory,  consisting  of  the  president  (New- 
ton) and  other  members  of  the  Royal  Society, 
appointed  by  a  royal  order,  dated  12  Dec. 
1710, was,  however,  empowered  both  to  super- 
intend the  publication  and  to  take  cognisance 
of  official  misconduct  on  the  part  of  the  as- 
tronomer-royal. Flamsteed's  indignant  pro- 
test elicited  from  Mr.  Secretary  St.  John 
only  the  haughty  reply  that '  the  queen  would 
be  obeyed.' 

The  visitors  resumed  without  Flamsteed's 
knowledge  the  suspended  printing  of  his  cata- 
logue. Two  imperfect  copies,  comprising 
about  three-fourths  of  the  whole,  had  been 
deposited  with  the  referees  on  15  March  1706, 
and  20  March  1708,  respectively.  The  first 
only  was  sealed,  and  Flamsteed  raised  a  need- 
less clamour  about  Newton's  '  treachery '  in 
opening  it.  The  truth  seems  to  be  that  the 
act  complained  of  under  the  influence  of  sub- 
sequent wrath  was  accomplished,  with  Flam- 
steed's  concurrence,  as  early  as  1708.  On 
2  March  1711  he  was  applied  to  by  Arbuthnot 
to  complete  the  catalogue  from  his  later  ob- 
servations, and  at  first  appeared  disposed  to 
temporise :  but  on  learning  that  Halley  was 
the  editor  he  kept  no  further  terms,  writing 
to  Arbuthnot  on  29  March  '  that  the  neglect 
of  me,  and  the  ill-usage  I  had  met  with,  was 
a  dishonour  to  the  queen  and  the  nation,  and 
would  cause  just  reflections  on  the  authors 
of  it  in  future  times '  (BAILY,  Flamsteed, 
p.  227). 

In  this  temper  he  was  summoned,  on  26  Oct. 
1711,  to  meet  the  president  and  other  mem- 
bers of  the  board  at  the  Royal  Society's 
rooms  in  Crane  Court.  Requested  to  state 
the  condition  of  his  instruments,  he  declared 
they  were  his  own,  and  he  would  suffer  no 
one  to  concern  himself  with  them.  Where- 
upon Newton  exclaimed,  '  As  good  have  no 
observatory  as  no  instruments ! '  'I  pro- 
ceeded from  this,'  Flamsteed  relates,  '  to  tell 
Sir  Isaac  (who  was  fired)  that  I  thought  it 
the  business  of  their  society  to  encourage  my 
labours,  and  not  to  make  me  uneasy  for  them, 
and  that  by  their  clandestine  proceedings  I 
was  robbed  of  the  fruits  of  my  labours ;  that 
I  had  expended  above  2,000/.  in  instruments 
and  assistance.  At  this  the  impetuous  man 
grew  outrageous,  and  said,  "  We  are,  then, 
robbers  of  your  labours."  I  answered,  I  was 
sorry  they  acknowledged  themselves  to  be 
so.  After  this,  all  he  said  was  in  a  rage. 
He  called  me  many  hard  names— puppy  was 
the  most  innocent  of  them.  I  only  told  him 
to  keep  his  temper,  restrain  his  passion,  and 
thanked  him  as  often  as  he  gave  me  ill  names ' 
(ib.  p.  228). 

We  have  only  Flamsteed's  account  of  this 
unseemly  altercation.  It  at  any  rate  put  the 


Flamsteed 


246 


Flamsteed 


finishing  touch  to  the  hostility  between  him 
and  Newton,  and  inspired  Flamsteed's  reso- 
lution of  printing  his  observations  according 
to  his  own  plan  and  at  his  own  expense.  His 
petition  to  the  queen  for  the  suppression  of 
'what  he  termed  a  '  surreptitious  edition  of 
his  works  was  without  eftect.  The  '  Historia 
Ccelestis'  appeared  in  1712,  in  one  folio 
volume,  made  up  of  two  books,  the  first  con- 
taining the  catalogue  and  sextant  observa- 
tions ;  the  second,  observations  made  with 
Sharp's  mural  arc,  1689-1705.  But  the  cata- 
logue was  the  avowedly  imperfect  one  de- 
posited with  the  referees  in  1708,  and  com- 
pleted, without  Flamsteed's  concurrence, 
from  such  of  his  observations  as  could  be  made 
available.  Halley  was  said  to  have  boasted, 
in  Child's  coffee-house,  of  his  pains  in  correct- 
ing its  faults.  Flamsteed  called  him  a  <  lazy 
and  malicious  thief,'  and  declared  he  had  by 
his  meddling  '  very  effectually  spoiled '  the 
work.  The  observations  were  incompletely 
and  inaccurately  given,  and  Halley's  preface 
was  undoubtedly  an  offensive  document. 

The  energy  displayed  by  Flamsteed  during 
the  last  seven  years  of  his  life,  in  the  midst 
of  growing  infirmities,  was  extraordinary. 
He  was  afflicted  with  a  painful  disease,  pro- 
strated by  periodical  headaches,  and  crippled 
with  gout.  '  Though  I  grow  daily  feebler,' 
he  wrote  in  1713,  'yet  I  have  strength  enough 
to  carry  on  my  business  strenuously.'  He 
observed  diligently  till  within  a  few  days  of 
his  death,  while  prosecuting  his  purpose  of 
independent  publication  in  spite  of  numerous 
difficulties.  Newton's  refusal  to  restore  175 
sheets  of  his  quadrant  observations  put  him 
to  an  expense  of  2007.  in  having  them  re- 
copied  ;  and  he  was  compelled  in  1716  to 
resort  to  legal  proceedings  for  the  recovery 
from  him  of  four  quarto  volumes  of  '  Night 
Notes '  (original  entries  of  observations),  en- 
trusted to  him  for  purposes  of  comparison  in 
1705.  In  the  second  edition  of  the  'Prin- 
cipia'  Newton  omitted  several  passages  in 
which  he  had  in  1687  acknowledged  his  ob- 
ligations to  his  former  friend. 

The  enlarged  catalogue  was  hastily  printed 
before  the  close  of  1712,  but  only  a  few  copies 
were  allowed  to  be  seen  in  strict  confidence. 
The  death  of  Queen  Anne  on  1  Aug.  1714, 
quickly  followed  by  that  of  Halifax,  Newton's 
patron,  brought  a  turn  in  Flamsteed's  favour. 
The  new  lord  chamberlain  was  his  friend, 
and  a  memorial  to  the  lords  of  the  treasury 
procured  him  possession  of  the  three  hundred 
remaining  copies  (out  of  four  hundred)  of 
the  spurious  '  Historia  Ccelestis,'  delivered  to 
him  by  order  of  Sir  Robert  Walpole.  Sparing 
only  from  each  ninety-seven  sheets  of  obser- 
vations with  the  sextant,  he  immediately 


committed  them  to  the  flames,  '  as  a  sacrifice 
to  heavenly  truth,'  and  '  that  none  might 
remain  to  show  the  ingratitude  of  two  of  his 
countrymen  who  had  used  him  worse  than 
ever  the  noble  Tycho  was  used  in  Denmark/ 
The  extreme  scarcity  of  the  edition  thus  de- 
vastated is  attested  by  the  following  inscrip- 
tion in  a  copy  presented  to  the  Bodleian 
Library  by  Sir  Robert  Walpole  in  1725: 
'  Exemplar  hoc  "  Histories  Ccelestis,"  quod  in 
thesauraria  regia  adservabatur,  et  cum  paucis 
aliis  yitaverat  ignem  et  iram  Flamsteedianum, 
Bibliotheca  Bodleiana  debet  honorabili  ad- 
modumviro  Roberto  Walpole,  Scaccarii  Can- 
cellario,'  &c.  Its  value  is  enhanced  by  a 
letter  from  Mrs.  Flamsteed  pasted  into  it, 
requesting  its  removal  as  an  '  erroneous 
abridgment  of  Mr.  Flamsteed's  works.' 

Taken  ill  on  Sunday,  27  Dec.  1719,  Flam- 
steed  expired  about  9.30  P.M.  on  the  31st. 
He  remained  sensible  to  the  last,  but  speech 
failed,  and  his  last  wishes  remained  un- 
uttered.  He  was  buried  in  the  chancel  of 
the  parish  church  of  Burstow,  but  though 
funds  were,  by  Mrs.  Flamsteed's  will,  appro- 
priated to  the  purpose,  no  monument  has 
ever  marked  his  grave  (E.  DUNKIN,  Observa- 
tory, iv.  234).  He  married,  on  23  Oct.  1692, 
Margaret,  daughter  of  Mr.  Ralph  Cooke  of 
London,  but  had  no  children.  He  left  about 
350Z.  in  ready  money,  and  settled  upon  his 
widow  120/.  a  year  in  Exchequer  and  South 
Sea  stock.  He  made  ho  arrangements  for 
the  completion  of  his  great  work,  of  which 
the  first  and  most  of  the  second  volume  were 
printed  at  his  decease.  The  devotion  of  his 
assistant,  Joseph  Crosthwait,  supplied  the 
omission.  '  He  has  not  left  me  in  a  capacity 
to  serve  him,'  he  wrote,  l  notwithstanding  he 
has  often  told  me  he  would ;  but  this  I  im- 
pute to  his  not  being  sensible  of  his  near 
approach  till  it  was  too  late  ;  but  the  love, 
honour,  and  esteem  I  have,  and  shall  always, 
for  his  memory  and  everything  that  belongs 
to  him,  will  not  permit  me  to  leave  Green- 
wich or  London  before,  I  hope,  the  three 
volumes  are  finished '  (BAILY,  Flamsteed,  p. 
333).  This  was  accomplished,  with  Sharp's 
assistance,  in  1725. 

Of  the  three  folio  volumes  constituting  the 
1  Historia  Ccelestis  Britannica,'  the  first  com- 
prised the  observations  of  Gascoigne  and 
Crabtree,  1638-43 ;  those  made  by  Flamsteed 
at  Derby  and  the  Tower,  1668-74,  with  the 
sextant  observations  at  Greenwich  1676-89, 
spared  from  destruction  with  the  edition  of 
1712.  The  second  volume  contained  his  ob- 
servations with  the  mural  arc,  1689-1720. 
The  third  opened  with  a  disquisition  entitled 
'  Prolegomena  to  the  Catalogue/  on  the  pro- 
gress of  astronomy  from  the  earliest  ages, 


Flamsteed 


247 


Flamsteed 


chiefly  valuable  for  the  description,  with 
which  it  terminated,  of  the  Greenwich  instru- 
ments and  methods ;  the  catalogues  of  Pto- 
lemy, Ulugh  Beigh,  Tycho  Brahe,  the  Land- 
grave of  Hesse,  and  He  velius  folio  wed ;  finally 
came  the  '  British  Catalogue '  of  2,935  stars 
observed  at  Greenwich,  to  which  Halley's 
southern  stars  were  appended.  A  dedication 
to  George  I,  by  Margaret  Flamsteed  and 
James  Hodgson  (the  husband  of  Flamsteed's 
niece),  was  prefixed  to  the  first  volume ;  but 
Flamsteed's  vindication  of  his  conduct  was 
cancelled  from  the  preface,  doubtless  out 
of  regard  to  the  reputation  of  Newton  and 
Halley. 

The  appearance  of  the  'Atlas  Ccelestis/ 
corresponding  to  the  '  British  Catalogue/  was 
delayed,  owing  to  difficulties  with  engravers 
and  lack  of  funds,  until  1729.  The  figures  of 
the  constellations  were  drawn  by  Sir  James 
Thornhill.  Crosthwait's  labours  in  editing 
his  master's  works  thus  extended  over  ten 
years,  and  involved  the  sacrifice  of  his  own 
prospects'  in  life.  Yet  he  never  received  one 
farthing.  For  this  signal  act  of  injustice  Mrs. 
Flamsteed  was  responsible.  She  showed, 
nevertheless,  an  active  zeal  for  her  husband's 
honour,  and  resisted  with  spirit  and  success 
the  outrageous  claim  made  by  the  government 
after  his  death  to  the  possession  of  his  instru- 
ments. She  died  on  29  July  1730,  and  was 
buried  with  him  at  Burstow. 

Flamsteed  was  in  many  respects  an  excel- 
lent man — pious  and  conscientious,  patient 
In  suffering,  of  unimpeachable  morality,  and 
rigidly  abstemious  habits.  His  wife  and  ser- 
vants were  devoted  to  him,  living  and  dead ; 
but  his  naturally  irritable  temper,  aggravated 
by  disease,  could  not  brook  rivalry.  He  was 
keenly  jealous  of  his  professional  reputation. 
His  early  reverence  for  Newton  was  recorded 
in  the  stray  note  among  his  observations  :  '  I 
study  not  for  present  applause ;  Mr.  Newton's 
approbation  is  more  to  me  than  the  cry  of  all 
the  ignorant  in  the  world.'  Later  he  was  not 
ashamed  to  call  him  <  our  great  pretender,' 
and  to  affect  scorn  for  his '  speculations  about 
gravity,' '  crotchets,'  and  '  conceptions.'  The 
theory  of  gravitation  he  described  in  1710  as 
*  Kepler's  doctrine  of  magnetical  fibres,  im- 
proved by  Sir  C.  Wren,  and  prosecuted  by 
Sir  I.  Newton,'  adding,  '  I  think  I  can  lay 
.some  claim  to  a  part  of  it.'  He  had  certainly, 
.in  1681,  spoken  of  the  attraction  of  the  sun 
as  determining  the  fall  towards  him  of  the 
great  comet,  but  attributed  the  curve  of  its 
path  to  the  resistance  of  the  planetary  vortex. 

t  Flamsteed,'  Professor  De  Morgan  wrote, 
4  was  in  fact  Tycho  Brahe  with  a  telescope ; 
there  was  the  same  capability  of  adapting  in- 
strumental means,  the  same  sense  of  the  in- 


adequacy of  existing  tables,  the  same  long- 
continued  perseverance  in  actual  observation ' 
(Penny  Cyclopcedid).  Nor  was  he  a  mere  ob- 
server piling  up  data  for  others  to  employ, 
but  diligently  turned. them  to  account  for 
improving  the  power  of  prediction.  His  solar 
tables  were  constructed  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
one,  published  in  1673  with  Horrocks's '  Opera 
Posthuma,'  and  constantly,  in  subsequent 
years,  amended.  The  discovery  of  the  im- 
portance of  the  Horroxian  lunar  theory  was 
due  to  him ;  he  extended  it  to  include  the 
equations  given  by  Newton  in  1702,  and  he 
formed  thence  improved  tables  published  in 
Lemonnier's  '  Institutions  Astronomiques '  in 
1746.  He  remarked  the  alternately  and  in- 
versely accelerated  and  retarded  movements 
of  Jupiter  and  Saturn ;  determined  the  ele- 
ments of  the  solar  rotation,  fixing  its  period 
at  25£  days,  and  formed  from  diligent  obser- 
vations of  sun-spots  a  theory  of  the  solar  con- 
stitution similar  to  that  introduced  later  by 
Sir  William  Herschel,  viz. 'that  the  substance 
of  the  sun  is  terrestrial  matter,  his  light  but 
the  liquid  menstruum  encompassing  him' 
(BREWSTEK,  Newton,  ii.  103).  He  observed 
Uranus  six  times  as  a  fixed  star,  the  obser- 
vation of  13  Dec.  1690  affording  the  earliest 
datum  for  the  calculation  of  its  orbit. 

Flamsteed's  '  British  Catalogue  '  is  styled 
by  Baily  '  one  of  the  proudest  productions  of 
the  Royal  Observatory  at  Greenwich.'  Its 
importance  is  due  to  its  being  the  first  collec- 
tion of  the  kind  made  with  the  telescope  and 
clock.  Its  value  was  necessarily  impaired 
by  defective  reduction,  and  Flamsteed's  ne- 
glect of  Newton's  advice  to  note  the  state  of 
the  barometer  and  thermometer  at  the  time 
of  his  observations  rendered  it  hopeless  to 
attempt  to  educe  from  them  improved  results 
by  modern  processes  of  correction.  The  cata- 
logue showed  besides  defects  attributable  to 
the  absence  of  the  author's  final  revision.  Sir 
William  Herschel  detected  errors  so  nume- 
rous as  to  suggest  the  need  of  an  index  to  the 
original  observations  printed  in  the  second 
volume  of  the '  Historia  Coelestis.'  Miss  Her- 
schel undertook  the  task,  and  showed,  by  re- 
computing the  place  of  each  star,  that  Flam- 
steed  had  catalogued  111  stars  which  he  had 
never  observed,  and  observed  560  which  he 
had  not  catalogued  (Phil.  Trans.  Ixxxvii. 
293).  Her  catalogue  of  these  inedited  stars 
was  published  by  order  of  the  Royal  Society 
in  1798 ;  they  were  by  Baily  in  1829  arranged 
in  order  of  right  ascension,  and  identified  (all 
but  seventy)  by  comparison  with  later  cata- 
logues (Memoirs  E.  Astr.  Soc.  iv.  129). 

Flamsteed's  portrait  was  painted  by  Gib- 
son in  1712.  An  engraving  by  Vertue  was 
prefixed  to  the  '  Historia  Coelestis,'  and  the 


Flamsteed 


248 


Flanagan 


original  was  bequeathed  by  Mrs.  Flamsteed 
to  the  Royal  Society.  A  replica  is  preserved 
in  the  Bodleian  Library.  The  features  are 
strongly  marked,  and  bear  little  trace  of  age 
or  infirmity ;  the  expression  is  intelligent  and 
sensitive.  Flamsteed  was  described  by  an  old 
writer  as  a  '  humorist  and  of  warm  passions.' 
That  he  occasionally  relished  a  joke  is  shown 
in  an  anecdote  related  by  him  to  his  friend, 
Dr.  Whiston,  concerning  the  unexpected  suc- 
cess with  which  he  once  assumed  the  charac- 
ter of  a  prophet  (CoLE,  AthenceCantabr. ;  Add. 
MS.  5869,  f.  77 ;  Notes  and  Queries,  2nd  ser. 
iii.  285).  Peter  the  Great  visited  the  Royal 
Observatory,  and  saw  Flamsteed  observe 
several  times  in  February  1698. 

Flamsteed's  communications  to  the  Royal 
Society  extended  from  1670  to  1686  (Phil. 
Trans,  iv-xvi.),  and  his  observations  during 
1713,  '  abridged  and  spoiled,'  as  he  affirmed, 
were  sent  to  the  same  collection  by  Newton 
(ib.  xxix.  285).  '  A  Correct  Table  of  the  Sun's 
Declination,'  compiled  by  him,  was  inserted 
in  Jones's  '  Compendium  of  the  Art  of  Navi- 
gation '  (p.  103,  1702),  and  '  A  Letter  con- 
cerning Earthquakes,'  in  which  he  had  at- 
tempted in  1693  to  generalise  the  attendant 
circumstances  of  those  phenomena,  was  pub- 
lished at  London  in  1750. 

[The  chief  source  of  information  regarding 
Flamsteed  is  Francis  Baily's  Account  of  the 
Rev.  John  Flamsteed,  the  first  Astronomer  Royal 
(London,  1835,  4to).  The  materials  for  this 
valuable  work  were  derived  largely  from  a  mass 
of  Flamsteed's  manuscript  books  and  papers,  pur- 
chased by  the  Board  of  Longitude  for  100^.  in 
1771,  which  lay  in  disorder  at  the  Royal  Obser- 
vatory until  Baily  explored  them.  The  incentive 
to  the  search  was,  however,  derived  from  a  col- 
lection of  Flamsteed's  original  letters  to  Sharp, 
discovered  after  long  years  of  neglect  in  a  garret 
in  Sharp's  house  at  Little  Horton  in  Yorkshire, 
and  submitted  to  Baily  in  1832.  They  were  ex- 
hibited before  the  British  Association  in  1833 
(Report,  p.  462),  and  are  now  in  the  possession 
of  the  Eev.  R.  Harley,  F.R.S.,  who  has  kindly 
permitted  the  present  writer  to  inspect  them. 
The  collection  includes  124  letters  from  Flam- 
steed,  60  from  Crosthwait,  and  1  from  Mrs. 
Flamsteed,  dated  15  Aug.  1720,  all  addressed  to 
Sharp,  whose  replies  are  written  in  shorthand  on 
the  back  of  each.  The  first  part  of  Baily's  Ac- 
count contains  Flamsteed's  History  of  his  own 
Life  and  Labours,  compiled  from  original  manu- 
scripts in  his  own  handwriting.  The  narrative 
is  in  seven  divisions.  The  first,  designated  '  The 
Self-Inspections  of  J.  F.,  being  an  account  of 
himself  in  the  Actions  and  Studies  of  his  twenty- 
one  first  years,'  was  partially  made  known  in  the 
life  of  the  author  published  in  the  General  Dic- 
tionary (v.  1737),  the  materials  for  which  were 
supplied  by  James  Hodgson.  The  second  di- 
vision, entitled  '  Historica  Narratio  Vitae  Mese, 


ab  anno  1646  ad  1675,'  was  composed  in  No" 
vember  1707.  Of  the  succeeding  four,  derived 
from  scattered  notices,  No.  5  had  been  published 
in  Hone's  E very-day  Book  (i.  1091);  while- 
the  seventh  division,  written  February  1717,  i* 
the  suppressed  portion  of  the  Original  Preface 
to  the  Historia  Ccelestis,  and  brings  down  the 
account  of  his  life  to  1716.  An  Appendix  con- 
tains a  variety  of  illustrative  documents,  besides 
Flamsteed's  voluminous  correspondence  with 
Sharp,  Newton,  Wren,  Halley,  Wallis,  Arbuth- 
not,  Sir  Jonas  Moore,  and  others.  The  second 
part  comprises  the  British  Catalogue,  corrected 
and  enlarged  to  include  3,310  stars  by  Baily.  An 
elaborate  Introduction  is  prefixed,  and  a  Supple- 
ment, added  in  1837,  gives  Baily's  reply  to  criti- 
cisms on  the  foregoing  publication.  See  also 
Biog.  Brit.  arts. 'Flamsteed,'  iii.  1943  (I750)r 
'Halley.'iv.  2509 (1757),' Wallis.,' vi.  4133(1763);. 
Rigaud's  Correspondence  of  Scientific  Men;  Whe~ 
well's  Flamsteed  and  Newton  ;  Brewster's  Me- 
moirs of  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  vol.  ii. ;  Weld's  Hist. 
R.  Society,  i.  377 ;  Roger  North's  Life  of  Lord 
Keeper  North,  p.  286  ;  Edinburgh  Review,  Ixiu 
359  (Galloway);  Gent.  Mag.  1866,  i.  239  (Car- 
penter) ;  Annuairede  1'Observatoire  deBruxelles, 
1864,  p.  288  (Mailly);  Grant's  Hist,  of  As- 
tronomy, p.  467  ;  Whewell's  Hist,  of  the  Induc- 
tive Sciences,  ii.  162;  Cunningham's  Lives  of 
Eminent  Englishmen,  iv.  366  ;  Noble's  Continu- 
ation of  Granger,  ii.  132;  Montucla's  Hist,  des 
Mathematiques,  iv.  41 ;  Bailly's  Hist,  de  1'Astr. 
Moderne,  ii.  423.  589,  650;  Delambre's  Hist,  de- 
1'Astr.  au  xviii6  Siecle,  p.  93  ;  Madler's  Gesch. 
der  Himmelskunde,  i.  397, 453  ;  Andre  etRayet's 
Astr.  Pratique,  i.  3 ;  Watt's  Bibl.  Brit. ;  Acta  Eru- 
ditorum,  1721,  p.  463;  Journal  R.  Society,  xvii. 
129;  Rigaud  MSS.  in  Bodleian,  Letter  L; 
MSS.  Collegii  Corporis  Christi,  Oxon.  Codex, 
ccclxt.  (correspondence  of  Flamsteed  with  Newton 
and  Wallis  in  forty  original  letters,  mostly  printed 
in  General  Diet.) ;  C.  H.  F.  Peters  on  Flam- 
steed's  Lost  Stars,  Memoirs  American  Academy,. 
1887,  pt.  iii.  Flamsteed's  horoscope  of  the  RoyaL 
Observatory,  10  Aug.  1675,  inscribed  'Risum 
teneatis,  amici  ?  '  is  reproduced  in  Hone's  Every- 
day Book,  i.  1090.]  A.  M.  C. 

FLANAGAN,  RODERICK  (1828-1861)r 
journalist,  son  of  an  Irish  farmer,  was  born 
near  Elphin,  co.  Roscommon,  in  April  1828. 
His  parents,  with  a  numerous  family,  emi- 
grated to  New  South  Wales  in  1840,  and 
settled  in  Sydney,  where  Flanagan  received! 
his  education.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  he 
was  apprenticed  to  a  printer,  and  on  the  com- 
pletion of  his  indentures  became  attached  to- 
the  '  People's  Advocate.'  After  contributing 
to  the  '  Advocate,'  the  '  Empire,'  the  '  Free- 
man's Journal,'  and  other  newspapers  for 
several  years,  he  founded,  in  conjunction 
with  his  brother,  E.  F.  Flanagan,  a  weekly 
journal  called  'The  Chronicle.'  It  had  only 
a  brief  existence,  and  upon  its  cessation 


Flanagan 


249 


Flann 


Flanagan  became  a  member  of  the  staff  of 
the  '  Empire.'  He  was  subsequently  chief 
editor  of  that  journal,  and  during  his  con- 
nection with  it  published  a  series  of  essays 
on  the  aboriginals  which  attracted  much  at- 
tention. The  writer  dealt  with  the  manners 
and  customs  of  the  natives,  and  severely  criti- 
cised the  treatment  they  had  received  at  the 
hands  of  the  colonists.  In  1854  Flanagan 
joined  the  literary  corps  of  the  '  Sydney 
Morning  Herald/  and  in  the  columns  of  that 
newspaper  he  shortly  began  to  grapple  with  the 
numerous  events  which  tended  to  the  making 
of  New  South  Wales.  For  nearly  four  years 
he  laboured  arduously  at  his  task  of  writing 
the  history  of  the  colony,  and  by  November 
1860  had  made  such  progress  in  his  under- 
taking that  he  left  Sydney  for  London,  bear- 
ing his  manuscript  with  him.  He  succeeded 
in  making  arrangements  for  the  publication 
of  the  work,  but  while  engaged  in  revising 
the  proof-sheets  of  the  first  volume  was  seized 
with  illness,  the  result  of  over-exertion.  He 
died  towards  the  close  of  1861,  and  was 
buried  at  a  cemetery  near  London,  where  a 
public  monument  has  been  erected  to  his 
memory.  Flanagan's  work  was  posthumously 
issued  in  1862,  in  2  vols.,  under  the  title  of 
the  '  History  of  New  South  Wales ;  with  an 
Account  of  Van  Diemen's  Land  (Tasmania), 
New  Zealand,  Port  Phillip  (Victoria),  More- 
ton  Bay,  and  other  Australasian  Settlements.' 
While  narrating  the  events  which  have 
marked  the  progress  of  New  South  Wales 
from  the  earliest  times  till  beyond  the  middle 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  Flanagan  also  suc- 
ceeded in  bringing  into  one  view  the  whole 
of  the  British  Australasian  territories.  The 
work  was  pronounced  to  be  the  most  com- 
prehensive, moderate,  and  most  generally 
accurate  of  any  which  had  hitherto  appeared 
dealing  with  the  Australasian  colonies. 

[Heaton's  Australian  Dictionary  of  Dates  and 
Men  of  the  Time,  1879;  Athenaeum,  25  Oct. 
1862.]  G-.  B.  S. 

FLANAGAN,  THOMAS  (1814-1865), 
historical  compiler,  born  in  1814,  was  edu- 
cated at  Sedgley  Park  School,  Staffordshire, 
and  at  St.  Mary's  College,  Oscott,  where  he 
remained  as  a  professor,  and  was  prefect  of 
studies  for  many  years.  In  1851  he  was 
appointed  vice-president  of  Sedgley  Park, 
and  in  August  the  same  year  he  became  the 
ninth  president  of  that  institution,  in  suc- 
cession to  Dr.  James  Brown,  who,  on  the 
restoration  of  the  catholic  hierarchy  by 
Pope  Pius  IX,  had  been  advanced  to  the  see 
of  Shrewsbury.  Flanagan  was  also  nomi- 
nated one  of  the  original  canons  of  the 
newly  erected  chapter  of  Birmingham.  In 


July  1853  he  resigned  the  presidentship  of 
Sedgley  Park,  and  returned  to  Oscott  as  pre- 
fect of  studies.  In  1854  he  was  appointed 
resident  priest  at  Blackmore  Park,  and  in 
1860  he  removed  to  St.  Chad's  Cathedral, 
Birmingham.  He  died  on  21  July  1865  at 
Kidderminster,  whither  he  had  gone  for  the 
benefit  of  his  health. 

In  addition  to  some  controversial  tracts^ 
he  wrote:  1.  *  A  Manual  of  British  and  Irish 
History ;  illustrated  with  maps,  engravings, 
and  statistical,  chronological,  and  genealo- 
gical tables,'  London,  1847,  12mo,  1851, 
8vo.  2.  'A  Short  Catechism  of  English 
History,  ecclesiastical  and  civil,  for  children/ 
London,  1851,  16mo.  3.  '  A  History  of  the- 
Church  in  England,  from  the  earliest  period^ 
to  the  re-establishment  of  the  Hierarchy  in 
1850,'  2  vols.,  London,  1857,  8vo,  the  only 
work  hitherto  published  which  gives  a  con- 
tinuous history  of  the  Roman  catholic  church 
in  England  since  the  revolution  of  1688. 
4.  '  A  History  of  the  Middle  Ages/  manu- 
script, commenced  at  Sedgley  Park,  bufe 
never  completed. 

[Husenbeth's  Hist,  of  Sedgley  Park  School, 
pp.  243,  244  ;  Tablet,  29  July  1865,  p.  468  ; 
Weekly  Eegister,  5  Aug.  1865,  p.  85 ;  Gillow's 
Bibl.  Diet.]  T.  C. 

FLANN  (d.  1056),  Irish  historian,  com- 
monly called  Mainistrech  (of  the  monastery), 
son  of  Eochaidh  Erann,  was  twenty-second 
in  descent  from  Ailill  Oluim,  king  of  Munster, 
according  to  some  Irish  historians  (McFiRBis 
in  CURRY,  Cath  Muighe  Leana,  p.  175)  ;  bufc 
this  genealogy  may  justly  be  suspected  to  be 
an  attempt  to  connect  Flann  after  he  be- 
came famous  with  St.  Buite  [q.  v.],  founder 
of  Mainister  Buite,  now  Monasterboice,  ca. 
Louth,  the  monastery  in  which  this  historian 
spent  most  of  his  life.  He  attained  a  great 
reputation  for  historical  learning  in  his  own 
time,  and  has  since  been  constantly  quoted  by 
all  writers  of  history  in  the  Irish  language. 
He  is  called  '  airdferleighinn  ocus  sui  sen- 
chusa  Erenn,'  archreader  and  sage  of  histori- 
cal knowledge  of  Ireland  (Annals  of  Ulster, 
i.  599,  ed.  Hennessy),  and  *  ferle~ighind  Mai- 
nistreach  Buithe/  reader  of  Monasterboice 
(Annala  R.  Eireann,  ii.  870).  ^  O'Curry 
(Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Irish, 
vol.  ii.)  has  tried  to  prove  that  he  was  not 
an  ecclesiastic ;  but  the  verses  on  his  death 
quoted  in  the  annals  (A.  R.  I.  ii.  870)  prove 
the  contrary, '  Fland  a  primchill  Buithi  bind' 
(Flann  of  the  chief  church  of  melodious 
Buithe),  while  the  ages  of  his  sons,  with  the 
date  of  his  compositions,  favour  the  conclusion 
that  he  began  life  as  a  poetical  historian,  wan- 
dering through  the  northern  half  of  Ireland 


Flann 


250 


Flannan 


and  that  he  retired  for  his  later  years  into 
the  monastic  clan  of  St.  Buite.  He  had  two 
sons,  of  whom  Echtighern,  the  elder,  be- 
came airchennach  of  Monasterboice,  died  1067 
(ib.  ii.  890),  and  left  two  sons,  Eoghan,  who 
died  in  1117,  and  Feargna,  who  became  a 
priest,  and  died  in  1122.  His  second  son, 
Feidhlimidh,  died  in  1 104,  and  was  also  famous 
as  an  historian.  The  third  son  mentioned  in 
some  accounts  is  due  to  a  clerical  error.  The 
local  writings  of  Flann  refer  mainly  to  the 
northern  half  of  Ireland.  He  calls  Brian  Bo- 
roimhe  [see  BEIAN]  '  sun  of  the  hills  of  West 
Munster,'  but  chiefly  celebrates  the  achieve- 
ments of  the  descendants  of  Nial  Naighial- 
lach,  and  nowhere  extols  the  Dal  Cais,  so 
that  he  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  northern  writer. 
His  writings  are  interesting  as  the  genuine 
productions  of  an  Irish  historian  of  the  ele- 
venth century.  They  have  never  been  criti- 
cally examined,  and  the  lists  given  by  O'Reilly, 
who  enumerates  fourteen  {Transactions  of 
the  Ibemo-Celtic  Society  for  1820,  p.  75),  and 
by  O'Curry  (Manners  and  Customs  of  the 
Ancient  Irish,  ii.  149),  who  mentions  nine- 
teen, require  revision.  His  poem  on  the  kings 
of  Tara  (Book  of  Leinster,  i'acs.  132  b,  line  6) 
ends  with  Maelsechlainn,  who  died  in  1021 ; 
that  on  the  Cinel  Eoghain  ends  with  an  O'Neill 
who  died  in  1036.  Flann  himself  died  on 
17  Nov.  1056  (A.  R.  I.  ii.  870).  The  beau- 
tiful stone  cross  of  Muiredach,  still  standing 
in  the  enclosure  of  Monasterboice,  was  there 
in  the  time  of  Flann,  and  it  is  probable  that 
lie  was  also  familiar  with  the  loftier  carved 
cross  and  with  the  curious  leaning  round 
tower.  The  earliest  extant  manuscript  text 
of  any  of  his  writings  comes  within  fifty 
years  of  his  death,  and  is  a  poem  on  King 
Aedh  Slaine  in  '  Lebar  na  h-Uidhre '  (fol. 
53  a,  line  3),  beginning  '  Muguin  ingen  chon- 
cruid  mac  Duach  don  desmumhain'  (Muguin, 
daughter  of  Conchruid,  son  of  Duach,  of 
South  Munster),  and  relating  how,  through 
the  prayers  of  a  saint,  the  queen,  till  then 
childless,  first  gave  birth  to  a  salmon,  then 
to  a  lamb,  and  last  of  all  to  the  famous  king, 
Aedh  Slaine.  '  The  Book  of  Leinster,'  a  ma- 
nuscript of  the  latter  part  of  the  twelfth 
century,  contains  eleven  poems  of  his,  viz.  j 
(1)  f.  27  b,  54,  on  a  famous  assembly  of  I 
poets  ;  (2)  f.  131  b,  34,  on  the  kings  of  Tara 
to  the  death  of  Dathi ;  (3)  132  b,  6,  on  the 
kings  of  Tara  from  Loeghaire  to  Moelsech- 
lainn ;  (4)  145  b,  19,  a  later  text  of  the  poem 
on  Aedh  Slaine ;  (5)  181  a,  1,  on  the  fort- 
ress of  Ailech  (co.  Donegal);  (6)  181  b,  11, 
on  Ailech;  (7)  182  a,  24,  on  the  deeds  of 
the  seed  of  Eoghain ;  (8)  182  b,  12,  on  sixty 
victories  of  the  clan  Eoghain  ;  (9)  183  b,  17, 
on  clan  Eoghain;  (10)  184  b}  20,  on  kings 


of  Meath;  (11)  185  b,  1,  the  names  of  the 
kings  of  the  race  of  Aedh  Slaine.  'The 
Book  of  Ballymote,'  a  manuscript  of  the  be- 
ginning of  the  fifteenth  century,  contains 
(f.  11)  a  copy  of  {  Leabhar  comaimsirech  du 
Flainn '  (i.e.  Flann's  Book  of  Synchronisms), 
a  tale  of  the  kings  of  the  outer  world  and 
of  Ireland  in  prose  and  verse.  'The  Book  of 
Lecan,'  written  in  1416,  contains  (PETKIE, 
Ecclesiastical  Architecture  of  Ireland,  p.  142) 
a  poem  on  the  household  of  St.  Patrick.  Part 
of  the  same  poem  is  quoted  in  the  '  Annals ' 
(A.  R.  I.  i.  130). 

[O'Reilly,  Transactions  of  Iberno-Celtic  So- 
ciety for  1820,  Dublin;  Curry's  Cath  Muighe 
Leana  (Celtic  Society), Dublin,  1855;  Manuscript 
Materials  of  Ancient  Irish  History,  Dublin,  1873 ; 
Petrie's  Ecclesiastical  Architecture  of  Ireland, 
Dublin,  1845 ;  Dunraven's  Notes  on  Irish  Archi- 
tecture, London,  1877  ;  Royal  Irish  Academy, 
Facsimiles  of  Lebar  na  h-Uidhre,  Book  of  Lein- 
ster ;  Book  of  Ballymote.]  N.  M. 

FLANNAN,  SAINT  and  BISHOP  of  Cill- 
da-Lua,  now  Killaloe  (jl.  7th  cent.),  was 
son  of  Torrdelbach  (called  also  Theodoric), 
son  of  Oathal,  king  of  Munster.  Torrdelbach 
ruled  the  territory  of  Ui  Torrdelbaigh,  nearly 
co-extensive  with  the  present  diocese  of  Kill- 
aloe.  He  was  a  very  pious  and  charitable 
king.  Flannan  was  sent  at  an  early  age  to 
St.  Blathmac, '  who  surpassed  all  the  saints.' 
Blathmac  trained  him  in  sacred  literature 
and  taught  him  '  to  plough,  sow,  reap,  grind, 
sift,  and  bake  with  his  own  hands  for  the 
monks.'  He  was  next  sent  to  Molua,  who 
was  reckoned  among  the  greatest  saints  in 
Ireland,  and  is  mentioned  by  St.  Bernard 
as  the  'founder  of  a  hundred  monasteries.' 
Molua  is  said  to  have  resigned  his  bishopric 
in  consequence  of  his  engagements  in  Eng- 
land and  Scotland,  and  to  have  appointed 
Flannan  as  his  successor.  But  Molua  or  Lua, 
the  founder  of  Killaloe,  died,  according  to  the 
'  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,'  in  588,  or  592 
in  Bishop  Reeves's  '  Adamnan.'  The  date  of 
his  death  proves  that  the  alleged  transaction 
with  Flannan  is  impossible.  It  was  probably 
meant  to  account  for  Flannan's  being  the 
patron  saint  of  Killaloe,  though  not  the 
founder. 

Flannan,  now  appointed  to  a  bishopric, 
wished  to  visit  Rome  and  receive  holy  orders 
from  Pope  John ;  and,  according  to  Ware,  he 
was  consecrated  at  Rome  by  Pope  John  IV 
in  639,  who,  however,  was  not  pope  until 
640.  His  parents  and  friends  had  strenuously 
objected  to  the  journey  ;  St.  Bracan,  probably 
St.  Berchan  of  Cluain  Sosta  or  Clonsast  in 
the  King's  County,  who  flourished,  according 
to  O'Curry,  in  690,  had  vainly  endeavoured 
to  dissuade  Flannan  from  his  purpose,  but 


Flannan 


251 


Flatman 


finding  his  resolution  fixed,  they  had  earnestly 
prayed  for  a  ship,  and  Flannan  had  been 
granted  a  miraculous  voyage  on  a  smooth 
stone.  This  legend,  which  has  probably  no 
foundation  in  fact  at  all,  was  known  'all 
over  the  south  of  Ireland  when  the  Emperor 
Frederick  took  Milan.'  Returning  home 
through  Tuscany,  Burgundy,  and  France. 
Torrdelbach  with  his  chieftains  conducted 
him  to  Killaloe,  and  some  Romans  who  at- 
tended him  received  permission  to  settle  on  an 
island  near.  Then  all  the  saints  and  chiefs  of 
the  kingdom,  far  and  near,  came  to  hear  what 

*  new  rules  and  instructions  and  sacraments 
of  holy  church  he  had  brought  from  the 
church  and  court  of  Rome.'    Flannan's  dis- 
course in  answer  so  affected  Torrdelbach  that 
the  king  sought  the  monastery  of  St.  Colman 
at  Lisinore,  where  he  became  a  monk,  and 
with  his  companions  laboured  in  clearing  the 
ground.   On  Torrd  el  bach's  return  to  Killaloe 
by  direction  of  St.  Colman  he  refused  Flan- 
nan's  entreaties  to  resume  his  kingdom,  and 
died  on  his  way  back  to  Lismore. 

Flannan,  disappointed  by  the  lukewarm- 
ness  of  his  hearers,  set  sail  for  the  Isle  of 
Man.  There  nine  men  of  horrid  aspect  de- 
manded of  him  nine  black  rams.  When  he 
hesitated  about  complying,  they  threatened 
to  '  defame  him  as  long  as  they  lived.'  Flan- 
nan used  to  '  sing  his  psalter  in  cold  rivers,' 
and  fearing  that  he  might  be  called  on  to 
desert  his  religious  life  and  become  king,  he 
besought  his  Creator  to  send  him  some  dis- 
figuring blemish.  In  answer  to  his  prayer 
he  was  visited  by  the '  disease  called  morphea, 
which  is  the  sixth  species  of  elephantiasis, 
and  forthwith  rashes  and  erysipelas  and  boils 
began  to  appear  on  his  face,  so  that  it  be- 
came dreadful  and  repulsive.'  Thus  by  na- 
tive law  he  was  ineligible  for  the  throne. 
There  is  no  record  of  the  time  or  place  either 
of  his  birth  or  death,  but  Dr.  Lanigan  conjec- 
tures that  he  was  born  in  640  or  650.  In 
after  times  his  bones  were  placed  in  a  shrine 
wrought  with  wondrous  art,  and  covered  with 
gold  and  silver,  which  was  placed  on  the 
altar  of  Cill-da-Lua.  His  memorials,  that  is 
his  gospels,  bells,  and  staff,  were  also  orna- 
mented with  artistic  skill  and  covered  with 
the  purest  gold.  There  are  still  to  be  seen 
at  Killaloe  the  church  of  Molua,  on  an  island 
in  the  Shannon,  and  the  oratory  of  St.  Flan- 
nan, also  called  his  '  house.'  They  are  coeval 
with  these  saints  according  to  Dr.  Petrie, 
and  the  oratory  served  the  twofold  purpose 
of  a  church  and  a  house  like  that  at  St.Dou- 
lough's.  Ware,  referring  to  St.  Flannan's 
occupancy,  says  :  '  While  he  sat  there  his 
father  Theodoric  endowed  the  church  of  Kill- 

-  aloe  with  many  estates,  and  dying  full  of  years 


was  magnificently  interred  in  this  church  by 
his  son  Flannan.' 

The  life  from  which  most  of  the  foregoing 
particulars  are  taken  was  evidently  written 
by  one  who  desired  to  flatter  the  O'Briens, 
who  were  descended  from  Torrdelbach.  This 
family  was  mainly  instrumental  in  bringing 
in  the  customs  of  the  Roman  church  to  the 
south  of  Ireland,  and  hence  the  account  of 
St.  Flannan's  visit  to  Rome,  which  would 
be  highly  improbable  in  the  seventh  or  eighth 
century,  though  not  in  the  twelfth  or  thir- 
teenth, when  in  all  probability  this  life  was 
written.  Flannan's  day  is  18  Dec. 

[Vita  Flannani  Episcopi  et  Confessoris  Codex 
Salmanticensis,  pp.  643-80,  London,  1888;  Lani- 
gan's  Eccl.  Hist.  ii.  205,  211,  iii.  147-9  ;  Petrie's 
Round  Towers,  pp.  274-8  ;  Martyrology  of  Done- 
gal, pp.  179,  341 ;  0' Curry's  MS.  Materials,  p. 
412;  Reeves's  Adamnan,  pp.  34,  371  ;  Ussher's 
Works,  vi.  476.]  T.  0. 

FLATMAN,  THOMAS  (1637-1688), 
poet  and  miniature-painter,  was  admitted  a 
scholar  of  Winchester  College  22  Sept.  1649, 

1  being  eleven  years  of  age  at  the  previous 
Michaelmas,  and  from  Winchester  he  was 
admitted  11  Sept.  1654  to  a  scholarship  at 
New  College,  Oxford.  In  the  register  of  his 
admission  to  Winchester  he  is  stated  to  have 

j  been  born  in  Red  Cross  Street,  London  ;  in 
the  New  College  register  he  is  said  to  have 
come  from  Aldersgate  Street.  He  was  a  fel- 
low of  New  College  in  1656,  and  in  that  year 
contributed  to  the  collection  of  Oxford  verses 
on  the  death  of  Charles  Capel.  In  1657  he 
left  Oxford,  without  a  degree,  for  the  Inner 
Temple.  He  was  created  M.A.  of  Cambridge 
by  the  king's  letters,  dated  11  Dec.  1666, 
'  being  then  A.B.  of  Oxford,  as  is  there 
described '  (BAKEK,  ap.  WOOD,  Athence,  ed. 
Bliss). 

Having  settled  in  London  he  devoted  his 
talents  to  painting  and  poetry.  As  a  minia- 
ture-painter he  was,  and  is,  greatly  esteemed ; 
but  his  poetry,  which  was  received  with  ap- 
plause by  his  contemporaries,  has  been  un- 
duly depreciated  by  later  critics.  Granger 
declares  that  '  one  of  his  heads  is  worth  a 
ream  of  his  Pindarics.'  His  Pindarics  deserve 
the  derision  of  Rochester : — 

Flatman,  who  Cowley  imitates  with  pains, 
And  rides  a  jaded  muse  whipt  with  loose  reins. 

But  his  other  poems  are  better.  'A  Thought 
of  Death'  (which  Pope  imitated  in '  The  Dying 
Christian  to  his  Soul ')  and ' Death.  A  Song/ 
are  singularly  impressive;  the  'Hymn  for 
the  Morning'  and  'Another  for  the  Evening' 
are  choice  examples  of  devotional  verse ;  and 
some  of  the  lighter  poems,  notably  the  para- 
phrases of  select  odes  of  Horace,  are  elegant. 


Flatman 


252 


Flattisbury 


Flatman's  '  Poems  and  Songs '  were  first  col- 
lected in  1674,  8vo,  and  reached  a  fourth 
edition  in  1686.  Prefixed  are  commendatory 
verses  by  Walter  Pope  (only  in  first  edition), 
Charles  Cotton,  Richard  Newcourt,  and 
others.  In  the  third  and  fourth  editions  are  a 
portrait  of  the  author,  engraved  by  R.  White, 
and  a  dedicatory  epistle  to  the  Duke  of  Or- 
monde, who  is  said  to  have  been  so  pleased 
with  the  ode  on  the  death  of  his  son,  the  Earl 
of  Ossory  (published  in  1680),  that  he  sent  the 
poet  a  diamond  ring.  The  edition  of  1686  is 
the  most  complete.  Some  of  the  poems  were 
in  the  first  instance  published  separately,  or 
had  appeared  in  other  collections.  '  A  Pane- 
gyrick  ...  to  Charles  the  Second,'  s.  sh.  fol. 

1660,  and  two  copies  of  verses  prefixed  to 
Sanderson's  '  Graphice,'  1658,  were  not  re- 
printed ;  but  Flatman  was  careful  to  collect 
most  of  his  scattered  poems.     Among  his 
*  Poems  and  Songs '  he   included  his  com- 
mendatory verses  before  Faithorne's  '  Art  of 
Graveing,'  1662,  '  Poems  by  Mrs.  Katherine 
Philips,  the  Matchless  Orinda,'  1667,  Creech's 
translation  of  '  Lucretius,'  2nd  edit.  1683, 
and   Izaak   Walton's   edition  of  Chalkhill's 
'  Thealma  and  Clearchus,'  1683 ;  also  some 
satirical  verses  contributed  to  'Naps  upon 
Parnassus/  1658  [see  AUSTIN,  SAMUEL,  the 
younger]. 

He  died  in  Three-leg  Alley,  St.  Bride's, 
London,  8  Dec.  1688,  and  was  buried  in  the 
parish  church.  On  26  Nov.  1672  he  had 
married  a  *  fair  virgin '  of  some  fortune,  and 
in  Hacket's  epitaphs  there  is  an  epitaph  upon 
one  of  his  sons.  Flatman  is  said  to  have 
possessed  a  small  estate  at  Tishton,  near  Diss. 
Two  miniature  portraits  of  him,  painted  by 
himself,  are  preserved ;  one  in  the  collection 
of  the  Duke  of  Buccleuch,  and  another  in  the 
Dyce  collection  at  South  Kensington.  There 
are  also  portraits  of  him  by  Sir  Peter  Lely 
and  by  Faithorne. 

Wood  ascribes  to  him  '  Montelion's  Al- 
manac '  for  1661  and  1662 ;  also  a  mock  ro- 
mance, '  Don  Juan  Lamberto  :  or,  a  Comical 
History  of  the  Late  Times.  By  Montelion, 
Knight  of  the  Oracle,'  &c.,  b.  1.,  two  parts, 

1661,  4to  (reprinted  in  vol.  vii.  of  '  Somers 
Tracts,'  1812),  *  to  both  which  parts  (very 
witty  and  satyrical),  tho'  the  disguis'd  name 
of  Montelion,  Knight  of  the  Oracle,  &c.,  is 
set,  yet  the  acquaintance  and  contemporaries 
of  Th.  Flatman  always  confidently  aver'd 
that  the  said  Flatman  was  the  author  of 
them.'  A  satirical  tract, '  Heraclitus  Ridens,' 
1681,  has  been  attributed  to  Flatman.   Wood 
(Fasti,  ed.  Bliss,  ii.  37)  states  that  in  May 
1672  '  there  had  like  to  have  been  a  poetical 
war'  between  Flatman  and  Dr.  Robert  Wild ; 
but '  how  it  was  ended  I  cannot  tell.' 


[Wood's  Athense,  ed.  Bliss,  iv.  244-6  ;  Gran- 
ger's Biog.  Hist.  2nd  ed.  iv.  54-6,  117-18;  Wai- 
pole's  Anecdotes  of  Painting,  1849,  pp.  460-1 ; 
Gent.  Mag.  March  1834 ;  Notes  and  Queries, 
4th  ser.  iv.  251 ;  Godwin's  Lives  of  Edward  and 
John  Phillips,  p.  113,  &c. ;  Hunter's  Chorus 
Vatum,  Addit.  MS.  24490,  fol.  206;  Corser's 
Collectanea ;  Redgrave's  Dictionary  of  Artists  ; 
information  kindly  supplied  by  the  Warden  of 
New  College,  Oxford.]  A.  H.  B. 

FLATTISBURY,  PHILIP  (Jl.  1500), 
compiler,  was  of  a  family  members  of  which, 
from  the  thirteenth  century,  held  important 
positions  as  landowners  in  the  county  of  Kil- 
dare, Ireland,  and  occasionally  filled  legal 
offices  under  the  English  government  there. 
Flattisbury  appears  to  have  been  a  retainer 
of  Gerald  Fitzgerald,  eighth  earl  of  Kildare 
[q.  v.],  deputy-governor  of  Ireland  under 
Henry  VII  and  Henry  VIII.  In  1503  Flattis- 
bury made  for  that  nobleman  a  compilation 
styled  the  « Red  Book  of  the  Earls  of  Kildare/ 
This  volume  consists  mainly  of  documents 
connected  with  or  bearing  upon  the  lands  and 
possessions  of  the  Geraldine  house  of  Kil- 
dare. This  volume  was  sought  for  eagerly, 
but  in  vain,  by  the  governmental  agents  at 
the  time  of  the  attainder  of  the  heads  of  the 
house  of  Kildare  in  1537.  It  is  now  in  the 
possession  of  the  Duke  of  Leinster.  A  re- 
production from  it  was  given  on  plat£  Ix, 
of  the  third  part  of  (  Facsimiles  of  National 
MSS.  of  Ireland,'  published  in  1879. 

Flattisbury  also  transcribed  for  Gerald, 
ninth  earl  of  Kildare  [q.  v.],  in  1517,  a 
collection  of  Anglo-Irish  annals  in  Latin, 
terminating  in  1370  [see  PEMBKIDGE,  CHKIS- 
TOPHBE].  To  them  he  appended  at  the  end 
a  few  lines  of  additional  matter,  with  a 
brief  panegyric  on  the  Earl  of  Kildare.  The 
manuscript  bears  the  following  title  :  '  Hie 
inferius  sequuntur  diversae  Cronicae  ad  requi- 
sitionem  nobilis  et  praepotentis  domini,  Ge- 
raldi  filii  Geraldi,  deputati  domini  regis  Hi- 
berniae,  scriptae  per  Philippum  Flattisbury  de 
Johnston  juxta  le  Naas,  anno  Domini  mdxvii. 
et  anno  regni  Henrici  Octavi  ix.'  Edmund 
Campion,  in  his '  History  of  Ireland,'  written 
in  1571,  and  Richard  Stanihurst,  somewhat 
later,  referred  erroneously  to  Flattisbury  as 
the  author  of  the  annals  of  which  he  was  the 
transcriber.  Stanihurst  did  not  record  the 
date  of  Flattisbury's  death,  but  mentioned 
that  it  took  place  '  at  his  town  styled  Johns- 
town,' near  Naas,  in  Kildare,  and  observes 
that  he  was  a  '  worthy  gentleman  and  a  dili- 
gent antiquary.'  The  original  annals,  from 
which  Flattisbury  transcribed,  were  printed 
for  the  first  time  in  1607  by  Camden,  in  his 
'  Britannia,'  from  a  manuscript  lent  to  him 
by  Lord  Howard  of  Naworth,  and  subse- 


Flavel 


253 


Flavel 


quently  presented  by  Archbishop  Laud  to 
the  Bodleian  Library,  where  it  is  now  pre- 
served. A  new  edition  from  the  manuscript 
used  by  Camden,  and  collated  with  frag- 
ments of  an  older  one  unknown  to  him,  was 
published  by  the  writer  of  the  present  notice 
in  the  appendix  to  the  '  Chartularies  of  St. 
Mary's  Abbey,  Dublin,'  Kolls  Series,  1885. 

[State  Papers,  Ireland,  Public  Kecord  Office, 
London  ;  Patent  Eolls  and  Chancery  Inquisi- 
tions, Ireland ;  MSS.,  Trinity  College,  Dublin  ; 
Holinshed's  Chronicles,  1586  ;  Hist,  of  Ireland, 
Dublin,  1633  ;  Ware,  De  Scriptoribus  Hiberniae, 
1639;  William  Nicholson's  Historical  Library, 
1724;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.,  8th  Eep.  1881.] 

J.  T.  G. 

FLAVEL,  JOHN  (1596-1617),  logician, 
was  born  in  1596  at  Bishop's  Lydeard,  Somer- 
setshire, where  his  father  was  a  clergyman. 
He  matriculated,  25  Jan.  1610-11,  at  Trinity 
College,  Oxford,  and  developed  a  turn  for 
logical  disputation.  In  1613  he  was  made 
one  of  the  first  scholars  of  Wadham  College. 
He  graduated  B.A.  on  28  June  1614,  and  lec- 
tured on  logic.  Proceeding  M. A. on  23  June 
1617,  he  was  in  the  same  year  chosen  pro- 
fessor of  grammar.  He  had  skill  in  Greek 
and  Latin  verse.  He  died  on  10  Nov.  1617, 
and  was  buried  in  Wadham  College  chapel. 
After  Fiavel's  death,  Alexander  Huish,  of 
Wadham  College,  edited  from  his  manuscript 
a  logical  treatise,  with  the  title,  '  Tractatus 
deDemonstrationeMethodicus  et  Polemicus,' 
&c.,  Oxford,  1619, 16mo.  The  treatise,  which 
is  in  four  books,  was  not  intended  for  publi- 
cation. Huish  dedicates  it  (1  March  1 618-19) 
to  Arthur  Lake,  bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells. 
Wood  mentions '  Grammat.  Greec.  Enchyri- 
<lion,'8vo  (not  seen),  by  Joh.  Flavell,  possibly 
the  subject  of  this  article. 

[Wood's  Athens*  Oxon.  (Bliss),  ii.  207,  355, 
371 ;  Fiavel's  Tractatus ;  Oxf.  Univ.  Keg.  (Oxf. 
Hist.  Soc.),  n.  ii-  321,  iii.  328.]  A.  G-. 

FLAVEL,  JOHN  (1630  P-1691),  presby- 
terian  divine,  eldest  son  of  the  Rev.  Richard 
Flavel,  described  as  *  a  painful  and  eminent 
•minister,'  who  was  incumbent  successively 
of  Bromsgrove,  Worcestershire,  Hasler  and 
Willersey,  Gloucestershire  (from  which  last 
living  he  was  ejected  in  1662),  was  born  in 
or  about  1630  at  Bromsgrove.  Having  re- 
ceived his  early  education  at  the  schools 
of  the  neighbourhood,  he  entered  Univer- 
sity College,  Oxford,  at  an  early  age,  and 
•gained  a  good  reputation  for  talent  and  dili- 
gence. On  27  April  1650  he  was  sent  by 
1  the  standing  committee  of  Devon'  to  Dipt- 
ford,  a  parish  on  the  Avon,  five  miles  from 
Totnes,  where  the  minister,  Mr.  Walplate, 
had  become  infirm.  On  17  Oct.  1650,  after 
examination  and  the  preaching  of  a  '  trial 


sermon,'  he  was  ordained  Mr.  Walplate's 
assistant  by  the  presbytery  at  Salisbury.  He 
continued  to  minister  at  Diptford  for  about 
six  years,  succeeding  the  senior  minister  when 
he  died,  and  endearing  himself  greatly  to  the 
people,  not  only  by  his  earnestness,  but  by 
his  easy  dealings  with  them  in  the  matter 
of  tithes.  In  1656  he  removed  to  Dartmouth, 
though  the  Diptford  emoluments  were  much 
greater.  On  the  passing  of  the  Act  of  Uni- 
formity (1662)  he  was  ejected,  but  continued 
to  preach  in  private  until  the  Five  Mile  Act 
drove  him  from  Dartmouth.  He  kept  as  near 
it,  however,  as  possible,  removing  to  Slapton, 
five  miles  off,  and  there  preached  twice  each 
Sunday  to  all  who  came,  among  whom  were 
many  of  his  old  parishioners.  On  the  granting 
of  the  first  indulgence  (1671)  he  returned  to 

Dartmouth,  and  continued  to  officiate  there 
even  after  the  liberty  to  do  so  was  withdrawn. 

[n  the  end  he  found  himself  obliged  to  re- 
move to  London,  travelling  by  sea  and  nar- 
rowly escaping  shipwreck  in  a  storm,  which 

is   said  to  have  ceased  in  answer  to  his 

S-ayers.  Finding  that  he  would  be  safer  at 
artmouth  he  returned  there,  and  met  with 
his  people  nightly  in  his  own  house,  until  in 
1687,  on  the  relaxation  of  the  penal  laws, 
they  built  a  meeting-house  for  him.  Just 
before  his  death  he  acted  as  moderator  at 

meeting  of  dissenting  ministers  held  at 
Topsham.  He  died  suddenly  of  paralysis  at 
Exeter  on  26  June  1691,  and  was  buried  in 
Dartmouth  churchyard.  Wood  bitterly  com- 
ments on  the  violence  of  his  dissent. 

Flavel  was  four  times  married :  first  to 
Jane  Randal;  secondly,  to  Elizabeth  Mor- 
ries;  thirdly,  to  Ann  Downe;  and,  lastly, 
to  a  daughter  of  the  Rev.  George  Jeffries. 
There  is  a  portrait  of  him  in  Dr.  Williams's 
library,  London. 

He  was  a  voluminous  and  popular  author. 
There  is  a  play  of  fine  fancy  in  some  of  them, 
such  as  the  '  Husbandry  Spiritualised.'  All 
display  vigorous  diction  and  strong  evan- 
gelical sentiments.  They  comprise :  1.  '  Hus- 
bandry Spiritualised,'  Lond.  1669.  2.  <  Navi- 
gation Spiritualised/  Lond.  1671.  3.  '  The 
Fountain  of  Life  Opened,  or  a  Display  of 
Christ  in  his  Essential  and  Mediatorial  Glory, 
containing  forty-two  sermons/  Lond.  1672. 
4. '  A  Saint  indeed/  Lond.  1673.  5. '  A  Token 
for  Mourners/  Lond.  1674.  6.  '  The  Seaman's 
Companion/  Lond.  1676.  7.  '  Divine  Con- 
duct, or  the  Mystery  of  Providence  Opened/ 
Lond.  1678,  1814.  8.  <  The  Touchstone  of 
Sincerity/  Lond.  1678.  9.  <  The  Method  of 
Grace  in  the  Gospel  Redemption/  Lond.  1680. 
10.  'A  Practical  Treatise  of  Fear,  wherein 
the  various  Kinds,  Uses,  Causes,  Effects,  and 
Remedies  thereof  are  distinctly  opened  and 


Flaxman 


254 


Flaxman 


prescribed,'  Lond.  1682.  11.  <  The  Righteous 
Man's  Refuge,'  Lond.  1682.  12.  '  Prepara- 
tions for  Sufferings,  or  the  Best  Work  in  the 
Worst  Times,'  Lond.  1682.  13.  l  England's 
Duty  under  the  present  Gospel  Liberty,'  Lond. 
1689.  14.  '  Mount  Pisgah,  or  a  Thanksgiving 
Sermon  for  England's  Delivery  from  Popery/ 
Lond.  1689.  15.  'Sacramental  Meditations 
upon  divers  select  places  of  Scripture,'  Lond. 
1689.  16.  '  The  Reasonableness  of  Personal 
Reformation  and  the  Necessity  of  Conver- 
sion,' Lond.  1691.  17.  'An  Exposition  of 
the  Assembly's  Catechism,'  Lond.  1693. 
18.  *  Pneumatologia,  a  Treatise  of  the  Soul 
of  Man,'  Lond.  1698.  19.  '  Planelogia,  a 
succinct  and  seasonable  Discourse  of  the  Oc- 
casions, Causes,  Nature,  Rise,  Growth,  and 
Remedies  of  Mental  Errors.'  20.  'Vindi- 
ciarum  Vindex,  or  a  Refutation  of  the  weak 
and  impertinent  Rejoinder  of  Mr.  Philip 
Carey'  (a  leading  anabaptist  in  Dartmouth). 
21.  '  Gospel  Unity  recommended  to  the 
Churches  of  Christ.'  22.  'A  Faithful  and 
Succinct  Account  of  some  late  and  wonder- 
ful Sea  Deliverances.'  23.  t  Antipharmacum 
Saluberrimum,  or  a  serious  and  seasonable 
Caveat  to  all  the  Saints  in  this  Hour  of 
Temptation.'  24.  '  Tydings  from  Rome,  or 
England's  Alarm.'  25.  '  A  pathetic  and 
serious  Dissuasive  from  the  horrid  and  detes- 
table Sins  of  Drunkenness,  Swearing,  Un- 
cleanness,  Forgetfulness  of  Mercies,  Violation 
of  Promises,  and  Atheistical  Contempt  of 
Death.'  26.  'The  Balm  of  the  Covenant 
applied  to  the  Bleeding  Wounds  of  afflicted 
Saints.'  27.  '  Vindiciaj  Legis  et  Fcederis.' 
28.  '  A  Familiar  Conference  between  a  Minis- 
ter and  a  doubting  Christian  concerning  the 
Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper.'  29.  'A 
Table  or  Scheme  of  the  Sins  and  Duties  of 
Believers.'  Many  editions  of  several  of  these 
treatises  have  appeared.  Collected  editions 
of  Flavel's  works  were  issued  in  1673, 1701, 
1754,  and  1797  (6  vols.  Newcastle).  Charles 
Bradley  [q.  v.]  edited  a  selection  in  1823. 

[Life  prefixed  to  collected  edition  of  his  Works, 
Glasgow,  1754  ;  Palmer's  Nonconf.  Mem.  ii.  18- 
22;  Wood's  Athenae  Oxon.  (Bliss),  iv.  323-6.] 

T.  H. 

FLAXMAN,  JOHN  (1755-1 826),  sculp- 
tor and  draughtsman,  was  born  at  York  on 
6  July  1755.  According  to  a  family  tradi- 
tion four  brothers  Flaxman,  coming  from 
Norfolk,  had  fought  against  the  king  at 
Naseby,  and  the  youngest  of  the  four,  named 
John,  had  settled  as  a  farmer  and  carrier  in 
Buckinghamshire.  From  him  was  descended 
another  John,  who  towards  the  middle  of 
the  eighteenth  century  carried  on,  partly  in 
London  and  partly  in  the  provinces,  the  trade 
of  a  maker  and  seller  of  plaster  casts.  He 


had  a  good  connection  among  artists,  and 
was  employed  as  a  modeller  by  some  of  the 
chief  sculptors  of  the  day,  including  Roubil- 
liac  and  Scheemakers.  He  and  his  wife  (whose 
maiden  name  was  Lee)  were  on  business  at 
York  at  the  time  when  their  second  son,  the 
subject  of  the  present  article,  was  born.  Six 
months  afterwards  the  family  returned  to 
London,  and  the  childhood  of  the  sculptor 
was  spent  almost  entirely  in  his  father's  shop 
at  the  sign  of  the  Golden  Head,  New  Street, 
Co  vent  Garden.  As  an  infant  he  was  rickety 
and  ill-shapen,  could  only  move  with  crutches, 
and  was  not  expected  to  live ;  but  an  alert 
and  stubborn  spirit  animated  the  puny  frame, 
and  from  about  his  tenth  year  his  health 
began  to  mend.  His  mother,  a  woman  of 
little  thrift,  dying  about  the  same  time,  his 
father  took  a  second  wife,  of  whom  we  know 
nothing  except  that  her  maiden  name  was 
Gordon,  and  that  she  proved  a  kind  and 
careful  stepmother.  Except  for  a  brief  in- 
terval of  schooling,  under  a  master  whose 
cruelty  he  never  forgot,  the  young  John 
Flaxman  was  kept  at  home.  Unfitted  for 
the  play  or  the  exercises  of  his  age,  he  found 
in  his  father's  stock-in-trade  all  the  occupa- 
tion and  all  the  pastime  for  which  he  cared. 
Customers,  among  whom  were  men  of  note 
in  arts  and  literature,  soon  began  to  take  an 
interest  in  the  sickly  lad  whom  they  found 
always  busy  drawing  or  modelling  behind 
the  counter,  or  trying  to  teach  himself  the 
classic  fables  and  Latin.  Among  the  earliest 
of  those  who  noticed  and  encouraged  his 
talents  were  the  painter  Romney  and  a  let- 
tered and  amiable  clergyman  named  Mathew ; 
whose  wife,  herself  a  woman  of  culture,  used 
to  invite  the  boy  to  her  house,  and  read  out 
translations  of  the  ancient  poets  while  he 
made  sketches  to  such  passages  as  struck  his 
fancy.  His  earliest  commission  was  from  a 
friend  of  the  Mathews,  Mr.  Crutchley  of 
Sunninghill  Park,  for  a  set  of  six  classical 
drawings  of  this  kind.  He  became  a  preco- 
cious exhibitor  and  prize-winner,  gaining  at 
twelve  the  first  prize  of  the  Society  of  Arts 
for  a  medal,  and  another  similar  prize  at  fif- 
teen. In  1767,  and  for  two  years  following, 
he  was  a  contributor  to  the  exhibitions  of 
the  Free  Society  of  Artists  in  Pall  Mall; 
and  to  those  of  the  Royal  Academy  from  the 
second  year  of  their  foundation,  1770.  In 
this  year  he  became  a  student  at  the  Aca- 
demy schools,  and  presently  carried  off  the 
silver  medal.  But  when  it  came  to  the  com- 
petition for  the  gold  medal  in  1772,  the  suc- 
cessful youth  received  a  check,  the  president 
and  council  awarding  the  prize  to  a  rival, 
Thomas  Engleheart  [q.  v.],  who  did  nothing- 
afterwards  to  justify  the  choice.  This  reverse 


Flaxman 


255 


Flaxman 


is  said  to  have  had  a  salutary  effect  on  the 
character  of  the  young  Flaxman,  in  whose 
composition  a  certain  degree  of  dogmatism 
and  self-sufficiency  went  together  with  many 
amiable  qualities  of  kindness,  simplicity,  en- 
thusiasm, generosity,  and  piety.  Some  ex- 
perience of  the  former  qualities,  naturally 
most  conspicuous  in  early  youth,  caused 
Thomas  Wedgwood  to  write  of  him  in  1775, 
'  It  is  but  a  few  years  since  he  was  a  most  su- 
preme coxcomb.'  By  the  time  these  words 
were  written  Wedgwood's  partner,  Thomas 
Bentley  [q.  v.J,  who  had  already  had  some 
business  relations  with  the  elder  Flaxman, 
had  secured  the  services  of  his  second  son 
as  a  designer  for  the  cameo  wares  of  their 
firm,  then  freshly  in  fashion.  Wedgwood 
himself  quickly  learnt  to  rate  the  talents  of 
the  young  coxcomb  at  their  true  value,  and 
to  call  him  '  the  genius  of  sculpture.'  It 
was  by  designing  and  preparing  wax  models 
for  classical  friezes  and  portrait  medallions 
in  Wedgwood  ware  that  Flaxman  chiefly 
maintained  himself  during  the  first  part  of 
his  career. 

That  career  falls  into  three  main  divisions : 
first,  his  early  life  in  London,  brought  to  a 
close  in  1787  by  his  departure  for  Rome; 
next,  the  period  of  his  residence  in  Italy, 
from  his  thirty-second  to  his  thirty-ninth 
year  (1787-94) ;  and,  lastly,  his  second  re- 
sidence in  London,  as  an  artist  of  acknow- 
ledged fame  and  standing,  from  1794  until 
his  death  in  1826. 

In  1775,  the  year  in  which  young  Flaxman 
began  to  be  regularly  employed  by  the  Wedg- 
woods, his  family,  and  he  with  it,  moved 
from  New  Street,  Covent  Garden,  to  a  larger 
shop,  No.  420  Strand.  He  had  been  for  four 
years  a  frequent  exhibitor  at  the  Royal  Aca- 
demy (1770,  a  wax  model  of  Neptune ;  1771, 
four  portrait  models  in  wax  ;  1772,  figure  of 
a  child  in  wax,  portrait  bust  in  terra-cotta, 
figure  of  History ;  1773,  a  figure  of  the  Gre- 
cian Comedy,  a  Vestal  in  bas-relief) ;  and  con- 
tinued to  contribute  somewhat  more  irregu- 
larly during  the  next  twelve  years.  In  1780  he 
showed  his  first  design  for  a  monument  to  be 
erected  in  a  church,  that,  namely,  in  honour 
of  Chatterton  for  St.  Mary  Redcliffe  at  Bristol ; 
this  was  followed  in  1784  by  one  in  memory  of 
Mrs.  Morley  for  Gloucester  Cathedral,  and 
in  1785  by  another,  for  Chichester,  in  memory 
of  the  Rev.  Thomas  and  Mrs.  Margaret  Ball 
It  was  by  works  of  this  class  that  Flaxman 
came  in  due  time  to  earn  the  best  part  both 
of  his  livelihood  and  his  fame.  Meantime 
his  incessant  industry  (for  he  is  described  as 
continually  reading  or  drawing  when  not 
actually  at  work  for  his  employers)  did  not 
prevent  him  from  increasing  the  circle  of  his 


acquaintance.  His  chosen  companions  of 
lis  own  age  and  calling  were  Thomas  Stot- 
lard  and  William  Blake.  For  a  time  these 
ihree  young  artists  used  to  frequent  together 
:he  drawing-room  of  Mrs.  Mathew  in  Rath- 
Done  Place,  which  was  the  resort  of  a  lettered 
society,  including  such  models  of  female  ac- 
complishment and  decorum  as  Mrs.  Montague, 
Mrs.  Barbauld,  and  Mrs.  Chapone.  There 
was  that  about  Flaxman  already,  and  still  - 
more  as  time  went  on,  which  secured  him 
personal  liking  and  respect  wherever  he  went. 
His  appearance  was  singular,  for  though  his 
frame  had  acquired  a  wiry  tenacity  which 
enabled  him  to  bear  much  fatigue,  yet  he 
looked  feeble,  and  was  high-shouldered  almost 
to  deformity,  with  a  head  somewhat  too  large 
for  his  body,  and  a  sidelong  gait  in  walking. 
His  mouth  and  set  of  jaw  had  something  of 
plebeian  stubbornness,  corresponding  to  his 
inflexible  rigidity  of  opinion  on  certain  sub- 
jects ;  but  the  eyes  were  fine  and  full  of  en- 
thusiasm, the  forehead  noble,  the  smile  quaint 
and  winning,  and  in  youth  his  features  were 
set  off  to  advantage  by  a  crop  of  long  brown 
hair  curling  to  his  shoulders.  Such  as  he 
was,  Flaxman  won  the  affections  of  a  girl 
about  his  own  age,  Ann  Denman,  who  proved 
to  him  the  best  of  wives.  She  shared  all 
his  studies  and  interests,  was  enthusiastic, 
sensible,  somewhat  sententious,  according  to 
the  Johnsonian  fashion  of  the  age,  in  speech, 
the  pleasantest  and  most  frugal  of  house- 
keepers, his  inseparable  companion,  helpmate, 
and  *  dictionary'  (to  use  his  own  expression). 
The  pair  were  married  in  1782,  and  went  to 
live  in  a  very  small  house,  No.  27  Wardour 
Street ;  where  Flaxman  was  elected  to  the 
parochial  office  of  collector  of  the  watch- 
rate.  Shortly  afterwards  the  sculptor  was 
made  known  by  Romney  to  his  friend  Wil- 
liam Hayley  [q.  v.],  the  Sussex  squire  and 
poet.  This  maudlin  writer,  but  genial  and 
generous  man,  conceived  a  warm  attachment 
both  for  Flaxman  and  his  wife.  The  young 
couple  spent  the  summer  holidays  of  several 
years  following  their  marriage  at  Hayley's 
country  house  at  Eartham  in  the  South 
Downs ;  and  his  patronage,  equally  assiduous 
and  delicate,  was  of  great  use  to  Flaxman, 
particularly  in  procuring  him  commissions 
for  monumental  works  in  the  neighbouring 
cathedral  of  Chichester. 

After  five  years  of  married  life  Flaxman 
determined  to  start  on  a  journey  to  Rome, 
on  which  his  heart  had  long  been  set.  Wedg- 
wood helped  him  both  with  recommendations 
and  with  a  money  advance  for  services  to  be 
rendered  in  superintending  the  work  of  the  de- 
signers and  modellers  employed  for  the  firm 
in  Italy.  The  young  couple  set  out  in  August 


Flaxman 


256 


Flaxman 


1787,  and  took  up  their  quarters  at  Rome  in 
the  Via  Felice.  They  meant  to  stay  abroad 
only  two  years,  but  stayed  seven.  Their 
residence  at  Rome  was  varied  with  summer 
trips  to  other  parts  of  Italy,  the  records  of 
some  of  which  are  preserved  in  the  artist's 
extant  sketch-books  and  journals.  These 
prove  him  to  have  been  a  zealous  and  intel- 
ligent student,  not  only  of  the  remains  of 
classic  art,  to  which  by  sympathy  and  voca- 
tion he  was  more  especially  attracted,  but 
also  of  the  works,  then  generally  despised,  of 
the  Gothic  and  early  Renaissance  ages  in 
Italy.  At  Rome  he  soon  attracted  the  notice  of 
the  resident  and  travelling  English  dilettanti. 
A  Mr.  Knight,  of  Portland  Place,  for  whom 
he  had  already  executed  a  figure  of  Alex- 
ander, and  just  before  leaving  England  a 
Venus  and  Cupid,  ordered  from  him  a  re- 
duced copy  of  the  Borghese  vase  (these  works 
are  now  at  Wolverley  Hall,  Worcestershire) ; 
*  Anastasius  '  Hope  of  Deepdene,  a  group 
of  '  Cephalus  and  Aurora ;  the  notorious 
Frederick  Hervey,  earl  of  Bristol  and  bishop 
of  Derry,  one  on  a  great  scale  of  the  '  Fury  of 
Athamas.'  Flaxman's  relations  with  the  last- 
named  patron  and  his  agent  were  a  source  of 
great  annoyance  to  him  ;  the  price  fixed  was 
600/. ;  the  instalments  were  unpunctually 
doled  out ;  the  work  remained  long  on  hand, 
and  when  completed  left  the  sculptor  heavily 
out  of  pocket  (the  group  is  now  at  Ick- 
•worth,  Bury  St.  Edmunds).  Flaxman  also 
spent  much  time  on  his  own  account  on  an 
attempt,  not  very  successful,  to  restore  and 
complete  as  a  group  the  famous  ancient  frag- 
ment at  the  Vatican  known  as  the  Belvedere 
torso  ;  the  cast  of  this  group  he  in  later  life 
destroyed.  He  was  further  engaged  while 
at  Rome  in  preparing  designs  for  a  monu- 
ment in  relief  to  the  poet  Collins  for  Chi- 
chester  Cathedral,  and  for  one  in  the  round 
to  Lord  Mansfield  for  Westminster  Abbey. 
On  behalf  of  the  Wedgwoods  he  found  much 
to  employ  him  at  first,  less  afterwards.  The 
occupation  which  brought  him  most  repute, 
though  at  first  slender  enough  profit,  during 
his  stay  at  Rome  was  not  that  of  a  sculptor 
-or  modeller,  but  that  of  a  designer  of  illus- 
trations to  the  poets.  Mrs.  Hare  Naylor 
.(born  Georgiana  Shipley,  and  mother  of  the 
distinguished  brothers,  Francis,  Augustus, 
and  Julius  Hare  [q.  v.])  gave  him  the  com- 
mission for  the  designs  to  the  'Iliad'  and 
'  Odyssey,'  seventy-three  drawings  in  all  at 
fifteen  shillings  each.  These  drawings  no 
.sooner  began  to  be  shown  about  among  ar- 
tistic circles  at  Rome  than  they  aroused  the 
.greatest  enthusiasm.  Mr.  Hope  followed  suit 
with  a  commission  for  similar  designs  for 
Dante ;  Lady  Spencer  with  one  for  a  set  of 


^Eschylus  subjects  (at  a  guinea  each).  All 
four  series  were  successively  handed  over  to 
Piroli  to  be  engraved,  and  the  first  copies  of 
each  were  printed  at  Rome  in  1793 ;  the 
plates  were  then  shipped  to  England,  for 
home  publication,  and  those  for  the '  Odyssey ' 
getting  lost  on  the  voyage,  the  designs  were 
re-engraved  for  Flaxman  by  his  friend  Blake. 
The  engraved  versions  of  the  designs  fall  far 
short  of  the  originals,  neither  Piroli  nor  Blake 
(in  this  his  first  attempt)  having  at  all  suc- 
ceeded in  rendering  with  the  burin  the  delicacy 
and  expressiveness  of  Flaxman's  pen  work. 

In  an  age  much  given  to  the  cultivation  of 
classic  art  and  virtu,  Flaxman,  even  as  a  lad, 
with  no  models  before  him  except  the  plaster 
casts  of  his  father's  shop,  had  shown  in  his 
drawings  and  models  an  instinct  beyond  that 
of  any  of  his  contemporaries  for  the  true 
qualities  of  Greek  design.  He  had  the  secret, 
almost  lost  to  modern  art,  of  combining  ideal 
grace  of  form  and  rhythmical  composition  of 
lines  with  spontaneousness  and  truth  of  pose 
and  gesture,  and  the  unaffected  look  of  life. 
Sketching  constantly,  as  was  his  habit,  with 
pen  and  pencil  the  leading  lines  and  masses 
of  every  scene  and  every  action  of  daily 
humanity  that  caught  his  attention  within 
doors  or  without,  and  at  the  same  time  study- 
ing ardently,  since  his  arrival  in  Italy,  the 
works  of  Greek  design  in  ancient  vases  and 
bas-reliefs,  he  had  greatly  strengthened  his 
natural  gifts  both  for  linear  design  and  the 
expression  of  life  and  action.  The  best  of 
the  outlines  to  the  Greek  poets  and  Dante 
— and  they  are  those  which  represent  sub- 
jects of  grace  and  gentleness,  rather  than 
subjects  of  violence  or  terror — are  worthy 
of  all  the  praise  they  have  won.  Their  suc- 
cess was  immediate  and  universal.  Fuseli, 
whose  foible  was  certainly  not  diffidence, 
at  once  declared  himself  outdone  as  a  de- 
signer. Canova,  the  prince  of  Italian  sculp- 
tors, was  generous  in  recognising  those  qua- 
lities in  Flaxman  which  he  lacked  himself, 
and  praised  his  work  without  stint.  Schlegel, 
the  chief  of  German  critics,  extolled  it  a  few 
years  later  more  vehemently  still.  French 
taste,  then  running  towards  ancient  ideals, 
was  equally  favourable,  and  from  within  a 
few  years  of  the  publication  of  these  designs 
until  our  own  time  the  name  of  Flaxman  has 
been  perhaps  more  known  and  honoured 
abroad  than  that  of  any  other  English  artist. 

Flaxman's  last  occupation  in  Italy  was  that 
of  getting  packed  and  despatched  the  collec- 
tion of  casts  from  the  antique  which  Romney 
had  commissioned  him  to  form,  intending 
to  place  it  for  the  use  of  students  in  his  great 
painting  room  at  Hampstead.  The  sculptor 
and  his  wife  left  Italy  in  the  summer  of  1794, 


Flaxman 


257 


Flaxman 


and  travelled  to  England  without  any  such 
molestation  as  they  apprehended  from,  the 
disturbed  state  of  the  continent.  They  esta- 
blished themselves  in  a  house  in  Bucking- 
ham Street,  Fitzroy  Square,  where  Flaxman 
continued  to  live  until  his  death.  A  son 
of  Hayley's,  who  showed  some  talent  for 
art,  was  placed  with  him  as  a  pupil,  but 
within  a  few  years  died  of  a  decline,  and  is 
commemorated  by  a  small  memorial  relief,  in 
Flaxman's  best  manner,  in  Eartham  Church. 
From  the  date  of  his  return,  commissions  for 
memorial  sculptures,  both  public  and  private, 
brought  Flaxman  employment  and  reward 
more  than  sufficient  for  his  modest  desires  and 
frugal  way  of  living.  In  the  most  lucrative 
branch  of  his  profession,  the  production  of 
ordinary  busts  and  portrait  statues,  he  found 
comparatively  little  employment,  the  strength 
of  his  art  not  lying  in  individuality  of  like- 
ness and  character.  Among  the  best  of  his 
emblematic  groups  in  memory  of  private  per- 
sons, executed  during  the  years  following  his 
return  from  Rome,  were  those  to  Miss  Emily 
Mawley,  for  Chertsey  Church  (model  exhi- 
bited 1797)  ;  to  Miss  Lushington,  for  Lewis- 
ham  ;  to  Miss  Cromwell,  for  Chichester,  1800 ; 
and  to  Mrs.  Knight,  for  Milton  Church,  Cam- 
bridge, 1802.  Among  public  monuments  he 
exhibited  in  1796  the  model  of  that  to  Lord 
Mansfield  for  Westminster  Abbey,  and  in 
1798  of  that  to  Corsican  Paoli  for  the  same 
place.  Through  Mrs.  Hare  Naylor  he  ob- 
tained the  commission  for  a  monument  to 
Sir  William  Jones  (her  brother-in-law)  for 
St.  Mary's,  Oxford  (the  model  exhibited 
1797  ;  the  finished  portrait  statue,  1801),  and 
afterwards  executed  another  for  University 
College,  Oxford.  These  commissions  led  the 
way  to  an  Indian  connection,  and  Flaxman 
afterwards  carried  out  several  monumental 
works  for  the  East  India  Company  and  one 
for  the  rajah  of  Tanjore.  In  1800  he  showed 
a  design  for  a  monument  to  a  Captain  Dun- 
das,  and  in  1802  that  for  the  monument  of 
Captain  Montagu  in  Westminster  Abbey.  In 
the  meantime  he  had  in  1797  been  elected  an 
associate  of  the  Royal  Academy,  and  a  full 
member  in  1800,  in  which  year  was  exhi- 
bited his  diploma  work,  a  marble  relief  of 
t  Apollo  and  Marpessa.' 

There  remain  evidences  of  Flaxman's  in- 
dustry in  other  forms  during  these  years.  It 
was  his  yearly  habit  to  give  his  wife  on  her 
birthday  a  drawing  of  their  friend  Stothard. 
In  1796  he  gave  her  instead,  with  a  charming 
dedication,  a  set  of  forty  outline  drawings 
of  his  own  in  illustration  of  a  little  allegorical 
poem  he  had  written  in  blank  verse,  called 
'The  Knight  of  the  Blazing  Cross'  (this  vo- 
lume is  now  in  the  Fitzwilliam  Museum, 

VOL.  XIX. 


Cambridge).  In  1797  he  published  in  the 
'  Gentleman's  Magazine '  a  letter  to  the  pre- 
sident and  council  of  the  Royal  Academy,  de- 
precating, with  more  point  and  vigour  of  style 
than  are  shown  in  any  other  of  his  writings, 
the  scheme  of  the  French  government  for 
ransacking  Italy  of  its  art  treasures  and  bring- 
ing them  to  Paris.  The  progress  of  the  war 
with  France  fired  his  patriotism,  and  in  1800 
he  addressed  a  pamphlet  to  the  committee 
then  considering  the  proposal  to  erect  a  great 
naval  pillar  in  honour  of  British  arms.  Flax- 
man urged  in  opposition  the  erection  of  a 
colossal  statue  of  Britannia  triumphant,  two 
hundred  feet  high,  on  Greenwich  Hill.  The 
next  year  he  exhibited  his  sketch  model 
for  such  a  monument,  and  was  somewhat 
wounded  at  the  indifference  with  which  his 
project  was  received.  About  the  same  time 
he  published  another  letter  to  the  president 
and  council  of  the  Royal  Academy  on  the 
encouragement  of  the  arts  in  England.  In 
1802  the  act  of  rapine  against  which  he 
pleaded  five  years  before  had  been  accom- 
plished, and  the  peace  of  Amiens  brought  all 
Europe  to  Paris  to  gaze  on  the  spoils  of  Italy 
there  assembled.  Flaxman,  notwithstanding 
his  disapproval,  went  too,  but  stiffly  declined 
all  interchange  of  courtesies  with  the  French 
artists  and  others  who  had  been  instrumental 
in  the  spoliation. 

After  1802  the  tenor  of  Flaxman's  life  con- 
tinued with  little  change  until  1810,  when  he 
was  appointed  to  the  newly  created  post  of 
professor  of  sculpture  in  the  academy.  Not 
only  his  fame  as  an  artist,  but  particularly 
his  assiduity  and  popularity  as  a  teacher  in 
the  academy  schools,  recommended  him  to 
this  post.  Simplicity  and  earnestness  of 
manner  are  said  to  have  been  his  chief 
characteristics  as  a  lecturer.  f  The  Rev.  John 
Flaxman'  he  was  once  styled  by  the  obstre- 
perous Fuseli  in  the  act  of  leaving  a  jovial 
party  to  go  and  hear  him.  His  lectures 
in  their  published  form  show  no  power  of 
style,  and  not  much  of  order  or  arrangement, 
and  on  points  of  scholarship  and  archaeology 
are  now  quite  without  authority ;  they  are  at 
the  same  time  distinguished  for  sound  sense 
and  native  insight  into  the  principles  and 
virtues  alike  of  Greek  and  Gothic  art.  Among 
the  chief  works  of  sculpture  which  occupied 
Flaxman  in  the  years  preceding  and  follow- 
ing his  appointment  as  academy  professor 
were  the  beautiful  and  elaborate  monument 
in  relief  for  the  Baring  family  in  Micheldever 
Church,  Hampshire,  of  which  the  various  parts 
were  exhibited  at  intervals  between  1805  and 
1811 ;  the  monument,  only  less  rich,  for  the 
Yarborough  family  at  Campsall  Church,  York- 
shire ;  a  model  for  a  monument  to  Sir  Joshua 


Flaxman 


258 


Flaxman 


Reynolds  in  St.  Paul's  (1807)  ;  one  for  a 
monument  to  Josiah  Webbe  for  India  (1810) ; 
monuments  to  Captains  Walker  and  Beckett 
in  Leeds  Church  (1811) ;  a  monument  to  Lord 
Conrwallis  for  Prince  of  Wales'  Island  (1812) ; 
one  in  honour  of  Sir  J.  Moore  for  Glasgow 
(1813) ;  one  to  General  Simcoe,  and  one  to  a 
Mr.  Bosanquet  for  Leyton  Church  (1814). 
Since  1793  he  had  published  no  drawings  in 
illustration  of  the  poets  except  three  for  an 
edition,  undertaken  by  Hayley,  of  Cowper's 
translations  into  English  of  the  Latin  poems 
of  Milton  (published  1810).  Other  sets  of 
drawings  made  but  not  published  about  this 
time  were  one  for  the  *  Pilgrim's  Progress ' 
and  one  to  illustrate  a  Chinese  tale  in  verse, 
called  '  The  Casket/  which  he  wrote  (1812) 
to  amuse  his  womankind.  In  1817  he  brought 
out  the  outlines  to  Hesiod,  which  are  both  the 
best  in  themselves  of  his  designs  to  the  Greek 
poets,  and  much  the  best  rendered  by  the  en- 
graver, in  this  instance  again  Blake.  For  the 
next  few  years  classical  and  decorative  sub- 
jects in  various  forms  began  to  occupy  a  larger 
share  than  usual  of  his  time,  side  by  side  with 
monumental  sculpture  for  churches.  In  the 
same  year  (1817)  he  designed  a  tripod  to  be 
executed  by  the  goldsmiths  Eundell  and 
Bridge,  and  presented  to  John  Kemble  on 
his  taking  leave  of  the  stage;  and  in  1818,  on 
a  commission  from  the  same  goldsmiths,  set 
to  work  on  the  drawings  and  models  for  a 
shield  of  Achilles,  to  be  executed  in  relief 
according  to  the  description  in  the  18th 
book  of  the  '  Iliad.'  This  task  gave  him 
much  labour  and  much  pleasure,  and  in  the 
result  added  considerably  to  his  fame ;  though 
nothing,  as  we  now  know,  could  be  more  un- 
like the  art  of  the  Homeric  age  than  Flax- 
man's  suave  and  flowing  work,  which  re- 
sembles a  number  of  his  happiest  outline 
designs  worked  into  a  single  ring-shaped  com- 
position. In  1820  Flaxman  was  engaged  on 
a  pedimental  group  in  marble  of  '  Peace,  Li- 
berty, and  Plenty '  for  the  Duke  of  Bedford's 
new  sculpture  gallery  at  Woburn.  A  group 
of  'Maternal  Love'  for  the  monument  to 
Mrs.  Fitzharris  (1817) ;  two  reliefs  of  'Faith' 
and  'Charity'  for  the  monument  of  Lady 
Spencer,  exhibited  in  1819  ;  and  one  of '  Re- 
ligious Instruction'  in  1820,  for  a  monu- 
ment to  the  Rev.  John  Clowes  at  St.  John's 
Church,  Manchester,  show  that  the  artist 
had  at  the  same  time  not  broken  off  his  usual 
labour  on  pious  memorials  for  the  dead,  and 
symbols  of  Christian  hope  and  consolation. 
His  literary  industry  at  the  same  time  is 
shown  by  several  articles  on  art  and  archaeo- 
logy contributed  to  Rees's  '  Encyclopaedia  ' 
(published  1819-20). 
Flaxman's  home  life  in  Buckingham  Street 


during  these  years  was  one  of  great  content- 
ment. He  was  childless,  but  his  half-sister, 
Mary  Ann  Flaxman,  who  was  thirteen  years 
younger  than  himself,  and  his  wife's  sister, 
Maria  Denman,  had  joined  his  household.  He 
went  little  into  society,  but  kept  up  an  un- 

Sretending  hospitality  in  his  own  home, 
rabb  Robinson,  who  was  first  acquainted 
with  Flaxman  in  1810,  has  borne  witness  to 
the  spirit  of  pleasantness  which  reigned  there ; 
to  the  dignity  and  simplicity  of  Flaxman's 
character,  the  charm  and  playfulness  of  his 
ordinary  conversation,  and  the  goodness  of 
heart  which  made  him  beloved  alike  by  pupils, 
servants,  models,  and  the  poor  folk  and  chil- 
dren of  the  neighbourhood,  among  whom  he 
went  habitually  armed  with  a  sketch-book 
to  note  down  their  actions  and  groupings, 
and  a  pocketful  of  coppers  to  relieve  their 
distress.  Similar  testimonies  of  affectionate 
and  admiring  regard  have  been  left  by  others, 
especially  by  E.  H.  Baily  the  sculptor,  who 
was  his  pupil  from  1807  to  1814;  by  Watson 
the  sculptor;  and  by  Allan  Cunningham, 
who  only  knew  him  in  the  last  years  of  his 
life.  In  conduct  Flaxman  seems  to  have  been 
faultlessly  kind,  upright,  and  generous,  and  in 
conversation  sweetness  itself ;  except  on  the 
subject  of  religion,  in  which  he  held  stiffly  to 
certain  private  opinions,  compounded  partly 
of  puritan  orthodoxy  and  partly  of  Sweden- 
borgian  mysticism.  The  mystical  '  Book  of 
Enoch '  supplied  many  subjects  to  his  pencil, 
and  he  had  a  sympathy  with  religious  seers 
and  enthusiasts.  But  he  was  not  haunted, 
like  Blake,  by  visions  more  real  to  him  than 
reality  ;  and  when  Sharp,  the  engraver,  came 
to  him  with  a  message  from  the  prophet 
Brothers,  declaring  that  he  must  accompany 
them  in  leading  back  the  Jews  to  Jerusa- 
lem, and  undertake  the  office  of  architect  to 
the  Temple,  he  was  able  to  put  by  the  offer 
with  a  smile  and  speak  of  it  humorously 
afterwards. 

In  1820  Mrs.  Flaxman,  who  had  made  a 
good  recovery  from  a  stroke  of  paralysis  six 
years  before,  died  on  6  Feb.  The  blow  to 
Flaxman  was  very  great.  His  health  and 
spirits  were  never  the  same  again,  though  he 
did  not  suffer  the  shock  to  diminish  or  inter- 
rupt his  industry.  The  next  year  he  finished 
and  exhibited  the  group  of  '  Michael  and 
Satan/  for  Lord  Egremont,  in  marble,  and  in 
1824  a  f  Pastoral  Apollo '  for  the  same  patron. 
Both  are  now  at  Petworth.  In  1822  he  gave 
an  address  at  the  Royal  Academy  on  the  oc- 
casion of  the  death  of  Canova,  and  in  1823 
received  a  visit  from  his  old  admirer,  Schlegel. 
He  was  at  work  about  the  same  time  on  sta- 
tuettes of  Raphael  and  Michael  Angelo,  on 
small  figures  of  Cupid  and  Psyche,  on  designs 


Flaxman 


259 


Flaxman 


for  a  statue  of  Burns,  and  for  one  of  John 
Kemble   for  Westminster  Abbey,   and   on 
sketches  for  friezes  for  the  external  decora- 
tion of  Buckingham  Palace,  then  uncom- 
pleted.    In  his  seventy-second  year  he  lived 
still  surrounded  by  honour  and  affection,  and 
as  busy  almost  as  ever,  though  visibly  failing 
in  strength ;  when,  on  3  Dec.  1826,  he  caught 
a  cold  in  church,  which  turned  quickly  to 
inflammation.    On  the  morning  of  the  7th  he 
died.    He  was  buried,  with  no  public  mourn- 
ing, in  the  church  of  St.  Giles-in-the-Fields. 
The  most  important  and  complete  monu- 
mental works  of  Flaxman,  including  those 
above  mentioned  and  others,  are  to  be  found 
in  Westminster  Abbey,  in  St.  Paul's,  at  Glas- 
gow, and  in  Calcutta ;  his  most  ambitious 
classical  and  decorative  groups  and  figures 
at  Petworth,  Ickworth,  Woburn,  Deepdene, 
and  Wolverley  Hall.     But  neither  of  these 
classes  of  work  represent  him  at  his  best. 
His  occupation  on  wax  models  for  Wedg- 
wood had  accustomed  him  in  youth  to  work 
chiefly  on  a  minute  scale ;  and  on  a  large 
scale  he  never  learnt  to  design  or  execute 
with  complete  mastery.     Many  of  the  short- 
comings of  his  heroic  monuments  are  due  to 
the  fact  of  his  having  used  half-sized,  or  even 
smaller,  instead  of  full-sized  models  in  their 
preparation.  They  are,  moreover,  often  marred 
by  inexpressiveness  and  lack  of  thoroughness 
in  the  treatment  of  the  marble ;  Flaxman  not 
having  been  himself  very  skilful  with  the 
chisel,  and  having  been  content,  except  in  a 
few  instances  (as  the  'Fury  of  Athamas '  and 
the  Academy  relief  of 'Apollo  and  Marpessa,' 
which  he  is  said  to  have  finished  in  great 
part  with  his  own  hand),  with  the  empty 
mechanical  polish  which  the  Italian  work- 
men of  the  time  imitated  from  the  Roman 
imitations  of  Greek  originals.  His  real  genius 
appears  far  better  in  the  memorial  reliefs  in 
honour  of  the  private  dead,  which  are  to 
be  found  in  so  many  churches  throughout 
England — in  Chichester  Cathedral  no  less 
than  eight,  in  the  cathedrals  of  Winchester 
and  Gloucester,  in  the  churches  of  Leeds, 
Manchester,  Campsall,Tewkesbury,  Ledbury, 
Micheldever,   Heston,   Chertsey,  Cookham, 
Lewisham,  Beckenham,  Leyton,  Milton,  and 
many  more.     For  this  class  of  work  his  fa- 
vourite form  of  design  was  one  of  symbolic 
figures  or  groups  in  relief,  embodying  some 
simple  theme  of  sorrow  or  consolation,  a  be- 
atitude, or  a  text  from  the  Lord's  Prayer. 
Such  motives  lose  all  triteness  in  his  hands, 
and  are  distinguished  by  a  unique  combina- 
tion of  typical  classic  grace  with  heartfelt 
humanity  and  domestic  pathos.    But  of  these, 
too,  the  execution  in  marble  is  often  not  equal 
to  the  beauty  of  the  motive,  and  in  many  cases 


they  can  be  studied  almost  better  in  the  collec- 
tion of  casts  from  the  clay  models  preserved  in 
the  Flaxman  Hall  at  University  College  than 
in  the  marbles  themselves.  Perhaps  the  most 
entirely  satisfactory  class  of  Flaxman's  works 
is  to  be  found,  not  among  his  sculptures,  but 
his  drawings  and  sketches  and  pen  o utline,  pen 
and  wash,  or  pencil.  These  are  very  numer- 
ous, and  include  ideas  and  essays  for  almost 
all  his  extant  or  projected  works,  whether  in 
sculpture  or  outline  illustrations,  as  well  as 
many  hundred  studies  and  motives  from  life 
or  fancy  not  afterwards  used.  Slight  as  they 
commonly  are,  abstract  and  generalised  as  is 
their  treatment  of  anatomical  forms,  they 
stand  alone  by  the  peculiar  quality  of  their 
beauty;  expressing,  in  lines  of  a  charm  equal 
to,  and  partly  caught  from,  that  of  antique 
vase-paintings  and  bas-reliefs,  the  inventions 
and  observations  of  a  singularly  gifted,  pure, 
lofty,  and  tender  spirit.  The  best  public  col- 
lections of  them  are  in  the  British  Museum, 
the  South  Kensington  Museum,  in  the  Flax- 
man Hall  at  University  College,  and  the  Fitz- 
william  Museum,  Cambridge  ;  many  more 
remain  in  private  hands. 

John  Flaxman's  elder  brother,  WILLIAM 
FLAXMAN  (1753  P-1795  ?),  was  also  a  modeller 
and  exhibitor.  He  contributed  to  the  exhi- 
bition of  the  Free  Society  of  Artists  in  1768, 
and  to  those  of  the  Academy  at  intervals  be- 
tween 1781  (when  he  sent  a  portrait  of  John 
Flaxman  in  wax)  and  1793.  He  is  said  to 
have  been  distinguished  as  a  carver  in  wood. 
No  details  of  his  life  have  been  preserved  in 
any  published  memoir  or  correspondence  of 
his  brother. 

Of  more  note  as  an  artist,  and  more  closely 
associated  with  the  sculptor's  career,  was 
his  half-sister,  MARY  ANN  FLAXMAN  (1768- 
1833).  She  lived  as  governess  in  the  family 
of  the  Hare  Naylors  for  several  years,  first 
in  Italy  and  afterwards  at  Weimar ;  and 
from  1810  was  an  inmate  of  John  Flaxman's 
house  at  Buckingham  Street  until  his  death. 
Her  work  in  art  was  strongly  influenced  by 
his  example,  and  shows  both  talent  and  feel- 
ing. She  is  best  known  by  the  six  designs 
for  Hay  ley's '  Triumphs  of  Temper/  engraved 
by  Blake,  and  published  in  1803.  Her  con- 
tributions to  the  Royal  Academy  occur  at 
intervals  between  1786  and  1819,  and  con- 
sist chiefly  of  designs  in  illustration  of  poetry 
and  romance. 

[Anonymous  'Brief  Memoir'  prefixed  to  Flax- 
man's Lectures,  ed.  1829;  Allan  Cunningham's 
Lives  of  the  most  Eminent  British  Painters, 
Sculptors,  and  Architects  ;  J.  T.  Smith's  Nolle- 
kens  and  his  Times  ;  Dr.  Lonsdale's  Life  of  Wat- 
son; Mrs.  Bray's  Life  of  Stothard;  Gilchrist's 
and  Kossetti's  Life  of  Blake ;  Miss  Meteyard's 

82 


Fleccius 


260 


Flecknoe 


Life  of  Josiah  Wedgwood;  Crabb  Robinson's 
Diaries  and  Reminiscences  ;  Redgrave's  Diet,  of 
Artists ;  articles  by  G-.  F.  Teniswood  in  the  Art 
Journal  for  1867, 1868,andl872;  Sidney  Colvin's 
Drawings  of  Flaxman  (atlas  fol.  1876) ;  unpub- 
lished correspondence.]  S.  C. 

FLECCIUS,    GERBARUS    (ft.  1546- 
1554),  painter.     [See  FLICCIUS.] 

FLECKNOE,  RICHARD  (d.  1678?), 
poet,  is  said  to  have  been  an  Irishman  and 
a  Roman  catholic  priest.  From  his  own  ac- 
count of  his  travels  it  appears  that  he  went 
abroad  in  1640,  and  spent  three  or  four  years 
in  the  Low  Countries.  He  travelled  to  Rome 
in  1645,  where,  as  he  says,  he  was  chiefly 
occupied  with  pictures  and  statues.  From 
Rome  he  made  a  voyage  to  Constantinople 
about  1647,  and  he  afterwards  went  to  Por- 
tugal, and  visited  Brazil  in  1648.  Thence 
he  returned  to  Flanders  and  to  England. 
At  Rome  he  was  visited  by  Andrew  Mar- 
veil,  who  described  him  in  '  Fleckno,  an  Eng- 
lish priest  at  Rome.'  Marvell,  with  his  hy- 
perbolic humour,  gives  a  quaint  description 
of  Flecknoe's  extreme  leanness,  his  narrow 
lodging  up  three  pairs  of  stairs,  and  his  ap- 
petite for  reciting  his  own  poetry.  Flecknoe, 
as  appears  from  his  dedications,  was  known 
to  many  distinguished  people  on  the  conti- 
nent and  in  England.  Langbaine  says  that 
he  was  more  acquainted  with  the  nobility 
than  with  the  muses.  He  speaks  as  a  moderate 
catholic,  though  one  of  his  books  (see  below) 
contains  a  panegyric  upon  Cromwell  at  the 
Protector's  death.  He  says  that  nobody 
prints  more  or  publishes  less  than  he.  He 
amused  himself  by  writing  plays,  only  one 
of  which  ('  Love's  Kingdom  ')  was  acted,  and 
giving  lists  of  the  actors  whom  he  would 
'have  wished  to  represent  the  parts.  He  dis- 
approved of  the  license  of  the  stage,  and  was 
regarded  with  special  contempt  and  dislike 
by  the  popular  writers.  Dryden  refers  to 
him  in  his  dedication  of  'Limberham'  (1678) 
and  a  rather  obscure  phrase,  that  there  is  a 
worse  poet  in  the  world  than  *  he  of  scan- 
dalous memory  who  left  it  last,'  is  supposec 
to  intimate  that  Flecknoe  was  then  recently 
dead.  Dryden  in  his  later  satire, '  MacFleck- 
noe,'  1682,  says  that  Flecknoe 

In  prose  and  verse  was  owned,  without  dispute 
Through  all  the  realms  of  nonsense,  absolute. 

The  causes  of  Dryden's  antipathy,  if  they 
were  anything  more  than  a  general  dislike 
to  bad  poetry,  are  not  discoverable.  In  one 
of  his  epigrams  Flecknoe  praises  Dryden, 

the  Muses'  darling  and  delight, 
Than  whom  none  ever  flew  so  high  a  flight. 

Southey  has  pointed  out  some  good  lines  in 


Flecknoe,  and  Lamb  prefixed  some  pleasing- 
verses  on  silence  to  his  essay  {  On  a  Quaker's 
Meeting.'  He  is  also  praised  in  the  '  Retro- 
pective  Review.'  It  must,  however,  be  ad- 
mitted that  Flecknoe's  verses,  excepting  a 
?ew  happy  passages,  are  of  the  kind  which 
;hiefly  pleases  the  author.  They  were  printed 
'or  private  circulation,  and  are  often  rare. 

His  works  are  :  1.  '  Hierothalamium,  or 
:he  Heavenly  Nuptials  of  our  Blessed  Sa- 
riour  with  a  Pious  Soule,'  1626.  2.  <  The 
A.ffections  of  a  Pious  Soule  unto  our  Saviour 

hrist,  expressed  in  a  mixed  Treatise  of  Verse 
and  Prose,'  1640.  3.  '  Miscellania,  or  Poems 
of  all  Sorts,  with  divers  other  Pieces,'  1653* 
4.  '  Love's  Dominion,  a  dramatick  piece  full 
of  excellent  Moralities,  written  as  a  pattern 
for  the  reformed  stage,'  1654  (anon.)  5.  *  A 
Relation  of  Ten  Years'  Travels  in  Europe> 
Asia,  Affrique,  and  America,'  1656.  6.  i  The 
Diarium  or  Journal,  divided  into  twelve  Jor- 
nadas  in  burlesque  Rhime  or  Drolling  Verse,' 
1656.  7.  '  Enigmaticall  Characters,  all  taken 
to  the  Life  from  several  Persons,  Humours,  and 
Dispositions,'  1658.  (A  second  edition,  called 
'  Sixty-nine  Characters/  &c.,  in  1665 ;  and 
also  in  1665  'Enigmatical  Characters,  &c. 
.  .  .  being  rather  a  new  work  than  a  new 
impression  of  the  old,'  differing  greatly  from 
the  other  two.)  8.  '  The  Marriage  of  Ocea- 
nus  and  Britannia,'  1659.  9.  '  The  Idea 
of  his  Highness  Oliver,  late  Lord  Protector, 
with  certain  brief  Reflections  on  his  Life/ 
1659.  10. '  Heroick  Portraits,  with  other  Mis- 
cellany Pieces,'  1660.  11.  '  Love's  Kingdom, 
a  Pastoral  Trage-Comedy '('  Love's  Dominion ' 
altered)  ;  appended  is  a  short  treatise  of  the 
English  stage,  1664  (reprinted  in  Hazlitt's 
'  English  Drama  and  Stage,'  Roxburghe  Li- 
brary, 1869).  12.  '  Erminia,  or  the  Fair  and 
Virtuous  Lady,  a  Trage-Comedy,'  1661  and 

1665.  13.   '  A  Farrago  of  Several  Pieces/ 

1666.  14.  'The  Damoiselles  a  la  Mode/ 
1667  (taken,  according  to  the  preface, '  out 
of   several  excellent    pieces   of  Moliere '). 
15.  '  Sir  William  Davenant's  Voyage  to  the 
other  World,  with  his  Adventures  in  the 
Poets'  Elyzium  :  a  Poetical  Fiction/  1668 
(with  a  postscript  to  the  actors  at  the  theatre 
in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields).     16.  '  Epigrams  of 
all  Sorts/  1  bk.  1669.     17.  '  Epigrams  of  all 
Sorts,  made  at  divers  times  on  several  occa- 
sions/  1670,  with  'Epigrams  Divine   and 
Moral.'  Another  book  with  same  title  ('  rather 
a  new  work  than  a  new  impression '),  1671. 

18.  '  A  Collection  of  the  choicest  Epigrams 
and  Characters  of  R.  F.'  (rather  a  '  new  work 
than  a  new  impression '),  1673  (from  previous 
'  Epigrams  '  and  '  Enigmatical  Characters '). 

19.  '  Euterpe  Revived,  or  Epigrams  made  at 
several  times  ...  on  persons  .  .  .  most  of 


Fleet 


261 


Fleetwood 


them  now  living/  1675.  20.  'A  Treatise 
of  the  Sports  of  Wit,'  1675  (only  two  copies 
known,  one  in  the  Huth  Library). 

[Langbaine's  Dramatic  Poets,  1691,  pp.  199- 
202 ;  Ware's  Writers  of  Ireland ;  Southey's  Om- 
niana,  i.  105-10;  Scott's  Dryden,  1808,  vi.  7, 
x.  441 ;  Marvell's  Works  (Grosart),  pp.  xxxiv, 
229  ;  Ketrospective  Keview,  v.  266-75.]  L.  S. 

FLEET,  SIR  JOHN  (d.  1712),  governor 
of  the  East  India  Company,  was,  according 
to  Luttrell,  by  trade  a  sugar  baker,  but  ac- 
cording to  Le  Neve  a  wine  cooper.  He  was 
elected  sheriff  of  London  on  11  Oct.  1688, 
and  alderman  soon  afterwards,  having  in  the 
interval  been  knighted.  He  was  also  chosen 
captain  of  the  city  horse  volunteers  in  July 
1689,  and  lord  mayor  on  1  Oct.  1692.  His  ac- 
cession to  the  latter  office  was  celebrated  by 
a  pageant  called  'The  Triumphs  of  London,' 
•written  by  Elkanah  Settle  and  performed  in 
the  Grocers'  Hall  on  29  Oct.  He  represented 
the  city  of  London  in  parliament  between 
March  1692-3  and  1705,  with  the  exception 
of  the  short  parliament  which  sat  from  30  Dec. 
1701  to  2  July  1702.  On  25  April  1695  he 
was  elected  governor  of  the  East  India  Com- 
pany. It  was  a  critical  epoch  in  the  history 


of  the  company,  the  charter  having  become,  Cn  the  same  year  ne  was  in  command  of  a 


legally  forfeit  in  consequence  of  the  interest 
due  to  the  government  having  fallen  into 
arrear.  The  government  was  itself  in  finan- 
cial straits.  A  rival  company  had  also  been 
^projected  which  offered  the  government  a 
loan  of  2,000,000/.  at  8  per  cent.,  while  the 
best  offer  which  Fleet  was  authorised  to  make 
on  behalf  of  the  old  company  was  an  advance 
of  700,0007.  at  6  per  cent.  The  new  company 
•was  accordingly  incorporated  on  5  Sept.  1698, 
and  the  old  company  found  it  necessary  to 
effect  an  amalgamation.  This  was  carried 
out  on  22  July  1702.  Fleet  was  appointed, 
on  11  July  1702,  one  of  the  commissioners 
to  execute  the  office  of  lieutenant  of  London, 
and  on  14  March  1704-5  he  was  elected  presi- 
dent of  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital.  He 
married  twice,  his  second  wife  being  the 
relict  of  Newcomb,  the  king's  printer.  He 
died  in  1712  and  was  buried  at  Battersea. 


[Luttrell's  Eelation  of  State  Affairs,  i.  468, 
ii.  581,  iii.  465,  iv.  376,  605,  721,  v.  193,  vi.  186; 
Le  Neve's  Pedigrees  of  Knights  (Harl.  Soc.),  p. 
417  ;  Anderson's  Hist,  of  Commerce,  ii.  222,  236  ; 
Lists  of  Members  of  Parliament  (Official  Eeturn 
of)  ;  Lysons's  Environs,  1792,  i.  35  ;  Brit.  Mus. 
Cat.  '  E.  Settle.']  J.  M.  K. 

FLEETWOOD,   CHARLES  (d.  1692), 
was  the  third  son  of  Sir  Miles  Fleet- 


jooch 


wood  of  Aldwinkle,  Northamptonshire,  and 

*  of  Anne,  daughter  of  Nicholas  Luke  of  Wood- 

end,  Bedfordshire  (pedigree  communicated 


by  W.  S.  Churchill,  esq.)  Sir  Miles  Fleet- 
wood  was  receiver  of  the  court  of  wards,  and 
died  in  1641.  His  eldest  son,  Sir  William  (b. 
1603),  who  succeeded  to  his  father's  estates 
and  office,  took  the  side  of  the  king,  and  died 
in  1674.  George,  the  second  son,  sought  his 
fortune  in  the  service  of  Sweden,  and  is  noticed 
below.  Charles,  who  appears  to  have  been 
much  younger  than  his  brothers,  was  left  by 
his  father  an  annuity  of  60/.,  chargeable  on 
the  estate  of  Sir  William  Fleetwood  (Royalist 
Compos ition  Papers,  2nd  ser.  xxiii.  165) .  He 
was  admitted  a  member  of  Gray's  Inn  30 Nov. 
1638  (Harleian  MS.  1912).  In  1642  he  and 
other  young  gentlemen  of  the  Inns  of  Court 
entered  the  life-guard  of  the  Earl  of  Essex 
(LUDLOW,  ed.  1751,  p.  17).  Though  a  simple 
trooper  Fleetwood  was  in  September  1642 
employed  by  Essex  to  bear  a  letter  to  the  Earl 
of  Dorset,  containing  overtures  of  peace  to  the 
king,  but  was  dismissed  without  an  answer 
(CLARENDON,  ed.  Macray,  ii.  340).  He  was 
wounded  at  the  first  battle  of  Newbury^nby 
which  time  he  had  risen  to  the  rank  of  captain 
(Bibliotheca  Gloucestrensis,  p.  244).  In  May 
1644  parliament  rewarded  him  with  the 
receivership  of  the  court  of  wards,  forfeited 
by  his  brother  (  WHITELOCKE,  i.  256,  ed.  1853). 


regiment  in  the  Earl  of  Manchester's  army, 
and  already  notorious  as  a  favourer  of  secta- 
ries. '  Look  at  Colonel  Fleetwood's  regi- 
ment,' writes  a  presbyterian ;  l  what  a  cluster 
of  preaching  officers  and  troopers  there  is  ! ' 
(Manchester's  Quarrel  with  Cromwell,  p.  72). 
His  support  of  preaching  officers  involved 
him  in  a  quarrel  with  Sir  Samuel  Luke 
(ELLIS,  Original  Letters,  3rd  ser.  iv.  260-6). 
Fleetwood  commanded  a  regiment  of  horse 
in  the  new  model,  fought  at  Naseby,  and  as- 
sisted in  the  defeat  of  Sir  Jacob  Astley  at 
Stow-in-the-Wold  (SPRIGGE,  Anglia  Redi- 
viva,  pp.  67, 107, 174 ;  RTISHWORTH,  vi.  140). 
In  May  1646  Fleetwood  entered  the  House 
of  Commons  as  member  for  Marlborough 
(Return  of  Members  of  Parliament,  i.  496). 
In  the  quarrel  between  the  army  and  the 
parliament  in  the  summer  of  1647  he  played 
an  important  part.  His  regiment  was  one  of 
those  which  unanimously  refused  to  take  ser- 
vice in  Ireland ;  he  himself  was  one  of  the 
four  military  commissioners  sent  to  explain 
the  votes  of  parliament  to  the  army  (30  April 
1647),  and  also  one  of  the  officers  appointed 
by  the  army  to  treat  with  the  commissioners 
of  parliament  (1  July  1647)  (RFSHWORTH, 
vi.  468,  475,  603).  According  to  the  state- 
ments of  Lilburn  and  Holies  he  was  deeply 
engaged  in  the  plot  for  seizing  the  king  at 
Holmby  (LILBTJRN,  An  Impeachment  of  High 
Treason  against  Oliver  Cromwell,  1649,  p.  55 ;. 

^  After  '  first  battle  of  Newbury  '  read  "  prob- 
ably while  serving  as  a  captain  in  TyrrelPs 
regiment,  lately  Hampden's.' 

10.      For  '  Tn  the  same  vear  '  read 


Fleetwood 


262 


Fleetwood 


MASERES,  Tracts,  i.  246).  Fleetwood  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  actively  employed  in  the 
second  civil  war,  and  took  no  part  in  the  king's 
trial.  He  was  appointed  on  14  Aug.  1649 
governor  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  in  conjunction 
with  Colonel  Sydenham  (Cal.  State  Papers, 
Dom.  1649-50,  p.  277).  In  the  summer  of 
1650  he  accompanied  Cromwell  to  Scotland, 
and,  as  lieutenant-general  of  the  horse,  helped 
to  gam  the  battle  of  Dunbar.  During  his 
absence  Fleetwood  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  third  council  of  state  (17  Feb.  1651),  and 
was  recalled  from  Scotland  and  charged  with 
the  command  of  the  forces  retained  in  England 
(ib.  1651,  pp.  44,  103).  This  position  gave 
him  the  command  of  the  forces  collected  to 
oppose  Charles  II's  march  into  England.  He 
met  Cromwell  on  24  Aug.  at  Warwick  to 
concert  measures  with  him,  gathered  at  Ban- 
bury  the  militia  of  about  twenty  counties, 
and  crossing  the  Severn  established  himself 
at  Upton,  on  the  south-west  of  Worcester 
(29  Aug.)  From  this  point  Fleetwood  com- 
menced the  battle  of  3  Sept.,  forcing  his  way 
across  the  Teme,  and  driving  the  royalists 
into  Worcester  (Old  Parliamentary  History, 
xx.  25,  33,  41,  60).  His  services  were  ac- 
knowledged by  the  thanks  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  his  re-election  to  the  council 
of  state.  In  the  following  year  Fleetwood's 
importance  was  further  increased  by  his  ap- 
pointment as  commander-in-chief  in  Ireland 
and  his  marriage  with  Cromwell's  daughter. 
A  few  weeks  after  the  battle  of  Worcester 
Fleetwood  had  lost  his  wife,  Frances,  daugh- 
ter of  Thomas  Smith  of  Winston,  Norfolk, 
who  was  buried  at  St.  Anne's,  Blackfriars, 
24  Nov.  1651  (Notes  and  Queries,  iv.  3, 156). 
Two  days  later  died  Henry  Ireton,  the  hus- 
band of  Cromwell's  eldest  daughter,  Bridget, 
and  before  the  end  of  1652  the  widow  became 
Fleetwood's  second  wife  (CARLYLE,  Cromwell, 
Letter  clxxxix.)  The  marriage  was  attri- 
buted at  the  time  to  Mrs.  Ireton's  desire  to 
regain  the  position  she  had  lost ;  but  this  is 
hardly  consistent  with  the  account  of  her 
character  given  by  the  writer  who  tells  the 
story  (Memoirs  of  Colonel  Hutchinson,\i.  189, 
202,  ed.  1885).  Fleetwood's  appointment  to 
the  command  of  the  Irish  army  was  due  to 
Lambert's  refusal  to  hold  the  post  except  with 
the  rank  of  lord  deputy,  which  office  parlia- 
ment had  resolved  to  abolish.  Accordingly 
the  council  of  state  nominated  Fleetwood 
(8  July  1652),  parliament  approved,  and 
Cromwell,  as  captain-general  of  the  forces 
of  the  Commonwealth,  granted  him  a  com- 
mission as  commander-in-chief  in  Ireland, 
10  July  1652  (THTJRLOE,  i.  212).  He  was  also 
made  one  of  the  commissioners  for  the  civil 
government  of  that  country  (Instructions 


24  Aug.  1652,  Old  Parliamentary  History, 
xx.  92). 

Fleetwood  remained  in  Ireland  from  Sep- 
tember 1652  to  September  1655.  On  27  Aug. 
1654,  or  earlier,  he  was  given  the  higher  rank 
of  lord  deputy,  and  continued  to  hold  that 
title  until  superseded  by  Henry  Cromwell  in 
November  1657  (Ikth  Report  of  the  Deputy- 
Keeper  of  Irish  Records,  p.  28 ;  Mercurius 
Politicus,  3780).  The  chief  work  of  Fleet- 
wood's  government  was  the  transplantation 
of  the  condemned  Irish  landholders  to  Con- 
naught,  and  he  was  also  able  to  begin  the 
settlement  of  the  disbanded  soldiers  on  the 
confiscated  estates  (PRENDERGAST,  Cromwel- 
lian  Settlement  of  Ireland,  ed.  1875,  pp.  228, 
267).  Fleetwood  was  personally  a  warm 
supporter  of  the  policy  of  transplantation, 
and  eager  to  punish  Vincent  Gookin  [q.  v.] 
for  his  book  against  it  (THTJRLOE,  iii.  139).  A 
bitter  persecutor  of  catholic  priests,  he  showed 
himself  ever  ready  to  protect  and  favour  the 
anabaptists  and  extreme  sectaries  among  the 
soldiers,  and  was  accordingly  disliked  by  the 
presbyterians.  This  was  probably  one  of  the 
causes  of  his  recall  to  England  (Reliquice 
Eaxteriance,  i.  74).  The  sectarian  party  and 
the  army  in  general  petitioned  for  his  return 
(THTJRLOE,  iv.  276,  421).  Fleetwood  ap- 
proved and  furthered  the  foundation  of  the 
protectorate.  According  to  Ludlow  he  pro- 
cured the  proclamation  of  the  Protector, by  a 
trick,  and  took  care  that  all  the  Irish  members 
in  the  parliament  of  1654  should  be  staunch 
friends  of  the  government  (Memoirs,  pp.  184, 
189,  ed.  1751).  But  according  to  Colonel 
Hewson  it  was  Fleetwood's  l  sweet  healing 
peaceable  spirit '  which  drew  over  the  hearts 
of  the  scrupulous,  and  convinced  them  that 
'  the  interest  of  God's  people '  could  only  be 
secure  by  Cromwell's  rule  (THTJRLOE,  iv.  276). 
But  he  was  always  ready  to  intervene  on  be- 
half of  old  companions  in  arms  who  were  dis- 
satisfied with  the  new  government.  He  inter- 
ceded for  Colonel  Alured,  Colonel  Rich,  and 
Adjutant-general  Allen,  proceeded  against 
Ludlow  with  great  reluctance,  and  strove 
hard  to  win  him  over  (ib.  ii.  728,  iii.  246, 
vi.251;  LTJDLOW,  pp.  205,  210).  Fleetwood 
was  also  in  complete  agreement  with  Crom- 
well in  the  various  breaches  which  took 
place  between  him  and  his  parliament^.  On 
the  dissolution  of  the  first  (January  1655) 
he  wrote  to  Thurloe,  declaring  that  freedom 
for  tender  consciences,  and  the  limitation  cp ,' 
the  powers  and  duration  of  parliament  were 
the  two  essentials  of  any  settlement  (THTJR- 
LOE, iii.  23,  112,  136).  In  December  1054 
Fleetwood  had  been  appointed  one  of  Crom- 
well's council,  and  on  his  return  to  England 
(September  1655)  he  at  once  assumed  a  lead- 


Fleetwood 


263 


Fleetwood 


ing  place  in  the  Protector's  court  (ib.  iv.  406). 
He  was  appointed  also  one  of  the  major- 
generals,  having  under  his  charge  the  coun- 
ties of  Norfolk,  Suffolk,  Essex,  Oxford,  Cam- 
bridge, Huntingdon,  and  Buckingham,  but 
seems  usually  to  have  exercised  his  functions 
through  a  deputy.  Fleetwood  approved  of 
the  exclusion  of  those  who  refused  to  sign  a 
recognition  of  the  protectorate  from  the  par- 
liament of  1656,  and  though  he  opposed  the 
proposal  to  make  Cromwell  king  accepted 
willingly  the  rest  of  the  articles  of  the  peti- 
tion and  advice  (LuDLOW,  pp.  222,  225; 
THUELOE,  vi.  219,  244,  281,  310).  He  took 
his  seat  in  the  new  House  of  Lords,  believ- 
ing that  the  revised  constitution  would  se- 
cure the  desired  settlement,  and  was  deeply 
disappointed  at  the  breach  which  followed 
(THUELOE,  vi.  752,  840).  He  advocated  the 
speedy  summons  of  another  parliament,  and 
was  one  of  the  committee  of  nine  appointed 
to  consider  the  necessary  measures  (ib.  vii. 
192).  In  foreign  as  well  as  domestic  policy 
Fleetwood,  moved  by  his  strong  religious 
sympathies,  was  in  complete  accord  with 
Cromwell.  He  was  inclined  to  believe  that 
the  latter  was  '  particularly  raised  up  '  to  be 
a  shelter  to  poor  persecuted  protestants  in 
foreign  parts,  and  held  '  the  cause  of  the  pro- 
testant  interest  against  the  common  enemy  ' 
to  be  the  supreme  interest  of  England  (ib. 
iii.  468,  vii.  190).  So  for  public,  as  well  as 
for  personal,  reasons  Fleetwood  watched  with 
anxiety  Cromwell's  last  illness,  and  lamented 
his  death.  '  There  is  none,'  he  wrote,  '  but 
are  deeply  concerned  in  this  that  have  a  true 
love  to  this  blessed  cause.'  '  His  heart  was 
full  of  love  to  the  interest  of  the  Lord's 
people,  and  made  everything  else  bow  down 
unto  it '  (ib.  vii.  355, 375).  Fleetwood's  posi- 
tion as  head  of  the  army  and  this  thorough 
agreement  with  Cromwell's  views  lend  some 
plausibility  to  the  story  that  Cromwell  once 
designed  Fleetwood  to  succeed  him.  It  is 
stated  that  the  Protector  some  time  before 
his  death  nominated  Fleetwood  in  writing  as 
his  successor;  but  that  the  document  was 
lost  or  destroyed  (BAKEE,  Chronicle,  ed.  Phil- 
lips, 1670,  p.  653;  BATES,  Elenchus,  ed.  1685, 
pt.  ii.  pp.  236,  242).  If  a  protector  were  to  be 
chosen  other  than  one  of  Cromwell's  sons,  no 
one  had  stronger  claims  than  Fleetwood.  He 
was  the  officer  highest  in  rank  in  the  armies  of 
the  three  kingdoms.  The  military  services  of 
Lambert  and  Harrison  might  have  made  them 
dangerous  rivals,  but  both  had  been  distin- 
guished by  their  opposition  to  the  existing 
government,  and  neither  was  at  present  a 
member  of  the  army.  Fleetwood's  connection 
with  the  Cromwell  family  furnished  a  guaran- 
tee to  the  adherents  of  Cromwell,  and  he  was 


at  the  same  time  trusted  by  the  extreme  sec- 
taries. These  reasons  induced  the  discon- 
tented officers  to  put  him  forward  as  their 
leader  in  the  attempt  to  render  the  army  in- 
dependent of  the  civil  power.  Fleetwood 
took  part  in  the  elevation  of  Richard  Crom- 
well, presented  the  address  in  which  the  army 
declared  their  resolution  to  support  him,  and 
wrote  to  Henry  Cromwell  expressing  his  joy 
at  his  brother's  peaceable  accession  (THUE- 
LOE, vii.  405).  The  first  movement  came 
from  the  superior  officers  of  the  army,  who 
early  in  October  1659  met  and  drew  up  an 
address  demanding  that  a  general  should  be 
appointed,  and  that  in  future  no  officer  should 
be  cashiered  without  a  council  of  war.  The 
Protector  refused  these  demands,  pointing 
out  that  he  had  already  made  Fleetwood 
lieutenant-general  of  all  the  army,  and  so  by 
consequence  commander-in-chief  under  him- 
self (ib.  vii.  436,  449,  452).  Fleetwood  was 
suspected  of  instigating  these  petitions,  and 
the  responsibility  which  he  incurred  by  per- 
mitting them  was  clearly  pointed  out  to  him 
by  Henry  Cromwell.  He  endeavoured  to 
vindicate  himself,  and  based  his  defence  on 
the  necessity  of  preserving  'the  honest  in- 
terest '  in  the  army  (ib.  pp.  454,  500). 

In  February  1659  the  officers  assembled 
again,  and  entered  into  communication  with 
the  republican  party  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. They  intended  to  present  a  petition, 
but  their  own  dissensions  and  Fleetwood's 
reluctance  to  press  matters  to  extremity  pre- 
vented the  plan  from  being  carried  out  (GrUl- 
ZOT,  Richard  Cromwell,  i.  304-6  ;  Clarendon 
Papers,  iii.  430,  432 ;  THUELOE,  vii.  612-18). 
The  attacks  of  parliament  upon  the  soldiers 
who  had  been  Cromwell's  instruments  led 
to  a  fresh  meeting  in  April,  ending  in  the  pre- 
sentation of  '  the  Humble  Representation  of 
6  April,  which  insisted  in  strong  terms  on  the 
danger  of  the  good  old  cause '  from  the  in- 
trigues of  the  cavaliers.  The  Protector,  backed 
by  parliament,  ordered  these  meetings  of  offi- 
cers to  be  brought  to  an  end,  but  Fleetwood 
now  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the  move- 
ment, refused  to  obey  the  Protector's  orders, 
and  by  a  military  demonstration  forced  him 
to  dissolve  parliament  (22  April  1659). 

In  thus  acting  Fleetwood's  conduct  was 
dictated,  not  by  hostility  to  the  Protector, 
but  by  hostility  to  his  parliament.  Imme- 
diately after  the  dissolution  he  had  a  long 
interview  with  Richard  Cromwell,  and  made 
him  large  promises  of  support  (GuizoT,  i. 
372  ;  BAKEE,  Chronicle,  p.  660).  Fleetwood, 
Desborough,  and  most  of  the  Wallingford 
House  party  were  anxious  to  patch  up  an 
agreement  with  the  Protector,  while  the 
subordinate  officers  were  eager  for  a  common- 


Fleetwood 


264 


Fleetwood 


wealth,  and  for  the  revival  of  the  Long  par- 
liament. They  lost  their  influence  with  the 
officers,  'being  looked  upon  as  self-seekers 
in  that  they  are  for  a  protector  now  they 
have  got  a  protector  of  wax  whom  they  can 
mould  as  they  please,  and  lay  aside  when 
they  can  agree  upon  a  successor '  (THTJRLOE, 
vii.  666;  BAKER,  p.  660).  They  were  there- 
fore obliged  to  yield,  and  to  recall  the  expelled 
members  of  the  Long  parliament  (6  May  1659). 
At  the  same  time  Lambert's  [see  LAMBERT, 
JOHN]  re-admission  to  the  army  still  further 
diminished  Fleetwood's  influence.  Nomi- 
nally his  authority  was  much  increased  by 
this  rerolution.  He  was  appointed  a  mem- 
ber of  the  committee  of  safety  (7  May),  one 
of  the  council  of  state  (13  May),  and  one  of 
the  seven  commissioners  for  the  reorganisa- 
tion of  the  army  (LuDiow,  pp.  248-51).  The 
twelfth  article  of  the  army  address  of  13  May 
demanded  that  Fleetwood  should  be  made 
commander-in-chief,  and  an  act  was  passed 
for  that  purpose.  He  received  his  commis- 
sion on  9  June  1659  (THURLOE,  vii.  679). 
But  his  powers  were  to  last '  only  during  the 
continuance  of  parliament,  or  till  parliament 
should  take  further  order,'  and  all  commissions 
were  to  be  signed  by  the  speaker  (BAKER, 
p.  669 ;  LTTDLOW,  pp.  251-3).  On  the  suppres- 
sion of  Sir  George  Booth's  rising  [see  BOOTH, 
GEORGE,  1622-1684],  Lambert's  brigade  peti- 
tioned that  these  restrictions  should  be  re- 
moved, Fleetwood's  commission  be  made 
permanent,  and  other  general  officers  be  ap- 
pointed (BAKER,  p.  677).  These  demands 
were  backed  by  a  second  petition  signed  by 
most  of  the  officers  of  the  English  army  (Old 
Parliamentary  History,  xxi.  460).  Parlia- 
ment answered  by  cashiering  nine  leading 
officers,  and  by  voting  Fleetwood's  commission 
to  be  void,  and  vesting  the  chief  command 
in  seven  commissioners,  of  whom  he  was  to 
be  one  (11  Oct.)  Fleetwood  seems  at  first 
to  have  attempted  to  mediate.  His  wife  told 
Ludlow  f  that  her  husband  had  been  always 
unwilling  to  do  anything  in  opposition  to  the 
parliament,  that  he  was  utterly  ignorant  of 
the  contrivance  of  the  officers  at  Derby  to 
petition  the  parliament  in  so  insolent  a  man- 
ner, and  had  not  any  part  in  their  proceedings 
upon  it  afterwards'  (Memoirs,  p.  295).  Lud- 
low also  says  that  Fleetwood  was  in  the 
House  of  Commons  when  the  vote  of  11  Oct. 
was  passed,  and  promised  to  submit  to  it 
(ib.  p.  275).  In  the  violent  expulsion  of 
parliament  on  12  Oct.  Lambert  played  the 
principal  part.  Fleetwood  assisted  but  kept 
in  the  background.  As  before,  when  events 
came  to  a  crisis  he  sided  with  the  army.  He 
was  now  again  declared  commander-in-chief 
(18  Oct.),  but  he  was  in  reality  little  more 


than  president  of  the  council  of  officers.  While 
Lambert  went  north  to  meet  Monck,  he 
stayed  in  London  to  maintain  order  in  the  city 
and  union  in  the  army.  He  made  every  effort, 
publicly  and  privately,  to  come  to  an  agree- 
ment with  Monck,  and  signed  a  treaty  with 
his  commissioners  on  15  Nov.  1659,  which 
Monck  refused  to  ratify  (BAKER,  pp.  685-95). 
In  a  speech  to  the  common  council,  Fleetwood 
endeavoured  to  vindicate  the  conduct  of  the 
army.  '  I  dare  say  our  design  is  God's  glory. 
We  have  gone  in  untrodden  paths,  but  God 
hath  led  us  into  ways  which,  if  we  know  our 
own  hearts,  we  have  no  base  or  unworthy 
designs  in.  We  have  no  design  to  rule  over 
others'  (Three  Speeches  made  to  the  Lord 
Mayor,  fyc.,  by  the  Lord  Whitelocke,  the 
Lord  Fleetwood,  and  the  Lord  Desborouyh, 
8  Nov.  1659).  With  the  same  object  and 
with  equally  little  success  Fleetwood  en- 
gaged in  epistolary  controversy  with  Hasle- 
rig  (The  True  Copy  of  Several  Letters  from 
Portsmouth,  1659).  There  is  also  printed 
a  reply  to  Colonel  Morley's  remonstrance 
(THTJRLOE,  vii.  771),  entitled  'The  Lord- 
General  Fleetwood's  Answer  to  Colonel  Mor- 
ley,  and  some  other  late  Officers  of  the  Army,' 
8  Nov.  1659,  but  this  is  denounced  as  '  a 
mere  fiction '  (MercuriusPoliticus,  10-17  Nov. 
1659).  Defections  increased  rapidly,  and  in 
December  it  was  simply  a  question  with  whom 
to  make  terms.  Fleetwood  was  generally 
suspected  of  a  desire  to  restore  Richard 
Cromwell,  and  his  acts  were  jealously  watched 
by  Vane's  party  (LUDLOW,  p.  288).  Ludlow 
urged  him  to  recall  the  Rump  (ib.  p.  295). 
Royalist  agents  had  for  some  time  been  soli- 
citing him  on  behalf  of  the  king,  and  he  was 
now  vigorously  pressed  by  his  brother,  Sir 
William  Fleet  wood,  and  by  Bulstrode  White- 
locke  to  enter  into  negotiations  with  Charles, 
and  to  declare  for  a  free  parliament  (WHITE- 
LOCKE,  iv.  381,  ed.  1853).  If  he  did  not  seize 
the  opportunity  and  make  terms  with  the 
king,  Monck  would  bring  him  back  without 
terms.  Fleetwood  was  on  the  point  of  agree- 
ing with  the  city  for  this  object,  but  he  was 
held  back  by  a  promise  to  take  no  step  of  the 
kind  without  consulting  Lambert,  and  by 
the  opposition  of  the  inferior  officers  (Claren- 
don State  Papers,  iii.  633).  '  He  replied  to 
the  assistance  and  conjunction  offered  by 
the  city,  that  God  had  spit  in  his  face,  and 
he  was  to  submit  to  the  late  dissolved  body 
of  members  of  parliament '  (ib.  pp.  633,  647 ; 
BAKER,  p.  698).  The  soldiers  declared  for 
the  restoration  of  the  Rump  (24  Dec.),  whicl: 
immediately  deprived  Fleetwood  of  his  pos{ 
of  commander-in-chief  (26  Dec.)  His  regi, 
ment  of  horse  was  given  to  Sir  A.  Cooper; 
Fleetwood  was  included  in  the  vote  of  in 


vood  died 


is    in 


the 


Fleetwood 


265 


Fleetwood 


demnity  which  was  immediately  passed 
(2  Jan.),  but  was  summoned  (24  Jan.)  to 
appear  before  parliament  on  31  Jan.  1660 
to  answer  for  his  conduct.  Pepys  was  told 
on  31  Jan.  that  Fleetwood  had  written  a  let- 
ter '  and  desired  a  little  more  time,  he  being 
a  great  way  out  of  town.  And  how  that  he 
is  quite  ashamed  of  himself,  and  confesses 
how  he  had  deserved  this  for  his  baseness  to 
his  brother.  And  that  he  is  like  to  pay  part 
of  the  money  paid  out  of  the  exchequer  dur- 
ing the  committee  of  safety  out  of  his  own 
purse  again'  (Diary,  31  Jan.  1660).  The 
day  fixed  for  his  appearance  was  several 
times  adjourned,  and  he  does  not  appear  to 
have  been  actually  punished. 

Fleetwood's  escape  at  the  Restoration  was 
due  to  the  fact  that  he  had  taken  no  part  in 
the  king's  trial,  and  was  not  regarded  as 
politically  dangerous.  The  commons  excepted 
twenty  persons  not  regicides  from  the  act  of 
indemnity  for  penalties  not  extending  to  life, 
and  among  these  was  Fleetwood  (18  June 
1660)  (Old  Parliamentary  History,  xxii. 
351).  When  the  act  came  before  the  lords 
the  Earl  of  Lichfield  exerted  himself  on  be- 
half of  Fleetwood,  and,  thanks  to  his  influ- 
ence and  that  of  other  friends,  Fleetwood 
was  ultimately  included  in  the  list  of  eighteen 
persons  whose  sole  punishment  was  perpetual 
incapacitation  from  all  offices  of  trust  (LuD- 
LOW,  Memoirs,  p.  354 ;  Act  of  Indemnity, 
29  Aug.  1660).  The  rest  of  his  life  was 
therefore  passed  in  obscurity.  Shortly  after 
the  Restoration  occurred  the  death  of  Brid- 
get Fleetwood,  who  was  buried  at  St.  Anne's, 
Blackfriars,  1  July  1662  (Notes  and  Queries, 
4th  ser.  iii.  156).  Eighteen  months  later, 
14  Jan.  1663-4,  Fleetwood  married  Dame 
Mary  Hartopp,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Coke 
of  Melbourne,  Derbyshire,  and  widow  of  Sir 
Edward  Hartopp,  bart,  (ib.  4th  ser.  ii.  600). 
From  the  date  of  his  third  marriage  he  resided 
at  Stoke  Newington,  in  a  house  belonging  to 
his  wife,  which  was  afterwards  known  as 
Fleetwood  House.  This  house  was  demolished 
in  1872  (ib.  4th  ser.  ix.  296,  364,  435,  496). 
During  this  period  he  was  a  member  of  the 
congregation  of  Dr.  John  Owen,  two  of  whose 
)  letters  to  him  are  printed  by  Orme  (Life  of 
|  Owen,  pp.  368,516).  Fleetwood's  third  wife 
died  on  17  Dec.  1684,  Fleetwood  himself  on 
4  Oct.  1692 ;  both  were  buried  in  Bunhill 
1  Fields  cemetery.  His  will,  dated  10  Jan. 
\  1689-90,  is  printed  in  *  Notes  and  Queries ' 
\  (4th  ser.  ix.  362),  and  also  by  Waylen  (House 
\ofCromwell,  p.  69).  In  1869,  when  the  ceme- 
jtery  was  reopened  as  a  public  garden,  Fleet- 
Wood's  monument,  which  had  been  discovered 
ueven  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  ground, 
Was  restored  at  the  expense  of  the  corporation 


of  London.  An  engraving  of  it  was  given  in 
the  « Illustrated  London  News '  of  23  Oct. 
1869. 

Fleetwood  left  issue  by  two  of  his  wives, 
but  his  descendants  in  the  male  line  became 
extinct  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  By  his  first  wife,  Frances  Smith, 
he  had  (1)  Smith  Fleetwood  (1644-1709), 
who  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Sir  Edward 
Hartopp,  their  descendants  became  extinct 
in  1764  (NOBLE,  ii.  367)  ;  (2)  Elizabeth,  mar- 
ried Sir  John  Hartopp,  third  baronet,  from 
whom  the  existing  Cradock-Hartopp  family 
is  descended  (ib.  ii.  367 ;  FOSTER,  Baronet- 
aye,  ed.  1883).  By  Bridget  Cromwell,  Fleet- 
wood  was  the  father  of  (1)  Cromwell  Fleet- 
wood,  born  about  1653,  married  in  1679 
Elizabeth  Nevill  of  Little  Berkhampstead, 
Hertfordshire  (CHESTER,  Marriage  Licenses, 
ed.  Foster,  p.  491).  Administration  of  his 
goods  was  granted  in  September  1688 ;  he 
seems  to  have  died  without  issue ;  (2)  Anne 
Fleetwood,  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey,  and 
exhumed  at  the  Restoration  (CHESTER,  West- 
minster Abbey  Registers,  p.  522) ;  (3)  Mary, 
who  married  Nathaniel  Carter  (21  Feb.  1678), 
and  several  other  children,  most  of  whom  died 
young,  and  none  of  whom  left  issue  (WAY- 
LEN, p.  88 ;  Notes  and  Queries,  5th  ser.  vi. 
390). 

[Pedigree  of  the  Fleetwood  family,  drawn  tip 
by  J.  P.  Earwaker,  esq.,  and  communicated 
by  "W.  S.  Churchill,  esq. ;  articles  by  Colonel 
Chester  in  Notes  and  Queries  ;  Noble's  House  of 
Cromwell,  1787  ;  Waylen 's  House  of  Cromwell, 
1880  ;  Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom. ;  Thurloe  Papers; 
Carlyle's  Cromwell's  Letters  and  Speeches.] 

C.  H.  F. 

FLEETWOOD,  GEORGE  (ft.  1650  ?), 
regicide,  was  the  son  of  Sir  George  Fleetwood, 
knt.,  of  the  Vache,  near  Chalfont  St.  Giles, 
Buckinghamshire,  and  Catherine,  daughter 
of  Henry  Denny  of  Waltham,  Essex.  In  the 
will  of  Sir  George  Fleetwood,  who  died  21  Dec. 
1620,  George  Fleetwood  is  described  as  his 
third  son,  but  Edward  and  Charles,  his  elder 
brothers,  appear  to  have  died  without  issue. 
In  <  Mercurius  Aulicus,'  7  Dec.  1643,  it  is 
stated  that  'Young  Fleetwood  of  the  Vache ' 
had  raised  a  troop  of  dragoons  for  the  parlia- 
ment, to  defend  the  Chiltern  parts  of  Buck- 
inghamshire ;  and  in  an  ordinance  of  27  June 
1644  the  name  of  Fleetwood  appears  in  the 
list  of  the  Buckinghamshire  committee  (Hus- 
BAND,  Ordinances,  1646,  p.  54).  He  entered 
the  Long  parliament  in  July  1647  as  mem- 
ber for  Buckinghamshire  (Names  of  Members 
returned  to  serve  in  Parliament,  i.  485).  In 
1648  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners for  the  trial  of  the  king,  attended 
two  sittings  of  the  court,  and  was  present 


Fleetwood 


266 


Fleetwood 


also  when  sentence  was  pronounced,  and 
signed  the  death-warrant  (NALSON,  Trial  of 
Charles  /).  In  1649  and  1650  he  was  colonel  of 
the  Buckinghamshire  militia,  and  was  chosen 
a  member  of  the  eighth  and  last  council  of 
state  of  the  Commonwealth  (1  Nov.-lO  Dec. 
1653,   Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1653-4,  p. 
xxxvi).    He  represented  the  county  of  Buck- 
ingham in  the  assembly  of  1653,  and  the 
town  in  the  parliament  of  1654  (Old  Par- 
liamentary History,  xx.  176,  297).   Cromwell 
knighted  him  in  the  autumn  of  1656,  and 
summoned  him  to  his  House  of  Lords  in  De- 
cember 1657  (Perfect  Politician,  ed.  1680,  p. 
293  ;  Old  Parliamentary  History,  xxi.  168). 
On  the  occasion  of  Sir  George  Booth's  rising 
parliament  authorised  Fleetwood  to  raise  a 
*  troop  of  well-affected  volunteers '  (  Cal.  State 
Papers,  Dom.  1659-60,  pp.  125, 565).    He  re- 
fused to  assist  Lambert  against  Monck,  op- 
posed the  oath  of  abjuration  in  parliament,  was 
entrusted  with  the  command  of  a  regiment  by 
Monck  in  the  spring  of  1660,  and  proclaimed 
Charles  II  at  York  (11  May  1660)  (Hist.  MSS. 
Comm.  7th  Rep.  p.  159).     When  the  regicides 
were  summoned  to  surrender  he  gave  himself 
up  (16  June),  but  was  excepted  from  the  Act  of 
Indemnity  (KENKETT,  Register,  pp.  181, 240). 
At  his  trial  (October  1660)  Fleetwood  pleaded 
guilty,  was  sentenced  to  death,  and  said,  weep- 
ing, that   he   had   confessed  the  fact,  and 
wished  he  could  express  his  sorrow  (Trial  of 
the  Regicides,  pp.  28,  276).     A  saving  clause 
in  the  Act  of  Indemnity  suspended  the  exe- 
cution of  those  who  claimed  the  benefit  of 
the  king's  proclamation,  unless  their  convic- 
tion was  followed  by  a  special  act  of  parlia- 
ment for  their  execution.    Fleetwood  accord- 
ingly petitioned  parliament,  stating  that  his 
name  was  inserted  in  the  list  of  commissioners 
without  his  knowledge  and  against  his  will, 
and  that  his  signature  to  the  warrant  was  ex- 
torted by  Cromwell/  whose  power,  commands, 
and  threats  (he  being  then  young)  frighted 
him  into  court.'  He  produced  certificates  from 
Monck  and  Ashley  of  his  services  in  forward- 
ing the  Restoration,  enlarged  on  his  early 
and  continued  repentance,  and  begged^  to  be 
represented  to  his  majesty  as  a  fit  object  01 
his  royal  clemency  and  mercy  to  hold  his  life 
merely  by  his  princely  grace '  (Hist.  MSS 
Comm.  7th  Rep.  p.  159).   His  life  was  spared 
but  his  estate  of  the  Vache  confiscated  anc 
given  to  the  Duke  of  York.     In  1664  a  war- 
rant was  issued  for  Fleet-wood's  transports 
tion  to  Tangiers,  but  it  seems  to  have  been 
suspended  at  the  solicitation  of  his  wife  (Cal 
State  Papers,  Dom.  1663-4,  p.  536).   Accord 
ing  to  Noble  he  was  finally  released   anc 
t  to  America  (Lives  of  the  Regicides,  i 
246). 

*     Noble's  story 

that  he  went  to  America  is  not  confirmed. 
On  the  other  hand  Annals  of  the  Universe, 


[Pedigree  and  wills  kindly  comnnmicated  by 
W.S.  Churchill,  esq. ;  Dom.  State  Papers;  Noble's 
Lives  of  the  Eegicides,  1798.]  C.  H.  F. 

FLEETWOOD,  GEORGE  (1605-1667), 
Swedish  general  and  baron,  was  second  son 
)f  Sir  Miles  Fleetwood  of  Cranford  and  Aid- 
winkle,  Northamptonshire,  receiver  of  the 
:ourt  of  wards,  and  was  grandson  of  the  first 
Sir  William  of  Aldwinkle.    Sir  Miles  had  two 
ither  sons,  William  (afterwards  Sir  William 
of  Aldwinkle)  and  Charles,  the  parliamen- 
tary general  [q.  v.]    George  was  baptised  at 
Jople,  Bedfordshire,  30  June  1605,  and  in 
L629  raised  a  troop  of  horse  with  which  he 
went  to  Germany  and j  oined  the  Swedish  army 
under  Gustavus  Adolphus,  who  gave  him  the 
rank  of  lieutenant-colonel.     He  returned  to 
England,  and  having  collected  a  regiment 
of  foot  conducted  it  to  the  scene  of  war  in 
1630.     He  became  a  Swedish  knight  3  June 
1632,  and  in  1636  was  sent  on  a  mission  to 
England.   He  was  commandant  of  Greifswald 
and  Colberg  in  1641,  and  having  returned  to 
Sweden  in  1653  was  raised  to  the  rank  of 
baron  by  Queen  Christina,  1  June  1654.     In 
the  following  year  he  was  sent  by  Charles  X  as 
envoy  extraordinary  to  Cromwell,  in  response 
to  Whitelocke's  embassy.     He  was  accom- 
panied by  his  eldest  son,  Gustavus  Miles  Fleet- 
wood,  who  was  enrolled  among  the  life-guard 
of  Charles  II,  and  pursued  in  England  his 
education  in  the  civil  and  military  accom- 
plishments of  the  day.     Fleetwood  became 
a  Swedish  lieutenant-general  in  1656,  and, 
having  left  England  in  1660,  member  of  the 
council  of  war  in  1665.     In  1640  he  married 
Brita  Gyllenstjerna,  of  "the  family  of  that 
Christina  Gyllenstjerna  who,  in   1520,  de- 
fended Stockholm   against  the  Danes.     By 
that  lady  he  had  four  sons  and  two  daughters. 
He  died  11  June  1667,  and  was  buried  at 
Nykoping.     He  was  a  man  of  great  energy 
and  prudence,  much  trusted  by  his  superiors. 
Whitelocke  mentions  him  frequently  in  his. 
1  Journal  of  the  Swedish  Embassy  in  the  years; 
1653  and  1654,'  and  a  letter  from  Fleetwood 
to  his  father  in  1632,  describing  the  battle  of 
Liitzen,  at  which  he  was  present,  is  published 
in  the  'Camden   Miscellany,'  vol.  i.  1847. 
There  are  several  branches  of  his  descendants 
now  in  Sweden.  Nathaniel  Whiting,  minister 
of  Aldwinkle,   dedicated   his  '  Old   Jacob's 
Altar  newly  repaired/ 1659, 4to,  to  the  three 
brothers,  William,  George,  and  Charles. 

[Information  kindly  supplied  by  W.  S. 
Churchill,  esq.,  of  Manchester;  Whitelocke's 
Swedish  Embassy ;  Camden  Miscellany,  vol.  i.' 
Attartaflor,  or  Swedish  Tables  of  Nobility,  Stock- 
holm (1859),  gives  the  correct  genealogy.  Burke 
in  his  Extinct  and  Dormant  Baronetcies  repeats 
genealogical  errors  of  Mark  Noble.]  C.  H.  D. 

says  on  p.  282  that  George  FleetV 
at  Tangier,  17  Nov.  1672. 
A   miniature   by   S.    Cooper 


Fleetwood 


267 


Fleetwood 


FLEETWOOD,  JAMES,  D.D.  (1603- 
1683),  bishop  of  Worcester,  the  seventh  son 
of  Sir  George  Fleetwood  of  the  Vache,  Chal- 
font  St.  Giles,  Buckinghamshire,  by  Cathe- 
rine, daughter  of  Henry  Denny  of  Waltham, 
Essex,  was  baptised  at  Chalfont  St.  Giles 
25  April  1603.  He  was  educated  first  at 
Eton  and  then  at  King's  College,  Cambridge, 
of  which  he  was  elected  scholar  in  1623. 
Having  taken  holy  orders,  he  was  appointed 
in  1632  chaplain  to  the  Bishop  of  Lichfield 
(Dr.  Robert  Wright),  by  whom  he  was  pre- 
sented to  the  vicarage  of  Frees,  Shropshire, 
and  subsequently,  12  July  1636,  collated  to  the 
prebend  of  Eccleshall  in  the  church  of  Lich- 
field, in  which  he  was  installed  on  9  Sept.  fol- 
lowing. On  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion  he 
attached  himself  as  chaplain  to  the  regiment 
of  John,  earl  of  Rivers,  and  was  of  so  much 
service  at  the  battle  of  Edgehill — whether 
he  limited  himself  strictly  to  prayers  and  ex- 
hortations or  took  a  more  active  part  in  the 
fighting  is  not  clear — that  at  Charles's  special 
command  the  university  of  Oxford  conferred 
upon  him  the  degree  of  D.D.  on  1  Nov.  1642. 
He  was  afterwards  preferred  to  the  rectory 
of  Button  Coldfield,  Warwickshire,  from 
which,  however,  he  was  ejected  by  the  parlia- 
ment. He  was  tutor  to  several  noblemen 
and  chaplain  to  Prince  Charles,  who  made 
him  his  chaplain  in  ordinary  on  the  Restora- 
tion. In  accordance  with  a  royal  mandate  the 
fellows  of  King's  College,  Cambridge,  elected 
him  provost  in  June  1660.  Dr.  Whichcote,  the 
existing  provost,  supported  by  a  minority  of 
the  fellows,  held  out  in  his  rooms,  and  Fleet- 
wood  was  compelled  to  apply  to  Charles  for  a 
' letter  mandatory'  before  he  would  quit.  He 
was  restored  to  the  living  of  Frees  and  pre- 
sented to  the  rectory  of  Anstey  in  Hertford- 
shire and  that  of  Denham  in  Buckingham- 
shire. On  29  Aug.  1675  he  was  consecrated 
bishop  of  Worcester  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter 
le  Poer,  Broad  Street,  London.  He  died  on 
17  July  1683,  and  was  buried  in  Worcester 
Cathedral.  A  mural  tablet  inscribed  with 
his  name  was  placed  in  Jesus  Chapel  the  same 
year.  Wood  states  that  he  was  buried  in  the 
lady  chapel,  and  that  '  a  marble  monument 
with  an  epitaph  of  his  own  making '  was 
placed  over  his  grave  in  1687.  No  trace  of 
this,  however,  is  now  to  be  seen.  By  his 
wife,  Martha  Mercer  of  Reading,  he  had 
two  sons,  Arthur  and  John  (the  latter  be- 
came archdeacon  of  Worcester),  besides  four 
daughters. 

[Wood's  Fasti  Oxon.ii.  51 ;  Ahimni  Etonenses; 
Le  Neve's  Fasti  Eccl.  Angl. ;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm. 
1st  Kep.  App.  67,  7th  Rep.  App.  106;  Britton's 
Worcester  Cathedral,  App.  2 ;  information  from 
J.  P.  Earwaker,  esq.j  J.  M.  R. 


FLEETWOOD,  SIK  PETER  HESKETH  r> 

(1801-1866),  founder  of  the  town  of  Fleet- 
wood,  descended  from  the  ancient  Lancashire 
families  of  Hesketh  and  Fleetwood,  son  of 
Robert  Hesketh,  esq.,  of  Rossall,  Lancashire, 
was  born  at  Wennington  Hall,  near  Lancas- 
ter, on  9  May  1801.  He  was  educated  at 
Trinity  College,  Oxford,  and  graduated  B.A. 
in  1823  and  M.A.  in  1826.  He  was  high 
sheriff  of  Lancashire  in  1830,  and  sat  as  M.P. 
for  Preston  from  1832  to  1847,  at  first  as  a 
conservative,  and  subsequently  as  a  member 
of  the  opposite  party.  He  assumed  the  sur- 
name of  Fleetwood  by  royal  license  5  March 
1831,  and  was  created  a  baronet  in  June 
1838.  He  projected,  and  in  1836  commenced 
to  build  the  present  flourishing  town  and 
port  of  Fleetwood,  situated  on  his  estate  of 
Rossall,  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Wyre,  in 
the  Fylde,  Lancashire.  He  was  a  strong  ad- 
vocate for  the  abolition  of  the  death  penalty, 
and  in  1840  published  a  translation  of  Victor 
Hugo's '  Last  Days  of  a  Condemned,' to  which 
he  prefixed  ;  Observations  on  Capital  Punish- 
ment.' 

He  was  twice  married :  first  in  1826  to 
Eliza  Debonnaire,  daughter  of  Sir  T.  J.  Met- 
calfe ;  and  secondly,  in  1837,  to  Virginia 
Marie,  daughter  of  Seiior  Pedro  Garcia,  who 
still  (1889)  survives.  Sir  Peter  died  at  his  re- 
sidence, 127  Piccadilly,  London,  on  12  April 
1866.  His  son,  the  Rev.  Sir  Peter  Louis 
Hesketh  Fleetwood,  died  in  1880,  when  the 
baronetcy  became  extinct. 

[Gent.  Mag.  June  1866,  p.  906;  Illustrated 
London  News,  April  1886,  p.  426;  Hardwick's 
History  of  Preston  (1857),  p.  555;  Baines's  His- 
tory of  Lancashire  (1870),  ii.  517-18;  Lanca- 
shire and  Cheshire  Historical  and  Genealogical 
Notes,  ii.  113,  118.]  0.  W.  S.  ^ 

FLEETWOOD,  THOMAS  (1661-1717)7 
drainer  of  Marton  or  Martin  Meer,  eldest 
son  of  Sir  Richard  Fleetwood,  bart.,  of 
Calwick,  Staffordshire,  who  survived  him, 
was  born  in  1661,  and  having  married  the 
daughter  and  heiress  of  Christopher  Bannis- 
ter, esq.,  of  Bank  Hall,  Lancashire,  he  pur- 
chased from  the  Mainwarings,  about  1690, 
the  manor  of  Marton  Grange,  or  Marton 
Sands,  in  the  same  county.  His  land  adjoined 
a  large  lake  called  Marton  (or  Martin)  Meer, 
occupying  an  area  of  3,132  acres,  with  a  cir- 
cumference of  about  eighteen  miles,  and  this 
he  boldly  resolved  to  drain.  Having  first 
obtained  from  the  neighbouring  proprietors  a 
lease  of  their  rights  in  the  meer  for  the  dura- 
tion of  three  lives  and  thirty-one  years,  he 
procured  in  1692  an  act  of  parliament  allow- 
ing him  to  proceed,  and  commenced  opera- 
tions in  the  following  year.  On  these  exten- 
sive works  as  many  as  two  thousand  labourers 


Fleetwood 


268 


Fleetwood 


were  sometimes  engaged  at  the  same  time. 
The  result  was  fairly  successful  for  about 
sixty  years,  but  in  1755,  five  years  after  the 
lease  had  expired,  the  sea  broke  in,  almost 
destroying  all  that  had  been  done.  In  1781 
draining  operations  were  resumed  by  Thomas 
Eccleston  of  Scarisbrick,  Lancashire  ;  but  it 
was  not  until  after  the  middle  of  the  present 
century  that  Sir  Thomas  Hesketh  succeeded 
in  triumphing  over  every  difficulty,  convert- 
ing this  large  tract  of  fertile  land,  traversed  by 
good  roads,  to  profitable  use.  Fleetwood  died 
22  April  1717,  and  was  buried  in  the  church 
of  North  Meols,  Lancashire,  where  there  is 
a  monument  to  his  memory  eulogising  his  en- 
terprise and  spirit.  His  only  daughter  and 
heiress,  Henrietta  Maria,  married  Thomas 
Legh,  younger  brother  of  Peter  Legh,  esq.,  of 
Lyme  in  Cheshire  (EARWAKER, -£"««$£  Cheshire, 
ii.  301). 

[Burke's  Extinct  and  Dormant  Baronetcies, 
1844  ;  Baines's  History  of  the  County  Palatine 
and  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  1836  ;  Leigh's  Natural 
History  of  Lancashire,  Cheshire,  and  the  Peak, 
1700.]  C.  H.  D^j 

FLEETWOOD,  WILLIAM  (1535?- 
1594),  recorder  of  London,  son  of  Robert 
Fleetwood,  third  son  of  William  Fleetwood 
of  Hesketh  in  Lancashire,  was  born  about 
1535,  and  after  being  educated  at  Brasenose 
College,  Oxford,  which  he  left  without  a  de- 
gree, was  called  to  the  bar  of  the  Middle 
Temple.  He  became  freeman  by  patrimony 
of  the  Merchant  Taylors'  Company  of  Lon- 
don on  21  June  1557  ;  autumn  reader  of  his 
inn  on  21  May  1563 ;  steward  of  the  com- 
pany's manor  of  Rushbrook  in  1564,  and 
counsel  in  their  suit  against  the  Clothworkers 
in  1565.  In  1559  he  was  one  of  the  com- 
missioners to  visit  the  dioceses  of  Oxford, 
Lincoln,  Peterborough,  Coventry,  and  Lich- 
field,  and  was  elected  M.P.  for  Lancaster  to 
the  first  two  parliaments  of  Elizabeth's  reign, 
having  previously  sat  for  Marlborough  in  the 
last  of  Mary's  parliaments.  In  1568  he  became 
*  double  reader  in  Lent'  to  his  inn.  By  the 
Earl  of  Leicester's  influence  he  was  elected 
(26  April  1571)  recorder  of  London,  and  the 
same  year  was  made  a  commissioner  to  inquire 
into  the  customs,  besides  being  returned  to 
parliament  for  the  city  of  London  (8  May 
1572).  As  recorder  he  was  famous  for 
rigorously  and  successfully  enforcing  the  laws 
against  vagrants,  mass-priests,  and  papists.  In 
1576  he  was  committed  to  the  Fleet  prison  for 
a  short  time  for  breaking  into  the  Portuguese 
ambassador's  chapel  under  colour  of  the  law 
against  popish  recusants.  His  own  account 
of  his  action,  dated  9  Nov.,  is  printed  in 
Strype's  'Annals.'  In  1580  he  was  made 
eerjeant-at-law,  and  in  1583  a  commissioner 


for  the  reformation  of  abuses  in  printing.  In 
the  same  year  he  drafted  a  scheme  for  housing 
the  poor  and  preventing  the  plague  in  Lon- 
don by  maintaining  open  spaces.  On  27  April 
1586  he  was  promised  the  dignity  of  baron 
of  the  exchequer,  but  did  not  receive  it.  He 
was  re-elected  M.P.  for  London  in  1586  and 

1588.  In  1588  he  reported,  with  the  solicitor- 
general,  as  to  proceedings  to  be  taken  against 
the  Jesuits,  and  in  1589  on  the  right  of  sanc- 
tuary for  criminals  attaching  to  St.  Paul's 
churchyard.     In  1591  the  common  council 
voted  him  a  pension  of  100/.,  whereupon  he 
resigned  his  office.   He  was  made  queen's  ser- 
jeant  in  1592,  and  died  at  his  house  in  Noble 
Street,  Aldersgate,  on  28  Feb.  1593-4.     He 
had  formerly  lived  at  Bacon  House,  Foster 
Lane,  and  at  his  death  owned  an  estate  at 
Great  Missenden,  Buckinghamshire,  where 
he  was  buried.  Fleetwood  was  a  hard-working 
judge,  and  was  disappointed  at  not  receiving 
higher  preferment.      His   connection   with 
Leicester  was  insisted  on  by  Leicester's  ene- 
mies, and  he  is  called  '  Leicester's  mad  Re- 
corder '  in '  Leicester's  Commonwealth,'  but  he 
was  at  the  same  time  assiduous  in  cultivating 
Lord  Burghley's  favour.     He  was  noted  for 
his  witty  speeches,  and  his  eloquence  is  eulo- 
gised by  Thomas  Newton  in  his  'Encomia,' 

1589.  He  married  Mariana,  daughter  of  John 
Barley  of  Kingsey,    Buckinghamshire,   by 
whom  he  left  a  family.     His  elder  son,  Sir 
William,  succeeded  to  Missenden,  and  the 
younger   son,   Sir   Thomas,  of  the   Middle 
Temple,  was  attorney  to  Henry,  prince  of 
Wales.    One  daughter  (Cordelia)  married  Sir 
David  Foulis  [q.  v.],  and  another  (Elizabeth) 
Sir  Thomas   Chaloner  (1561-1615)    [q.  v.] 
Fleetwood's  works  are:  1.  'An  Oration  made 
at  Guildhall  before  the  Mayor,  concerning 
the  late  attempts  of  the  Queen's  Maiesties 
evil  seditious  subjects,'  15  Oct.  1571,  12mo. 
2. '  Annalium  tarn  Regum  Edwardi  V,  Ric.  Ill, 
et  Hen.  VII  quam  Hen.  VIII,  titulorum  ordine 
alphabetico  digestorum  Elenchus,'  1579, 1597. 
3.  '  A  Table  to  the  Reports  of  Edmund  Plow- 
den '(in  French),  1578, 1579, 1599.     4.  'The 
Office  of  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,'  1658,  8vo 
(posthumous).     5.  Verses  before  Sir  Thomas      i 
Chaloner's  '  De  Republica  Anglorum  instau- 
randa,'  1579,  and Lambarde's  'Perambulation 

of  Kent,'  1576.  Many  of  Fleetwood's  works 
remain  in  manuscript.  Among  them  are '  Ob- 
servacons  sur  Littleton '  (Harl.  MS.  5225), 
besides  four  volumes  of  reports  and  law  com- 
monplaces (Harl.  MS.  5153-6),  and  an  imper- 
fect but  interesting  'Itinerarium  ad  Windsor' 
(Gent.  Mag.  1857,  i.  602).  Wood  saw  in 
manuscript  '  Observations  upon  the  Eyre  of 
Pickering/ and  on  Lambarde's 'Archeion.'  In 
the  preface  to  the  'Office  of  a  Justice'  Fleet- 


Fleetvvood 


269 


Fleetwood 


wood  mentions  a  work  by  himself  '  De  Pace 
Ecclesise,'  not  otherwise  known. 

[Baines's  Lancashire,  iv.  440 ;  Middle  Temple 
MS.  Records ;  Merchant  Taylors'  MS.  Records  ; 
Parl.  Hist.  i.  734  sq. ;  Stow's  London;  Strype's 
Annals;  Wood's  Athense,  ed.  Bliss,  i.  598; 
Wright's  Elizabeth  and  her  Times ;  Biog.  Brit. 
(1750);  Official  Lists  of  M.P.'s.]  W.  C-E. 

/V> 

FLEETWOOD,  WILLIAM  (1656-1723), 
bishop  of  Ely,  a  descendant  of  the  ancient 
family  of  Fleetwood  of  Hesketh,  Lancashire, 
fifth    of  six   children   of  Captain   Geoffrey 
Fleetwood  by  Anne,  daughter  of  Mr.  Richard 
Smith,  prothonotary  to  the  Poultry  Compter, 
and  nephew  of  James  Fleetwood  [q.  v.  ] ,  bishop 
of  Worcester,  was  born  on  1  Jan.  1656,  in 
the  Tower  of  London,  where  his  father  re- 
sided till  his  death  in  April  1665.     William 
was  on  the  foundation  at  Eton,  and  was 
elected  scholar  of  King's  College,  Cambridge, 
on  27  Nov.  1675,  and  in  due  course  became 
a  fellow.     He  graduated  B.A.  1679,  M.A. 
1683,  D.D.  1705.     On  the  death  of  Pro- 
vost Copleston  in  1689,  the  appointment  of 
his  successor  being  claimed  by  the  crown, 
Fleetwood  and  another  fellow  were  deputed 
to  assert  the  right  of  the  college  to  elect  their 
own  provost,  which  they  succeeded  in  main- 
taining (Cole  MSS.  xvi.  35).     In  the  same 
year,  not  long  after  his  admission  to  holy 
orders,  he  gained  his  earliest  celebrity  as  a 
preacher  by  a  sermon  delivered  in  King's  Col- 
lege Chapel,  at  the  commemoration  of  the 
founder,  Henry  VI,  on  25  March,  deservedly 
admired  by  his  contemporaries  as  '  a  perfect 
model  and  pattern  of  that  kind  of  perform- 
ance.'  Fleetwood  speedily  became  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  preachers  of  the  day.     He 
was  often  appointed  to  preach  before  the  royal 
family,  the  houses  of  parliament,  and  other 
public  bodies  on  great  occasions.    A  sweet 
voice  and  graceful  delivery  commended,  we 
are  told,  the  sound  sense  and  fervent  piety 
of  his  sermons.    His  sermons  were  rendered 
more  useful  by  'the  fine  vein  of  casuistry 
which  ran  through  most  of  them,  wherein 
he  displayed  a  peculiar  talent,  and  gave  ease 
to  many  weak  and  honest  minds '  (Memoir, 
p.  viii).    Fleetwood's  reading  was  wide  and 
his  learning  accurate.     Browne  Willis  terms 
him  a  '  general  scholar.'  and  one  specially 
1  versed  in  antiquities.'  His  first  work  besides 
occasional  sermons  was  a  collection  of  pagan 
and  Christian  inscriptions,  illustrated  with 
notes,chiefly  original,  entitled '  Inscriptionum 
Antiquarum  Sylloge'  (1691).     In  1707  he 
published  anonymously  his  '  Chronicon  Pre- 
tiosum,'  a  book  very  valuable  for  its  research 
and  general  accuracy  on  the  value  of  money 
and  the  price  of  corn  and  other  commodities  for 


;he  previous  six  centuries.  The  question  had 
occurred  whether  the  statutes  of  a  college 
making  the  possession  of  an  estate  of  51.  per 
annum  a  bar  to  the  retention  of  a  fellowship 
were  to  be  interpreted  literally,  or  with  regard 
:o  the  altered  value  of  money.  Fleetwood 
learly  makes  good  the  more  liberal  interpre- 
tation (ATJBKEY,  Lives,  i.  150).  Fleetwood 
was  a  generous  patron  of  letters.  He  en- 
couraged Hickes  in  the  publication  of  his 
'  Thesaurus  Septentrionalis.'  Hearne  in  the 
preface  to  his  '  Liber  Scaccarii/  and  Browne 
Willis  in  the  '  History  of  the  Cathedral  of 
St.  Asaph/  acknowledge  his 'communicative- 
ness '  (Cathedrals,  iii.  367).  The  Boyle  lec- 
tureship was  offered  to  him,  but  ill-health 
prevented  him  from  lecturing.  The  materials 
he  had  prepared  were  subsequently  published 
by  him  in  1701,  as  *  An  Essay  on  Miracles/ 
those,  namely,  of  Moses  and  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Hoadly  wrote  a  reply  to  this  essay,  to  which 
Fleetwood,  from  his  extreme  aversion  to  con- 
troversy, made  no  rejoinder. 

Fleetwood  was  a  zealous  whig,  an  ardent 
friend  of  the  revolution  and  of  the  Hano- 
verian succession.  Soon  after  the  accession 
of  William  and  Mary  he  was  appointed  chap- 
lain to  the  king,  but  no  other  mark  of  royal 
favour  followed  till  just  before  William's 
death,  when  he  was  nominated  to  a  canonry 
at  Windsor.  The  letters  of  nomination  had 
not  received  the  royal  seal  when  the  king 
died,  and  the  House  of  Commons  endeavoured 
to  set  them  aside  in  favour  of  one  of  their 
own  chaplains.  Queen  Anne,  however,  re- 
plied to  their  petition  that  '  if  the  king  had 
given  the  canonry  to  Dr.  Fleetwood,  Dr.  Fleet- 
wood  should  have  it.'  He  was  installed  on 
2  June  1702.  By  the  interest  of  Dr.  Henry 
Godolphin  [q.  v.],  provost  of  Eton  and  canon 
of  St.  Paul's,  he  was  appointed  to  a  fellow- 
ship at  Eton  and  to  the  chapter  rectory  of 
St.  Augustine  and  St.  Faith's  on  26  Nov. 
1689,  to  which  was  speedily  added  the  lec- 
tureship of  St.  Dunstan's-in-the-West,  Fleet 
Street,  where  he  usually  preached  three  times 
a  week  to  admiring  crowds.  But  his  love  of 
retirement  and  his  attachment  to  Eton  and 
Windsor  induced  him  in  1705  to  exchange 
his  London  preferments  for  the  living  of 
Wexham,  Buckinghamshire,  worth  only  60/, 
per  annum,  where  he  devoted  much  of  his 
time  to  his  favourite  historical  and  antiquarian 
studies.  In  1708  Queen  Anne,  of  her  own 
personal  act  and  without  his  knowledge,  ap- 
pointed him  to  the  see  of  St.  Asaph,  vacant 
by  the  death  of  Beveridge,  to  which  he  was; 
consecrated  on  8  June  of  that  year.  Anne 
called  Fleetwood  '  my  bishop,'  attended  his; 
sermons,  and  favoured  him  till  her  death,  in 
spite  of  the  outspoken  whiggism  which  mad»' 


Fleetwood 


270 


Fleetwood 


him  specially  offensive  to  her  favourite  party. 
His  fulfilment  of  the  duties  of  the  episcopate 
rose  much  above  the  standard  of  the  age,  and 
overcame  the  prejudice  with  which  he  was 
at  first  regarded  by  his  clergy.  His  concilia- 
tory manners,  unblemished  life,  and  high  re- 
putation secured  respect  in  a  diocese  where 
party  animosities  were  unusually  strong  (J3io- 
grapk.  Brit.}  His  first  charge,  issued  in  1710, 
which  covers  nineteen  closely  printed  folio 

fages  of  small  type,  will  still  repay  reading, 
t  is  in  the  form  of  a  series  of  remarks  on 
the  'Articles  of  Enquiry'  issued  to  his  dio- 
cese, and  throws  much  light  on  the  condition 
of  the  church  at  the  time.  It  closes  with  an 
impassioned  defence  of  his  own  party  against 
the  charge  of  disloyalty  to  the  church.  He 
gives  some  sensible  advice  to  his  clergy  upon 
the  use  of  Welsh  ('British,'  he  calls  it)  in 
their  sermons.  This  charge  exhibits  Fleet- 
wood  as  one  who  aimed  sensibly  and  sin- 
cerely at  promoting  the  good  of  his  diocese. 
He  paved  the  greater  part  of  the  cathedral 
at  his  own  cost,  and  laid  out  above  100A  in 
the  decoration  of  the  choir  (Cole  MSS.  xvi. 
35).  On  the  fall  of  the  whigs  Fleetwood 
absented  himself  from  court,  and  openly  ex- 
pressed his  indignation  at  the  peace  of  Utrecht. 
Being  selected  to  preach  before  the  House  of 
Lords  on  the  general  fast  day,  16  Jan.  1711- 
1712,  he  chose  for  his  subject  'the  people 
that  delight  in  war '  (Ps.  Ixviii.  30),  and  de- 
fended the  necessity  of  the  war,  of  which  the 
advantages  were  to  be  thrown  away.  The 
tory  ministry  adjourned  the  house  beyond  the 
day  fixed  for  the  sermon,  so  that  it  was  not 
delivered ;  but  it  was  at  once  printed,  and 
though  his  name  was  concealed  the  author- 
ship was  no  secret.  His  courageous  attack 
upon  the  Jacobite  tendencies  of  the  govern- 
ment was  quickly  punished.  Fleetwood  at 
this  time  published  four  sermons  preached 
by  him  on  the  deaths  of  Queen  Mary,  the 
Duke  of  Gloucester,  William  III,  and  the 
accession  of  Anne  to  the  throne,  and  in  an 
outspoken  preface  assailed  the  principle  of 
non-resistance,  and  eloquently  repudiated 
the  doctrine  that  Christianity  was  favourable 
to  political  slavery.  The  tory  ministry  at 
first  proposed  to  impeach  Fleetwood  for  the 
publication.  Eventually  the  House  of  Com- 
mons resolved,  by  a  vote  of  119  to  54,  that 
the  preface  was  malicious  and  factious,  and 
sentenced  it  to  be  burnt  by  the  common 
hangman.  It  was  at  once  issued  as  No.  384 
(21  May)  of  the  '  Spectator/  and  thus,  as 
Fleetwood  says  to  Burnet  in  answer  to  a 
sympathetic  letter,  conveyed  ( above  fourteen 
thousand  copies  into  people's  hands  who  would 
otherwise  never  have  seen  or  heard  of  it.' 
Swift  attacked  it  bitterly  in  a  couple  of 


papers  (Works,  1814,  iv.  276-93).  Fleet- 
wood  took  little  part  in  public  affairs  during 
the  brief  remainder  of  Anne's  reign,  and  could 
'  hardly  endure  to  think  of  them,'  and  was 
especially  indignant  at  the  Schism  Act  of 
1714.  Soon  after  the  accession  of  George  I 
several  bishoprics  became  vacant.  Of  these 
Ely  was  the  first  filled  up,  and  Fleetwood  was 
chosen  for  it.  He  was  elected  on  19  Nov. 
1714,  three  months  after  the  king's  accession. 
Though  advanced  in  years  he  was  still  assidu- 
ous in  discharging  his  duties,  and  as  the  cathe- 
dral of  Ely  was  too  spacious  for  his  voice,  his 
sermons  were  commonly  delivered  in  the 
chapel  of  Ely  House  in  London,  usually  every 
Sunday. 

As  bishop  of  Ely  he  delivered  two  charges 
to  his  clergy  in  1716  and  1722.  Both  enforce 
the  solemnity  of  the  ministerial  office,  and 
warmly  eulogise  George  I.  The  case  between 
Bentley  and  his  fellows  had  been  heard  out 
before  Fleetwood's  predecessor,  Dr.  Moore 
[q.  v.],  whose  death  had  put  a  stop  to  a  defini- 
tive sentence  of  deprivation  against  Bentley. 
Application  was  at  once  made  to  the  new 
bishop  to  carry  on  the  case.  Fleetwood  de- 
clared that  if  he  visited  the  college  at  all  he 
would  hold  a  general  visitation,  and  take  cog- 
nisance of  all  delinquencies  reported  to  him  of 
the  fellows  as  well  as  of  the  master.  Such 
a  prospect  frightened  several  of  Bentley's 
opponents,  whose  moral  character  was  not  of 
the  highest,  into  a  mutual  compact  of  for- 
bearance. When  the  quarrel  again  broke 
out  Fleetwood  adhered  to  his  refusal  (MoNK, 
Life  of  Bentley,  i.  367-70,  ii.  88,  247).  He 
died  at  Tottenham,  near  London,  to  which 
place  he  had  removed  for  the  amendment  of 
his  health,  from  Ely  House,  Holborn,  where 
he  had  chiefly  resided,  on  4  Aug.  1723,  aged 
67,  and  was  buried  in  the  north  choir  aisle 
of  Ely  Cathedral,  10  Aug.  A  monument 
bears  an  epitaph,  laudatory,  but  not  beyond 
his  deserts.  He  left  a  widow  and  one  son, 
James,  on  whom  his  father  had  conferred  the 
archdeaconry  of  Ely. 

In  both  his  dioceses  Fleetwood  secured  the 
love  and  esteem  of  his  clergy,  in  spite  of 
opinions  generally  unpalatable  to  them.  Few 
bishops  have  left  a  more  unspotted  reputation 
behind  them.  He  endeavoured  to  dispense 
his  patronage  to  the  most  deserving  without 
regard  to  personal  influence.  He  always 
refused  to  enter  into  personal  controversy. 
When  attacked  he  would  say  :  *  I  write  my 
own  sense  as  well  as  I  can.  If  it  be  right 
it  will  support  itself;  if  it  be  not  it  is  fit  it 
should  sink.'  He  liberally  assisted  his  clergy 
with  money,  books,  and  in  the  remission  of 
their  fees.  As  a  preacher  his  style  is  digni- 
fied, but  simple,  with  much  calmness  of  ex- 


Fleetwood 


271 


Fleming 


pression  and  clearness  of  thought.  Arch- 
bishop Herring,  who  when  at  Lincoln's  Inn 
was  one  of  the  most  celebrated  preachers  of 
the  day,  was  Fleetwood's  domestic  chaplain, 
and  is  said  to  have  derived  his  excellent  style 
of  pulpit  oratory  from  him  as  a  model. 

Many  of  Fleetwood's  sermons  were  pub- 
lished anonymously  to  avoid  prejudice  and 
allow  greater  freedom  of  speech.  Besides  sepa- 
rate sermons  on  various  occasions  his  works 
include :  1. '  Sermon  on  2  Cor.  ix.  12,  preached 
before  the  University  of  Cambridge  in  King's 
College  Chapel,  25  March  1689,  at  the  Com- 
memoration of  Henry  VI,'  1689, 4to.  2.  '  In- 
scriptionum  Antiquarum  Sylloge,'  1691, 8vo. 

3.  *  A  Method  of  Christian  Devotion,  trans- 
lated from  the  French  of  M.  Jurieu,'  1692, 8  vo. 

4.  '  An  Essay  on  Miracles,  in  two  Discourses/ 
dedicated  to  Dr.  Godolphin,  provost  of  Eton, 
1701.     5.  'The  Reasonable  Communicant/ 
London,  1704,  8vo  (anonymous,  erroneously 
ascribed    to    Mr.    Theophilus   Dorrington). 
6.  '  Sixteen  Practical  Discourses  on  Relative 
Duties,  with  Three  Sermons  upon  the  Case 
of  Self-murther,  addressed   to   the  parish- 
ioners of  St.  Austins  and  St.  Faith/  London, 
1705,  2  vols.  8vo.     7. '  Chronicon  Pretiosum, 
or  an  Account  of  English  Gold  and  Silver 
Money'  (anonymous),  London,  1707,  8vo. 
8.  '  Charge  to  the  Clergy  of  the  Diocese  of 
St.  Asaph/ London,  1710, 4to.  9.  'Romans  xiii. 
vindicated  from  the  Abusive  Senses  put  upon 
it.     Written  by  a  Curate  of  Salop/  Lon- 
don, 1710,  8vo  (anonymous).     10.  '  Sermon 
in  Refutation  of  Dr.  Sacheverell's  Doctrine 
of  Passive  Obedience  and  Non-resistance.' 
11.  'Sermon  preached  before  the  Society  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign 
Parts  at  Bow  Church,  16  Feb.  1710-11' 
(this  sermon  produced  a  powerful  effect  on 
behalf  of  the  society,  and  was  widely  circu- 
lated).    12.  '  Sermon  on  Ps.  Ixviii.  30,  on  the 
Fast  Day,  Jan.  16,  1711-12,  against  such  as 
delight  in  war.     By  a  Divine  of  the  Church 
of   England/    London,   1712   (see    above). 
13. '  The  Judgment  of  the  Church  of  England 
of  Lay  Baptism  and  of  Dissenters'  Baptism, 
in  two  parts '  (in  reply  to  Dr.  Hickes,  who 
deniedits  validity),  London,1712,8vo  (anony- 
mous).    14.  '  Four  Sermons/  with  preface, 
1712  (see  above).     15.  <  The  Life  and  Mira- 
cles of  St.   Wenefred,   together  with   her 
Litanies,  with  some  Historical  Observations 
made  thereon/  London,  1713,  8vo  (anony- 
mous)   (directed   against   the  superstitious 
pilgrimages  made  to  St.  Winifred's  well  in 
his  diocese  of  St.  Asaph).     16.  'Funeral  Ser- 
mon on  2  Sam.  xii.  5,  on  Mr.  Noble,  who  was 
executed  at  Kingston  for  the  murder  of  a 
gentleman  with  whose  wife  he  had  criminal 
conversation'  (without  name  or  date).  17.'  The 


Counsellor's  Plea  for  the  Divorce  of  Sir  G. 
D[owning]  and  Mrs.  F[orrester] '  (without 
name  or  date)  [see  DOWNING,  SIK  GEOKGE, 
1684  P-1749].  18.  '  Charge  to  the  Clergy  of 
the  Diocese  of  Ely,  1716,'  London,  1716, 4to. 

19.  '  Papists  not  excluded  from  the  Throne 
upon  the  account  of  Religion,  being  a  vindi- 
cation of  Bishop  Hoadly's  "Preservative"' 
(without  his  name).     The  title  is  ironical. 

20.  Letter  from  Mr.  J.  Burdett,  executed  at 
Tyburn  for  the  murder  of  Captain  Falkland 
(without  name  or  date).     21.  Letter  to  an 
inhabitant  of  St.  Andrew's,  Holborn,  about 
new  ceremonies  in  the  church,  of  which  Dr. 
Sacheverell  was  the  rector  (without  name  or 
date).    22. '  A  Defence  of  Praying  before  Ser- 
mon as  directed  by  the  IVth  Canon'  (without 
name  or  date).     23.  '  Charge  to  the  Clergy 
of  the  Diocese  of  Ely  in  August  1722.'    A 
complete  collection  of  his  works  was  pub- 
lished in  one  volume  folio  in  1737,  with  a 
prefatory  memoir  by  his   nephew,  Dr.  W. 
Powell,  dean  of  St.  Asaph  and  prebendary 
of  Ely. 

[Biographical  preface  to  Fleetwood's  collected 
works;  Bentham's  Ely,  pp.  208-9;  Monk's  Bent- 
ley,  i.  367,  370,  ii.  88,  247;  Biog.  Brit.  1750; 
Abbey's  English  Church,  i.  120-7.]  E.  V. 

FLEMING,  Miss,  afterwards  MKS. 
STANLEY  (1796  P-1861),  actress,  was  born,  ac- 
cording to  Oxberry's' Dramatic  Chronology/ 
31  Oct.  1796,  but  more  probably  four  years 
earlier.  She  is  said  to  have  been  a  grand- 
daughter of  John  West  Dudley  Digges  [q.  v.] 
In  Liverpool  and  Manchester  she  played  Lady 
Macbeth,  Helen  McGregor,  and  other  cha- 
racters. She  married  George  Stanley,  a  low 
comedian,  who  appeared  9  Oct.  1834  at  the 
Lyceum  as  Nicholas  Trefoil  in '  Before  Break- 
fast/ went  to  America,  and  there  died.  Mrs. 
Stanley's  first  appearance  in  London  took 
place  at  the  Lyceum,  assumably  near  the  same 
date.  She  is  chiefly  remembered  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Haymarket,  where  she  played 
old  women  both  in  comedy  and  tragedy.  She 
was  a  tall,  well-built  woman,  and  seems  to 
have  been  a  fine  actress.  Her  daughter,  Emma 
Stanley,  born  13  Nov.  1823,  made  her  first 
appearance  at  the  Lyceum,  in  May  1843, 
as  Catherine  in  '  The  Exile.'  Mrs.  Stanley 
died  suddenly  of  bronchitis  in  Jermyn  Street, 
17  Jan.  1861,  at  the  reputed  age  of  sixty-nine 
years. 

[Such  meagre  particulars  as  are  obtainable  con- 
cerning Miss  Fleming  are  derived  from  Oxberry's 
Dramatic  Chronology,  an  untrustworthy  source ; 
and  Gent,  Mag.  1861,  pt.  i.  p.  234.]  J.  K. 

FLEMING,  ABRAHAM  (1552  P-1607), 
antiquary  and  poet,  born  in  London  in  or 
about  1552,  was  matriculated  at  Cambridge 


Fleming 


272 


Fleming 


as  a  sizar  of  Peterhouse  in  November  1570, 
but  did  not  go  out  B.A.  until  1581-2.  He 
took  holy  orders,  and  became  chaplain  to  the 
Countess  of  Nottingham.  Between  1589  and 
1606  he  preached  eight  times  at  St.  Paul's 
Cross.  On  19  Oct.  1593  he  was  collated  by 
Archbishop  Whitgift  to  the  rectory  of  St. 
Pancras,  Soper  Lane,  London.  He  died  at 
Bottesford,  Leicestershire,  on  18  Sept.  1607, 
while  on  a  visit  to  his  brother  Samuel,  the 
rector  of  that  parish,  and  was  buried  in  the 
chancel  of  the  church  there. 

Though  a  poor  poet,  Fleming  was  an  ex- 
cellent antiquary.  Most,  if  not  all,  of  his 
manuscript  collections  were  in  1732  in  the 
possession  of  Francis  Peck  [q.  v.],  who  de- 
signed to  print  them  in  the  second  volume 
of  his  '  Desiderata  Curiosa.'  They  cannot 
now  be  traced. 

A  list  of  fifty-nine  of  his  works  will  be 
found  in  Cooper's  l  Athenae  Cantabrigienses/ 
Among  these  are:  1.  'Virgil's  Eclogues, 
translated  into  English  Verse,'  London,  1575, 
and  with  the  '  Georgics/  1589.  2.  ' The  Bu- 
kolikes  of  P.  Virgilius  Maro  .  .  .  Drawne 
into  plaine  and  familiar  English  Verse/ 
London,  1575,  4to.  3.  '  A  Panoplie  of  Epis- 
tles, or,  a  Looking-Glasse  for  the  Vnl earned. 
Conteyning  a  perfecte  plattforme  of  inditing 
letters  of  all  sorts,'  London,  1576,  4to  ;  a 
translation  from  the  Latin.  4.  '  A  Register 
of  Hysterics,'  from  the  Greek  of  ^Elianus, 
London,  1576, 4to.  5.  '  Of  English  Dogges/ 
from  the  Latin  of  John  Caius,  London,  1576, 
4to.  6.  '  A  Straunge  and  Terrible  Wunder 
wrought  very  late  in  the  Parish  Church  of 
Bongay  ....  the  fourth  of  this  August 
1577,  in  a  great  tempest  of  violent  raine, 
lightning,  and  thunder  .  .  .  With  the 
appearance  of  a  horrible-shaped  Thing, 
sensibly  perceived  of  the  people  then  and 
there  assembled,'  London,  1577,  12mo ;  re- 
printed, London,  1826,  8vo.  7.  '  Of  all  Bias- 
ing Starrs  in  Generall,'  from  the  Latin  of 
Frederick  Nause,  bishop  of  Vienna,  London, 
1577,  4to.  8.  '  Historie  of  Leander  and  Hero/ 
written  by  Musseus.  Translation,  published 
about  1577.  This  is  mentioned  in  a  marginal 
note  to  Fleming's  translation  of  Virgil's 
'  Georgics/  1589.  9.  '  Jerom  of  Ferrara  his 
meditations,  on  the  51  &  31  Psalms ;  trans- 
lated and  augmented/  London,  n.  d.,  and 
1588, 16mo.  Licensed  in  1578.  10.  '  A  Para- 
doxe,  proving  by  reason  and  example  that 
baldnesse  is  much  better  than  bushie  haire, 
&c.  Written  by  that  excellent  philosopher 
Synesius,  or  (as  some  say)  Cyren.  A  prettie 
pamphlet  to  pervse,  and  replenished  with 
recreation.  Englished  by  Abraham  Flem- 
ing. Herevnto  is  annexed  the  pleasant  tale 
of  Hemetes  the  Heremite,  pronounced  be- 


fore the  Queens  Maiestie.  Newly  recognised 
both  in  Latine  and  Englishe,  by  the  said 
A.F./  London,  1579,  8vo.  The  tale  of  Her- 
metes  is,  with  a  few  verbal  changes,  that 
which  George  Gascoigne  presented  to  Queen 
Elizabeth  (COOPEK,  Athence  Cantabr.  i.  377). 
11.  'Fred.  Nawse,  his  generall  Doctrine  of 
Earthquakes/  translated,  London,  1580, 8vo. 
The  translator  has  added  a  history  of  earth- 
quakes in  England  from  the  time  of  William 
the  Conqueror  to  the  last  earthquake  on 
6  April  1580.  12.  '  A  Memoriall  of  the 
Famous  Monumentes  and  Charitable  Almes 
Deedes  of  the  Right  Worshipfull  Mr.  Willm. 
Lambe  .  .  .  who  deceased  the  xxi.  of  Aprill 
1580/  London,  1580,  8vo.  13.  « The  Foot- 
path to  Felicitie/  London,  1581,  24mo,  re- 
printed in  '  The  Diamond  ofDeuotion/1586. 
14.  '  A  Monomachie  of  Motives  in  the  mind 
of  man:  Or  a  battell  between  Vertues  & 
Vices  of  contrarie  qualitie/  newly  Englished, 
London,  1582, 24mo.  15.  '  Verborvm  Latino- 
rvm  cvm  Grsecis  Anglicisqve  conivnctorvm 
locupletissimi  Commentary/  London,  1583, 
fol.  16.  Poetical  translations  for  Reginald 
Scot's '  Disco verie  of  Witchcraft/ 1584. 17.' A 
Shorte  Dictionarie  in  Latine  and  English/ 
London,  1586  and  1594,  4to.  18.  <  The  Dia- 
mond of  Deuotion;  cut  and  squared  into- 
sixe  severall  pointes:  namelie  (1)  The  Foot- 
path of  Felicitie;  (2)  A  Guide  to  God- 
lines ;  (3)  The  Schoole  of  Skill;  (4)  A 
Swarme  of  Bees ;  (5)  A  Plant  of  Plea- 
sure ;  (6)  A  Grove  of  Graces.  Full  of  manie 
fruitfull  lessons  auailable  vnto  the  leading 
of  a  godlie  and  reformed  life/  London, 

1586,  24mo.     19.  '  The  Historie  of  England, 
.  .  .  &c.   By  Raphael  Holinshed.   Now  new- 
lie  digested,  &c.  by  Abr.  Fleming.'     In  the 
first   volume   of    Holinshed's    'Chronicles/ 

1587.  The  third  volume  of  the  same  edition 
was  enlarged  by  Fleming  with  interpolations 
from  the  collections  of  Francis  Thynne,  the 
abridgment  of  R.  Grafton,  and  the  summary 
of  John  Stow.  20.  '  The  Bucoliks  of  Publius 
Virgilius  Maro,  Prince  of  all  Latine  Poets 
.  .  .  Together  with  his  Georgiks  or  Ruralls> 
otherwise  called  his   husbandrie,   conteyn- 
ing  foure  books.     All  newly  translated  into 
English  verse/  London,  1589,  4to,  dedicated 
to  Archbishop  Whitgift.    This  version  of  the 
'  Bucolics'  is  not  the  same  as  that  published 
by  Fleming  in   1575.     21.   Historical  and 
miscellaneous    articles   in  manuscript  enu- 
merated in  Peck's  'Desiderata  Curiosa.' 

[Addit.  MS.  5869,  f.  20 ;  Ames's  Typogr.  An- 
tiq.  (Herbert)  ;^ibl.  Anglo-Poetica,  p.  105;  Bod- 
leian Cat.;  Brydges's  Brit.  Bibl.  ii.  313,  583; 
Brydges's  Censura  Literaria,  2nd  edit.  vi.  11,  x:. 
4;  Brydges's  Kestituta,  ii.  203,  iii.  47;  Collier's 
Poetical  Decameron,  i.  105,  109,  114,  116,  117, 


Fleming 


273 


Fleming 


194  ;  Collier's  Kegister  of  Stationers'  Company, 
ii.  87,  97,  114-16,  118,  197;  Cooper's  Athense 
Cantabr.  ii.  459  ;  Eller's  Belvoir,  p.  386 ;  Hasle- 
wood's  Ancient  Critical  Essays,  ii.  35,  54  ;  Hone's 
Every-day  Book,  i.  1066;  Lowndes's  Bibl.. Man. 
(Bohn),  p.  808  ;  Newcourt's  Kepertorium,  i.  519  ; 
Nichols's  Leicestershire,  ii.  98,  99 ;  Notes  and 
Queries,  1st  ser..vi.  85;  Oldys's  British^  Li- 
brarian, pp.  89,  91  ;  Peck's  Desiderata  Curiosa, 
folio  edit.  lib.  vi.  49-56  ;  Peqk's  Historical  Pieces, 
p.  28 ;  Eitson's  Bibl.  Poetica,  p.  207 ;  Strype's 
Annals,  ii.  548  fol. ;  Suckling's  Suffolk,  i.  124; 
Tanner's  Bibl.  Brit.  p.  287 ;  Warton's  Hist,  of 
English  Poetry;  Watt's  Bibl".  Brit.;  Wood's 
Athense  Oxon.  (Bliss),  i.  412,485,  752.]  T.  C. 

FLEMING,  ALEXANDER,  M.D.  (1824- 
1875),  was  born  in  1824  at  Edinburgh,  where 
he  studied  medicine  and  graduated  M.D.  in 
1844.  His  chief  work  was  his  college  essay 
on  the  l  Physiological  and  Medicinal  Proper- 
ties of  AconitumNapellus,'Lond.  1845,  which 
led  to  the  introduction  of  a  tincture  of  aconite 
of  uniform  strength  known  as  Fleming's  tinc- 
ture. Having  spent  some  years  at  Cork  as 
professor  of  materia  medica  in  the  Queen's 
College,  he  went  in  1858  to  Birmingham, 
where  he  held  the  honorary  office  of  physi- 
cian  to  the  Queen's  Hospital  until  his  retire- 
ment through  ill-health  in  1873.  He  died  at 
Brixton,  London,  on  21  Aug.  1875.  Besides 
the  works  above  mentioned,  he  published  two 
introductory  addresses  and  two  papers  in 
the  'Dublin  Quarterly  Journal  of  Medical 
Science '  (on  measles  of  the  pig,  and  on  the 
classification  of  medicines). 

[Brit.  Med.  Journ.  ii.  1875.]  C.  C. 

FLEMING,  CALEB,  D.D.  (1698-1779), 
dissenting  polemic,  was  born  at  Nottingham 
on  4  Nov.  1698.  His  father  was  a  hosier ; 
his  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Buxton, 
was  a  daughter  of  the  lord  of  the  manor  of 
Chelmerton,  Derbyshire.  Brought  up  in 
Calvinism,  Fleming's  early  bent  was  for  the 
independent  ministry.  As  a  boy  he  learned 
shorthand,  in  order  to  take  down  sermons. 
In  1714  John  Hardy  [q.  v.]  became  one  of  the 
ministers  of  the  presbyterian  congregation  at 
the  High  Pavement,  Nottingham,  and  opened 
a  nonconformist  academy.  Fleming  was  one 
of  his  first  pupils.  He  was  admitted  as  a  com- 
municant in  1715.  Hardy  (who  conformed 
in  1727)  taught  him  to  discard  his  ancestral 
theology.  He  gave  up  the  idea  of  the  minis- 
try and  took  to  business,  retaining,  however, 
his  theological  tastes. 

In  1727  he  left  Nottingham  for  London. 
By  this  time  he  had  married  and  had  a  family. 
How  he  maintained  himself  is  not  clear.  He 
probably  relied  upon  his  pen  ;  but  though  he 
began  at  once  to  publish  pamphlets  which 
attracted  some  attention,  he  '  was  often  in 

VOL.  XIX. 


sight  of  real  want.'  In  1727  '  a  popish  se- 
ducer '  tried  to  make  a  convert  of  him,  but 
desisted  on  discovering  that  he  had  to  deal 
with  an  anti-trinitarian  (Survey  of  the  Search, 
p.  101).  Some  help  in  further  classical  and 
biblical  study  was  given  to  him  by  John  Holt, 
then  a  presbyterian  minister  in  London,  after- 
wards mathematical  tutor  at  Warrington 
Academy,  and  he  learned  Hebrew  from  a 
rabbi.  Through  William  Harris,  D.D.,  pres- 
byterian minister  at  Crutched  Friars,  an  offer 
was  made  for  his  services  as  a  government 
pamphleteer.  He  replied  that  he  <  would 
sooner  cut  off"  his  right  hand.'  In  1736  he  pub- 
lished a  pamphlet,  '  The  Fourth  Command- 
ment abrogated  by  the  Gospel,'  dedicating  it 
to  his  namesake,  Sir  George  Fleming  [q.  v.], 
bishop  of  Carlisle.  It  would  appear  that  he 
had  been  advised  to  do  this  by  John  Thomas, 
afterwards  bishop  of  Winchester.  Bishop 
Fleming  offered  him  the  living  of  Lazonby, 
Cumberland,  worth  some  600/.  a  year.  Dr. 
Thomas  was  ready  to  advance  what  was 
needed  for  his  removal,  but  Fleming  could 
not  conform.  In  his  refusal  he  was  warmly 
supported  by  his  wife. 

His  friends  now  began  to  urge  him  to  enter 
the  dissenting  ministry.  In  his  fortieth  year 
he  preached  his  first  sermon  to  the  presbyte- 
rian congregation  at  Wokingham,  Berkshire, 
Catcot,  the  minister,  publicly  thanking  him 
for  his  services.  After  this  he  officiated  at  a 
few  places  in  the  neighbourhood  of  London. 
At  length,  on  the  death  of  John  Munckley 
(August  1738),  he  was  strongly  recommended 
by  Benjamin  A  very  [q.  v.]  as  a  suitable  can- 
didate for  the  charge  of  the  presbyterian 
congregation  at  Bartholomew  Close.  Here 
Fleming  and  William  May  were  ordained  as 
joint  pastors  in  1740.  Fleming  had  scruples 
about  presbyterian  forms,  and  classed  himself 
as  an  independent.  At  his  ordination,  con- 
ducted by  Samuel  Chandler,  D.D.  [q.  v.], 
Jeremiah  Hunt,  D.D.,  a  learned  independent, 
and  others,  he  refused  to  submit  to  the  im- 
position of  hands,  His  confession  of  faith 
was  unique.  He  would  only  say  that  he  be- 
lieved the  New  Testament  contained  '  a  re- 
velation worthy  of  God  to  give  and  of  man 
to  receive;'  and  this  he  promised  to  teach  in 
the  sense  in  which  he  should  *  from  time  to 
time '  understand  it.  It  was  soon  rumoured 
that  Fleming  was  a  Socinian.  His  congrega- 
tion was  never  large,  and  the  scantiness  of  his 
stipend  reduced  him  to  straits.  His  friends 
fell  off,  with  the  exception  of  Jeremiah  Hunt. 
After  Hunt's  death  (1744)Fleming  contracted 
a  close  intimacy  with  Nathaniel  Lardner, 
D.D.,  his  neighbour  in  Hoxton  Square,  and 
co-operated  with  him  in  literary  work. 

In  January  1752  James  Foster,  D.D.  [q.v.], 


Fleming 


274 


Fleming 


became  disabled  from  preacbing.  Jobn 
Weatherley  (d.  May  1752),  a  general  baptist 
minister,  wbo  supplied  Foster's  place,  met 
Fleming  at  Hamlin's  Coffee-bouse,  and  en- 

Ed  bim  for  a  Sunday  at  Pinners'  Hall 
^pendent).  He  attracted  the  notice  of 
athy  Hollis,  was  soon  afterwards  elected 
as  Foster's  assistant,  and  on  Foster's  deatb 
(5  Nov.  1753)  as  pastor.  Tbe  Bartbolomew 
Close  congregation  tben  came  to  an  end,  its 
few  remaining  members  j  oiningPinners' Hall. 
For  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  Fleming 
remained  at  bis  post ;  bis  ministry,  tbougb 
painstaking,  was  not  popular,  and  wben  be 
ceased  to  preacb,  in  December  1777,  bis  con- 
gregation became  extinct,  tbe  lease  of  tbeir 
meeting-bouse  expiring  in  1778.  He  had 
admirers,  wbo  left  bim  considerable  legacies, 
among  them  being  a  bequest  by  a  Suffolk 
gentleman  (Reynolds),  who  had  once  heard 
him  preach  but  did  not  know  his  name.  A 
wealthy  widow  placed  her  whole  fortune 
at  his  disposal.  Fleming,  however,  declined 
to  be  enriched  at  the  expense  of  her  needy 
relatives. 

Fleming's  chief  work  is  '  A  Survey  of  the 
Search  after  Souls,'  1758,  8vo,  dedicated  to 
Nicolas  Munckley,  M.D.  The  title  and  topic 
were  suggested  by  tbe  writings  of  William 
Coward  (1657  P-1725)  [q  .v.]  To  prove,  against 
Coward,  the  existence  of  a  separate  soul, 
Fleming  employs  the  arguments  of  Clarke, 
and  especially  of  Andrew  Baxter  [q.  v.]  He 
does  not  contend  that  the  soul  is  inherently 
immortal,  but  simply  that  it  possesses  a  '  ca- 
pacity of  immortality.'  His  view  of  tbe  re- 
surrection was  adopted  by  Jobn  Cameron 
(1724-1799)  [q.v.] 

Fleming  was  an  unwearied  writer  of  argu- 
mentative and  combative  pamphlets,  the 
greater  part  of  them  being  anonymous.  His 
political  brochures,  in  defence  of  civil  liberty 
and  against  the  Jacobites,  church  establish- 
ments, and  the  toleration  of  popery,  are  tart 
enough.  Against  the  theological  writers  of 
his  time,  high  and  low,  be  entered  tbe  field 
with  confident  vigour.  He  attacked  Sher- 
lock, Soame  Jenyns,  Wesley,  the  Sabbata- 
rians as  represented  by  Robert  Cornthwaite, 
and  the  Muggletonians.  His  most  severe, 
and  perhaps  his  best  remembered,  publication 
is  his '  character '  of  Thomas  Bradbury  [q.v.], 
1  taken  from  bis  own  pen.'  Tbe  topics  to 
which  he  most  frequently  recurred  were  the 
defence  of  infant  baptism  and  of  the  autho- 
rity of  tbe  New  Testament  against  the  deists, 
especially  Chubb,  whom  he  is  said  to  have 
impressed.  His  own  theology,  as  may  be 
seen  in  his  '  True  Deism,  the  Basis  of  Chris- 
tianity/ 1749,  8vo,  was  little  more  than  a 
specially  authenticated  deism.  He  retains 


'  supernatural  conception/ minimised  after 
a  fashion  of  his  own,  and  tbe  miracles  of  our 
Lord,  which  i  did  not  introduce  a  single  un- 
natural phenomenon/  but  '  removed  defects 
in  nature '  (True  Deism,  p.  14).  In  a  manu- 
script sermon  (10  Oct.  1773)  he  ranks  Con- 
iicius,  Socrates,  Plato,  Cicero,  and  Seneca 
among  organs  of  divine  revelation.  Many 
of  his  pamphlets  and  sermons  attempt  to  deal 
with  the  problem  of  a  general  depravity  of 
morals.  Under  the  title  of  '  A  Modern  Plan/ 
1748,  8vo,  he  drew  up  '  a  compendium  of 
moral  institutes/  in  tbe  shape  of  a  catechism 
n  which  the  learner  asks  the  questions. 

In  his  old  age  bis  '  dear  friend/  William 
Dalrymple,  D.D.,  of  Ayr  (Burns's  '  D'rymple 
mild '),  procured  for  him  tbe  degree  of  D.D. 
Prom  St.  Andrews.  Fleming  was  inclined 
bo  reject  this  '  compliment ; '  but  his  friend 
Thomas  Hollis '  put  it  into  the  public  papers/ 
so  Fleming  accepted  it  in  a  very  character- 
istic letter  (6  April  1769). 

After  completing  his  seventy-ninth  year 
Fleming  retired  from  public  duty.  He  died 
on  21  July  1779,  and  was  buried  in  Bunbill 
Fields.  He  married  a  daughter  of  Jobn 
Harris  of  Hardstoft,  Derbyshire,  and  had 
ten  children,  of  whom  one  survived  him.  He 
left  an  epitaph  for  his  gravestone,  in  which 
he  describes  himself  as  '  dissenting  teacher/ 
and  expresses  a  conditional  hope  of  immor- 
tality. For  this,  however,  was  substituted 
a  eulogistic  inscription  by  Joseph  Towers, 
LL.D.  His  funeral  sermon  was  preached  by 
John  Palmer  at  New  Broad  Street.  A  fine 
portrait  of  Fleming,  by  William  Chamberlain, 
was  bequeathed  by  bim  to  Dr.  Williams's 
Library.  An  engraving  by  Hopwood  is  given 
in  Wilson. 

Wilson  enumerates  sixty  of  Fleming's  pub- 
lications. It  may  suffice  to  add  such  as  are  not 
included  in  Wilson's  list.  Most  of  them  will 
be  found  in  Dr.  Williams's  Library,  Grafton 
Street,  W.C. ;  others  are  from  a  collection 
formed  by  Fleming's  nephew :  1.  '  The  Parent 
Disinherited  by  bis  Offspring/  &c.,  1728, 8vo. 
2.  '  Observations  on  Some  Articles  of  the 
Muggletonians'  Creed/  &c.,  1735,  8vo  (an- 
swered in  '  The  Principles  of  the  Muggle- 
tonians/ &c.,  1735,  8vo,  by  A.  B.,  i.e.  Arden 
Bonell).  3.  'An  Appeal  to  the  People  of 
England/ &c.  [1739],  8vo.  4.  <  The  Challenge 
...  on  ...  Baptism/  &c.,  1743,  8vo.  5.  'A 
Fine  Picture  of  Enthusiasm/  &c.,  1744,  8vo. 

6.  <  A  Letter  to  the  Rev.  Charles  Willats 
upon  his  Assize   Sermon/  &c.,  1744,  8vo. 

7.  f  Remarks  upon  the  Life  of  John  Duke  of 
Argyle/  &c.,  1745,  8vo.     8.  '  Tracts  on  Bap- 
tism/ &c.,  1745,  8vo  (a  collection  of  six  pre- 
vious pieces,  with  an  introduction).     9.  f  A 
Fund  raising  for  the  Italian  Gentleman/  &c.? 


Fleming 


275 


Fleming 


1750,  8vo  (the  reference  is  to  the  '  Young 
Pretender').  10.  '  The  Devout  Laugh,'  &c., 
1750,  8vo.  11.  '  Natural  and  Revealed  Reli- 
gion at  Variance,'  &c.,  1758,  8vo  (against 
Thomas  Sherlock).  12.  <  A  Letter  to  the  Rev. 
John  Stevens,' &c.,  1760, 8 vo.  13.  'ThePaedo- 
Baptist's  sense  of  Positive  Institutions,'  &c., 
n.d.  8vo.  14.  '  Grammatical  Observations  on 
the  English  Language,'  &c.,  1765, 8vo.  15.  <  A 
few  Strictures  relative  to  the  Author,'  pre- 
fixed to  « An  Enquiry,'  &c.,  1776,  8vo,  by 
Paul  Cardale  [q.  v.]  "16.  'Two  Discourses,' 
&c.,  1778,  8vo.  Some  of  Cardale's  anony- 
mous pieces  have  sometimes  been  ascribed  to 
Fleming.  He  edited  many  works  by  divines 
and  others,  including  the  first  volume  (1756) 
of  Amory's  '  Life  of  John  Buncle.' 

[Fleming  left  memoirs,  which  were  to  have 
been  published  by  Joseph  Lomas  Towers  (son  of 
Dr.  Towers),  who  died  insane  in  1832.  A  me- 
moir was  drawn  up  by  Fleming's  nephew,  J.  Slip- 
per, corrected  by  Laurence  Holden,  and  pub- 
lished in  the  Monthly  Eepository,  1818,  p.  409 
sq. ;  Kippis's  Life  of  Lardner,  1769,  p.  96; 
Palmer's  Funeral  Sermon,  1779;  Aikin's  Gen. 
Biog.  art.  '  Fleming ; '  "Wilson's  Dissenting 
Churches,  1808,  i.  103,  ii.  91, 255,  283  sq.,  iii.  384 ; 
Turner's  Lives  of  Eminent  Unitarians,  1840,  i. 
275  sq. ;  Jeremy's  Presbyterian  Fund,  1885,  pp. 
2,  165  sq.;  Fleming's  tracts  ;  and  a  collection  of 
his  manuscript  sermons  in  the  possession  of  the 
present  writer.]  A.  G. 

FLEMING,     CHRISTOPHER    (1800- 

1880),  surgeon,  was  born  at  Boardstown  in 
co.  Westmeath  on  14  July  1800,  and  in  1821 
graduated  B.  A.  in  the  university  of  Dublin. 
He  became  a  licentiate  of  the  Irish  College 
of  Surgeons  in  1824,  and  a  member  in  1826. 
In  1838  he  took  an  M.D.  degree  in  the  uni- 
versity of  Dublin,  but  did  not  obtain  a  hos- 
pital appointment  till  1851,  when  he  became 
surgeon  to  the  House  of  Industry  Hospitals. 
In  1856  he  was  elected  president  of  the  College 
of  Surgeons  of  Ireland,  and  in  1877  collected 
some  papers  whichhe  had  previously  published 
in  medicaljournals  into  a  volume  entitled '  Cli- 
nical Records  of  Injuries  and  Diseases  of  the 
Genito-Urinary  Organs.'  His  only  other  work 
is  <  Remarks  on  the  Application  of  Chloro- 
form to  Surgical  purposes,'  Dublin,  1851,  and 
both  are  without  permanent  value.  He  mar- 
ried a  Miss  Radcliff,  and  had  seven  children, 
of  whom  a  son  and  a  daughter  survived  him. 
He  retired  from  practice  a  few  years  before 
his  death,  and  went  to  live  at  Donnybrook, 
near  Dublin,  where  he  died  30  Dec.  1880. 

[Sir  A.  Cameron's  Hist,  of  the  Royal  College 
of  Surgeons  in  Ireland ;  British  Medical  Journal, 
8  Jan.  1881 ;  Index  Cat.  of  Library  of  the  Sur- 
geon-General's Office,  U.S.  Army.]  N.  M. 


FLEMING,  SIR  DANIEL  (1633-1701), 
antiquary,  eldest  son  of  William  Fleming 
of  Coniston,  North  Lancashire,  and  Rydal, 
Westmoreland,  by  Alice,  eldest  daughter  of 
Roger  Kirkby  of  Kirkby,  Lancashire,  was 
born  on  25  July  1633,  and  educated  at  Queen's 
College,  Oxford,  which  he  entered  in  1650, 
and  Gray's  Inn.  By  the  death  of  his  father 
in  1653  he  inherited  considerable  estates  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Rydal,  for  which  he 
paid  heavy  fines  to  the  parliament.  At  the 
Restoration  he  was  appointed  sheriff  of  Cum- 
berland. He  was  a  constant  correspondent 
of  Secretary  Williamson,  and  his  letters  in 
the  Record  Office,  some  of  which  have  been 
calendared,  afford  a  lively  picture  of  the  state 
of  affairs  in  Cumberland  and  Westmoreland 
during  the  latter  half  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, and  exhibit  him  as  a  staunch  supporter 
of  the  church  of  England,  and  enemy  alike 
of  the  protestant  dissenter  and  the  Roman 
catholic.  He  regretted  the  release  of  George 
Fox  in  1666  as  likely  to  discourage  the  justices 
from  acting  against  the  quakers,  and  credited 
to  the  full  the  reports  of  their  burning '  steeple 
houses.'  He  was  knighted  on  15  May  1681 
at  Windsor,  and  in  the  parliament  of  1685- 
1687  sat  as  member  for  Cockermouth,  in  which 
character  he  opposed  the  declaration  of  in- 
dulgence. He  occupied  his  leisure  in  anti- 
quarian researches,  chiefly  in  connection  with 
his  native  county,  and  left  some  manuscript 
collections,  which  have  recently  been  edited 
for  the  Cumberland  and  Westmoreland  Anti- 
quarian Society  under  the  title  '  Description 
of  the  County  of  Westmoreland,'  by  Sir  G.  F. 
Duckett,  bart.,  London,  1882,  8vo.  He  died 
in  1701 .  He  is  said  by  Wotton  (Baronetage, 
iv.  120)  to  have  been,  '  not  without  grateful 
acknowledgment,  a  considerable  assistant  to 
the  learned  annotator  of  Camden's  "  Bri- 
tannia." '  No  such  acknowledgment,  how- 
ever, is  to  be  found  in  the  preface  to  Gibson's 
edition  of  Camden,  which  must  be  the  one  re- 
ferred to.  It  was  at  Fleming's  suggestion 
that  Thomas  Brathwaite  left  his  collection  of 
upwards  of  three  hundred  coins  of  the  Roman 
era  to  the  university  of  Oxford.  Fleming 
married  in  1655  Barbara,  eldest  daughter  of 
Sir  Henry  Fletcher  of  Hutton,  Cumberland, 
who  was  slain  at  Rowton  Heath  on  the 
side  of  the  king  in  1645.  His  eldest  son, 
William,  created  a  baronet  4  Oct.  1705,  died 
in  1736,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother 
George,  bishop  of  Carlisle,  who  is  separately 
noticed. 

[Nicolson  and  Burn's  Westmoreland,  i.  164-71 ; 
Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1660-7;  Luttrell's  Re- 
lation of  State  Affairs,  i.  93;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm. 
10th  Eep.  App.  pt.  iv. ;  Lists  of  Members  of  Par- 
liament (Official  Eeturn  of).]  J.  M.  K. 

T  2 


Fleming 


276 


Fleming 


FLEMING,  SIR  GEORGE  (1667- 
1747),  bishop  of  Carlisle,  fifth  son  of  Sir 
Daniel  Fleming  [q.  v.]  of  Rydal,  "Westmore- 
land, and  of  Barbara,  his  wife,  eldest  daugh- 
ter of  Sir  Henry  Fletcher,  bart.,  of  Hutton, 
Cumberland,  was  born  at  Rydal  Hall,  10  June 
1667,  the  ninth  of  fifteen  children.  He  suc- 
ceeded his  elder  brother,  Sir  William,  who 
died  without  heir-male,  as  second  baronet  of 
Rydal  in  1736.  He  entered  St.  Edmund  Hall, 
Oxford,  June  1688.  In  1690  he  contributed 
to  some  congratulatory  verses  upon  the  king's 
safe  return  from  Ireland.  He  proceeded  B.A. 
13  April  1692,  and  M.A.  7  March  1694. 
Leaving  Oxford  in  1699,  he  became  domestic 
chaplain  to  Dr.  Thomas  Smith  [q.  v.],  bishop 
of  Carlisle,  by  whom  he  had  been  ordained, 
and  who,  1695,  presented  him  to  the  living 
of  Aspatria,  Cumberland.  He  resigned  As- 
mtria  on  his  collation  by  Bishop  Nicolson 
q.  v.]  in  1703  to  the  church  of  St.  Michael, 

tanwix,  which  he  held  as  vicar  till  1705 
(HIJTCHINSON,  Hist,  of  Cumberland,  ii.  285, 
583).  He  was  instituted  to  the  second  pre- 
bend in  Carlisle  Cathedral  7  March  1700.  He 
was  nominated  by  Bishop  Nicolson  to  the 
archdeaconry  of  Carlisle  28  March  1705.  At- 
tached to  the  archdeaconry  was  the  rectory  of 
St.  Cuthbert,  Great  Salkeld,  which  he  held 
in  conjunction  with  future  preferment  till  his 
accession  to  the  episcopate  (JEFFERSON,  An- 
tiquities of  Cumberland,  i.  262,  266),  a  portion 
of  this  preferment  being  the  living  of  Ousby, 
to  which  he  was  presented  by  Bishop  Brad- 
ford, 1719,  and  to  which  a  prebend  was  at- 
tached. According  to  the  edition  of  Willis's 
i  Survey  of  Cathedrals,'  containing  the  manu- 
script notes  by  W.  Cole  (i.  307),  he  succeeded 
Joseph  Fisher  [q.  v.]  as  vicar  of  Brough  or 
Burgh-under-Stanmore,  Westmoreland.  He 
was  created  LL.D.  by  diploma  at  Lambeth 
10  March  1726-7  (Wotton  MSS.)  He  was 
installed  dean  of  Carlisle  7  April  1727  ;  and 
30  Oct.  1734  was  nominated  bishop.  He  was 
consecrated  bishop  at  Lambeth  19  Jan.  1734- 
1735.  On  1  May  1736  he  lost  his  wife  Cathe- 
rine, daughter  of  Robert  Jefferson,  to  whom 
he  had  been  married  28  Oct.  1708.  He  had 
by  her  one  son,  William,  a  prebendary,  and 
his  successor  in  the  archdeaconry,  who  died 
in  1743,  during  his  father's  lifetime,  and 
four  daughters  (Gent.  Mag.},  the  youngest 
of  whom,  Mildred,  was  married  in  1737 
to  Edward  Stanley,  esq.,  of  Ponsonby  Hall, 
where  there  was  a  portrait  of  Fleming  by 
Vanderbank. 

When  the  Pretender  entered  Carlisle  in 
November  1745,  he  installed  Thomas  Cop- 
pock  [q.  v.]  as  bishop.  It  seems  (Gent.  Mag. 
1745,  p.  575)  that  the  bishop  had  accom- 
panied the  sheriff  to  oppose  the  rebels  at 


Penrith,  when  the  force  ran  away  at  the 
sight  of  a  few  highlanders.  Fleming  con- 
tributedt  his  share  (HTJTCHINSON,  Hist,  of 
Cumberland,  ii.  437)  towards  repairing  and 
beautifying  the  episcopal  palace,  for  he  *  laid 
new  floors  and  wainscotted  the  drawing- 
room,  dressing-room,  and  kitchen  chambers.' 
He  died  in  his  palace  at  Rose  Castle  2  July 
1747,  and  was  buried  at  the  east  end  of  the 
south  aisle  of  the  cathedral,  where  there  is 
a  marble  monument  with  a  panegyrical  in- 
scription. Two  letters  of  Fleming  are  in  the 
Wotton  MSS.  in  the  British  Museum  (Add. 
MSS.  24120,  ff.  331-2),  in  answer  to  a  re- 
quest for  information  from  Thomas  Wotton, 
author  of  the  'Baronetage.'  The  second  letter 
gives  full  details  about  the  Fleming  family 
and  his  own  life.  His  title  and  estates  passed 
to  his  nephew  William,  son  of  his  next 
brother,  Michael,  likewise  deceased,  the  sixth 
son  of  Sir  Daniel.  This  Sir  William  was 
father  to  Michael,  the  fourth  baronet — the 
1  brilliant  baronet,'  incidentally  noticed  for 
his  social  and  literary  gifts  by  Sir  W.  Scott, 
in  whose  person  the  prefix  '  le,'  which  had 
dropped  out  of  the  family  name  since  the 
time  of  Edward  IV,  was  revived  at  baptism 
(BuRKE,  Landed  Gentry}. 

[Wotton  MSS.  Brit.  Mus.  (Add.  MSS.  24120, 
ff.  331-2,  &c.);  G-ent.  Mag.  anno  1747;  Le 
Neve's  Fasti  Eccles.  Angl.  (Hardy) ;  Cat.  of  Gra- 
duates Oxon.  1851  ;  Stubbs's  Reg.  Sacr.  Angl. ; 
Willis's  Survey  of  Cathedrals,  -with  manuscript 
notes  by  W.  Cole ;  Jefferson's  Hist,  of  Carlisle, 
and  Hist.  Antiquities  of  Cumberland  ;  Willing's 
Carlisle  Cathedral ;  Nicolson's  and  Burn's  Hist. 
of  Cumberland ;  Hutchinson's  Hist,  of  Cumber- 
land ;  Walcott's  Memorials  of  Carlisle  ;  British 
Chronologist ;  old  newspapers,  1745-7.] 

E.  C.  S. 

FLEMING,  JAMES,  fourth  LORD  FLEM- 
ING (1534  P-1658),  lord  high  chamberlain 
of  Scotland,  was  the  eldest  son  of  Malcolm, 
third  lord  Fleming,  lord  high  chamberlain,  by 
his  wife  Johanna  or  Jonet  Stewart,  natural 
daughter  of  James  IV.  The  father,  who  had 
been  taken  prisoner  at  the  rout  of  Solway  in 
1542,  and  had  been  tried  and  acquitted  of 
treason  in  1545  for  his  connection  with  the 
English  party,  was  slain  at  the  battle  of 
Pinkie  10  Sept.  1547.  In  August  1548  young 
Fleming,  along  with  Lord  Erskine,  accom- 
panied the  young  Queen  Mary  to  France, 
Lady  Fleming,  his  mother,  being  governess 
to  the  queen.  He  also  accompanied  the 
queen  dowager  into  France  in  1549  (KEITH, 
Hist.  i.  135).  On  21  Dec.  1553  he  was  con- 
tinued great  chamberlain  of  Scotland  for  life 
(Reg.  Mag.  Sig.  1546-80,  entry  877).  About 
the  same  time  he  was  appointed  guardian  of 
the  east  and  middle  marches,  and  invested 


Fleming 


277 


Fleming 


with  a  power  of  justiciary  within  the  limits 
of  his  jurisdiction.  He  was  one  of  the  eight 
commissioners  elected  by  parliament  8  Dec. 
1557  to  represent  the  Scottish  nation  at  the 
nuptials  of  Queen  Mary  with  Francis,  dau- 
phin of  France,  24  April  1558.  Though  the 
commissioners  agreed  to  swear  fealty  to  the 
king-dauphin  as  the  husband  of  the  queen, 
they  affirmed  that  their  instructions  did  not 
permit  them  to  agree  that  he  should  receive 
the  ensigns  of  royalty.  They  were  thereupon 
requested  to  support  this  proposal  in  the  Scot- 
tish parliament,  but  when  they  left  for  Scot- 
land, the  French  court  appears  to  have  been 
doubtful  of  the  intentions  of  certain  members 
of  the  commission.  In  such  circumstances 
the  death  of  four  of  their  number  on  the  way 
home  awakened  grave  suspicions  that  they 
had  been  designedly  poisoned.  The  Earls  of 
Rothes  and  Oassilis  and  Bishop  Reid  suc- 
cumbed sooner  to  the  attack  than  Fleming, 
who,  in  the  hope  of  recovery,  returned  to 
Paris,  but  died  there  on  18  Dec.  By  his 
marriage  to  Lady  Barbara  Hamilton,  eldest 
daughter  of  James,  duke  of  Chatelherault,  he 
had  one  daughter,  Jane,  married  first  to  John 
lord  Thirlestane,  who  died  3  Oct.  1595  ;  and 
secondly,  to  John,  fifth  earl  of  Cassilis,  by 
neither  of  whom  had  she  any  issue. 

[Douglas's  Scotch  Peerage  (Wood),  ii.  634  ; 
Crawfurd's  Officers  of  State,  pp.  327-8 ;  Keith's 
History  of  Scotland  ;  Hunter's  Biggar  and  the 
House  of  Fleming,  pp.  525-8.]  T.  F.  H. 

FLEMING  or  FLEMMING,  JAMES 

(1682-1751),  major-general,  colonel  36thfoot, 
was  wounded  at  Blenheim  when  serving  as 
a  captain  in  the  Earl  of  Derby's  regiment 
(16th  foot,  now  1st  Bedford),  and  afterwards 
for  many  years  commanded  the  royal  fusiliers, 
until  promoted  on  9  Jan.  1741  colonel  of  the 
36th  foot  (now  2nd  Worcester).  He  became 
a  brigadier-general  in  1745,  was  present  at 
Falkirk  and  Culloden,  and  became  major- 
general  in  1747.  He  died  at  Bath  31  March 
1751.  A  tablet  with  medallion  portrait  was 
erected  to  his  memory  in  Westminster  Abbey. 

[Cannon's  Hist.  Records  16th  Foot  and  36th 
Foot;  Evans's  Cat.  of  En  graved  Portraits  (Lon- 
don, 1836-53),  vol.  ii. ;  Scots  Mag.  xiii.  165.] 

H.  M.  C. 

FLEMING,  JOHN,  fifth  LORD  FLEMING 
(d.  1572),  was  the  younger  brother  of  James, 
fourth  lord  Fleming  [q.  v.],  and  the  second 
son  of  Malcolm,  third  lord  Fleming,  by  his 
wife  Johanna  or  Jonet  Stewart,  natural 
daughter  of  James  IV.  He  succeeded  to 
the  title  on  the  death  of  his  brother,  18  Dec. 
1558.  He  is  mentioned  in  a  letter  of  Ran- 
dolph to  Cecil,  3  June  1565,  as  one  of  those 
who  (  shamefully  left  Moray  when  he  endea- 


voured to  prevent  the  marriage  between  Mary 
and  Darnley '  (KEITH,  ii.  292).  By  commis- 
sion dated  30  June  1565  he  was  appointed 
great  chamberlain  of  Scotland,  and  he  took 
the  oaths  on  1  Aug.  following  (Reg.  Privy 
Council  Scot.  i.  347).  In  the  '  round-about 
raid '  against  Moray  he  accompanied  the  king, 
who  led  the  battle  (ib.  379).  He  was  one  of 
those  in  waiting  on  Mary  when  Rizzio  was 
murdered  (Letter  of  Queen  Mary  to  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Glasgow,  9  May  1566,  printed  in 
KEITH,  ii.  418),  but  succeeded  in  making  his 
escape  from  the  palace  of  Holyrood.  In  1567 
he  was  made  justiciary  within  the  bounds 
of  the  overward  of  Clydesdale,  appointed  to 
the  sheriffdom  of  Peebles,  and  received  the 
important  office  of  governor  of  Dumbarton 
Castle.  Though  he  was  in  Edinburgh  at  the 
time  of  the  murder  of  Darnley,  he  had  no 
connection  with  the  tragedy.  He,  however, 
signed  the  bond  in  favour  of  the  marriage 
of  Mary  and  Bothwell.  After  the  flight  of 
Bothwell  from  Carberry  Hill,  Fleming,  along 
with  Lord  Seton,  accompanied  him  to  the 
north  of  Scotland,  but  both  ultimately  aban- 
doned him  (Illustrations  of  the  Reign  of  Mary, 
p.  223).  He  joined  the  party  of  the  queen's 
lords,  who  resolved  to  take  measures  to  effect 
her  escape  from  Lochleven  (KEITH,  ii.  656). 
Refusing  the  invitation  to  attend  a  parliament 
to  be  held  at  Edinburgh  on  15  Dec.  (CALDER- 
WOOD,  ii.  388),  he  withdrew  with  other  lords 
to  Dumbarton  Castle,  of  which  he  was  keeper, 
where  a  bond  was  entered  into  for  the  queen's 
liberty  (KEITH,  ii.  718).  In  the  hope  of  ob- 
taining assistance  from  France  he  refused  to 
deliver  up  the  castle  (CALDERWOOD,  ii.  402). 
After  Queen  Mary's  escape  from  Lochleven, 
he  assembled  with  other  lords  at  Hamilton 
to  take  measures  for  securing  the  triumph 
of  her  cause.  Rather  than  trust  herself  to 
the  Hamiltons,  Mary  would  have  preferred 
meanwhile  to  shut  herself  up  in  the  strong- 
hold of  Dumbarton  under  the  protection  of 
Fleming,  but  the  Hamiltons,  who  had  deter- 
mined that  she  should  marry  Lord  Arbroath, 
would  not  permit  her  out  of  their  hands,  and 
resolved  against  her  wishes  to  stake  the  cause 
of  thequeen  on  a  battle  against  the  forces  of 
Moray.  The  result  was  the  disaster  at  Lang- 
side.  Fleming  was  one  of  the  three  noble- 
men who  with  the  queen  watched  the  battle 
from  an  adjoining  eminence.  He,  along  with 
Lords  Herries  and  Livingstone,  conducted  her 
from  the  field  (HERRIES,  Memoirs,^.  103),  and 
accompanied  her  in  her  gallop  for  life  through 
the  Ayrshire  and  Galloway  moors.  The  small 
party  crossed  the  Solway  in  a  fishing-boat, 
and  on  15  May  arrived  at  Workington.  A 
day  or  two  afterwards  they  lodged  her  in  the 
castle  of  Carlisle  (State  Papers,  For.  Ser. 


Fleming 


278 


Fleming 


1566-8,  entry  2199).  Shortly  afterwards 
Fleming  was  sent  along  with  Lord  Herries  to 
ask  Elizabeth's  assistance  to  restore  her  to  her 
throne  (LABANOFF,  Lettres  de  Marie  Stuart, 
ii.  87).  Mary  also  asked  for  Elizabeth's  per- 
mission for  Fleming  to  go  on  a  mission  to 
France  (for  the  exact  nature  of  the  mission 
see  '  Instructions  donnSes  par  Marie  Stuart 
a  Lord  Fleming,  envoy  6  vers  le  roi  de  France/ 
in  LABANOFF,  ii.  86-90 ;  and  '  Instructions 
donnSes  &c.,  vers  le  Cardinal  de  Lorrain,'  ib. 
90-3),  but  Elizabeth  declined  her  permission, 
asserting  that  the  only  object  of  a  mission  of 
the  chatelain  of  Dumbarton  to  France  must 
be  to  take  measures  for  bringing  the  French 
into  the  country.  Fleming  sounded  the  Spa- 
nish ambassador  as  to  whether  it  might  not 
be  possible  to  .bribe  Cecil,  Pembroke,  and 
Bedford,  but  de  Silva  gave  no  countenance 
to  the  proposal,  and  advised  that  for  the  pre- 
sent it  would  be  best  for  the  interests  of 
Mary  that  she  should  submit  to  Elizabeth's 
wishes  (FROUDE,  Hist.  England,c,sb.  ed.  viii. 
362).  Mary  made  more  than  one  effort  to 
obtain  Elizabeth's  consent  to  Fleming's  em- 
bassy to  France,  but  at  last,  finding  it  hope- 
less to  break  her  resolution,  Fleming  left  for 
the  north.  Reaching  Mary  at  Carlisle  on 
5  July,  he  went  thence  to  Scotland  and  joined 
the  forces  under  Huntly  and  Argyll.  Fleming 
was  one  of  the  commissioners  appointed  by 
Mary  to  represent  her  cause  at  the  confer- 
ence at  York  (SiR  JAMES  MELVILLE,  Memoirs, 
p.  265).  On  his  return  he  shut  himself  up  in 
Dumbarton  Castle,  which  he  held  in  Queen 
Mary's  name,  thus  keeping  open  a  door  of 
communication  with  France.  At  a  parlia- 
ment held  at  Edinburgh  he  and  his  relative, 
John  Fleming  of  Boghall,  were  denounced, 
on  17  Nov.  1569,  as  traitors,  and  their  arms 
were  '  riven  '  at  the  cross,  in  presence  of  the 
regent  and  the  lords  (CALDERWOOD,  ii.  506). 
In  his  stronghold  he  bade  defiance  for  a  time 
to  all  proclamations  and  threats.  It  became 
the  centre  of  intrigues  on  Mary's  behalf.  De 
Virac,  the  French  ambassador,  took  up  his 
residence  in  it  to  superintend  the  arrival  of 
supplies  of  arms  and  money.  According  to 
Buchanan,  Fleming  had  persuaded  the  king 
of  France  that  he  l  held  the  fetters  of  Scot- 
land in  his  own  hands  ;  and  that,  whenever 
the  French  had  leisure  from  other  wars,  if 
they  would  but  send  him  a  little  assistance 
he  would  easily  clap  them  on  and  bring  all 
Scotland  to  their  assistance.'  In  January 
1569-70  the  regent  Moray  went  to  Dumbar- 
ton in  the  hope  that  the  favourable  terms  he 
proposed,  and  his  own  personal  interposition, 
would  induce  Fleming  to  deliver  it  up,  but 
returned  disappointed.  In  fact  his  visit  sug- 
gested to  the  Hamiltons  and  others  who 


were  in  the  castle  the  scheme  for  his  assassi- 
nation, and  it  was  within  its  walls  that  the 
plot  was  completed  and  the  assassin  chosen 
(ib.  iii.  570).    After  the  assassination  Hamil- 
ton, uncle  of  the  assassin,  and  an  indirect 
agent  in  the  murder,  took  refuge  in  the  castle, 
which  was  supposed  to  be  almost  impregnable 
to  assault.    In  May  1570  Drury  was  sent  to 
Scotland  to  treat  with  those  in  arms  in  the 
cause  of  Mary  (Col.  State  Papers,  Scot.  Ser.  i. 
287),  and  when  attempting  a  parley  with 
Fleming  he  was  stated  to  have  been  treacher- 
ously shot  upon  (ballad  of  '  The  Tressoun  of 
Dumbartune,'  printed  at  Edinburgh  by  Lek- 
previck,  1570).    For  more  than  a  year  after 
the  death  of  the  regent  Moray,  the  flag  of 
Mary  waved  above  the  battlements  of  Wal- 
lace's Tower.     Suddenly,  on  the  morning  of 
2  May,  its  precipices  were  scaled  by  Captain 
Thomas  Crawford  [q.  v.],  and  the  garrison 
overpowered  with  scarcely  an  attempt  at  re- 
sistance (see  narrative  in  RICHARD  BANNA- 
TYNE'S  Memorials,  pp.  106-7).  Fleming  made 
his  way  out  alone  by  a  postern  gate ;  and,  the 
tide  being  full,  obtained  a  boat  and  escaped  to 
Argyll  (HERRIES,  Memoirs,  p.  132 ;  CALDER- 
WOOD, History,  iii.  57).   He  left  Lady  Flem- 
ing in  the  castle,  but  she  was  very  courteously 
treated  by  the  regent  Lennox,  and  permitted 
to  pass  out  freely  with  all  her  plate  and  bag- 
gage (HERRIES,  p.  133).     She  also  subse- 
quently obtained  a  part  of  the  forfeited  rents 
of  Lord  Fleming  for  her  support.     Fleming 
proceeded  to  France,  where  he  endeavoured 
to  concert  measures  for  foreign  assistance  to 
the  friends  of  Mary.     An  expedition  under 
his  direction  was  wrecked  on  the  coast  of 
England,  but  although  his  papers  were  seized 
he  himself  escaped  (Correspondance  de  Fene- 
lon,  iv.  401).    Ultimately  he  succeeded  in  re- 
turning to  Scotland,  and  obtained  entrance  to 
Edinburgh  Castle,  still  held  by  the  supporters 
of  Mary.     On  5  July  1572  he  was  mortally 
wounded  by  French  soldiers  discharging  their 
pieces  on  their  entrance  into  Edinburgh,  some 
of  the  bullets  rebounding  from  the  pavement 
and  striking  him  in  the  knee.    After  lying 
for  some  time  in  the  castle  he  was  removed 
in  a  litter  to  Biggar,  where  he  died  of  his 
wounds  on  6  Sept.  By  his  marriage  to  Eliza- 
beth, only  child  of  Robert  Master  of  Ross, 
killed  at  the  battle  of  Pinkie  in  1547,  he  had, 
besides  three  daughters,  one  son, 

JOHN  FLEMING,  first  EARL  OF  WIGTOWN 
or  WIGTON  (d.  1619).  He  held  the  office  of 
chief  'janitor  et  custos  domus  et  cubiculi 
regis  '  from  30  July  1587,  and  was  granted 
large  estates  united  into  the  lordship  of  Cum- 
bernauld  (18  Jan.  1588-9  and  31  Jan.  1595-6). 
He  was  created  Earl  of  Wi 
19  March  1606-7,  and 


Wigtown  or  Wigton 
died  in  April  1619. 


Fleming 


279 


Fleming 


By  his  first  wife,  Lillias,  daughter  of  John, 
earl  of  Montrose,  he  had  four  sons  and  six 
daughters. 

His  heir,  JOHN  FLEMING,  second  EAEL  OF 
WIGTOWN  or  WIGTON  (d.  1650),  was  one  of 
the  committee  of  estates  in  1640;  became  a 
privy  councillor  in  1641 ;  entered  into  an 
association  framed  at  his  house  at  Cumber- 
nauld  in  support  of  Charles  I,  and  died  at 
Cumbernauld  7  May  1650.  He  married  Mar- 
garet, second  daughter  of  Alexander  Living- 
ston, second  earl  of  Linlithgow,  by  whom  he 
left  issue.  The  earldom  became  extinct  on 
the  death  of  Charles  Fleming,  seventh  earl, 
in  1747. 

[Illustrations  of  the  Eeign  of  Mary  (Maitland 
Club)  ;  Lord  Herries's  Memoirs  (Abbotsford 
Club) ;  Sir  James  Melville's  Memoirs  (Banna- 
tyne  Club) ;  Diurnal  of  Occurrents  (Bannatyne 
Club)  ;  History  of  James  Sext  (Bannatyne 
Club)  ;  Kichard  Bannatyne's  Memorials ;  Laba- 
noff's  Lettres  de  Marie  Stuart ;  Fenelon's  Cor- 
respondance ;  Kegister  of  the  Privy  Council  of 
Scotland ;  State  Papers,  Eeign  of  Elizabeth ;  His- 
tories of  Keith,  Calderwood,  Buchanan,  Tytler, 
Burton,  and  Froude ;  Douglas's  Scottish  Peerage 
<Wood),  ii.  634-5  ;  Crawfurd's  Officers  of  State, 
pp.  330-1 ;  Hunter's  Biggar  and  the  House  of 
Fleming,  pp.  525-44.]  T.  F.  H. 

FLEMING,  JOHN  (d.  1815),  botanist, 
was  educated  at  Douai,  took  his  degree  of 
M.D.  at  Edinburgh,  and  became  president 
of  the  Bengal  medical  service.  He  is  stated 
to  have  been  a  good  classic,  and  contributed 
to  several  journals,  but  the  only  memoir  of 
his  which  can  be  cited  is  his  '  Catalogue  of 
Indian  Medicinal  Plants  and  Drugs '  in  the 
eleventh  volume  of  'Asiatick  Researches/ 
which  was  reprinted  with  additions,  Calcutta, 
1810,  8vo,  and  translated  into  Dutch  and 
German.  He  died  of  a  paralytic  stroke  in 
London,  10  May  1815.  Dr.  Roxburgh  dedi- 
cated the  genus  Flemingia  to  him,  and  his 
name  is  further  commemorated  by  the  genus 
of  fossil  plants,  Flemingites. 

[Gent.  Mag.  vol.  Ixxxv.  pt.  i.  p.  568 ;  Eox- 
burgh's  Corom.  PL  iii.  44.]  B.  D.  J. 

FLEMING,  JOHN,  D.D.  (1785-1857), 
naturalist,  son  of  Alexander  Fleming,  was 
born  near  Bath  gate  in  Linlithgo  wshire  1 0  Jan . 
1785.  Moved  by  the  strong  wishes  of  his 
mother,  he  studied  for  the  ministry,  but  he 
discovered  at  an  early  age  an  intense  love  of 
nature  and  natural  science,  which  he  took  all 
opportunities,  in  harmony  with  other  duties, 
to  cultivate.  Being  asked  by  Sir  John  Sin- 
clair to  make  a  mineralogical  survey  of  the 
northern  isles,  he  became  acquainted  with  the 
ministers  of  Shetland,  and  on  the  occurrence 
of  a  vacancy  in  the  parish  of  Bressay,  the 
right  of  presentation  to  which  fell,  jure  devo- 


luto,  to  the  presbytery,  he  was  nominated  by 
them,  with  consent  of  the  people,  to  the 
charge  (licensed  22  April  1806,  called  6  Aug. 
and  ordained  22  Sept.  1808).  His '  Economical 
Mineralogy  of  the  Orkney  and  Zetland  Is- 
lands'was  published  in  1807.  A  paper i  On  the 
Narwal  or  Sea-Unicorn'  was  communicated 
at  the  same  time  to  the  Wernerian  Society.  In 
1810  he  was  translated  to  Flisk  in  Fifeshire, 
a  neighbouring  parish  to  Kilmeny,  where 
Dr.  Chalmers  was  minister.  Many  papers  on 
local  natural  history  and  cognate  topics  were 
written  for  the  learned  societies,  and  Fleming 
soon  became  known  as  the  first  zoologist  in 
Scotland.  On  16  May  1814  the  degree  of  D.D. 
was  conferred  on  him  by"  the  university  of 
St.  Andrews.  In  1822  he  published  the  l  Philo- 
sophy of  Zoology.'  To  remedy  certain  diffi- 
culties of  classification  in  Cuvier's  method, 
Fleming  advocated  the  dichotomous  or  binary 
method,  a  proposal  which  Cuvier  did  not  ap- 
prove, and  for  which  Fleming  had  to  fight 
stoutly  against  other  antagonists.  The  book 
attracted  much  interest  from  many  quarters 
in  consequence  of  the  attention  devoted  by 
the  writer  to  the  characters  of  animals.  It 
was  translated  into  Italian  by  Signer  Zan- 
drini,  and  was  for  many  years  a  standard 
work  among  Italian  savants.  In  1828  the 
publication  of  '  British  Animals  '  added  yet 
more  to  his  fame  as  a  naturalist.  The  number 
of  genera  and  species  described  was  much  in 
advance  of  previous  catalogues.  Buckland's 
*  Reliquiae  Diluvianse '  (1823)  led  to  the  pub- 
lication of  a  pamphlet  l  On  the  Geological 
Deluge  as  interpreted  by  Baron  Cuvier  and 
Professor  Buckland,'  which  is  said  to  have 
caused  the  suppression  of  a  new  edition  of 
Buckland's  work.  Fleming's  connection  and 
correspondence  with  scientific  men  widened 
as  the  years  went  on,  and  he  was  in  request 
for  articles  in  the  '  Quarterly '  and  a  series  of 
volumes,  which,  however,  did  not  appear, 
for  Murray's  '  Family  Library.'  His  total 
contributions  to  science  in  books,  journals, 
&c.,  amounted  to  129. 

While  zealous  for  science,  Fleming  was 
active  and  earnest  in  parochial  duties;  a 
proof  of  this  was  that  on  the  occurrence  of  a 
vacancy  in  the  neighbouring  church  of  Auch- 
termuchty,  a  petition  signed  by  four  hundred 
parishioners  (virtually  all)  was  presented 
to  the  patron  in  his  favour ;  but  he  did  not 
receive  the  appointment.  In  1832  he  was 
presented  by  Lord  Dundas  to  the  parish  of 
Clackmannan.  In  1834  he  was  appointed 
to  the  chair  of  natural  philosophy  in  the 
University  and  King's  College,  Aberdeen. 
A  petition  from  418  inhabitants  of  Clack- 
mannan was  presented  to  him  asking  him  to 
remain,  but  he  elected  to  go  to  Aberdeen. 


Fleming 


280 


Fleming 


Although  his  chair  was  connected  with  a 
different  branch  of  science,  he  continued  to 
prosecute  his  old  pursuits.  The  old  red  sand- 
stone engaged  a  large  share  of  his  attention, 
and  its  fossils  were  the  subject  of  several 
papers  contributed  to  the  scientific  journals. 
But  many  other  departments  of  natural  science 
likewise  engaged  his  attention  and  his  pen. 

From  the  nature  of  his  pursuits  Fleming 
had  been  little  implicated  in  the  discussions 
going  on  in  the  church  and  the  country  with 
reference  to  patronage.  But  he  had  always 
been  in  favour  of  the  popular  side.  When 
the  disruption  occurred  in  1843  he  joined 
the  free  church.  Sir  David  Brewster  [q.  v.] 
had  done  the  same  at  St.  Andrews,  where 
the  presbytery  of  the  established  church  took 
steps  with  the  intention  of  compelling  him 
to  conform  to  the  church  or  to  resign  his 
office  in  the  university.  Fleming  had  every 
reason  to  believe  that  a  similar  course  would 
be  taken  with  reference  to  himself.  Ulti- 
mately he  agreed  to  accept  a  chair  of  natu- 
ral science  which  Dr.  Chalmers  and  others 
had  deemed  it  desirable  to  establish  in  con- 
nection with  the  Free  Church  College  at 
Edinburgh.  His  appointment  to  this  chair 
in  1845  enabled  him  to  devote  his  whole 
heart  and  time  to  the  subjects  with  which 
he  was  most  conversant.  In  undertaking  to 
conduct  such  a  class,  mainly  for  divinity 
students,  he  acted  on  the  conviction  that  a 
right  knowledge  of  nature  was  fitted  to  be 
of  great  use  to  all  engaged  in  pastoral  duty ; 
and  that  there  was  need  at  the  present  time 
of  special  steps  to  defend  the  Christian  faith 
from  what  he  regarded  as  theories  '  resting 
on  foundations  that  it  would  take  a  powerful 
lens  to  discover.'  During  his  tenure  of  this 
chair,  besides  writing  as  usual  for  the  scien- 
tific journals,  he  sent  several  important  con- 
tributions to  the  'North  British  Review/ 
started  by  his  friend  and  colleague,  Dr.  Welsh ; 
he  published  a  popular  work, '  The  Tempera- 
ture of  the  Seasons'  (1851),  forming  the 
second  volume  of  a  series  called  '  The  Chris- 
tian Athenaeum,'  and  he  prepared  for  publica- 
tion his  latest  work,  published  after  his  death, 
1  The  Lithology  of  Edinburgh  '  (Edinburgh, 
1859). 

Fleming  had  a  vein  of  sarcasm  which  he 
allowed  to  operate  somewhat  freely,  and  a 
way  of  hitting  opponents  which  could  not 
be  very  agreeable.  But  the  genuine  kind- 
ness and  honesty  of  the  man  came  to  be  ap- 
preciated even  by  those  whom,  like  Buck- 
land,  he  had  once  somewhat  alienated.  He 
died,  after  a  short  illness,  on  18  Nov.  1857. 

[Scott's  Fasti,  iv.  494, 697,  v.  424 ;  Fleming's  Li- 
thology of  Edinburgh,  -with  a  Memoir  by  the  Rev. 
John  Duns ;  personal  knowledge.]  W.  G.  B. 


FLEMING,  SIE  MALCOLM,  EARL  of 
WIGTOWN  (d.  1360  ?),  the  son  of  Sir  Malcolm 
Fleming  of  Cumbernauld,  was,  like  his  father, 
a  staunch  adherent  of  King  Eobert  Bruce. 
He  was  appointed  steward  of  the  household 
to  David,  earl  of  Carrick,  and  continued  to 
hold  the  office  after  the  young  prince  [see 
BRUCE.  DAVID,  1324-1371]  succeeded  to  the 
throne.  He  was  also  bailie  of  Carrick,  sheriff 
of  Dumbarton,  and  keeper  of  the  castle  of 
Dumbarton,  for  which  last-named  office  he 
had  an  annual  salary  of  a  hundred  merks. 
He  was  engaged  in  the  battle  of  Halidon  in 
1333,  the  loss  of  which  by  the  Scots  left  their 
country  at  the  mercy  of  Edward  III,  who 
quickly  reduced  it  all  to  subjection,  save  four 
castles  and  an  island  peel,  the  principal  of 
which  was  the  castle  of  Dumbarton.  Flem- 
ing had  escaped  from  the  battle-field,  andf 
hastening  home,  placed  this  castle  in  a  posi- 
tion to  hold  out  for  any  length  of  time. 
Hither,  says  Wyntoun,  resorted  all  who 
yearned  to  live  freely.  Here  too  he  kept 
safely  David  II  and  his  queen,  until  the 
king  of  France  sent  means  to  convey  them 
thence  to  France,  whither  Fleming  accom- 
panied them.  On  his  return  he  received  in 
the  following  year  Robert,  the  steward  of 
Scotland,  afterwards  Robert  III,  who  had 
effected  his  escape  from  Rothesay.  David  II 
and  1^8  consort  returned  from  France  to  Scot- 
land on  4  May  1341,  and  the  loyalty  of  Flem- 
ing was  rewarded  on  9  Nov.  following  by  a 
royal  cliaxter,  dated  at  Ayr,  granting  him 
and  his  hejrs  male  the  sheriffdom  of  Wig- 
town and  other  lands,  and  creating  him  Earl 
of  Wigtown,  with  right  of  regality  and 
special  judicial  powers.  Fleming  followed 
David  ll  into  England  in  1346,  and  with 
him  was  taken  prisoner  at  the  battle  of 
Durham,  17  Oct.,  conveyed  to  London  and 
incarcerated,  in  the  Tower.  After  a  length- 
ened captivity  he  was  liberated,  and  took  a 
prominent  part  in  the  negotiations  for  the 
ransom  of  David  II.  At  the  meeting  of  the 
Scottish  parliament  at  Edinburgh  on  26  Sept. 
1357  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners to  conclude  the  treaty  at  Berwick  on 
3  Oct.  following,  and  his  seal  was  appended 
to  that  document.  He  died  about  1360,  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  grandson  Thomas,  earl  of 
Wigtown, who  sold  the  earldom  to  Archibald,, 
third  earl  of  Douglas,  8  Feb.  1 37 1-2.  Fleming 
married  a  foster  sister  of  King  Robert  Bruce, 
who  was  called  Lady  Marjory,  countess  of 
Wigtown.  The  royal  connection  is  shown 
in  the  fact  that  in  1329  Fleming  received  a 
royal  gift  of  money  on  the  occasion  of  his  son's 
marriage.  He  had  one  son,  Thomas  or  John, 
who  predeceased  him,  and  two  daughters : 
(1)  Lady  Marjory,  who  married  William  of 


Fleming 


281 


Fleming 


Fawside,  and  received  during  her  lifetime  a 
grant  of  part  of  the  crown  lands  of  Clack- 
mannan ;  (2)  Lady  Eva,  who  married  John  of 
Ramsay,  and  with  her  husband  received  from 
the  king  the  thanage  of  Tannadice. 

[Wyntoun's  Chronicle,  bk.  viii.  chaps,  xxvii. 
xxviii.xl.;  Fordun  a  Goodall;  Eymer's  Fcedera; 
Hailes's  Annals,  ii.  185,  186,  239,  267,  iii.  HO ; 
Eobertson's  Index  of  Missing  Charters ;  Eegis- 
trum  Magni  Sigilli;  Exchequer  Eolls  of  Scot- 
land, v.  43.]  H.  P. 

FLEMING, 

called  PET  MARGAKIE,  born  15  Jan.  1803,  was 
the  daughter  of  James  Fleming  of  Kirkcaldy, 
by  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  James  Rae,  and 
sister  of  Mrs.  Keith  of  Ravelston,  the  friend 
of  Sir  Walter  Scott.  Scott  frequently  saw 
Margaret  Fleming  at  the  house  of  her  aunt, 
Mrs.  Keith,  became  strongly  attached  to  the 
child,  and  delighted  in  playing  with  her.  She 
showed  extraordinary  precocity;  she  read 
history  when  six  years  old,  and  wrote  diaries 
and  poems,  which  were  preserved  by  her 
family.  They  show  singular  quickness,  vi- 
vacity, and  humour,  while  there  is  no  trace 
of  the  morbid  tendencies  too  often  associated 
with  infant  prodigies.  She  composed  an  his- 
torical poem  upon  Mary  Queen  of  Scots, 

"Who  fled  to  England  for  protection 
(Elizabeth  was  her  connection) ; 

an  excellent  epitaph  upon  three  young  tur- 
keys, 

A  direful  death  indeed  they  had, 

That  would  put  any  parent  mad ; 

But  she  [their  mother]  was  more  than  usual  calm, 

She  did  not  give  a  single  dam  ; 

and  made  many  quaint  remarks  upon  various 
lovers,  including  a  gentleman  who  offered  to 
marry  her  with  his  wife's  permission,  but 
failed  to  carry  out  his  promise,  and  sundry 
religious  reflections,  especially  upon  the  devil. 
That  her  talents  were  limited  is  proved  by 
her  statement :  1 1  am  now  going  to  tell  you 
the  horrible  and  wretched  plaege  that  my 
multiplication  table  givis  me ;  you  can't  con- 
ceive it.  The  most  devilish  thing  is  8  times 
8  and  7  times  7  ;  it  is  what  nature  itself  can't 
endure.'  No  more  fascinating  infantile  au- 
thor has  ever  appeared,  and  we  may  certainly 
accept  the  moderate  anticipation  of  her  first 
biographer,  that  if  she  had  lived  she  might 
have  written  books.  Unfortunately  she  had 
an  attack  of  measles,  and  when  apparently 
recovering  was  taken  ill  and  died  after  three 
days  of '  water  on  the  brain,'  19  Dec.  1811. 
Her  father  could  never  afterwards  mention 
her  name.  Her  life  is  probably  the  shortest 
to  be  recorded  in  these  volumes,  and  certainly 
she  is  one  of  the  most  charming  characters. 


[Pet  Margarie;  a  Story  of  Child  Life  Fifty 
Years  Ago,  Edinburgh,  1858.  This  was  reviewed 
in  the  North  British  Eeview  for  November  1863 
by  Dr.  John  Brown,  who  had  the  original  diaries, 
&c.,  before  him,  and  gives  details  not  recorded 
in  the  previous  account.  His  very  pleasing  ar- 
ticle has  been  republished  with  Eab  and  his 
Friends  ;  Scotsman,  6  July  1881  (notice  of  death 
of  her  elder  sister,  Elizabeth  Fleming).]  L.  S. 

FLEMING,  PATRICK  (1599-1631),  a 
Franciscan  friar  of  the  Strict  Observance,  was 
born  on  17  April  1599  at  Bel-atha-Lagain, 
now  the  townland  of  Lagan,  in  the  parish 
of  Clonkeen  and  county  of  Louth,  Ireland. 
His  father,  Gerald  Fleming,  was  great-grand- 
son of  Christopher  Fleming,  baron  of  Slane 
and  treasurer  of  Ireland.  His  mother  was 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Robert  Cusack  of 
Cushinstown,  a  baron  of  the  exchequer,  by 
Catharine  Nugent,  daughter  of  Christopher, 
heir  to  the  barony  of  Delvin.  He  was  bap- 
tised by  Father  William  Jacson,  and  received 
the  family  Christian  name  of  Christopher. 
At  the  age  of  thirteen  he  was  sent  by  his 
parents  to  Flanders,  and  placed  under  the 
care  of  his  uncle,  the  Rev.  Christopher  Cu- 
sack, who  was  administrator  of  the  Irish 
colleges  for  the  secular  clergy  in  that  country. 
Having  studied  humanities  at  Douay  he  re- 
moved to  the  college  of  St.  Anthony  of 
Padua  at  Louvain,  where,  on  17  March 
1616-17,  he  took  the  probationary  habit  of 
St.  Francis  from  the  hands  of  Anthony 
Hickey,  the  superior ;  and  on  the  same  day 
in  the  following  year  he  made  his  solemn, 
profession,  assuming  in  religion  the  name  of 
Patrick.  In  1623  he  journeyed  to  Rome  in 
company  with  Hugh  Mac  Caghwell,  then, 
definitor-general  of  the  Franciscan  order, 
and  afterwards  archbishop  of  Armagh.  In 
passing  through  Paris,  Fleming  contracted 
a  close  friendship  with  Father  Hugh  "Ward, 
to  whom  he  promised  a  zealous  co-operation 
in  searching  out  and  illustrating  the  lives  of 
the  early  saints  of  Ireland.  He  completed 
his  philosophical  and  theological  studies  in 
the  Irish  college  of  St.  Isidore  at  Rome 
(WADDING,  Scriptores  Ordinis  Minorum,  ed, 
1806,  p.  185),  and  afterwards  he  was  sent 
to  teach  philosophy  at  Louvain,  where  he 
continued  to  lecture  for  some  years.  He 
removed  to  Prague  in  Bohemia  on  being 
appointed  the  first  superior  of,  and  divinity 
lecturer  in,  the  college  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception,  recently  founded  in  that  city  for 
Irish  Franciscans  of  the  Strict  Observance. 
When  the  elector  of  Saxony  invaded  Bo- 
hemia, Fleming  fled  from  the  city,  in  com- 
pany with  Matthew  Hoar,  a  deacon.  On 
7  Nov.  1631  they  were  suddenly  attacked 
near  the  small  town  of  Beneschau,  by  a  party 


%  i  .  For  'Margaret'  read  'Marjory'. 
Baptismal  register  reads  '1803,  Jan.  15. 
l\/Tofi/~»rt7  rtancrlii-fr  of  Tames  Fleminff. 


To  authorities  add: — Frank  Gent,  'Marjo 
Fleming  and   the   Biographers'   in   Scottt 


Fleming 


282 


Fleming 


of  armed  peasants,  who  killed  them  on  the 
spot.  Fleming's  body  was  conveyed  to  the 
monastery  of  Voticium,  about  four  miles 
from  the  scene  of  the  murder,  and  solemnly 
interred  in  the  presence  of  forty  brethren. 

His  works  are :  1.  '  Vita  S.  Columbani, 
AbbatisBobiensis,  cum  annotationibus.'  This 
work,  and  the  lives  of  some  other  Irish  saints, 
with  their  l  Opuscula,'  Fleming,  before  his 
departure  for  Prague,  gave  to  Moretus,  the 
famous  printer  of  Antwerp,  with  a  view  to 
publication,  but  the  design  was  not  then 
carried  into  effect.  The  manuscripts  after- 
wards were  edited  by  Thomas  Sirinus,  or 
O'Sherrin,  jubilate  lector  of  divinity  in  the 
college  of  ot.  Anthony  of  Padua  at  Louvain, 
who  published  them  under  the  title  of  '  Col- 
lectanea Sacra,  seu  S.  Columbani  Hiberni 
Abbatis,  magni  Monachorum  Patriarchse, 
Monasteriorum  Luxoviensis  in  Gallia,  et 
Bobiensis  in  Italia,  aliorumque,  Fundatoris 
et  Patroni,  Necnon  aliorum  aliquot  e  Veteri 
itidem  Scotia  seu  Hibernia  antiquorum  Sanc- 
torum Acta  &  Opuscula,  nusquam  antehac 
edita,  partem  ab  ipso  brevibus  Notis,partem 
f usiori  bus  Commentariis,  ac  speciali  de  Monas- 
tica  S.  Columbani  institutione  Tractatu,  il- 
lustrata,'  Louvain,  1667,  fol.  pp.  455.  This 
work  is  of  even  greater  rarity  than  the  scarce 
volumes  of  Colgan.  A  detailed  account  of 
its  contents,  by  William  Reeves,  D.D.,  will 
be  found  in  the  '  Ulster  Journal  of  Archaeo- 
logy,' vol.  ii.  2.  f  Vita  Reverendi  Patris 
Hugonis  Cavelli  [Mac Caghwell],'  1626.  This 
biography  was  incorporated  by  Vernulseus 
in  the  panegyric  of  the  deceased  primate 
which  he  delivered  at  Louvain ;  and  its  chief 
facts  are  preserved  by  Lynch  in  his  manu- 
script '  History  of  the  Bishops  of  Ireland.' 
3  'Chronicon  Consecrati  Petri  Ratisbonse,' 
manuscript,  being  a  compendium  of  the  chro- 
nicle of  the  monastery  of  St.  Peter  at  Re- 
gensberg.  4.  Letters  on  Irish  hagiology  ad- 
dressed to  Hugh  Ward,  and  printed  in  the 
'  Irish  Ecclesiastical  Record/ 

[Life  by  O'Sherrin,  prefixed  to  Fleming's  Col- 
lectanea ;  Ware's  Writers  of  Ireland  (Harris), 
p.  112;  Preface  to  Colgan's  Acta  Sanctorum  ; 
Ulster  Journal  of  Archaeology,  ii.  253  ;  Sbaralea's 
Suppl.etCastigatioad  Scriptores  Trium  Ordimim 
S. Francisci  a  Waddingo  aliisve  descriptos,  p.  573 ; 
Irish  Ecclesiastical  Eecord,  vii.  59, 193;  Brenan's 
Eccl.  Hist,  of  Ireland,  p.  512  ;  Lowndes's  Bibl. 
Man.  (Bohn),  p.  809.]  T.  C. 

FLEMING,  RICHARD  (d.  1431),  bi- 
shop of  Lincoln  and  founder  of  Lincoln  Col- 
lege, Oxford,  was  born  of  a  good  family  in 
Yorkshire — Tanner  says  at  Croston,  but  the 
name  suggests  a  doubt  as  to  the  identifica- 
tion— probably  about  1360.  He  entered  the 
university  of  Oxford,  and  became  a  member  of 


University  College.  He  was  junior  proctor 
in  1407  (WooD,  Fasti  Oxon.  p.  37  et  seq.),  his 
year  of  office  being  still  remembered  in  con- 
sequence of  the  fact  that  he  caused  one  of 
the  books  of  statutes  and  privileges  of  the 
university,  still  preserved  in  the  archives  and 
known  as  the  '  Junior  Proctor's  Book '  (or 
Registrum  C),  to  be  transcribed  for  him 
(Munimenta  Academica  Oxon.  i.  intr.  xiv, 
237,  ed.  H.  Anstey,  1868).  In  1408  there 
is  a  record  of  his  payment  of  6s.  Sd.  for 
the  use  of  one  of  the  schools  belonging 
to  Exeter  College  (C.  W.  BOASE,  Register  of 
Exeter  College,  p.  14,  1879),  probably  with 
a  view  to  proceeding  to  a  degree  in  divinity. 
He  had  already  held,  since  22  Aug.  1406, 
the  prebend  of  South  Newbald  in  the  church 
of  York  (LE  NEVE,  Fasti  Ecclesice  Angli- 
cana,  iii.  205,  ed.  Sir  T.  D.  Hardy). 

At  present  Fleming  was,  in  some  points 
at  least,  a  warm  adherent  of  the  Wycliffite 
party,  which  still  maintained  its  strength 
among  the  scholars  of  Oxford.  In  1407 
Archbishop  Arundel  had  held  a  provincial 
council  there,  at  which  stringent  decrees  were 
passed  against  the  reading  of  Wycliffe's  books 
and  an  attempt  made  to  regulate  the  studies 
of  the  university  ( WILEJNS,  Cone.  Magn.  Brit. 
iii.  305).  Two  years  later  the  archbishop 
persuaded  convocation  at  its  session  in  Lon- 
don to  appoint  a  committee  of  twelve  persons 
to  examine  the  writings  of  Wycliffe,  and  to 
condemn  them  if  any  heresy  should  be  found 
therein.  Among  these  judges  was  Fleming, 
described  as  a  student  of  theology  (ib.  p. 
172,  where  the  date  is  erroneously  given  as 
1382  ;  cf.  H.  C.  MAXWELL  LTTE,  History  of 
the  University  of  Oxford,  p.  283,  n.  2,  1886). 
After  long  debate  and  a  delay  which  called 
forth  a  complaint  from  the  archbishop,  the 
majority  drew  up  a  report  condemning  267 
propositions  attributed  to  Wycliffe  as  erro- 
neous or  heretical  (WiLKitfS,  iii.  339).  But 
the  discussion  appears  to  have  excited  the 
smouldering  elements  of  heterodox  opinion. 
The  university  was  disturbed  by  disorderly 
manifestations  of  lollard  feeling,  and  Fleming 
with  another  member  of  the  committee  itself 
declared  openly  for  some  of  the  obnoxious 
tenets.  In  December  1409  the  archbishop 
addressed  a  mandate  to  the  chancellor  of  the 
university,  bidding  him  to  warn  the  malcon- 
tents to  abstain  from  defending  W7ycliffe's  doc- 
trines under  heavy  penalties.  The  language 
employed  is  remarkable  for  its  contemptuous 
severity  as  applied  to  a  man  who  had  already 
been  chosen  by  the  masters  of  arts  some 
years  before  to  be  their  official  representa- 
tive as  proctor :  '  Certse  personse/  wrote  the 
archbishop, '  dictae  universitatis,  quibus  digna 
non  esset  cathedra,  attamen  graduatse,  qua3 


Fleming 


283 


Fleming 


et  puerilia  rudimenta  non  transcendunt,  vix 
adhuc  ab  adolescentise  cunabulis  exeuntes, 
quarum  una,  ut  asseritur,  est  Richardus  cog- 
nomento  Flemmyng,  quse  etiam  velut  elin- 
gues  pueri,  quorum  nondum  barbas  caesaries 
decoravit,  prius  legentes  quam  syllabicent, 
ponentes  os  in  ccelum,  tanta  ambitione  tu- 
mescunt  quod  certas  dictarum  conclusionum 
damnatarumpublice  asserere  et  velut  conclu- 
sionabiliter  in  scholia  tenere  et  defendere 
damnabiliter  non  verentur '  (ib.  p.  322).  The 
passage  has  needed  quotation  at  length  since 
doubts  have  been  cast  upon  Fleming's  at- 
tachment to  Wycliffism ;  at  the  same  time 
his  theological  obliquity  cannot  be  proved 
to  have  extended  to  Wycliffe's  more  radical 
heresies,  and  it  would  be  hasty  to  conclude 
with  Wood  (Hist,  and  Antiq.  of  Oxford, 
Colleges  and  Halls,  p.  234,  ed.  Gutch)  that 
he  was  so  active  in  the  cause  'that  had 
not  his  mouth  been  stopped  with  preferment 
the  business  would  then  have  proved  perni- 
cious '  (cf.  LYTE,  pp.  280-5).  Whether  or  not 
frightened  by  the  primate's  energetic  mea- 
sures, Fleming  seems  to  have  soon  tempered 
his  judgment  and  to  have  won  recognition  as 
an  authority 'on  the  method  of  theological  dis- 
putation. Thomas  Gascoigne,  the  most  cor- 
rect of  divines,  who  was  chancellor  in  1434, 
says  that  about  1420  (the  date  is  evidently 
some  years  too  late)  he  introduced  the  pro- 
cedure in  such  exercises  which  continued  in 
force  in  his  own  day  (Loci  e  Libro  Verita- 
tum,  p.  183,  ed.  J.  E.  T.  Rogers). 

In  1413  Fleming  appears  signing  a  peti- 
tion, as  B.D.,  promising  to  receive  the  visita- 
tion of  Repyngdon,  bishop  of  Lincoln,  himself 
formerly,  like  Fleming,  conspicuous  on  the 
lollard  side.  On  21  Aug.  1415  he  received 
the  prebend  of  Langtoft  in  the  church  of  York 
(LE  NEVE,  iii.  199)  ;  afterwards  he  became 
rector  of  Boston  ;  and  on  20  Nov.  1419  he 
succeeded  Repyngdon  as  bishop  of  Lincoln. 
He  was  consecrated  at  Florence  28  April 
1420  (STTJBBS,  Reg.  Sacr.  Anglic.  65),  and  the 
temporalities  were  restored  to  him  23  May 
(RYMEK,  Fcedera,  ix.  909).  On  18  Dec.  1421 
he  received  instructions  to  head  an  embassy 
to  Germany  to  seek  armed  support  from  the 
king  of  the  Romans  (ib.  x.  161-3).  But  it 
was  in  ecclesiastical  affairs  that  his  interest 
directly  lay.  So  little  now  was  there  any 
taint  of  lollardy  about  him  that  on  22  June 
1423  he  appeared  as  president  of  the  English 
nation  at  the  general  council  of  Pavia  (  JOHN 
or  RAGUSA,  Initium  et  prosecutio  Sasiliensis 
concilii,  in  the  Monum.  Condi.  Gen.  sec.  xv., 
i.  11,  Vienna,  1857 ;  MANSI,  Cone.  Collect. 
Ampliss.  xviii.  1059  D).  The  council  was 
transferred  to  Siena,  and  on  21  July  Fleming 
was  the  preacher  before  it  (JOHN 


p.  12).  At  the  beginning  of  the  following  year 
he  was  appointed  to  hear  evidence  on  behalf 
of  the  council  (ib.  p.  46)  ;  then  on  23  Jan.  he 
preached  a  sermon  in  which  he  made  himself 
conspicuous  as  a  champion  of  the  rights  of 
the  papacy  as  against  the  council,  an  advo- 
cacy which  produced  a  good  deal  of  dissatis- 
faction among  the  fathers.  It  was  said  that 
he  was  scheming  for  higher  preferment  from 
the  pope  (ib.  p.  64).  The  council  ended  in  no 
positive  decisions  of  moment ;  but  it  is  singu- 
lar that  Fleming's  name  is  not  mentioned 
in  connection  with  its  anti-Wycliffite  decree 
of  8  Nov.  1423.  If,  as  his  epitaph  asserts, 
Fleming  was  chamberlain  to  Pope  Martin  V, 
he  was  probably  appointed  to  the  office  in  the 
course  of  this  visit  to  Italy. 

On  his  return  to  England  he  was  given  a 
more  signal  mark  of  the  pope's  favour.  The 
archbishopric  of  York  became  vacant  in  the 
autumn  of  1423,  and  Fleming  received  the 
see  by  his  *  provision/  20  July  1424.  The 
Bishop  of  Worcester,  however,  had  already 
in  January  been  elected  by  the  chapter,  and 
the  royal  consent  had  been  obtained.  More- 
over, Fleming  displeased  the  king's  minis- 
ters (GODWIN  strangely  says,  Henry  V,  De 
Prcesulibus,  i.  297,  ed.  Cambr.  1743)  by  his 
acceptance  of  the  archbishopric  without  ask- 
ing permission,  and  it  was  seized  into  the 
king's  hands.  In  the  end  he  had  to  submit, 
under  humiliating  conditions,  to  re-transla- 
tion to  Lincoln,  and  neither  of  the  candidates 
obtained  their  desire,  the  archbishopric  being 
given  by  the  king's  nomination,  after  a  long 
interval,  to  the  chancellor,  John  Kemp  (Ls 
NEVE,  iii.  110). 

Not  long  after  his  return  to  Lincoln, 
Fleming  began  to  prepare  a  plan  for  the 
foundation  of  a  college  at  Oxford.  The  royal 
license  was  given  by  letters  patent  on  13  Oct. 
1427,  and  although  the  bishop  did  not  live 
to  carry  out  more  than  the  elements  of  his 
design,  his  preface  to  the  body  of  statutes  of 
Lincoln  College  (which  were  actually  drawn 
up,  nearly  half  a  century  later,  by  Bishop 
Rotherham)  shows  clearly  enough  the  objects 
which  he  had  in  view.  It  was  expressly  with 
the  desire  of  counteracting  the  spread  of 
heresy  and  error  and  encouraging  the  sound 
study  of  divinity,  that  he  proposed  to  found 
a  little  college  ('  collegiolum ')  of  theologians 
in  connection  with  the  three  parish  churches 
of  St.  Mildred,  St.  Michael,  and  Allhallows. 
The  college  which  he  founded  had  little  en- 
dowment from  him  beyond  the  churches  and 
the  site,  and  some  books  of  which  an  inven- 
tory is  preserved  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  2nd 
Rep.  131,  1871),  and  it  was  not  established 
upon  a  firm  footing  until  the  last  quarter  of 
the  century,  when  Rotherham  drew  up  a 


Fleming 


284 


Fleming 


code  of  statutes  on  the  principle  (he  said)  and 
in  the  spirit  of  Fleming's  design.  The  ninth 
chapter  of  these  statutes  appointed  an  annual 
mass  for  the  t  first  founder '  on  the  feast  of 
the  Conversion  of  St.  Paul,  the  day  of  his 
death. 

So  far  as  can  be  judged  from  his  earlier 
Memorandum  Register  (that  for  his  later 
years  is  unfortunately  lost),  Fleming  appears 
to  have  been  an  active  administrator  of  his 
immense  diocese,  and  particularly  diligent  in 
the  visitation  of  monasteries  within  its  limits. 
The  muniments  of  Lincoln  Cathedral  include 
a  number  of  injunctions  which  he  addressed 
to  them.  The  best  known  act  of  his  episco- 
pate belongs  almost  exactly  to  the  time  when 
he  was  planning  his  foundation  for  the  over- 
throw of  heresy.  The  old  man  believed  that 
the  movement  which  he  had  seen  strong  at 
Oxford  in  his  youth  was  still  vigorous.  It 
was  in  1428,  after  an  urgent  reminder  from 
the  pope,  9  Dec.  1427  (RAYNALD.  Ann.  ix. 
55  seq.),  that  he  gave  effect  to  the  vindictive 
sentence  of  the  council  of  Constance  of  4  May 
141 5,  by  exhuming  the  bones  of  John  Wy cliff e 
from  Lutterworth  churchyard;  he  burned 
them  and  cast  them  into  the  river  Swift  ( W. 
LYNDWODE,  Provinciate,  v.,  f.  cliv.  b,  ed.  1501). 
As  a  writer  he  is  credited  only  with  sermons 
preached  at  the  council  of  Siena  and  with  a 
work,  apparently  lost,  '  Super  Angliae  Ety- 
mologia '  (BALE,  Scriptt.  Brit.  Catal.  vii.  90, 
p.  575). 

Fleming  died  at  his  palace  at  Sleaford  on 
25  Jan.  1430-1,  and  was  buried  in  Lincoln 
Cathedral.  His  altar-tomb,  with  effigy,  still 
exists.  The  epitaph,  which  has  been  attri- 
buted to  his  own  authorship  (cf.  WOOD, 
Colleges  and  Halls,  p.  236),  may  be  found  also 
in  manuscript,  with  panegyric  verses  attached 
by  one  Stoon,  a  Cistercian  monk  of  Shene 
(Bodleian  MS.  496,  f.  225).  He  bore,  barry 
of  six  ar.  and  az.,  three  lozenges  in  chief  gules ; 
on  the  fess  point  a  mullet  for  difference  sable 
(WooD,  p.  244). 

Fleming's  name  is  spelt  variously  with  one 
or  two  ms  and  with  i  or  y  in  the  second 
syllable. 

[Letters  patent  for  the  foundation  of  Lincoln 
College  and  Fleming's  preface  to  the  Statutes,  in 
Statutes  of  Lincoln  College,  Oxford,  1853; 
Tanner's  Bibl.  Brit.  p.  286 ;  Wood's  Hist,  and 
Antiq.  of  the  Univ.  of  Oxford,  i.  551,  ed.  Gutch  ; 
information  from  the  Lincoln  Cathedral  registers, 
kindly  communicated  by  the  Rev.  Prebendary 
G.  G.  Perry.]  R.  L.  P. 

FLEMING,  ROBERT,  the  elder  (1630- 
1694),  Scottish  ejected  divine,  was  born  in 
December  1630  at  Yester,  Haddingtonshire, 
of  which  parish,  anciently  known  as  St. 
Bathan's,  his  father,  James  Fleming  (d. 


8  April  1653),  was  minister.  James  Flem- 
ing's first  wife  was  Martha,  eldest  daughter 
of  John  Knox,  the  Scottish  reformer ;  Robert 
was  the  issue  of  a  second  marriage  with  Jean 
Livingston.  His  childhood  was  sickly,  and  he 
nearly  lost  his  sight  and  life  owing  to  a  blow 
with  a  club.  He  speaks  of  an  f  extraordinary 
impression'  made  upon  him  as  a  boy  by  a 
voice  which  he  heard  when  he  had  climbed  up 
into  his  father's  pulpit  at  night;  but  he  dates 
the  beginning  of  his  religious  life  from  a  com- 
munion day  at  Greyfriars  Church,  Edinburgh, 
at  the  opening  of  1648.  At  this  time  he  was 
a  student  of  Edinburgh  University,  where  he 
graduated  M.A.  on  26  July  1649,  distinguish- 
ing himself  in  philosophy.  He  pursued  his 
theological  studies  at  St.  Andrews  under 
Samuel  Rutherford.  At  the  battle  of  Dunbar 
(3  Sept.  1650)  he  was  probably  in  the  ranks 
of  the  Scottish  army,  for  he  speaks  of  his 
'  signal  preservation.'  After  license  he  re- 
ceived a  call  to  Cambuslang,  Lanarkshire, 
and  was  ordained  there  in  1653.  His  health 
was  then  so  bad  that  '  it  seemed  hopeless,' 
and  on  the  day  of  his  ordination  there  was. 
an  '  extraordinary  storm,'  which  he  deemed 
an  assault  of  Satan. 

Fleming's  ministry  was  popular  and  suc- 
cessful. On  the  restoration  of  episcopacy  the 
Scottish  parliament  passed  an  act  (11  June 
1662)  vacating  benefices  that  had  been  filled 
without  respect  to  the  rights  of  patrons,  unless 
by  20  Sept.  the  incumbent  should  obtain  pre- 
sentation (this  patrons  were  enj oined  to  grant) 
and  episcopal  collation,  and  renounce  the 
covenant.  Failing  to  comply  with  these  con- 
ditions, Fleming  was  deprived  by  the  privy 
council  on  1  Oct.  During  the  next  ten  years 
he  remained  in  Scotland,  preaching  wherever 
he  found  opportunity.  Indulgences  were 
offered  to  the  ejected  ministers  in  1669  by 
the  king,  and  on  3  Sept.  1672  by  the  privy 
council.  By  the  terms  of  this  latter  indul- 
gence Fleming  was  assigned  to  the  parish  of 
Kilwinning,  Ayrshire,  as  a  preacher.  He  dis- 
obeyed the  order ;  when  cited  to  the  privy 
council  on  4  Sept.  he  did  not  attend,  and  a 
warrant  was  issued  for  his  apprehension.  He 
fled  to  London,  where  his  broad  Scotch  '  idiot- 
isms  and  accents'  somewhat  'clouded'  his 
usefulness.  In  1674  he  was  again  in  Scot- 
land, at  West  Nisbet,  Roxburghshire,  where 
he  had  left  his  wife.  She  died  in  that  year, 
and  Fleming  returned  to  London. 

In  1677  he  removed  to  Rotterdam,  having 
been  called  to  a  collegiate  charge  in  the  Scots 
Church  there.  Next  year  he  visited  Scotland 
for  the  purpose  of  bringing  over  his  children. 
While  there  he  held  conventicles  in  Edin- 
burgh, and  was  thrown  into  the  Tolbooth. 
Brought  before  the  privy  council  in  June  1679, 


Fleming 


285 


Fleming 


he  agreed  to  give  bail,  but  declined  to  pro- 
mise a  passive  obedience.  He  was  sent  back 
to  prison,  but  soon  obtained  his  liberty  and 
returned  to  Rotterdam.  On  2  April  1683 
proceedings  were  taken  against  him  in  the 
high  court  of  judiciary  at  Edinburgh,  on  sus- 
picion of  harbouring  some  of  the  assassins  of 
Archbishop  Sharpe;  his  innocence  appearing, 
the  accusation  was  dropped  on  17  April  1684. 
He  did  not  formally  demit  the  charge  of  Oam- 
buslang  till  March  1688,  on  the  death  of 
David  Cunningham,  who  had  been  appointed 
in  his  place.  The  act  of  April  1689  restored 
him  to  his  benefice,  but  he  preferred  to  re- 
main in  Holland.  During  a  visit  to  London 
he  was  seized  with  fever  on  17  July,  and  died 
on  25  July  1694.  His  funeral  sermon  was 
preached  by  Daniel  Burgess  (1645-1713) 
[q.  v.]  He  married  Christian,  daughter  of  Sir 
George  Hamilton  of  Binny,  Linlithgowshire, 
and  had  seven  children.  His  son  Robert  [q.  v.] 
succeeded  him  at  Rotterdam .  In  1 672  Flem- 
ing had  the  infeftment  of  the  lands  of  Mar- 
breck  and  Formontstoun. 

Fleming's  *  Fulfilling  of  the  Scripture,'  his 
best-known  work,  is  a  treatise  on  particular 
providences ;  it  is  rich  in  illustrative  anec- 
dote, and  contains  valuable  material  mixed 
with  legend  relating  to  the  puritan  biography 
of  Scotland  and  the  north  of  Ireland. 

He  published:  1.  'The  Fulfilling  of  the 
Scripture,'  &c.,  Rotterdam,  1669,  fol.  Second 
part,  '  The  Faithfulness  of  God/  &c.  Third 
part,  '  The  Great  Appearances  of  God,'  &c. 
[1677  ?]  All  three  parts,  Lond.,  1681, 12mo, 
two  vols. ;  third  edit.,  1681,  8vo ;  fourth  edit., 
1693,  8vo ;  fifth  edit.,  1726,  fol. ;  last  edit., 
Edinb.,  1845,  8vo,  two  vols. ;  an  abridgment 
is  published  by  the  Religious  Tract  Society. 
2.  *  An  Account  of  the  Roman  Church  and  Doc- 
trine,' 1675,  8vo  (not  seen).  3.  '  A  Survey  of 
Quakerism,'  &c.,  1677, 8vo  (anon.)  4.  '  Scrip- 
ture Truth  confirmed  and  cleared,'  1678,  8vo 
(not  seen).  5.  t  The  Truth  and  Certainty  of 
the  Protestant  Faith,'  1678,  8vo  (not  seen). 
6.  <  The  Church  wounded  and  rent/  &c.,  1681, 
4to  (not  seen).  7.  '  The  One  Thing  Neces- 
sary/ 1681  (not  seen).  8.  '  Joshua's  Choice/ 
1684  (previously  printed  in  Dutch,  not  seen). 
9.  '  The  Confirming  Worke  of  Religion/  Rot- 
terdam, 1685,  12mo.  10.  '  True  Statement 
of  Christian  Faith/  1692,  8vo  (not  seen). 
11.  <  The  Present  Aspect  of  our  Times/  &c., 
1694  (not  seen).  Also  two  separate  sermons, 
1692.  Hew  Scott  adds,  'A  Discourse  on 
Earthquakes/ 1693,  by  his  son ;  also,  without 
dates, '  The  Healing  Work/  &c.,  and  '  Episto- 
lary Discourse/  two  parts  (this  is  by  his 
son). 

[Fleming  left  a  diary,  which  was  not  pub- 
lished; his  rather  confused  list  of  thirty-eight 


memorable  occurrences  of  his  life,  entitled  A  Short 
Index,  &c.,  is  printed  at  the  end  of  Memoirs  by 
Daniel  Burgess,  prefixed  to  the  1726  edition  of 
the  Fulfilling ;  a  fuller  memoir  is  prefixed  to  the 
1845  edition  ;  Hew  Scott's  Fasti  Eccles.  Scot. ; 
Wilson's  Dissenting  Churches,  1808,  ii.  469; 
Grub's  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Scotland,  1861, 
iii.  200 ;  Anderson's  Scottish  Nation,  1870,  ii. 
221  sq.]  A.  G. 

FLEMING,  ROBERT,  the  younger 
(1660  P-1716),  presbyterian  minister,  son  of 
Robert  Fleming  the  elder  [q.  v.],  was  born  at 
Cambuslang,  Lanarkshire,  about  1660.  His 
early  education  was  at  the  school  of  his  uncle 
by  marriage,  John  Sinclair,  minister  of  Or- 
miston,  Haddingtonshire.  He  entered  into 
a  religious '  covenant '  at  the  age  of  thirteen, 
and  set  his  heart  on  the  ministry.  In  1679  his 
father  took  him  to  Holland,  where  he  studied 
at  Leyden  and  Utrecht.  He  pursued  his  own 
course  of  reading,  gaining  a  wide  familiarity 
with  classics  and  the  fathers,  and  with  theo- 
logical writers  of  the  most  opposite  schools. 
On  9  Feb.  1688  he  was  privately  ordained  by 
Scottish  divines  in  Holland,  without  special 
charge.  He  removed  to  England,  and  was 
domestic  chaplain  in  a  private  family  for 
about  four  years.  In  1692  he  accepted  a  call 
to  the  pastorate  of  the  English  presbyterian 
congregation  at  Leyden.  On  his  father's  death 
he  was  invited  to  succeed  him  in  the  Scots 
Church  at  Rotterdam,  to  which  he  was  in- 
ducted in  1695. 

In  1698  Fleming  received  a  call  to  the 
Scots  Church,  Founders'  Hall,  Lothbury. 
His  acceptance  was  urged  by  William  Car- 
stares  [q.  v.],  and  William  III,  who  had  known 
him  in  Holland,  '  signified  his  desire  to  have 
him  near  his  person.'  Fleming  began  his 
ministry  at  Founders'  Hall  on  19  June  1698. 
The  meeting-house  was  rebuilt  for  him  about 
1700.  His  position  was  one  of  great  influence, 
though  he  never  became  a  public  man.  Wil- 
liam III  consulted  him  on  the  ecclesiastical 
affairs  of  Scotland,  and  he  was  in  friendly 
relations  with  Archbishop  Tenison.  Through 
the  influence  of  his  kinsman,  John,  lord  Car- 
michael,  secretary  of  state  for  Scotland,  he  had 
the  offer  of  the  principalship  of  Glasgow  Uni- 
versity, but  this  he  declined.  On  15  May 
1701  he  succeeded  Vincent  Alsop  as  one  of 
the  Tuesday  lecturers  at  Salters'  Hall,  a  lec- 
tureship which  represented  the  liberal  side 
in  the  Calvinistic  controversy.  On  7  May 
1707  he  was  the  spokesman  of  the  London 
ministers  of  the  three  denominations  in  pre- 
senting an  address  of  congratulation  to  Queen 
Anne  on  the  union  with  Scotland.  These 
appointments  were  unusual  in  the  case  of  one 
who,  like  Fleming,  was  distinctively  a  Scot- 
tish presbyterian.  But  Fleming's  views  were 


Fleming 


286 


Fleming 


broad,  and  indeed  he  was  the  pioneer  of  a 
principle  which  afterwards  became  the  symbol 
of  the  most  liberal  section  of  English  dissent. 
His  'Christology'  (1705-8)  shows  that  while 
himself  orthodox  on  the  person  of  Christ,  he 
was  resolutely  opposed  to  any  form  of  sub- 
scription. He  held  the  tenet  of  the  pre-exist- 
ence  of  our  Lord's  human  soul. 

Fleming  inherited  from  his  father  a  strong 
taste  for  studies  directed  by  the  aim  of  tracing 
the  divine  hand  in  history.  To  the  specula- 
tions advanced  in  his  '  Apocalyptical  Key' 
(1701)  he  chiefly  owes  his  posthumous  fame. 
In  1793,  and  again  in  1848,  attention  was 
directed  to  the  apparent  historical  verifica- 
tion of  some  of  his  conjectures.  He  predicted 
the  fall  of  the  French  monarchy  by  1794  at 
latest,  and  fixed  on  a  period  '  about  the  year 
1848'  as  the  date  at  which  the  papacy  would 
receive  a  fatal,  though  not  immediately  de- 
structive blow.  Fleming  makes  no  preten- 
sions to  the  character  of  a  prophet ;  his  spe- 
culations are  put  forward  with  the  modesty 
of  a  devout  student  of  history  and  scripture. 

A  serious  illness  laid  Fleming  aside  for  a 
time.  On  his  recovery  he  paid  a  visit  to 
Holland,  where  he  took  some  part  in  political 
negotiations  in  the  protestant  interest.  He 
returned,  shortly  before  the  accession  of  King 
George,  in  improved  but  still  uncertain  health. 
His  weakness  increased,  and  he  died  on  21  May 
1716.  Joshua  Oldfield,  D.D.,  preached  his 
funeral  sermon.  He  left  a  widow  and  several 
children. 

He  published :  1.  '  The  Mirror  of  Divine 
Love  ...  a  poetical  Paraphrase  on  the  .  .  , 
Song  of  Solomon.  .  .other  Poems/  &c.,  1691, 
8vo.  2.  '  An  Epistolary  Discourse .  .  .  with 
a  Second  Part,'  &c.,  1692,  8vo.  3.  <  A  Dis- 
course on  Earthquakes/  &c.,  1693,  8vo ;  re- 
printed!793.  4.  'The  Rod  and  the  Sword/ &c., 
1694,8vo;  reprinted  1701  and  1793.  5.  < Apo- 
calyptical Key.  An  extraordinary  Discourse 
on  the  Rise  and  Fall  of  Papacy,'  &c.,  1701, 
8vo  (dedicated  to  Lord  Carmichael)  ;  re- 
printed 1793,  and  Edinb.  1849,  with  memoir 
by  Thomas  Thomson.  6. '  Discourses  on  Several 
Subjects/  1701,  8vo  (includes  No.  5).  7.  <  A 
Brief  Account  of  Religion/  &c.,  1701,  8vo. 
8.  '  Christology/  &c.,  vol.  i.  1705,  8vo  (dedi- 
cated to  Queen  Anne)  ;  vols.  ii.  and  iii.,  1708, 
8vo;  an  abridgment  was  published  in  one 
vol.,  Edinb.  1795,  8vo.  9.  '  The  History  of 
Hereditary  Right/  &c.,  8vo  (anon. ;  not  seen ; 
mentioned  by  Wilson).  Also  eight  separate 
sermons  at  funerals  and  special  occasions 
between  1688  and  1716. 

[General  Preface  to  Fleming's  Christology, 
1701  (many  biographical  details);  Oldfield's 
Funeral  Sermon,  1716;  Protestant  Dissenters' 
Magazine,  1799,  p.  431 ;  "Wilson's  Dissenting 


Churches,  1808,  ii.  468  sq. ;  Calamy's  Hist,  Ace. 
of  My  Own  Life,  1830,  i.  441,  ii.  63,  363; 
Thomson's  Memoir,  1849;  Anderson's  Scottish 
Nation,  1870,  ii.  222  sq.]  A.  Gr. 

FLEMING,  SIK  THOMAS  (1544-1613), 
judge,  son  of  John  Fleming  of  Newport,  Isle 
'of  Wight,  by  his  wife,  Dorothy  Harris,  was 
born  at  Newport  in  April  1544.  He  entered 
Lincoln's  Inn  on  12  May  1567,  and  was  called 
to  the  bar  there  on  24  June  1574.  In  1579 
he  was  sent  to  Guernsey  as  commissioner  to 
inquire  into  certain  alleged  abuses  connected 
with  the  administration  of  the  island.  He  en- 
tered parliament  in  1584  as  member  for  Win- 
chester, of  which  place  he  was  then  recorder. 
He  was  re-elected  for  the  same  borough  in 
1586  and  1588.  In  1587  he  was  made  a 
bencher  of  his  inn,  and  in  Lent  1590  discharged 
the  duties  of  reader  there.  He  retained  his 
seat  for  Winchester  at  the  election  of  1592. 
On  29  Nov.  1593  he  was  called  to  the  degree 
of  serjeant-at-law.  On  27  March  1594  he 
succeeded  Serjeant  Drew  as  recorder  of  Lon- 
don {Index  to  Remembrancia,  93).  A  speech 
delivered  by  him  in  that  capacity  on  present- 
ing the  lord  mayor,  Sir  John  Spencer,  to  the 
court  of  exchequer  will  be  found  in  Nichols's 
'  Progresses  of  Elizabeth/  iii.  254.  It  is  emi- 
nently judicious  in  tone,  as  may  be  judged  by 
the  following  extract :  '  He  that  taketh  upon 
him  the  office  of  a  magistrate  is  like  to  a 
good  man  to  whose  custody  a  precious  jewel 
is  committed ;  he  taketh  it  not  to  retain  and 
challenge  it  for  his  own,  nor  to  abuse  it 
while  he  hath  it,  but  safely  to  keep,  and 
faithfully  to  render  it  to  him  that  deposed 
it  when  he  shall  be  required.  He  must  do 
all  things  not  for  his  private  lucre,  but  for 
the  public's  good  preservation  and  safe  cus- 
tody of  those  committed  to  his  charge,  that 
he  may  restore  them  to  him  that  credited  in 
a  better  and  more  happy  state,  it  may  be, 
than  he  received  them.'  On  5  Nov.  1595  he 
was  appointed  to  the  solicitor-generalship 
over  the  head  of  Bacon,  who  acknowledged 
that  he  was  an  '  able  man '  (SPEEDING,  Let- 
ters and  Life  of  Bacon,  i.  365,  369).  In  this 
capacity,  in  1596,  he  assisted  Sir  Edward 
Coke,  attorney-general,  in  taking  the  con- 
fession of  Sir  John  Smith  [q.  v.],  sometime 
ambassador  to  the  king  of  Spain  in  the 
Netherlands,  who  had  been  committed  to  the 
Tower  for  having,  as  by  his  confession  he  ad- 
mitted, on  12  June  1596,  in  company  with 
his  kinsman,  Seymour,  the  second  son  of  the 
Earl  of  Hertford,  incited  the  militia  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Colchester  to  mutiny.  He 
also  assisted  in  the  examination  of  John 
Gerard,  a  Jesuit  charged  with  blasphemy, 
on  13  May  1597  (STRYPE,  Annals  (fol.),  iv. 
297-300).  On  26  Sept.  following  he  was 


Fleming 


287 


Fleming 


returned  to  parliament  for  the  county  of 
Southampton.     In  January  1600-1  he  re- 
ceived a  commission  from  the  queen  to  in- 
quire into  the  abuses  connected  with  patents, 
a  work  which  was  soon  interrupted  by  the 
more  urgent  duty  of  investigating  the  Essex 
plot  (Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.   1598-1601, 
pp.  560,  563).     His  speech  on  the  prosecu- 
tion of  Sir  Christopher  Blunt,  Sir  Charles 
Davers,  and  others  of  the  conspirators,  is 
reported  at  length  in  Cobbett's  '  State  Trials/ 
i.  1435.    In  the  parliament  of  1601  he  repre- 
sented the  borough  of  Southampton.      On 
the  accession  of  James  I  he  was  retained  in 
office  as  solicitor-general,  and  placed  on  the 
commission  for  perusing  and  suppressing  un- 
licensed books  ;  and  he  received  the  honour 
of  knighthood  at  Whitehall  on  23  July  1603. 
At  the  general  election  of  March  1603-4 
he  retained  his  seat  for  the  borough  of  South- 
ampton.    On  27  Oct.  1604  he  was  created 
chief  baron  of  the  exchequer  (NICHOLS,  Pro- 
gresses of  James  I,  i.  208 ;  STRYPE,  Whit- 
gift  (fol.),  ii.577;  DUGDALE,  Chron.  Ser.  99, 
100).  His  elevation  to  the  bench  disqualified 
him  for  sitting  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
but  he  was  permitted  to  attend  the  debates 
in  the  upper  house.     No  new  writ,  however, 
seems  to  have  been  issued  either  then  or 
on  his  promotion  to  the  chief  justiceship 
(Comm.  Journ.  i.  257,  Index,  i.  1028).     He 
helped  to  try  the  conspirators  concerned  in 
the  gunpowder  treason  on  27  Jan.  1606  (CoB- 
BETT,  State  Trials,  ii.  159) ;  and  the  same 
year  delivered  an  elaborate  judgment  on  the 
important  case  of  Bates,  a  Levant  merchant, 
who  had  refused  to  pay  the  duty  on  certain 
currants  imported  by  him,  on  the  ground 
that  it  had  been  imposed  without  the  consent 
of  parliament.    The  duty  had  in  the  first  in- 
stance been  imposed  by  the  Levant  Company 
under  a  patent  by  Elizabeth;  but  James  I, 
soon  after  his  accession,  by  letters  patent, 
directed  the  revenue  officers  to  levy  the  duty 
upon  all  currants  imported,  thus  subjecting 
the  Levant  Company  to  the  impost  (ib.  ii.  382, 
391).    Fleming's  judgment,  which  proceeded 
wholly  'upon reasons  politic  and  precedents/ 
was  for  the  crown.     He  argued  that  it  was 
part  of  the  royal  prerogative  to  impose  cus- 
toms, and  that  the  amount  was  in  the  absolute 
discretion  of  the  king,  and  moreover  that  in 
the  particular  case,  currants  being  a  luxury, 
no  real  hardship  was  suffered.   The  judgment, 
which  is  reported  at  length  in  Cobbett's'  State 
Trials/  ii.  388,  was  subjected  to  much  severe 
criticism  by  Hakewill  and  Whitelocke,  in  the 
course  of  the  great  debate  on  impositions  in 
June  and  July  1610  (ib.  p.  477;  Debates  in 
1610,   Camden   Soc.  79,  103,  157).      Coke 
roundly  says  that  it  was  '  against  law  and 


divers  express  acts  of  parliament '  (Inst.  pt.  ii. 
cap.  30,  ad  fin.}  On  25  June  1607  Fleming  was 
advanced  to  the  chief-justiceship  of  the  king's 
bench.  In  that  capacity  he  delivered  a  judg- 
ment in  the  case  of  the  postnati  tried  in  the 
exchequer  chamber  in  1608  (COBBETT,  State 
Trials,  ii.  609),  the  question  being  whether 
the  accession  of  James  I  had  the  effect  of 
naturalising  in  England  persons  born  in  Scot- 
land, and  in  Scotland  persons  born  in  England 
after  the  event.  It  was  decided  in  the  affir- 
mative, two  judges  only  dissenting.  Flem- 
ing's judgment  has  not  been  preserved.  On 
13  Feb.  1610  he  was  commissioned  to  supply 
the  place  of  the  lord  chancellor  during  his 
sickness  (Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1603-10, 
p.  58).  In  1612  he  was  a  member  of  the 
committee  of  the  privy  council  that  sat  at 
York  House  to  determine  whether  the  Coun- 
tess of  Shrewsbury  had  been  guilty  of  an 
offence  in  refusing  to  give  information  to  the 
privy  council  concerning  the  escape  of  her 
niece,  Arabella  Stuart,  to  which  she  had  been 
privy.  Fleming  took  occasion  to  enlarge  upon 
the  several  privileges  incident  to  nobility  by 
the  law  of  England,  arguing  that  being  de- 
rived from  the  king,  they  entailed  on  persons 
of  quality  a  correlative  obligation  '  to  answer, 
being  required  thereto  by  the  king,  to  such 
points  as  concern  the  safety  of  the  king  and 
quiet  of  the  realm/  the  breach  of  which  was 
a  high  contempt  and  ingratitude.  The  com- 
mittee were  unanimous  that  the  matter  was 
cognisable  in  the  Star-chamber,  and  resolved 
that  if  sentence  should  there  be  given  the 
countess  should  be  fined  20,0007.  and  impri- 
soned during  the  king's  pleasure  (COBBETT, 
State  Trials,  ii.  774-6).  Anthony  a  Wood 
(Fasti  Oxon.  (Bliss),  ii.  355)  states  that  on 
7  Aug.  1613  it  was  '  granted  by  the  venerable 
convocation  that  Sir  Thomas  Fleming,  chief 
justice  of  England,  might  be  created  M.A., 
but  whether  it  was  effected  appears  not/ 
Fleming  died  the  same  night  in  his  bed,  after 
entertaining  his  tenantry  at  his  seat,  Stone- 
ham  Park,  Hampshire.  He  was  buried  in 
the  parish  church  of  North  Stoneham.  It  has 
been  said  that  Bacon  regarded  Fleming  as  an 
'able  man.'  Coke  is  more  explicit,  giving 
him  credit  for  '  great  judgment,  integrity, 
and  discretion/  and  '  a  sociable  and  placable 
disposition '  (Rep.  x.  34).  Fleming  and  his 
eldest  son,  Sir  Thomas,  were  both  members 
of  a  club  founded  in  1609  for  the  practice  of 
the  gentle  game  of  bowls,  at  East  Standen, 
Isle  of  Wight,  where  the  members  usually 
dined  with  the  governor  twice  a  week  during- 
the  season  (WoRSLET,  Isle  of  Wight,  p.  223). 
Fleming  married  in  1570.  By  his  wife,  of 
whom  we  know  nothing  beyond  the  fact  that 
her  Christian  name  was  Mary,  he  had  issue 


Fleming 


288 


Flemming 


eight  sons  and  seven  daughters.  His  eldest 
son,  Thomas,  who  was  knighted  by  James  I 
at  Newmarket  on  26  Feb.  1604-5,  married 
Dorothy,  youngest  daughter  of  Sir  Henry 
Cromwell  of  Hinchinbroke,  Huntingdon- 
shire, known  as  '  the  golden  knight.'  This 
lady,  who  was  an  aunt  of  the  Protector,  has 
been  erroneously  identified  by  Foss  with 
Fleming's  own  wife.  Fleming's  posterity 
failed  in  the  male  line  in  the  last  century, 
but  Browne  Willis,  the  antiquary,  having 
married  one  of  the  judge's  descendants  in  the 
female  line,  his  grandson  succeeded  to  Stone- 
ham  Park  and  assumed  the  name  of  Fleming. 
The  present  owner,  John  Edward  Browne 
Willis  Fleming,  is  thus  a  lineal  descendant 
of  the  judge  in  the  female  line. 

[Spedding's  Letters  and  Life  of  Bacon,  iv.  378 ; 
"Woodward's  General  History  of  Hampshire,  ii. 
110-12;  Noble's  Cromwell  Memoirs,  ii.  167; 
Nichols's  Progr.  of  James  I,  i.  496;  Foss's  Lives 
of  the  Judges.]  J.  M.  K. 

FLEMING,  THOMAS  (1593-1666),  Ro- 
man  catholic  archbishop  of  Dublin,  third  son 
of  William  Fleming,  sixteenth  baron  of  Slane 
in  the  peerage  of  Ireland,  by  his  cousin  El- 
linor,  younger  daughter  of  Thomas,  fifteenth 
baron,  was  born  in  1593.  He  became  a  Fran- 
ciscan friar,  and  was  for  six  or  seven  years  a 
professor  of  theology  at  Louvain.  While 
there,  on  23  Oct.  1623,  he  was  promoted  to 
the  archbishopric  of  Dublin,  which  was  va- 
cant by  the  death  of  Eugene  Matthews,  by 
Pope  Urban  VIII,  from  whom  he  thereupon 
obtained  letters  apostolic,.assuring  protection 
and  patronage  to  the  colleges  founded  on  the 
continent  for  the  Irish  priesthood,  and  also 
sanctioning  the  mission  in  Ireland  (DE  BTTKGO, 
Hibernia  Dominicana,  p.  874).  Paul  Harris, 
a  secular  priest  of  the  diocese,  inveighed  bit- 
terly against  this  and  other  selections  of  pre- 
lates from  the  order  of  the  regulars,  and  at- 
tacked the  archbishop  in  his  '  Olfactorium ' 
and  similar  publications.  In  July  1640  Fle- 
ming presided  over  a  provincial  synod  in  the 
county  of  Kildare.  When  the  parliamentary 
declaration  of  March  1641  excluded  the 
smallest  tendency  of  royal  clemency  to  the 
members  of  his  community,  the  archbishop 
selected  Joseph  E verard  to  attend  as  his  proxy 
at  the  synod  of  the  clergy  which  met  at  Kil- 
kenny in  May  1642.  In  October  of  the  same 
year  he  felt  constrained  to  appear  in  person  at 
the  general  convention  of  the  Roman  catho- 
lic confederates  at  Kilkenny,  and  he  rather 
strangely  selected  Dr.  Edmund  Reilly,  whose 
.acts  at  this  period  of  his  life  were  of  a  violent 
political  tendency,  to  act  as  vicar-general 
during  his  absence  from  the  diocese.  On 
20  June  1643  Fleming  and  the  Archbishop  of 


Tuam  were  the  only  prelates  who  signed  the 
commission  authorising  Lord  Gormanston, 
Sir  Lucas  Dillon,  Sir  Robert  Talbot,  and 
others,  to  treat  with  the  Marquis  of  Ormonde 
for  the  cessation  of  hostilities.  In  the  fol- 
lowing month  Scarampa  arrived  in  Ireland 
as  minister  of  the  pope,  with  supplies  of  money 
and  ammunition ;  but  Fleming  rejected  both, 
and  with  two  other  bishops  signed  a  letter 
to  the  lords  justices  ratifying  the  articles  of 
cessation.  He  was  present  in  July  1644  at 
the  general  assembly  held  at  Kilkenny  when 
an  oath  was  agreed  upon  by  which  each  con- 
federate swore  to  bear  true  faith  and  allegi- 
ance to  the  king  and  his  heirs.  Scarampa 
remained  in  the  discharge  of  his  office  until 
November  1645,  when  Rinuccini,  archbishop 
of  Fermo,  arrived  as  apostolic  nuncio  extra- 
ordinary. During  the  greater  part  of  1649 
Fleming  resided  quietly  in  his  diocese ;  but 
he  was  not  long  allowed  to  enjoy  repose  from 
political  labours.  His  better  judgment  and 
prudence  were  no  longer  overruled  by  the 
nuncio's  presence,  and  therefore,  when  the 
meeting  of  Irish  prelates  was  held  at  Clon- 
macnoise  on  4  Dec.  1649,  Fleming  was  one 
who  signed  the  declaration  of  oblivion  of  all 
past  differences.  But  Charles,  on  his  resto- 
ration, declared  the  peace  with  the  confede- 
rates to  be  null  and  void.  This  step  Ormonde 
had  advised,  and  the  archbishop  consequently 
pronounced  his  excommunication.  As  a  lead- 
ing member  of  the  Roman  catholic  party  in 
Ireland,  Fleming  was  involved  in  most  of  the 
political  and  religious  controversies  of  his 
time,  and  in  common  with  many  of  his  co-re- 
ligionists suffered  considerable  annoyance  and 
persecution.  In  the  midst  of  his  troubles  he 
died  in  1666,  and  was  succeeded  in  1669  by 
Peter  Talbot,  the  administration  of  the  dio- 
cese being  entrusted  in  the  meantime  to  James 
Dempsey,  vicar  apostolic  and  capitulary  of 
Kildare. 

[Burke's  Dormant  and  Extinct  Peerages,  1883, 
p.  217  ;  D' Alton's  Memoirs  of  the  Archbishops 
of  Dublin,  pp.  390-429  ;  Moran's  History  of  the 
Catholic  Archbishops  of  Dublin  since  the  Kefor- 
mation,  i.  (all  published)  294-411.]  B.  H.  B. 

FLEMMING,     JAMES     (1682-1751), 

colonel.    [See  FLEMING.] 

FLEMMING,  RICHARD  (d.  1431), 
bishop  of  Lincoln.  [See  FLEMING.] 

FLEMMING,  ROBERT  (d.  1483),  dean 
of  Lincoln,  nephew  of  Bishop  Richard  Flem- 
ing [q.  v.],  the  founder  of  Lincoln  College, 
Oxford,  was  probably  connected  with  the 
earlier  days  of  the  college,  the  foundation 
of  which  was  left  by  his  uncle  in  an  incom- 
plete and  unfinished  state,  At  any  rate,  he 


Flemming 


289 


Flemyng 


displayed  afterwards  his  care  for  this  society 
by  some  valuable  presents.  Probably  also 
he  had  an  early  connection  with  the  church 
at  Lincoln,  inasmuch  as  twenty  years  after 
his  uncle's  death,  under  the  episcopate  of 
Bishop  Lumley,  he  was  chosen  to  be  dean 
(1451).  Lincoln  Cathedral  was  then  in  a 
most  disturbed  state  from  the  long  and  bitter 
struggle  which  had  been  carried  on  between 
the  late  dean,  Mackworth,  and  the  bishop, 
Alnwick.  Doubtless  the  disputes  between  the 
episcopal  and  decanal  powers  still  continued, 
and  this  may  have  induced  Flemming  to 
leave  his  cathedral  and  become  a  resident  in 
Italy.  Here  also  he  had  far  greater  facilities 
for  cultivating  his  literary  tastes.  Flemming 
is  said  by  Leland  and  Pits  to  have  distin- 
guished himself  at  Oxford,  and  to  have  gained 
a  reputation  for  his  elegant  Latin  scholar- 
ship. His  journey  to  Italy  is  attributed  to 
his  eager  desire  for  instruction.  He  visited, 
according  to  the  same  writers,  all  the  more 
celebrated  universities,  and  formed  friend- 
ships with  their  most  learned  scholars  ojk  At 
Ferrara  he  became  the  pupil  of  Baptista 
Guarino,  professor  of  Greek  and  Latin,  and 
attended  his  lectures  for  a  considerable 
period.  He  then  went  to  Rome,  where  he 
remained  several  years  intent  upon  study. 
Here  he  formed  a  friendship  with  Platina, 
the  author  of  the  '  Lives  of  the  Popes,'  and 
librarian  of  the  Vatican,  and  other  learned 
men,  and  became  known  to  the  reigning 
pontiff,  Sixtus  IV,  a  pope  whose  sole  recom- 
mendation was  his  love  of  letters.  Pope 
Sixtus  appointed  Flemming  to  the  office  of 
prothonotary,  and  he  thus  became  employed 
in  the  complicated  affairs  of  the  Roman  see. 
In  summer,  during  the  hot  season,  it  was  his 
custom  to  retreat  to  Tivoli,  and  here  he 
composed  his  poems,  written  in  heroic  metre 
and  dedicated  to  the  pope.  These  poems 
were  entitled :  1.  i  Lucubrationes  Tiburtinse.' 
2.  '  Epistolae  ad  diversos.'  3.  '  Carmina  di- 
versi  generis.'  In  addition  to  these  Flem- 
ming is  said  to  have  compiled  a  dictionary 
of  the  Greek  and  Latin  tongues,  but  whether 
this  was  written  during  his  sojourn  in  Italy 
or  after  his  return  to  England  does  not  appear. 
Other  works  (unspecified)  are  attributed  to 
him.  Flemming,  on  his  return  from  Italy,  be- 
stowed some  valuable  manuscripts,  curiously 
illuminated,  and,  according  to  Wood,  '  limned 
on  their  margins  with  gold,'  on  Lincoln  Col- 


lege, which  are  probably  still  to  be  found 
among  the  manuscript  collections  of  that  col- 
lege. He  also  gave  the  college  copies  of  his 
own  works,  and  a  table  for  the  high  altar  in 
the  college  chapel.  He  had  probably  returned 
to  England  before  1467,  in  which  year  he  was 
installed  into  the  prebend  of  Leighton  Manor 

YOL.   XIX. 

In  1444,  between  8  June 

-<and    29    October,   he   was   enrolled   in   the 

University     of     Cologne     (Keussen,     Die 


in  Lincoln  Cathedral.  This  he  exchanged 
in  1478  for  that  of  Leighton  Buzzard.  There 
does  not  appear  to  be  any  special  record  of 
his  work  as  dean  of  Lincoln.  Both  his  pre- 
decessor and  his  successor  were  remarkable 
for  their  turbulence.  But  the  great  number 
of  dispensations  from  Pope  Sixtus  found  to 
be  existing  in  Lincoln  Cathedral  at  the  visi- 
tation in  1501  may  have  been  due  to  Flem- 
ming's  influence  with  that  pope.  He  died 
in  1483. 

[Wood's  Athense,  vol.  ii. ;  Pits,  De  Script. 
Illustr.  s.  v. ;  Bishop  Smyth's  Memorandum  Ke- 
gister,  MS.  Lincoln.]  G.  G-.  P. 

FLEMYNG,     MALCOLM,     MD.    (d. 

1764),  physiologist,  was  born  in  Scotland 
early  in  the  eighteenth  century.  He  was  a 
pupil  of  Monro  at  Edinburgh  and  of  Boer- 
haave  at  Leyden.  In  the  first  of  his  five 
printed  letters  to  Haller  (Epist.  ad  Hal- 
lerum,  vol.  iii.)  he  speaks  of  Boerhaave  as 
their  common  preceptor,  and  as  having  been 
t  mihi  supra  fidem  amicus  et  beneficus,'  but 
to  Haller  himself  he  would  be  l  prorsus  igno- 
tus,'  although  they  may  have  been  at  Ley- 
den  at  the  same  time.  He  began  practice  in 
Scotland  about  1725,  and  removed  after  a 
time  to  Hull.  In  1751,  finding  his  health 
unequal  to  a  country  practice,  he  came  to 
London,  and  made  an  attempt  to  support  a 
wife  and  three  children  by  teaching  physio- 
logy. His  lessons  were  intended  for  medi- 
cal pupils  who  had  not  been  at  the  univer- 
sities, and  were  unable  to  read  the  standard 
books  in  learned  or  foreign  languages.  He 
seems  to  have  read  only  one  course  of  lec- 
tures, in  the  winter  of  1751-2 ;  in  1752  he 
issued  a  syllabus  of  the  lectures,  but  probably 
he  got  no  more  pupils,  the  attempt  being 
premature  for  London.  About  the  end  of 
1752  he  left  London  and  settled  at  Brigg 
in  Lincolnshire,  on  account  of  his  wife's 
health,  and  to  obtain  practice.  In  a  letter 
to  Haller  (February  1753),  shortly  after  his 
arrival  at  Brigg,  he  hints  at  a  possibility  of 
teaching  physiology  at  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge. The  last  letter  to  Haller  (Brigg, 
June  1753)  contains  a  Latin  ode  on  the  peace 
of  Aix,  '  to  fill  up  the  page.'  In  1763  he  was 
living  at  Lincoln,  and  still  in  practice.  He 
died  there  7  March  1764  (Gent.  Mag.  146). 
Flemyng's  writings  show  him  to  have  been 
well  abreast  of  the  best  physiological  teach- 


ing of  his  time,  and  an  original  experimenter 
and  reasoner  as  well.  One  of  the  Haller 
letters  (iii.  369)  contains  a  statement  of  the 
fact  that  motor  and  sensory  nerves  are  ana- 
tomically distinct,  although  they  might  co- 
exist in  the  same  bundle ;  the  experimental 
proof  came  many  years  after.  The  ossicles 

IT 


Flemyng 


290 


Fletcher 


of  the  ear  serve  the  same  purpose,  he  says,  as 
the  wooden  rod  inside  a  violin,  '  ad  continu- 
andos  tremores.'  His  '  Introduction  to  Phy- 
siology,' 369  pages,  8vo,  Lond.  1759,  being 
the  substance  of  his  London  lectures  in- 
creased to  twenty-eight,  is  full  of  the  latest 
information  well  digested.  He  employed  a 
person  in  the  Norway  trade  to  get  for  him  a 
manuscript  copy  of  a  paper  on  the  resuscita- 
tion of  the  drowned  by  a  Copenhagen  au- 
thority. His  first  work,  dated  from  Hull  in 
June  1738  and  published  at  York  in  1740, 
was  '  Neuropathia,'  a  Latin  poem  in  three 
books  on  hypochondriasis  and  hysteria,  with 
a  prose  summary  and  additions  prefixed,  dedi- 
cated to  Peter  Shaw  ('  Doctissime  Shavi ! ')  ; 
it  was  republished  at  Rome,  with  an  Italian 
translation  by  Moretti,  in  1755.  His  next 
venture  was  '  A  Proposal  for  the  Improve- 
ment of  Medicine,  &c.,'  being  a  collection  of 
therapeutic  essays  on  the  use  of  bark  in 
small-pox,  on  limes  and  other  fruits  and 
vegetables  in  scurvy,  &c. ;  it  was  dedicated 
to  Mead,  who  had  been  pleased  with  the 
1  Neuropathia.'  In  1748  he  published  a  new 
edition,  much  enlarged,  and  with  remarks  on 
Berkeley's  tar-water  doctrine  and  on  the 
bishop's  use  of  the  term  '  panacea.'  In  1751 
he  published  in  London  '  The  Nature  of  the 
Nervous  Fluid,  or  Animal  Spirits,'  an  at- 
tempt to  adapt  the  latter  doctrine  to  cur- 
rent nervous  physiology.  In  the  same  year 
he  published  anonymously  '  A  new  Critical 
Examination  of  an  Important  Passage  in  Mr. 
Locke's  Essay  on  Human  Understanding  [on 
the  possibility  of  thought  being  superadded 
to  matter],  in  a  familiar  letter  to  a  friend.' 
In  1753  he  issued  a  physiological  comment  on 
Solano's  prognostics  from  the  pulse  (dicrotism, 
intermittence,  &c.),  an  account  of  which  had 
been  brought  to  England  by  Dr.  Nihell,  phy- 
sician to  the  English  factory  at  Madrid.  In 
1755  Flemyng  published  a  paper  in  the l  Philo- 
sophical Transactions '  on  the  imbibition  of  the 
liquor  amnii  by  the  foetus.  Another  paper,  on 
corpulency,  was  read  at  the  Royal  Society  in 
1757,  but  not  issued  until  the  author  printed 
it  in  1760 ;  it  was  translated  into  German  by 
J.  J.  Plenk  at  Vienna  in  1769,  and  reprinted 
in  London  as  late  as  1810.  In  1754  he  pub- 
lished at  York  l  A  Proposal  to  diminish  the 
Progress  of  the  Distemper  among  the  Horned 
Cattle '  (2nd  edition,  Lond.  1755).  His  other 
writings  are  a  'Dissertation  on  James's  Fever 
Powder '  (Lond.  1760),  and  « Adhesions  or 
Accretions  of  the  Lungs  to  the  Pleura' 
(Lond.  1762),  discussing  the  divergent  views 
of  Boerhaave  and  Haller  as  to  the  effects 
on  the  breathing.  A  disparaging  criticism 
of  this  unimportant  piece  by  a  London  re- 
viewer caused  him  to  issue  the  remainder 


of  the  impression  with  a  *  Vindication '  in 
1763. 

[Epistolse  ad  Hallerum,  vol.  iii.  ;  Flemyng's 
writings.]  C.  C. 

FLETA,  though  sometimes  loosely  used 
as  if  it  were  the  name  of  a  person,  is  really 
the  name  of  a  Latin  text-book  of  English 
law,  which,  from  internal  evidence,  seems  to 
have  been  written  in  1290  or  thereabouts. 
It  was  printed  with  a  dissertation  by  Selden 
in  1647,  and  again  in  1685.  The  one  old 
manuscript  in  which  it  is  found  {Cotton  MS. 
Julius,  B.  viii.,  fourteenth  century)  bears  on 
its  frontispiece  the  title  l  Fleta,'  and  in  the 
preface  there  is  a  statement  to  the  effect  that 
*  this  book  may  well  be  called  Fleta,  for  it 
was  composed  in  Fleta.'  This  seems  to  mean 
that  it  was  written  in  the  Fleet  prison,  and 
the  conjecture  has  been  made  that  it  was  the 
work  of  one  of  the  corrupt  judges  whom 
Edward  I  imprisoned. 

[The  manuscript ;  Selden's  Dissertation  ;  Ni- 
chols's Introduction  to  edition  of  Britton  (1865).] 

F.  W.  M. 

FLETCHER,  ABRAHAM  (1714-1793), 
mathematician,  born  in  1714  at  Little  Brough- 
ton,  Bridekirk,  Cumberland,  was  the  son  of 
a  tobacco-pipe  maker,  who  taught  him  his 
own  trade,  but  gave  him  no  higher  instruc- 
tion. The  boy  learnt  to  read,  write,  and 
cipher  as  he  best  could,  applying  himself  par- 
ticularly to  the  study  of  arithmetic,  from  which 
he  proceeded  to  the  investigation  of  mathe- 
matical theorems.  After  the  day's  toil  in  the 
workshop  he  would  hoist  himself  by  a  rope 
into  the  loft  over  his  father's  cottage,  in  order 
to  pursue  his  studies  uninterruptedly.  Having 
worked  through  Euclid  he  set  up  as  a  school- 
master at  the  age  of  thirty,  and  acquired  con- 
siderable reputation  as  a  teacher  of  mathe- 
matics. He  married  early.  His  wife,  like  his 
parents,  discouraged  the  pursuit  of  learning  as 
an  unprofitable  thing.  Turning  his  attention 
to  botany,  Fletcher  studied  the  properties 
rather  than  the  classification  of  plants ;  in- 
creased his  income  by  the  sale  of  herbal  de- 
coctions, and  was  known  to  his  neighbours  as 
Doctor  Fletcher.'  He  also  studied  judicial 
astrology,  and  cast  his  own  nativity,  which 
Hutchinson  found  in  one  of  his  books.  '  This 
gives,'  says  another  astrologer, e  seventy-eight 
years  and  fifty-five  days'  duration  of  life. 
Fletcher  lived  seventy-eight  years  seventy- 
one  days,  dying  on  1  Jan.  1793. 

Fletcher  published:  1.  'The  Universal 
Measurer;  the  Theory  of  Measuring  in  all 
its  various  uses,  whether  artificers'  works, 
gauging,  surveying,  or  mining,'  Whitehaven, 
1753, 2  vols.  8vo.  2.  <  The  Universal  Measurer 


Fletcher 


291 


Fletcher 


and  Mechanic,  a  work  equally  useful  to  the 
Gentleman,  Tradesman,  and  Mechanic,  with 
copperplates,'  London,  1762,  8vo. 

[Hutchinson's  Hist,  of  Cumberland,  ii.  ,324; 
Watt's  Bibl.  Brit.]  E.  H. 

FLETCHER,    ALEXANDER    (1787- 

1860),  presbyterian  divine,  son  of  William 
Fletcher,  minister  at  the  Bridge  of  Teith, 
near  Doune,  Perthshire,  by  Jean  Gilfillan, 
sister  of  the  Rev.  Michael  Gilfillan,  was  born 
at  the  Bridge  of  Teith  8  April  1787,  and  edu- 
cated in  the  village  of  Doune  and  at  Stir- 
ling grammar  school.  At  the  age  of  eleven 
lie  was  sent  to  Glasgow  College,  whence  he 
passed  to  the  divinity  hall  in  1802,  and  ul- 
timately became  M.A.  of  the  university  of 
Glasgow.  Having  been  received  into  the 
associated  synod  of  Scotland  23  Dec.  1806, 
his  first  labours  in  the  ministerial  office  were 
as  co-pastor  with  his  father  at  the  Bridge  of 
Teith,  16  Sept.  1807.  In  November  1811  he 
came  to  London  as  minister  of  Miles  Lane 
Chapel,  Meeting-house  Yard,  London  Bridge. 
Here  he  very  soon  obtained  popularity  as  a 
preacher.  The  church  accommodation  be- 
came too  limited,  and  the  congregation  erected 
a  new  place  of  worship  in  London  Wall, 
under  the  name  of  Albion  Chapel,  which 
was  opened  7  Nov.  1816.  This  building  cost 
upwards  of  10,000/.,  and  was  soon  crowded 
in  every  part.  Here  he  began  his  annual 
Christmas  sermon  to  the  young,  a  practice  he 
kept  up  with  unabating  success  to  the  last. 
He  was  now  in  the  height  of  his  power  and 
fame,  especially  popular  as  a  preacher  to  the 
young.  In  April  1824  he  was  prosecuted  in 
the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  courts  in  a  breach 
of  promise  case  with  Miss  Eliza  Dick.  In  the 
king's  bench  no  verdict  was  given,  but  in 
the  meeting  of  the  united  associate  synod  at 
Edinburgh  he  was  suspended  from  the  exer- 
cise of  his  office  and  from  church  fellowship 
(Trial  of  the  Rev.  Alexander  Fletcher  before 
the  United  Associate  Synod,  London,  1824, 
pp.  xvi,  120  ;  Trial  of  the  Rev.  A.  Fletcher 
before  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Sense,  1825 ;  An  Appeal  to  the  Public 
against  the  Associate  Synod  of  Scotland,  by 
A.  Fletcher,  1824 ;  The  Injustice  of  the  United 
Associate  Synod  Exposed,  presented  by  A. 
Fletcher,  1825 ;  The  Loves  of  the  Saints,  or 
the  Diverting  History  of  Sandy  and  Bobby, 
1825).  The  result  was  his  separation  from 
the  secession  church.  He  removed  with  the 
greater  part  of  his  congregation  to  Grub 
Street,  and  afterwards  to  their  new  and  spa- 
cious temple  in  Finsbury  Circus,  an  edifice 
which  cost  about  13,000^.,  and  was  at  the 
time  the  largest  chapel  in  London.  Here  for 
thirty-five  years  he  continued  to  minister  with 


acceptance  and  success.  He  was  honoured 
with  the  degree  of  D.D.  from  America,  and 
after  a  long  separation  was  again  welcomed 
as  a  minister  of  the  united  presbyterian 
church.  His  last  sermon  was  preached  to 
nearly  three  thousand  children,  in  Surrey 
Chapel,  in  February  1860,  and  from  that  time 
he  gradually  declined  in  health.  His  fame 
mainly  rests  upon  his  talent  in  preaching  to 
children,  and  upon  his  '  Family  Devotions/ 
of  which  fifty  thousand  copies  were  sold  in 
England,  besides  numerous  editions  in  the 
United  States.  He  died  of  bronchitis  and 
dropsy  at  4  Portland  Place,  Lower  Clapton, 
Middlesex,  30  Sept.  1860,  and  was  buried  in 
Abney  Park  cemetery  8  Oct.,  in  the  presence 
of  six  thousand  persons.  He  married,  13  Jan. 
1846,  Lydia,  daughter  of  Richard  Baynes  of 
Rayne  Lodge,  Essex. 

He  was  the  author  of  very  numerous 
works,  and  his  name  is  also  found  attached 
to  the  prefatory  introductions  to  many  books 
on  theological  subjects.  The  following  are 
his  chief  publications :  1.  '  The  Tendency  of 
Infidelity  and  Christianity  contrasted/  two 
sermons,  1815.  2.  A  sermon  on  the  death 
of  Queen  Caroline,  1821.  3.  'A  Spiritual 
Guardian  for  Youth/  a  sermon,  1822.  4.  '  A 
Collection  of  Hymns  for  Albion  Chapel/ 
1822.  5.  'The  Christian  Ambassador/ a  ser- 
mon, 1827.  6.  <  The  History  of  Miles  Lane 
Chapel/  1832.  7.  <  A  Guide  to  Family  De- 
votion, containing  a  Hymn,  a  portion  of 
Scripture,  with  Reflections  and  a  Prayer  for 
the  Morning  and  Evening  of  every  Day  in 
the  Year/  1834.  8.  <  Finsbury  Chapel  Col- 
lection of  Hymns/  1835.  9.  '  The  Juvenile 
Preacher,  including  twelve  sermons  by  A. 
Fletcher/  1836.  10.  '  Scripture  History  de- 
signed for  the  Improvement  of  Youth/  1839. 
11.  '  The  Illustrated  Watts's  Hymns,  edited 
by  A.  Fletcher/  1840.  12.  'The  Master's 
Joy,  the  Servant's  Reward/  the  funeral  ser- 
mon of  E.  Temple,  1841.  13.  The  funeral 
sermon  of  Augustus  Frederick,  duke  of 
Sussex,  1843.  14.  '  The  Sabbath  School 
Preacher  and  Juvenile  Miscellany/  1848-50, 
2  vols.,  continued  as  <  Dr.  Fletcher's  Juvenile 
Magazine/  1850-1,  1  vol.  15.  <  Address  to 
the  Young/ 1851.  16.  <  The  Bible  the  Great 
Exhibition  for  all  Nations/  1851.  17.  Ser- 
mon on  the  funeral  and  death  of  the  Duke  of 
Wellington,  1852.  18.  The  annual  Christ- 
mas-day sermon  to  children,  1855.  19.  Ad- 
dress at  the  grave  of  H.  Althans,  1855. 
20.  'Closet  Devotional  Exercises  for  the 
Young/  1859.  21.  '  Scripture  Teaching  for 
the  Young/  1859. 

[Macfarlane's  Altar-Light,  a  tribute  to  the 
memory  of  the  Eev.  A.  Fletcher,  1860 ;  Blair's 
The  Prince  of  Preachers,  Rev.  A.  Fletcher,  1860  ; 


Fletcher 


292 


Fletcher 


The  Christian  Cabinet  Illustrated  Almanack, 
1860,  p.  31,  with  portrait;  Gent.  Mag.,  November 
1860,  p.  563;  Times,  10  Oct.  1860,  p.  10; 
Fletcher's  History  of  Miles  Lane  Chapel,  1832, 
pp.  45-9.]  G.  C.  B. 

FLETCHER,  ANDREW,  LOKD  INNER- 
PEFFER  (d.  1650),  judge,  was  the  eldest  son 
of  Robert  Fletcher  of  Innerpeffer  and  Beucleo, 
Forfarshire,  a  burgess  of  Dundee.  He  suc- 
ceeded Sir  John  Wemyss  of  Craigtoun  as  an 
ordinary  lord  of  session,  18  Dec.  1623,  and 
retained  his  seat  in  1626,  when  many  of  the 
lords  were  displaced.  In  1630  he  was  placed 
upon  a  commission  upon  Scotch  law,  and  in 
1633  was  a  member  of  commissions  to  revise 
the  acts  and  laws  of  Scotland  with  a  view  to 
constructing  a  code,  a  project  which  was  not 
proceeded  with,  and  to  report  upon  the  juris- 
diction of  the  admiral  and  chamberlain.  He 
was  also  ordered  to  examine  Sir  Thomas 
Craig's  work  'Jus  Feudale,'  with  a  view  to  its 
publication.  In  1638  he  was  a  commissioner 
to  take  subscriptions  to  the  confession  of 
faith  of  1580.  He  was  employed  in  1639 
in  regulating  the  fees  of  writers  to  the  signet 
and  others,  and  parliament  adopted  the  scales 
which  he  laid  down.  On  13  Nov.  1641  he, 
with  others,  was  appointed  to  his  judgeship 
afresh  by  the  king  and  parliament,  and  his 
appointment  was  objected  to  by  the  laird  of 
Moncrieff,  upon  the  ground  that  he  was  in- 
capacitated by  having  purchased  lands  the 
subject  of  litigation  before  him.  The  matter 
was  referred  to  the  privy  council,  and  as 
Fletcher  retained  his  seat  the  charge  was 
presumably  disproved.  In  the  same  year  he 
was  a  commissioner  for  the  plantation  of 
kirks,  and  about  this  time  was  elected  mem- 
ber for  Forfarshire,  but  his  election  was 
avoided  for  illegality.  He  represented  that 
county,  however,  in  parliament  in  1646,1647, 
and  1648.  On  1  Feb.  1645  he  was  appointed 
a  commissioner  of  the  exchequer,  was  on  the 
committee  of  war  for  Haddingtonshire  in 

1647,  and  on  the  committee  of  estates  for 
Haddingtonshire  and  Forfarshire  in  1647  and 

1648.  He  was  fined  5,000/.  by  the  Protector 
in  1648.     Upon  the  question  whether  condi- 
tions should  be  obtained  from  the  English 
army  on  behalf  of  Charles  I,  he  was  one  of 
the  four  who  voted  against  abandoning  the 
king,  and  was  removed  in  1649  from  his  offices 
of  judge  and  commissioner  of  the  exchequer, 
on  account  of  his  accession  to  '  the  engage- 
ment,' for  the  carrying  on  of  which  he  had 
subscribed  in  the  previous  year  8, 500/.  (Scots), 
repaid  by  order  of  parliament  in  1662  after 
his  death  to  his  son  Robert.     He  was  also 
'  ordained  to  lend  money  to  the  public.'    In 
March  1650  he  died  at  his  house  in  East 
Lothian.    He  married  a  daughter  of  Peter 


Hay  of  Kirkland  of  Megginch,  brother  to 
George,  first  earl  of  Kinnoull,  by  whom  he 
had  a  son  Robert,  afterwards  knighted,  who 
was  father  of  Andrew  Fletcher  of  Saltoun. 

[Acts  Scots  Parl. ;  Books  of  Sederunt ;  Brun- 
ton  and  Haig's  Senators ;  Guthrie's  Memoirs ; 
Lament's  Diary,  p.  14 ;  Gordon's  Hist.  Scots 
Affairs  (Spalding  Club),  i.  109.]  J.  A.  H. 

FLETCHER,  ANDREW  (1655-1716), 
Scotch  patriot,  born  in  1655  at  Salton  (for- 
merly Saltoun),  East  Lothian,  was  the  son  and 
heir  of  Sir  Robert  Fletcher  (1625-1664),  a 
country  gentleman  of  good  estate,  at  whose 
pressing  instance  Gilbert  Burnet  [q.  v.],  after- 
wards bishop  of  Salisbury,  became  parish 
minister  of  Salton  in  1665.  In  his  epicedial 
'  discourse '  on  his  patron  Burnet  describes  him 
as  a  man  of  singular  devoutness,  very  charit- 
able, and  somewhat  a  cultivator  of  philosophy 
and  science.  Sir  Robert  is  said  (BucHAN,  p.  6) 
to  have  expressed  a  desire  on  his  deathbed  that 
Burnet  should  superintend  the  education  of 
his  son,  then  a  boy  of  ten,  and  this  Burnet 
seems  to  have  done  during  the  remaining  five 
years  of  his  stay  at  Salton.  Their  acquaint- 
ance long  survived  this  connection,  and  Bur- 
net,  in  the  '  History  of  his  own  Time'  (iiu 
24),  speaks  of  Fletcher  as  '  a  Scotch  gentle- 
man of  great  parts  and  many  virtues,  but  a 
most  violent  republican,  and  extremely  pas- 
sionate.' Fletcher  became  one  of  the  most 
accomplished  Scotchmen  of  his  time.  While 
young,  he  made  a  tour  on  the  continent,  and 
after  his  return  to  Salton  soon  became  a 
marked  man  through  his  local  opposition  to 
Lauderdale.  In  July  1680  he  was  rebuked 
by  the  Scotch  privy  council  for  obstructing 
the  drafting  of  a  number  of  men  from  the 
militia  into  the  standing  force  maintained  to 
overawe  presbyterian  malcontents  (FoTJN- 
TAINHALL,  Hist.  Notices,  i.  270).  In  the  Scotch 
convention  of  estates  which  met  in  June  1678 
Fletcher  sat  as  a  commissioner  for  his  county 
(FouNTAiNHALL,  Hist.  Observes, '  Accompt  of 
the  Convention  of  Estates,'  &c.,  pp.  270-1),  the 
statement  in  the  official  lists  of  that  assembly 
(Acts  of  the  Parliaments  of  Scotland,  viii. 
214;  Members  of  Parliament:  Return  to  the 
Home  of  Commons,  1878,  pt.  iii.  p.  583)  that 
'  a  James  Fletcher'  was  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners for  East  Lothian  being  undoubtedly 
incorrect.  He  voted  in  it  with  the  Duke  of 
Hamilton  in  opposition  to  Lauderdale's  policy. 
He  was  punished  as  a  malcontent  by  having 
soldiers  quartered  on  him,  and  a  petition 
which  he  and  others  presented,  complaining 
of  this  proceeding  as  '  contrare  to  law,'  was 
'  much  resented '  by  the  council  (FOUNTAIN- 
HALL,  Hist.  Notices,  i.  281).  He  was  again 
a  commissioner  for  East  Lothian  in  the  Scotch 


Fletcher 


293 


Fletcher 


parliament  which  met  in  July  1681,  and  he 
industriously  opposed  the  measures  of  Lau- 
clerdale's  successor,  the  Duke  of  York.  Sir 
John  Dalrymple,  in  a  statement  seemingly 
unsupported  (pt.  i.  bk.  i.  p.  39),  asserts  that 
Fletcher  broached  the  successful  proposal  to 
make  a  profession  of  presbyterianism  part  of 
the  test  which  was  imposed  by  that  parliament 
<cf.  WODROW,  iii.  298,  and  BURNET,  ii.  301-2, 
who  differ  materially  as  to  the  early  history  of 
the  test).  Certainly  he  had  the  courage  with 
only  one  other  member  to  record  a  protest 
against  the  provision  of  the  act  which  made 
subscription  to  the  test  imperative  on  county 
electors,  as  well  as  on  their  representatives 
{Acts  of  the  Parliaments  of  Scotland,  viii.  245). 
lie  is  said  to  have  addressed  to  members  of 
the  parliament  anonymous  letters  beseeching 
them  to  oppose  the  Duke  of  York's  succession 
(FOUNTAINHALL,  Hist.  Observes,  p.  209).  In 
April  1682,  as  a  commissioner  of  cess  and 
excise,  he,  with  some  colleagues,  was  again 
brought  before  the  privy  council  on  a  charge 
of  not  having  levied  a  local  tax  to  be  applied 
in  supplying  the  soldiery  with  corn  (FOUN- 
TAINHALL, Hist.  Notices,  i.  352).  Fletcher 
took  part  in  the  exodus  of  Scotch  malcontents 
which  followed  the  condemnation  of  Archi- 
bald, ninth  earl  of  Argyll  [q.  v.],  for  refusing 
more  than  a  qualified  acceptance  of  the  test.  It 
is  said  (FOUNTAINHALL,  Hist.  Observes,}*.  214) 
that  when  he  was  about  this  time  an  exile  at 
Brussels  the  Duke  of  York  asked  the  Spanish 
governor  there  to  have  him  arrested.  Hearing 
•of  this  Fletcher  came  secretly  to  London  and 
was  taken  into  the  confidence  of  Monmouth, 
Hussell,  and  Sydney,  who  were  planning  their 
movement  for  a  change  in  the  system  of  go- 
vernment. With  its  collapse  and  Monmouth's 
ilight  to  Holland,  Fletcher  left  England  and 
was  for  a  time  in  Paris,  where  Lord  Preston, 
•Charles  II's  envoy  extraordinary  toLouis  XIV, 
wrote  to  Halifax,  5  Oct.  1683:  'Here  is 
one  Fletcher,  laird  of  Salton,  lately  come 
from  Scotland.  He  is  an  ingenious  but  a 
•violent  fanatic,  and  doubtless  hath  some  com- 
mission, for  I  hear  he  is  very  busy  and  very 
virulent '  (Appendix  to  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  7th 
Rep.  343  £).  Fletcher  is  next  heard  of  as 
in  Holland,  and  as  one  of  the  most  intimate 
associates  and  advisers  there  of  Monmouth, 
from  whom  he  hoped  for  at  the  very  least  the 
convocation  of  a  *  free  parliament '  in  Eng- 
land. In  spite  of  his  impetuosity  Fletcher 
was  earnest  in  dissuading  Monmouth  from 
imprudent  enterprises.  He  was  strongly  op- 
posed to  Argyll's  disastrous  expedition  to 
Scotland,  and  to  Monmouth's  own  expedition 
to  England  (BURNET,  iii.  25,  from  Fletcher's 
own  information ;  FERGUSON,  p.  210).  To 
Lord  Grey  of  Wark's  argument  in  its  favour, 


founded  on  the  success  of  Henry  VII's  expe- 
dition, Fletcher  replied  that  Henry  reckoned, 
as  Monmouth  could  not,  on  the  support  of 
a  strong  party  of  powerful  English  nobles 

(BURNET,  ib.) 

Fletcher  nevertheless  sailed  with  Mon- 
mouth and  landed  at  Lyme  11  June  1685. 
On  the  13th  he  was  to  have  been  joined  with 
Lord  Grey  in  the  command  of  a  troop  of  horse 
in  an  expedition  to  Bridport.  He  rode,  or 
insisted  on  riding,  a  fine  charger  brought  in 
that  day  by  one  Dare,  who  also  accompanied 
the  duke  to  England.  Dare,  formerly  a  dis- 
affected goldsmith  and  alderman  of  Taunton, 
joined  the  refugees  in  Holland,  and  made  him- 
self useful  to  them  and  to  Monmouth  by  aid- 
ing them  to  communicate  with  their  friends 
in  England.  After  having  been  Monmouth's 
secretary  he  was  appointed  paymaster  of  the 
expeditionary  force,  and  much  benefit  to  the 
enterprise  was  expected  from  his  knowledge 
of  the  district  and  his  old  connection  with 
Taunton.  Dare  angrily  disputed  Fletcher's 
claim  to  the  use  of  his  horse,  and  after  having 
reviled  him  for  some  time  shook  a  switch  at 
him,  on  which  Fletcher  drew  a  pistol  and 
shot  him  dead.  Monmouth  was  forced  to  part 
with  Fletcher,  who  embarked  on  board  the 
vessel  which  had  been  hired  to  bring  the 
expedition  to  England,  and  the  papers  of 
which  were  made  out  for  Bilbao.  According 
to  Lord  Buchan  (p.  18)  Fletcher  told  his 
friend  Keith,  the  earl  marischal,  that  he 
quitted  Monmouth,  not  on  account  of  the 
Dare  incident,  but  out  of  disgust  at  Mon- 
mouth's proclamation  of  himself  at  Taunton 
as  king.  But  the  Dare  catastrophe  occurred 
on  13  June,  and  Monmouth  was  not  pro- 
claimed king  at  Taunton  until  the  20th.  The 
contemporary  authorities,  while  differingmore 
or  less  as  to  details,  agree  that  the  death  of 
Dare  alone  produced  Fletcher's  separation 
from  Monmouth.  Fletcher  was  incapable  of 
falsehood.  Keith  must  have  misunderstood 
or  misreported  him  (cf.  BUCHAN,  ib. ;  BURNET, 
iii.  44-5;  EGBERTS,  i.  272-4;  FERGUSON, 
221-2  ;  State  Trials,  xi.  1055). 

According  to  the  earl  marischal's  further 
reports  of  conversations  with  him  (see  BU- 
CHAN, pp.  19-23)  Fletcher  was  thrown  into 
prison  soon  after  he  landed  at  Bilbao,  and  his 
extradition  was  demanded  by  the  English 
minister  at  Madrid.  He  is  represented  to 
have  made  a  romantic  escape  from  prison, 
and  then  to  have  wandered  through  Spain  in 
disguise,  viewing  the  country  and  the  people, 
studying  in  the  conventual  libraries,  and  pur- 
chasing rare  and  curious  books,  some  of  which 
found  their  way  to  his  library  at  Salton. 
When  his  Spanish  wanderings  were  over,  he 
went  to  Hungary  and  fought  as  a  volunteer 


Fletcher 


294 


Fletcher 


against  the  Turks  (ib.  p.  22,  with  a  referenc 
to  family  manuscripts),  whom  in  one  of  hi 
writings  Fletcher  calls  '  the  common  eneni 
of  mankind.'  In  his  absence  he  was  tried  a 
Edinburgh,  4  Jan.  1686,  for  treasonable  com 
plicity  in  Monmouth's  rebellion,  when  he  wa 
sentenced  to  death  and  his  estate  forfeited 
One  of  the  two  witnesses  on  whose  evidenc 
he  was  condemned  described  him  as  '  a  littl 
man,'  wearing  '  a  brown  periwig,  of  a  lean 
face,  pock-marked '  (State  Trials,  xi.  1054) 
Of  the  amnesty  proclaimed  by  James  II  in  hi 
letter  to  the  parliament  of  Scotland,  29  Apri 
1686  (Acts,  &c.,  viii.  879-80),  Fletcher,  un 
like  some  other  Scotchmen  in  his  predicament 
did  not  avail  himself,  because  it  was  given 
in  virtue  of '  the  dispensing  power,'  and  no 
by  an  act  of  the  legislature  (see  BTJCHAN 
p.  30,  &c.) 

Fletcher  joined  William  of  Orange  at  th 
Hague  in  1688,  and  with  the  revolution  re- 
turned to  Scotland.   He  was  not  a  member  o 
the  Scottish  convention  which  met  14  March 

1689,  and  which  became  a  parliament  in  Jun 

1690,  when  his  estates  were  restored  to  him 
by  a  special  act.   He  became,  however,  one  01 
the  busiest  members  of '  the  club '  (Leven  and 
Melville  Papers,  p.  159),  an  association  con- 
sisting mainly  of  the  leaders  and  members  of 
the  majority  of  the  parliamentary  opposition 
formed  soon  after  William's  accession,  osten- 
sibly to  diminish  the  power  of  the  crown  in 
.Scotland.    Fletcher,  as  a  republican  and  a 
hater  of  English  domination,  naturally  ap- 
proved this  object.  He  now  began  to  attempt 
to  create  a  Young  Scotland  and  Scotch  home 
rule  party.    When  William  Paterson  pro- 
posed to  form  the  association  which  became  in 
1695,  by  an  act  of  the  Scotch  parliament, '  The 
Company  of  Scotland  trading  with  Africa  and 
the  Indies,'  the  principal  operation  of  which 
was  the  disastrous  attempt  to  colonise  the  isth- 
mus of  Darien,  Fletcher  is  said  to  have  brought 
Paterson  down  from  London  to  Salton,  to 
have  introduced  him  to  his  neighbour,  the 
Marquis  of  Tweeddale,  then  minister  for  Scot- 
land, and  to  have  aided  in  persuading  that 
nobleman  to  support  the  scheme  (DALKYMPLE, 
vol.  iii.  pt.  iii.  p.  129;  BTJCHAN,  p.  46).  These 
statements  are  not  supported  by  any  contem- 
porary authority.    In  the  original  list  of  share- 
holders (1696)  Fletcher  figures  as  the  sub- 
scriber of  1,0001.  to  the  stock  of  the  company 
(Darien  Papers,  p.  373). 

In  1698  appeared,  without  author's  name, 
Fletcher's  earliest  published  writings,  three 
in  number:  1.  'A  Discourse  of  Government 
relating  to  Militias,'  an  able  and  vigorous 
contribution  to  a  controversy  which  was  at 
that  time  being  fiercely  waged  in  England. 
Fletcher  argued  that  in  warfare  a  militia 


was  more  effective  than  a  standing  army. 
He  sketched  a  plan  for  the  establishment  of 
a  national  militia  by  the  formation  of  camps- 
of  military  instruction,  in  which  all  the  adult 
youth  of  the  country  were  to  be  trained  and 
disciplined  with  Spartan  rigour,  and  from 
which  ecclesiastics  were  to   be   excluded. 
2.   'Two  Discourses  concerning  the  Affairs, 
of  Scotland,  written  in  the  year  1698.'     In 
the  first  of  these  Fletcher  urged  that  the 
84,000/.  annually  spent  on  maintaining  a. 
force  of  regulars  in  Scotland  might  be  much 
more  usefully  employed  in  promoting  indus- 
try. In  the  second  '  Discourse '  Fletcher  pro- 
posed a  sweeping  measure  of  social  reform. 
He  estimated  at  two  hundred  thousand  at 
that  time  of  scarcity,  and  at  one  hundred 
thousand  in  ordinary  times,  the  number  of 
beggars  and  vagrants  who  infested  and  preyed 
upon  Scotland.  He  proposed  that  every  man 
of  a  certain  estate  should  be  obliged  to  take 
a  proportional  number  of  them  into  his  ser- 
vice.    They  were  to  be  servants  not  slaves, 
to  call  them  so  was  to  be  punishable,  and 
they  were  to  be  protected  by  law  like  ordi- 
nary servants,  with   the  important   excep- 
tions that  their  servitude  was  to  be  com- 
pulsory and  hereditary,  and  that  they  and 
their  children  might  be  '  alienated,'  i.e.  sold 
by  their  masters.   Fletcher  found  precedents, 
for  his  scheme  in  Scotch  acts  of  parliament 
passed  in  1579  and  1597,  the  first  of  which, 
Fletcher  said,  allowed  the  compulsory  servi- 
tude of  the  children  of  beggars  for  a  term  of 
years,  which  the  second  extended  to  their 
ifetime.     The  act  of  1579,  as  Fletcher  failed 
;o  observe,  permitted  the  compulsory  servi- 
tude of  even  an  adult  beggar  for  a  year,  and 
;his  term  also  was  extended  to  his  lifetime 
>y  the  act  of  1597.  In  the  same  '  Discourse' 
Fletcher  made  suggestions  for  the  improve- 
ment of  the  condition  of  the  Scotch  farmer.  He 
denounced  rack-renting,  to  which  he  ascribed 
•he  general  poverty  of  Scotland.     3.  *Dis- 
3orso  delle  cose  di  Spagna  scritto  nel  mese 
di  Luglio,  1698,'  with  the  imprint  'Napoli/- 
Dut  in  all  probability  printed  at  Edinburgh. 
?his  curious  Italian  tractate,  written  at  the 
ime  of  the  negotiation  of  the  first  partition 
reaty,  shows  how  measures  might  be  taken, 
unsuspected  by  any  one  except  Fletcher  him- 
elf,forthe  attainment  of  universal  monarchy 
>Y  Spain.  There  seems  to  have  been  a  second, 
dition  of  the  '  Discorso/  to  which  Fletcher 
•refixed  an  {  Aviso '  which  was  not  in  the 
rst  (see  his  Political  Works,  ed.  1737,  p.  179). 
letcW  returned  to  the  subject  of  Spain  in 
rhat  professes  to  be  'A  Speech  upon  the 
•tate  of  the  Nation  in  April  1701,'  but  it 
robably  never  was  spoken,  and  does  not 
eem  to  have  been  published  in  Fletcher's 


Fletcher 


295 


Fletcher 


lifetime.  It  attributes  to  William  III  a  pro- 
ject for  making  himself  an  absolute  monarch, 
in  connivance  with  Louis  XIV. 

Fletcher  entered,  as  a  commissioner  for 
East  Lothian  once  more,  the  new  Scotch  par- 
liament of  1703.     The  Scotch  were  irritated 
by  the  failure  of  the  Darien  scheme,  and  by 
the  unsatisfactory  character  of  the  English 
proposals  for  a  treaty  of  union.  Fletcher  and 
the  national  party  saw  an  opportunity  for 
wresting  from  Queen  Anne  a  large  measure 
of  political  independence  for   Scotland  by 
making  her  acceptance  of  their  terms  a  pre- 
liminary to  their  entering  on  the  question  of 
the  succession.     Fletcher  took  a  very  promi- 
nent part  in  the  parliamentary  controversy 
between  the  national  and  the  court  parties. 
On  27  May  1703  he  carried  a  resolution  to 
defer  a  grant  of  supply  until  guarantees  were 
obtained  for  the  security  of  the  religion  and 
liberties  of  Scotland,     On  22  June  he  pro- 
duced a  draft  act  of  security,  which,  if  ac- 
cepted by  the  parliament  of  Scotland   and 
by  Queen  Anne,  would  have  given  after  her 
death  home  rule  to  Scotland,      Fletcher's 
scheme  of  security  was  only  to  take  effect  if 
Queen  Anne's  successor  on  the  throne  of 
England  should  also  be  sovereign  of  Scot- 
land.     He   proposed  that   in   this   contin- 
gency the  Scotch  executive  should  be  chosen 
not  by  the  sovereign  of  both  countries,  but 
by  a  committee  of  the  parliament  of  Scot- 
land.    The  Scotch  parliament  was  to  meet 
annually,  and  the  votes  in  it  were  to  be  taken 
by  ballot.     For  every  nobleman  added  to  the 
parliament  a  '  lesser  baron,'  or  county  mem- 
ber, was  to  be  added.    A  national  militia  was 
to  be  established  as  soon  as  the  Act  of  Security 
became  law.  For  these  'limitations'  Fletcher 
pleaded  throughout  the  stormy  session  of 
1703.     Among  Fletcher's  proposals,  which 
were  embodied  in  the  Act  of  Security  passed 
by  the  Scotch  parliament,  and  in  1704  as- 
sented to  by  Queen  Anne,  was  that  for  the 
immediate  formation  and  arming  of  a  Scotch 
national  militia,  a  measure  which  was  re- 
garded by  the  English  government  and  par- 
liament as  a  menace  of  civil  war.     Another 
of  his  proposals,  to  deprive  the  sovereign  of 
the  power  of  declaring  war  and  making  peace, 
was  embodied  in  a  special  act,  which  also 
was  touched  with  the  sceptre.     When  the 
queen's  commissioner  announced  in  the  ses- 
sion of  1703  that  all  the  acts  passed  by  the 
parliament  during  it  would  be  thus  touched, 
except  the  Act  of  Security,  Fletcher  rose  and 
moved  a  resolution  declaring  that  '  after  the 


decease  of  her  majesty  we  will  separate  our 
crown  from  that  of  England.'  Fletcher's  de- 
fiant speeches,  along  with  the  adoption  of 
some  of  the  measures  advocated  in  them,  con- 


tributed powerfully  to  induce  Queen  Anne's 
advisers  to  revive,  this  time  successfully,  the 
project  of  a  legislative  union  of  England  and 
Scotland. 

Fletcher  issued,  without  his  name,  in  the 
year  of  their  delivery,  *  Speeches  by  a  Mem- 
ber of  the  Parliament  which  began  at  Edin- 
burgh the  6th  of  May,  1703.'  In  1704  ap- 
peared, also  anonymously,  the  most  attractive, 
to  modern  readers,  of  his  political  writings, 

I  An  Account  of  a  Conversation  concerning  a 
Right  Regulation  of  Governments  for  the 
common  good  of  Mankind.     In  a  Letter  to 
the  Marquis  of  Montrose,  the  Earls  of  Rothes, 
Roxburg,  and  Haddington,  from  London  the 
1st  of  December,  1703' — a  dialogue  described 
in  the  text  as  between  Fletcher  himself,  the 
Earl  of  Cr[o]m[a]rty,  Sir  Ed[ward]  S[ey]- 
m[ou]r,  and  Sir  Christopher]  M[u]sgr[a]ve. 
Fletcher  supports  his  theories   with   much 
dramatic  force  against  his  interlocutors.    In 
the  '  imaginary  conversation '  occurs  an  often 
quoted  and  misquoted  remark  of  Fletcher's. 

I 1  knew,'  he  says,  l  a  very  wise  man  so  much 
of  Sir  Christopher's  sentiment  that  he  be- 
lieved if  a  man  were  permitted  to  make  all 
the  ballads  he  need  not  care  who  should 
make  the  laws  of  a  nation.'     In  the  remain- 

ng  sessions,  1704  to  1707,  of  the  Scotch  par- 
liament Fletcher  continued  very  active,  but 
with  diminished  influence,  the  majority  de- 
ciding on  assenting  to  the  union.     In  all  its 
sessions  he  displayed  great  irritability,  the 
assembly  having  on  several  occasions  to  inter- 
?ere  to  prevent  him  fighting  duels  with  the 
Duke  of  Hamilton  and  Lord  Stair,  among 
others  (see  SIK  DAVID  HUME,  pp.  147,  160, 
&c.,  and  a  detailed  narrative  of  a  duel  just 
on  the  point  of  being  fought  by  him  in  BUR- 
TON'S  Qufifin  Anne,  i.   164-5).     Once,  July 
1705  (SiR  DAVID  HUME,  p.  167),  he  seems 
to  have  gone  the  length  of  proposing  that  the 
(first)   king   of  Prussia  should    be   named 
successor  to  Queen  Anne  in  the  sovereignty 
of  Scotland.     He  and  the  Jacobites  voted 
together  against  the  chief  clauses  of  the  Act  of 
Union.     It  had  been  touched  by  the  sceptre 
when,  27  Jan.  1707,  he  made  his  last  notice- 
able appearance  in  the  last  parliament  of 
Scotland,  with  a  motion,  apparently  success- 
ful, incapacitating  noblemen's  eldest  sons  for 
election  by  the  expiring  Scotch  legislature 
to  the  first  union  parliament  of  Great  Britain. 

Fletcher  was  one  of  the  members  of  the 
motley  party  opposed  to  the  union  who,  in 
April  1708,  were  brought  in  custody  to  Lon- 
don on  a  suspicion  of  having  been  privy  to 
the  attempted  French  invasion  of  Scotland 


in  the  previous  month  in  the  interest  of  the 
Pretender  (BoYER,  History  of  Queen  Anne, 
ed.  1722,  p.  338) ;  but  he  was  soon  discharged, 


Fletcher 


296 


Fletcher 


and  with  this  incident  he  disappeared  from 
public  life.  What  is  known  of  his  subsequent 
career  entitles  him  to  a  place  among  the  early 
improvers  of  Scotch  agriculture.  In  Holland 
he  had  been  struck  by  the  efficacy  of  the 
mill-machinery  used  there  for  removing  the 
husk  of  barley  and  converting  it  into  *  pot' 
barley,  and  of  the  fanners  for  winnowing  corn. 
In  1710  he  engaged  James  Meikle,  an  inge- 
nious millwright  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Salton,  father  of  the  better  known  Andrew 
Meikle,  to  go  to  Amsterdam  and,  under  his 
direction,  to  see  to  the  construction  of  such 
portions  of  the  ironwork  of  the  barley-mills 
as  could  not  easily  be  made  in  Scotland. 
Meikle  took  them  to  Salton  and  there  erected 
a  barley-mill,  which  found  constant  employ- 
ment (cf.  ALLARDYCE,  ii.  70,  where  the  Sal- 
ton  mill  is  said  to  have  been  erected  upon  a 
plan  made  from  memory  by  'William  Adam, 
the  architect,'  doubtless  the  father  of  the  three 
brothers  Adam) .  '  Salton  barley '  became  con- 
spicuous on  the  signboard  of  almost  every 
Scotch  retailer  of  such  articles,  yet  for  more 
than  forty  years  that  barley-mill  remained 
the  only  one  in  Great  Britain,  Ireland,  or 
America.  Fanners  also  were  erected  at  Sal- 
ton,  but  apparently  not  until  a  few  years 
after  Fletcher's  death  (HEPBURN,  pp.  145-6 ; 
SMILES,  p.  198).  Fletcher  died  in  London  in 
September  1716,  and  his  remains  were  taken 
to  Salton,  where  they  were  deposited,  and 
rest  in  the  family  burial-vault. 

Fletcher's  ardent,  courageous,  and  disin- 
terested patriotism  raise  him  far  above  the 
Scotch  politicians  of  his  time.  Historians 
from  Wodrow  to  Macaulay  unite  in  bearing 
testimony  to  his  worth.  Hume  calls  him  '  a 
man  of  signal  probity  and  fine  genius '  (His- 
tory of  England,  ed.  1854,  vi.  396).  The  Ja- 
cobite Lockhart  of  Carnwath,  who  sat  with 
him  in  the  Scotch  parliament  of  1703-7,  de- 
clared him  (p.  75)  to  be  l  so  steadfast  to  what 
he  thought  right  that  no  hazard  nor  advan- 
tage, no,  not  the  universal  empire,  nor  the 
gold  of  America,  could  tempt  him  to  yield 
or  desert  it.'  The  strict  Wodrow  (iv.  227), 
after  speaking  of  him  as  '  one  of  the  brightest 
of  our  gentry,  remarkable  for  his  fine  taste 
in  all  manner  of  polite  learning,  his  curious 
library,  his  indefatigable  diligence  in  every 
thing  he  thought  might  benefit  and  improve 
his  country, 'praises  the '  sobriety,  temperance, 
and  good  management'  which  he  exhibited  in 
private  life.  As  a  writer  he  is  superior  to 
any  Scotchman  of  his  age,  and  his  oratory, 
nervous  and  incisive,  is  made  eloquent  by  his 
sincerity  and  earnestness.  His  chief  fault 
was  his  irritability  of  temper.  The  story  re- 
tailed to  Mrs*.  Calderwood  during  her  journey 
in  Holland  (Coltness  Papers,  pp.  166-7,  and 


eproduced  in  CHAMBERS,  iii.  319  w.)  of  a 
)utch  skipper  deliberately  sent  out  of  the 
world  by  '  old  Fletcher  of  Salton '  from  a 
dislike  of  his  tobacco-smoking,  may  have 
>een  meant  to  refer  to  the  patriot,  though 
;his  is  by  no  means  certain,  since  the  date  of 
ler  narrative  is  1756,  forty  years  after  his 
death.  If  told  of  him  it  is  probably  apo- 
cryphal. Macky  (p.  223)  describes  him  as 
a  low,'  i.e.  short,  '  thin  man,  brown  com- 
jlexion,  full  of  fire,  with  a  stern,  sour  look.' 
He  died  unmarried. 

All  the  writings  of  Fletcher  previously 
mentioned  are  contained  in  the  first  collec- 
tion of  his  '  Political  Works,'  London,  1737 ; 

;  l  Character  of  the  Author,  from  a  MS. 
in  the  Library  of  the  late  Thomas  Rawlinson/ 
prefixed  to  it,  and  often  reprinted  subse- 
quently with  the  same  account  of  its  source, 
being  simply  that  given  by  Macky  in  the 
volume  already  quoted  from.  In  the  next 
dition  of  the  '  Political  Works/  Glasgow, 
1747,  the  '  Discorso  delle  cose  di  Spagna ' 
appears  in  an  English  translation  solely. 
The  volume,  London,  1798,  professing  to 
contain  the  'Political  Works/  gives  only 
Fletcher's '  Discourse  on  Militias '  and  the  'Ac- 
count of  a  Conversation/  'with  notes,  &c.,  to 
which  is  prefixed  a  sketch  of  his  life,  with 
observations,  moral,  philosophical,  and  politi- 
cal, by  R.  Watson,  M.D.'  The  life  is  value- 
less. To  Lord  Buchan's  '  Memoir '  are  ap- 
pended Fletcher's  parliamentary  speeches  of 
1703.  'An  Historical  Account  of  the  Ancient 
Rights  and  Power  of  the  Parliament  of  Scot- 
land/ &c.,  published  anonymously  at  Edin- 
burgh in  1703,  and  reprinted  at  Aberdeen  in 
1823  as  '  undoubtedly '  written  by  Fletcher, 
may  be  pronounced  to  have  been  undoubtedly 
not  written  by  him  were  it  only  because  a 
very  complimentary  reference  is  made  in  it 
to  the  author  of  the  '  Discourse  of  Govern- 
ment with  relation  to  Militias.'  The  cata- 
logue of  the  Edinburgh  Advocates'  Library 
attributes  to  Fletcher  two  pamphlets,  no- 
where else  referred  to,  in  connection  with  him : 
1.*  Scotland's  Interest,or  the  great  Benefit  and 
Necessity  of  a  Communication  of  Trade  with 
England/  &c.,  1704.  2.  '  State  of  the  Con- 
troversy betwixt  United  and  Separate  Par- 
liaments/ &c.  Neither  of  these  pamphlets 
is  in  the  Library  of  the  British  Museum. 
Fletcher  left  behind  him  a  manuscript '  Trea- 
tise on  Education/  of  which  nothing  seems 
now  to  be  known.  The  library  which  he 
formed  is  still  preserved  at  Salton  Hall,  in  a 
room  built  expressly  for  it  in  1775  by  his 
grand-nephew,  also  an  Andrew  Fletcher. 

[Fletcher's  writings ;  Earl  of  Buchan's  Essays 
on  the  Lives  and  Writings  of  Fletcher  of  Saltoun 
and  the  Poet  Thomson  (1792):  Biographical, 


Fletcher 


297 


Fletcher 


Critical,  and  Political,  1792;  Bishop  Burnet's 
History  of  his  own  Time,  ed.  1823  ;  Wodrow's 
History  of  the  Sufferings  of  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land,  1829-30 ;    Fountainhall's  Historical  Ob- 
serves of  Memorable  Occurrences  in  Church  and 
State,  1840,  and  Historical  Notices  of  Scottish 
Affairs,  1847-8  (Bannatyne  Club) ;   Sir  David 
Hume  of  Crossrigs'  Diary  of  the  Proceedings  in 
the  Parliament  ...  of  Scotland,  1700-7  (Ban- 
natyne Club) ;  Lockhart  Papers,  1817  ;  Macky's 
Memoirs,  1733  ;  Sir  John  Dalrymple's  Memoirs 
of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  ed.  1790;  G.  Ro- 
berts's  Life,  &c.,  of  James,  Duke  of  Monmouth, 
1844;  J.  Ferguson's  Kobert  Ferguson  the  Plot- 
ter, 1887;  Howell's  State  Trials;  J.  Hill  Bur- 
ton's History  of  Scotland,  2nd  edit.  1873,  and 
History  of  the  Reign  of  Queen  Anne,    1880  ; 
R.  Chambers' s   Domestic   Annals  of  Scotland, 
1858-61 ;  Allardyce's  Scotland  and  Scotsmen  in 
the  Eighteenth  Century  (from  the  manuscripts 
of  John  Ramsay  of  Ochtertyre),  1888 ;  G-.  Buchan 
Hepburn's  General  View  of  the  Agriculture  and 
Rural  Economy  of  East  Lothian,  1794 ;  Smiles's 
Lives  of  the  Engineers,  '  Andrew  Meikle; '  other 
authorities  cited ;  family  information ;  communi- 
cations  from  Sir  W.  Fraser,  deputy-keeper  of 
the   Records   of   Scotland.      The  chief   autho- 
rity for   a  life   of  Fletcher  is   the   quasi-bio- 
graphical rhapsody  of  David   Steuart  Erskine 
[q.  v.],  the  eccentric  (eleventh)  earl  of  Buchan 
(1742-1829),  who  did  not  turn  to  much  account 
the  papers  relating  to  Fletcher  which  were  lent 
to  him   from  the   family  archives,  and  which 
were  afterwards,  unfortunately,  lost.  When  Lord 
Buchan's  statements  can  be  tested,  he  is  too  often 
found  untrustworthy.     Before  the  papers  were 
lost  they  were  also  consulted  by  the  writer  of  the 
memoir  of  Fletcher  in  the  third  edition  of  the 
Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  1797.     He  extracted 
from  them  the  interesting  statement  that  while 
the  Jacobite  George  Keith,  the  well-known  (tenth) 
earl  marischal,  who  had  been  with  Fletcher  a 
member  of  the  Scotch  parliament   of   1703-7, 
was  governor  of  Neufchatel,  he  asked  Rousseau 
to  write  a  life  of  Fletcher,  for  which  he  pro- 
mised the  needful   material.      There  are   brief 
reports  of  several  of  Fletcher's  parliamentary 
speeches,  sometimes  given  as  those  of  a  nameless 
'  member,'  in  Boyer's  Annals  of  Queen  Anne, 
1703-7,  but  the  most  instructive  indications  of 
his  parliamentary  career  are  in  Sir  David  Hume's 
Diary.    Some  depreciatory  remarks  on  Fletcher's 
parliamentary  influence  and  tactics  in  the  manu- 
script memoirs  of  Sir  John  Clerk  are  quoted  in 
Somerville's  History  of  Great  Britain  during 
the  Reign  of  Queen  Anne,  p.  204  n.,  and  in 
Howell's  State  Trials,  xi.  1050  n.     The  Retro- 
spective Review  (first  series),  vol.  iv.  part  i.,  con 
tains  an  article  on '  Fletcher's  Political  Writings.' 
There  are  interesting  references  to  Fletcher  and 
his  schemes,  political  and  social,  in  Lord  Mac- 
aulay's  History  of  England,  and  still  more  of  the 
kind  in  Dr.  Hill  Burton's  History  of  Scotland 
A  brief  notice  appears  in  Anderson's  Scottish 
Nation.]  F.  E. 


FLETCHER,  ANDREW,  LOED  MILTON 
(1692-1766),  lord  justice  clerk,  was  the 
eldest  son  of  Henry  Fletcher  of  Salton, 
Haddingtonshire,  by  his  wife  Margaret, 
daughter  of  Sir  David  Carnegie  of  Pittarrow, 
bart.,  and  nephew  of  Andrew  Fletcher  of 
Salton  [q.  v.]  He  was  born  in  1692,  and 
having  been  educated  for  the  bar  was  ad- 
mitted an  advocate  on  26  Feb.  1717.  In 
the  following  year  he  was  nominated  a 
cashier  of  the  excise.  In  1724,  when  only 
thirty-two  years  of  age,  he  was  appointed  an 
ordinary  lord  of  session  in  the  place  of  Sir 
John  Lauder  of  Fountainhall,  and  took  his 
seat  on  the  bench  on  4  June  in  that  year. 
On  22  June  1726  he  became  a  lord  justiciary 
on  the  resignation  of  James  Hamilton  of 
Pencaitland,  and  by  patent  dated  7  July  1727 
was  nominated  one  of  the  commissioners  for 
improving  the  fisheries  and  manufactures  of 
Scotland.  On  21  June  1735  he  succeeded 
James  Erskine  of  Grange  as  lord  justice  clerk, 
and  on  10  Nov.  1746  was  appointed  principal 
keeper  of  the  signet.  In  1748  he  resigned 
the  office  of  justice  clerk, '  but  retained  the 
charge  of  superintending  elections,  which  he 
considered  as  his  masterpiece'  (Scotland  and 
Scotsmen  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  1888,  i. 
89).  The  acuteness  of  his  judgment,  and  his 
accurate  knowledge  of  the  laws  and  customs 
of  Scotland,  early  recommended  him  to  the 
notice  and  confidence  of  Lord  Islay,  after- 
wards Archibald,  third  duke  of  Argyll,  to 
whose  hands  the  chief  management  of  Scottish, 
affairs  was  then  entrusted,  and  for  a  number 
of  years  Milton  acted  as  his  confidential 
agent  in  Scotland.  As  lord  justice  clerk  he 
presided  at  the  trial  of  Captain  Porteous  in 
1736,  and  in  May  of  the  following  year  was 
examined  at  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Lords 
with  regard  to  matters  arising  out  of  those 
proceedings.  During  the  rebellion  of  1745 
he  acted  with  great  leniency  and  discretion, 
and  after  its  suppression  strenuously  exerted 
himself  in  the  promotion  of  the  trade  and 
agriculture  of  the  country.  He  took  an 
active  part  in  the  abolition  of  the  exceptional 
heritable  jurisdictions,  and  under  his  advice 
the  greater  part  of  the  government  patronage 
in  Scotland  was  dispensed.  Milton  died  at 
Brunstane,  near  Edinburgh,  on  15  Dec.  1766, 
in  the  seventy-fifth  year  of  his  age,  after  a 
long  illness.  He  married  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  Sir  Francis  Kinloch  of  Gilmerton,  bart. 
His  mother  appears  to  have  been  a  woman 
of  great  energy  and  enterprise.  Taking  with 
her  a  millwright  and  a  weaver  she  went  to 
Holland,  where  '  by  their  means  she  secretly 
obtained  the  art  of  weaving  and  dressing 
what  was  then,  as  it  is  now,  commonly  called 
Holland  (fine  linen),  and  introduced  the 


Fletcher 


298 


Fletcher 


manufacture  into  the  village  and  neigh- 
bourhood of  Salton'  (The  Bee,  xi.  2).  A 
number  of  Milton's  letters  relating  to  affairs 
in  Scotland  in  1745  will  be  found  in  the 
appendix  to  John  Home's  '  History  of  the 
Rebellion  in  the  year  1745 '  (1802).  Two 
portraits  of  Milton  by  Allan  Ramsay  were 
exhibited  in  the  Scotch  Loan  Collection  at 
Edinburgh  in  1884  (Catalogue,  Nos.  121  and 
187).  A  small  engraving  by  R.  Scott,  after 
one  of  Ramsay's  portraits,  forms  the  fronti- 
spiece to  the  eleventh  volume  of '  The  Bee.' 
[The  Bee,  or  Literary  Weekly  Intelligencer, 
xi.  1-5 ;  Brunton  and  Haig's  Senators  of  the 
College  of  Justice  (1832),  pp.  498-9  ;  Anderson's 
Scottish  Nation  (1863),  ii.  226;  Chalmers's  Biog. 
Diet,  of  Eminent  Scotsmen  (1869),  ii.  36  ;  Scots 
Mag.  1746  viii.  550,  1748  x.  509,  1766  xxviii. 
671  :  Burke's  Landed  Gentry  (1879),  i.  574.] 

G.  F.  K.  B. 

FLETCHER,  ARCHIBALD  (1746- 
1828),  reformer,  was  descended  from  the 
highland  clan  of  Fletcher,  his  ancestors,  ac- 
cording to  tradition,  being  the  first  who ( had 
raised  smoke  or  boiled  water  on  the  braes  of 
Glenorchy.'  He  was  the  eldest  son  of  Angus 
Fletcher,  a  younger  brother  of  Archibald 
Fletcher  of  Bennice  and  Dunans,  Argyle- 
shire,  by  his  second  wife,  Grace  M'Naghton, 
and  was  born  at  Pooble  in  Glenlyon,  Perth- 
shire, in  1746.  After  attending  the  gram- 
mar school  of  Kenmore  in  Breadalbane  he 
entered  the  high  school  of  Perth  in  his  thir- 
teenth year.  He  served  an  apprenticeship 
to  a  writer  to  the  signet  in  Edinburgh,  and 
became  confidential  clerk  to  Lord-advocate 
Sir  James  Montgomery,  who  introduced  him 
to  Mr.  Wilson  of  Howglen,  with  whom  he 
became  partner.  In  his  earlier  years  he  de- 
voted much  of  his  spare  time  to  study,  rising 
at  four  in  the  morning  to  read  Greek,  attend- 
ing a  debating  society,  and  enrolling  himself 
in  some  of  the  university  classes,  including 
that  of  moral  philosophy,  where  he  had  as 
one  of  his  fellow-students  Dugald  Stewart, 
with  whom  he  became  intimately  acquainted. 
In  1778  he  was  chosen,  on  account  of  his 
knowledge  of  Gaelic,  to  negotiate  with  the 
M'Cra  highlanders,  who  refused  to  embark 
at  Leith  for  service  in  America.  When  about 
this  time  the  Faculty  of  Advocates  brought 
forward  a  resolution  that  no  one  above  the 
age  of  twenty-seven  should  be  admitted  a 
member  of  their  body,  Fletcher  wrote  a 
pamphlet  against  the  proposal,  which  was  so 
successful  that  the  resolution  was  withdrawn. 
The  pamphlet  gained  him  the  friendship  of 
Henry  Erskine.  He  also  distinguished  him- 
self by  an  '  Essay  on  Church  Patronage,'  in 
which  he  supported  the  popular  side.  In 
1784,  when  burgh  reform  was  first  agitated 


in  Scotland,  he  became  secretary  of  the  so- 
ciety then  formed  in  Edinburgh,  and  drew 
up  the  principal  heads  of  a  reform  bill  to  be 
submitted  to  parliament.  He  was  deservedly 
called  'father  of  burgh  reform/  both  on  ac- 
count of  his  initiation  of  the  agitation  and 
the  skill  and  energy  with  which  he  directed  it. 
In  1787  he  was  sent  as  delegate  to  London  by 
the  Scottish  burghs  to  promote  this  object, 
when  he  gained  the  friendship  of  Fox  and 
other  leaders.  It  was  not  till  1790  that  he 
was  called  to  the  Scottish  bar.  The  following 
year  he  married  Miss  Eliza  Dawson,  a  lady 
of  literary  tastes  [see  FLETCHEE,  ELIZA]. 
At  first  his  success  at  the  bar  was  hindered 
by  his  advanced  political  opinions,  but  he 
gradually  acquired  a  considerable  practice. 
He  was  a  supporter  of  the  American  war  of 
independence,  a  prominent  abolitionist,  and 
so  strong  a  sympathiser  with  the  French 
revolution  that  he  attended  every  anniver- 
sary of  the  fall  of  the  Bastille  from  14  July 
1789.  He  acted  without  fee  as  counsel  for 
Joseph  Gerrald  and  *  other  friends  of  the 
people '  charged  with  sedition  in  1793,  and 
in  1796  was  one  of  the  minority  of  thirty- 
eight  who  opposed  the  deposition  of  Henry 
Erskine,  dean  of  the  faculty.  In  1816  he 
retired  from  the  bar  on  account  of  declining 
health,  and  took  up  his  residence  at  Park- 
hill,  Stirlingshire.  Still  taking  a  special  in- 
terest in  questions  affecting  the  burghs  of 
Scotland,  he  published  in  1825  'An  Exami- 
nation of  the  Grounds  on  which  the  Conven- 
tion of  Royal  Burghs  claimed  the  right  of 
altering  and  amending  the  Setts  or  Consti- 
tution of  the  Individual  Burghs.'  He  died  at 
Auchindinny  House,  near  Edinburgh,  20  Dec. 
1828.  He  is  described  by  Lord  Brougham, 
as  '  one  of  the  most  upright  men  that  ever 
adorned  the  profession,  and  a  man  of  such 
stern  and  resolute  firmness  in  public  prin- 
ciple as  is  very  rarely  found  united  with  the 
amiable  character  which  endeared  him  to  pri- 
vate society.' 

[Account  by  Mrs.  Fletcher  in  Appendix  to  her 
Autobiography  ;  Kay's  Edinb.  Portraits,  ii.  445- 
447 ;  Cockburn's  Life  of  Lord  Jeffrey ;  Ferguson's 
Henry  Erskine  and  his  Times.]  T.  F.  H. 

FLETCHER,  ELIZA  (1770-1858),  auto- 
biographer,  was  born  on  15  Jan.  1770,  at  Ox- 
ton,  near  Tadcaster  in  Yorkshire,  where  her 
father,  named  Dawson,  descendant  of  a  race  of 
yeomen,  was  a  land  surveyor,  and  lived  on  a 
little  family  estate.  Eliza  was  the  only  child 
of  his  marriage  with  the  eldest  daughter  of 
William  Hill.  The  mother  died  ten  days 
after  the  birth.  At  eleven  years  old  Eliza, 
a  beautiful,  intelligent  girl,  was  sent  to  the 
Manor  School  at  York.  The  mistress  (Mrs. 


Fletcher 


299 


Fletcher 


Forster)  was t  a  very  well-disposed,  conscienti- 
ous old  gentlewoman,'  but  incapable  of  pro- 
per superintendence.     '  Four  volumes  of  the 
"Spectator"  constituted  the  whole  school 
library.'     Miss  Dawson  had  a  profound  ad- 
miration for  William  Mason  the  poet,  then 
a  York  notability,  especially  on  account  of 
his  ( Monody '  upon  his  wife's  death,  and  was 
shocked  at  seeing  him  '  a  little  fat  old  man 
of  hard-favoured   countenance/  devoted  to 
whist.     When  she  was  seventeen  accident 
brought  to  her  father's  house  a  Scotch  advo- 
cate, Archibald  Fletcher  [q.  v.],  '  of  about 
forty-three,  and  of  a  grave,  gentlemanlike, 
prepossessing  appearance.'     They  carried  on 
a  literary  correspondence  for  a  year,  and  after 
another  meeting  became  engaged,  though  the 
father  opposed  the  union,  preferring  a  higher 
suitor,  Lord  Grantley.     Miss  Dawson  got  a 
friend,  Dr.  Kilvington,  to  tell  Lord  Grantley 
of  her  engagement.     On  16  July  1791  the 
lovers  were  married  in  Tadcaster  Church. 
Her  father  did  not  sanction  the  ceremony  by 
his  presence,  but  he  could  not  withhold  his 
blessing.     For  seven-and- thirty  years,  at  the 
end  of  which  time  her  husband  died,  '  there 
was  not  a  happier  couple  in  the  three  king- 
doms.'    Fletcher's  steady  adherence  to  his 
whig  principles  prevented  his  getting  into 
practice,  and  they  were  often  reduced  to 
their  last  guinea.     Her  sympathy  prevented 
her  from  ever  regretting  the  sacrifice  to  prin- 
ciple.   Afterwards  success  in  life  set  steadily 
in  with  little  interruption.     Mrs.  Fletcher 
died  at  Edinburgh  5  Feb.  1858.    Her '  Auto- 
biography,' of  which  a  few  copies  had  been 
printed  for  private  circulation,  8vo,  Carlisle, 
1874,  was  published  at  Edinburgh  the  fol- 
lowing year  under  the  editorship  of  her  sur- 
viving child,  the  widow  of  Sir  John  Richard- 
son, the  Arctic  explorer.   The '  Life '  also  con- 
tains a  memoir  by  Mrs.  Fletcher  of  her  daugh- 
ter Grace,  and  another  of  her  son  Archibald, 
by  his  widow.    It  is  an  attractive  book  about 
a  most  lovable  woman,  who  seems,  according 
to  her  portraits,  at  fifteen  and  eighty,  to  prove 
*  that  there  is  a  beauty  for  every  age.' 

[Autobiography  of  Mrs.  Fletcher  of  Edin- 
burgh; Gent.  Mag.  3rd  ser.  iv.  340;  Athenaeum, 
1  May  1875.]  G.  G. 

FLETCHER,  GEORGE  (1764-1855),  a 
reputed  centenarian,  son  of  Joseph  Fletcher, 
was  baptised  at  Clarborough,  Nottingham- 
shire, 15  Oct.  1764,  but  according  to  his  own 
account  on  2  Feb.  1747,  and  worked  as  a 
labourer.  On  2  Nov.  1785  he  enlisted  in  the 
23rd  foot,  the  royal  Welsh  fusiliers,  from 
which  regiment  he  deserted  on  16  March 
1792.  Under  a  royal  proclamation  dated  1793 
all  deserters  were  pardoned,  and  their  ser- 


vices restored  on  certain  conditions.  Fletcher, 
taking  advantage  of  this  amnesty,  re-enlisted 
into  the  3rd  foot  guards  on  14  March  1793, 
stating  that  he  had  originally  entered  the  army 
in  October  1773.  This  addition  of  twelve  years 
to  his  army  services  he  continued  to  claim, 
throughout  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  re^ 
mained  in  his  regiment  for  ten  years,  and  was- 
then  pensioned  from  Chelsea,  Hospital  on 
18  April  1803  on  Is.  2$d.  a  day.  By  some  over- 
sight he  was  credited  with  twenty-four  and  a 
half  years'  service,  and  his  age  at  the  time  of 
his  discharge  was  entered  as  forty-nine  instead 
of  thirty-nine.  After  this  period  he  was  In. 
the  service  of  the  West  India  Dock  Company 
for  thirty-six  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time 
he  retired  on  a  pension.  He  was  a  local 
preacher  in  the  Wesleyan  methodist  con- 
nexion, and  in  his  sermons  gave  sketches  of 
his  own  career,  when  he  took  credit  for  his 
great  age,  and  related  details  of  his  services 
at  the  battle  of  Bunker's  Hill  in  July  1775,  al- 
though he  was  then  only  eleven  years  of  age. 
The  fame  of  his  age  caused  large  congrega- 
tions to  attend  his  preaching,  and  his  portrait 
as  a  man  of  a  hundred  and  six,  who  had  lived 
in  four  reigns,  was  extensively  sold  in  1853. 
One  of  his  later  announcements  says :  '  Fins- 
bury  Chapel,  Moorfields.  Two  sermons  will 
be  delivered  Wednesday,  June  21,  1854,  by 
the  Venerable  George  Fletcher,  in  his  108th 
year.  For  the  benefit  of  an  aged  minister.' 
He  died  at  41  Wade  Street,  Poplar,  London, 
2  Feb.  1855,  aged  91. 

[Thoms's  Human  Longevity,  1873,  pp.  64, 
164-70;  Registrar-general's  Weekly  Return, 
17  Feb.  1855,  p.  49;  Gent.  Mag.  April  1855, 

&440,  and  June,  p.  657  ;  Illustrated  London 
ews,   10  March  1855,  p.  221,  with   portrait; 
Times,  13  Feb.  1855,  p.  7,  col.  6.]      G.  C.  B. 

FLETCHER,  GILES,  LL.D.  (1549?- 
1611),  civilian,  ambassador,  and  poet,  was 
certainly  born  in  or  about  1549  at  Watford, 
Hertfordshire,  as  appears  from  his  own  state- 
ment on  being  admitted  to  the  university  of 
Cambridge.  It  has  hitherto  been  supposed 
that  he  was  a  native  of  Kent.  His  father, 
Richard  Fletcher,  was  vicar  of  Bishops  Stort- 
ford,  Hertfordshire,  from  1551  to  1555,  and 
was  subsequently  rector  of  Cranbrook  and 
vicar  of  Smarden,  Kent.  Giles  was  educated 
at  Eton,  whence  he  was  elected  to  King's  Col- 
lege, Cambridge,  being  admitted  a  scholar  on 
27  Aug.  1565,  and  a  fellow  on  28  Aug.  1568. 
He  proceeded  B.A.  in  1569,  and  commenced 
M.  A.  in  1573.  In  1576  he  took  an  active  part 
in  opposition  to  the  provost,  Dr.  Goad,  and 
signed  articles  accusing  the  provost  of  mal- 
administration and  infringement  of  the  col- 
lege statutes.  These  articles  were  laid  before 
Lord  Burghley  as  chancellor  of  the  university.. 


Fletcher 


300 


Fletcher 


His  decision  was  unfavourable  to  the  provost's 
opponents,  and  Fletcher  had  to  sign  a  formal 
submission  and  apology. 

He  was  deputy  orator  of  the  university  in 
1577.  On  28  Oct.  1579  the  provost  of  his 
college  enjoined  him  to  divert  to  the  study 
of  the  civil  law.  On  3  July  1580  he  was  con- 
stituted commissary  to  Dr.  Bridgwater,  the 
chancellor  of  the  diocese  of  Ely.  On  16  Jan. 
1580-1  he  married  Joan  Sheafe  of  Cranbrook. 
In  1581  he  was  created  LL.D.,  and  on  5  July 
in  that  year  was  in  a  commission  for  visiting 
the  church  of  Chichester,  of  which  diocese  he 
occurs  as  chancellor  in  1 582.  About  the  latter 
part  of  1584,  or  beginning  of  1585,  he  appears 
to  have  been  living  at  Cranbrook,  where  his 
son  Phineas  [q.  v.J  was  born.  In  the  parlia- 
ment which  began  23  Nov.  1585  he  served  for 
Winchelsea. 

He  was  sent  to  Scotland  with  Thomas  Ran- 
dolph, the  English  ambassador  in  that  country. 
There  is  a  letter  from  Fletcher  to  Sir  Francis 
Walsingham,  dated  Edinburgh,  17  May  1586, 
giving  an  account  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
general  assembly,  and  in  conclusion  begging 
to  be  employed  in  some  honest  service  in  Eng- 
land. At  a  subsequent  period  he  was  em- 
ployed in  negotiations  in  Germany,  Hamburg, 
and  Stade.  In  1588  he  was  despatched  on  a 
special  embassy  to  Russia,  being  probably  re- 
commended to  this  post  by  Randolph,  who 
had  formerly  been  ambassador  to  that  country. 
Before  he  set  out  Fletcher  was  made  a  master 
extraordinary  of  the  court  of  requests.  In 
Russia  he  was  treated  with  the  greatest  indig- 
nity, but  he  nevertheless  contrived  to  secure 
for  the  English  merchants  very  considerable 
concessions.  The  queen  sent  a  formal  com- 
plaint to  the  emperor,  remonstrating  on  the 
manner  in  which  Fletcher  had  been  treated. 
He  returned  to  England  in  1589,  and  it  is 
believed  that  he  was  soon  afterwards  made  a 
master  of  requests  in  ordinary.  He  was  cer- 
tainly about  the  same  time  constituted  se- 
cretary or  remembrancer  to  the  city  of  London. 

In  1590  he  formed  the  design  of  writing 
an  extensive  history  of  the  reign  of  Queen 
Elizabeth  in  Latin.  He  applied  to  Lord 
Burghley  for  assistance  and  the  communica- 
tion of  state  papers,  and  consulted  him  on 
his  plan,  especially  as  to  whether  he  should 
undertake  to  justify  at  length  the  marriage 
of  Henry  VIII  with  Anne  Boleyn,  and  at 
what  point  he  should  commence  his  work. 
He  forwarded  a  scheme  in  Latin  of  his  first 
book,  to  comprise  the  first  year  of  Elizabeth's 
reign,  with  a  paper  of  articles  in  which  he 
desired  information. 

His  account  of  Russia,  which  appeared  in 
1591,  excited  no  little  alarm  on  the  part  of 
the  Eastland  merchants  of  England.  Point- 


ing out  the  passages  which  they  believed  were 
calculated  to  give  offence  to  the  emperor,  they 
memorialised  Lord  Burghley.  The  book  was 
quickly  suppressed,  and  it  is  only  within  the 
last  few  years  that  this  very  curious  and  in- 
teresting work  has  reappeared  in  its  integrity. 

Fletcher  was  one  of  the  commissioners  em- 
powered by  the  privy  council  on  25  Oct.  1591 
to  examine  Eustace  White,  a  seminary  priest, 
and  Brian  Lacey,  a  disperser  of  letters  to 
papists,  being  empowered  to  cause  them'  to 
be  put  to  the  manacles  and  such  other  tor- 
tures as  were  used  in  Bridewell.  His  brother, 
the  bishop  of  London,  a  few  months  before 
his  death  made  strenuous  efforts  to  obtain  for 
Fletcher  the  situation  of  master  extraordinary 
in  chancery.  It  does  not  appear  that  he  was 
successful.  Fletcher  was  one  of  the  bishop's 
executors.  This  trust  involved  him  in  great 
difficulties,  and  he  was  only  saved  from  arrest 
by  the  interposition  of  the  Earl  of  Essex. 
On  20  June  1597  he  was  presented  by  the 
queen  to  the  office  of  treasurer  of  the  church 
of  St.  Paul,  vacant  by  the  elevation  of  Dr. 
Bancroft  to  the  see  of  London.  In  1600  he 
obtained  from  King's  College,  Cambridge,  a 
lease  of  the  rectory  of  Ringwood,  Hampshire, 
for  ten  years.  It  had  been  previously  leased 
by  the  college  in  1596  for  a  similar  term  to 
Richard  Sheafe  of  Cranbrook,  clothier.  An 
expression  of  sympathy  for  his  unfortunate 
patron,  the  Earl  of  Essex,  led  to  his  being 
committed  in  February  1600-1  to  the  private 
custody  of  Mr.  Lowe,  one  of  the  aldermen  of 
London.  On  14  March  following  he  appealed 
for  release  to  Sir  Robert  Cecil  in  a  letter 
stating  that  he  was  infirm  through  grief  of 
mind  for  this  restraint,  and  the  affliction  of 
his  wife  and  children. 

In  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  he  was  plaintiff 
in  a  suit  in  chancery  against  Nathaniel  Pow- 
nall  on  personal  matters.  There  was  also  a 
bill  filed  by  him,  Joan,  his  wife,  and  Phineas, 
his  eldest  son,  against  John  Hall,  respecting 
the  site  of  the  manor  of  Hynwick,  Worcester- 
shire, and  a  pasture  lying  on  the  banks  of  the 
Severn  below  the  park  of  Hallow,  under  a 
lease  granted  by  the  Bishop  of  Worcester. 
In  November  1610  he  was  employed  by  the 
Eastland  merchants  to  treat  with  Dr.  Jonas 
Charisius,  the  king  of  Denmark's  ambassador, 
touching  the  removal  of  the  trade  from  the 
town  of  Krempe.  He  died  in  the  parish  of 
St.  Catherine  Colman,  Fenchurch  Street,  Lon- 
don, where  he  was  buried  on  11  March  1610- 
1611.  His  daughter  Judith  was  baptised  at 
St.  Thomas  the  Apostle,  London,  1  Aug.  1591. 
His  son  Nehemias  was  buried  at  Chelsea 
12  June  1596.  His  sons  Phineas  and  Giles 
are  noticed  in  separate  articles. 

Fletcher's  lease  of  Ringwood  had  been  re- 


Fletcher 


301 


Fletcher 


newed  by  King's  College  in  1605.  On  5  Aug. 
1611  James  I  sent  a  letter  to  the  provost  and 
fellows  to  grant  his  widow  the  term  of  ten 
years  in  that  parsonage. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  works  written 
by  or  ascribed  to  Fletcher :  1 .  Latin  verses 
(#)  in  the  collection  presented  by  the  Eton 
scholars  to  Queen  Elizabeth  at  Windsor 
Castle,  1563;  (6)  prefixed  to  Foxe's  *  Acts  and 
Monuments,' 2nd  edit.  1570;  (c)  subjoined  to 
Carr's  'Demosthenes/ 1571 ;  (d)  with  Walter 
Haddon's  poems,  1576 ;  (e)  before  Peter  Baro's 
'Prelections  on  Jonah,' 1579;  (/)  onthemotto 
and  crest  of  Maximilian  Brooke  in  Holins- 
hed's  '  Chronicles,'  p.  1512 ;  (g)  in  the  Cam- 
bridge University  collection,  on  the  death  of 
Sir  Philip  Sidney,  1587.  2.  A  Latin  letter 
in  the  name  of  the  university  of  Cambridge. 
In  '  Epistolae  Academies,'  MS.  ii.  455.  3.  A 
brief  of  his  '  Negotiation  in  Moscovia.'  In 
Lansd.  MS.  60,  art.  59 ;  Ellis's  '  Letters  of 
Eminent  Literary  Men,'  76-85 ;  and  Bond's 
'  Russia  at  the  Close  of  the  Sixteenth  Century,' 
p.  342.  4.  '  Of  the  Russe  Common  Wealth ; 
or,  Manner  of  Government  by  the  Russe  Em- 
perour  (commonly  called  the  Emperour  of 
Moskouia),  with  the  Manners  and  Fashions 
of  the  People  of  that  Country,'  London,  1591, 
8vo.  Dedicated  to  Queen  Elizabeth.  Abridged, 
with  the  suppression  of  material  passages,  in 
Hakluyt's  '  Voyages,'  i.  474.  Reprinted  also, 
with  the  suppression  of  some  passages  and 
many  verbal  differences,  in  '  Purchas,  his  Pil- 
grimes,'  iii.  413.  Epitomised  by  Harris,  in 
his '  Collection  of  Voyages,'  i.  542.  Reprinted 
as  '  The  History  of  Russia,  or  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  Emperour  of  Muscovia,  with  the 
Manners  and  Fashions  of  the  People  of  that 
Countrey,'  London,  1643,  1657,  12mo ;  also 
with  the  proper  title,  from  the  original  edi- 
tion, in  Edward  A.  Bond's  '  Russia  at  the 
Close  of  the  Sixteenth  Century,'  published 
for  the  Hakluyt  Society,  London,  1856,  8vo. 
There  is  a  manuscript  copy  of  the  f  Russe 
Common  Wealth'  at  University  College,  Ox- 
ford (MS.  No.  144).  Another  manuscript 
copy  is  preserved  at  Queens'  College,  Cam- 
bridge. 5.  'Answers  to  matters  objected 
against  Mr.  Horsey  by  the  Emperour's  Counsel 
of  Rusland.'  In  Bond's  '  Russia  at  the  Close 
of  the  Sixteenth  Century/  p.  373,  from  a  manu- 
script in  the  state  paper  office.  6.  'Licia, 
or  Poemes  of  Love :  in  Honour  of  the  ad- 
mirable and  singular  Vertues  of  his  Lady, 
to  the  imitation  of  the  best  Latin  Poets,  and 
others.  Whereunto  is  added  the  Rising  the 
Crowne  of  Richard  the  Third/  4to,  n.  d. 
Dedication  to  Lady  Molineux,  wife  of  Sir 
Richard  Molineux,  dated  from  the  author's 
chamber  4  Sept.  1593.  An  edition  of  this 
work,  prepared  by  the  Rev.  Alexander  B. 


Grosart,  who  has  prefixed  a  '  Memorial-In- 
troduction/ was  printed  for  private  circu- 
lation in  the  'Miscellanies  of  the  Fuller 
Worthies'  Library/ 1871.  Cf.  Hunter's '  New 
Illustrations  of  Shakespeare/ ii.  77, 78;  Dyce's 
'  Account  of  the  Lives  and  Writings  of  Beau- 
mont and  Fletcher/  pp.  xv,  xvi.  7.  'Reasons 
to  moue  her  Majesty  in  some  Commisseration 
towards  the  Orphanes  of  the  late  Bisshopp  of 
London/  Lambeth  MS.  658,  f.  193 ;  Dyce's 
'  Account  of  the  Lives  and  Writings  of  Beau- 
mont and  Fletcher/  p.  xiv,  and  less  correctly 
in  Birch's' Elizabeth/ ii.  113.  8.  'Deliteris 
antiquaa  Britanniae,  Regibus  praesertim  qui 
doctrina  claruerunt,  quique  Collegia  Canta- 
brigiae  fundarunt/  in  Latin  verse,  Cambridge, 
1633,12mo.  Edited  by  his  son  Phineas.  9. 'An 
Essay  upon  some  probable  grounds  that  the 
present  Tartars,  near  the  Cyprian  Sea,  are  the 
Posterity  of  the  Ten  Tribes  of  Israel.'  Printed 
in  Samuel  Lee's  '  Israel  Redux/  1677,  from 
the  author's  manuscript,  furnished  by  his- 
grandson,  Phineas  Fletcher,  citizen  of  Lon- 
don ;  and  again  by  Whiston  in  his '  Memoirs/ 
1749,  p.  576,  from  a  manuscript  formerly  in 
Sir  Francis  Nethersole's  library,  under  the  fol- 
lowing title:  'A  Discourse  concerning  the 
Tartars,  proving,  in  all  probability,  that  they 
are  the  Israelites,  or  Ten  Tribes,  which,  being 
captivated  by  Salmanaser,  were  transplanted 
into  Media.'  10.  Three  Eclogues  in  '  Poe- 
mata  varii  argument!/  1678.  They  are  en- 
titled respectively  'Contra  Praedicatorum 
Contemptum/  '  Querela  Collegii  Regalis/  and 
'  De  morte  Boneri.' 

[Addit.  MS.  6177,  p.  151 ;  Ames's  Typogr. 
Antiq.  (Herbert),  p.  1128  ;  Baker  MS.  iv.  14  seq. ; 
Beloe's  Anecdotes,  v.  222;  Biog.  Brit.;  Birch's 
Elizabeth,  ii.  77,  78, 100,  101,  113, 114,  150, 171, 
223,  224 ;  Memoir  by  E.  A.  Bond ;  Chamberlain's 
Letters,  temp.  Eliz.  p.  106;  Cooper's  Athense 
Cantabr.  iii.  34  (unpublished)  ;  Cotton.  MS; 
Nero  B.  v.  333  ;  Dixon's  Personal  Hist,  of  Lord 
Bacon,  p.  317;  Dyce's  Lives  of  Beaumont  and 
Fletcher;  Ellis's  Letters  of  Eminent  Lit.  Men, 
p.  76;  Faulkner's  Chelsea,  ii.  128,  196;  Fuller's 
Worth!  es, '  Kent ; '  G  reen's  Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom. 
James  I,  ii.  66;  Grosart's  Memorial-Introduction 
to  Licia;  Heywood  and  Wright's  King's  and  Eton 
Colleges,  pp.  239-41, 245, 248, 252 ;  Home's  Cat. of 
Queen's  Coll.  Library,  p.  1002 ;  Hunter's  Illustr. 
of  Shakespeare,  ii.  77,  78 ;  Jardine  on  Torture, 
p.  92  ;  Lansd.  MSS.  xxiii.  art.  18-20,  24,  26,  36, 
Ix.  art.  59,  Ixv.  f.  154,  Ixxii.  art.  28,  cxii.  art.  39  ; 
Ledger  Coll.  Regal,  ii.  537,  iii.  19,  132 ;  Lemon's 
Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  ii.  100,  646  ;  Le  Neve's 
Fasti  (Hardy),  ii.  357 ;  Lloyd's  State  Worthies, 
p.  662  ;  Lowndes's  Bibl.  Man.  (Bohn),  pp.  810, 
1358;  Lodge 's Illustr.  ii.  547  ;  Newcourt's  Reper- 
torium,  i.  107 ;  Lib.  Protocoll.  Colt.  Kegal.  i.  227, 
238,  ii.  19 ;  Stephenson's  Suppl.  to  Bentham's 
Ely,  p.  32 ;  Strype's  Annals,  ii.  420,  422,  iv.  268 


Fletcher 


302 


Fletcher 


fol.;  Strype's  Grindal,  267  fol. ;  Thorpe's  Ca 
State  Papers,  Scottish  Ser.  p.  521 ;  Willis's  No 
Parl.  iii.  (2)  107;  Wood's  Fasti  Oxon.  (Bliss 
i.  191.]  T.  C. 

FLETCHER,  GILES,  the  younger  (1588  ? 
1623),  poet,  younger  son  of  Giles  Fletcher 
LL.D.,  the  elder  [q.  v.],  and  younger  brothe 
of  Phineas  Fletcher  [q.  v.],  was  (according  t 
the  account  given  to  Fuller  by  John  Ramsey 
who  married  the  poet's  widow)  born  in  Lon 
don,  and  educated  at  Westminster  School 
Neither  statement  has  been  corroborated 
Before  1603  Fletcher  matriculated  at  Cam 
bridge.     He  was  elected  scholar  of  Trinity 
College  on  12  April  1605 ;  proceeded  B.A.  in 
1606 ;  became  a  minor  fellow  of  his  college 
on  17  Sept.  1608,  reader  in  Greek  gramma 
in  1615,  and  in  Greek  language   in  1618 
To  Thomas  Nevile,  D.D.,  master  of  Trinity 
Fletcher  acknowledged  special  indebtedness 
About  1618  he  left  Cambridge  to  hold  a  col- 
lege living,  which  he  soon  exchanged  for  the 
rectory  of  Alderton,  Suffolk.  It  has  been  sug- 
gested that  the  great  Francis  Bacon  presented 
him  to  the  latter  living.   In  Fletcher's  latest 
work,  'The  Reward  of  the  Faithfull/  which 
he  dedicated  to  Sir  Roger  Townshend,  he 
expresses  his  gratitude  for  favours  rendered 
him  to  Sir  Nathaniel  Bacon  of  Stiffkey,  the 
father  of  Sir  Roger's  wife,  and  to  Francis 
Bacon,  Sir  Nathaniel's  half-brother.  He  refers 
to  the  latter  as  his  '  honourable  benefactor, 
although  he  admits  that  he  had  no  personal 
acquaintance  with  him.     Fuller  writes  that 
Fletcher's '  clownish,  low-parted  parishioners, 
having  nothing  but  their  shoes  high  about 
them,  valued  not  their  pastor,  according  to 
his  worth,  which  disposed  him  to  melancholy 
and  hastened  his  dissolution.'    He  died  in 
1623 ;  the  registers  of  Alderton  are  not  ex- 
tant at  that  date.     Letters  of  administra- 
tion were  granted  to  his  widow  Anne  on 
12  Nov.  1623.   She  afterwards  married  John 
Ramsey. 

Fletcher  wrote  his  poems  at  a  very  early 
age.  In  1603  he  contributed  a  somewhat 
frigid  'Canto  upon  the  death  of  Eliza'  to  a 
volume  of  academic  verse  issued  at  Cambridge 
to  celebrate  Elizabeth's  death  and  James  I's 
accession.  His  chief  work  followed  in  1610, 
while  he  was  still  at  Trinity.  It  is  entitled 
*  Christ's  Victorie  and  Triumph  in  Heaven 
and  Earth  over  and  after  Death'  (Cambridge, 
by  C.  Legge,  small  4to),  in  two  parts,  with 
separate  title-pages  ('  Christ's  Triumph  over 
Death,' and  'Christ's  Triumph  after  Death'), 
dedicated  to  Dr.  Nevile,  master  of  Trinity, 
with  prefatory  verses  by  Francis  (afterwards 
Sir  Francis)  Nethersole,  and  by  the  author's 
brother  Phineas.  The  poet  in  a  prose  preface 
defends  the  application  of  verse  to  sacred 


subjects,  and  acknowledges  his  obligations  to 
'  thrice-honoured  Bartas,  and  our  (I  know  no 
name  more  glorious  than)  Edmund  Spencer, 
two  blessed  soules.'  Fletcher  tells  the  story 
of  Christ's  life  with  many  digressions,  and 
concludes  with  an  affectionate  reference  to 
the  poetic  work  of  his  brother  Phineas,  whom 
he  calls  '  Young  Thyrsilis.'  His  admiration 
of  Spenser  is  very  apparent.  Allegorical  de- 
scriptions of  vices  and  virtues  abound  in  his 
poem.  There  is  a  wealth  of  effective  imagery, 
with  which  the  occasional  simplicity  of  some 
passages  descriptive  of  natural  scenery  con- 
trasts attractively.  But  exaggerated  Spen- 
serian characteristics  mar  the  success  of  the 
work  as  a  whole.  The  versification,  although 
based  on  Spenser's,  is  original.  Each  stanza 
has  eight  lines,  the  last  an  Alexandrine, 
rhyming  thus  :  ababbccc.  Milton  borrowed 
something  from  '  Christ's  Triumph '  for  his 
'Paradise  Regained.'  Fletcher's  poem  was 
reissued  at  Cambridge  in  1632,  and  (in  four 
parts)  in  1640 ;  it  was  again  issued  in  1783 
(with  Phineas  Fletcher's  'Purple  Island'), 
in  1824,  in  1834  (as  vol.  xx.  of  Catter- 
mole  and  Stebbing's  '  Sacred  Classics '),  and 
in  1888  in  the  '  Library  of  Theological  Lite- 
rature.' 

Fletcher  also  published  a  prose  tract  (dedi- 
cated to  Sir  Roger  Townshend,  bart.),  '  The 
Reward  of  the  Faithfull :  the  Labour  of  the 
Faithfull:  the  Ground  of  our  Faith,'  London, 
1623.  A  few  verse  translations  from  Boethius 
and  Greek  epigrams  are  scattered  through 
;he  book.  Among  the  Tanner  MSS.  (465  f.  2) 
it  the  Bodleian  are  some  verses  by  Fletcher, 
after  Petronius,'  and  in  the  library  of  King's 
College,  Cambridge,  is  a  manuscript  entitled 
^Egidii  Fletcheri  Versio  Poetica  Lamenta- 
ionum  leremiae/  which  was  presented  to 
he  college  on  2  Feb.  1654-5  by  '  S[amuel] 
"h[oms]  soc.' 

Fletcher's  poetical  works  appear  in  Chal- 
mers's and  Sandford's  collections,  and  have 
>een  published  by  Dr.  Grosart  in  the  'Fuller 
Worthies'  Library  '  (1868),  and  in  '  Early 
English  Poets/  1876. 

[Hunter's  MS.  Chorus  Vatum  in  Addit.  MS. 
4487,  f.  122;  Cole's  MS.  Athense  Cantabr.;  Dr. 
Trosart's  introduction  to  his  edition  of  the  poems; 
uller's  Worthies.]  S.  L.  L. 

FLETCHER,  HENRY  (fi.  1710-1750), 
ngraver,  worked  in  London,  and  produced 
ngravings  possessing  some  merit.  He  most 
xcelled  as  an  engraver  of  flowers,  notably 
The  Twelve  Months  of  Flowers '  and  '  The 
welve  Months  of  Fruits,'  engraved  from 
rawings  by  Peter  Casteels  [q.  v.],  made  in 
730  for  a  publication  by  Robert  Furber, 
le  well-known  gardener.  He  also  engraved 


Fletcher 


303 


Fletcher 


some  fine  plates  of  birds  from  drawings  by 
Casteels  and  Charles  Collins.  He  engraved 
some  of  the  vignettes  and  tail-pieces  to  the 
first  edition  of  Voltaire's  '  Henriade,'  pub- 
lished in  London  in  1728.  Among  his  other 
works  were  *  Bathsheba,'  after  Sebastiano 
Conca ;  a  set  of  views  of  Venice,  engraved 
with  L.  P.  Boitard  after  Canaletto ;  'A  View 
of  Stocks  Market  in  1738,'  and  '  A  View  of 
the  Fountain  in  Temple  Gardens,'  after  Joseph 
Nichols  ;  '  A  View  of  Bethlehem  Hospital, 
Moorfields,'  and  portraits  of  Kobert  Nelson 
(1715),  after  Kneller,  Ebenezer  Pemberton 
(1727),  and  the  Kev.  Robert  Warren. 

[Dodd's  manuscript  History  of  English  En- 
gravers ;  Le  Blanc's  Manuel  de  1'Amateur  d'Es- 
tampes ;  Cohen's  Guide  de  1'Amateur  des  Livres 
a  Figures  du  xviiime  Siecle ;  Redgrave's  Diet,  of 
Artists.]  L.  C. 

FLETCHER,  SIR  HENRY  (1727-1807), 
politician,  a  native  of  Cumberland,  was  born 
in  1727.  Brought  up  in  the  service  of  the 
East  India  Company,  he  successively  com- 
manded two  of  its  vessels,  the  Stormont  and 
the  Middlesex.  When  he  retired  from  his 
command,  after  rendering  conspicuous  ser- 
vices to  the  company,  he  was  chosen  a  direc- 
tor of  the  East  India  board,  and  continued 
to  fill  that  office  for  eighteen  years,  being 
always  re-elected  when  he  retired  by  rota- 
tion. Fletcher  entered  parliament  in  1768 
as  member  for  the  county  of  Cumberland, 
where  he  had  fought  successfully  against  a 
very  powerful  influence.  He  joined  the  whig 
opposition  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  on 
the  accession  of  that  party  to  power  was 
rewarded  with  a  baronetcy,  20  May  1782. 
In  1783  he  gave  a  general  approval  to  the 
treaty  of  peace  with  France,  so  far  as  related 
to  the  settlements  of  the  East  India  Com- 
pany. When  Fox  introduced  his  famous 
India  Bill,  Fletcher  was  nominated  one  of 
the  seven  commissioners  for  the  affairs  of 
Asia.  Fletcher  declared  in  the  House  of 
Commons  in  1783  that  it  would  have  been 
much  better  for  England,  and  Europe  in 
general,  if  the  navigation  to  the  East  Indies 
had  never  been  discovered.  But  having  once 
acquired  these  Indian  possessions,  the  British 
must  never  give  them  up.  Fletcher  regarded 
the  retention  and  proper  government  of  India 
of  such  vast  importance,  that  he  resigned  a 
high  and  lucrative  position  in  order  to  advo- 
cate his  views  in  parliament.  Fox's  measure, 
however,  was  lost,  and  administrative  reform 
in  India  was  postponed.  In  1796  Fletcher 
voted  with  the  great  whig  leader  for  a  direct 
censure  upon  ministers,  on  the  ground  of 
having  advanced  money  to  the  Emperor  of 
Germany  and  the  Prince  of  Conde  without 


the  knowledge  or  consent  of  parliament.  He 
also  supported  Grey  in  the  following  ses- 
sion in  his  motion  on  parliamentary  reform. 
Fletcher  continued  to  represent  the  county 
of  Cumberland  until  the  general  election  of 
1806.  He  died  on  25  March  1807,  and  was 
succeeded  in  the  title  by  his  only  son  of  the 
same  name.  The  character  of  Fletcher  stood 
high  among  his  contemporaries  for  generosity 
and  integrity. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1807;  Hansard's  Parliamentary 
Debates.]  G.  B.  S. 

FLETCHER,  JOHN  (1579-1625),  dra- 
matist, a  younger  son  of  Dr.  Richard  Fletcher 
[q.v.],  afterwards  bishop  of  London,  by  his  first 
wife  Elizabeth,  was  born  in  December  1579 
at  Rye  in  Sussex,  where  his  father  was  then 
officiating  as  minister.^A  'John  Fletcher  of 
London  '  was  admitted  15  Oct.  1591  a  pen- 
sioner of  Bene't  (Corpus)  College,  Cambridge, 
of  which  college  Dr.  Fletcher  had  been  pre- 
sident. Dyce  assumes  that  this  John  Fletcher, 
who  became  one  of  the  bible-clerks  in  1593, 
was  the  dramatist.  Bishop  Fletcher  died,  in 
needy  circumstances,  15  June  1596,  and  by 
his  will,  dated  26  Oct.  1593,  left  his  books  to 
be  divided  between  his  sons  Nathaniel  and 
John. 

Fletcher's  intimacy  with  Francis  Beau- 
mont (1584-1616)  appears  to  date  from  about 
1607.  Aubrey  states  that  there  was  a  'won- 
derful consimility  of  phansy '  between  the 
two  poets ;  that  they  lived  together  on  the 
Bankside  in  South wark,  near  the  Globe; 
and  that  they  shared  everything  in  common. 
Beaumont  probably  began  his  literary  career 
before  Fletcher;  although  the  attribution 
to  him  of  '  Salmacis  and  Hermaphroditus ' 
(anonymously  published  in  1602,  and  printed 
in  1640  among '  Poems  by  Francis  Beaumont, 
Gent.')  is  doubtful.  The  earliest  of  the  plays 
attributed  to t  Beaumont  and  Fletcher '  is  the 
'  Woman  Hater,'  which  was  entered  in  the 
'Stationers'  Register '20  May  1607  and  pub- 
lished anonymously  in  the  same  year.  It  is 
largely  written  in  a  mock-heroic  style.  Dyce 
assumed  that  it  was  wholly  by  Fletcher,  but 
later  critics  more  reasonably  claim  it  for 
Beaumont,  who  had  undeniably  a  rich  vein 
of  burlesque.  The  versification  has  none  of 
Fletcher's  peculiarities.  Beaumont  in  1607 
prefixed  some  commendatory  verses  to  the 
'  Fox,'  and  a  similar  compliment  was  paid  to 
Jonson  by  Fletcher,  who  also  commended 
'Catiline,'' 1611. 

'  The  Faithful  Shepherdess,'  n.  d.,  4to,  the 
unassisted  work  of  Fletcher,  was  published 
not  later  than  1610  (probably  in  1609),  for 
one  of  the  three  persons  to  whom  it  was  dedi- 
cated, Sir  William  Skipwith,  died  3  May 

%  In  1588  he  was  admitted 
*s  a  Kind's  scholar  to  the  cathedral  grammar 
school,  Peterborough,  where  his  brothers, 
Nathaniel  and  Theoohilus.  were  also 


Fletcher 


3°4 


Fletcher 


1610.  John    Davies   of   Hereford,   in   the 
' Scourge  of  Folly,'  n.  d.  [1611],  has  an  allu- 
sion to  Fletcher's  pastoral.     On  the  stage  it 
was  not  successful,  but  the  printed  copy  was 
ushered  into  notice  with  commendatory  verses 
by  Field,  Beaumont,  Jonson,  and  Chapman. 
The '  Faithful  Shepherdess/  which  was  under 
some   obligations  to  Tasso's  'Aminta'  and 
Guarini's  '  Pastor  Fido,'  is  the  most  famous 
and  the  best  of  English  pastoral  plays.     The 
lyrical  portions  supplied  Milton  with  hints 
for  '  Comus.'  In  January  1633-4  it  was  suc- 
cessfully revived  at  court.     The  '  Scornful 
Lady,'  published  in  1616,  has  a  mention  of 
the  Cleve  wars,  which  began  in  1609.    It 
was  performed,  as  Mr.  Fleay  remarks,  by  the 
children  of  Her  Majesty's  Revels  at  Black- 
friars,  which  theatre  was  in  possession  of  the 
king's  company  after  1609.     The  '  Scornful 
Lady'  is  an  excellent  comedy  of  English 
domestic  life,  and  was  very  popular  both  be- 
fore and  after  the  Restoration.     The  charac- 
ter of  Vellum  in  Addison's  '  Drummer '  was 
sketched  (as  Addison  himself  informed  Theo- 
bald) from  that  of  the  steward  Savil.     To 
Beaumont  may  be  assigned  the  first  two  acts  ; 
they   are   chiefly  written  in  prose,   which 
Fletcher  very  rarely  employed.     In  the  later 
acts  Fletcher  seems  to  have  had  the  larger 
share. 

The '  Maid's  Tragedy,'  1619,  4to,  and '  Phil- 
aster,'  1620, 4to,  were  produced  not  later  than 

1611.  Dryden  asserts  without  authority  that 
the  'first  play  that  brought  Fletcher  and 
Beaumont  in  esteem  was  their  "Philaster."  ' 
Some  modern  critics  have  denied  that  Fletcher 
had  any  hand  in  '  Philaster,'  but  John  Davies 
of  Hereford,  in  the  '  Scourge  of  Folly '  [1611], 
mentions    this    play,    with    the   'Faithful 
Shepherdess '  and  the  '  Maid's  Tragedy,'  in 
his  epigram  to  Fletcher.    Detached  passages 
in  the  fourth  act  and  two  scenes  in  the  fifth 
(scenes  three  and  four),  with  the  rhetorical 
harangues  in  act  i.  scene  1,  are  in  Fletcher's 
manner.     But  Beaumont's  genius  dominates 
the  play ;   and  the  poetry  at  its  highest  is 
of  a  subtler  quality  than  can  be  found  in 
any  play  that  Fletcher  wrote  singlehanded. 
'  Philaster '  held  the  stage  for  many  years. 
Elkanah  Settle  in  1695  produced  a  new  ver- 
sion without  success.     Another  alteration, 
the  '  Restauration,  or  Right  will  take  place,' 
was  printed  in  the  first  volume  of  the  *  Works,' 
1714,  of  George  Villiers,  duke  of  Bucking- 
ham, and  a  third,  by  the  elder  Colman,  was 
performed  at  Drury  Lane   in   1764.    The 
'  Maid's  Tragedy '  was  composed  before  31  Oct. 
1611,  for  on  that  day  Sir  George  Buc  li- 
censed a  play  to  which  he  gave  the  title  of 
1  The  Second  Maiden's  Tragedy.'  In  the  first 
three  acts  Fletcher's  hand  cannot  be  traced 


to  any  noticeable  extent ;  but  he  was  mainly 
responsible  for  the  fourth  and  fifth  acts.  Un- 
til the  closing  of  the  theatres  the  '  Maid's. 
Tragedy '  was  frequently  performed,  and  it 
again  became  popular  at  the  Restoration. 
Waller  absurdly  turned  it  into  a  comedy  by 
rewriting  (in  rhyme)  the  last  act. 

'A  King  and  No  King,'  which  in  some  re- 
spects is  a  more  solid  piece  of  work  than  the 
1  Maid's  Tragedy/  was  licensed  for  the  stage 
in  1611  and  printed  in  1619,  4to.  Arbaces, 
in  his  insolence  and  magnanimity,  is  cer- 
tainly one  of  the  most  striking  figures  in  the 
English  drama.  Garrick  prepared  an  altera- 
tion of '  A  King  and  No  King/  in  which  he 
had  intended  to  personate  Arbaces ;  but  at 
the  last  moment  the  play  was  withdrawn. 
Beaumont  unquestionably  had  the  chief  share 
in  the  authorship ;  Fletcher's  contributions 
were  confined  to  the  fourth  and  fifth  acts. 

'  Four  Plays  or  Moral  Representations  in 
One/  first  printed  in  the  1647  folio,  is  an  early 
work.  Mr.  Fleay  adduces  some  arguments 
(Englische  Studten,  ix.  14)  to  show  that  it 
was  brought  out  as  early  as  1608.  The 
Induction  and  the  first  two  pieces,  the 
'  Triumph  of  Honour '  and  the  '  Triumph  of 
Love/  are  usually  and  with  probability  as- 
cribed to  Beaumont,  and  the  last  two,  the 
'Triumph  of  Death'  and  the  'Triumph  of 
Time/  to  Fletcher. 

The  '  Knight  of  the  Burning  Pestle/ writ- 
ten in  ridicule  of  such  extravagant  plays 
as  Heywood's  '  Four  Prentices  of  London/ 
was  published  anonymously  in  1613,  4to. 
W.  B[urre]  the  publisher,  in  a  dedicatory 
epistle  to  Robert  Keysar,  states  that  he  '  had 
fostered  it  privately  in  his  bosom  these  two 
years/  and  that  it  was  the  elder  of  Don 
Quixote  (i.  e.  Shelton's  translation,  which 
appeared  in  1612)  '  above  a  year.'  Hence  the 
date  of  composition  cannot  be  later  than  1611. 
From  the  same  epistle  we  learn  that  the  play 
was  written  in  eight  days  and  that  it  was  not 
successful  on  the  stage.  It  is  probable  that 
Beaumont  had  but  slight  help  from  Fletcher 
in  this  drollest  and  most  delightful  of  bur- 
lesques, for  Fletcher  nowhere  shows  any  in- 
clinations towards  the  mock-heroic.  At  its 
revival  in  1635  the  '  Knight  of  the  Burning 
Pestle '  was  received  with  great  applause,  as 
Brome  testifies  in  the  '  Sparagus  Garden ; ' 
and  it  was  occasionally  acted  after  the  Re- 
storation. 

'Cupid's  Revenge'  was  published  in  1615 
as  the  work  of  Fletcher,  but  from  internal 
evidence  it  is  clear  that  Beaumont  was  con- 
cerned in  the  authorship.  The  colloquy  be- 
tween Bacha  and  Leucippus  in  act  iii.  scene  2 
is  in  Beaumont's  most  strenuous  manner; 
and  in  the  second  act  his  hand  can  be  clearly 


Fletcher 


305 


Fletcher 


traced.  Mr.  Robert  Boyle  (Englische  Stu- 
dien,  viii.  39)  detects  the  presence  of  a  third 
author,  and  Mr.  Fleay  supposes  that  this 
(third  author  was  Nathaniel  Field  [q.  v.l  The 
play  was  acted  by  the  children  of  HerMajesty's 
Revels  at  Whitefriars  in  January  1611-12. 
For  the  groundwork  of  the  plot  the  play- 
wrights were  indebted  to  Sidney's  'Arcadia.' 
The  l  Coxcomb,'  first  printed  in  the  1647 
folio,  was  acted  in  1612-13,  and  may  have  I 
been  produced  earlier.  The  underplot,  re- 
lating to  Viola,  may  be  attributed  to  Beau- 
mont ;  but  in  other  parts  of  the  play  we 
are  more  frequently  reminded  of  William 
Rowley  than  of  Beaumont  or  Fletcher.  It 
•is  a  somewhat  unpleasing  play.  The  *  Cap- 
tain/ 1647,  was  composed  some  time  before 
20  May  1613,  when  Hemings  and  his  com- 
pany were  paid  for  representing  it  at  court. 
No  portion  can  be  definitely  assigned  to  Beau- 
mont ;  but  Fletcher  certainly  had  assistance 
from  some  quarter.  Mr.  Fleay  suggests  that 
*  Jonson  worked  with  Fletcher  on  the  ori- 

f'nal  play.'  There  are  occasional  traces  of 
iddleton's  hand.  The  most  powerful  and 
most  repulsive  scene,  act  iv.  sc.  5,  cannot  be 
•ascribed  to  Fletcher,  although  he  probably 
supplied  the  song  '  Come  hither  you  that 
love.' 

In  honour  of  the  marriage  of  the  Count 
Palatine  with  the  Princess  Elizabeth,  Fe- 
bruary 1612-13,  Beaumont  composed  the 
•*  Masque  of  the  Inner  Temple  and  Grayes 
Jnne,'  n.  d.,  4to,  which  was  dedicated  to  Sir 
Francis  Bacon.  The  songs  are  of  rare  beauty. 

The  'Honest  Man's  Fortune,'  1647,  was 
performed  in  1613.  In  the  Dyce  Library  is 
preserved  the  manuscript  copy  which  was 
licensed  in  1624  by  Sir  Henry  Herbert  for 
the  king's  company.  It  is  entitled  'The 
Honest  Mans  Fortune,  plaide  in  the  yeare 
1613.'  The  fifth  act  is  plainly  by  Fletcher, 
and  Mr  Boyle  has  given  excellent  reasons 
for  ascribing  the  third  act,  or  part  of  it,  to 
Massinger.  Mr.  Fleay's  suggestion  that 
the  fourth  act  (with  perhaps  part  of  the  third) 
belongs  to  Field  is  very  plausible.  Acts  i.  and 
ii.  are  by  some  other  playwright.  Appended 
to  the  play  is  a  curious  copy  of  verses  '  Upon 
an  Honest  Man's  Fortune.  By  Master  John 
Fletcher.'  Not  a  trace  of  Beaumont's  hand 
can  be  found  in  this  comedy.  Nor  can  any 
part  of  the  <  Knight  of  Malta,'  1647,  pro- 
duced before  Burbage's  death  (March  1618- 
1619),  be  safely  assigned  to  Beaumont.  Mr. 
Macaulay  (A  Study  of  Francis  Beaumont, 
•p.  196)  gives  the  fifth  act  to  him ;  but  the 
poverty  of  the  lyrical  passages  affords  suffi- 
cient evidence  that  he  was  not  the  author. 
Three  scenes  (iii.  2,  3,  iv.  1)  are  shown  by 
Mr.  Boyle  to  belong  to  Massinger,  and  to 

VOL.   XIX. 


these  may  be  added  part  of  another  (v.  2). 
The  second  act,  which  contains  the  strongest 
writing  in  the  play,  is  wholly  by  Fletcher, 
who  also  contributed  iii.  1.  Some  other 
dramatist  wrote  the  first  act  and  part  of  the 
fifth.  No  portions  of  '  Thierry  and  Theo- 
doret/  published  in  1621  and  written  pro- 
bably about  1616,  can  be  confidently  given  to 
Beaumont.  The  most  impressive  scene  (iv.  1), 
in  which  Ordella  declares  her  readiness  to 
lay  down  her  life  for  her  husband,  is  unmis- 
takably Fletcher's.  In  depicting  womanly 
heroism  Fletcher  always  overshoots  the 
mark ;  when  he  essays  to  be  profoundly  pa- 
thetic he  becomes  sentimental.  Massinger 
largely  assisted  him  in  this  play,  but  the 
third  act  appears  to  be  by  some  unknown 
author.  '  Wit  at  Several  Weapons,'  1647, 
produced  about  1614,  is  a  merry  comedy  of 
intrigue,  and  the  scene  is  laid  in  London. 
In  reading  it  we  are  strongly  reminded  of 
Middleton's  town-comedies,  or  of  the  mixed 
work  of  Middleton  and  Rowley. 

Beaumont  died  6  March  1615-16,  and  ap- 
pears to  have  given  up  dramatic  work  as 
early  as  1614.  Dyce  printed  from  Harleian 
MS.  6057,  fol.  34,  some  lines, '  Come,  sorrow, 
come,'  signed  '  I.  F./  that  may  have  been 
written  by  Fletcher  on  the  occasion  of  Beau- 
mont's death.  Aubrey  states,  on  the  autho- 
rity of  Earle,  that  Beaumont's  '  main  busi- 
nesse  was  to  correct  the  overflowings  of  Mr. 
Fletcher's  witte,'  and  Dryden  declares  that 
Beaumont  was '  so  accurate  a  judge  of  plays ' 
that  Ben  Jonson  '  submitted  all  his  writings 
to  his  censure.'  Little  weight  can  be  at- 
tached to  these  statements;  but  the  stage 
tradition,  that  Beaumont  was  superior  in 
judgment  to  Fletcher,  is  supported  by  sound 
criticism.  In  the  most  important  plays  that 
they  wrote  together  Beaumont's  share  out- 
weighs Fletcher's,  both  in  quantity  and 
quality.  Beaumont  had  the  firmer  hand  and 
statelier  manner ;  his  diction  was  more 
solid ;  there  was  a  richer  music  in  his  verse. 
Fletcher  excelled  as  a  master  of  brilliant 
dialogue  and  sprightly  repartee.  In  the 
management  of  his  plots  and  in  the  develop- 
ment of  his  characters  he  was  careless  and 
inconsistent.  But  in  his  comedies  the  un- 
ceasing liveliness  and  bustle  atone  for  struc- 
tural defects;  and  in  tragedy  his  copious 
command  of  splendid  declamation  reconciles 
us  to  the  absence  of  rarer  qualities.  Fletcher's 
metrical  characteristics  are  strongly  marked. 
He  sought  by  various  devices  to  give  greater 
freedom  to  the  movement  of  blank  verse. 
Thus  he  introduces  redundant  syllables  in 
all  parts  of  the  line,  and  he  is  particularly 
fond  of  ending  the  line  with  an  emphatic 
extra  monosyllable,  a  practice  in  which  he 


Fletcher 


306 


Fletcher 


stands  alone.  Having  introduced  so  much 
freedom  into  his  blank  verse,  he  was  able  to 
dispense  almost  entirely  with  the  use  of 
prose.  Fletcher's  verse,  however,  becomes 
monotonous,  owing  to  his  habit  of  pausing 
at  the  end  of  the  line ;  and  for  tragic  pur- 
poses it  is  wanting  in  solidity.  His  metrical 
peculiarities  are  of  importance  in  helping  us 
to  distinguish  his  work  from  the  work  of  his 
coadjutors. 

The  following  fifteen  plays  may  be  confi- 
dently regarded  as  Fletcher's  unaided  com- 
positions. '  Wit  without  Money,'  1639,  4to, 
was  produced  (as  appears  from  a  reference  to 
the  'dragons  in  Sussex/  ii.  4)  not  earlier 
than  August  1614.  Langbaine  says  that  he 
had  often  seen  this  comedy  acted  '  at  the 
Old  House  in  little  Lincoln's-Inn-Fields 
with  very  great  applause.'  In  the  eighteenth 
century  it  was  frequently  performed  at  Co- 
vent  Garden.  '  Bonduca,'  1647,  produced 
some  time  before  Burbage's  death  (March 
1G18-19),  presents  in  the  person  of  Caratach 
a  worthy  portrait  of  a  magnanimous  soldier ; 
and  the  frank,  fearless  boy  Hengo,  nephew 
of  Caratach,  is  sketched  with  loving  tender- 
ness. An  alteration  of  *  Bonduca '  was  pro- 
duced and  published  in  1696 ;  another,  by 
the  elder  Colman,  was  acted  at  the  Hay- 
market  and  published  in  1778  ;  a  third,  by 
J.  R.  Planche"  (entitled  '  Caractacus '),  was 
performed  at  Drury  Lane  in  1837.  '  Valen- 
tinian,'  1647,  also  produced  before  March 
1618-19,  displays  to  good  effect  Fletcher's 
command  of  dramatic  rhetoric.  It  would 
be  hard  to  overrate  the  delightful  songs.  A 
wretched  alteration  by  the  Earl  of  Rochester 
was  printed  in  1685.  The  '  Loyal  Subject,' 
1647,  was  licensed  for  the  stage  16  Nov.  1618. 
Arenas,  the '  loyal  subject,'  in  his  submission 
(under  the  most  severe  provocations)  to 
kingly  authority,  surpasses  even  Aecius  in 
'  Valentinian.'  The  play  was  performed  at 
Whitehall  10  Dec.  1633,  and  Sir  Henry  Her- 
bert records  that  it  was  *  very  well  likt  by 
the  king.'  The ' Mad  Lover,'  1647,  produced 
before  March  1618-19,  is  a  strangely  gro- 
tesque piece  of  work,  but  it  held  the  stage 
both  before  and  after  the  Restoration.  The 
'  Humorous  Lieutenant/  1647,  is  of  uncer- 
tain date ;  but  as  Burbage's  name  is  not  found 
in  the  list  of '  principal  actors/  we  may  infer 
that  the  date  of  production  is  later  than 
March  1618-19.  In  the  Dyce  Library  is 
preserved  a  manuscript  copy,  dated  1625, 
with  the  title  'Demetrius  and  Enanthe,  a 
pleasant  comedie,  written  by  John  Fletcher, 
Gent./  differing  somewhat  from  the  printed 
comedy;  it  was  edited  by  Dyce  in  1830. 
'Women  Pleased/  1647,  was  probably  pro- 
duced about  1620.  The  most  entertaining 


personage  in  this  well-ordered  play  is  the? 
hungry  serving-man,  Penurio.  Fletcher  was 
indebted  for  his  plot  to  three  stories  of 
Boccaccio's  'Decameron/  and  to  Chaucer's 
<  Wif  of  Bathes  Tale.'  From  Sir  Henry 
Herbert's  *  Office-Book '  it  appears  that  three 
of  Fletcher's  plays  were  presented  at  court  in 
1621— the  <  Island  Princess/  1647,  the  'Pil- 
grim/ 1647,  and  the  ( Wildgoose-Chase/ 
1652.  The  first,  which  is  of  slender  merit, 
was  revived  with  alterations  in  1669 ;  again 
in  1687,  with  alterations  by  Nahum  Tate  ; 
and  in  1699  the  play  was  turned  into  ail 
opera  by  Motteux,  the  music  being  composed 
by  Daniel  Purcell,  Clarke,  and  Leveridge. 
The  '  Pilgrim '  is  of  far  more  interest.  Cole- 
ridge declared  that  '  this  play  holds  the  first 
place  in  Beaumont  and  Fletcher's  roman- 
tic entertainments'  (Remains,  ii.  315).  An 
alteration  by  Sir  John  Vanbrugh  was  pub- 
lished in  1700.  When  Humphrey  Moseley 
brought  out  the  folio  of  1647  he  was  unable 
to  obtain  a  copy  of  the  '  Wildgoose-Chase/ 
This  brilliant  comedy  was  first  published  in 
1652,  4to,  '  Retriv'd  for  the  publick  delight 
of  all  the  Ingenious  ;  and  private  Benefit  of 
John  Lowin  and  Joseph  Taylor,  servants  to 
His  Late  Majestie.  By  a  Person  of  Honour/ 
In  a  dedicatory  epistle  Lowin  and  Taylor  obi- 
serve  :  '  The  play  was  of  so  general  a  received 
acceptance  that,  he  himself  a  spectator,  we 
have  known  him  unconcerned,  and  to  have 
wished  it  had  been  none  of  his  ;  he,  as  well  as 
the  thronged  theatre  (in  despite  of  his  innate 
modesty),  applauding  this  rare  issue  of  his 
brain.'  Commendatory  verses  by  Richard 
Lovelace  and  others  follow  the  epistle.  The 
first  four  acts  of  Farquhar's  'Inconstant/ 
1702,  are  taken  from  the  'Wildgoose-Chase/ 
'  Monsieur  Thomas/  probably  one  of  the  later 
works,  was  first  published  in  1639,  with  a  dedi- 
catory epistle  by  Richard  Brome  to  Charles 
Cotton  the  elder,  and  with  a  copy  of  verses 
by  Brome  in  Fletcher's  praise.  D'Urfey's 
'  Trick  for  Trick/  1678,  is  little  more  than  a 
revival  of '  Monsieur  Thomas.'  The '  Woman's 
Prize/ 1647,  was  described  by  Sir  Henry  Her- 
bert as  '  an  ould  play '  in  1633.  '  Upon  com- 
plaints of  foule  and  offensive  matters  con- 
teyned therein'  he  suppressed  the  performance 
on  19  Oct.  1633.  The  players  brought  the 
manuscript  to  him  the  next  day  for  revision, 
and  he  returned  it  to  them, '  purgd  of  oathes, 
prophaness,  and  ribaldry e/  on  21  Oct.  It 
was  acted  before  the  king  and  queen  28  Nov., 
and  was  'very  well  likt.'  Fletcher  wrote 
the  '  Woman's  Prize  '  to  serve  as  a  sequel  to 
the  '  Taming  of  the  Shrew ; '  he  lays  the  scene 
in  England,  and  represents  Petruchio  in  com- 
plete subjection  to  his  second  wife,  Maria. 
'  A  Wife  for  a  Month/ 1647,  was  licensed  by 


Fletcher 


307 


Fletcher 


Herbert  27  May  1624.  As  Nicholas  Tooley, 
who  personated  one  of  the  principal  cha- 
racters, died  in  June  1623,  this  play  must 
have  been  produced  some  time  before  it  was 
licensed.  It  is  a  singular  and  powerful  play, 
but  its  performance  had  been  discontinued 
in  the  time  of  Langbaine,  who  mentions 
it  as  '  well  worth  reviving.'  '  Rule  a  Wife 
and  have  a  Wife,'  1640,  was  licensed  by  Her- 
bert 19  Oct.  1624,  and  performed  at  court 
twice  in  that  year.  It  is  among  the  very 
best  of  Fletcher's  comedies,  and  met  with 
great  success.  In  1759,  having  undergone 
some  alteration,  it  was  revived  by  Garrick, 
and  it  has  been  occasionally  played  in  the 
nineteenth  century.  The  underplot  is  founded 
on  the  eleventh  of  Cervantes's  'Novelas  Ex- 
emplares.'  Davies  mentions  a  somewhat 
absurd  tradition  that  the  character  of  Caca- 
fogo  'was  intended  as  a  rival  to  Falstaff' 
(Dram.  Miscell.  ii.  406).  The  'Chances/ 
1647,  probably  a  late  work,  was  deservedly 
popular.  The  plot  is  taken  from  '  La  Se- 
nora  Cornelia/  one  of  Cervantes's  '  Novelas 
Exemplares.'  In  1682  an  alteration  by 
Villiers,  duke  of  Buckingham,  who  com- 
pletely rewrote  acts  iv.  and  v.,  was  produced 
at  the  theatre  in  Dorset  Gardens ;  in  1773 
Garrick  brought  out  another  alteration  at 
Drury  Lane  ;  and  in  1821  '  Don  John,  or  the 
Two  Violettas,  a  musical  drama  in  three 
acts/  was  played  at  Covent  Garden. 

Massinger's  hand  has  been  already  traced 
in  three  plays — the  '  Honest  Man's  Fortune/ 
the  l  Knight  of  Malta/  and  'Thierry  and 
Theodoret/  but  there  are  many  others  to 
which  he  contributed.  Sir  Aston  Cokaine, 
in  his  '  Epitaph  on  Mr.  John  Fletcher  and 
Mr.  Philip  Massinger  '  (Poems,  1662,  p.  186), 
expressly  states :  l  Playes  they  did  write 
together,  were  great  friends.'  In  an  address 
'  To  my  Cousin  Mr.  Charles  Cotton '  (the 
elder  Cotton)  he  mentions  that  Massinger 
was  associated  with  Fletcher  in  the  author- 
ship of  several  of  the  plays  published  in  the 
1647  folio.  Cokaine  also  addressed  some 
lines  of  remonstrance  to  the  publishers  of 
the  folio  of  Beaumont  and  Fletcher's  plays, 
Humphrey  Moseley  and  Humphrey  Robin- 
son, saying  that 

.  .  .  Beaumont  of  those  many  writ  in  few, 
And  Massinger  in  other  few. 

Although  he  claims  to  have  been  a  friend 
of  Massinger,  Cokaine's  information  was  de- 
rived from  the  elder  Cotton, '  Fletcher's  chief 
bosome-friend  informed  me  so.'  Shirley,  who 
edited  the  1647  folio  (or  advised  the  pub- 
lishers), makes  no  mention  of  Massinger  in 
his  address  to  the  reader.  Humphrey  Mose- 
ley in  a  prefatory  note  states  that  he  had 


once  had  the  intention  of  printing  Fletcher's 
works  by  themselves,  'because  single  and 
alone  he  would  make  a  just  volume ; '  but 
tie  also  is  silent  on  the  subject  of  Massinger. 
Internal  evidence  shows  clearly  that  Cokaine 
was  abundantly  justified  in  claiming  for  Mas- 
singer  a  share  in  some  of  the  plays  printed 
in  the  1647  folio.  But  Fletcher  collaborated 
with  others  besides  Massinger.  Among  the 
'  Henslowe  Papers '  is  preserved  a  letter  ad- 
dressed to  Henslowe  by  Field,  Daborne,  and 
Massinger,  in  which  the  three  playwrights 
beg  for  an  advance  of  51.  to  supply  their 
urgent  necessities  ;  and  to  this  letter,  which 
was  written  some  time  before  January  1615— 
1616,  Daborne  appends  a  postscript :  '  The 
mony  shall  be  abated  out  of  the  mony  re- 
maynes  for  the  play  of  Mr.  Fletcher  and  ours  * 
(the  play  to  which  Daborne  refers  may  per- 
haps be  the  '  Honest  Man's  Fortune ').  Ex- 
ternal and  internal  evidence  agree  in  attri- 
buting to  William  Rowley  a  share  in  some 
of  the  dramas  that  pass  as  the  work  of  Beau- 
mont and  Fletcher ; '  and  it  is  certain  that 
others  were  either  altered  or  completed  by 
James  Shirley. 

The  'Queen  of  Corinth/  1647,  was  pro- 
duced some  time  before  March  1618-19,  as 
one  of  the  principal  characters  was  personated 
by  Burbage.  Fletcher's  hand  can  only  be 
detected  in  the  second  act ;  the  first  and 
fifth  acts  are  by  Massinger,  and  the  rest  of 
the  play  appears  to  be  by  Middleton  and 
Rowley.  The  fine  tragedy  of  '  Sir  John  Van 
Olden  Barnavelt/  first  printed  from  manu- 
script by  the  present  writer  (A  Collection  of 
Old  English  Plays,  vol.  ii.),  is  unquestion- 
ably the  j  oint  work  of  Massinger  and  Fletcher. 
It  was  produced  in  August  1619,  shortly 
after  Barneveldt's  execution.  Mr.  S.  L.  Lee 
(Athenceum,  19  Jan.  1884)  discovered  among 
the  State  Papers  two  letters  of  Thomas  Locke 
to  Carleton,  the  English  ambassador  at  the 
Hague.  On  14  Aug.  1619  Locke  wrote  that 
when  the  players  '  were  bringing  of  Barne- 
velt  upon  the  stage '  the  Bishop  of  London 
at  the  last  moment  forbade  the  performance. 
On  27  Aug.  he  announced: ' Our  players  have 
fownd  the  meanes  to  go  through  wth  the  play 
of  Barnevelt,  and  it  hath  had  many  spec- 
tators and  received  applause.'  Mr.  Boyle 
(BuLLEtf,  Old  Plays,  vol.  ii.,  Appendix)  has 
drawn  up  an  elaborate  analysis  of  the  play, 
assigning  to  each  their  respective  shares  in 
the  composition.  To  1619  probably  belongs 
the  lost  play  of  the  '  Jeweller  of  Amsterdam/ 
which  was  entered  in  the '  Stationers'  Books/ 
8  April  1654,  as  the  work  of  Fletcher,  Field, 
and  Massinger.  Mr.  Fleay's  suggestion  that 
the  subject  of  this  play  was  the  murder  of 
John  Van  Wely  is  highly  probable.  The 

x2 


Fletcher 


308 


Fletcher 


'  Little  French  Lawyer,'  1647,  written  about 
1620,  is  mainly  by  Fletcher ;  but  Massinger's 
hand  is  seen  in  the  first  act,  and  occasionally 
in  acts  iii.  and  v.  The  character  of  La- Writ, 
which  Coleridge  declared  to  be  'conceived 
and  executed  from  first  to  last  in  genuine 
comic  humour,'  is  Fletcher's  creation.  '  A 
Very  Woman/  printed  in  1655  as  the  work 
of  Massinger,  was  written  by  Fletcher  and 
revised  by  Massinger.  It  is  to  be  identified 
with  a  comedy  called  '  The  Woman's  Plot,' 
which  was  acted  at  court  in  1621.  On  9  Sept. 
1653  it  was  entered  in  the  '  Stationers'  Re- 
gister '  by  Humphrey  Moseley  under  the  title 
of  '  A  Very  Woman,  or  the  Woman's  Plot/ 
as  a  play  of  Massinger.  It  was  again  en- 
tered by  Moseley  29  June  1660  under  the 
title  of '  A  Right  Woman ; '  and  in  the  second 
entry  it  is  ascribed  to  Beaumont  and  Fletcher. 
In  its  present  state  it  is  probably  (as  Mr. 
Fleay  observes)  the  version  revised  by  Mas- 
singer  for  representation  in  1634.  The  amus- 
ing scene  in  the  slave  market  (iii.  1),  and 
the  still  more  amusing  scene  (iii.  5)  in  which 
Borachia  is  overcome  by  Candy  wine,  are  in 
Fletcher's  raciest  manner,  and  the  beautiful 
colloquy  (iv.  1)  between  Almira  and  An- 
tonio is  in  his  sweetest  vein  of  romantic 
tenderness.  The  l  Custom  of  the  Country/ 
1647,  is  mentioned  in  Sir  Henry  Herbert's 
'  Office-Book/  22  Nov.  1628,  as  an  '  old  play.' 
Part  of  the  story  is  taken  from  the  '  Travels 
of  Persiles  and  Sigismunda/  1619,  translated 
(through  the  French  version)  from  Cervantes, 
and  part  from  a  novel  in  Cinthio's  '  Heca- 
tommithi.'  Mr.  Boyle  adduces  good  reasons 
for  assigning  several  scenes  of  this  skilfully 
conducted  play  to  Massinger ;  for  the  grosser 
portions  Fletcher  must  be  held  responsible. 
Colley  Gibber's  'Love  makes  a  Man/  ]700, 
and  Charles  Johnson's'  Country  Lasses/ 1715, 
were  partly  borrowed  from  this  play.  The 
opening  scene,  modelled  on  '  Julius  Caesar  ' 
(ii.  1),  of  the  '  Double  Marriage/  1647,  com- 
posed about  1620,  is  unquestionably  by  Mas- 
singer;  and  probably  he  contributed  some 
scenes  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  acts.  The 
'  False  One/ 1647,  composed  about  1620,  deals 
with  the  fortunes  of  Julius  Caesar  in  Egypt. 
The  rhetorical  passages  are  of  very  high 
merit,  and  the  Masque  of  Nilus  in  the  third 
act  is  a  graceful  lyrical  interlude.  Mas- 
singer's  contributions  are  confined  to  the  first 
and  fifth  acts.  '  Beggar's  Bush/  1647,  was 
performed  at  court  at  Christmas  1622.  Cole- 
ridge is  reported  to  have  said,  '  I  could  read 
it  from  morning  to  night ;  how  sylvan  and 
sunshiny  it  is  ! '  The  scenes  in  which  the 
woodland  life  of  the  beggars  is  depicted  are 
much  in  the  manner  of  William  Rowley  (or 
Rowley  and  Middleton,  as  in  the  '  Spanish 


Gipsy').  Mr.  Boyle  assigns  to  Massinger 
the  first  act  and  '  act  ii.  sc.  3,  act  v.  sc.  1  and 
2  down  to  line  110 ; '  but  Massinger's  share 
is  not  clearly  marked  in  this  play.  '  Beggar's 
Bush '  continued  to  be  popular  after  the  Re- 
storation, and  three  alterations  have  appeared, 
the  last  in  1815  under  the  title  of '  The  Mer- 
chant of  Bruges/  when  Kean  took  the  part 
of  Flores  with  success  at  Drury  Lane.  The 
'  Prophetess/ 1647,  licensed  by  Sir  Henry  Her- 
bert 14  May  1622,  is  an  odd  jumble  of  his- 
tory and  supernaturalism.  Massinger's  share 
was  very  considerable.  An  alteration  by 
Betterton  '  after  the  manner  of  an  opera/ 
with  a  prologue  by  Dryden,  was  produced 
in  1690.  The  '  Sea  Voyage/  1647,  an  inte- 
resting romantic  comedy  licensed  by  Her- 
bert 22  June  1622,  is  partly  modelled,  as 
Dryden  observed,  on  the  '  Tempest.'  A  poor 
alteration  by  D'Urfey,  entitled  '  A  Common- 
Wealth  of  Women/  was  produced  in  1686 
and  published  in  the  same  year.  The '  Elder 
Brother/  published  in  1637  as  a  work  of 
Fletcher,  was  probably  revised  and  com- 
pleted by  Massinger  after  Fletcher's  death. 
A  contemporary  manuscript  copy  (unknown 
to  Dyce)  is  preserved  in  Egerton  MS.  1994. 
Colley  Cibber  formed  from  the  '  Elder  Bro- 
ther '  and  the  '  Custom  of  the  Country '  his 
'  Love  makes  a  Man.'  Both  the  date  and 
the  authorship  of  the  powerful  tragedy  the 
'  Bloody  Brother'  are  uncertain.  On  the  title- 
page  of  the  first  quarto,  1639,  it  is  ascribed 
to  '  B.  J.  F.'  (Ben  Jonson  and  Fletcher?)  ; 
in  the  second  quarto,  1640,  '  John  Fletcher, 
Gent./  is  given  as  the  author's  name.  It  had 
been  entered  in  the  '  Stationers'  Register/ 
4  Oct.  1639,  as  the  work  of  '  J.  B.'  Mr. 
Fleay  contends  that  the  date  is  1616-17,  and 
that  the  authors  were  Fletcher,  Massinger, 
andField,  with  the  assistance  of  Jonsoninone 
scene,  iv.  2.  Mr.  Boyle  tentatively  assigns 
iv.  1  to  Daborne,  who  was  not  only  incapable 
of  writing  it,  but  had  probably  retired  from 
the  stage  and  taken  holy  orders  before  1617, 
its  earliest  possible  date.  A  plausible  view 
is  that  the  *  Bloody  Brother '  was  written 
in  the  first  instance  by  Fletcher  and  Jonson, 
and  that  it  was  revised  by  Massinger  on  the 
occasion  of  its  revival  at  Hampton  Court  in 
January  1636-7.  It  was  one  of  the  plays 
surreptitiously  acted  at  the  Cockpit  in  1648 ; 
during  the  performance  a  party  of  foot- 
soldiers  beset  the  house  and  carried  off  the 
actors  in  their  stage  habiliments  to  prison. 
After  the  Restoration  it  was  very  popular. 
The  'Lovers'  Progress/  1647,  is  a  play  of 
Fletcher's  with  large  alterations  by  Massin- 
ger; the  plot  is  taken  from  D'Audiguier's 
'HistoireTragi-comiquedenotre  temps/1615. 
In  the  prologue  the  reviser,  with  the  modesty 


Fletcher 


3°9 


Fletcher 


for  which  Massinger  was  distinguished,  de- 
clares himself  to  be 

ambitious  that  it  should  be  known 
"What's  good  was  Fletcher's  and  what  ill  his  own. 

This  play  is  unquestionably  a  revised  version 
of  the  '  Wandering  Lovers/  a  play  licensed 

6  Dec.  1623,  and  may  be  identified  with  the 

*  Tragedy  of  Oleander '  (ascribed  to  Massin- 
ger), which  was  performed   at   Blackfriars 

7  May  1634.     A  play  called  '  The  Wander- 
ing Lovers,  or  the  Picture,'  was  entered  in 
the  '  Stationers'  Register,'  9  Sept.  1653,  as  a 
work  of  Massinger.    In  spite  of  the  puzzling 
after-title  the  entry  probably  refers  to  the 
1  Lovers'  Progress.'     The  '  Spanish  Curate,' 
1647,  was  licensed  24  Oct.  1622.     Both  plot 
and  under-plot  are  taken  from  a  Spanish  ro- 
mance (of  Goncalo  de  Cespides),  which  had 
been   translated   into   English  by  Leonard 
Digges  under  the  title  of  '  Gerardo  the  Un- 
fortunate  Spaniard,'  1622.      The  excellent 
comic  scenes  are  Fletcher's,  but  the  more 
serious  portions  of  the  play  belong  to  Mas- 
singer.     In  the  preface  to  his  alteration  of 
'Philaster,'  1763,  the  elder  Colman  states 
that  the  '  Spanish  Curate '  had  been  recently 
revived  without  success.    An  alteration  was 
acted  at  Covent  Garden  in  1840.     '  Love's 
Pilgrimage,'   1647,   a    romantic   comedy  of 
high  merit,  appears  to  be  almost  entirely  by 
Fletcher.     In  the  first  act  are  found  some 
passages  that  occur,  with  slight  alterations, 
in  Ben  Jonson's  'New  Inn,'  published   in 
1629.     Weber's    explanation,   which   Dyce 
accepted,  is  that  Shirley  introduced  these 
passages  when  he  revised  Fletcher's  play. 
Mr.  Fleay  is  of  opinion  that  'Love's  Pil- 
grimage '  was  written  as  early  as  1612,  and 
that  Ben  Jonson  was  the  borrower.      He 
urges  that  the  disputed  passages  are  '  dis- 
tinctly Fletcher's  in  style  and  metre ; '  but 
this  is  a  very  bold  assertion,  for  nothing 
could  be  more  Jonsonian  than  Colonel  Tipto's 
elaborate  enumeration  of  his  various  articles 
of  finery  (New  Inn,  ii.  2  ;  Love's  Pilgrimage, 
i.  1).   Nor  is  it  possible  to  accept  Mr.  Fleay's 
identification  of '  Love's  Pilgrimage '  with  the 
lost  play  '  Cardema '  or  '  Cardano,'  acted  in 
1613.     The  story  of  '  Love's  Pilgrimage  '  is 
taken  from  '  Las  dos  Doncellas,'  one  of  the 

*  Novelas  Exemplares '  of  Cervantes.  '  Love's 
Cure,'  1647,  has  an  allusion  to  the  Russian 
ambassador  who  was  in  England  in  1622  ; 
and  there  are  references  to  the  renewal  of 
the  war  between  Spain  and  Holland,  and  to 
i  the  miraculous    maid   in  Flanders '  who 
'  lived  three  year  without  any  other  susten- 
ance than  the  smell  of  a  rose.'    The  date 
would  seem  to  be  about  1623,  and  the  play  is 
probably  by  Massinger  and  Middleton.    Mr. 


Fleay  fixes  1608  as  the  date  of  the  original 
production,  and  contends  that  'Love's  Cure' 
is  an  alteration  by  Massinger  of  a  play  by 
Beaumont  and  Fletcher.  The  '  Nice  Valour, 
or  the  Passionate  Madman,'  1647,  is  an 
amusingly  eccentric  comedy.  In  v.  3  men- 
tion is  made  of  a  prose-tract  that  was  not 
published  until  1624,  but  the  original  play 
may  have  been  written  earlier.  Mr.  Fleay 
suggests  that  much  of  the  play  was  re- 
written by  Middleton.  The  verbal  quibbles 
are  strongly  suggestive  of  Middleton,  and  the 
poetry  is  frequently  in  his  manner.  To  this 
play  belongs  the  beautiful  song  '  Hence  all 
you  vain  delights,'  which  gave  Milton  hints 
for  '  II  Penseroso.'  In  a  contemporary  com- 
monplace-book preserved  among  the  Malone 
MSS.  the  song  is  ascribed  to  William  Strode; 
but  Fletcher's  claim  to  this  and  the  other  songs 
in  the '  Nice  Valour '  cannot  be  seriously  dis- 
puted. Fletcher's  hand  can  hardly  be  traced 
in  the  '  Laws  of  Candy,'  1647,  which  is  largely 
by  Massinger.  The  principal  plot  is  taken  from 
the  ninth  novel  of  the  tenth  decade  of  Cin- 
thio's  '  Hecatommithi.'  The  '  Fair  Maid  of 
the  Inn,'  1647,  licensed  for  the  stage  22  Jan. 
1625-6,  was  brought  out  after  Fletcher's 
death.  Only  a  small  portion  can  be  assigned 
to  Fletcher  ;  the  chief  contributors  seem  to 
have  been  Rowley  and  Massinger.  Part  of 
the  story  is  drawn  from  '  La  Ilustre  Fregona,' 
one  of  Cervantes's  '  Novelas  Exemplares.' 
From  Sir  Henry  Herbert's  'Office-Book'  it 
appears  that  the  '  Maid  in  the  Mill,'  licensed 
29  Aug.  1623,  and  acted  three  times  at  court 
in  that  year,  was  a  joint  work  of  Rowley  and 
Fletcher.  The  plot  is  taken  partly  from 
Gon9alo  de  Cespides's  '  Gerardo,'  and"  partly 
from  a  novel  of  Bandello.  To  Fletcher  may  be 
safely  assigned  the  whole  of  the  first  act,  part 
of  the  third,  and  the  early  part  of  v.  2  (scene 
between  Otrante  and  Florimel).  The  '  Night- 
Walker,  or  the  Litte  Thief,'  was  published 
in  1640  as  the  work  of  John  Fletcher.  Her- 
bert's 'Office-Book'  shows  that  this  comedy 
was  'corrected'  by  Shirley  in  1633.  We 
learn  from  the  same  source  that  it  was  acted 
at  court  before  the  king  and  queen  in  January 
1633-4,  and  was  '  likt  as  a  merry  play.'  Lang- 
baine  says  that  he  had  seen  it  acted  by  the 
king's  servants  with  great  applause  both  in 
town  and  country.  Weber  plausibly  con- 
jectured that  the  '  Night- Walker '  is  an  al- 
teration by  Shirley  of  Fletcher's  '  Devil  of 
Dowgate,  or  Usury  put  to  Use,'  mentioned 
by  Sir  Henry  Herbert  as  '  a  new  play '  in 
October  1623.  The  '  Coronation,'  printed  in 
1640  as  a  work  of  Fletcher,  was  licensed  in 
February  1634-5  as  written  by  Shirley,  who 
in  1652  claimed  it  in  a  list  of  his  plays  ap- 
pended to  the  'Cardinal.'  There  is  no  reason 


Fletcher 


3io 


Fletcher 


for  supposing  that  Fletcher  had  any  hand  in 
it.  The '  Noble  Gentleman/ 1647,  was  licensed 
on  3  Feb.  1625-6.  It  is  impossible  to  assign 


29  June  1660,  as  a  work  of  Beaumont  and 
Fletcher.  Weber  printed  it  in  1812  from  a 
manuscript  which  is  now  preserved  in  the 
Dyce  Library. 

The  '  Two  Noble  Kinsmen'  is  stated  on  the 
title-page  of  the  first  edition,  1634,  to  have 
been  written  by  Fletcher  and  Shakespeare. 
It  is  difficult  to  ascribe  to  Shakespeare  any 
share  in  the  conduct  of  the  plot,  but  it  is 
infinitely  more  difficult  to  conceive  that  any 
other  hand  wrote  the  first  scene  (with  the 
opening  song),  Arcite's  invocation  to  Mars 
(v.  l),.and  the  description  of  the  accident 
that  resulted  in  Arcite's  death  (v.  4).  Out- 
side Shakespeare's  later  plays  there  is  nothing 
that  can  be  compared  with  these  passages. 
To  Fletcher  belong  acts  ii.,  iii.  (with  the 
exception  of  the  first  scene),  iv.,  and  v.  2. 
Mr.  Boyle  has  shown  that  Massinger  had  a 
hand  in  the  '  Two  Noble  Kinsmen/  and  some 
of  the  Shakespearean  portions  have  suffered 
from  Massinger's  interpolations.  There  is  no 
reason  for  supposing  that  Shakespeare  and 
Fletcher  worked  together  on  this  play.  Shake- 
speare's contributions  may  have  been  written 
(towards  the  close  of  his  career)  for  a  revival 
of  the  old  play  of  '  Palamon  and  Arsett/ 
mentioned  by  Henslowe  in  1594,  and  these 
'  additions '  may  have  come  into  the  hands 
of  Fletcher  and  Massinger  after  Shakespeare's 
death. 

It  is  generally  agreed  that  Fletcher  was 
largely  concerned  in  the  authorship  of 
'  Henry  VIII.'  That  play  in  its  present  state 
appears  to  be  in  the  main  a  joint  production 
of  Fletcher  and  Massinger,  composed  about 
1617,  some  Shakespearean  passages  (notably 
the  trial-scene  of  Catherine)  having  been  in- 
corporated. Wolsey's  famous  soliloquy,  *  So 
farewell  to  the  little  good  you  bear  me '  (iii.  2), 
and  his  parting  words  to  Cromwell,  may  be 
safely  attributed  to  Fletcher,  who  must  also 
be  held  responsible  for  Cranmer's  somewhat 
fulsome  prophecy  at  the  close  of  the  play. 
The  '  History  of  Cardenio/  entered  by  Hum- 
phrey Moseley  in  the  '  Stationers'  Register/ 
9  Sept.  1653,  as  a  joint  work  of  Fletcher  and 
Shakespeare,  is  to  be  identified  with  the  lost 
play  *  Cardano '  or  '  Cardema/  acted  at  court 
in  1 6 1 3.  Late  seventeenth-century  entries  in 
the  '  Stationers'  Register '  carry  no  authority 
so  far  as  Shakespeare  is  concerned. 

A  comedy,  the  '  Widow/  composed  about 
1616,  was  printed  in  1652  as  the  work  of 
Jonson,  Fletcher,  and  Middleton.  It  was 


attributed  to  the  three  dramatists  on  the  au- 
thority of  the  actor  Alexander  Gough,  but 
appears  to  belong  wholly  to  Middleton. 

Fletcher  was  buried  on  29  Aug.  1625  at 
St.  Saviour's,  Southwark.  '  In  the  great 
plague,  1625/  says  Aubrey  (Letters  written 
by  Eminent  Persons,  vol.  ii.  pt.  i.  p.  352),  '  a 
knight  of  Norfolk  or  Suffolk  invited  him  into 
the  countrey.  He  stayed  but  to  make  himselfe 
a  suite  of  cloathes,  and  while  it  was  makeing 
fell  sick  of  the  plague  and  died.  This  I  had 
from  his  tayler,  who  is  now  a  very  old  man, 
and  clarke  of  St.  Mary  Overy's.'  Sir  Aston 
Cokaine,  in  his '  Epitaph  on  Mr.  John  Fletcher 
and  Mr.Philip  Massinger/  wrote  that  Fletcher 
and  Massinger  were  buried  in  the  same  grave. 
Dyce  supposed  that  '  the  same  grave  '  means 
nothing  more  than  {  the  same  place  of  inter- 
ment/ but  there  is  no  reason  why  the  words 
should  not  be  accepted  in  their  literal  sense. 

Fletcher  is  seen  at  his  best  in  his  comedies. 
Few  poets  have  been  endowed  with  a  larger 
share  of  wit  and  fancy,  freshness  and  variety. 
Such  plays  as  the  '  Wildgoose-Chase '  and 
'  Monsieur  Thomas  '  are  a  feast  of  mirth  from 
beginning  to  end.  The '  Faithful  Shepherdess ' 
is  (not  excepting  Ben  Jonson's  'Sad  Shep- 
herd') the  sweetest  of  English  pastoral  plays ; 
and  some  of  the  songs  scattered  in  profusion 
through  Fletcher's  works  are  hardly  sur- 
passed by  Shakespeare.  In  tragedy  he  does 
not  rank  with  the  highest.  '  Bonduca '  and 
'  Valentinian '  are  impressive  works,  but  in- 
ferior to  the  tragedies  that  he  wrote  with 
Beaumont,  the  l  Maid's  Tragedy'  and  '  A 
King  and  No  King.' 

Beaumont  and  Fletcher's  plays  were  col- 
lected in  1647,  fol.,  prefaced  by  various  copies 
of  commendatory  verses  ;  and  a  fuller  collec- 
tion appeared  in  1679,  fol.  An  edition  in  10 
vols.,  commenced  by  Theobald  and  completed 
by  Seward  and  Sympson,  was  published  in 
1750;  another,  under  the  general  editorship  of 
the  elder  Colman,  appeared  in  1778,  12  vols.  ;- 
an  edition  by  Weber  in  14  vols.  followed  in 
1812  ;  and  in  1840  George  Darley  wrote  an 
introduction  to  the  2-vol.  edition.  The  latest, 
and  by  far  the  best,  edition  is  that  of  Alex- 
ander Dyce,  11  vols.  1843-6. 

[Dyce  has  collected  the  scanty  materials  for 
Fletcher's  biography  in  the  memoir  prefixed  to- 
vol.  i.  of  his  edition  of  Beaumont  and  Fletcher ; 
and  his  prefatory  remarks  before  the  various  plays 
supply  full  bibliographical  details,  with  notes 
on  the  origin  of  the  plots,  the  theatrical  history 
of  the  plays,  &c.  Mr.  Fleay  in  his  Shakspere; 
Manual,  -which  must  be  regarded  as  a  tentative 
essay,  and  in  papers  contributed  to  the  New  Shak- 
spere  Society's  Transactions,  has  rendered  very 
valuable  aid  towards  distinguishing  Fletcher's 
work  from  the  work  of  Beaumont  and  others.. 


Fletcher 


311 


Fletcher 


His  paper  on  the  chronology  of  Beaumont  and 
Fletcher's  plays  in  the  ninth  volume  of  Englische 
Studien  deserves  attention.  Mr.  Kobert  Boyle's 
investigations  in  Englische  Studien,  and  in  the 
Transactions  of  the  New  Shakspere  Society,  are 
particularly  important  for  the  light  they  thro-w- 
on Fletcher's  connection  with  Massinger.  Mr. 
Macaulay's  Study  of  Francis  Beaumont,  1883, 
is  brightly  written.]  A.  H.  B. 

FLETCHER,  JOHN,  M.D.  (1792-1836), 
medical  writer,  born  in  1792,  was  the  son 
of  Thomas  Fletcher,  merchant,  of  London. 
Finding  his  father's  counting-house  irksome, 
he  began  the  study  of  medicine  at  Edin- 
burgh, having  already  been  an  occasional 
hearer  of  Abernethy  and  C.  Bell  in  London. 
He  graduated  M.D.  in  1816.  After  making 
a  start  in  practice  at  Henley-on-Thames, 
whither  his  family  had  retired  suddenly  in 
reduced  circumstances,  he  returned  to  Edin- 
burgh and  took  private  pupils  in  medicine. 
His  Latin  scholarship  and  systematic  methods 
brought  him  many  pupils.  In  1828-9  he 
joined  the  Argyll  Square  school  of  medi- 
cine, having  Mclntosh,  Argyle  Robertson, 
and,  for  a  time,  James  Syme,  as  his  col- 
leagues. He  lectured  on  physiology,  and 
afterwards  on  medical  jurisprudence.  His 
repute  as  a  lecturer  stood  very  high ;  in  1836 
he  gave  a  course  of  popular  lectures  on  phy- 
siology to  large  audiences  of  the  educated 
laity  of  both  sexes,  illustrated  by  prepara- 
tions and  diagrams  of  his  own  making.  He 
died  of  a  sudden  illness  the  same  year.  His 
earliest  publication  was  'Rubi  Epistolse 
Edinburgenses/  being  a  collection  of  good- 
humoured  satirical  pieces  on  students  and 
professors.  In  1822  he  published  '  Horae 
Subsecivse/  a  dialogue  in  Latin,  and  said  to 
be  a  very  useful  little  book.  His  principal 
work  was '  Rudiments  of  Physiology,'  in  three 
parts,  Edinb.  1835-7,  the  last  part  (on  sen- 
sation, &c.)  having  been  brought  out  by  R. 
Lewins,  M.D.  It  is  distinguished  by  origi- 
nality and  erudition.  His  '  Elements  of 
Pathology,'  published  several  years  after  his 
death  (1842)  by  two  of  his  pupils,  John  J. 
Drysdale,  M.D.,  and  J.  R.  Russell,  M.D., 
shows  a  certain  leaning  to  the  teaching  of 
Hahnemann.  A  paper  entitled  '  Vieles  Spre- 
chen  ist  gesund,'  in  Behrend's  '  Wochentl. 
Repert.'  iv.  175  (1837),  is  attributed  to  him. 
Besides  one  or  two  introductory  lectures,  his 
only  other  publication  is  a  tract  on  the  trial 
of  Robert  Reid  for  the  murder  of  his  wife, 
29  June  1835 ;  Reid  was  thought  to  have  got 
off  unfairly,  on  a  medico-legal  plea  urged  by 
Fletcher. 

[Brit,  and  For.  Med.  Rev.  1836,  ii.  302  ;  bio- 
graphical preface,  by  Lewins,  to  pt.  iii.  of 
Kudiments  of  Physiology.]  C.  C. 


FLETCHER,  JOHN,  D.D  (d.  1848?), 

catholic  divine,  a  native  of  Ormskirk,  Lan- 
cashire, was  educated  at  Douay  College,  and 
at  the  English  seminary  of  St.  Gregory  in 
Paris.  When  the  seminary  was  dissolved 
he  proceeded  to  the  college  of  St.  Omer,  of 
which  his  great-uncle,  the  Rev.  William 
Wilkinson,  was  for  some  time  president. 
Fletcher  was  one  of  the  professors  at  St. 
Omer  throughout  the  imprisonment  of  the 
members  of  the  college  at  Arras  and  Dour- 
lens.  Upon  their  release  in  1795  Fletcher 
accompanied  them  to  England,  and  was  suc- 
cessively missioner  at  Hexham,  Blackburn, 
and  Weston  Underwood.  He  was  created 
D.D.  by  Pope  Pius  VII  on  24  Aug.  1821,  in 
recognition  of  his  missionary  merit  and  ex- 
cellent sermons.  Fletcher  became  chaplain 
to  the  Dowager  Lady  Throckmorton,  and 
served  the  mission  at  Leamington.  In  1844 
he  removed  to  the  mission  at  Northampton, 
which  he  resigned  in  1848,  owing  to  his  ad- 
vanced age.  He  died  shortly  afterwards. 

His  works  are:  1.  '  Sermons  on  various 
Religious  and  Moral  Subjects,  for  all  the 
Sundays  after  Pentecost,'  2  vols.,  London, 
1812,  8vo ;  2nd  edit.  1821.  Prefixed  is  <  An 
Essay  on  the  Spirit  of  Controversy/  which  was 
also  published  separately.  2.  '  The  Catholic's 
Manual,'  translated  from  the  French  of  Bos- 
suet,  with  preliminary  reflections  and  notes, 
London,  1817, 12mo,  1829, 8vo.  3.  <  Thoughts 
on  the  Rights  and  Prerogatives  of  the  Church 
and  State ;  with  some  observations  upon  the 
question  of  Catholic  Securities,' London,  1823, 
8vo.  4.  l  Comparative  View  of  the  Grounds 
of  the  Catholic  and  Protestant  Churches/ 
London,  1826,  8vo.  5.  'The  Difficulties  of 
Protestantism/  London,  1829,  and  again  1832, 
8vo.  6.  '  The  Catholic's  Prayer-Book/  Lon- 
don, 1830,  12mo.  For  some  time  this  manual 
was  extensively  used.  It  was  chiefly  com- 
piled from  the  manuscript  of '  A  Prayer-Book 
for  the  Use  of  the  London  District/ 1813,  by 
the  Rev.  Joseph  Berington  [q.  v.]  7.  '  The 
Prudent-  Christian/  London,  1834,  12mo. 
8. '  Guide  to  the  True  Religion/  a  series  of  ser- 
mons, 2nd  edit.,  London,  1836, 8vo.  9.  'Tran- 
substantiation,  &c.  A  Letter/  London,  1836, 
8vo.  10. '  Short  Historical  View  of  the  Rise, 
Progress,  and  Establishment  of  the  Anglican 
Church/  London,  1843,  8vo. 

He  also  published  translations  of  several 
works,  including  Father  Edmund  Campion's 
t  Ten  Reasons '  (1827),  Antonio  deDominis's 
'  Motives  for  Renouncing  the  Protestant  Re- 
ligion '  (1827),  and  De  Maistre's  'Letters  on 
the  Spanish  Inquisition  '  (1838). 

[Gillow's  Bibl.  Diet,  of  the  English  Catholics;1 
Catholic  Magazine  and  Review  (1833),  iii.  112; 
Butler  s  Hist.  Memoirs  (1822),  iv.  441.]  T.  C,  . 


Fletcher 


312 


Fletcher 


FLETCHER  or  DE  LA  FLECHERE, 
JOHN  WILLIAM  (1729-1785),  vicar  of 
Madeley ,  was  born  in  1729  at  Nyon  in  Switzer- 
land. His  father  was  an  officer  in  the  army. 
His  schooldays  were  spent  at  Nyon,  whence 
he  proceeded  to  the  university  of  Geneva. 
Both  at  school  and  at  college  he  was  dis- 
tinguished for  his  attainments,  especially  in 
classical  literature.  He  was  intended  by  his 
friends  for  the  sacred  ministry,  but  he  himself  j 
determined  to  be  a  soldier.  With  this  inten- 
tion he  went,  without  his  parents'  consent, 
to  Lisbon,  accepted  a  captain's  commission, 
and  engaged  to  serve  the  king  of  Portugal 
on  board  a  man-of-war  which  was  about  to 
sail  to  Brazil.  Being  prevented  by  an  acci- 
dent from  carrying  out  his  resolution,  he  re- 
turned to  Switzerland.  His  uncle,  who  was  a 
colonel  in  the  Dutch  service,  procured  a  com  - 
mission  for  him,  and  he  set  out  for  Flanders ; 
but  his  uncle  having  died  before  the  arrange- 
ment was  completed,  he  gave  up  all  thoughts 
of  being  a  soldier,  and  went  on  a  visit  to 
England.  During  this  visit  he  was  recom- 
mended as  a  tutor  to  the  two  sons  of  Thomas 
Hill,  esq.,  of  Tern  Hall  in  Shropshire,  and 
in  1752  entered  Mr.  Hill's  family  in  that 
capacity.  He  was  soon  afterwards  deeply 
impressed  with  the  preaching  of  the  metho- 
dists,  and  determined  to  seek  holy  orders. 
In  1757  he  was  ordained  deacon  and  priest 
on  two  successive  Sundays  by  the  Bishop 
of  Bangor  (John  Egerton),  at  the  Chapel 
Royal,  St.  James's.  His  first  ministerial  work 
was  to  help  Wesley  at  the  West  Street  Chapel, 
and  to  preach  in  various  places  to  the  French 
refugees  in  their  native  tongue.  He  was 
urged  to  return  to  Switzerland,  but  preferred 
to  remain  in  the  land  of  his  adoption,  and 
again  made  Tern  Hall  his  home.  He  was 
accustomed  to  help  the  vicar  of  Madeley,  a 
large  parish  ten  miles  distant,  and  he  *  con- 
tracted such  an  affection  for  the  people  of 
Madeley  as  nothing  could  hinder  from  in- 
creasing more  and  more  until  the  day  of  his 
death'  (BENSON).  His  intimacy  with  the 
brothers  Wesley,  especially  Charles,  with 
whom  he  kept  up  a  constant  correspondence, 
increased,  but,  unlike  them,  he  preferred  pa- 
rochial to  itinerant  work,  and  in  1760  he 
accepted  the  living  of  Madeley,  of  which  Mr. 
Hill  was  the  patron,  in  preference  to  one 
which  was  double  its  value.  Madeley  is  said 
to  have  been  a  rough  parish, '  remarkable  for 
little  else  than  the  ignorance  and  profane- 
ness  of  its  inhabitants,  among  whom  respect 
to  men  was  as  rarely  to  be  observed  as  piety 
towards  God  '  (ib.)  It  therefore  offered 
abundant  scope  for  the  untiring  and  self- 
denying  efforts  of  its  new  vicar,  who  con- 
tinued, amid  much  opposition,  to  labour  there 


for  a  quarter  of  a  century.     Mr.  Gilpin,  a, 
gentleman  who  lived  in  the  neighbourhood, 
and  was   well   acquainted   with    Madeley, 
writes  in  the  most  rapturous  terms  of  hi* 
ministerial  work,  and  Wesley  says  that '  from 
the  beginning  of  his  settling  there  he  was  a. 
laborious  workman  in  the  Lord's  vineyard,, 
endeavouring  to  spread  the  truth  of  the  gos- 
pel, and  to  suppress  vice  in  every  possible 
way.      Those  sinners  who  endeavoured  to 
hide   themselves   from  him  he  pursued  to 
every  corner  of  his  parish,  by  all  sorts  of 
means,  public  and  private,  early  and  late,  in 
season   and  out  of  season,  entreating   and 
warning  them  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come. 
Some  made  it  an  excuse  for  not  attending  the 
church  service  on  a  Sunday  morning  that 
they  could  not  awake  early  enough  to  get 
their  families  ready.     He  provided  for  this-' 
also.     Taking  a  bell  in  his  hand,  he  set  out- 
every  Sunday  for  some  months  at  five  in 
the  morning,  and  went  round  the  most  dis- 
tant parts  of  the  parish,  inviting  all  the  in- 
habitants to  the  house  of  God.'    He  esta-. 
blished  <  societies,'  after  the  Wesley  pattern, 
at  Madeley  Wood  and  Coalbrook  Dale,  two- 
outlying  hamlets,  and  was  so  lavish  in  his 
liberality  that  he  injured  his  own  health  by 
his  abstinence  in  order  that  he  might  give 
his  money  to  the  poor.     Mr.  Ireland,  a  rich 
and  pious  gentleman  of  Bristol,  whose  name- 
frequently  appears  in  connection  with  the 
evangelical  revival,  helped  him  with  his  purse, 
and  persuaded  him  to  make  a  tour  with  him 
in  Italy  and  Switzerland.      f  As  they  ap- 
proached the  Appian  Way,  Fletcher  directed 
the  driver  to  stop  before  he  entered  upon  it. 
He  then  ordered  the  chaise  door  to  be  opened, 
assuring  his  fellow-traveller  that  his  heart 
would  not  suffer  him  to  ride  over  that  ground 
upon  which  the  apostle  Paul  had  formerly 
walked,  chained  to  a  soldier,  on  account  of 
preaching  the  everlasting  gospel.     As  soon, 
as  he  had  set  his  foot  upon  this  old  Roman- 
road,  he  took  off  his  hat,  and  walking  on, 
with  his  eyes  lifted  up  to  heaven,  returned 
thanks  to  God,  in  a  most  fervent  manner,  for 
that  light,  those  truths,  and  that  influence 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  which  were  continued  to 
the  present  day.'     In  1768  Selina,  countess- 
of  Huntingdon,  invited  him  to  take  the  su- 
perintendence of  her  college  at  Trevecca  in 
Wales,  founded  for  the  education  of  '  pious 
young  men  of  whatever  denomination  for  the 
ministry.'  He  was  not  to  reside  at  Trevecca, 
but  was  to  visit  the  college  as  frequently  as 
he  could.     He  made  there,  as  he  did  every- 
where, an  extraordinary  impression.  Benson, 
his  principal  biographer,  was  head-master  at 
the  time,  and  thus  writes  of  him  :   '  Mr. 
Fletcher  visited  them   [the   students]   fre-» 


Fletcher 


313 


Fletcher 


quently,  and  was  received  as  an  angel  of 
God.  It  is  not  possible  for  me  to  describe 
the  veneration  in  which  we  all  held  him. 
Like  Elijah,  in  the  schools  of  the  prophets, 
he  was  revered,  he  was  loved,  he  was  almost 
adored,  and  that  not  only  by  every  student, 
but  by  every  member  of  the  family.  And 
indeed  he  was  worthy.'  When  the  Calvinis- 
tic  controversy  broke  out  in  1771  he  resigned 
his  office,  because  he  sympathised  with  Wes- 
ley and  not  with  Lady  Huntingdon  on  the 
points  in  dispute  ;  but  he  maintained,  in  re- 
lation to  the  college,  the  same  truly  Christian 
spirit  which  he  had  shown  throughout  the 
whole  of  that  unhappy  controversy.  '  Take 
care,  my  dear  sir,'  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Benson, 
who  was  dismissed  from  the  head-mastership 
because,  like  Fletcher,  he  took  the  Arminian 
side,  '  not  to  make  matters  worse  than  they 
are ;  and  cast  the  mantle  of  forgiving  love 
over  the  circumstances  that  might  injure 
the  cause  of  God,  so  far  as  it  is  put  into  the 
hands  of  that  eminent  lady  [Lady  Hunt- 
ingdon] who  hath  so  well  deserved  of  the 
church  of  Christ.  Rather  suffer  in  silence, 
than  make  a  noise  to  cause  the  Philistines  to 
triumph.' 

By  his  incessant  work  in  his  parish,  his 
frequent  journeys  in  all  weathers  to  Tre- 
vecca,  his  self-denying  abstinence,  and  his 
literary  labours,  he  injured  his  health,  which 
was  not  naturally  strong,  and  in  order  to  re- 
cruit it  he  paid  a  long  visit  at  the  house  of 
Mr.  Ireland,  who  now  lived  at  Newington. 
But  he  could  not  find  there  the  rest  and  re- 
tirement which  he  needed  ;  for  '  he  was  con- 
tinually visited  by  high  and  low,  and  by  per- 
sons of  various  denominations,  one  of  whom 
being  asked  when  he  went  away  what  he 
thought  of  Mr.  Fletcher,  said :  "  I  went  to  see 
a  man  that  had  one  foot  in  the  grave ;  but  I 
found  a  man  that  had  one  foot  in  heaven  ! " ' 
During  his  enforced  absences  from  Madeley 
he  frequently  wrote  pastoral  letters  to  his 
parishioners,  which  breathe  the  spirit  of  the 
most  ardent  piety ;  and  always  took  care  to  pro- 
vide a  '  locum  tenens '  who  would  carry  on  his 
work  on  his  own  lines.  Partly  to  see  his  re- 
lations, and  partly  in  the  hope  of  recovering 
his  health,  he  made  another  journey  to  Swit- 
zerland, and  stayed  for  some  time  at  Nyon, 
his  birthplace,  where  he  lodged  in  the  same 
house  with  William  Perronet,  son  of  that 
vicar  of  Shoreham  whom  Charles  Wesley 
called  the  archbishop  of  methodism.  He  re- 
turned to  England  with  his  health  greatly 
improved  in  1781,  and  in  the  same  year  mar- 
ried Mary  Bosanquet,  a  lady  of  a  kindred 
spirit  with  his  own.  With  her  he  settled 
quietly  down  at  Madeley,  and  spent  the 
remainder  of  his  life  in  active  parochial 


work.  He  showed  a  particular  interest  ia 
the  children  of  the  parish,  teaching  them 
himself  every  day,  and  warmly  took  up  the, 
new  scheme  of  Sunday  schools,  establishing 
a  large  one  at  Madeley.  In  all  his  labours- 
he  was  cordially  helped  by  Mrs.  Fletcher. 
The  laying  the  foundation  of  the  Sunday 
schools  at  Madeley  was  his  last  public  work. 
After  about  a  week's  illness  he  died  at  Madeley 
on  14  Aug.  1785,  leaving  behind  a  reputa- 
tion of  saintliness  such  as  few  have  ever  at- 
tained. John  Wesley,  in  a  funeral  sermon 
on  the  suggestive  text,  <  Mark  the  perfect 
man,  and  behold  the  upright,  for  the  end  of 
that  man  is  peace,'  said  that  he  had  never 
met  so  holy  a  man,  and  never  expected  to  do- 
so  on  this  side  of  eternity ;  and  the  testimony 
of  others  is  equally  explicit. 

Fletcher  was  a  voluminous  and  very  much, 
admired  writer.  His  best-known  work  is. 
his  *  Checks  to  Antinomianism,'  which  was- 
called  forth  by  the  disputes  between  the 
Arminians  (so  called)  and  Calvinists  in  1771. 
It  was  written  in  defence  of  the  minutes  of  the 
Wesleyan  conference  of  1770,  which  aroused 
the  hostility  of  Lady  Huntingdon  and  her. 
friends,  and  had  special  reference  to  a  *  cir- 
cular printed  letter,'  under  the  name  of  the 
Hon.  and  Rev.  Walter  Shirley,  inviting  all 
1  real  protestants '  to  meet  and  protest  against 
the  obnoxious  minutes.  John  Wesley '  knows- 
not  which  to  admire  most  [in  the  '  Checks'], 
the  purity  of  the  language  (such  as  scarce 
any  foreigner  wrote  before),  the  strength  and 
clearness  of  the  argument,  or  the  mildness- 
and  sweetness  of  the  spirit  that  breathes- 
throughout  the  whole.'  Much  of  this  praise 
is  thoroughly  deserved ;  and  there  is  another 
feature  in  the  work  which  Mr.  Wesley  has. 
not  noticed.  The  '  Checks '  show  that  the 
writer  had  a  great  sense  of  humour,  and  a, 
vein  of  delicate  satire,  which,  if  he  had  not 
been  restrained  by  that  spirit  of  Christian: 
charity  to  which  Mr.  Wesley  refers,  would 
have  made  him  a  most  dangerous  antagonist  to 
meddle  with.  But,  unfortunately,  the ( Checks 
to  Antinomianism '  are  so  inextricably  mixed 
up  with  the  most  feeble,  bitter,  and  unprofit- 
able controversy  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
that  justice  has  scarcely  been  done  to  their 
intellectual  merits.  His  other  works  are : 
1.  '  An  Appeal  to  Matter  of  Fact  and  Com- 
mon Sense  ;  or  a  Rational  Demonstration  of 
Man's  Corrupt  and  Lost  Estate,'  which  was, 
addressed  '  to  the  principal  inhabitants  [that 
is,  the  gentry]  of  the  parish  of  Madeley,  and 
was  published  in  1772,  though  written  a  year 
earlier.  2. '  An  Essay  on  Truth ;  or  a  Rational 
Vindication  of  the  Doctrine  of  Salvation  by 
Faith,'  which  he  dedicated  to  Lady  Hunting- 
don and  published  in  1773.  3.'  Scripture  Scales 


Fletcher 


$14 


Fletcher 


to  weigh  the  Gold  of  Gospel  Truth,'  1774. 
4.  '  Zelotus  [?  Zelotes]  and  Honestus  Recon- 
ciled ;  or  an  Equal  Check  to  Pharisaism  and 
Antinomianism '  (which  includes  the  first  and 
second  parts  of  the  'Scripture  Scales'),  1775. 
6.  'The  Fictitious  and  Genuine  Creed,'  1775. 
6.  'A  Polemical  Essay  on  the  Twin  Doctrines 
of  Christian  Imperfection  and  a  Death  Purga- 
tory,' popularly  called  his  « Treatise  on  Chris- 
tian Perfection,' 1775.  7.  '  A  Vindication  of 
Mr.  Wesley's  Calm  Address  to  our  American 
Colonies,  in  Three  Letters  to  Mr.  Caleb  Evans.' 
8.  '  American  Patriotism  further  confronted 
with  Reason,  Scripture,  and  the  Constitu- 
tion ;  being  Observations  on  the  Dangerous 
Politics  taught  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Evans  and 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Price,'  1776  ('I  carried  one  of 
them'  (these  tracts),  wrote  Vaughan  to  Wes- 
ley, '  to  the  Earl  of  D.  His  lordship  carried 
it  to  the  lord  chancellor,  and  the  lord  chan- 
cellor handed  it  to  the  king.  One  was  im- 
mediately commissioned  to  ask  Mr.  Fletcher 
whether  any  preferment  in  the  church  would 
be  acceptable  ?  Or  whether  he  [the  chancel- 
lor] could  do  him  any  service  ?  He  answered, 
"I  want  nothing  but  more  grace"').  9.  'The 
Reconciliation  ;  or  an  Easy  Method  to  Unite 
the  Professing  People  of  God,  by  placing  the 
Doctrines  of  Grace  and  Justice  in  such  a 
Light  as  to  make  the  candid  Arminians  Bible- 
Calvinists,  and  the  candid  Calvinists  Bible- 
Arminians,'  1776.  This  was  preceded  by  a 
tract  entitled  'The  Doctrines  of  Grace  and 
Justice  equally  essential  to  the  Pure  Gospel ; 
with  some  Remarks  on  the  mischievous  Di- 
visions caused  among  Christians  by  parting 
those  Doctrines ; '  but  this  was  intended  as 
an  introduction  to  the  '  Reconciliation,'  and 
the  two  were  subsequently  printed  and  sold 
in  one  volume.  During  the  last  nine  years 
of  his  life  his  health  was  too  delicate  to  allow 
him  to  write  anything  except  letters  to  his 
friends  and  the  pastoral  addresses  already 
referred  to. 

[Life  of  the  'Rev.  John  W.  de  la  Flechere, 
compiled  from  the  narrative  of  the  Rev.  J.  Wes- 
ley ;  the  Biographical  Notes  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Gilpin,  his  own  Letters,  &c.,  by  the  Rev.  Joseph 
Benson ;  Fletcher's  Checks  to  Antinomianism, 
and  Works,  passim.]  J.  H.  0. 

FLETCHER,  JOSEPH  (1582  ?-l 637), 
religious  poet,  son  of  Thomas  Fletcher,  mer- 
chant tailor  of  London,  was,  according  to  his 
epitaph,  sixty  years  old  at  the  time  of  his 
death  in  1637.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that 
he  was  four  or  five  years  younger.  He  was 
entered  at  Merchant  Taylors'  School  on 
11  March  1593-4,  and  was  elected  to  St 
John's  College,  Oxford,  in  1600,  matriculat- 
ing on  23  Jan.  1600-1,  at  the  age  of  eighteen 


He  proceeded  B.A.  in  1604-5  and  M.A.  in 
1608.  He  took  part  in  a  burlesque  pageant 
called  '  The  Christmas  Prince/  played  at 
Oxford  in  1607,  together  with  his  fellow- 
collegiate,  Laud  (TKIPHOOK,  Miscellanea 
Antigua  Anglicana,  1816).  In  the  autumn 
of  1609  he  was  presented  to  the  rectory  of 
Wilby,  Suffolk,  by  Sir  Anthony  Wingfield, 
and  he  died  there  on  28  May  1637,  being 
buried  in  the  church.  A  mural  brass  above 
bis  grave  with  verses  inscribed  upon  it  is 
still  extant.  He  married,  first,  in  May  1610, 
Grace,  daughter  of  Hugh  Ashley,  vicar  of 
St.  Margaret's,  Ilkettshall,  a  parish  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Wilby.  By  her  he  had  six 
children:  Joseph  (baptised  7  April  1611), 
William  (baptised  13  April  1612),  Grace 
(baptised  28  Dec.  1613),  Marie  (baptised 
27  Aug.  1605),  John  (baptised  18  May  1617), 
and  a  sixth  child,  born  in  December  1618. 
Fletcher's  first  wife  died  in  giving  birth  to 
the  sixth  child,  and  she  was  buried  in  Wilby 
Church  on  4  Dec.  1618.  Her  husband,  when 
entering  her  death  in  the  burial  register, 
added  two  elegiac  poems,  one  in  Latin  and 
the  other  in  English.  Fletcher's  second 
wife  (Anne)  survived  him,  and  to  her  he 
left  all  his  property  by  a  will  dated  1  May 
1630. 

Fletcher  was  the  author  of  a  volume  of 
poetry — now  very  rare — entitled  '  The  His- 
torie  of  the  Perfect,  Cursed,  Blessed  Man : 
setting  forth  man's  excellencie,  miserie,  feli- 
citie  by  his  generation,  degeneration,  regene- 
ration, by  I.  F.,  Master  of  Arts,  Preacher  of 
God's  Word,  and  Rector  of  Wilbie  in  Suffolk/ 
London,  1628,  1629.  This  is  dedicated  to 
the  author's  patron,  Sir  Anthony  Wingfield. 
A  long  prose  address  to  the  reader  precedes 
the  poem,  which  is  written  throughout  in 
heroic  verse,  and  rarely  rises  above  medio- 
crity. Emblematical  designs  by  Thomas  Cecil 
are  scattered  through  the  volume.  No  copy 
is  in  the  British  Museum.  A  poem  of  far 
higher  literary  quality  called '  Christes  Bloodie 
Sweat,  or  The  Source  of  God  in  his  Agonie,by 
I.  F.'  (London,  1613),  has  also  been  attributed 
to  Fletcher  by  Dr.  Grosart  and  Mr.  W.  0.  Haz- 
litt.  The  British  Museum  Catalogue  accepts 
the  identification  of  '  I.  F.'  with  Fletcher's 
initials.  But  the  authorship  is  very  uncertain, 
and  little  of  the  fervour  of  the  earlier  work 
is  discernible  in  the  later.  Dr.  Grosart  re- 
printed the  two  volumes  in  his  '  Fuller's 
Worthies  Library'  as  Joseph  Fletcher's  poeti- 
cal works  (1869). 

[Robinson's  Merchant  Taylors'  School  Reg. 
i.  34;  Clark's  Oxf.  Univ.  Reg.  (Oxf.  Hist.  Soc.), 
n.  ii.  245,  iii.  250  ;  Dr.  Grosart's  preface  to 
Fletcher's  Poetical  Works ;  Notes  and  Queries, 
3rd  ser.  viii.  268.]  S.  L.  L. 


Fletcher 


315 


Fletcher 


FLETCHER,  JOSEPH,  D.D.  (1784- 
1843),  theological  writer,  was  born  3  Dec. 
1784  at  Chester,  where  his  father  was  a 
goldsmith.  In  his  boyhood  he  was  deeply 
impressed  by  the  gospel,  and  after  attend- 
ing the  grammar  school  of  his  native  city, 
prepared  for  the  ministry  in  the  independent 
church  by  studying,  first  at  Hoxton  and  then 
at  the  university  of  Glasgow,  where  he  took 
the  degree  of  M.A.  in  1807.  Receiving  a  call 
from  the  congregational  church  of  Blackburn, 
Lancashire,  he  began  his  ministry  the  same 
year,  and  continued  there  till  1823,  when  he 
became  minister  of  Stepney  meeting,  in  the 
metropolis.  In  1816  he  added  to  his  duties 
that  of  theological  tutor  in  the  Blackburn 
college  for  training  ministers.  While  dis- 
charging the  duties  both  of  the  congregation 
and  the  chair,  with  marked  ability  and  suc- 
cess, Fletcher  was  also  a  voluminous  writer. 
The  (  Eclectic  Review '  had  just  begun  its 
career,  and  Fletcher  was  one  of  its  regular 
contributors.  His  papers  gave  proof  of  ample 
stores  of  information,  and  of  a  scholarly  and 
powerful  pen.  On  particular  subjects  Fletcher 
published  tracts  and  treatises  that  won  con- 
siderable fame.  His  lectures  on  the  '  Prin- 
ciples and  Institutions  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Religion '  (1817)  won  great  appreciation,  Dr. 
Pye  Smith,  Robert  Hall,  and  others  expressing 
a  very  high  opinion  of  them.  A  discourse  on 
'•Personal  Election  and  Divine  Sovereignty' 
(1825)  was  also  much  commended.  A  volume 
of  poems  (1846)  was  the  joint  production  of 
himself  and  his  sister,  Mary  Fletcher.  In  1830 
the  senatus  of  the  university  of  Glasgow  con- 
ferred on  him  the  degree  of  D.D.  Without 
reaching  the  first  rank  in  any  of  his  perform- 
ances, he  showed  a  completeness  of  character, 
a  combination  of  reasoning  power  and  emo- 
tional fervour  which  made  him  an  acceptable 
.and  instructive  preacher.  As  a  writer  who 
gave  birth  to  all  his  literary  offspring  amid  the 
whirl  of  constant  practical  work  and  endless 
engagements  he  did  little  more  than  show 
what  he  might  have  done  with  leisure  and 
other  facilities  for  literary  work.  He  died 
8  June  1843. 

JOSEPH  FLETCHEK  the  younger  (1816- 
1876),  congregational  minister,  Dr.  Fletcher's 
fourth  son  by  his  wife  Mary  France,  was 
born  at  Blackburn  7  Jan.  1816 ;  was  educated 
at  Ham  grammar  school,  near  Richmond, 
Surrey ;  went  from  a  Manchester  counting- 
house  in  1833  to  study  at  Coward  College  ; 
was  called  to  the  congregational  church  of 
Hanley  in  1839  ;  was  transferred  to  Christ- 
church,  Hampshire,  in  1849,  in  succession  to 
Daniel  Gunn  [q.  v.] ;  resigned  his  charge 
owing  to  paralysis  at  the  close  of  1873,  and 
died  at  Christchurch  2  June  1876.  He  kept 


a  school  for  a  time  at  Christchurch,  but  the 
death  by  drowning  of  seven  of  his  pupils  in 
May  1868  caused  him  to  close  his  establish- 
ment. He  published,  besides  the  memoirs  of 
his  father  in  1846,  <  Six  Views  of  Infidelity,' 
a  series  of  lectures  given  at  Hanley  in  1843 ; 
'  History  of  Independency,'  an  important 
work  in  4  vols.  1847-9,  reissued  1853 ;  and 
'  Life  of  Constantine  the  Great,'  1852  (Con- 
gregational  Year-Book^  1877).  He  is  also 
credited  with  the  libretto  of  an  oratorio  en- 
titled l  Paradise/  by  John  Fawcett  the 
younger  [q.  v.] 

[Memoirs  of  the  Eev.  Joseph  Fletcher,  D.D.,by 
his  son,  1846 ;  Waddington's  Congregational 
Hist.]  W.  G.  B. 

FLETCHER,  JOSEPH  (181 3-1852),  sta- 
tistician, born  in  1813,  was  educated  as  a 
barrister.  From  the  age  of  nineteen  he  was 
engaged  upon  works  and  reports  in  connec- 
tion with  the  health,  occupations,  and  well- 
being  of  the  people.  He  acted  as  secretary 
to  the  handloom  inquiry  commission,  and 
afterwards  to  the  children's  employment 
commission.  His  valuable  reports  of  these 
commissions  formed  the  basis  of  useful  legis- 
lation. The  disclosures  of  the  children's  em- 
ployment commission  in  particular  established 
the  necessity  of  parliamentary  control.  In 
1844  Fletcher  was  appointed  one  of  her  ma- 
jesty's inspectors  of  schools ;  and  his  volu- 
minous reports  were  among  the  most  service- 
able contributions  to  British  educational  sta- 
tistics. For  many  years  Fletcher  was  one  of 
the  honorary  secretaries  of  the  Statistical 
Society  of  London,  and  in  this  post  he  earned 
wide  recognition  among  statists  at  home  and 
abroad.  He  was  also  during  the  same  period 
editor  of  the  'Statistical  Journal,'  and  re- 
sponsible for  the  collation  and  arrangement 
of  the  vast  collection  of  documents  published 
in  that  journal.  Fletcher  was  a  member  of 
the  council  of  the  British  Association,  and 
on  several  occasions  acted  as  secretary  to  the 
statistical  section,  contributing  also  a  series 
of  memoirs  to  the  association  reports.  In 
1850  Fletcher  published  a  <  Summary  of  the 
Moral  Statistics  of  England  and  Wales ; ' 
and  in  the  following  year  a  work  on  '  Edu- 
cation :  National,  Voluntary,  and  Free/  He 
paid  great  attention  to  foreign  educational 
systems,  and  issued  (1851-2)  two  treatises 
on  '  The  Farm  School  of  the  Continent,  and 
its  Applicability  to  the  Preventive  and  Re- 
formatory Education  of  Pauper  and  Criminal 
Children  in  England  and  Wales.'  Fletcher 
died  at  Chirk,  Denbighshire,  11  Aug.  1852. 
He  was  an  ideal  statistician,  having  in  a 
singular  degree  the  power  of  grasping  facts 
and  realising  their  relative  significance.  He 


Fletcher 


316 


Fletcher 


was  buried  in  the  graveyard  of  Tottenham 
Church. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1852 ;  Journal  of  the  Statistical 
Society,  1852;  Athenaeum,  1852.]  G.  B.  S. 

FLETCHER,    MKS.    MARIA    JANE 

(1800-1833).    [See  JEWSBTJRT.] 

FLETCHER,  PHINEAS  (1582-1650), 
poet,  was  elder  son  of  Giles  Fletcher,  LL.D. 
[  q.  v.],  by  his  wife,  Joan  Sheafe,  and  was  bap- 
tised at  his  birthplace,  Cranbrook,  Kent,  of 
which  his  grandfather,  Richard  Fletcher,  was 
vicar,  on  8  April  1582.  Like  his  father,  he 
was  educated  at  Eton,  and  was  thence  elected 
on  24  Aug.  1600  a  scholar  of  King's  College, 
Cambridge,  where  he  graduated  B.A.  in  1604, 
M.A.  in  1607-8,  and  afterwards  B.D.  He  ob- 
tained a  fellowship  before  midsummer  1611 ; 
contributed  English  verse  to  the  university 
collections  in  1603,  and  acquired  the  reputa- 
tion of  a  poet  among  his  Cambridge  friends. 
In  1614  he  wrote  a  pastoral  play,  '  Sicelides,' 
to  be  acted  before  James  I  on  his  visit  to 
Cambridge,  but  the  royal  party  left  the  uni- 
versity before  it  was  ready,  and  the  piece  was 
performed  later  at  King's  College.  Fletcher 
remained  at  King's  College  till  midsummer 
1616.  In  his  *  Piscatory  Eclogues,'  where  he 
writes  of  himself  under  the  name  of  Thyrsil, 
he  asserts  that  he  left  the  university — *  un- 
grateful Chame,'  he  calls  it — in  resentment 
for  some  slight  cast  upon  him  by  the  autho- 
rities : 

Not  I  my  Chame,  but  me  proud  Chame  refuses, 
His  froward  spites  my  strong  affections  sever ; 
Else  from  his  banks  could  I  have  parted  never. 

For  the  next  five  years  Sir  Henry  Willoughby 
seems  to  have  entertained  Fletcher  as  his 
chaplain  at  Risley,  Derbyshire.  In  1621  Wil- 
loughby presented  the  poet  to  the  rectory 
of  Hilgay,  Norfolk,  where  he  lived  for  the  rest 
of  his  life.  Soon  after  settling  at  Hilgay  he 
married  Elizabeth  Vincent.  In  1627  the  pub- 
lication of  his  '  Locustse/an  attack  on  Roman 
Catholicism,  seems  to  have  involved  him  in 
a  quarrel  with  some  neighbours.  His  inti- 
mate friends  included  Edward  Benlowes 
[q.  v.l  his  junior  by  more  than  twenty  years, 
and  Benlowes  introduced  him  to  Francis 
Quarles.  In  Quarles's  'Emblems'  (1635), 
bk.  v.  No.  vi.,  a  globe  representing  the  world 
is  inscribed  with  the  name  of  four  places,  one 
of  them  being  Hilgay.  Fletcher  died  at  the 
close  of  1650.  His  will,  dated  21  June  1649, 
was  proved  by  his  widow,  the  sole  execu- 
trix, 13  Dec.  1650.  Mention  is  made  there 
of  two  sons,  Phineas  and  William,  and  four 
daughters,  Ann,  Elizabeth,  Frances,  and 
Sarah. 
Fletcher's  chief  volume, '  The  Purple  Island 


or  the  Isle  of  Man,  together  with  Piscatorie 
Eclogs  and  other  Poeticall  Miscellanies  by 
P.  F.,'  was  printed  by  the  printers  to  the  uni- 
versity of  Cambridge  in  1633.  The  dedica- 
tion to  Benlowes  is  dated  *  Hilgay,  1  May 
1633.'  There  Fletcher  describes  the  poems 
that  follow  as  '  these  raw  essayes  of  my  very 
unripe  yeares,  and  almost  childehood,'  and 
says  that  Benlowes  insisted  on  their  publica^ 
tion.  A  commendatory  preface  by  Daniel 
Featley,  D.D.,  is  succeeded  by  eulogistic  verses 
by  E.  Benlowes,  his  brother  William,  Francis 
Quarles  (two  poems),  Lodowick  Roberts,  and 
A.  C.,  who  has  been  identified  with  Cowley. 
'  The  Piscatory  Eclogs  arid  other  Poeticall 
Miscellanies'  has  a  separate  title-page.  The 
seven  'Eclogs'  contain  much  autobiographi- 
cal matter,  but  the  names  of  the  author's, 
friends  are  disguised.  Thelgon  is  the  poet's, 
father,  Thyrsil  himself,  and  Thomalin  is  John 
Tomkins.  The  '  Miscellanies '  include  epitha- 
lamia  in  honour  of  the  author's  cousins, '  Mr. 
W.'  and  '  M.  R.'  (perhapsWalter  and  Margaret 
Robarts)  of  Brenchley,  and  poems  addressed 
to  Cambridge  friends,  the  initials  of  whose 
names  alone  are  given,  together  with  metrical 
versions  of  the  psalms.  Membersof  the  Court- 
hope  family  are  believed  to  be  intended  by 
'  W.  C.'  and  '  E.  C.'  Cole  suggested  that 
'  E.  C.,  my  son  by  the  university,'  was  one 
Ezekiel  Clarke.  A  third  title-page  intro- 
duces another  poem,  '  Elisa:  an  Elegie  upon 
the  unripe  demise  of  Sr  Antonie  Irby.'  The 
lady  had  died  in  1625,  and  at  the  time  that- 
the  elegy  was  published  the  husband  was  on 
the  point  of  marrying  again.  A  poem  by 
Quarles  closes  the  volume.  In  the  British 
Museum  is  the  presentation  copy  given  by 
Fletcher  to  Benlowes.  '  The  Piscatory  Ec- 
logs '  was  edited  separately  by  Lord  Wood- 
houselee  in  1771.  'The  Purple  Island'  was. 
reissued  separately  in  1784  and  1816 ;  the 
latter  edited  by  Headley. 

'  The  Purple  Island,'  in  twelve  cantos  of 
seven-line  stanzas,  is  an  elaborate  allegorical 
description  of  the  human  body  and  of  the  vices 
and  virtues  to  which  man  is  subject.  Them 
are  many  anatomical  notes  in  prose.  The 
body  is  represented  as  an  island,  of  which  the 
bones  stand  for  the  foundations,  the  veins 
for  brooks,  and  so  forth  in  minute  detail. 
Fletcher  imitates  the '  Faery  Queene.'  Quarles 
calls  him  'the  Spencer  of  this  age/  and 
Fletcher  eulogises  his  master  in  canto  vi. 
stanzas  51-2.  But  Fletcher's  allegory  is  over- 
loaded with  detail,  and  as  a  whole  is  clumsy 
and  intricate.  His  diction  is,  however,  singu- 
larly rich,  and  his  versification  melodious. 
Incidental  descriptions  of  rural  scenes  with 
which  he  was  well  acquainted  are  charm- 
ingly simple,  tfnd  there  is  a  majesty  in  his 


Fletcher 


3*7 


Fletcher 


personifications  of  some  vices  and  virtues 
which  suggest  Milton,  who  knew  Fletcher's 
works  well. 

Fletcher's  other  works  are:  1.  'Locustae 
vel  Pietas  Jesuitica.  The  Locusts  or  Apol- 
lyonists,'  Cambridge,  Thomas  &  John  Bucke, 
1627.  The  first  part  in  Latin  verse  is  dedi- 
cated to  Sir  Roger  Townshend,  the  patron  of 
Phineas's  brother  Giles,  and  has  commenda- 
tory verse  by  S.  Collins.  The  second  part 
in  English  verse,  in  five  cantos  of  nine-line 
stanzas,  is  dedicated  to  Lady  Townshend, 
and  has  prefatory  verse  by  H.  M.,  perhaps 
Henry  More.  Two  manuscript  copies  of  the 
Latin  part  are  in  the  British  Museum.  One 
Harl.  MS.,  3196,  is  dedicated  in  Latin  prose  to 
Thomas  Murray,  provost  of  Eton  (d.  1625), 
and  in  Latin  verse  to  Prince  Charles.  The 
second  manuscript  (Sloane  MS.  444)  is  dedi- 
cated to  Montague,  bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells. 
The  poem  is  a  sustained  attack  on  Roman 
catholicism,and  the  English  version  suggested 
.many  phrases  to  Milton.  2.  '  Sicelides,  or 
Piscatory,  as  it  hath  been  acted  in  King's  Col- 
ledge  in  Cambridge,'  London,  1631.  The  piece 
is  in  five  acts,  partly  in  blank,  and  partly 
in  rhymed  verse.  Songs  are  interspersed, 
and  there  are  comic  scenes  in  prose.  3.  f  The 
Way  to  Blessedness  ;  a  treatise  ...  on  the 
First  Psalm,'  with  the  text,  London,  1632 
•(prose).  4.  '  Joy  in  Tribulation ;  a  Consola- 
tion for  afflicted  Spirits,' London,  1632  (prose). 
-&.  '  Sylva  Poetica  Auctore  P.  F.,'  Cambridge, 
1633;  a  collection  of  Latin  poems  and  ec- 
logues ;  dedicated  to  Edward  Benlowes.  6. l  A 
Father's  Testament,  written  long  since  for  the 
benefit  of  a  particular  relation  of  the  Author,' 
London,  1670  (prose,  with  some  verse,  chiefly 
translations  from  Boethius).  Fletcher  also 
edited  a  previously  unpublished  Latin  poem 
by  his  father,  entitled  'De  Literis  Antiques 
Britannise,'  Cambridge,  1633.  He  contri- 
buted verses  to  f  Sorrowe's  Joy,'  Cambridge, 
1603  (a  collection  of  Cambridge  poems  in  Eng- 
lish on  the  death  of  Elizabeth  and  accession  of 
James  I)  ;  to  <  Threno-Thriambeuticon,'  Cam- 
bridge, 1603  (a  similar  collection  in  Latin)  ; 
•to  his  brother  I  i  les's  '  Christ's  Victory,'  1610 ; 
and  to  his  fr  -ml  Benlowes's  '  Theophila,' 
1632.  Dr.  Grosart  has  credited  Fletcher  with 
the  authorship  of  a  love-poem  of  consider- 
able beauty,  and  somewhat  lascivious  tone,  en- 
titled '  Brittain's  Ida,'  an  account  of  the  loves 
of  Venus  and  Anchises.  This  poem  was  first 
issued  in  1627,  and  was  described  as  by  Ed- 
mund Spenser.  It  is  clear  that  Spenser  was 
not  the  author.  There  is  much  internal  re- 
semblance between  Fletcher's  other  works 
and  '  Brittain's  Ida,'  and  no  other  name  has 
l)een  put  forward  to  claim  the  latter  poem. 
But  no  more  positive  statement  is  possible. 


Dr.  Grosart  has  collected  Fletcher's  poetical 
works  in  lour  volumes  in  his  '  Fuller's 
Worthies  Library/ 

[Dr.  G-rosart's  Memoir,  in  his  edition  of 
Fletcher's  Poems ;  Dr.  Grosart's  Fuller's  Worthies 
Miscellany,  iii.  70,  where  Fletcher's  -will  is 
printed  ;  Hunter's  MS.  Chorus  Vatum  in  Addit. 
MS.  24487,  f.  125;  Cole's  MS.  Hist,  of  King's 
College,  Cambridge  (Cole's  MSS.  xv.  35) ;  Howell's 
Letters,  ii.  64 ;  Eetrospective  Review,  ii.  341 ; 
Phillips's  Theatrum  Poetarum.]  S.  L.  L. 

FLETCHER,  RICHARD,  D.D.  (d.  1596), 
bishop  of  London,  was  son  of  a  Richard 
Fletcher,  ordained  by  Ridley  in  1550,  and 
vicar  of  Bishops  Stortford  till  his  deprivation 
by  Mary  in  1555.  In  July  of  the  same  year 
he  and  his  son  witnessed  the  martyrdom  of 
Christopher  Wade  at  Dartford  in  Kent,  of 
which  an  account  signed  by  both  was  fur- 
nished to  Foxe  (Acts  and  Mon.  iii.  317,  ed. 
1684).  On  the  accession  of  Elizabeth  the 
elder  Fletcher  was  appointed  to  the  vicarage 
of  Cranbrook,  Kent,  where  Fuller  states  the 
younger  Fletcher  to  have  been  born.  Fletcher, 
however,  was  appointed  by  Archbishop  Parker 
to  the  first  of  the  four  Norfolk  fellowships 
founded  by  him  in  Corpus  Christi  College, 
Cambridge,  and  on  the  college  books  he  is 
styled  '  Norfolciensis.'  He  was  admitted  as 
a  pensioner  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge, 
16  Nov.  1562,  and  became  a  scholar  there 
in  1563.  He  became  B.A.  in  1565-6,  M.A. 
in  1569,  B.D.  in  1576,  and  D.D.  in  1581. 
He  was  made  fellow  of  Corpus  Christi  in 
1569.  In  1572  he  was  incorporated  M.A. 
of  Oxford,  and  in  the  same  year  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  prebendal  stall  of  Islington 
in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.  According  to  Mas- 
ters (Hist,  of  Corpus  Christi  College,  pp.  285-8) 
he  received  this  stall  from  Matthew  Parker, 
son  of  the  archbishop,  who  appears  to  have 
had  the  patronage  made  over  to  him  (for 
this  turn)  to  carry  out  his  father's  design  of 
getting  prebendal  stalls  annexed  by  act  of 
parliament  to  his  Norfolk  fellowships.  He 
vacated  his  fellowship  on  his  marriage  with 
Elizabeth  Holland,  which  took  place  in  Cran- 
brook Church  in  1573.  In  1574  he  was 
minister  of  Rye  in  Sussex,  where  his  son  John 
[q.  v.]  the  dramatist  and  three  of  his  elder 
children  were  born.  He  was  introduced  by 
Archbishop  Parker  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  who 
was  attracted  by  his  handsome  person,  courtly 
manners,  and  ability  as  a  preacher. 

Sir  John  Harington  says  of  him  '  he  could 
preach  well  and  speak  boldly,  and  yet  keep 
decorum.  He  knew  what  would  please  the 
queen,  and  would  adventure  on  that  though 
that  offended  others.'  Elizabeth's  favour  in- 
sured rapid  preferment.  On  19  June  1575 
he  was  presented  by  the  queen  to  the  living 


Fletcher 


318 


Fletcher 


of  Bradenham,  Buckinghamshire.  In  1581 
he  became  one  of  her  chaplains  in  ordinary. 
Whitgift  recommended  him  unsuccessfully 
for  the  deanery  of  Windsor.  On  15  Nov. 
1583  he  was  appointed  to  the  deanery  of 
Peterborough,  and  on  23  Jam  1585-6  he  was 
installed  prebendary  of  Stow  Longa  in  Lin- 
coln Cathedral,  and  in  the  same  year  became 
rector  of  Barnack,  Northamptonshire,  on  the 
presentation  of  Sir  Thomas  Cecil.  He  also 
held  the  rich  living  of  Algarkirk  in  South 
Lincolnshire,  which,  together  with  his  stall, 
on  his  becoming  bishop  of  Bristol,  he  was 
allowed  to  retain  in  commendam  (Calendar 
of  State  Papers,  Dom.  p.  663).  He  was  also 
chaplain  to  Archbishop  Whitgift,  and  in  that 
capacity  is  stated  to  have  helped  to  draw 
up  the  original  of  the  present  55th  canon, 
ordaining  the  form  of  bidding  prayer  to  be 
used  by  preachers  before  sermons.  He  is 
said,  however,  the  canon  notwithstanding,  to 
have  used  a  form  of  his  own  composing.  He 
held  the  deanery  of  Peterborough  for  six 
years.  He  preached  before  the  commissioners 
for  the  trial  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  in  the 
chapel  of  Fotheringay  Castle,  12  Oct.  1586, 
drew  up  a  detailed  report  of  the  examination 
of  the  queen,  and  officiated  as  chaplain  at  her 
execution,  8  Feb.  1586-7.  He  obtruded  his 
*  unwelcome  ministrations '  upon  Mary  with 
the  insolence  of  unfeeling  bigotry,  and  the 
1  stern  Amen '  with  which  his  solitary  voice 
echoed  the  Earl  of  Kent's  imprecation, l  So 
perish  all  the  queen's  enemies/  was  an  evi- 
dent bidding  for  high  preferment,  followed 
up  without  delay  by  a  sermon  (preserved  in 
manuscript  in  the  library  of  St.  John's  Col- 
lege, Cambridge)  delivered  before  Elizabeth 
immediately  after  the  execution  of  her  rival. 
Two  years  later  Elizabeth  resolved  to  confer 
upon  her  '  well-spoken '  chaplain  her  father's 
recently  founded  see  of  Bristol,  which  she 
had  kept  vacant  for  thirty  years.  He  was 
consecrated  by  Whitgift  in  Lambeth  Chapel 
14  Dec.  1589  (STRYPE,  Whitgift,  i.  616).  Ac- 
cording to  Sir  John  Harington,  his  elevation 
was  helped  forward  by  some  of  the  queen's 
court,  who  were  on  the  look-out  for  compliant 
candidates,  and  obtained  the  bishopric  for  him 
on  terms  by  which  he  almost  secularised  the 
see  (COLLIER,  Church  Hist.  vii.  222 ;  STRYPE, 
Whitgift,  ii.  112).  He  took  part  in  the  con- 
secration of  Bishop  Coldwell  of  Salisbury, 
.16  Dec.  1591.  Fletcher  had  a  house  of  his 
own  at  Chelsea,  where  he  chiefly  resided, 
spending  much  more  of  his  time  at  court  than 
in  his  diocese.  Here  his  first  wife,  Elizabeth, 
died,  December  1592,  shortly  after  the  birth 
of  her  daughter  Mary  (baptised  14  Oct.),  and 
was  buried  in  Chelsea  Church  beneath  the 
altar.  After  three  years'  stay  at  Bristol  he 


was  translated  to  the  much  richer  see  of  Wor- 
cester, his  election  taking  place  24  Jan. 
1592-3. 

In  June  1594  the  see  of  London  became 
vacant  by  the  death  of  John  Aylmer  [q.  v.] 
Fletcher  wrote  (29  June)  to  Lord  Burghley, 
giving  reasons  for  his  translation  thither. 
He  'delighted  in'  London,  had  been  edu- 
cated there,  was  beloved  by  many  of  the 
citizens  to  whom  he  could  be  useful,  and 
would  be  near  the  court, '  where  his  presence 
had  become  habitual  and  lookedfor '  (STRYPE, 
Whitgift,  ii.  214-15).  The  queen  signified  her 
assent  to  his  translation,  and  as  bishop-elect 
of  London  he  took  part  with  Whitgift  and 
others  in  drawing  up  the  so-called  '  Lambeth 
Articles,'  happily  never  accepted  by  the 
church,  in  which  some  of  the  most  offensive 
of  the  peculiar  doctrines  of  Calvinism  were 
dogmatically  laid  down.  The  queen  con- 
demned both  the  articles  and  their  authors 
very  severely.  Fletcher  soon  offended  her 
still  more  by  an  ill-advised  second  marriage. 
She  objected  to  the  marriage  of  all  bishops, 
and  thought  it  specially  indecorous  in  one 
two  years  a  widower  to  contract  a  second 
marriage,  and  that  with  a  widow.  The  new 
wife  was  the  widow  of  Sir  Richard  Baker 
of  Sissinghurst  in  Kent,  and  sister  of  Sir 
George  GifFord,  one  of  the  gentlemen  pen- 
sioners attached  to  the  court.  She  was  a 
very  handsome  woman,  probably  wealthy, '  a. 
fine  lady,'  but  with  a  tarnished  reputation. 
A  very  coarse  satirical  ballad  preserved  by 
Cole  (MS.  xxxi.  205)  says  of  the  bishop, '  He 
of  a  Lais  doth  a  Lucrece  make.'  Fletcher 
was  forbidden  the  court,  and  the  queen  de- 
manded from  the  primate  his  suspension  from 
the  exercise  of  all  episcopal  functions.  The 
inhibition  was  issued  on  23  Feb.  1594-5, 
hardly  more  than  a  month  after  his  confir- 
mation as  bishop  of  London.  The  next  day 
he  entreated  Burghley's  good  offices  for  his 
restitution  to  the  royal  favour  in  a  letter  of 
the  most  degrading  adulation  and  self-abase- 
ment (STRYPE,  Whitgift,  ii.  216).  Through 
Burghley's  mediation  the  suspension  was  re- 
laxed at  the  end  of  six  months,  and  the  queen 
became  partially  reconciled  to  him.  He  con- 
tinued piteous  appeals  to  Burghley  for  re- 
admission  to  the  court.  f  His  greatest  com- 
fort seculor'  (sic,  Fletcher's  spelling  in  his 
autograph  letters  is  not  only  irregular  but 
ignorant)  t  for  twenty  years  past  had  been 
to  live  in  her  Highness'  gratious  aspect  and 
favour.  Now  it  was  a  year  all  but  a  week 
or  two  since  he  had  seen  her '  (ib.  p.  218). 
This  letter  was  written  on  7  Jan.  1595-6. 
Elizabeth  is  said  to  have  visited  him  at  Chel- 
sea, but  he  appears  to  have  been  still  excluded 
from  court.  He  had  so  far  resumed  his  offi- 


Fletcher 


319 


Fletcher 


cial  position  as  to  assist  at  the  consecration 
of  Bishop  Day  of  Winchester  and  Bishop 
Vaughan  of  Bangor,  25  Jan.  1596 ;  in  March 
he  issued  orders  regulating  the  exercise  of 
their  authority  by  ecclesiastical  officers  within 
his  diocese  (COLLIEE,  Eccl.  Hist.  ix.  352-6), 
and  in  the  following  May  he  ventured  to  ask 
for  the  appointment  of  his  brother,  Dr.  Giles 
Fletcher  the  elder  [q.  v.],  as  an  extraordinary 
master  of  requests  (Lansd.  MSS.  Ixxxii.  28). 
But  his  spirit  was  broken.    On  13  June  1596 
he  assisted  at  the  consecration  of  Bilson  as 
bishop  of  Worcester.    He  sat  in  commission 
on  15  June  till  6  P.M.,  and  was  smoking  a 
pipe  of  tobacco  (of  which  he  was  immode- 
rately fond,  and  to  which  Camden,  prejudiced 
against  a  novel  habit,  groundlessly  attributes 
his  end)  when  he  suddenly  exclaimed  to  his 
servant,  '  Boy,  I  die,'  and  breathed  his  last. 
He  was  buried  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  with- 
out any  memorial,  leaving  eight  children, 
several  of  whom  were  still  very  young.     He 
died  insolvent,  with  large  debts  due  to  the 
queen  and  others,  his  whole  estate  consisting 
of  his  house  at  Chelsea,  plate  worth  400/., 
and  other  property  amounting  to  500/.     A 
memorial  on  behalf  of  his  family  was  at  once 
presented  to  the  queen.     It  was  urged  that 
his  debts  were  caused  partly  by  his  rapid 
promotions,  involving    heavy  payments  of 
first-fruits,  partly  by  '  allowances  or  gratifi- 
cations'  made  to  members  of  her  court,  by  her 
desire,  while  he  had  spent  the  whole  revenue 
of  his  see  on  hospitality  and  other  duties  in- 
cumbent on  his  office.   His  death,  chiefly  due 
to  the  queen's  anger  at  his  marriage,  had 
atoned  for  the  offence  so  given.   His  children 
had  no  resources,  and  their  uncle  with  nine 
children  of  his  own  had  barely  enough  for  his 
family  (GEEEN,   Calendar  of  State  Papers, 
Dorn.  June  1596).     What  was  the  result  of 
this  appeal  to  Elizabeth's  generosity  we  are 
not  informed.    His  widow  took  for  her  third 
husband  Sir  Stephen  Thornhurst,  knight,  and 
dying  in  1609  was  buried  in  Canterbury  Ca- 
thedral.    Five  of  his  eight  children  were  : 
Nathanael  (b.  1575),  Theophilus  (b.  1577), 
Elizabeth  (b.  1578),  John,  the  famous  drama- 
tist [q.  v.],  and  Maria  (b.  in  London  1592). 
His  will  is  dated  26  Oct.  1593,  and  was  proved 
23  June  1596. 

Camden  styles  Fletcher '  praesul  splendidus. 
Fuller  describes  him  as  '  one  of  a  comely 
person  and  goodly  presence.  .  .  .  He  loved 
to  ride  the  great  horse,  and  had  much  skill 
in  managing  thereof;  condemned  for  being 
proud  (such  was  his  natural  stately  gait)  by 
such  as  knew  him  not,  and  commended  for 
humility-by  those  acquainted  with  him.  He 
lost  the  queen's  favour  by  reason  of  his  second 
marriage,  and  died  suddenly  more  of  grief  than 


any  other  disease '  (FTJLLEE,  Church  Hist,  v., 
231). 

From  the  leading  part  he  took  in  the  com- 
position of  the  '  Lambeth  Articles,'  and  his 
patronage  of  Robert  Abbot  [q.  v.],  after- 
wards bishop  of  Salisbury,  his  theology  was 
evidently  Calvinistic.  Fletcher  published 
nothing.  The  manuscripts  of  the  two  ser- 
mons (see  above)  preached  at  Fotheringay 
and  before  Elizabeth  after  Mary's  execution 
are  in  the  library  of  St.  John's  College,  Cam- 
bridge (i.  30),  together  with  (1)  a  relation  of 
the  proceedings  against  the  queen  of  Scots  at 
Fotheringay  on  12, 14,  and  20  Oct.,  (2)  a  rela- 
tion of  divers  matters  that  passed  at  Fother- 
ingay on  8  Feb.  1586-7,  and  of  the  execution 
of  Mary,  and  (3)  the  manner  of  the  solemnity 
of  the  funeral  of  Mary  on  1  Aug.  Strype  has 
printed  his  exhortation  to  Mary  upon  her 
execution  (Annals,  in.  i.  560),  and  Gun- 
ton  his  prayer  at  the  execution  (Hist,  of 
Peterborough,  p.  75).  His  articles  of  visita- 
tion are  to  be  found  in  Strype  (Annals,  iv.350), 
and  some  of  his  letters  to  Burghley  (SxEYPE, 
Whitgift,  ii.  204-57). 

[Strype's " Annals  ;  Cooper's  Athense  Cantabr. 
ii.  205,  548  ;  Dyce's  Beaumont  and  Fletcher, 
i.  7,  38  ;  Faulkner's  Chelsea,  ii.  127,  197  ; 
Fuller's  Ch.  Hist.  v.  231;  Collier's  Ch.  Hist.  vii. 
222,  396,  ix.  352  ;  Milman's  St.  Paul's,  p.  301 ; 
Camden's  Annals,  sub  an.  1596;  Cole  MSS.  xxvii. 
22,xxxi.  305 ;  Masters's  Hist,  of  C.C.C.  (ed.  Lamb), 
p.  323.]  E.  V. 

FLETCHER,  SIB  RICHARD  (1768- 
1813),  lieutenant-colonel  royal  engineers,  son 
of  the  Rev.  R.  Fletcher,  who  died  at  Ipswich 
17  May  1813,  was  born  in  1768.  He  passed 
through  the  Royal  Military  Academy,  WooL- 
wich,  was  gazetted  a  second  lieutenant  in  the 
royal  artillery  9  July  1788,  and  transferred  to 
the  royal  engineers  on  29  June  1790.  In  1791 
he  was  sent  to  the  West  Indies,  and  took  part 
in  the  capture  of  Martinique,  Guadaloupe,  and 
St.  Lucia.  At  the  storming  of  the  Morne  For- 
tunes in  the  latter  island,  he  was  wounded  in 
the  head  by  a  musket-ball.  He  for  a  time  com- 
manded the  royal  engineers  at  Dominica,  and, 
returning  to  England  at  the  end  of  1796,  was 
appointed  adjutant  of  the  royal  military  arti- 
ficers at  Portsmouth.  On  27  Nov.  of  this  year 
he  married  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Mudge  of  Ply- 
mouth, and  continued  to  serve  at  Portsmouth 
until  December  1798,  when  he  was  ordered 
to  Constantinople,  and  appointed  a  major 
while  employed  in  Turkey.  On  his  way 
out  he  was  shipwrecked  off  the  Elbe,  and  had 
to  cross  two  miles  of  ice  to  reach  the  shore. 
He  reached  Constantinople  in  March  1799, 
and  in  June  of  that  year  accompanied  the 
grand  vizier  in  his  march  to  Syria.  On  his 
return  from  this  expedition  he  was  employed 


Fletcher 


320 


Fletcher 


on  the  defences  of  the  Dardanelles.  In 
January  1800,  '  equipped  as  a  Tartar,'  he  left 
Constantinople  on  a  special  mission  to  Syria 
and  Cyprus,  returning  in  April,  when  he  re- 
ceived a  '  beniche  '  of  honour  from  the  sul- 
tan. In  June  he  embarked  with  the  divi- 
sion for  Syria,  landed  at  Jaffa,  and  was  em- 
ployed in  constructing  works  of  defence  there 
and  at  El  Arish. 

In  December  he  was  sent  off  in  the  Camelion 
to  Marmorice  with  despatches  for  Sir  Ralph 
Abercromby,  who,  with  the  army,  was  on  his 
-way  to  Egypt.  He  was  then  sent  with  Major 
McKerras  in  the  Penelope  frigate  to  survey 
the  coast  of  Egypt,  with  a  view  to  the  dis- 
embarkation of  the  troops.  On  arriving  off 
Alexandria  they  shifted  into  the  Peterel  sloop 
of  war,  and  proceeded  in  one  of  her  boats  to 
reconnoitre  Aboukir  Bay,  and  with  great  en- 
terprise landed  at  the  spot  which  appeared 
the  most  favourable  for,  and  which  was  sub- 
sequently chosen  as  the  place  of,  disembarka- 
tion. At  dawn  of  day,  as  they  were  return- 
ing to  the  Peterel,  they  were  surprised  by  a 
French  gunboat.  McKerras  was  killed  by 
a  musket-ball,  and  Fletcher  was  taken  pri- 
soner. 

After  the  capture  of  Cairo  and  Alexandria 
and  the  capitulation  of  the  French,  Fletcher 
-was  released,  and  received  for  his  services  a 
gold  medal  from  the  sultan.  He  returned  to 
England  in  1802,  and  was  stationed  at  Ports- 
mouth, where  he  was  employed  in  the  exten- 
sion of  the  Gosport  lines  of  fortification.  He 
-was  afterwards  appointed  brigade  major  to 
Brigadier-general  Everleigh,  and  held  the 
appointment  until  July  1807,  when  he  joined 
the  expedition,  under  Lord  Cathcart  and  Ad- 
miral Gambier,  to  Copenhagen.  In  1808  he 
-was  ordered  to  the  Peninsula,  where  Sir  H. 
Dalrymple  was  then  commander-in-chief ;  he 
took  over  the  command  of  the  royal  engi- 
neers from  Major  Landmann  on  27  Aug.,  just 
after  the  battle  of  Vimeiro.  The  convention 
of  Cintra  followed,  and  Fletcher  accom- 
panied the  army  to  Lisbon.  On  21  June  1809 
lie  was  promoted  lieutenant-colonel,  having 
held  local  rank  as  such,  with  extra  command 
pay  of  twenty  shillings  a  day  since  the  March 
^previous. 

On  the  appointment  of  "Wellington  as 
commander-in-chief,  Fletcher  joined  his  staff 
as  commanding  royal  engineer,  and  accom- 
panied him  in  the  campaigns  of  1809  and 
1810  in  Spain  and  Portugal.  He  took  part 
in  the  battle  of  Talavera  on  27  and  28  July 
1809,  and  was  complimented  by  Wellington 
in  his  despatch  of  29  July.  In  October  1809 
Wellington  retired  into  Portugal.  Fletcher, 
as  chief  engineer,  superintended  the  designing 
*nd  execution  of  the  lines  of  Torres  Vedras, 


under  the  immediate  orders  of  Wellington, 
from  October  1809  to  July  1810,  when  the 
works  were  nearly  complete.  Fletcher  then 
handed  over  the  works  to  Captain  (afterwards 
Sir  John)  Jones,  and  hastened  to  the  scene  of 
active  operations  on  the  Coa.  He  was  pre- 
sent at  the  battle  of  Busaco,  and  Wellington 
in  his  despatch  of  30  Sept.  1810  mentioned 
his  particular  indebtedness  to  Fletcher.  The 
army  retired  behind  the  lines  upon  which 
Fletcher  had  bestowed  so  much  labour,  and 
he  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  French 
effectually  checked  by  them.  In  November 
1810,  in  a  despatch  to  Lord  Liverpool,  Wel- 
lington again  specially  noticed  Fletcher's  ser- 
vices. 

Fletcher  was  present  at  the  battles  of 
Sabugal  (2  April).,  Fuentes  d'Onoro  (5  May), 
and  at  the  evacuation  of  Almeida  by  the 
French  on  10  May  1811.  At  the  first  Eng- 
lish siege  of  Badajoz  in  May,  and  at  the 
second  in  June  1811,  Fletcher  had  the  direc- 
tion of  the  siege  operations,  and  was  men- 
tioned in  despatches.  In  January  1812  he 
had  the  direction  of  the  siege  of  Ciudad 
Rodrigo,  and  on  its  capture,  Wellington,  in 
his  despatch  of  20  Jan.  1812,  stated  that 
Fletcher's  •'  ability  exceeded  all  praise.'  The 
third  siege  of  Badajoz  took  place  in  March 
and  April  1812,  and  Fletcher  again  directed 
the  attack.  On  19  March  the  garrison  made 
a  sortie,  and  Fletcher  was  struck  in  the  groin 
by  a  musket-ball.  A  silver  dollar  piece  re- 
ceived the  blow  and  saved  his  life,  but  in- 
flicted a  wound  which  disabled  him.  Wel- 
lington, however,  insisted  that  Fletcher  should 
retain  the  direction  of  the  attack,  and  con- 
sulted him  in  his  bed  every  morning  until 
near  the  end  of  the  siege.  After  the  assault 
and  capture  of  Badajoz,  Fletcher  remained 
there  to  place  it  again  in  a  state  of  defence, 
and  then  proceeded  on  leave  of  absence  to 
England. 

In  May  1811  the  master-general  of  ordnance 
had  represented  his  important  services  to  the 
prince  regent,  and  a  pension  had  consequently 
been  granted  him  of  twenty  shillings  a  day 
from  7  May  1811.  He  was  now  made  a  knight 
commander  of  Hanover,  created  a  baronet, 
decorated  with  the  gold  cross  for  Talavera, 
Busaco,  Ciudad  Rodrigo,  and  Badajoz,  and 
permitted  to  accept  and  wear  the  insignia  of 
the  Portuguese  order  of  the  Tower  and  Sword. 

On  his  return  to  the  Peninsula,  Fletcher 
took  part  in  the  battle  of  Vittoria  (21  June 
1813),  and  was  again  mentioned  in  despatches. 
He  then  made  all  the  arrangements  for  the 
blockade  of  Pampeluna,  under  Sir  Rowland 
Hill,  and  arriving  at  St.  Sebastian  shortly- 
after  the  commencement  of  the  siege  he  di- 
rected the  operations  under  Sir  T,  Graham, 


Fletcher 


321 


Fletcher 


until  in  the  final  and  successful  assault  on 
31  Aug.  1813  he  was  killed  by  a  musket-ball 
in  the  forty-fifth  year  of  his  age.  Sir  Augustas 
Eraser  says,  in  a  letter  written  at  the  time : 
'  We  cannot  get  Sir  Richard's  loss  from  our 
minds ;  our  trenches,  our  batteries,  all  remind 
us  of  one  of  the  most  amiable  of  men  I  ever 
knew,  and  one  of  the  most  solid  worth.  No 
loss  will  be  more  deeply  felt,  no  place  more 
difficult  to  be  filled  up.' 

Fletcher  was  buried  with  three  other  en- 
gineer officers  on  the  height  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew, opposite  St.  Sebastian,  where  a  tomb- 
stone recorded  the  fact.  A  monument  to 
his  memory,  designed  by  E.  H.  Baily,  R.A., 
was  erected  in  "Westminster  Abbey  by  his 
brother-officers  of  the  corps  of  royal  engi- 
neers. It  stands  at  the  west  end  of  the  north 
aisle. 

Fletcher  left  a  son  and  five  daughters,  his 
wife  having  died  before  him ;  his  only  son 
died  in  1876  without  issue,  and  the  baronetcy 
became  extinct. 

[Jones's  Sieges  in  Spain ;  Jones's  "War  in  Spain  ; 
Wellington  Despatches ;  Napier's  History  of  the 
War  in  the  Peninsula;  Alison's  History  of  Europe; 
Landmann's  Recollections;  Sabine's  Letters  of 
Colonel  Sir  A.  S.  Fraser;  Conolly's  Notitia  His- 
torica  of  the  Corps  of  Royal  Engineers ;  Corps 
Records.]  R.  H.  V. 

FLETCHER,  ROBERT  (/.1 586), verse 
writer,  seems  to  be  identical  with  a  student 
of  Merton  College,  Oxford,  who  came  from 
Warwickshire,  proceeded  B.A.  in  1564,  and 
M.A.  in  1567.  He  was  admitted  a  fellow  in 
1563,  but  in  1569  quarrelled  with  Bickley, 
the  new  warden.  '  For  several  misdemeanors 
he  was  turned  out  from  his  fellowship  of  that 
house  (i.e.  Merton)  in  June  1569,'  whereupon 
he  became  schoolmaster  at  Taunton,  and 
afterwards  'preacher  of  the  word  of  God' 
(WOOD).  He  wrote  two  works,  both  very 
rare,  viz. :  1.  f  An  Introduction  to  the  Looue 
of  God.  Accoumpted  among  the  workes  of 
St.  Augustine,  and  translated  into  English 
by  Edmund  [Freake],  bishop  of  Norwich  that 
nowe  is  ...  and  newlie  turned  into  Eng- 
lishe  Meter  by  Rob.  Fletcher,'  London  (by 
Thomas  Purfoot),  1581,  dedicated  to  Sir 
Francis  Knollys.  2.  '  The  Song  of  Solomon/ 
in  English  verse,  with  annotations,  London, 
by  Thomas  Chard,  1586.  A  third  very  rare 
volume — a  copy  is  in  the  Grenville  Library 
at  the  British  Museum — by  a  Robert  Fletcher, 
who  may  be  identical  with  the  author  of  the 
two  former  volumes,  is  entitled  l  The  Nine 
English  Worthies .  .  .  beginning  with  King 
Henrie  the  first,  and  concluding  with  Prince 
Henry,  eldest  sonne  to  our  soueraigne  Lord 
the  King/  London,  1606,  dedicated  to  Prince 
Henry,  and  to  the  Earls  of  Oxford  and  Essex, 

VOL.   XIX. 


'  and  other  young  lords  attending  the  princes 
highnesse.'  Fletcher  commends  Ascham's 
advice  as  to  the  need  of  learning  in  men  of 
high  rank.  Prefatory  verse  is  contributed 
by  R.  Fenne,  Thomas,  lord  Windsor,  Sir  Will. 
Whorewood,  John  WTideup,  Jo.  Guilliams, 
Paul  Peart,  and  others.  A  brief  life  of  each 
monarch  in  prose  is  followed  by  an  epitaph  in 
verse,  except  in  the  last  case,  where  the  life 
is  wholly  in  verse. 

[Wood's  Fasti  Oxon.  ed.  Bliss,  i.  179;  Oxford 
Univ.  Reg.  (Oxf.  Hist.  Soc.),  i.  253  ;  Ames's  Typ. 
Antiq.  ed.  Herbert,  pp.  998,  1195;  Brodrick's 
Memorials  of  Merton  College,  pp.  54,  267.] 

S.  L.  L. 

FLETCHER,  THOMAS  (1664-1718), 
poet,  eldest  son  of  Thomas  Fletcher  by  his 
wife  Mary  Bourne,  was  born  at  Wirley 
Magna,  Staffordshire,  on  21  March  1664, 
and  was  educated  at  Winchester  School  and 
at  New  College,  Oxford,  where  he  graduated 
B.A.  on  10  April  1689,  M.A.  on  14  Jan.  1692, 
B.D.  and  D.D.  on  25  June  1707.  He  was  a 
fellow  of  his  college,  and  held  for  a  time  a 
mastership  at  Winchester  School.  A  man 
of  the  same  name  held  the  prebend  of  Barton 
David  in  the  church  of  Wells  from  1696  to 
1713,  and  is  probably  the  same  person,  though 
the  cathedral  archives  do  not  establish  the 
fact.  Fletcher  was  an  admirer  of  Bishop  Ken, 
and  wrote  some  fulsome  verses  to  him  on  his 
promotion  to  the  see  of  Bath  and  Wells  in 
1685.  The  prebend  did  not  fall  vacant  until 
after  Ken's  deprivation,  but  it  is  probable 
that  he  still  retained  and  exerted  sufficient  in- 
fluence with  the  dean  and  chapter  of  Wells  to 
secure  Fletcher's  appointment,  the  more  so  as 
they  cordially  detested  his  successor,  Bishop 
Kidder.  Fletcher  died  on  21  Feb.  1718.  By 
his  wife,  Catherine  Richards,  he  had  three 
daughters  and  one  son,  Thomas.  He  is  now 
represented  by  Thomas  William  Fletcher, 
esq.,  of  Lawneswood  House,  near  Stourbridge, 
Staffordshire. 

Fletcher  is  the  author  of  a  small  volume 
of  verse  entitled  '  Poems  on  Several  Occa- 
sions and  Translations,  wherein  the  first  and 
second  books  of  Virgil's  vEneis  are  attempted 
in  English/  London,  1692,  8vo.  A  dedication 
to  the  Rev.  William  Harris,  D.D.,  l  school- 
master of  the  college  near  Winton/  explains 
that  the  poems  are  chiefly  juvenile  exercises. 
The  first  book  of  the  ^Ene'id  is  translated  in 
heroic  couplets,  part  of  the  second  and  also 
part  of  the  fourth  in  blank  verse.  The  volume 
also  contains  a  translation  of  the  second 
epode  of  Horace,  and  of  part  of  the  first  book 
of  Boethius's '  De  Consolatione  Philosophise/ 
the  verses  to  Ken  referred  to  in  the  text,  a 
'  pastoral '  on  the  birth  of  Christ,  and  some 
other  pieces  of  a  conventional  stamp. 


Flete 


322 


Flexman 


[Wood's  Athenae  Oxon.  (Bliss),  iv.  559; 
Hearne's  Remarks  and  Collections  (Oxford  Hist. 
Soc.),  i.  291  ;  Le  Neve's  Fasti  Eccl.  Angl.;  Cat. 
of  Oxford  Graduates ;  Burke's  Landed  Gentry ; 
Brit.  Mus.  Cat.]  J.  M.  E. 

FLETE,  JOHN  (fl.  1421-1465),  a  Bene- 
dictine monk,  prior  of  Westminster  Abbey 
in  the  reign  of  Henry  VI,  and  the  author 
of  a  Latin  chronicle  of  the  early  history  of 
that  foundation,  entered  the  monastery  of 
St.  Peter's,  Westminster,  about  1421,  as- 
cending step  by  step  the  different  posts  avail- 
able to  the  brethren,  till  in  1448  he  was 
unanimously  elected  prior.  During  the  sus- 
pension of  Abbot  Norwych,  who  succeeded 
Kirton  as  abbot  in  1462,  Flete,  assisted  by 
two  monks,  administered  the  spiritual  and 
temporal  affairs  of  the  monastery,  and  had 
he  lived  would  probably  have  been  made 
abbot  on  the  death  of  Norwych  (1469).  But 
in  1465  he  resigned  the  post  of  prior  and 
seems  to  have  died  soon  afterwards.  He  was 
a  pious  and  learned  man,  '  addicted  to  read- 
ing of  history,  and  zealous  for  the  gaining 
of  souls '  (STEVENS).  His  homilies,  which  are 
mentioned  as  '  notable '  by  several  writers, 
are  no  longer  extant,  and  the  only  remaining 
record  of  him  is  his  manuscript  history  of 
the  abbey.  He  began  to  write  it  in  1443, 
and  intended  to  carry  it  on  to  that  year,  but 
it  ends  with  Abbot  Littington's  death  in 
1386,  and  in  all  probability  Flete's  duties 
as  prior  and  acting-abbot  prevented  his  carry- 
ing out  his  original  plan.  The  first  chapters 
of  the  '  Chronicle '  are  devoted  to  the  legends 
of  the  foundation  and  dedication  of  the  ab- 
bey ;  these  are  followed  by  an  account  of  the 
benefactors  and  the  relics,  and  it  concludes 
with  the  lives  of  the  abbots  up  till  1386. 
The  book  has  been  much  used  by  later  his- 
torians of  the  abbey,  but  is  inexact  in  many 
particulars.  The  original  manuscript  is  in 
the  Chapter  Library,  Westminster,  and  there 
is  a  later  and  abridged  manuscript  copy  in 
Lambeth  Library. 

[Widmore's  Hist,  of  St.  Peter's,  Westminster ; 
Tanner's  Bibliotheca ;  Pits,  De  Illustr.  Brit. 
Script.]  E.  T.  B. 

FLEXMAN,  ROGER,  D.D.  (1708-1795), 
presbyterian  minister,  was  born  on  22  Feb. 
1708  at  Great  Torrington,  Devonshire,  where 
his  father  was  a  manufacturer.  He  showed 
early  promise,  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen  (1723) 
was  admitted  to  the  academy  of  John  Moore, 
presbyterian  minister  at  Tiverton,  Devon- 
shire, to  study  for  the  ministry.  He  declined 
an  offer  from  Moore  of  the  post  of  tutor  in 
the  academy,  and  applied  to  the  Exeter  as- 
sembly on  7  May  1728  to  admit  him  to  ex- 
amination for  license.  His  application  was 


granted,  in  spite  of  his  youth,  in  considera- 
tion of  his  long  study,  and  the  '  great  want 
of  ministers.'  On  examination  he  gave  full 
satisfaction  to  that  staunch  Calvinist,  John 
Ball  (1665  P-1745)  [q.  v.]  He  was  licensed 
at  Tiverton  in  the  course  of  the  summer.  Ac- 
cording to  the  records  of  the  Exeter  assembly 
he  began  his  ministry  at  Great  Torrington. 
He  was  ordained  at  Modbury,  Devonshire, 
on  15  July  1730.  In  1731  he  became  minis- 
ter at  Bow,  near  Crediton,  Devonshire,  and 
appears  to  have  assisted  Josiah  Eveleigh,  the 
presbyterian  minister  at  Crediton.  In  1735 
he  removed  to  Chard,  Somersetshire,  and  in 
1739  to  Bradford,  Wiltshire.  He  came  to 
London  in  1747,  having  accepted  a  call  to 
the  presbyterian  congregation  in  Jamaica 
Row,  Rotherhithe.  In  1754  he  was  chosen 
one  of  the  preachers  of  the  Friday  morning 
lecture,  founded  in  1726  at  Little  St.  Helen's, 
Bishopsgate,  by  William  Coward  (d.  1738) 
[q.  v.] 

Flexman  was  an  assiduous,  and  for  some 
time  a  successful,  minister  at  Rotherhithe. 
In  1770  he  received  the  degree  of  D.D.  from 
the  Marischal  College,  Aberdeen.  Prefer- 
ment was  offered  him  in  the  established 
church.  Owing  partly  to  the  failure  of  his 
health,  partly,  perhaps,  to  his  adoption  of 
Arian  views,  his  congregation  declined,  and 
on  his  resignation  in  1783  became  extinct. 
He  retained  his  lectureship  to  extreme  old 
age.  Heterodox  on  a  main  point  of  theology, 
Flexman  was  conservative  in  his  religious 
philosophy,  and  in  later  life  exhibited  '  un- 
common ardour '  in  opposition  to  materialists 
and  necessarians. 

Flexman  was  remarkable  for  historical  at- 
tainments, and  especially  for  his  minute  and 
accurate  knowledge  of  the  constitutional  his- 
tory of  England.  His  extraordinary  memory 
was  invaluable  in  historical  research.  His  re- 
putation in  this  respect  introduced  him  to 
some  of  the  leading  politicians  of  his  day, 
and,  having  already  shown  skill  as  an  index- 
maker,  he  was  appointed  (1770)  one  of  the 
compilers  of  the  general  index  to  the  journals 
of  the  House  of  Commons.  His  plan  was 
adopted  by  a  committee  of  the  house,  and 
the  period  1660-97  was  assigned  to  him.  He 
completed  his  work  in  four  folio  volumes 
(viii-xi.)  in  1780 ;  it  was  his  best  paid  piece 
of  literary  work.  George  Steevens,  in  con- 
versation with  Johnson,  happened  to  men- 
tion Flexman's  (  exact  memory  in  chrono- 
logical matters : '  Johnson  impatiently  cha- 
racterised him  as  '  the  fellow  who  made  the 
index  to  my  "  Ramblers,"  and  set  down  the 
name  of  Milton  thus:  Milton,  Mr.  John.' 
Flexman  compiled  a  bibliography  appended 
to  his  edition  of  Burnet's  'Own  Time,' 


Flexmore 


323 


Fliccius 


1753-4,  8vo,  4  vols. ;  a  memoir  and  biblio- 
graphy prefixed  to  the  '  Twenty  Sermons/ 
1755,  8vo,  of  Samuel  Bourn  the  younger 
fq.  v.] ;  and  bibliographies  annexed  to  the 
funeral  sermons  for  Samuel  Chandler,  D.D. 
[q.  v.],  1766,  and  Thomas  Amory,  D.D.  [q.  v.], 
1774.  He  was  a  trustee  of  Dr.  Williams's 
foundations  from  1778  to  1786,  and  librarian 
from  1786  to  1792. 

In  '  Psalms  and  Hymns  for  Divine  Wor- 
ship,' 1760,  12mo,  edited  by  Michael  Pope, 
presbyterian  minister  of  Leather  Lane,  are 
four  compositions,  signed  '  F.J  which  were 
contributed  by  Flexman.  One  of  them  ap- 
pears, with  improvements,  in  Kippis's  '  Col- 
lection/ 1795,  12mo,  and  has  found  a  place 
in  similar  collections  of  more  recent  date. 

During  his  last  years  Flexman  was  subject 
to  a  painful  disorder,  which  seems  to  have 
weakened  his  mind.  He  died  on  14  June 
1795,  at  the  house  of  his  daughter  in  Prescot 
Street,  Goodman's  Fields.  His  funeral  ser- 
mon was  preached  by  Abraham  Rees,  D.D., 
of  the  '  Cyclopaedia.'  He  married  (1747)  a 
daughter  of  a  member  of  his  congregation  at 
Bradford,  named  Yerbury. 

Flexman's  contributions  to  periodical  lite- 
rature have  not  been  identified.  Besides  the 
above  he  published:  1.  'The  Connexion  and 
Harmony  of  Religion  and  Virtue/  &c.,  1752, 
8vo  (charity  sermon).  2.  '  Critical,  His- 
torical, and  Political  Miscellanies,'  &c.,  1752, 
8vo;  1762,  8vo.  3.  'The  Plan  of  Divine 
Worship  in  the  Churches  of  Protestant  Dis- 
senters/ &c.,  1754,  8vo  (against  forms  of 
prayer).  4.  <  The  Nature  and  Advantage  of 
a  Religious  Education/  &c.,  1770,  8vo  (ser- 
mon). Also  funeral  sermon  for  Amory,  1774, 
8vo. 

[Rees's  Funeral  Sermon,  1795;  Protestant 
Dissenters'  Magazine,  1795,  pp.  264,  399  sq. ; 
Wilson's  Dissenting  Churches,  1808, iv.  361  sq.; 
Murch's  Hist.  Presb.  and  Gen.  Bapt.  Churches  in 
West  of  Engl.  1835,  pp.  64,  67,  456;  Boswell's 
Johnson  (Wright),  1859,  viii.  327;  Jeremy's 
Presbyterian  Fund,  1885,  p.  170;  manuscript 
minutes  of  Exeter  assembly  (May  1723  to  Sep- 
tember 1728)  in  Dr.  Williams's  Library ;  manu- 
script list  of  ordinations,  preserved  in  the  records 
of  the  Exeter  assembly.]  A.  Gr. 

FLEXMORE,  RICHARD  (1824-1860), 
pantomimist,  whose  real  name  was  Richard 
Flexmore  Geatter,  son  of  Richard  Flexmore 
Geatter,  a  well-known  dancer,  who  died  at 
an  early  age,  was  born  at  Kennington,  Lon- 
don, 15  Sept.  1824.  At  the  age  of  eight  he 
commenced  his  theatrical  career  at  the  Vic- 
toria Theatre,  where  his  juvenile  drollery 
soon  attracted  attention.  In  1835  he  ap- 
peared at  a  small  theatre  which  then  existed 
in  Chelsea  in  a  fantastic  piece  called  '  The 


Man  in  the  Moon/ and  danced  very  eifectively 
a  burlesque  shadow  dance.  He  subsequently 
became  a  pupil  of  Mr.  Frampton,  and  showed 
great  aptitude  for  stage  business  in  his  own 
peculiar  line.  As  a  grotesque  dancer  his 
services  soon  became  in  request  at  various 
theatres,  and  in  1844  he  appeared  as  clown 
at  the  Grecian  Saloon.  The  winter  following 
he  made  his  first  great  hit  when  taking  the 
part  of  clown  at  the  Olympic  Theatre,  which 
was  then  under  the  management  of  T.  D. 
Davenport.  His  wonderful  activity  and 
abundant  flow  of  animal  spirits  became 
quickly  recognised,  and  he  was  then  engaged 
for  the  Princess's  Theatre,  where  he  remained 
for  several  seasons.  On  28  July  1849  he 
married,  at  St.  Mary's  parish  church,  Lam- 
beth, Francisca  Christophosa,  daughter  of 
Jean  Baptiste  Auriol,  the  famous  French 
clown,  and  with  her  acted  with  great  success 
in  the  chief  cities  of  the  continent.  He  after- 
wards appeared  at  the  Strand,  the  Adelphi, 
and  Covent  Garden  theatres,  and  more  re- 
cently at  Drury  Lane,  where  he  performed  in 
the  pantomime  '  Jack-in-the-Box  '  at  Christ- 
mas 1859.  He  was  especially  noted  for  his 
close  and  natural  imitation  of  the  leading 
dancers  of  the  day,  such  as  Perrot,  Carlotta 
Grisi,  Taglioni,  Cerito,  and  others ;  but  al- 
though chiefly  known  as  a  dancing  clown,  he 
could  when  required  also  take  the  part  of 
clown  a  la  Grimaldi  in  a  very  efficient  man- 
ner, and  was  one  of  the  most  diverting 
pantomimists  who  ever  delighted  a  holiday 
audience.  His  physical  strength  and  activity 
were  remarkable ;  but  he  overtaxed  his  powers 
to  obtain  the  applause  of  the  public,  and 
brought  on  a  consumption,  of  which  he  died 
at  66  Hercules  Buildings,  Lambeth,  London, 
20  Aug.  1860,  and  was  buried  at  Kensal 
Green  on  27  Aug.  His  widow,  who  married 
her  cousin,  Monsieur  Auriol,  died  in  Paris 
3  Sept.  1862.  His  mother,  Ann  Flexmore 
Geatter,  whom  he  had  supported  for  many 
years,  died  26  Dec.  1869,  aged  88. 

[Gent.  Mag.,  October  1860,  p.  440 ;  Times, 
23  Aug.  1860,  p.  8;  Era,  26  Aug.  1860,  p.  10, 
2  Sept.  p.  10  ;  Illustrated  Sporting  and  Dramatic 
News,  19  Dec.  1874,  p.  268  (portrait),  18  Dec. 
1875,  p.  294;  Mrs.  Evans  Bell's  A  First  Appear- 
ance, 1872,  i.  129-33,  iii.  195-7.]  G.  C.  B. 

FLICCIUS  or  FLICCUS,  GERBARUS, 
GERLACHUS  or  GERBICUS  (f,.  1546- 
1554),  a  native  of  Germany,  was  the  painter 
of  the  interesting  portrait  of  Archbishop 
Cranmer  which  was  presented  to  the  British 
Museum  in  1776  by  John  Michell,  M.P.,  of 
Bay  field  Hall,  Norfolk,  and  in  June  1879 
was  transferred  to  the  National  Portrait 
Gallery.  This  portrait  was  painted  in  1546, 

T  2 


Flight 


324 


Flight 


•when  the  archbishop  was  fifty-seven  years  of 
age,  and  shows  Cranmer  without  the  long 
white  beard  which  he  suffered  to  grow  after 
Henry  VIII's  death  in  the  following  year. 
The  picture  is  signed  '  Gerbarus  Fliccus  Ger- 
mamcus  faciebat.'  It  has  been  frequently 
engraved,  viz.  in  Thoroton's  '  History  of  Not- 
tinghamshire'  (1677),  Strype's  'Memorials 
of  Cranmer/  Lodge's  '  Illustrious  Portraits/ 
and  other  works.  Other  portraits  from  the 
hand  of  the  same  painter  have  been  noted, 
viz.  '  Thomas,  first  Lord  Darcy  of  Chiche ' 
(painted  in  1551),  at  Irnham  in  Lincoln- 
shire ;  '  James,  second  Earl  of  Douglas  and 
Mar '  (painted  in  1547),  at  Newbattle  Abbey, 
East  Lothian ;  and  others.  The  last-named 
portrait,  which  is  probably  a  copy  of  an  older 
one,  as  the  earl  was  killed  at  Otterbourne  in 
1388,  is  stated  to  be  signed  <  Gerbicus  Flicciis 
Germanicus  faciebat  setatis  40.'  A  curious 
double  portrait  was  offered  for  sale  at  Christie's 
auction-rooms  on  25  July  1881 ;  it  contained 
two  small  portraits  of  the  painter  and  a  friend 
named  Strangways,  who  were  fellow-pri- 
soners in  London  at  the  time  (1554)  when 
it  was  painted,  and  the  painting  was  exe- 
cuted in  prison,  according  to  the  inscriptions. 
This  picture  was  then  in  the  possession  of 
Robert  de  Ruffiero,  Belsize  Park  Road,  and 
had  formerly  belonged  to  Dr.  Edward  Monk- 
house,  F.S.  A.  All  these  portraits  are  painted 
in  the  style  of  Lucas  Cranach,  the  great  Lu- 
theran painter  of  Saxony,  and  this,  taken  with 
the  date  of  imprisonment  and  the  painter's 
connection  with  Cranmer,  would  point  to  his 
being  one  of  the  victims  of  the  religious  per- 
secutions of  Queen  Mary's  reign  and  himself 
an  ardent  protestant. 

[J.  G.  Nichols,  in  Archseologia,  xxxix.  25  ; 
Cat.  of  the  National  Portrait  Gallery,  1888;  infor- 
mation from  G.  Scharf,  C.B.,  F.S.A.]  L.  C. 

FLIGHT,  BENJAMIN  (1767  P-1847). 
organ-builder,  was  son  of  Benjamin  Flight^ 
of  the  firm  of  Flight  &  Kelly,  organ-builders. 
In  conjunction  with  his  son  J.  Flight  and 
Joseph  Robson  he  constructed  the  apolloni- 
con,  an  instrument  with  five  manuals,  forty- 
five  stops,  and  three  barrels.  This  ingenious 
contrivance  was  exhibited  in  1817  and  the 
following  years  until  1840.  The  partnership 
with  Robson  was  afterwards  dissolved,  but 
Flight  continued  to  interest  himself  in  cer- 
tain inventions  and  improvements  in  the 
mechanism  of  organs.  He  died,  aged  80,  in 
1847,  leaving  the  business  in  the  hands  of 
his  son,  J.  Flight,  who  carried  it  on  until 
1885. 

[Grove's  Diet.  i.  74,  532;  Rees's  Cyclopaedia, 
vol.  xxv.  under  '  Organs;'  private  information.] 

L.  M.  M.  ' 


FLIGHT,  WALTER  (1841-1885),  mine- 
ralogist, son  of  William  P.  Flight  of  Win- 
chester, was  born  in  Winchester  21  Jan.  1841. 
[Ie  was  educated  at  Queenwood  College^ 
Hampshire,  where  Debus  then  taught  che- 
mistry and  Professor  Tyndall  physics,  and  in 
after  life  Debus  was  his  constant  friend. 
After  coming  of  age  Flight  proceeded  to  Ger- 
many and  spent  the  winter  session  of  1863- 
L864  studying  chemistry  under  Professor 
Heintz  at  the  university  of  Halle.  He  passed) 
the  next  two  years  at  Heidelberg,  and  acquired 
a  thorough  knowledge  of  chemistry.  His 
studies  in  Germany  were  completed  at  Berlin, 
where  he  acted  for  some  time  as  secretary 
and  chemical  assistant  to  Professor  Hofmamu 
In  1867  Flight  returned  to  England,  and 
took  the  degree  of  doctor  of  science  at  London 
University.  In  1868  he  was  appointed  assist- 
ant examiner  there  in  chemistry  under  Pro- 
fessor Debus.  On  5  Sept.  1867  he  became  an 
assistant  in  the  mineralogical  department  of 
the  British  Museum  under  Professor  N.  Story- 
Maskelyne.  In  the  laboratory,  which  was 
now  specially  fitted  up,  he  commenced  a  series 
of  researches  upon  the  mineral  constituents 
of  meteorites  and  their  occluded  gases,  which 
rapidly  brought  him  into  notice.  He  was 
appointed  examiner  in  chemistry  and  physics- 
at  the  Royal  Military  Academy,  Woolwich, 
in  1868,  and  in  1876  examiner  to  the  Royal 
Military  Academy,  Cheltenham.  He  also- 
acted  for  several  years  as  a  member  of  the- 
committee  on  luminous  meteors  appointed  by 
the  British  Association.  In  1880  he  married 
Kate,  daughter  of  Dr.  Fell  of  Ambleside. 

Flight  wrote  twenty-one  papers  on  scien- 
tific subjects,  of  which  the  first  three,  all  on 
chemical  subjects,  appeared  in  German  perio- 
dicals in  1864-5-70.  The  later  papers  were 
chiefly  upon  meteorites,  dealing  in  detail 
with  the  recorded  circumstances  of  their  fall, 
and  with  their  mineralogical  and  chemical 
constituents ;  several,  written  in  conjunc- 
tion with  Professor  Story-Maskelyne,  give- 
accounts,  published  in  the  '  Philosophical 
Transactions/  of  the  meteorites  which  fell  at 
Rowton  in  Shropshire,  at  Middlesborough, 
and  at  Cranbourne  in  Australia.  A  paper, 
thus  jointly  written,  on '  Francolite,Vivianite, 
and  Cronstedtite  from  Cornwall/  appeared  in 
the  '  Journal  of  the  Chemical  Society '  for 
1871.  The  last  paper  Flight  wrote  was  on 
the  meteorite  of  Alfianello  in  Italy.  Between 
1875  and  1883  Flight  contributed  a  series 


(published 

1887).  Flight  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the- 
Royal  Society  on  7  June  1883.  In  1884  he 
was  taken  so  seriously  ill  that  he  was  com- 


Flindell 


325 


Flinders 


pelled  to  resign  his  post  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum, and  died  on  4  Nov.  1885,  leaving  a 
widow  and  three  young  children. 

[Geol.  Mag.,  December  1885  ;  A  Chapter  in 
the  History  of  Meteorites,  by  W.  Flight  (with 
obituary  notice),  8vo,  224  pp.,  seven  plates  and 
six  woodcuts,  1887.]  W.  J.  H. 

FLIISTDELL,  THOMAS  (1767-1824), 
newspaper  editor  and  printer,  was  horn  in 
1767  at  Helford,  in  the  parish  of  Manaccan, 
Cornwall,  and  was,  to  use  his  own  words, 
*  bred  an  illiterate  half-seaman.'  He  was 
apprenticed  to  a  printer,  and  in  1790,  when 
twenty-three  years  old,  was  sent  to  Yorkshire 
to  conduct  the  '  Doncaster  Gazette,'  the  circu- 
lation of  which  he  largely  increased  through 
his  happy  audacity  in  anticipating  the  de- 
cision of  the  jury  in  the  trials  of  Hardy  and 
HorneTooke  by  publishing  the  verdict  of 'not 
guilty.'  About  1798  he  returned  to  Helston  in 
his  native  county,  where  he  opened  business 
as  a  printer,  starting  the '  Stannary  Press/  and 
publishing  several  works  by  the  Rev.  Richard 
Polwhele  and  Dr.  Hawker,  as  well  as  an 
edition  of  Pope's  l  Essay  on  Man.'  In  1800 
he  removed  to  Falmouth,  and  in  that  year 
was  published  the  first  volume  of  his  impres- 
sion of  the  Bible,  which  he  issued  in  num- 
bers. The  introduction  and  notes  to  three  of 
the  books  of  the  Old  Testament  were  contri- 
buted by  the  Rev.  John  Whitaker,  and  Pol- 
whele wrote  the  notes  on  the  other  books; 
but  the  work  was  left  incomplete,  and  copies 
are  now  very  scarce.  The  first  number  of 
the '  Cornwall  Gazette  and  Falmouth  Packet,' 
a  weekly  paper,  was  started  at  Falmouth 
under  his  editorship  on  7  March  1801,  and  it 
lasted  until  16  Oct.  1802,  when  it  ceased 
through  the  bankruptcy  of  his  partners. 
Flindell  possessed  abundant  energy  and  a 
vigorous  style  of  composition,  and  when 
backed  by  the  support  of  the  leading  Cornish 
gentry  he  was  emboldened  into  establishing 
at  Truro  in  the  following  year  a  larger  news- 
paper called  the  '  Royal  Cornwall  Gazette.' 
Its  first  number  appeared  on  2  July  1803, 
and  it  still  survives.  A  rival  newspaper  in 
the  opposite  political  interest  was  started  in 
a  few  years,  when  the  two  editors  (Flindell 
and  Edward  Budd)  opened  a  fierce  contro- 
versy in  their  own  journals  and  in  separate 
publications.  To  damage  his  political  anta- 
gonist Flindell  wdtild  have  published  the  de- 
tails of  a  private  conversation,  and  a  letter 
of  remonstrance  with  him  on  this  point  is  in 
the  l  Life  of  Samuel  Drew,'  pp.  369-72.  He 
parted  with  his  interest  in  this  paper  in  1811, 
but  he  continued  the  printing  business  at 
Truro  during  the  next  year.  His  next  ven- 
ture was  the  l  Western  Luminary,'  a  weekly 
newspaper  of  tory  principles,  which  he  set  on 


foot  at  Exeter  early  in  1813.  It  prospered 
for  some  years,  until  the  fierceness  of  his 
political  zeal  led  him  to  stigmatise  Queen 
Caroline  as  '  notoriously  devoted  to  Bacchus 
and  Venus,'  when  Wetherell  brought  the 
matter  before  the  House  of  Commons  (24  and 
25  July  1820),  and  moved  that  it  was  a  breach 
of  the  house's  privileges.  This  was  not  un- 
reasonably resisted  by  Lord  Castlereagh,  and 
as  it  appeared  in  the  subsequent  discussion 
that  a  prosecution  would  be  instituted  the 
motion  was  withdrawn.  For  this  indiscre- 
tion Flindell  was  prosecuted,  and  on  19  March 
1821  was  sentenced  to  an  imprisonment  of 
eight  months  in  Exeter  gaol.  During  his 
confinement  he  composed  a  volume  entitled 
'  Prison  Recreations :  the  philosophy  of  reason 
and  revelation  attempted,  with  a  view  to 
the  restoration  of  the  theory  of  the  Bible 
on  the  ruins  of  infidelity.'  The  discussion 
of  religious  topics  was  one  of  his  chief 
pleasures,  and  the  pages  of  his  Exeter  paper 
contained  a  lengthened  controversy  from 
three  divines,  named  Cleeve,  Dennis,  and  Car- 
penter, on  the  Trinitarian  question,  which 
Flindell '  closed  at  last  in  a  somewhat  per- 
plexed manner/  and  provoked  from  Colton 
the  epigram  printed  in  Archdeacon  Wrang- 
ham's  catalogue  of  his  English  library,  p.  564, 
to  the  effect  that  the  three  parsons  had  proved 
'  not  one  incomprehensible  but  three/and  Flin- 
dell had  shown  '  not  three  incomprehensible 
but  one.'  His  prison  restraint  impaired  his 
health ;  he  wrote  in  January  1824  that  he 
was  breaking  up  fast,  and  his  illness  was  ag- 
gravated by  his  indignation  at  the  severe 
treatment  which  he  had  received,  while  others 
who  had  used  equally  strong  language  had 
escaped  scot-free.  After  a  protracted  illness 
he  died  at  Exeter  on  11  July  1824,  aged  57. 
His  wife  and  a  numerous  family  survived 
him ;  he  had  eight  children  in  1806,  some 
of  whom  are  mentioned  in  Boase's  '  Collec- 
tanea Cornub./  p.  251.  Several  letters  by 
Flindell  are  in  J.  E.  Ryland's  '  Kitto/  pp. 
124-9,  155 ;  Polwhele's  '  Traditions  and  Re- 
collections/ ii.  778-81 ;  '  Reminiscences/  i. 
125-6  ;  and  f  Biographical  Sketches  in  Corn- 
wall/ ii.  57.  '  A  man  of  strong  understand- 
ing, though  by  no  means  polished  or  refined/ 
was  Polwhele's  accurate  estimate  of  Flindell's 
character. 

[Boase  and  Courtney's  Bibl.  Cornub. ;  An- 
drews's  British  Journalism,  ii.  128-33  ;  Timper- 
ley's  Typographical  Anecdotes,  pp.  853,  879,  893 ; 
Gent.  Mag.  1824,  ii.  93  ;  Hansard,  new  ser.  ii. 
586-609.]  W.  P.  C. 

FLINDERS,  MATTHEW  (1774-1814), 
captain  in  the  navy,  hydrographer  and  dis- 
coverer, was  born  on  16  March  1774  at  Don- 
ington,  near  Boston  in  Lincolnshire,  where 


Flinders 


326 


Flinders 


his  father,  grandfather,  and  great-grandfather 
had  practised  as  surgeons.  He  was  intended 
for  the  same  profession,  but  being,  in  his 
own  phrase, '  induced  to  go  to  sea,  against 
the  wish  of  friends,  from  reading  "  Robinson 
Crusoe," '  he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of 
geometry  and  navigation  with  such  assiduity 
that  he  obtained  a  competent  knowledge  of 
them  without  a  master  or  other  assistance. 
In  May  1790,  acting,  it  would  seem,  on  the 
advice  of  a  cousin  who  was  governess  in 
the  family  of  Captain  (afterwards  SirThomas) 
Pasley,  he  offered  himself  on  board  Captain 
Pasley's  ship,  the  Scipio,  at  Chatham.  Pasley 
receivedhim  kindly , placed  him  on  the  quarter- 
deck, took  him  with  him  to  the  Bellerophon 
during  the  Spanish  armament,  and  in  the  end 
of  the  year,  when  the  Bellerophon  was  paid 
off,  sent  him  to  the  Providence  with  Captain 
William  Bligh  [q.  v.],  on  the  point  of  sailing 
to  the  South  Sea  on  his  second  and  success- 
ful attempt  to  transplant  the  bread-fruit  tree 
to  the  West  Indies.  His  preliminary  study 
of  navigation  now  proved  serviceable,  and 
he  was  entrusted  by  Bligh  with  a  greater 
share  of  the  navigation  and  chart-drawing 
than  was  due  to  his  few  months'  service  at 
sea.  On  his  return  to  England  in  1793  Com- 
modore Pasley  was  again  commissioning  the 
Bellerophon,  and  again  took  Flinders  with 
him.  On  returning  to  Portsmouth  after  the 
battle  of  1  June.  Flinders  was  taken  by  Cap- 
tain Waterhouse,  formerly  a  lieutenant  of  the 
Bellerophon,  on  board  the  Reliance,  which 
he  was  then  fitting  out  for  a  voyage  to  New 
South  Wales,  in  order  to  carry  out  Captain 
John  Hunter  [q.  v.],  the  newly  appointed 
governor  of  the  colony.  The  Reliance  arrived 
at  Port  Jackson  in  September  1795,  and  for 
the  next  five  years  Flinders  devoted  the 
whole  of  the  time  that  he  could  be  spared 
from  the  duties  of  the  ship  to  exploring 
or  surveying  the  adjacent  parts  of  Australia. 
In  this  work  he  was  associated  with  the 
surgeon  of  the  Reliance,  George  Bass  [q.  v.], 
who,  while  Flinders  was  detained  on  board, 
made  an  extended  coasting  voyage  by  him- 
self in  awhaleboat.  Bass's  observations  were, 
however,  so  imperfect  that  it  was  not  till  they 
were  plotted,  after  his  return,  that  the  mean- 
ing of  what  he  had  done  became  apparent.  It 
was  then  seen  that  he  must  have  passed  be- 
tween New  South  Wales  and  Van  Diemen's 
Land,  till  then  believed  to  be  connected 
with  it,  a  discovery  which  the  governor 
considered  so  important  that,  in  September 
1798,  he  appointed  Flinders  to  command 
the  Norfolk,  a  sloop  of  twenty-five  tons,  and 
despatched  him  to  examine  behind  the  Fur- 
neaux  Islands,  with  instructions,  if  he  found 
a  strait,  to  pass  through  it,  sail  round  Van 


Diemen's  Land,  and  return  by  the  south  and 
east  sides.  This  was  happily  done  in  a  voyage 
extending  from  7  Oct.  to  11  Jan.  1799,  and 
the  existence  of  the  strait  being  thus  demon- 
strated the  governor,  acting  on  Flinders's 
suggestion,  gave  it  the  name  of  Bass's  Strait. 
It  is  unnecessary  to  speak  in  detail  of  the 
many  other  coasting  voyages  which  Flinders 
made  at  this  period,  in  boats  varying  in  size 
from  an  8-foot  dingey  to  the  sloop  of  twenty- 
five  tons.  During  the  commission  of  the  Re- 
liance he  had,  by  his  own  exertions,  allowed 
indeed  and  sanctioned  by  the  governor,  ex- 
plored and  in  a  rough  way  surveyed  the 
coast  from  Hervey  Bay  in  the  north  to  the 
circuit  of  Van  Diemen's  Land  in  the  south. 
When  the  Reliance  arrived  in  England  in 
the  latter  part  of  1800,  and  some  account  of 
the  new  discoveries  was  made  public,  a  desire 
was  at  once  expressed  for  a  more  systematic 
examination  of  these  coasts.  Sir  Joseph 
Banks  was  earnest  in  the  cause,  and,  mainly 
at  his  instigation,  an  expedition  for  that  pur- 
pose was  resolved  on.  Flinders  had  already 
been  promoted  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant  on 
31  Jan.  1798,  and  was  now,  on  Banks's  re- 
commendation, appointed  to  command  the 
Xenophon,  receiving  the  rank  of  commander 
a  few  weeks  later,  16  Feb.  1801.  The  Xeno- 
phon, a  north-country  ship  of  334  tons  which 
had  been  bought  into  the  navy  some  years 
before,  was  now  rechristened  the  Investi- 
gator, and  was  fitted  out  in  a  very  liberal 
manner,  the  East  India  Company  also  allow- 
ing the  officers  600/.  for  their  outfit.  The 
instructions,  dated  22  June  1801,  prescribed 
the  survey  of  New  Holland,  beginning  with 
King  George's  Sound  and  the  south  coast. 
Provided  with  these,  with  all  existing  charts 
and  books  of  voyages,  and  with  a  passport 
from  the  French  government,  the  Investi- 
gator sailed  from  Spithead  on  18  July  1801. 
Touching  in  Simon's  Bay,  from  which  she 
sailed  on  9  Nov.,  on  6  Dec.  she  was  off  Cape 
Leeuwin,  and  on  the  8th  arrived  in  King 
George's  Sound.  This  had  already  been  ex- 
amined by  Vancouver  in  1791,  and  was  now 
more  carefully  surveyed  by  Flinders,  after 
which  he  examined,  in  more  or  less  detail, 
the  whole  coastline  to  the  eastward  as  far  as 
Port  Phillip.  The  greater  part  of  this  was 
new  ground,  seen  for  the  first  time,  and  the 
names  given  by  Flinders  to  the  different  bays, 
gulfs,  headlands,  and  islands  still  call  atten- 
tion to  the  names  of  the  officers  of  the  In- 
vestigator, to  some  of  the  incidents  of  the 
voyage,  and  to  the  fact  that  the  captain,  his 
brother,  the  second  lieutenant,  and  a  mid- 
shipman named  John  Franklin  [q.  v.]  were 
natives  of  Lincolnshire.  Cape  Catastrophe 
commemorates  the  loss  of  the  cutter  with  her 


Flinders 


327 


Flinders 


crew  and  two  officers,  whose  names,  Thistle 
and  Taylor,  live  in  two  neighbouring  islands. 
Hard  by  is  Memory  Cove,  and  a  few  miles 
further  are  Port  Lincoln,  Cape  Donington, 
Boston   Island,   Spalding   Cove,  Grantham 
Island,  and  Spilsby  Island,  one  of  the  Sir 
Joseph  Banks  group.     On  Kangaroo  Island 
they  found  a  countless  number  of  kangaroos, 
of  which  they  killed  thirty-one,  knocking 
them  down  with  sticks.    On  8  April,  off  En- 
counter Bay,  they  met  the  French  exploring 
ship  Geographe,  under  the  command  of  Cap- 
tain Nicolas  Baudin,  of  his  conversation  with 
whom  Flinders  has  left  an  amusing  account. 
Whether  from  the  excitement  of  meeting  the 
French  ship  or  from  the  state  of  the  weather, 
which  prevented  the  ship's  entering  the  bay, 
the  embouchure  of  the  Darling  escaped  his 
notice,  but  with  this  exception  he  seems  to 
have  obtained  a  chart  of  the  coast  which, 
under  the  circumstances  of  a  running  survey 
— and,  for  the  most  part,  it  was  nothing 
more — was  wonderfully  accurate,  and  is  still 
the   basis  of  our  admiralty  charts.     From 
Port  Phillip  eastward  the  coast  which  had 
been  first  explored  by  Bass   had  been  ex- 
amined more  closely  by  Lieutenant  Grant  of 
the  Lady  Nelson  in  1800  (JAMES  GRANT,  A 
Voyage  in  the  Lady  Nelson  to  New  South 
Wales,  London,  4to,  1803) — a  priority  of  dis- 
covery and  survey  which  was  contested  by 
the  French,  who,  in  ignorance  of  Grant's 
work,  also  surveyed  the  coast  in  1802,  re- 
naming the  several  noticeable  points,  not 
only  in  that  part,  but  also  in  that  further 
west,  which  had  been  examined  by  Flinders 
(MM.PERONetFEEYCiNET,  Voyageaux  Terres 
Australes,  1800-4,  Paris,  1807-16).  On  9  May 
1802  the  Investigator  arrived  at  Port  Jack- 
son, where  she  found  the  Lady  Nelson,  or- 
dered to  act  as  her  tender  during  the  fur- 
ther progress  of  the   survey.      While   the 
ship  was  refitting,  an  observatory  was  esta- 
blished on  shore  under  the  charge  of  Lieu- 
tenant Flinders  and  Franklin.     The  ship's 
company  was  badly  in  want  of  fresh  pro- 
visions, but  the  price  was  prohibitive ;  none 
could  be  purchased  on  the  public  account, 
and  all  that  could  be  done  was  to  pay  the 
men  what  savings'  allowance  was  due,  so 
that  they  might  buy  some  for  themselves, 
when  fortunately  the  Geographe  came  in  in 
a  very  distressed  state,  owing  to  the  ravages 
of  scurvy,  so  that  out  of  a  complement  of 
170  not  more  than  twelve  were  capable  of 
doing  their  duty.     All  the  resources  of  the 
colony  were  at  once  put  at  their  disposal, 
and  some  few  cattle  which  the  governor  had 
as  breeding  stock  were  slaughtered  for  the 
stranger.     One  quarter  of  beef — only  one — 
Flinders  managed  to  secure  for  his  own  men. 


On  22  July  the  Investigator  sailed  from 
Port  Jackson,  with  the  Lady  Nelson,  as  a 
tender,   in  company.     The   tender   proved, 
however,  of  but  little  use ;  she  was  so  bad 
a  sailer  that  she  retarded  the  work,  and,  after 
being  aground  and  having  lost  part  of  her 
false  keel,  was  worse  than  ever.     She  was 
accordingly  sent  back,  and  the  Investigator, 
rounding  Cape  York  on  31  Oct.,  proceeded 
with  the  survey  of  the  Gulf  of  Carpentaria. 
The  ship,  however,  was  leaking  badly ;  on 
examination  it  was  found  that  many  of  her 
timbers  were  rotten,  and  the  examining  offi- 
cers reported  that  if  she  had  fine  weather 
she  might  last   six  months  without  much 
risk.     Flinders  was  naturally  much  disap- 
pointed.   He  had  hoped  '  to  make  so  accurate 
an  investigation  of  the  shores  of  Terra  Aus- 
tralis  that  no  future  voyage  to  the  country 
should  be  necessary.'     This  was  now  impos- 
sible.    He  finished  the  survey  of  the  Gulf 
of  Carpentaria,  and  to  the  westward  as  far 
as  Arnhem  Bay ;  then  finding  his  men  sickly 
went  to  Timor  for  refreshments,  and  returned 
to  Port  Jackson  on  9  June  1803.     The  ship 
was  then  officially  surveyed  and  pronounced 
incapable  of  being  repaired.     Flinders  there- 
fore, in  consultation  with  the  governor,  de- 
termined to  go  home  as  a  passenger  in  the 
Porpoise,  an  old  Spanish  prize  attached  to 
the  colony.      Fowler,   the   first   lieutenant 
of  the  Investigator,  was  appointed  to  com- 
mand her,  with  twenty-two  officers  and  men ; 
the  rest  of  the  ship's  company  staying  at 
Port  Jackson  to  await  Flinders's  return  with 
another  vessel.     She  put  to  sea  on  10  Aug. 
in  company  with  the  East  India  Company's 
ship  Bridgewater  and  the  Cato  of  London  ; 
and  standing  to  the  north  on  the  17th,  the 
Porpoise  and  Cato  both  struck  on  Wreck 
Reef.     The  Porpoise  stuck  fast,  but  the  Cato 
rolled  over  and  sank  in  deep  water,  her  men 
having  barely  time  to   scramble   on  shore. 
The  Bridgewater  sailed  away,  leaving  them  to 
their  fate ;  and  after  earnest  deliberation,  it 
was  determined  that  Flinders  should  attempt 
to  fetch  Port  Jackson  in  one  of  the  boats. 
This  he  succeeded  in  doing,  and  the  governor 
at  once  engaged  the  Holla,  bound  to  China, 
to  relieve  the  party  and  to  carry  them  on  to 
Canton ;  two  schooners  accompanying  her ; 
one  to  bring  back  to  Port  Jackson  those  who 
preferred   it,  and   one,  the  Cumberland  of 
;wenty-nine   tons,  to  go  with  Flinders   to 
England.     At  the   wreck   the   master,  the 
boatswain,  and  eight  men  agreed  to  accom- 
pany him  on  this  risky  voyage :    and  the 
Little  craft  parted  from  the  Rolla  on  11  Oct., 
passing  through  Torres  Straits.     In  crossing 
the  Indian  Ocean  the  Cumberland  proved  to 
be  very  leaky ;  her  pumps  were  worn  out  and 


Flinders 


328 


Flinders 


the  labour  was  excessive ;  so  much  so  that 
Flinders  determined  to  fetch  Mauritius  in 
hopes  of  finding  some  more  convenient  way 
of  getting  home.  According  to  his  last  news 
from  home  France  and  England  were  at  peace ; 
and  even  if  not,  he  believed  that  the  passport 
given  him  by  the  French  government  before 
he  left  England  would  meet  the  case.  Un- 
fortunately, as  the  instructions  given  him  by 
Governor  King,  on  leaving  Port  Jackson,  did 
not  clearly  warrant  his  touching  at  Mauritius, 
he  considered  it  prudent  to  state  his  reasons 
in  the  log;  in  doing  which  he  laid  little 
stress  on  the  necessities  of  his  case,  but  dwelt, 
with  the  ardour  of  a  surveyor,  on  the  oppor- 
tunities that  would  be  afforded  him  of  obtain- 
ing information  on  many  points  of  interest. 
He  anchored  on  1ft  Dec.  in  Baie  du  Cap, 
from  which  he  was  directed  to  go  round  to 
Port  Louis  and  see  the  governor,  M.  Decaen. 
Decaen  at  once  objected  that  the  passport 
was  for  the  Investigator,  and  had  no  men- 
tion of  the  Cumberland.  Flinders  was  there- 
fore detained,  his  men  were  made  prisoners, 
and  his  books  and  papers  taken  for  examina- 
tion. The  last  entry  in  his  log  was  sufficient 
to  excite  suspicion ;  and  Flinders,  burning 
with  anxiety  to  get  to  England  and  renew 
his  survey,  appears,  even  from  his  own  ac- 
count, to  have  acted  with  want  of  temper 
and  tact.  The  governor  was  omnipotent ; 
his  personal  ill-will  put  the  worst  construc- 
tion on  Flinders's  unlucky  explanations;  he 
declared  that  the  man  was  there  as  a  spy, 
attempting  to  take  a  base  advantage  of  the 
passport  which  had  been  granted  to  aid  a 
scientific  voyage.  Flinders  was  accordingly 
kept  in  close  confinement ;  and  though,  after 
nearly  two  years,  he  was  allowed  to  reside  in 
the  country  with  leave  to  go  about  within 
two  leagues  of  the  house,  his  imprisonment 
was  continued  for  nearly  seven  years.  All 
exchanges  were  refused ;  instructions  for  his 
release  were  sent  out  from  France,  but  De- 
caen chose  to  consider  them  optional,  or  not 
sufficiently  explicit,  and  still  detained  him ; 
nor  did  he  release  him  till  7  June  1810, 
when  he  gave  him  permission  to  return  to 
England,  by  Bombay,  on  parole  not  to  serve 
against  France  during  the  course  of  the  war. 
Accordingly,  on  9  June,  Flinders  left  Mau- 
ritius in  a  cartel  for  Bombay,  but  meeting 
with  a  man-of-war  sloop  bound  to  the  Cape, 
he  took  passage  in  her  to  that  place,  where 
he  found  a  ship  going  to  England.  He  ar- 
rived at  Portsmouth  on  24  Oct.  1810.  As 
soon  as  his  release  was  known  in  England, 
he  had  been  promoted  to  post  rank,  with 
seniority  dated  back  as  far  as  the  patent  of 
the  existing  board  of  admiralty  would  allow, 
7  May  1810.  It  was  admitted  that  had  he 


come  home  in  the  Cumberland  or  at  that 
time,  he  would  have  been  then,  in  1804,  pro- 
moted; but  it  was  impossible  to  date  the 
commission  back  without  an  order  from  the 
king  in  council,  which  would  involve  more 
trouble  than  the  admiralty  were  willing  to 
undertake. 

A  few  months  after  his  return  he  was  de- 
sired to  prepare  a  narrative  of  his  voyage, 
to  which  task  he  steadily  devoted  himself 
for  the  next  three  years.  The  sedentary  em- 
ployment aggravated  the  symptoms  of  a  dis- 
ease due  probably,  in  its  origin,  to  the  hard- 
ships to  which  he  had  been  exposed,  and 
which  had  become  more  developed  during  the 
term  of  his  long  imprisonment.  He  lived  to 
complete  his  work,  and  died,  19  July  1814, 
shortly  before  it  was  published.  He  had 
married  in  April  1801,  while  fitting  out 
the  Investigator,  and  at  his  death  left  one 
daughter,  a  child  two  years  old. 

Flinders  appears  to  have  had  an  extraor- 
dinary natural  gift  as  a  surveyor,  so  that  with 
little  or  no  instruction  he  became  one  of  the 
best  of  the  hydrographers  who  have  graced 
our  naval  service.  His  survey  of  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  Australian  coast,  though  car- 
ried out  under  great  disadvantages,  has  stood 
the  test  of  time,  and  forms  the  basis  of  our 
modern  charts.  He  was  also  one  of  the  first, 
if  not  actually  the  first,  to  investigate  the 
error  of  the  compass  due  to  the  attraction  of 
the  iron  in  the  ship,  and  contributed  a  paper 
on  the  subject  to  the  Eoyal  Society,  written 
while  detained  in  Mauritius  (Phil.  Trans. 
1805,  p.  187). 

[The  principal  authority  for  Flinders's  profes- 
sional life  and  for  the  history  of  his  work  is  his 
own  narrative:  A  Voyage  to  Terra  Australis 
undertaken  for  the  purpose  of  completing  the 
discovery  of  that  vast  country,  and  prosecuted 
in  the  years  1801-2-3,  in  his  Majesty's  ship 
the  Investigator,  and  subsequently  in  the  armed 
vessel  Porpoise  and  Cumberland  schooner,  with 
an  account  of  the  shipwreck  of  the  Porpoise, 
arrival  of  the  Cumberland  at  Mauritius,  and 
imprisonment  of  the  commander  during  six 
years  and  a  half  in  that  island  (2  vols.  4to,  with 
atlas  fo.  1814);  see  also  Observations  on  the 
Coasts  of  Van  Diemen's  Land,  on  Bass's  Straits, 
its  Islands,  and  on  parts  of  the  Coasts  of  New 
South  Wales  (4to,  1801).  The  memoir  in  the 
Naval  Chronicle,  xxxii.  177  (with  a  portrait),  is 
based  on  information  supplied  by  Flinders  him- 
self; it  is  in  this  (p.  182  ??.)  that  the  sugges- 
tion -was  first  made  to  give  the  name  of  Australia 
or  Australasia  to  '  the  tract  of  land  hitherto  most 
unscientifically  called  "New  Holland,"'  and 
which  Flinders  wrote  of  as  Terra  Australis.  His 
correspondence  with  Sir  Joseph  Banks  and  many 
letters  from  Eobert  Brown  (1773-1858)  [q.v.j, 
the  botanist  of  the  Investigator,  are  in  Addit. 


Flinter 


329 


Flitcroft 


MSS.  32439  passim,  and  32441,  ff.  424-33.  His 
correspondence  with  Sir  Edward  Pellew  in  1805 
is  in  the  Public  Eecord  Office,  Admirals'  Des- 
patches (East  Indies),  vol.  18.]  J.  K.  L. 

FLINTER,   GEORGE    DAWSON    (d. 

1838),  soldier  of  fortune,  by  birth  an  Irish- 
man, entered  the  British  army  in  1811  as  an 
ensign  in  the  7th  West  India  regiment  of 
foot,  and  was  advanced  to  the  rank  of  lieu- 
tenant on  22  July  1813.  He  was  sent  with 
his  regiment  to  Curasao  in  the  West  Indies 
in  1812,  and  in  1815  visited  Caracas,  then  in 
the  throes  of  an  unusually  bloody  and  ex- 
asperated civil  war,  in  which  many  horrible 
atrocities  were  committed.  Here  he  acted 
as  interpreter  to  the  British  embassy.  In  the 
following  year  he  was  placed  on  the  half-pay 
list,  and  seeing  no  prospect  of  promotion  in 
the  British  service,  he  fixed  his  residence  at 
Caracas,  where  he  was  treated  with  great  dis- 
tinction by  the  governor-generalGagigal,  and 
obtained  employment  as  interpreter  between 
the  Spaniards  and  the  English  and  Ameri- 
cans. He  afterwards  travelled  through  most 
of  the  European  colonies  in  the  West  Indies 
and  on  the  continent  of  America,  married  a 
Spanish  American  lady,  through  whom  he 
acquired  a  large  property  in  land  and  slaves, 
obtained  a  commission  in  the  Spanish  army, 
and  though  remaining  on  the  British  half- 
pay  list  until  1832,  had  for  some  years  before 
that  date  held  the  position  of  a  staff  officer 
in  the  Spanish  service.  On  the  outbreak  of 
the  Carlist  war  in  1833  he  declared  for  Isa- 
bella, and  in  1834-5  he  served  under  Mina 
and  Valdez  in  their  unsuccessful  operations 
against  Zumalacarregui  in  the  Basque  pro- 
vinces. In  1836,  while  engaged  in  organising 
the  militia  in  Estremadura,  he  was  surprised 
by  some  of  the  troops  of  Gomez  and  Cabrera, 
taken  prisoner,  and  thrown  into  a  loathsome 
dungeon,  from  which  by  the  connivance  of 
his  gaoler  he  contrived  to  escape,  and  made 
his  way  to  Madrid.  He  was  then  placed  in 
command  of  Toledo,  whence  on  18  Feb.  1838 
he  made  a  sortie,  inflicting  a  severe  defeat 
on  the  Carlists  under  Jara  and  Peco,  who 
were  in  great  force  in  the  neighbourhood. 
In  this  action  he  placed  nearly  eighteen  hun- 
dred of  the  enemy  hors  de  combat  without  the 
loss  of  a  single  man  killed  or  wounded.  On 
his  return  to  Toledo  on  the  20th,  he  was 
saluted  by  the  municipal  authorities  as  the 
liberator  of  the  province,  and  on  the  22nd 
the  Cortes  recognised  his  services  by  a  vote 
of  thanks.  On  16  March,  though  outnum- 
bered by  two  to  one,  he  drove  Basileo  Garcia 
out  of  Val  de  Penas,  but  was  prevented  by 
lack  of  reinforcements  from  improving  his 
advantage.  His  conduct  on  this  occasion 
was  severely  censured  by  the  Spanish  govern- 


ment, and  he  was  removed  from  his  command. 
Maddened  by  disappointment  and  disgust, 
he  committed  suicide  at  Madrid  by  cutting 
his  throat  on  9  Sept.  1838.  Flinter  was  a 
knight  of  the  royal  order  of  Isabella  the  Ca- 
tholic, and  the  author  of  the  following  works  : 
1  .  '  The  History  of  the  Revolution  of  Caracas, 
comprising  an  impartial  Narrative  of  the 
Atrocities  committed  by  the  contending  par- 
ties, illustrating  the  real  state  of  the  contest 
both  in  a  commercial  and  political  point  of 
view.  Together  with  a  Description  of  the 
Llaneros,  or  People  of  the  Plains  of  South 
America,'  London,  1819,  8vo.  2.  '  An  Ac- 
count of  the  present  State  of  the  Island  of 
Puerto  Rico,'  London,  1834,  8vo.  3.  <  Con- 
sideraciones  sobre  la  Espana  y  sus  Colonias,' 
Madrid,  1834. 

[Army  Lists  1812,  1813,   1816,  1832;   Gent. 
Mag.  1838,  ii.  553  ;  Ann.  Eeg.  1838,  pp.  422-3 
App.  to  Chron.  p.  224  ;  Borrow's  Bible  in  Spain 
(Murray's  Home   and   Colonial  Library),  cap. 

J.  M.  B. 


FLINTOFT,  LUKE  (d.  1727),  composer, 
took  the  degree  of  B.A.  at  Queens'  College, 
Cambridge,  in  1700,  and  was  appointed  priest- 
vicar  at  Lincoln  Cathedral  in  1704.  He  re- 
mained there  until  1714.  On  4  Dec.  1715  he 
was  sworn  as  a  gentleman  of  the  Chapel  Royal, 
and  i  s  described  in  the  '  Cheque  Book  '  as  '  from 
Worcester,'  which  therefore  was  probably  his 
birthplace.  On  9  July  1719  he  was  appointed 
reader  in  Whitehall  Chapel,  and  was  subse- 
quently made  a  minor  canon  of  Westminster. 
He  died  on  3  Nov.  1727,  and  was  buried  in  the 
cloisters  of  Westminster  Abbey.  His  claim 
to  a  place  in  musical  history  depends  upon 
the  question  whether  a  certain  '  double  chant7 
in  G  minor,  attributed  to  him,  is  or  is  not 
the  first  specimen  of  the  kind  in  existence. 
The  arguments  for  and  against  this  will  be 
found  in  'Notes  and  Queries,'  3rd  ser.  x.  206, 
xi.  267,  391,  and  445. 

[Grove's  Diet.  i.  533  ;  Bemrose's  Chant  Book; 
Cheque  Book  of  the  Chapel  Royal,  ed.  Rim- 
bault;  G-raduati  Cantabr.  (1823),  p.  172;  Notes 
and  Queries,  as  above.]  J.  A.  F.  M. 

FLITCROFT,  HENRY  (1697-1769),  ar- 
chitect, son  of  Jeffery  Flitcroft,  gardener  to 
William  III  at  Hampton  Court,  and  grand- 
son of  Jeffery  Flitcroft  of  Twiss  Green,  Win- 
wick,  Lancashire,  was  born  on  29  Aug.  1697, 
and  on  6  Nov.  1711  was  apprenticed  to  Tho- 
mas Morris,  citizen  and  joiner  of  London,  for 
seven  years,  being  admitted  to  the  freedom 
of  that  company  on  3  Nov.  1719.  It  is  said 
that  Flitcroft  was  employed  as  a  carpenter 
in  the  house  of  Richard  Boyle,  third  earl  of 
Burlington  [q.  v.],  and  broke  his  leg  by  falling 


Flitcroft 


330 


Flood 


from  a  scaffold ;  hence  he  attracted  the  notice 
of  the  earl,  who  employed  him  as  draughts- 
man on  the  edition  of  Inigo  Jones's  designs, 
published  by  Kent  in  1727  at  the  Earl  of 
Burlington's  expense ;  some  of  these  draw- 
ings are  in  the  library  of  the  Royal  Institute 
of  British  Architects.  Burlington's  patronage 
insured  Flitcroft's  success,  and  even  gained 
the  architect  the  nickname  of  *  Burlington 
Harry.'  In  1726  Flitcroft  was  employed  in 
the  office  of  the  board  of  works ;  he  con- 
tinued to  be  engaged  as  clerk  of  the  works 
at  Whitehall,  St.  James's,  and  Westminster, 
as  well  as  at  Richmond  and  Kew,  until 
20  Nov.  1746,  when  he  was  appointed  master- 
carpenter;  on  10  May  1748  he  succeeded 
Kent  as  master-mason;  and  on  10  March 
1758  he  succeeded  Ripley  as  comptroller  of 
the  works  in  England,  which  post  he  held 
until  his  death.  In  1729  Flitcroft  designed 
a  mansion  for  John  Baynes  near  Havering  in 
Essex;  in  1733  he  was  commissioned  to 
make  the  necessary  alterations  in  Carlton 
House,  then  recently  purchased,  for  Frede- 
rick, prince  of  Wales.  In  1731  he  entered 
into  a  contract  to  pull  down  the  old  church 
of  St.  Giles-in-the-Fields  and  to  erect  a  new 
church  and  steeple  in  its  place;  the  new 
church  was  opened  in  1734,  having  been 
erected  at  a  cost  of  over  10,000^.,  exceeding 
the  original  estimate  by  about  3,000/.  It  is 
perhaps  too  closely  copied  fromGibbs's  church 
of  St.  Martin-in-the-Fields.  In  1737-9  Flit- 
croft was  employed  in  erecting  the  church  of 
St.  Olave,  Tooley  Street,  Southwark,  which 
was  completed  at  a  cost  of  5,000/.  About 
1745  he  designed  the  church  of  St.  John  at 
Hampstead.  Flitcroft  made  considerable  al- 
terations in  Wentworth  House,  Yorkshire, 
for  the  Marquis  of  Rockingham,  and  in  Wo- 
burn  Abbey,  Bedfordshire,  for  the  Duke  of 
Bedford ;  in  1747  he  designed  for  Mary  Lepel, 
lady  Hervey,  a  house  in  St.  James's  Place, 
looking  on  the  Green  Park,  afterwards  occu- 
pied by  the  Earl  of  Moira ;  and  in  1749  he 


shire.  Flitcroft's  general  repute  led  to  his 
being  elected  sheriff  of  London  and  Middle- 
sex in  June  1745,  but  he  paid  the  fine  to  be 
excused  serving  the  office ;  in  1747  he  paid  a 
similar  fine  on  being  elected  renter  warden 
of  the  Joiners'  Company.  He  built  for  him- 
self a  house  at  Frognal,  Hampstead,  called 
Montagu  Grove,  where  he  resided  for  some 
time.  He  died  on  25  Feb.  1769,  in  his  seventy- 
second  year,  and  was  buried  at  Teddington 
in  .Middlesex.  In  the  Royal  Library  at  the 
British  Museum  there  is  a  volume  of  archi- 
tectural drawings  and  designs  by  Flitcroft, 
executed  about  1750,  and  dedicated  to  Wil- 
liam, duke  of  Cumberland. 


[The  Dictionary  of  Architecture  ;  Redgrave's 
Diet,  of  Artists;  Cunningham's  Handbook  to 
London.]  L.  C. 

FLOOD,  SIR  FREDERICK  (1741-1824), 
Irish  politician,  was  the  younger  son  of  John. 
Flood  of  Farmley,  county  Kilkenny,  and 
nephew  of  Warden  Flood,  chief  justice  of  the 
court  of  king's  bench  in  Ireland,  the  father  of 
the  Right  Hon.  Henry  Flood  [q.  v.]  He  was 
born  in  1741,  and  was  educated  at  Trinity  Col- 
lege, Dublin,where  he  proceeded  B.  A.  in  1761, 
M.A.  in  1764,  LL.B.  in  1766,  and  LL.D.  in 
1772.  He  was  called  to  the  Irish  bar  in  1763, 
and  soon  attained  considerable  success  both 
in  legal  practice  and  in  the  social  circles  of 
Dublin,  in  which  he  was  immensely  popular 
from  his  wit  and  oddity.  He  succeeded  to 
handsome  estates  both  from  his  father  and 
his  mother,  and  in  1776  he  was  elected  to 
the  Irish  House  of  Commons  as  member  for 
county  Wexford.  His  relationship  to  Henry 
Flood  did  more  for  his  reputation  than  his 
own  abilities,  and  with  commendable  pru- 
dence he  consistently  followed  in  his  cousin's 
footsteps.  In  1778  he  was  made  a  K.C.  and 
elected  a  bencher  of  the  King's  Inns,  and  on 
3  June  1780  he  was  created  a  baronet  of 
Ireland  '  of  Newton  Ormonde,  co.  Kilkenny, 
and  Banna  Lodge,  co.  Wexford.'  Two  years 
later  he  married  Lady  Juliana  Annesley, 
daughter  of  the  fifth  Earl  of  Anglesey,  and 
he  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  volunteer 
movement,  being  elected  colonel  of  the  Wex- 
ford regiment.  In  all  the  great  debates 
which  preceded  the  abolition  of  the  Irish 
parliament  Flood  was  a  frequent  speaker. 
Sir  Jonah  Barrington  calls  him  an  osten- 
tatious blunderer,  whose  'bulls'  did  not 
contain  the  pith  of  sound  sense  which  under- 
lay the  mistakes  of  Sir  Boyle  Roche.  He 
adds  that  Flood  would  rashly  accept  any 
suggestions  made  to  him  while  speaking,  and 
one  day,  just  after  he  had  declared '  that  the 
magistrates  of  Wexford  deserved  the  thanks 
of  the  lord-lieutenant,'  he  added,  on  some 
wit's  suggestion,  '  and  should  be  whipped 
at  the  cart's  tail '  (BAEEINGTON,  Personal 
Sketches,  i.  111).  He  steadily  opposed  the 
Act  of  Union,  but  when  that  measure  was 
carried  he  did  not  retire  from  politics,  but 
sat  in  the  united  House  of  Commons  for  the 
county  of  Wexford  from  1800  to  1818.  He 
made  no  particular  impression  there,  but 
was  appointed  lord-lieutenant  of  Wexford  in 
1814.  His  only  son  died  unmarried  in  1800, 
and  it  was  proposed  to  perpetuate  Flood's 
title  by  creating  him  a  baronet  of  the  United 
Kingdom,  with  remainder  to  his  only  daugh- 
ter Frances,  who  was  married  to  Richard 
Solly,  esq.  He  died  before  the  patent  for 
this  new  honour  had  passed  the  great  seal 


Flood 


331 


Flood 


on  1  Feb.  1824,  and  left  his  estates  to  his 
grandson,  Richard  Solly,  who  took  the  name 
of  Flood  in  addition  to  his  own. 

[Burke's  Extinct  Baronetage;  Sir  Jonah 
Barrington's  Memoirs  and  Personal  Sketches ; 
Grattan's  Life  and  Times  of  Henry  G-rattan  ; 
Hardy's  Life  of  Lord  Charlemont.]  H.  M.  S. 

FLOOD,  HENRY  (1732-1791),  states- 
man and  orator,  illegitimate  son  of  the  Right 
Hon.  Warden  Flood,  chief  j  ustice  of  the  king's 
bench  in  Ireland,  was  born  in  1732,  and  when 
sixteen  entered  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  as  a 
fellow  commoner.  After  three  years'  resi- 
dence he  matriculated  at  Christ  Church,  Ox- 
ford, where  he  graduated  M.A.  1752.  He  was 
admitted  a  member  of  the  Inner  Temple  on 
19  Jan.  1750,  and  for  some  time  pursued  the 
study  of  the  law  in  England.  He  returned 
to  Ireland  in  his  twenty-seventh  year,  and 
having  been  elected  a  member  for  the  county 
of  Kilkenny  in  the  Irish  House  of  Commons, 
he  took  his  seat  on  the  opposition  benches  in 
1759.  Parliament  was  dissolved  upon  the 
death  of  George  II  in  the  following  year,  and 
Flood  was  returned  for  the  borough  of  Callan 
in  the  place  of  James  Agar,  who  was  declared 
'  not  duly  elected.'  It  is  generally  asserted 
that  Flood's  maiden  speech  was  an  attack  upon 
Primate  Stone,  who  at  that  time  was  the  recog- 
nised leader  of  the  English  party,  and  it  is  re- 
lated that '  during  the  first  part  of  Mr.  Flood's 
speech,  his  grace,  who  was  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  did  not  know  precisely  what 
part  the  new  member  would  take,  declared 
that  he  had  great  hopes  of  him  ;  when  Flood 
sat  down  his  grace  asserted,  with  some  vehe- 
mence, that  a  duller  gentleman  he  had  never 
heard '  (Memoirs  of  the  Earl  of  Charlemont, 
i.  157).  His  first  speech,  however,  of  which 
there  is  any  authentic  record  was  delivered 
on  12  Oct.  1763  (CALDWELL,  Irish  Debates, 
1766,  i.  31-7).  Owing  to  his  eloquence  and 
social  position,  Flood  quickly  became  the 
most  prominent  leader  of  the  popular  party, 
and  it  was  through  his  untiring  exertions 
that  a  powerful  opposition  was  at  length 
organised  within  the  Irish  House  of  Com- 
mons. The  principal  objects  which  Flood 
kept  steadily  in  view  were  the  shortening  ot 
the  duration  of  parliaments,  the  reduction 
of  pensions,  the  creation  of  a  constitutional 
militia,  and  the  independence  of  the  Irish 
legislature.  But  though  these  measures  of  re- 
form were  frequently  brought  forward,  they 
were  for  many  years  rejected  either  by  parlia- 
ment or  the  privy  council  as  a  matter  of  course. 
For  the  first  seven  years  of  the  new  reign  the 
political  history  of  Ireland  was  uneventful, 
and  in  1767  Flood  contemplated  entering  the 
English  House  of  Commons,  but  his  over- 


tures for  a  seat  appear  to  have  been  unsuc- 
cessful (Letters  to  Flood,  p.  42).   In  October 
1767  Lord  Townshend  went  over  as  the  new 
lord-lieutenant.     A  different  line  of  policy 
was  adopted  by  the  government,  and  in  the 
following  year  the  Octennial  Bill  was  passed. 
With  the  aid  of  the  undertakers,  Flood  was 
able  successfully  to  oppose  the  ministerial 
scheme  for  the  augmentation  of  the  Irish 
army,  and  parliament  was  dissolved  in  May 
1768.     At  the  general  election  Flood  was 
returned  for  the  borough  of  Longford  as  well 
as  for  Callan,  and  elected  to  sit  for  the  latter. 
About  this  time  he  became  involved  in  a 
quarrel,  arising  out  of  the  election  contest 
for  Callan,  with  James  Agar  of  Ringwood, 
with  whom  he  fought  two  duels.  Agar  chal- 
lenged Flood  on  the  second  occasion  in  Sep- 
tember 1769.     They  met  in  Dunmore  Park, 
near  Kilkenny,  and  the  former  was  mortally 
wounded.     Flood  was  formally  tried  at  the 
Kilkenny  assizes  in  April  1770,  and  a  ver- 
dict of  manslaughter  in  his  own  defence  was 
duly  returned.     In  order  to  break  down  the 
power  of  the  undertakers,  who  were  now  in 
alliance  with  Flood  and  the  popular  party, 
Townshend  strongly  urged  the  government 
to  call  Flood  to  office.     The  advice  was  not 
taken,  and  when  the  new  parliament  met  in 
1769  the  money  bill  was  rejected,  and  a  re- 
solution declaring  that  it  had  been  thrown 
out  l  because  it  did  not  take  its  rise  in  the 
House  of  Commons '  was  carried  by  the  op- 
position.    On  26  Dec.  parliament  was  sud- 
denly prorogued,  and  was  not   summoned 
again  for  fourteen  months.     Flood  now  sys- 
tematically opposed  the  government  on  every 
occasion,  and   devoted  all  his   energies   to 
obtain  Townshend's  recall.  A  series  of  papers 
relating  to  recent  Irish  politics,  written  by 
Langrishe,  Flood,  Grattan,  and  others,  ap- 
peared from  time  to  time  in  the  l  Freeman's 
Journal.'   These  papers,  which  created  a  great 
sensation,  were  afterwards  published  in  a  col- 
lected form  under  the  title  of  '  Baratariana/ 
with  a  dedication  to  Lord  Townshend,  writ- 
ten by  Grattan.     The  contributions  signed 
'  Sindercombe,'  which  have  been  attributed 
on  insufficient  grounds  to  Hugh  Boyd,  were 
written  by  Flood.     Though  powerful   and 
well  reasoned,  they  are  laboured  in  style, 
and  '  certainly  give  no  countenance  to  the 
notion  started  at  one  time  that  he  was  the 
author  of  the  "  Letters  of  Junius  " '  (LECKT, 
Leaders  of  Public  Opinion  in  Ireland,  p.  75). 
Townshend  was  at  length  recalled  in  Sep- 
tember 1772,  and  upon  the  appointment  of 
the  Earl  of  Harcourt  as  lord-lieutenant  the 
government  was  conducted  for  a  time  on 
more  liberal  principles.     Flood  now  ceased 
from  opposition  and  vigorously  supported  the 


Flood 


332 


Flood 


introduction  of  the  absentee  tax.     Harcourt 
writing  to  North,  27  Nov.  1773,  says:  'Mr. 
Flood  was  violent  and  able  in  behalf  of  the 
bill  in  a  degree  almost  surpassing  everything 
he  had  ever  uttered  before'  (The  Harcourt 
Papers,  ix.  117).     But  in  spite  of  his  elo- 
quence, and  without  any  open  hostility  on 
the  part  of  the  government,  the  measure  was 
defeated.    After  a  long  period  of  negotia- 
tion Flood  in  October  1775  accepted  the 
post  of  vice-treasurer  of  Ireland,  a  sinecure 
worth  3,500/.  a  year.     Flood  contended  that 
after  Townshend's  recall  '  the  only  way  any- 
thing could  be  effected  for  the  country  was 
by  going  along  with  government  and  mak- 
ing their  measures  diverge  towards  public 
utility '  (GRATTAN,  Life,  i.  206) ;  and  he  seems 
to  have  thought  that  by  obtaining  a  seat  in 
the  Irish  privy  council  he  would  be  better 
able  to  influence  the  government  for  the 
good  of  the  country.     The  history  of  his  ne- 
gotiations for  office,  as  related  in  the  letters 
of  Harcourt  and  Blaquiere,  is  by  no  means 
creditable  to  him,  and  Harcourt,  writing  to 
North  on  9  Oct.  1775,  says :  '  Since  I  was 
born  I  never  had  to  deal  with  so  difficult  a 
man,  owing  principally  to  his  high-strained 
ideas  of  his  own  great  importance  and  popu- 
larity.    But  the  acquisition  of  such  a  man, 
however  desirable  at  other  times,  may  prove 
more  than  ordinarily  valuable  in  the  diffi- 
cult times  we  may  live  to  see,  and  which 
may  afford  him  a  very  ample  field  for  the 
display  of  his  great  abilities '  (  The  Harcourt 
Papers,  ix.  361).    After  the  general  election 
in  1776  Flood  was  unseated  for  Callan,  but 
was  subsequently  returned  at  a  by-election 
for  the  borough  of  Enniskillen.  During  Har- 
court's  administration,  and  while  Flood  was 
in  office,  an  embargo  was  placed  on  Irish 
exports  for  two  years,  and  four  thousand 
Irish  troops,  termed  by  Flood  '  armed  nego- 
tiators,' were  sent  to  America.     Both  these 
measures  were  very  unpopular,  and  to  the 
latter  Grattan  afterwards  referred  when  de- 
scribing Flood  as  standing  '  with  a  metaphor 
in  his  mouth  and  a  bribe  in  his  pocket,'  and 
giving  '  a  base  suffrage  against  the  liberty 
of  America,  the  eventual  liberty  of  Ireland, 
and  the  cause  of  mankind  '  (GRATTAN,  Life, 
iii.  94).     When  Buckingham  became  lord- 
lieutenant,  Flood  frequently  absented  him- 
self from  the  meetings  of  the  privy  council, 
and  rarely  voted  for  the  government  in  the 
House  of  Commons.     He  identified  himself 
with  the  volunteer  movement  and  became 
colonel  of  one  of  the  regiments.    In  1779 
though  still  a  minister,  Flood  spoke  in  sup- 
port of  the  amendment  to  the  address  in  favour 
of  free  trade.     At  length  his  attitude  became 
so  hostile  to  the  government  that  at  the 


request  of  the  Earl  of  Carlisle,  Buckingham's 
successor  in  office,  he  was  in  the  autumn  of 
i781  removed  from  the  post  of  vice-treasurer 
as  well  as  from  his  seat  in  the  privy  council. 
When  Flood  once  more  took  his  seat  on  the 
opposition  benches  he  found  his  popularity 
gone,  and  his  place  as  leader  of  the  popular 
mrty  filled  by  Grattan.  On  11  Dec.  1781, 
n  a  speech  lasting  three  hours  and  a  half, 
?lood  maintained  that  the  power  of  the  Irish 
>rivy  council  to  alter  heads  of  bills  before 
sending  them  to  England  rested  solely  on 
an  erroneous  decision  of  the  judges  in  1692, 
mt  the  committee  for  inquiry  for  which  he 
asked  was  refused  by  a  considerable  majority 
^Parl.  Reg.  i.  153-74).  A  few  days  after- 
wards he  spoke  in  the  debate  on  Yelverton's 
Dill  for  the  repeal  of  Poynings's  law,  and 
grievously  complained  that  '  after  a  service 
of  twenty  years  in  the  study  of  a  peculiar 
question  it  was  taken  out  of  his  hands  and 
entirely  wrested  from  him.'  '  The  hon.  gentle- 
man (he  added)  was  erecting  a  temple  of  li- 
3erty  ;  he  hoped  therefore  at  least  he  should 
3e  allowed  a  niche  in  the  fane.'  Whereupon 
Yelverton  cleverly  retorted  that,  as  Flood 
seemed  to  think  he  had  espoused  this  question, 
e  would  remind  him  that  according  to  the 
aw,  *  if  any  man  married  a  wife  and  lives 
with  her  in  constancy  it  was  a  crime  to  take 
her  away  from  him ;  but  if  a  man  shall  sepa- 
rate from  his  wife,  desert  and  abandon  her 
for  seven  years,  another  then  might  take  her 
up  and  give  her  his  protection  '  (ib.  p.  189). 
On  22  Feb.  1782  Flood  supported  Grattan's 
motion  for  an  address  to  the  king  in  favour 
of  the  independence  of  the  Irish  parliament, 
and  in  the  same  year  an  attempt  was  made 
by  Montgomery  in  the  House  of  Commons 
to  obtain  Flood's  restoration  to  his  old  office 
of  vice-treasurer.  The  Duke  of  Portland, 
who  succeeded  Carlisle  as  viceroy  in  April 
1782,  being  anxious  to  enter  into  negotiations 
with  Flood,  asked  for  authority  to  offer  him 
a  seat  in  the  Irish  privy  council,  if  he  should 
deem  it  expedient.  The  nomination,  which 
was  intended  to  be  at  the  option  of  the  vice- 
roy, was  by  some  extraordinary  mistake  sent 
directly  to  the '  Gazette,'  and  Flood  straight- 
way refused  to  accept  the  nomination.  Le- 


ipeal 

Declaratory  Act  (6  Geo.  I,  c.  5)  was  not  suf- 
ficient, but  that  an  act  of  parliament  ex- 
pressly disclaiming  the  right  to  legislate  for 
Ireland  should  be  obtained  without  delay. 
In  this  view  he  was  supported  by  the  greater 
portion  of  the  volunteers,  and  by  this  means 
Flood  in  some  measure  regained  his  old  popu- 
larity. Grattan  differed  with  him  on  the  ques- 


Flood 


333 


Flood 


tion  as  well  as  on  the  advisability  of  continu- 
ing the  volunteer  convention,  and  on  28  Oct. 
1783,  in  the  debate  on  Sir  Henry  Cavendish's 
motion  for  retrenchment  in  the  expenses  of  the 
country,  the  famous  collision  between  the  two 
great  Irish  orators  took  place.  The  speeches 
of  both  were  full  of  the  bitterest  personal 
invective.  Flood,  alluding  to  the  grant  which 
parliament  had  bestowed  upon  Grattan,  re- 
ferred to  him  as  '  the  mendicant  patriot  who 
was  bought  by  my  country  for  a  sum  of 
money,  and  then  sold  my  country  for  prompt 
payment,'  and  concluded  by  saying  that  '  if 
the  gentleman  enters  often  into  this  kind  of 
controversy  with  me,  he  will  not  have  much 
to  boast  of  at  the  end  of  the  session.'  While 
Grattan,  after  comparing  Flood  to  an  *  ill- 
omen'd  bird  of  night  with  sepulchral  notes, 
a  cadaverous  aspect  and  broken  beak,'  and 
asserting  that  neither  minister  nor  people 
could  trust  him,  concluded  his  speech  with 
the  following  words :  '  I  therefore  tell  you  in 
the  face  of  your  country,  before  all  the  world, 
and  to  your  beard,  you  are  not  an  honest 
man'  (ib.  ii.  35-43).  The  quarrel  nearly 
ended  in  a  duel.  On  their  way  to  a  hostile 
meeting  at  Blackrock  they  were  arrested  and 
bound  over  to  keep  the  peace.  On  1  Nov. 
Flood  was  allowed  to  make  a  further  speech 
in  vindication  of  his  character,  in  which  he 
gave  an  explanation  of  his  political  conduct 
during  the  whole  of  his  parliamentary  career 
(ib.  pp.  61-70).  With  this  incident  their 
friendship  of  twenty  years  terminated,  but 
though  they  never  became  reconciled,  they 
successfully  co-operated  in  opposing  Orde's 
Commercial  Propositions  in  1785.  At  the  gene- 
ral election  a  few  months  previously  Flood  had 
been  returned  with  Curran  for  the  borough  of 
Kilbeggan.  In  November  1783  the  volunteer 
convention  met  in  Dublin,  and  Flood  was  ap- 
pointed assessor  to  the  committee  appointed 
to  draw  up  a  scheme  of  parliamentary  reform. 
The  Bishop  of  Derry  brought  forward  the  ques- 
tion of  extending  the  franchise  to  the  Roman 
catholics,  but  was  successfully  opposed  by 
Flood  and  Charlemont.  At  length  a  compre- 
hensive plan  of  reform  which  had  been  drawn 
up  by  Flood,  and  gave  no  political  rights  to 
the  Roman  catholics,  was  agreed  to  on  28  Nov. 
1783.  On  the  following  day  Flood  brought 
forward  the  measure  in  the  Irish  House  of 
Commons.  The  house,  however,  refused  to 
receive  the  bill  by  157  to  77  (Journals  of 
the  Irish  House  of  Commons,  xi.  144),  and, 
resenting  the  interference  of  the  volunteers, 
passed  a  resolution  that  it  had  '  now  become 
indispensably  necessary  to  declare  that  this 
house  will  maintain  its  just  rights  and  pri- 
vileges against  encroachments  whatsoever ' 
(ib.)  The  volunteer  convention  was  dis- 


solved, but  in  March  of  the  following  year 
Flood  again  brought  forward  the  Reform 
Bill.  Though  supported  by  petitions  from 
twenty-six  counties,  it  was  rejected  on  the 
question  of  committal  by  a  majority  of  74 
(Parl.  Reg.  iii.  13-23,  43-85).  Meanwhile, 
in  October  1783,  Flood  was  returned  to  the 
English  House  of  Commons  as  one  of  the 
members  for  Winchester,  having  purchased 
his  election  from  the  Duke  of  Chandos  for 
4,000/.  His  English  career  was  a  failure. 
As  Grattan  remarked,  '  he  misjudged  when 
he  transferred  himself  to  the  English  parlia- 
ment ;  he  forgot  that  he  was  a  tree  of  the 
forest  too  old  and  too  great  to  be  transplanted 
at  fifty'  (GKATTAN,  Miscellaneous  Works, 
1822,  p.  118).  On  3  Dec.  he  took  part  in  the 
debates  for  the  first  time,  and  made  a  lengthy 
speech  against  Fox's  East  India  Bill  (Parl. 
Hist.  xxiv.  56-9).  The  subject  was  one  of 
which  he  had  little  knowledge,  and  by  want 
of  tact  he  managed  to  prejudice  both  sides  of 
the  house  against  him.  In  a  curious  passage 
Wraxall  thus  refers  to  Flood's  speech :  '  The 
slow,  measured,  and  sententious  style  of 
enunciation  which  characterised  his  elo- 
quence, however  calculated  to  excite  admi- 
ration in  the  sister  kingdom,  appeared  to 
English  ears  cold,  stiff,  and  deficient  in  some 
of  the  best  recommendations  to  attention. 
Unfortunately,  too,  for  Flood,  one  of  his  own. 
countrymen,  Courtenay,  instantly  opened 
upon  him  such  a  battery  of  ridicule  and  wit, 
seasoned  with  allusions  or  reflections  of  the 
most  personal  and  painful  kind,  as  seemed  to 
overwhelm,  the  new  member '  (Memoirs,  1884, 
iii.  185-6).  Having  had  a  misunderstanding* 
with  the  Duke  of  Chandos,  Flood  was  not 
returned  again  for  Winchester  at  the  general- 
election  in  1784.  After  two  unsuccessful 
contests  for  the  borough  of  Seaford  he  ob- 
tained the  seat  upon  petition.  On  15  Feb. 
1787  he  spoke  at  great  length  against  the 
treaty  of  commerce  with  France  (Parl.  Hist. 
xxvi.  425-38,  465),  and  on  4  March  179O 
asked  for  leave  to  introduce  a  bill  for  the  re- 
form of  parliament,  providing  for  the  addi- 
tion of  one  hundred  new  members,  to  be 
elected  by  the  resident  householders  in  every 
county.  Fox  '  owned  that  he  thought  that 
the  outlines  of  the  present  proposition  the 
best  of  all  which  he  had  yet  heard  suggested,' 
but  Pitt's  motion  for  an  adjournment  was> 
carried,  and  Flood's  bill  was  consequently 
lost  (ib.  xxviii.  452-79).  At  the  general 
election  in  1790  Flood  was  not  returned  to 
either  parliament.  He  retired  to  his  seat  at 
Farmley  in  the  county  of  Kilkenny,  where 
he  died  on  2  Dec.  1791,  in  the  fifty-ninth 
year  of  his  age,  and  was  buried  in  the  family 
vault  at  Burnchurch,  near  Farmley.  Flood 


Flood 


334 


Flood 


married,  on  13  April  1762,  Lady  Frances 
Maria  Beresford,the  sixth  daughter  of  Marcus, 
first  earl  of  Tyrone.  There  was  no  issue  of 
the  marriage.  His  widow  survived  him  many 
years,  and  died  at  Clifton  on  18  April  1815. 
By  his  will  he  left  a  considerable  amount  of 
property  to  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  after  his 
wife's  death,  for  the  establishment  of  a  pro- 
fessorship of  Irish,  the  maintenance  of  a 
prize  fund  for  the  best  compositions  in  Eng- 
lish, Irish,  Greek,  and  Latin,  and  for  the 
purchase  of  Irish  books  and  manuscripts. 
The  validity  of  the  will  was  contested,  and 
the  gift  to  Trinity  College  having  been  de- 
clared void,  as  being  contrary  to  the  law  of 
mortmain,  John  Flood  of  Flood  Hall,  a  ne- 
phew of  Chief-justice  Flood,  was  successful 
in  establishing  his  claim  to  the  property  in 
question. 

Flood  was  a  man  of  ample  fortune  and 
many  social  qualities.  Possessing  brilliant 
conversational  powers,  delighting  in  field 
sports  and  private  theatricals,  genial  and 
frank  in  manner,  he  was  popular  in  all 
classes  of  society.  In  his  youth  Flood  had 
a  fine  figure  and  a  handsome  countenance ; 
but  in  later  life  he  was  somewhat  gaunt  in 
appearance,  and  was  described  by  Wraxall 
as  *  a  man  of  the  most  forbidding  physiognomy.' 
"With  the  exception,  perhaps,  of  Malone, 
Flood  was  the  first  great  orator  which  Ireland 
produced.  His  speeches,  though  too  laboured 
and  sententious,  were  remarkable  for  the 
closeness  of  their  reasoning.  As  a  master  of 
grave  sarcasm  and  fierce  invective  he  had  no 
equal,  while  his  readiness  of  reply,  his  ex- 
tensive knowledge  of  constitutional  questions, 
and  his  consummate  mastery  of  parliamen- 
tary tactics,  made  him  a  most  formidable  op- 
ponent to  the  government  in  the  Irish  House 
of  Commons.  Curran  declared  that  '  Flood 
was  unmeasurably  the  greatest  man  of  his 
time  in  Ireland.'  In  Grattan's  opinion  Flood 
'  had  faults ;  but  he  had  great  powers,  great 
public  effect.  He  persuaded  the  old,  he  in- 
spired the  young ;  the  Castle  vanished  before 
him.  On  a  small  subject  he  was  miserable. 
Put  into  his  hand  a  distaff,  and  like  Hercules 
he  made  sad  work  of  it ;  but  give  him  the 
thunderbolt,  and  he  had  the  arm  of  Jupiter ' 
(GRATTAN,  Miscellaneous  Works,  1822,  p.  118). 
Flood  was  identified  with  all  the  great  mea- 
sures of  Irish  reform  in  his  time ;  but  though 
he  was  prepared  to  give  complete  religious 
toleration  to  the  Roman  catholics  in  Ireland, 
he  consistently  refused  to  give  them  any 
political  power.  Though  he  cannot  be  charged 
with  corruption  in  accepting  office,  Flood 
committed  a  grave  error  in  judgment  in 
doing  so,  which  proved  fatal  to  his  reputation. 
Moreover,  instead  of  resigning  when  he  found 


that  he  had  over-estimated  his  influence  with 
the  government,  he  clung  to  office  as  long  as 
he  was  able.  His  long  silence  during  the 
debates  on  the  many  constitutional  questions 
which  he  had  vigorously  supported  when  in 
opposition  is  an  indelible  stain  upon  his  poli- 
tical character.  The  loss  of  his  popularity 
had  a  perceptible  influence  on  his  nature, 
and  his  career  from  the  time  of  taking  office 
was  that  of  a  soured  and  disappointed  man. 
A  portrait  of  Flood  '  speaking  in  the  Irish 
House  of  Commons'  was  exhibited  in  the 
Loan  Collection  of  National  Portraits  of 
1867  (Catalogue,  No.  796).  An  engraving 
from  a  drawing  by  Comerford  will  be  found 
in  Barrington's  '  Historic  Memoirs '  (1833), 
ii.  opp.  106,  and  a  lithograph  of  the  portrait, 
in  the  possession  of  the  university  of  Dublin, 
forms  the  frontispiece  to  Flood's  '  Memoirs.' 
While  at  Oxford  Flood  wrote  some  Eng- 
lish verses  on  the  death  of  Frederick,  prince 
of  Wales,  which  were  published  in f  Epicedia 
Oxoniensia,'  &c.  (1751),  pp.  127-8.  While 
preparing  for  his  parliamentary  career  he 
translated  several  speeches  of  Demosthenes, 
and  other  portions  of  the  classics ;  but  his 
manuscripts  were  all  destroyed  shortly  after 
his  death.  The  authorship  of  '  A  Letter  to 
the  People  of  Ireland  on  the  Expediency 
and  Necessity  of  the  Present  Associations  in 
Ireland  in  favour  of  our  own  Manufactures, 
with  some  Cursory  Observations  on  the  effects 
of  a  Union,'  Dublin,  1799,  8vo,  has  been  at- 
tributed to  him.  His  '  sepulchral  verses '  on 
Dr.  Johnson  are  to  be  found  in  Bos  well's 
1  Life  of  Johnson '  (G.  B.  Hill's  edition),  iv. 
424-5.  He  was  the  author  of  the  following 
works  :  1.  '  An  Ode  on  Fame  and  the  First 
Pythian  Ode  of  Pindar '  (anon.),  London, 
1775,  4to.  2.  <  Speech  of  the  Right  Hon. 
Henry  Flood  in  the  House  of  Commons  of 
Great  Britain,  Feb.  15,  1787,  on  the  Com- 
mercial Treaty  with  France,'  Dublin,  1787, 
8vo.  3.  '  Speech  and  Proposition  of  the 
Right  Hon.  Henry  Flood  in  the  House  of 
Commons  of  Great  Britain,  March  4,  1790, 
for  a  Reform  in  the  Representation  of  Parlia- 
ment,' London,  1790,  8vo. 

[Warden  Flood's  Memoirs  of  Henry  Flood 
(1838)  ;  Original  Letters,  principally  from  Lord 
Charlemont  ...  to  the  Eight  Hon.  Henry 
Flood  (1820) ;  Lecky's  Hist,  of  England,  vol.  iv. 
chap.  xvi.  xvii.,  vol.  vi.  chap.  xxiv. ;  Lecky's 
Leaders  of  Public  Opinion  in  Ireland  (1871), 
pp.  63-103;  Fronde's  English  in  Ireland  (1881), 
vols.  ii.  iii. ;  Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Times  of 
Henry  Grattan,  vols.  i.  ii.  iii. ;  Hardy's  Memoirs 
of  the  Earl  of  Charlemont  (1812);  Charles 
Phillips's  Curran  and  his  Contemporaries  (1857) ; 
Wills's  Irish  Nation  (1875),  iii.  171-90;  Webb's 
Compendium  of  Irish  Biography  (1878),  pp.  207- 


Flood 


335 


Florence 


210  ;  Dublin  University  Mag.  vii.  652-72,  viii. 
80-112;  Dublin  Keview,  xiii.  100-55;  Monthly 
Review,  xcvii.  187-99  ;  Burke's  Landed  Gentry 
(1879),  i.  574-5;  Gent.  Mag.  1791,  vol.  Ixi. 
pt.  ii.  pp.  1163-4,  1224-32,  1792  vol.  Ixii.  pt. 
i.  pp.  44-8,  1793  vol.  Ixiii.  pt.  i.  p.  477,  1813 
vol.  Ixxxv.  pt.  i.  p.  473 ;  Notes  and  Queries,  2nd 
ser.  viii.  101-3,  189-90,  259,  x.  305,  xi.  171 ;  Offi- 
cial Eeturn  of  Lists  of  Members  of  Parliament, 

it.  ii.  pp.  168,  184,  659,  665,  670,  674,  675,  681  ; 

"att's  Bibl.  Brit. ;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat.] 

G.  F.  B.  B. 


pt. 
W 


FLOOD,  ROBERT.  [See  FLTJDD.] 
FLOOD,  VALENTINE,  M.D.  (d.  1847), 
anatomist,  was  born  in  Dublin,  where  his 
father  practised  as  a  barrister,  and  was  edu- 
cated at  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  as  a  mem- 
ber of  which  he  took  the  degrees  of  B.A.  in 
1820,  M.B.  and  M.A.  in  1823,  and  M.D.  in 
1830  (Cat.  of  Graduates  in  University  of 
Dublin,  1591-1868,  p.  199).  After  serving 
the  apprenticeship,  at  that  time  necessary 
for  becoming  licensed  by  the  Irish  College 
of  Surgeons,  to  Richard  Carmichael  [q.  v.], 
he  took  out  the  letters  testimonial  of  the 
college,  of  which  he  ultimately  became  a 
fellow,  and  in  1828  or  1829  was  appointed 
demonstrator  of  anatomy  in  the  school  of 
medicine  connected  with  the  Richmond  Hos- 
pital. His  increasing  reputation  as  an  ana- 
tomist led  to  his  being  chosen  a  lecturer 
on  anatomy  in  the  Richmond  school  about 
1831-2.  For  a  few  seasons  he  gave  his 
undivided  attention  to  this  branch  of  the 
profession,  and  became  a  favourite  among 
the  pupils.  As  a  private  teacher  he  eventu- 
ally commanded  one  of  the  best  classes  in 
Dublin.  Had  Flood  continued  these  pur- 
suits, for  which  he  was  so  admirably  adapted, 
it  is  certain  that  he  would  have  enjoyed  a 
highly  prosperous  career.  But  becoming 
ambitious  of  succeeding  as  a  general  prac- 
titioner, he  connected  himself  with  one  of 
the  Dublin  dispensaries  about  1835,  and 
laboured  incessantly  among  the  poor  of  the 
district  in  which  he  lived.  To  follow  out 
his  intention  of  becoming  by  this  means  in- 
troduced into  general  practice,  his  classes 
were  neglected ;  students  first  complained, 
then  rebelled,  and  finally  deserted  him. 
Having  lost  position  both  as  a  lecturer  and 
a  private  teacher,  Flood  was  at  length  obliged 
to  leave  Dublin.  He  went  to  London,  and 
became  associated  with  a  medical  school  in 
Charlotte  Street,  Fitzroy  Square  ;  but  he 
did  not  succeed.  His  health  became  im- 
paired, and  in  1846  he  returned  to  Ireland. 
He  then  obtained  one  of  the  appointments 
afforded  by  the  board  of  health  to  some 
fever  sheds  at  Tubrid,  in  the  county  of  Tip- 
perary,  and  there  contracted  the  epidemic 


typhus,  of  which  he  died  18  Oct.  1847.  A 
stone  was  erected  to  his  memory  by  the 
clergy  of  both  denominations,  and  the  prin- 
cipal members  of  the  relief  committee  at 
Tubrid. 

^  As  early  as  1828  Flood  published  at  Dub- 
lin the  first  volume  of  a  work  never  com- 
pleted, entitled  '  The  Anatomy  and  Physio- 
logy of  the  Nervous  System/  12mo,  which, 
though  not  without  merit,  lacked  lucidity 
of  style,  and  attracted  little  attention.  In 
1839  he  issued  the  treatise  upon  which  his 
fame  will  chiefly  rest,  '  The  Surgical  Ana- 
tomy of  the  Arteries,  and  Descriptive  Ana- 
tomy of  the  Heart :  together  with  the  Phy- 
siology of  the  Circulation  in  Man  and  in- 
ferior Animals,'  12mo,  London,  1839  (new 
edition  by  John  Hatch  Power,  M.D.,  16mo, 
Dublin,  1850).  During  his  connection  with 
the  Richmond  school  he  brought  out  a  work 
on  '  The  Anatomy  and  Surgery  of  Femoral 
and  Inguinal  Hernia.  Illustrated  with  eight 
folio  plates,  drawn  on  stone  by  Mr.  William 
Lover,  from  dissections  and  designs  by  Dr. 
Flood,'  fol.,  London,  1843,  an  excellent  com- 
pilation. Flood  was  a  member  of  the  Royal 
Irish  Academy. 

[Dublin  Quarterly  Journ.  of  Med.  Science, 
v.  282-5 ;  Webb's  Compendium  of  Irish  Biogr. 
p.  210  ;  Med.  Directory  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland  for  1845,  p.  565.]  G.  G. 

FLORENCE  OF  WOECESTEE  (d.  1118), 
chronicler,  a  monk  of  Worcester,  is  said  by 
one  of  his  continuators,  who  praises  his  skill 
and  industry,  to  have  died  on  7  July  1118 
(FLOE.  Wia.  ii.  72).  This  is  all  that  is 
known  of  his  personal  history.  He  wrote 
the  '  Chronicon  ex  Chronicis/  which  is  based 
on  the  work  of  Marianus,  an  Irish  monk. 
Marianus,  who  died  in  1082  or  1083,  com- 
posed a  general  chronicle  from  the  creation 
to  his  own  time,  containing  a  few  notices  of 
events  relating  to  Britain  and  Ireland.  The 
additions  of  Florence  nearly  all  refer  to  Eng- 
lish affairs.  From  455  to  597  he  uses  the 
f  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle/  then  chiefly  Baeda 
to  732,  and  then  again  the  '  Chronicle '  and 
lives  of  saints,  and  later  Asser's  'Life  of 
Alfred,'  together  with  some  short  extracts 
from  Abbo.  From  946  to  971  he  relies  on 
the '  Lives '  of  Dunstan,  Oswald,  and  ^Ethel- 
wold,  and  then  again  returns  to  the  '  Chro- 
nicle,'which  he  amplifies  from  other  sources. 
Some  events  specially  connected  with  Wor- 
cester receive  notice,  though  passed  over  by 
the  English  chronicle-writers.  After  the  con- 
clusion of  the  work  of  Marianus,  Florence 
still  goes  on  recording  some  pieces  of  conti- 
nental history.  His  own  work  ends  at  1117 ; 
he  has  several  continuators.  One  of  the 


Florence 


336 


Florio 


earliest  of  them  was  a  monk  of  Worcester 
named  John.     Orderic  (p.  504)  says  that 
John,  a  monk  of  Worcester,  added  to  the 
work  of  Marianus  matters  belonging  to  the 
reigns  of  the  Conqueror  and  his  sons,  William 
Rufus  and  Henry,  down  to  his  own  day,  and 
that  his  chronicle,  which  covered  nearly  a 
hundred  years,  was  undertaken  at  the  com- 
mand of  Bishop  Wulfstan.    He  no  doubt 
found  John  employed  on  the  works  of  Ma- 
rianus and  Florence  when  he  visited  Wor- 
cester about  1136,  and  probably  confused  the 
continuator,  and  possibly  transcriber,  of  Flo- 
rence with  the  original  author.     One  con- 
tinuator went  down  to  1031,  another  probably 
to  1037,  another  to  1141,  and  one  manuscript 
has  a  continuation  to  1295.    Florence  used 
a  version  of  the  '  Chronicle '  which  has  since 
been  lost ;  it  was  no  doubt  a  version  written 
at  Worcester,  which  is  to  some  extent  repre- 
sented by  the  Peterborough '  Chronicle.'  This 
fact  invests  his  work  with  peculiar  impor- 
tance, indeed  it  is  one  of  the  most  valuable 
of  the  authorities  for  early  English  history ; 
but  it  is  impossible  to  say  how  much  of  the 
passages  which  are  not  to  be  traced  to  ex- 
tant versions  of  the  '  Chronicle. '  or  other 
^arly  sources  is  to  be  set  down  as  translation 
from  this  lost  Worcester  chronicle,  or  is  to 
be  regarded  as  merely  the  amplifications  of 
the  twelfth-century  compiler.     Florence  is 
an  industrious  and  careful  writer,  but  either 
he  or  the  work  which  he  copied  adopted  views 
on  certain  subjects,  such,  for  example,  as  the 
causes  of  the  English  defeats  in  the  reign  of 
./Ethelred  the  Unready,  which  seem  exag- 
gerated (GREEX,  Conquest  of  England,  p.  381). 
He  wrote  a  list  of  the  English  bishops  and 
genealogies  of  the  kings,  and,  according  to 
Bale,  a  book  '  De  Rebus  sui  Coenobii.'    Nine 
manuscripts  of  Florence's   'Chronicle'  are 
extant.    The  first  in  the  list  of  Sir  T.  D. 
Hardy,  MS.  C.  C.  C.  Oxford,  12th  cent,  fol., 
ends  abruptly  at  1140;  it  belonged  to  the 
church  of  Worcester,  contains  the  lists  and 
genealogies,  and  insertions  and  a  continua- 
tion by  a  contemporary  monk  of  Worcester. 
MS.  Lambeth,  12th  cent,  fol.,  ends  at  1131, 
contains  some  lists,  formerly  belonged  to 
Abingdon,  and  has  some  special  Abingdon 
notices.     MS.  Bodl.  297,  fol.,  also  12th  cent,, 
ends  at  1131  and  has  notices  of  charters  of 
Bury  St.  Edmunds.   MS.  C.  C.  C.  Cambr.  xcii., 
13th  cent,  fol.,  ends  at  1131  and  has  a  con- 
tinuation to  1295 ;  it  formerly  belonged  to 
Peterborough.     Florence's  'Chronicle'  was 
first  printed  in  1592  at  London,  4to,  under 
the  editorship  of  William  Howard  of  Na- 
worth,  third  son  of  Thomas,  duke  of  Norfolk, 
who  dedicated  his  work  to  Lord  Burghley ; 
it  was  reprinted  faultily  at  Frankfort,  along 


with  the  'Flores  Historiarum,'  1601,  fol.  The 
two  manuscripts  used  by  Howard  belong  to 
Trinity  College,  Dublin;  his  edition  ends 
with  1141.  The  portion  from  450  to  1066  is 
edited  by  Petrie  in  the  l  Monumenta  His- 
torica  Britannica,'  pp.  616-44,  1848,  fol., 
where  the  portions  taken  from  Marianus  are 
omitted  in  the  text,  and  the  whole  work 
from  450  with  the  C.  C.  C.  Cambr.  continua- 
ion  to  1295  was  edited  by  B.  Thorpe  for  the 
English  Historical  Society,  1849,  2  vols.  8vo. 
Florence's  '  Chronicle '  has  been  translated 
by  T.  Forester  for  Bohn's  'Historical  Li- 
brary,' 1847,  8vo,  and  by  J.  Stevenson  in  his 
'  Church  Historians,'  vol.  ii.  pt.  i.  1853,  8vo. 

[Florence  of  Worcester,  ii.  72  (Engl.  Hist.  Soc.) ;. 
Orderic,  p.  504,  ed.  Duchesne ;  Hardy's  De- 
scriptive Cat.  ii.  130  (Rolls  Sep.);  Mon.  Hist. 
Brit.,  Preface,  pp.  83-7;  Wright's  Biog.  Lit, 
ii.  73:  Green's  Conquest  of  England,  pp.  341, 
381.]  W.  H. 

FLORIO,  JOHN  (1553P-1625),  author, 
was  born  about  1553,  according  to  the  inscrip- 
tion on  his  portrait  issued  in  1611,  where  he 
was  described  as  fifty-eight  years  old.  His 
father,  MICHAEL  ANGELO  FLORIO,  a  Floren- 
tine protestant,  whose  family  was  originally 
settled  at  Sienna,  fled  to  England  shortly 
before  Edward  VI's  reign  from  persecution 
in  the  Valteline,  and  was  in  1550  preacher 
to  a  congregation  of  Italian  protestants  in 
London.  Sir  William  Cecil  and  Archbishop 
Cranmer  both  patronised  him,  but  charges  of 
gross  immorality  were  brought  against  him ; 
he  was  ultimately  banished  from  Cecil's  house> 
where  he  had  resided,  and  he  temporarily 
severed  his  connection  with  the  Italian  church 
in  London  (cp.  STRTPE,  Memorials,  n.  i.  377- 
378 ;  STRYPE,  Cranmer,  pp.  343, 881, 883).  A 
manuscript  by  him  in  the  Cambridge  Uni- 
versity Library, '  Regole  de  la  Lingua  Thos- 
cana,'  shows  that  he  was  for  some  time  a 
teacher  of  Italian  in  London,  perhaps  in  the 
service  of  William  Herbert,  first  earl  of  Pem- 
broke, to  whose  son  Henry,  '  Signore  Arrigo 
Herbert,'  this  work  is  dedicated  (London, 
21  Aug.  1553).  The  elder  Florio  also  wrotey 
'  Catechismo,  cioe  forma  breve  per  amaestrare 
i  fanciuli:  Laquale  di  tutta  la  Christiana 
disciplina  cotiene  la  somma  .  .  .  Tradotta  dr 
Latino  in  lingua  Thoscana,'  without  date  or 
place,  and  '  Historia  de  la  vita  e  de  la  morte^ 
de  1'illustrissima  SignoraG.  Graia,  gia  Regina 
eletta  e  publicata  d'Inghilterra :  e  de  le  cose 
accadute  in  quel  regno  dopo  la  morte  del  re* 
Edoardo  VI,'  with  Italian  translations  of  seve- 
ral works  attributed  to  Lady  Jane  Grey,  1607. 
The  former  work  was  probably  published  in 
London  ;  the  latter  has  been  conjecturally 
assigned  to  a  Dutch  publishing  house :  on  its 
title-page  the  author  is  described  as  'Fioren- 


Florio 


337 


Florio 


tino  gia  predicatore  famoso  del  Sant'  Euan- 
gelo  in  piii  cita  d'ltalia  et  in  Londra.'  After 
the  accession  of  Queen  Mary,  the  elder  Florio, 
according  to  Wood,  took  his  family  to  the 
continent  again,  and  there  John  received  his 
early  education ;  but  these  statements  lack 
confirmation. 

We  know  that  John  Florio  resided  in  his 
youth  at  Oxford,  and  about  1576  became 
tutor  in  foreign  languages  to  Emanuel,  son 
of  Robert  Barnes,  bishop  of  Durham,  who  was 
a  commoner  of  Magdalen  College.  Florio 
matriculated  at  Magdalen  in  1581  (WOOD), 

*  and  was  a  teacher  and  instructor  of  certain 
scholars  in  the  university.'     He  dedicated 
his  f  First  Fruites '  to  Leicester  in  1578,  from 
'*  his  lodgings  in  Worcester  Place,'  Oxford. 
He  similarly  dated  from  Oxford  a  transla- 
tion from  the  Italian  of  Ramuzio,  dedicated 
to  Edmund  Bray,  high  sheriff  of  Oxfordshire, 
25  June  1580 ;  and  inscribed  to  Sir  Edward 
Dyer  a   manuscript    collection    of    Italian 
proverbs,  also  from  Oxford,  12  Nov.  1582. 
In  his  *  Second  Frutes,'  1591,  he  writes  that 
his  first  patron,  Leicester,  whom  '  every  mis- 
creant does  strike,  being  dead,'  had  been  suc- 
ceeded by  one  Nicholas  Saunders  of  Ewell. 
In  the  same  place  he  makes  highly  appre- 
ciative reference  to  Spenser,  'the  sweetest 
singer  of  all  our  western  shepherds,'  who,  he 
says,  had  heralded  Leicester's  virtues.     A 
few  years  later  Florio  was,  according  to  his 
own  account, taken  into  'the  pay  and  patron- 
age' of  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  in  which  he 

*  lived   some  years '  ( The  Worlde  of  Wordes, 
1598  dedication),  and  to  the  Earl  of  Pem- 
broke he  was  soon  under  heavy  obligations. 

At  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century  Florio 
was  living  in  London  on  intimate  terms 
with  all  the  chief  literary  men  and  their 
patrons.  In  1598  he  dedicated  his  great 
Italian-English  dictionary  to  Roger,  earl  of 
Rutland,  Henry,  earl  of  Southampton,  and 
Lucy,  countess  of  Rutland.  He  there  calls 
himself {  Resolute  John  Florio,'  and  venom- 
ously attacks  one '  H.  S.' who  had  insulted  the 
sonnets  of  one  of  his  friends.  Hunter  suggests 
that  *  H.  S.'  may  be  Henry  Salisbury,  author 
•of  a  Welsh  dictionary,  and  a  protege  of  the 
Earl  of  Pembroke.  Florio's  admirable  trans- 
lation of  Montaigne's  '  Essays '  was  licensed 
to  Edward  Blount  in  1599,  but  was  not  pub- 
lished till  1603.  Each  of  the  three  books  is 
separately  dedicated — the  first  to  Lucy,  coun- 
tess of  Bedford,  and  Anne,  lady  Harington  ; 
the  second  to  Elizabeth,  countess  of  Bedford, 
and  Penelope,  lady  Rich ;  the  third  to  Eliza- 
beth, lady  Grey,  and  Mary,  lady  Nevill.  To 
the  countess  of  Bedford's  exhortations  and  to 
.Sir  Edward  Wotton's  advice  Florio  attri- 
butes his  preparation  of  the  work  and  acknow- 

VOL.   XIX. 


ledges  assistance  from  Theodore  Diodati  [see 
DIODATI,  CHARLES]  and  his  '  sympathising 
friend,  Maister  Doctor  G  winne '  [see  GWINNE, 
MATTHEW,  M.D.]  The  latter  is  doubtless 
author  of  the  many  pieces  of  commendatory 
verse  contributed  to  this  and  other  of  Florio's 
works  under  the  title  of  '  II  Candido.'  Sir 
William  Cornwallis  [q.  v.],  writing  of  a  recent 
translation  of  Montaigne  in  his  '  Essayes/ 
(1600),  says:  'Montaigne  speaks  now  good 
English.  It  is  done  by  a  fellow  less  behold- 
ing to  nature  for  his  fortunes  than  wit,  yet 
lesser  for  his  face  than  his  fortune.  The  truth 
is  he  looks  more  like  a  good  fellow  than  a  wise 
man,  and  yet  he  is  wise  beyond  either  his 
fortune  or  education.'  This  is  undoubtedly 
a  reference  to  Florio.  Cornwallis  obviously 
saw  in  manuscript  Florio's  translation,  which 
was  entered  at  Stationers'  Hall  four  years 
before  its  publication. 

Farmer  and  Warburton  have  argued  that 
Shakespeare  ridiculed  Florio  in  Holofernes  in 
1  Love's  Labour's  Lost.'  They  chiefly  rely 
on  the  bombastic  prefaces  to  the  '  Worlde  of 
Wordes '  and  to  Montaigne.  But  there  is  really 
nothing  thereto  justify  the  suggest  ion.  Florio 
writes  more  in  the  vein  of  Armado  than  of 
Holofernes,  and  beyond  the  fact  that  he  was 
a  teacher  of  languages  in  London  he  bears  no 
resemblance  whatever  to  the  latter,  a  village 
schoolmaster.  Florio  as  the  protege  of  Lords 
Southampton  and  Pembroke  doubtless  met 
Shakespeare, but  this  is  pure  conjecture.  We 
are  on  safer  ground  in  tracing  the  original  of 
Gonzago's  description  of  an  ideal  state  in  the 
'  Tempest '  to  Florio's  translation  of  Mon- 
taigne's essay.  One  copy  of  the  1603  edition 
of  the  Montaigne  at  the  British  Museum 
contains  an  autograph  signature  said  to  be 
by  Shakespeare  himself.  It  was  purchased 
as  a  genuine  autograph  for  140/.  in  1838, 
having  been  in  the  possession  of  the  Rev.  Ed- 
ward Patteson  of  East  Sheen,  Surrey,  whose 
father,  Edward  Patteson,  minister  of  Smeth- 
wick,  Staffordshire,  had  had  it  in  his  posses- 
sion at  least  as  early  as  1780.  Sir  Frederick 
Madden,  in  a  letter  originally  addressed  to 
the  Society  of  Antiquaries  (26  Jan.  1837), 
and  afterwards  republished  from  the  'Ar- 
chseologia '  as  a  separate  pamphlet,  vouched 
for  the  authenticity  of  the  autograph.  But 
later  investigation  has  left  little  doubt  that 
it  is  an  eighteenth-century  forgery.  Another 
copy  of  the  same  date  in  the  same  collection 
bears  a  signature  alleged  to  be  that  of  Ben 
Jonson.  This  is  doubtless  genuine. 

In  1603  Florio  became  reader  in  Italian 
to  Queen  Anne  at  a  salary  of  100/.  a  year, 
and  on  5  Aug.  1604  was  appointed  by  the 
king  gentleman-extraordinary  and  groom  of 
the  privy  chamber.  In  1610  John  Healey 


Florio 


338 


Florio 


dedicated  to  him  his  translation  of '  Epictetus.' 
After  1620  Florio  resided  at  Fulham,  and  he 
died  there  in  August  or  September  1625. 
Wood  says  that  he  retired  to  Fulham  shortly 
before  his  death  on  account  of  the  plague ; 
but  although  he  owned  the  lease  of  a  house 
in  Shoe  Lane,  Fleet  Street,  Fulham  was^his 
ordinary  place  of  residence  for  at  least  five 
years  before  he  died.     By  his  will,  dated 
20  July  1625,  and  proved  1  May  1626,  he 
left  most  of  his  small  property  to  his  wife 
Rose.   A  daughter,  Aurelia,  married  to  John 
Molins,  a  surgeon  of  Shoe  Lane,is  mentioned. 
To  the  Earl  of  Pembroke  he  bequeathed  '  all 
my  Italian,  French,  and  Spanish  books,  as 
well  printed  as  unprinted,  being  in  number 
about  340,  viz.  my  new  and  perfect  Dic- 
tionary, as  also  my  ten  dialogues  in  Italian 
and  English  and  my  unbound  volume  of 
divers  written  collections   and  rhapsodies.' 
Florio  desired  these  books  and  manuscripts 
to  be  placed  in  Pembroke's  library,  either  at 
Wilton  or  Baynard's  Castle  in  London,  and 
begged  the  earl  to  protect  his  wife  from  the 
molestation  of  his  enemies,  and  to  hand  over 
to  her  any  profit  arising  from  the  publica- 
tion of  his  manuscripts.    His  executors  were 
Theophilus  Field  [q.  v.],  bishop  of  Llandaff 
and  afterwards  of  Hereford,  and  Richard 
Cluett,  vicar  of  Fulham.    Nothing  is  cer- 
tainly known  of  the  fate  of  Florio's  manu- 
scripts.    Oldys  possessed  an  autograph  of 
'  Giardino  di  Ricreatione,'  which  is  now  in 
the  British  Museum  (see  No.  3  below),  and 
Wood  says  that  Pembroke  handed  over  much 
manuscript  material  to  Torriano,  who  edited 
Florio's  Italian-English  Dictionary  in  1659, 
adding  an  English-Italian  part.     A  suit  of 
arms  impaling  Florio's  was  granted  to  his  son- 
in-law  Molins  on  23  Aug.  1644.     The  poet 
Samuel  Daniel  [q.  v.]  has  been  claimed  as 
Florio's  brother-in-law,  on  the  ground  that  in 
the  commendatory  verse  prefixed  by  Daniel  to 
the  1613  edition  of  the  Montaigne  the  trans- 
lator is  addressed  as '  brother,'  whereas  in  the 
earlier  edition  of  1603  Daniel  had  merely 
called  Florio  his  friend.   But  the  difference  in 
the  designation  is  amply  accounted  for  by  the 
fact  that  Florio  and  Daniel  were  in  1613  bro- 
ther-officers in  the  queen's  household.    There 
is  no  other  evidence  of  a  family  relationship, 
and  the  theory  may  safely  be  rejected. 

Florio's  works  are:  1.  'His  First  Fruits, 
which  yield  familiar  speech,  merry  proverbs, 
witty  sentences,  and  golden  sayings,'  Lon- 
don, 1578,  with  which  is  bound* up  'Perfect 
Induction  to  the  Italian  and  English  Tongues,' 
both  dedicated  to  Robert,  earl  of  Leicester. 
The  '  First  Fruits  '  consist  mainly  of  simple 
dialogues  in  English  and  Italian.  The  British 
Museum  has  only  an  imperfect  copy.  2.  'A 


Short  and  Briefe  Narration  of  the  Two  Na- 
vigations and  Discoueries  to  the  North-weast 
Partes  called  New  Fraunce.     First  trans- 
lated out  of  French   into   Italian  by  that 
famous  learned  Man,  Geo.  Bapt.  Ramutius 
[Ramuzio],  and  now  turned  into  English  by 
John  Florio/  London,  1580;   dedicated  to 
Edmund  Bray.    3.  'Giardino  di  Ricreatione/ 
London  (Woodcock),  1591  ;    dedicated   to 
Master  Nicholas  Saunders  of  Ewell,  esq. — a 
collection  of  6,150  proverbs,  all  in  Italian. 
A  manuscript  is  in  the  British  Museum  with 
a  dedication  to  Sir  Edward  Dyer  ( Addit.  MS. 
15214).     It  has  been  in  the  possession  suc- 
cessively of  Oldys,  Isaac  Heard,  and  B.  H. 
Bright.    4.  'Florio's  Second  Frutes  to  be 
gathered  of  twelve  Trees  of  diuers  but  de- 
lightsome tastes  to  the  tongues  of  Italian 
and  English  men.    To  which  is  annexed  his 
Garden  of  Recreation,  yielding  6,000  Italian 
proverbs/ London  (ThomasWoodcock),  1591; 
dedicated  to  Nicholas  Saunders.    This  work 
consists  mainly  of  Italian  and  English  dia- 
logues, with   a  reprint   of  No.  3.     5.  '  A 
Worlde  of  Wordes  :    a  most  copious  and 
exact  Dictionarie  in  Italian  and  English,  col- 
lected by  John  Florio/  London  (for  E.Blount), 
1598  [see  dedication  noticed  above]  ;    son- 
nets by  II  Candido,  i.e.  Gwynne,  and  verses 
by  B.  B.  are  affixed.     A  list  of  seventy-six, 
books  consulted  by  the  compiler  is  given. 
In   1611    the    dictionary  was    reissued  as 
'  Queen  Anna's  New  World  of  Words,  or  Dic- 
tionarie of  the  Italian  and  English  Tongues, 
collected   and   newly  much   augmented  by 
lohn  Florio/  London  (for  E.  Blount  and  W. 
Barret).   An  Italian  dedication  to  the  queen 
is  followed  by  an  English  address  by  the  au- 
thor, an  Italian  poem  by  Alberico  Gentili, 
an  Italian  and  English  sonnet  by  II  Candido, 
and  English  verses  by  Samuel  Daniel,  James 
Mabbe,  and  John  Thorys.   '  Necessary  Rules 
and  Short  Observations  for  the  True  Pro- 
nouncing and  Speedie  Learning  of  the  Italian, 
collected  for  Queen  Anne/  forms  an  appendix 
of  73  pages.     A  third  edition,  '  Vocabolario 
Italiano  et  Inglese/  revised  by  Gio.  Torriano, 
appeared  in  1659,  together  with  an  English- 
Italian  part,  apparently  prepared  from  Florio's 
manuscripts.  A  fourth  edition  in  1688,  further 
revised  by  J.  Davis,  M.D.,  was  dedicated  to 
Maria  d'Este,  queen  of  England.     6.  '  The 
Essayes  on  Morall,  Politike,  and  Millitarie 
Discourses  of  Lo.  Michaell  de  Montaigne. 
First  written  by  him  in  French,  and  now  done 
into  English/  London  (for  E.  Blount),  1603 
[for  dedication  see  above].     There  are  pre- 
fatory verses   by  II  Candido    and   Daniel. 
The  second  edition,  dated  1613,  is  dedicated 
to  Queen  Anne,  and  is  declared  to  be  trans- 
lated from  the  last  French  edition.   A  reprint 


Flower 


339 


Flower 


edited  by  Mr.  Justin Huntly  McCarthy,  M.P., 
appeared  in  1889. 

A  fine  portrait  of  Florio,  aged  58,  engraved 
by  W.  Hole,  is  prefixed  to  the  1611  edition 
of  the  Italian  Dictionary.  A  painting  by 
Mytens  is  said  to  have  belonged  to  the  Earl 
of  Dorset,  and  to  be  now  at  Knole  Park, 
Sevenoaks. 

[Hunter's  New  Illustrations  of  Shakespeare,  i. 
23, 145, 146,261,  273,  281 ;  Wood's  AthenseOxon. 
ed.  Bliss,  ii.  380 ;  Notes  and  Queries,  3rd  ser. 
viii.  4 :  Florio' s  Works  in  Brit.  Mus.  Libr.] 

S.  L.  L. 

FLOWER,    BENJAMIN    (1755-1829), 
political  writer,  born  in  London  in  1755,  was 
the  son  of  a  prosperous  tradesman,  to  a  share 
of  whose  business  he  succeeded.     Edward 
Fordham  Flower  [q.  v.]  was  his  nephew. 
Through  unfortunate  speculations,  however, 
described  with  much  candour  by  himself  in  a 
*  Statement  of  Facts,'  he  soon  found  himself 
greatly  embarrassed,  and  ultimately,  in  1785, 
accepted  an  engagement  to  travel  in  business 
on  the  continent  for  half  the  year,  spending 
the  other  half  in  the  service  of  a  firm  at  Tiver- 
ton.     He  thus  had  opportunities  of  visiting 
Holland,  Germany,   and   Switzerland,   and 
spent  six  months  in  France  in  1791,  'the 
most  innocent  part  of  the  revolution.'     The 
impressions  thus  imbibed  inspired  his  work  on 
the  French  constitution  (1792),  which  is,  how- 
ever, much  less  an  account  of  the  French  con- 
stitution than  an  attack  on  the  alleged  defects 
of  the  English,  and  is  too  discursive  and  irrele- 
vant to  be  of  much  value  for  either  purpose. 
It  contributed  to  his  being  about  this  time  se- 
lected to  edit  the  '  Cambridge  Intelligencer,' 
which  his  brother  Richard,  a  farmer  and 
staunch  liberal,  had  a  considerable  share  in 
establishing.      It  was  almost  the  only  pro- 
vincial newspaper  in  the  kingdom  which  de- 
nounced the  war  with  France  as  l  absurd  and 
wicked,'  and  advocated  the  removal  of  the 
grievances  of  the  dissenters  on  the  broad 
grounds  of  religious  liberty.    It  thus  attracted 
attention  out  of  all  proportion  to  its  ability. 
Flower's  hostility  to  the  war  was  vigorously 
expressed  in  his  '  National  Sins  Considered,' 
1796 ;  but  here  again  he  is  exceedingly  digres- 
sive.    In  1799  he  was  summoned  before  the 
House  of  Lords  for  an  alleged  libel  upon 
Bishop  Watson,  whose  political  conduct  he 
had  censured,  and  after  a  very  short  hearing 
was  adjudged  guilty  of  a  breach  of  privilege, 
and  sentenced  to  six  months' imprisonment  in 
Newgate,  and  a  fine  of  100£.     The  proceed- 
ings seem  to  have  been  of  a  very  arbitrary 
nature ;  but  Flower's  attempts  to  obtain  their 
revision  by  application  to  the  court  of  king's 
bench  were  unsuccessful.    His  captivity  was 
alleviated  by  the  visits  of  Miss  Eliza  Gould 


a  young  lady  who  had  herself  suffered  for  her 
liberal  opinions.  Shortly  after  his  release  he 
married  her,  and,  relinquishing  his  newspaper, 
established  himself  in  business  as  a  printer 
at  Harlow  in  Essex,  where  he  printed  the 
works  of  his  favourite  divine,  Robert  Robin- 
son, and  carried  on  a  monthly  magazine,  en- 
titled 'The  Political  Register,'  from  1807  to 
1811.  His  other  publications  were  the '  Life 
of  Robinson '  accompanying  the  latter's  works, 
a  preface  to  his  brother  Richard's  l  Letters 
:'rom  Illinois,'  and  some  pamphlets  on  family 
affairs.  His  wife  died  in  1810,  leaving  him  two 
highly  gifted  daughters  [see  ADAMS,  SAEAH 
FLOWER  ;  FLOWER,  ELIZA].  In  his  latter 
years  he  retired  to  Dalston,  where  he  died  on 
17  Feb.  1829.  Circumstances  have  given  him 
a  more  important  place  in  the  history  of  Eng- 
lish journalism  than  his  literary  or  political 
abilities  could  have  procured  him.  His  style 
has  the  warmth  imparted  by  conscientious 
conviction,  but  he  has  no  great  argumenta- 
tive power.  As  a  man  he  is  entitled  to  honour 
for  his  disinterested  consistency,  and  his  in- 
dependence of  thought  preserved  him  from 
some  of  the  extremes  to  which  the  vehemence 
of  his  temper  might  have  inclined  him. 
Though  an  advocate  of  the  French  republic, 
be  was  not  a  republican  at  home,  and  in  re- 
ligion he  belonged  to  the  most  conservative 
school  of  English  unitarianism. 

[The  principal  authority  for  Flower's  life  up 
to  1808  is  the  Statement  of  Facts  published  by 
him  in  that  year  on  occasion  of  a  lawsuit  for 
defamation,  in  which  he  recovered  damages.  See 
also  an  obituary  notice,  probably  by  W.  J.  Fox, 
in  the  Monthly  Repository,  new  ser.  vol.  iii.] 

R.  G-. 

FLOWER,     EDWARD     FORDHAM 

(1805-1883),  author,  younger  son  of  Richard 
Flower,  a  brewer,  banker,  agriculturist,  and 
breeder  of  sheep,  was  born  at  Marden  Hall, 
Hertfordshire,  on  31  Jan.  1805.  Benjamin 
Flower  [q.  v.]  was  his  uncle.  At  the  age  of 
twelve  he  went  with  his  father  to  Illinois, 
United  States,  but  returning  in  1824  he  in 
1827  married  Celina,  eldest  daughter  of  John 
Greaves  of  Radford  House,  near  Leamington, 
and,  settling  at  Stratford-on-Avon,  opened  a 
brewery  in  1832,  which  was  so  successful 
that  in  thirty  years  he  was  able  to  retire  and 
leave  the  business  to  his  sons.  He  four 
times  held  the  office  of  mayor  of  Stratford, 
the  last  occasion  being  in  1864,  the  year  of 
the  Shakespeare  tercentenary.  In  this  cele- 
bration he  took  a  leading  part,  and  was  well 
known  to  all  visitors  to  Shakespeare's  birth- 
place, more  especially  to  Americans,  many 
of  whom  he  hospitably  entertained  at  his 
residence,  The  Hill,  built  in  1855.  As  a 
liberal  he  contested  Coventry  in  1865,  and 

z2 


Flower 


340 


Flower 


North  Warwickshire  in  1868,  but  was  not 
elected.  In  1873  he  removed  his  residence  to 
London,  and  being  a  great  lover  of  horses  he 
spent  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  an  endeavour 
to  mitigate  the  sufferings  caused  by  the  use 
of  improper  harness,  tight  bearing-reins,  and 
gag-bits.  In  these  efforts  he  was  to  a  certain 
extent  successful.  He  died  at  35  Hyde  Park 
Gardens,  London,  20  March  1883,  and  his 
widow  Celina  died  2  March  1884,  aged  79. 
He  left  three  sons,  Charles  Edward  Flower, 
William  Henry  Flower,  C.B.,  LL.D.,  F.R.S., 
director  of  the  Natural  History  Department, 
British  Museum,  and  Edgar  Flower.  The 
books  he  published  were :  1.  'A  Few  Words 
about  Bearing  Reins,'  1875.  2.  'Bits  and 
Bearing  Reins,'  1875  ;  seventh  edition,  1886. 
3.  ' Horses  and  Harness,'  1876.  4.  'The 
Stones  of  London,  or  Macadam  v.  Vestries,' 
1880. 

[Bits  and  Bearing  Reins,  1886,  pp.  3-15,  with 
portrait  and  memoir;  Victoria  Mag.  May  1878, 
pp.  67-8,  with  portrait ;  Live  Stock  Journal. 
30  March  1883,  p.  282  ;  Illustrated  London 
News,  7  May  1864.  p.  453,  with  portrait ;  Times, 
27  March  1883,  p.  7.]  G.  C.  B. 

FLOWER,  ELIZA  (1803-1846),  musical 
composer,  elder  daughter  of  Benjamin  Flower 
[q.  v.],  was  born  at  Harlow,  Essex,  19  April 
1803.  Her  first  published  compositions,  a 
series  of 'Fourteen  Musical  Illustrations  of 
the  Waverley  Novels'  (1831),  followed  by 
'  Songs  of  the  Seasons'  and  a  number  of  other 
pieces,  indicated  the  musician's  power  of  sym- 
pathetic expression.  Among  a  few  political 
songs,  'The  Gathering  of  the  Unions,'  a  juve- 
nile composition,  has  been  republished  as 
having  been  performed  at  the  great  Bir- 
mingham meeting  in  May  1832,  where,  in 
fact,  the  words  had  been  sung,  but  to  another 
musical  setting.  Of  a  higher  character,  though 
equally  simple,  is  the  widely  known  chorus, 
*  Now  pray  we  for  our  country '  (1842).  The 
chief  work  of  Miss  Flower's  musical  life  was 
the  composition  of  'Hymns  and  Anthems, 
the  words  chiefly  from  Holy  Scripture  and 
the  writings  of  the  poets,'  arranged  in  five 
parts,  'Adoration '(1841),  'Aspiration,'  'Be- 
lief,' 'Heaven  upon  Earth'  (1846),  and 'Life 
in  Death '  (as  yet  unprinted).  Eighteen  of 
these  pieces  were  republished  in  1888,  and 
a  further  selection  is  contemplated.  The  ob- 
ject of  the  composer  was  to  supply  a  musical 
service  for  the  congregation  of  South  Place 
Chapel,  Finsbury,  which  had  no  liturgy,  and 
was  accustomed  to  simple  psalmody  led  by 
a  precentor.  A  choir  was,  however,  formed, 
and  many  of  these  compositions,  full  of  melody 
and  musical  feeling,  and  at  the  same  time 
truly  devotionalln  character,  were  performed. 


Among  the  anthems  deserving  special  men- 
tion are  several  to  poetry  written  by  her 
sister,  Mrs.  Sarah  Flower  Adams  [q.  v.], 
including  '  Darkness  shrouded  Calvary,'  and 
the  well-known  'Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee/ 
to  the  music  of  which  many  admirers  of  this 
hymn  are  strangers.  Among  the  more  simple 
hymns  are  Sir  John  Bowring's  '  Ancient  of 
Ages 'and  Milton's  'Defend  the  Poor  and 
Desolate.'  For  the  South  Place  Chapel  choir 
a  hymn-book  was  specially  compiled  by  Mr. 
W.  J.  Fox,  to  which  music  from  the  best 
composers  was  adapted  by  Miss  Flower.  This 
highly  gifted  and  enthusiastic  musician  died 
of  consumption  12  Dec.  1846,  and  was  buried 
in  her  father's  grave  near  Harlow.  Her  por- 
trait, drawn  from  memory  by  Mrs.  Bridell 
Fox,  lithographed  by  Vinter,  has  been  pub- 
lished by  Charles  Fox. 

[Private  information  ;  Brown's  Diet,  of  Musi- 
cians, p.  249 ;  The  Keasoner,  December  1846.1 

L.  M.  M. 

FLOWER,  JOHN  (Jl.  1658),  noncon- 
formist divine,  born  about  1624,  was  the  son 
of  William  Flower  of  Cubley,  Derbyshire. 
He  became  a  commoner  of  New  Inn  Hall, 
Oxford,  in  Act  term  1640,  proceeded  B.A. 
2  April  1647,  and  was  created  M.A.  by  the 
parliamentary  visitors,  14  April  1648.  Ac- 
cording to  Wood  '  he  was  soon  after  preacher 
of  God's  word  at  Ilmington  in  Warwickshire, 
and  afterwards  at  Staunton  in  the  county  of 
Nottingham,  where  I  find  him  in  1658 '  (Fasti 
Oxon.  ed.  Bliss,  ii.  101,  112).  He  wrote : 
1.  '  The  Free  and  Honourable  Servant,  set 
forth  in  his  Privileges  and  Prerogatives,'  8vo, 
London,  1652.  2.  '  Several  Quaeries  concern- 
ing the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  upon  Earth, 
briefly  explained  and  resolved,'  8vo,  London, 
1658. 

[Wood's  Fasti  Oxon. (Bliss),  ii.  101, 112 ; Notes 
and  Queries,  2nd  ser.  xii.  46.]  Gr.  G. 

FLOWER,  ROGER  (d.  1428  ?),  speaker 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  son  of  William 
Flower,  sheriff  of  Rutland  in  1386-7,  by  Elena 
his  wife,  was  returned  to  parliament  for  the 
county  of  Rutland  in  1396-7,  again  in  1399, 
1402,  1404,  1413-14.  He  was  one  of  the 
feoffees  of  the  Brigitine  nunnery  founded  by 
Henry  V  in  1414.  Still  representing  Rutland 
county  he  was  chosen  speaker  four  times — in 
1416,  1417,  1419,  and  1422— a  distinction 
hitherto  unprecedented  except  in  the  case  of 
Thomas  Chaucer  [q.  v.]  From  his  holograph 
will  (dated  15  April  1424,  proved  20  June 
1428)  it  is  clear  that  he  was  a  lawyer.  Not 
only  is  it  plainly  the  composition  of  one  well 
versed  in  legal  technicalities,  but  it  contains 
a  bequest  of  chattels '  in  mine  inn '  in  London, 
where  the  inn  referred  to  can  only  be  one  of 


Flower 


341 


Flower 


the  Inns  of  Court.  From  this  document  it 
appears  that  besides  his  ancestral  manor  of 
Okeham  or  Oakham  in  Rutlandshire,  he  held 
estates  in  Leicestershire ;  that  he  had  four 
sons,  Robert,  Roger,  John,  and  William,  and 
two  daughters,  Anneys  and  Joan,  the  latter 
being  married  to  Sir  Henry  Plesyngton  of 
Burley  in  Rutland,  grandson  of  Sir  Robert 
Plesyngton  [q.  v.],  chief  baron  of  the  ex- 
chequer in  the  reign  of  Richard  II,  and  that 
his  wife,  Cecile,  daughter  of  Anneys  Sainon, 
was  then  living.  The  latter  was  his  second 
wife,  his  first  wife  being  Catherine,  daugh- 
ter and  heiress  of  William  Dalby  of  Exeter, 
founder  of  certain  almshouses  mentioned  in 
the  will,  and  of  which  Flower  seems  to  have 
been  the  patron.  The  probate  of  the  will  being 
dated  20  June  1428,  Flower  presumably  died 
in  that  year.  The  manor  of  Okeham  was  in 
the  possession  of  Sir  Richard  Flower,  a  de- 
scendant, who  died  in  1523.  Sir  William 
Flower,  Sir  Richard's  great-great-grandson, 
distinguished  himself  during  the  Irish  rebel- 
lion of  1641,  and  was  grandfather  of  William, 
created  Baron  of  Castle  Durrow  (Irish  peer- 
age) in  1733,  whose  son  Henry  was  created, 
in  1751,  Viscount  Ashbrook  (Irish  peerage), 
a  title  still  extant. 

[Wright's  Eutland,  i.  29, 136 ;  Official  Return  of 
Lists  of  Members  of  Parliament ;  Eot.  Parl.  iv. 
95  a,  107  a,  117  a,  170  a;  The  Fifty  Earliest  Eng- 
lish Wills  (Early  English  Text  Soc.),  55-64; 
Manning's  Speakers,  62.]  J.  M.  E. 

FLOWER,,  WILLIAM  (1498  P-1588), 
Norroy  king  of  arms,  born  at  York  about 
1498,  was  probably  the  elder  son  of  John 
Flower,  tailor  and  corn  merchant,  of  the 
parish  of  All  Saints  upon  the  Pavement, 
York,  whose  goods  were  administered  on 
2  Nov.  1523  by  Margaret,  his  widow.  He 
married  Helen  Davyes,  and  had  two  sons 
and  three  daughters,  of  whom  Elizabeth  mar- 
ried first,  about  1570,  Robert  Glover  [q.v.], 
Somerset  herald,  and  secondly,  in  April  1588, 
a  Mr.  Woolward.  Noble  rightly  says  '  few 
have  been  more  assiduous  in  the  duties  of 
their  profession  than  this  Norroy,  as  the 
visitations  of  his  province  evince  '  {Hist,  of 
Coll.  of  Arms,  p.  172).  He  became  Guisnes 
pursuivant  extraordinary  upon  the  removal 
of  Fulke  ap  Howell  at  Westminster,  10  July 
28  Henry  VIII.  When  Calais  pursuivant 
extraordinary  he  was  sent,  1  April  1543,  to 
Rouen  to  visit  the  merchants  and  marines 
who  had  been  captured  by  the  French,  and 
were  confined  there  (NOBLE,  loc.  cit.)  On 
30  May  1544  he  was  appointed  Rouge  Croix, 
and  promoted  to  the  office  of  Chester  herald 
about  37  Henry  VIII.  With  Sir  Gilbert 
Dethick  [q.  v.],  Garter,  he  attended  the  Mar- 
quis of  Northampton  into  France,  when  he 


had  an  allowance  of  10s.  per  diem  for  his 
*  dyett.'  The  deputation  from  Thomas  Haw- 
ley,  Clarenceux,  to  Flower,  constituting  him 
his  marshal  and  deputy,  is  dated  at  the  house 
of  the  said  Clarenceux  in  Barbican,  London, 
1555,  1  and  2  Philip  and  Mary.  His  patent 
as  Norroy  is  dated  29  Jan.  1561-2  (RTMEE, 
Foedera,  xvi.  620 ;  MACHYN,  Diary,  Camden 
Soc.,  p.  276).  A  commission  of  visitation 
was  addressed  to  him  on  10  July,  6  Elizabeth. 
On  9  March  1580  he  obtained  a  patent  join- 
ing Robert  Glover,  Somerset,  his  son-in-law, 
with  himself  for  the  office  of  Norroy,  in  which 
patent  he  is  stated  to  be  then  eighty-two 
years  of  age.  Flower  died  at  Windsor  in  the 
autumn  of  1588.  His  will,  bearing  date 
14  Oct.,  30  Elizabeth,  1588,  was  proved  in 
London  22  Nov.  following.  ^The  effects  were 
small,  and  the  legacies  consisted  chiefly  of 
articles  of  furniture  and  wearing  apparel 
(will  registered  in  P.  C.  C.  9,  Leicester). 

Flower's  <  Visitation  of  Yorkshire '  in  1563 
and  1564  was  edited  for  the  Harleian  Society 
in  1881  by  Charles  Best  NorclifFe  of  Langton, 
Yorkshire,  from  the  original  manuscript, 
which  has  been  in  the  possession  of  the  family 
since  1738.  Two  copies  of  this  visitation,  one 
with  additions,  are  in  the  College  of  Arms ; 
a  portion  only  is  to  be  found  in  the  British 
Museum,  Harleian  MS.  1171.  In  1567 
Flower  undertook  a '  Visitation  of  the  County 
Palatine  of  Lancaster,'  on  which  occasion  he 
appointed  Robert  Glover  his  marshal  or  de- 
puty ;  the  visitation  has  for  that  reason  been 
sometimes  described  as  '  Glover's  Visitation.' 
The  original  manuscript  is  preserved  in  the 
College  of  Arms,  but  a  carefully  written 
transcript  of  it  by  Glover  is  in  the  British 
Museum,  Harleian  MS.  2086.  A  second 
copy  in  the  same  collection,  Harleian  MS. 
6159,  with  additional  and  enlarged  pedi- 
grees, was  made  by  William  Smith  [q.  v.] , 
Rouge  Dragon  pursuivant,  in  1598.  Tran- 
scripts of  this  visitation,  all  in  the  libraries 
of  Humphrey  Chetham  of  Manchester,  and 
of  Queen's  College,  Oxford,  and  other  copies, 
more  or  less  inaccurate,  are  in  several  public 
and  private  collections.  It  was  printed  by 
the  Chetham  Society  in  1870  under  the  edi- 
torship of  Canon  F.  R.  Raines.  Flower's 
last  undertaking  was  a  'Visitation  of  the 
County  Palatine  of  Durham  'in  1575,  in  which 
he  was  again  greatly  assisted  by  Glover. 
One  hundred  and  forty  copies  of  this  visitation 
were  printed  at  Newcastle-upon-Tyne  in  1820 
from  a  copy  in  the  possession  of  Nicholas 
John  Philipson,  F.S.A.,  of  that  town.  Manu- 
script copies  exist  in  the  libraries  of  the 
British  Museum  (Harl.  MSS.  1171  and  1540), 
of  the  College  of  Arms,  of  Queen's  College, 
Oxford,  and  of  Durham  Cathedral. 


Flowerdew 


342 


Flowers 


[Raines's  Introduction  to  Lancashire  Visitation 
(Chetham  Soc.) ;  Norcliffe's  Preface  to  Yorkshire 
Visitation  (Harl.  Soc.);  Calendar  of  State  Papers, 
Domestic,  1547-80,  Foreign,  1553-8,  p.  312; 
Noble's  History  of  the  College  of  Arms ;  Sims's 
Manual  for  the  Genealogist,  2nd  ed.,  pp.  165, 
168,  176.]  G.  G. 

FLOWERDEW,  EDWARD  (d.  1586), 
judge,  fourth  son  of  John  Flowerdew  of 
Hethersett,  Norfolk,  a  large  landed  proprie- 
tor, was  educated  at  Cambridge,  but  took  no 
degree.  He  became  a  member  of  the  Inner 
Temple  11  Oct.  1552,  and  in  the  autumn  of 
1569  and  Lent  of  1577  was  reader,  and  in 
1579  treasurer.  He  obtained  considerable 
celebrity  as  a  lawyer  in  his  own  county. 
In  1571  he  became  counsel  to  the  dean  and 
chapter  of  Norwich,  and  in  1573  to  the  town 
of  Great  Yarmouth.  He  was  counsel  also 
to  Sir  Thomas  Gresham.  The  town  of  Nor- 
wich gave  him  a  silver  cup  in  1571,  presum- 
ably for  professional  services,  and  various 
grateful  clients  settled  annuities  on  him, 
Thomas  Grimesdiche  settling  40s.  and  John 
Thornton  26*.  8d.  in  1573,  and  Simon  Har- 
court  of  Stanton  Harcourt,  Oxfordshire,  one 
third  of  five  marks  in  1575.  On  12  Feb.  1584 
he  received  a  grant  from  the  clerk  of  the  royal 
kitchen  of  a  buck  in  summer  and  a  doe  in 
winter  yearly  from  any  royal  forest  in  Nor- 
folk or  elsewhere.  His  professional  advance- 
ment was  to  be  serjeant  and  recorder  of  Great 
Yarmouth  in  Michaelmas  term,  16  Oct.  1580, 
and  on  23  Oct.  1584  third  baron  of  the  ex- 
chequer, when  he  resigned  his  recordership. 
On  20  Feb.  1585  he  was  a  member  of  the 
special  commission  for  the  county  of  Middle- 
sex, before  which  Dr.  Parry  was  tried  and 
convicted  for  high  treason.  In  the  winter 
of  1585  and  1586  he  went  circuit  in  South 
Wales,  and  in  March  held  the  assizes  at 
Exeter.  Here  gaol  fever  broke  out,  and, 
seizing  upon  him,  carried  him  off  between 
14  March  and  4  April.  He  was  buried  at 
Hethersett  Church.  He  was  a  man  of  grasp- 
ing temper,  but  apparently  not  of  fine  feel- 
ings. In  1564  he  purchased  Stanfield  Hall 
and  its  furniture  of  John  Appleyard,  in  order 
to  live  there,  and  also  married  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  AVilliam  Foster  of  Wymond- 
ham,  who  had  long  been  Appleyard's  mis- 
tress. In  1575  he  acquired  the  site  of  the 
dissolved  abbey  of  Wymondham.  The  pa- 
rishioners, wishing  to  preserve  the  church, 
petitioned  the  crown  to  be  allowed  to  buy  it 
at  a  valuation,  and  paid  the  money.  Flower- 
dew,  however,  stripped  it  of  its  lead  and 
carried  off  a  quantity  of  freestone,  where- 
upon the  exasperated  parishioners  dismantled 
it.  His  lands  were  dispersed  on  his  death, 
and  he  left  no  issue.  According,  however, 


to  another  account,  he  had  a  daughter,  who 
married  Thomas  Skelton. 

[Foss's  Judges  of  England ;  Blomefield's  Nor- 
folk, i.  721,  724  ;  Dugdale's  Origines  Jurid. ; 
Holinshed's  Chron.  iv.  868 ;  Leicester  Corre- 
spondence, p.  224;  Burgon's  Gresham,  ii.  493, 
499 ;  Cooper's  Athense  Cantabr.  ii.  5 ;  Manship's 
Yarmouth,!.  295  ;  Palmer's  continuation  of  Man- 
ship's  Yarmouth,  ii.  337  et  seq.  and  Vincent's 
Norfolk  Collections  there  cited;  Monro's  Acta 
Cancellarise  ;  Strype's  Annals,  iv.  310,  and  Par- 
ker, 453 ;  Weever's  Fun.  Mon.  p.  864  ;  Lemon's 
Domestic  Papers,  1581-90 ;  App.  4,  Rep.  Publ. 
Records,  p.  273  ;  Gawdy  MSS.,  Hist.  MSS. 
Comm.  Rep.,  1885.]  J.  A.  H. 

FLOWERS,  FREDERICK  (1810-1886), 
police  magistrate,  third  son  of  the  Rev.  Field 
Flowers,  rector  of  Partney,  Lincolnshire, 
1815-18,  was  born  at  Boston  in  1810,  and 
educated  at  Louth  grammar  school,  Lincoln- 
shire. He  was  admitted  a  student  of  Lin- 
coln's Inn  10  Nov.  1828,  called  to  the  bar 
18  Nov.  1839,  joined  the  midland  circuit, 
and  for  many  years  practised  as  a  special 
pleader.  In  1862  he  was  appointed  recorder 
of  Stamford,  and  was  for  some  time  revising 
barrister  for  the  northern  division  of  Not- 
tinghamshire. He  was  named  by  Sir  George 
Grey  police  magistrate  at  Bow  Street,  Lon- 
don, 6  July  1864,  and  sat  at  that  court  until 
his  death.  He  also  acted  as  a  magistrate 
for  Middlesex,  Kent,  Surrey,  Hertfordshire, 
and  Essex.  As  a  police  magistrate  he  was 
extremely  well  known  and  greatly  respected. 
His  common  sense,  combined  with  a  sound 
knowledge  of  the  law,  prevented  him  from 
making  many  mistakes  in  his  decisions.  He 
possessed  kindness,  tact,  and  discrimination, 
and  a  strong  sense  of  justice,  especially  to- 
wards those  who  were  poor  and  weak.  He 
died  at  his  residence,  Holmesdale,  Tottenham 
Lane,  Hornsey,  Middlesex,  26  Jan.  1886,  and 
was  buried  at  Partney  on  30  Jan.,  where  on 
his  grave  is  a  monumental  cross,  and  in  the 
church  there  is  a  memorial  brass.  He  married 
in  1841  Ann,  only  daughter  of  R.  Kirby,  by 
whom  he  left  one  son. 

[Law  Times,  13  Feb.  1886,  p.  275;  Solicitors' 
Journal,  30  Jan.  1886,  p.  225;  Law  Journal, 
30  Jan.  1886,  p.  79  ;  Graphic,  8  Jan.  1881,  p.  32, 
with  portrait;  Saturday  Review,  30  Jan.  1886, 
pp.  145-6.]  G.  C.  B. 

FLOWERS,  GEORGEFRENCH  (1811- 
1872),  composer  and  musical  theorist,  fourth 
son  of  the  Rev.  Field  Flowers,  was  born  in 
1811  at  Boston,  Lincolnshire ;  he  studied  music 
under  Rink  and  Von  Wartensee  in  Germany, 
graduated  Mus.  Bac.  from  Lincoln  College, 
Oxford,  in  1839,  and  proceeded  doctor  of  music 
in  1865.  In  the  meantime  he  was  organist 
at  the  Chapel  of  the  British  Embassy,  Paris, 


Floyd 


343 


Floyd 


St.  Mark's,  Myddelton  Square,  and  St.  John's, 
Paddiiigton,  successively.  Flowers  founded 
the  Contrapuntists'  Society  in  1843,  was  re- 
sponsible for  some  contrapuntal  and  musical 
reviews  in  the  *  Literary  Gazette '  about  that 
time,  and  was  author  of  an  analysis  of  Goss's 
*  Harmony '  in  the  '  Fine  Arts  Journal'  (1847, 
p.  445  et  seq.)  His '  Essay  on  the  Construc- 
tion of  Fugue  with  .  .  .  new  Rules  for  Har- 
mony '  appeared  in  London  in  1846 ;  the  '  Pic- 
torial Representation  of  the  Science  of  Har- 
mony,' a  translation  of  Easier 's  *  Reisekarte,' 
in  1850;  and  a  poem  on  l  Muscular  Vocalisa- 
tion,' Barrow-on-Humber,  in  1861.  Flowers 
introduced  and  developed  Vogler's  system  of 
progressive  cadences  (cf.  his  papers  in  Mu- 
sical World  of  1848,  pp.  501  and  554).  He 
contributed  opinions  on  musical  matters  for 
many  years  to  the  '  Musical  Examiner '  and 
'Musical  World.'  In  1850  (Mus.  World, 
p.  650)  he  announced  his  determination  to 
cultivate  and  bring  forward  English  vocal 
talent  by  means  of  a  British  school  of  vocali- 
sation. His  attempt  was  justified  a  year  or 
two  later  by  some  measure  of  success,  strik- 
ingly illustrated  by  the  excellent  singing  of 
his  young  pupils  in  St.  James's  Hall,  yet  no 
trace  remains  of  the  institution  which  pro- 
mised so  well.  The  late  Mrs.  Howard  Paul 
may  be  cited  as  having  been  its  most  distin- 
guished member.  Flowers  displayed  in  the 
composition  of  his ( Organ  Fugues,' '  Pastoral 
Chorus,'  and  'Choral  Fugue'  all  the  erudition 
expected  from  so  earnest  a  follower  of  Bach 
and  Vogler.  His  elaborate  first  mass,  about 
1860,  probably  marks  the  date  of  his  recep- 
tion in  the  church  of  Rome.  Flowers  died 
of  cholera,  14  June  1872. 

[Grove's  Diet,  of  Music,  i.  535  ;  Brown's  Diet, 
of  Musicians,  p.  249  ;  Musical  World,  1844-52; 
other  periodicals  mentioned  above ;  Gorman's 
Converts  to  Home.  p.  39 ;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.l 

L.  M.  M. 

FLOYD,  FLOUD,  or  LLOYD,  ED- 
WARD (d.  1648  ?),  was  a  catholic  barrister 
who  became  steward  in  Shropshire  to  Lord- 
chancellor  Ellesmere  and  the  Earl  of  Suffolk. 
In  1621,  when  he  was  a  prisoner  in  the  Fleet 
at  the  instance  of  the  privy  council,  he  was 
impeached  in  the  House  of  Commons  for 
having  said :  '  I  have  heard  that  Prague  is 
taken  ;  and  Goodman  Palsgrave  and  Good- 
wife  Palsgrave  have  taken  their  heels  ;  and 
as  I  have  heard,  Goodwife  Palsgrave  is  taken 
prisoner.'  These  words,  it  was  alleged,  were 
spoken  by  him  in  a  most  despiteful  and  scorn- 
ful manner,  to  insult  the  prince  palatine  and 
his  wife.  The  case  led  to  an  important  consti- 
tutional decision.  The  commons  condemned 
him  on  1  May  to  pay  a  fine  of  1,000/.,  to 
stand  in  the  pillory  in  three  different  places 


for  two  hours  each  time,  and  to  be  carried 
from  place  to  place  upon  a  horse  without  a 
saddle,  with  his  face  towards  the  horse's  tail, 
and  holding  the  tail  in  his  hand.  Floyd  im- 
mediately appealed  to  the  king,  who  the  next 
morning  sent  to  inquire  upon  what  prece- 
dents the  commons  grounded  their  claim  to 
act  as  a  judicial  body  in  regard  to  offences 
which  did  not  concern  their  privileges.  A 
debate  of  several  days  led  to  a  conference  of 
the  two  houses,  when  it  was  agreed  that  the 
accused  should  be  arraigned  before  the  lords, 
and  that  a  declaration  should  be  entered  on 
the  journals  that  his  trial  before  the  commons 
should  not  prejudice  the  just  rights  of  either 
house.  The  lords  added  to  the  severity  of 
the  first  judgment.  On  26  May  Floyd  was  con- 
demned to  be  degraded  from  the  estate  of  a 
gentleman  ;  his  testimony  not  to  be  received; 
he  was  to  be  branded,  whipped  at  the  cart's 
tail,  to  pay  5,000 L,  and  to  be  imprisoned  in 
Newgate  for  life.  When  he  was  branded  in 
Cheapside  he  declared  that  he  would  have 
given  1,000/.  to  be  hanged  in  order  that  he 
might  be  a  martyr  in  so  good  a  cause.  Some 
days  afterwards,  on  the  motion  of  Prince 
Charles,  it  was  agreed  by  the  lords  that  the 
whipping  should  not  be  inflicted,  and  an 
order  was  made  that  in  future  judgment 
should  not  be  pronounced,  when  the  sentence 
was  more  than  imprisonment,  on  the  same 
day  on  which  it  was  voted.  The  remainder 
of  the  monstrous  sentence  on  Floyd  seems 
to  have  been  carried  into  effect.  But  he  was 
liberated  on  16  July  1621,  after  the  new 
lord  keeper  Williams  had  prevailed  with 
Buckingham  to  recommend  to  Charles  I  a 
liberal  exercise  of  his  prerogative  of  mercy 
in  the  case  of  political  prisoners  (GARBINEK, 
Hist.  iv.  137).  On  the  petition  of  Joane, 
his  wife,  the  lords  on  6  Dec.  1621  ordered  his 
trunk  and  writings  to  be  delivered  up  to  her ; 
the  clerk  first  taking  out  l  such  popish  beads 
and  popish  books'  as  were  therein  (Lords' 
Journals,  iii.  183).  Perhaps  he  is  the  person 
whose  death  is  thus  recorded  by  Smyth: 
'  July  1648,  Mr.  Fludd  (an  honest  recusant), 
my  old  acquaintance,  about  this  time  died ' 
(Obituary,  p.  26). 

Hallam  speaks  with  great  severity  of  the 
cruelty  of  these  proceedings.  'The  cold- 
blooded, deliberate  policy  of  the  lords  is  still 
more  disgusting  than  the  wild  fury  of  the 
lower  house  '  (Constitutional  Hist.,  7th  edit, 
i.  361).  A  collection,  made  by  Sir  Harbottle 
Grimstone,  bart.,  of  the  proceedings  in  Floyd's 
case  in  the  House  of  Commons  is  preserved 
in  the  Harleian  MS.  6274.  art.  2. 

[Gardiner's  History  of  England,  ir.  119-22; 
Birch's  James  I,  ii.  252-8;  Camden's  James  I; 
Campbell's  Lord  Chief  Justices,  i.  366,  389,  390; 


Floyd 


344 


Floyd 


Commons'  Journals,  i.  596-624  ;  Howell's  State 
Trials,  ii.  1153  seq.  viii.  92;  Lingard's  Hist,  of 
England  (1849),  vii.  223;  Lords'  Journals,  iii. 
110-83  ;  Parliamentary  Hist.  v.  427-47.]  T.  C. 

FLOYD,  HENRY  (1563-1641),  Jesuit, 
elder  brother  of  Father  John  Floyd  [q.  v.], 
born  in  Cambridgeshire  in  1563,  received  his 
education  in  the  English  College  of  Douay 
during  its  temporary  removal  to  Rheims.  On 
8  May  1589,  being  then  a  deacon,  he  was  sent 
with  other  students  by  Dr.  Richard  Barret, 
president  of  the  college,  to  assist  in  com- 
mencing the  new  English  College  founded  by 
Father  Parsons  atValladolid  (Records  of  the 
English  Catholics,  i.  220,  224).  For  a  time 
he  was  stationed  at  the  '  residence'  or  semi- 
nary established  by  Parsons  at  Lisbon.  He 
was  probably  ordained  priest  in  1592,  and  he 
defended  universal  theology  with  great  ap- 
plause at  Seville  on  20  Feb.  1592-3.  From 
Lisbon  he  crossed  over  to  England  about  1597, 
and  for  nineteen  years  he  was  chaplain  to 
Sir  John  Southcote.  In  1599  he  entered  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  and  in  1618  was  professed 
of  the  four  vows.  He  underwent  many  vicis- 
situdes, and  at  various  times  was  incarcerated 
in  Newgate,  the  Clink,  and  the  Fleet  prisons 
in  London,  and  in  Framlingham  and  Win- 
chester gaols.  His  zeal  in  promoting  the 
catholic  cause  rendered  him  particularly  ob- 
noxious to  the  government,  and  his  name  fre- 
quently occurs  in  the  state  papers.  On  the 
accession  of  James  I,  being  sent  into  banish- 
ment with  many  other  priests,  he  returned 
to  Lisbon ;  but  he  soon  revisited  England, 
and  again  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  pursui- 
vants. After  serving  the  mission  in  the  Lon- 
don district  for  many  years,  he  died  in  London 
on  7  March  1640-1. 

[More's  Hist.  Missionis  Angl.  Soc.  Jesu,  p.  286 ; 
Oliver's  Jesuit  Collections,  p.  93;  Foley's  Re- 
cords, i.  503-13,  vii.  267.]  '  T.  C. 

FLOYD,  JOHN  (1572-1649),  jesuit,called 
also  DANIEL  A  JESTJ,  younger  brother  of  Father 
Henry  Floyd  [q.v.],was  born  in  Cambridge- 
shire in  1572.  After  studying  in  the  school 
of  the  English  Jesuits  at  Eu  in  Normandy, 
he  was  admitted  on  17  March  1587-8  into 
the  English  College  at  Rheims,  where  he  made 
his  course  of  humanities  and  philosophy. 
Next  he  proceeded  to  Rome,  was  admitted 
into  the  English  College  there  9  Oct.  1590, 
and  joined  the  Society  of  Jesus  1  Nov.  1592 
(FoLEY,  Records,  vi.  185).  On  18  Aug.  1593 
he  received  minor  orders  at  Rheims  or  Douay, 
and  on  the  22nd  of  the  same  month  he  was 
sent  back  to  the  English  College  at  Rome 
with  nine  companions  (Douay  Diaries,  pp.232, 
J33).  He  taught  philosophy  and  theology 
with  great  success,  and  acquired  fame  as  a 


preacher.  In  1609  he  became  a  professed; 
father  of  the  Jesuit  order.  He  laboured  long 
and  zealously  on  the  English  mission.  Having" 
ventured  to  visit  Father  Edward  Oldcorne  in 
Worcester  gaol  in  1606,  he  was  detained,  and 
he  was  unable  either  by  entreaties  or  bribes 
to  escape  the  clutches  of  Popham  (MoBUSy 
Hist.  Missionis  Anglic.  Soc.  Jesu,  p.  287). 
After  a  year's  imprisonment  he  was  sent  into* 
exile  with  forty-six  other  priests,  and  he  spent 
four  years  in  preaching  at  St.  Omer  and  com- 
posing controversial  works.  Then  he  re- 
turned to  England,  where  he  was  often  cap- 
tured, and  as  often  contrived  by  payments  of 
money  to  escape  from  the  pursuivants.  Fi- 
nally he  settled  at  Louvain,  where  he  was 
professor  of  theology.  He  died  suddenly  at 
St.  Omer  on  15  Sept.  1649  (Florus  Anglo- 
Bavaricus,  p.  51). 

Wood  describes  him  as  '  a  person  excel- 
lently learned,  as  well  in  philosophy  as 
theology '  (Athence  Oxon.  ed.  Bliss,  iii.  483), 
He  wrote  the  following  works,  some  of 
which  appeared  under  the  pseudonyms  of 
Daniel  a  Jesu,  Hermannus  Loemelius,  George 
White,  and  Annosus  Fidelis  Verimentanusr 
and  the  name  Flud,  and  the  initials  J.  R. :. 
1.  '  The  Overthrow  of  the  Protestants  Pulpit- 
Babels,  convincing  their  Preachers  of  Lying- 
and  Rayling,  to  make  the  Church  of  Rome 
seeme  mysticall  Babell '  [St.  Omer],  1612, 4to. 
This  contains  an  answer  to  'The  Jesuites 
Gospell,'  by  William  "Crashaw  [q.  v.],  pub- 
lished in  1610.  Floyd's  work,  which  pur- 
ports to  be  by  '  J.  R.,  Student  in  Divinity,* 
has  been  erroneously  ascribed  toFather  Robert 
Jenison  (GiLLOW,  Bibliographical  Diet.  iii. 
611).  In  reply  to  this  or  some  other  work 
by  Floyd,  Sir  Edward  Hoby  wrote  'A 
Counter- Snarle  for  Ishmael  Rabshakeh,  a. 
Cecropedian  Lycaonite,  being  an  Answer  to  a 
Roman  Catholic,  who  writes  himself  J.  R.,* 
London,  1613.  2.  'Purgatories  Triumph  over 
Hell,  maugre  the  barking  of  Cerberus  in  Syr 
Edward  Hobyes  Counter-Snarle.  Described 
in  a  Letter  to  the  said  Knight,  from  J.  R., 
authour  of  the  Answere  unto  the  Protestants, 
Pulpit-Babels,'  1613, 4to,  to  which  Hoby  re- 
joined in  a  book  entitled  '  Curry-comb  for  a 
Coxcombe,'  1615.  3.  '  Synopsis  Apostasies 
Marci  Antonii  de  Dominis,  olim  Archiepiscopi 
Spalatensis,  nunc  apostatee,  ex  ipsiusmet  libro 
delineata,' Antwerp,  1617, 8vo,  translated  into 
English  by  Father  Henry  Hawkins,  St.  Omer, 
1617, 8vo,  and  again  edited  by  John  Fletcher, 
D.D.  [q.  v.],  Lond.  1828,  8vo.  4.  <  Hypocrisis- 
M.  A.  de  Dominis  detecta,  seu  censura  in 
ejus  libros  de  Republica  Ecclesiastica,'  Ant- 
werp, 1620,  8vo.  5.  <  Censura  X  Librorum 
de  Republica  Ecclesiastica  M.  A.  de  Dominis/ 
Antwerp,  1620,  12mo ;  Cologne,  1621,  8vo, 


Floyd 


345, 


Floyd 


6.  '  God  and  the  King  ;  or  a  Dialogue  wherein 
is  treated  of  Allegiance  due  to  ...  K.  James 
within  his  Dominions,  which  (by  removing 
all  Controversies  and  Causes  of  Dissentions 
and  Suspitions)  bindeth  Subjects  by  an  in- 
violable band  of  Love  and  Duty  to  their 
Soveraigne,'  translated  from  the  Latin,  Co- 
logne, 1620, 12mo.  7.  '  St.  Augustine's  Medi- 
tations,' translated,  St.  Omer,  1621,  16mo, 
Paris,  1655,  16mo.  8.  '  Monarchic  Eccle- 
siasticae  ex  scriptis  M.  Antonii  de  Dominis 
.  .  .  Demonstratio,  duobus  libris  comprehensa, 
seu  Respublica  Ecclesiastica  M.  Ant.  de 
Dominis,  per  ipsum  a  fundamentis  eversa,' 
Cologne,  1622, 8vo.  9.  '  A  Word  of  Comfort ; 
or  a  Discourse  concerning  the  late  lamentable 
Accident  of  the  Fall  of  a  Roome  at  a  Catholike 
Sermon  in  the  Black-Friars  at  London,  where- 
with about  fore-score  persons  were  oppressed 
.  .  .  By  J.  R.  P.,' St.  Omer,  1623, 4to.  This 
relates  to  the  '  Fatal  Vespers '  [see  DRTTRY, 
ROBERT,  1587-1623].  10.  'Of  the  Sacrifice 
of  the  Mass,'  translated  from  the  Spanish  of 
Antonio  Molina,  St.  Omer,  1623, 4to.  11.  'On 
the  Real  Presence,'  St.  Omer,  1624,  12mo. 

12.  'An  Answer  to  Francis  White's  [suc- 
cessively bishop  of  Norwich  and  Ely]  Reply 
to  Mr.  Fisher's  Answer  to  the  Nine  Arti- 
cles offered  by  King  James  to  Father  John 
Fisher,  S.  J./  St.  Omer,  1625,  4to.    Francis 
Mason  replied  to  Floyd  in  the  second  edit. 
of  his  '  Vindiciee  Ecclesise  Anglicanae,'  1625. 

13.  '  An  Apology  of  the  Holy  Sea  Apostolicks 
Proceedings  for  the  Government  of  the  Catho- 
licks  of  England  during  the  tyme  of  persecu- 
tion.    With  a  Defence  of  a  Religious  State, 
written  by  Daniel  of  Jesus,'  Rouen,  1630, 
4to.     The  first  part  is  translated  from  the 
French.      An  enlarged   Latin  edition  was 
published  at  Cologne  and  St.  Omer  in  1631. 
This  work  relates  to  the  disputes  between 
the  Jesuits  and  the  secular  priests  in  the  mat- 
ter of  the  episcopacy.     It  drew  down  the 
censure  of  the  theological  faculty  of  the  Sor- 
bonne  upon  its  author,  who   replied  with 
No.  15  below.     14.  f  A  Paire  of  Spectacles 
for   Sir   Humphrey  Linde  to  see   his  way 
withall ;  or,  an  Answeare  to  his  booke  called 
Via  Tuta,  a  Safe  Way,'  s.l.  1631,  8vo.     This 
has  been  sometimes  attributed  to  Father  Ro- 
bert Jenison,  but  with  no  apparent  founda- 
tion. Lynde's '  Via  Tuta/ 1628,  was  answered 
more  fully  by  John  Heigham.      15.  'Her- 
manni  Loemelii   .  .  .   Spongia  qua  diluun- 
tur  Calumniee  nomine  Facultatis  Parisien- 
sis  impositse  libro  qui  inscribitur  Apologia 
Sanctae  Sedis  Apostolicae  circa  Regimen  Ca- 
tholicorum  Anglige,'  &c.,  St.  Omer,  1631, 8vo. 
A  rejoinder  was  published  on  the  part  of 
the  Sorbonne.     Gillow  gives  a  list  of  the 
principal  books  occasioned  by  Floyd's  works 


against  Dr.  Richard  Smith,  bishop  of  Chal- 
cedon,  and  the  French  clergy  who  supported 
him  (Bibl.  Diet.  ii.  304,  305).  16.  'Answer 
to  a  Book  intituled  "Instructions  for  the 
Catholicks  of  England."'  17.  'The  Church 
Conquerant  over  Human  Wit,'  St.  Omer,, 
1638,  4to,  being  a  reply  to  Chilling-worth's 
'Religion  of  Protestants.'  18.  'The  Total 
Summ/  St.  Omer,  1638,  4to,  reprinted  in 
1639  with  '  The  Judgment  of  an  University 
Man  on  Mr.  Chilli ngworth's  Book,  by  Father 
William  Lacy.'  19.  '  The  Imposture  of  Pu- 
ritan Piety,'  St.  Omer,  1639.  20. '  A  Treatise 
on  Holy  Pictures.'  21.  '  Vita  Brunehildis, 
Francorum  Reginse,  liber  primus,'  manuscript 
folio,  at  St.  Omer.  It  is  cited  by  Bollandus- 
in  his  notes  to  the  life  of  St.  Nicet,  bishop  of 
Besan^on,  under  8  Feb. 

[Gillow's  Bibl.  Diet,  of  the  English  Catholics ; 
Foley's  Eecords,  iv.  237,  vii.  268;  Oliver's  Jesuit 
Collections,  p.  94;  Notes  and  Queries,  3rd  ser. 
ix.  38;  Panzani's  Memoirs,  pp.  124,  125;  South- 
well's Bibl.  Scriptqrum  Soc.  Jesu,  p.  449  ;  De 
Backer's  Bibl.  des  Ecrivains  de  la  Compagnie  de- 
Jesus  (1869),  i.  1888  ;  Dodd's  Church  Hist.  iii. 
105  ;  Wood's  Athenae  Oxon.  (Bliss),  ii.  195,  iii. 
92,  386,  995,  iv.  309.]  T.  C. 

FLOYD,  SIR  JOHN  (1748-1818),  general, 
was  elder  son  ofCaptain  JohnFloyd  of  the  1st 
or  king's  dragoon  guards  ^BlTe^~trrG6rmany 
during  the  seven  years'  war),  by  Mary,  daugh- 
ter of  the  Rev.  James  Bate,  rector  of  Chilham, 
Kent.  He  was  born  on  22  Feb.  1748,  and 
entered  the  army  on  5  April  1760,  at  the  age 
of  twelve,  as  a  cornet  in  Eliott's  light  horse, 
afterwards  the  15th  or  king's  royal  hussars. 
He  is  said  to  have  received  his  commission 
without  purchase,  as  some  recognition  of  hist 
father's  gallantry,  and  he  at  once  joined  the 
regiment,  and  distinguished  himself  at  the 
battle  of  Emsdorf.  He  was  promoted  lieu- 
tenant on  20  April  1763,  and  made  riding- 
master  to  his  regiment.  His  skill  in  this 
capacity  brought  him  under  the  notice  of  the 
authorities.  General  Eliott,  afterwards  Lord 
Heathfield,  spoke  most  favourably  of  his  abili- 
ties, and  he  was  '  lent '  to  the  1st  dragoons,, 
the  royals,  in  order  to  improve  their  riding. 
Under  the  patronage  of  Eliott,  Floyd  was  pro- 
moted, without  purchase,  captain-lieutenant 
on  20  May  1770,  and  captain  on  25  May  1772 
in  the  15th  hussars,  and  on  5  May  1779  major 
in  the  newly  raised  21st  light  dragoons.  In 
1781  it  was  determined  to  raise  a  cavalry 
regiment  expressly  for  service  in  India,  and 
on  24  Sept.  in  that  year  Floyd  was  gazetted 
lieutenant-colonel  of  this  new  regiment,  which 
was  styled  first  the  23rd,  and  then  the  19th 
light  dragoons.  He  reached  Madras  in  1782, 
in  which  year  he  was  gazetted  a  local  colonel 
in  the  East  Indies,  and  remained  in  that 


Floyd 


346 


Floyer 


presidency  for  eighteen  years,  during  which 
he  showed  himself  the  most  accomplished 
English  cavalry  commander  who  ever  served 
in  the  south  of  India.     On  18  Nov.  1790  he 
was  promoted  colonel,  and  was  in  the  same 
year  appointed  by  Lord  Cornwallis  to  com- 
mand all  the  cavalry  upon  the  Coromandel 
coast.  In  the  three  campaigns  of  Lord  Corn- 
wallis against  Tippoo  Sultan  Floyd  greatly 
distinguished  himself.     Before  Lord  Corn- 
wallis had  assumed  the  command  in  person, 
Floyd  performed  his  greatest  feat  of  arms. 
He  had  occupied  Coimbatore  on  21  July  1790 
with  the  van  of  the  army,  and,  after  leaving 
headquarters  there,  he  established  himself  on 
26  Aug.  at  Satyamangalam  with  a  detach- 
ment of  the  36th  regiment,  and  some  of  his 
own  troopers  of  the   19th  light   dragoons. 
He  was  attacked  by  the  enemy's  cavalry  in 
greatly  superior  force,  but  succeeded  in  re- 
treating in  good  order.  Cornwallis  hereupon 
gave  Floyd  the  command  of  the  van-guard. 
He  was  wounded  during  the  siege  of  Banga- 
lore in  March  1791,  distinguished  himself  on 
the  left  wing  in  the  battle  of  Arikera  in 
May  1791,  and  served  in  the  general  action 
in  May  1792  near  Seringapatam,  which  in- 
duced Tippoo  to  sue  for  terms.     After  the 
conclusion  of  this  war  Floyd  took  his  regi- 
ment into  cantonments  at   Bangalore ;    he 
served  as   second  in  command  to   Colonel 
Braithwaite  in  the  capture  of  Bangalore  in 
1793,  and  was  promoted  major-general  on 
6  Oct.  1794.     When  the  second  war  with 
Tippoo  Sahib  broke  out,  Floyd  again  com- 
manded the  cavalry,  and  acted  as  second  in 
command  to  General  Harris.     He  led  the 
advance  of  the  army  into  Mysore,  and  the 
charges  of  his  cavalry  did  much  to  win  the 
battle  of  Malavalli.     When  the  siege  of  Se- 
ringapatam was  formed,  Floyd  commanded 
the  covering  army,  and  brought  the  Bombay 
column,  under  Major-general  James  Stuart, 
safely  into  camp.     In  the  year  after  the  cap- 
ture of  Seringapatam,  Floyd,who  had  acquired 
great  wealth  from  the  lucrative  appointments 
ne  had  held  in  India,  and  from  the  booty 
of  Seringapatam,  returned  to  England.     He 
•was  received  with  great  distinction,  was  ap- 
pointed colonel  of  the  23rd  light  dragoons  on 
11  Sept.  1800,  and  was  promoted  lieutenant- 
general  on  1  Jan.  1801.  He  never  again  saw 
service,  but  spent  some  years  on  the  staif  in 
Ireland,  commanding  the  Limerick  division 
from  1803  to  1806,  and  the  Cork  division 
from  1809  to  1812.     He  was  transferred  to 
the  colonelcy  of  the  8th  light  dragoons  on 
13  Sept.  1804,  promoted  general  on  1  Jan 
1812,  and  in  1817  he  received  the  honourable 
but  sinecure  office  of  governor  of  Gravesenc 
and  Tilbury.      On  30  March  1816  he  was 


reated  a  baronet,  and  a  special  crest  of  a 
.ion  rampant,  bearing  the  standard  of  Tippoo 
Sultan  in  its  paws,  was  granted  to  him.  Floyd 
was  twice  married:  first,  in  1771,  to  Rebecca 

Tuliana,  daughter  of  Charles  Darke  of  Ma- 
dras ;  and  secondly,  in  1803,  to  Anna,  daugh- 

er  of  Crosbie  Morgell,  and  widow  of  Sir  Barry 

Denney,  bart.,  of  Tralee  Castle.  By  his  first 
wife  he  left  one  son  (an  officer  who  served  in 

he  Peninsula  and  at  Waterloo,  and  who 
.ucceeded  him  as  second  baronet)  and  two 
daughters,  one  married  to  General  Sir  Joseph 
Fuller,  G.C.H.,  and  the  other  to  the  Right 

ETon.  Sir  Robert  Peel,  the  second  baronet. 

Floyd  died  suddenly  of  gout  in  the  stomach, 
on  10  Jan.  1818,  shortly  before  completing  his 
seventieth  year. 

[Royal  Military  Calendar,  1st  edit. ;  Foster's 
Baronetage ;  Military  Record  of  the  8th  Hussars; 
Cornwallis  Correspondence  ;  Mackenzie's  Sketch 
of  the  War  with  Tippoo  Sultan  from  1789  to 

L79 2  ;   Dirom's  Narrative  of  the  Campaign  in 

[ndia  in  1792  ;  Beatson's  War  with  Tippoo  Sul- 
tan in  1799;  Lushington's  Life  and  Services  of 
eneral  Lord  Harris  ;   Wellesley  Despatches.] 

H.  M.  S. 

FLOYD,  THOMAS  (Jl.  1603),  author,  a 
Welshman,  entered  New  Inn,  Oxford,  as  a 
commoner  in  1589,  graduated  B.A.  on  9  Feb. 
1592-3,  afterwards  transferred  himself  to 
Jesus  College,  and  took  the  degree  of  M.A. 
on  5  Feb.  1595-6.  He  was  the  author  of 
1  The  Picture  of  a  Perfect  Commonwealth, 
describing  as  well  the  Offices  of  Princes  and 
inferior  Magistrates  over  their  Subjects,  as 
also  the  Duties  of  Subjects  towards  their 
Governors,'  &c.,  London,  1600,  12mo.  He 
also  wrote  some  Latin  verses  in  '  Academiae 
Oxoniensis  Pietas  erga  Jacobum  Regem,'  1603. 

[Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  ( Bliss),  i.  744;  Fasti, 
i.  257,  270.]  J.  M.  R. 

FLOYER,  SIR  JOHN  (1649-1734),  phy- 
sician, born  in  1649,  was  the  son  of  Richard 
Floyer  of  Hintes,  Staffordshire.  He  entered 
as  commoner  of  Queen's  College,  Oxford,  at 
the  beginning  of  1664,  being  then  fifteen  years 
of  age.  He  was  B.A.  16  April  1668,  M.A. 
1671,  B.M.  27  June  1674,  D.M.  8  July  1680 
(WooD).  After  twelve  years'  residence  in 
Oxford,  he  settled  at  Lichfield  as  a  physician. 
He  was  knighted  in  or  before  1686,  whether 
merely  for  professional  eminence  or  for  poli- 
tical services  does  not  appear  ;  but  he  would 
seem  to  have  been  in  some  way  mixed  up 
with  the  intrigues  of  James  II  in  1686  to 
obtain  control  over  the  corporation  of  Lich- 
field. There  is  no  record  of  any  other  notable 
events  in  his  life,  except  the  publication  of 
his  several  books.  Floyer's  name  is  known 
in  connection  with  that  of  Samuel  Johnson, 


Floyer 


347 


Floyer 


who  was,  by  his  advice,  sent  up  to  be  touched 
by  Queen  Anne  for  the  '  evil.'  It  is  also 
noteworthy  that  some  of  Floyer's  books  were 
printed  for  Michael  Johnson,  bookseller,  of 
Lichfi  eld,  father  of  the  lexicographer.  Floyer 
attained  considerable  eminence  in  his  profes- 
sion, and  died  on  1  Feb.  1734. 

Floyer  was  one  of  the  most  original  phy- 
sicians of  the  great  scientific  period  in  which 
he  lived.  His  works  show  independence  of 
thought  and  the  spirit  of  research ;  while 
some  have  been  important  as  being  the  start- 
ing-points of  new  methods  in  medical  prac- 
tice. 

His  first  book,  '  The  Touchstone  of  Medi- 
cines,' contains  a  number  of  operations  on 
the  taste  and  smell  of  plants  and  other  drugs, 
considered  as  a  guide  to  their  medicinal  vir- 
tues, a  subject  treated  of  by  Galen  and  other 
ancient  writers,  and  by  some  of  the  moderns, 
though  not  now  held  to  be  worth  considera- 
tion. This  work,  as  well  as  that  on  animal 
humours,  which  is  of  the  same  class,  contains 
many  chemical  and  microscopical  observa- 
tions, but  it  appears  to  have  been  treated  with 
some  ridicule. 

His  work  on  the  pulse  watch  is  much  more 
important.  Floyer  was  the  first  to  make 
regular  observations  upon  the  rate  of  the 
pulse,  counting  the  number  of  beats  in  a 
minute  by  the  watch.  Before  his  time,  though 
other  points  connected  with  the  pulse  had 
been  carefully  studied,  this  had  been  ne- 
glected. The  pulse  watch  was  merely  a 
watch  constructed  to  go  for  exactly  one 
minute.  Though  Floyer's  observations  were 
not  perfectly  accurate,  still,  in  Haller's  words, 
he  '  broke  the  ice,'  and  introduced  a  practice 
now  universal.  Floyer  did  good  service  also 
by  his  advocacy  of  cold  bathing  in  a  work 
published  under  different  titles  in  several  edi- 
tions. He  showed  that  the  Roman  customs 
of  bathing  had  been  prevalent  in  Britain  in 
former  times,  and  attributed  to  their  disuse 
the  occurrence  of  many  diseases.  He  even 
went  so  far  as  to  ascribe  salutary  physical 
consequences  to  infant  baptism  by  immersion, 
and  advocated  the  restoration  of  this  ancient 
method  of  performing  the  rite.  Indeed  he 
succeeded  more  than  once  in  getting  children 
thus  baptised  according  to  the  rubric  ;  and 
his  authority  has  been  quoted  by  theological 
advocates  of  baptism  by  immersion.  He  also 
built  or  got  built  a  cold  bath  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Lichfield. 

The  work  on  asthma  is  also  very  note- 
worthy, not  only  as  containing  excellent 
clinical  observations,  but  as  giving  the  first 
account,  derived  from  dissection,  of  the  change 
in  the  lungs  now  called  emphysema,  which 
is  found  in  one  of  the  forms  of  asthma  as  then 


understood.  This  observation,  which  has 
been  often  quoted  in  modern  text-books,  was 
made  not  on  the  human  subject,  but  on  a 
broken-winded  mare.  Floyer  clearly  dis- 
tinguishes spasmodic  asthma  (from  which  he 
himself  suffered),  and  assigns  for  it  the  same 
cause  as  do  most  modern  authorities,  viz. : 
'  contraction  of  the  muscular  fibres  of  the 
bronchia.'  His  other  medical  writings  are 
less  important.  Haller  remarks  that  Floyer's 
works  were  less  known  abroad  than  they 
deserved  to  be,  and  even  in  this  country  he 
has  hardly  received  full  justice.  He  was 
evidently  a  man  of  miscellaneous  as  well  as 
medical  learning,  and  greatly  interested  him- 
self in  the  study  of  prophecy. 

He  wrote:  1.  ' «£ap/LiaKo-Bd<rai/oy,  or  the 
Touchstone  of  Medicines,'  London,  printed 
for  Michael  Johnson  at  Lichfield,  vol.  i.  1687, 
vol.  ii.  1690,  8vo.  2.  'Preternatural  State 
of  the  Animal  Humours,  described  by  their 
Sensible  Qualities,' London,  1696, 8vo.  3. '  An 
Enquiry  into  the  Right  Use  of  Baths,'  London, 
1697,  8vo;  afterwards  under  other  titles, 
viz.:  'The  Ancient  Psychrolusia  Revived,' 
London,  1702,  1706 ;  l  History  of  Hot  and 
Cold  Bathing,' with  appendix  by  Dr.  Baynard, 
London,  1709, 1715, 1722 ;  Manchester,  1844, 
12mo ;  in  German,  Breslau,  1749  ;  in  Latin, 
Leyden,  1699,  Amsterdam,  1718.  4.  'Trea- 
tise on  the  Asthma,'  London,  1698  ;  3rd  ed. 
1745,  8vo  ;  in  French,  Paris,  1761  (WATT, 
Bibl  Brit:}  5. '  The  Physician's  PulseWatch,' 
vol.  i.  1707,  vol.  ii.  1710, 8vo.  6.  A  letter  on 
bathing  in  Dr.  Joseph  Browne's  account  of 
cures  performed  by  cold  baths,  London,  1707. 
7.  '  A  Letter  concerning  the  Rupture  of  the 
Lungs,'  London,  1710,  8vo  (WATT).  8.  'The 
Sibylline  Oracles,  translated  from  the  Greek,' 
London,  1713,  8vo.  9.  '  A  Vindication  of  the 
SibyllineOracles,'London,1715,8vo.  lO.'Two 
Essays,  on  the  Creation  and  on  the  Mosaic 
System,'  Nottingham,  1717,  sm.  8vo.  11.  'An 
Exposition  of  the  Revelations/  London  and 
Lichfield,  1719.  12.  '  Exposition  and  Vin- 
dication of  Esdras '  (announced  as  on  sale 
1722;  not  seen).  13.  'An  Essay  to  restore 
the  Dipping  of  Infants  in  their  Baptism,'  Lon- 
don, 1722,  8vo.  14. '  Medicina  Geronocomica, 
or  the  Galenic  Art  of  Preserving  Old  Men's 
Healths,'  London,  1724,  1725,  8vo.  15.  'A 
Comment  on  Forty-two  Histories  described 
by  Hippocrates  in  his  "  Epidemics," '  &c., 
London,  1726,  8vo.  16.  Two  memoirs  in 
'  Philos.  Transactions,'  vols.  xxi.  and  xxiii., 
of  no  great  importance. 

Floyer  states  that  the  following  manu- 
scripts were  left  in  the  library  of  Queen's 
College,  Oxford,  but  they  are  not  named  in 
Coxe's  Catalogue  of  Oxford  MSS. :  (1)  '  Ad- 
vice to  a  Young  Physician ; '  (2)  '  Medicines 


Fludd 


348 


Fludd 


distributed  into  Classes  by  their  Tastes;' 
(3)  'The  Third  and  Fourth  Parts  of  the 
Pulse  Watch;'  (4)  'Essay  on  Air,  Exercise,' 
&c.  Two  letters  of  Floyer's,  without  impor- 
tance, are  among  the  Brit.  Mus.  MSS. 

[Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  ii.  979  (ed.  1721) ; 
Harwood's  History  of  Lichfield,  1806  ;  Haller, 
Bibl.  Med.  Pract.  iv.  10;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat. ;  Gent, 
Mag.  March  1734.]  J.  F.  P. 

FLUDD    or    FLUD,   ROBERT,  M.D. 

(1574-1637),  rosicrucian,  second,  or,  accord- 
ing to  Waite,  fifth  son  of  Sir  Thomas  Fludd, 
knight,  by  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Philip 
Andros  of  Taunton,  Somerset,  was  born  in 
1574  at  Milgate  House,  in  the  parish  of  Bear- 
sted,  Kent.  The  family  was  of  Welsh  origin ; 
Robert's  grandfather,  David  Fludd,  was  of 
Morton,  Shropshire.  Sir  Thomas  Fludd  was 
*  sometime  treasurer  of  war  to  Q.  Elizabeth 
in  France  and  the  Low  Countries.'  In  1591 
Fludd  became  commoner  of  St.  John's  Col- 
lege, Oxford,  and  graduated  B.A.  on  3  Feb. 
1596  ;  M.A.  on  8  July  1598.  As  a  student 
of  medical  science  he  travelled  for  nearly 
six  years  on  the  continent,  visiting  France, 
Spain,  Italy,  and  Germany,  and  teaching  in 
noble  families.  Returning  with  consider- 
able repute  as  a  proficient  in  chemistry,  he 
became  a  member  of  Christ  Church,  Oxford, 
and  on  16  May  1605  received  the  degrees  of 
M.B.  and  M.D.  Early  in  1606  he  was  twice 
examined  by  the  College  of  Physicians ;  on 
the  second  occasion  (7  Feb.)  the  censors 
reported  that  although  he  had  not  fully 
satisfied  the  examiners,  he  was  qualified  to 
practise  medicine.  In  consequence  of  al- 
leged expressions  of  contempt  for  the  Gale- 
nic system,  he  was  cited  to  appear  before 
the  censors  on  2  May  1606.  He  denied  the 
charges ;  his  accusers  not  appearing,  he  was 
dismissed  with  an  admonition.  Thrice  in 
the  same  year  he  was  examined  as  a  candi- 
date for  the  fellowship,  and  on  22  Dec.  was 
pronounced l  dignus.'  But  he  got  into  further 
trouble  with  the  authorities,  and  '  tarn  in- 
solenter  se  gessit '  that  on  21  March  1608  he 
was  again  admonished.  On  20  Sept.  1609 
he  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  College  of 
Physicians ;  he  served  as  censor  in  1618, 
1627,  1633,  and  1634. 

Fludd  practised  in  London  as  a  physician, 
and  kept  a  handsome  establishment.  His 
success  in  the  healing  art  is  ascribed  by  Fuller 
to  his  influence  on  the  minds  of  his  patients, 
producing  a  *  faith-natural '  which  aided  the 
'  well  working '  of  his  drugs.  He  had  his 
own  apothecary  under  his  roof,  which  was 
unusual ;  and  he  was  always  provided  with 
an  amanuensis,  to  whom  he  dictated  at  un- 
timely hours  his  numerous  and  elaborate 


treatises  on  things  divine  and  human.  He 
claims  notice  as  a  mechanician  ;  by  his  own 
account  he  had  constructed  a  wooden  bull 
that  bellowed,  an  automatic  dragon,  and  a 
self-performing  lyre. 

As  a  writer,  Fludd  is  the  chief  English 
representative  of  that  school  of  medical  mys- 
tics who  laid  claim  to  the  possession  of  the 
key  to  universal  science.  With  less  of  original 
genius  than  Paracelsus,  he  has  more  method, 
and  takes  greater  pains  to  frame  a  consistent 
system.  The  common  idea  of  this  school,  that 
the  biblical  text  contains  a  storehouse  of 
hints  for  modern  science,  has  lost  interest,, 
its  potency  expiring  with  the  Hutchinsonians. 
And  since  Fludd  did  not  make,  like  Para- 
celsus, any  permanent  addition  to  the  pharma- 
copoeia, or  foreshadow,  like  Servetus,  any  later 
discoveries  in  chemistry  or  physiology,  his 
lucubrations  have  passed  into  oblivion.  His 
writings  obtained  more  attention  abroad  than 
at  home,  though  Selden  highly  valued  them, 
and  an  admiring  writer  (John  Webster)  es- 
teems their  author  'one  of  the  most  Christian 
philosophers  that  ever  writ.'  Kepler  and 
Gassendi  entered  the  lists  against  him.  De 
Quincey,  following  Buhle,  makes  him  oddly 
enough  the  '  immediate  father '  of  free- 
masonry. 

Fludd  is  best  remembered  for  his  connec- 
tion with  the  fraternity  of  the  rosy  cross,  a 
society  so  obscure  that  its  very  existence  has 
been  denied.  It  was  introduced  to  the  public 
in  1614  by  an  anonymous  work  in  German, 
best  known  as  the '  FamaFraternitatis,' which 
promised  a  '  universal  and  general  reforma- 
tion of  the  whole  world '  through  the l  Orden 
des  Rosenkreuzes.'  This  publication,  which 
Gottfried  Arnold  regards  as  an  elaborate  skit 
on  the  part  of  Johann  Valentin  Andreas 
(1586-1654),  ascribed  the  foundation  of  the 
fraternity  to  one  Christian  Rosenkreuz,  in  ih& 
fifteenth  century.  In  addition  to  the  attain- 
ment of  the  usual  prizes  of  the  alchemist,  one 
of  its  practical  objects  was  reported  to  be  the 
gratuitous  healing  of  the  sick.  The  move- 
ment was  commended  to  Fludd's  notice  by 
the  German  alchemist,  Michael  Maier,  who- 
visited  him  in  London.  Fludd  came  for- 
ward in  vindication  of  the  fraternity,  espe- 
cially from  the  suspicions  of  theologians. 
To  a  manuscript  '  Declaratio  breuis,'  which 
he  addressed  to  James  I,  are  appended  the 
confirmatory  letters  of  French  and  German 
associates.  On  behalf  of  German  writers  of 
the  fraternity,  Justus  Helt  testifies  (20  April 
1617)  that  they  are  neither  popish  nor  Lu- 
theran, in  short  that  'Fratrum  theosophiam 
esse  Calvinistarum  theologiam.' 

Flood  takes  the  position  that  all  true 
natural  science  is  rooted  in  revelation.     He. 


Fludd 


349 


Fludd 


opposes  the  'ethnic  philosophy'  of  Aristotle, 
and  is  equally  opposed  to  all  modern  astro- 
nomy, for  he  denies  the  diurnal  revolution 
of  the  earth.  Holding  with  the  neoplatonists 
that  all  things  were  '  complicitly  and  ideally 
in  God '  before  they  were  made,  he  advances 
to  a  doctrine  of  the  divine  immanence  which 
betrays  a  strong  pantheistic  tendency.  In 
the  dedication  of  one  of  his  works  (1617)  he 
addresses  the  deity,  '0  natura  naturans,  in- 
finita  et  gloriosa.'  St.  Luke  he  calls  his 
*  physicall  and  theosophicall  patron '  (Mosai- 
call  Philos.} 

Fludd  died  unmarried  on  8  Sept.  1637  at 
his  house  in  the  parish  of  St.  Catherine, 
Coleman  Street ;  he  had  previously  lived  in 
Fenchurch  Street.  He  was  buried  with  some 
ceremony  in  the  chancel  of  Bearsted  Church, 
under  a  stone  which  he  had  laid  for  the  pur- 
pose ;  it  bears  an  English  inscription.  He 
left  directions  for  a  monument  in  the  style 
of  that  of  Camden  at  Westminster;  this, 
with  bust  and  long  Latin  epitaph,  was  erected 
10  Aug.  1638  within  the  chancel  rails  at 
Bearsted,  by  his  nephew,  Thomas  Fludd  or 
Floyd  of  Gore  Court,  Otham,  Kent.  His 
portrait  was  engraved  by  Mathias  Merran 
of  Basle,  and  again  by  Cooper.  It  represents 
a  man  with  bald  head,  high  forehead,  and 
good  features.  Granger  mentions  five  differ- 
ent prints  of  him .  A  sister  of  Fludd  married 
Sir  Nicholas  Gilbourne  of  Charing,  Kent 
{Answer  to  Foster,  p.  108). 

In  his  printed  works  his  name  is  given 
indifferently  as  Flud  or  Fludd ;  the  former 
seems  to  represent  his  earlier  usage,  and  it  is 
that  of  the  manuscript  '  Declaratio  breuis ' 
(1 617).  The  punning  translation,  '  De  Fluc- 
tibus,'  used  by  Fludd  in  his  second  publica- 
tion, and  adopted  by  Kepler  and  others,  ar- 
gues an  ignorance  of  Welsh,  as  the  rendering 
bears  no  relation  either  to  'llwyd'  (grey),  or 
'llwydd'  (luck).  Once  he  employs  (1617)  the 
name  Rudolf  Otreb,  an  anagram  for  Robert 
Floud.  He  published  also  under  the  name 
of  Joachim  Frizius ;  and  a  posthumous  work, 
•which  has  been  assigned  to  him,  appeared 
under  the  name  of  Alitophilus. 

His  principal  works  are :  1.  f  Apologia 
Compendiaria,  Fraternitatem  de  Rosea  Cruce 
euspicionis  .  .  .  maculis  aspersam,  veritatis 
quasi  Fluctibus  abluens,'  &c.,  Leyden,  1616, 
8vo.  (the  assailant  of  the  rosicrucians  was 
Andreas  Libavius).  2.  'Tractatus  Apolo- 
geticus  integritatem  Societatis  de  Rosea 
Cruce  defendens,'  &c.,  Leyden,  1617,  8vo  (a 
revision  of  No.  1).  3.  'Tractatus  Theologo- 
philosophicus,'  &c.,  Oppenheim,  1617  [the 
date  is  given  in  a  chronogram],  4to  (this 
treatise  '  a  Rudolfo  Otreb  Britanno '  is  de- 
dicated to  the  rosicrucian  fraternity,  and 


consists  of  three  books,  'De  Vita/  <De 
Morte,'  and  '  De  Resurrectione  ; '  in  the  third 
book  he  contends  that  those  filled  with  the 
spirit  of  Christ  may  rise  before  his  second  ad- 
vent). 4.  '  Utriusque  Cosmi . . .  metaphysica, 
physica  atque  technica  Historia,'  &c.,  Oppen- 
heim and  Frankfort,  1617-24,  fol.  (has  two 
dedications,  first  to  the  Deity,  secondly  to 
James  I ;  very  curious  copperplates  ;  it  was 
to  have  been  in  two  volumes,  the  first  con- 
taining two  treatises,  the  second  three ;  it  was 
completed  as  far  as  the  first  section  of  the 
second  treatise  of  the  second  volume).  5.  'Ve- 
ritatis Proscenium,'  &c.,  Frankfort,  1621,  fol. 
(reply  to  Kepler,  who  had  criticised  him  in 
appendix  to  '  Harmonice  Mundi,'  1619,  fol.) 
6.  '  Monochordon  Mundi  Symphoniacum,' 
&c.,  Frankfort,  1622,  4to  (reply  to  Kepler's 
1  Mathematice,'  1622,  fol.)  7.  '  Anatomise 
Amphitheatrum,'  &c.,  Frankfort,  1623,  fol. 
(includes  reprint  of  No.  6).  8.  '  Philosophia 
Sacra  et  vere  Christiana,'  &c.,  Frankfort,  1626, 
fol.  (portrait ;  dedicated  to  John  Williams, 
bishop  of  Lincoln).  9.  '  Medicina  Catho- 
lica,'  &c.,  Frankfort,  1629-31,  fol.  (in  five 
parts ;  the  plan  included  a  second  volume, 
not  published).  10.  'Sophiee  cum  Moria 
Certamen,'  &c.,  Frankfort,  1629,  fol.  (reply 
to  the  '  Qusestiones  Celebres  in  Genesim,'  by 
Marin  Mersenne).  11.  '  Summum  Bonorum,' 
&c.  [Frankfort],  1629, fol.  ('per  Joachim Fri- 
zium ; '  further  reply  to  Mersenne,  who  had 
accused  Fludd  of  magic ;  Gasseudi  took  up 
the  controversy  in  an  '  Examen  Philosophise 
Fluddanse,'  1630).  12.  'Doctor  Fludds  An- 
swer vnto  M.  Foster,  or,  The  Sqvesing  of 
Parson  Fosters  Sponge,'  &c.,  London,  1631, 
4to  (defence  of  weapon-salve,  against  the 
'  Hoplocrisma-Spongus,'  1631,  4to,  of  Wil- 
liam Foster  [q.  v.],  of  Hedgerley,  Bucking- 
hamshire) ;  an  edition  in  Latin,  '  Responsum 
ad  Hoplocrisma-Spongum,'  &c.,  Gouda,  1638, 
fol.  Posthumous  were :  13. '  Philosophia  Moy- 
saica,'  &c.,  Gouda,  1638,  fol. ;  an  edition  in 
English,  'Mosaicall  Philosophy,'  &c.,  London, 
1659,  4to.  14.  'ReligioExculpata,'  &c.  [Ra- 
tisbon],  1684,  4to  ('  Autore  Alitophilo  Reli- 
gionis  fluctibus  dudum  immerso,  tandem  .  .  . 
emerso;'  preface  signed  J.  N.  J. ;  though 
assigned  to  Fludd,  this  work  wholly  differs 
in  character  from  his  genuine  productions). 
15.  'Tractatus  de  Geomantia,'  &c.  (four 
books),  included  in  'Fasciculus  Geomanti- 
cus,'  &c.,  Verona,  1687,  8vo.  16.  An  un- 
published manuscript,  copied  by  an  amanu- 
ensis, and  headed  'Declaratio  breuis,  &c./ 
is  in  the  British  Museum,  Royal  MSS.,  12  C. 
ii.;  the  manuscript  12  B.  viii.,  which  seems 
to  have  been  another  copy  of  this,  with  a 
slightly  different  title,  has  perished  by  fire. 
Fludd's  'Opera'  consist  of  his  folios,  not 


Fludyer 


350 


Fogg 


reprinted,  but  collected  and  arranged  in  six 
volumes  in  1638;  appended  is  a  'Clavis 
Philosophic  et  Alchimise  Fluddanse,'  Frank- 
fort, 1633.  fol.  ^ 

[Fuller's  Worthies,  1672,  p.  78  sq.  (second 
pagination),  gives  the  name  as  Floid ;  "Wood's 
Athense  Oxon.  1691,  i.  504,  509  (i.e.  519),  773, 
778,  793;  additions  in  Bliss,  ii.  618;  Ebert's 
Lexicon,  1821-30,  No.  7701 ;  Webster's  Display- 
ing of  Supposed  Witchcraft,  1677 ;  Granger's 
Biog.  Hist,  of  Engl.  1824,  ii.  119  ;  De  Quincey's 
Historico-Crit.  Inquiry  into  the  Origin  of  the 
Kosicrucians  and  the  Freemasons  (1824),  Works, 
xvi.  406  sq. ;  Hunt's  Relig.  Thought  in  Engl. 
1870,  i.  240  sq. ;  Mank's  Coll.  of  Phys.  1878,  i. 
150  sq. ;  Waite's  Keal  Hist,  of  the  Rosicrucians, 
1887,  p.  284  sq. ;  Fludd's  Works.]  A.  GL 

FLUDYER,  SIR  SAMUEL  (1705-1768), 
lord  mayor  of  London,  born  in  1705,  was  the 
son  of  Samuel  Fludyer,  a  clothier  in  the  city 
of  London.  His  mother  was  Elizabeth  Mon- 
sallier,  and  her  sister  Judith  was  grandmother 
of  the  eminent  legist,  Sir  Samuel  Romilly. 
1  The  Fludyers  (i.e.  Samuel  and  his  brother 
Thomas)  began  their  career  in  very  narrow 
circumstances,  but  by  extraordinary  industry, 
activity,  enterprise,  and  good  fortune  they  ac- 
quired inordinate  wealth'  (ROMILLY,  Me- 
moirs). Romilly  would  have  become  a  clerk 
in  their  counting-house  had  not  their  deaths 
put  an  end  to  the  scheme.  In  due  course 
the  brothers  became  common  councillors  in 
the  city  of  London,  Samuel  for  Bassishaw 
ward,  Thomas  for  Aldgate.  In  1751  Samuel 
was  elected  alderman  of  Cheap  ward.  Three 
years  later  he  served  the  office  of  sheriff,  was 
elected  M.P.  for  Chippenham  in  1754,  was 
knighted  in  1755  by  George  II,  made  a  baronet 
in  1759,  and  became  lord  mayor  in  1761.  On 
this  occasion  George  III  attended  the  inau- 
guration dinner,  while  the  queen  and  royal 
family  witnessed  the  lord  mayor's  show  from 
David  Barclay's  house  opposite  Bow  Church 
in  Cheapside.  This  9  Nov.  was  also  distin- 
guished by  the  last  known  exhibition  of  a 
play  written  expressly  for  the  day  by  the 
*  city  poet '  (NICHOLS,  Anecd.  i.  44).  Fludyer 
failed  in  an  attempt  to  represent  the  city  of 
London  at  the  election  of  1759,  but  was  re- 
elected  for  Chippenham  in  1761.  He  was 
deputy-governor  of  the  Bank  of  England  at 
the  time  of  his  death,  which  took  place,  of 
apoplexy,  on  18  Jan.  1768.  His  fortune  was 
estimated  at  900,0007.  (Gent.  Mag.}  Sir 
Thomas,  who  succeeded  his  brother  in  the 
representation  of  Chippenham,  died  in  March 
1769. 

[Orridge's  Citizens  of  London,  153-7;  Memoirs 
of  Sir  S.  Romilly;  Taubman's  Pageants;  Nichols's 
Lit.  Anecd.  i.  44 ;  Gent.  Mag.  1768.]  R.  H. 

^    *  A  page  of  Fludd's  handwrit- 
ing, taken  from  the  commonplace-book  of 

Toachim      MorsiuS.       is      renrnrlnr^      in       H 


FOGG,  LAURENCE  (1623-1718),  dean< 
of  Chester,  son  of  Robert  Fogg  (who  was  an 
active  worker  for  the  parliament,  rector  of 
Bangor-is-y-Coed,  Flintshire,  ejected  1662, 
died  1676),  was  born  at  Darcy  Lever,  in  the 
parish  of  Bolton,  in  1623,  and  educated  at 
Bolton  grammar  school  and  at  Cambridge. 
He  was  admitted  pensioner  of  Emmanuel  Col- 
lege on  28  Sept.  1644,  and  was  afterwards  of 
St.  John's  College.  He  held  the  office  of 
taxor  of  the  university  in  1657.  The  degree 
of  S.T.P.  was  granted  to  him  in  1679.  He 
was  appointed  rector  of  Hawarden,  Flint- 
shire, in  1655  or  1656,  and  was  among  the 
first  who  restored  the  public  use  of  the  liturgy. 
In  1662  he  resigned  his  living,  owing  to  an 
apparent  ambiguity  in  an  act  of  parliament 
relating  to  subscription,  but  he  afterwards- 
conformed.  He  preached  at  Oldham  on 
20  May  1666,  being  then  curate  of  Prestwich, 
and  described  as  theol.  baccal.  In  1672  he 
was  appointed  vicar  of  St.  Oswald's,  Chester, 
and  on  4  Oct.  1673  was  inducted  prebendary 
of  Chester  Cathedral.  In  the  latter  year  he 
became  vicar  of  Plemonstall,  Cheshire,  on 
the  presentation  of  the  lord  keeper  Bridge- 
man,  and  on  14  Nov.  1691  was  installed  dean 
of  Chester.  He  was  a  candid,  sober-minded 
churchman,  and  much  esteemed  by  the  more 
moderate  and  pious  dissenters,  with  whom 
he  was  on  intimate  terms.  Philip  and  Mat- 
thew Henry  both  refer  to  him  with  appre- 
ciation. The  latter  in  1698  listened  to  one 
of  Fogg's  sermons  with  'singular  delight/ 
'  I  have  from  my  heart  forgiven,'  he  writes, 
'  so  I  will  endeavour  to  forget  all  that  the 
dean  has  at  any  time  said  against  dissenters, 
and  against  me  in  particular.'  He  wrote  : 

1.  'Two   Treatises;   i.  A  General  View  of 
the   Christian  Religion ;    ii.  An   Entrance 
into  the  Doctrine  of  Christianity  by  Cate- 
chistical    Instruction,'    Chester,    1712,  8vo. 

2.  '  Theologies  Speculativae  Schema,'  Lond. 
1712,  8vo.    3.  '  God's  Infinite  Grace  in  Elec- 
tion, and  Impartial  Equity  in  Preterition 
Vindicated,'  Chester,  1713,  8vo.    He  died  on 
27  Feb.  1717-18,  and  was  buried  in  Chester 
Cathedral,  where  a  monument  to  his  memory 
was  erected  by  his  son  Arthur  (1668-1738), 
prebendary  of  Chester,  but,  although  it  was 
extant  in  Ormerod's  time,  it  is  no  longer  to 
be  found  there. 

[Cf.  Calamy's  Abridgment,  1713,  ii.  708 ;  Con- 
tinuation, 1727,  ii.  826;  Ormerod's  Cheshire, 
1819,  i.  427;  Booker's  Prestwich  Church,  1852, 
p.  118 ;  Sir  J.  B.  Williams's  Mem.  of  M.  Henry, 
1828 ;  Philip  Henry's  Diaries  and  Letters  (Lee), 
1882  ;  Worthington's  Diary  (Chetham  Soc.),  i. 
20,  90,  104;  Palatine  Note-book,  iv.  55,  79; 
Gastrell's  Notitia  Cestriensis  (Raines),  i.  135-6r 
138;  Le  Neve's  Fasti  (Hardy),  iii.  265,  271.; 


Foggo 


351 


Foggo 


G-raduati  Cantabr.  1823;  Watt's  Bibl.  Brit.; 
communications  from  Mr.  W.  H.  Gladstone  of 
Hawarden,  Mr.  Thomas  Hughes,  F.S.A.,  of  Ches- 
ter, and  Mr.  J.  C.  Scholes,  Bolton.]  C.  W.  S. 

FOGGO,  GEORGE  (1793-1869),  histo- 
rical painter,  younger  brother  of  James  Foggo 
[q.  v.],  born  in  London  14  April  1793,  re- 
ceived his  early  education  with  his  brother 
at  Paris,  and  joined  him  in  London  in  1819, 
after  which  date  he  was  inseparably  asso- 
ciated with  him  in  his  works  and  life.  With 
his  brother  he  founded  the  society  for  obtain- 
ing free  access  to  our  museums,  public  edi- 
fices, and  works  of  art,  of  which  the  Duke  of 
Sussex  was  president,  Joseph  Hume  chairman 
of  committees,  and  George  Foggo  honorary 
secretary.  He  worked  as  a  lithographer  also 
with  his  brother,  and  they  lithographed  their 
large  picture  of  '  Parga '  and  other  original 
works ;  in  1828  he  published  by  himself  a 
set  of  large  lithographs  from  the  cartoons  by 
Raphael.  Foggo  published  in  1844  a  cata- 
logue of  the  pictures  of  the  National  Gallery, 
with  critical  remarks,  the  first  attempt  to 
make  the  collection  intelligible  to  the  public. 
Together  with  his  brother,  he  was  an  un- 
sparing critic  of  the  Royal  Academy  and  its 
system  of  education,  and  published  some 
pamphlets  on  the  subject.  He  was  associated 
with  other  plans  for  the  advancement  of  art, 
and  was  a  man  of  great  energy.  He  also 
published  in  1853  the  '  Adventures  of  Sir  J. 
Brooke,  Rajah  of  Sarawak.'  He  died  in  Lon- 
don 26  Sept.  1869,  aged  76. 

[Redgrave's  Diet,  of  Artists;  Ottley's  Diet,  of 
Recent  and  Living  Painters ;  G-raves's  Diet,  of 
Artists,  1760-1880;  Art  Journal,  1860  p.  372, 
1869  p.  360;  Catalogues  of  Royal  Academy, 
British  Institution,  &c. ;  manuscript  and  other 
notes  in  Anderdon's  Illustrated  Academy  Cata- 
logues, print  room,  British  Museum.]  L.  C. 

FOGGO,  JAMES  (1789-1860),  historical 
painter,  was  born  in  London  11  June  1789. 
His  father  was  a  native  of  Fifeshire,  and  a 
watchmaker  of  good  repute,  but  an  advanced 
republican.  He  strenuously  advocated  negro 
emancipation  in  repeated  visits  to  North  and 
South  America.  Towards  the  end  of  1799 
the  free  assertion  of  these  principles  led  him 
to  fear  persecution,  and  he  took  refuge  in 
France  with  his  wife  and  children.  Unfor- 
tunately the  Foggos  arrived  just  at  the  com- 
mencement of  Napoleon's  military  despotism, 
and  were  unable  to  quit  Paris  and  return  to 
their  native  land  as  they  desired.  James  and 
his  younger  brother  George  [q.  v.],  wishing  to 
become  painters,  were  placed  in  the  academy 
at  Paris  under  the  instruction  of  Jean  Bap- 
tiste  Regnault.  They  became  desirous  of 
emulating  the  work  done,  under  the  encourage- 


ment of  their  country,  by  the  French  histo- 
rical painters.  In  1815,  on  Napoleon's  return 
from  Elba,  Foggo  quitted  France  for  Eng- 
land, where  he  found  all  the  friends  of  his 
family  dead  or  dispersed.  He  set  up  a  studio 
in  Frith  Street,  Soho.  In  1816  he  exhibited 
'  Jane  Shore '  at  the  Royal  Academy,  and  in 
1818  '  Hagar  and  Ishmael '  at  the  British  In- 
stitution, contributing  also  to  the  latter  a 
study  of  '  An  Assassin's  Head.'  The  pic- 
ture of  'Hagar'  was  well  hung,  and  at- 
tracted attention,  but  did  not  find  a  purchaser. 
Foggo  was  obliged  to  support  himself  by 
teaching,  and  occasionally  painting  portraits. 
In  1819  his  father  had  to  go  on  a  journey 
to  Brazil,  and  his  mother,  with  his  brother 
George,  joined  him  in  London.  From  this 
time  for  forty  years  the  two  brothers  lived 
and  worked  together,  painting  on  the  same 
canvas,  and  devoting  themselves  to  historical 
compositions.  They  spent  about  three  years 
in  painting  a  very  large  picture,  representing- 
*  The  Christian  Inhabitants  of  Parga  pre- 
paring to  emigrate.'  This,  when  completed, 
was  too  large  for  exhibition  in  the  ordinary 
galleries,  and  the  Foggos  were  compelled  to 
exhibit  it  separately  at  their  own  expense. 
They  were  forced  to  eke  out  their  means  by  all 
kinds  of  artistic  drudgery.  By  sketching  in 
accessories  to  architectural  and  sculptural 
designs  they  became  acquainted  with  Francis 
Goodwin,  the  architect,  who  advised  them  to 
paint  pictures  suitable  for  altar-pieces  in 
churches.  They  subsequently  produced  '  The 
Pool  of  Bethesda '  for  the  Bordesley  Chapel 
at  Birmingham ;  '  Christ  blessing  little  Chil- 
dren '  for  St.  Leonard's  Church,  Bilston ; 
'  Christ  confounding  the  Rulers  of  the  Syna- 
gogue,' exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy,  and 
much  admired,  but  mysteriously  lost  on  its 
way  to  Manchester,  for  which  town  it  was 
destined ;  ' Nathan  reproving  David'  for  Mac- 
clesfield  town  hall,  and  '  The  Entombment 
of  Christ,'  presented  by  Mr.  Edward  Moxhay 
to  the  French  protestant  church,  St.  Martin's- 
le-Grand.  The  brothers  lost  patronage  by 
their  open  advocacy  of  a  more  liberal  system 
of  education  in  art  than  that  provided  by  the 
Academy.  They  were  unsuccessful  competi- 
tors at  the  Westminster  Hall  exhibitions  in 
1843-7,  but  exhibited  their  works  with  Hay- 
don  and  others  at  the  Pantheon.  Among- 
other  historical  pictures  painted  by  them 
were  :  t  The  Martyrdom  of  Anne  Askew/ 
1  Wat  Tyler  killing  the  Tax  Collector,'  <  The 
Barons  taking  the  Oath  at  Bury  St.  Edmunds/ 
'  Napoleon  signing  the  Death-warrant  of  the 
Due  d'Enghien/  '  General  Williams  among 
the  Inhabitants  of  Kars,'  &c. 

In  1852  they  undertook  the  arrangement 
and  care  of  the  exhibition  at  the  Pantheon 


Foillan 


352 


Folcard 


in  Oxford  Street,  and  continued  it  for  three 
years.  Mr.  Hart,  a  well-known  picture 
dealer,  offered  to  purchase  all  the  unsold 
works  which  the  Foggos  had  by  them.  The 
offer,  gladly  accepted,  came  to  nothing,  owing 
to  the  premature  death  of  the  purchaser.  The 
brothers  were  much  esteemed  in  private  life 
for  many  excellent  qualities,  and  their  friends 
were  numerous  and  sincere.  Foggo  died  in 
London  14  Sept.  1860,  and  was  buried  in  the 
Highgate  cemetery. 

[Authorities  under  GEORGE  FOGGO.]     L.  C. 

FOILLAN",  SAINT  and  BISHOP  (d.  655), 
"brother  of  Fursa  [q.  v.],  left  Ireland  with  his 
brother,  and  passing  through  Wales  settled 
in  East  Anglia,  where  he  was  received  by 
King  Sigebert.  When  Fursa,  having  com- 
pleted his  monastery  of  Cnoberesburgh,  was 
about  to  retire  to  the  hermitage  of  his  brother 
Ultan,  he  placed  the  monastery  in  charge  of 
Foillan  and  two  others.  Fursa,  some  time 
after,  was  driven  abroad  by  the  disturbed 
state  of  the  country,  and  settled  in  the  terri- 
tory of  Neustria.  Foillan  some  time  later 
left  Cnoberesburgh,  and  with  Ultan  followed 
Fursa  to  the  continent.  Here  they  were  in- 
vited to  settle  in  Brabant,  to  the  north  of 
Peronne,  by  Gertrude,  daughter  of  Pepin, 
abbess  of  Nivelles.  She  wished  them  to  in- 
struct her  community,  especially  in  music,  for 
which  the  Irish  were  famous.  With  the  aid 
of  Gertrude  they  erected  a  monastery  at 
Posse,  not  far  from  Nivelles,  over  which  Ultan 
•was  placed,  Foillan  remaining  in  charge  of 
the  establishment  at  Nivelles.  Foillan,  when 
travelling  through  the  forest  of  Soignies  in 
Hainault  with  three  of  his  disciples,  was 
••set  upon  by  robbers  and  slain  on  31  Oct., 
.and  probably  in  655.  The  bodies  were  not 
discovered  until  1C  Jan.  following.  This 
day  was  afterwards  observed  as  that  of  the 
Invention  of  St.  Foillan.  He  was  buried  at 
Fosse,  and  in  the  calendar  of  (Engus  and 
other  authorities  is  accounted  a  martyr,  doubt- 
less because  he  was  killed  in  the  discharge  of 
his  duty.  He  appears  to  have  been  a  bishop, 
but  the  story  of  his  having  been  consecrated 
"by  Pope  Martin  I  seems  to  have  no  better 
foundation  than  the  idea  which  possessed 
many  mediaeval  writers  that  every  one  ought 
to  have  gone  to  Rome.  The  monasteries  of 
Fosse  and  Peronne,  with  that  of  St.  Quinton, 
formed  one  of  those  groups  of  Irish  monas- 
teries which  were  so  frequent  on  the  con- 
tinent in  that  age,  and  performed  an  impor- 
tant part  in  sowing  the  seeds  of  religion  and 
•civilisation  among  barbarian  tribes. 

[Colgan,  Acta  Sanct.  99-103  ;  Lanigan's  Eccl. 
iHist.  ii.  464-6;  Ussher's  Works;  Calendar  of 
{Engus,  clxi.]  T.  0. 


FOLBURY,  GEORGE  (d.  1540),  master 
of  Pembroke  Hall,  Cambridge,  graduated 
B.A.  at  Cambridge  in  1514,  was  preacher  to 
the  university  in  1519,  took  the  degree  of 
B.D.  in  1524,  was  presented  to  a  canonry 
and  to  the  prebend  of  North  Newbald  in  the 
church  of  York  in  March  1531,  to  the  rectory 
of  Maidwell,  Northamptonshire,  on  20  Feb. 
1533-4,  elected  master  of  Pembroke  Hall  in 
1537,  and  died  between  10  July  and  10  Nov. 
1540.  He  is  said  to  have  been  for  a  time 
tutor  to  Henry  Fitzroy,  duke  of  Richmond, 
natural  son  of  Henry  VIII,  but  this  is  not 
confirmed  by  the  memoir  of  the  duke  pub- 
lished in  '  Camden  Miscellany,'  vol.  iii.  Bale 
states  that  he  took  the  degree  of  D.D.  at 
Montpelier,  and  that  he  was  a  poet,  orator, 
and  epigrammatist.  His  works  seem  to  have 
perished. 

[Cooper's  Athense  Cantabr. ;  Le  Neve's  Fasti 
Eccl.  Angl.  iii.  674  ;  Letters  and  Papers,  For. 
and  Dom.  Henry  VIII,  vol.  v.  g.  166,  31 ;  Bale's 
Scriptt.  lllustr.  Maj.Brit.  (Basel,  1557),  cent.  ix. 
27.]  J.  M.  E. 

FOLCARD  or  FOULCARD  (fl.  1066), 
hagiographer,  a  Fleming  by  race  and  birth, 
was  a  monk  of  St.  Bertin's  in  Flanders,  who 
is  supposed  to  have  come  over  to  England  in 
the  reign  of  Edward  the  Confessor.  He  en- 
tered the  monastery  of  the  Holy  Trinity  or 
Christ  Church.  Canterbury,  and  was  renowned 
for  his  learning,  and  especially  for  his  know- 
ledge of  grammar  and  music ;  his  manners 
were  affable  and  his  temper  cheerful.  Soon 
after  the  Conquest  the  king  set  him  over 
the  abbey  of  Thorney,  Cambridgeshire ;  but 
he  was  never  strictly  abbot,  for  he  did  not 
receive  the  benediction.  After  holding  the 
abbey  about  sixteen  years  he  retired,  owing 
to  a  dispute  with  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  evi- 
dently Remigius,  and  returned,  as  may  be 
fairly  inferred  from  Orderic,  to  his  own  land. 
The  statement  in  the  'Monasticon' that  he 
was  deposed  by  Lanfranc  at  the  council  of 
Gloucester  in  1084  seems  to  lack  foundation. 
Either  while  he  was  a  monk  at  Canterbury, 
or  during  his  residence  at  Thorney,  which 
seems  more  probable,  he  and  his  monastery 
were  in  some  trouble,  and  were  helped  by 
Aldred  [q.  v.],  archbishop  of  York,  who  per- 
suaded the  queen  either  of  the  Confessor  or 
of  the  Conqueror  to  interest  herself  in  their 
cause.  In  return  Folcard  wrote  the  '  Life  of 
Archbishop  John  of  Beverley '  for  Aldred.  His 
works  are :  1.  '  Vita  S.  Bertini/  dedicated  to 
Bovo,  abbot  of  St.  Bertin's  from  1043  to  1065, 
and  printed  in  Mabillon's  l  Acta  SS.  0.  S.  B.' 
in.  ii.  104,  and  in  Migne's  '  Patrologia,'  cxlvii. 
1082.  2.  'Vita  Audomari,'  in  Mabillon, 
ii.  557,  and  Migne.  3.  A  poem  *  in  honorem 


Foldsone 


353 


Foley 


S.  Vigoris  Episcopi,'  written  between  1045 
and  1074,  in  Achery's  '  Spicilegium,'  iv.  576, 
and  Migne.  4.  <  Vita  S.  Oswaldi'  in  Ma- 
billon,  i.  727,  the  Bollandists'  'Acta  SS./ 
Capgrave,  and  Migne.  5.  '  Responsoria  for 
the  Festival  of  St.  John  of  Beverley/  com- 
posed before '  Vita  S.  Johannis  Episcopi  Ebo- 
racensis,'  which  was  written  before  1070,  and 
is  printed  in  the  Bollandists' '  Acta  SS.'  May, 
ii.  165,  Migne,  and '  Historians  of  York '  (Rolls 
Ser.),  i.  238.  6.  '  Vita  S.  Botulfi,'  suggested 
by  the  fact  that  the  relics  of  the  saint  were  at 
Thorney,  dedicated  to  Walkelin,  bishop  of 
"Winchester,  and  therefore  written  in  or  after 
1070,  in  Mabillon,  in.  1,  the  Bollandists' 
1  Acta  SS.'  June  iv.  324,  and  Migne. 

[Ordericus  Vitalis,  Eccles.  Hist.  lib.  xi.  835,  Du- 
chesne;  Histoire  Li  tterairede  la  France,  ed.  1868, 
viii.  132 ;  Cave's  Scriptt.  Eccles.  Historia,  p.  531 ; 
Bale's  Scriptt.  cent.  ii.  164  ;  Dugdale's  Monas- 
ticon,  ii.  594 ;  Wright's  Biog.  Lit.  i.  512  ;  Hardy's 
Cat.  i.  i.  373, 423,  ii.  790 ;  Kaine's  Historians  of 
York,  i.,  Pref.  lii.  (Rolls  Ser.)]  W.  H. 

FpLDSONE,  JOHN  (d.  1784?),  painter, 
obtained  some  note  as  a  painter  of  small  por- 
traits, which  he  executed  with  great  rapidity. 
He  used  to  attend  his  sitters  at  their  dwell- 
ings in  the  morning,  dine  with  them  if  they 
lived  at  a  distance,  and  finish  his  work  before 
evening.  His  portraits,  though  naturally  of 
no  great  merit,  had  sufficient  likeness  to  gain 
him  employment.  Two  portraits  by  him  of 
Miss  Elizabeth  Haffey,  a  child,  and  her 
brother,  John  Burges  Haffey,  were  engraved 
in  mezzotint  by  Robert  Laurie,  and  a  picture 
by  him,  entitled  '  Female  Lucubration/  was 
similarly  engraved  by  P.  Dawe.  Foldsone 
exhibited  first  at  the  Society  of  Artists  in 
1769  and  1770,  and  afterwards  at  the  Royal 
Academy  from  1771  to  1783,  shortly  after 
which  date  he  died.  He  painted  madonnas, 
mythology,  history,  and  portraits,  but  his 
artistic  productions  seem  to  have  been  indif- 
ferent and  on  a  par  with  his  general  character. 
He  left  a  wife  and  family ;  his  eldest  daugh- 
ter, Sarah,  attained  some  note  as  a  miniature- 
painter  [see  MEE,  SARAH]. 

[Edwards's  Anecdotes  of  Painters ;  Redgrave's 
Diet,  of  Artists ;  Graves's  Diet,  of  Artists,  1760- 
1880  ;  Chaloner  Smith's  British  Mezzotinto  Por- 
traits ;  Royal  Academy  Catalogues.]  L.  C. 

FOLEY, 

of  Irish, 

1815.  His  parents  were  poor  people,  and  he 
had  never  worn  shoes,  when  he  obtained  em- 
ployment in  the  shop  of  Patrick  Grey  in 
Traiee.  Under  the  influence  of  a  clergyman 
in  the  neighbourhood  he  left  the  church  of 
Rome,  and  was  sent  to  study  for  ordination 
in  the  then  established  church  of  Ireland  at 

VOL.   XIX. 


BY,  DANIEL  (1815-1874),  professor 
i,  was  born  at  Traiee,  co.  Kerry,  in 


Trinity  College,  Dublin.  He  was  in  time 
ordained,  and  took  the  degree  of  B.D.,  and 
obtained  the  prebend  of  Kilbragh,  in  the  ca- 
thedral of  Cashel,  and  the  rectory  of  Temple- 
tuohy.  Irish  was  his  native  tongue,  and  in 
1849  he  was  appointed  professor  of  that  lan- 
guage in  the  university  of  Dublin,  and  held 
the  office  till  1861.  While  holding  this  office 
he  wrote  a  preface  to  a  small  Irish  grammar 
by  Mr.  C.  H.  H.  Wright,  and  <  An  English- 
Irish  Dictionary,  intended  for  the  use  of  Stu- 
dents of  the  Irish  Language,'  Dublin,  1855. 
This  work  is  based  upon  a  dictionary  pre- 
pared early  in  this  century  by  Thaddeus  Con- 
nellan  [q.v.],  but  published  without  date, 
long  kept  in  sheets,  and  issued  in  Dublin  from 
time  to  time  with  a  variety  of  false  title- 
pages.  Foley  altered  some  of  the  Irish  in- 
terpretations, and  added  a  good  many  words. 
Many  of  the  Irish  words  are  inventions  of 
his  own,  as  fuam-ainm  (sound-name)  for 
onomato-poeia ;  or  paraphrases,  as  duine  (per- 
son) for  microcosm,  eudaigh  (clothes)  for 
caparison ;  or  errors  due  to  defective  educa- 
tion, as  ainis  (anise)  for  caraway.  The  uni- 
versity of  Dublin  made  a  grant  towards  the 
publication,  but  as  a  dictionary  it  is  of  no 
authority.  Foley  took  an  active  part  in  op- 
position to  disestablishment  of  the  church  in 
Ireland,  and  lectured  on  the  subject  in  Eng- 
land. He  died  at  Blackrock,  near  Dublin, 
7  July  1874,  and  was  buried  in  the  cemetery 
of  Kill  o'  the  Grange. 

[A.  "Webb's  Compendium  of  Irish  Biog. ;  infor- 
mation from  Joseph  Manning  of  Traiee;  Foley's 
Works.]  N.  M. 

FOLEY,  JOHN  HENRY  (1818-1874), 
sculptor,  was  born  in  Dublin  on  24  May  1818. 
At  the  age  of  thirteen  he  entered  the  schools 
of  the  Royal  Dublin  Society,  and  gained  the 
first  prizes  for  human  form,  ornamental  de- 
sign, animals,  and  architecture.  In  1834  he 
I  came  to  London,  and  was  admitted  a  student 
of  the  Royal  Academy  in  the  following  year. 
In  1839  he  exhibited  'The  Death  of  Abel' 
and  *  Innocence,'  which  at  once  attracted  at- 
tention, and  in  the  following  year  a  group  of 
'  Ino  and  Bacchus,'  which  was  purchased  by 
the  Earl  of  Ellesmere.  In  1841  came  '  Lear 
and  Cordelia,'  followed  in  1842  by  '  Venus 
rescuing  ^Eneas  from  Diomed,'and  by'Pros- 
pero  and  Miranda 'in  1843.  In  1844  he  sent 
a  figure,  '  Youth  at  the  Stream/  to  the  com- 
petition at  Westminster  Hall  for  the  decora- 
tion of  the  houses  of  parliament,  and  in  1847 
he  received  a  commission  to  execute  the  statue 
of  Hampden,  which  now  stands  in  the  en- 
trance corridor,  together  with  that  of  Selden, 
afterwards  commissioned.  In  1849  he  was 
elected  an  associate  of  the  Royal  Academy, 

A  A 


Foley 


354 


Foley 


and  in  1858  a  royal  academician.  He  con- 
tinued to  contribute  to  the  exhibitions  of  the 
Academy  till  1861,  but  in  consequence  of  a 
dispute  about  the  arrangement  of  the  sculp- 
ture at  the  following  exhibition  he  refused  to 
exhibit  again.  Among  the  finest  of  his  exhi- 
bited works  not  already  mentioned  were '  The 
Mother/ 1851 ;  'Egeria/  1856;  'The  Elder 
Brother  in  Comus,'  his  diploma  work,  1860 ; 
and  '  Oliver  Goldsmith,'  1861.  More  impor- 
tant, however,  than  these  were  some  of  his 
subsequent  works,  the  three  equestrian  statues 
of  Lord  Canning,  Lord  Hardinge,  and  Sir 
James  Outram  for  Calcutta ;  and  the  group 
of  Asia  and  the  figure  of  the  prince  for  the 
Albert  Memorial,  the  latter  of  which  was 
not  erected  till  after  his  death.  Among  his 
other  works  in  public  places  are :  '  Caractacus ' 
and  '  Egeria'  at  the  Mansion  House,  'John 
Stuart  Mill'  on  the  Thames  Embankment, 
'  Sir  Charles  Barry '  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, and '  Lord  Herbert '  in  Pall  Mall.  His 
statues  of  O'Connell,  Lord  Gough,  Goldsmith, 
and  Burke  are  at  Dublin,  Lord  Clyde  at 
Glasgow,  Father  Mathew  at  Cork,  Olive  at 
Shrewsbury,  the  Hon.  J.  Stuart  at  Ceylon, 
and  General  Stonewall  Jackson  in  America. 
Of  Foley's  sepulchral  monuments  the  most  re- 
markable are  those  erected  to  Admiral  Sir  Wil- 
liam Cornwallis  and  others  in  Melfield  Church, 
Hampshire,  to  General  the  Hon.  Robert  Bruce 
in  Dunfermline  Abbey,  and  to  Brigadier-gene- 
ral John  Nicholson  in  Lisburn  Cathedral. 
If  we  add  his  statues  of  Grattan,  Faraday, 
and  Reynolds,  his  monument  to  James  Ward, 
R.A.,  and  his  relief  of  Miss  Helen  Faucit 
(Lady  Martin),  the  list  of  his  more  cele- 
brated works  will  be  nearly  complete ;  but 
he  also  designed  the  seal  of  the  Confederate 
States  of  America,  and  we  must  take  account 
of  a  large  number  of  busts  and  other  com- 
missions of  minor  importance  before  we  can 
fully  appreciate  the  fulness  of  his  employ- 
ment and  the  industry  of  his  life.  He  was  a 
very  conscientious  and  fastidious  workman, 
consulting  his  friends  as  to  his  designs,  and 
altering  them  continually  in  course  of  execu- 
tion. After  a  life  of  devotion  to  his  art  he 
died  at  Hampstead  of  pleuritic  effusion  of  the 
heart,  27  Aug.  1874.  He  left  his  models  to 
the  Dublin  Society,  and  the  bulk  of  his  pro- 
perty to  the  Artists'  Benevolent  Fund. 

Foley  fully  deserved  the  favour  which  he 
enjoyed  almost  from  the  beginning  to  the  end 
of  his  career.  His  earlier  and  more  ideal 
works,  like  '  Ino  and  Bacchus,'  '  Innocence,' 
and  'The  Mother/  were  marked  by  a  na- 
tural grace  and  freshness  of  conception  which 
were  at  that  time  rare  in  modern  sculpture. 
His  later  figure  of  '  Egeria'  is  touched  with 
finer  poetry,  and  in  his  conception  of '  Carac- 


tacus' he  displayed  that  vigour  of  imagination 
and  grasp  of  character  which  distinguished 
his  statues  of  public  men  from  the  work  of 
most  of  his  contemporaries.  His  three  noble 
equestrian  statues  of  Indian  worthies  are 
perhaps  his  greatest  works.  They  are  all  very 
different  from  one  another ;  but  that  of  Sir 
James  Outram,  reining  up  his  horse  and  turn- 
ing round  as  it  were  suddenly  in  his  saddle, 
is  the  most  vivacious  and  original. 

[Redgrave's  Diet,  of  Artists,  1878;  Art  Jour- 
nal, 1865,  1875,  1877;  Works  of  John  Henry 
Foley,  R.A. ;  English  Encyclopaedia  ;  Encyclo- 
paedia Britannica;  Clement  and  Hutton's  Artists 
of  the  Nineteenth  Century.]  C.  M. 

FOLEY,  PAUL  (1645  P-1699),  speaker 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  second  son  of 
Thomas  Foley  [q.  v.]  of  Witley  Court,  Wor- 
cestershire, founder  of  the  Old  Swinford 
Hospital,  was  born  in  or  about  1645  (Mon. 
Inscript.}  In  1670  he  purchased  the  estate 
of  Stoke  Edith,  Herefordshire,  from  Alice 
Lingen,  and  between  1697  and  1699  pulled 
down  the  old  house  and  built  the  present  one. 
In  1679  he  was  chosen  by  the  city  of  Hereford 
as  one  of  its  representatives,  and  served  in  the 
same  capacity  in  seven  parliaments  in  three 
successive  reigns.  He  bore  a  high  reputation 
for  integrity  and  personal  piety,  due,  perhaps, 
in  part  to  the  good  influence  of  Richard 
Baxter,  his  father's  bosom  friend.  In  politics 
he  was  a  strong  tory,  but  was  among  those  who 
insisted  most  strenuously  upon  the  vacancy  of 
the  throne  caused  by  the  flight  of  James  II. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Convention  parlia- 
ment, and  was  one  of  the  managers  of  the 
free  conference  between  the  two  houses  of 
parliament  which  took  place  in  1689  and  led 
to  the  settlement  of  the  succession.  In  1690 
(26  Dec.)  Foley  was  elected  by  the  House  of 
Commons  one  of  the  commissioners  for  stating 
the  public  accounts,  and  showed  himself  a 
good  financier,  though  his  opinions  on  certain 
points  were  singular.  If  we  may  credit  Roger 
North,  he  held  that  '  all  foreign  trade  was 
loss  and  ruinous  to  the  nation '  (Life  of  Lord 
Guilford,  i.  293) — a  statement  which  may 
have  meant  only  that  by  means  of  foreign  trade 
the  crown  was  rendered  too  independent  of 
parliamentary  supplies.  But  his  honesty  and 
industry  were  conspicuous  and  commended 
him  to  the  House  of  Commons  when  it  had 
to  choose  a  speaker  in  place  of  the  venal  Sir 
John  Trevor.  An  attempt  was  made  by 
Wharton  to  impose  on  the  house  a  nominee 
of  the  king,  but,  a  division  taking  place,  Foley 
was  elected  on  14  March  1694-5,  and  in  the 
next  parliament  (November  1695)  was  again 
unanimously  chosen.  His  conduct  in  the 
chair,  which  he  occupied  until  December 
1698,  was  upright  and  impartial.  His  inde- 


Foley 


355 


Foley 


pendence  showed  itself  conspicuously  in  his 
remarks  on  the  king's  rejection  of  the  Place 
Bill.  Foley  took  part  in  the  debates  from 
time  to  time.  He  spoke  openly  against  the 
employment  of  Dutch  and  French  officers  in 
the  English  army  and  navy,  and  steadily 
opposed  the  attainder  of  Sir  John  Fenwick 
in  1696.  Earlier  in  the  same  year  Foley 
joined  with  Harley  in  proposing  to  parliament 
the  establishment  of  a  national  land  bank.  A 
bill  was  passed  authorising  the  government 
to  borrow  2,564,0007.  at  seven  per  cent.  It 
received  the  royal  assent  on  27  April.  If 
before  1  Aug.  half  the  sum  had  been  sub- 
scribed, the  subscribers  were  to  be  incor- 
porated into  a  land  bank,  which  was  to  lend 
annually  on  mortgages  of  land  alone  a  sum 
of  not  less  than  500,0007.  Foley  was  one  of 
the  commissioners  for  raising  the  loan,  but 
his  efforts  failed,  and,  in  spite  of  various  modi- 
fications of  the  original  scheme,  he  and  his 
colleagues  were  unable  to  borrow  more  than 
2,100/.  The  land  bank  thus  proved  a  dis- 
astrous fail  are.  The  library  at  Stoke  Edith  con- 
tains a  valuable  collection  of  books  and  pam- 
phlets, which  bear  out  Roger  North's  observa- 
tion (ib.  i.  292)  that  Foley  was  a  busy  student 
of  records  and  had  compiled  a  treatise  which 
went  further  into  the  subject  of  precedents 
than  either  Cotton  or  Prynne  had  gone. 
Bishop  Burnet,  who  naturally  disparages  a 
political  opponent,  yet  gives  him  credit  for 
being  *  a  learned  lawyer  and  a  man  of  virtue 
and  good  principles'  (Hist.  iv.  191),  and 
Macaulay  considers  him  to  have  been  '  supe- 
rior to  his  partisan,  Harley,  both  in  parts 
and  elevation  of  character '  (ib.  iv.  67).  Foley 
died  from  gangrene  in  the  foot  on  13  Nov. 
1699  (MS.  Family  Notes],  and  was  buried 
at  Stoke  Edith,  where  the  inscription  on  his 
monument  antedates  his  death  by  two  days. 
He  was  not  a  man  of  extraordinary  ability, 
but  his  political  career  was  wholly  free  from 
those  vices  which  most  of  the  public  men  of 
his  day  displayed.  He  married  Mary,  daugh- 
ter of  Alderman  Lane  of  London,  and  by  her 
had  two  sons,  Thomas  (d.  1737),  who  was  an 
active  member  of  parliament,  and  Paul,  a 
barrister-at-law.  The  grandson  of  the  elder 
son,  also  Thomas,  was  raised  to  the  peerage 
as  Baron  Foley  of  Kidderminster  20  May  1776. 
A  similar  peerage,  held  by  a  cousin,  had  be- 
come extinct  ten  years  earlier  [see  FOLEY, 
THOMAS].  The  peerage  of  the  seco»"q  creation 
is  still  extant. 

[Manning's  Lives  of  the  Speakers ;  Nash's  Ma- 
terials for  Hist,  of  "Worcestershire,  ii.  460-2,  App. 
82-4  ;  Parl.  Hist.  v.  64-108  ;  Kennett,  pp.  510- 
512  ;  Luttrell's  Brief  Eelation,  iv.  583  ;  Robin- 
son's Manor  Houses  of  Herefordshire,  pp.  257-8 ; 
Macaulay's  History.]  C.  J.  K. 


FOLEY,  SAMUEL  (1655-1695),  bishop 
of  Down  and  Connor,  was  eldest  son  of  Samuel 
Foley  of  Clonmel  and  Dublin  (d.  1695), 
younger  brother  of  Thomas  Foley  [a.  v.l 
founder  of  the  Old  Swinford  Hospital.  His 
mother,  Elizabeth,  was  sister  of  Colonel  Solo- 
mon Kichards  of  Polsboro,  Wexford.  He 
was  born  at  Clonmel  25  Nov.  1655,  was 
admitted  fellow-commoner  of  Trinity  Col- 
lege, Dublin,  8  June  1672,  was  elected  fel- 
low 11  June  1697,  and  was  ordained  in  the 
church  of  Ireland  in  1678.  On  14  Feb.  1688-9 
he  was  installed  chancellor  of  St.  Patrick's 
Cathedral,  Dublin,  and  was  attainted  by 
James  II's  parliament  in  the  same  year.  On 
4  April  1691  he  became  dean  of  Achonry 
and  precentor  of  Killala.  He  proceeded  D.D. 
of  Trinity  College  in  the  same  year.  On 
4  Oct.  1694  he  was  enthroned  bishop  of  Down 
and  Connor  in  succession  to  Thomas  Hacket, 
who  had  been  deprived  for  gross  neglect  of 
duty.  He  died  of  fever  at  Lisburn  22  May 
1695,  and  was  buried  there.  The  bishop  was 
married,  and  left  issue.  He  wrote  :  1.  Two 
sermons,  one  preached  19  Feb.  1681-2,  and 
the  other  24  April  1682.  2.  '  An  Account 
of  the  Giant's  Causeway,'  published  in  the 
<  Philosophical  Transactions '  for  1 694.  3. '  An 
Exhortation  to  the  Inhabitants  of  Down  and 
Connor  concerning  the  Religious  Education 
of  their  Children,'  Dublin,  1695.  Foley  left 
some  manuscripts  on  the  controversy  between 
protestantism  and  Roman  Catholicism  to  the 
library  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin. 

[Burke's  Peerage,  s.v.  'Foley;'  Cotton's  Fasti 
Eccles.  Hibern.  i.  270,  ii.  118,  iii.  208,  iv.  84, 
105  ;  Ware's  Bishops  of  Ireland,  ed.  Harris,  i. 
214  ;  Ware's  Writers  of  Ireland,  ed.  Harris,  253.] 

S.  L.  L. 

FOLEY,  THOMAS  (1617-1677),  founder 
of  the  hospital  at  Old  Swinford,  Worcester- 
shire, was  eldest  son  of  Richard  Foley  of 
Stourbridge.  by  a  second  marriage  with  Alice, 
daughter  of  William  Brindley  of  Hide,  Staf- 
fordshire. His  father  was  engaged  in  the 
iron  manufactory  near  Stourbridge  (four  miles 
from  the  town),  died  6  July  1657,  aged  77, 
and  was  buried  in  the  chancel  of  Old  Swin- 
ford Church.  His  mother  died  26  May  1663, 
aged  75.  There  is  a  legend  (cf.  SMILES,  Self- 
Help,  ed.  1877,  pp.  205-7)  that  Richard  Foley 
the  father  was  originally  a  fiddler.  On  per- 
ceiving that  the  supremacy  of  the  Stourbridge 
ironworks  was  threatened  by  the  competi- 
tion of  ironworkers  in  Sweden,  who  had 
discovered  the  process  of  '  splitting,'  he  is 
said  to  have  worked  his  way  to  a  Swedish 
iron  port  and  obtained  access  to  the  factories, 
where  he  learned  the  secret  of  the  successful 
process.  On  his  return  home  he  induced  some 

AA2 


Foley 


356 


Foley 


friends  to  join  him  in  erecting  machinery  for 
the  purpose  of  working  the  process.  The 
first  experiments  failed,  and  Foley  paid  a 
second  secret  visit  to  Sweden  to  perfect  his 
knowledge.  His  second  attempt  at  Stour- 
bridge succeeded,  and  he  thus  laid  the  foun- 
dations of  his  family's  fortune.  The  splitting 
machine  introduced  by  Foley  is  still  in  use 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Stourbridge.  Cole- 
ridge tells  the  story  as  '  the  best  attested  in- 
stance of  enthusiasm  existing/  but  unfortu- 
nately confuses  Richard  with  his  son  Thomas 
(Table-talk,  ed.  Ashe,  pp.  332-3). 

Born  3  Dec.  1617,  Thomas  actively  pur- 
sued the  iron  industry  of  his  native  place, 
and  amassed  a  large  fortune,  which  was  in- 
creased by  a  wealthy  marriage.  He  acquired 
much  landed  property  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Stourbridge  and  Old  Swinford,  and  secured 
valuable  church  patronage  at  Kidderminster 
and  elsewhere.  His  association  with  Kid- 
derminster brought  him  the  acquaintance  of 
Richard  Baxter  [q.  v.],  with  many  of  whose 
opinions  he  strongly  sympathised.  Baxter 
describes  Foley  as  '  a  truly  honest  man  .  .  . 
who  from  almost  nothing  did  get  about  5,0007. 
per  ann.  or  more  by  ironworks,  and  that  with 
so  just  and  blameless  dealing  that  ever  he  had 
to  do  with  that  ever  I  heard  of  magnified  his 
great  integrity  and  honesty,  which  was  ques- 
tioned by  none.'  As  a  church  patron  he  always 
chose,  according  to  Baxter,  '  the  most  con- 
formable ministers  that  could  be  got.'  Foley 
was  also  on  good  terms  with  Baxter's  friend, 
James  Berry  [q.  v.],  a  well-known  major-ge- 
neral under  Cromwell's  regime.  When  Crom- 
well urged  that  Foley  should  become  high 
sheriff  of  Worcestershire — an  office  which  few 
country  gentlemen  were  ready  to  undertake — 
Berry  wrote  to  Thurloe  (17  Nov.  1655) :  'Mr. 
Foley  I  know  to  be  an  honest  man,  but  I  fear  it 
would  be  much  to  his  prejudice  to  have  the 
place,  he  having  no  conveniency  in  the  coun- 
try, and  being  a  friend,  I  hope  my  lord  will 
favour  him  a  little '  ( Thurloe  State  Papers, 
iv.  211).  A  day  or  two  later  Berry  wrote 
more  emphatically  in  the  same  sense  (ib.  iv. 
216).  Although  no  avowed  enemy  to  Crom- 
well's government,  Foley,  like  Baxter,  had 
royalist  leanings,  and  desired  apparently  to 
have  as  little  as  possible  to  do  with  the  Com- 
monwealth. He  none  the  less  seems  to  have 
been  high  sheriff  in  1656,  when  Baxter 
preached  a  sermon  before  him,  and  in  the 
same  year  was  one  of  the  commissioners  for 
levying  the  property-tax  in  Worcestershire. 
In  1659,  while  the  Rump  was  sitting  at 
Westminster,  Foley  and  John  Bridges  pre- 
sented a  petition,  drawn  up  by  Baxter, '  in 
favour  of  tithes  and  the  ministry.'  He  sat 
in  the  Convention  parliament  of  1660  as  mem- 


ber for  Bewdley.  In  later  life  he  settled  aft 
Witley,  where  he  had  a  fine  estate,  now  the 
property  of  the  Earl  of  Dudley,  whose  trus- 
tees purchased  it  for  900,000/.  In  1667  he 
founded  a  hospital  at  Old  Swinford,  endow- 
ing it  with  land  producing  600/.  a  year.  Sixty 
poor  boys  between  the  ages  of  seven  and 
eleven,  selected  in  fixed  numbers  from  dif- 
ferent parishes  in  Worcestershire  and  Staf- 
fordshire, were  to  be  fed,  clothed,  and  edu- 
cated there  free  of  charge,  and  were  to  be 
afterwards  apprenticed  by  the  trustees.  The 
hospital  is  still  standing,  and  the  endowment) 
now  produces  5,500/.  a  year.  There  are  160 
boys  in  the  school.  Foley  died  at  Witley 
1  Oct.  1677,  and  was  buried  in  the  church 
there,  under  a  monument  with  a  long  Latin 
inscription.  He  married  Anne,  daughter  of 
George  Brown  of  Spelmonden,  Kent,  by  whom 
he  had  four  sons  :  Thomas,  Nathaniel  (1647— 
1663),  Paul  [q.  v.],  afterwards  speaker  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  Philip.  Foley  had: 
also  two  daughters :  Martha,  wife  of  William 
Jolliffe,  a  London  merchant,  and  Sarah,  the 
wife  of  (1)  Essex  Knightly  of  Fawsley, 
Northamptonshire,  and  (2)  of  John  Hamp- 
den,  grandson  of  the  patriot.  A  portrait  of 
Foley  is  in  the  Old  Swinford  Hospital.  It 
was  painted  by  William  Trabute,  and  is  en- 
graved in  Nash's  'Materials.' 

A  grandson,  THOMAS  (heir  of  Foley's  eldest 
son),became  M.P.  for  Stafford  in  William  Ill's- 
first  parliament,  and  sat  for  that  constituency, 
and  afterwards  for  Worcester,  until  he  was 
raised  to  the  peerage,  1  Jan.  1711-12,  being- 
one  of  the  twelve  peers  made  by  the  tory 
administration  of  Harley  and  St.  John  to 
secure  a  majority  for  their  peace  negotiations 
in  the  House  of  Lords.  He  died  22  Jan. 
1732-3.  This  peerage  became  extinct  8  Jan. 
1766.  It  was  revived  in  the  person  of  a 
kinsman  [see  FOLEY,  PAUL,  ad  fin.]  in  1776, 
and  is  still  extant. 

[Nash's  Materials  for  Hist,  of  Worcestershire, 
ii.  210-12,  464-6,  App.  82-4  ;  Baxter's  Reliquiae ; 
Chambers's  Biog.  Illustrations  of  Worcestershire, 
p.  187;  Noake's  Worcestershire  Notes  and  Qiieries, 
p.  264 ;  Noake's  Guide  to  Worcestershire,  p.  331  ; 
Official  Lists  of  Members  of  Parl.  i.  5 1 7 ;  Collins's 
Peerage,  viii.  364  et  seq. ;  information  kindly 
communicated  by  P.  H.  -Foley,  esq.,  Presfrwood, 
Stourbridge.]  S.  L.  L. 

FOLEY,  Sm  THOMAS  (1757-1833),  ad- 
miral, second  son  of  John  Foley  of  Ridge- 
way  in  Pembrokeshire,  where  the  family  had 
been  settled  for  several  centuries,  a  nephew 
of  Thomas  Foley,  a  captain  in  the  navy  (d. 
1758),  who  had  been  round  the  world  with 
Anson  in  the  Centurion,  was  born  in  1757, 
and  entered  the  navy  on  board  the  Otter  in 
1770.  After  serving  in  her  on  the  New- 


Foley 


357 


Foley 


foundland  station  for  three  years  he  was  in 
1774  appointed  to  the  Antelope,  going  out 
to  Jamaica  as  flagship  of  Rear-admiral  Clark 
Gayton  [q.  v.]  While  in  her  he  was  re- 
peatedly lent  to  the  small  craft  on  the  sta- 
tion, and  saw  a  good  deal  of  active  cruising 
against  the  colonial  privateers.  He  returned 
to  England  in  the  Antelope  in  May  1778 ;  on 
the  25th  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  lieute- 
nant, and  on  the  28th  was  appointed  to  the 
America,  with  Lord  Longford.  In  her,  he 
took  part  in  the  operations  of  the  fleet  under 
Keppel  [see  KEPPEL,  AUGUSTUS,  VISCOUNT] 
in  1778,  and  Sir  Charles  Hardy  [q.  v.]  in 
1779.  In  October  1779  he  was  appointed  to 
the  Prince  George  with  Rear-admiral  Robert 
Digby  [q.  v.],  in  which  he  was  present  at  the 
capture  of  the  Spanish  convoy  off  Cape  Finis- 
terre  on  8  Jan.  1780,  the  defeat  of  Langara 
off  Cape  St.  Vincent  on  16  Jan.  and  the  sub- 
sequent relief  of  Gibraltar  [see  RODNEY, 
•GEORGE  BRYDGES,  LORD],  Continuing  in 
the  Prince  George  when  she  went  to  North 
America  in  1781,  and  afterwards  to  the  West 
Indies  with  Sir  Samuel  Hood  [see  HOOD, 
SAMUEL,  VISCOUNT],  Foley  was  present  as  a 
lieutenant  in  the  attempted  relief  of  St.  Kitts, 
and  in  the  engagements  to  leeward  of  Do- 
minica on  9  and  12  April  1782.  In  the  fol- 
lowing October,  on  the  invaliding  of  Cap- 
tain Elphinstone  [see  ELPHINSTONE,  GEORGE 
KEITH,  LORD  KEITH],  he  was  for  a  few  weeks 
acting  captain  of  the  AVarwick  at  New  York, 
and  on  1  Dec.  was  confirmed  in  the  rank  of 
commander,  and  appointed  to  the  Britannia, 
armed  ship.  In  her  he  continued  after  the 
peace  and  till  the  beginning  of  1785,  when 
he  brought  her  to  England  and  paid  her  off. 
From  December  1787  to  September  1790  he 
commanded  the  Racehorse  sloop  on  the  home 
station,  and  from  her  was  advanced  to  post 
rank  on  21  Sept.  In  April  3793  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  St.  George  of  98  guns  as  flag- 
captain  to  Rear-admiral  John  Gell  [q.  v.], 
with  whom  he  went  to  the  Mediterranean, 
took  part  in  the  operations  at  Toulon  (August- 
December  1793),  and,  when  Gell  invalided, 
continuing  as  flag-captain  to  Rear-admiral 
Sir  Hyde  Parker  (1739-1807)  [q.  v.],  assisted 
in  driving  the  French  squadron  into  Golfe 
Jouan  (11  June  1794),  and  in  defeating  the 
French  fleet  in  the  two  engagements  off  Tou- 
lon (13  March,  13  July  1795).  In  March  1796 
he  accompanied  Parker  to  the  Britannia,  in 
which  he  remained  with  Vice-admiral  Thomp- 
son, who  relieved  Sir  Hyde  towards  the  close 
of  the  year.  As  flag-captain  to  the  com- 
mander in  the  second  post,  Foley  thus  held 
an  important  position  in  the  battle  off  Cape 
St.  Vincent  on  St.  Valentine's  day,  1797.  He 
was  shortly  afterwards  appointed  to  com- 


mand the  Goliath  of  74  guns,  one  of  the 
ships  sent  into  the  Mediterranean  under  Cap- 
tain Troubridge  in  May  1798  to  reinforce 
Rear-admiral  Sir  Horatio  Nelson  [see  NEL- 
SON, HORATIO,  VISCOUNT  ;  TROUBRIDGE,  SIR 
THOMAS],  He  thus  shared  in  the  operations 
of  the  squadron  previous  to  the  battle  of  the 
Nile,  in  which  he  had  the  distinguished  good 
fortune  to  lead  the  English  line  into  action. 
In  doing  so  he  passed  round  the  van  of  the 
French  line  as  it  lay  at  anchor,  and  engaged 
it  on  the  inside ;  the  ships  immediately  fol- 
lowing did  the  same,  and  a  part  at  least  of 
the  brilliant  and  decisive  result  of  the  battle 
has  been  commonly  attributed  to  this  man- 
oeuvre. It  has  also  been  frequently  and 
persistently  asserted  that  in  doing  this  Foley 
acted  solely  on  his  own  judgment,  and  that 
Nelson,  had  time  permitted,  would  have  pre- 
vented him.  But  this  assertion  is  distinctly 
contradicted  by  the  positive  statements  of 
Sir  Edward  Berry  [q.  v.]  in  his  '  Narrative/ 
that  Nelson's  projected  mode  of  attack  was 
'  minutely  and  precisely  executed/  and  also 
by  the  fact  that  Captain  Miller  of  the  Theseus, 
writing  a  very  detailed  account  of  the  com- 
mencement of  the  battle,  gives  no  hint  that 
the  Goliath's  manoeuvre  was  at  all  unex- 
pected by  him  or  the  other  captains  who  fol- 
lowed Foley  (LAUGHTON,  Letters  and  Des- 
patches of  Viscount  Nelson,  pp.  151,  156). 
The  probable  explanation  of  the  apparent 
contradiction  would  seem  to  be  that  the  ad- 
visability of  passing  inside  had  been  fully 
discussed  between  the  admiral  and  the  cap- 
tains of  the  fleet,  and  that  the  doing  or  not 
doing  it  was  left  to  the  discretion  not  only  of 
the  captain  of  the  leading  ship  but  of  all  the 
others.  If  this  was  the  case,  Foley  merely 
exercised  the  right  of  judgment  which  Nel- 
son had  entrusted,  not  to  him  alone,  but  to 
whoever  happened  to  lead  (HERBERT,  pp. 
40-3 ;  Journal  of  the  Royal  United  Ser- 
vice Institution,  1885,  xxix.  p.  916).  The 
Goliath  continued  on  the  Mediterranean  sta- 
tion, attached  to  the  command  of  Lord  Nel- 
son, till  towards  the  close  of  1799,  when  she 
was  sent  home.  In  the  following  January 
Foley  was  appointed  to  the  Elephant  of 
74  guns  for  service  in  the  Channel  fleet.  In 
1801  she  was  sent  into  the  Baltic,  in  the 
fleet  under  Sir  Hyde  Parker  ;  and  when  it- 
was  decided  to  attack  the  Danish  position  at 
Copenhagen,  Nelson,  on  whom  the  duty  de- 
volved, hoisted  his  flag  on  board  her,  his  own 
flagship,  the  St.  George,  drawing  too  much 
water  for  the  contemplated  operations.  It 
was  thus  that  Foley,  as  flag-captain,  assisted 
in  drawing  out  the  detailed  instructions  for 
the  several  ships  to  be  employed  on  this  ser- 
vice, and,  in  Nelson's  own  words,  with  '  his 


Foliot 


358 


Foliot 


advice  on  many  and  important  occasions  dur- 
ing the  battle '  (NICOLAS,  Nelson  Despatches, 
iv?  304,  315).  Immediately  after  the  battle 
Nelson  went  back  to  the  St.  George,  and  the 
Elephant,  continuing  attached  to  the  fleet, 
returned  to  England  in  the  autumn,  when 
she  was  paid  oft.  In  September  1805,  when 
Nelson  was  going  out  to  resume  the  com- 
mand of  the  fleet  off  Cadiz,  he  called  on  Foley 
and  offered  him  the  post  of  captain  of  the 
fleet.  Foley's  health,  however,  would  not 
at  that  time  permit  him  to  serve  afloat,  and 
he  was  obliged  to  refuse  (HERBERT,  p.  41). 
On  28  April  1808  he  was  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  rear-admiral,  and  in  1811  was  ap- 
pointed commander-in-chief  in  the  Downs, 
in  which  post  he  continued  till  the  peace. 
On  12  Aug.  1812  he  became  a  vice-admiral ; 
was  nominated  a  K.C.B.  in  January  1815,  a 
G.C.B.  on  6  May  1820,  and  attained  the  rank 
of  admiral  on  27  May  1825.  In  May  1830 
he  was  appointed  commander-in-chief  at 
Portsmouth,  where  he  died  9  Jan.  1833. 
He  was  buried  in  the  Garrison  Chapel,  in  a 
coffin  made  of  some  fragments  of  oak  kept 
from  his  old  ship  Elephant  when  she  was 
broken  up. 

Foley  married,  in  July  1802,  Lady  Lucy 
Fitzgerald,  youngest  daughter  of  the  Duke 
of  Leinster/and  cousin,  on  the  mother's  side, 
of  Sir  Charles  and  Sir  William  Napier. 
During  his  married  life  he  had  lived  for  the 
most  part  at  Abermarlais,  an  estate  in  Car- 
marthenshire, which  he  purchased  about 
1795,  apparently  with  his  share  of  a  rich 
Spanish  prize  which  had  been  the  subject  of 
a  very  singular  law  case  (ib.  p.  16).  He  left 
no  issue,  and  after  his  death  Lady  Lucy 
resided  principally  at  Arundel  till  1841, 
when  she  moved  to  the  south  of  France, 
where,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Marseilles, 
she  died  in  her  eightieth  year  in  1851.  Foley 
is  described  as  '  above  six  feet  in  height,  of 
a  fine  presence  and  figure,  with  light  brown 
hair,  blue  eyes  of  a  gentle  expression,  and 
a  mouth  combining  firmness  with  good 
humour'  (ib.  p.  40).  His  portrait  by  Sir 
William  Beechey  is  now  in  the  possession 
of  Mr.  H.  Foley  Vernon  of  Hanbury  Hall, 
Worcestershire;  an  engraved  copy  is  pre- 
fixed to  Herbert's  « Memoir.' 

[Life  and  Services  of  Admiral  Sir  Thomas 
Foley,  by  J.  B.  Herbert  (Cardiff,  1884,  reprinted 
with  additions  from  the  Red  Dragon,  vol.  v.) ; 
Marshall's  Royal  Naval  Biography,  i.  363 ;  Ni- 
colas's  Nelson  Despatches.]  J.  K.  L. 

FOLIOT,  GILBERT  (d.  1187),  bishop 
successively  of  Hereford  and  London,  was 
born  early  in  the  twelfth  century,  as  in  1170 
he  is  described  by  a  chronicler  as  grandcevus. 


He  was  of  a  Norman  family  which  had  been 
settled  in  England  from  the  Conquest,  and 
was  related  to  the  Earls  of  Hereford.  It  ap- 
pears that  some  of  his  connections  were  among 
the  Normans  who  had  acquired  estates  in  Scot- 
land. Hence  Dean  Milman  conjectures  he  may 
have  been  a  Scotchman,  but  incorrectly  (Latin 
Christ,  vol.  iii.)  The  earliest  fact  known, 
about  him  is  his  profession  as  a  monk  in  the 
famous  monastery  of  Clugny,  where  he  must 
have  been  under  Peter  the  Venerable,  the 
great  antagonist  of  St.  Bernard.  Foliot  rose 
to  the  rank  of  prior  of  this  house  of  three 
hundred  monks,  from  which  post  he  was  pro- 
moted to  the  headship  of  the  affiliated  house 
of  Abbeville,  and  from  this  to  the  abbacy  of 
Gloucester.  A  letter  from  Hugh  of  Clugny 
to  him  lauds  his  religion,  wisdom,  and  elo- 
quence as  the  honour  of  the  church  of  God, 
and  felicitates  the  church  of  Clugny,  which 
was  thought  worthy  to  have  such  a  son 
(Materials  for  Life  of  Becket,  v.  30).  In 
1147  Foliot  was  promoted  to  the  bishopric  of 
Hereford,  which  he  held  for  about  sixteen, 
years.  In  the  vast  mass  of  materials  now 
collected  for  the  illustration  of  the  life  of 
Becket  there  are  abundant  notices  of  the 
character  of  Foliot,  his  great  antagonist.  The 
testimony  of  all  these  is  that  he  was  the 
most  remarkable  among  all  the  bishops  of 
England  for  his  learning,  eloquence,  and 
great  austerities,  and  that  he  was  very  high 
in  favour  with  Henry  II,  who  used  him  as 
his  most  trusted  counsellor.  They  are  also- 
unanimous  in  declaring  that  he  aspired  to* 
the  primacy,  which  is  probably  true,  in  spite 
of  the  disclaimer  which  Foliot  afterwards 
made  of  this  ambition.  There  is  a  letter  to 
him  from  Pope  Alexander  III,  written  in  a 
very  laudatory  strain,  and  earnestly  caution- 
ing him  against  too  great  austerities,  lest  by 
the  failure  of  his  health  the  church  of  God 
should  suffer  grievous  loss  (ib.  v.  44).  When 
in  1161  the  Bishop  of  London  became  imbe- 
cile, the  king  proposed  to  Foliot  to  administer 
the  diocese,  finding  what  was  necessary  for 
the  support  of  the  bishop,  and  paying  over 
the  balance  to  him.  This  Foliot  declined,  as 
being  <  perilous  to  his  soul,'  and  begged  the 
king  to  excuse  him  from  the  charge  (ib.  v.  1 5). 
The  turning-point  in  Foliot's  career  was  his 
opposition  to  the  election  of  Becket  at  West- 
minster, May  1162.  This  is  recorded  by  all 
Becket's  biographers,  but  with  varying  cir- 
cumstances. There  is  no  doubt  that  Becket 
was  held,  at  the  time  of  his  election,  by  the 
English  churchmen  generally  as  altogether 
a  king's  man,  and  as  one  likely  to  oppress 
the  church.  Foliot,  it  appears,  was  the  only 
one  who  had  the  courage  of  his  opinions. 
There  may  have  been  jealousy  at  the  bottom, 


Foliot 


359 


Foliot 


but  this  ascetic  and  high-born  churchman 
would  naturally  object  to  Becket,  both  as 
having  lived  a  very  secular  life,  and  as  being 
of  low  extraction.  He  afterwards  withdrew 
his  objection,  but  he  himself  declares  that 
he  merely  did  this  on  the  threat  of  banish- 
ment of  himself  and  his  kindred.  The  saying 
attributed  to  him  by  William  Fitzstephen, 
that  the  king  had  wrought  a  miracle  by  turn- 
ing a  secular  man  and  a  soldier  into  an  arch- 
bishop, is  probably  true  (ib.  iii.  36).  Soon 
after  this  the  Bishop  of  London  died,  and 
Henry,  with  the  consent  of  the  pope,  trans- 
lated Foliot  to  the  see  (28  April  1163).  Upon 
this  occasion  Becket  wrote  him  a  very  kind 
letter.  Canon  Robertson  {Life  of  Becket} 
thinks  that  he  was  insincere  in  doing  this ; 
but  though  the  archbishop  afterwards  had 
the  bitterest  feelings  against  Foliot,  it  is  not 
clear  that  they  existed  at  this  time.  Becket 
speaks  as  though  the  promotion  were  due  to 
his  influence.  '  We  have  called  you  to  the 
care  of  this  greater  church,  being  confident 
that,  by  God's  mercy,  we  have  done  well. 
Your  character,  your  well-known  religion, 
the  wisdom  given  to  you  from  above,  the 
good  work  done  by  you  in  the  diocese  of 
Hereford,  have  merited  that  it  should  be  said 
to  you,  "Friend,  go  up  higher"'  (Materials, 
v.  29).  Becket  mentions  in  this  letter  that 
the  pope  had  specially  appointed  Foliot  to  be 
the  director  of  the  king's  conscience,  and 
there  is  a  letter  from  the  pope  to  Foliot  sug- 
gesting certain  matters  which  were  to  be 
urged  upon  the  king.  But  very  soon  after 
the  translation  the  feelings  of  the  archbishop 
towards  Foliot  underwent  a  change.  The 
new  bishop  of  London  refused  to  make  the 
usual  profession  of  obedience  to  the  metro- 
politan see  of  Canterbury.  A  vast  deal  has 
been  written  on  this  subject.  Among  the 
materials  published  by  the  Rolls  Commis- 
sion there  is  a  long  treatise  upon  it.  The 
contention  of  the  Bishop  of  London  was  that 
he  had  already  promised  canonical  obedience 
as  bishop  of  Hereford,  and  that  the  promise 
ought  not  to  be  renewed.  For  the  archbishop 
it  was  contended  that  Foliot  had  entered  on 
a  new  office,  which  required  a  new  oath  of 
obedience.  The  most  remarkable  thing  about 
the  matter  was  that  the  pope  refused  to  in- 
terfere. He  had  already  begun  to  look  coldly 
on  Becket,  fearing  to  offend  the  king.  Foliot's 
refusal  was  the  commencement  of  the  open 
hostility  between  the  two  bishops,  which  con- 
tinued ever  increasingly  till  Becket's  death. 
With  regard  to  the  question  of  the  clerical 
immunities  it  is  probable  that  Foliot's  views 
coincided  with  those  of  Becket,  as  all  the 
bishops  appear  to  have  been  of  one  mind  on 
this  point  at  the  council  of  Westminster 


(1163).  But  Foliot  saw  that  it  was  neces- 
sary or  politic  to  yield  to  the  king,  and  he 
secretly  agreed  with  him  to  concede  the  point. 
Now  also,  by  way  of  opposing  Becket,  he 
began  to  claim  metropolitical  dignity  for  the 
see  of  London,  and  to  assert  that  it  owed 
no  subjection  to  Canterbury  (ib.  vi.  590). 
At  Clarendon  (1164)  Foliot  witnessed  with 
satisfaction  the  humiliation  of  Becket,  and 
at  Northampton,  in  the  same  year,  when  the 
archbishop  was  so  hardly  dealt  with  in  money 
matters,  he  counselled  him  to  resign  his  see, 
and  otherwise  acted  an  unfriendly  part  to- 
wards him.  At  the  famous  scene,  when  the 
archbishop  went  to  the  king,  carrying  his 
cross  in  his  own  hand,  Foliot  actually  tried 
to  wrest  it  from  him  by  force,  declaring  that 
it  was  his  right  to  carry  it  as  dean  of  the 
province.  Being  unable  to  obtain  it,  he  ex- 
claimed, *  You  have  always  been  a  fool,  and 
always  will  be  one '  (WILL.  CANT.  GEKVASE). 
On  Becket's  escape,  Foliot  was  one  of  the 
envoys  sent  by  Henry  to  the  French  king, 
to  ask  him  not  to  receive  the  fugitive — an 
embassy  which  was  altogether  unsuccessful. 
Nor  was  he  more  successful  with  Pope  Alex- 
ander at  Sens,  though,  as  has  been  seen,  he 
was  highly  esteemed  by  that  pope.  In  de- 
claiming against  Becket, he  said,  'The  wicked 
flee  when  no  man  pursueth.'  '  Spare,  brother,' 
said  the  pope.  '  I  will  spare  him/  returned 
the  bishop.  '  I  said  not  spare  him  ,'  said  Alex- 
ander/ but  rather  spare  yourself  (ALANTJS). 
Throughout  Becket's  exile  Foliot  was  the 
chief  ecclesiastical  adviser  of  the  king,  and 
the  leader  of  the  opposition  against  Becket. 
He  administered  the  affairs  of  the  see  of 
Canterbury,  and  when  all  Becket's  friends 
and  adherents  were  banished,  he  is  charged 
by  the  archbishop  with  having  denied  them 
any  help,  and  carefully  cut  off  their  means  of 
support.  On  these  grounds  Becket  was  spe- 
cially infuriated  against  Foliot.  He  brings 
some  serious  charges  against  his  episcopal  acts, 
asserting  that  he  had  taken  bribes  to  allow 
clerical  matrimony,  and  had  ordained  the  sons 
of  priests  to  their  father's  benefices.  These 
charges  the  bishop  denied.  At  Argentan 
(1167)  Foliot  appeared  before  the  pope's  le- 
gates and  the  king  of  England  and  inveighed 
against  Becket,  deriding  him  as  thinking  that 
his  debts  were  quashed  by  his  consecration, 
as  sins  are  done  away  in  baptism.  He  declared 
that  if  the  pope  would  not  help  the  church  of 
England  against  him  the  king  and  nobles 
would  recede  from  the  Roman  church.  Upon 
this,  Becket  excommunicated  him,  but  the 
pope,  being  appealed  to,  restrained  the  arch- 
bishop from  issuing  such  sentence  till  a  recon- 
ciliation could  be  effected.  This  prohibition, 
he  afterwards  informed  Becket,  only  held  good 


Foliot 


360 


Foliot 


to  the  beginning  of  Lent  1 169.     Foliot  there- 
fore knew  what  he  had  to  expect  when  that 
time  came,  and,  in  anticipation  of  the  sen- 
tence, he  appealed  to  Rome  against  it  when  it 
should  be  issued.     This  precaution  was  soon 
shown  to  be  needed,  for  on  Palm  Sunday, 
1169,  at  Clairvaux,  the  sentence  of  excom- 
munication was  again  pronounced  against  him 
by  Becket.     This  sentence  was  brought  to 
England  and  published  with  great  adroitness 
and  courage  by  a  young  Frenchman  named 
Berengar,who,in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  on  As- 
cension day,  1169,  when  the  priest,  Vitalis, 
was  saying  mass,  presented  himself  at  the  altar 
during  the  offertory  and  handed  the  priest  a 
paper,  which  was  accepted  on  the  supposition 
that  it  was  intended  for  an  offering.     Then, 
holding  the  paper  in  the  priest's  hand,  he  de- 
manded that  it  should  be  read  before  mass 
was  proceeded  with.     The  priest  opened  the 
paper  and  found  the  sentence  of  excommuni- 
cation against  the  bishop,  and  as  he  did  so 
Berengar  proclaimed  loudly  to  the  people  that 
the  Bishop  of  London  was  excommunicated. 
Then,  by  the  aid  of  one  of  the  archbishop's 
friends,  he  succeeded  in  making  his  escape 
through  the  people,  who  were  inclined  to  use 
him  roughly.    The  bishop,  being  informed 
of  what  had  been  done,  came  from  his  manor 
of  Stepney,  and,  calling  all  the  clergy  of  his 
church  together,  explained  to  them  that  he 
had  previously  appealed  against  this  sentence, 
which  was  therefore  null  and  void.     He, 
however,  submitted  to  it  for  the  time,  but 
immediately  despatched  a  messenger  to  the 
king  abroad,  requesting  his  intervention  with 
the  pope,  and  his  license  for  himself  to  go 
abroad.     Henry  wrote  strongly  to  the  pope, 
and  sent  his  license  to  Foliot,  who  at  Michael- 
mas crossed  the  sea  on  his  way  to  the  papal 
court.     Foliot  found  or  suspected  all  sorts 
of  dangers  blocking  his  way ;  but  he  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  Milan  in  safety,  where  he 
found  letters  from  the  pope  informing  him 
that  he  had  empowered  the  bishops  of  Rouen 
and  Exeter  to  absolve  him.     He  returned  to 
Rouen,  where  he  was  formally  absolved  on 
Easter  day,  1170  (RABTJLPH  DE  DICETO).  But 
he  was  not  to  remain  long  free  from  Becket's 
curse.   On  14  June  he  joined  with  the  Arch- 
bishop of  York  in  crowning  the  king's  son. 
This  was  a  matter  of  the  direst  offence  to 
Becket,  and  when,  by  a  nominal  reconcilia- 
tion between  the  archbishop  and  the  king 
the  former  was  able  to  return  to  England 
(December  1170),  he  had  secretly  sent  letters 
before  him  excommunicating  all  the  bishops 
who  had  taken  part  in  the  ceremony.  These 
prelates  hastened  to  the  king  with  their  com- 
plaints, and  the  anger  felt  by  Henry  on  hear- 
ing them  led  to  the  murder  of  Becket  by 


he  four  knights.  There  is  no  reason  to  sup- 
pose that  Foliot  in  any  way  suggested  this 
;rime,  but  so  great  was  the  horror  caused  by 
it  that  the  Bishop  of  London  did  not  obtain 
absolution  from  the  sentence  of  excommuni- 
ation  till  May  1172,  after  taking  an  oath 
that  he  had  not  received  any  letter  from  the 
pope  prohibiting  the  coronation,  and  that 
tie  had  not  contributed  to  Becket's  death. 
Foliot  remained  at  the  height  of  favour  with 
King  Henry.  In  1173  he  was  summoned  to 
Normandy,  and  carried  back  to  England  let- 
ters from  the  pope's  legates,  written  at  the 
request  of  the  king,  promising  that  the  va- 
cancies in  the  various  sees  should  be  filled 
up  by  free  election.  In  1174,  on  the  occa- 
sion of  Henry's  famous  pilgrimage  to  Can- 
terbury, the  Bishop  of  London  preached  the 
sermon,  and  maintained  with  earnestness  that 
the  king  had  no  complicity  whatever  in 
causing  the  death  of  St.  Thomas.  Foliot  took 
a  leading  part  in  the  elections  of  Archbishop 
Richard  and  Archbishop  Baldwin  (ROGER 
DE  HOVEDEN),  and  continued  to  hold  a  promi- 
nent position  among  the  English  bishops 
until  his  death  in  the  spring  of  1187.  His 
character  has  been  judged  harshly,  or  favour- 
ably, by  the  numerous  writers  who  have  em- 
ployed themselves  on  the  career  of  Becket, 
according  as  they  favoured  the  archbishop  or 
the  contrary.  All,  however,  including  the 
monkish  chroniclers,  allow  Foliot  the  praise 
of  great  ability  and  of  a  strict  ascetic  life. 
As  to  the  former,  his  numerous  letters,  printed 
in  the  Becket  collection,  abundantly  tes- 
tify ;  especially  the  famous  letter  or  pamphlet 
(printed  in  '  Materials  for  Becket's  Life,'  vol. 
v.)  which  reviews  and  denounces  with  great 
force  the  career  of  Becket.  The  authorship  of 
this  letter  has  been  questioned,  but  the  balance 
of  authorities  is  in  favour  of  its  being  Foliot's 
(ROBERTSON,  Life  of  Becket,  appendix  v.) 
The  only  work  attributed  to  Foliot  by  the 
bibliographers  is  '  A.  Treatise  on  Solomon's 
Song.' 

[Materials  for  the  Life  of  Becket,  ed.  Robert- 
son, published  in  Rolls  Series,  1877,  6  vols., 
superseding  Dr.  Giles's  publications ;  Historia 
Radulphi  de  Diceto,  ed.  Stubbs,  Rolls  Series, 
1876,  2  vols. ;  Chronica  Rogeri  de  Hoveden,  ed. 
Stubbs,  Rolls  Series,  1869,  4  vols.;  Matthew 
Paris's  Chronica  Majora,  ed.  Luard,  Rolls  Series, 
1876,  7  vols.;  Robertson's  Life  of  Becket,  1859  ; 
Milman's  Latin  Christianity,  vol.  iii.  1854.1 

a.  G-.  P. 

FOLIOT,  ROBERT  (d.  1186),  bishop  of 
Hereford,  a  near  kinsman  of  Gilbert  Foliot 
[q.  v.],  bishop  of  London,  was  a  man  of  con- 
siderable learning,  who,  according  to  Bale 
(Scriptt.  Illustr.  p.  216,  ed.  Basil),  quoting 
from  Leland  (Itin.  viii.  78),  was  celebrated 


Folkes 


361 


Folkes 


for  his  achievements  in  the  liberal  arts,  both 
in  England  and  in  France,  where  he  made  the 
friendship  of  Thomas  Becket, '  having  him  as 
a  pupil  whom  he  afterwards  had  as  a  patron.' 
Bale  states  that  he  was  called l  Melundinensis,' 
from  the  place  of  his  studies.  This  may  mean 
cither  Melun  or  Meaux.  By  Becket's  influ- 
ence he  was  made  archdeacon  of  Oxford  to- 
wards the  close  of  1161.  While  holding  this 
office  he  wrote  a  letter  of  consolation  and  ad- 
vice to  Gilbert  Foliot,  who,  having  been  ex- 
communicated by  Becket,  had  written  to  him 
in  very  affectionate  terms  (BECKET,  Mate- 
rials, vi.  606-9).  In  1155  he  was  the  first 
occupant  of  the  newly  founded  stall  of  Wel- 
lington in  Hereford  Cathedral.  The  see  of 
Hereford  had  been  vacant  since  the  death  of 
William  of  Maledon  in  1167,  in  consequence 
of  Henry  II's  refusal  to  issue  a  license  of 
election.  Foliot  was  then  appointed,  and  after 
some  further  delay  was  consecrated  with  three 
other  bishops  at  Canterbury  by  the  recently 
appointed  Archbishop  Richard,  6  Oct.  1174. 
In  1179  he  was  one  of  the  four  English 
bishops  deputed  to  attend  the  Lateran  council 
(HfjLiNSHED,  Chronicle,  ii.  178 ;  D'AcHERY, 
Syicileg.  xii.  650).  He  consecrated  the  abbey 
church  of  Wigmore,  to  which,  on  the  same 
/iay,  he  is  said  to  have  presented  various 
/jewels  (LELAND,  Itin.  viii.  78).  He  died 
/  9  May  1186.  His  liberality  was  shown  by 
/  his  large  gifts  of  lands,  books,  vases,  and  or- 
/  naments  to  his  cathedral  at  Hereford,  where 
a  yearly  commemoration  was  celebrated  on 
the  anniversary  of  his  death.  Bale  attributes 
to  him  '  a  most  lucid  work,' l  De  Sacramentis 
Antiques  Legis/  '  Conciones  Aliquot,'  and 
certain  other  unnamed  works. 

[Godwin,  De  Prsesulibus,  ii.  6;  Bale's  Scrip- 
tores  Illustres,  p.  216,  ed.  Basil,  1557;  Leland's 
Itin.  viii.  78  ;  Britton's  Hereford  Cathedral.] 

E.  V. 

FOLKES,  MARTIN  (1690-1754),  anti- 
quary and  man  of  science,  born  in  Queen 
Street,  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  London,  on 
29  Oct.  1690,  was  the  eldest  son  of  Martin 
Folkes,  bencher  of  Gray's  Inn,  by  his  wife 
Dorothy,  second  daughter  of  Sir  William 
Ho  veil,  knt.,  of  Hillington  Hall,  near  Lynn, 
Norfolk.  When  a  boy  he  was  sent  to  the 
university  of  Saumur,  and  his  tutor  Cappel, 
son  of  Lewis  Cappel,  described  him  as  '  a 
choice  youth  of  a  penetrating  genius  and 
master  of  the  beauties  of  the  best  Roman  and 
Greek  writers.'  Soon  after  February  1706-7 
Folkes  was  sent  to  Clare  Hall,  Cambridge, 
and  there  made  great  progress  in  mathematics 
and  other  studies.  He  held  the  degrees  of 
M.A.,  Cambridge  (6  Oct.  1717),  and  D.C.L., 
Oxford  (July  1746).  On  29  July  1714,  when 


only  twenty-three,  he  was  elected  a  fellow 
of  the  Royal  Society.  In  1722-3  he  was  ap- 
pointed vice-president  of  the  society,  and 
often  presided  in  the  absence  of  Sir  Isaac 
Newton.  On  Newton's  death  he  was  a  can- 
didate with  Sir  Hans  Sloane  for  the  presi- 
dentship. Sloane  was  chosen,  but  Folkes 
became  president  (30  Nov.  1741)  on  Sloane's 
retirement.  Under  Folkes  the  meetings  were 
literary  rather  than  scientific.  Stukeley  de- 
scribes them  at  that  time  as  '  a  most  elegant 
and  agreeable  entertainment  for  a  contem- 
plative person.'  Folkes  contributed  ten  papers 
to  the  '  Transactions '  of  the  society,  his  com- 
munications being  chiefly  on  astronomy  and 
metrology.  He  resigned  the  presidentship 
from  ill-health  on  30  Nov.  1753.  As  presi- 
dent he  was  a  principal  object  of  attack  in 
Sir  John  Hill's  '  Review  of  the  Works  of  the 
Royal  Society '  (1751),  and  the  book  is  <  dedi- 
cated '  to  him  (DISRAELI,  Calamities  and 
Quarrels  of  Authors,  1860,  pp.  364-6). 

In  1733  Folkes  went  with  his  family  to 
Italy  and  remained  abroad  about  two  years 
and  a  half.  He  went  to  Paris  in  May  1739. 
On  5  Sept.  1742  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  French  Academy,  in  succession  to  Ed- 
mund Halley.  Folkes  was  elected  a  fellow 
of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  on  17  Feb. 
1719-20.  He  was  afterwards  vice-president, 
and  from  1749-50  till  his  death  president  of 
the  society.  His  communications  were  on 
Roman  antiquities  and  coins  (NICHOLS,  Lit. 
Anecd.  ii.  581).  He  published  at  his  own 
expense :  1.  '  A  Table  of  English  Gold  Coins 
from  the  18th  year  of  King  Edward  III,' 
with  weights  and  values,  London,  1736, 
4to.  2.  <  A  Table  of  English  Silver  Coins 
from  the  Norman  Conquest  to  the  Present 
Time,'  with  weights,  values,  and  remarks, 
1745,  4to.  The  ' Tables'  were  much  con- 
sulted by  antiquaries.  Folkes  had  more  than 
forty  plates  engraved  to  illustrate  his '  Tables/ 
and  these,  purchased  after  his  death  by  the 
Society  of  Antiquaries,  were  utilised  in  the 
society's  reprint  of  the  *  Tables  '  published  in 
1763,  4to,  3  parts,  and  edited  by  J.  Ward 
and  Dr.  A.  Gifibrd.  Folkes  was  an  associate 
of  the  Egyptian  Club  and  a  member  of  the 
Spalding  Society  (instituted  1710,  ib.  vi.  13). 
He  was  a  friend  of  Sir  I.  Newton  and  a  patron 
of  George  Edwards,  the  naturalist.  He  gave 
some  help  to  Theobald  for  his  notes  on  Shake- 
speare. He  was  a  man  of  extensive  know- 
ledge and  is  described  as  upright,  modest,  and 
affable.  He  died  from  a  paralytic  attack  on 
28  June  1754,  and  was  buried  in  the  chancel 
of  Hillington  Church,  Norfolk.  In  1792  a 
monument  by  Ashton,  after  Tyler,  was 
erected  to  him  in  Westminster  Abbey  in  the 
south  aisle  of  the  choir.  He  bequeathed  to 


Folkes 


362 


Follett 


the  Koyal  Society  200/.,  a  cornelian  ring  for 
the  use  of  the  president,  a  portrait  of  Bacon, 
and  his  portrait  by  Hogarth.  The  sale  of 
his  library,  prints,  drawings,  gems,  pictures, 
coins,  &c.,  in  1756  lasted  fifty-six  days  and 
brought  3,090/.  5s.  He  destroyed  various 
manuscripts  of  his  own  writings  shortly  be- 
fore his  death. 

Folkes  married  (about  1714  ?)  LTJCRETIA 
BRADSHAW,  an  actress  who  appeared  as  '  Mrs. 
Bradshaw'  at  the  Haymarket  Theatre  in 
1707  and  at  Drury  Lane  from  1710  to  1714 
(ib.  ii.  588,  589 :  GENEST,  Account  of  the 
English  Stage,  vol.  i.)  She  acted  Sylvia  in 
the  '  Double  Dealer,'  Corinna  in  the  '  Con- 
federacy/ and  other  parts.  She  spoke  an 
epilogue  (about  1712)  to  the  '  Generous 
Husband/  '  in  boy's  cloaths.'  The  author  of 
the '  History  of  the  English  Stage/ 1741  (cited 
by  NICHOLS,  loc.  cit.)  calls  her  '  one  of  the 
greatest  and  most  promising  genii  of  her  time/ 
and  says  that  Folkes  took  her  oft'  the  stage 
for  her  'exemplary  and  prudent  conduct.' 
Nichols  gathers  that  she  was  a  handsome 
woman,  probably  only  of  second-rate  abili- 
ties. At  the  time  of  her  husband's  death 
she  was  living  in  confinement  at  Chelsea,  her 
mind  having  been  for  some  time  deranged. 

The  issue  of  this  marriage  was  :  1.  A  son 
Martin,  who  entered  Clare  Hall,  and  was 
killed,  during  his  father's  lifetime,  by  a  fall 
from  his  horse  at  Caen  in  Normandy,  whither 
he  had  gone  to  finish  his  studies.  He  in- 
herited his  father's  taste  for  coins.  2.  Dorothy 
Rishton,  who  married  and  had  a  son  and  two 
daughters.  3.  Lucretia,  married  in  1756  to 
(Sir)  Richard  Betenson. 

Portraits  of  Folkes  were  produced  by  J. 
Richardson  (1718),  Vanderbank,  Hogarth 
(1741),  Hudson,  and  Gibson.  There  is  a 
portrait-medal  of  him  (specimens  in  British 
Museum)  by  J.  A.  Dassier  (1740),  described 
by  G.  Vertue  (manuscript  notes  in  Brit.  Mus.) 
as  '  done  very  like  him.'  A  curious  portrait- 
medal  (specimens  in  British  Museum)  with 
the  reverse  type  of  a  sphinx,  the  sun,  and  the 
tomb  of  Caius  Sestius,  was  executed  at  Rome. 
It  bears  a  date  of  the  era  of  masonry  corre- 
sponding either  to  A.D.  1738  or  1742,  and  there 
is  a  story  (referred  to  in  HAWKINS,  Medallic 
Illustrations,  ii.  571)  that  it  was  made  by 
command  of  the  pope  as  a  surprise  to  Folkes 
on  his  visit ;  but  Folkes  is  not  known  to  have 
been  in  Rome  either  in  1738  or  1742. 

[Memoir  in  Nichols's  Lit.  Anecd.  ii.  578-98, 
and  numerous  references  in  indexes  in  vii.  137, 
566  of  ib. ;  and  in  index  in  viii.  39  of  Nichols's 
Lit.  Illustr. ;  Memoir  in  Weld's  Hist,  of  the 
Royal  Society,  i.  479  fF.,  and  other  references  in 
vols.  i.  and  ii. ;  Gent.  Mag.  1754,  xxiv.  292; 
Brit.  Mus.  Cat.;  Hawkins's  Medallic  Illustr. 


(ed.  Franks  and  Grueber),  ii.  558,  571 ;  Stukeley's 
Memoirs  (Surtees  Soc.),  where  Folkes's  wife  is 
called  '  Mrs.  Bracegirdle.']  W.  W. 

FOLLETT,  SIE  WILLIAM  WEBB 
(1798-1845),  attorney-general,  second  and 
eldest  surviving  son  of  Benjamin  Follett,  a 
timber  merchant,  of  Topsham,  near  Exeter, 
and  formerly  a  captain  in  the  13th  regiment 
of  foot,  by  his  wife,  a  daughter  of  John  Webb 
of  Kinsale,  was  born  2  Dec.  1798.  At  first 
his  health  was  very  feeble,  but  in  1809  he 
was  put  to  school  under  Dr.  Lempriere  at 
Exeter  grammar  school,  and  in  1810  to  Mr. 
Hutchinson's  school  at  Heavitree,  near  Exe- 
ter, whence  he  proceeded  to  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge,  and  took  a  B.A.  aegrotat  degree 
in  1818  and  an  M.A.  in  1830.  In  1836  he 
was  appointed  counsel  to  the  university.  In 
Michaelmas  term  1814  he  joined  the  Inner 
Temple,  and  read  in  the  chambers  of  Robert 
Bayly  and  Godfrey  Sykes.  He  became  a 
special  pleader  in  1821,  but  early  in  1824  was 
obliged  from  illness,  the  rupture  of  a  blood- 
vessel in  the  lungs,  to  give  up  work  for  some 
months.  In  Trinity  term,  however,  of  the 
same  year  he  was  called  to  the  bar,  and  joined 
the  western  circuit  in  the  following  summer. 
His  first  reported  case  is  Moore  v.  Stockwell, 
6  Barnwell  and  Cresswell,  p.  76.  in  Michael- 
mas term  1826.  From  the  time  he  came  to 
London  he  was  a  tory,  and  lived  very  much 
with  John  Wilson  Croker  [q.  v.],  though  at 
Cambridge  his  opinions  are  said  to  have  been 
whig.  He  was  a  cousin  of  Mrs.  Croker,  and 
eventually  married  Croker's  ward,  Jane  Mary, 
eldest  daughter  of  Sir  Ambrose  HardingeGif- 
fard,  chief  justice  of  Ceylon,  in  October  1830, 
by  whom  he  had  four  sons  and  two  daughters. 
From  the  first,  except  for  a  few  early  appear- 
ances at  sessions,  his  professional  career  was 
one  unbroken  success,  and  yet  it  provoked 
neither  envy  nor  detraction.  The  years 
1831-3  brought  him  an  election  petition  prac- 
tice of  unprecedented  magnitude.  In  1832 
he  contested  Exeter  unsuccessfully  against 
Buller  and  Divett,  but  in  1835  was  returned 
for  it,  heading  the  poll  with  1,435  votes.  He 
succeeded  well  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
but  for  the  most  part  contented  himself  with 
speaking  on  legal  and  not  on  general  topics. 
He  became  a  king's  counsel  in  Michaelmas 
term  1834,  and  was  solicitor-general  in  Sir 
Robert  Peel's  administration  from  November 
1834  to  April  1835,  and  was  also  knighted. 
His  first  speech  was  on  31  March  1835  upon 
Lord  John  Russell's  Irish  church  motion. 
On  23  June  of  the  same  year  he  moved  an 
amendment  to  clause  9  of  the  Government 
Corporation  Bill  for  the  purpose  of  preserv- 
ing the  rights  of  freemen  to  the  parliamentary 
franchise,  and  was  only  defeated  by  278  to  232. 


Follett 


363 


Fonblanque 


When,  later  in  the  year,  the  House  of  Lords, 
on  Lyndhurst's  advice  and  against  Peel's,  re- 
cast the  bill,  and  so  produced  a  conflict  be- 
tween the  two  houses,  the  high  tories  formed 
plans  for  dispensing  with  Peel  and  coming 
in  with  Lyndhurst  as  prime  minister,  and 
Follett  and  Praed  to  lead  the  commons.  In 
1837  he  was  re-elected  at  Exeter  without  a 
contest,  and  in  1841  headed  the  poll  with 
1,302  votes.  In  Peel's  second  administra- 
tion in  the  same  year  he  became  again  solici- 
tor-general, and  in  April  1844,  when  Pollock 
became  chief  baron,  Follett  succeeded  him  as 
attorney-general,  and,  his  re-election  being 
opposed,  again  won  with  1,293  votes.  His 
health,  however,  failed,  and  symptoms  of 
paralysis  appeared  in  his  lower  limbs.  When 
he  addressed  the  House  of  Lords  for  the 
crown  on  O'Connell's  appeal,  he  was  obliged 
to  do  so  sitting  on  a  high  chair.  He  spent 
some  months  on  the  continent,  but  returning 
home  in  March  1845,  soon  fell  ill  again,  and 
for  some  months  before  his  death  had  given 
up  all  hope  of  recovery.  He  died  28  June 
1845  at  Cumberland  Terrace,  Regent's  Park, 
and  was  buried  in  the  south-eastern  vault  of 
the  Temple  Church  on  4  July.  He  was  uni- 
versally popular  and  universally  regretted. 
1  In  every  qualification  of  intellect  and  grace 
of  manner,'  writes  Lord  Hatherley  (Life,  i. 
270),  *  he  was  as  nearly  perfect  as  man  can 
be.'  His  best-known  cases  at  the  bar  were 
his  defence  of  Lord  Cardigan  for  his  duel  with 
Captain  Tuckett,  in  which  he  obtained  an  ac- 
quittal on  technical  grounds,  and  the  action 
of  Norton  against  Lord  Melbourne,  in  which 
he  appeared  for  the  plaintiff.  With  little 
knowledge  of  classical  or  modern  languages  or 
literatures,  limited  general  information,  and 
a  complete  absence  of  rhetoric  or  fire,  he  was 
nevertheless  unrivalled  for  lucidity,  dexterity, 
promptitude,  and  persuasiveness.  He  was 
unfortunately  parsimonious  and  too  eager  to 
accumulate  a  fortune,  and  fell  a  victim  to 
his  application  to  professional  work.  In 
person  he  was  tall  and  slim,  with  a  fine  brow, 
large  mouth,  and  grey  eyes.  His  voice  was 
mellow  and  full,  and  his  gestures,  though 
limited,  were  very  graceful.  He  has  left 
behind  him  the  reputation  of  having  been 
the  greatest  advocate  of  the  century.  His 
personal  property  was  sworn  at  160,000/. 
There  is  a  statue  of  him  in  Westminster 
Abbey,  and  a  portrait  by  F.  R.  Say,  which 
has  been  engraved  by  G.  R.  Ward.  One 
speech  of  his  on  the  second  reading  of  the 
Dissenters'  Chapels  Bill,  6  June  1844,  has 
been  published. 

[Times,  30  June  1845;  Hansard's  Parlia- 
mentary Debates ;  Croker  Papers,  ii.  367  ;  Duke 
of  Buckingham's  Courts  and  Cabinets,  ii.  199; 


McCullagh  Torrens's  Melbourne,  ii.  191;  Raikes's 
Journal,  ii.  77;  Ballantyne's  Experiences,  i.  125; 
Blackwood's  Mag.  lix.  1 ;  Dublin  Univ.  Mag. 
xx.  117;  Fraser's  Mag.  xxxii.  165;  Gent.  Mag. 
1845.]  J.  A.  H. 

FOLLOWS,  RUTH  (1718-1809),  qua- 
keress,  born  in  1718  at  Weston  in  Notting- 
hamshire, was  the  daughter  of  Richard  and 
Ruth  Alcock,  who  were  poor  quakers.  When 
twenty-three  years  old  she  married  George 
Follows,  quaker,  of  Castle  Donington  in 
Leicestershire,  with  whom  she  lived  sixty 
years,  and  by  whom  she  had  two  children. 
When  about  thirty  years  of  age  she  received  a 
certificate  enabling  her  to  travel  as  a  minister, 
and  visited  and  preached  at  the  majority  of 
the  quaker  meetings  in  the  United  Kingdom. 
Her  first  sermon  was  preached  in  1748  at 
Castle  Donington,  whence  she  proceeded  to 
London,  attending  over  eighty  meetings  on 
her  way.  She  remained  in  London  until  the 
middle  of  1749,  from  which  time  till  1758 
she  appears  to  have  done  little  more  than 
attend  to  meetings  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
her  own  residence,  and  those  at  Atherstone 
and  Matlock.  In  1758  she  visited  Yorkshire 
and  Lancashire,  and  in  1760  made  an  ex- 
tended tour,  which  embraced  most  of  the  meet- 
ings in  the  western  and  midland  counties,  as 
well  as  London  and  Norfolk.  During  the  fol- 
lowing year  she  visited  Ireland,  where  she 
remained  several  months,  working  so  ardu- 
ously as  to  seriously  injure  her  health.  Qua- 
kerism was  at  this  time  at  a  low  ebb  in  Ireland, 
and  her  letters  show  that  she  was  greatly 
dispirited.  In  1764  she  laboured  in  Wales, 
and  between  that  time  and  1788  she  visited 
nearly  every  part  of  England  and  Wales,  and 
made  several  excursions  into  Scotland.  In 
1782-3  she  spent  several  months  in  ministerial 
work  in  Ireland.  From  1788  till  her  death 
she  was  almost  incapacitated  by  the  infirmi- 
ties of  age  ;  but  she  was  able  to  make  occa- 
sional journeys,  the  last  she  undertook  being 
in  1795,  when  seventy-seven  years  old.  She 
died  on  3  April  1809,  and  was  buried  seven 
days  later  in  the  quaker  burial-ground  at 
Castle  Donington.  She  is  not  known  to  have 
been  the  author  of  any  works.  Her  life  was 
very  self-denying  and  her  piety  intense,  her 
ministry  being  highly  valued  for  its  sim- 
plicity and  earnestness. 

[Stansfield's  Memoirs  of  Ruth  Follows,  1829  ; 
Smith's  Cat.  of  Friends'  Books.]  A.  C.  B. 

FONBLANQUE,  ALBANY  (1793- 
1872),  journalist,  born  in  London  in  1793, 
was  the  third  son  of  John  Samuel  Martin  de 
Grenier  de  Fonblanque  [q.  v.]  He  was  in- 
tended for  service  in  the  royal  engineers, 
but  his  education  at  Woolwich  having  been 


Fonblanque 


364 


Fonblanque 


interrupted  for  two  years  by  a  dangerous  ill- 
ness, he  studied  law  under  Chitty.  Before 
he  was  twenty,  however,  he  had  gained  such 
success  as  a  contributor  to  newspapers  as  to 
determine  him  to  devote  himself  entirely  to 
journalism.  His  career  was  again  inter- 
rupted by  a  serious  attack  of  illness,  but  upon 
his  recovery  he  resumed  his  journalistic  la- 
bours, chiefly  upon  the  '  Morning  Chronicle ' 
and  the  '  Times/  In  1820  he  married,  and, 
after  a  short  engagement  on  the  '  Atlas,'  be- 
came in  1826  principal  leader  writer  upon 
the  '  Examiner,'  which  found  in  his  brilliant 
pen  a  substitute  for  Leigh  Hunt,  whose  con- 
nection with  the  paper  had  ceased  upon  his 
departure  for  Italy.  He  was  intimate  with 
Bentham,  the  Mills,  Grote,  and  the  chiefs  of 
the  utilitarian  school  in  general,  and  was  a 
leading  contributor  to  the  i  Westminster  Re- 
view '  from  its  establishment  in  1823.  The 
publishers  of  the  'Examiner'  were  deeply 
embarrassed,  and  about  1828  the  paper  was 

furchased  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  Fellowes 
[j.  v.],  author  of  '  The  Religion  of  the  Uni- 
verse.' Dr.  Fellowes,  in  September  1830, 
placed  the  entire  management  in  Fonblanque's 
hands,  and  sold  the  paper  to  him  a  few  years 
afterwards.  Its  reputation  as  the  chief  organ 
of  high-class  intellectual  radicalism  was  re- 
cognised by  a  subscription  to  defray  the  cost 
of  improved  machinery  to  allow  of  its  being 
issued  at  a  lower  price.  The  contribution 
took  the  form  of  a  prepayment  of  subscrip- 
tions for  ten  years,  and  the  measure  produced 
a  large  increase  of  circulation.  Fonblanque, 
in  an  unpublished  letter,  gives  W.  J.  Fox 
and  Stuart  Mill  the  chief  credit  for  their 
exertions  in  accomplishing  the  end  in  view. 
Mill  had  already  regularly  contributed  let- 
ters which  aroused  the  attention  of  Carlyle ; 
and  Disraeli,  then  coquetting  with  radicalism, 
was  among  the  subscribers.  In  1837  Fon- 
blanque republished  his  most  remarkable  ar- 
ticles of  the  preceding  ten  years,  under  the 
title  of  '  England  under  Seven  Administra- 
tions.' Macaulay  disputed  the  wisdom  of  the 
step.  '  Fonblanque's  leading  articles  in  the 
"Examiner,"'  he  tells  Macvey  Napier,  'were 
extolled  to  the  skies  while  they  were  consi- 
dered merely  as  leading  articles.  .  .  .  Fon- 
blanque had  not  considered  that  in  that  form 
they  would  be  compared,  not  with  the  rant 
and  twaddle  of  the  daily  and  weekly  press, 
but  with  Burke's  pamphlets,  with  Pascal's 
letters,  with  Addison's  Spectators  and  Free- 
holders.' This  is  evidently  true,  and  yet  the 
publication  has  preserved  Fonblanque  from 
becoming  a  mere  nominis  umbra.  The  book 
counts  among  the  authorities  for  the  history 
of  the  period,  and  brings  together  the  choicest 
examples  of  the  indomitable  spirit  and  caus- 


tic wit  which  constituted  his  chief  distinction 
as  a  journalist. 

The  publication  of  the  '  Seven  Adminis- 
trations '  indicated  the  high  water-mark  of 
Fonblanque's  public  influence.  It  was  the 
time  when,  as  a  eulogist  in  the  '  Scotsman ' 
said,  '  an  epigram  in  the  "  Examiner  "  went 
off  like  a  great  gun,  echoing  all  over  the 
country.'  This  position  could  not  but  be  af- 
fected by  the  decline  of  the  liberal  party  in 
reputation  from  1836  onward,  and  its  ultimate 
rehabilitation  through  the  acceptance  of  new 
ideas,  chiefly  of  financial  and  commercial  re- 
form, which  Fonblanque,  though  approving, 
could  not  make  his  own.  In  the  divisions 
among  his  own  section  of  the  party  he  in- 
clined rather  to  the  support  of  the  whig 
cabinet  than  to  the  combative  radicalism  of 
Mill.  The  two  schools  of  old-fashioned  Lon- 
don radicalism  and  of  Benthamite  utilita- 
rianism, with  both  of  which  Fonblanque  had 
intimate  affinities,  waned  more  and  more, 
and  when  at  length  in  1847  the  liberals  were 
returned  to  office,  Fonblanque  consented  to 
relinquish  the  editorship  of  the  '  Examiner,' 
and  accepted  an  appointment,  apparently 
most  uncongenial  to  a  wit  and  satirist,  in  the 
statistical  department  of  the  board  of  trade. 
He  had  been  offered  the  government  of  Nova 
Scotia,  but  he  could  not  tear  himself  away 
from  London.  The  editorship  of  the  '  Ex- 
aminer '  passed  into  the  hands  of  JohnForster 
(1812-1876)  [q.  v.]  Fonblanque,  however, 
remained  proprietor  until  1865,  and  continued 
until  about  1860  to  contribute  articles  distin- 
guished by  all  his  old  pungency,  though  less 
and  less  abreast  with  the  spirit  of  the  new 
time.  He  felt  himself  entirely  out  of  place 
as  the  board  of  trade's  statistician.  Tra- 
ditions linger  in  the  office  of  his  late  arrivals, 
his  early  departures,  his  panics  when  called 
upon  for  official  information,  his  general  in- 
accessibility, but  gentle  and  almost  mournful 
courtesy  to  those  with  whom  he  deigned  to 
communicate.  He  was  understood  to  suffer 
from  domestic  troubles,  and  his  health  was 
never  good.  He  dropped  almost  entirely  out 
of  society  for  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life, 
and  was  rarely  to  be  seen  except  in  the  library 
of  the  Athenaeum,  or  absorbed  in  a  game  of 
chess  at  the  St.  James's  Club.  He  died  13  Oct. 
1872.  A  second  collection  of  his  leading  ar- 
ticles, with  a  memoir  by  his  nephew,  Edward 
Barrington  de  Fonblanque,  was  published  in 
1874. 

Fonblanque  is  one  of  the  few  English  jour- 
nalists who,  merely  as  such,  have  gained  a  per- 
manent place  in  literature.  This  is  due  partly 
to  his  gifts  of  humour  and  sarcasm,  partly  to 
the  republication  of  his  best  work,  but  chiefly 
to  his  instinct  for  literary  form.  The  finish 


Fonblanque 


365 


Fonblanque 


and  polish  of  his  articles  give  them  a  literary 
value  independent  of  the  subject.  Fonblanque 
wrote  slowly  and  rewrote  much.  He  did  not 
consider  his  early  articles  in  daily  newspapers 
worth  reprinting,  and  when  at  a  later  period 
he  was  tempted  by  great  offers  to  write  in  the 
'  Morning  Chronicle,'  he  felt  himself  unequal 
to  the  task  and  soon  abandoned  it.  No  edi- 
tor, perhaps,  has  ever  more  strongly  impressed 
his  personality  upon  his  journal,  or  habitually 
written  in  a  more  individual  and  recognisable 
style,  even  to  the  risk  of  monotony.  His 
slowness  of  composition  makes  the  great  ex- 
tent and  overwhelming  proportion  of  his  con- 
tributions to  the  '  Examiner '  the  more  re- 
markable. His  negative  bent  made  him  be- 
fore all  things  a  censor  and  a  critic,  and 
disabled  him  from  taking  broad  surveys  of 
measures  and  men.  His  strong  positive 
views  on  legislation,  derived  from  Bentham, 
made  his  journalistic  work  in  that  department 
more  fruitful  if  less  brilliant.  In  politics  he 
was  no  revolutionist,  but  a  staunch  radical 
reformer,  whose  hostility  to  abuses  did  not 
involve  hostility  to  institutions,  some  few  ex- 
cepted,  which  he  thought  decisively  con- 
demned by  his  utilitarian  standard.  He  may 
be  taxed  with  occasional  injustice  to  indi- 
viduals, but  not  with  deliberate  unfairness ; 
he  was  in  purpose  thoroughly  impartial,  and 
never  employed  his  powers  of  satire  for  the 
mere  sake  of  giving  pain.  Being  sarcastic  he 
naturally  passed  for  a  cynic,  but  the  character 
did  him  great  injustice.  He  seems  to  have 
been  shy  and  sensitive,  patient  in  a  never- 
ending  contest  with  ill-health  and  domestic 
unhappiness,  scrupulously  honourable  and 
delicate  in  all  personal  relations,  and  subdued 
in  manner,  except  when  he  held  the  pen  or 
became  animated  in  discussion.  All  his 
friends  who  have  left  notices  of  him  celebrate 
his  social  charm  and  his  disinterested  kind- 
ness. He  was  a  brilliant  talker,  a  finished 
scholar,  and  a  theoretical  student  of  music 
and  art. 

[Life  and  Labours  of  Albany  Fonblanque,  ed. 
E.  B.  de  Fonblanque,  1874  ;  H.  R.Fox  Bourne's 
English  Newspapers,  vol.  ii. ;  Home's  Spirit  of 
the  Age,  vol.  ii. ;  obituary  notices  in  Examiner, 
Daily  News,  and  Scotsman.]  K.  Or. 

FONBLANQUE,  JOHNDE  GRENIER 

(1760-1837),  jurist,  son  of  Jean  de  Grenier 
Fonblanque,  a  naturalised  Englishman  and 
banker  in  London,  who  was  descended  from 
an  ancient  and  noble  Huguenot  family  of 
Languedoc,  was  born  in  1760.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  Harrow  and  Oxford ;  became  a  stu- 
dent of  the  Middle  Temple,  and  was  called 
to  the  bar  by  that  society  24  Jan.  1783.  He 
soon  obtained  a  good  practice  as  an  equity 


lawyer.  He  is  said  to  have  caused  quite  a 
sensation  by  disputing  the  then  established, 
but  now  exploded,  doctrine  of  scintilla  juris. 
He  was  leading  counsel  on  behalf  of  the 
merchants  of  London  in  their  opposition  to 
the  Quebec  Bill  of  1791,  and  pleaded  their 
cause  at  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
By  the  influence  of  the  Duke  of  Bedford  he 
sat  for  Camelford,  1802-6.  In  1804  he  was 
made  king's  counsel.  Fonblanque  was  a 
steady  whig  and  a  personal  friend  of  the  Prince 
of  Wales,  for  whom  he  is  supposed  to  have 
written  the  letters  addressed  to  George  III  on 
his  exclusion  from  the  army.  He  died  4  Jan. 
1837,  and  was  interred  in  the  Temple  Church, 
in  the  vault  belonging  to  the  Middle  Temple, 
of  which  society  he  was  senior  bencher.  At 
the  time  of  his  death  Fonblanque  was  called! 
'  Father  of  the  English  Bar.'  Writing  to  one 
of  his  sons  Lord  Lyndhurst  says  of  him :  '  I 
have  known  jurists  as  profound  as  your  father, 
but  I  have  known  no  one  who  was  so  perfect 
a  master  of  the  philosophy  of  law.'  In  1786 
Fonblanque  married  the  daughter  of  Colonel 
John  Fitzgerald,  by  whom  he  left  three  sons 
and  a  daughter.  He  assumed  the  old  family 
prefix  de  Grenier  in  addition  to  the  name  of 
Fonblanque  by  royal  license  in  May  1828. 
Fonblanque  edited  the  '  Treatise  on  Equity T 
ascribed  to  Henry  Ballow  [q.  v.],  with  such 
additions  and  improvements  that  it  became 
almost  a  new  work.  It  enjoyed  considerable 
reputation  as  an  authority  on  the  subject,  and 
went  through  several  editions  (5th  ed.  1820); 
He  also  wrote  two  tracts, '  A  Serious  Ex- 
hortation to  the  Electors  of  Great  Britain ' 
(1791  ?),  and  '  Doubts  as  to  the  Expediency 
of  adopting  the  Recommendation  of  the- 
Bullion  Committee,'  1810. 

[Gent.  Mag.  March  1837,  p.  325;  Fonblanque'* 
Life  of  Albany  Fonblanque,  pp.  1-4  (1874); 
County  Courts  Chron.  and  Bankruptcy  Gaz. 
1  Feb.  1866,  p.  44  ;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat.]  F.  W-T. 

FONBLANQUE,  JOHN  SAMUEL 
MARTIN  DE  GRENIER  (1787-1865), 
legal  writer,  eldest  son  of  John  de  Grenier 
Fonblanque  [q.  v.],  was  born  in  Brook  Street,, 
Grosvenor  Square,  London,  in  March  1787. 
He  was  educated  at  the  Charterhouse  and  at 
Caius  College,  Cambridge,  where  he  was  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  Union  Debating  So- 
ciety. He  also  kept  his  terms  at  Lincoln's 
Inn.  At  college  he  burst  a  blood-vessel  and 
was  advised  change  for  his  health,  where- 
upon, having  obtained  a  commission  in  the 
21st  fusiliers,  he  served  with  the  regiment 
in  Cadiz  and  Gibraltar,  and  in  Italy  under 
Lord  W.  Bentinck,  by  whom  he  was  appointed 
deputy  judge  advocate-general.  He  took  an 
active  part  in  the  war  between  Great  Britain 


Fonnereau 


366 


Fontibus 


and  the  United  States,  was  present  at  the 
taking  of  Washington,  the  battle  of  Balti- 
more, and  the  disastrous  attempt  on  New 
Orleans,  where  he  was  captured  by  the  enemy. 
After  the  battle  of  Waterloo  he  served  in 
France  with  the  army  of  occupation,  and  re- 
turning to  England  in  1816  he  was  called  to 
the  bar,  and  appointed  by  Lord  Eldon  in  the 
following  year  a  commissioner  of  bankruptcy. 
On  the  institution  of  the  bankruptcy  court  by 
1  &  2  William  TV,  c.  56,  he  was  appointed 
one  of  the  original  commissioners.  Fon- 
blanque  died  at  Brighton  3  Nov.  1865.  He 
wrote  (jointly  with  Dr.  J.  A.  Paris)  '  Medical 
Jurisprudence,'  3  vols.  1823— for  this  work 
the  first  award  of  the  Swiney  prize  was  made 
to  the  authors — and '  Observations  on  the  Bill 
now  before  Parliament  for  the  Consolidation 
and  Amendment  of  the  Laws  relating  to 
Bankrupts,'  &c.  1824.  He  also  was  one  of  the 
founders  of'  The  Jurist,  or  Quarterly  Journal 
of  Jurisprudence  and  Legislation,'  vols.  i-iv. 
1827-33. 

[Gent.  Mag.  December  1865,  p.  801 ;  County 
Courts  Chronicle  and  Bankruptcy  Gazette,  1  Feb. 
1866,  p.  44;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat.]  *  F.  W-T. 

FONNEREAU,   THOMAS    GEORGE 

(1789-1850),  author  and  artist,  was  the  se- 
cond and  posthumous  son  of  Thomas  Fonne- 
reau (son  of  Z.  P.  Fonnereau,  the  descendant 
of  an  ancient  family  from  the  neighbourhood 
of  Rochelle,  which  settled  in  England  at  the 
edict  of  Nantes  and  realised  a  fortune  in  the 
linen  trade),  who  married  on  19  Oct.  1786 
Harriet,  daughter  of  John  Hanson  of  Reading. 
His  father  died  at  Topsham,  Devonshire,  on 
26  Dec.  1788;  his  mother  survived  until  2  Feb. 
1832.  He  himself  was  born  at  Reading  on 
25  Aug.  1789,  and  his  elder  brother,  John 
Zachary,  who  married  Caroline  Sewell,  died 
without  issue  at  Douai  in  1822.  After  prac- 
tising as  an  attorney  in  partnership  with  John 
Gregson  at  8  Angel  Court,  Throgmorton 
Street,  from  1816  to  1834,  he  succeeded,  by  the 
death  of  a  relation,  to  a  good  property,  and 
devoted  himself  for  the  rest  of  his  life  to  his 
books  and  his  friends.  His  political  opinions 
leaned  to  conservatism,  and  he  published  in 
1831  a  '  Practical  View  of  the  Question  of 
Parliamentary  Reform,'  which,  unlike  most 
of  the  swarm  of  pamphlets  issued  at  that 
crisis,  passed  through  two  editions.  It  was 
written  mainly  to  prove  that  a  purely  demo- 
cratic government  is  inapplicable  to  the  cir- 
cumstances of  England,  and  that  the  existing 
system  was  '  founded  on  a  concentration  of 
the  various  interests  of  the  country  in  the 
House  of  Commons.'  While  still  a  lawyer 
lie  occupied  chambers  in  the  Albany,  and  as  a 
'  great  lover  and  liberal  patron  of  art '  enter- 


tained a  distinguished  set  of  artists  and  wits 
at  '  choice  little  dinners,'  which  are  com- 
memorated in  the  pages  of  Planche's  '  Recol- 
lections.' With  one  of  these  friends  he  tra- 
velled in  Italy  about  1840,  and  on  his  return 
there  were  printed  for  private  distribution,  at 
the  expense  of  D.  Colnaghi,  a  few  copies  of 
'  Mems.  of  a  Tour  in  Italy,  from  Sketches  by 
T.  G.  F.,  inspired  by  his  friend  and  fellow- 
traveller,  C.  S.,  esq.,  R.A.'  (probably  Clark- 
son  Stanfield),  containing  thirteen  sketches 
of  scenery.  On  inheriting  his  fortune  he 
gratified  an  inclination  which  had  long  pos- 
sessed him  by  building,  with  the  assistance 
of  his  friend,  Decimus  Burton,  *  a  bachelor's 
kennel,'  his  own  depreciatory  designation  of 
'  an  Italian  villa  with  colonnade  and  campa- 
nile,' which  arose  at  Haydon  Hill,  near 
Bushey  in  Hertfordshire.  There  he  died  on 
13  Nov.  1850,  and  was  buried  in  a  vault  in 
Aldenham  churchyard,  with  many  members 
of  the  family  of  Hibbert,  his  nearest  relatives. 
His  name  would  by  this  time  have  perished 
had  he  not  printed  for  private  circulation  in 
1849  a  few  copies  of  '  The  Diary  of  a  Dutiful 
Son,  by  H.  E.  O./  the  second  letters  of  his 
three  names.  A  copy  fell  accidentally  into 
the  hands  of  Lockhart,  who  inserted  numer- 
ous extracts  from  its  pages  into  the  *  Quarterly 
Review,' Ixxxvi.  449-63  (1850).  The  intro- 
duction to  the  volume  sets  out  that  his  father 
urged  him  to  keep  a  diary  of  the  remarks 
which  he  heard  in  the  house  of  a  distant  re- 
lation, '  a  literary  man  in  affluent  circum- 
stances,' and  that  some  little  time  afterwards 
he  showed  the  diary  as  a  proof  that  he  had 
adopted  the  suggestion.  A  concluding  para- 
graph reveals  that  this  was  an  imposition,  as 
the  conversations  were  the  product  of  his 
own  inventive  powers.  They  contained  many 
original  and  acute  observations,  from  a  thinker 
not  dissatisfied  with  the  world,  and  not 
anxious  for  much  change,  on  poetry,  philo- 
sophy, and  political  economy,  and  they  pre- 
sent in  style  and  substance  an  accurate  re- 
presentation of  his  talk.  Lockhart  suggested 
its  publication  to  the  world,  and  a  copy, 
evident!}7"  prepared  for  the  press,  was  found 
among  Fonnereau's  papers  after  his  death. 
This  was  published  by  John  Murray  in  1864. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1786  pt.  ii.  907,  1788  pt.  ii. 
1183,  1851  p.  107;  Cussans's  Hertfordshire,  iii. 
pt.  i.  268,  pt.  ii.  179 ;  Planche's  Recollections, 
i.  233  ;  Preface  to  1864  ed.  of  Diary  of  a  Dutiful 
Son ;  Agnew's  Protestant  Exiles,  iii.  234.] 

W.  P.  C. 

FONTIBUS  (FOUNTAINS),  JOHN  DE 
(d.  1225),  ninth  abbat  of  Fountains,  sixth 
bishop  of  Ely,  was  elected  abbat  of  Foun- 
tains in  1211,  and  blessed  on  13  Dec.  at  Mel- 


Foot 


367 


Foot 


rose  Abbey  by  Ralph,  bishop  of  Down.  All 
that  is  known  of  his  rule  at  Fountains  is  that 
he  prosecuted  the  work  of  his  predecessor 
vigorously,  continuing  the  erection  of  the 
choir  and  lady  chapel.  He  made  himself 
useful  to  King  John,  from  whom  there  are 
several  letters  extant  to  him,  one  showing 
that  the  king  had  entrusted  many  of  his 
valuables  to  the  care  of  the  abbey.  On 
24  Dec.  1219  he  was  elected  bishop  of  Ely, 
after  the  two  elections  of  Geoffrey  de  Burgh 
and  Robert  of  York  had  been  quashed  by  the 
pope.  This  was  chiefly  through  Pandulf's 
influence  (Annal.  Monast.  iv.  412),  whose 
letter  to  the  king  in  his  favour  is  given  by 
Prynne  (W  ALB  KAN",  Memorials  of  Fountains 
Abbey,  i.  171).  He  was  consecrated  at  West- 
minster by  Archbishop  Langton  on  8  March 
1219-20,  and  enthroned  on  25  March.  In 
1221,  in  conjunction  with  the  Bishop  of  Salis- 
bury, Richard  le  Poore,  he  was  appointed  by 
Honorius  III  to  investigate  the  complaints 
of  the  monks  of  Durham  against  their  bishop, 
Richard  de  Marisco.  He  went  to  Durham, 
summoned  the  bishop  to  appear  before  him, 
and  seems  to  have  found  the  accusations 
true  (Dunstable  Annals,  iii.  62,  67).  The 
bishop  appealed  to  the  pope,  but  the  pope 
referred  the  matter  back  to  the  two  bishops 
(R.  WENDOVEK  in  MATT.  PARIS,  iii.  62,  63). 
While  still  abbat  of  Fountains  he  had  been 
appointed  by  the  pope  one  of  a  commission 
to  inquire  into  the  merits  of  Hugh,  bishop  of 
Lincoln,  before  his  canonisation.  In  1223, 
in  conjunction  with  his  successor  at  Foun- 
tains and  the  abbat  of  Rievaulx,  he  received 
a  similar  injunction  with  respect  to  William, 
archbishop  of  York.  In  1225  he  witnessed 
Magna  Charta  (Burton  Annals,  i.  231).  He 
died  at  his  palace  at  Downham  on  6  May 
1225,  and  was  buried  in  Ely  Cathedral.  He 
gave  the  tithes  of  Hadham  to  the  Ely  monks 
to  provide  for  his  anniversary,  and  endowed 
them  with  the  churches  of  Witchford  and 
Meldreth,  with  a  view  to  their  hospitality. 
His  skeleton  was  found  entire  in  1770,  when 
the  choir  was  repaired  and  altered  (Steven- 
son's supplement  to  BENTHAM'S  Ely,  Notes, 
p.  76). 

[Annales  Monastic?,  i.  231,  iii.  62,  67,  iv.  412  ; 
Eoger  of  Wendover  and  Matt.  Paris,  iii.  58,  62, 
63,  93 ;  Chron.  de  Mailros  (Fulman),  p.  181 ; 
Historia  Eliensis,  in  Wharton's  Anglia  Sacra, 
i.  634-5  ;  Hardy's  Le  Neve,  i.  328  ;  Walbran's 
Memorials  of  Fountains  Abbey,  i.  pp.  Ixiv,  Ixv, 
134-6,164-5,171.]  H.  K.  L. 

FOOT,  JESSE  (1744-1826),  surgeon,  was 
born  at  Charlton  in  Wiltshire  in  1744.  He 
received  a  medical  education  in  London,  be- 
coming a  member  of  the  Surgeons'  Company, 


and  about  1766  went  to  the  West  Indies, 
where  he  practised  for  three  years  in  the  is- 
land of  Nevis,  returning  in  1769.  After  this 
he  went  to  St.  Petersburg,  where  he  became 
'a  privileged  practitioner  of  the  College  of 
St.  Petersburg,'  as  he  afterwards  described 
I  himself,  and  practised  there  some  time  pro- 
fitably. Returning  to  England,  he  was 
appointed  house-surgeon  to  the  Middlesex 
Hospital,  and  on  the  conclusion  of  his  term 
of  office  began  practice  in  Salisbury  Street, 
Strand,  afterwards  removing  to  Dean  Street, 
Soho,  where  he  had  a  large  practice  for  many 
years.  He  died  at  Ilfracombe  on  27  Oct. 
1826. 

Foot's  principal  branch  of  practice  may  be 
gathered  from  the  titles  of  his  numerous  pro- 
fessional books  and  pamphlets.  His  belief 
in  his  own  merits  was  great,  and  he  aspired 
to  surpass  John  Hunter  in  fame ;  but  finding 
himself  unable  to  succeed,  he  endeavoured 
to  defame  his  rival,  to  prove  that  his  dis- 
coveries were  plagiarisms  or  of  little  merit,  to 
denounce  him  as  an  embittered,  ill-tempered 
man,  and  to  represent  that  his  works  were 
written  by  Smollett.  His  *  Life  of  Hunter ' 
shows  in  almost  every  page  the  intense 
jealousy  by  which  he  was  actuated.  Foot's 
inclination  to  biography  is  also  seen  in  his 
lives  of  the  seducer  and  duellist  Bowes  and 
his  wife,  Mary  Eleanor,  countess  of  Strath- 
more  [q.  v.],  whom  he  attended  profession- 
ally for  thirty-three  years,  and  of  his  friend 
Arthur  Murphy  [q.  v.],  whose  executor  he 
was.  He  was  also  strongly  prejudiced  in 
favour  of  the  West  Indian  planters  and  their 
treatment  of  their  slaves,  and  his  vigorous 
*  Defence '  ran  through  three  large  editions 
in  three  weeks.  He  attacked  Wilberforce 
and  the  abolition  party  on  several  occa- 
sions. 

Foot  wrote :  1. '  A  Critical  Inquiry  into  the 
Ancient  and  Modern  Manner  of  Treating  Dis- 
eases of  the  Urethra,  and  an  Improved  Method 
of  Cure,' London,  1774 ;  6th  edit.  1811.  2. 'Ob- 
servations on  the  New  Opinions  of  John  Hun- 
ter in  his  Treatise  on  the  Venereal  Disease/ 
in  three  parts,  1786-7.  3.  'An  Essay  on 
the  Bite  of  a  Mad  Dog,  with  Observations 
on  John  Hunter's  Treatment  of  the  Case  of 

Master  R [Rowley],  and  also  a  Recital 

of  the  Successful  Treatment  of  Two  Cases,' 
1788;  2nd  edit.  1791.  4.  'A  New  Dis- 
covered Fact  of  a  relative  nature  in  the 
Venereal  Poison,'  1790.  5.  'A  Defence  of 
the  Planters  in  the  West  Indies,  comprised 
in  Four  Arguments/  &c.,  1792.  6.  'A  Com- 
plete Treatise  on  the  Origin,  Theory,  and 
Cure  of  the  Lues  Venerea  and  Obstruction 
in  the  Urethra,  illustrated  by  a  great  variety 
of  Cases,  being  a  course  of  twenty-three 


Foot 


368 


Foote 


lectures  read  in  Dean  Street,  Soho,  1790 
and  1791;'  4to,1792;  new  edit.,  8vo,  1820, 
amended  and  corrected ;  German  translation, 
Leipzig,  1793-4.  7.  '  A  Plan  for  Prevent- 
ing the  Fatal  Effects  of  the  Bite  of  a  Mad 
Dog,  with  Cases/  1792.  8.  '  Life  of  John 
Hunter,'  1794 ;  2nd  edit.  1797.  9.  '  Dia- 
logues between  a  Pupil  of  the  late  John 
Hunter  and  Jesse  Foot,  including  passages 
in  Darwin's  "  Zoonomia," '  1795.  10.  '  Cases 
of  the  Successful  Practice  of  the  Vesicae  Lo- 
tura  in  the  Cure  of  Diseased  Bladders/  pt.  i. 
1798,  pt.  ii.  1803.  11.  '  Observations  prin- 
cipally upon  the  Speech  of  Mr.  "Wilberforce 
on  his  Motion  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
30  May  1804,  for  the  Abolition  of  the 
Slave  Trade/  1805.  12.  'Important  Re- 
searches upon  the  Existence,  Nature,  and 
Consummation  of  Venereal  Infection  in 
Pre°-nant  Women,  New-born  Infants,  and 
Nurses,  by  the  late  P.  S.  0.  Mahon,  con- 
trasted with  the  Opinions  of  the  late  John 
Hunter  upon  the  subject/  1808.  13.  l  The 
Lives  of  Andrew  Robinson  Bowes,  Esq.,  and 
the  Countess  of  Strathmore,  written  from 
thirty-three  years'  professional  attendance, 
from  Letters  and  other  well-authenticated 
Documents/  1810.  14.  'Life  of  Arthur 
Murphy,  Esq./ 1811.  15.  '  Review  of  Everard 
Home's  Observations  on  the  Diseases  of  the 
Prostate  Gland/  1812.  16.  'Facts  relative  to 
the  Prevention  of  Hydrophobia/  in  '  Medical 
Facts  and  Observations/  iii.  33.  17.  '  Two 
Letters  on  the  Necessity  of  a  Public  Inquiry 
into  Cause  of  the  Death  of  the  Princess  Char- 
lotte and  her  Infant/  1817.  See  also  for 
several  minor  contributions  'Index  to  the 
London  Medical  and  Physical  Journal/  vols. 
i-xl.,  1820. 

FOOT,  JESSE,  the  younger  (1780-1850),  sur- 
geon, was  not  the  son  but  the  nephew  of  the 
preceding.  He  practised  for  many  years  as 
a  surgeon  at  Clarendon,  Jamaica,  returned 
home  about  1819,  and  lived  with  his  uncle  in 
Dean  Street,  Soho,  for  two  years,  marrying 
Miss  Foot  (presumably  his  cousin)  on  4  Sept. 
1819.  He  succeeded  to  his  uncle's  practice, 
and  in  1826  brought  out  a  new  edition  oi 
his  work  on  the  urethra,  which  is  described 
as  the  eighth  edition.  He  became  surgeon  to 
the  Royal  Westminster  Ophthalmic  Hospital 
He  published '  Ophthalmic  Memoranda/ 1838, 
and  wrote  several  papers  in  the  'Lancet 'and 
the  '  London  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal, 
enumerated  in  Dechambre.  In  1834  he  pub- 
lished <  The  Medical  Pocket-book  for  1835. 
Foot  died  at  Ilfracombe,  aged  70,  on  5  Jan 
1850  (Gent.  Mag.  1850,  i.  225). 

[Georgian  Era,  ii.  574  ;  D£chambre's  Diction- 
naire  Encyclopedique  des  Sciences  Medicales,  4th 
ser.  vol.  iii.  1879;  Foot's  Works.]  G.  T.  B. 


FOOTE,  SIR  EDWARD  JAMES  (1767- 
L833),  vice-admiral,  youngest  son  of  the  Rev. 
Francis  Hender  Foote,  rector  of  Bishops- 
bourne,  near  Canterbury,  and,  on  the  mother's 
side,  nephew  of  Sir  Horace  Mann  [q.  v.],  was 
born  at  Bishopsbourne  on  20  April  1767.  In 
1779  he  was  entered  at  the  naval  academy 
at  Portsmouth,  and  in  1780  joined  the  Dub- 
Lin  of  74  guns,  under  Captain  Samuel  Wallis. 
In  November  he  was  moved  into  the  Belle 
Poule  frigate,  and  in  her  was  present  in  the 
action  on  the  Dogger  Bank,  5  Aug.  1781. 
He  shortly  afterwards  joined  the  Endymion 
frigate,  in  which  he  was  present  in  the  battle 
of  Dominica,  12  April  1782.  After  the  peace 
he  was  appointed  to  the  Europa,  bearing  the 
flag  of  Vice-admiral  Gambier,  on  the  Jamaica 
station;  served  as  acting  lieutenant  of  the 
Swan,  the  Antelope,  and  the  Janus,  and  was 
confirmed  in  the  rank  on  12  Aug.  1785.     In 
1787  he  was  for  a  few  months  in  the  Royal 
Sovereign,  and  in  September  1788  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  Crown,  going  out  to  the  East 
Indies  with  the  broad  pennant  of  Commo- 
dore Cornwallis,  by  whom,  in  the  summer  of 
1791,  he  was  made  commander  of  the  Ata- 
lanta  sloop.     He  was  afterwards  transferred 
to  the  Ariel,  which  he  brought  home  and 
paid  off  in  October  1792.     In  1793  he  com- 
manded the  Thorn  sloop,  and  on  7  June  1794 
was  advanced  to  post  rank,  and  appointed 
to  the  Niger  frigate,  in  which  for  the  next 
two  years  he  was  employed  in  the  Channel 
and  on  the  coast  of  France.     He  then  joined 
the  Mediterranean  fleet  under  Sir  John  Jervis-) 
and  had  the  good  fortune,  on  the  early  morn- 
ing of  14  Feb.  1797,  to  bring  the  first  posi- 
tive intelligence  of  the  immediate  proximity 
of  the  Spanish  fleet,  and,  a  few  hours  later, 
to  assist  in  its  defeat.     The  Niger  shortly 
afterwards   returned   to   England,   and   at- 
tended the  king  at  Weymouth  during  the 
autumn ;  on  going  back  to  Spithead,  Foote- 
was,  at  the  king's  especial  desire,  appointed 
to  the  Seahorse  of  38  guns,  and  ordered  out 
to  the  Mediterranean.     He  was  on  his  way 
to  join  the  detached  squadron  under  Sir 
Horatio  Nelson,  when,  off  the  coast  of  Sicily, 
on  26  June  1798  he  fell  in  with  and  cap- 
tured the  French  frigate  Sensible  of  36  guns, 
carrying  General  Baraguay  d'Hilliers  and  his 
stafi\     From  his  prisoners  Foote  learned  the 
destination  of  the  expedition ;    he  at  once 
made  sail  for  the  coast  of  Egypt,  and  in 
company  with  the  Terpsichore  arrived  off" 
Alexandria  on  20  July.     After  seeing  the- 
French  ships  there  and  in  Aboukir  Bay,  the 
frigates  went  in  search  of  Nelson,  but,  not 
meeting  with  him,  returned  to  Egypt  on 
17  Aug. ,  when  they  found  that  the  French  fleet 
had  been  meantime  destroyed.     On  the  de- 


Foote 


369 


Foote 


parture  of  Nelson  for  Naples,  Foote  remained 
attached  to  the  blockading  squadron;  but 
the  following  spring  he  rejoined  Nelson  at 
Palermo,  and  in  March  was  sent  with  Captain 
Troubridge  into  the  Bay  of  Naples,  where, 
on  Troubridge  being  called  away  in  May,  he 
was  left  as  senior  officer  [see  TKOUBKIDGE, 
SIK  THOMAS  ;  NELSON,  HORATIO,  VISCOUNT]. 
In  this  capacity,  on  22  June,  he,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  Cardinal  Ruffo  and  the  Russian 
and  Turkish  admirals,  signed  the  capitula- 
tion of  the  forts  Uovo  and  Nuovo ;  a  capitu- 
lation which  Nelson,  on  arriving  in  the  bay 
two  days  later,  pronounced  invalid,  and  re- 
fused to  carry  into  effect.  Nelson  does  not 
seem  to  have  seriously  blamed  Foote  for 
'his  share  in  the  transaction,  considering  that 
he  had  yielded  to  the  false  representations  of 
Ruffo,  who  had  received  express  orders  not 
to  admit  the  rebels  to  terms;  nor,  on  the 
other  hand,  did  Foote  present  any  remon- 
strance against  the  capitulation  being  an- 
nulled. On  the  contrary,  throughout  July, 
August,  and  September — in  which  month  he 
was  ordered  home — he  repeatedly  addressed 
Nelson  in  terms  of  gratitude  and  devotion, 
which  went  far  beyond  the  submission  re- 
quired from  a  junior  officer  (NICOLAS,  Nelson 
Despatches,  iii.  517  n.,  518).  It  was  not  till 
1807,  after  Nelson's  death,  that  he,  publicly 
at  least,  found  out  what  wicked  things  had 
•been  done  in  the  Bay  of  Naples  in  1799,  and 
published  a  'Vindication'  of  his  conduct, 
which  had  never  been  attacked,  and  a  viru- 
lent criticism  of  Lord  Nelson's,  which  he  had 
till  then  inferentially  approved  of.  The  fact 
was  that  he  had  learned  from  Harrison's  'Life 
•of  Nelson '  that  the  great  admiral  had  de- 
scribed the  capitulation  as  '  infamous,'  a  term 
correct  enough  when  applied,  as  Nelson  had 
applied  it,  to  the  conduct  of  Ruffo,  but  which 
Nelson's  personal  bearing  towards  Foote  had 
clearly  shown  was  not  applied  to  him.  That 
Foote  had  exceeded  his  powers  was  perfectly 
certain ;  he  had  been  guilty  of  an  error  of 
judgment  and  a  weakness  which  Nelson  had 
^pointed  out  and  had  condoned ;  Ruffo's  treat- 
ing with  armed  rebels,  contrary  to  the  orders 
of  his  sovereign,  was  on  a  totally  different 
footing. 

On  his  return  to  England  in  the  early  part 
•of  1800,  Foote,  still  in  the  Seahorse,  was 
again  sent  out  to  the  Mediterranean,  with 
Sir  Ralph  Abercromby  [q.  v.J  and  staff  as 
passengers,  and  in  charge  of  a  convoy  of 
store-ships  and  transports.  He  was  appointed 
to  attend  on  the  king  at  Weymouth  during 
the  summer  of  1801,  and  was  then  sent 
to  India  in  charge  of  convoy.  In  October 
1802  the  Seahorse  was  paid  off,  and  the  fol- 
lowing year,  at  the  particular  desire  of  the 

VOL.    XIX. 


iing,  who  had  conceived  a  strong  partiality 
?or  him,  Foote  was  appointed  to  the  royal 
yacht  Princess  Augusta,  in  which  he  re- 
mained till  promoted  to  flag  rank  in  August 
1812.  It  is  said  that  he  would  have  much 
preferred  active  service,  but  that,  as  his  at- 
tendance seemed  grateful  to  the  king  in  his 
derangement,  he  felt  that  the  yacht  was  his 
proper  sphere  of  duty.  In  1814  he  hoisted 
hiis  flag  as  second  in  command  at  Portsmouth, 
but  struck  it  at  the  peace,  and  had  no  further 
service,  becoming  in  due  course  a  vice-admi- 
ral in  1821.  He  was  nominated  a  K.C.B. 
in  1831,  and  died  at  his  house  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Southampton  on  23  May  1833. 
He  was  twice  married :  first,  to  Nina,  daughter 
of  Sir  Robert  Herries,  banker ;  secondly,  to 
Mary,  daughter  of  Vice-admiral  Patton;  and 
had  issue  by  both  wives. 

[Ralfe's  Naval  Biography,  iii.  130  ;  Marshall's 
Roy.  Nav.  Biog.  i.  559;  United  Service  Journal 
(1833),  pt.  ii.  p.  379;  Gent.  Mag.  (1833),  vol. 
ciii.  pt.  ii.  p.  180;  Foote' s  Vindication  of  his 
Conduct  (1807);  Nicolas's  Despatches  and  Let- 
ters of  Lord  Nelson,  iii.  477.]  J.  K.  L. 

FOOTE,  MARIA,  COUNTESS  OF  HAK- 
KINGTON  (1797  P-1867),  actress,  was  born 
24  July  1797  (?)  at  Plymouth.  Her  father, 
Samuel  T.  Foote  (1761-1840),  who  claimed 
to  be  a  descendant  of  Samuel  Foote  [q.  v.], 
sold  out  of  the  army,  became  manager  of 
the  Plymouth  theatre,  and  married  a  Miss 
Hart.  In  July  1810  Miss  Foote  appeared 
as  Juliet  at  her  father's  theatre,  in  which 
also  she  played  as  Susan  Ashfield  in  '  Speed 
the  Plough,'  and  Emily  Worthington  in 
the  '  Poor  Gentleman.'  Foote  afterwards 
took  an  hotel  in  Exeter.  The  experiment 
not  succeeding,  his  daughter  appeared  at 
Covent  Garden,  26  May  1814,  as  Aman- 
this  in  the  '  Child  of  Nature '  of  Mrs.  Inch- 
bald.  In  this  part,  which  specially  suited 
her,  she  made  a  great  success.  Her  second  ap- 
pearance was  at  the  same  theatre  in  the  same 
character  in  the  following  season,  14  Sept. 
1814.  On  6  Dec.  she  was  the  original  Ulrica 
in  '  The  King  and  the  Duke,  or  Which  is 
Which  ?  '  attributed  to  Jameson.  On  2  Jan. 
1815  she  played  Miranda  in  the  '  Tempest/ 
and  17  April  1815  was  the  original  Adelain 
the  '  Fortune  of  War,'  attributed  to  Kenney. 
For  her  benefit,  6  June  1815,  she  appeared  as 
Statira  in  '  Alexander  the  Great,'  Betty  act- 
ing, for  that  occasion  only,  Alexander.  This 
was  her  first  appearance  in  tragedy.  Fanny 
in  the  '  Clandestine  Marriage,'  Hippolita  in 
an  alteration  of  the  '  Tempest,'  Lady  Percy 
in  '  King  Henry  IV,'  Helena  in  the  '  Mid- 
summer Night's  Dream,'  and  many  other 
parts,  chiefly  secondary,  in  old  pieces  and  new, 

B   B 


Foote 


370 


Foote 


followed.  Her  abilities  proved  to  be  limited. 
She  had,  however,  a  reputation  for  beauty 
sufficient  to  secure  her  constant  engagements 
at  the  patent  theatres  and  in  the  country. 
She  played  with  success  in  both  Ireland  and 
Scotland,  and  accompanied  Liston,  Tyrone 
Power,  and  other  actors  to  Paris,  where  they 
all  acted  with  very  unsatisfactory  results. 
In  1815  she  formed  at  Cheltenham  an  in- 
trigue with  Colonel  Berkeley,  by  whom  she 
had  two  children.  An  alleged  promise  of 
marriage  made  by  him  was  not  kept.  *  Pea 
Green '  Haynes  then  proposed  to  her  and  was 
accepted.  He  retracted,  however,  his  offer, 
and  as  the  result  of  an  action  for  breach  of  pro- 
mise of  marriage  had  to  pay  3,0001.  damages. 
These  proceedings  gave  rise  to  a  keen  pam- 
phlet warfare,  through  which  and  through 
some  opposition  on  the  stage  Miss  Foote  re- 
tained a  large  measure  of  public  sympathy. 
At  Covent  Garden  she  played  every  season 
up  to  1824-5  inclusive,  frequently  in  sub- 
ordinate parts,  but  taking  occasionally  cha- 
racters such  as  Miss  Letitia  Hardy  in  the 
'  Belle's  Stratagem,'  Miss  Hardcastle,  and,  for 
her  benefit,  Lady  Teazle.  She  was  the  ori- 
ginal Isidora  in  Barry  Cornwall's  '  Miran- 
dola.'  On  9  March  1826  she  made  as  Letitia 
Hardy  her  first  appearance  at  Drury  Lane, 
where  also  she  played  Violante  in  the  l  Won- 
der,' Rosalind,  Virginia,  Maria  in '  A  Roland 
for  an  Oliver,'  Imogen,  and  Maggy  in  the 
'Highland  Reel.'  Other  parts  of  importance 
in  which  she  was  seen  at  one  or  other  house 
were  Maria  Darlington,  Beatrice,  Roxalana, 
Violante,  Imogen,  Ophelia,  Desdemona,  Ju- 
liana in  the  'Honeymoon,'  and  Clara  in 
'  Matrimony.'  At  Bath  on  13  and  14  Jan. 
1826  she  was  the  object  of  ill-natured  de- 
monstrations on  the  part  of  a  portion  of  the 
audience.  Chronicling  these  and  condensing 
them,  Genest  says  that '  she  was  a  very  pretty 
woman  and  a  very  pleasing  actress,  but  she 
never  would  have  travelled  about  as  a  star 
if  it  had  not  been  for  circumstances  totally 
unconnected  with  the  stage  '  (Account  of  the 
Stage,  ix.  358-9).  A  writer  in  the  'New 
Monthly  Magazine 'for  March  1821,  variously 
stated  to  be  Talfourd,  Campbell,  and  Horace 
Smith,  writes  warmly  concerning  '  the  pure 
and  innocent  beauty  with  which  she  has  en- 
riched our  imaginations,'  and,  referring  to 
her  then  anticipated  departure,  asks  rhapso- 
dically, '  Is  comedy  entirely  to  lose  the  most 
delicate  and  graceful  of  its  handmaidens  and 
tragedy  the  loveliest  of  its  sufferers  ? '  Talfourd 
speaks  highly  of  the  grace  of  her  movements, 
and  specially  commends  her  singing  of  the 
song '  Where  are  you  going,  my  pretty  maid  ? ' 
Her  singing  and  dancing  and  her  power  of 
accompanying  herself  upon  the  harp,  guitar, 


and  pianoforte  added  to  her  popularity.  She 
was  indefatigable  in  the  pursuit  of  her  pro- 
fession, and  is  said  to  have  traversed  England, 
Ireland,  and  Scotland  every  year  for  five  years, 
in  course  of  which  she  posted  twenty-five 
thousand  miles.  Her  theatrical  career  closed 
at  Birmingham  on  11  March  1831,  and  on 
7  April  of  the  same  year  she  married  Charles 
Stanhope,  fourth  earl  of  Harrington.  She  died 
27  Dec.  1867.  She  was  of  medium  height,  her 
face  oval,  and  her  features  expressive.  She 
had  an  abundance  of  light  brown  hair.  By 
those  most  under  her  influence  the  character 
of  her  acting  was  described  as  fascinating.  A 
whole-length  portrait  by  Clint  of  Miss  Foote- 
as  Maria  Darlington  was  sold  in  June  1847, 
with  the  effects  of  Thomas  Harris,  lessee  of 
Covent  Garden. 

[The  Stage,  1815  ;  Burke's  Peerage  ;  Dramatic 
Magazine;  GTenest's  Account  of  the  English 
Stage ;  Facts  illustrative  of  the  Evidence  in  the 
trial  of  Foote  v.  Haynes,  1835;  Notes  and 
Queries,  7th  ser.  vi.  6.]  J.  K. 

FOOTE,  SAMUEL  (1720-1777),  actor  and 
dramatist,  second  son  of  Samuel  and  Eleanor 
Foote,  was  born  at  a  house  in  Truro  long- 
known  as  Johnson  Vivian's,  and  was  bap- 
tised at  St.  Mary's  in  that  city  27  Jan.  1720. 
His  father  (1679-1754)  was  a  commissioner  of 
the  prize  office  and  fine  contract,  at  one  time 
member  forTiverton  and  mayor  of  Truro.  His 
mother,  Eleanor  Goodere,  through  the  death 
of  her  brother,  Sir  John  Dinely  Goodere,  bt.> 
murdered  by  another  brother,  Captain  Samuel 
Goodere  [q.  v.],  inherited  a  considerable  for- 
tune. Foote  was  educated  at  Worcester  under 
Dr.  Miles,  and  matriculated  at  Worcester  Col- 
lege, Oxford,  1  July  1737.  His  college  life, 
like  his  subsequent  career,  was  marked  by 
extravagance.  Without  taking  a  degree  he 
proceeded  to  the  Temple.  A  turn  for  mimicry 
had  already  displayed  itself,  and  after  wast- 
ing his  entire  fortune  as  a  man  of  fashion  at 
the  Grecian,  the  Bedford,  and  other  coffee- 
houses, he  appeared  at  the  Haymarket,  6  Feb. 
1744,  as  '  a  gentleman  '  in  '  Othello,'  playing1 
with  a  company  of  novices  collected  and 
trained  by  Macklin,  at  that  period  excluded 
from  Drury  Lane.  He  repeated  this  imper- 
sonation three  or  four  times,  and  gave  it  for 
a  benefit  at  Drury  Lane  on  10  March.  On 
2  March,  at  the  Haymarket,  he  played  Lord 
Foppington  in  the  '  Relapse,'  and  recited  an 
epilogue,  apparently  of  his  own  composition. 
He  is  also  said  to  have  played  Pierre  in 
'  Venice  Preserved.'  These  ill-judged  experi- 
ments were  complete  failures.  Foote  then 
proceeded  to  Dublin,  where,  according  to 
Hitchcock  (Irish  Plays,  i.  147),  '  he  brought 
a  few  crowded  houses  and  was  well  received/ 


Foote 


371 


Foote 


On  1  Nov.  1745  he  appeared  at  Drury  Lane 
as  Sir  Harry  Wildair  in  the  '  Constant 
Couple.'  He  afterwards  appeared  as  Lord 
Foppington,  Bayes,  Sir  Courtly  Nice,  and 
other  parts  played  by  Colley  Cibber.  He  had 
meanwhile  conceived  the  idea  of  turning  to 
advantage  his  talent  for  mimicry,  and  on 
22  April  1747  he  opened  the  Haymarket  with 
a  concert,  a  farce  extracted  from  the  '  Old 
Bachelor,'  called  '  The  Credulous  Husband,' 
in  which  Foote  was  Fondlewife,  and  an 
entertainment  by  himself  called  'The  Di- 
versions of  the  Morning.'  In  this,  with  the 
assistance  of  Shuter  and  other  actors,  he 
met  with  much  success.  His  career  was, 
however,  stopped  by  the  Westminster  magis- 
trates, and  Foote  then  hit  upon  the  device 
of  summoning  his  friends,  for  25  April  at 
noon,  to  take  with  him  a  '  dish  of  chocolate,' 
for  which  was  subsequently  substituted  a 
1  dish  of  tea.'  Tickets  for  this  were  obtained 
at  George's  Coffee-house,  Temple  Bar.  On 
the  invitation  appeared  '  N.B. — Sir  Dilbury 
Diddle  will  be  there,  and  Lady  Betty  Frisk 
has  absolutely  promised.'  According  to  a  state- 
ment of  TateWilkinson  (Memoirs,  i.  24  et  seq.), 
which  Genest  says '  is  not  to  be  reconciled  with 
the  bills,'  the  entertainment  was  principally 
made  up  of  satirical  mimicry  of  actors,  such  as 
Quin,  Delane,  Ryan,  Woodward,  Mrs.  Wof- 
fington,  and  of  Garrick,  upon  whom  he  was 
especially  severe.  In  November  1747  Foote, 
still  at  the  Haymarket,  gave  '  Tea  at  6.30 ; ' 
in  March  1748  he  substituted  for  this '  Choco- 
late in  Ireland,'  and  soon  afterwards  produced 
an  entertainment  similar  in  kind  called  '  An 
Auction  of  Pictures.'  In  1748-9  this  class 
of  entertainment  was  continued  until  March 
or  April,  when  Foote  produced  the  two-act 
comedy,  the  '  Knights,'  printed  1754,  8vo, 
in  which  he  played  Hartop.  This  piece 
ended  with  a  feigned  concert  between  two 
cats,  in  which  Italian  opera  was  ridiculed. 
Various  persons  of  more  or  less  importance 
had  been  libelled  in  these  productions  ;  but 
the  complaints  and  retorts  of  those  injured 
only  added  to  the  piquancy  of  the  produc- 
tion. A  second  fortune  having  been  left  him, 
Foote  disappeared  to  Paris,  whence,  after 
some  years'  absence,  he  returned  with  'Taste,' 
a  two-act  comedy  produced  unsuccessfully 
at  Drury  Lane  11  Jan.  1752,  8vo,  1753,  with 
a  prologue  written  and  spoken  lay  Garrick. 
an,,,  t  Englishman  in  Paris,'  Co  vent  Garden, 


The 


24  March  1753,  8vo,  1756,  was  more  fortu- 
nate. Foote  let  Macklin  have  the  piece  for 
his  benefit.  Macklin  played  Buck,  a  character 
which  Foote  took  when  he  transferred  the 
play,  20  Oct.  1753,  to  Drury  Lane  stage. 
In  the  course  of  this  season  Foote  played 
Fondlewife,  Ben  in  (  Love  for  Love/  Brazen 


in  the  '  Recruiting  Officer,'  and  gave  his  last- 
ingly popular  l  Tea.'  The  following  two 
seasons  he  appeared  at  Covent  Garden,  where 
he  played,  3  Feb.  1756,  Buck  in  the  l  Eng- 
lishman Returned  from  Paris,'  a  piece  in  three 
acts,  8vo,  1756,  the  idea  and  incidents  of 
which  Foote  took  from  Murphy,  the  dramatist, 
who  indiscreetly  confided  them  to  him.  On 
1  March  1756  he  played  Sir  Paul  Plyant  in 
the  'Double  Dealer,'  and  30  March  Lady 
Pentweazel  in  'Taste.'  In  1756-7  he  re- 
turned to  Drury  Lane,  where,  5  Feb.  1757,  he 
produced  the  '  Author,'  8vo,  1757,  a  two-act 
piece,  in  which,  as  Cadwallader,  he  mimicked 
a  Mr.  Aprice,  a  friend  of  his  own,  who  had 
interest  enough  to  obtain  the  suppression  of 
the  play.  An  additional  scene,  which  he  in- 
tended to  introduce  into  it  for  his  benefit,  is 
g'ven  in  the 'Monthly  Mirror,'  vii.  39-41. 
e  also  played  Gomez  in  Dryden's  '  Spanish 
Friar.'  In  December  1757,  in  company  with 
Tate  Wilkinson,  Foote  visited  Dublin,  where 
he  had  a  favourable  reception,  socially  and 
artistically,  but  played  no  new  part.  Wil- 
kinson and  Foote  were  engaged  by  Garrick, 
and  appeared  at  Drury  Lane  17  Oct.  1758. 
For  his  benefit  Foote  appeared,  18  Dec.  1758, 
as  Shylock,  and  was  a  failure.  With  100/., 
which  he  borrowed  from  Garrick,  he  visited 
Scotland.  According  to  the  '  Courant '  he 
reached  Edinburgh  15  March  1759,  and  ap- 
peared on  the  20th  at  the  Canongate  Concert 
Hall.  He  played  many  parts,  and  was  made 
much  of.  He  is  said  to  have  given  the  first 
afternoon  entertainment  in  Edinburgh.  He 
returned  in  May,  and  in  the  autumn  went 
once  more  to  Dublin,  where,  at  the  Crow 
Street  Theatre,  he  produced,  28  Jan.  1760, 
his  comedy  the  'Minor,'  originally  in  two 
acts,  8vo,  1760.  In  this  he  played  Shift,  a 
character  designed  to  satirise  his  associate, 
Tate  Wilkinson.  Piece  and  excursion  alike 
failed,  and  Foote,  in  want  of  funds,  opened 
in  the  summer  of  1760  the  Haymarket, 
where,  with  a  company  hastily  assembled,  he 
produced  the  '  Minor,'  now  enlarged  to  three 
acts.  In  this,  Foote's  best  comedy,  his  title 
to  a  portion  of  which  has  been  disputed,  he 
satirised  Whitefield  and  the  methodists.  In 
its  new  shape  it  was  a  great  success.  Foote, 
who  played  at  the  Haymarket  the  characters 
of  Shift,  Smirke,  and  Mrs.  Cole,  is  said  to 
have  sent  the  manuscript  to  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  with  a  request  that  he  would 
excise  or  alter  whatever  was  objectionable. 
It  was  returned  untouched,  the  archbishop 
shrewdly  surmising  that  Foote  wished  to  ad- 
vertise it  as  '  corrected  and  prepared  for  the 
press  by  his  Grace  the  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury.' Once  more  at  Drury  Lane  he  was 
the  original  Scotchman  in  the  'Register 

B  B  2 


Foote 


372 


Foote 


Office '  of  Joseph  Keed,  a  piece  from  which 
he  was  accused  by  Reed  of  having  stolen  the 
character  of  Mrs.  Cole  in  the  '  Minor.'  In 
partnership  with  Murphy,  Foote  leased  Drury 
Lane  for  a  summer  season.  On  15  June  1761 
the  management  produced  Murphy's  'All 
in  the  Wrong,'  a  version  of  Moliere's  '  Oocu 
Imaginaire.'  Foote  wrote  and  spoke  the 
prologue.  The  '  Citizen,'  also  by  Murphy, 
was  played  2  July  1769,  Foote  appearing  as 
Young  Philpot.  The  '  Old  Maid '  of  Murphy 
was  given  for  the  first  time  the  same  night. 
'  Wishes,  or  Harlequin's  Mouth  Opened,'  a 
comedy  by  Thomas  Bentley,  with  a  speaking 
harlequin,  closed  the  season  with  a  failure. 
Foote,  who  played  in  this  Distress  a  poet, 
took  over  300/.  for  his  share  of  the  entire 
venture,  though  he  had  broken  his  contract 
and  supplied  no  novelty.  In  1762,  at  the 
Haymarket,  Foote  produced  the  '  Orators,' 
8vo,  1762,  ridiculing,  in  Peter  Paragraph, 
George  Faulkner,  the  Dublin  printer,  who  had 
lost  a  leg,  and  who  brought  an  action  against 
him.  At  Covent  Garden,  12  Jan.  1762,  he 
played  Young  Wilding  in  the  '  Lyar,'  8vo, 
1764,  his  adaptation  of  '  Le  Menteur '  of 
Corneille.  From  this  period  the  original 
characters  of  Foote,  with  the  exception  of 
Ailwould  in  BickerstafFe's  '  Dr.  Last  in  his 
Chariot,'  Haymarket,  31  Aug.  1769,  and 
Francisco  in  the '  Tailors,'  Haymarket,  2  July 
1767,  were  confined  to  the  Haymarket  and  to 
his  own  comedies.  Many  of  these  were  played 
in  the  afternoon.  Their  order  is  as  follows : 
Major  Sturgeon  and  Matthew  Mug  in  the 
1  Mayor  of  Garratt,'  two  acts,  1763, 8vo,  1764 ; 
Sir  Thomas  Lofty  and  Sir  Peter  Pepperpot  in 
the  '  Patron,'  three  acts,  1764,  8vo,  1764  ; 
Zachary  Fungus  in  the  '  Commissary,'  three 
acts,  1765,  8vo,  1765 ;  Foote  in  '  An  Occa- 
sional Prelude,'  one  act,  printed  in  the 
'  Monthly  Mirror,'  vol.  xvii. ;  the  Devil  in 
the  '  Devil  upon  Two  Sticks,'  three  acts, 
30  May  1768,  8vo,  1778  (by  this  piece  Foote 
reaped  between  3,000/.  and  4,000/. ;  on  his 
way  to  Ireland  he  lost  1,700/.  at  Bath  to 
cardsharpers,  and  had  to  borrow  100/.  to  pro- 
ceed on  his  journey) ;  Sir  Luke  Limp  in  the 
'  Lame  Lover,'  8vo,  1770,  three  acts,  27  Aug. 
1770 ;  Flint  in  the  '  Maid  of  Bath,'  three 
acts,  26  June  1771,  8vo,  1778;  Sir  Mat- 
thew Mite  in  the  '  Nabob,'  three  acts, 
29  June  1772,  8vo,  1778 ;  Sir  Robert  Ris- 
counter  in  the  '  Bankrupt,'  three  acts,  21  July 
1773,  8vo,  1776  (this  season  Foote  gave  an 
entertainment  with  puppets  known  as  l  The 
Primitive  Puppet  Show,'  and  produced  an 
unprinted  entertainment  entitled '  The  Hand- 
some Housemaid,  or  Piety  in  Pattens ') ;  Air- 
castle  in  the  *  Cozeners,'  1774,  8vo,  1778,  and 
O'Donnovan  in  the  'Capuchin,'  three  acts, 


17  Aug.  1776,  8vo,  1778.  This  piece  was  an 
alteration  of  the  famous  '  Trip  to  Calais,'  the 
performance  of  which  was  stopped  by  the 
censor.  In  1766  Foote  was  visiting  at  Lord 
Mexborough's,  where  he  met  an  aristocratic 
party,  including  the  Duke  of  York.  Playing 
on  his  vanity  they  mounted  him  on  a  high- 
mettled  horse,  which  threw  him  and  fractured 
his  leg  in  two  places.  He  accepted  the  acci- 
dent with  philosophy,  and  asked  for  the  re- 
moval of  the  leg,  which  was  accomplished. 
As  a  compensation  for  this  loss  the  Duke  of 
York  obtained  for  Foote  a  patent  to  erect 
a  theatre  in  the  city  and  liberties  of  West- 
minster, with  the  privilege  of  exhibiting 
dramatic  pieces  there  from  14  May  to  14  Sept. 
during  his  natural  life.  This  was  a  fortune. 
Foote  purchased  his  old  premises  in  the  Hay- 
market,  and  erected  a  new  theatre  on  the 
site,  which  he  opened  in  May  1767  with  the 
1  Prelude,'  in  which  he  referred  to  the  loss  of 
limb  and  to  the  gift  of  his  patron,  &c.  In 
1767  he  engaged  Spranger  Barry  [q.  v.]  and 
Mrs.  Ann  Dancer,  subsequently  Mrs.  Spranger 
Barry  [q.  v.],  and  produced  tragedy,  announc- 
ing as  the  cause  of  such  a  proceeding  that 
they  were  dangerous  neighbours.  Upon  his 
visit  to  Dublin  in  1768  Foote  found  his 
f  Devil  upon  Two  Sticks '  once  more  a  source 
of  fortune.  In  1770  he  rented  the  Edinburgh 
Theatre  for  the  winter  season,  and  took  over 
his  company.  The  result  was  unsatisfactory, 
and  he  resigned  his  lease  to  West  Digges 
[q.  v.]  The  year  previously  Foote,  whose 
treatment  of  Garrick  consisted  in  alternately 
sponging  upon  him  and  ridiculing  him,  in- 
tended to  caricature  the  famous  procession  in 
the  jubilee,  but  by  influence  from  without 
was  induced  to  abandon  the  idea.  A  notion 
previously  entertained  of  caricaturing  Dr. 
Johnson  was  given  up  in  consequence  of 
Johnson  sending  word  to  Foote  that,  in  case 
the  threat  was  carried  out, ( he  would  go  from 
the  boxes  on  the  stage  and  correct  him  before 
the  audience '  (Monthly  Review,  Ixxvi.  374). 
Few  of  Foote's  plays  had  been  produced 
without  an  acknowledged  purpose  of  carica- 
turing some  known  individual.  For  a  long 
time  this  practice  succeeded.  Foote  was  wise 
enough  to  withdraw  when,  as  in  the  case  of 
Johnson,  he  found  his  man  too  strong  for 
him.  When,  after  the  production  of  the 
'  Nabob,'  two  members  of  the  East  India  Com- 
pany called  upon  him  with  the  intention  of 
castigating  him,  he  had  tact  enough  to  keep 
them  talking  until  he  had  disarmed  their  re- 
sentment and  induced  them  to  stay  to  dinner. 
The  most  he  ordinarily  had  to  fear  was  an 
interference  of  the  censor,  and  a  consequent 
diminution  of  profits.  Those  who  winced 
most  under  his  attacks  held  it  prudent  to 


Foote 


373 


Foote 


hold  their  tongues.  Garrick,  who  smarted 
more  frequently  than  most,  said  that  nobody 
in  London  thought  it  worth  while  to  quarrel 
with  him.  So  accustomed  was  Foote  to  this 
process  that,  when  he  heard  his  leg  was  to 
be  cut  off,  he  said,  '  Now  I  shall  take  off  old 
Faulkner  to  the  life,'  Faulkner  having  lost 
one  of  his  legs.  The  privilege  of  the  buffoon 
was  at  length  to  be  denied  him.  In  prepar- 
ing the t  Trip  to  Calais '  he  hit  upon  the  cele- 
brated Duchess  of  Kingston,  and  told  his 
acquaintance,  with  customary  garrulity  and 
indiscretion,  that  she  was  to  be  shown  in 
the  character  of  Lady  Crocodile.  The  in- 
fluence of  the  duchess  sufficed  to  secure  the 
prohibition  of  the  play.  A  correspondence 
undignified  on  both  sides,  though  marvel- 
lously clever  on  that  of  Foote,  took  place  be- 
tween the  author  and  the  duchess,  and  re- 
sulted in  Foote  abandoning  some  hastily 
formed  schemes  of  vengeance,  and  in  the 
production  of  the  '  Capuchin,'  in  which  the 
satire  was  transferred  from  the  duchess  to 
Jackson,  an  Irish  clergyman  who  was  in  her 
pay,  and  who  ultimately  committed  suicide 
to  avoid  the  penalty  of  death,  to  which  he 
had  been  condemned  for  treason.  This  man, 
under  the  disguise,  transparent  to  a  large 
number  of  people,  of  Dr.  Viper,  Foote  lashed 
in  the  *  Capuchin.'  Jackson's  answer  was  by 
insinuations  conveyed  in  the  paper  of  which 
he  was  editor,  and  copied  into  other  periodi- 
cals, charging  Foote  with  the  most  odious 
form  of  crime.  For  a  time  Foote,  on  the 
advice  of  his  friends,  kept  silence.  He 
opened  the  Haymarket  on  20  May  1776  with 
his  comedy,  the  '  Bankrupt.'  An  organised 
opposition  upon  the  part  of  a  portion  of  the 
audience  drew  Foote  before  the  curtain  to 
appeal  for  justice,  and  to  say  that  he  had 
taken  steps  in  the  court  of  king's  bench  to 
bring  the  charges  to  an  issue.  A  further 
mine  was,  however,  sprung  beneath  Foote, 
a  discharged  servant  appearing  (8  July  1776) 
to  prefer  a  bill  of  indictment  against  the 
author  for  a  criminal  assault.  Under  these 
circumstances  Foote  received  the  full  sup- 
port of  friends  convinced  of  his  innocence. 
Those  whom  he  had  libelled  thronged  to  de- 
fend him.  Evidence  that  the  charge  was 
due  to  Jackson  was  forthcoming,  and  on  the 
trial  in  the  court  of  king's  bench  the  jury  re- 
turned an  unhesitating  verdict  of  acquittal. 
Foote  was,  however,  much  shaken.  On 
16  Jan.  1777  he  disposed  of  his  patent  to 
George  Colman  for  1,600/.  a  year  and  a  spe- 
cific sum  for  the  right  of  acting  Foote's  un- 
published pieces.  Foote,  who  had  undertaken 
to  play  at  another  house,  appeared  at  the 
Haymarket  in  the  '  Devil  upon  Two  Sticks,' 
the  '  Nabob,'  the  '  Minor,'  and  other  pieces. 


A  great  falling  off  in  power  was,  however, 
apparent.  On  30  July,  in  the  '  Maid  of  Bath,' 
his  name  appeared  in  the  bills  for  the  last 
time.  Acting  on  medical  advice  he  started 
for  the  South  of  France,  and  arrived  at  Dover 
20  Oct.  1777  on  his  way  to  Calais.  He  was 
in  good  spirits,  joking  with  the  servants  at 
the  Ship  Inn.  At  breakfast  next  morning 
he  was  seized  with  a  shivering  fit,  a  second 
followed,  and  on  the  same  day,  21  Oct.  1777, 
he  died.  The  body  was  removed  to  his  house, 
Suffolk  Street,  Pall  Mall  East,  by  William 
Jewell,  the  treasurer  to  the  Haymarket,  who 
had  been  sent  for,  and  on  the  Monday  night 
following  (3  Nov.)  he  was  buried  by  torch- 
light in  the  west  cloister  in  Westminster 
Abbey.  The  register  of  the  abbey  calls  him 
Samuel  Foote,  esq.,  and  gives  his  age  as 
fifty-five  (CHESTER,  Registers  of  Westminster, 
p.  424).  No  monument  is  erected  to  him, 
though  a  tablet  was  put  up  by  Jewell  in  St. 
Martin's  Church,  Dover.  His  will,  dated 
13  Aug.  1768,  was  proved  the  day  after  his 
death.  It  bequeathed  his  possessions  intrust 
to  his  illegitimate  sons,  Francis  Foote  and 
George  Foote,  with  remainder  in  case  they 
should  die  in  their  minority  to  Jewell,  to 
Foote's  mother,  who,  however,  was  dead, 
and  to  his  brother,  Edward  Goodere  Foote. 
In  addition  to  the  plays  mentioned  Foote 
wrote  '  A  Treatise  on  the  Passions  so  far  as 
they  regard  the  Stage ;  with  a  Critical  En- 
quiry into  the  Theatrical  merit  of  Mr.  G — k, 
Mr.  Q — n,  and  Mr.  Barry  .  .  .'  London,  8vp 
(no  date),  1747 ;  '  The  Roman  and  English 
Comedy  consider'd  and  compar'd.  With  re- 
marks on  the  "  Suspicious  Husband."  And  an 
Examen  into  the  merits  of  the  Present  Comic 
Actors,'  London,  1747,  8vo  ;  '  A  Letter  from 
Mr.  Foote  to  the  Reverend  Author  of  the 
Remarks,  critical  and  Christian,  on  the  Mi- 
nor,' London,  1760,  8vo  ;  '  Apology  for  the 
"  Minor,"  with  a  Letter  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bain/ 
Edinburgh,  1771,  8vo  and  12mo  (same  date). 
He  is  credited  with  the  authorship  of  an  ac- 
count of  the  murder  of  his  uncle,  which  is 
said  to  have  been  his  first  production.  There 
is,  however,  reason  for  sparing  him  this  ig- 
nominy. '  Wit  for  the  Ton  !  the  Convivial 
Jester,  or  Sam  Foote's  Last  Budget  opened,' 
&c.,  London  (no  date),  1777,  contains  some 
of  his  jokes,  but  is,  of  course,  not  by  him. 
A  long  list  of  polemical  works  to  which  his 
pieces  gave  rise,  many  of  them  claiming  to  be 
by  him,  but  ordinarily  virulent  attacks  upon 
him,  is  given  in  Mr.  Lowe's  useful  '  Biblio- 
graphical Account  of  English  Theatrical 
Literature,'  1888.  Mr.  Lowe  believes  that 
'A  Letter  to  the  Licenser'  (regarding  the 
prohibition  of  the  'Trip  to  Calais')  was  pub- 
lished, but  has  never  seen  it  catalogued. 


Foote 


374 


Foote 


Its  only  appearance  seems  to  have  been  in  a 
daily  newspaper  for  3  Aug.  1775,  whence  it 
was  copied  into  the  '  Westminster  Magazine,' 
August  1775.  The  '  Methodist,  a  comedy ; 
being  a  Continuation  and  Completion  of  the 
plan  of  the  "  Minor,"  written  by  Mr.  Foote,' 
&c.,  3rd  edit.  London  (no  date),  1761, 
8vo,  is,  according  to  the  '  Biographia  Dra- 
matica,' '  a  most  impudent  catchpenny  job  of 
Israel  Pottinger.'  Foote's  prose  tracts,  like 
his  letters,  are  forcibly,  wittily,  and  logically 
written.  It  is,  however,  as  a  dramatist,  a 
wit,  and  an  actor  that  he  has  to  be  judged. 
all  these  qualities  he  is  noteworthy.  No 
complete  collection  of  his  plays  has  been 
made,  more  than  one  of  his  pieces,  chiefly 
his  early  entertainments,  having  never  been 
printed.  From  the  dates  given  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  plays  were  in  many  cases  not  printed 
until  long  after  their  appearance  on  the  stage. 
What  are  called  his  dramatic  works  were  is- 
sued in  4  vols.  8vo,  1778,  and  with  life  by 
John  Bee,  i.e.  Badcock,  in  3  vols.  12mo,  1830. 
Three  dramatic  trifles  are  given  in  '  The  Me- 
moirs of  Samuel  Foote,  with  a  Collection  of 
his  Genuine  Bon  Mots,  &c.  By  William 
Cooke/  London,  1805,  12mo,  3  vols.  In  the 
series  edited  by  Cumberland,  Mrs.  Inchbald, 
Lacy,  and  in  innumerable  similar  collections, 
various  plays  are  to  be  found,  and  collections 
of  the  8vo  editions  are  in  the  British  Museum 
and  other  libraries.  In  the  '  Comic  Theatre,' 
being  a  free  translation  of  all  the  best  French 
comedies  by  S.  Foote  and  others,  London, 
1762, 5  vols.  12mo,  one  play  only,  the  'Young 
Hypocrite,'  is  said  in  the  '  Biographia  Dra- 
matica '  to  be  by  Foote.  A  play  of  Foote's 
occasionally  appears  on  the  present  stage. 
To  the  list  already  given  may  be  added  the 
'Tryal  of  Samuel  Foote,  esq.,  for  a  Libel 
on  Peter  Paragraph,'  acted  in  1761  at  the 
Haymarket,  and  the  '  Diversions  of  the 
Morning,'  compiled  from  his  '  Taste '  and 
other  sources,  and  played  at  Drury  Lane  in 
1758.  These  pieces,  previously  unprinted, 
Tate  Wilkinson  gives  at  the  close  of  vol.  iv.  of 
his '  Wandering  Patentee,'  12mo,  1795.  '  Lin- 
damira,  or  Tragedy  a-la-mode,'  a  burlesque 
tragic  bagatelle,  by  Foote,  is  included  in 
'  Thespian  Gleanings,'  by  T.  Meadows,  come- 
dian, Ulverstone,  8vo,  1805.  It  is  taken  from 
' Diversions  of  the  Morning.'  The  'Slan- 
derer/ a  comedy,  is  said  to  have  been  left  in 
manuscript,  and  appears  to  be  lost.  As  a  rule 
the  plays  are  invertebrate,  and  the  manners 
they  sketch  are  not  to  be  recognised  in  the 
present  day.  Foote  had,  however,  a  keen 
eye  to  character,  and  on  the  strength  of  the 
brilliant  sketches  of  contemporary  manners 
which  he  afforded,  and  of  the  wit  of  the  dia- 
logue, they  may  be  read  with  pleasure  to  this 


day.  Foote's  satire  is  direct  and  scathing. 
Much  of  it  is  directed  against  individuals,  not 
seldom  with  no  conceivable  vindication,  since 
Foote  singled  out  those,  such  as  Garrick, 
to  whom  he  was  under  deepest  obligations. 
During  his  lifetime  and  for  some  years  subse- 
quently Foote  was  known  as  the  English  Aris- 
tophanes. Without  being  deserved,  the  phrase 
is  less  of  a  misnomer  than  such  terms  ordi- 
narily are.  As  an  actor  Foote  seems  to  have 
attracted  attention  only  in  his  own  pieces. 
Tom  Davies,  who  speaks  with  something  not 
far  from  contempt  of  his  general  performances, 
praises  his  Bayes  in  the  *  Rehearsal.'  In 
this,  however,  Foote,  like  Garrick,  used  to 
introduce  allusions  to  contemporary  events. 
This,  of  course,  was  quite  in  Foote's  line.  The 
words  of  Davies  are  :  '  Public  transactions, 
the  flying  follies  of  the  day,  debates  of  grave 
assemblies,  absurdities  of  play-writers,  poli- 
ticians, and  players,  all  came  under  his  cog- 
nisance, and  all  felt  the  force  of  his  wit ;  in 
short,  he  laid  hold  of  everything  and  every- 
body that  would  furnish  merriment  for  the 
evening.  Foote  could  have  written  a  new 
"  Rehearsal "  equal  to  the  old '  {Dram.  Misc. 
iii.  304-5).  What  is  this  but  an  account  of 
Foote's  own  entertainments  ?  Such  success 
as  he  obtained  as  an  actor  in  early  life  was 
due  to  an  imitation,  conscientious  at  first,  but 
subsequently  degenerating  into  buffoonery,  of 
Colley  Gibber.  Even  as  a  mimic  Johnson 
disputed  his  capacity,  saying, '  His  imitations 
are  not  like. ...  He  goes  out  of  himself  with- 
out going  into  any  other  people/  As  a  con- 
versationalist and  wit  he  stood  alone.  Many 
of  the  jokes  fathered  upon  him  by  his  biogra- 
pher Cooke  are  to  be  found  in  early  collec- 
tions, such  as  Taylor  the  Water  Poet's 
'  Wit  and  Mirth.'  More  anecdotes  concern- 
ing Foote  are  to  be  found  among  theatrical 
ana  than  are  told  of  any  half-dozen  of 
his  contemporaries  or  successors.  The  opi- 
nions expressed  with  regard  to  him  by  those 
who  lived  in  his  society  or  under  his  influ- 
ence show  a  curious  mixture  of  fear  and  ad- 
miration. Garrick  was  distinctly  afraid  of 
him,  and,  in  spite  of  being  his  equal  in  wit 
and  his  superior  in  scholarship,  sought  at 
almost  any  cost  to  cajole  him.  His  favour- 
able utterances  are  accordingly  to  be  taken 
with  allowances.  Johnson,  who  despised 
without  fearing  him,  says :  l  The  first  time  I 
was  in  company  with  Foote  was  at  Fitz- 
herbert's.  Having  no  good  opinion  of  the 
fellow  I  was  resolved  not  to  be  pleased,  and 
it  is  very  difficult  to  please  a  man  against  his 
will.  I  went  on  eating  my  dinner  pretty 
sullenly,  affecting  not  to  mind  him.  But  the 
dog  was  so  very  comical  that  I  was  obliged 
to  lay  down  my  knife  and  fork,  throw  myself 


Foote 


375 


Forannan 


back  upon  my  chair,  and  fairly  laugh  it  out 
No,  sir,  he  was  irresistible '  (BoswELL,  John- 
son, ed.  Hill,  iii.  69, 70) .  Fox  told  Rogers  that, 
meeting  Foote  at  Lord  William  Bentinck's, 
ie  anticipated  that  the  actor  would  prove  a 
fcore,  and  continued :  *  We  were  mistaken ; 
whatever  we  talked  about,  whether  fox- 
hunting, the  turf,  or  any  other  subject,  Foote 
instantly  took  the  lead  and  delighted  us  all ' 
(ROGERS,  Table  Tfcflfc,  ed.  Dyce,  pp.  101-2).  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds  is  credited  with  having  said 
that  '  by  Foote's  buffoonery  and  broad-faced 
merriment,  private  friendship,  public  decency, 
and  everything  estimable  among  men  were 
trod  under  foot '  (CLAJRK  RUSSELL,  Represen- 
tative Actors, -p.  137).  TateWilkinson declared 
that ( if  any  man  possessed  the  gift  of  pleasing 
more  than  another  Mr.  Foote  was  the  man,' 
and  Colman  the  younger  says  Foote  always 
made  him  laugh.  Testimony  of  the  kind  may 
be  indefinitely  extended.  He  was  short,  fat, 
and  flabby  in  appearance,  his  face  intelligent, 
and  his  eye  bright.  He  was  a  gourmand,  an 
egotist,  and  a  thoroughly  selfish  man,  with 
a  few  redeeming  traits,  which  the  contrast 
with  his  general  character  gave  almost  the 
appearance  of  virtues.  A  portrait  of  Foote 
by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  is  in  the  Mathews 
collection  in  the  Garrick  Club.  Another  por- 
trait by  Zoffany  in  a  scene  from  '  The  Com- 
missary '  was  given  by  the  actor  to  Fitzherbert, 
and  is  now  in  the  collection  of  the  Earl  of 
Carlisle.  Zoffany  also  painted  Foote  as  Stur- 
geon in  the  'Mayor  of  Garratt,'  and  in  other 
characters. 

[The  chief  authorities  for  the  life  of  Foote  are 
the  Memoirs  of  Samuel  Foote,  esq.,  with  a  Col- 
lection of  his  Genuine  Bon  Mots,  Anecdotes, 
Opinions,  &c.,  by  William  Cooke,  3  vols.  1805, 
and  the  Memoir  prefixed  to  the  Works  of  Samuel 
Foote,  esq.,  by  John  Bee  (Badcock),  esq.,  3  vols. 
1830;  Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Writings  of 
Samuel  Foote,  esq.,  the  English  Aristophanes, 
&c.,  London  (no  date),  1777,  is  an  anonymous 
and  untrustworthy  work;  the  Garrick  Corre- 
spondence ;  Walpole's  Letters  ;  Forster's  Histo- 
rical and  Biographical  Essays ;  Boswell's  Life  of 
Johnson,  ed.Dr.  Birkbeck  Hill ;  Genest's  Account 
of  the  Stage  ;  Tate  Wilkinson's  Memoirs  and 
Wandering  Patentee  and  Davies's  Life  of  Garrick 
overflow  with  information ;  George  Colman's  Ran- 
dom Recollections ;  Peake's  Memoirs  of  the  Col- 
man Family;  O'Keeffe's  Recollections ;  Boaden's 
Life  of  Siddons  and  Life  of  Bannister.  The 
Life  and  Times  of  Frederic  Eeynolds,  by  himself, 
Notes  and  Queries,  2nd  and  4th  ser.,  and  Dibdin's 
History  of  the  Edinburgh  Stage,  1888,  may  also 
be  consulted,  as  may  the  Town  and  Country 
Magazine,  and  other  periodicals  of  the  last  cen- 
tury. Lives  of  Foote  appear  in  the  Biographical 
Dictionaries  of  Chalmers  and  of  Rose.  Lowe's 
Bibliography  of  the  Stage  and  Boase  and  Court- 


ney's Bibliotheca  Cornubiensis,  i.  152-7,  1181-3, 
supply  useful  bibliographies.  There  are  few  books 
dealing  with  the  stage  from  which  particulars, 
frequently  untrustworthy  and  contradictory,  may 
not  be  gleaned.]  J.  K. 

FOR,  ANN  AN,   SAINT   and  BISHOP   (d. 

982),  was,  according  to  the '  Book  of  Leinster/ 
eighteenth  in  descent  from  Fiacha  Suidhe, 
brother  of  Conn  the  Hundred  Battler  [q.  v.] 
His  clan  held  the  plain  of  Magh  Feimhin, 
near  Clonmel.    Forannan  was  chosen  bishop 
by  popular  election,  and  consecrated,  accord- 
ing to  his  l  Life,'  in  '  the  city  called  in  the 
barbarous  dialect  of  the  Irish  Domhnach  mor/ 
i.e.  Donoughmore,  which,  it  is  added,  is  the 
metropolis  of  Ireland.     From  this  Lanigan 
erroneously  inferred  it  to  have  been  in  Ar- 
magh. But  the '  Book  of  Leinster,'  the '  Lebar 
Brecc,'  and  the  '  Martyrology  of  Donegal '  all 
term  him  of  Donoughmore  in  Magh  Feimhin/ 
the  territory  of  his  family.     In  obedience  to 
a  vision  directing  him  to  go  to  the  Meuse, 
Forannan,  with  twelve  companions,  left  Ire- 
land about  969,  and,  as  usual  with  Irish 
saints,  was  miraculously  conveyed  across  the 
sea.    While  in  search  of  the  appointed  place 
they  met  Count  Eilbert,  who  had  built  many 
churches,  and  among  them  one  dedicated  to 
St.  Patrick.   He  then  led  them  to  Rome,  that 
they  might  obtain  the  instruction  in  monas- 
tic learning  which  they  sought  for.  ^  There 
Forannan  received  the  episcopal  dignity  and 
the  title  of  abbot ;  he  was  ordered  to  turn 
aside  for  further  instruction  in  the  Bene- 
dictine rule  to  a  monastery  named  Gorzia. 
Thence  he  went  to  Walciodorus,  now  Wassor, 
between  Dinant  and  Givet.     The  pious  em- 
peror Otto  heard  of  his  fame,  and,  after  some 
hesitation  in  acknowledging  Forannan's  rank, 
took  the  abbey  under  his  protection.     Wal- 
ciodorus had  been  founded  in  945  by  Eilbert, 
and  Macallen,  an  Irishman,  was  the  first 
abbot.     Macallen,  on  leaving  Ireland,  had 
first  gone  to  Peronne,  the  Irish  monastery 
founded  by  St.  Fursa  [q.  v.],  and  there  won 
the  patronage  of  Hersendis,  the  wife  of  Count 
Eilbert.     Walciodorus  was  one  of  a  group  of 
such  monasteries  supplied  with  inmates  from 
[reland.     By  Forannan's  influence  a  place 
called  Hasteria  (now  Hastieres)  was  added 
to  his  monastery.    He  also  obtained  a  village 
called  Gruthen,  which  he  made  over  to  the 
monastery,  in  order  that  its  vineyards  might 
supply  the  monks  with  wine.     Several  in- 
terpretations of  the  name  Walciodorus  have 
been  proposed;  some  taking  it  to  be  from 
vallis  decora,'  the  beautiful  valley,  others 
;rom  '  waltz-dor,'  the  torrent  of  the  wood. 
Seven  years  after  his  arrival  Count  Eilbert 
died.     He  was  attended  during  his  illness 
jy  Forannan,  and  was  buried  in  the  Basilica 


Forbes 


376 


Forbes 


of  Walciodorus.      Forannan   died   in   982. 
His  day  is  30  April. 

[Bollandists'  Acta  Sanct.  30  April,  torn.  iii. 

L807  ;  Lanigan's  Eccl.  Hist.  iii.  401 ;  Book  of 
inster,  p.  348  d;  Lebar  Brecc,  p.  156;  Mar- 
tyrology  of  Donegal,  30  April.]  T.  0. 

FORBES,  ALEXANDER,  first  LOKD 
FORBES  (d.  1448),  was  the  eldest  son  of  Sir 
John  de  Forbes  of  that  ilk.  The  lands  of 
Forbes  in  Aberdeenshire  gave  name  to  the 
family,  who  trace  back  their  ancestors  in  it 
to  the  time  of  King  William  the  Lion  (1165- 
1214).  Sir  John  de  Forbes  was  justiciar  and 
coroner  for  Aberdeenshire  in  the  time  of  Ro- 
bert III,  and  leaving  four  sons  was  the  com- 
mon ancestor  of  the  families  of  the  Lords 
Forbes,  Forbes  Lord  Pitsligo,  and  the  For- 
beses  of  Tolquhoun,  Foveran,  Watertoun, 
Culloden,  Brux,  &c.  The  eldest  son,  Sir 
Alexander  de  Forbes,  succeeded  to  the  estates 
in  1405,  on  his  father's  death,  and  during  his 
time  both  added  considerably  to  their  extent 
and  obtained  their  consolidation  into  a  barony, 
with  his  own  elevation  to  the  peerage  as  a 
baron  of  parliament.  In  1407  he  was  one 
of  four  knights  who  went  to  England  to 
hold  a  friendly  tournament  with  an  equal 
number  of  English  knights.  "Wyntoun  calls 
him  a  knight  of  Mar,  and  praises  the  worthy 
manner  in  which  he  and  his  comrades  upheld 
the  honour  of  their  country  on  the  field  of 
chivalry.  In  1419  he  formed  one  of  the  con- 
tingent of  Scottish  knights  who  with  their 
followers  responded  to  the  appeal  of  Charles, 
dauphin  of  France,  to  Scotland  for  help  against 
the  English.  He  took  part  in  the  war  then 
going  on,  and  was  present  at  the  battle  of 
Beaug6,  22  March  1421.  During  the  same 

Ejar  he  visited  James  I  in  his  captivity  in 
ondon,  and  afterwards  returned  to  Scot- 
land, but  came  again  into  England  as  far  as 
Durham  in  1423,  to  convoy  James  I  into 
his  kingdom.  Between  1436  and  1442  he  was 
created  by  James  II  a  lord  of  parliament, 
under  the  title  of  Baron  Forbes.  He  died  in 
1448.  He  married  about  1423  Lady  Eliza- 
beth Douglas,  only  daughter  of  George,  first 
earl  of  Angus  [q.  v.],  and  granddaughter  of 
Robert  II.  By  her,  who  afterwards  became 
the  wife  of  David  Hay  of  Tester,  he  left  issue 
two  sons  and  three  daughters:  (1)  James, 
second  lord  Forbes,  (2)  John,  provost  of  the 
church  of  St.  Giles,  Edinburgh,  (3)  Anna- 
bella,  who  married  Patrick,  master  of  Gray, 
(4)  Margaret,  who  married  the  laird  of  Fy  vie, 
and  (5)  Elizabeth,  who  married  Irvine  of 
Drum.  Through  his  marriage  to  Elizabeth 
Douglas  his  children  were  heirs  of  entail  to 
the  earldom  of  Angus. 

[Registrum  Magni  Sigilli,  ii.  Nos.  54-9,  127, 
134,  279,  1239,  1298,  &c. ;  Rymer's  Foedera,  x. 


308;  RotuliScotise;  Wyntoun's  Fordun  a  Good- 
all,  ii.  460 ;  Exchequer  Rolls ;  Sir  William  Fraser'a 
Douglas  Book,  ii.  23.]  H.  P. 

FORBES,  ALEXANDER,  fourth  LOKI> 
FORBES  (d.  1491),  was  the  eldest  son  of 
William,  third  lord  Forbes,  and  succeeded  his 
father  in  or  before  1483.  The  gift  of  the  fine 
payable  to  the  crown  on  his  marriage  was  ac- 
quired by  Margaret,  lady  Dirleton,  who  wished 
him  to  marry  her  own  daughter,  Margaret  Ker. 
But  he  declined  her  proposals,  and  without  her 
consent  married  Lady  Margaret  Boyd,  daugh- 
ter of  Thomas,  earl  of  Arran.  For  this  he  was 
condemned  by  the  lords  auditors  on  5  July 
1483  to  pay  Lady  Dirleton  double  the  value, 
of  his  marriage  or  two  thousand  merks.  Ha 
espoused  the  cause  of  James  III  when 
the  son  of  that  monarch  rose  in  rebellion  in. 
1488  against  him.  After  the  king's  death  at 
Sauchieburn  he  was  summoned  to  answer 
before  parliament  to  a  charge  of  treason  and 
conspiracy,  but  instead  of  obeying  the  sum- 
mons he  exposed  the  blood-stained  shirt  of 
the  slain  king  on  his  spear  at  Aberdeen,  and 
raised  a  considerable  force  there  with  the  ob- 
ject of  avenging  his  death.  But  his  hopes  of 
success  were  suddenly  extinguished  by  the 
defeat  of  the  Earl  of  Lennox  (with  whom 
he  had  been  acting  in  concert)  at  Tilly- 
moor,  near  Stirling,  and  on  submitting  to» 
James  IV,  he  was  pardoned  and  received 
into  favour.  He  died  about  1491,  survived 
by  his  widow,  who  was  a  granddaughter  of 
James  II,  and  who  in  1509  married  David ,. 
lord  Kennedy,  afterwards  first  earl  of  Cas- 
silis,  but  leaving  no  issue.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  two  brothers,  Arthur,  fifth  lord, 
and  John,  sixth  lord,  Forbes. 

[Acta  Auditor  urn  Dominorum,  pp.  1 1 3*,  1 2 1  * ; 
Acts  of  the  Parliaments  of  Scotland,  ii.  169-215; 
Treasurer's  Accounts,  i.  xlii ;  Registrum  Magnr 
Sigilli,  ii.  Nos.  1678,  2529,  2530,  3371,  3696,  &c. ; 
Pinkerton's  Hist,  of  Scotland,  ii.  8.]  H.  P. 

FORBES,  ALEXANDER  (1564-1617), 
bishop  of  Aberdeen,  belonged  to  the  Brux 
branch  of  the  Forbes  family.  He  was  the 
son  of  John  Forbes  of  Ardmurdo  in  Aber- 
deenshire, by  his  second  wife,  a  daughter  of 
Graham  of  Morphie.  Educated  at  St.  An- 
drews, where  he  took  his  degree  of  A.M.  in 
1585,  he  was  appointed  in  1588  minister  of 
Fettercairn  in  Kincardineshire,  and  soon  be- 
gan to  take  a  position  of  some  prominence 
in  the  church.  So  early  as  1594  we  find 
him  associated  by  the  general  assembly  in  at 
committee  of  the  most  eminent  ministers 
appointed  '  to  treate  upon  the  offence  con- 
ceaved  by  the  king  against  John  Ross,'  a  too 
freespoken  preacher.  Between  1593  and  1602 
he  was  a  member  of  eight  out  of  ten  general 


Forbes 


377 


Forbes 


assemblies,  and  seems  consistently  to  have 
supported  the  king's  efforts  to  restore  epi- 
scopacy in  the  church  of  Scotland.  On 
12  Nov.  1604  he  was  advanced  to  the  bishop- 
ric of  Caithness,  retaining,  however,  his  bene- 
fice of  Fettercairn,  a  circumstance  which  ex- 
plains the  charge  specially  brought  against 
him  in  the  libellous  verses  in  which  (1609) 
the  Scottish  bishops  were  assailed — 

Rarus  adis  parochos,  0  Catanaee,  tuos. 

He  was  one  of  the  bishops  who,  '  clothed  in 
silk  and  velvet,'  rode  in  procession  between 
the  earls  and  the  lords  at  the  opening  of  the 
parliament  at  Perth  in  1606.  The  general 
assembly  at  Linlithgow  in  December  of  the 
same  year  appointed  him,  as  bishop,  perpetual 
moderator  of  the  presbytery  of  Caithness, 
which  was  charged  by  the  privy  council 
(17  Jan.  1607)  to  receive  him  as  such  within 
twenty-four  hours  on  pain  of  rebellion.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  assembly  of  1608,  of 
the  conference  at  Falkland  in  the  follow- 
ing year,  and  of  the  important  assembly  at 
Glasgow  in  1610,  which  completed  the  re- 
storation of  episcopal  government  in  the 
church  of  Scotland.  In  the  same  year  the 
episcopal  succession  was  reintroduced  from 
England,  and  Forbes  was  consecrated  in  1611 
in  the  cathedral  of  Brechin  by  the  Arch- 
bishop of  St.  Andrews  and  the  Bishops  of 
Dunkeld  and  Brechin.  In  1610,  and  again 
in  1615,  the  king  appointed  him  a  member  of 
the  court  of  high  commission  (Scotland). 
In  the  latter  year  he  was  in  London,  and  in- 
curred much  blame  by  assenting,  on  the  part 
of  the  Scottish  prelates  but  without  their 
authority,  to  an  act  which  all  parties  in 
Scotland  looked  on  as  an  encroachment  on 
the  rights  of  the  Scottish  church — the  abso- 
lution by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  of  the 
Marquis  of  Huntly,  who  lay  under  excom- 
munication in  Scotland.  His  compliance 
was  not  desired  by  the  king,  but  it  pleased 
Huntly,  and  may  have  paved  Forbes's  way 
for  translation  (1616)  to  the  see  of  Aberdeen, 
where  Huntly 's  influence  was  paramount. 
The  general  assembly  which  met  at  Aberdeen 
the  same  year  called  his  conduct  in  question, 
and  expressed  a  wish  that  Patrick  Forbes 
[q.  v.]  should  be  appointed  to  the  vacant  see. 
But  the  promotion  of  the  Bishop  of  Caith- 
ness seems  to  have  been  already  decided  on 
at  court,  and  he  was  formally  elected  by  the 
chapter  of  the  diocese.  He  was  instituted 
at  St.  Andrews  23  Feb.  1617,  and  died  at 
Leith  14  Dec.  in  the  same  year.  Calderwood 
tells  an  ill-natured  story,  that  on  his  death- 
bed '  fain  would  he  have  spoken  with  the 
Bishop  of  St.  Andrews  [Spotiswood],  but 
he  being  loathe  to  leave  his  play  at  cards, 


howbeit  it  was  the  Lord's  day,  the  other  de- 
parted before  he  came  to  him.'  He  adds 
that  Bishop  Forbes '  was  impudent  and  shame- 
less. He  was  not  ashamed,  when  the  lords 
of  session  and  advocates  came  out  of  the- 
Tolbooth  at  twelve  hours,  to  follow  them  into- 
their  houses  uncalled,  and  sit  down  at  their 
tables ;  therefore  he  was  nicknamed  Collie.' 
On  the  other  hand,  he  is  described  by  Spotis- 
wood as  '  a  man  well-born  and  of  good  in- 
clination.' Forbes  is  said  to  have  written 
against  Gordon  the  Jesuit.  He  married  Chris- 
tian, daughter  of  Straton  of  Crigie,  and  had 
seven  sons  and  three  daughters.  One  of  his 
sons,  John  Forbes,  minister  of  Auchterless, 
Aberdeenshire,  suffered  for  his  loyalty  in  the- 
civil  war,  and  was  recommended  for  com- 
pensation by  the  parliament  of  the  Restora- 
tion ;  another,  Colonel  William  Forbes,  is 
probably  the  same  as  an  officer  of  that  name' 
and  rank  in  the  army  of  Mont  rose. 

[Calderwood's  History  of  the  Kirk  of  Scot- 
land ;  Grub's  Eccl.  History  of  Scotland ;  Scott's 
Fasti ;  Lumsden's  Family  of  Forbes ;  Kow's 
Historie  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland ;  Bishop  Pa- 
trick Forbes's  Funerals;  Keith's  Catalogue  of 
Scottish  Bishops,  &c.]  J.  C. 


FORBES,  ALEXANDER,  fourth  and  last 
LORD  FORBES  OF  PITSLIGO  (1678-1762),  Jaco- 
bite, only  son  of  the  third  lord,  by  Lady  Sophia/ 
Erskine,  third  daughter  of  John,  ninth  earl  of 
Mar,  was  born  22  May  1678.  He  succeeded 
to  the  estates  and  title  on  the  death  of  his 
father  in  1691.  In  early  manhood  he  tra- 
velled in  France,  and  having  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  Fenelon,  was  introduced  by 
him  to  Madame  Guy  on  and  other  'quietists.' 
Their  influence  left  a  deep  impression  on  his 
mind,  and  led  him  to  devote  much  of  his  at- 
tention to  the  study  of  the  mystical  writers. 
He  was  an  adherent  of  the  protestant  episco- 
pal church  of  Scotland,  and  a  warm  supporter 
of  the  exiled  Stuart  family.  He  was  strongly 
opposed  to  the  Act  of  Union,  and  on  the 
oath  of  abjuration  being  extended  to  Scot- 
land, ceased  to  attend  parliament.  Having 
taken  part  in  the  rebellion  of  1715  he  was 
compelled,  after  the  retreat  of  Mar,  to  take 
refuge  on  the  continent,  but  was  never  at- 
tainted, as  has  sometimes  been  erroneously 
stated,  and  in  1720  returned  to  Scotland,, 
taking  up  his  residence  chiefly  at  Pitsligo, 
where  he  continued  a  correspondence  with- 
the  quietists,  and  engaged  in  a  kind  of  tran- 
scendental devotion.  In  1734  he  published 
'  Essays  Moral  and  Philosophical.'  On  the 
outbreak  of  the  rebellion  of  1745,  though 
sixty-seven  years  of  age  and  asthmatic,  he 
again  took  up  arms  in  behalf  of  the  Stuarts.. 
His  decision,  from  his  sober  and  staid  charac- 


Forbes 


378 


Forbes 


ter,  had  great  influence  in  the  surrounding 
district,  but  it  was  taken  after  much  hesita- 
tion. '  I  thought,'  he  says,  '  I  weighed,  and 
I  weighed  again.  If  there  was  any  enthu- 
siasm in  it,  it  was  of  the  coldest  kind ;  and 
there  was  as  little  remorse  when  the  affair 
miscarried  as  there  was  eagerness  at  the  be- 
ginning.' He  raised  a  regiment  of  well-ap- 
pointed cavalry,  numbering  about  a  hundred, 
and  composed  chiefly  of  Aberdeenshire  gentle- 
men and  their  tenants.  When  they  were 
drawn  up  ready  to  set  out,  he  moved  to  the 
front,  lifted  his  hat,  and  said,  '  0  Lord,  Thou 
knowest  that  our  cause  is  just ; '  then  added 
the  signal, '  March,  gentlemen.'  He  arrived 
at  Edinburgh  8  Oct.  1745,  a  few  days  after 
the  victory  at  Prestonpans.  After  the  disas- 
ter at  Culloden  he  remained  in  hiding  near 
Pitsligo,  protected  by  the  general  regard  in 
which  he  was  held  in  the  district.  His  prin- 
cipal place  of  concealment  was  a  cave  con- 
structed in  the  arch  of  a  bridge  at  a  remote 
spot  in  the  moors  of  Pitsligo.  He  adopted 
the  disguise  of  a  mendicant,  and  on  one  oc- 
casion actually  received  a  small  coin  from 
one  of  the  soldiers  sent  in  search  of  him. 
Occasionally  he  took  refuge  in  the  neighbour- 
ing bogs.  His  estates  were  seized  in  1748, 
but  in  the  act  of  attainder  he  was  named 
Lord  Pitsligo,  a  misnomer  for  Lord  Forbes 
of  Pitsligo.  On  this  account  he  endea- 
voured to  obtain  a  reversal  of  the  attainder, 
but  though  the  court  of  session  gave  judg- 
ment in  his  favour  10  Nov.  1749,  this  deci- 
sion was  reversed  on  appeal  to  the  House  of 
Lords  1  Feb.  1750.  After  this  the  search 
for  him  relaxed,  and  he  resided  for  the  most 
part  with  his  son  at  Auchiries,  under  the 
name  of  Mr.  Brown.  In  March  1756  a  party 
was  sent  to  search  for  him,  but  he  was  hid 
in  a  small  recess  behind  a  wainscot,  which 
was  concealed  by  a  bed  in  which  a  lady  slept. 
He  died  21  Dec.  1762.  He  was  twice  mar- 
ried :  first,  to  Rebecca,  daughter  of  John  Nor- 
ton, merchant,  London,  by  whom  he  had  one 
son,  John,  master  of  Pitsligo ;  and  secondly, 
to  Elizabeth  Allen,  who  had  been  companion 
to  his  first  wife,  but  by  this  marriage  there 
was  no  issue.  He  wrote  '  Thoughts  concern- 
ing Man's  Condition '  in  1732,  and  it  was  pub- 
lished in  1763,  and  again  in  1835,  with  me- 
moir by  his  kinsman  Lord  Medwyn. 

[Memoir  prefixed  to  Thoughts  concerning  Man's 
Condition ;  Walpole's  Royal  and  Noble  Authors 
(Park),  ii.  158;  Chambers's  Eminent  Scotsmen, 
ii.  36-8.]  T.  F.  H. 

FORBES,  ALEXANDER  PENROSE 
(1817-1875),  bishop  of  Brechin,  second  son  of 
John  Hay  Forbes,  lord  Medwyn  [q.  v.],  by  his 
wife  Louisa,  daughter  of  Sir  Alexander  Gum- 


ming Gordon,  bart.,  of  Altyre,  Elgin,  was  born 
at  Edinburgh  6  June  1817.     He  was  sent  to 
the  Edinburgh  Academy,  and  to  a  school  kept 
by  Canon  Dale  at  Beckenham,  Kent.   In  1833 
he  matriculated  at  Glasgow  University.  After 
studying  for  one  session  there  he  obtained  a 
nomination  to  Haileybury,  where  he  took 
prizes  and  medals  for  classics,  mathematics, 
political  economy,  law,  history,  Arabic,  and 
Sanskrit,  showing  special  aptitude  for  oriental 
languages.    In  September  1836  Forbes  sailed 
for  Madras,  and  a  year  after  his  arrival  was 
appointed  assistant  to  the  collector  and  ma- 
gistrate of  Rajahmundry.     In  1839  he  was 
acting  head   assistant   to   the   Sudder  and 
Foujdarry  Adawlut,  when  his  health  broke 
down.     After  nine  months'  leave  of  absence 
at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  he  returned  to 
India  and  resumed  his  post  at  Rajahmundry, 
but  was  again  attacked  by  fever,  and  sent 
back  to  England  for  two  years.     He  never 
returned  to  India,  though  he  had  no  idea  of 
throwing  up  his  appointment  when  he  matri- 
culated at  Brasenose  College,  Oxford,  23  May 
1840.  Duringhis  residence,  however,  he  came 
strongly  under  the  influence  of  the  prevailing 
'  Oxford  movement,'  and  determined  to  take 
orders.     As  an  undergraduate  he  won  the 
Boden  Sanskrit  scholarship.      He  took  the 
B.A.  degree  29  Feb.  1844,  and  resigned  his 
Indian  appointment  5  June  following.     He 
proceeded  M.A.  19  Nov.  1846,  and  received 
the  honorary  D.C.L.  on  his  appointment  as 
bishop  of  Brechin  in  May  1848.     He  was 
ordained  at  Trinity  1844,  and  was  curate  at 
Aston  Rowant,  a  village  near  Oxford,  till  the 
following  January,  when  he  transferred  his 
services  to  St.  Thomas's,  Oxford.   A  year  later 
Forbes  became  incumbent  of  Stonehaven, 
Kincardine,  having  expressed  to  Moir,  bishop 
of  Brechin,  his  wish  to  serve  the  Scotch  epi- 
scopal church.     He  remained  there  till  May 
1847,  when,  on  the  nomination  of  Dr.  Pusey, 
who  had  become  his  intimate  friend  at  Ox- 
ford, he  was  appointed  to  the  vicarage  of  St. 
Saviour's,  Leeds,  a  church  built  for  the  pur- 
pose of  giving  practical  illustration  to  '  Trac- 
tarian '  doctrine.     In  the  following  August 
Moir,  bishop  of  Brechin,  died.  Mr.  Gladstone, 
in  conversation  with  Bishop  Wilberforce,  sug- 
gested that  Forbes  might  fit  the  post.     His 
name  was  presented  to  the  electors  at  the 
diocesan  synod,  and  he  was  elected  by  a  large 
majority  over  the  Rev.  W.  Henderson.    The 
headquarters  of  the  bishopric  he  changed  from 
Brechin  to  Dundee,  becoming  vicar  of  St. 
Paul's,  Dundee,  and  prosecuting  parochial  to- 
gether with  episcopal  duties.  On  5  Aug.  1857, 
at  a  meeting  of  the  diocesan  synod  at  Brechin, 
Forbes  delivered  his  primary  charge,  which 
took  the  form  of  a  manifesto  on  the  Eucharist, 


Forbes 


379 


Forbes 


inculcating  the  doctrine  of  the  real  presence, 
and  vindicating  the  Scotch  communion  office. 
Great  stir  was  made  by  the  charge,  which 
was  published,  and  in  the  following  Decem- 
ber it  was  proposed  at  an  episcopal  synod  that 
a  declaration  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Eucharist 
should  be  issued  on  the  authority  of  the  col- 
lege of  bishops.  The  motion  was  lost,  but 
a  declaration  of  similar  purport  was  issued 
by  Terrot,  Ewing,  and  Trower,  bishops  re- 
spectively of  Edinburgh,  Argyll,  and  Glas- 
gow, and  clearly  directed  against  Forbes. 
Keble  wrote  a  lengthy  answer  to  the  bishops, 
and  published  pamphlets  on  various  aspects 
of  the  case.  In  May  1858  the  college  of 
bishops  issued  a  pastoral  letter,  in  spite  of 
an  elaborate  protest  by  Forbes,  announcing 
that  they  felt  bound  to  resist  the  teaching  of 
the  Bishop  of  Brechin  on  the  matter  in  dis- 
pute. A  year  and  a  half  later  Forbes  was  pre- 
sented to  the  college  for  erroneous  teaching 
in  this  primary  charge  by  Mr.  Henderson,  his 
rival  for  the  bishopric,  and  two  vestrymen. 
He  was  formally  tried,  and  the  final  finding 
of  the  court  in  March  1860  was  a  declaration 
of  admonition  and  censure  to  the  bishop  to 
be  more  careful  in  future.  Throughout  the 
long  period  of  suspense,  as  both  before  and 
after,  Forbes  continued  his  incessant  labours 
in  the  service  of  the  church.  When  he  took  up 
his  residence  in  Dundee,  the  churchmen  there 
were  so  few  that  their  only  place  of  worship 
was  a  room  over  a  bank.  He  left  behind  him 
the  pro-cathedral  of  St.  Paul,  and  the  churches 
of  St.  Salvador  and  St.  Mary  Magdalene. 
He  founded  schools  in  connection  with  the 
churches,  was  a  visitor  of  the  Royal  Infir- 
mary, on  the  committee  of  a  Model  Lodging- 
house  Association  and  the  Dundee  Free  Li- 
brary, a  member  of  the  Dundee  school  board, 
and  a  director  of  the  Prisoners'  Aid  Society. 
He  took  great  interest  in  sisterhoods  and 
their  work,  and  founded  that  of  St.  Mary  and 
Modwenna.  His  work  was  interfered  with  by 
frequent  attacks  of  ill-health,  and  consequent 
journeys  abroad.  On  the  continent  he  be- 
came the  intimate  friend  of  Dr.  von  Dollin- 
ger,  and  sympathised  with  the  Old  Catholic 
movement.  He  constantly  corresponded  with 
Mr.  Gladstone,  who  was  a  warm  friend  and 
adviser.  On  8  Oct.  1875  Forbes  died  from  a 
sharp  gastric  attack.  He  was  buried  beneath 
the  chancel  of  St.  Paul's,  Dundee.  His  many 
admirers  erected  in  his  memory  Forbes  Court, 
Dundee,  the  existing  episcopal  see-house.  As 
a  theologian  Forbes  takes  high  rank.  He  was 
deeply  versed  in  the  whole  range — patristic, 
mediaeval,  and  modern — of  his  subject,  and 
in  his  own  treatment  of  it  gave  it  an  exact 
systematic  and  dogmatic  form.  This  appears 
in  his  two  chief  works  :  (1)  '  A  Short  Ex- 


planation of  the  Nicene  Creed,'  1852  (2nd 
ed.  considerably  enlarged,  1866),  which  is  a 
brief  handbook  of  dogmatic  theology,  founded 
largely  on  the  fathers  and  schoolmen,  and 
more  technical  than  is  usual  with  English 
text-books ;  (2)  l  An  Explanation  of  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles/  2  vols.  1867  and  1868, 
which  aims  at  elucidating  the  positive  doc- 
trine of  the  articles  and  defends  the  catholic 
as  distinguished  from  the  ultra-protestant  or 
puritan  interpretation ;  this  book  was  written 
at  the  suggestion  of  Dr.  E.  B.  Pusey,  whose 
help  '  in  each  step  of  its  progress  to  matu- 
rity'  is  acknowledged  by  Forbes  in  the  dedi- 
cation. Many  of  Forbes's  numerous  publi- 
cations are  sermons  (including  a  collected 
edition  in  four  volumes),  pastoral  charges, 
and  manuals  of  devotion.  Of  the  others 
the  more  important  are :  '  Commentary  on 
the  Seven  Penitential  Psalms,'  1847;  'The 
Prisoners  of  Craigmacaire ;  a  Story  of  the  '46,' 
1852 ;  <  Commentary  on  the  Canticles,'  1853 ; 
'  The  Pious  Life  and  Death  of  Helen  Inglis/ 
1854.  Forbes  also  translated  the  first  part 
of  '  Memoriale  Vitse  Sacerdotalis,'  from  the 
Latin  of  Arvisenet,  1853 ;  edited  with  his 
brother,  G.  H.  Forbes,  the  '  Arbuthnot  Mis- 
sal/ 1864 ;  translated  the  Scotch  communion 
office  into  Greek,  1865;  edited  '  Meditations 
on  the  Passion  by  the  Abbot  of  Monte  Cas- 
sino/  1866 ;  published  with  elaborate  preface 
*  Kalendars  of  Scottish  Saints,  with  Personal 
Notices  of  those  of  Alba,  Laudonia,  and 
Strathclyde/  1872 ;  wrote  an  introduction  to 
Miss  Kinloch's  '  History  of  Scotland/  1873 ; 
and  edited  Lady  Eleanor  Law's  '  Translation 
from  Pinart/  and  from  manuscript  '  Lives  of 
St.  Ninian,  St.  Kentigern,  and  St.  Columba/ 
1875.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  en- 
gaged on  a  translation  of  the  works  of  St. 
Columban.  He  contributed  at  various  times, 
to  the  '  Ecclesiastic/  the  '  Christian  Remem- 
brancer/the 'North British/  the  'Edinburgh/ 
and  the  '  Quarterly  Review.'  By  Forbes's 
express  wish  the  greater  portion  of  his  cor- 
respondence and  journals  has  not  been  made 
public. 

[Mackey's  Bishop  Forbes,  a  Memoir  (with 
photogravure  portrait);  Memoir  of  Alexander, 
Bishop  of  Brechin,  anon.;  Prinsep's  Madras 
Civil  Servants,  1885,  p.  54.]  A.  V. 

FORBES,  SIB  ARTHUR,  first  EARL  or 
GRANARD  (1623-1696),  eldest  son  of  Sir  Ar- 
thur Forbes  of  Corse  in  Aberdeenshire  (who 
went  to  Ireland  in  1620  with  the  Master 
of  Forbes's  regiment,  of  which  he  was  lieu- 
tenant-colonel, and  was  granted  large  estates 
in  Leitrim  and  Longford  by  James  I),  by 
Jane,  daughter  of  Sir  Robert  Lauder  of  the 
Isle  of  Bass,  and  widow  of  Sir  Alexander 


Forbes 


380 


Forbes 


Hamilton  of  Killeshandra,  co.  Cavan,  a  lady 
of  singular  ability  and  courage,  was  born 
in  1623,  and  at  an  early  age  exhibited  con- 
spicuous spirit  and  ability.  His  father  was 
killed  in  a  duel  in  1632,  and  he  was  trained 
entirely  under  his  mother's  care.  During 
the  rebellion  of  1641  she  was  besieged  in 
Castle  Forbes,  the  family  seat,  for  nine  months, 
and  Forbes  raised  men  for  her  relief,  though 
only  eighteen  years  old.  He  is  next  heard 
of  in  Scotland,  serving  under  Montrose  in  the 
cause  of  Charles  I.  On  the  defeat  of  Mont- 
rose  in  1645  he  was  taken  prisoner,  and  for 
two  years  confined  in  Edinburgh  Castle.  On 
his  release  he  still  embraced  every  oppor- 
tunity to  aid  the  fallen  fortunes  of  the  Stuarts, 
but,  all  efforts  to  restore  them  failing,  he  re- 
turned to  Ireland  in  1655.  In  1660  he  was 
sent  to  Charles  at  Breda  to  assure  him  that 
if  he  would  only  go  over  to  Ireland  the 
whole  kingdom  would  declare  for  him.  At 
the  Restoration  he  was  appointed  a  commis- 
sioner of  the  court  of  claims  in  Ireland,  and 
received  additional  grants  of  land  in  West- 
meath.  In  1661  he  entered  parliament  as 
member  for  the  family  borough  of  Mullingar. 
In  1663  he  did  good  service  in  the  north  of 
Ireland  by  nipping  in  the  bud  efforts  there 
in  support  of  Blood's  plot.  Honours  now 
flowed  rapidly  in  on  him.  In  1670  he  was 
sworn  of  the  Irish  privy  council,  and  ap- 
pointed marshal  and  commander-in-chief  of 
the  army.  In  1671  he  was  one  of  the  lords 
justices.  On  several  subsequent  occasions 
he  held  the  same  post.  In  1672  he  was  the 
means  of  rendering  to  the  presbyterian  church 
of  Ireland,  of  which  he  was  an  attached  mem- 
ber, an  important  service,  by  procuring  for 
it  the  first  grant  of  regium  donum,  which 
that  body  continued  to  enjoy  until  the  passing 
of  the  Irish  Church  Act  in  1869,  with  the 
exception  of  a  short  interval.  Kirkpatrick, 
in  his  '  Presbyterian  Loyalty,'  gives  an  ac- 
count of  his  action  in  this  matter,  which,  he 
says,  came  '  from  Sir  Arthur  Forbes's  own 
mouth,'  to  the  effect  that  he  (Forbes)  being 
in  London,  the  king  inquired  of  him  as  to 
the  welfare  of  the  Irish  presbyterian  ministers, 
of  whose  loyalty  and  sufferings  in  his  cause 
he  had  often  heard.  Forbes  having  told  him 
that '  they  lived  in  no  great  plenty,'  the  king 
said  'that  there  was  1,200/.  a  year  in  the 
settlement  of  the  revenue  of  Ireland  which 
he  had  not  yet  disposed  of,  but  designed  it 
for  a  charitable  use,  and  he  knew  not  how  to 
dispose  of  it  better  than  by  giving  it  to  these 
ministers.'  It  subsequently  appeared  that 
only  600/.  was  available  for  the  purpose,  and 
at  this  figure  the  grant  was  made  to  Forbes 
(Presbyterian  Loyalty,  p.  384). 
In  1675  he  was  created  Baron  Clanehugh 


and  Viscount  Granard.  In  1684  he  raised 
the  18th  regiment  of  foot,  and  was  made- 
colonel  thereof,  and  in  the  same  year  was- 
advanced  to  the  dignity  of  Earl  of  Granard. 
James  II,  when  he  came  to  the  throne,  en- 
deavoured to  make  use  of  his  services  for  the 
promotion  of  the  interests  of  Romanism,  but 
Granard  could  not  be  induced  to  betray  his 
fellow-protestants.  He  was  accordingly  re- 
moved from  the  command  of  the  army,  Tyr- 
connel  being  put  in  his  place.  When  James's 
Dublin  parliament  passed  the  acts  of  repeal 
and  attainder,  he  boldly  remonstrated  with 
the  king.  Finding  his  arguments  vain,  he 
went  to  the  House  of  Lords,  entered  his 
solemn  protest  against  these  measures,  and 
retired  to  Castle  Forbes.  Here  he  was  be- 
sieged by  the  Irish,  but  in  vain.  When 
William  went  over  to  Ireland,  no  one  wel- 
comed him  more  heartily  than  Granard.  He- 
was  placed  by  the  king  in  command  of  a 
force  of  five  thousand  men  for  the  reduction 
of  Sligo,  the  surrender  of  which  he  secured. 
This  was  his  last  public  service.  His  closing 
years  were  spent  quietly  at  Castle  Forbes, 
where  he  died  in  1696. 

He  married  Catherine,  daughter  of  Sir 
Robert  Newcomen  of  Mosstown,  co.  Long- 
ford, and  widow  of  Sir  Alexander  Stewart, 
ancestor  of  the  Mountjoy  family,  by  whom 
he  had  five  sons  and  one  daughter. 

[Forbes's  Memoirs  of  the  Earls  of  Granard ; 
Kirkpatrick's  Historical  Essay  upon  the  Loyalty 
of  Presbyterians ;  Adair's  True  Narrative  ;  Reid's 
History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Ireland.] 

T.  H. 

FORBES,  SIE  CHARLES  (1774-1849), 
politician,  of  Newe  and  Edinglassie,  Aber- 
deenshire,  son  of  the  Rev.  George  Forbes  of 
Lochell,  was  born  in  1774.  He  was  a  de- 
scendant of  Alexander  Forbes  of  Kinaldie  and 
Pitsligo,  and  was  in  1833  served  heir  male  in 
general  to  Alexander,  third  lord  Forbes  of 
Pitsligo,  father  of  Alexander,  fourth  lord 
Forbes  [q.  v.],  attainted  in  1745.  Forbes  was 
educated  at  Aberdeen  University,  of  which, 
late  in  life,  he  was  elected  lord  rector.  Shortly 
after  leaving  the  university  he  went  out  to 
India,  and  became  the  head  of  the  first  mer- 
cantile house  in  our  eastern  dependency, 
Forbes  &  Co.  of  Bombay.  His  name  ranked 
high  in  the  commercial  world  for  ability,  fore- 
sight, and  rectitude  of  character.  On  re- 
turning to  England,  he  was  elected  to  par- 
liament for  the  borough  of  Beverley,  and 
represented  that  place  from  1812  to  1818.  In 
the  latter  year  he  was  returned  for  Malmes- 
bury,  and  continued  to  represent  that  town 
until  the  passing  of  the  Reform  Bill  of  1832. 
As  a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons  he 


Forbes 


381 


Forbes 


enjoyed  the  respect  of  all  parties,  for  his  love 
of  justice,  kindly  feeling,  and  plain,  straight- 
forward honesty.  Though  a  tory  of  the  tories, 
he '  never  allowed  his  political  creed  to  cloud 
his  fine  judgment  and  keen  sense  of  right 
and  wrong,  and  his  manly  spirit  was  readily 
•engaged  in  favour  of  the  poor,  the  weak,  and 
the  persecuted.'  He  warmly  supported  catho- 
lic emancipation;  and  when  the  Duke  of 
Wellington  incurred  great  unpopularity  in 
1830,  Forbes  pronounced  in  the  House  of 
Commons  a  warm  panegyric  on  the  duke's 
•conduct.  Forbes  was  one  of  the  earliest  to 
advocate  the  claims  of  women  to  the  fran- 
•chise.  In  the  session  of  1831  he  asked  upon 
-what  reasonable  grounds  they  could  be  ex- 
cluded from  political  rights,  pointing  out  that 
ladies  had  the  power  of  voting  for  directors 
of  the  East  India  Company,  and  maintain- 
ing that  if  the  right  of  voting  was  grounded 
on  the  possession  of  property,  there  ought  to 
be  no  distinction  of  sex.  Forbes  was  a  strong 
opponent  of  the  Reform  Bill  of  1831-2. 
During  the  debates  in  the  former  session  he 
spoke  of  the  measure  as  'the  vile  Reform 
Bill,  that  hideous  monster,  the  most  fright- 
ful that  ever  showed  its  face  in  that  house.' 
He  declared  that  he  should  follow  it  to  the 
last  with  uncompromising  hostility,  and  if  it 
were  carried  he  should  rejoice  in  abandoning 
parliament.  He  put  forward  an  urgent  plea 
for  Malmesbury,  stating  that  he  would  rather 
represent  it  than  be  returned  either  by  London, 
Middlesex,  or  Westminster.  The  borough, 
after  much  angry  discussion,  was  left  with 
one  member  only.  Forbes  was  most  dis- 
tinguished in  connection  with  India.  From 
his  long  residence  in  the  East,  he  knew  the 
people  intimately,  and  he  spent  a  large  por- 
tion of  his  fortune  in  their  midst.  In  par- 
liament and  in  the  proprietors'  court  of  the 
East  India  Company  his  advocacy  of  justice 
for  India  was  ardent  and  untiring.  One  of 
his  last  acts  was  the  appropriation  of  a  very 
large  sum  of  money  to  procure  for  the  in- 
habitants of  Bengal  a  plentiful  supply  of 
pure  water  in  all  seasons.  His  fame  spread 
from  one  end  of  Hindostan  to  the  other. 
When  he  left  India  he  was  presented  by  the 
natives  with  a  magnificent  service  of  plate, 
-and  twenty-seven  years  after  his  departure 
from  Bombay  the  sum  of  9,000/.  was  sub- 
scribed for  the  erection  of  a  statue  to  his 
honour.  The  work  was  entrusted  to  Sir 
Francis  Chantrey,  and  the  statue  now  stands 
in  the  town  hall  of  Bombay,  between  those  of 
Mountstuart  Elphinstone  and  Sir  John  Mal- 
colm. It  was  the  first  instance  on  record  of 
the  people  of  India  raising  a  statue  to  any  one 
unconnected  with  the  civil  or  military  service 
of  the  country.  An  address,  signed  by  1,042 


of  the  principal  native  and  other  inhabitants 
of  Bombay,  expatiated  upon  his  services  to 
the  commercial  development  of  the  country 
and  the  improvement  in  the  position  of  the 
natives.  In  his  private  charities  Forbes  was 
most  liberal ;  he  was  also  a  munificent  con- 
tributor to  the  leading  public  charities  of 
Scotland.  Forbes  was  of  a  bluff  but  kindly 
nature,  diffident  as  to  his  own  merits,  of  a 
straightforward  and  manly  character.  On 
the  death  of  his  uncle  in  1821  Forbes  suc- 
ceeded to  the  entailed  estates  of  the  Forbeses 
of  Ne we,  and  was  created  a  baronet  by  patent 
in  1823.  He  married  in  1800  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  Major  John  Cotgrave,  of  the 
Madras  army,  and  by  that  lady  he  left  four 
sons  and  two  daughters.  He  died  in  London 
20  Nov.  1849. 

[Ann.  Reg.  1849;  Gent.  Mag.  1850;  Han- 
sard's Parliamentary  Debates  ;  Aberdeen  Jour- 
nal, 28  Nov.  1849.]  G-.  B.  S. 

FORBES,  SIB  CHARLES  FERGUS- 
SON,  M.D.  (1779-1852),  army  surgeon,  was 
born  in  1779  and  educated  to  the  medical 
profession  in  London.  He  joined  the  army 
medical  staff  in  Portugal  in  1798,  was  ga- 
zetted next  year  assistant-surgeon  to  the 
royals,  served  in  Holland,  at  Ferrol,  in  Egypt, 
the  Mediterranean,  the  West  Indies,  and 
through  the  Peninsular  war,  having  been 
appointed  to  the  staff  in  1808  and  made  de- 
puty inspector-general  of  hospitals  in  1813. 
He  retired  in  1814  with  that  rank  and  the 
war  medal  with  five  clasps,  and  commenced 
practice  as  a  physician  in  Argyll  Street, 
London.  He  had  graduated  M.D.  at  Edin- 
burgh in  1808,  and  joined  the  College  of  Phy- 
sicians of  London  in  1814,  becoming  a  fellow 
in  1841.  In  1816  he  was  appointed  physician 
to  the  newly  founded  Royal  Westminster  In- 
firmary for  Diseases  of  the  Eye  in  Warwick 
Street,  Golden  Square,  having  George  James 
Guthrie  [q.  v.]  as  his  surgical  colleague.  In 
1827  some  difference  of  opinion  arose  between 
Forbes  and  Guthrie  as  to  the  treatment  of 
inflammatory  affections  of  the  eye  ;  the  sub- 
ject was  noticed  in  the  'Lancet '  adversely  to 
'Guthrie,  who  commenced  an  action  for  libel 
against  the  journal,  but  abandoned  it  on 
learning  that  Forbes  had  been  subpoenaed 
as  a  witness.  Having  been  insulted  at  the 
hospital  by  one  Hale  Thomson,  a  young 
surgeon  in  Guthrie's  party,  Forbes  challenged 
the  former  to  a  duel.  It  was  fought  with 
pistols  on  Clapham  Common  at  half-past 
three  in  the  afternoon  of  29  Dec.  1827  ;  when 
each  had  fired  twice  without  effect,  the  se- 
conds interposed,  but  another  encounter  was 
demanded  by  the  principals,  which  was  also 
harmless.  The  seconds  then  declared  the 


Forbes 


382 


Forbes 


duel  at  an  end,  against  the  wishes  of  the 
parties.  Forbes  resigned  his  appointment  at 
the  hospital,  carrying  a  number  of  its  sub- 
scribers with  him.  He  declined  an  offer  by 
Guthrie  to  give  him  the  satisfaction  of  a 
gentleman  and  an  officer  of  the  same  service, 
on  the  ground  that  the  offer  was  not  made 
until  after  events  at  the  hospital  had  been 
allowed  to  take  their  course.  He  had  a  con- 
siderable practice  among  a  number  of  families 
of  the  nobility,  and  was  much  esteemed. 
His  only  writings  are  two  small  pamphlets 
of  correspondence,  &c.,  on  the  Guthrie  affair 
(1828),  and  a  brief  record  of  a  case  of  fatal 
thrombosis  of  the  thigh  veins  in  the  *  Medico- 
Chirurgical  Transactions/  xiii.  (1827).  He 
was  a  knight  of  the  Crescent,  and  in  1842 
was  made  a  Guelphic  knight  of  Hanover.  He 
died  at  Argyll  Street  on  22  March  1852, 
aged  73. 

[Gent.  Mag.  April  1852 ;  Med.  Times  and  Gaz. 
1852,  i.  355;  Munk's  Coll.  of  Phys.  vol.  iii. ; 
pamphlets  on  the  Guthrie  incident.]  C.  C. 

FORBES,  DAVID  (1777  P-1849),  major- 
general,  was  the  son  of  a  Scotch  minister  in 
the  county  of  Elgin,  and  entered  the  army 
when  a  mere  boy  as  an  ensign  in  the  78th 
highlanders,  or  Ross-shire  buffs,  when  Francis 
Humberstone  Mackenzie,  afterwards  Lord 
Seaforth,  raised  that  regiment  in  March  1793. 
He  was  promoted  lieutenant  on  3  May  1794, 
and  in  the  following  September  his  regiment 
joined  the  army  in  the  Netherlands,  under  the 
command  of  Lieutenant-colonel  Alexander 
Mackenzie  Fraser  [q.  v.]  He  served  with 
distinction  in  all  the  affairs  of  the  disastrous 
retreat  before  Pichegru,  and  was  especially 
noticed  for  his  behaviour  at  Geldermalsen 
on  5  Jan.  1795.  He  was  present  at  the 
affair  of  Quiberon  and  the  attack  on  Belle 
Isle  in  that  year,  and  in  1796  he  pro- 
ceeded with  his  regiment  first  to  the  Cape 
and  then  to  India.  He  remained  in  India 
more  than  twenty  years,  seeing  much  ser- 
vice. In  1798  his  regiment  formed  the  escort 
of  Sir  John  Shore  when  he  advanced  into 
Oude  to  dethrone  the  nawab,  and  it  was  en- 
gaged throughout  the  Maratha  campaign  of 
1803,  and  especially  at  the  storm  of  Ahmed- 
nagar.  For  his  services  in  this  campaign 
Forbes  was  promoted  captain  on  25  June 
1803,  and  he  remained  in  garrison  until  1811, 
when  his  regiment  was  selected  to  form 
part  of  the  expedition  sent  against  Java  in 
1811,  under  Sir  Samuel  Auchmuty.  He 
was  placed  in  command  of  the  flank  com- 
panies of  the  various  British  regiments,  and 
at  their  head  led  the  assaults  on  the  lines  of 
Waltevreede  and  the  lines  of  Cornells,  and 
•was  to  the  front  in  every  engagement  with 


the  Dutch  troops.   For  these  services  he  was 
five  times  thanked  in  general  orders,  received 
the  gold  medal  for  Java,  and  was  promoted 
major  on  29  Aug.  1811.     In  May  1812  he 
commanded  the  grenadiers  of  the  59th  regi- 
ment and  the  light  companies  of  the  78th  in 
an  expedition  for  the  reduction  of  the  sultan 
of  Djocjocarta,  and  in  May  1813  he  suppressed! 
the  serious   insurrection  which   broke   out 
among  the  Malays  at  Probolingo  in  the  east 
of  the  island  of  Java.     In  this  insurrection 
Lieutenant-colonel  Fraser  of  the  78th  was 
killed,  and  Forbes,   as  major,  received  the 
step  in  promotion  on  28  July  1814.    In  1817 
he  returned  to  Scotland,  being  the  only  officer 
who  returned  out  of  forty-two,  and  bringing 
with  him  only  thirty-six  out  of  twelve  hun- 
dred rank  and  file.     He  went  on  half-pay 
and  settled  at  Aberdeen,  where  he  lived  with- 
out further  employment  for  the  rest  of  his 
life.      On  10  Jan.   1837  he  was  promoted 
colonel,  in  1838  made  a  C.B.,  and  in  1846 
promoted  major-general.     He  died  at  Aber- 
deen on  29  March  1849. 

[Hart's  Army  List;  Gent.  Mag.  May  1849; 
and  for  the  affair  at  Probolingo  the  Military 
Panorama  for  February  1814.]  H.  M.  S. 

FORBES,  DAVID  (1828-1876),  geologist 
and  philologist,  born  at  Douglas,  Isle  of  Man, 
on  6  Sept.  1828,  was  one  of  the  nine  children 
of  Edward  Forbes  of  Oakhill  and  Croukbane, 
lear  Douglas,  and  Jane,  eldest  daughter  and 
leiress  of  William  Teare  of  the  same  island. 
Se  was  younger  brother  of  Edward  Forbes 
"q.  v.]  David  Forbes  showed  an  early  taste 
br  chemistry ;  he  was  sent  to  school  at  Brent- 
wood  in  Essex,  whence  he  passed  to  Edin- 
mrgh  University.  Leaving  Edinburgh  about 
;he  age  of  nineteen,  Forbes  spent  some  months 
"n  the  metallurgical  laboratory  of  Dr.  Percy 
n  Birmingham,  but  he  was  still  under  twenty 
when  he  accompanied  Mr.  Brooke  Evans  to 
Norway,  where  he  received  the  appointment 
of  superintendent  of  the  mining  and  metal- 
urpfical  works  at  Espedal,  a  post  which  he 
leld  for  ten  years.  Forbes  showed  courage 
n  arming  four  hundred  of  his  miners  to  aid 
-.he  government  against  a  threatened  revolu- 
tion in  1848,  and  received  the  personal  thanks 
of  the  king.  He  was  elected  fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society  in  June  1856.  Entering  into 
partnership  with  the  firm  of  Evans  &  Askin, 
nickel-smelters  of  Birmingham,  Forbes  went 
:o  South  America  in  1857  in  search  of  the 
ores  of  nickel  and  cobalt.  From  1857  to 
.860  he  traversed  the  greater  part  of  Bolivia 
and  Peru,  and  embodied  his  observations 
on  the  minerals  and  rock-structure  of  those 
countries  in  a  classical  paper,  which  is  printed 
"n  the  <  Quarterly  Journal'  of  the  Geological 


Forbes 


383 


Forbes 


Society  for  1860.  He  visited  England  in 
1860,  when  it  was  proposed  to  appoint  him 
as  a  representative  of  the  English  government 
in  South  America.  Sir  Roderick  Murchison 
and  Lord  John  Russell  were  memorialised, 
but  the  appointment  was  not  considered  ne- 
cessary. Returning  to  South  America  he 
traversed  the  mining  districts  of  the  Cordil- 
leras, and  increased  the  large  collection  of 
minerals  already  formed  in  Norway.  From 
South  America  Forbes  made  an  expedition 
to  the  South  Sea  Islands,  studying  more  es- 
pecially their  volcanic  phenomena.  In  1866 
he  travelled  in  Europe  and  in  Africa.  He 
had  a  talent  for  learning  languages,  and  a 
remarkable  power  of  securing  the  confidence 
of  the  half-savage  miners  of  America.  Forbes 
settled  in  England,  and  became  foreign  secre- 
tary to  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute.  In  that 
capacity  he  wrote  the  half-yearly  reports  on 
the  progress  of  metal- working  abroad  which 
appeared  in  the  journal  of  the  institute  from 
1871  to  1876.  During  his  later  years  Forbes 
was  so  entirely  absorbed  in  his  literary  and 
scientific  pursuits  that  he  neglected  to  take 
sufficient  exercise ;  the  death  of  his  wife,  to 
whom  he  was  profoundly  attached,  caused 
him  to  suffer  severe  mental  trouble ;  his  con- 
stitution, already  enfeebled  by  a  recurrent 
fever  caught  in  South  America,  gave  way, 
and  he  died  on  5  Dec.  1876.  Many  repre- 
sentative men  of  science  attended  his  funeral 
at  Kensal  Green  cemetery,  London,  on  12  Dec. 

1876.  Forbes  joined  the  Geological  Society 
in  1853,  and  had  been  one  of  the  secretaries 
since  1871.     He  was  also  a  member  of  the 
Ethnological  Society,  to  which  he  contributed 
a  paper  on  the  *  Aymara  Indians  of  Bolivia 
and  Peru.' 

He  wrote  fifty-eight  papers  on  scientific 
subjects,  including  three  in  conjunction  with 
other  investigators.  Sixteen  of  his  papers 
appeared  in  the  '  Geological  Magazine '  from 
V1866  to  1872.  His  first  paper, '  On  a  Simple 
Method  of  Determining  the  Free  and  Com- 
bined Ammonia  and  Water  in  Guano  and 
other  Manures/  appeared  while  he  was  a  lad 
of  seventeen  in  the  '  Chemical  Gazette '  for 
1845.  Among  his  last  papers  were  those 
4  On  Aerolites  from  the  Coast  of  Greenland,' 
published  in  the  {  Quarterly  Journal  of  the 
Geological  Society'  for  1872,  and  'The  Ap- 
plication of  the  Blow-pipe  to  the  Quantitative 
Determination  or  Assay  of  Certain  Minerals ' 
in  the  t  Journal  of  the  Chemical  Society '  for 

1877.  He  was  one  of  the  first  to  apply  the 
microscope  to  the  study  of  rocks,  and  his 
paper  in  the  '  Popular  Science  Review '  on 
'  The  Microscope  in  Geology '  was  translated, 
and  appeared  in  the  leading  foreign  scientific 
periodicals. 


Igneous  and  metamorphic  phenomena  oc* 
cupied  much  of  Forbes's  attention,  and  at 
Espedal  he  experimented  on  a  large  scale 
on  the  action  of  heat  on  minerals  and  rocks. 
He  wrote  some  important  papers  on  this  sub- 
ject, including '  The  Causes  producing  Folia- 
tion in  Rocks'  (Geological  Society,  1855), 
'The  Igneous  Rocks  of  Staffordshire'  ('Geol. 
Mag.'  iii.  23),  and  'On  the  Contraction  of 
Igneous  Rocks  in  Cooling  '('  Geol.  Mag.'  vii.  1) . 
Forbes  tried  hard  to  direct  the  attention  of 
British  geologists  to  chemical  geology.  His 
views  are  expressed  in  his  articles  on '  Chemical 
Geology'  ('Chemical  News,'  1867  and  1868) 
and '  On  the  Chemistry  of  the  Primeval  Earth ' 
('Geol.  Mag.'  1867,  p.  433,  and  1868,  p.  105). 
During  his  travels  he  had  amassed  a  large 
fund  of  geological  information,  of  which  only 
a  part  was  used  in  his  published  papers.  He 
postponed  an  intended  publication  until  too 
late. 

[G-eol.  Mag.,  1877,  p.  45,  obituary  notice  by 
Professor  John  Morris;  Nature,  xv.  139  ;  Quart. 
Journ.  Geol.  Soc.,  president's  address,  1877,  pp. 
41-8  ;  Journal  of  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute, 
1876,  pp.  519-24  ;  Times,  12  Dec.  1876,  p.  6.1 

W.  J.  H. 

FORBES,  DUNCAN  (1644  P-1704), 
genealogist,  was  the  eldest  son  of  John  Forbes 
of  Culloden,  Inverness-shire,  M.P.  and  pro- 
vost of  Inverness,  by  Anna,  eldest  daughter 
of  Alexander  D  unbar  of  Grange  (marriage 
contract  dated  1643).  He  received  an  ex- 
cellent education  at  Bourges  and  elsewhere 
on  the  continent,  and  on  the  death  of  his 
father  about  1688  succeeded  to  the  family 
estates.  He  represented  Nairnshire  in  the 
convention  of  1678  and  1681-2,  Inverness- 
shire  in  the  convention  of  1689  and  in  the 
parliament  of  1689-1702,  and  Nairnshire  in 
the  parliament  of  1702,  remaining  undis- 
turbed in  his  seat  until  his  death  (FOSTER, 
Members  of  Parliament  of  Scotland,  2nd  edit, 
pp.  138-9).  He  was  among  the  most  active 
of  those  patriots  who  in  Scotland  contributed 
to  bring  about  the  expulsion  of  James  II. 
The  year  after  the  revolution  his  estates  at 
Culloden  and  Ferintosh  were  ravaged  by  the 
Jacobite  hordes  of  Buchan  and  Cannon,  and 
damage  done  to  the  amount  of  54,OOOZ.  Scots, 
or  4,500/.  sterling.  The  Scotch  parliament 
met  his  claim  for  compensation  by  voting 
him  a  perpetual  grant  of  a  liberty  to  distil 
into  spirits  the  grain  of  the  barony  of  Ferin- 
tosh upon  his  paying  a  small  specific  com- 
position in  lieu  of  excise  (Introduction  to 
Culloden  Papers,  pp.  v-vii).  Forbes  married 
Mary,  second  daughter  of  the  second  Sir 
Robert  Innes,  bart.,  of  Innes,  Moray  shire 
(contract  dated  1668),  and  felt  a  warm  in- 
terest in  his  wife's  family.  For  this  reason, 


Forbes 


384 


Forbes 


and  also  for  the  specific  purpose  of  warrant- 
ing a  grant  or  confirmation  of  arms  by  the 
Lord  Lyon,  he  compiled  in  1698 '  Ane  Account 
of  the  Familie  of  Innes,'  a  very  honest,  pains- 
taking work.  Long  after  it  had  served  its 
first  purpose  the  work  had  become  known 
from  Pennant  having  extracted  from  it  the 
account  of  the  family  tragedy  of  1580  (Tour 
in  Scotland,  5th  edit.  i.  331-7).  A  formal 
-copy  being  found  in  the  Innes  charter-chest 
along  with  the  Lord  Lyon's  patent,  they  were 
privately  printed  at  Edinburgh  in  1820  at  the 
expense  of  the  then  Duke  of  Roxburghe,  who 
wanted,  as  he  afterwards  observed  to  a  friend, 

*  to  show  those  proud  Kerrs  that  he  was  of 
as  good  blood  on  his  father's  side  as  on  his 
great-grandmother's.'    Another  edition  was 
edited  for  the  Spalding  Club  in   1864  by 
Cosmo  Innes,  who  had  discovered  the  author's 
original  manuscript  at  Culloden.   Appended 
are  valuable  charters  and  notes,  chiefly  from 
the  Innes  charter-chest  at  Floors,  and  from 
those  of  Leuchars  and  Dunkintie.     Follow- 
ing a  suggestion  of  Forbes,  a  member  of  the 
family,  Robert  Innes  of  Blairtoun  in  Bal- 
helvie,  writer  to  the  signet  and  Lyon  clerk, 
copied  the  early  part  of  Forbes's  manuscript 
and  added  his  own  genealogy  down  to  1729 ; 
it  is  now  preserved  at  Edingicht,  Banffshire. 
Forbes  died  20  June  1704.  He  had,  with  seven 
daughters,  two  sons :  John,  who  succeeded 
him  in  the  representation  of  Nairnshire,  and 
died  without  issue  in  1734;   and   Duncan 
fq.  v.],  lord  president  of  the  court  of  session. 
Forbes  is  represented  as  a  person  of  great 
worth ;  he  certainly  possessed  some  share  of 
the  ability  which  shone  in  the  next  generation 
of  his  house.    He  had  turned  his  attention,  as 
his  son  Duncan  did  afterwards,  to  the  danger- 
ous state  of  the  clans,  and  is  known  as  the  au- 
thor of  '  A  Plan  for  Preserving  the  Peace  of 
the  Highlands.'  His '  MS.  Diary,'  to  judge  from 
the  extract  given  in  the  Introduction  to  the 

*  Culloden  Papers,'  would  be  well  worth  print- 
ing. 

[Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  Lord  President  Forbes 
•(8vo,  London,  1748),  pp.  9-10;  Hill  Burton's 
Life  of  Lord  President  Forbes  (1847),  pp.  273-4 ; 
The  Familie  of  Innes  (Spalding  Club),  preface, 
pp.  191,  255.]  G.  G. 

FORBES,  DUNCAN  (1685-1747),  presi- 
dent of  the  court  of  session,  born  10  Nov.  1685, 
-was  the  second  son  of  Duncan  Forbes  (1644  ?- 
1744)  [q.  v.],  of  Culloden  and  Bunchrew,  near 
Inverness,  by  his  wife,  Mary  Innes.  Duncan 
and  his  elder  brother,  John,  were  sent  to  the 
•grammar  school  of  Inverness.  Here,  accord- 
ing to  his  first  biographer,  who  preserves  some 
details  omitted  from  more  decorous  records, 
•the  brothers  became  known  as  '  the  greatest 


boozers  in  the  north'  from  their  convivial 
prowess.  Duncan  drank  freely  until,  about 
1725,  delicate  health  compelled  greater  tem- 
perance, for  a  period  at  least.  The  same 
writer  states  that  on  the  occasion  of  his 
mother's  funeral  (in  1716,  seeBuETON,  303), 
Forbes  and  the  rest  of  the  party  drank  so 
hard  that  when  they  went  to  the  burial-place 
they  left  the  body  behind.  On  his  father's 
death  in  1704  Forbes's  elder  brother  took  the 
estate  and  Forbes  inherited  a  small  sum  of 
money  which  he  lost  in  mercantile  specula- 
tions. He  then  went  to  study  law  at  Edin- 
burgh, under  John  Spottiswood,  but,  finding 
the  teaching  inadequate,  proceeded  in  1705 
to  Leyden.  He  had  been  present  in  March 
1705  at  the  remarkable  trial  of  Captain 
Thomas  Green  for  piracy  (HowELL,  State 
Trials,  xiv.  1311).  The  execution  of  a  man 
afterwards  proved  to  be  innocent  made  a  deep 
impression  upon  him,  as  appears  from  a  re- 
markable passage  in  his  speech  in  the  House 
of  Commons  on  the  Porteous  case.  At  Ley- 
den  he  studied  both  the  civil  law  and  oriental 
languages.  He  returned  to  Scotland  in  1707. 
Soon  after  his  return  he  married  Mary,  daugh- 
ter of  Hugh  Rose,  twelfth  baron  of  Kilravock, 
near  Culloden.  She  died  early,  though  the 
exact  date  is  not  known,  certainly  before  1717. 
He  was  admitted  an  advocate  26  July  1709, 
and  was  soon  afterwards  appointed  sheriff  of 
Midlothian  (BKUNTON  and  HAIG).  This  ap- 
pointment was  due  to  the  favour  of  John, 
second  duke  of  Argyll.  The  duke's  brother, 
Lord  Islay  (afterwards  third  duke  of  Argyll), 
was  also  a  warm  friend.  Forbes,  it  is  said, 
managed  the  duke's  estates  gratuitously, 
though  he  might  have  had  500/.  or  600/.  a 
year  for  his  services.  He  took  an  active  part 
in  politics  on  the  whig  side.  On  a  canvass 
for  his  brother  on  one  occasion  his  liberality 
in  distributing  claret  and  his  vigour  in  con- 
suming his  own  share  carried  the  election.  In 
1715  he  distinguished  himself  by  loyal  exer- 
tions against  the  rebels.  His  brother  John 
joined  the  famous  Simon  Fraser,  twelfth  lord 
Lovat  [q.  v.],  at  Stirling,  and  accompanied 
him  to  Inverness.  The  brothers  had  raised 
forces  to  support  the  government.  Culloden 
and  Kilravock  (the  house  of  Duncan's  father- 
in-law)  were  garrisoned ;  and,  in  combination 
with  Lovat,  they  threatened  Inverness,  which 
surrendered  just  before  the  battle  of  Sheriff- 
muir.  Duncan  Forbes  was  rewarded  by  the 
office  of  depute-advocate,  upon  which  he  en- 
tered 12  March  1716.  He  accepted  the  office 
with  great  reluctance.  He  was  expected,  as 
he  thought,  to  take  part  in  the  trial  of  some 
of  the  rebels  in  Carlisle.  The  law  which 
provided  that  trials  should  take  place  in  the 
counties  in  which  the  treasonable  actions 


Forbes 


385 


Forbes 


were  alleged  to  have  taken  place  was  sus- 
pended. Forbes  regarded  this  as  unjust.  He 
was  not  called  upon  to  prosecute.  He  even 
collected  money  to  support  the  Scottish 
prisoners  at  Carlisle.  He  wrote  a  remark- 
able anonymous  letter  to  Sir  Robert  Walpole, 
strongly  protesting  against  severity  to  the 
rebels  (Culloden  Papers,  pp.  61-5).  His 
sentiments  exposed  him  to  some  suspicion  of 
Jacobite  leanings. 

In  1722  he  stood  against  Alexander  Gor- 
don of  Ardoch  for  the  Inverness  burghs. 
Gordon  was  returned,  but  upon  a  petition 
Forbes  was  declared  to  be  duly  elected.  He 
had  already  been  frequently  employed  as 
counsel  in  appeals  to  the  House  of  Lords, 
and  he  made  acquaintance  with  many  emi- 
nent statesmen,  and,  it  is  said,  with  Pope, 
Arbuthnot,  and  their  circle  (Scots  Mag.  Ixiv. 
539).  He  knew  Thomson  the  poet,  who 
apostrophises  him  in  '  Autumn,'  and  patron- 
ised Ruddiman  and  other  men  of  letters.  On 
29  May  1725  he  was  appointed  lord  advocate 
in  succession  to  Robert  Dundas  of  Arniston 
[q.  v.],  and  is  said  to  have  distinguished 
himself  by  his  humanity.  His  salary  was 
only  500/.  or  600/.  a  year,  and  he  had  to  dis- 
charge many  of  the  duties  previously  attached 
to  the  office  of  secretary  of  state  for  Scotland, 
which  was  suspended  during  the  years  1725- 
1731,  and  finally  abolished  in  1746. 

Forbes  had  to  take  active  measures  during 
the  troubles  which  arose  from  the  extension 
of  the  English  system  of  taxation  to  Scot- 
land. A  riot  took  place  at  Glasgow  in  1725, 
when  Shawfield,  the  house  of  Daniel  Camp- 
bell, M.P.  for  Glasgow,  who  had  supported 
the  malt  tax,  was  sacked  by  the  mob.  Forbes 
at  once  accompanied  a  force,  commanded  by 
General  Wade,  which  marched  upon  Glas- 
gow. Forbes,  as  lord  advocate,  ordered  the 
arrest  of  the  Glasgow  magistrates  for  their 
negligence,  and  brought  them,  with  some  of 
the  rioters,  to  Edinburgh  (WoDROW,  Ana- 
lecta,  Maitland  Club,  iv.  215-17).  They 
were  liberated  after  a  short  time.  The  same  act 
provoked  a  strike  of  the  Edinburgh  brewers, 
who  had  been  ordered  by  the  court  of  session 
to  sell  their  ale  at  a  fixed  price.  The  court, 
at  Forbes's  request,  ordered  them  to  continue 
their  trade,  and  threatened  to  commit  them 
to  prison.  After  a  sharp  dispute  the  brewers 
yielded,  and  Forbes  received  warm  thanks 
from  Walpole.  He  afterwards  proposed  very 
stringent  regulations  for  the  protection  of 
the  revenue.  Forbes  was  a  tenant  of  the  in- 
famous Francis  Charteris  [q.  v.],  at  the  old 
manor  house  of  Stoneyhill,  near  Edinburgh. 
The  anonymous  biographer  says  that  he  de- 
fended Charteris,  who  died  in  1732.  In  grati- 
tude for  this  and  for  some  other  reasons 

VOL.   XIX. 


harteris  left  him  1,OOOJ.  and  the  life-rent  of 
Stoneyhill  (BTJRTON,  pp.  309,  310). 

In  1735  Forbes  succeeded  to  the  family 
estates  on  the  death  of  his  brother,  and  under- 
took agricultural  improvements  at  Bunchrew, 
mall  property  near  Culloden.  In  1737  he 
book  a  conspicuous  part  in  opposing  the  bill 
inflicting  penalties  upon  the  city  of  Edin- 
burgh for  the  Porteous  affair.  He  made  two 
firm,  though  temperate,  speeches,  reported 
in  the '  Parliamentary  History '  (x.  248, 282), 
on  16  May  and  9  June.  The  Duke  of  Argyll 
and  all  the  Scottish  members  took  the  same 
side,  and  the  bill  was  reduced  to  a  measure 
'  for  making  the  fortune  of  an  old  cook-maid ' 
(Mrs.  Porteous),  and  even  then  carried  by  a 
casting  vote.  Though  Forbes  had  thus  op- 
posed government  while  holding  an  official 
position,  he  was  immediately  appointed  lord 
president  of  the  court  of  session,  and  took  his 
seat  21  June  1737.  He  soon  gained  a  very 
high  character  as  a  judge  (Culloden  Papers; 
Edinb.  Rev.  xxvi.  108;  LOUD  COCKBTTRN). 
Many  of  the  cases  which  he  decided  are  given 
in  Kilkerran's  reports.  He  immediately  made 
regulations  for  improving  the  despatch  of 
business,  and  reported  in  February  1740  that 
all  arrears  had  been  cleared  off  (BuRTOtf,  p. 
361).  He  enforced  respect  for  his  office  upon 
all  classes,  and  at  the  same  time  laboured 
at  other  incidental  tasks.  He  made  an  elabo- 
rate investigation,  at  the  request  of  the  House 
of  Lords,  into  the  origin  and  history  of  Scot- 
tish peerages.  He  tried  hard  to  convert 
various  friends  to  a  favourite  crotchet.  He 
held  that  the  commercial  prosperity  of  the 
country,  otherwise  in  a  satisfactory  state,  was 
threatened  by  the  '  excessive  use  of  tea.' 
He  proposed  to  limit  the  use  of  tea  by  all 
persons  with  an  income  under  501.  a  year. 
But  memorials  to  the  solicitor-general,  Mur- 
ray (afterwards  Lord  Mansfield),  and  other 
eminent  persons  met  no  response. 

The  approach  of  the  rebellion  of  1745 
brought  more  serious  difficulties.  Forbes 
strongly,  but  vainly,  urged  preventive  mea- 
sures, and  especially  the  plan,  afterwards 
adopted  by  Chatham,  of  the  formation  of 
highland  regiments  (BURTON",  p.  368).  In 
August  1745  he  went  to  Inverness  and  cor- 
responded with  many  of  the  highland  leaders, 
especially  Lovat,  who  had  been  known  to  his 
father,  intimate  with  his  brother  John,  and 
had  kept  up  a  friendly  correspondence  with 
Duncan  Forbes  since  1715  ($.p.  119).  Forbes 
had  assisted  Lovat  in  some  of  his  complex 
lawsuits  (ib.  pp.  127, 128).  Forbes  now  en- 
deavoured to  detach  Lovat  from  the  Pre- 
tender's cause.  Lovat's  clan  made  a  sudden 
raid  upon  Culloden,  which  was  fortified  and 
garrisoned ;  but  Lovat  disavowed  his  com- 

c  o 


Forbes 


386 


Forbes 


plicity,  and  for  a  time  kept  to  his  mask  (ib. 
pp.  227-42).  Forbes  was  meanwhile  left,  by 
Cope's  departure  to  the  south  in  September, 
the  sole  representative  of  government  in  the 
north  of  Scotland.  Blank  commissions  were 
sent  to  him  for  distribution  among  the  loyal 
clans.  After  Prestonpans  his  position  be- 
came very  difficult.  He  was  joined  by  the 
Earl  of  Loudon,  and  they  raised  a  force  of 
two  thousand  men.  When  the  highlanders 
moved  northwards  in  the  beginning  of  1746 
Forbes  and  Loudon  retreated  into  Ross-shire, 
and  ultimately  to  Skye,  where  they  heard  of 
the  battle  of  Culloden.  Forbes  then  returned 
to  Inverness.  He  protested  against  the  cruel- 
ties of  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  who  showed 
his  spirit  by  calling  Forbes  'that  old  woman 
who  talked  to  me  about  humanity '  (ib.  p.  382). 
Forbes  had  been  obliged  to  raise  sums  upon 
his  own  credit.  *  Small  sums '  amounted  to 
1,500/.,  and  he  advanced  besides  three  times 
his  annual  rents.  The  consequent  anxiety 
and  the  labours  which  he  had  gone  through 
seem  to  have  broken  his  health.  He  died 
10  Dec.  1747.  A  statue  by  Roubiliac  was 
raised  to  him  in  the  parliament  house  at  Edin- 
burgh. 

He  left  an  only  son,  John,  who  was  a 
friend  of  Thomson's,  and  is  said  to  be  de- 
scribed as  the  '  joyous  youth'  who  kept  the 
Castle  of  Indolence  in  a  '  gay  uproar.'  He 
entered  the  army,  served  at  Fontenoy,  and 
after  his  father's  death  lived  in  retirement  at 
Stradishall,  Suffolk,  slowly  paying  off  the  en- 
cumbrances upon  his  paternal  estates. 

Forbes  is  also  known  as  the  author  of  some 
theological  works.  As  lord  advocate  he  had 
been  engaged  in  1728  in  the  prosecution  of 
James  Carnegie  of  Finhaven,  who  had  been 
grossly  insulted  during  one  of  the  usual  con- 
vivial parties  at  a  funeral  by  a  Mr.  Bridgeton, 
and,  trying  to  stab  Bridgeton,  had  killed  Lord 
Strathmore  (HowELL,  State  Trials,  xvii.  73- 
154).  Carnegie  was  acquitted  after  long  ar- 
guments, in  which  frequent  reference  was 
made  to  the  Mosaic  law  and  Jewish  cities  of 
refuge.  Forbes,  according  to  his  anonymous 
biographer,  was  so  much  impressed  by  these 
arguments  that  he  set  to  work  to  learn  He- 
brew. The  result  of  his  studies  appeared  in 
three  treatises,  which  were  published  soon 
after  his  death  as  his  *  Works,  now  first 
collected*  (undated).  They  contain  :  1.  'A 
Letter  to  a  Bishop,  concerning  some  impor- 
tant Discoveries  in  Religion  and  Theology,' 
1732  (an  exposition  of  Hutchinson's '  Moses's 
Principia ').  2.  '  Some  Thoughts  concerning 
Religion,  natural  and  revealed  .  .  .  tending 
to  show  that  Christianity  is,  indeed,  very  near 
as  old  as  the  Creation,'  1735  (an  answer  to 
Tindal's '  Christianity  as  Old  as  the  Creation,' 


chiefly  from  prophecy).  3.  '  Reflections  on 
the  Sources  of  Incredulity  with  respect  to 
Religion '  (posthumous).  The  two  first  were 
translated  into  French  by  Charles  Fran£ois 
Houbigant  in  1769 ;  but,  it  is  said,  *  the  soli- 
dity of  a  Scottish  lawyer  could  not  be  ex- 
pected to  suit  with  the  vivacity  of  French 
reasoners.'  Another  peculiarity  perhaps  had 
more  importance.  Forbes  was  a  follower  of 
the  fanciful  school  founded  by  John  Hut- 
chinson  (1674-1737)  [q.  v.],  and  afterwards 
represented  by  Bishop  Home,  Jones  of  Nay- 
land,  Parkhurst,  and  others,  with  which  his 
translator  seems  to  have  been  in  sympathy. 
His  piety  was  superior  to  his  scholarship, 
but  his  books  show  an  attractive  enthusiasm 
and  seriousness.  Warburton  in  1750  (Let- 
ters, 2nd  edition,  p.  40)  recommends  the  pos- 
thumous work  on  incredulity  as  t  a  little 
jewel.  I  knew  and  venerated  the  man,'  he 
adds ;  '  one  of  the  greatest  that  ever  Scot- 
land bred,  both  as  a  judge,  a  patriot,  and  a 
Christian.'  Though  Warburton  is  not  a  safe 
critic,  he  seems  to  have  expressed  a  general 
opinion. 

[Memoirs  of  the  Life,  &c.,  of  the  late  Right 
Hon.  Duncan  Forbes,  1 748 ;  Culloden  Papers, 
with  memoir  by  Duff,  1815;  Tytler's  Life  of 
Kames,  1814,  i.  45-8  ;  Elchies's  Notes  on  Juris- 
diction, No.  14  ;  Brunton  and  Haig,  pp.  508-12  ; 
Lives  of  Simon,  Lord  Lovat,  and  Duncan  Forbes 
of  Culloden,  by  John  Hill  Burton,  1747.  The 
last  is  founded  upon  an  examination  of  original 
papers  preserved  at  Culloden,  many  extracts  from 
which  are  given.]  L.  S. 

FORBES,  DUNCAN  (1798-1868),  orien- 
talist, was  born  of  humble  parentage  at  Kin- 
naird  in  Perthshire  on  28  April  1798.  His 
parents  emigrated  to  America  in  the  spring 
of  1801,  taking  only  their  youngest  child 
with  them,  while  Duncan  was  consigned  to 
the  care  of  his  paternal  grandfather  in  Glen- 
fernate.  His  early  schooling  was  of  the 
scantiest,  and  he  knew  no  English  till  he  was 
about  thirteen  years  old,  but  he  soon  showed 
intellectual  independence  and  plain  common- 
sense.  When  barely  seventeen  years  old  he 
was  chosen  village  schoolmaster  of  Straloch, 
and  soon  after  began  to  attend  Kirkmichael 
school  as  a  student.  In  October  1818  he 
entered  Perth  grammar  school,  and  qualified 
himself  to  matriculate  two  years  after  at  the 
university  of  St.  Andrews,  where  he  took 
the  degree  of  M.A.  in  1823.  In  the  summer 
of  the  same  year  he  accepted  an  appoint- 
ment in  the  Calcutta  Academy,  then  newly 
established,  and  arrived  at  Calcutta  in  the 
following  November.  Ill-health,  however, 
obliged  him  to  return  to  England  early  in 
1826,  when  he  became,  soon  after  his  arrival 
in  London,  assistant  to  Dr.  John  Borthwick 


Forbes 


387 


Forbes 


Gilchrist  [q.  v.],  teacher  of  Hindustani,  and 
afterwards  to  Dr.  Sandford  Arnot.  In  1837 
he  was  appointed  professor  of  oriental  lan- 
guages in  King's  College,  London,  a  post 
which  he  occupied  until  1861,  when  he  was 
elected  to  an  honorary  fellowship  of  the  col- 
lege. From  1849  to  1855  Forbes  was  em- 
ployed by  the  trustees  of  the  British  Museum 
to  make  a  catalogue  of  the  collection  of 
Persian  MSS.,  previously  uncatalogued,  and 
numbering  at  that  time  just  over  a  thousand. 
This  work  is  contained  in  four  large  volumes 
of  manuscript  in  the  department  of  Oriental 
MSS.  The  plan  of  arrangement,  the  absence 
of  bibliographical  apparatus,  probably  due  to 
want  of  revision  from  the  cataloguer,  and, 
lastly,  the  addition  of  new  collections  equal 
in  bulk  to  the  old,  rendered  it  necessary  to 
entirely  recast  Forbes's  work  in  the  new 
printed  '  Catalogue  of  Persian  MSS.'  The 
preface  to  the  latter  (vol.  iii.  p.  xxviii)  states 
that  '  the  use  of  Dr.  Forbes's  catalogue  was 
practically  confined  to  the  help  it  afforded  in 
the  preliminary  classing  of  the  MSS.'  He  was 
a  successful  teacher,  and  writer  of  useful  pub- 
lications. His  habits  were  singularly  self- 
den  ving,  and  his  chief  relaxation  was  chess- 
playing,  on  the  history  of  which  in  the  Orient 
he  wrote  '  Observations  on  the  Origin  and 
Progress  of  Chess,  containing  a  brief  ac- 
count of  the  theory  and  practice  of  the  Chatu- 
ranga,  the  primaeval  game  of  the  Hindus, 
also  of  the  Shatranj,  the  mediaeval  game  of 
the  Persians  and  Arabs,'  &c.,  8vo,  London, 
1855.  This  was  followed  by  a  work  of  great 
research,  entitled  '  The  History  of  Chess, 
from  the  time  of  the  early  Invention  of  the 
Game  in  India  till  the  period  of  its  Esta- 
blishment in  Western  and  Central  Europe,' 
8  vo,  London,  1860.  Some  portions  of  it  have, 
however,  been  handled  with  great  severity 
by  Dr.  van  der  Linde  in  his  '  Geschichte  des 
Schachspiels.'  Forbes,  who  was  a  member 
of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  was  created 
honorary  LL.D.  of  St.  Andrews  University 
in  1847.  He  died  on  17  Aug.  1868.  With 
Sandford  Arnot,  Forbes  was  joint  author  of 
4  A  New  Persian  Grammar,  containing  .  .  . 
the  elementary  principles  of  that  .  .  .  lan- 
guage,' 8vo,  London,  1828,  and  '  An  Essay 
on  the  Origin  and  Structure  of  the  Hin- 
dostanee  Tongue,  .  .  .  with  an  account  of 
the  principal  elementary  works  on  the  sub- 
ject,'8vo,  London,  1828;  second  edition,  8vo, 
London,  1844;  3rd  edit.,  enlarged  (appen- 
dix), 3  pts.  8vo,  1861.  He  also  added  to 
the  new  edition  of  Arnot's  l  Grammar  of  the 
Hindustani  Tongue,'  8vo,  London,  1844,  f  a 
selection  of  easy  extracts  for  reading  in  the 
Persi- Arabic  and  Devanagari  character,  with 
a  copious  vocabulary  and  explanatory  notes.' 


He  also  published :  1.  '  The  Hindustani  Ma- 
nual; a  pocket  companion  for  those  who 
visit  India.  Part  1.  A  compendious  gram- 
mar. Part  2.  A  vocabulary  of  useful  words,' 
18mo,  London,  1845 ;  new  edit.,  24mo,  1850; 
new  edit.,  revised  by  J.  T.  Platts,  24mo, 
1874.  2.  '  A  Grammar  of  the  Hindustani 
Language  in  the  Oriental  and  Roman  Cha- 
racter. To  which  is  added  a  copious  selec- 
tion of  easy  extracts  for  reading  in  the 
Persi-Arabic  and  Devanagari  characters,' 
8vo,  London,  1846.  3.  <  A  Dictionary,  Hin- 
dustani and  English.  To  which  is  added  a 
reversed  Part,  English  and  Hindustani,' 
2  vols.  8vo,  London,  1848 ;  2nd  edit.,  greatly 
enlarged,  2  pts.  8vo,  1857 ;  new  edit.,  printed 
entirely  in  the  Roman  character,  2  pts.  8vo, 
1859.  4.  ' Oriental  Penmanship;  an  essay 
for  facilitating  the  reading  and  writing  of 
the  Talik  character  .  .  . ,'  4to,  London,  1849. 
5.  '  Two  Letters  addressed  to  E.  B.  Eastwick,' 
attacking  Eastwick's  '  Lucubrations  on  the 
Bagh  o  Bahar,'  8vo,  London,  1852.  6.  '  A 
smaller  Hindustani  and  English  Dictionary,' 
sq.  8vo,  London,  1861.  7.  'A  Grammar  of 
the  Bengali  Language,'  8vo,  London,  1861. 
8.  '  The  Bengali  Reader  ...  A  new  edition 
.  .  .  revised,'  8vo,  London,  1862.  9.  'A 
Grammar  of  the  Arabic  Language,'  8vo,  Lon- 
don, 1863.  10.  '  Arabic  Reading  Lessons,' 
8vo,  London,  1864.  11.  (  Catalogue  of  Ori- 
ental Manuscripts,  chiefly  Persian,  collected 
within  the  last  five-and-thirty  years,'  8vo, 
London,  1866.  For  the  Oriental  Translation 
Fund  he  translated  the  Persian  romance '  The 
Adventures  of  Hatim  Tai,'4to,  London,  1830. 
He  edited,  with  a  vocabulary,  the  '  Bagh  o 
Bahar '  in  1846, 1849,  and  (with  the  Hindu- 
stani text i  printed  in  the  Roman  character '), 
1859 ;  revised  and  corrected  L.  F.  Smith's 
translation  of  the  same  work  in  1851,  and 
published  his  own  version  in  1862.  In  1852 
appeared  his  edition  of  the  '  Tota-Kahani ' 
in  Hindustani,  and  in  1857  his  edition  of 
the  '  Baital-Pachisi '  in  Hindi.  Writing  as 
Fior  Ghael '  Forbes  discussed  Celtic  dialects, 
denying  that  Welsh  was  one,  in  the  '  Gentle- 
man's Magazine  '  for  May  1836,  and  led  the 
warm  controversy  which  followed  (cf.  Gent. 
Mag.  1838-9).  Forbes  was  also  author  of  a 
privately  printed  autobiography. 

Forbes's  books,  though  clear  and  conve- 
nient to  use,  show  little  original  research. 
It  is  indeed  to  be  regretted  that  he  en- 
deavoured to  cover,  without  due  equipment 
of  scholarship,  an  area  of  oriental  study  ex- 
tending into  fields  so  widely  separated  as 
Arabic  and  Bengali,  in  neither  of  which 
was  he  really  at  home.  Still  his  elementary 
manuals  are  often  of  greater  use  to  beginners 
than  more  learned  works. 

C  C  2 


Forbes 


388 


[Annual  Keport  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society, 
May  1869,  pp.  vii-viii ;  St.  Andrews  Univ.  Calen- 
dar, 1800-53,  pp.  24,  70 ;  King's  College  Calen- 
dar •  Brit.  Mus.  Catalogues  of  Printed  Books  and 
of  Persian  MSS. ;  Cat.  of  Printed  Books  in  Li- 
brary of  Faculty  of  Advocates,  iii.  206-7 ;  in- 
formation kindly  supplied  by  Professor  Cecil 
Kendall.] 

FORBES,  EDWARD  (1815-1854),  na- 
turalist, son  of  Edward  Forbes,  banker,  and 
brother  of  David  Forbes  (1828-1876)  [q.  v.], 
was  born  at  Douglas,  Isle  of  Man,  on  12  Feb. 
1815,  and  was  educated  at  home  and  at  a 
day-school  at  Douglas.     He  very  early  dis- 
played marked  and  widespread  tastes  for  na- 
tural history,  literature,  and  drawing.  When 
at  school  he  is  described  as  tall  and  thin, 
with  limbs  loosely  hung,  and  wearing  his  hair 
very  long.     His  school-books  were  covered 
with  caricatures  and  grotesque  figures,  and 
his  parents  were  so  impressed  by  his  artistic 
talent  that  at  the  age  of  sixteen  they  sent 
him  to  London  to  study  art.     Being,  how- 
ever, refused  entrance  to  the  Royal  Academy 
School,  and  found  not  sufficiently  promising 
by  his  teacher,  Mr.  Sass,  Forbes  entered  at 
Edinburgh  University  in  November  1831  as 
a  medical  student.  While  in  London  he  had 
made  his  first  contribution  to  the  '  Mirror ' 
(August  1831),  '  On  some  Manx  Traditions.' 
In  his  first  year  at  Edinburgh  he  attended 
Knox's  lectures  on  anatomy,  Hope's  on  che- 
mistry, and  Graham's  on  botany,  and  became 
a   devoted  student    of  natural   history   in 
Jameson's  museum  and  in  the  country  round 
Edinburgh.    At  this  early  period  his  powers 
of  generalisation   and  abstraction  were  as 
noticeable   as  his  perfect  familiarity  with 
natural  objects  and  his  varied  experimental 
studies.   His  peculiar  vein  of  humour  showed 
itself  in  sketches  of  the  most  grotesque  kind, 
and  equally  broad  comic  verses.    During  the 
vacation  of  1832  he  investigated  the  natural 
history  of  the  Isle  of  Man.     He  returned  to 
Edinburgh  with  a  bias   against   medicine, 
which  turned  his  note-books  into  portfolios 
of  caricatures,  and  he  was  far  more  con- 
genially employed  in  1834-5  in  writing  and 
drawing  for  the  '  University  Maga,'  which 
he  and  a  few  other  students  brought   out 
weekly  from  8  Jan.  to  26  March  1835.     In 
this  the  professors  and  other  prominent  per- 
sons were  severely  satirised,  and  the  complete 
volume  was  dedicated  to  'Christopher North.' 
The  death,  early  in  1836,  of  his  mother,  who 
had  particularly  wished  him  to  become 
physician,  left  him  free  to  resign  medical 
study.     Meanwhile  the  Maga  Club  had  de- 
veloped into  a '  Universal  Brotherhood  of  the 
Friends  of  Truth,'  whose  membership  de- 
manded good  work  already  done  as  well  as 


rood  fellowship,  and  the  maintenance  of  a 
character  free  from  stain.  In  this  society- 
Forbes  always  continued  to  take  an  interest. 

Meanwhile  Forbes's  vacations  had  been 
utilised  for  much  natural  history  work.  In 
:he  summer  of  1833,  with  his  friend  Camp" 
sell,  afterwards  principal  of  Aberdeen  Uni- 
ersity, he  went  to  Norway,  sailing  from  the- 
[sle  of  Man  to  Arendal  in  a  brig.  Both  the- 
voyage  and  the  land  trip  were  occupied  with 
the  keenest  observation  of  natural  history,  and' 
an  account  of  it  was  given  by  Forbes  in  the 
*  Magazine  of  Natural  History,'  vols.  viii.  and 
ix.  The  return  journey  was  through  Chris- 
biania  and  Copenhagen,  and  at  these  places 
Forbes  made  several  botanical  friends.  Int 
the  summer  of  1834  Forbes  dredged  in  the 
Irish  Sea  and  continued  to  explore  the  natural 
history  of  the  Isle  of  Man.  The  results  of 
the  dredging  appeared  in  the  *  Magazine  of 
Natural  History,'  vols.  viii.  and  ix.  In  the- 
summer  of  1835  he  visited  France,  Switzer- 
land, and  Germany,  and  was  so  much  at- 
tracted by  the  Jardin  des  Plantes  that  he- 
resolved  to  spend  the  winter  of  1836-7  in 
Paris,  studying  at  the  Jardin  and  attending  the 
lectures  of  De  Blainville  and  Geoffroy  Saint- 
Hilaire.  From  their  lectures  he  was  much 
impressed  with  the  necessity  of  studying  the 
geographical  distribution  of  animals.  After 
this  winter  he  travelled  in  the  south  of  France 
and  in  Algeria,  collecting  many  natural  his- 
tory specimens,  on  which  he  based  a  paper  in 
the  '  Annals  of  Natural  History,'  vol.  ii. 

In  1837-8  Forbes  was  back  in  Edinburgh, 
working  at  natural  history,  bringing  out  his- 
little  volume  on '  Manx  Mollusca,'  and  taking- 
an  active  part  on  behalf  of  the  students  in 
the  notable  snowball  riots  of  1838,  which 
were  the  subject  of  much  of  the  contents  of 
the  revived  'University  Maga'  of  1837-8. 
He  also  published,  under  the  title  of  l  The 
University  Snowdrop,'  a  collection  of  his 
songs  and  squibs  on  the  riots,  being  especially 
severe  on  the  town  council,  who,  as  patrons 
of  the  university,  had  made  themselves  ob- 
noxious to  the  students  by  calling  out  the 
military.  Owing  largely  to  Forbes's  exer- 
tions, the  thirty-five  students  who  were  ar- 
rested were  fully  acquitted.  In  the  summer 
of  1838,  after  a  fruitful  tour  through  Austria, 
during  which  he  collected  about  three  thou- 
sand plant  specimens,  Forbes  attended  the 
British  Association  meeting  at  Newcastle,, 
read  before  it  a  paper  '  On  the  Distribution 
of  Terrestrial  Pulmonifera  in  Europe,'  and 
was  asked  to  prepare  another  on  the  distri- 
bution of  pulmoniferous  mollusca  in  the 
British  Isles,  which  he  presented  at  the  suc- 
ceeding meeting  after  much  original  study. 
After  studying  the  star-fishes  of  the  Irish  Sea 


Forbes 


389 


Forbes 


]ae  published  a  paper  on  them  in  the  '  Werne- 
rrian  Memoirs,'  vol.  viii.  The  winter  of  1838-9 
£ound  him  delivering  a  course  of  lectures 
before  the  Edinburgh  Philosophical  Associa- 
tion on  '  The  Natural  History  of  the  Animals 
an  the  British  Seas.'  At  this  period  he  de- 
.scribes  himself  as  studying  '  with  a  view  to 
the  development  of  the  laws  of  species,  of 
the  laws  of  their  distribution,  and  of  the 
•connection  between  the  physical  and  mental 
•development  of  creatures.' 

At  the  British  Association  meeting  of  1839 
.at  Birmingham  Forbes  obtained  a  grant  for 
dredging  researches  in  the  British  seas,  with 
;a  view  to  illustrating  the  geographical  dis- 
tribution of  marine  animals,  and  started  the 
famous  club  of  '  Red  Lions,'  named  from  the 
place  of  the  first  dinner.  Throughout  his  life 
Forbes's  humorous  songs,  the  subject  often 
taken  from  some  branch  of  science,  were 
among  the  most  conspicuous  after-dinner  fea- 
tures. About  this  time  Forbes  undertook  to 
publish  a  '  History  of  British  Star-fishes,' 
many  of  which  had  been  first  observed  by 
himself.  The  work  was  published  in  parts, 
illustrated  from  his  own  drawings,  and  com- 
pleted in  1841.  In  1839-40  he  lectured  on 
natural  history  both  at  Cupar  and  St.  An- 
drews with  great  success,  having  much  ori- 
ginal material,  and  aiding  his  lectures  by 
excellent  chalk  drawings  on  the  spot.  Towards 
the  end  of  1839  he  founded  a  '  University 
Club,'  under  whose  auspices  an  l  Academic 
Annual '  (the  only  one  which  appeared)  was 
published,  containing  Forbes's  paper  '  On  the 
Association  of  Mollusca  on  the  British  Coast 
considered  with  reference  to  Pleistocene  Geo- 
logy,'in  which  he  established  his  notable  divi- 
sion of  the  coast  into  four  zones,  and  pointed 
out  the  effects  on  the  fauna  of  subsidence 
and  elevation.  He  gave  a  series  of  lectures 
•at  Liverpool  in  the  spring  of  1840,  visited 
London  and  made  the  acquaintance  of  many 
leading  men  of  science,  and  travelled  and 
dredged  extensively  before  the  meeting  of  the 
British  Association  at  Glasgow.  In  the  follow- 
ing winter  he  was  disappointed  by  failure  to 
gain  a  class  for  lectures  in  Edinburgh. 

In  1841  Forbes  was  appointed  naturalist 
to H.M.S.  Beacon,  engaged  on  surveying  work 
in  the  Levant.  Gaining  the  interest  of  all  on 
board  in  his  studies,  he  made  extensive  col- 
lections of  marine  animals  and  learned  many 
facts  of  importance  in  the  natural  history  of 
the  ^Egean  Sea.  He  also  studied  the  rela- 
tions of  animals  and  plants  on  the  islands  of 
the  Archipelago.  His  friend  William  Thomp- 


son of  Belfast  [q.  v.]  accompanied  the  expedi- 
tion from  April  to  June.  In  the  autumn 
Forbes  dredged  on  the  south-west  coast  of 
Asia  Minor,  and  made  antiquarian  and  na- 


tural history  excursions  into  the  uplands  of 
Lycia.  In  the  spring  of  1842  he  made  an 
extended  journey  in  Lycia  with  Lieutenant 
Spratt  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Daniell  (who  died 
soon  after  in  Asia  Minor),  discovering  the 
ruins  of  Termessus,  and  exploring  many  other 
interesting  sites.  Besides  making  antiquarian 
discoveries  Forbes  made  great  collections  of 
land  and  fresh-water  mollusca,  and  of  plants, 
and  ascertained  the  main  features  of  the  geo- 
logy of  Lycia.  In  the  early  summer  Forbes 
returned  to  Rhodes  and  learned  that  his 
father's  losses  precluded  further  remittances, 
and  that  his  friend  John  Goodsir  and  others 
were  canvassing  for  his  appointment  as  pro- 
fessor of  botany  at  King's  College,  London. 
The  British  Association  had,  however,  made 
a  grant  of  60/.  in  aid  of  his  researches,  and 
he  longed  to  compare  the  fauna  of  the  Red 
Sea  with  that  of  the  Mediterranean.  But  he 
was  stricken  with  fever  on  board  a  wretched 
caique  and  becalmed  at  sea  for  a  week; 
this  illness  impaired  his  constitution  for  life. 
On  recovering,  he  was  cheered  by  an  increased 
grant  from  the  British  Association,  and  pre- 
pared to  go  to  Egypt,  but  being  strongly  urged 
to  return  to  London  if  he  wished  to  secure 
the  King's  College  chair,  he  reluctantly  came 
back  in  October  1842. 

During  his  absence  he  had  been  elected 
to  the  coveted  professorship  at  King's  Col- 
lege, but  it  was  worth  less  than  100/.  a  year. 
He  consequently  applied  for  the  curatorship 
of  the  museum  of  the  Geological  Society  at 
150/.  a  year,  and  was  elected,  thus  relieving 
the  society  from  a  dangerous  conflict  about 
other  candidates.  The  detailed  work  of  the 
new  appointment  absorbed  nearly  all  his  time, 
and  necessitated  the  postponement  of  full 
publication  of  his  researches  in  the  ^Egean ; 
but  he  presented  a  valuable  '  Report  on  the 
Mollusca  and  Radiata  of  the  ^Egean  Sea  '  to 
the  British  Association  in  1843,  which  raised 
his  reputation  greatly.  His  botanical  lec- 
tures opened  well,  and  became  popular  from 
their  philosophical  tone  and  practical  illus- 
trations based  on  a  wide  knowledge  of  plants 
in  their  native  habitats.  He  had  frequent 
returns  of  intermittent  fever,  and  his  labour 
at  the  Geological  Society  was  incessant.  The 
want  of  a  skilled  palaeontologist  on  the  Geo- 
logical Survey  became  evident  in  1844,  and 
at  Mr.  (now  Sir  A.  C.)  Ramsay's  suggestion 
Forbes  received  the  appointment  in  October. 
Meanwhile  he  delivered  an  important  lecture 
before  the  Royal  Institution  (23  Feb.  1844)  on 
*  The  Light  thrown  on  Geology  by  Submarine 
Researches,'  in  which  he  expounded  his  dis- 
coveries about  littoral  zones,  the  characters 
of  deposits  formed  at  various  depths  in  the 
ocean,  and  the  migration  of  mollusca.  The 


Forbes 


39° 


Forbes 


government  now  granted  500/.  towards  the 
publication  of  his  ^Egean  researches,  which 
unfortunately  he  never  had  time  to  complete 
for  the  press.  The  Fullerian  professorship  at 
the  Royal  Institution  was  also  offered  to  him 
but  declined.  The  success  with  which  his 
fertile  mind  was  still  grappling  with  im- 
portant zoological  questions  is  shown  by  his 
ingenious  paper  <  On  the  Morphology  of  the 
Reproductive  System  of  the  Sertularian 
Zoophyte,  and  its  analogy  with  the  Repro- 
ductive System  of  the  Flowering  Plant/  in 
'Annals  and  Magazine  of  Natural  History,' 
December  1844.  • 

His  work  in  connection  with  the  Geological 
Survey  gave  a  new  and  most  important  de- 
velopment to  Forbes's  ideas.  His  work  was 
not  only  to  discriminate,  name,  describe,  and 
arrange  the  fossils  collected  by  the  survey, 
but  also  to  visit  the  districts  where  the  sur- 
veyors were  working  and  examine  the  rocks 
with  the  fossils  in  them.  Relieved  by  his  im- 
proved income,  Forbes  now  became  a  fellow  of 
the  Geological  (4  Dec.  1844)  and  of  the  Royal 
Societies  (13  Feb.  1845),  and  founded  the 
club  of  the  Metropolitan  Red  Lions,  to  which 
not  only  the  younger  scientific  men,  but  also 
such  literary  men  as  Douglas  Jerrold,  Lover, 
and  Jerdan  were  admitted.  Forbes's  songs 
and  stories,  as  well  as  his  brilliant  conver- 
sation, encouraged  good  fellowship  and  ce- 
mented many  friendships.  Early  in  1845 
he  gave  a  course  of  lectures  at  the  Royal 
Institution  on  l  The  Natural  History  and 
Geological  Distribution  of  Fossil  Marine  Ani- 
mals.' On  28  Jan.  1845  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Athenaeum  Club  by  special 
vote,  on  the  strong  recommendation  of  Pro- 
fessor Owen.  All  this  time  he  was  struggling 
with  debility  and  mental  distress,  during 
which  he  writes :  '  Had  I  foreseen  the  torrent 
of  misfortunes  which  has  poured  on  my  family, 
I  should  have  taken  some  other  course  in  life 
that  might  have  enabled  me  to  assist  them.' 
To  this  year's  meeting  of  the  British  Asso- 
ciation at  Cambridge  he  contributed  a  re- 
markable paper  on  the  geographical  distribu- 
tion of  local  plants.  After  the  meeting  he 
went  on  a  dredging  expedition  from  the  Shet- 
lands  round  the  west  of  Scotland  and  found 
many  new  medusae  and  several  living  molluscs 
which  had  up  to  that  time  only  been  known 
in  a  fossil  state.  Wearied  by  routine  work 
at  the  survey  and  the  attempt  to  complete 
his  book  on  Lycia,  he  had  a  severe  illness  in 
the  winter  of  1845-G,  but  between  30  March 
and  4  May  1846  he  gave  a  course  of  lectures 
at  the  London  Institution  on  '  The  Geogra- 
phical and  Geological  Distribution  of  Or- 
ganised Beings.'  The  King's  College  lectures 
on  botany  followed  immediately,  but  Forbes 


was  able  to  finish  his  important  paper  '  On 
the  Connection  between  the  Distribution  of 
the  existing  Fauna  and  Flora  of  the  British 
Isles  and  the  Geological  Changes  which  have 
affected  their  Area/  published  in  the  first 
volume  of  the  *  Memoirs  of  the  Geological 
Survey/  and  to  complete  his  l  Lycia/  which 
appeared  in  the  autumn  and  became  a  stan- 
dard work.  In  the  autumn  he  was  with  the 
survey  party  in  the  North  Wales  mountains, 
At  times  he  would  amuse  his  companions  by 
fantastic  contortions  of  his  body  in  imitation 
'  of  the  elvish  forms  that  he  loved  so  much  to 
design.'  Early  in  1847  a  remark  of  Forbes's. 
led  to  the  formation  of  the  Palaeontographical 
Society , which  has  done  so  much  for  British  pa- 
leontology .  In  a  lecture  at  the  Royal  Institu- 
tion on  14 May, on 'The Natural  History  Fea- 
tures of  the  North  Atlantic/  Forbes  referred  to 
the  bearing  of  scientific  research  on  deep-sea, 
fisheries,  and  censured  the  government  and 
the  public  for  their  neglect  of  the  subject, 
which  has  only  lately  received  much  attention. 
He  continued  his  preparation  for  his  great 
work  on  the  *  History  of  British  Mollusca  T 
(in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Sylvanus  Hanley), 
which  appeared  in  four  volumes  (1848-52). 
It  was  a  work  of  vast  research,  for  which 
many  summer  dredging  excursions  and  visits 
to  the  museums  of  well-known  collectors- 
were  made.  During  the  autumn  of  this  year, 
as  throughout  his  remaining  years  in  London, 
geological  excursions  were  made  on  survey 
work.  Of  Forbes  on  these  excursions  Mr. 
(afterwards  Sir  A.  C.)  Ramsay  wrote :  <  There 
never  was  a  more  delightful  companion.  Ifc 
was  on  such  occasions  that  his  inner  life  best 
revealed  itself.  His  knowledge  was  so  varied, 
his  conversation  often  so  brilliant  and  in- 
structive.' 

On  31  Aug.  1848  Forbes  married  Emily 
Marianne,  youngest  daughter  of  General  Sir 
Charles  Ashworth  [q.  v.]  After  this  his  mind 
was  continually  unsettled  by  the  prospect  of 
Jameson's  resignation  or  death,  and  the  conse- 
quent chances  of  his  succession  to  the  Edin- 
burgh chair  of  natural  history.  During  the 
autumn  of  1849  he  made  important  discoveries 
in  relation  to  the  true  position  of  the  Purbeck 
beds,  showing  that  they  belonged  to  the  oolitic 
series,  and  inferring  the  probable  existence 
in  them  of  mammalian  remains  afterwards 
found  by  the  Rev.  P.  B.  Brodie  and  Mr.  S.  H. 
Beckles  (Quart.  Journ.  Geol.  Soc.  xiii.  261). 
The  winter  of  1849-50  found  Forbes  busy 
with  the  arrangement  of  the  new  geological 
museum  of  the  survey  at  Jermyn  Street,  but 
literary  and  lecturing  work  absorbed  most  of 
his  time.  In  the  summer  a  dredging  expe- 
dition among  the  Western  Hebrides,  with 
Goodsir  and  MacAndrew,  added  many  species 


Forbes 


391 


Forbes 


to  the  British  fauna  and  many  valuable  facts 
to  geology.  In  the  spring  of  1850  he  gave 
twelve  lectures  at  the  Royal  Institution  on 
the  t  Geographical  Distribution  of  Organised 
Beings.'  The  Jermyn  Street  museum  was 
opened  by  Prince  Albert  on  12  May  1851, 
and  during  the  summer  a  scheme  for  esta- 
blishing a  school  of  mines  was  matured. 
Forbes  was  appointed  lecturer  on  natural 
history  as  applied  to  geology  and  the  arts. 
The  school  opened  in  November  with  a  few 
pupils,  but  it  is  recorded  that  the  districts 
that  memorialised  for  mining  schools  sent  no 
pupils ;  and  matters  improved  little  during 
the  remainder  of  Forbes's  life  in  London,  so 
that  he  had  to  make  the  serious  effort  of  lec- 
turing in  his  best  style  without  adequate  pay 
or  results.  He  wrote  a  delightful  article  on 
'  Shellfish,  their  Ways  and  Works,'  for  the 
first  number  of  the  new  series  of  the  '  West- 
minster Review'  (January  1852).  During 
the  winter  of  1852-3  he  worked  out  impor- 
tant new  views  on  the  classification  of  the 
tertiary  formations,  which  he  did  not  live  to 
complete  in  memoir  form,  but  which  were 
published  by  his  colleagues  in  1858  (see  infra). 
In  February  1853  he  was  elected  president 
of  the  Geological  Society,  an  office  never  be- 
fore held  by  so  young  a  man.  In  the  summer 
he  spent  a  short  holiday  in  geologising  in 
France.  Returning  to  London,  Jameson's 
resignation  was  conditionally  announced,  but 
the  temporary  appointment  of  a  deputy  post- 
poned a  new  appointment  till  Jameson's  death 
in  April  1854.  Backed  by  overwhelming 
influence,  Forbes  was  elected  to  the  Edin- 
burgh professorship  and  was  pressed  to  com- 
mence lecturing  at  once.  His  leave-taking 
of  the  Geological  Society  on  going  north  was 
marked  by  an  eloquent  speech  from  Sir  R. 
Murchison,  dwelling  especially  on  Forbes's 
power  of  attaching  every  one  to  him. 

The  Edinburgh  work  was  entered  on  with 
an  eager  zeal  far  too  exhausting.  Crowded 
audiences  stimulated  the  lecturer's  powers  to 
the  highest  degree.  He  set  vigorously  to 
work  to  remodel  Jameson's  museum.  Geo- 
logical excursions  with  large  numbers  of  stu- 
dents filled  up  each  week.  Early  in  August 
he  returned  to  London  to  complete  unfinished 
work,  but  illness  overtook  him.  He  was, 
however,  present  at  the  Liverpool  meeting  of 
the  British  Association,  and  presided  over  the 
geological  section,  but  was  considerably  worn. 
His  last  writing  was  a  review  of  Murchison's 
'  Siluria,'  which  appeared  in  the  '  Quarterly 
Review,'  October  1854.  He  had  also  under- 
taken to  be  joint  editor  of  the  'New  Philoso- 
phical Journal,'  formerly  conducted  by  Jame- 
son. He  lectured  through  the  first  week  of 
the  winter  session  in  manifest  ill-health,  but 


in  the  second  week  had  to  desist,  owing  to 
disease  of  the  kidneys,  of  which  he  died  on 
18  Nov.  1854,  in  his  fortieth  year.  He  was 
buried  on  23  Nov.  in  the  Dean  cemetery,  Edin- 
burgh. By  his  will  he  left  his  papers  to  Mr. 
R.  Godwin- Austen  and  his  natural  history  col- 
lections to  the  College  Museum  at  Edinburgh. 
Mrs.  Forbes  and  two  children,  a  boy  and  a  girl, 
survived  him.  Mrs.  Forbes  married  in  1858 
Major  William  Charles  Yelverton  [q.  v.],  after- 
wards fourth  viscount  Avonmore.  Busts  of 
Forbes  were  subscribed  for  and  placed  in  the 
Museum  of  Practical  Geology,  Jermyn  Street, 
and  in  the  Edinburgh  Museum,  and  a  bronze 
medal  and  prize  of  books  were  founded,  to  be 
given  to  the  most  deserving  student  in  natural 
history  at  the  Royal  School  of  Mines. 

Forbes  lived  an  unusually  full  life,  occupied 
in  promoting  science  and  arousing  enthu- 
siasm and  awakening  intelligence  in  others. 
To  almost  every  department  of  biology  he 
rendered  much  service,  especially  by  con- 
necting various  branches  together  and  illus- 
trating one  by  the  other.  He  played  an  im- 
portant part  in  elevating  palaeontology  to  a 
high  position  in  practical  geology,  and  in 
elucidating  ancient  British  zoology.  He  had 
a  remarkable  talent  for  discovering  the  rela- 
tions of  detached  phenomena  to  the  general 
scheme  of  nature  and  making  broad  generali- 
sations ;  and  he  looked  on  the  world  not  as 
a  mere  piece  of  mechanism,  but  as  a  visible 
manifestation  of  the  ideas  of  God.  Many  who 
knew  him  testified  that  'the  old  mourned 
him  as  a  son,  the  young  as  a  brother.'  An 
eminent  naturalist,  writing  in  the  '  Literary 
Gazette,'  25  Nov.  1854,  said :  '  Rare  as  was 
the  genius  of  Edward  Forbes,  his  character 
was  rarer  still.  ...  A  thorough  spirit  of  cha- 
rity seemed  to  hide  from  him  all  but  the  good 
and  worthy  points  in  his  fellow-men.  Worked 
to  death,  his  time  and  his  knowledge  were  at 
the  disposal  of  all  comers  ;  and,  though  his 
published  works  have  been  comparatively  few, 
his  ideas  have  been  as  the  grain  of  mustard- 
seed  in  the  parable.'  Forbes's  love  of  social 
life  and  his  vigorous  and  genial  humour  are 
apparent  throughout  his  career.  His  humor- 
ous verses  have  not  been  collected,  but  seve- 
ral are  published  in  the  first  two  lives  men- 
tioned below.  One  on  the  <  Red  Tape  Worm ' 
contains  the  following  lines  :— 

In  Downing  Street  the  tape  worms  thrive ; 

In  Somerset  House  they  are  all  alive  ; 

And  slimy  tracks  mark  where  they  crawl 

In  and  out  along  Whitehall. 

"When  I'm  dead  and  yield  my  ghost, 
Mark  not  my  grave  by  a  government  post ; 
Let  mild  earth  worms  with  me  play, 
But  keep  vile  tape  worms  far  away. 


Forbes 


392 


Forbes 


And  if  I  deserve  to  rise 
To  a  good  place  in  Paradise, 
May  my  soul  kind  angels  guide, 
And  keep  it  from  the  official  side ! 

A  list  of  Forbes's  principal  writings  is 
given  in  the  appendix  to  his '  Life '  by  Wilson 
and  Geikie,  but  many  of  his  articles  and  cri- 
tiques in  periodicals,  some  not  being  iden- 
tified, are  not  included.  A  list  of  his  scientific 
papers  is  given  in  the  Royal  Society's  '  Cata- 
logue of  Scientific  Papers,'  vol.  ii.  The  fol- 
lowing chronological  list  gives  only  the  more 
important  of  the  memoirs,  in  addition  to  the 
separate  works:  1835.  ' Natural  History  Tour 
in  Norway ; '  four  papers  in  Loudon's  '  Maga- 
zine of  Natural  History,'  1st  ser.  vols.  viii. 
and  ix. ;  many  papers  in '  University  Maga ; ' 
'Records  of  Dredging,'  '  Mag.  Nat.  Hist.' 
vols.  viii.  and  ix.  1837-8.  Many  articles  in 
1  University  Maga,'  vol.  ii.  1838.  '  Malaco- 
logia  Monensis;'  'The  University  Snow- 
drop ; '  '  On  the  Distribution  of  Pulmoniferous 
Mollusca  in  Europe,'  'British  Association 
Report.'  1839-40.  'On  the  British  Cilio- 
grada '  (with  J.  Goodsir),  '  Brit.  Assoc.  Re- 
ports.' 1841.  '  A  History  of  British  Star- 
fishes.' 1842.  '  Letters  on  Travels  in  Lycia,' 
'  Ann.  Nat.  Hist.'  vols.  ix.  and  x.  1843.  '  On 
the  Radiata  of  the  Eastern  Mediterranean,' 
4  Trans.  Linn.  Soc.'  vol.  xix. ;  'Report  on  the 
Mollusca  and  Radiata  of  the  ^Egean  Sea,' 
'Brit.  Assoc.  Report.'  1844.  'On  the  Mor- 
phology of  the  Sertularian  Zoophyte,'  '  Ann. 
Nat.  Hist.'  vol.  xiv.  1845.  'Report  on 
and  Catalogue  of  Lower  Greensand  Fossils,' 
'  Quart.  Journ.  Geol.  Soc.'  vol.  i. ;  '  Geogra- 
phical Distribution  of  Insects '  and  other  ar- 
ticles in  'Penny  Cyclopaedia,'  supplement. 
1846.  '  On  the  Geology  of  Lycia '  (with  Lieu- 
tenant Spratt,  R.N.),  'Quart.  Journ.  Geol. 
Soc.'  vol.  ii. ;  '  Travels  in  Lycia '  (with  Lieu- 
tenant Spratt),  2  vols. ;  'On  the  Connection 
between  the  Distribution  of  the  existing 
Fauna  and  Flora  of  the  British  Isles  and 
Geological  Changes,' '  Memoirs  of  the  Geo- 
logical Survey,'  vol.  i.  ;  '  Monograph  on 
the  Cretaceous  Fossils  of  Southern  India,' 
1  Trans.  Geol.  Soc.'  2nd  ser.  vol.  vii. ;  *  On 
Palaeozoic  and  Secondary  Fossil  Molluscs  of 
South  America,'  Appendix  to  Darwin's  '  Geo- 
logy of  South  America.'  1848-52. '  History 
of  British  Mollusca'  (with  Mr.  Hanley), 
4  vols.  1848.  '  Palaeontological  Map  of  the 
British  Isles,'  Keith  Johnston's  'Physical 
Atlas; '  '  Monograph  of  the  Naked-eyed  Me- 
dusae,' Ray  Soc. ;  '  Monograph  of  the  British 
Fossil  Asteriadae/  and  '  Monograph  of  the 
Silurian  Cystideae  of  Britain,'  '  Mem.  Geol. 
Survey/  vol.  ii.  pt.  ii.  1849.  'British  Or- 
ganic Remains,'  Decade  I., '  Mem.  Geol.  Sur- 
vey.' 1850.  '  British  Organic  Remains,'  De- 


cade III.  (Echinoderms),'Mem.  Geol.  Survey.' 
1851.  'On  Australian  Mollusca/  'Voyage  of 
the  Rattlesnake/  vol.  ii.  1852.  '  On  Arctic 
Echinoderms/  Appendix  to  Dr.  Sutherland's 
'  Arctic  Voyage ; '  '  Monograph  of  British  Ter- 
tiary Echinoderms/  Palaeontographical  Soc. ; 
'  The  Future  of  Geology/  Westminster  Re- 
view/ July.  1853.  '  On  the  Fluvio-Marine 
Tertiaries  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,"  Quart.  Journ. 
Geol.  Soc.'  vol.  ix. ;  '  On  the  Geology  of  Le- 
banon/ Appendix  to  Risk  Allah  Efiendi's 
work  on  Syria.  1854.  Map  of  Homoiozoic 
Belts,  Johnston's  '  Physical  Atlas  ; '  Presi- 
dential address  to  Geol.  Soc. ;  Inaugural  ad- 
dress at  Edinburgh,  '  Edinb.  Monthly  Journ. 
of  Science.'  1855.  Literary  papers  selected 
from  contributions  to  the  '  Literary  Gazette/ 
edited  by  Lovell  Reeve,  1  vol.  1858.  '  On 
the  Fluvio-Marine  Tertiary  Strata  of  the  Isle 
of  Wight/  completed  by  Austen,  Ramsay, 
and Bristow,' Mem. Geol. Survey.'  1859.  'Na- 
tural History  of  European  Seas/  completed 
by  Mr.  R.  Godwin- Austen,  1  vol. 

[Memoir  by  Professors  George  Wilson  and  A. 
Geikie,  1861;  by  Professor  J.  Hughes  Bennett, 
in  Monthly  Journ.  of  Medicine,  January  1855; 
by  Hugh  Miller,  in  Witness,  22  Nov.  1854;  Scots- 
man, 22  Nov.  1854;  British  Quarterly  Review, 
1861,  vol. xxxiv.;  Literary  Gazette,  25  Nov.  1854.] 

G.  T.  B. 

FORBES,  SIR  FRANCIS  (1784-1841), 

chief  justice  of  New  South  Wales,  born  in 
the  Island  of  Bermuda,  North  America,  in 
1784,  was  the  eldest  son  of  the  Hon.  Francis 
Forbes,  a  member  of  the  privy  council  of 
Bermuda.  Admitted  at  Lincoln's  Inn  on 
26  May  1806,  he  was  called  to  the  bar  in 
Easter  term  1812  (Lincoln's  Inn  Registers). 
He  became  attorney-  and  advocate-general 
at  Bermuda  in  1813,  and  was  promoted  to 
the  office  of  chief  justice  of  Newfoundland  in 
1816.  On  1  June  1823  he  was  nominated 
chief  justice  of  New  South  Wales,  his  being 
the  first  appointment  to  that  office.  He  pro- 
mulgated the  new  charter  of  justice  at  Go- 
vernment House  and  elsewhere  on  17  May 
1824,  and  took  his  seat  on  the  bench  the  same 
day.  Under  this  charter  a  supreme  court  of 
criminal  jurisdiction  was  opened  by  Forbes  on 
the  following  10  June,  and  by  his  exertions 
trial  by  jury  was  obtained  in  quarter  sessions 
on  14  Oct.  He  was  appointed  to  the  legislative 
council  by  sign-manual,  11  Aug.  1825,  and 
became  a  member  of  the  executive  council 
during  the  same  year.  Thanks  to  his  strong 
remonstrances  an  attempt  by  Governor  Ralph. 
Darling  [q.  v.]  to  gag  the  colonial  press  in  1826 
proved  only  partially  successful.  His  health 
breaking  down  under  the  strain  of  his  varied 
duties,  he  left  for  England  in  April  1836. 


Forbes 


393 


Forbes 


He  was  knighted  6  April  1837,  but,  failing 
to  recover  his  accustomed  strength,  he  re- 
signed his  office  in  July,  and  returned  to  the 
colony  soon  afterwards.  He  died  at  Leitrim, 
near  Sydney,  9  Nov.  1841.  In  1813  he  mar- 
ried Amelia  Sophia,  daughter  of  David  Grant, 
M.I).,  of  Jamaica,  who  long  survived  him. 
[Heaton's  Australian  Diet.  pp.  70-1.]  G.  G. 


OF 


FORBES,  GEORGE,  third  EAKL 
GRANARD  (1685-1765),  naval  commander  and 
diplomatist,  son  of  Arthur  Forbes,  second 
earl,  by  his  wife  Mary,  daughter  of  Sir  George 
Rawdon,  bart.,  of  Moira,  county  Down,  was 
born  in  Ireland  21  Oct.  1685,  and  was  for  a 
time  at  the  grammar  school  at  Drogheda. 
His  grandfather,  Arthur  Forbes,  first  earl 
[q.  v.],  died  when  young  Forbes  was  about 
twelve  years  of  age.  Coming  to  London  with 
his  grandmother  in  1702,  he  introduced  him- 
self to  Admiral  George  Churchill  [q.v.],  then 
first  of  the  council  to  the  lord  high  admiral, 
Prince  George  of  Denmark,  and  sought  to 
enter  the  navy.  Churchill  eventually  ap- 
pointed him  to  the  Royal  Anne  at  Ports- 
mouth, and  got  him  a  lieutenancy  in  one  of 
the  new  marine  regiments.  Young  Forbes 
was  midshipman  of  the  St.  George  in  1704, 
and  served  under  Rooke  at  the  capture  of 
•Gibraltar,  where  he  was  employed  on  shore 
as  aide-de-camp  to  the  Prince  of  Hesse-Darm- 
stadt, and  in  the  great  sea-fight  off  Malaga 
which  followed.  The  same  year  he  became 
heir  to  the  earldom  on  the  death  of  his  elder 
brother,  Lord  Forbes,  a  captain  in  the  Scots 
royals,  from  wounds  received  at  Blenheim 
(freas.  Papers,  xciii.  72,  Blenheim  Roll).  In 
1705  he  was  second  lieutenant  of  the  Triton 
frigate,  one  of  the  most  active  cruisers  in  the 
navy,  which  captured  twenty-three  French 
privateers  in  the  Channel  alone  in  fifteen 
months.  He  was  in  her  at  the  siege  of  Os- 
tend  in  1706,  where  he  served  on  shore,  and 
first  became  known  to  his  future  friend,  the 
Duke  of  Argyll  [see  CAMPBELL,  JOHN,  DTJKE 
OF  ARGYLL  AND  GREENWICH],  who  com- 
manded in  the  trenches.  On  returning  home 
Forbes  found  his  commission  awaiting  him 
as  captain  of  the  Lynn  frigate,  in  which  he 
served  as  convoy  to  the  Baltic  trade.  The 
~  >ynn  being  ordered  to  the  West  Indies,  Forbes 
transferred  to  the  Gosport,  and  on  3  Jan. 
to  the  Leopard  of  50  guns.  On  6  March 
\he  was  appointed  brigadier  in  the  4th 
troop  <X  horse-guards,  of  which  the  Duke  of 
Argyll  -kas  captain  and  colonel.  The  bri- 
gadiers of  the  horse-guards — styled  in  their 
commissions  *  corporals/  and  in  society  '  cap- 
tains ' — were  commissioned  officers  ranking 
"with  lieutenants  of  horse  (CANNON",  Hist.  Rec. 
Life  Guards,  p.  169).  Forbes  did  duty  with 


his  troop  until  appointed  to  command  the 
Sunderland  of  60  guns,  part  of  the  western 
squadron  under  Lord  Dursley,  afterwards 
third  Earl  Berkeley.  In  1708  Forbes  became 
exempt  of  his  troop  and  a  brother  of  the 
Trinity  House.  In  May  1709  he  left  his  ship 
to  do  duty  with  his  troop  at  Windsor,  where 
'his  sprightliness  of  genius  and  politeness 
of  manner  recommended  him  to  Queen  Anne' 
{Memoirs  of  the  Earls  of  Granard,  p.  86), 
at  whose  desire  he  was  appointed  to  the  Graf- 
ton  of  70  guns.  Forbes,  who  in  the  mean- 
time had  married,  sailed  for  the  Mediterranean 
with  Sir  John  Norris  in  1710.  Charles  III 
of  Spain  (afterwards  the  emperor  Charles  VI) 
then  had  his  court  at  Barcelona,  and  Norris 
stationed  some  ships  off  the  coast  of  Cata- 
lonia, the  command  of  which  was  assigned 
to  Forbes,  who  was  directed  to  co-operate 
as  much  as  possible  with  the  Spanish  court, 
and  was  permitted  to  reside  on  shore.  Two 
Genoese  ships  of  war,  of  50  and  70  guns  re- 
spectively, were  at  Cadiz  taking  in  specie, 
alleged  to  be  for  the  use  of  the  French  fac- 
tion in  Italy.  The  Spanish  king  proposed 
that  Forbes  should  put  out  to  sea  and  seize 
the  vessels  on  their  return  voyage.  Forbes 
explained  that  England  was  at  peace  with 
the  Genoese  republic  ;  but  being  pressed  by 
the  king,  and  the  queen  offering  him  her  sign- 
manual  for  his  indemnification,  he  started 
with  his  own  ship,  the  Grafton  of  70  guns, 
and  the  Chatham  of  50  guns,  Captain  Had- 
dock, took  the  Genoese  ships  into  PortMahon, 
discharged  the  officers  and  crews  to  shore, 
landed  the  specie,  amounting  to  1,600,000 
dollars,  and  returned  with  the  ships  to  Bar- 
celona. Charles  III,  greatly  pleased,  made 
Forbes  a  grant  of  the  duty  payable  at  the 
mint  for  coinage  of  the  amount,  and  urged 
him  to  go  back  to  Minorca  and  fetch  the 
specie.  Forbes,  doubting  the  legality  of  the 
capture,  excused  himself  until  he  should  re- 
ceive instructions  from  home,  or  from  Gene- 
ral Stanhope,  the  British  ambassador  and 
commander-in-chief  in  Spain,  and,  to  avoid 
any  appearance  of  backwardness,  set  out  to 
confer  with  Stanhope.  He  joined  the  part 
of  the  allied  army  under  Marshal  Starem- 
berg,  and  was  slightly  wounded  while  charg- 
ing with  Brigadier  Lepell's  regiment  at  the 
battle  of  Villaviciosa,  10  Dec.  1710.  Stan- 
hope had  surrendered  at  Brihuega  the  day 
previous.  Forbes  returned  to  Barcelona,  and 
found  orders  from  home  forbidding  the  dis- 
posal of  the  Genoese  treasure,  which  sorely 
disconcerted  the  Spanish  court.  Forbes  came 
to  England  bearing  an  autograph  letter  from 
Charles  III  to  Queen  Anne.  Eventually, 
the  British  government  decided  to  retain  the 
capture  and  indemnify  the  Genoese  republic. 


Forbes 


394 


Forbes 


In  the  end  Forbes  accepted  6,000/.  in  lieu  of 
what  had  promised  to  prove  a  large  fortune. 
Full  details  of  the  transaction  are  given  in 
4  Memoirs  of  the  Earls  of  Granard,'  pp.  87-93. 
In  January  1711  the  Duke  of  Argyll  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  command  in  Spain.  He  set 
out  in  the  spring,  leaving  Forbes,  who  was 
to  serve  with  him,  in  London  to  solicit  sup- 
plies for  the  army,  which  was  short  of  money. 
Forbes  obtained  an  order  for  eight  hundred 
thousand  dollars  of  the  Genoese  treasure,  and 
set  off,  riding  through  Holland,  Germany, 
the  Tyrol,  and  Italy  to  Genoa,  where  he  took 
ship,  with  such  despatch  that  he  reached 
Barcelona  in  twenty-one  days  from  England. 
He  served  with  the  army* in  Spain  during 
that  year,  at  the  head  of  three  hundred  ca- 
valrymen drafted  from  home,  whom  Argyll 
purposed  to  form  into  a  new  regiment  of 
horse  under  Forbes's  command.  The  regi- 
ment was  never  completed,  as  peace  negotia- 
tions were  too  far  advanced.  A  return  of 
the  army  in  Spain,  dated  19  Feb.  1712,  is  in 
'  Treasury  Papers/  cxliv.  23,  and  is  the  only 
paper  of  any  interest  entered  under  Forbes's 
name  in  the  '  Calendars  of  State  Papers  '  for 
the  period.  In  1712  Forbes  was  appointed 
to  the  Greenwich  of  50  guns,  and  became 
cornet  and  major  in  his  troop  of  horse-guards. 
After  the  peace  of  Utrecht  he  commanded  a 
small  squadron  of  vessels  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean, and  took  up  his  residence  with  his 
wife  and  child  in  Minorca,  whence  he  re- 
turned home  in  1716.  The  year  after  he  was 
appointed  lieutenant-governor  of  the  castle  of 
St.  Phillipa,  Minorca,  and  acted  as  governor 
of  the  island  during  the  brief  hostilities  with 
Spain  in  1718.  He  introduced  better  order 
in  the  island,  and  abolished  the  trials  for 
witchcraft,  which  had  been  a  source  of  much 
misery. 

On  his  return  home  in  1719  Forbes,  at  the 
desire  of  George  I,  proceeded  to  Vienna,  to 
carry  into  effect  a  long-cherished  project  of 
the  emperor  Charles  VI,  of  forming  a  naval 
power  either  in  Naples  and  Sicily  or  on  the 
Adriatic,  for  which  purpose  Forbes  received 
the  rank  of  vice-admiral  in  the  imperial  ser- 
vice with  a  salary  of  twelve  thousand  florins 
a  year,  and  unlimited  powers  of  organisation. 
But  the  imperialist  ministers  looked  coldly 
on  the  scheme,  and  adopted  a  policy  of  tacit- 
obstruction,  which  at  the  end  of  two  years 
led  Forbes  to  resign  his  appointment  in  pri- 
vate audience  with  the  emperor,  who  pre- 
sented him  with  a  valuable  diamond  ring  in 
recognition  of  his  services.  Forbes  joined  the 
king  at  Hanover,  and  afterwards  returned 
home.  In  1724  he  was  appointed  to  com- 
mand the  Canterbury  of  60  guns  on  the  Me- 
diterranean station,  and  was  employed  on 


shore  at  the  defence  of  Gibraltar  against  the 
Spaniards  in  1726-7.  In  September  1727 
Forbes,  who  had  previously  sat  in  the  Eng- 
lish House  of  Commons  for  the  borough  of 
Queenborough,  was  called  to  the  Irish  house 
of  peers  under  the  title  of  Baron  Forbes.  In 
1729  he  was  appointed  governor  and  captain- 
general  of  the  Leeward  Islands,  a  post  he 
resigned  at  the  end  of  a  year.  In  1730  he 
proposed  to  the  government  to  lead  a  colony 
to  Lake  Erie,  where  it  would  form  a  barrier 
against  French  encroachments  from  Canada. 
He  was  to  be  fettered  by  'no  restrictions  be- 
yond the  ten  commandments,'  and  was  to 
have  an  annual  grant  of  12,0007.  for  the  use 
of  the  colony  for  seven  years.  If  the  govern- 
ment at  the  end  of  that  time  was  satisfied 
to  take  over  the  settlement,  Forbes  was  to 
be  created  an  English  peer,  with  a  perpetual 
pension  of  1,000/.  a  year  out  of  the  revenues 
of  the  post  office.  If  the  government  were 
not  satisfied  to  take  over  the  colony,  a  grant 
of  the  sum  was  to  be  made  to  Forbes  and  his 
heirs,  with  a  palatinate  jurisdiction,  similar 
to  that  of  Lord  Baltimore  in  Maryland,  in 
which  case  Forbes  was  to  repay  the  84,0007. 
advanced,  and  pledged  his  family  estates  as 
security  for  the  amount.  Sir  Eobert  Wai- 
pole,  who  disliked  Forbes  as  being  '  too  busy 
and  curious,'  admitted  the  fairness  of  the 
terms,  but  the  project  was  not  carried  out. 
In  1731  Forbes  was  appointed  to  the  Corn- 
wall of  80  guns,  and  commanded  that  ship  in 
the  Mediterranean  under  Sir  Charles  Wager. 
This  was  the  last  time  he  served  afloat. 

In  1733  Forbes  was  appointed  envoy  ex- 
traordinary and  minister  plenipotentiary  to 
the  Empress  Anne  of  Russia.  He  negotiated 
and  concluded  a  treaty — the  first  entered 
into  by  the  court  of  St.  Petersburg  with 
any  European  state — for  the  better  regula- 
tion of  the  customs,  and  for  favouring  the 
introduction  of  British  woollen  goods.  After 
his  return  to  England  in  1734  the  czarina, 
with  whom  he  was  a  favourite,  offered  him 
supreme  command  of  the  imperial  Russian 
navy,  which  he  declined.  He  obtained  his 
flag  rank  and  succeeded  to  the  title  of  Earl 
of  Granard  on  the  death  of  his  father  the 
same  year. 

In  1737  Granard,  who  was  a  member  of 
the  Irish  Linen  Company,  and  took  much 
interest  in  political  economy,  was  instrumen- 
tal in  introducing  improvements  in  the  Irish 
currency.  The  details  will  be  found  in  '  Me- 
moirs of  the  Earls  of  Granard,'  pp.  145-51. 
When  the  popular  outcry  against  Spain  arose 
in  1739,  he  was  offered  the  command  of  '  a 
stout  squadron '  for  the  West  Indies,  but  de- 
clined, believing  the  ministry  not  to  be  in 
earnest  j  nevertheless  when  his  senior,  Ad- 


Forbes 


395 


Forbes 


miral  Vernon,  who  had  been  laid  aside,  was 
brought  back  over  his  head  and  sent  out, 
Granard  considered  himself  superseded,  and 
refused  to  serve  again.  His  name  was  re- 
tained on  the  flag  list,  and  half-pay  was 
issued  for  him  for  some  time,  but  on  31  Dec. 
1742  his  resignation  was  finally  accepted. 
The  statement  of  some  biographers  that  he 
continued  in  the  service,  and  was  senior 
admiral  at  his  death,  arose  from  confusing 
Granard — who  was  better  known  in  the  naval 
service  as  Lord  Forbes — with  his  son,  Admiral 
of  the  Fleet  the  Hon.  John  Forbes  [q.  v.] 
Granard  had  retired  from  the  army  more 
than  twenty  years  before  he  left  the  sister 
service.  He  had  been  in  treaty  with  Lord 
Dundonald  for  the  command  of  the  4th  troop 
of  horse-guards,  for  which  he  was  to  give 
10,000/.,  but  broke  off  the  negotiations  at 
the  wish  of  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  who  desired 
to  see  him  rise  to  the  head  of  the  navy.  By 
Argyll's  interest  Granard  was  returned  to  the 
House  of  Commons  for  the  Scottish  burghs  of 
Ayr,  Irvine,  &c.,  in  1741,  and  took  a  very 
active  part  in  the  stormy  discussions  which 
drove  Sir  Robert  Walpole  from  office  3  Feb. 
1742,  in  consequence  of  which  he  was  ap- 
pointed one  of  the  committee  of  inquiry  into 
the  conduct  of  the  ex-minister.  But  he  sub- 
sequently separated  from  his  colleagues  in 
disgust,  and  retired  from  public  life.  He  was 
made  a  privy  councillor  of  Ireland,  and  held 
the  governments  of  Westmeath  and  Long- 
ford. He  died  in  Ireland  in  1765.  There  is 
some  uncertainty  as  to  the  day  of  his  death, 
two  different  dates  being  given  in  '  Memoirs 
of  the  Earls  of  Granard,'  and  other  dates, 
all  within  the  year,  being  given  in  other 
publications  (see  Notes  and  Queries,  6th  ser. 
x.  312 ;  also  Ann.  Reg.,  Gent.  Mag.,  and 
Scots  Mag.  1765).  In  person  Granard  was 
of  middle  height  and  spare  figure,  with  a 
dark  complexion,  and  strongly  marked  fea- 
tures. In  his  habits  he  was  very  active  and 
extremely  abstemious,  eating  little  and  drink- 
ing nothing  but  water,  customs  to  which  he 
attributed  his  good  health.  He  was  a  great 
reader,  with  a  very  retentive  memory,  and  a 
quick,  intelligent  observer.  The  family  manu- 
scripts contain  several  treatises  by  him  on 
subjects  connected  with  political  economy, 
geography,  and  the  naval  resources  of  different 
countries  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  2nd  Rep.  212). 
Granard  (then  Lord  Forbes)  married  in 
1709  Mary,  eldest  daughter  of  Sir  William 
Stewart,  first  earl  of  Mount] oy,  and  widow 
of  Phineas  Preston  of  Ardsal'lagh,  co.  Meath, 
by  whom  she  had  had  two  children  (see 
ARCHDALL,  Peerage  of  Ireland,  vi.  153).  By 
this  lady,  who  died  4  Oct.  1755,  he  had  three 
children  :  George,  fourth  earl  of  Granard, 


who  saw  a  good  deal  of  army  service  in  the 
Mediterranean  in  his  earlier  years,  raised  the 
old  76th  foot,  which  was  disbanded  in  1763, 
and  died  a  major-general  and  colonel  29th 
foot  in  1769  ;  John  (1714-1796)  [q.  v.];  and 
a  daughter. 

[The  best  biography  of  Admiral  Lord  Granard 
is  in  Forbes's  Memoirs  of  the  Earls  of  Granard 
(London,  1858).  The  work  contains  a  few  mis- 
printed dates.  Supplementary  details  can  be 
found  under  date  in  the  Home  Office  Military 
Entry  Books,  and  in  the  Admiralty  and  Foreign 
Office  Papers  in  the  Public  Eecord  Office.  Mer-, 
vyn  Archdall's  Peerage  of  Ireland,  ii.  148-9; 
Charnock's  Biog.  Nav.  iii.  330,  and  other  bio- 
graphical notices  contain  errors.  Some  of  these 
are  referred  to  in  Notes  and  Queries,  6th  ser.  x. 
312-13.  Granard's  papers  remaining  in  posses- 
sion of  the  family  are  reported  on  in  Hist.  MSS. 
Comm.  2nd  Eep.  212-16,  3rd  Eep.  431,  wherein 
are  given  extracts  from  Lord  Granard's  diary  at 
St.  Petersbiirg.  Letters  from  him  at  Minorca 
in  1716-17,  addressed  to  G.  Bubb,  British  en- 
voy in  Spain,  from  Egerton  MSS.  2171  f.  144, 
2174  ff.  338,  343,  2175  ff.  5,  176;  and  from 
St.  Petersburg  in  1733,  to  Sir  Thomas  Eobinson, 
British  minister  at  Vienna,  Addit.  MSS.  23788- 
f.  42,  23789  f.  36.  These  letters,  which  are- 
very  imperfect  in  their  orthography,  and  all 
bear  the  queer  cramped  signature  '  Gffbrbes,'  con- 
tain nothing  of  pubjic  interest.]  H.  M.  C. 

FORBES,  GEORGE,  sixth  EAKL  OF 
GRANARD  in  the  peerage  of  Ireland,  and  first 
BARON  GRANARD  in  the  United  Kingdom 
(1760-1837),  lieutenant-general,  eldest  son 
of  George,  fifth  earl  of  Granard,  by  his  first 
wife,  Dorothy,  second  daughter  of  Sir  Nicho- 
las Borley,  bart.,  of  the  Isle  of  Anglesea,  and 
great-grandson  of  Admiral  George,  third  earl 
of  Granard  [q.  v.],  was  born  14  June  1760, 
and  was  educated  at  Armagh.  He  married, 
10  May  1779,  Lady  Selina  Frances  Rawdon, 
youngest  daughter  of  George  Rawdon,  first 
earl  of  Moira,  by  his  third  wife,  Lady  Eliza- 
beth Hastings,  eldest  daughter  of  the  ninth 
Earl  of  Huntingdon.  By  this  lady,  who 
was  sister  of  the  first  Marquis  of  Hastings, 
Granard  had  nine  children.  On  succeeding 
to  the  title,  the  year  after  his  marriage,  he 
made  a  lengthened  tour  on  the  continent.  He 
was  introduced  to  Cardinal  York  at  Rome, 
attended  one  of  Frederick  the  Great's  re- 
views in  Silesia,  and  resided  in  France  and 
at  Vienna.  On  his  return  home  he  devoted 
himself  to  politics,  and,  following  the  example 
of  Lord  and  Lady  Moira,  adopted  liberal 
opinions,  and  with  his  votes  and  interest 
steadily  supported  the  policy  of  Charlemont, 
Grattan,  Curran,  and  other  leaders  of  the 
liberal  party  in  Ireland.  The  Marquis  of 
Buckingham  referred  to  him  as  the  most  un- 
compromising opponent  of  his  administration. 


Forbes 


396 


Forbes 


Granard  was  appointed  a  lieutenant-colonel 
in  the  army  17  May  1794,  and  lieutenant- 
colonel  commandant  of  the  108th  foot,  an 
Irish  regiment  which  he  raised  in  November 
following.  The  108th  was  broken  up  at  Gi- 
braltar in  1 796.  Granard  also  raised  the  Long- 
ford militia,  and  commanded  it  at  the  battle 
of  Castlebar  in  1798,  where  the  regiment, 
which  was  said  to  be  disaffected,  ran  away. 
Lord  Cornwallis  wrote  in  highest  praise  of 
Granard's  gallantry  in  endeavouring  to  rally 
his  regiment  (Cornwallis  Correspondence,  ii. 
593).  He  was  also  present  at  Ballinamuck, 
where  the  French,  under  Humbert,  surren- 
dered to  Cornwallis. 

Granard  displayed  the  greatest  aversion  to 
the  union,  an  opinion  from  which  none  of  the 
inducements  then  so  lavishly  offered  by  the 
government  made  him  swerve,  and  he  was  one 
of  the  twenty-one  Irish  peers  who  recorded 
their  protest  against  the  measure  (see  'Protest 
of  the  Irish  House  of  Lords,'  Ann.  Reg.  1800, 
p.  196).  Having  been  deprived  of  his  seat  in 
the  House  of  Lords  after  the  union,  he  took 
little  part  in  politics,  but  devoted  himself  to 
the  management  of  his  estates,  and  is  said 
to  have  been  a  popular  landlord.  During  the 
brief  administration  of  '  All  the  Talents '  in 
1806  he  was  made  a  peer  of  the  United 
Kingdom  under  the  title  of  Baron  Granard 
of  Castle  Donington,  Leicestershire  (the 
seat  of  his  father-in-law),  and  was  also  ap- 
pointed clerk  of  the  crown  and  hanaper  in 
Ireland,  then  a  most  lucrative  office.  He 
became  a  colonel  in  the  army  in  1801,  major- 
general  in  1808,  and  lieutenant-general  in 
1813.  In  1819  he  resigned  the  lieutenancy 
of  county  Longford  in  favour  of  his  son, 
Viscount  Forbes,  M.P.,  and  afterwards  re- 
sided chiefly  in  France.  He  supported  the 
Roman  Catholic  Emancipation  and  Reform 
Bills,  and  after  the  passing  of  the  latter  was 
offered  a  promotion  in  the  peerage,  which  he 
declined,  as  he  had  previously  the  order  of  St. 
Patrick.  He  died  at  his  residence,  the  Hotel 
Marbceuf,  Champs-Ely  sees,  Paris,  9  June 
1837,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven,  and  was 
buried  in  the  family  resting-place  at  New- 
townforbes,  Longford,  Ireland. 

[Forbes's  Lives  of  the  Earls  of  Granard  (Lon- 
don, 1858),  pp.  194-200;  Gent.  Mag.  new  ser. 
*i».  205.]  H.  M.  C. 

FORBES,  HENRY  (1804-1859),  pianist 
and  composer,  a  pupil  of  Smart,  Hummel, 
Moscheles,  and  Herz,  had  greater  success  as 
executive  artist  and  professor  than  as  com- 
poser. When  organist  of  St.  Luke's,  Chelsea, 
he  published  (1843)  'National  Psalmody,' 
containing  some  original  numbers.  His  opera, 
'The  Fairy  Oak,'  was  condemned  by  the 


critics,  although,  in  spite  of,  or  perhaps  in 
consequence  of,  its  want  of  originality,  it 
held  the  stage  with  the  approval  of  the  pub- 
lic for  a  week  or  two  after  the  production 
|  at  Drury  Lane,  18  Oct.  1845.  A  cantata, 
I  '  Ruth,'  was  performed  in  1847.  Forbes  was 
frequently  associated  with  his  brother,  George 
Forbes  (1813-1883),  in  concerts,  and  was 
between  1827  and  1850  conductor  of  the 
Societa  Armonica.  He  died  on  24  Nov. 
1859,  in  his  fifty-sixth  year. 

[Grove's  Dictionary  of  Music,  i.  539,  iii.  543  ; 
Brown's  Dictionary  of  Musicians, p.  250;  London 


daily  and  weekly  papers  of  October  1845  and 
November  1859.] 


L.  M.  M. 


FORBES,  JAMES  (1629  P-1712),  non- 
conforin  ist  divine,  a  Scotchman,  was  born  in  or 
about  1629.  He  was  educated  at  Aberdeen, 
where  he  proceeded  M.  A.,  being  subsequently 
admitted  ad  eundem  at  Oxford.  In  1654  he 
was  sent  to  Gloucester  Cathedral,  where  he 
preached  '  with  great  success,  but  to  the  ap- 
parent danger  of  shortening  his  life.'  At  the 
Restoration  he  was  speedily  ejected  from  the 
cathedral,  but  he  still  continued  at  Gloucester, 
'  ministering  privately  as  he  could.'  Struck  by 
his  talents,  RobertFrampton[q.v.],  then  dean, 
but  afterwards  bishop  of  Gloucester, '  courted 
him  to  conformity  in  vain.'  In  consequence 
of  Yarrington's,  or  rather  Packington's,  plot, 
he  was  committed  to  Chepstow  Castle,  where 
he  was  long  kept  in  a  '  strait  and  dark '  room. 
On  regaining  his  liberty  he  returned  to  his 
pastoral  charge,  in  the  pursuit  of  which  he 
was  often  imprisoned  in  Gloucester,  on  one 
occasion  for  a  whole  year.  During  the  reign 
of  Charles  II  he  was  indicted  upon  the 
Corporation  Act,  the  penalty  of  which  was 
imprisonment.  He  was  also  indicted  on 
23  James  I,  the  penalty  of  which  was  20/.  a 
month,  and  upon  35  Elizabeth,  of  which  the 
penalty  was  to  abjure  the  realm  or  suffer 
death.  At  the  same  time,  also,  he  was  ex- 
communicated, and  the  writ  de  excom.  ca- 
piendow&s  out  against  him.  At  the  time  of 
Monmouth's  rebellion  he  retired  to  Enfield, 
Middlesex,  and  there  continued  unmolested 
in  his  ministry.  He  was  afterwards  recalled 
to  Gloucester,  where  he  continued  to  labour 
until  his  death,  *  though  to  his  disadvantage/ 
Altogether,  he  exercised  his  ministry  in 
Gloucester  for  fifty-eight  years  '  wanting  but 
one  month.'  He  died  31  May  1712,  aged  83, 
and  was  buried  under  his  own  communion- 
table. His  funeral  sermon  was  preached  by 
John  Noble  of  Bristol.  Calamy,  who  repre- 
sents him  as  the  model  of  a  nonconformist 
divine,  states  that  at  his  death  he  left  many 
gifts  to  charitable  uses,  including  his  library, 
which  was  of  considerable  value.  Forbes 


Forbes 


397 


Forbes 


was  the  author  of:  1.  'Nehustan;  or,  John 
Elliot's  "  Saving  Grace  in  all  Men  "  proved 
to  be  No  Grace,  and  His  Increated  Being  in 
All,  a  Great  Nothing.  By  J.  F.,'  4to,  Lon- 
don, 1694.  Elliot,  who  was  a  Gloucester 
quaker,  published  a  reply  in  the  following 
year,  ( The  Grace  of  God  asserted  to  be  Sav- 
ing and  Increated.'  2.  ( A  Summary  of  that 
Knowledge  and  Practice  that  leads  to  Heaven,' 
8vo,  London,  1700.  3.  '  God's  Goodness  to 
His  Israel  in  All  Ages.  Being  the  Substance 
of  some  Sermons  on  Psalm  Ixxiii.  1.  By  J.  F., 
minister  of  the  Gospel,'  8vo,  London,  1700. 
4.  *  Pastoral  Instruction :  being  some  Re- 
mains of  the  Reverend  James  Forbes,  M.  A., 
late  Minister  of  the  Gospel  in  Glocester. 
Containing  I.  A  Farewel-Letter  of  Advice 
to  his  People.  II.  The  Sum  of  the  Last 
Sermon  he  preach'd  before  the  Ministers 
of  his  County,  June  19th,  1711.  III.  His 
Short  Counsel  to  Youth.  To  which  is  added 
his  Funeral-Sermon,  preach'd  at  Glocester, 
June  3d,  1712.  By  J[ohn]  N[oble],'  8vo, 
London,  1713.  His  portrait  has  been  engraved 
(EvAtfS,  Cat.  of  Engraved  Portraits,  \i.  156). 

[Calamy  and  Palmer's  Nonconf.  Memorial 
(1802-3),  ii.  245,  249-51 ;  Joseph  Smith's  Biblio- 
theca  Anti-Quakeriana,  p.  186.]  Gr.  G. 

FORBES,  JAMES  (1749-1819),  author  of 
'  Oriental  Memoirs,'  born  in  London  in  1749, 
claimed  descent  from  the  Earls  of  Granard. 
In  1765  he  went  out  to  Bombay  as  a  writer 
to  the  East  India  Company.  In  1775,  as  pri- 
vate secretary  to  Colonel  Keating,  he  accom- 
panied the  expedition  sent  to  assist  Regoba, 
who  was  regarded  by  the  Bombay  authorities 
as  the  rightful  peshwar  of  the  Mahrattas. 
After  a  visit  to  England  for  his  health  he  held 
an  appointment  at  Baroche  in  Goojerat,  and 
in  1780  became  collector  and  resident  at  Dub- 
hoy.  Under  the  treaty  of  1782  this  district 
and  other  conquests  were  ceded  to  the  Mah- 
rattas, and  in  1784  Forbes  quitted  India.  He 
had  not  only  acquired  a  competency,  but,  being 
a  good  draughtsman  and  keen  observer,  had 
filled  a  hundred  and  fifty  folio  volumes  (fifty- 
two  thousand  pages)  with  sketches  and  notes 
on  the  fauna,  flora,  manners,  religions,  and 
archaeology  of  India.  He  became  an  F.R.S. 
and  F.S.  A.  He  married  in  1788  Rose,  daugh- 
ter of  Joseph  Gaylard  of  Stanmore,  near  Har- 
row, Middlesex,  and  resided  alternately  at 
London  and  Stanmore.  Anxious  to  make 
himself  acquainted  with  the  continent,  he 
visited  Switzerland  and  Germany,  and  during 
the  peace  of  Amiens  went  over  to  France.  He 
reached  Paris  with  his  wife  and  daughter  the 
very  day,  however,  after  the  decree  for  the 
detention  of  all  British  subjects.  Junot,  on 
reading  his  letters  of  introduction,  entered  his 
age  as  sixty,  in  order  that  he  might  remain 


in  Paris ;  but  after  seven  or  eight  months  of 
comparative  liberty,  during  which  he  visited 
his  brother  at  Tours,  Forbes  was  relegated  to 
Verdun,  where  all  the  English  had  to  report 
themselves  twice  a  day.  Sir  Joseph  Banks, 
president  of  the  Royal  Society,  applied  to 
Carnot,  president  of  the  Institute,  for  his 
release,  on  the  ground  of  his  being  an  anti- 
quary and  artist.  A  letter  which  Forbes  him- 
self wrote  to  Carnot  on  the  same  subject  is 
printed  in  the  '  Gentleman's  Magazine '  for 
1804  (ii.  734).  In  June  1804  he  was  allowed 
to  return  to  England,  and  sailed  from  Mor- 
laix  to  Dartmouth  on  25  July.  In  1806  he 
published  .*  Letters  from  France,'  an  account 
of  his  captivity.  Three  years  later  his  only 
child  Eliza  married  Marc  Ren6  de  Monta- 
lembert,  a  member  of  an  old  Poitou  family, 
whom  the  revolution  had  driven  to  England, 
and  who  had  joined  the  British  army.  In 
1810  Charles  de  Montalembert,  the  future 
orator  and  historian,  was  born,  and  at  the 
age  of  fifteen  months  was  consigned  to  the 
grandfather's  sole  charge,  as  the  mother  ac- 
companied her  husband  with  his  regiment. 
Thenceforth  Forbes  divided  his  time  between 
his  '  Oriental  Memoirs,'  which,  profusely  il- 
lustrated, appeared  in  four  quarto  volumes, 
1813-15,  and  his  grandson.  He  prepared  for 
Charles's  eventual  use  an  enlarged  manu- 
script edition  of  the  '  Memoirs,'  the  four 
volumes  expanded  to  forty-two  by  copies  of 
his  original  sketches,  letters,  verses,  and  other 
additions.  It  may  be  doubted  whether  Mon- 
talembert, devoid  of  interest  in  the  East, 
ever  bestowed  more  than  a  cursory  glance 
at  these  quartos,  now  preserved  at  Oscott  Col- 
lege by  the  family.  Yet  Forbes,  as  Mrs.  Oli- 
phant  remarks,  was  '  the  parent  of  Monta- 
lembert's  soul ; '  for  the  boy's  parents  were 
insignificant  people,  whereas  the  protestant 
grandfather's  piety  and  thoroughness  left  a 
permanent  impress  on  the  catholic  champion. 
After  Waterloo  Forbes  accompanied  his 
daughter  and  her  family  to  France,  where  he 
remained  nearly  two  years.  Charles  returned 
to  England  with  him,  and  in  1819  both  started' 
for  Stuttgart,  where  Count  Montalembert  was 
French  ambassador,  but  at  Aix-la-Chapelle- 
Forbes  was  taken  ill  and  died  on  1  Aug.  Mrs- 
Oliphant  speaks  of  Charles  and  a  servant  as 
the  sole  witnesses  of  his  end ;  but  the  con- 
temporary account  in  the '  Gentleman's  Maga- 
zine' states  that  he  had  a  lingering  illness,  and 
that  his  daughter  was  by  his  deathbed.  She- 
returned  to  England  a  widow  about  1831, 
published  an  abridgment  of  the  'Memoirs'  in? 
1834,  and  died  in  1839. 

[Oriental  Memoirs ;  G-ent.Mag.  1819  ;  Letters 
from  France ;  Mrs.  Oliphant's  Memoir  of  Mon- 
talembert.] J.  Gr.  A. 


Forbes 


398 


Forbes 


FORBES,  JAMES,  M.D.  (1779-1837), 
inspector-general  of  army  hospitals,  was  born 
at  Aberdeen  in  1779,  and  received  his  general 
education  at  Marischal  College  there.  For 
the  study  of  medicine  he  went  to  Edinburgh, 
where  he  graduated  M.D.  In  1803  he  entered 
the  army  as  assistant-surgeon  to  the  30th 
regiment,  became  surgeon  to  the  95th  regi- 
ment in  1809,  and  staff-surgeon  the  same  year. 
He  was  in  the  retreat  from  Corunna,  and  im- 
mediately after  accompanied  the  expedition 
to  Walcheren,  where  he  was  commended  for 
his  abilities  and  zeal  during  the  disastrous 
prevalence  of  intermittent  fever  and  other 
camp  sickness.  He  then  returned  to  service 
in  the  Peninsula,  receiving  the  rank -of  phy- 
sician to  the  forces.  After  the  peace  he  was 


erected  at  Colchester  for  the  sick  and  wounded 
from  the  field  of  Waterloo.  He  then  became 
successively  superintendent  of  Chelsea  Hos- 
pital and  medical  director  at  Chatham.  In 
1822  he  returned  to  foreign  service  in  the 
West  Indies,  Nova  Scotia,  and  Canada.  In 
1829  he  was  appointed  principal  medical 
officer  in  Ceylon,  from  which  he  returned  in 
1836  with  his  health  broken  by  the  climate. 
He  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  inspector- 
general  of  hospitals,  and  nominated  to  the 
chief  direction  of  the  army  medical  depart- 
ment in  India,  but  was  unable  from  ill-health 
to  proceed  to  his  post.  He  died  7  Nov.  1837 
at  Maddox  Street,  Regent  Street,  London,  in 
his  fifty-ninth  year,  and  was  buried  in  Ro- 
chester Cathedral.  No  writings  of  his  appear 
in  library  catalogues. 

[Gent.  Mag.  February  1838.]  C.  C. 

FORBES,  JAMES  DAVID  (1809-1868), 
man  of  science,  youngest  son  of  Sir  William 
Forbes,  seventh  baronet  of  Pitsligo,  and 
Williamina  Belches,  sole  child  and  heiress 
of  John  Belches  of  Invermay,  Perthshire, 
afterwards  Sir  John  Belches  Stuart  of  Fetter- 
cairn,  Kincardineshire,  was  born  at  Edin- 
burgh on  20  April  1809.  His  mother  had 
been  the  first  love  of  Sir  Walter  Scott. 
Forbes  was  educated  at  home  until  the  age 
of  sixteen,  when  he  entered  the  university  of 
Edinburgh,  with  a  view  to  joining  the  bar. 
His  natural  bent,  however,  soon  drew  him  to 
the  study  of  physics,  and  at  a  very  early  age 
he  contributed  anonymously  some  able  papers 
to  Sir  David  Brewster's  scientific  periodical, 
the  '  Philosophical  Journal.'  He  avowed  the 
authorship  after  a  time,  when  Brewster  en- 
couraged his  scientific  zeal,  and  proposed 
him  as  a  member  of  the  Royal  Society  of 
Edinburgh.  He  was  elected  at  the  unprece- 
dentedly  early  age  of  nineteen.  Forbes  now 
relinquished  his  legal  studies,  in  opposition 


to  Brewster's  prudent  advice.  In  the  spring 
of  1831  Forbes  visited  London,  Cambridge, 
and  Oxford,  where  he  formed  friendships 
with  Mrs.  Somerville,  Herschel,  Babbage, 
Whewell,  Lyell,  Airy,  and  Buckland.  The 
same  year  he  co-operated  with  Brewster  in 
the  foundation  of  the  British  Association.  In 
1832  he  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  Royal 
'  Society  of  London.  Forbes  had  started  on 
an  extensive  scientific  tour  in  the  summer  of 
1832,  when  he  was  suddenly  recalled  from 
Geneva  by  news  of  the  death  of  Sir  John 
Leslie,  professor  of  natural  philosophy  in  the 
university  of  Edinburgh.  Sir  John  Herschel, 
in  a  testimonial,  spoke  of  him  '  as  marked  by 
nature  for  scientific  distinction.'  His  friend 
Brewster  was  his  chief  opponent,  and  a  tem- 
porary coolness  resulted.  Forbes  was  elected, 
after  a  very  exciting  contest,  by  a  majority  of 
twenty-seven  to  nine,  30  Jan.  1833.  He  soon 
justified  his  selection.  '  In  addition  to  high 
scientific  genius,'  says  Principal  Shairp  (Life 
of  Forbes),  '  a  finely  cultivated  literary  taste 
and  style,  and  natural  powers  of  eloquence, 
perfected  by  the  best  aids  of  art'  (he  took  les- 
sons in  elocution  from  Mrs.  Siddons),  Forbes 
had  '  a  dignified  and  commanding  presence, 
and  gentle  and  refined  manners,  wielded  by 
a  will  of  rare  strength,  purity,  and  elevation.' 

In  his  lectures  Forbes  traversed  the  whole 
range  of  natural  philosophy,  but  the  manu- 
scripts were  by  his  orders  destroyed  by  his 
executors.  His  discovery  of  the  polarisation 
of  heat  soon  indicated  his  genius  as  a  scientific 
investigator.  The  professorial  work  achieved 
by  Forbes  included  the  institution  of  a  com- 
plete system  of  examining,  which  is  still  in 
force.  In  1837  Forbes  was  appointed  dean 
of  the  Faculty  of  Arts,  in  special  recognition 
of  the  part  which  he  had  taken  in  establish- 
ing the  improved  system.  In  1841  and  sub- 
sequently Forbes  was  very  active  in  the  dis- 
cussions arising  out  of  a  bequest  by  General 
Reid.  Forbes  was  anxious  to  devote  this  to 
a  superannuation  fund  for  professors.  He 
afterwards  induced  the  senatus  to  apply  this 
and  the  Straton  bequest  of  1842  to  the  founda- 
tion of  fellowships.  It  was  finally  decided, 
however,  by  the  law  courts  that  the  Reid 
fund  should  be  devoted  to  the  music  chair. 
He  had  some  sharp  encounters  with  oppo- 
nents, especially  with  Sir  William  Hamilton, 
but  without  losing  their  respect  or  friend- 
ship. Forbes  meanwhile  continued  his  ex- 
periments, and  carried  on  a  correspondence 
with  many  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of 
science  of  the  day. 

Forbes's  vacations  at  this  time  (1840-2) 
were  spent  in  Alpine  travels  and  glacier  in- 
vestigations, which  yielded  scientific  results 
of  the  first  importance.  He  married  Alicia, 


Forbes 


399 


Forbes 


eldest  daughter  of  George  Wauchope,  on 
4  July  1843.  In  consequence  of  ill-health 
Forbes  was  compelled  to  spend  the  winter  of 
1843  and  the  summer  of  1844  in  Italy,  return- 
ing to  Edinburgh  in  September  of  the  latter 
year.  The  summer  of  1845  was  spent  with  his 
wife  in  the  west  highlands,  in  a  tour  ranging 
from  Bute  to  Skye.  In  the  latter  island  he 
explored  the  Cuchullin  mountains  with  M. 
Necker,  finding  '  amidst  the  splendid  hyper- 
sthene  formation  indisputable  traces  of  gla- 
ciers.' These  explorations  were  afterwards 
embodied  in  a  paper  on  the  geology  of  the 
Cuchullins.  In  September  1845  a  pension 
of  200/.  per  annum  was  conferred  upon  him 
for  the  services  he  had  rendered  to  science. 
In  1846  he  visited  the  Alps,  and  again  for 
the  last  time  in  1850.  In  1850  he  put  the 
finishing  touches  to  his  survey  of  the  Mer  de 
Glace,  which  for  some  years  was  the  only 
correct  Alpine  map  in  existence. 

The  last  scientific  expedition  undertaken 
by  Forbes  was  a  journey  to  Norway  at  the 
close  of  the  university  session  of  1850-1.  He 
went  to  see  the  total  eclipse  of  the  sun,  and 
to  examine  the  Norwegian  glaciers.  The  tour 
was  a  very  fatiguing  one,  and  Forbes  returned 
home  with  his  health  greatly  impaired.  He 
began  his  classes  in  November  1851,  but  was 
attacked  by  haemorrhage,  which  proved  to  be 
the  precursor  of  a  long  and  dangerous  illness^ 
In  the  succeeding  January  he  moved  from 
Edinburgh  to  Clifton,  which  was  his  head- 
quarters for  two  years.  His  enforced  leisure 
•was  employed  in  the  composition  of  his  '  Dis- 
sertation on  the  Progress  of  Mathematical 
and  Physical  Science,'  principally  from  1775 
to  1850,  for  the  eighth  edition  of  the  'Ency- 
clopaedia Britannica,'  and  in  preparing  for  the 
press  a  work  on  '  Norway  and  its  Glaciers,' 
similar  in  character  to  his  '  Glaciers  of  the 
Alps.'  The  university  of  Oxford  conferred 
the  honorary  degree  of  D.C.L.  on  Forbes  in 
June  1853.  He  resumed  his  class  work  in 
the  session  of  1854-5,  and  continued  it,  with 
but  little  interruption  from  illness,  until  1859, 
being  latterly  assisted  by  Dr.  Balfour  Stewart. 
The  foundation  of  the  Alpine  Club  in  1858 
was  regarded  by  Forbes  with  keen  interest, 
and  he  was  elected  an  honorary  member. 

In  1859  Brewster  resigned  the  principal- 
ship  of  the  United  College,  St.  Andrews, 
on  becoming  principal  of  Edinburgh  Uni- 
versity. Forbes  offered  himself  for  the  va- 
cancy, with  the  recommendation  of  Sir  G. 
Cornewall  Lewis,  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  and 
Mr.  Gladstone.  He  received  the  appoint- 
ment on  2  Dec.  1859,  and  resigned  his  pro- 
fessorship at  Edinburgh  University  in  the  fol- 
lowing April,  when  he  received  the  honorary 
degree  of  LL.D.  The  Scottish  University 


Commission  was  sitting,  and  Forbes  had  to 
supply  it  with  information  and  suggestions. 
He  proved  himself  to  be  an  able  and  a  fear- 
less reformer,  and  the  college  was  also  in- 
debted to  him  for  a  laborious  examination 
and  classification  of  its  ancient  charters.  The 
collegiate  church  of  St.  Salvator  was  in  great 
part  restored  by  his  action.  He  gave  lec- 
tures on  glaciers,  climate,  heat,  and  the  history 
of  discovery,  and  endeavoured  to  complete 
his  researches  on  the  conductivity  of  iron. 
In  consequence  of  continued  weak  health 
Forbes  was  obliged  to  decline  the  presidency 
of  the  British  Association  in  1864.  From 
this  time  forward  there  was  no  recovery  in 
his  condition.  The  last  public  act  he  per- 
formed was  to  preside  at  the  ceremonial  of 
the  laying  of  the  foundation-stone  of  the  new 
college  hall  at  St.  Andrews — a  building  which 
owed  its  existence  entirely  to  his  own  ex- 
ertions. By  September  1867  he  had  to  go  to 
the  Riviera  for  his  health.  His  weakness 
obliged  him  to  decline  an  offer  of  the  presi- 
dency of  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh. 
In  the  summer  he  returned  to  Clifton,  to  be 
under  the  care  of  Dr.  Symonds.  He  lingered 
for  eight  months,  and  died  on  31  Dec.  1868. 

Forbes,  though  somewhat  cold  in  manner, 
united  to  a  very  sensitive  nature  a  high  moral 
courage,  while  his  domestic  affections  were 
unusually  warm.  He  was  methodical  and 
persevering,  and  his  cousin,  Bishop  Forbes, 
says  that  his  '  sense  of  right  amounted  to 
chivalry.'  He  was  a  strict  disciplinarian,  and 
somewhat  over-sensitive  about  his  claims  to 
scientific  reputation  (Life,  p.  467),  but  he 
was  universally  respected,  and  was  beloved 
by  his  intimate  friends.  He  left  a  great  mass 
of  correspondence,  which  is  said  to  be  of 
much  interest,  but  too  much  concerned  with 
personal  controversy  to  be  published  at  pre- 
sent. He  was  an  attached  member  of  the 
episcopal  church  of  Scotland.  Forbes  had 
two  sons,  Edward  Batton  and  George,  and 
three  daughters,  one  of  whom  died  before, 
and  the  others  soon  after  him. 

An  original  experimenter  upon  heat,  Forbes, 
beginning  with  Mellon  i's  thermo-multiplier, 
measured  the  refractive  index  of  rock-salt 
with  heat  from  various  sources,  luminous  and 
non-luminous,  and  was  led  in  early  life  to  his 
most  brilliant  discovery,  viz.  the  polarisation 
of  heat,  by  transmission  through  tourmaline 
and  thin  mica  plates,  and  by  reflection  from 
the  latter.  '  By  employing  mica  for  depo- 
larisation,  he  succeeded  in  showing  the  double 
refraction  of  non-luminous  heat — a  fact  of 
which  this  experiment  remains  the  only  proof. 
He  also  produced  circularly  polarised  heat 
of  two  internal  reflections,  using  Fresnel's 
rhombs  made  of  rock-salt.  He  thus  esta- 


Forbes 


400 


Forbes 


Wished  by  these  researches  the  identity  of 
thermal  and  luminous  radiations.'  Professor 
P.  G.  Tait,  in  his  survey  of  the  scientific  work 
of  Forbes,  observes  that  his  '  discovery  of  the 
polarisation  of  heat  will  certainly  form  an 
epoch  in  the  history  of  natural  philosophy.' 
At  a  later  stage  Forbes  determined  the  ther- 
mal conductivity  of  trap-tufa  sandstone  and 
pure  loose  sand,  and  finally  obtained  quan- 
titative measurements  of  the  absolute  thermal 
conductivity  of  iron  at  various  temperatures, 
and  showed  that  this  is  diminished  (contrary 
to  the  assumption  of  Fourier)  by  increase  of 
temperature,  thus  following  the  known  laws 
of  electrical  conductivity. 

But  Forbes  is  equally  well  known  by  his 
glacier  theory,  which  he  summed  up  in  the 
statement  that '  a  glacier  is  an  imperfect  fluid 
or  viscous  body  which  is  urged  down  slopes  of 
a  certain  inclination  by  the  mutual  pressure 
of  its  parts.'  The  analogy  between  glaciers 
and  viscous  bodies  had  been  vaguely  noticed 
by  previous  observers,  such  as  Bordier  (1773), 
Basil  Hall,  and  especially  Bishop  Rendu  of 
Ann6cy.  Forbes  was  undoubtedly  the  first 
to  obtain  accurate  measurements,  and  to 
establish  a  definite  base  for  future  theories. 
He  was,  as  Professor  Tait  says  (ib.  p.  511), 
'  the  Copernicus  or  Kepler  of  this  science.' 
He  announced  facts,  though  he  did  not  pro- 
perly give  a  physical  theory.  The  facts  were 
sufficient  to  explode  the  so-called  gravitation 
and  dilatation  theories  previously  current,  and 
they  have  been  partly  explained  by  theories 
of  W.  Hopkins,  Faraday,  James  and  Sir 
"William  Thomson,  and  Professor  Tyndall. 
Forbes's  substantial  originality  is  unques- 
tionable, and  Professor  Tyndall  says  that 
his  book  was  '  worth  all  other  books  on  the 
subject  taken  together.'  Some  unfortunate 
discussions  arose  as  to  his  relations  to  other 
inquirers.  His  first  observations  were  made 
.during  a  visit  to  Agassiz's  hut  on  the  lower 
Aar  glacier  in  1841.  Forbes  claimed  to  have 
been  the  first  to  notice  the '  veined  structure' 
in  glaciers,  and  it  seems  that  he  was  cer- 
tainly the  first  to  recognise  its  importance 
and  publish  an  account  of  it.  Professor  Guyot 
of  Neufchatel  had  noticed  it  previously,  but 
his  notes  remained  in  manuscript.  Agassiz 
had  also  apparently  seen  it,  but  without  at- 
taching importance  to  it.  Two  honourable  men 
were  alienated  by  the  discussions  arising  out 
of  this,  and  by  an  alleged  want  of  recognition 
on  Forbes's  part  of  Agassiz's  previous  work. 
Professor  Tyndall,  in  his '  Glaciers  of  the  Alps ' 
(1860),  gave  an  account  of  Rendu's  specula- 
tions, which  Forbes  and  his  friends  considered 
to  attribute  too  much  to  the  earlier  inquirer. 
Forbes  wrote  a  ( reply,'  now  appended  to  his 
'  Life.'  He  had  certainly  himself  called  at- 


tention to  Rendu's  work  in  his  first  book, 
and  Rendu  afterwards  wrote  to  him  in  the 
friendliest  terms,  showing  no  sense  of  injury. 
He  must  be  acquitted  of  any  intentional 
unfairness,  and  may  fairly  claim  to  have 
founded  the  scientific  study  of  the  pheno- 
mena. Full  information  may  be  found  in 
Forbes's  'Life'  and  in  the  papers  there  re- 
ferred to,  with  which  should  be  compared 
Professor  Tyndall's  '  Principal  Forbes  and  his 
Biographers'  (1873).  Forbes's  chief  work, 
'  Travels  through  the  Alps  of  Savoy  and  other 
parts  of  the  Pennine  Chain,  with  Observations 
on  the  Phenomena  of  Glaciers/  appeared  in 
1843.  It  is  the  most  charming,  as  well  as 
most  scientifically  important  of  all  books  of 
Alpine  travel.  A  list  of  149  publications  of 
various  kinds,  chiefly  papers  in  the  '  Proceed- 
ings '  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh,  is  ap- 
pended to  his  'Life,'  besides  which  he  contri- 
buted articles  to  the '  Quarterly,' l  Edinburgh,' 
and  other  reviews  upon  scientific  subjects. 

The  Royal  Society  of  London  awarded  to 
Forbes  the  Rumford  medal  for  his  discovery 
of  the  polarisation  of  heat,  and  the  royal 
medal  for  a  paper  on  the  influence  of  the 
atmosphere  on  the  sun's  rays.  The  Keith 
medal  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh  was 
thrice  presented  to  him,  and  he  occupied  the 
post  of  secretary  to  that  society  from  1840 
till  the  failure  of  his  health  in  1851.  Besides 
being  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Societies  of  Lon- 
don and  Edinburgh,  and  of  the  Geological 
Society,  he  was  corresponding  member  of  the 
Institute  of  France,  and  associate  or  hono- 
rary member  of  the  Bavarian  Academy  of 
Sciences,  of  the  Academy  of  Palermo,  of  the 
Dutch  Society  of  Sciences  (Haarlem),  of  the 
Helvetic  Society,  of  the  Pontifical  Society, 
of  the  Pontifical  Academy  of  Nuovi  Lincei 
at  Rome,  and  of  the  Natural  History  Societies 
of  Heidelberg,  Geneva,  and  Vaud ;  and  ho- 
norary member  of  the  Royal  Medical  Society 
of  Edinburgh,  of  the  Cambridge,  Yorkshire, 
St.  Andrews,  and  Isle  of  Wight  Philosophical 
Societies,  and  of  the  Plymouth  and  Bristol 
Institutions. 

[Forbes's  Life  and  Letters,  by  Principal  Shairp, 
Professor  P.  G.  Tait,  and  A.  Adams-Reilly,  1873 ; 
Professor  Forbes  and  his  Biographers,  by  Pro- 
fessor Tyndall,  1873  ;  Chambers's  Encyclopaedia, 
1874  ;  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  (ninth  ed.),art. 
'Forbes,'  1879;  Waller's  Imperial  Diet.;  Forbes's 
Scientific  Writings.]  G.  B.  S. 

FORBES,  JAMES  OCHONCAR,  seven- 
teenth LORD  FORBES  (1765-1843),  colonel,, 
was  the  eldest  son  of  James,  sixteenth  baron, 
by  Catherine,  only  daughter  of  Sir  Robert 
Innes,bart.,  of  Ortoun.  The  lands  of  Forbes  in 
Aberdeenshire,  still  in  their  possession,  have 
been  held  by  this  ancient  family  since  the 


Forbes 


401 


Forbes 


reign  of  William  the  Lion  (1165-1214). 
Forbes  was  born  17  March  1765.  He  entered 
the  army  as  ensign  in  the  Coldstream  guards 
13  June  1781,  became  lieutenant  and  captain 
21  April  1786,  captain  and  lieutenant-colonel 
23  Aug.  1793,  colonel  3  May  1796,  major- 
general  29  April  1802,  lieutenant-general 
27  March  1808,  and  general  12  Aug.  1819. 
He  served  in  Flanders  with  his  distinguished 
regiment,  and  was  present  in  the  battles  and 
sieges  of  St.  Amand,  Famar,  Valenciennes, 
Dunkirk,  Lincelles,  Tournay,  Vaux,  Gateau, 
Nimeguen,  Fort  St.  Andre,  &c.  He  subse- 
quently accompanied  the  expedition  to  the 
Helder,  and  was  present  in  nearly  every  action 
which  took  place  in  that  campaign.  He  was 
appointed  second  in  command  of  the  troops 
in  the  Mediterranean  in  March  1808,  and  in 
the  same  year  sailed  for  Sicily.  He  was  made 
colonel  of  the  94th  foot  14  April  1809,  of  the 
54th  foot  23  Sept.  1809,  and  of  the  21st  foot 
1  June  1816,  which  he  held  till  his  death. 

Forbes  succeeded  his  father  in  the  title  in 
1804,  and  was  chosen  a  representative  peer 
in  1806.  He  married  at  Crailing,  2  June 
1792,  Elizabeth,  eldest  daughter  and  heiress  of 
Walter  Hunter,  esq. ,  of  Polmood,  in  the  county 
of  Peebles,  and  Orailing,  in  the  county  of 
Roxburgh,  by  the  Lady  Caroline  Mackenzie, 
fourth  daughter  of  George,  earl  of  Cromarty, 
by  whom  he  had  ten  children.  His  eldest 
son,  the  Hon.  James  Forbes,  was  an  officer 
in  the  Coldstream  guards  in  the  Peninsula 
and  at  Waterloo,  but  predeceased  his  father 
in  1835.  Forbes  was  constituted  in  1826 
high  commissioner  of  the  church  of  Scot- 
land. He  died  4  May  1843  at  Bregenz,  on 
the  Lake  of  Constance,  in  his  seventy-ninth 
year,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  second  but 
•eldest  surviving  son,  Walter,  eighteenth  lord 
£ q.  v.]  Forbes  was  a  baronet  of  Nova  Scotia, 
and  a  knight  of  St.  Januarius  of  Sicily. 

[Douglas's  Peerage  of  Scotland;  Colburn's 
United  Service  Mag.  1843,  pt.  ii.  319  ;  Account 
of  Eoyal  Military  Chapel,  Wellington  Barracks, 
1882  ;  private  communications  from  family.] 

E.  H-K. 

FORBES,  JOHN  (1571-1606),  Capuchin 
friar,  known  as  FATHER  ARCHANGEL,  born 
in  Scotland  in  1571,  was  the  second  son  of 
John,  eighth  lord  Forbes,  by  his  first  wife, 
the  Lady  Margaret  Gordon,  eldest  daughter 
of  George  Gordon,  fourth  earl  of  Huntly, 
the  leader  of  the  Scottish  catholics  at  the 
time  of  the  Reformation.  Lord  Forbes  was 
a  protestant,  and  eventually  drove  his  wife 
away  from  his  house  on  account  of  her  con- 
tinued attachment  to  the  ancient  form  of 
religion.  Their  son  John  adhered  to  the  same 
faith,  being  encouraged  to  do  so  by  his  elder 

VOL.   XIX. 


brother  William,  who  had  gone  to  Flanders 
and  joined  the  Capuchin  order,  and  by  his 
uncle,  Father  James  Gordon,  the  celebrated 
Jesuit.  Having  changed  clothes  with  a  shep- 
herd boy,  he  crossed  over  to  Antwerp,  where 
he  was  arrested  by  a  soldier  of  the  Spanish 
army  and  imprisoned  as  a  spy  in  the  citadel. 
On  recovering  his  liberty  he  learned  Flemish 
and  Latin ;  and  on  2  Aug.  1593  he  received 
the  habit  of  a  novice  in  the  Capuchin  monas- 
tery at  Tournay.  On  the  same  day  in  the 
following  year  he  took  the  solemn  vows.  He 
was  remarkable  for  his  zeal  and  piety,  and 
resided  in  succession  in  the  houses  of  his 
order  at  Bruges  and  Antwerp.  It  is  related 
that  at  Dixmude  he  converted  three  hundred 
Scottish  soldiers  to  the  catholic  religion.  His 
mother  ultimately  went  to  Flanders,  and  a 
pension  was  granted  to  her  by  the  king  of 
Spain.  She  died  at  Ghent  on  1  Jan.  1605-6, 
and  her  son  John  survived  her  only  seven 
months,  dying  on  2  Aug.  1606.  He  was 
buried  in  the  nave  of  the  Capuchin  Church 
at  Termonde.  He  and  his  brother  William, 
also  called  in  religion  Father  Archangel 
(who  died  21  March  1591-2),  are  regarded 
as  distinguished  ornaments  of  the  Capuchin 
branch  of  the  Franciscan  order. 

The  life  of  John  Forbes  was  written  in 
Latin  by  Father  Faustinus  Cranius  of  Diest, 
under  the  title  of  f  Alter  Alexius,  natione 
Scotus,  nobili  familia  oriundus,  nuper  in 
Belgium  felici  S.  Spiritus  afflatu  delatus,  et 
infamiliam  Seraphici  Patris  S.  Francisci  Cap- 
pucinorum  adscriptus,  sub  nomine  F.  Arch- 
angeli,'  Cologne,  1620,  12mo.  It  was  trans- 
lated into  Italian  under  the  title  of '  Narrativa 
della  Vita  d'un  Figlio  et  d'una  Madre,'  Mo- 
dena,  1634,  4to.  An  English  version,  with 
Forbes's  portrait  prefixed,  engraved  by  J. 
Picart,  was  printed  at  Douay,  1623,  8vo,  to- 
gether with  a  memoir  of  Father  Benedict 
Canfield  [q.  v.],  and  <  The  Life  of  the  Re- 
verend Fa.  Angel  of  loyevse,  Capvchin 
Preacher.'  These  three  biographies  had  pre- 
viously appeared  in  French  at  Paris  in  1621. 

[Life  by  Faustinus  Cranius ;  Harl.  MS.  7035, 
pp.  182-7;  Oliver's  Jesuit  Collections,  p.  22; 
Nichols's  Illustr.  of  Lit.  vii.  550;  Granger's 
Biog.  Hist,  of  England,  5th  edit.  ii.  82 ;  Douglas 
and  Wood's  Peerage  of  Scotland,  i.  593 ;  Evans's 
Cat.  of  Engraved  Portraits,  No.  15985;  Notes 
and  Queries,  3rd  ser.  xi.  455;  The  Brothers 
Archangel,  by  an  English  Catholic,  Lond.  1872; 
Michel's  Les  Ecossais  en  France,  ii.  276.]  T.  C. 

FORBES,  JOHN  (1568  P-1634),  minister 
of  Alford,  Aberdeenshire,  was  the  third  son 
of  William  Forbes  of  Corse,  Aberdeenshire, 
whose  ancestor,  a  son  of  the  second  Lord 
Forbes,  received  Corse  and  other  lands  from 
James  III,  to  whom  he  was  armour-bearer. 

D  D 


Forbes 


402 


Forbes 


William  Forbes,  an  early  adherent  of  the 
Reformation,  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Alexander  Strachan  of  Thornton.  Of  their 
sons,  Patrick, the  eldest  [q.v.], became  bishop 
of  Aberdeen,  William,  the  second,  founded 
the  family  of  Craigievar,  and  Arthur  [q.  v.], 
the  fourth,  that  of  the  Earls  of  Granard  in 
Ireland.  John  was  born  about  1568,  edu- 
cated at  the  university  of  St.  Andrews,  where 
he  took  the  degree  of  M.A.  in  1583,  and  was 
ordained  minister  of  Alford  in  1593.  He 
soon  rose  to  distinction  in  the  church,  and 
when  the  proceedings  of  the  synods  of  Aber- 
deen and  Moray  against  the  Marquis  of 
Huntly — the  pillar  of  Romanism  in  the  north 
— were  interfered  with  by  the  privy  council, 
he  was  sent  by  them  to  London  to  seek 
redress  from  the  king.  In  their  letter  to 
James  they  state  that  Forbes  had  been  spe- 
cially chosen  because  of  'his  fidelity  and 
uprightness,  and  his  sincere  affection  borne 
to  the  kingdom  of  God,  his  majesty's  ser- 
vice and  peace  of  the  land.'  He  went  to 
court  in  March  1605,  was  graciously  received 
by  the  king,  and  succeeded  in  the  object  of 
his  mission.  In  July  following  he  was  ap- 
pointed moderator  of  the  Aberdeen  assem- 
bly, which  was  held  contrary  to  the  king's 
orders  ;  and  when  he  and  others  were  sum- 
moned before  the  privy  council  to  answer  for 
their  disobedience,  they  declined  its  juris- 
diction, as  the  matter  was  spiritual,  and 
offered  to  submit  their  conduct  to  the  judg- 
ment of  the  church.  For  this  Forbes  and 
five  others  were  imprisoned  in  Blackness, 
tried  for  high  treason,  found  guilty  by  a 
packed  jury,  and  banished  from  the  king's 
dominions  for  life.  After  taking  an  affecting 
farewell  of  their  friends  the  exiles  sailed  from 
Leith  for  Bordeaux  7  Nov.  1606.  On  reach- 
ing France  Forbes  visited  Boyd  of  Trochrig 
at  Saumur,  and  then  went  to  Sedan.  For 
some  years  he  appears  to  have  travelled  much, 
visiting  the  reformed  churches  and  univer- 
sities, in  which  many  of  his  countrymen  then 
held  professorships.  In  1611  he  was  settled 
as  pastor  of  a  British  congregation  at  Middel- 
burg,  and  in  the  following  year  he  and  his 
brother  Arthur,  then  an  officer  in  the  Swedish 
service,  spent  several  weeks  at  Sedan  with 
their  kinsman,  Andrew  Melville.  Soon  after 
this  he  was  offered  release  from  banishment 
on  conditions  which  he  could  not  accept.  In 
1616  he  was  in  London  for  several  months, 
and  saw  the  king,  who  promised  to  revoke 
his  sentence  of  exile,  but  the  promise  was  not 
fulfilled.  After  a  ministry  of  ten  years  at 
Middelburg,  where  he  was  greatly  respected, 
he  became  pastor  of  the  British  church  at 
Delft.  In  1628  Charles  I,  influenced  by  Laud, 
began  to  interfere  with  the  worship  and  dis- 


cipline of  the  English  and  Scots  churches  in 
the  Netherlands,  and  Forbes  was  ultimately 
removed  from  his  charge.  He  died  in  1634, 
aged  about  sixty-six.  He  was  held  in  honour 
by  the  reformed  churches  abroad  for  his  cha- 
racter, talents,  and  learning,  and  was  revered 
by  many  of  his  own  countrymen  as  one  who 
had  suffered  for  righteousness'  sake.  He 
married  Christian,  daughter  of  Barclay  of 
Mathers.  Two  of  his  sons  were  colonels  in 
the  Dutch  service,  one  of  whom  afterwards 
fought  on  the  side  of  the  covenanters,  a  third, 
Patrick  (1611  ?-l  680)  [q.  v.],  became  bishop  of 
Caithness,  and  a  fourth  minister  of  Abercorn. 
His  three  daughters  married  in  Scotland. 

He  was  the  author  of  the  following :  1 .  *  The 
Saint's  Hope,  and  infallibleness  thereof/ 
Middelburg,  1608.  2.  Two  sermons,  Middel- 
burg, 1608.  3.  'A  Treatise  tending  to  the  clear- 
ing of  Justification,'  Middelburg,  1616.  4. l  A 
Treatise  how  God's  Spirit  may  be  discerned 
from  Man's  own  Spirit,'  London,  1617.  5.  Four 
sermons  on  1  Tim.  vi.  13-16,  1635.  6.  A 
sermon  on  2  Tim.  ii.  4,  Delft,  1642.  7.  <  Cer- 
tain Records  touching  the  Estate  of  the  Kirk 
in  1605  and  1606,'  Edinb.  Wodrow  Soc.  1846. 

[Scott's  Fasti ;  Lumsden's  House  of  Forbes  ; 
Life  by  Laing  prefixed  to  Certain  Records,  &c. ; 
Young's  Life  of  Welsh  ;  Wodrow  MSS.  in  Libr. 
of  Grlasg.  Univ. ;  Calderwood's  Hist. ;  J.  Mel- 
ville's Autob. ;  M'Crie's  Life  of  A.  Melville.] 

G-.  W.  S.    , 

FORBES,  JOHN  (1593-1648),  of  Corse, 
professor  of  divinity,  second  son  of  Patrick 
Forbes  of  Corse,  bishop  of  Aberdeen  [q.  v.],  and 
Lucretia,  daughter  of  David  Spens  of  Wor- 
miston,  Fifeshire,  was  born  on  2  May  1593, 
and  entered  King's  College,  Aberdeen,  in  1607. 
In  1612  he  visited  his  exiled  uncle  at  Middel- 
burg, and  then  passed  to  the  university  of 
Heidelberg.  There  he  studied  theology  under 
the  care  of  David  Pareus,  and  made  good 
use  of  the  famous  library,  rich  in  Eastern 
manuscripts,  for  which  the  university  was 
celebrated.  He  remained  there  till  1615, 
when  he  removed  to  Sedan,  and  continued 
his  studies  under  his  kinsman  and  hereditary 
friend  Andrew  Melville.  He  afterwards  spent 
some  time  at  other  foreign  universities,  and 
was  ordained  at  Middelburg  in  April  1619, 
by  his  uncle,  John  Forbes  (1568  P-1634), 
[q.  v.],  and  other  presbyters.  He  married 
about  this  time  a  Middelburg  lady,  Soete 
Roosboom,  and  returned  the  same  year  to 
Aberdeen,  of  which  his  father  was  then 
bishop.  In  1620  he  was  appointed  by  the 
synod  professor  of  divinity  in  King's  College, 
a  post  for  which  he  was  pre-eminently  quali- 
fied by  his  talents  and  character,  his  classi- 
cal and  Hebrew  scholarship,  and  his  profound 
acquaintance  with  the  history  and  literature 


Forbes 


403 


Forbes 


of  the  Christian  church.  His  course  of  lec- 
tures comprehended  the  history  of  doctrine, 
moral  theology  as  based  on  the  Decalogue, 
and  the  duties  of  the  pastoral  office.  His 
first  publication,  '  Irenicum  Amatoribus  Ve- 
ritatis  et  Pacis  in  Ecclesia  Scoticana,'  Aber- 
deen, 1629,  was  highly  commended  by  Arch- 
bishop Ussher.  In  this  work  he  defends 
with  great  learning  and  moderation  the  law- 
fulness of  episcopacy,  and  of  the  innovations 
in  worship  allowed  by  the  synod  of  Perth  in 
1618.  On  his  father's  death  in  1635  he  suc- 
ceeded to  the  estate  of  Corse,  his  elder  brother 
having  predeceased  him.  He  contributed  a 
Latin  sermon,  a  'Dissertatio  de  Visione  Beati- 
fica,'  and  Latin  verses  to  the  bishop's  *  Fune- 
rals,' and  probably  supervised  the  whole  col- 
lection. In  February  1637  he  took  some  part 
in  furthering  Dime's  plans  for  uniting  the 
reformed  and  Lutheran  churches.  Charles  I's 
measures  for  remodelling  the  church  of  Scot- 
land provoked  religious  strife  and  the  sign- 
ing of  the  national  covenant  by  multitudes. 
Forbes,  though  he  deplored  the  action  of  the 
king,  considered  the  covenant  an  unlawful 


Subjects  in  Scotland.'  In  July  following 
the  Earl  of  Montrose,  Henderson,  and  other 
covenanting  leaders,  lay  and  clerical,  visited 
Aberdeen  to  make  converts  to  their  cause. 
Forbes  and  five  other  doctors  of  divinity  put 
into  their  hands  a  paper  containing  queries 
concerning  the  covenant,  and  a  famous  dis- 
cussion followed,  which  was  conducted  in 
writing.  The  doctors  argued  against  the 
covenant  as  unlawful  in  itself,  and  as  abjur- 
ing episcopacy  and  Perth  articles,  to  which 
they  had  sworn  obedience  at  their  ordination. 
In  1639  subscription  was  made  compulsory. 
Great  efforts  were  made  to  induce  Forbes  to 
sign.  The  covenanters  acknowledged  his 
orthodoxy  and  high  Christian  character,  and 
delayed  proceedings  in  his  case  in  the  hope 
of  his  submission.  After  much  perplexity 
he  gave  his  final  answer,  that  he  could  not 
profess  what  his  conscience  condemned,  and 
he  was  thereupon  deprived  of  his  chair,  and 
forced  to  leave  the  official  residence,  which 
he  had  himself  given  to  the  university.  The 
synod  of  Aberdeen  petitioned  the  general  as- 
sembly to  allow  him  to  continue  his  profes- 
sorial duties  without  taking  the  covenant, 
but  this  was  refused.  He  made  no  separa- 
tion from  the  church,  now  presbyterian,  but 
attended  its  services  and  received  the  com- 
munion as  formerly.  At  the  time  of  his  or- 
dination he  probably  preferred  presbytery, 
but  his  mature  views  on  the  subject  were 
'  that  episcopacy  is  legitimate  and  agreeable 
to  the  word  of  God,  that  in  churches  governed 


by  the  common  council  of  presbyters  there  is 
a  defect,  but  that  it  is  not  essential,  and  does 
not  destroy  the  nature  of  the  church,  nor 
j  abrogate  the  right  of  ordination  and  juris- 
j  diction,'  In  1643  the  solemn  league  and 
covenant  was  sanctioned  by  the  assembly  and 
parliament,  and  all  adults  were  ordered  to 
j  swear  it  on  pain  of  confiscation,  and  of  being 
I  declared  enemies  to  God,  king,  and  country. 
For  Forbes,  who  thought  the  solemn  league 
vastly  more  objectionable  than  the  national 
covenant,  obedience  was  out  of  the  question, 
and  to  escape  prosecution  he  sailed  for  Camp- 
vere  5  April  1644,  with  his  son  George,  the 
sole  survivor  of  nine  children  borne  him  by 
Soete  Roosboom,  who  had  died  in  1640.  He 
visited  the  chief  towns  in  the  Netherlands, 
but  made  his  headquarters  at  Amsterdam, 
where  he  prepared  for  the  press  his  great  work, 
'  Instructiones  Historico-Theologicae  de  Doc- 
trina  Christiana,  et  vario  rerum  statu,  ortisque 
erroribus  et  controversiis,  jam  inde  a  tempo- 
ribus  Apostolicis  ad  tempora  usque  seculi  de- 
cimi-septimi  priora,'  Amsterdam,  1645.  This 
work  received  the  imprimatur  of  foreign  di- 
vines and  theological  faculties,  and  gained 
him  the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  greatest 
theologians  of  the  reformed  church.  Burnet 
says  of  him  that  he  was  '  perhaps  inferior  to 
no  man  of  his  age,'  and  of  this  work  that  '  if 
he  had  been  suffered  to  enjoy  the  privacies  of 
his  retirement  and  study  to  give  us  the  second 
volume,  it  had  been  the  greatest  treasure  of 
theological  learning  that  perhaps  the  world 
has  yet  seen'  (Pref.  to  Life  of  Bedell).  In 
Holland  Forbes  preached  frequently  in  the 
Scots  and  English  churches,  and  often  joined 
in  the  Dutch  and  French  services,  receiving 

portunity.  He  returned  to  Aberdeen  in  July 
1646,  and  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life  in 
seclusion  at  Corse.  He  died  29  April  1648, 
and  was  buried  in  the  churchyard  of  Leochel. 
He  had  lived  an  eminently  devout  and  Chris- 
tian life,  and  was  emphatically  '  a  lover  of 
truth  and  peace.'  His  '  Diary,'  or  '  Spiritual 
Exercises,'  kept  from  3  Feb.  1624  till  the 
end  of  1647,  reveals  throughout  the  character 
of  a  saint.  He  was  small  in  stature,  of  a  dark 
complexion,  studied  standing,  and  when  at 
Aberdeen  sought  recreation  in  the  game  of 
golf.  His  son  George  married  a  daughter  of 
Kennedy  of  Kermuck.  A  second  edition  of 
the  '  Instructiones '  was  published  at  Geneva 
in  1680,  and  in  1702-3  his  whole  Latin 
works  were  printed  at  Amsterdam  in  two 
folio  volumes.  This  edition  contains  a  Latin 
translation  of  the  diary,  posthumous  trea- 
tises on  moral  theology  and  the  '  Pastoral 
Care,'  and  his  previously  printed  works,  with 
additions  and  corrections  from  his  manu- 

D  D  2 


Forbes 


404 


Forbes 


scripts.  The  original  English  copy  of  the 
'  Diary '  is  preserved  at  Fintray  House  by 
his  representatives  and  has  never  been  pub- 
lished. 

[Life  by  Dr.  Garden,  prefixed  to  his  Works ; 
Irving's  Lives  of  Scottish  Writers;  Bishop 
Forbes's  Funerals  (Spottiswoode  Society,  Edin- 
burgh), 1845.]  G.  W.  S. 

FORBES,  JOHN  (1714-1796),  admiral 
of  the  fleet,  second  son  of  George,  third  earl 
of  Granard  [q.  v.],  was  born  in  Minorca  on 
17  July  1714,  and  first  went  to  sea  in  May 
1726,  on  board  the  Burford,  commanded 
by  his  uncle,  the  Hon.  Charles  Stewart,  in 
the  Mediterranean.  In  1729  he  followed 
Stewart  to  the  Lion,  went  out  with  him  to 
the  West  Indies,  and  was  made  a  lieutenant 
by  him  in  1731.  He  afterwards  served  in 
that  rank  on  board  the  Britannia,  with  Sir 
John  Norris,  at  Lisbon,  and  in  1737  was 
promoted  by  him  to  be  captain  of  the  Poole. 
In  1738  he  commanded  the  Port  Mahon  on 
the  Irish  station;  in  1739  commanded  the 
Severn  of  50  guns  in  the  Channel ;  in  1740 
was  moved  into  the  Tiger ;  and  in  1741  into 
the  Guernsey,  in  which  he  went  out  to  the 
Mediterranean.  In  1742  he  was  appointed  by 
Admiral  Mathews  to  the  Norfolk  of  80  guns, 
in  which  ship  he  took  an  honourable  part  in 
the  ill-managed  action  off  Toulon  on  11  Feb. 
1743-4.  In  September  1745, '  there  being  no 
appearance  of  service  in  the  Mediterranean, 
he  quitted  the  fleet  and  returned  by  land  to 
England  to  take  care  of  his  health  that  was 
very  much  impaired '  (Memoirs  of  the  Earls 
of  Granard,  p.  173).  In  the  following  year 
he  was  a  witness  at  the  court-martial  on 
Vice-admiral  Lestock,  against  whom  his  tes- 
timony bore  heavily ;  and  in  1747,  being  pro- 
moted to  be  rear-admiral  of  the  blue,  he  went 
out  overland  '  through  Germany  and  Italy  to 
serve  in  the  fleet  in  the  Mediterranean  under 
Vice-admiral  Byng.'  In  1749  he  was  left 
commander-in-chief  in  the  Mediterranean  ; 
and  in  1754,  •  being  then  at  the  German  Spa, 
he  was  offered  the  command  of  the  squadron 
preparing  for  the  East  Indies  ;  but  his  health 
being  very  imperfect  he  thought  it  his  duty  to 
decline  the  service '  (ib.  p.  174)  ;  and  for  the 
same  reason  he  refused  the  government  of 
New  York.  He  was  still  in  feeble  health  in 
1755  when  war  with  France  again  broke  out ; 
and,  being  unable  to  serve  at  sea,  he  accepted, 
in  December  1756,  a  seat  at  the  admiralty, 
which,  with  the  exception  of  two  months  in 
1767,  he  occupied  till  April  1763.  His  name  is, 
perhaps,  now  best  known  for  his  honest  and 
sturdy,  though  curiously  illogical,  refusal  to 
sign  the  warrant  for  the  execution  of  Admiral 
Byng.  In  consequence  of  this  disagreement 


with  his  colleagues  Forbes  retired  from  the 
board  on  6  April,  but  was  reappointed  on 
29  June  1757.  In  1755  he  had  been  pro- 
moted to  the  rank  of  vice-admiral,  and  in 
January  1758  to  be  admiral  of  the  blue.  On 
quitting  the  admiralty  in  1763  he  was  ap- 
pointed general  of  marines.  In  1751  he  had 
been  returned  to  the  Irish  parliament  as 
member  for  the  borough  of  St.  Johnstown  ; 
he  was  now  in  1764  returned  for  Mullingar. 
*  He  consented  to  these  returns,  the  first  time 
to  preserve  peace  in  the  county,  and  the 
second,  to  support  family  interest;  for  he 
was  ever  disinclined  to  be  in  parliament,  and 
therefore  made  it  a  condition  when  he  ac- 
cepted a  place  at  the  admiralty  board  that 
he  should  not  be  brought  into  the  British 
parliament'  (ib.  p.  175).  From  this  time  he 
took  no  active  part  in  public  business,  though 
he  is  said  to  have  been  frequently  consulted 
on  naval  affairs.  He  describes  himself  as 
spending  much  time  in  reading,  his  wretched 
health  permitting  him  little  other  solace ; 
he,  however,  wrote  a '  Memoir  of  the  Earls  of 
Granard,'  the  manuscript  of  which,  dated  in 
1770,  was  published  by  the  Earl  of  Granard 
in  1868.  In  1770  he  was  made  admiral  of 
the  white  ;  and  on  the  death  of  Lord  Hawke 
in  1781  was  advanced  to  the  high  rank  of 
admiral  of  the  fleet,  which  he  held  till  his1 
death  on  10  March  1796.  A  story  is  told — 
but  with  a  suspicious  want  of  detail — that 
the  government  (at  some  unfixed  date),  being 
desirous  of  conferring  the  generalship  of  ma- 
rines on  { a  noble  lord,  very  high  in  the  naval 
profession,  and  very  deservedly  a  favourite 
of  his  sovereign  and  his  country,'  offered 
Forbes  a  pension  of  3,000/.  a  year  and  a 
peerage  to  descend  to  his  daughter,  in  com- 
pensation for  the  resignation  which  they  re- 
quested ;  but  that  Forbes  refused,  saying  that 
the  generalship  of  marines  was  a  military 
employment,  and  that  he  would  not  accept 
of  a  pension  nor  bargain  for  a  peerage ;  but 
would  lay  the  generalship  of  marines  and  his 
rank  in  the  navy  at  the  king's  feet, '  entreat- 
ing him  to  take  both  away,  if  they  could  for- 
ward his  service '  (Gent.  Mag. vol.  Ixvi.  pt.  i. 
p.  260).  It  is  difficult  to  see  the  peculiar 
nobility  of  refusing  to  accept  a  pension  in 
lieu  of  a  sinecure.  And  if  this  had  been  a 
military  employment  the  case  would  have 
been  even  worse  ;  since,  as  we  are  told,  '  for 
the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life  he  was  never 
able  to  stand ;  nor  could  he  scarce  turn  him- 
self in  bed  without  assistance,  being  lame  in 
both  hands  and  feet.  He  was  a  singular  in- 
stance of  longevity  accompanied  by  so  much 
infirmity'  (ib.}  His  portrait  by  Komney, 
now  in  the  Painted  Hall  at  Greenwich  (to 
which-it  was  given  by  his  daughters),  corro- 


Forbes 


405 


Forbes 


berates  this  miserable  account.  It  shows 
the  face  of  a  man  not  yet  old,  but  worn  and 
pinched. 

Forbes  married,  in  1758,  Lady  Mary  Capel, 
daughter  of  William,  third  earl  of  Essex, 
and  by  her  had  two  daughters,  twins ;  one 
of  whom,  Catherine  Elizabeth,  married  the 
Hon.  William  Wellesley-Pole,  afterwards 
third  Earl  of  Mornington ;  the  other,  Maria 
Elinor,  married  the  Hon.  John  Charles  Vil- 
liers,  afterwards  third  Earl  of  Clarendon. 

[Memoirs  of  the  Earls  of  Granard  ;  Cbarnock's 
Biog.  Nav.  iv.  338  ;  Naval  Chronicle,  xxv.  265, 
with  an  engraving  of  Komney's  portrait ;  Gent. 
Mag.  1796,  vol.  Ixvi.  pt.  i.  p.  260.]  J.  K.  L. 

FORBES,  JOHN  (1733-1808),  of  Ske- 
later,  usually  known  as  FOKBES-SKELATEK, 
general  in  the  Portuguese  service,  was  the 
only  son  of  Patrick  Forbes  of  Skelater  in 
Aberdeenshire,  a  branch  of  the  Forbes  of 
Corse.  He  entered  the  army  when  a  boy  of 
fifteen  as  a  volunteer  at  the  siege  of  Maes- 
tricht,  and  was  successful  in  winning  a  com- 
mission. He  was  essentially  a  soldier  of 
fortune,  and  when  Portugal  applied  to  Eng- 
land for  officers  to  reorganise  her  army  under 
the  Count  of  Lippe  Buckeburg,  he  was  one 
of  the  first  to  volunteer.  Forbes  remained  in 
Portugal  after  the  termination  of  the  seven 
years'  war;  and  as  he  was  a  catholic  and 
had  married  a  Portuguese  lady,  he  had  no 
difficulty  in  getting  employment.  He  acted 
for  many  years  as  adjutant-general  of  the 
Portuguese  army,  but  at  last,  in  1789,  he 
was  asked  to  resign,  owing  to  the  jealousy 
of  the  Portuguese  officers,  and  was  made  a 
knight  of  the  order  of  Aviz,  and  promoted 
general.  When  Portugal  decided  to  join  the 
war  against  the  French  revolution,  a  corps 
was  sent  to  assist  the  Spanish  army  in  Rous- 
sillon,  under  the  command  of  Forbes.  The 
Portuguese  soldiers  behaved  well,  but  the 
commanders  of  the  Spanish  army  were  always 
at  variance,  and  Forbes  himself  had  much 
trouble  with  his  adjutant-general,  Gomes 
Freire  de  Andrade.  In  the  result  the  French 
republicans  utterly  defeated  the  combined 
Spanish-Portuguese  army,  and  Forbes  re- 
turned to  Portugal  with  his  corps.  He  was 
too  old  to  seek  further  active  service,  so  he 
went  to  Brazil  with  the  Queen  Maria  Pia,  the 
prince  regent,  and  the  court  when  they  fled 
before  Junot,  and  on  arrival  there  he  was 
appointed  governor  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  in 
which  city  he  died  on  8  April  1808. 

[Gent.  Mag.  September  1808;  Diego  deLemos's 
Historia  de  Portugal.]  H.  M.  S. 

FORBES,  JOHN,  M.D.  (1799-1823),  bo- 
tanist, was  born  in  1799,  and  became  a  pupil 
of  Shepherd  of  the  Liverpool  botanic  garden. 


The  Horticultural  Society  despatched  him  to 
the  east  coast  of  tropical  Africa,  and  for  this 
he  left  London  in  February  1822,  in  the  expe- 
dition commanded  by  Captain  William  Owen. 
He  sent  home  some  considerable  collections 
from  Madeira,  Rio,  the  Cape,  and  Madagascar, 
after  which  he  determined  to  march  up  the 
Zambesi  to  the  Portuguese  station  Zumbo, 
three  hundred  leagues  from  the  mouth  of  the 
river,  and  thence  southwards  to  the  Cape, 
but  he  succumbed  to  fatigue  and  privation 
at  Senna,  in  August  1823,  before  accomplish- 
ing half  the  distance.  The  genus  Forbesia, 
Eckl.,  commemorates  the  unfortunate  col- 
lector. 

[Revue  Encyc.  xii.  574  ;  Nouvelle  Biographie 
Generale,  xviii.  146;  Lasegue'sMuseeBot.Deless. 
p.  376.]  B.  D.  J. 

FORBES,  SIE  JOHN  (1787-1861),  phy- 
sician, fourth  son  of  Alexander  Forbes,  was 
born  in  December  1787  at  Cuttlebrae,  Banff- 
shire,  N.B.  In  1799  he  went  to  the  academy 
of  Fordyce,  where  he  passed  three  years. 
Here  he  was  a  schoolfellow  of  Sir  James 
Clark  [q.  v.],  with  whom  he  formed  a  life- 
long friendship.  Having  obtained  a  bursary 
to  the  grammar  school  at  Aberdeen,  he  pro- 
ceeded thither  in  1802,  and  in  the  following 
year  entered  Marischal  College,  where  he  re- 
mained till  1806.  He  then  went  to  Edin- 
burgh, and  took  the  diploma  of  surgery,  and 
entered  the  navy  as  assistant-surgeon  in  1807. 
He  used  to  mention  that  he  came  up  to  Lon- 
don by  a  Leith  smack,  and  was  fourteen  days 
on  the  passage,  and  that  he  spent  three  more 
days  and  nights  on  the  journey  to  join  his 
ship  at  Plymouth.  He  served  chiefly  in  the 
North  Sea  and  in  the  West  Indies,  and  re- 
mained in  the  navy  till  the  reduction  in  1816, 
when  he  was  placed  on  half-pay.  He  then  re- 
turned to  study  in  Edinburgh,  and  graduated 
there  as  M.D.  in  1817.  His  inaugural  disser- 
tation. '  De  Mentis  Exercitatione  et  Felici- 
tate exinde  derivanda,'  was  characteristic  of 
the  man,  and  served  as  the  basis  of  a  little 
work  published  many  years  afterwards,  '  Of 
Happiness  in  its  Relation  to  Work  and 
Knowledge,'  1850.  He  settled  as  a  physician 
at  Penzance,  where  he  succeeded  Dr.  J.  A. 
Paris  [q.  v.],  who  had  recently  removed  to 
London.  Here  he  remained  about  five  years, 
and  during  the  greater  part  of  this  time  de- 
voted himself  chiefly  to  meteorological  and 
geological  pursuits,  the  results  of  which  were 
his  '  Observations  on  the  Climate  of  Pen- 
zance' (1821)  and  two  elaborate  papers  in 
the  '  Transactions  of  the  Provincial  Medical 
and  Surgical  Association  '  (vol.  ii.  1834,  vol. 
iv.  1836)  on  <  The  Medical  Topography  of  the 
Hundred  of  Penwith,  comprising  the  Dis- 


Forbes 


406 


Forbes 


trict  of  the  Landsend  in  Cornwall.'  In  1820 
he  married  a  daughter  of  John  Burgh,  esq., 
H.E.I.C.,  who  died  in  1851,  and  by  whom  he 
had  one  son,  who  survived  him.  In  1822  he 
removed  to  Chichester,  as  successor  to  Dr. 
(afterwards  Sir  William)  Burnett  [q.  v.],  who 
had  recently  removed  to  London.  Here  he 
had  for  about  a  year  a  rival  in  Dr.  John 
Conolly  [q.  v.],  but  as  there  was  not  room 
for  two  physicians  Conolly  left  the  place,  con- 
tinuing, however,  to  be  his  intimate  friend 
and  literary  co-operator.  Forbes  had  a  good 
practice  at  Chichester,  amounting  frequently 
to  1,500/.  a  year,  and  was  very  popular, 
both  as  a  man  and  as  a  physician.  He 
was  an  active  supporter  of  the  charitable, 
scientific,  and  literary  institutions  of  the 
place,  and  especially  was  mainly  instrumen- 
tal in  founding  the  infirmary  in  1827,  which 
was  the  first  general  hospital  established  in 
the  county.  His  principal  professional  works 
were  undertaken  and  partly  completed  at 
Chichester.  He  had  in  1821  published  a 
translation  of  Laennec's  great  work  on  '  Me- 
diate Auscultation,'  with  the  description  of 
the  newly  invented  stethoscope.  Forbes  exe- 
cuted his  translation  well,  and  it  reached  a 
fifth  edition  in  1838 ;  but  it  is  chiefly  credit- 
able to  him  as  showing  how  much  he  was 
in  advance  of  most  of  the  physicians  of  the 
day,  by  many  of  whom  Laennec's  great  dis- 
covery was  treated  with  contempt  and  ridi- 
cule. It  is  curious,  after  the  lapse  of  nearly 
seventy  years,  to  see  how  entirely  Forbes's 
anticipations  (as  expressed  in  his  preface) 
have  been  falsified  by  the  result,  but  only 
because  the  instrument  has  obtained  a  suc- 
cess so  far  exceeding  his  most  sanguine  expec- 
tations. Although  certain  that  the  stetho- 
scope will  be  acknowledged  to  be  one  of  the 
greatest  discoveries  in  medicine,  he  doubts 
whether  it  will  ever  come  into  general  use. 
In  1824  he  followed  up  the  subject  by  a  trans- 
lation of  Auenbrugger's  remarkable  work, 
'  Inventum  novum  ex  Percussione  Thoracis 
Humani  ut  signo  abstrusos  interni  pectoris 
morbos  detegendi '  (Vienna,  1761),  which  was 
comparatively  unknown  in  England.  He 
addecl  to  the  translation  some*  Original  Cases 
.  .  .  illustrating  the  Use  of  the  Stethoscope 
and  Percussion  in  the  Diagnosis  of  Diseases 
of  the  Chest.'  He  next  undertook,  in  con- 
j  unction  with  Drs.  Tweedie  and  John  Conolly, 
the '  Cyclopaedia  of  Practical  Medicine,'  which 
was  begun  in  1832,  issued  in  parts  with  re- 
markable regularity,  and  finished  in  four  large 
octavo  volumes  in  1835.  It  was  the  work 
of  sixty-seven  writers,  including  some  of  the 
most  eminent  physicians  of  the  day.  Forbes 
himself  was  said  to  be '  the  life  of  the  work,' 
and  contributed  to  it  several  excellent  ar- 


ticles, besides  a '  Select  Medical  Bibliography,' 
which  was  afterwards  published  in  a  separate 
form  (1835).  When  this  great  work  was 
nearly  completed,  Forbes  planned  a  continua- 
tion, with  improvements,  of  the  '  Medical 
Quarterly  Review,'  in  hopes  of  supplying  the 
profession  with  a  journal  of  a  higher  critical 
and  scientific  character  than  was  then  in 
existence.  He  induced  many  of  the  writers 
in  the  '  Cyclopaedia '  to  contribute  articles  to 
the  '  British  and  Foreign  Medical  Review ' 
from  the  beginning,  and  John  Conolly's  name 
appeared  with  his  own  in  the  title-page  of 
the  first  seven  volumes.  The  numbers  ap- 
peared quarterly ;  the  first  was  published  in 
January  1836.  For  four  years  Forbes  con- 
tinued to  reside  at  Chichester,  but  in  1840 
he  removed  to  London,  chiefly  with  the  ob- 
ject of  improving  the  '  Review.'  This  move 
no  doubt  entailed  upon  him  a  considerable 
pecuniary  loss,  for  he  could  never  expect  at 
the  age  of  fifty-three  (even  though,  through 
the  influence  of  his  friend,  Sir  James  Clark, 
he  was  appointed  physician  to  the  queen's 
household)  to  obtain  a  London  practice  equal 
to  what  he  had  enjoyed  at  Chichester.  But 
he  was  at  this  time  entirely  engrossed  in  the 
1  Review/  the  establishment  of  which  was 
indeed  a  great  event  both  in  his  own  life 
and  also  in  medical  literature.  It  soon  be- 
came the  leading  medical  journal  in  this 
country,  and  its  reputation  spread  not  only 
all  over  Europe  but  also  in  America,  where 
it  was  reprinted.  It  continued  in  existence 
for  twelve  years,  and  was  at  last  terminated 
by  himself  when  the  circulation  began  to 
fall  off  continuously.  In  the  last  number 
(October  1847)  he  gives  a  very  interesting 
history  of  the  '  Review '  from  its  beginning, 
from  which  it  appears  that,  though  it  was 
for  about  eight  years  self-supporting,  yet 
altogether  he  lost'  about  500/.  by  the  under- 
taking. Notwithstanding  this  he  completed 
the  work  by  the  addition  of  an  excellent  index, 
which  entailed  upon  him  a  considerable  ex- 
pense. This  he  dedicated  to  264  old  contri- 
butors, friends,  and  readers,  who  had  com- 
bined to  present  him  with  a  memorial  of 
their  approval  and  esteem  in  reference  to 
his  management  of  the  '  Review.'  The  cir- 
culation of  the  ' Review'  was  never  so  large 
as  had  been  reached  in  former  years  by 
its  rival,  Johnson's  ( Medico-Chirurgical  Re- 
view,' and  its  discontinuance  was  no  doubt 
connected  with  the  offence  taken  by  the  pro- 
fession at  his  article  (January  1846)  entitled 
'Homoeopathy,  Allopathy,  and  "Young  Phy- 
sic."' The  article  was  probably  much  mis- 
understood, and  the  outcry  swelled  by  writers 
who  had  been  personally  aggrieved  by  other 
articles  in  the  *  Review.'  But  it  is  admitted, 


Forbes 


407 


Forbes 


even  by  his  admirers  (including  the  late 
Edmund  Parkes),  that  he  was  carried  too 
far  by  his  love  of  fairness  in  approving  what 
could  only  be  accepted  by  professed  homoeo- 
pathists,  though  he  denounced  some  of  the 
absurdities  of  Bahnemann's  system.  The 
article  undoubtedly  did  good  in  helping  to 
prove  that  far  too  much  medicine  was  habitu- 
ally given  to  patients.  When  Forbes  gave 
up  the  '  Review '  it  was  amalgamated  with 
Johnson's,  under  the  title  of  '  The  British  and 
Foreign  Medico-Chirurgical  Review,'  and 
continued  on  the  same  lines  till  the  end  of 
1877.  In  1845  Forbes  was  made  a  fellow  of 
the  London  College  of  Physicians,  in  1852 
an  honorary  D.C.L.  of  Oxford,  and  in  1853 
lie  was  knighted.  He  was  also  a  member  of 
various  learned  and  scientific  societies  both 
in  Europe  and  America.  He  continued  to 
live  in  London  till  1859,  employing  himself 
chiefly  in  benevolent  and  literary  works,  and 
occasionally  making  short  tours  on  the  con- 
tinent, of  some  of  which  he  wrote  an  account. 
Among  other  inquiries  he  gave  a  good  deal 
of  attention  to  mesmerism,  attempting  to 
separate  the  truth  from  the  superincumbent 
mass  of  imposture.  He  carefully  investigated 
cases  of  clairvoyance,  and  gave  a  very  amusing 
account  of  his  detection  of  the  impostors  in 
some 

'  Athenaeum 
afterwards  in  a  collected  form,  with  the  title 
4  Illustrations  of  Modern  Mesmerism  from 
Personal  Investigation/  18mo,  1845.  His 
last  medical  work  was  published  in  1857 
with  the  title  of  '  Nature  and  Art  in  the  Cure 
of  Disease,'  which  he '  bequeathed  as  a  legacy 
to  his  younger  brethren,'  explaining  in  it 
more  fully  than  had  been  done  in  his  article 
in  the  'Review'  his  ideas  on  the  nature  of  dis- 
eases, and  especially  their  curability  by  the 
powers  of  nature  alone.  Not  long  after  the 
publication  of  this  work  he  began  to  suffer 
from  symptoms  of  softening  of  the  brain  ; 
and  in  1859  he  left  London,  and  went  to  live 
with  his  only  son  (his  wife  having  died  some 
years  before)  at  Whitchurch,  near  Reading, 
where  he  died,  13  Nov.  1861.  In  private  life, 
while  professing,  as  it  is  said  (Med.  Times 
and  6r#z.),  too  little  perhaps  of  the  Christian 
faith,  Forbes  was  a  man  to  be  both  loved  and 
honoured,  and  few  men  in  the  present  cen- 
tury have  done  more  to  promote  the  cause 
of  sound  medical  literature.  Besides  the 
works  already  mentioned  the  two  following 
may  be  noticed  :  1.  '  A  Physician's  Holiday, 
or  a  Month  in  Switzerland  in  the  Summer 
of  1848.'  2.  l  Sight-seeing  in  Germany  and 
the  Tyrol  in  the  Autumn  of  1855.' 

[Obituary  notice  in  the  Lancet ;  Med.  Times 
and  Gazette ;  Edinb.  Med.  Journal ;  Brit.  Med. 


Ml  UJ.     JU.1S    UCUCUtlUJJ.    \Ji      LJU.C    IIIIJJWOI/UIO    1JJ. 

letters   originally   published   in    the 
nseum'  and  the  '  Medical  Gazette,' and 


Journal  (and  also  5  Aug.  1876,  p.  174);  Brit, 
and  For.  Med.-Chir.  Eev.  by  E.  A.  Parkes,  re- 
printed in  a  separate  form,  1862;  article  by 
Forbes  in  the  last  vol.  of  the  Brit,  and  For.  Med. 
Eev. ;  personal  knowledge  and  recollection.] 

W.  A.  &. 

FORBES,  JOHN  HAY,  LOKD  MED- 
WYtf  (1776-1854),  Scotch  judge,  second 
son  of  Sir  William  Forbes,  bart.  [q.  v.],  was 
born  at  Edinburgh  in  1776.  He  was  admitted 
advocate  in  1799,  was  for  some  time  sheriff- 
depute  of  the  county  of  Perth,  and  was  made 
lord  of  session  in  January  1825,  when  he  as- 
sumed the  courtesy  title  of  Lord  Medwyn, 
from  his  estate  in  Perthshire.  In  December 
1830  he  was  made  a  lord  of  justiciary.  He 
resigned  that  appointment  in  May  1847,  alto- 
gether retired  from  the  bench  in  October  1852, 
and  died  at  Edinburgh,  25  July  1854.  He 
edited  a  new  edition  of  '  Thoughts  concern- 
ing Man's  Condition  and  Duties  in  this  Life, 
and  his  Hopes  in  the  World  to  come,  by  Alex- 
ander [Forbes  (1678-1762)  [q.  v.],  fourth], 
Lord  [Forbes  of]  Pitsligo,'  with  a  life  of  the 
author,  1835,  4th  ed.  Edinburgh,  1854.  He 
was  an  attached  episcopalian,  and  did  much 
to  promote  the  interests  of  his  church  in  the 
Scottish  capital.  Forbes  married  Louisa, 
daughter  of  Sir  Alexander  Cumming  Gordon 
of  Altyre,  Elgin,  and  by  her  had,  with  other 
children,  a  son,  Alexander  Penrose,  bishop  of 
Brechin  [q.  v.] 

[Grent.  Mag.  September  1854,  p.  300;  Ander- 
son's Scottish  Nation,  ii.  232 ;  Kay's  Edinburgh 
Portraits,  ii.  99.]  F.  W-T. 

FORBES,  PATRICK  (1564-1635),  of 
Corse,  bishop  of  Aberdeen,  eldest  son  of  Wil- 
liam Forbes  of  Corse  and  Elizabeth  Strachan, 
was  born  in  1564.  After  attending  the  high 
school  of  Stirling  he  studied  at  the  univer- 
sities of  Glasgow  and  St.  Andrews,  under  his 
kinsman  Andrew  Melville.  He  accompanied 
Melville  in  his  flight  to  England  in  1584,  and 
visited  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  Returning 
to  St.  Andrews  he  prosecuted  his  theological 
studies,  and  was  offered  a  divinity  chair,  but 
this  he  declined  in  deference  to  his  father's 
wishes.  In  1589  he  married  Lucretia,  daugh- 
ter of  David  Spens  of  Wormiston  in  Fifeshire. 
James  Melville  tells  us  that  he  brought  about 
this  marriage  of '  good,  godly,  and  kind  Patrick 
Forbes  of  Corse.'  Forbes  had  lived  in  close 
intimacy  with  both  the  Melvilles  from  his  boy- 
hood. After  his  marriage  he  went  to  Mont- 
rose,  and  resided  there  till  his  father's  death 
in  1598,  when  he  removed  to  Corse.  Besides 
attending  to  his  estates,  he  continued  his  theo- 
logical studies,  and  diligently  expounded  the 
scriptures  to  his  own  family  and  dependents. 
The  bishop  and  clergy  earnestly  solicited  him 


Forbes 


408 


Forbes 


to  enter  the  ministry,  and,  failing  in  this,  be- 
sought him  to  transfer  his  Sunday  expositions 
to  his  parish  church,  which  was  then  vacant. 
His  compliance  with  this  request  brought 
down  an  order  from  the  king  and  Archbishop 
Gladstanes  that  he  should  discontinue  his 
public  ministrations  till  he  received  ordina- 
tion. He  at  once  submitted,  and  restricted 
himself  as  before  to  the  religious  instruction 
of  his  own  household.  In  1611  the  minister 
of  Keith  in  a  fit  of  melancholy  committed 
suicide,  but  had  time  before  he  died  to  en- 
treat Forbes,  by  whom  he  had  been  comforted, 
to  become  his  successor.  Forbes,  regarding 
the  call  as  providential,  gave  his  consent  to 
the  entreaties  of  the  community,  and  was 
ordained  and  admitted  to  the  pastoral  charge 
of  Keith  in  1612.  The  moderate  episcopacy, 
which  had  received  the  sanction  of  the  as- 
sembly in  1610,  had  been  opposed  by  the 
party  to  which  he  belonged,  but  its  intro- 
duction caused  no  schism  in  the  church.  In 
the  year  of  his  ordination  Forbes  published  a 
'  Commentary  on  the  Apocalypse,'  being  the 
substance  of  lectures  on  that  book  which  he 
had  delivered  at  Corse.  A  second  edition 
was  printed  at  Middelburg  in  1614  with  an 
appendix  defending  the  lawful  calling  of  the 
ministers  of  the  reformed  church  against  the 
Romanists,  and  in  which  the  doctrine  of 
apostolical  succession  is  maintained  from  a 
point  of  view  then  common  to  presbyterians 
and  episcopalians.  This  work  was  highly 
approved  by  Andrew  Melville,  who  urged 
Forbes's  son  John  to  translate  it  into  Latin. 
"When  the  see  of  Aberdeen  fell  vacant  in 
1615  Forbes  was  thought  the  '  fittest  of  all 
men  for  the  place/  and  professors  and  clergy 
petitioned  for  his  appointment,  but  another 
was  preferred.  He  preached  the  opening 
sermon  at  the  general  assembly  of  1616,  took 
a  prominent  part  in  its  proceedings,  and, 
with  other  eminent  ministers,  was  commis- 
sioned to  revise  the  confession  of  faith,  liturgy, 
and  rules  of  discipline.  The  see  of  Aberdeen 
was  again  vacant  in  1618,  and  Forbes  was 
nominated  by  the  king  from  regard  to  his 
qualifications  and  the  wishes  of  the  clergy  of 
the  diocese,  who,  together  with  all  the  lead- 
ing churchmen  of  the  country,  pressed  him 
to  accept  the  office.  He  was  greatly  dis- 
tressed and  perplexed,  not  from  any  objec- 
tions to  episcopacy,  but  because  of  the  troubles 
caused  by  the  innovations  which  the  king 
was  then  forcing  on  the  church.  He  at  length 
yielded  and  was  consecrated  on  17  May  1618. 
The  assembly  which  met  at  Perth  in  August 
of  that  year  was  ordered  by  the  king  to  give 
its  sanction  to  five  articles  enjoining  kneel- 
ing at  the  communion,  the  observance  of 
festivals,  confirmation,  and  the  private  ad- 


ministration of  the  sacraments  in  cases  of 
sickness.  Forbes  wished  the  church  had  not 
been  troubled  with  these  innovations,  but  as- 
he  esteemed  them  indifferent  he  went  with 
the  majority  in  giving  effect  to  the  king's 
wishes.  In  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of 
the  episcopal  office  he  more  than  justified  the- 
great  expectations  that  had  been  formed  of 
him.  In  his  own  diocese  he  was  regarded 
with  universal  respect  and  affection,  and  no- 
Scottish  bishop  stood  higher  in  general  esti- 
mation. He  spent  the  summer  in  visiting 
the  parishes  under  his  care.  He  travelled 
without  parade  and  sometimes  paid  visits  of 
surprise,  when,  after  being  present  at  divine- 
service  without  previous  intimation,  he  prir- 
vately  commended  the  pastor  or  corrected 
what  he  saw  amiss.  He  disjoined  parishes- 
which  had  been  united  through  the  covetous- 
ness  of  the  titheholders,  and  increased  the 
number  of  clergy.  Reverenced  by  all  classes, 
he  was  frequently  made  the  arbiter  of  their 
disputes,  and  did  much  to  put  down  the- 
feuds  then  so  prevalent.  The  two  colleges 
of  Aberdeen  were  raised  by  him  to  a  condi- 
tion of  great  prosperity,  and  by  his  encourage- 
ment of  piety  and  learning  he  gathered  around 
him  a  body  of  clergy  who  were  ornaments  to 
their  church  and  country.  As  a  member  of 
the  privy  council  his  opinions  were  regarded 
with  the  greatest  deference  by  his  colleagues. 
He  strenuously  opposed  Charles  I's  plans  for 
conforming  the  church  to  the  English  pat- 
tern, but  in  1632  he  had  a  shock  of  paralysis,, 
which  incapacitated  him  for  taking  much 
part  in  public  affairs.  He  still  attended 
synods  and  church,  to  which  he  had  to  be-, 
carried,  and  sometimes  preached  as  it  had 
been  his  constant  practice  to  do  when  in 
health.  He  gave  his  pastoral  counsels  from 
his  bed  to  crowds  of  clergy  and  laity  who- 
came  to  visit  him.  He  died  on  28  March 
1635,  and  was  buried  with  every  mark  of 
sorrow  and  respect  in  the  south  transept  of 
his  cathedral.  Soon  after  his  death  a  memorial 
volume  was  published  entitled  'Funerals/ 
&c.,  which  contains  the  highest  tributes  to. 
his  worth  by  the  Aberdeen  doctors  and  by 
many  of  the  most  eminent  men  in  the  king- 
dom. Archbishop  Spottiswoode  likens  him. 
to  Bishop  Elphinstone,  the  greatest  of  his. 
predecessors,  and  says  of  him :  '  So  wise,  ju- 
dicious, so  grave  and  graceful  a  pastor  I  have 
not  known  in  all  my  time  in  any  church/ 
Bishop  Burnet  says  :  '  He  was  a  gentleman 
of  quality  and  estate,  but  much  more  emi- 
nent by  his  learning  and  piety  than  his  birth 
or  fortune  could  make  him.  He  was  in  all 
things  an  apostolical  man '  (Pref.  to  Life  of 
Bedell). 
A  Latin  translation  of  his  '  Commentary 


Forbes 


409 


Forbes 


on  the  Apocalypse,'  with  appendices,  was 
published  at  Amsterdam  by  his  son  in  1646. 
In  1629  the  bishop  published  a  small  work 
entitled '  Eubulus,'  &c.,  which,  like  his  other 
writings,  is  directed  against  Romanism.  There 
is  a  fine  portrait  of  him  in  the  hall  of  the  uni- 
versity at  Aberdeen,  and  an  engraving  in  the 
first  edition  of  the  '  Funerals.'  His  pulpit 
in  the  college  chapel  and  his  tomb  both  bear 
the  shield  of  the  Corse  family  surmounted 
by  a  star  instead  of  a  mitre,  and  a  motto 
from  the  Apocalypse, '  Salvation  to  our  God 
and  to  the  Lamb.' 

Besides  his  son  John  (1593-1648)  [q.  v.], 
he  had  two  sons  and  two  daughters. 

[Life  in  Wodrow  MSS.  (Glasg.  Univ.) ;  Life  of 
Dr.  John  Forbes  of  Corse,  prefixed  to  Garden's 
edition  of  his  Works ;  Bishop  Forbes's  Funerals, 
with  Memoir  (Spottiswoode  Soc.),  Edinb.  1845.1 

G.  W.  S. 

FORBES,  PATRICK  (1611 P-1680), 
bishop  of  Caithness,  was  the  third  son  of  John 
Forbes  [q.  v.],  minister  of  Alford,  Aberdeen- 
shire,  and  afterwards  of  Delft.  He  studied  at 
the  university  and  King's  College  of  Aber- 
deen, of  which  his  uncle,  the  bishop,  was  chan- 
cellor, and  took  his  degree  in  1631.  Return- 
ing to  Holland  he  became  an  army  chaplain. 
He  was  in  Scotland  in  1638,  and  signed  the 
national  covenant  in  presence  of  the  general 
assembly  held  at  Glasgow  in  that  year.  In 
an  account  of  the  assembly  it  is  stated  that 
4  Mr.  Patrick  Forbes  was  so  much  the  more 
gladly  received,  that  his  father  before  him  had 
been  ane  sufferer  for  the  truth  of  Christ  Jesus. 
To  whom  the  moderator  said  these  words : 
"  Come  forward,  Mr.  Patrick.  Before  ye  were 
the  son  of  a  most  worthy  father,  but  now  ye 
appear  to  be  the  most  worthy  son  of  ane  most 
worthy  father." '  In  1641  he  became  minister 
of  the  British  church  at  Delft,  in  which  his 
father  had  officiated.  He  was  an  acquaint- 
ance and  correspondent  of  Principal  Baillie, 
who  makes  favourable  mention  of  him  in  his 
letters  of  1644,  1645,  and  1646.  He  com- 
mends a  manuscript  which  Forbes  had  writ- 
ten and  sent  him,  and  wishes  to  see  it  in  print. 
He  asks  Spang,  minister  of  the  Scots  church 
at  Campvere,  to  *  keep  correspondence  with 
that  young  man,'  and  to  urge  him  to  'use  dili- 
gence '  against  the  British  sectaries  in  Hol- 
land, and  to  '  write  against  the  anabaptists.' 
After  a  short  ministry  at  Delft  he  again  be- 
came a  military  chaplain  (apparently  to  the 
Scots  brigade),  and  continued  to  officiate  in 
that  capacity  till  the  Restoration.  The  king, 
having  restored  episcopacy  in  Scotland,  ap- 
pointed Forbes,  then  chaplain  to  Lord  Ru- 
therford, governor  of  Dunkirk,  to  the  bishopric 
of  Caithness,  and  with  five  others  he  was  con- 


secrated at  the  abbey  church  of  Holyrood 
7  May  1662  by  the  archbishops  of  St.  An- 
drews and  Glasgow  and  the  bishop  of  Gal- 
loway. He  had  probably  received  pres- 
byterian  ordination  in  Holland,  but  none  of 
the  presbyterian  clergy  who  were  raised  to 
the  episcopate  in  Scotland  were  reordained. 
Kirkton,  referring  to  his  appointment  to  the 
bishopric,  calls  him  '  the  degenerate  son  of 
ane  excellent  father  ; '  but  in  conforming  to 
episcopacy  he  had  the  great  body  of  the  Scot- 
tish clergy  to  keep  him  company.  It  was  the* 
schism  of  the  protesters  which  had  kept  the 
church  in  anarchy  from  1651  that  led  to  the 
overthrow  of  presbytery,  and  even  if  it  had 
stood  there  was  little  likelihood  of  the  schism 
being  healed.  Forbes  died  in  1680,  aged  about 
sixty-nine.  Little  is  known  of  the  manner 
in  which  he  discharged  his  episcopal  duties ; 
but  he  had  the  reputation  of  being '  an  honest- 
hearted  and  holy  man.'  Wodrow  heard  from 
a  Caithness  minister  that  a  gentleman  who 
had  been  reproved  for  swearing  before  the- 
bishop  replied  that  he  '  had  not  sworn  before 
but  after  his  lordship,'  and  that  Forbes  was 
known  as  the  '  swearing '  bishop.  The  epi- 
thet is  an  obvious  addition  to  an  old  story 
which  had  been  localised  to  give  it  point,  and 
there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  in  personal 
character  Forbes  was  worthy  of  his  traditions 
and  training.  He  married  in  Holland  a 
daughter  of  Colonel  Erskine,  a  distinguished 
officer  of  the  Scots  brigade,  and  had  a  family. 
His  son  John,  who  was  commissary  of  Caith- 
ness, died  at  Craigievar,  Aberdeenshire,  in 
October  1668,  and  was  buried  at  Leochel  in 
the  Craigievar  aisle. 

[Scott's  Fasti ;  Lumsden's  House  of  Forbes  ; 
Life  of  Mr.  John  Forbes  prefixed  to  Forbes's 
Records  (Wodrow  Soc.) ;  Statistical  Account  of 
Scotland;  Grub's  Eccles.  Hist,  of  Scotland; 
Steven's  Scottish  Church,  Rotterdam;  Wodrow's 
Analecta.]  G.  W.  S. 

FORBES,  ROBERT  (1708-1775),  bishop 
of  Ross  and  Caithness,  was  born  in  1708  at 
Rayne  in  Aberdeenshire,  where  his  father  was 
schoolmaster.  He  was  educated  at  Marischal 
College,  Aberdeen  (A.M.  1726).  In  1735  he 
went  to  Edinburgh,  was  ordained  priest  by 
Bishop  Freebairn,  and  ere  long  appointed 
minister  of  the  episcopal  congregation  at 
Leith,  a  town  which  was  his  home  for  the 
rest  of  his  life.  In  his  room  there,  in  1740, 
John  Skinner  (author  of  '  Tullochgorum ') 
'  received  baptism '  at  his  hands  '  after  that 
he  had  declared  that  he  was  not  satisfied 
with  the  sprinkling  of  a  layman,  a  presby- 
terian teacher.'  On  7  Sept.  1745,  when  Prince 
Charles  was  on  his  descent  from  the  high- 
lands, Forbes  was  one  of  three  episcopal 


Forbes 


410 


Forbes 


clergymen  who  were  arrested  at  St.  Ninians, 
near  "Stirling,  '  on  suspicion  of  their  intend- 
ing to  join  the  rebels,'  and  confined  in  Stir- 
ling Castle  till  4  Feb.  1746,  and  in  Edin- 
burgh Castle  till  29  May  following.  His  arrest 
by  no  means  damped  his  ardour  in  the  cause 
of  the  Stuarts,  and  it  even  gave  him  oppor- 
tunities for  acquiring  information  respecting 
the  events  of  the  campaign  from  his  com- 
panions in  confinement.  In  1769  the  epi- 
scopal clergy  of  Ross  and  Caithness  elected 
him  their  bishop,  and  he  was  consecrated  at 
Forfar  on  24  June  by  the  primus  (Falconer) 
and  Bishops  Alexander  and  Gerard.  He  con- 
tinued to  reside  at  Leith,  but  made  two  visi- 
tations of  his  northern  flock  in  1762  and 
1770.  In  1764  he  had  a  new  church  built 
for  him,  where  he '  had  a  pretty  throng  audi- 
ence ; '  but  he  would  not  'qualify'  according 
to  law,  and  he  was  soon  reported  to  govern- 
ment. Soldiers  were  sent  to  his  meeting  to 
see  whether  he  prayed  for  King  George,  and 
he  was  summoned  before  the  colonel-com- 
manding (Dalrymple).  A  minute  account 
of  the  interview  that  ensued  is  preserved  in 
his  third  *  Journal.'  He  made  no  submis- 
sion, but  thought  it  better  to  have  his  ser- 
vices conducted  henceforth  without  singing ; 
and,  receiving  significant  advice  from  a  friend 

*  to  make  a  visit  for  some  months  to  the  coun- 
try, lest  some  things  might  happen,  should 
he  stay  at  home,  which  would  be  very  dis- 
agreeable to  him,'  he  betook  himself  for  some 
weeks  to  London.    There  he  worshipped  with 
the  remnant  of  the  nonjurors,  and  received 
from  their  bishop  (Robert  Gordon)  a  staff 
that  had  once  belonged  to  Bishop  Hickes. 
On  the  death  of  Bishop  Gerard  in  1765  he  was 
elected  bishop  of  Aberdeen,  but  difficulties 
arose  and  he  declined  the  appointment.     So 
late  as  1769  he  was  at  a  meeting  of  Jacobites 
at  Moffat,  when  proposals  were  discussed  for 
the  continuance  of  the  Stuart  line  and  the 
Stuart  pretensions  by  marrying  Charles  Ed- 
ward to  a  protestant.     Forbes  died  at  Leith 
18  Nov.  1775,  and  was  buried  in  the  Malt- 
man's  aisle  of  South  Leith  parish  church.   He 
was  twice  married.   His  second  wife,  Rachel, 
daughter  of  Ludovick  Houston  of  Johnston, 
was  as  enthusiastic  a  Jacobite  as  her  hus- 
band.  The  bishop  permitted  favoured  guests 
to  drink  out  of  Prince  Charlie's  brogues  ; 
she  sent  to  the  '  royal  exile '  the  seed-cake 
which  Oliphant  of  Gask  presented  to  him. 
'  Ay/  said  Charles,'  '  a  piece  of  cake  from 
Scotland,  and  from  Edinburgh  too.'     Then, 
rising  from  his  seat,  and  opening  a  drawer, 

*  Here,'  he  said,  '  you  see  me  deposit  it,  and 
no  tooth  shall  go  upon  it  but  my  own.'  Forbes 
began  about  1760  to  write  in  the '  Edinburgh 
Magazine,'  his  articles  being  chiefly  topogra- 


phical and  antiquarian.  He  took  part  in 
bringing  the  communion  office  of  the  Scottish 
episcopal  church  to  its  present  state,  the  edi- 
tions of  1763,  1764,  and  1765  being  printed 
under  his  supervision.  The  'Journals'  of 
his  episcopal  visitations  were  edited  in  1886 
by  the  Rev.  J.  B.  Craven.  In  the  bishop's 
own  lifetime  appeared  '  An  Essay  on  Chris- 
tian Burial,  and  the  Respect  due  to  Burying- 
Grounds,'  by  a  '  Ruling  Elder  of  the  Church 
of  Scotland '  (1765),  and  an  '  Account  of  the 
Chapel  of  Roslin'  (1774);  but  his  most  im- 
portant work  is  the '  Lyon  in  Mourning,'  ten 
octavo  volumes  in  manuscript,  bound  in  black, 
and  filled  with  collections  relative  to  *  the 
'45,'  with  which  are  bound  up  a  number  of 
relics  of  the  same  expedition.  The  volumes 
date  from  1747  to  1775 ;  important  extracts 
from  them  were  published  (1834)  under  the 
title  of '  Jacobite  Memoirs,'  by  Robert  Cham- 
bers ;  the  originals  are  in  the  Advocates'  Li- 
brary, Edinburgh. 

[Preface  to  Chambers's  Jacobite  Memoirs ; 
Life  in  Bishop  R.  Forbes's  Journals,  edited  by 
the  Rev.  J.  B.  Craven  ;  Grub's  Eccl.  Hist. ;  Dow- 
den's  Scottish  Communion  Offices ;  Scots  Mag. 
No.  xxxvii.]  J.  C. 

FORBES,  WALTER,  eighteenth  LORD 
FORBES  (1798-1868),  second  but  eldest  sur- 
viving son  of  James  Ochoncar,  seventeenth 
lord  [q.  v.],  by  Elizabeth,  daughter  and  heiress 
of  Walter  Hunter,  esq.,  of  Polmood,  Peebles- 
shire,  and  Crailing,  Roxburghshire,  was  born 
at  Crailing  29  May  1798.  In  1814  he  joined 
the  Coldstream  guards,  of  which  his  father 
had  been  for  twenty-six  years  an  officer,  and 
in  which  his  elder  brother,  the  Hon.  James 
Forbes,  was  then  holding  a  commission.  He 
was  very  soon  destined  to  see  active  service ; 
for  he  was  present"  with  his  regiment  at 
Waterloo,  being  then  probably  one  of  the 
youngest  officers  in  the  service.  But  though 
so  young,  he  commanded  a  company  at  the 
defence  of  Hougoumont.  He  was  in  the 
3rd  company  as  junior  ensign.  The  captain, 
Sir  William  Gomme,  was  on  the  staff;  the 
next  senior  officer,  Cowell,  had  been  taken  ill 
the  day  before,  and  therefore  absent ;  and  the 
other  ensign,  Vane,  wounded ;  so  after  that 
Forbes  was  the  only  officer  present,  and 
therefore  he  commanded.  He  retired  from 
the  army  in  1825,  having  married,  31  Jan. 
in  that  year,  Horatia,  seventh  daughter  of 
Sir  John  Gregory  Shaw,  bart.,  of  Eltham, 
Kent,  by  whom  he  had  a  family  of  seven 
children.  He  succeeded  his  father  as  eigh- 
teenth lord  and  premier  baron  of  Scotland 
4  May  1843. 

Forbes  interested  himself  much  in  church 
matters,  and  was  greatly  attached  to  the 


Forbes 


411 


Forbes 


episcopal  church  in  Scotland.  He  was  most 
energetic  in  the  origin  and  foundation  of  St. 
Ninian's  Cathedral,  Perth,  and  was  one  of 
its  greatest  benefactors.  Forbes  married, 
secondly,  4  April  1864,  Louisa,  daughter  of 
James  Ormond,  esq.,  of  Abingdon,  by  whom 
he  left  at  his  decease  at  Richmond,  1  May 
1868,  two  sons.  There  is  a  beautiful  memo- 
rial window  in  the  guards'  chapel  at  the 
Wellington  Barracks,  given  by  his  widow, 
and  also  a  tablet  to  his  memory  and  that  of 
his  father  and  elder  brother,  by  his  son,  the 
present  and  nineteenth  Lord  Forbes. 

[Private  family  communication ;  Account  of 
Royal  Military  Chapel,  Wellington  Barracks, 
1882.]  E.  H-R. 

FORBES,  WILLIAM  (1585-1634),  first 
bishop  of  Edinburgh,  was  the  son  of  Thomas 
Forbes,  a  burgess  of  Aberdeen,  descended 
from  the  Corsindac  branch  of  that  house,  by 
his  wife,  Janet,  the  sister  of  Dr.  James  Car- 
gill  [q.  v.]  Born  at  Aberdeen  in  1585,  he 
was  educated  at  the  Marischal  College,  gra- 
duating A.M.  in  1601.  Very  soon  after  he 
held  the  chair  of  logic  in  the  same  college, 
but  resigned  it  in  1606  to  pursue  his  studies 
on  the  continent.  He  travelled  through 
Poland,  Germany,  and  Holland,  studying  at 
several  universities,  and  acquiring  the  friend- 
ship, among  others,  of  Scaliger,  Grotius,  and 
Vossius.  Returning  after  five  years  to  Bri- 
tain, he  visited  Oxford,  where  he  was  invited 
to  become  professor  of  Hebrew,  but  he  fell 
sick,  and  was  advised  to  seek  his  native 
northern  air.  Ordained,  probably  by  Bishop 
Blackburn  of  Aberdeen,  he  became  minister 
successively  of  two  rural  Aberdeenshire 
parishes,  Alford  and  Monymusk ;  in  Novem- 
ber 1616  (pursuant  to  a  nomination  of  the 
general  assembly)  he  was  appointed  one  of 
the  ministers  of  Aberdeen  ;  and  at  the  Perth 
assembly  in  1618  was  selected  to  defend  the 
lawfulness  of  the  article  there  proposed  for 
kneeling  at  the  holy  communion.  In  the 
same  year,  in  a  formal  dispute  between  him 
and  Aidie,  then  principal  of  Marischal  Col- 
lege, he  maintained  the  lawfulness  of  prayers 
for  the  dead.  Such  doctrines  would  not  have 
been  tolerated  elsewhere  in  Scotland,  but  in 
Aberdeen  they  were  received  with  favour, 
and  on  Aidie's  enforced  resignation  in  1620 
the  town  council  of  the  city,  who  were 
patrons  of  Marischal  College,  *  thought  it 
meet  and  expedient '  that  Forbes  '  salbe  ear- 
nestlie  dealt  with  to  accept  upon  him  to  be 
primar  [principal]  of  the  said  college,  with 
this  alwayis  condition,  that  he  continew  his 
ministrie  in  teaching  twa  sermons  every 
week  as  he  does  presentlie.'  In  the  end  of 
1621  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  ministers  of 


Edinburgh.  He  went  with  reluctance,  and 
before  he  had  been  there  many  months  he 
got  into  trouble  with  the  more  unruly  of  his 
flock.  His  zeal  for  the  observance  of  the 
Perth  articles  was  distasteful  to  many,  and 
when  he  taught  that  the  doctrines  of  the 
Romanists  and  the  reformed  could  in  many 
points  be  easily  reconciled,  discontent  was 
succeeded  by  disorder.  Five  of  the  ring- 
leaders were  dealt  with  by  the  privy  coun- 
cil ;  but  Forbes  felt  that  his  ministry  at 
Edinburgh  was  a  failure,  and  more  trouble 
arising  from  his  preaching  in  support  of  the 
superiority  of  bishops  over  presbyters,  he 
gladly  availed  himself  of  an  opportunity  to 
return  to  Aberdeen,  where  in  1626  he  re- 
sumed his  former  charge,  to  the  great  joy 
of  the  whole  community.  In  1633,  when 
Charles  I  was  in  Scotland  for  his  coronation, 
Forbes  preached  before  him  at  Holyrood, 
and  his  sermon  so  pleased  the  king  that  he 
declared  the  preacher  to  be  worthy  of  having 
a  bishopric  created  for  him.  Shortly  after- 
wards the  see  of  Edinburgh  was  erected ; 
Forbes  was  nominated  to  it,  and  was  con- 
secrated in  February  1634.  In  the  begin- 
ning of  March  he  sent  an  injunction  to  his 
clergy  to  celebrate  the  eucharist  on  Easter 
Sunday,  to  take  it  themselves  on  their  knees, 
and  to  minister  it  with  their  own  hands  to 
every  one  of  the  communicants.  When 
Easter  came  he  was  very  ill,  but  he  was 
able  to  celebrate  in  St.  Giles ;  on  returning 
home  he  took  to  bed,  and  died  on  the  follow- 
ing Saturday,  12  April  1634,  aged  44.  He 
was  buried  in  his  cathedral ;  his  monument 
was  afterwards  destroyed,  but  a  copy  of  the 
inscription  is  in  Maitland's  '  History  of  Edin- 
burgh.' A  fine  portrait  of  him  by  his  friend 
and  townsman,  Jamesone,  is  preserved  in 
the  hall  of  Marischal  College,  Aberdeen.  He 
was  married,  and  left  a  family,  of  whom  one 
of  the  younger  sons,  Arthur,  is  said  to  have 
become  professor  of  humanity  at  St.  Jean 
d' Angel,  near  La  Rochelle.  Forbes's  anxiety 
for  a  reconciliation  with  Rome  and  his  zeal 
for  episcopacy  made  him  obnoxious  to  the 
presbyterian  party  in  the  church  of  Scot- 
land, but  his  great  learning  and  piety  are  in- 
disputable. *  He  was,'  says  Bishop  Burnet 
(Pref.  Life  of  Bishop  Bedell},  '  a  grave  and 
eminent  divine ;  my  father  that  .  .  .  knew 
him  well  has  often  told  me  that  he  never 
saw  him  but  he  thought  his  heart  was  in 
heaven,  and  was  never  alone  with  him  but 
he  felt  within  himself  a  commentary  on  those 
words  of  the  apostles,  "  Did  not  our  hearts 
burn  within  us,  while  he  yet  talked  with 
us,  and  opened  to  us  the  scriptures  ?  "  He 
preached  with  a  zeal  and  vehemence  that 
made  him  forget  all  the  measures  of  time ; 


Forbes 


412 


Forbes 


two  or  three  hours  was  no  extraordinary  thing 
for  him.' 

Forbes  himself  published  nothing,  but  in 
1658  a  posthumous  work, '  Considerations 
Modestse  et  Pacificse  Controversiarum  de 
Justificatione,  Purgatorio,  Invocatione  Sanc- 
torum Christo  Mediatore,  et  Eucharistia,' 
was  published  from  his  manuscripts  by  T.  G. 
(Thomas  Sydeserf,  bishop  of  Galloway).  Other 
editions  appeared  at  Helmstadt  (1704)  and 
Frankfort-on-the-Main  (1707) ;  while  a  third, 
with  an  English  translation  by  Dr.  William 
Forbes,  Burntisland  (Oxford,  1856),  forms 
part  of  the  'Anglo-Catholic  Library/  Though 
lacking  the  author's  final  touches,  and  in 
parts  a  mere  fragment,  it  is  yet  a  work  of 
great  depth  and  learning;  it  deals  with  what 
may  be  called  the  imperial  questions  of  the 
Christian  church,  and  from  its  combined  se- 
riousness and  moderation  it  has  powerfully 
affected  many  who  have  had  at  heart,  like 
Forbes,  reunion  of  the  church  on  a  catholic 
scale.  Besides  the '  Considerations,'  Forbes 
wrote  *  Animadversions  on  the  works  of  Bel- 
larmine,'  which  was  used  by  his  friend  and 
colleague  at  Marischal  College,  Dr.  Baron 
(1593  P-1639)  [q.  v.],  but  the  manuscripts 
seem  to  have  perished  in  the  '  troubles '  which 
so  soon  began.  A  summary  of  his  sermon 
before  Charles  I  is  given  in  the  folio  edition 
(1702-3)  of  the  works  of  Dr.  John  Forbes. 

[Vita  Auctoris,  prefixed  to  Considerationes 
Modestae;  Eecords  of  Town  Council  and  Kirk 
Session  of  Aberdeen  ;  Gordon's  Scots  Affairs  (and 
other  publications  of  the  Spalding  Club),  Cal- 
derwood,  Burnet,  Wodrow  MSS.  (Glasgow  Univ. 
Libr.);  Bayle's  Dictionary;  Irving's  Lives  of 
Scottish  Writers  ;  Grub's  Eccles.  Hist.  &c.] 

JVC. 

FORBES,  SIR  WILLIAM  (1739-1806), 
of  Pitsligo,  banker  and  author,  was  born  in 
Edinburgh  5  April  1739.  His  father,  al- 
though heir  to  a  Nova  Scotia  baronetcy,  was 
an  advocate,  being  constrained  to  follow  a 
profession,  as  the  family  estate,  Monymusk, 
Aberdeenshire,  had  been  sold  by  his  grand- 
father. Forbes's  maternal  grandmother  was 
a  sister  of  Lord  Pitsligo,  whose  activities  in 
1745  led  to  the  forfeiture  of  his  estate,  also 
in  Aberdeenshire.  His  mother,  Christian 
Forbes,  was  a  member  of  a  collateral  branch 
of  the  Monymusk  family,  and  was  left  a 
widow  when  William,  the  elder  of  two  sur- 
viving boys  from  a  family  of  five,  was  only 
four  years  old.  She  settled  in  Aberdeen  in 
1745  for  the  education  of  her  children,  who 
were  brought  up  as  Scottish  episcopalians. 
The  younger  boy  died  in  1749,  and  in  October 
1753  Lady  Forbes,  with  her  surviving  son, 
settled  in  Edinburgh.  A  staunch  friend  of  the 
family,  Sir  Francis  Farquharson  of  Haugh- 


ton,  had  arranged  with  Messrs.  Coutts,  an 
eminent  firm  of  bankers  in  Edinburgh,  to 
admit  Forbes  as  an  apprentice,  and  he  entered 
their  service  at  Whitsunday  1754.  The  ap- 
prenticeship lasted  four  years,  then  he  was 
clerk  in  the  counting-house  for  two  years 
more,  at  the  end  of  which  he  got  a  small  share 
in  the  business  as  a  partner.  Meanwhile  his 
mother  and  himself  lived  strictly  within  their 
limited  means,  though  their  society  was  still 
in  keeping  with  their  birth. 

In  1761  John  Coutts,  the  principal  partner 
of  the  firm,  died,  and  as  his  brothers,  who 
had  settled  in  London,  severed  their  connec- 
tion with  the  business,  a  new  partnership,, 
considerably  to  the  advantage  of  Forbes,  was 
proposed  and  established  in  1763.  After  seven 
years  (in  1770)  he  married  Elizabeth  Hay, 
eldest  daughter  of  Sir  James  Hay  of  Smith- 
field,  bart.,  and  then  separated  from  his 
mother,  who  died  in  1789.  In  the  '  Narra- 
tive of  the  last  Sickness  and  Death  of  Dame 
Christian  Forbes,'  1875,  Forbes  pays  a  tribute 
to  his  mother's  worth  with  pathetic  earnest- 
ness. 

From  1763  to  1773  the  active  members  of 
the  firm,  still  under  the  original  name,  were- 
Sir  Robert  Herries,  Sir  William  Forbes,  and 
James  Hunter,  afterwards  Sir  James  Hunter 
Blair.  The  name  of  the  Messrs.  Coutts  was 
retained  till  1773,  when  a  new  contract  was 
made,  and  the  firm  was  designated  Forbes, 
Hunter,  &  Co.,  Sir  William  Herries  having 
settled  in  London  to  conduct  in  St.  James's 
Street  the  business  afterwards  notable  as 
Herries  &  Co.  Forbes  now  being  at  the  head 
of  his  firm  resolved  to  confine  the  transactions 
of  the  house  to  banking  alone.  The  house 
speedily  became  one  of  the  most  trusted  in 
Scotland,  and  proved  its  claim  to  public  credit 
by  the  excellence  of  the  stand  it  made  during 
the  financial  crises  and  panics  of  1772, 1788, 
and  1793.  In  1783  the  firm,  after  difficult 
preliminaries,  began  to  issue  notes,  and  the- 
success  of  the  experiment  was  immediate, 
decided,  and  continuous.  Forbes  had  now 
come  to  be  regarded  as  an  authority  on 
finance,  and  in  this  same  year  he  took  a  lead- 
ing part  in  preparing  the  revised  Bankruptcy 
Act.  Pitt  used  to  consult  him,  and  adopted 
in  1790  several  of  his  suggestions  regarding 
augmentation  of  the  stamps  on  bills  of  ex- 
change. In  1799  Pitt  offered  him  an  Irish 
peerage,  which  he  declined.  The  company 
in  1838  became  the  Union  Bank  Company. 

Forbes  early  aspired  to  win  back  some  of 
the  alienated  possessions  of  his  ancestors. 
Lord  Pitsligo's  only  son,  the  Hon.  John 
Forbes,  had  bought  Pitsligo.  William  Forbes 
bought  about  seventy  acres  of  the  upper 
barony  (the  lower  barony  having  passed  by 


Forbes 


413 


Forbes 


purchase  to  a  stranger),  and  on  the  death  of 
John  Forbes  he  succeeded  in  1781  to  the 
whole.  He  improved  the  estate  exceedingly ; 
laid  out  the  village  of  New  Pitsligo,  Aber- 
deenshire,  in  1783,  and  did  much  in  subse- 
quent years  to  advance  the  interests  of  the 
villagers  as  well  as  of  the  tenantry.  Forbes 
became  known  for  his  public  spirit  in  Edin- 
burgh. The  High  School,  the  Merchant  Com- 
pany, the  Morningside  Lunatic  Asylum,  and 
the  Blind  Asylum  all  owe  much  of  their 
present  excellence  to  his  sagacity.  Forbes 
shares  with  his  partner,  Hunter  Blair,  the 
credit  due  for  the  formation  of  the  South 
Bridge.  He  also  succeeded  in  giving  the 
Scottish  episcopalians  a  real  and  sure  stand- 
ing in  Edinburgh.  Archibald  Alison  (1757- 
1839)  [q.  v.]  was  brought  to  the  city  at  his 
suggestion,  and  in  Alison's  published  dis- 
courses there  is  a  touching  funeral  sermon  to 
his  memory. 

Forbes  steadily  declined  invitations  to 
stand  for  parliament.  His  refined  literary 
tastes  brought  him  into  contact  with  the 
best  society  of  the  time  both  in  Scotland  and 
In  London.  He  was  a  member  of  Johnson's 
literary  club,  and  he  receives  honourable 
mention  in  Boswell's  <  Tour  to  the  Hebrides.' 
His  long  and  familiar  friendship  with  the 
poet  Beattie  enabled  him  to  produce  'An 
Account  of  the  Life  and  Writings  of  James 
Beattie,  LLD.,  including  many  of  his  Origi- 
nal Letters.'  This  appeared  in  two  quarto 
•volumes  in  1806,  and  was  republished  in 
three  octavo  volumes  the  following  year. 
Forbes  had  written  before  this  the  tribute 
to  his  mother,  which  remained  in  manu- 
script till  1875,  another  portion  of  the  same 
manuscript,  not  hitherto  printed,  being  de- 
voted to  the  memory  of  his  wife.  Lady 
Forbes,  for  the  benefit  of  whose  health  he 
made  his  only  lengthened  visit  to  the  con- 
tinent in  1792-3,  died  in  1802,  and  he  was 
never  the  same  man  afterwards.  He  died 
12  Nov.  1806,  a  few  months  after  the  ap- 
pearance of  his  '  Life  of  Beattie.'  This  work, 
in  spite  of  Jeffrey's  strictures  in  the  *  Edin- 
burgh Review  '  for  April  1807,  is  a  valuable 
record  of  the  times,  though  too  ponderous. 
Jeffrey's  article  as  it  originally  appeared  in 
the  '  Review '  was  about  three  times  longer 
than  in  the  collected  '  Essays,'  and  opened 
with  a  lofty  and  eloquent  tribute  to  the  worth 
•of  Forbes.  Scott  speaks  of  him  with  equal 
warmth  in  the  introduction  to  the  fourth 
canto  of  '  Marmion.'  Forbes  left  four  sons 
and  five  daughters.  To  his  eldest  son,  Wil- 
liam, who  succeeded  him  in  the  baronetcy, 
Tie  addressed  in  1803  his  interesting  auto- 
biographical work,  *  Memoirs  of  a  Banking 
House.'  The  second  son,  John  Hay  Forbes 


[q.  v.],  rose  to  be  a  judge  in  the  court  of  ses- 
sion as  Lord  Medwyn ;  the  third  was  named 
George,  and  went  into  his  father's  business  ; 
and  Charles,  the  fourth  son,  was  in  the  navy. 

[Forbes's  Works,  as  above ;  Edinb.  Eev.  vol.  x. ; 
Marmion,  introd.  to  canto  iv. ;  Boswell's  Tour  to 
the  Hebrides  ;  Memoirs  of  Lord  Kames,  ii.  212 ; 
Life  of  Scott,  ii.  50,  152;  Chambers's  Eminent 
Scotsmen ;  Life  of  J.  D.  Forbes,  by  Principal 
Shairp,  and  others.]  T.  B. 

FORBES,   WILLIAM   ALEXANDER 

(1855-1883),  zoologist,  second  son  of  Mr.  John 
Staats  Forbes,  chairman  of  the  London,  Chat- 
ham, and  Dover  Railway  Company,  was  born 
at  Cheltenham  on  24  June  1855,  and  educated 
at  Kensington  school  and  Winchester  Col- 
lege. Leaving  Winchester  in  1872  he  studied 
in  succession  at  Edinburgh  University  (1873- 
1875)  and  University  College,  London (1875- 
1876),  as  a  medical  student ;  but  he  early 
showed  great  powers  of  acquirement  in  bio- 
logy, to  which  he  finally  devoted  himself. 
Entering  at  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge, 
in  1876,  he  gained  a  first  class  in  the  natural 
sciences  tripos  of  1879,  and  was  subsequently 
elected  a  fellow  of  his  college.  In  the  same 
year  he  was  appointed  prosector  to  the  Zoo- 
logical Society  of  London  on  the  death  of  his 
friend,  Professor  A.  H.  Garrod  [q.  v.],  whose 
literary  executor  he  became.  He  also  lec- 
tured on  comparative  anatomy  at  Charing 
Cross  Hospital  Medical  School.  During  the 
three  following  years  his  work  at  the  so- 
ciety's gardens  produced  a  rich  harvest  of 
original  and  valuable  papers,  those  on  the 
muscular  structure  and  voice  organs  of  birds 
being  especially  notable.  In  the  summer  of 
1880  Forbes  made  a  short  excursion  to  Per- 
nambuco,  of  which  he  published  an  account 
in  the  '  Ibis  '  for  1881,  and  in  July  1882  he 
left  England  to  investigate  the  fauna  of  east- 
ern tropical  Africa,  starting  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Niger.  Being  detained  at  Shonga,  four 
hundred  miles  up  the  Niger,  by  the  breaking 
down  of  his  communications,  Forbes  died  of 
dysentery  on  14  Jan.  1883.  His  remains 
were  brought  to  England  and  buried,  1  April 
1884,  in  the  churchyard  of  Wickham  in  Kent. 
Forbes  was  an  excellent  worker,  possessed 
of  much  personal  attractiveness,  and  gave 
promise  of  being  one  of  the  leading  zoo- 
logists of  his  time.  His  collected  papers 
have  been  published  in  a  memorial  volume 
edited  by  his  successor  as  prosector,  Mr.  F.  E. 
Beddard,  1885.  His  principal  papers  were 
'  On  the  Anatomy  of  the  Passerine  Birds ' 
('  Proc.  Zool.  Soc.'  1880,  1881,  1882) ;  '  On 
the  Contributions  to  the  Anatomy  and  Clas- 
sification of  Birds  made  by  Professor  Garrod' 
('Ibis/  1881) ;  and  'On  the  Anatomy  of  the 


Forby 


414 


Forcer 


Petrels  collected  during  the  Voyage  of  H.M .  S . 
Challenger'  (<  Zoology  of  the  Challenger/  iv. 
pt.  xi.  1882).  Forbes's  last  journals,  published 
in  the  '  Ibis,'  1883,  are  included  in  the  me- 
morial volume.  Forbes  also  edited  the  col- 
lected edition  of  Professor  A.  H.  Garrod's 
papers,  1881,  and  wrote  the  memoir  of  Garrod 
which  accompanies  it. 

FForbes's  Collected  Papers,  1885;  Ibis,  1883, 
p.  384.]  GK  T.  B. 

FORBY,  ROBERT  (1759-1825),  philo- 
logist, born  in  1759  of  poor  parents  at  Stoke 
Ferry,  Norfolk,  was  educated  at  the  free 
school  of  Lynn  Regis,  under  David  Lloyd, 
LL.D.,  and  at  Caius  College,  Cambridge, 
where  he  obtained  a  fellowship  (B.A.  1781, 
M.A.  1784).  Sir  John  Berney,  bart.,  induced 
him  to  leave  the  university,  and  to  become 
tutor  of  his  sons,  presenting  him  in  1787 
to  the  small  living  of  Horningtoft,  Norfolk. 
Afterwards  he  fixed  his  residence  at  Barton 
Bendish,  where  he  took  pupils ;  and  on  their 
number  increasing,  he  removed  to  Wereham. 
Two  years  subsequently,  in  1789,  by  the  death 
of  his  uncle,  the  Rev.  Joseph  Forby,  he  came 
into  possession  of  the  valuable  rectory  of 
Fincham,  Norfolk.  He  removed  thither  in 
1801,  and  continued  to  reside  in  his  parish  till 
his  death,  which  occurred  suddenly  while  he 
was  taking  a  warm  bath,  on  20  Sept.  1825, 
aged  66.  He  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  Lin- 
nean  Society  in  1798,  and  was  a  distinguished 
scholar.  At  one  time,  though  at  what  period 
is  uncertain,  he  was  resident  at  Aspall,  Suffolk, 
as  tutor  to  the  children  of  Mr.  Chevallier. 

He  published  some  small  pieces  of  ephe- 
meral interest,  and  an  important  philological 
work  entitled  '  The  Vocabulary  of  East 
Anglia ;  an  attempt  to  record  the  Vulgar 
Tongue  of  the  twin  sister  counties,  Norfolk 
and  Suffolk,  as  it  existed  in  the  last  twenty 
years  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  and  still 
exists :  with  Proof  of  its  Antiquity  from  Ety- 
mology and  Authority,'  2  vols.  London,  1830, 
8vo.  This  was  edited  by  the  Rev.  George 
Turner  of  Kettleburgh.  Prefixed  to  vol.  i. 
is  the  author's  portrait,  engraved  from  a 
painting  by  M.  Sharp.  Vol.  iii.,  being  a 
supplementary  volume  by  the  Rev.  W.  T. 
Spurdens,  was  published  at  London  in  1858. 

Forby  assisted  Mr.  Mannings  in  his  '  Pur- 
suits of  Agriculture,'  and  in  1824  wrote  the 
prospectus  of  a  continuation  of,  as  supple- 
ment to,  the  new  edition  of  Blomefield's 
'Norfolk.' 

[Memoir  by  Dawson,  prefixed  to  the  Voca- 
bulary; Davy's  Athense  Suffolcenses,  iii.  155; 
Graduati  Cantabrigienses,  1846;  Gent.  Mag. 
xcvi.  281 ;  Britton's  Architectural  Antiquities  of 
Great  Britain,  iii.  13*.]  T.  C. 


FORCER,  FRANCIS,  the  elder  (1650  ?- 
1705  ?),  composer,  is  mentioned  by  Hawkins 
as  the  writer  of  many  songs,  five  of  which 
may  be  found  in  Playford's  *  Choyce  Ayres- 
and  Dialogues,'  bk.  ii.  1679,  one  in  the  edi- 
tion of  1681,  and  two  in  that  of  1683.  Some 
of  his  music  is  in  the  Fitzwilliam  Collection, 
Cambridge,  an  overture  and  eight  tunes  are  in 
the  Christ  Church  Library,  Oxford,  and  a  set 
of  instrumental  trios,  with  a  jig  and  gavotte 
for  organ,  among  the  British  Museum  manu- 
scripts. He  was  one  of  four  stewards  for 
the  celebration  of  St.  Cecilia's  day  of  1684. 
Towards  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century 
Forcer,  who  may  have  had  some  previous  in- 
terest in  the  concern,  became  the  lessee  of 
Sadler's  Wells  music  house,  garden,  and  water 
at  Clerkenwell,  with  one  James  Miles  (about 
1697)  as  his  partner.  To  Miles  was  assigned 
the  control  of  the  good  cheer,  the  building  or 
'  boarded  house '  becoming  known  as  Miles's 
Music  House,  while  the  waters  were  adver- 
tised as  Sadler's  Wells.  The  musical  enter- 
tainment at  such  places  of  resort  at  that  period 
was  said  by  Hawkins  to  be  hardly  deserving 
the  name  of  concert,  i.e.  concerted  music,  for 
the  instruments  were  limited  to  violins,  haut- 
boys, and  trumpets  playing  in  unison,  and 
when  a  bass  was  introduced  it  was  merely  to 
support  a  simple  ballad  or  dance-tune.  '  The 
musick  plays,  and  'tis  such  music  as  quickly 
will  make  me  or  you  sick,'  comments  an  old 
writer  upon  the  efforts  of  arival  establishment ; 
and  Ned  Ward  describes  the  combination  of 
attractions  at  Sadler's  Wells  in  the  lines, 

The  organs  and  fiddles  were  scraping  and  hum- 
ming, 

The  guests  for  more  ale  on  the  table  were  drum- 
ming. 

Lady  Squalb  rose  to  sing,  and  '  silenced  the 
noise  with  her  musical  note,'  and  a  fierce 
fiddler  in  scarlet  ran  '  up  in  alt  with  a  hey 
diddle  diddle,  to  show  what  a  fool  he  could 
make  of  the  fiddle.'  It  appears  that  these 
primitive  entertainments  were  announced ( to 
begin  at  eleven,  to  hold  until  one.'  Forcer  ob- 
tained a  license  to  marry  Jane  Taylor  of  Wor- 
plesdon,  Surrey,  30  July  1673.  He  was  then 
described  as  '  of  St.  Bartholomew,  Exchange, 
London,  gent.,  bachelor,  about  twenty-three/ 
He  died  in  1704  or  1705,  leaving  (by  a 
will  dated  1704)  to  his  son,  Francis  Forcer, 
various  properties  in  Durham  and  in  Fetter 
Lane,  without  mention  of  Sadler's  Wells. 
Nor  was  Sadler's  Wells  among  the  property 
left  by  James  Miles  upon  his  death  in  1724. 
By  the  latters  will  his  daughter  Frances, 
wife  of  Francis  Forcer  the  younger,  became 
entitled  to  an  annuity,  and  lands  in  Berk- 
shire, Essex,  &c.  are  settled  upon  Henry  and 


Forcer 


415 


Ford 


John  Miles  Tompkins,  the  children  of  the 
said  Mrs.  Francis  Forcer  (d.  1726)  by  her 
first  husband. 

FOKCEE,  FRANCIS,  the  younger  (1675?- 
1743),  was  known  after  1724  as  master  of 
Sadler's  Wells,  and  he  resided  there  until 
his  death.     He  had  been  sent  to  Oxford,  en- 
tered Gray's  Inn  on  8  July  1696,  and  was 
called  to  the  bar  in  1703.     Notwithstand- 
ing his  culture,  Forcer's  reign  at  Sadler's 
Wells  was  marked  by  the  introduction  of 
nothing  more  intellectual  than  rope-dancing 
and  tumbling.     In  1735  a  license  for  sing- 
ing, dancing,  pantomime,  &c.,  and  the  sale  of 
liquors  was  refused  him  by  the  authorities, 
who,  however,  promised  at  the  same  time 
not  to  interfere.     It   was   not  until   after 
Forcer's  death,  when  John  Warren  was  oc- 
cupier in  1744,  that  the  grand  jury  of  Middle- 
sex thought  it  necessary  to  protest  against 
the  demoralising  influence  of  this  and  similar 
places  of  amusement.     Forcer  the  younger 
was  tall,  athletic,  and  handsome.     Garbott 
relates  that  he  improved  the  place,  and  adds : 
Miles  in  his  way  obliging  was,  we  know, 
Yet  F  .  .  .  .  r's  language  doth  the  softer  flow ; 
Behaviour  far  genteeler  of  the  two, 
By  birth  a  gentleman  and  breeding  too, 
Oxford,  for  liberal  arts  that  is  so  fam'd, 
(Inferior  all,  none  equal  can  be  nam'd) 
His  Alma  Mater  was,  it  is  well  known, 
And  Gray's  Inn  learned  gave  to  him  the  gown. 
Call'd  was  he  from  thence  unto  the  bar,  &c. 

— a  profession  soon  abandoned  for  the  lucra- 
tive position  'behind  the  barr'  at  Sadler's 
Wells,  where  Stephen  Monteage,  Woollaston, 
and  other  habitue's  were  wont  to  '  tarry.' 
Forcer  was  found  to  be  '  very  ill  of  the  new 
distemper'  on  5  April  1743;  on  the  9th  he 
died.  By  his  will  he  desired  that  his  lease 
of  Sadler's  Wells  should  be  sold ;  other  pro- 
perty was  left  to  his  widow,  Catherine,  for 
life,  and  the  bulk  of  his  property  to  Frances 
(Mrs.  Savage),  his  daughter  by  the  former 
marriage. 

[Addit.MSS.  British  Museum,  29283-4-5,  and 
31403;  Playford's  Theater  of  Music,  ii.  25;  Choyce 
Ayres  and  Dialogues ;  W.  H.  Husk's  Account  of 
the  Celebrations  of  St.  Cecilia's  Day,  p.  14 ;  Haw- 
kins's Hist,  of  Music,  iv.  380 ;  Foster's  London 
Marriage  Licenses,  p.  498  ;  Guidott's  Account  of 
Sadler's  Wells;  Malcolm's  Londinium  Kedivi- 
vum,  iii.  232 ;  Gent.  Mag.  xiii.  218,  xiv.  278, 
xviii.  68,  Ixxxv.  559  ;  Mirror,  xxxiv.  218;  Per- 
cival's  Collection  relating  to  Sadler's  Wells  (Brit. 
Mus.);  Ned  Ward's  Walk  to  Islington,  p.  13; 
P.  C.  C.  Eegisters,  Somerset  House ;  Hovenden's 
Kegisters  of  Clerkenwell ;  Entry-books  of  Gray's 
Inn  ;  Stephen  Monteage's  MS.  Diary  (at  Guild- 
hall) in  Partridge's  Almanacks,  1733  to  1746 
passim ;  Garbott's  New  Kiver.  See  also  Pinks's 
Clerkenwell,  p.  420,  &c.]  L.  M.  M. 


these  musical  productions  Ford  alsopublif 
a  sermon  on  John  xi.  36,  in  1826,  and  in  ] 


FORD.     [See  also  FORDE.] 

FORD,  ANNE  (1737-1824),  authoress 
and  musician.  [See  THICKNESSB.] 

FORD,DAVID  E  VERARD  (1797-1875), 
author  and  musical  composer,  was  born  on 
13  Sept.  1797  at  Long  Melford  in  Suffolk, 
where  his  father,  the  Rev.  David  Ford,  was 
congregational  minister.  In  1816  he  entered 
Wymondley  College,  andin  1821  became  con- 
gregational minister  at  Lymington  in  Hamp- 
shire. During  the  twenty  years  of  his  resi- 
dence in  this  town  he  published  seven  books 
of  psalm  and  hymn  tunes  harmonised  for  four 
voices ;  a  chorus  for  five  voices — '  Blessings 
for  ever  on  the  Lamb'  (1825?)  ;  a  song,  'The 
Negro  Slave '  (1825)  ;  '  Progressive  Exercises 
for  the  Voice,  with  illustrative  examples  ' 
(1826) ; '  Observations  on  Psalmody '  (1828  ?) ; 
and  in  1829  the  (  Rudiments  of  Music/  the 
eleventh  thousand  of  which  was  issued  with 
the  author's  final  revisions  in  1843.  Besides 

ished 

and  in  1828 

'  Hymns  chiefly  on  the  Parables  of  Christ/ 
But  the  work  by  which  he  is  best  known, 
and  which  produced  a  great  and  immediate 
effect  upon  the  religious  world  of  the  time, 
was  an  essay  entitled,  '  Decapolis  ;  or  the 
Individual  Obligation  of  Christians  to  save 
Souls  from  Death.'  This  was  published  in 
1840,  and  within  a  year  had  reached  its  fifth 
thousand;  a  fifth  American  edition  also  being 
issued  in  New  York  in  1848.  Other  essays  of 
a  similar  kind  were  entitled '  Chorazin ;  or  an 
Appeal  to  the  Child  of  many  Prayers/  1841 ; 
'  Damascus ;  or  Conversion  in  relation  to 
the  Grace  of  God  and  the  Agency  of  Man/ 
1842 ;  '  Laodicea ;  or  Religious  Declension/ 
1844 ;  and  l  Alarm  in  Zion ;  or  a  few 
Thoughts  on  the  Present  State  of  Religion/ 
1847.  In  1841  Ford  accepted  an  appoint- 
ment from  the  Congregational  Union  to  visit 
the  stations  of  the  Home  Missionary  Society, 
and  in  1843  took  the  oversight  of  a  newly 
formed  church  in  Manchester.  Here  he  re- 
mained till  1858,  when  he  retired  from  stated 
service  as  a  resident  minister.  He,  however, 
still  continued  to  preach  to  other  congrega- 
tions in  various  parts  of  the  country  till  1874, 
when  cataract,  beginning  to  affect  his  vision, 
compelled  him  to  desist.  He  died  at  Bed- 
ford 23  Oct.  1875  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight. 
[Works  of  Ford  ;  private  sources.]  J.  B-N. 

FORD,  EDWARD  (/.  1647),  ballad  and 
verse  writer,  was  probably  a  native  of  Nor- 
folk. He  wrote:  1.  l  Wine  and  Women,  or 
a  brief  Description  of  the  common  Courtesie 
of  a  Curtezan/  London,  1647  (3  Dec.  1646), 
dedicated  to  '  Robert  Walloppe,  esq./  M.P. 


Ford 


416 


Ford 


The  author  signs  his  name  '  Ed.  Foord.'  The 
work  is  in  six-line  stanzas,  to  each  of  which 
is  appended  a  scriptural  text.  Drunkenness 
and  immorality  are  denounced  in  alternate 
gtanzas.  2.  'An  Alarm  to  Trumpets,  or 
Mounte  Chival  to  every  defeated,  remisse, 
and  secure  Trumpet  in  England,  Scotland, 
and  Ireland,'  London  (12  Aug.),  1651.  The 
dedication  to  the  author's  'worthy friend, Mr. 
John  Bret,  Trumpet  in  Special '  to  Cromwell, 
is  signed  <  Edw.  Ford.'  The  book  collects 
scattered  pieces,  chiefly  religious,  in  verse 
and  prose,  and  shows  much  sympathy  with 
the  parliamentary  party.  3.  '  Fair  Play  in 
the  Lottery,  or  Mirth  for  Money,'  London, 
1660,  dedicated  to  the  author's  namesake,  Sir 
Edward  Ford  [q.v.]»  a  collection  of  droll 
verses  descriptive  of  a  lottery-drawing.  Four 
ballads  by  Ford  issued  as  broadsides  about 
1640  are  extant  in  the  Roxburghe  Collection. 
These  are  (1).  .  .or 

A  merry  discourse  between  him  and  his  loane, 
That  sometimes  did  live  as  never  did  none. 

2  parts,  signed  '  Ed.  Ford.'  Printed  in  Lon- 
don by  F.  Coules  (Eoxb.  Coll.  i.  82-3 ;  Eoxb. 
Ballads,  ed.  Chappell,  i.  253);  (2)  'A  Dia- 
logue between  Master  Guesright  and  poore 
Neighbour  Needy,'  signed  E.  F.  (ib.  i.  74-5  ; 
ib.  i.  230) ;  (3)  '  Impossibilities'  (id.  i.  164-5; 
ib.  i.  492) ;  (4)  '  A  merry  Discourse  between 
Norfolke  Thomas  and  Sisly  Standtoo't,  his 
wife'  (ib.  i.  270-1 ;  ib.  ii.  170),  reprinted  in 
J.  O.  HalliwelTs  'Norfolk Anthology,'  1852, 
pp.  149-57.  Ford  in  his  ballads,  as  else- 
where, severely  denounces  the  vices  of  the 
day. 

[Ford's  works  and  ballads  as  above."! 

S.  L.  L. 

FORD,  SIB  EDWARD  (1605-1670), 
soldier  and  inventor,  born  in  1605  at  Up  Park, 
in  the  parish  of  Harting,  Sussex,  was  the 
eldest  son  of  Sir  "William  Ford,  knight,  of 
Harting,  by  Anna,  daughter  of  Sir  Edmund 
Carell,  knight,  of  West  Harting  (BERRY, 
Sussex  Genealogies,  p.  182).  He  became  a 
gentleman-commoner  of  Trinity  College,  Ox- 
ford, in  1621,  but  left  the  university  with- 
out taking  a  degree.  Charles  I  gave  him  a 
•colonel's  commission  on  the  outbreak  of  the 
war,  and  in  1642  made  him  high  sheriff  of 
Sussex.  According  to  Vicars  he  offered  his 
majesty  '  a  thousand  men,  and  to  undertake 
the  conquest  of  Sussex,  though  sixty  miles 
in  length.'  He  began  to  raise  forces  accord- 
ingly, and  on  18  Nov.  1642  the  House  of  Com- 
mons ordered  him  to  be  apprehended  (Com- 
mons'Journals,  ii.  854).  Sir  William  Waller, 
after  taking  Winchester  and  Arundel  Castle, 
"besieged  Chichester,  which  Ford  surrendered 
eight  days  later  (29  Dec.)  Ford  soon  after- 


wards obtained  his  release  by  the  interest  of 
his  wife,  Sarah,  with  her  brother,  General 
Ireton  [q.  v.]  On  4  Oct.  1643  he  was  knighted 
by  Charles  I  at  Oxford  (METCALFE,  Book  of 
Knights,  p.  201).  He  commanded  a  regiment 
of  horse  under  Lord  Hopton,  to  whom  he 
proposed  the  recapture  of  Arundel  Castle. 
Hopton  took  it  after  three  days'  siege  (19  Dec. 
1643).  Ford  was  left  in  command  by  Hop- 
ton,  with  a  garrison  of  above  two  hundred 
men  and  many  good  officers,  but,  as  Claren- 
don says,  he  had  insufficient  experience,  al- 
though '  a  man  of  honour  and  courage.' 
After  a  siege  of  seventeen  days  the  garrison 
surrendered l  at  mercy,'  Ford  and  Sir  Edward 
Bishop  presenting  themselves  to  Sir  William 
Waller  on  6  Jan.  1643-4  as  hostages  for  the 
delivery  of  the  castle,  both  thus  becoming 
his  prisoners  for  the  second  time  (ViCARS, 
God's  Arke,  p.  123).  They  were  declared  by 
parliament  on  9  Oct.  1644  to  be  incapable  of 
any  employment.  Ford  was  imprisoned  in 
the  Tower  of  London,  from  which  in  De- 
cember he  escaped  (Commons'  Journals,  iii. 
730).  He  then  retired  to  the  continent.  In 
1647  the  queen,  knowing  his  relationship  with 
Ireton,  sent  him  to  England  to  join  Sir  John 
Berkeley  (d.  1678)  [q.  v.]  in  a  futile  negotia- 
tion with  the  army. 

On  12  Nov.  1647  he  with  others  was 
ordered  by  the  House  of  Commons  into  safe 
custody  upon  suspicion  of  being  privy  to  the 
king's  escape  from  Hampton  Court  (ib.  v. 
356).  On 21  March  1648-9 parliament  ordered 
that  he  should  pay  for  his  delinquency  one  full 
third  of  the  value  of  his  estate  (Calendar  of 
State  Papers,  Dom.  1649-50,  p.  46).  On 
9  July  1649  the  house  made  an  order  for 
remitting  the  remainder  of  his  fine  and  dis- 
charging his  sequestration  (Commons'  Jour- 
nals, vi.  257). 

In  1656  he  was  employed,  with  Cromwell's 
encouragement,  and  at  the  request  of  the 
citizens  of  London,  in  devising  an  engine  for 
raising  the  Thames  water  into  all  the  higher 
streets  of  the  city,  a  height  of  ninety-three 
feet.  This  he  accomplished  in  a  year  s  time, 
and  at  his  own  expense ;  and  the  same  '  rare 
engine '  was  afterwards  employed  in  other 
parts  of  the  kingdom  for  draining  mines  and 
lands,  which  work  it  performed  better  and 
cheaper  than  any  former  contrivance.  He 
also,  in  conjunction  with  Thomas  Toogood, 
constructed  the  great  water-engine  near  the 
Strand  Bridge  for  the  neighbourhood.  As 
this  obstructed  the  view  from  SomersetHouse, 
Queen  Catherine,  the  consort  of  Charles  II, 
caused  it  to  be  demolished ;  but  Ford  and 
Toogood  obtained  a  royal  license  to  erect 
other  waterworks  at  Wapping,  Marylebone, 
and  between  Temple  Bar  and  Charing  Cross. 


Ford 


417 


Ford 


After  the  Restoration  he  invented  a  mode  of 
coming  farthings.  Each  piece  was  to  differ 
minutely  from  another  to  prevent  forgery. 
He  failed  in  procuring  a  patent  for  these  in 
England,  but  obtained  one  for  Ireland.  He 
died  in  Ireland  before  he  could  carry  his  de- 
sign into  execution,  on  3  Sept.  1670.  His 
body  was  brought  to  England,  and  interred 
in  the  family  burial-place  at  Harting.  Wood 
says :  '  He  was  a  great  virtuoso  of  his  time, 
yet  none  of  the  Royal  Society,  and  might 
have  done  greater  matters  if  that  he  had  not 
been  disincouraged  for  those  things  he  had 
done  before'  (Athena  Oxon.  ed.  Bliss,  iii. 
906). 

By  the  marriage  of  his  only  daughter, 
Catharine,  to  Ralph  lord  Grey  of  Werke,  Up 
Park  became  the  property  of  the  earls  of 
Tankerville  until  it  was  sold  in  1745. 

He  wrote :  1.  '  A  Design  for  bringing  a 
Navigable  River  from  Rickmansworth  in 
Hartfordshire  to  St.  Giles's  in  the  Fields,' 
&c.,  London,  1641,  4to,  with  an  answer  by 
Sir  Walter  Roberts,  printed  the  same  year, 
and  both  reprinted  in  1720.  Ford's  pam- 
phlet is  also  reprinted  in  the  '  Harleian  Mis- 
cellany.' 2.  'Experimented  Proposals  how 
the  King  may  have  money  to  pay  and  main- 
tain his  Fleets  with  ease  to  his  people.  Lon- 
don may  be  rebuilt,  and  all  proprietors  satis- 
fied. Money  be  lent  at  six  per  cent,  on  pawns. 
And  the  Fishing-Trade  set  up,  which  alone 
is  able  and  sure  to  enrich  us  all.  And  all 
this  without  altering,  straining,  or  thwarting 
any  of  our  Laws  or  Customes  now  in  use,' 
London,  1666,  4to.  To  this  was  added  a 
'  Defence  of  Bill  Credit.'  3.  '  Proposals  for 
maintaining  the  Fleet  and  rebuilding  Lon- 
don, by  bills  to  be  made  payable  on  the  taxes 
to  be  given  to  the  King  by  Parliament,' 
manuscript  in  Public  Record  Office,  *  State 
Papers,'  Dom.  Charles  II,  vol.  clxxi.  4.  Im- 
portant letters  of  intelligence  preserved  among 
the  '  Clarendon  State  Papers'  in  the  Bodleian 
Library  at  Oxford. 

[Clarendon's  Hist,  of  the  Rebellion  (1843), 
pp.  477,  478,  626  ;  Calendar  of  the  Clarendon 
State  Papers,  i.  545 ;  Dallaway's  Sussex ;  Notes 
and  Queries,  3rd  ser.  ix.  80 ;  Calendars  of  State 
Papers,  Dom.  1649-50  p.  46,  1659-60  p.  97, 
1661-2  p.  146,  1663-4  pp.  396,  655,  1664-5 
pp.  72,  214,  230,  1665-6  p.  170,  1666-7  pp. 
127,  439;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  6th  Rep.  330,  331, 
7th  Rep.  686, 9th  Rep.  893 ;  Sussex  Archaeological 
Collections,  v.  36-63,  ix.  50-3,  xix.  94,  118; 
Tierney's  Arundel,  pp.  58-68.]  T.  C. 

FORD,  EDWARD  (1746-1809),  surgeon, 
is  stated  to  have  been  '  the  son  of  Dr.  Ford, 
a  prebendary  of  Wells,'  and  to  have  been 
born  in  that  city  l  in  1750'  (Gent.  Mag. 
vol.  Ixxix.  pt.  ii.  p.  1168).  As,  however,  his 

VOL.   XIX. 


age  at  the  time  of  his  death  is  given  as  '  62 ' 
(ib.  p.  984),  he  would  have  been  born  in 
1746,  the  son  of  Thomas  Ford,  prebendary 
of  St.  Decuman,  Wells,  and  vicar  of  Ban- 
well  and  of  Wookey,  Somersetshire,  who  died 
29  Aug.  of  the  same  year  (ib.  xvi.  496 ;  LB 
NEVE,  Fasti,  ed.  Hardy,  i.  185, 197).     He  re- 
ceived his  medical  training  under  Dr.  John 
Ford,  then  in  practice  at  Bristol.   At  an  early 
age  he  settled  as  a  surgeon  in  London,  was 
admitted  a  member  of  the  court  of  assis- 
tants of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons,  ac- 
quired an  excellent  practice,  and  was  greatly 
liked.     In  1780  he  was  appointed  surgeon  to 
the  Westminster  General  Dispensary,  which 
office  he  resigned,  after  more  than  twenty 
years'  service,  on  16  July  1801.  At  this  time, 
the  finances  of  the  charity  being  very  low, 
Ford  generously  presented  it  with  the  arrears 
of  his  salary,  amounting  altogether  to  four 
hundred  guineas,  and  his  example  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  physicians  to  the  institution, 
Drs.  Foart  Simmons  and  Robert  Bland  {Gent. 
3fo0.vol.Lni.pt,  ii.p.  661).    He  died  15  Sept. 
1809  at  Sherborne,  Dorsetshire,  when  on  his 
way  from  Weymouth  to  Bath,  'a  very  humane 
and  benevolent  gentleman,  well  known  in  the 
abodes  of  poverty,  wretchedness,  and  disease/ 
Besides   papers   in  various   medical   serials 
(RETJSS,  Alphabetical  Register  of  Authors,  p. 
138,  supplement,  pt.  i.  pp.  360-1),  Ford  was 
author  of  a  valuable  treatise  entitled  '  Ob- 
servations on  the  Disease  of  the  Hip  Joint ; 
to  which  are  added  some  Remarks  on  White 
Swellings  of  the  Knee  .  .  .  illustrated  by 
cases  and  engravings,'  8vo,   London,  1794 
(WATT,  Bibl.  Brit.  i.  257  d,  377  e),  of  which 
revised  editions  were  published  in  1810  and 
1818  by  his  nephew  and  successor  Thomas 
Copeland  [q.  v.],  to  whom  he  bequeathed  his 
house  in  Golden  Square,  London,  and  a  con- 
siderable legacy.     He  was  elected  a  fellow 
of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries,  3  May  1792 
(GotTGH,  Chronological  List  of  Soc.  Antiq. 
1798,  p.  51).     He  was  twice  married.     His 
first  wife,  Sarah  Frances,  daughter  of  Hugh 
Josiah  Hansard,  died  in  1783,  and  was  buried 
at  Hillingdon,  Middlesex  (LYSONS,  Parishes 
in  Middlesex,  p.  161). 

[David  Rivers's  Literary  Memoirs  of  Living- 
Authors,  1798,  i.  191;  Noble's  Continuation  of 
Granger,  iii.  115.]  GK  G. 

FORD,  EMANUEL  (/.  1607),  romance 
writer,  was  the  author  of  '  Parismus,  the 
renovmed  prince  of  Bohemia.  His  most 
famous,  delectable,  and  pleasant  historie, 
conteining  his  noble  battailes  fought  against 
the  Persians,  his  love  to  Laurana,  the  king's 
daughter  of  Thessaly,  and  his  strange  ad- 
ventures in  the  desolate  Island.'  London, 

E  E 


Ford 


418 


Ford 


by  Thomas  Creede,  1598.  This  work  was 
licensed  to  Creede  on  22  Nov.  1597  (ARBER, 
iii.  98),  and  was  dedicated  to  Sir  Robert 
Radcliffe,  the  Earl  of  Sussex,  Viscount  Fitz- 
waters,  Lord  Egremond  and  Burnell.  At 
the  close  is  a  recommendatory  epistle  from 
the  author's  friend  L[azarus]  P[lot],  the 
pseudonym  of  Anthony  Munday.  The  book 
imitated  the  Spanish  romances.  Its  style  was 
euphuistic,  but  its  story  was  for  the  most 
part  original.  It  was  extraordinarily  well 
received,  and  on  25  Oct.  1598  Creede  ob- 
tained a  license  for  a  second  part.  It  is 
called  in  the  ' Stationers'  Registers'  (ib. 
iii.  129)  '  Parismenos.  The  triall  of  true 
friendship,'  but  when  published  it  was  en- 
titled *  Parsimenos.  The  second  part  of  the 
most  famous,  delectable,  and  pleasant  His- 
torie  of  Parsimenos,  the  renowned  prince  of 
Bohemia,'  London,  1599,  and  was  dedicated 
to  the  Countess  of  Essex.  Innumerable  re- 
prints of  the  whole  work  followed.  In  1608 
a  volume  was  issued  containing  l  The  First 
Part  of  Parismus '  with  a  second  title-page 
introducing  'Parismenos,  the  second  part.' 
The  latter  bears  the  date  1609  and  the  words 
'  The  third  time  imprinted  and  amended.'  A 
fourth  edition  of  the  whole  is  dated  1615 : 
others  are  dated  1630,  1636,  1649  (13th 
edit.),  1657, 1663,  1664, 1665,  1668-9,  1671, 
1677,  1684,  1690,  1696,  and  1704.  The 
romance  was  also  frequently  issued  in  an 
abridged  form  as  a  chapbook  without  date. 
A  reference  to  the  work  in  Thomas  May's 
1  Old  Couple '  (not  published  till  1658,  al- 
though acted  earlier)  illustrates  the  book's 
popularity  (DODSLEY,  Old  Plays,  ed.  Haz- 
litt,  xii.  12;  cp.  Notes  and  Queries,  2nd  ser. 
vi.  310). 

Another  of  Ford's  romances  is  entitled 
<  The  most  pleasant  history  of  Ornatus  and 
Artesia,  wherein  is  contained  the  unjust 
reign  of  Thaeon,  king  of  Phrygia.'  The 
Douce  collection  in  the  Bodleian  Library 
has  a  copy  dated  1607,  dedicated  to  Bryan 
Stapleton,  es<j.,  of  Carleton,  Yorkshire. 
Heber  had  an  imperfect  copy,  which  he  be- 
lieved to  have  been  published  before  1598. 
Editions  of  1634,  1650,  1669,  and  1683  are 
known.  The  British  Museum  Library  has 
none  earlier  than  1650.  A  third  romance 
by  Ford  is  called  '  The  Famous  History  of 
Montelion,  knight  of  the  oracle,  son  of  the 
true  mirrour  of  Princes,  the  most  renowned 
king  Persicles  of  Assyria.'  In  a  jovial  pre- 
face the  author  states  that  the  success  of 
1  Parismos '  encouraged  him  to  produce  this 
work.  The  earliest  edition  now  known  is 
dated  1633.  J.  O.  HalliweU-Phillipps  had 
in  his  possession  at  one  time  a  copy  of  earlier 
date.  Other  editions  are  dated  1663,  1668, 


1671,  1683,  1687,  1695.  It  also  appeared 
frequently  .as  an  undated  chapbook.  Ford's 
title  of '  Montelion,  knight  of  the  oracle,'  was 
the  pseudonym  adopted  by  John  Phillipps 
[q.  v.],  one  of  Milton's  nephews,  who  issued 
almanacks  under  that  name  in  1660  and 
1661.  Flatman  [q.  v.]  also  employed  the 
same  nom-de-guerre  in  his  mock  romance  of 
1  Don  Juan  Lamberto.'  Both  '  Ornatus  and 
Artesia '  and  '  Montelion '  are  written  on  the 
same  models  as  '  Parismos.' 

[Dunlop's  Hist,  of  Fiction,  ed.  Wilson,  1888, 
ii.  547;  Hazlitt's  Handbooks;  Brit.  Mus.  and 
Bodl.  Libr.  Catalogues.]  S.  L.  L. 

FORD,  SIR  HENRY  (1619  P-1684),  secre- 
tary of  state,  born  in  or  about  1619,  was  the 
eldest  son  of  Henry  Ford  of  Bagtor  in  II- 
sington,  Devonshire,  by  Katharine,  daughter 
and  heiress  of  George  Drake  of  Spratshays 
in  Littleham,  in  the  same  county.  He  was 
absurdly  supposed  to  have  been  grandson  of 
John  Ford  the  dramatist  [q.  v.]  (LYSONS, 
Magna  Britannia,  vol.  vi.  Devonshire,  pt.  ii. 
pp.  291-2)  ;  his  grandfather  was  Thomas 
Ford,  son  and  heir  of  George  Ford  of  Ilsing- 
ton  (Visitation  of  Devonshire  in  1620,  Harl. 
Soc.,  p.  108).  He  was  for  a  time  fellow-com- 
moner of  Exeter  College,  Oxford  (BoASE,  ./te^. 
of  Exeter  Coll.  p.  Ixi),  but  his  father  dying, 
and  his  mother  marrying  again,  he  went  home 
to  look  after  his  patrimony.  With  his  step- 
father, John  Cloberry  of  Bradstone,  Devon- 
shire, he  had  many  hot  disputes  over  the 
property,  which  had  to  be  settled  in  the  law 
courts.  In  the  reign  of  Charles  II  he  pur- 
chased Nutwell  Court,  in  the  parish  of  Wood- 
bury,  near  Exeter,  which  he  made  the  place 
of  his  future  abode.  He  was  put  in  the  com- 
mission of  the  peace  for  the  county,  and  was 
lieutenant-colonel,  under  Sir  John  Drake  of 
Ash,  his  kinsman,  in  the  militia  for  the 
eastern  division  of  the  shire,  of  which  he  was 
likewise  a  deputy-lieutenant.  On  the  death 
of  Sir  Thomas  Stucley  he  was  elected  mem- 
ber for  Tiverton,  6  April  1664,  and  kept  his 
seat  until  the  dissolution  of  Charles's  last 
parliament,  28  March  1681  (Lists  of  Mem- 
bers of  Parliament,  Official  Return,  pt.  i.  pp. 
522,  535,  541,  547).  Prince,  who  knew  him 
well,  describes  Ford  as  '  an  excellent  orator,' 
and  witty,  but  the  single  specimen  he  gives 
of  his  wit  is  by  no  means  brilliant  (  Worthies 
of  Devon,  ed.  1701,  p.  315).  In  1669  he  ac- 
companied John,  lord  Robartes,  the  lord-lieu- 
tenant, to  Ireland  as  secretary  of  state,  but 
*  to  his  no  little  damage  and  disappointment ' 
was  recalled  along  with  his  chief  the  very  next 
year.  In  1672  Ford,  having  been  knighted 
at  Whitehall  on  20  July  in  that  year  (Ls 
NEVE,  Knights,  Harl.  Soc.,  p.  279),  acted  in 


Ford 


419 


Ford 


the  same  capacity  to  Arthur  Capel,  earl  of 
Essex.  He  did  not,  however,  continue  in 
office  long,  '  for  being  sent  into  England  on 
some  important  affair,  contrived  by  those 
who  were  willing  to  put  him  out  of  the  way, 
he  returned  no  more  unto  Ireland '  (PKINCE, 
p.  316).  The  fact  was  that  his  brusque, 
overbearing  manner  made  him  everywhere 
disliked.  He  died  in  1684,  aged  65,  at  Nut- 
well  Court,  and  was  buried  in  Woodbury 
Church  (LYSONS,  Magna  Britannia,  vol.  vi., 
Devonshire,  pt.  i.  pp.  cxcv-vi,  pt.  ii.  pp.  291- 
292).  He  left  a  son  Charles,  supposed  to 
have  died  in  his  minority,  and  three  daugh- 
ters, married  to  Drake,  Holwell,  and  Eger- 
ton  (ib.  vol.  vi.  pt:  ii.  p.  571).  On  22  July 
1663  he  was  elected  F.R.S.  (THOMSON",  Hist, 
of  Roy.  Soc.,  appendix  iv.),  and  remained  in 
the  society  until  1682  (Lists  of  Roy.  Soc.  in 
Brit.  Mus.) 

[Prince's  Worthiesof  Devon,  1701, pp.  314-16.] 

Of.   Of. 

FORD,  JAMES  (1779-1850),  antiquary, 
"born  at  Canterbury  on  31  Oct.  1779,  was  the 
eldest  son  of  the  Rev.  James  Ford,  B.A., 
minor  canon  of  Durham,  and  afterwards 
minor  canon  of  Canterbury.  He  entered 
the  King's  School,  Canterbury,  in  1788,  ma- 
triculated at  Trinity  College,  Oxford,  8  July 
1797,  and  became  fellow  of  his  college  2  June 
1807.  He  graduated  B.A.  1801.  M.A.  1804, 
B.D.  1812,  and  in  1811  was  junior  proctor 
of  the  university.  He  held  the  perpetual 
curacies  of  St.  Laurence,  Ipswich,  and  of 
Hill  Farrance,  Somersetshire.  He  was  sub- 
sequently presented  (28  Oct.  1830)  to  the 
vicarage  of  Navestock  in  Essex,  and  died 
31  Jan.  1850.  His  quaint  directions  (see 
SIDEBOTHAM,  Memorials,  p.  96)  for  a  funeral 
of  great  simplicity  were  carried  out  when  he 
was  buried  in  Navestock  churchyard.  There 
is  a  monument  to  him  in  Navestock  Church, 
and  a  portrait  of  him  in  the  common  room 
of  Trinity  College,  Oxford.  He  married,  on 
19  Nov.  1830,  Lsetitia,  youngest  daughter 
of  Edward  Jermyn,  bookseller,  of  Ipswich, 
but  left  no  children.  To  the  university  of 
Oxford  Ford  bequeathed  2,000/.  for  the  en- 
dowment of  '  Ford's  Professorship  of  English 
History,'  and  to  Trinity  College,  Oxford, 
4,000 1.  for  the  purchase  of  advowsons,  as  well 
as  4,000/.  for  the  endowment  of  four  '  Ford's 
Studentships,'  two  of  which  were  to  be  con- 
fined to  youths  educated  at  the  King's  School, 
Canterbury.  Ford  was  a  collector  and  com- 
piler on  antiquarian  subjects.  His  large  col- 
lection for  a  new  edition  of  Morant's '  History 
of  Essex '  is  in  the  library  of  Trinity  Col- 
lege, Oxford,  and  his  manuscript  collec- 
tions for  a  history  of  bishops  from  the  Re- 


volution onwards  were  purchased  by  the 
British  Museum.  He  was  also  a  contributor 
to  the  'Gentleman's  Magazine'  and  to  Ni- 
chols's '  Literary  Illustrations/  vols.  vi.  and 
viii.,  and  was  the  author  of  'The  Devout 
Communicant/  1815, 12mo,  and  '  A  Century 
of  Christian  Prayers/  2nd  ed.  Ipswich,  1824, 
8vo. 

[Sidebotham's  Memorials  of  the  King's  School, 
Canterbury  (1865),  pp.  95-8  ;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat.; 
Nichols's  Lit.  Illustr.  viii.  659,  668  ;  Gent.  Mag. 
1848,  new  ser.  xxx.  330.]  W.  W. 

FORD,  JOHN  (Jl.  1639),  dramatist,  se- 
cond son  of  Thomas  Ford  of  Ilsington,  De- 
vonshire, was  baptised  at  Ilsington  17  April 
1586.  His  mother  was  a  sister  of  Lord-chief- 
justice  Popham.  He  is  probably  the  John 
Ford,  'Devon,  gen.  f./  who  matriculated  at 
Exeter  College,  Oxford,  26  March  1601,  aged 
sixteen  years  (Oxford  Univ.  Reg.  vol.  ii.  pt.  ii. 
p.  246).  On  16  Nov.  1602  Ford  was  ad- 
mitted a  member  of  the  Middle  Temple.  In 
1606  he  published  an  elegy  on  the  Earl  of 
Devonshire,  'Fames  Memoriall ;  or  the  Earle 
of  Devonshire  Deceased.  With  his  honour- 
able life,  peacefull  end,  and  solemne  Funerall/ 
4to,with  a  dedicatory  sonnet  to  the  Lady  Pene- 
lope, countess  of  Devonshire,  and  commen- 
datory verses  by  Barnabe  Barnes  and  '  T.  P.' 
Ford  seems  to  have  had  no  personal  acquaint- 
ance with  the  earl  or  with  Lady  Penelope, 
and  he  is  careful  to  state  that  his  elegy  was 
not  written  from  any  mercenary  motive.  In 
the  course  of  the  poem  he  makes  mysterious 
allusions  to  a  lady,  '  bright  Lycia  the  cruel, 
the  cruel-subtle/  whose  affections  he  had 
vainly  sought  to  engage.  To  1606  also  be- 
longs 'Honor  Trivmphant;  or  the  Peeres 
Challenge,  by  Armes  defensible,  at  Tilt,  Tur- 
ney,  and  Barriers.  .  .  .  Also  the  Monarches 
Meeting  ;  or  the  King  of  Denmarkes  wel- 
come into  England/  4to.  His  earliest  dra- 
matic work  was  an  unpublished  comedy  en- 
titled '  An  111  Beginning  has  [or  may  have] 
a  Good  End/  acted  at  the  Cockpit  in  1613. 
On  25  Nov.  1615 '  A  booke  called  Sir  Thomas 
Overburyes  Ghost,  contayneing  the  history 
of  his  life  and  vntimely  death,  by  John 
Fford,  gent./  was  entered  in  the  Stationers' 
Register.  This  must  have  been  a  prose-tract 
or  a  poem,  as  a  play  on  the  subject  would 
certainly  have  been  forbidden.  In  1620  Ford 
published  a  moral  treatise,  '  A  Line  of  Life. 
Pointing  out  the  Immortalitie  of  a  Vertuous 
Name/  12mo. 

First  on  the  list  of  Ford's  plays  in  order 
of  publication  is  '  The  Lovers  Melancholy. 
Acted  at  the  Private  House  in  the  Blacke 
Friers,  and  publikely  at  the  Globe  by  the 
Kings  Maiesties  seruants/  1629,  4to,  which 

EE2 


Ford 


420 


Ford 


had  been  brought  out  24  Nov.  1628.  Four 
copies  of  commendatory  verses  are  prefixed, 
and  the  play  is  dedicated  l  To  my  worthily 
respected  friends,  Nathaniel  Finch,  John  Ford, 
Esquires ;  Master  HenryBlunt,  Master  Robert 
ElUce,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  Noble  Society 
of  Gray's  Inn.'  In  the  dedicatory  epistle 
Ford  states  that  this  was  his  first  appearance 
in  print  as  a  dramatic  writer,  and  hints  that 
it  may  be  his  last .  Gifford  rightly  pronounces 
the  comic  portions  of  '  The  Lovers  Melan- 
choly '  to  be  despicable ;  but  it  contains  some 
choice  poetry,  notably  the  description  (after 
Strada)  of  the  contention  between  the  night- 
ingale and  the  musician. 

In  1633  was  published  '  'Tis  Pity  Shee's  a 
Whore.  Acted  by  the  Queenes  Maiesties 
Seruants  at  the  Phoenix  in  Drury  Lane,'  4to, 
with  a  dedicatory  epistle  to  John,  first  earl 
of  Peterborough,  to  whom  the  dramatist 
acknowledges  his  indebtedness  for  certain 
favours.  In  this  tragedy,  of  which  the  sub- 
ject is  singularly  repulsive,  Ford  displays  the 
subtlest  qualities  of  his  genius.  The  final 
colloquy  between  Annabella  and  Giovanni 
is  one  of  the  most  memorable  scenes  in  the 
English  drama.  In  the  same  year  (1633) 
was  published '  The  Broken  Heart.  ATragedy. 
Acted  by  the  Kings  Majesties  Seruants  at 
the  private  House  in  the  Black-Friers.  Fide 
Honor,'  4to,  dedicated  to  William,  lord 
Craven.  'Fide  Honor'  is  an  anagram  of 
1  John  Forde.'  '  I  do  not  know,'  says  Lamb, 
'  where  to  find  in  any  play  a  catastrophe  so 
grand,  so  solemn,  and  so  surprising  as  this  ; ' 
but  Hazlitt  and  others  have  remarked  on  the 
fantastic  unreality,  the  violent  unnatural- 
ness,  of  the  closing  scenes.  A  third  play  was 
printed  in  1633, '  Loues  Sacrifice.  A  tragedie 
receiued  generally  well.  Acted  by  the  Queenes 
Majesties  Seruants  at  the  Phcenix  in  Drury 
Lane,'  4to,  with  a  dedicatory  epistle  to  the 
author's  cousin,  John  Ford  of  Gray's  Inn,  and 
commendatory  verses  by  James  Shirley.  De- 
tached passages  and  scenes  are  excellently 
written,  but  the  plot  is  unsatisfactory,  and 
the  characters  badly  drawn.  '  The  Chronicle 
Historic  of  Perkin  Warbeck.  A  Strange 
Truth.  Acted  (some-times)  by  the  Queenes 
Maiesties  Servants  at  the  Phcenix  in  Drurie 
Lane.  Fide  Honor,'  1634,  4to,  with  a  dedi- 
catory epistle  to  William  Cavendish,  earl  of 
Newcastle,  and  five  copies  of  commendatory 
verses,  is  the  most  faultless,  but  not  the 
greatest,  of  Ford's  plays — well  planned  and 
equably  written,  a  meritorious  and  dignified 
composition.  It  was  reprinted  in  1714, 12mo, 
when  the  movements  of  the  Pretender's  adhe- 
rents in  Scotland  were  attracting  attention, 
and  it  was  revived  at  Goodman's  Fields  inl  745 . 
'The  Fancies  Chast  and  Noble,'  1638,  4to,  a 


comedy  acted  at  the  Phoenix,  dedicated  to 
Randal  Macdonnel,  earl  of  Antrim,  is  inge- 
niously conceived  but  awkwardly  executed. 
From  a  passage  in  the  prologue  it  has  been 
hastily  supposed  that  Ford  was  abroad  whea 
the  play  was  produced.  '  The  Ladies  Triall. 
Acted  by  both  their  Majesties  Servants  at  the- 
private  house  in  Drvry  Lane.  Fide  Honor/ 
4to,  was  brought  out  3  May  1638,  and  was 
published  in  the  following  year  with  a  dedi- 
catory epistle  to  John  Wyrley,  esq.,  and  his 
wife,  Mistress  Mary  Wyrley.  The  prologue- 
was  written  by  Theophilus  Bird,  the  actor. 
There  is  much  to  admire  in  the  first  four  acts, 
but  the  conclusion  is  strangely  huddled. 
Pepys  notices  its  revival  at  the  Duke  of  York's; 
theatre  in  March  1688. 

1  The  Sun's  Darling :  A  Moral  Masque  : 
As  it  hath  been  often  presented  at  Whitehall 
by  their  Majesties  Servants,  and  after  at  the 
Cock-pit  in  Drury  Lane  with  great  applause. 
Written  by  John  Foard  and  Tho.  Decker, 
Gent.,'  4to,  was  posthumously  published  in 
1656,  some  copies  being  dated  1657.  This 
play,  which  may  have  been  an  alteration  of 
Dekker's  unpublished  '  Phaeton,'  was  licensed 
for  the  Cockpit  3  March  1623-4.  The  lyrical 
portions,  which  doubtless  belong  to  Dekker,. 
are  the  most  attractive.  From  Sir  Henry 
Herbert's  '  Diary '  it  appears  that  two  other 
plays  by  Ford  and  Dekker,  'The  Fairy 
Knight '  and  f  The  Bristowe  Merchant,'  were 
produced  in  1624,  but  they  were  not  pub- 
lished. f  The  Witch  of  Edmonton ;  A  known 
True  Story.  Composed  into  a  Tragi-comedy 
by  divers  well-esteemed  Poets,  William 
Rowley,  Thomas  Dekker,  John  Ford,  &c./4to, 
first  published  in  1658,  was  probably  written- 
in  1621,  soon  after  the  execution  of  the  re- 
puted witch,  Elizabeth  Sawyer.  Ford  seems 
to  have  contributed  little  or  nothing  to  the- 
powerful  scenes  in  which  Mother  Sawyer 
figures,  but  he  must  be  credited  with  no  small 
share  of  the  scenes  that  deal  with  Frank 
Thorney.  In  September  1624  was  licensed! 
for  the  stage  'A  new  Tragedy,  called  A 
late  Murther  of  the  Sonn  upon  the  Mother, 
written  by  Forde  and  Webster,'  which  was< 
not  published.  A  copy  of  commendatory 
verses  by  Ford  was  prefixed  to  Websterrs= 
'  Duchess  of  Malfi,'  1623. 

A  tragedy  by  Ford,  '  Beauty  in  a  Trance/ 
was  entered  in  the  Stationers'  Register 
9  Sept.  1653,  and  three  comedies,  '  The  Lon- 
don Merchant,'  'The  Royal  Combat,'  and 
'An  111  Beginning  has  a  Good  End,'  were 
entered  29  June  1660.  These  four  unpub- 
lished pieces  were  among  the  plays  destroyed 
by  Warburton's  cook.  Ford  prefixed  com- 
mendatory verses  to  Barnabe  Barnes's  '  Foure 
Bookes  of  Oflices,'  1606,  Sir  Thomas  Over- 


Ford 


421 


Ford 


bury's  'Wife,'  1616,  Shirley's  'Wedding,' 
1629,  Richard  Brome's  <  Northern  Lass,' 
1632 ;  and  he  was  one  of  the  contributors 
to  '  Jonsonus  Virbius,'  1638.  Dyce  was  of 
opinion  that  the  verses  to  Barnabe  Barnes 
were  by  the  dramatist's  cousin. 

Ford  drops  from  sight  after  the  publication 
of  the  'Ladies  Trial'  in  1639;  but  in  Gif- 
ford's   time  '  faint  traditions  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  his  birth-place '  led  to  the  sup- 
Eosition  that,  having  obtained  a  competency 
:om  his  professional  practice,  he  retired  to 
Devonshire  to  end  his  days.     In  the  '  Time- 
Poets  '  (<  Choice  Drollery,'  1656)  occurs  the 
•couplet — 

Deep  in  a  dump  John  Forde  was  alone  got, 
With  folded  arms  and  melancholy  hat. 

It  is  certain  that  he  had  very  little  comic 
talent.  That  he  was  a  favourite  with  play- 
goers is  shown  by  his  familiar  appellation, 
•*  Jack  Ford,'  mentioned  by  Heywood  in  the 
'  Hierarchie  of  Blessed  Angels,'  1635— 

And  hee's  now  but  Jacke  Foord  that  once  was 
John. 

He  was  not  dependent  on  the  stage  for  his 
livelihood,  and  his  plays  bear  few  marks  of 
haste.  In  the  prologue  to  the  '  Broken 
Heart '  he  declared  that  his  '  best  of  art  hath 
drawn  this  piece,'  and  in  all  his  work  the 
diction  is  studiously  elaborated. 

Ford's  works  were  first  collected  by  Weber 
in  1811,  2  vols.  8vo.  A  more  accurate  edi- 
tion was  published  by  Gifford  in  1827,  2  vols. 
8vo.  An  edition  of  Ford  and  Massinger,  by 
Hartley  Coleridge,  appeared  in  1848  ;  and  in 
1869  Dyce  issued  a  revised  edition  of  Gifford's 
'Ford,' 3  vols.  8vo. 

[Memoir  by  Grifford,  revised  by  Dyce,  prefixed 
•to  Ford's  Works,  1869  ;  Lamb's  Specimens  of 
Dramatic  Poets :  Swinburne's  Essays  and  Studies.! 

A.  H.  B. 

FORD,  MICHAEL  (d.  1758  ?),  mezzotint 
engraver,  was  a  native  of  Dublin,  and  a  pupil 
of  John  Brooks,  the  mezzotint  engraver  [q.  v.] 
When  Brooks  quitted  Ireland  about  1747, 
Ford  set  up  as  his  successor  at  a  shop  on  Cork 
Hill.  He  engraved  a  number  of  portraits  in 
mezzotint,  which  on  account  of  their  scarcity 
are  highly  valued  by  collectors .  Among  them 
were  James,  earl  of  Barrymore,  after  Ottway ; 
Maria  Gunning,  countess  of  Coventry,  after 
F.  Cotes ;  George  II,  after  Hudson ;  William, 
earl  of  Harrington,  after  Du  Pan ;  Richard 
St.  George,  after  Slaughter;  and  William  III, 
after  Kneller.  He  also  painted  portraits,  and 
engraved  some  himself,  viz.  Henry  Boyle, 
speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  in  Ireland, 
Henry  Singleton,  lord  chief  justice  of  Ireland, 
and  a  double  portrait  of  William  III  and 


Field-marshal  Schomberg,  the  heads  being 
copied  from  Kneller.  Ford's  address  as  pub- 
lisher appears  on  some  of  the  mezzotint  en- 
gravings by  Andrew  Miller  [q.  v.]  and  James 
MacArdell  [q.  v.]  With  the  former  he  seems 
to  have  been  in  rivalry,  as  they  engraved  the 
same  subjects,  notably  Hogarth's  full-length 
portrait  of  Gustavus  Hamilton,  viscount 
Boyne,  in  which  Ford's  print  seems  to  be  the 
earlier  of  the  two.  It  is  probable  that  Ford 
visited  London,  but  this  is  not  certain.  On 
28  Oct.  1758  the  ship  Dublin  Trader,  Cap- 
tain White,  left  Parkgatefor  Dublin,  and  was 
never  heard  of  again ;  she  carried  70,000/.  in 
money  and  80,000/.  in  goods,  and  numerous 
passengers,  among  whom  were  Edward,  fifth 
earl  of  Drogheda,  and  his  son,  Theophilus 
Gibber  [q.  v.],  and  others.  There  are  grounds 
for  supposing  that  Ford  was  also  among  the 
passengers. 

[Chaloner  Smith's  Brit.  Mezzotinto  Portraits ; 
J.  T.  Gilbert's  Hist,  of  Dublin,  vol.  ii.]  L.  C. 

FORD,  RICHARD  (1796-1858),  critic 
and  author  of  '  The  Handbook  for  Travellers 
in  Spain,'  was  the  son  of  Sir  Richard  Ford,  a 
descendant  of  an  old  Sussex  family,  who  was 
M.P.  for  East  Grinstead  in  1789,  and  for  some 
time  an  under-secretary  of  state,  and  even- 
tually chief  police  magistrate  of  London.  He 
died,  at  the  age  of  forty-seven,  on  3  May  1806, 
leaving  a  family  of  three  children.  Richard, 
the  eldest,  born  in  1796,  was  educated  at  Win- 
chester School,  from  which  he  went  to  Trinity 
College,  Oxford,  where  he  graduated  (B.A. 
1817,  M.  A.  1822).  He  afterwards  entered  at 
Lincoln's  Inn,  and  read  in  the  chambers  of 
Pemberton  Leigh  and  Nassau  Senior,  but 
though  called  to  the  bar  he  never  practised. 
In  1824  he  married,  and  six  years  later  he 
took  up  his  quarters  with  his  family  in  the 
south  of  Spain,  where  he  spent  the  next  four 
years,  and  acquired  his  extraordinary  know- 
ledge of  the  country  by  a  series  of  long  riding 
tours  made  between  1830  and  1834  from  his 
headquarters  in  the  Alhambra  or  at  Seville. 
Shortly  after  his  return  from  Spain  he  bought 
a  small  property  at  Heavitree,  near  Exeter, 
where  his  brother,  the  Rev.  James  Ford,  a 
prebendary  of  the  cathedral,  was  living.  He 
there  built  himself  a  house  and  laid  out 
grounds  with  an  artistic  taste  which  made 
his  residence  one  of  the  local  lions  of  East 
Devon.  His  employment  suggested  an  essay 
on  cob  walls,  in  which  he  traced  the  analogy 
between  the  earthen  walls  of  the  Devonshire 
peasantry  and  the  tapia  or  concrete  structures 
of  the  Moors  and  Phoenicians,  and  this,  written 
in  1837,  was  the  first  of  a  series  of  articles  that 
continued  to  appear  in  the  '  Quarterly  Re- 
view '  until  the  year  before  his  death,  when. 


Ford 


422 


Ford 


it  ended  with  his  genial  review  of  'Tom 
Brown's  School  Days.'  He  was  an  occasional 
contributor  also  to  the  l  Edinburgh,' <  British 
and  Foreign  Quarterly,'  and  '  Westminster ' 
reviews,  and  for  the  '  Penny  Cyclopaedia '  he 
wrote  the  admirable  article  on  V elazquez.  In 
1840  he  undertook  to  write  a  '  Handbook  for 
Travellers  in  Spain,'  and  finished  it  in  1845. 
Of  this  an  article  in  the '  Times  '  on  his  death, 
commonly  attributed  to  Sir  W.  Stirling  Max- 
well, truly  said  that  '  so  great  a  literary 
achievement  had  never  before  been  performed 
under  so  humble  a  title ; '  and  a  sale  of  two 
thousand  copies  within  a  few  months  proved 
the  public  estimate  of  its  merits.  Its  only 
fault  was  that  it  gave  too  much  for  the  con- 
venience of  the  traveller,  for  the  two  stout 
volumes  of  over  a  thousand  closely-printed 
pages  contained  in  the  guise  of  a  manual  the 
matter  of  an  encyclopaedia.  In  the  next  edi- 
tion (1847)  it  was  cut  down  to  the  ordinary 
dimensions  of  Murray's  '  Handbooks  for  Tra- 
vellers,' and  the  parings,  with  the  addition 
of  some  new  matter,  made  the  delightful  little 
volume  published  in  1846  under  the  title  of 
*  Gatherings  from  Spain.'  In  1855  it  was  re- 
stored to  its  first  shape,  but  in  the  interval 
alterations  had  been  found  necessary,  and  the 
use  of  a  somewhat  larger  type  made  the  exclu- 
sion of  much  of  the  preliminary  matter  un- 
avoidable ;  and  thus  the '  Handbook  for  Spain ' 
in  its  original  form  has  now  come  to  be  in- 
cluded among  those  treasures  that  book  lovers 
covet.  The  revision  was  nearly  his  last  work ; 
his  health  had  latterly  shown  signs  of  fail- 
ing, and  he  died  at  Heavitree  on  1  Sept.  1858. 
The  year  before  his  death  he  had  been  nomi- 
nated as  one  of  the  committee  to  decide  upon 
a  site  for  the  National  Gallery,  but  resigned 
on  account  of  his  health.  He  was  three  times 
married :  first,  in  1824,  to  a  daughter  of  the 
Earl  of  Essex ;  secondly,  in  1838,  to  the  Hon. 
Eliza  Cranstoun,  eldest  daughter  of  Lord 
Cranstoun:  and  in  1851  to  Mary,  only  daugh- 
ter of  Sir  A.  Molesworth.  Ford's  love  of  art 
was  hereditary.  His  maternal  grandfather, 
Mr.  Booth,  was  an  eminent  connoisseur  and 
collector  of  pictures,  and  his  mother,  Lady 
Ford,  an  amateur  artist  of  exceptional  ability ; 
and  in  the  opinion  of  competent  j  udges  he  him- 
self might  have  been  no  less  distinguished  as  a 
painter  than  as  a  man  of  letters.  His  sketches, 
brought  home  from  Spain,  often  served  as  the 
originals  of  his  friend  David  Roberts's  illus- 
trations of  Spanish  architecture  and  scenery. 
He  was  an  indefatigable  collector  of  pictures, 
etchings,  drawings,  and  prints ;  his  collection 
of  majolica  ware  was  reckoned  one  of  the 
choicest  in  existence,  and  in  all  matters  of 
cpnnoisseurship  there  was  no  higher  autho- 
rity. Spain  at  the  time  of  his  visit  was  an 


unworked  mine  of  artistic  treasure.  He  may 
be  said  to  have  been  the  first  to  make  Velaz- 
quez known  to  English  readers,  for  in  Madrid 
alone  Velazquez  is  to  be  seen,  as  he  says,  '  in 
all  his  protean  variety  of  power.'  His  article 
upon  Velazquez  in  the  '  Penny  Cyclopaedia J 
was  followed  by  one  in  the '  Quarterly  Review r 
(No.  clxv.)  upon  the  predecessors  of  Velazquez 
and  Murillo,  and  the  history  of  the  various 
schools  of  painting  in  Spain ;  and  these,  with 
the  masterly  article  in  No.  cliv.  upon  the  his- 
tory of  Spanish  architecture,  make  up  a  trea- 
tise on  Spanish  art  no  less  remarkable  for  its- 
learning  than  for  its  lucidity  and  brilliancy. 
In  the  handbook  the  infectious  spirit  of  en- 
joyment is  perhaps  the  quality  that  most  of 
all  commends  it  to  the  ordinary  reader,  but 
there  too  the  critical  faculty  and  the  artist's 
eye  always  make  themselves  felt.  He  was. 
a  kindly  critic,  severe  in  cases  of  pretended 
erudition,  but  always  generous  and  cordial 
in  his  recognition  of  genuine  work. 

Besides  the  writings  already  mentioned  he 
wrote  in  1837  a  pamphlet  called  '  Historical 
Enquiry  into  the  Unchangeable  Character  of 
a  "War  in  Spain/  a  trenchant  reply  to  '  The 
Policy  of  England  in  Spain,'  a  pamphlet  in 
support  of  Lord  Palmerston.  He  also  wrote 
the  explanatory  letterpress  for '  Apsley  House 
and  Walmer  Castle,  illustrated  by  plates,' 
1853  ;  for  the  '  Guide  to  the  Diorama  of  the 
Campaigns  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,'  1852 ; 
and  for  '  Tauromachia,  or  the  Bull  Fights  of 
Spain,  illustrated,'  1852. 

[Times,  4  Sept.  1858  ;  Eraser's  Mag.  October 
1858.]  J.  0. 

FORD,  SIMON  (1619  P-1699),  divine, 
son  of  Richard  Ford,  was  born  at  East  Ogwell,, 
near  Newton  Bushel,  Devonshire,  about  1619, 
was  educated  at  the  grammar  schools  of 
Exeter  and  Dorchester,  and  entered  Mag- 
dalen Hall,  Oxford,  in  1636.  He  was  lineally 
related  to  Nicholas  Wadham,  founder  of  Wad- 
ham  College,  but  failed  to  obtain  a  scholar- 
ship there.  In  1641  he  proceeded  B.A.,  and 
was  expelled  from  Oxford  soon  afterwards, 
on  account  of  his  strong  puritan  leanings 
(WOOD,  Fasti,  ii.  147).  When  the  parlia- 
mentary visitors  were  sent  to  Oxford  in  1647, 
Ford  returned  and  was  received  with  much 
honour.  He  took  the  degree  of  M.  A.  12  Dec. 

1648,  was  made  a  delegate  of  the  visitors  in 

1649,  and  was  created  B.D.  '  by  dispensation, 
of  the  delegates,'  16  Feb.  1649-50.  His  friend 
Dr.  Edward  Reynolds,  who  had  become  dean 
of  Christ  Church,  admitted  him  as  a  senior 
student  there,  and  he  frequently  preached  at 
St.  Mary's.     A  sermon  delivered  against  the 
Engagement  of  1651  led  to  his  removal  from 
his  studentship.    He  became  lecturer  of  New- 


Ford 


423 


Ford 


ington  Green,  London,  and  later  vicar  of  St 
Lawrence,  Reading.  There  he  engaged  in 
much  local  controversy.  In  an  assize  sermon 
preached  in  1654  he  denounced  the  people 
of  Readingfor  their  support  of  extravagant  re- 
ligious views,  and  was  called  before  the  grand 
jury  to  explain  his  conduct  (cf.  The  Case  of 
the  Town  of  Reading  stated,  1654,p.  17).  Two 
years  later  a  quaker  named  Thomas  Speed  ex- 
cited his  wrath.  Ford  and  Christopher  Fowler 
[q.  v.],  another  Reading  clergyman,  pub- 
lished jointly  '  A  Sober  Answer  to  an  Angry 
Epistle  .  .  .  written  in  haste  by  T.  Speed,' 
London,  1656,  to  which  Speed  replied  in 
'The  Guilty-covered  Clergyman  unvailed,' 
1656.  In  July  1659  Ford  left  Reading  to 
become  vicar  of  All  Saints,  Northampton. 
On  30  Jan.  1660-1  he  preached  at  Northamp- 
ton against  '  the  horrid  actual  murtherers  of 
Charles  I.'  In  1665  he  proceeded  D.D.  at 
Oxford.  On  30  March  1670  he  was  chosen 
minister  of  Bridewell,  London,  but  resigned 
the  post  on  becoming  vicar  of  St.  Mary,  Alder- 
manbury,  29  Dec.  following.  Failing  health 
compelled  him  to  remove  to  the  rectory  of  Old 
Swinford,  Worcestershire,  which  was  con- 
ferred on  him  by  Thomas  Foley  [q.  v.]  on 
22  May  1676.  Hedied  at  Old  Swinford  7  April 
1699,  and  was  buried  in  his  church.  His  wife, 
Martha  Stampe  of  Reading,  died  13  Nov.  1684. 
Ford's  chief  works  are :  1.  '  Ambitio  Sacra. 
Conciones  duse  Latine  habitse  ad  Academicos 
Oxon.,'  Oxford,  1650.  2.  'Two  Dialogues 
concerning  Infant  Baptism,'  the  first  pub- 
lished in  1654  and  the  two  together  in  1656, 
with  a  commendatory  preface  by  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Blake  of  Tamworth.  3.  'The  Spirit 
of  Bondage  and  Adoption  largely  and  prac- 
tically handled,  together  with  a  Discourse  on 
the  Duty  of  Prayer  in  an  Afflicted  Condition/ 
London,  1655.  4.  '  A  Sober  Answer '  [see 
above],  London,  1656.  5.  '  A  Short  Cate- 
chism declaring  the  practical  use  of  the 
Covenant  interest  of  Baptism  of  the  Infant 
Seed  of  Believers,'  London,  1657,  an  epitome 
of  No.  2.  6.  <  Three  Poems  relating  to  the 
late  dreadful  Destruction  of  the  City  of  Lon- 
don by  Fire  .  .  .  entituled :  I.  Conflagratio 
Londinensis  [in  Latin  hexameters  with  Eng- 
lish translation  in  heroic  verse] ; '  II.  Lon- 
dini  quod  reliquum  [in  Latin  elegiacs  with 
English  translation]  ;  III.  Actio  in  Londini 
Incendarios '  [in  Latin  hexameters  only], Lon- 
don, 1667.  The  first  two  parts  have  separate 
title-pages.  A  copy  in  the  Bodleian  of  the 
first  poem  is  entitled  '  The  Conflagration  of 
London,  poetically  deleniated,'  and  has  com- 
mendatory manuscript  verses  by  John  Mill 
addressed  to  Thomas  Barlow  (afterwards 
bishop).  A  fourth  part, '  Londini  renascentis 
Imago  poetica,'  published  inLatin  only  in!668, 


was  issued  in  an  English  translation  in  1669. 
In  its  Latin  form  it  is  sometimes  bound  up 
with  the  three  earlier  poems.  7.  '  Carmen 
Funebre  ex  occasione  Conflagrations  North- 
amptonae,  20  Sept.  an.  1675  conflagrate,  con- 
cinnatum,'  London,  1676  ;  republished  in  an 
English  translation  by  F.  A.,  M.A.,  as  '  The 
Fall  and  Funeral  of  Northampton  in  1677.' 
8.  'A  Plain  and  Profitable  Exposition  of, 
and  Enlargement  upon,  the  Church  Gate- 
chism,'  London,  1684,  1686.  9.  'A  new 
version  of  the  Psalms  of  David,'  in  metre, 
London,  1688.  Ford  also  translated  two 
discourses  for  the  first  volume  of  the  English 
version  of '  Plutarch's  Morals,' London,  1684. 
His  published  sermons  are  also  very  numerous. 
They  include  sermons  on  the  king's  return, 
1660  ;  on  the  burial  of  Elizabeth,  wife  of  Sir 
James  Langham,  1665 ;  on  the  Duke  of  York's 
victory  over  the  Dutch,  1665.  '  A  Discourse 
concerning  God's  Judgments,' London,  1678, 
was  prepared  as  a  preface  to  James  Illing- 
worth's  account  of  '  a  man  [John  Duncalf] 
whose  hands  and  legs  rotted  off  in  the  parish 
of  King's  Swynford  in  Staffordshire,  where 
he  died  21  June  1677.'  Both  tracts  were 
reissued  in  1751  with  a  notice  of  the  cir- 
cumstances by  William  Whiston,  '  with  his 
reasons  for  the  republication  thereof,  taken 
from  the  Memoirs.'  Edward  Stillingfleet, 
bishop  of  Worcester,  wrote  a  preface  for  '  the 
substance  of  two  sermons  preached  '  by  Ford 
'at  the  performs 
certain  criminals 
called  Midlent 

church  of  Old  Swinford,'  London,  1697.  A 
graceful  piece  of  Latin  verse  by  Ford,  en- 
titled '  Piscatro/  and  dedicated  by  him  to 
Archbishop  Sheldon,  was  first  published  in 
'  Musarum  Anglicanarum  Analecta,'  vol.  i. 
1721,  and  was  issued  in  an  English  verse 
translation  (by  Tipping  Silvester)  at  Oxford 
in  1733. 

[Wood's  Athense  Oxon.,  ed.  Bliss,  iv.  756-60 ; 
Burrows's  Visitation  of  Oxford  University,  Cam- 
den  Soc. ;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat. ;  art.  infra,  FOWLER, 
CHRISTOPHER.]  S.  L.  L. 

FORD,  STEPHEN  (d.  1694),  noncon- 
formist divine,  is  said  to  have  been  a  servant 
to  the  head  of  a  college  at  Oxford.  He  cer- 
tainly studied  at  Oxford,  though  at  what 
college  does  not  appear.  During  the  Com- 
monwealth he  was  presented  to  the  vicarage 
of  Chipping  Norton,  Oxfordshire,  where,  after 
his  ejectment  in  1662,  he  still  continued  to 
preach  privately  as  he  had  opportunity.  But 
tie  was  sadly  harassed  by  reason  of  his  noncon- 
formity, and  at  length,  on  some  of  his  ene- 
mies threatening  his  life,  he  removed  to  Lon- 
don. There  he  settled  with  a  congregation 


Ford 


424 


Ford 


in  Miles  Lane,  Cannon  Street,  and  continued 
to  officiate  as  their  pastor  nearly  thirty  years. 
He  often  preached  in  the  time  of  the  plague, 
when  other  ministers  had  fled  into  the 
country.  In  May  1692  Matthew  Clarke 
(1664-1726)  [q.  T.I  was  ordained  joint-pastor 
with  him.  Ford  is  said  to  have  died  '  some 
time  in  the  year  1694'  (WALTER  WILSON, 
Dissenting  Churches,  i.  473).  He  published  : 
1.  'The  Evil  Tongue  condemned;  or,  the 
Heinousness  of  Defaming  and  Backbiting/ 
8vo,  London,  1672.  2.  '  A  Gospel-Church : 
or,  God's  Holy  Temple  opened,1  8vo,  London, 
1675,  and  other  tracts  vaguely  mentioned  by 
Calamy.  Ford  was  one  of  the  twenty-one 
divines  who  subscribed  John  FaldoV  Quaker- 
ism No  Christianity,'  8vo,  1675. 

[Calamy  and  Palmer's  Nonconf.  Memorial 
(1802-3),  iii.  121-2  ;  Walter  Wilson's  Dissent- 
ing Churches,  i.  472-3,  476-7 ;  Joseph  Smith's 
Bibliotheca  Anti-Quakeriana,  p.  188.]  G-.  Or. 

FORD,  THOMAS  (d.  1648),  composer, 
was  one  of  the  musicians  of  Henry,  Prince  of 
Wales.  The  appendix  to  Dr.  Birch's '  Life '  of 
the  prince  shows  that  in  1611  Ford  received 
a  salary  of  30/.  per  annum,  which  was  soon 
afterwards  increased  to  40/.  He  with  the 
rest  of  the  musicians  may  possibly  have  been 
appointed  before  the  prince  was  created  Prince 
of  Wales  (see  BIRCH,  p.  427  n.)  It  is  pro- 
bable that  after  the  prince's  death  the  salaries 
were  continued,  for  in  1626  he  received  a 
grant  of  80/.  per  annum,  '  40/.  for  the  place 
he  formerly  held,  and  40J.  for  that  which 
John  Ballard  deceased  held'  (RYMER,  Feed-era, 
ed.  1715,  xviii.  728).  In  1607  he  published 
'  Musicke  of  Sundrie  Kindes.  Set  forth  in 
two  Bookes.  The  first  whereof  are  Aries 
(sic)  for  four  Voices  to  the  Lute,  Orphorion, 
or  Basse- Viol,  with  a  Dialogue  for  two  Voices, 
and  two  Basse- Viols  in  parts  tunde  the  Lute 
way.  The  second  are  Pavens,  Galiards,  Al- 
maines,Toies,  ligges,  Thumpes,  and  such  like, 
for  two  Basse- Viols,  the  Liera  way,  so  made 
as  the  greatest  number  may  serve  to  play 
alone,  very  easy  to  be  performde.  Composed 
by  Thomas  Ford.  Imprinted  at  London  by 
lohn  Windet  at  the  Assignes  of  William 
Barley,  and  are  to  be  sold  by  lohn  Browne 
in  Saint  Dunstons  churchyard  in  Fleetstreet, 
1607.'  The  first  book,  containing  eleven 
songs,  among  which  are  the  celebrated  '  Since 
first  I  saw  your  face,'  and  '  There  is  a  Lady 
sweet  and  kind,'  is  dedicated  to  Sir  Richard 
Weston,  and  the  second,  containing  eighteen 
pieces,  to  Sir  Richard  Tichborne.  An  anthem, 
in  five  parts,  'Let  God  arise,'  is  printed  in 
the  Musical  Antiquarian  Society's  publica- 
tion for  1845  (p.  61),  from  a  set  of  manu- 
script part-books  in  the  possession  of  the 


editor,  Mr.  Rimbault,  and  formerly  in  that  of 
John  Evelyn.  Ford  contributed  to  Sir  Wil- 
liam Leighton's  f  Tears  and  Lamentacions  of 
a  Sorrowfull  Soule'  (1614)  two  anthems, 
1  Almighty  God,  which  hast  me  brought,'  for 
four  voices  with  lute  and  treble-viol,  and 
'Not  unto  us 'for  five  voices.  In  Hilton's 
1  Catch  that  catch  can'  (1652)  three  sacred 
canons  by  Ford  are  contained :  '  I  am  so 
weary'  (reprinted  in  BTJRNEY'S  JZw£.iii*415)l 
1  O  Lord,  I  lift  my  heart  to  Thee,'  and '  Look 
down,  0  Lord'  (ib.  p.  416).  Another  canon, 
'  Haste  thee,  O  Lord,'  contained  in  Tudway's 
collection  (Harl.  MS.  7337),  ascribed  "to 
Ramsey,  is  considered  by  Mr.  T.  Oliphant  to 
be  by  Ford  (pencil  note  in  MS.)  Ford  died 
in  November  1648,  and  was  buried  on  the 
17th  in  St.  Margaret's,  Westminster. 

[Hawkins's  Hist.  ed.  1853,  pp.  566,  570; 
Birch's  Life  of  Henry,  Prince  of  Wales,  1760, 
pp.  427,  455,  467  ;  Grove's  Diet.  i.  540 ;  Regis- 
ters of  St.  Margaret's,  Westminster ;  authorities 
quoted  above.]  J.  A.  F.  M. 

FORD,  THOMAS  (1598-1674),  noncon- 
formist divine,  was  born  at  Brixton,  Devon- 
shire, in  1598.  According  to  Wood  he  was 
entered,  in  Easter  term  1619,  a  batler  in 
Magdalen  Hall,  Oxford,  as  a  member  of  which 
he  proceeded  B.A.  22  Feb.  1624,  and  M.A. 

1  June  1627  (Fasti  Oxon.  ed.  Bliss,  i.  414, 
431).     When  taking  orders  he  became  ( a 
very  faithful '  tutor  in  his  house  for  several 
years.     His  puritanical  opinions,  which  he 
took  no  pains  to  conceal,  subjected  him  to 
considerable    persecution  at   the  hands  of 
Laud.    Accepted  Frewen  [q.  v.],  then  presi- 
dent of  Magdalen  College, '  changed  the  com- 
munion-table in  the  chapel  into   an  altar/ 
as  the  puritans  considered.     Several  of  the 
preachers  at  St.  Mary's  inveighed  against  this 
innovation.     Ford  in  his  turn  preached  on 

2  Thess.  ii.  10,  12  June  1631,  and  offered 
some'  smart  reflections 'on  making  the  eucha- 
rist  a  sacrifice,  setting  up  altars  instead  of 
tables,   and  bowing  to   them.     This  plain 
speaking  having  excited  the  wrath  of  the 
Laudian  party,  the  next  Saturday  the  vice- 
chancellor  (William  Smith)  called  Ford  be- 
fore him  and  demanded  a  copy  of  his  sermon. 
Ford  offered  to  give  him  one  if  he  demanded 
it '  statutably.'    The  vice-chancellor  then  or- 
dered him  to  surrender  himself  prisoner  at 
the  castle.     He  refused  to  go  unless  accom- 
panied by  a  beadle  or  a  servant.     The  follow- 
ing Saturday  the  vice-chancellor  sealed  up 
his  study,  and  afterwards  searched  his  books 
and  papers,  but  found  nothing  that  could  be 
urged  against  him,  as  Ford  had  taken  care  to 
secrete  his  private  memoranda.    In  the  mean- 
time an  information  was  sent  to  Laud,  then 


Ford 


425 


Ford 


chancellor  of  the  university,  who  returned 
orders  to  punish  the  preachers.  Thereupon 
a  citation  in  his  name  was  fixed  on  St.  Mary's, 
2  July,  commanding  Ford's  appearance  before 
the  vice-chancellor  on  the  5th.  Appearing 
on  the  day  appointed  he  was  pressed  to  take 
an  oath,  ex  officio,  to  answer  any  questions 
about  his  sermon  ;  but  he  refused  it,  because 
there  were  no  interrogatories  in  writing.  He 
again  offered  a  copy  of  his  sermon  if  de- 
manded according  to  the  statutes,  and  the 
next  day  delivered  one,  which  was  accepted. 
But  on  pretence  of  former  contumacy  the 
vice-chancellor  commanded  him  again  to  sur- 
render himself  prisoner.  Ford  appealed  from 
him  to  the  congregation,  and  delivered  his 
appeal  in  writing  to  the  proctors  (Atherton 
Bruch  and  John  Doughty).  They  carried  it 
to  convocation,  who  referred  the  cause  to 
delegates,  a  majority  of  whom,  upon  a  full 
hearing,  acquitted  him  of  all  breach  of  the 
peace.  From  them  the  vice-chancellor  him- 
self appealed  to  convocation,  who  again  ap- 
pointed delegates ;  but  the  time  limited  by 
statute  expired  before  they  could  arrive  at  a 
decision.  Laud  then  brought  the  cause  be- 
fore the  king  and  council,  who  heard  it  at 
Woodstock  23  Aug.  Ford,  when  questioned 
by  the  king,  stuck  manfully  to  his  statement. 
In  the  end  he  was  sentenced  to  quit  the 
university  within  four  days  (RusHWOKTH, 
Hist.  Coll  pt.  ii.  vol.  i.  pp.  110-11).  His 
popularity  was  such  that  many  of  the  scholars, 
arrayed  in  their  gowns,  assembled  at  Mag- 
dalen to  conduct  him  out  of  the  city  with  all 
honour.  The  affair  has  been  minutely  set 
forth  by  Wood  (Antiquities  of  Oxford,  ed. 
Gutch,  vol.  ii.  pt.  i.  pp.  374-9),  who  is  very 
severe  on  Ford  for  his  *  insolencies.'  Soon 
afterwards  Ford  was  invited  by  the  magis- 
trates of  Plymouth  to  become  their  lecturer. 
Laud  was  no  sooner  informed  of  this  than  he 
procured  letters  from  the  king  forbidding  the 
townsmen  to  elect  Ford  on  pain  of  his  ma- 
jesty's displeasure,  and  another  to  the  Bishop 
of  Exeter,  commanding  him  not  to  admit 
him  in  case  he  should  be  elected  (PKYNNE, 
Canterburies  Doome,  pp.  175-6).  Ford,  find- 
ing the  bishop  bent  upon  excluding  him  from 
all  preferment  in  England,  embraced  an  op- 
portunity of  going  abroad  as  chaplain  to  an 
English  regiment  under  the  command  of 
Colonel  George  Fleet  wood  [q.  v.],  in  the  ser- 
vice of  Gustavus  Adolphus.  He  travelled 
with  the  colonel  into  Germany,  and  was  for 
some  time  in  garrison  at  Stode  and  Elbing. 
The  English  merchants  at  Hamburg  invited 
him  to  be  their  minister,  with  the  promise 
of  a  stipend  of  2001.  a  year.  But  growing 
weary  of  life  abroad  he  returned  home.  Laud 
having  probably  forgotten  his  existence,  no 


opposition  was  offered  to  his  institution  to  the 
rectory  of  Aldwinkle  All  Saints,  Northamp- 
tonshire, 18  Oct.  1637,  a  preferment  which 
he  owed  to  Sir  Myles  Fleetwood  (BEIBGES, 
Northamptonshire,  ii.  210,  where  his  name 
is  misprinted  '  Forth ').  In  1640  he  was 
elected  proctor  for  the  clergy  of  the  diocese 
of  Peterborough  in  the  convocation  which 
framed  the  so-called  '  et  ceetera  oath.'  He 
held  his  rectory  for  ten  years ;  but  on  the 
outbreak  of  the  civil  war,  after  a  short  stay 
at  Exeter,  he  retired  to  London,  and  was 
chosen  minister  of  St.  Faith's,  and  in  1644, 
on  the  death  of  Mr.  Bolls,  a  member  of  the 
Westminster  Assembly.  Ford  afterwards 
settled  at  Exeter,  where  he  exercised  his 
ministry  with  such  success  that  '  the  whole 
city  was  mightily  reformed,  and  a  good  relish 
of  the  best  things  appeared  in  the  gene- 
rality.' He  preached  in  the  choir  of  the 
cathedral  (as  his  brother  pastors,  Lewis 
Stucley  and  Thomas  Mall,  did  in  the  nave), 
'  but,'  relates  Calamy,  '  he  was  once  put  out 
of  it,  in  1649,  by  Major-general  Desborough, 
who  quartered  there,  for  refusing  the  "  En- 

fagement." '  He  was  appointed  minister  of 
t.  Lawrence,  Exeter,  and  also  acted  as  an 
assistant-commissioner  for  Devonshire.  The 
enforcement  of  the  Bartholomew  Act  in  1662 
obliged  him  to  desist  from  preaching  pub- 
licly. A  year  later  he  was  compelled  by  the 
Oxford  Act  to  remove  to  Exmouth,  about 
nine  miles  from  Exeter,  where  he  lived  very 
privately.  When  the '  Indulgence '  came  out 
he  returned  to  Exeter,  but  in  feeble  health. 
He  died  in  December  1674,  in  his  seventy- 
sixth  year,  and  was  buried  on  the  28th  in 
St.  Lawrence's  Church,  Exeter,  near  his  wife, 
Bridget  Fleetwood,  and  several  of  his  chil- 
dren. His  writings  are  as  follows :  1.  '  Sing- 
ing of  Psalmes  the  duty  of  Christians  under 
the  New  Testament,  or  a  vindication  of  that 
Gospel-Ordinance  in  V  sermons  upon  Ephe- 
sians  v.  19,'  12mo,  London,  1659 ;  2nd  edit., 
'with  many  additions,' the  same  year.  2.  'The 
Sinner  condemned  of  himself:  being  a  Plea 
for  God  against  all  the  Ungodly,  proving 
them  alone  guilty  of  their  own  destruction/ 
8vo,  London,  1668.  3.  'Scripture's  Self- 
Evidence,  proving  it  to  be  the  only  Rule  of 
Faith'  (cited  by  Calamy).  He  preached 
once  before  the  commons,  30  July  1645,  and 
once  before  the  lords,  at  a  fast  held  29  April 
1646,  and  his  sermons  were  undoubtedly  pub- 
lished. Wood,  who  otherwise  is  grossly  un- 
fair to  Ford,  states  that  '  a  certain  doctor  of 
divinity  of  his  time  and  persuasion,  that 
knew  him  well,  hath  several  times  told  me 
that  this  our  author  was  a  man  of  very  great 
parts  and  of  unbyassed  principles,  one  and 
the  same  in  all  times  and  changes.'  Calamy's 


Ford 


426 


Forde 


account  of  Ford  is  probably  more  correct  than 
that  given  by  Wood.  According  to  the  latter 
Ford  was  born  about  1603,  went  to  college 
at  sixteen,  and  died  in  1676. 

[Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  (Bliss),  iii.  1096-8; 
Calamy  and  Palmer's  Nonconf.  Memorial  (1802- 
18031  ii.  26-31 ;  Brook's  Puritans,  ii.  395-6.] 

G.  G. 

FORD  or  FOORD,  WILLIAM  (fl.  1616), 
divine,  was  educated  at  Trinity  College,  Cam- 
bridge, where  he  graduated  B.A.  in  1578. 
He  was  elected  fellow  of  his  college  in  1581, 
proceeded  M.A.  in  1582,  and  commenced B.D. 
in  1591.  He  afterwards  became  chaplain  to 
the  Levant  Company  at  Constantinople.  On 
31  July  1611  he  petitioned  the  court  for  an 
augmentation  of  his  salary  of  two  hundred 
sequins ;  on  the  following  1  Oct.  the  court 
allowed  him  an  advance  from  30/.  to  50/,  on 
the  ground  of  his  being  '  well  spoken  of  for 
paines  and  merits  in  his  charge.'  On  1  Sept. 
1613  he  intimated  a  wish  to  resign  his  post, 
but  was  requested  to  remain  a  year  longer. 
He  received  permission  to  return  home,  6  July 
1614.  His  only  known  publication  is  'A 
Sermon  [on  Gen.  xxiii.  2-4]  preached  at  Con- 
stantinople, in  the  Vines  of  Perah,  at  the 
Funerall  of  the  vertuous  and  admired  Lady 
Anne  Glover,  sometime  Wife  to  the  Honour- 
able Knight  Sir  Thomas  Glover,  and  then 
Ambassadour  ordinary  for  his  Maiesty  of 
Great  Britaine,  in  the  Port  of  the  Great 
Turke/  4to,  London,  1616.  In  dedicating 
this  discourse  to  Lady  Went  worth  the  author 
would  perhaps  be  encouraged,  should  it  prove 
acceptable  to  her,  '  to  second  it  with  some 
more  pleasing  and  delightfull  subiect,  which 
mine  owne  experience  hath  gathered  from  no 
lesse  painefull  then  farre  forraigne  obserua- 
tions.' 

[John  B.  Pearson's  Biographical  Sketch  of  the 
Chaplains  to  the  Levant  Company,  pp.  12,  13, 
46.]  G.  G. 

FORD,  WILLIAM  (1771-1832),  book- 
seller and  bibliographer,  son  of  John  Ford, 
tinman,  was  born  at  Manchester  in  1771,  and 
educated  at  the  grammar  school  of  that  town. 
Though  intended  originally  for  the  medical 
profession,  he  went  into  the  Manchester  trade, 
and  subsequently  became  a  book  and  print 
seller.  While  in  business  as  a  manufacturer, 
he  formed  a  curious  and  valuable  library, 
which  when  he  commenced  as  a  bookseller 
served  as  the  basis  of  the  stock  described  in 
his  first  catalogue,  dated  1805.  In  this  cata- 
logue were  many  rarities,  one  of  which  was 
a  volume  containing  '  Licia,  or  Poems  of 
Love/  and  the  original  edition  of  Shake- 
speare's '  Venus  and  Adonis/  1593,  now  in  the 


Malone  collection,  Bodleian  Library.  The 
catalogue  attracted  the  attention  of  biblio- 
philes all  over  the  country,  and  brought  him 
into  correspondence  with  Dibdin,  Malone, 
Heber,  Bindley,  and  other  collectors.  The 
collection  produced  upwards  of  6,000/.  In 
a  letter  to  Dibdin,  Ford  wrote :  l  It  was  my 
love  of  books,  not  of  lucre,  which  first  in- 
duced me  to  become  a  bookseller.'  His  second 
catalogue  came  out  in  1807,  and  his  third, 
containing  more  than  fifteen  thousand  arti- 
cles, in  1800-11.  Other  catalogues  followed, 
and  all  were  esteemed  for  their  accurate  de- 
scriptions and  curious  bibliographical  notes. 
He  was  a  chief  contributor  to  a  series  of 
papers  in ( Aston's  Exchange  Herald/  of  which 
twenty-four  copies  were  reprinted  in  octavo, 
with  the  title,  '  Bibliographiana,  or  Biblio- 
graphical Essays,  by  a  Society  of  Gentlemen/ 
Manchester,  1817.  Of  a  continuation  of  these 
papers,  printed  in  the  '  Stockport  Advertiser/ 
only  ten  reprints  were  made  up.  In  the  same 
paper  he  wrote  a  useful  chronology  of  Man- 
chester. He  was  also  one  of  the  early  con- 
tributors to  the  ( Retrospective  Review.'  In 
1816  he  met  with  a  reverse  of  fortune,  and 
his  large  stock  was  sold  by  auction.  He  re- 
sumed business  soon  after,  but  was  not  re- 
warded with  the  success  which,  in  the  opinion 
of  Dibdin,  his  efforts  and  merit  deserved. 
His  last  catalogue  was  printed  at  Liverpool 
in  1832,  where  he  had  carried  on  business 
for  a  few  years.  Books  from  his  stock,  fre- 
quently containing  annotations  in  his  hand- 
writing, are  still  to  be  met  with.  He  pub- 
lished a  series  of  local  views  and  portraits, 
some  of  which  were  etched  by  himself.  His 
portrait  was  painted  and  etched  by  Wyatt  in 
1824.  He  died  at  Liverpool  on  3  Oct.  1832, 
and  was  buried  in  St.  James's  cemetery. 

His  son  John  carried  on  the  same  business, 
and  that  of  an  auctioneer.  A  second  son, 
William  Henry,  survived  until  1882. 

[Notice  by  J.  Crossley  in  Manchester  School 
Register  (ChethamSoc.),ii.  79  ;  Earwaker's  Local 
Gleanings,  1875,  i.  38,  52,  79 ;  Palatine  Note- 
book, i.  190  (a  memoir  by  Ford  of  the  Stringers, 
Cheshire  artists),  ii.  124,  269,  iii.  88  (list  of 
his  portraits,  &c.);  Dibdin's  Bibliomania,  1811, 
pp.  164, 629 ;  Dibdin's  Library  Companion,  p.  696 ; 
Dibdin's  Remin.  of  a  Literary  Life,  1836,  i.  317  ; 
Procter's  Byegone  Manchester,  1880.]  C.  W.  S. 

FORDE,  FRANCIS  (d.  1770),  conqueror 
of  Masulipatam  and  friend  of  Clive,  was  the 
second  son  of  Mathew  Forde  of  Seaforde,  co. 
Down,  and  M.P.  for  Downpatrick  in  the 
Irish  House  of  Commons,  by  Anne,  daughter 
of  William  Brownlow  of  Lurgan.  He  is  said 
to  have  married  in  1728  Mrs.  Martha  George 
(BuKKE,  Landed  Gentry,  ed.  1882)  ;  but  this 
is  improbable,  for  he  is  first  mentioned  in 


Forde 


427 


Forde 


the  { Army  List '  as  having  been  appointed 
a  captain  in  Adlercron's  (the  39th)  regiment 
on  30  April  1746.  This  regiment  was  the  first 
ever  sent  to  India  of  the  king's  army,  and  it 
is  worthy  of  remark  that  Eyre  Coote  (1726- 
1783)  [q.  v.],  afterwards  Sir  Eyre,  was  only 
the  junior  captain  when  Forde  was  promoted 
major  in  it  on  13  Nov.  1755.  He  first  appears 
in  Anglo-Indian  history  as  the  commander  of 
a  small  party  which  was  defeated  at  Nellore 
(MALCOLM,  Life  of  Clive,  ii.  26)  ;  but  Clive 
early  perceived  his  great  military  abilities, 
and  it  was  upon  Olive's  express  invitation 
that  Forde  resigned  his  commission  in  the 
royal  army  in  June  1758,  and  proceeded  to 
Bengal  in  order  to  act  as  second  in  command 
to  Clive  in  that  presidency,  and  to  be  ready 
to  succeed  him  in  case  of  need. 

The  victory  of  Plassey  had  secured  the  pos- 
session of  Bengal  to  the  East  India  Company, 
but  Clive  felt  that  the  British  authority  could 
not  be  considered  as  safely  established  until 
the  French  were  driven  out  of  the  Deccan. 
The  great  danger  lay  in  the  powerful  dominion 
erected  by  M.  Bussy,  the  ablest  French  officer 
who  ever  served  in  India  in  the  Northern 
Circars  between  the  company's  two  eastern 
presidencies.  Bussy  had  secured  the  grant  of 
the  coast  districts  known  as  the  Northern 
Circars  from  the  nizam,  where  he  had  esta- 
blished an  efficient  system  of  administration 
and  organised  a  powerful  army.  At  the 
beginning  of  1759  the  Comte  de  Lally,  the 
governor-general  at  Pondicherry,  suddenly 
recalled  Bussy  from  Masulipatam,  and  ap- 
pointed M.  Conflans,  an  incompetent  officer, 
to  succeed  him.  At  this  juncture  Colonel 
Forde,  as  he  was  called  in  anticipation  of  the 
colonel's  commission  which  Clive  had  pro- 
mised him  from  the  East  India  Company, 
landed  at  Vizagapatam  with  a  small  force  of 
five  hundred  Europeans,  two  thousand  sepoys, 
and  twelve  guns.  He  at  once  advanced 
against  Conflans,  and,  after  defeating  him  at 
Condore,  took  Rajamahendri  and  all  the  bag- 
gage of  the  French  army.  He  was  then 
hindered  by  want  of  money ;  the  ally  of  the 
English,  Bassalat  Jang,  refused  to  pay  ;  the 
European  soldiers  mutinied  ;  and  Forde  was 
obliged  to  remain  inactive  for  fifty  days.  At 
last  he  determined  that  any  action  was  better 
than  no  action ;  he  feared  that  the  French 
fleet  might  throw  reinforcements  into  Masu- 
lipatam, or  that  Bussy  might  return  ;  and  he 
quieted  his  soldiers  by  promising  them  the 
whole  booty  of  the  city.  He  thereupon  de- 
termined to  assault  Masulipatam,  though 
he  had  barely  nine  hundred  men  with  him 
after  deducting  his  losses  by  sickness  and  the 
garrisons  he  had  left  at  Rajamahendri  and 
Vizagapatam.  At  midnight  on  25  Jan.  the 


assault  took  place  ;  284,  or  nearly  one-third 
of  Forde's  little  army,  were  killed  or  wounded, 
but  the  city  was  taken,  and  five  hundred 
French  soldiers  and  2,100  sepoys  surrendered 
themselves  prisoners.  The  result  of  this  gal- 
lant action  was  that  the  French  lost  their 
foothold  in  the  Deccan,  and  the  Northern 
Circars  were  ceded  to  the  East  India  Com- 
pany. Forde  was  both  publicly  and  privately 
thanked  by  Clive,  but  his  disappointment  was 
bitter  when  he  found,  on  returning  to  Cal- 
cutta, that  after  having  resigned  his  commis- 
sion in  the  king's  army  the  directors  of  the 
East  India  Company  had  refused  to  confirm 
his  commission  in  their  service.  His  disap- 
pointment was  aggravated  by  the  return  to 
India  of  his  junior,  Eyre  Coote,  with  the  rank 
of  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  king's  service,  and 
the  comm  and  of  a  fine  regiment.  Nevertheless 
he  was  ready  to  assist  Clive  in  his  opera- 
tions against  the  Dutch  at  Chinsurah,  and  it 
was  to  Forde  that  Clive  pencilled  his  famous 
note  when  Forde  reported  that  the  Dutch 
were  in  a  favourable  position  to  be  attacked, 
and  that  he  only  wanted  an  order  in  council 
to  attack.  f  Attack  at  once  ;  will  send 
order  in  council,'  was  Clive's  response  on  the 
back  of  a  playing-card,  and  he  then  resumed 
his  game.  Forde  did  attack,  and  completely 
defeated  the  Dutch,  and  in  the  following  year 
he  returned  to  England  with  Clive.  Clive 
obtained  a  company's  commission  for  Forde, 
and  his  great  quarrel  with  Sulivan  and  his 
party  in  the  India  House  was  largely  due  to 
Clive's  advocacy  of  Forde  for  high  military 
command  in  India,  in  opposition  to  the  Suli- 
van candidate,  Eyre  Coote.  Forde  remained 
for  some  time  in  England,  and  in  1769  he 
was  appointed,  on  Clive's  recommendation, 
to  be  one  of  the  three  supervisors  who  were 
to  be  despatched  to  India  with  full  powers 
to  examine  into  every  department  of  adminis- 
tration. The  three  supervisors,  Mr.  Henry 
Vansittart,  M.P.,  Mr.  Luke  Scrafton,  and 
Forde,  set  sail  from  Portsmouth  in  Septem- 
ber 1769  on  board  the  Aurora  frigate  ;  they 
touched  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  on  27  Dec. 
1769,  and  were  never  heard  of  again. 

[Burke's  Landed  Gentry,  ed.  1882;  Army  Lists, 
1754-8  ;  Orme's  Narrative  of  Affairs  in  Hindo- 
stan  ;  Malcolm's  Life  of  Clive  ;  Mill's  History  of 
India ;  Stubbs's  History  of  the  Bengal  Artillery, 
which  contains  good  plans.]  H.  M.  S. 

FOKDE,  SAMUEL  (1805-1828), painter, 
born  at  Cork  on  5  April  1805,  was  son  of 
Samuel  Forde,  a  tradesman,  who  became  in- 
volved in  difficulties,  and  went  to  America, 
deserting  his  family.  The  elder  brother 
was  a  talented  musician,  and  was  able  to 
earn  sufficient  to  send  young  Samuel  to 


Forde 


428 


Forde 


school,  where  he  learnt  Latin  and  French.  A 
friend,  Mr.  Aungier,  taught  him  Latin,  and 
he  learnt  Greek  by  his  own  perseverance. 
Forde  very  soon  displayed  a  talent  for  art, 
and  though  Cork  did  not  offer  much  to  in- 
spire a  youthful  artist,  his  taste  for  literature 
helped  to  nourish  and  foster  the  high  aspira- 
tions which  distinguished,  even  in  his  school- 
boy days,  the  numberless  sketches  on  which 
he  employed  himself.  He  became  a  student 
in  the  Cork  Academy,  drawing  from  the  col- 
lection of  casts  which  Lord  Listowel  had 
obtained  for  that  institution.  The  master, 
Chalmers,  was  also  a  scene  painter,  and  taught 
Forde  distemper  painting,  so  that  he  was  able 
to  be  employed  at  the  theatre.  He  had  an 
intention  of  becoming  a  mezzotint  engraver, 
and  taught  himself  the  art  with  materials 
roughly  made  by  his  own  hands,  but  soon 
relinquished  any  further  practice,  and  became 
a  teacher  of  drawing,  and  subsequently  master 
in  the  Cork  Mechanics'  Institute.  Among 
his  fellow-students  and  intimate  friends  was 
Daniel  Maclise  [q.  v.]  Up  to  about  twenty 
years  of  age  Forde  was  principally  engaged 
on  works  of  a  decorative  character  painted 
in  distemper ;  in  1826  he  was  able  to  execute 
works  of  his  own  invention,  and  give  ex- 
pression to  the  grand  projects  which  his  poeti- 
cal mind  conceived.  His  first  picture  was 
the  '  Vision  of  Tragedy,'  the  idea  taken  from 
Milton,  which  was  painted  in  distemper,  in 
grey  and  white.  A  cartoon  for  this  subject 
was  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Justice  Willes, 
and  was  presented  by  his  nephew  to  the  South 
Kensington  Museum.  Forde  was  continually 
occupied  in  projecting  pictures  of  an  ambi- 
tious nature.  In  November  1827  he  painted 
in  two  days  a  '  Crucifixion'  for  the  chapel  of 
Skibbereen.  In  October  1827  his  lungs  first 
became  affected.  Early  in  1828  he  com- 
menced a  large  picture  of  the  '  Fall  of  the 
Rebel  Angels/  but  although  he  was  able  to 
dispose  of  the  picture,  he  was  not  destined  to 
complete  it.  He  slowly  sank  under  the  in- 
crease of  his  consumptive  symptoms,  and  died 
on  29  July  1828,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty- 
three.  He  was  buried  in  St.  Finn  Barr's 
churchyard  at  Cork. 

[Dublin  Univ.  Mag.  (March  1845),  xxv.  338; 
Q'Driscoll's  Life  of  Daniel  Maclise :  Redgrave's 
Diet,  of  Artists.]  L.  c. 

FORDE,  THOMAS  (d.  1582),  catholic 
divine,  was  born  in  Devonshire  and  educated 
at  Trinity  College,  Oxford,  where  he  obtained 
a  fellowship.  He  proceeded  B.A.  13  May 
1563,  and  commenced  M.A.  14  July  1567 
(BoASE,  Register  of  the  Univ.  of  Oxford,  p. 
251).  On  being  converted  to  the  Roman 
catholic  faith  he  went  in  1570  to  the  Eng- 


lish College  at  Douay.  In  March  1572-3 
he  was  ordained  priest  at  Brussels,  with 
Richard  Bristow  [q.  v.]  and  Gregory  Martin, 
these  being  the  first  three  alumni  who  were 
presented  for  holy  orders  from  Douay  Col- 
lege. He  took  the  degree  of  B.D.  in  the 
university  of  Douay  in  1576,  and  soon  after- 
wards returned  to  England  upon  the  mis- 
sion. On  17  July  1581  he  was  apprehended 
with  Edmund  Campion  [q.  v.l  and  John  Col- 
leton  [q.  v.],  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Yates  at 
Lyford,  Berkshire.  He  was  conveyed  to 
London  with  the  other  priests  and  com- 
mitted to  the  Tower.  On  the  testimony  of 
two  perjured  witnesses  he  was  convicted  of 
complicity  in  the  pretended  conspiracy  of 
Rheims  and  Rome,  although  he  had  never 
been  in  either  of  those  cities.  Sentence  of 
death  was  pronounced  21  Nov.  1581.  On 
28  May  1582  he  was  executed  with  two 
other  priests,  John  Shert  and  Robert  John- 
son. Between  the  time  of  their  condemna- 
tion and  execution  they  were  examined  in 
the  Tower  by  the  attorney-  and  solicitor- 
general,  Popham  and  Egerton,  and  two  civi- 
lians, Dr.  Hammond  and  Dr.  Lewis,  in  order 
to  elicit  from  them  opinions  which  might  be 
considered  treasonable  in  reference  to  the 
bull  of  Pope  Pius  V  and  the  deposing  power 
of  the  holy  see.  Forde  was  beatified  by  the 
decree  of  Pope  Leo  XIII,  dated  29  Dec.  1886. 

[Bridgewater's  ConcertatioEcclesise  Catholicae, 
if.  85  b,  86  b ;  Challoner's  Missionary  Priests 
(1741),  i.  77;  Dodd's  Church  Hist.  ii.  107; 
Douay  Diaries,  p.  423  ;  Hist,  del  Glorioso  Mar- 
tirio  di  diciotto  Sacerdoti  (Macerata,  1585), 
p.  127;  Raissius,  Catalogus  Christi  Sacerdotum, 
p.  28 ;  Simpson's  Life  of  Campion,  p.  220  seq. ; 
Stanton's  Menology,  p.  238 ;  Stow's  Annales 
(1615),  p.  694;  Tablet,  15  Jan.  1887,  pp.  81, 
82.]  T.  C. 

FORDE,  THOMAS  (fi.  1660),  author, 
describes  himself  as  belonging  to  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Maldon,  Essex,  being  of  the  same 
kindred  as  John  Udall,  the  puritan  (FoEDE, 
Fcenestra,  p.  135).  He  was  a  staunch  and 
pious  royalist.  His  books  indicate  some 
classical  attainments.  James  Howell  was 
apparently  intimate  with  him.  His  earliest 
work  was '  The  Times  Anatomized  in  several 
characters,  by  T.  F.,'  London,  1647.  This 
series  of  pointed  essays  on  such  topics  as 
<A  Good  Subject,' '  A  Soldier  of  Fortune/ 
1  Religion,'  and  the  like,  has  sometimes  been 
wrongly  assigned  to  the  famous  Fuller.  Oldys 
first  showed  that  Forde  was  the  author.  An 
early  manuscript  note  in  the  copy  in  the 
British  Museum  gives  the  writer's  name  as 
'T.  Ford,  servant  to  Mr.  Sam.  Man.'  'Lusus 
Fortunse,  the  play  of  Fortune ;  continually 
acted  by  the  severall  creatures  on  the  Stage 


Fordham 


429 


Fordham 


of  the  World,'  London,  1649,  consists  of  a 
number  of  moral  essays,  illustrated  by  quo- 
tations from  ancient  and  modern  literatures. 
Among  modern  writers,  Spenser,  Cowley, 
Donne,  Cornwallis,  Bacon,  Fuller,  Hall, 
Heylyn,  and  Sylvester  are  represented.  A 
Latin  poem  prefixed  is  signed  I.  H.  (James 
Ho  well  ?).  In  1660  appeared  five  tracts 
which  are  sometimes  met  with  as  separate 
publications  and  sometimes  bound  together 
in  a  single  volume,  bearing  the  general  title 
1  Virtus  Kediviva,  with  several  other  pieces 
from  the  same  pen.'  Each  piece  has  a  sepa- 
rate title-page  and  is  separately  paged. 
(1)  'Virtus  Rediviva,  or  a  Panegyrick  on 
the  late  king,  Charles  I.'  consists  of  a  prose 
tract  and  two  elegies  in  verse,  written  on 
the  anniversaries  of  Charles  I's  execution  in 
1657  and  1658  respectively.  (2)  'Love's 
Labyrinth,  or  the  Royal  Shepherdess,  a  Tragi- 
Comedie,  by  Tho.  Forde  Philothal,'  is  partly 
imitated  from  Robert  Greene's  'Arcadia,' 
and  partly  borrowed  from  Gomersal's '  Sforza, 
Duke  of  Milan.'  One  of  its  songs  is  taken 
bodily  from  Greene;  another  is  a  version  of 
Anacreon's  'Love's  Duel.'  The  play  is  in 
blank  verse.  It  was  never  acted.  Verses 
by  '  N.  C.'  and  Edward  Barwick  are  prefixed. 
(3)  'A  Theatre  of  Wits,  Ancient  and  Modern/ 
a  collection  of  apophthegms.  (4)  '  Fsenestra 
in  Pectore,  or  Familiar  Letters,'  apparently 
a  selection  fromForde's  actual  correspondence 
with  his  father,  a  friend  at  Barbadoes,  E.  B. 
(Edward  Barwick  ?),  and  others.  In  a  letter 
addressed  to  'Mr.  T.  F.,'  i.e.  the  famous 
Thomas  Fuller,  he  praises  unstintedly  Ful- 
ler's '  Church  History '  (p.  135).  On  p.  166 
he  translates  Martial's  '  Non  amo  te  Sabidi,' 
&c.,  as  '  I  do  not  like  thee,  Nell,'  &c.,  the 
prototype  of  the  better-known  '  I  do  not  like 
thee,  Dr.  Fell '  [cf.  FELL,  JOHN,  and  BKOWN, 
THOMAS  or  TOM].  (5)  '  Fragmenta  Poetica, 
or  Poetical  Diversions  with  a  panegyrick 
upon  his  sacred  Majestie's  most  happy  re- 
turn on  the  29  May  1660.'  Besides  sacred 
poems,  there  are  some  verses  here  in  praise 
of  George  Herbert  and  Thomas  Bastard. 
The  description '  Philothal,'  which  commonly 
follows  Forde's  name  on  his  title-pages,  is 
apparently  an  abbreviation  of  'Philo-tha- 
lassios,'  a  lover  of  the  sea. 

[Hunter's  manuscript  Chorus  Vatum  in  Addit. 
MS.  24489,  f.  400 ;  Forde's  works ;  Brit.  Mus. 
Cat. ;  Bailey's  Life  of  Thomas  Fuller,  pp.  585-6, 
759.]  S.  L.  L. 

FORDHAM,  GEORGE  (1837-1887), 
jockey,  son  of  James  Fordham,  was  born  at 
Cambridge  on  24  Sept.  1837.  He  was  trained 
for  the  turf  by  Richard  Drewitt  and  Edward 
Smith,  and  at  the  age  of  thirteen  had  his 


earliest  mount  at  Brighton.  In  October  1851 
tie  gained  his  first  victory  in  the  Trial  Stakes 
at  the  Brighton  autumn  meeting.  He  carried 
off  the  Cambridgeshire  in  1853  on  Little 
David,  and  in  the  following  year  he  unex- 
pectedly won  the  Chester  Cup  on  Epami- 
nondas.  From  this  time  Fordham  became  a 
very  popular  rider.  In  1855  he  was  at  the 
head  of  the  list  of  winning  jockeys,  and  dur- 
ing eight  succeeding  years  he  occupied  the 
same  position,  his  best  record  being  165  wins 
in  1862.  In  1859  he  won  his  first  important 
race,  the  One  Thousand  Guineas.  The  same 
year  he  won  the  Oaks  on  Summerside.  Ford- 
ham  won  the  Ascot  Cup  five  times,  the 
Alexandra  Plate  once,  the  Gold  Vase  six 
times,  the  Ascot  Stakes  twice,  and  the  Prince 
of  Wales's  Stakes  four  times.  He  rode  several 
favourites  for  the  Derby,  but  only  won  it  in 
1879  upon  Sir  Bevys.  Fordham  had  in  all 
twenty-two  mounts  for  the  Derby,  his  last 
appearance  in  the  race  being  in  1883,  when 
he  was  unplaced  on  Ladislas.  He  never  won 
the  St.  Leger,  though  he  rode  twenty-two 
races.  He  won  the  Oaks  five  times.  For 
the  Two  Thousand  Guineas  Fordham  had  also 
twenty-two  mounts,  but  only  won  twice.  He 
secured  the  One  Thousand  Guineas  seven 
times  out  of  twentv-one  mounts  for  that  race. 
Many  of  Fordham  s  best  efforts  were  in  small 
races,  when  he  frequently  succeeded  against 
expectation  by  his  singular  skill  and  resolu- 
tion. His  greatest  achievement  is  said  to 
have  been  in  1871,  when  he  won  the  Cam- 
bridgeshire on  Sabinus.  His  only  Cesare- 
witch  victory  was  in  1857,  when  the  famous 
dead  heat  occurred  between  three. 

Fordham  was  a  great  favourite  on  the  con- 
tinent, and  especially  in  France,  where  he 
frequently  rode.  He  won  the  Grand  Prix 
de  Paris  in  1867, 1868,  and  1881,  the  French 
Derby  in  1861  and  1868,  and  the  French 
Oaks  in  1880.  He  had  no  superior  as  a  rider 
of  two-year-olds.  His  weight  was  only 
3st.  121b.  when  he  won  his  first  Cambridge- 
shire. His  services  were  much  in  request 
from  a  very  early  period  ;  and  one  owner  pre»- 
sented  him  with  a  Bible,  a  testimonial  pin, 
and  a  gold-mounted  whip,  all  of  which  he 
preserved  through  life,  religiously  follow- 
ing the  motto  engraved  upon  the  whip  of 
'  Honesty  is  the  best  policy.'  He  also  received 
souvenirs  from  the  Rothschilds,  the  Prince 
of  Wales,  and  other  patrons  of  the  turf. 
He  was  frequently  offered  1,500/.  a  year  to> 
ride  in  England  and  France,  but  he  would 
never  agree  to  receive  a  fixed  salary. 

During  the  latter  part  of  his  career  failing 
health  frequently  kept  Fordham  out  of  the 
saddle.  Between  1875  and  1878  he  was 
not  seen  in  public.  His  last  win  was  in 


Fordun 


43° 


Fordun 


Leopold  de  Eothschild's  colours  on  Brag  in 
the  Brighton  Cup  of  1883,  and  his  last  race 
the  Park  Stakes  at  Windsor  in  August  1884. 
He  carried  the  most  implicit  confidence  of  all 
his  employers,  and  was  kind  to  young  jocke; 
It  was  said  that  he  never  attempted  to  take 
advantage  of  a  youngster  at  the  start. 

Fordham  was  twice  married  :  first  to  Miss 
Hyde  of  Lewes,  who  died  in  1879;  and 
secondly  to  her  cousin,  Miss  Leith.  After 
the  loss  of  his  first  wife  he  went  to  reside  at 
West  Brighton,  where  an  accident  in  riding 
produced  a  concussion  of  the  brain.  He  was 
for  weeks  in  a  serious  condition.  At  the 
close  of  1884  Fordham  left  Brighton  and  re- 
turned to  Slough,  where  he  had  previously 
lived,  and  he  died  there  12  Oct.  1887. 

Fordham  was  devoted  to  his  family.  He 
was  never  known  to  give  a  vote  for  a  parlia- 
mentary candidate  in  his  life.  He  was  ex- 
tremely reticent  on  horse-racing,  had  a  deep 
aversion  to  gambling  of  all  kinds,  and  ever 
showed  the  greatest  anxiety  to  keep  his  son 
from  being  in  any  way  associated  with  the 
turf.  His  own  career  was  scrupulously 
honourable. 

[Times,  Sportsman,  and  Morning  Post,  13  Oct. 
1887.] 

FORDUN,  JOHN  (d.  1384?),  is  the 
writer  upon  whom  Walter  Bower  [q.  v.] 
based  the  earlier  part  of  his  great  work,  the 
'  Scotichronicon.'  At  the  end  of  his  chro- 
nicle Walter  Bower  claims  for  himself  books 
vi-xvi.,  while  to  his  predecessor  he  allows 
books  i-v.  (Scotichron.  i.  1,  ii.  513).  Fordun 
wrote  fifteen  of  the  first  twenty-three  chap- 
ters of  book  vi.  also  (id.  i.  338),  and  the  rest  of 
Bower's  work  down  to  1383  is  very  largely 
based  upon  Fordun's  notes  (Prolog.  Scoti- 
chron.  i.  1).  Even  in  the  first  five  books  of 
the  '  Scotichronicon '  there  are,  however, 
many  passages  [see  BOWER,  WALTER]  inter- 
polated by  Bower. 

The  prefaces  to  the  later  redactions  of 
the  '  Scotichronicon '  are  our  only  authority 
for  Fordun's  life.  He  only  once  intimates 
his  name  by  an  acrostic  (FORDUN,  p.  3 ;  Scoti- 
chron.  i.  3).  The  important  manuscript  of 
the  '  Scotichronicon '  in  the  British  Museum 
(Royal  Library,  13  EX),  commonly  known 
as  the '  Black  Book  of  Paisley'  (a  fifteenth- 
century  manuscript),  calls  John  de  Fordun 
'capellanus  ecclesise  Aberdonensis,'  while 
the  'prologue 'to  the  'Scotichronicon'  styles 
him  '  dominus  Joannes  Fordoun,  presbyter ' 
(SKENE,  pref.  p.  xvii;  MURRAY,  pp.  2,  15). 
From  these  indications  Mr.  Skene  has  in- 
ferred that  he  was  a  '  chantrey  priest '  in  the 
cathedral  at  Aberdeen  (p.  xiv).  From  the 
preface  to  another  manuscript  we  learn  that 


Edward  'Langschankes,'  the  tyrant,  had  car- 
ried off  to  England  or  burnt  all  the  truly 
national  records  of  the  Scotch  history.  After 
their  loss,  '  a  certain  venerable '  priest,  Lord 
John  Fordon,  desired  to  repair  the  loss,  and, 
after  collecting  in  his  own  country,  wandered 
like  a  'curious  bee'  with  his  manuscript 
('  Codex  Sinualis ')  in  his  breast,  '  in  prato 
Britannise  et  in  oraculis  Hiberniae,  per  civi- 
tates  et  oppida,  per  universitates  et  collegia, 
per  ecclesias  et  coenobia,  inter  historicos  con- 
versans  et  inter  chronographos  perendinans ' 
(Pref.  to  Book  of  Cupar ;  the  Dublin  MS.  of 
Scotichron.  ap.  SKENE,  pp.  49,  50).  This 
journey  in  quest  of  materials  is  calculated, 
from  internal  evidence,  to  have  taken  place 
between  1363  and  1384.  In  the  prologue  to 
the  'Scotichronicon'  Bower  tells  us  of  a 
conversation  in  which  a  certain  venerable 
doctor  remarked  that  he  could  very  well  re- 
collect this  writer  of  whom  the  company 
made  so  much :  '  He  was  an  unlearned  man 
(homo  simplex),  and  not  a  graduate  of  any 
school '  (Scotichron.  i.  1).  Mr.  Murray  sug- 
gests that  the  John  Fordun  whose  name  ap- 
pears in  the  'Exchequer  Rolls  of  Scotland'  as 
making  certain  payments  on  behalf  of  the 
burgesses  of  Perth  in  1393-5  was  the  his- 
torian (MURRAY,  pp.  2,  3;  cf.  Exchequer 
Rolls  of  Scotland,  iii.  366).  He  also  remarks 
that  Fordun  must  have  been  the  friend  of 
Walter  Wardlaw,  the  bishop  of  Glasgow  and 
legatus  a  latere  in  Scotland,  and,  if  a  chantry- 
priest  of  Aberdeen,  must  likewise  have  known 
John  Barbour  [q.  v.]  (MURRAY,  pp.  2,  3 ;  cf. 
FORDUN,  bk.  v.  c.  50).  Fordun  probably  died 
soon  after  1384,  the  year  in  which  his  annals 
end. 

Fordun's  writings,  as  now  preserved,  consist 
of :  1. '  Chronica  Gentis  Scotorum.'  2. '  Gesta 
Annalia.'  Some  manuscripts  also  include 
certain  'materials/  Of  these  materials  a 
great  part  has  been  worked  up  into  the  later 
books  of  his  'Chronica;'  the  rest  consist  of 
documents  relating  to  the  '  controversy  with 
England  as  to  the  independence  of  Scotland.' 
These  '  Independence '  documents  appear  in 
book  vi.  of  the  '  Chronica '  as  contained  in 
the  Wolfenbiittel  MS.,  and  before  the  '  Gesta 
Annalia.'  In  the  Trinity  Coll.  Cambridge  MS. 
they  are  found  in  the  middle  of  the  '  Gesta 
Annalia'  at  the  year  1284.  Of  the ' Chronica 
Gentis  Scotorum,'  book  i.  is  almost  entirely 
mythical ;  book  ii.  continues  the  story  of  the 
Scots  from  their  first  king  in  Great  Britain, 
Fergus,  to  the  days  of  Maximus  and  Theo- 
dosius  (c.  395  A.D.);  book  iii.  extends  to  the 
days  of  Charles  the  Great  (c.  814  A.D.)  ;  book 
LV.  down  to  the  reign  of  Macbeth  (1057  A.D.)  ; 
book  v.  from  Malcolm  Canmore's  accession  to 
the  death  of  King  David  (1153  A.D.)  The 


Fordun 


431 


Fordyce 


last  eighteen  chapters  of  this  book  are  made 
up  of  extracts  from  Abbot  Baldred  or  Ailred 
of  Rievaulx,  *  Lamentatio  pro  morte  regis 
David.'  At  this  point  the  i  Gesta  Annalia ' 
take  up  the  narrative,  and  continue  it  from 
the  accession  of  Malcolm  IV  (1153  A.D.)  down 
to  1383  A.D.  The  historical  chapters  of  book 
vi.  (i.e.  cc.  9-23)  are  a  sketch  of  English 
history  from  Cerdic,  or  rather  Woden,  down 
to  the  death  of  Edward  the  Confessor. 

From  Mr.  Skene's  careful  analyses  of  the 
extant  manuscripts  of  these  works  it  appears 
that  Fordun  compiled  the  materials  for 
book  v.  and  the  still  extant  part  of  book  vi. 
before  his  journey  into  England;  for  the  ad- 
ditions which  these  books  in  their  later  form 
contain  '  are  frequently  taken  from  William 
of  Malmesbury,  while  in  the  materials  there 
is  no  allusion  to  that  writer.'  Of  the '  Gesta 
Annalia '  there  also  seem  to  be  two  texts,  the 
earlier  one  of  which  (represented  by  Cotton 
Vitellius  MS.  E.  xi.,  a  sixteenth-century 
manuscript,  and  Trinity  Coll.  Dublin  MS. 
E.  2,  28,  a  sixteenth-  or  seventeenth-century 
manuscript)  was  plainly  drawn  up  in  1363, 
for  the  list  of  English  kings  in  chapter  80 
ends  with '  Edwardus  tertius  qui  nunc  est,'  and 
the  history  of  events  breaks  off  with  the 
year  1363.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Wolfen- 
biittel  MS.  (fourteenth  century)  carries  on 
the  narrative  to  1383,  and,  after  recording 
the  Black  Prince's  death,  winds  up  the  list  of 
English  kings  with  '  Edwardus  princeps  ge- 
nuit  Ricardum  qui  nunc  est '  (SKE^E,  pref. 
pp.  xxxii-iii;  cf.  FOEDTJN,  pp.  319,  382,  383). 
It  was  apparently  after  his  journey  into  Eng- 
land that  Fordun  compiled  the  first  four 
books,  and  brought  the '  Gesta  Annalia'  down 
to  1384  or  1385. 

Fordun's  authorities  are  collected  by  Mr. 
Skene  at  the  end  of  the  second  volume  of  his 
edition.  He  was  an  historian  of  no  great 
discernment  when  dealing  with  early  times, 
but  becomes  more  valuable  the  nearer  he 
gets  to  his  own  days.  There  can  be  little 
doubt  that  he  made  use  of  Irish  materials  in 
his  work, 

[Johannis  de  Fordun,  Chronica  G-entis  Sco- 
torum,  vols.  i.  and  ii.  ed.  Skene,  for  the  Histo- 
rians of  Scotland  (Edinburgh,  1871-2) ;  Johannis 
de  Fordun,  Scotichronicon,  ed.  Hearne,  5  vols. 
(Oxford,  1722)  ;  Gale's Scriptores,  vol.  iii. ;  Bower's 
Scotichronicon,  ed.  G-oodall  (Edinburgh,  1759). 
All  the  references  to  Fordun  are  to  Skene's  edi- 
tion; those  to  the  Scotichronicon  to  Groodall's 
Notes  on  the  Black  Book  of  Paisley  (New  Club 
Series)  by  David  Murray  (Paisley,  1885);  Die 
Handschriften  der  herzoglichen  Bibliothek  zu 
"Wblfenbiittel  (Otto  von  Heinemann,  Wolfen- 
biittel,  1886),  vol.  i.  pt.  ii.  p.  26.  Mr.  Skene's 
preface  to  the  first  volume  of  his  Fordun  contains 
a  precise  account  of  the  various  manuscripts  of 


Fordun  and  Bower ;  he  has  here  collected  every- 
thing that  can  be  said  about  his  author's  life 
and  work.]  T.  A.  A. 

FORDYCE,  ALEXANDER  (d.  1789), 
banker,  youngest  son  of  Provost  Fordyce 
of  Aberdeen,  and  brother  to  David,  James, 
and  William  Fordyce,  each  of  whom  is 
separately  noticed,  was  educated  under  his 
uncle,  Thomas  Blackwell  the  younger  [q.  v.], 
and  was  afterwards  for  some  time  in  the 
hosiery  trade  at  Aberdeen.  Abandoning 
this  occupation,  he  went  to  London,  and 
obtained  a  situation  as  outdoor  clerk  to  a 
banker  named  Boldero.  Eventually  he  be- 
came the  most  active  partner  in  the  firm  of 
Neale,  James,  Fordyce,  &  Down.  Under  his 
guidance  this  firm  speculated  freely,  and 
gained  a  large  sum  by  obtaining  early  intel- 
ligence of  the  signature  of  the  preliminaries 
of  the  peace  of  Paris  in  1763,  and  a  still 
larger  one  when  East  India  stock  rose  greatly 
in  1764-5.  With  the  proceeds  of  these  and 
other  speculations  Fordyce  purchased  an  es- 
tate and  built  a  fine  house  at  Roehampton, 
where  he  lived  in  great  magnificence.  He 
stood  as  a  candidate  for  the  borough  of  Col- 
chester at  the  general  election  of  1768,  and 
spent  nearly  14,000/.,  but  was  defeated  by 
twenty-four  votes.  On  this  he  proceeded  to 
build  a  hospital  and  otherwise  l  nurse '  the 
borough.  In  1770  he  married  Lady  Mar- 
garet Lindsay,  second  daughter  of  the  Earl 
of  Balcarres.  The  tide  of  fortune  then 
turned  ;  he  lost  heavily  at  the  beginning  of 
1771  in  the  fluctuations  of  the  market  caused 
by  the  dispute  with  Spain  about  the  Falk- 
land Islands.  His  partners  became  alarmed, 
but  it  is  said  he  succeeded  in  quieting  their 
fears  by  the  simple  expedient  of  showing 
them  a  pile  of  bank  notes  which  he  had  bor- 
rowed for  the  purpose  for  a  few  hours.  His 
losses  continuing,  he  absconded,  and  the  bank 
stopped  payment  on  10  June  1772.  The 
stoppage  precipitated  a  crisis  which  was  im- 
pending in  consequence  of  the  collapse  of  a 
speculative  mania  in  Scotland ;  no  bankrupt- 
cies of  importance  happened  for  a  few  days, 
but  then  a  great  panic  arose  in  the  city.  Sir 
Richard  Glyn  and  Halifax  stopped  payment, 
though  only  temporarily  as  it  turned  out, 
and  the  stoppage  of  Sir  George  Colebrooke 
was  only  prevented  with  difficulty.  Fordyce 
soon  returned  and  went  through  his  exami- 
nation at  the  Guildhall,  although  his  life  was 
supposed  to  be  in  danger  from  the  mob.  His 
deficiency  seems  to  have  been  about  100,000/. 
He  died  8  Sept.  1789,  at  Mr.  Mead's  in  George 
Street,  Portman  Square.  A  sermon  by  Thomas 
Toller,  published  in  London  in  1775,  describes 
Fordyce's  fall.  His  widow  married  in  1812 
Sir  James  Bland  Burges  [q.  v.] 


Fordyce 


432 


Fordyce 


[Gent.  Mag.  xlii.  310,  311,  and  292,  293,  296, 
392,  434-6,  xxxviii.  274,  xl.  344,  vol.  lix.  pt.  ii. 
p.  866 ;  Grenville  Papers,  iv.  539-43 ;  Walpole's 
Letters,  v.  393-6  ;  Anderson's  Scottish  Nation.] 

E.  C-N. 

FORDYCE,  DAVID  (1711-1751),  pro- 
fessor at  Aberdeen,  born  at  Broadford,  near 
Aberdeen,  and  baptised  1  April  1711,  was  the 
second  son  of  George  Fordyce  of  Broadford, 
provost  of  Aberdeen.  After  attending  Aber- 
deen grammar  school  he  was  entered  of  Ma- 
rischal  College  in  1724,  where  he  went  through 
a  course  of  philosophy  under  Professor  Daniel 
Garden,  and  of  mathematics  under  Mr.  John 
Stewart.  He  took  his  M.A.  degree  in  1728. 
Being  intended  for  the  church  he  next  studied 
divinity  under  Professor  James  Chalmers,  and 
obtained  in  due  time  license  as  a  preacher, 
though  he  never  received  a  call.  In  1742  he 
was  appointed  professor  of  moral  philosophy 
in  Marischal  College.  By  Dodsley  he  was 
employed  to  write  the  article  '  Moral  Phi- 
losophy '  for  the  '  Modern  Preceptor,'  which 
was  afterwards  published  separately  as  '  The 
Elements  of  Moral  Philosophy,'  12mo,  Lon- 
don, 1754.  It  reached  a  fourth  edition  in 
1769,  and  was  translated  into  German,  8vo, 
Zurich,  1757.  Previously  to  this  Fordyce 
had  attracted  some  notice  by  his  anonymous 
'Dialogues  concerning  Education,'  2  vols. 
8vo,  London,  1745-8.  In  1750  he  made  a 
tour  through  France,  Italy,  and  other  coun- 
tries, and  was  returning  home  in  September 
1751  when  he  lost  his  life  in  a  storm  off 
the  coast  of  Holland.  His  premature  end  is 
noticed  by  his  brother,  Dr.  James  Fordyce 
[q.  v.],  in  one  of  his '  Addresses  to  the  Deity,' 
and  a  bombastic  epitaph  from  the  same  pen 
will  be  found  in  the  *  Gentleman's  Maga- 
zine' for  1796  (vol.  Ixvi.  pt.  ii.  pp.  1052- 
1053).  Fordyce's  posthumous  works  are : 
1.  'Theodoras:  a  Dialogue  concerning  the 
art  of  Preaching,'  12mo,  London,  1752,  which 
was  often  reprinted,  along  with  James  For- 
dyce's '  Sermon  on  the  Eloquence,  and  an 
Essay  on  the  Action  of  the  Pulpit.'  2.  '  The 
Temple  of  Virtue.  A  Dream  [by  D.  For- 
dyce]. Published  [with  some  additions]  by 
James  Fordyce,'  16mo,  London,  1757  (other 
editions  in  1759  and  1775). 

[Chalmers's  Biog.  Diet.  1814,  xiv.  468-70; 
Chambers's  Eminent  Scotsmen,  ii.  54-5 ;  Irving's 
Book  of  Scotsmen,  p.  149  ;  Watt's  Bibl.  Brit.] 

G.  G. 

FORDYCE,  GEORGE  (1736-1802),  phy- 
sician, born  at  Aberdeen  on  18  Nov.  1736, 
was  the  only  and  posthumous  son  of  George 
Fordyce  of  Broadford,  a  small  property  near 
that  city.  His  father  was  one  of  a  family 
of  twenty  children,  several  of  whom  became 


well  known,  e.g.  David,  the  professor  of  philo- 
sophy [q.  v.] ;  James,  the  divine  [q.  v.] ;  Sir 
William,  the  physician  [q.  v.]  ;  and  John, 
also  a  physician.  George  Fordyce  was  sent 
to  school  at  Fouran,  and  afterwards  to  the 
university  of  Aberdeen,  where  he  became 
M.A.  at  the  age,  it  is  said,  of  fourteen.  A  year 
later  he  was  sent  to  his  uncle,  Dr.  John  For- 
dyce of  Uppingham,  to  prepare  for  the  medical 
profession,  and,  after  spending  four  years  with 
him,  entered  as  a  medical  student  in  the 
university  of  Edinburgh.  Here  he  became 
a  favourite  pupil  of  Cullen,  from  whom  he 
imbibed  a  fondness  for  chemistry  and  materia 
medica,  as  well  as  an  insight  into  practical 
medicine.  He  graduated  M.D.  in  October 
1758  with  a  dissertation '  De  Catarrho,' which 
shows  considerable  knowledge  of  chemistry 
and  contains  results  which  the  author  thought 
worth  quoting  in  his  public  lectures  thirty 
years  later.  Immediately  afterwards  he  came 
to  London,  but  in  1759  passed  over  to  Ley- 
den,  where  he  studied  anatomy  under  Al- 
binus.  Returning  to  London  in  the  same 
year  he  resolved  to  settle  there  as  a  lecturer 
on  medical  science,  a  career  which  was  at 
that  time,  owing  to  the  absence  of  regular 
medical  schools,  a  comparatively  open  one- 
Before  the  end  of  the  year  he  had  commenced 
a  course  of  lectures  on  chemistry,  and  in  1764 
added  courses  on  materia  medica  and  the 
practice  of  physic.  These  subjects  he  con- 
tinued to  teach  for  nearly  thirty  years,  lec- 
turing on  the  three  in  succession  from  seven 
to  ten  on  six  mornings  in  the  week  the  whole 
year  through.  Such  arduous  labour  pro- 
bably soon  began  to  bear  fruit,  as  we  find 
that  Fordyce  married  in  1762,  and  in  after 
years  his  lectures  were  extremely  popular, 
being  attended  successively  by  thousands  of 
students,  among  them  many  who  subse- 
quently became  distinguished.  Several  full 
copies  of  notes  by  his  pupils  still  exist  in 
manuscript. 

Fordyce  was  admitted  licentiate  of  the 
College  of  Physicians  on  25  June  1765.  Five 
years  afterwards,  a  vacancy  having  occurred 
for  a  physician  at  St.  Thomas's  Hospital 
through  the  death  of  Akenside,  Fordyce  be- 
came a  candidate,  and,  after  a  close  contest 
with  Dr.  (afterwards  Sir  William)  Watson, 
was  elected  on  11  July  1770  to  that  office, 
which  he  held  till  his  death.  In  1776  he 
was  made  F.R.S.,  and  wrote  several  papers 
in  the  <  Philosophical  Transactions.'  In  1787 
he  was  elected l  speciali  gratia '  fellow  of  the 
College  of  Physicians,  the  greater  honour 
because  at  that  time  only  graduates  of  Eng- 
lish universities  were  generally  eligible  to 
the  fellowship,  and  because  Fordyce  had  been 
an  active  partisan  of  the  licentiates  in  their 


Fordyce 


433 


Fordyce 


quarrel  with  the  college.  Fordyce  took  an 
important  part  in  the  compilation  of  the  new 
*  Pharmacopeia  Londinensis,'  which  was  is- 
sued in  1788.  In  1793  he  assisted  in  form- 
ing a  Society  for  the  Improvement  of  Medical 
and  Chirurgical  Knowledge,  to  the  l  Trans- 
actions '  of  which  he  also  contributed. 

Fordyce  was  not  at  first  successful  in  prac- 
tice, owing,  it  is  said,  partly  to  disregard  of 
appearances  in  manner  and  dress ;  but  in 
later  life  he  was  fully  occupied  till  his  health 
began  to  give  way.  His  habits  had  always 
been  such  as  to  try  his  constitution  ;  and  in 
early  life,  it  is  said,  he  often  reconciled  the 
claims  of  pleasure  and  business  by  lecturing 
for  three  hours  in  the  morning  without  having 
gone  to  bed  the  night  before.  He  had  con- 
ceived the  idea  that  man  ought  to  eat  only 
once  in  the  day,  and  consequently  took  no 
meal  but  a  dinner,  though  this,  if  anecdotes 
are  trustworthy ,was  a  very  liberal  one  (MTJNK, 
Coll  of  Phys.  1878,  ii.  375).  He  died  of  dis- 
orders connected  with  gout  on  25  May  1802, 
at  his  house  in  Essex  Street,  Strand.  He 
was  the  father  of  two  sons,  who  died  young, 
and  two  daughters,  who  survived  him.  His 
portrait,  by  T.  Phillips,  is  preserved  at  St. 
Thomas's  Hospital,  and  was  engraved  by 
S.  Phillips  in  1796. 

Fordyce  was  a  man  of  much  intellectual 
force  and  of  great  attainments  in  medicine. 
His  friend  Dr.  Wells,  no  mean  judge,  thought 
him  more  generally  skilled  in  the  medical 
sciences  than  any  other  person  of  his  time. 
He  was  also  a  good  chemist  and  mineralogist. 
One  of  his  chemical  papers  in  the  '  Philoso- 
phical Transactions '  (No.  7  in  list  below)  is 
important  as  confirming  by  an  indirect  method 
the  views  of  Priestley  and  Lavoisier  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  doctrine  of  Phlogiston.  His 
medical  lectures,  judging  from  the  manu- 
script notes,  seem  to  have  been  lucidly  ar- 
ranged and  remarkable  for  rather  elaborate 
logical  analysis.  They  are  said  by  Dr.  Wells 
to  have  been  composed  and  delivered  entirely 
without  notes,  and  with  a  slow,  hesitating 
manner.  The  '  Elements  of  Physic '  was  the 
text-book  for  these  lectures ;  but  it  is  on  the 
1  Treatise  on  Digestion '  and  the  '  Disserta- 
tions on  Fever'  that  Fordyce's  reputation 
rests.  The  former,  which  was  first  delivered 
as  the  Gulstonian  lecture  before  the  College 
of  Physicians,  is  a  work  of  great  ability  and 
conceived  in  a  scientific  spirit.  Rejecting 
all  purely  mechanical  and  chemical  theories, 
he  treats  digestion  as  a  physiological  process. 
A  similar  reaction  against  the  scholastic  medi- 
cal systems  of  the  last  century  is  shown  in 
the  '  Dissertations  on  Fever,'  in  which  the 
leading  principle  is  that  l  observation  of  the 
disease  is  entirely  to  be  adhered  to,  without 

VOL.  XIX. 


any  reasoning  why  or  how  anything  in  it 
takes  place.'  Fordyce's  observations  on  the 
temperature  of  the  human  body  were  nume- 
rous and  historically  important.  He  devised 
experiments,  the  results  of  which  were  com- 
municated to  the  Royal  Society  by  Sir  C. 
Blagden,  which  showed  that  the  body  pre- 
serves a  constant  temperature  even  in  heated 
rooms. 

He  wrote:  1.  'Elements  of  Agriculture 
and  Vegetation,'  Edinburgh,  1765, 8vo  ;  2nd 
edition,  London ;  3rd  edition,  ib.,  1779  (lec- 
tures given  to  a  class  of  gentlemen  interested 
in  agriculture).  2.  '  Elements  of  the  Prac- 
tice of  Physic,'  2  vols.,  London;  2nd  edi- 
tion, 1768-70 ;  6th edition, ib.,  1791.  3. 'Trea- 
tise on  the  Digestion  of  Food,'  London, 
1791 ;  2nd  edition,  1791.  4. '  Dissertation  on 
Simple  Fever,'  London,  1794 ;  2nd  edition, 
ib.,  1800 ;  '  Second  Dissertation  on  Tertian 
Intermittent  Fever,'  ib.,  1795 ;  <  Third  Dis- 
sertation on  Continued  Fever,'  2  pts.,  1798-9 ; 
'  Fourth  Dissertation,'  ib.,  1802  ;  '  Fifth  Dis- 
sertation'  (edited  after  the  author's  death  by 
Dr.  Wells),  ib.,  1803.  5.  <  Syllabus  of  Lec- 
tures on  Chemistry,'  12mo,  s.  d.  The  first 
four  were  translated  into  German.  In '  Philo- 
sophical Transactions  : '  (1) *  Of  the  Light  pro- 
duced by  Inflammation,'  vol.  Ixvi. ;  (2)  '  Exa- 
mination of  Ores  in  Museum  of  Dr.  W.  Hun- 
ter,' vol.  Ixix. ;  (3)  l  New  Method  of  Assaying 
Copper  Ores ; '  (4)  <  On  Loss  of  Weight  in 
Bodies  on  being  Melted  or  Heated,' vol.  Ixxv. ; 
(5)  '  Account  of  an  Experiment  on  Heat,' 
vol.  Ixxvii. ;  (6)  '  The  Croonian  Lecture  on 
Muscular  Motion  ; '  (7)  '  On  the  Cause  of  the 
Additional  Weight  which  Bodies  acquire  on 
being  Calcined,'  vol.  Ixxxii. ;  (8)  '  Account 
of  a  New  Pendulum,  being  the  Bakerian 
Lecture,'  vol.  Ixxxiv.  In  '  Transactions  '  of 
a  society  above  mentioned :  (1)  f  Observa- 
tions on  the  Small-pox  and  Causes  of  Fever; ' 
(2)  '  An  Attempt  to  Improve  the  Evidence 
of  Medicine  ; '  (3)  '  Some  Observations  upon 
the  Composition  of  Medicines.' 

[Gent.  Mag.  June  1802  (memoir  by  Dr.  Wells, 
the  original  authority);  Monthly  Mag.  July 
1802  ;  Archives  of  St.  Thomas's  Hospital.] 

J.  F.  P. 

FORDYCE,  JAMES,  D.D.  (1720-1796), 
presbyterian  divine  and  poet,  third  son  of 
George  Fordyce  of  Broadford,  merchant  and 
provost  of  Aberdeen  (who  had  twenty  chil- 
dren), was  born  at  Aberdeen  in  the  last 
quarter  of  1720.  David  Fordyce  [q.  v.]  was 
his  elder  brother,  Alexander  Fordyce  [q.  v.] 
and  Sir  William  Fordyce  [q.  v.]  were  his 
younger  brothers ;  George  Fordyce,  M.D. 
[q.  v.],  was  his  nephew.  From  the  Aberdeen 
High  School  Fordyce  proceeded  to  Marischal 

F   P 


Fordyce 


434 


Fordyce 


College,  where  he  was  educated  for  the  mi- 
nistry. On  23  Feb.  1743  he  was  licensed 
by  the  Aberdeen  presbytery.  In  September 
1744  he  was  presented  by  the  crown  to  the 
second  charge  at  Brechin,  Forfarshire.  His 
admission  was  delayed,  as  the  parishioners 
stood  out  for  their  right  of  election ;  he  was 
ordained  at  Brechin  on  28  Aug.  1745.  His 
position  was  not  comfortable,  and  he  did  not 
get  on  with  his  colleague.  In  1753  he  took 
his  degree  of  M.A.  at  Marischal  College,  and 
in  the  same  year  he  received  a  presentation 
to  Alloa,  Clackmannanshire.  The  parishioners 
wanted  another  man ;  however,  Fordyce  got 
a  call  on  5  June,  demitted  his  charge  at 
Brechin  on  29  Aug.,  and  was  admitted  at 
Alloa  on  12  Oct.  1753.  Here  he  won  the 
affections  of  his  flock,  and  rapidly  acquired 
reputation  as  a  preacher.  He  published 
several  sermons ;  in  1760  his  sermon  before 
the  general  assembly  on  the '  folly,  infamy, 
and  misery  of  unlawful  pleasures '  created  a 
profound  impression,  and  stamped  him  as  a 
pulpit  orator  of  the  first  rank.  The  univer- 
sity of  Glasgow  made  him  a  D.D. 

Already  Fordyce  had  turned  his  thoughts 
to  London,  where  several  members  of  his 
family  had  established  themselves.  During 
a  visit  to  his  brother  Alexander  in  1759  an 
unsuccessful  effort  had  been  made  by  his 
friends  to  procure  for  him  a  call  to  a  vacant 
pastorate  in  Carter  Lane.  In  1760  he  was 
chosen  as  colleague  to  Samuel  Lawrence,D.D., 
minister  of  the  presbyterian  congregation  in 
Monkwell  Street.  He  demitted  his  charge 
at  Alloa  on  30  May,  and  was  released  from 
it  on  18  June  1760.  Lawrence  died  on 
1  Oct.,  and  Fordyce  became  sole  pastor.  He 
preached  only  on  Sunday  afternoons,  the 
morning  lecturer  being  Thomas  Toller,  Law- 
rence's son-in-law. 

Fordyce's  eloquence  soon  drew  crowds  to 
Monkwell  Street.  He  had  the  natural  ad- 
vantages of  a  dignified  presence  and  a  piercing 
eye ;  his  delivery  and  gestures  were  studied 
with  great  care.  His  topics  were  didactic, 
but  he  freed  them  from  dryness  by  his  powers 
of  imagination  and  a  polish  and  pomp  of  his 
style  which  satisfied  cultured  tastes.  He 
forsook  generalities,  and  dealt  with  the  ethics 
of  actual  life.  Garrick  is  said  to  have  heard 
him  more  than  once,  and  to  have  spoken 
highly  of  his  oratory.  Boswell  speaks  of  his 
'  long  and  uninterrupted  social  connection ' 
with  Johnson ;  he  introduced  Johnson  to 
Blair.  His  sympathetic  account  (in  'Ad- 
dresses to  the  Deity,'  1785)  of  Johnson's 
religious  character  has  often  been  quoted. 
From  this  and  other  passages  of  his  writing 
it  is  evident  that,  while  he  avoided  the  posi- 
tion of  a  party  preacher  and  steered  clear  of 


controversy,  his  moderation  had  not  destroyed 
his  evangelical  faith. 

Fordyce's  popularity  lasted  for  about  twelve 
years.  Several  causes  contributed  to  its  de- 
cline. In  1772  the  failure  of  his  brother 
Alexander  involved  the  ruin  of  some  of  For- 
dyce's warmest  adherents,  and  the  alienation, 
of  many  friends.  In  1775  the  congregation 
was  rent  by  a  quarrel  between  Fordyce  and 
Toller;  the  ground  of  the  ill-feeling  is  not 
stated,  but  may  perhaps  be  gathered  from  the 
tone  of  Toller's  funeral  sermon  for  Alexander 
Fordyce.  Fordyce's  part  in  the  dispute  is 
not  excused  by  his  friends ;  he  procured  the 
dismissal  of  Toller  on  28  Feb.  1775 ;  a  large 
part  of  the  congregation  withdrew  with. 
Toller  to  an  independent  meeting-house  in 
Silver  Street.  Fordyce  now  undertook  the 
whole  of  the  duties  at  Monkwell  Street ;  his 
audience  thinned,  and  disappointment  preyed 
upon  his  health.  Under  medical  advice  he 
resigned  his  office  at  Christmas  1782.  His 
charge  at  the  ordination  of  his  successor, 
James  Lindsay,  D.D.,  on  21  May  1783,  is  re- 
garded as  his  finest  effort  of  pulpit  eloquence. 

He  retired  to  a  country  residence  near 
Christchurch,  Hampshire,  where  he  was  a 
neighbour  of  Lord  Bute,  who  gave  him  the 
range  of  his  library.  Several  publications, 
including  a  poor  volume  of  poems,  were  the 
fruits  of  his  leisure.  On  the  death  (1792)  of 
his  brother,  Sir  William  Fordyce,  he  removed 
to  Bath.  He  was  troubled  with  asthma, 
and,  after  much  suffering  from  this  cause, 
died  suddenly  of  syncope  on  1  Oct.  1796  in 
his  seventy-sixth  year,  and  was  buried  in 
one  of  the  parish  churches  of  Bath.  A  funeral 
sermon  was  preached  by  Lindsay  at  Monk- 
well  Street  on  16  Oct.  He  married  (1771) 
Henrietta  Cummyng,  who  died  at  Bath  on 
10  Jan.  1823,  aged  89.  There  was  no  issue 
of  the  marriage. 

He  published:  1.  'The  Eloquence  of  the 
Pulpit/  &c.,  1752,  8vo  (ordination  sermon ; 
often  reprinted  with  David  Fordyce's '  Theo- 
dorus').  2.  'The  Temple  of  Virtue/ ^c., 
1757, 12mo  (byDavid  Fordyce ;  but  this  edition 
has  additional  matter  by  James  Fordyce). 
3. '  The  Folly  ...  of  Unlawful  Pleasures/ 
&c.,  1760,  8vo ;  2nd  edit.  Edinb.  1768,  8vo. 
4. '  Sermons  to  Young  Women/ 1765,  2  vols. 
12mo,  often  reprinted.  5. '  The  Character  and 
Conduct  of  the  Female  Sex/  1776,  8vo. 
6.  '  Addresses  to  Young  Men/  1777,  2  vols. 
8vo.  7.  '  Addresses  to  the  Deity/ 1785, 8vo. 
8.  '  Poems/  1786,  8vo.  9.  '  A  Discourse  on 
Pain/  1791, 8vo  (Chalmers  refers  to  a  certain 
'cure  for  the  cramp'  here  given,  and  con- 
nects it  with  a  passage  from  Beaumont  and 
Fletcher).  Also  sermon  on  popery  (1754), 
reprinted  1779;  ordination  sermon  and  charge 


Fordyce 


435 


Forest 


(1755) ;  sermon  on  Eccles.  xi.  1  (1757)  ; 
funeral  sermon  for  Lawrence  (1760)  ;  sermon 
on  Prov.  viii.  6,  7  (1775)  ;  charge  at  ordina- 
tion of  Lindsay  (1783). 

[Hew  Scott's  Fasti  Eccles.  Scot. ;  Lindsay's 
Funeral  Sermon,  1797;  Protestant  Dissenting 
Magazine,  1796  p.  399  sq.,  1797  p.  81  sq. ; 
"Wilson's  Dissenting  Churches,  1808,  iii.  114, 
209  sq. ;  Chalmers's  Gren.  Biog.  Diet.  1814,  xiv. 
470  sq.;  Mitchell's  Scotsman's  Library,  1825, 
p.  30  sq. ;  Bogue  and  Bennett's  Hist,  of  Dis- 
senters, 1833,  ii.  606  sq. ;  Boswell's  Johnson 
(Wright),  1859,  ii.  168,  viii.  413,  x.  155;  Ander- 
son's Scottish  Nation,  1870,  ii.  244  sq.  (gives  the 
family  pedigree).]  A.  Gr. 

FORDYCE,  SIE  WILLIAM  (1724- 
1792),  physician,  son  of  Provost  Fordyce  of 
Aberdeen,  and  brother  of  David  Fordyce 
[q.  v.],  was  born  at  Aberdeen  in  1724,  and 
educated  at  Marischal  College,  also  serving 
a  medical  pupilage  with  a  local  practitioner 
and  with  his  brother  John  at  Uppingham 
in  1743.  It  has  been  inferred  that  he  quali- 
fied at  Edinburgh,  from  the  fact  that  he  was 
admitted  a  member  of  the  Royal  Medical 
Society  there,  22  Dec.  1744 ;  but  it  is  more  pro- 
bable that  he  left  Edinburgh  without  quali- 
fying, volunteering  for  the  army  during  the 
war  with  France  which  ended  in  1748,  and 
obtaining  an  appointment  as  surgeon  to  the 
guards,  with  whom  he  served  in  three  cam- 
paigns, enduring  many  hardships.  Probably 
after  the  peace  he  travelled  and  studied  in 
France.  He  was  at  Turin  in  1750  (Frag- 
menta  Chirurgica,  p.  21),  but  returned  to  Lon- 
don in  the  same  year.  While  retaining  for 
many  years  his  connection  with  the  army,  he 
entered  upon  general  practice  in  London,  and 
this  and  the  growing  note  of  his  brothers  in- 
troduced him  to  the  best  circles.  In  1770  he 
was  created  M.D.  at  Cambridge  by  royal  man- 
date, and  was  admitted  licentiate  of  the  Royal 
College  of  Physicians  on  10  April  1786.  He 
was  knighted  by  George  III  in  1787.  It  is 
stated  (  Gent.  Mag.  Ixii.  1218)  that  he  was  sent 
for  to  greater  distances  and  received  greater 
sums  than  almost  any  physician  of  his  time, 
and  accumulated  much  money.  He  aided  his 
brother  Alexander  [q.  v.]  to  his  dazzling  rise 
of  fortune,  and  suffered  great  loss  when  he 
failed,  generously  taking  upon  himself  the 
burden  of  his  brother  James's  loss  also.  His 
generosity  and  hospitality  were  very  great. 
His  medical  skill  and  knowledge  were  con- 
siderable for  his  time,  as  testified  by  his 
works,  some  of  which  went  through  nume- 
rous editions.  The  Society  of  Arts  voted  him 
a  gold  medal  for  his  work  on  rhubarb.  He 
died  at  Brook  Street,  Grosvenor  Square,  after 
a  long  illness,  on  4  Dec.  1792,  aged  68.  At 
the  time  of  his  death  he  was  lord  rector  of 


Marischal  College,  Aberdeen,  to  which  he  left 
1,000/. 

Fordyce's  works  (all  published  in  London) 
•e  :  1.  'A  Review  of  the  Venereal  Disease 
and  its  Remedies,'  1767,  fifth  edition  1785  ; 
German  translation,  Altenburg,  1769.  2.  '  A 
New  Inquiry  into  the  Causes,  Symptoms,  and 
Cure  of  Putrid  and  Inflammatory  Fevers,  with 
an  Appendix  on  the  Hectic  Fever  and  on  the 
Ulcerated  Sore  Throat,'  1773,  fourth  edition 
1777  ;  German  translation,  Leipzig,  1774. 
3.  '  The  Great  Importance  and  Proper  Method 
of  Cultivating  and  Curing  Rhubarb  in  Britain 
for  Medical  Uses,'  1784.  4.  'Fragmenta 
Chirurgica  et  Medica,'  1784.  5.  '  Letter  to 
Sir  John  Sinclair  on  the  Virtues  of  Muriatic 
Acid  in  curing  Putrid  Diseases,'  1790. 

[G-ent.  Mag.  Ixii.  1217  ;  Fordyce's  Works  ; 
Chalmers's  Biog.  Diet.  ;  Munk's  Coll.  of  Phys.  ii. 
359-60.]  G-.  T.  B. 


FOREST,  JOHN  (1474  P-1538),  martyr, 
entered  the  convent  of  Franciscans  of  the  * 


*r  w 


Observance  at  Greenwich  when  about  seven-  * 
teen  years  of  age.  Some  nine  years  later  \ioluvi 
he  was  sent  by  the  convent  to  study  theo- 
logy in  the  Franciscan  house  without  Water- 
gate at  Oxford.  In  due  time  he  suppli- 
cated the  regents  for  admission  to  oppose 
in  divinity  for  the  degree  of  bachelor,  but 
there  is  no  evidence  of  his  having  taken 
any  degree,  though  Pits  calls  him  doctor  of 
theology.  After  returning  to  Greenwich  he 
was  appointed  minister  of  the  English  pro- 
vince, but  the  date  is  doubtful.  In  January 
1525  Cardinal  Wolsey  attempted  to  hold  a 
visitation  of  the  Observants  by  virtue  of  his 
legatine  power.  This  was  strongly  opposed 
by  most  of  the  friars,  but  Forest  supported 
his  authority,  and  went  so  far  as  to  curse 
nineteen  of  his  recalcitrant  brethren  at  Paul's 
Cross.  This,  according  to  Francis  a  S.  Clara, 
proves  him  to  have  been  provincial  minister. 
On  the  other  hand,  certain  letters  from  the 
convent  at  Greenwich  seem  to  show  that  he 
was  elected  minister  to  succeed  Friar  William 
Peto,  who  had  displeased  Henry  VIII  by  his 
expression  of  opinion  about  the  divorce.  A 
list  of  names  in  Cromwell's  hand  apparently 
implies  that  Forest  might  be  reckoned  on  as 
an  opponent  of  Peto  on  the  king's  behalf,  and 
he  was  probably  appointed  for  that  reason. 
The  king  knew  him  personally  from  the  fact 
of  his  being  confessor  to  the  queen  (Catherine 
of  Arragon),  and  at  a  later  time  he  said  that 
Forest  had  promised  to  preach  in  his  support. 
But  after  his  appointment  as  minister  he 
became  an  ardent  advocate  of  the  queen's 
cause,  preaching  himself  on  her  behalf  and 
preventing  other  members  of  his  convent 
from  preaching  on  the  other  side.  Mean- 

FF2 


Forester 


436 


Forman 


while  discontented  friars  of  his  convent  fre- 
quently complained  to  Cromwell  of  his  con- 
duct. In  the  spring  of  1 533  the  king  succeeded 
in  procuring  his  deposition  and  the  appoint- 
ment of  Fr.  Jean  de  la  Hey,  a  Frenchman, 
as  commissary.  Forest  was  sent  to  some 
convent  in  the  north,  but  in  the  following 
year  was  back  in  London  imprisoned  at  New- 
gate on  a  charge  of  heresy,  the  basis  of  which 
was  denial  of  the  king's  supremacy.  He  at 
first  submitted  to  the  court.  His  confine- 
ment, therefore,  was  not  strict,  and  he  was 
allowed  to  celebrate  divine  service  and  hear 
confessions.  It  was  found  that  he  used  this 
opportunity  of  confirming  his  visitors  in  the 
old  faith,  and  employed  his  leisure  in  writing 
a  book, '  De  auctoritate  Ecclesise  et  Pontificis 
Maximi,'  inveighing  with  great  vehemence 
against  the  pride  and  impiety  of  the  king  in 
assuming  the  title  of  head  of  the  church. 
Sentence  of  death  had  been  passed  upon  him 
at  the  commencement  of  his  imprisonment, 
and  when  his  relapse  was  discovered  it  was 
immediately  carried  out.  He  was  burnt  on 
22  May  1538  in  Smithfield  with  unusual 
barbarity,  being  slung  alive  over  a  fire  in- 
stead of  being  surrounded  by  faggots.  An 
image  called  Dderfel  Gadern,  which  had  been 
long  venerated  in  North  Wales,  was  used  as 
fuel  to  fulfil  a  Welsh  prophecy,  which  said 
that  it  would  set  a  forest  on  fire.  Bishop 
Hugh  Latimer  preached  a  sermon  on  the 
occasion,  urging  him  in  vain  to  recant,  and 
the  lord  mayor,  Cromwell,  and  other  great 
people  were  present.  The  book  mentioned 
above  is  the  only  literary  work  which  he  is 
said  to  have  composed,  and  that  is  not  known 
to  be  extant.  There  are,  however,  some  letters 
of  his  to  Queen  Catherine  and  others  printed 
by  Wadding  and  Parkinson. 

[Cal.  Hen.  VIII,  vols.  v.  vi.  vii. ;  Hall's  Chron. 
pp.  135, 2326;  Bourchier's  Hist.  Eccl.  deMartyrio 
Fratrum  Angl.  Ingoldstadt,  1583,  p.  28  ;  Francis 
a  S.  Clara,  Supplem.  Hist.  Prov.  Angl.,  Douay, 
1671,  p.  8 ;  Athense  Oxon.  i.  107  ;  Foxe,  iv.  590, 
v.  179;  Pits,  i.  726;  Tanner's  Bibl.  Brit.-Hib. 
p.  292  ;  Wadding's  Annales  Minorum,  xvi.  365, 
390,  419;  Parkinson's  Collect.  Anglo-Mi noritica, 
pp.  234,  241 ;  Gasquet's  Hen.  VIII  and  English 
Monasteries,  i.  193-201 ;  Fronde,  iii.  295;  Parker 
Soc.:  1  Lat.  xi.  266,  2  Lat.  pp.  391-2,  2  Tyn. 
p.  302,  2  Gran.  pp.  365-6,  Bale  pp.  139,  509  • 
Kawlinson  MS.  B.  488,  f.  41  b.]  C.  T.  M. 

FORESTER,  JAMES  (^.1611),  theo- 
logical and  medical  writer,  matriculated  in 
the  university  of  Cambridge  as  a  sizar  of  Clare 
Hall,  26  May  1576.  He  proceeded  B.A.  in 
1579-80,  M.A.  in  1583,  and  practised  physic 
(COOPER,  Athena  Cantabr.  iii.  58).  By  pro- 
curement of  Henry  Barrow,  the  puritan,  he 
wrote  out  part  of  the  book  entitled  <  A  brief 


Description  of  the  False  Church/  but  he  says 
that  he  found  fault  *  in  respect  off  the  sharpe 
maner  of  wrytyng  thereof,'  and  caused  it  to 
be  reformed,  but  he  alleged  that  he  never 
saw  the  book  in  print.  He  was  indicted  with 
Barrow,  Greenwood,  and  others,  on  21  March 
1592-3,  for  writing  and  publishing  books  to 
cry  down  the  church  of  England  and  the 
queen's  prerogative  in  ecclesiastical  matters. 
As  he  expressed  penitence,  however,  his  life 
was  spared. 

He  was  the  author  of  :  1.  'The  Pearle  of 
Practise,  or  Practisers  Pearle  for  Phisicke 
and  Chirurgerie  found  out  by  J[ohn]  H[ester] 
a  Spageriche  or  Distiller,  amongst  the  Learned 
Observations  and  Proved  Practises  of  many 
expert  Men  in  both  Faculties.  Published  and 
drawn  into  methode/  London,  1594,  4to. 
2.  '  The  Marrow  and  Juice  of  260  Scriptures/ 
London,  1611,  4to. 

[Ames's  Typogr.  Antiq.  (Herbert),  p.  1256; 
Egerton  Papers,  pp.  166,  178  ;  Strype's  Annals, 
iv.  93  ;  Watt's  Bibl.  Brit.]  T.  C. 

FORFAR,  EAELS  OF.  [See  DOUGLAS, 
ARCHIBALD.] 

FORGAILL,  D  ALLAN  (/.  600),  Irish 
saint.  [See  DALLAN.] 

FORMAL,  ANDREW  (d.  1522),  arch- 
bishop of  St.  Andrews,  is  said  to  have  been  one 
of  the  Formans  of  Hatton,  near  Berwick-on- 
Tweed  (Scotichron.  p.  242).  The  '  Lord  Trea- 
surer's Accounts  '  record  a  small  payment  to 
him  on  22  Oct.  1489  (Accounts  of  Lord  High 
Treasurer^.  123;  cf.  p.  128).  According  to 
Mr.  Dickson,  he  was  protonotary  by  Septem- 
ber 1491,  and  his  name  appears  in  that  ca- 
pacity several  times  in  the  treasury  accounts. 
In  May  1492  he  distributed  the  royal  alms 
in  St.  Giles's,  and  in  April  1498  won  money 


from  James  IV  at  cards  (ib.  pp.  187,  386  ; 

pp.  172,  187,  &c.)     When  P 
beck  landed  in  Scotland  (November  1495) 


the  protonotary  appears  to  have  been  told 
off  to  attend  him.  He  received  74/.  8s.  in 
connection  with  this  service  (21  Sept.  1496) 
at  the  time  of  the  futile  expedition  across  the 
Tweed.  He  probably  remained  with  War- 
beck  till  the  impostor  sailed  from  Ayr  for 
Ireland  in  July  1497  (ib.  pp.  299,  344-5,  Pref. 
pp.  cxxvii-clii'i).  Next  September  'Andrew 
Forman,  protonotary  apostolic  and  prior  of 
May/  was  despatched  with  the  Bishop  of 
Aberdeen  and  Sir  Patrick  Hume  to  make 
terms  with  Henry  VII.  A  truce  was  signed 
for  seven  years  at  Aytoun  in  Berwickshire 
(30  Sept.  1497).  He  was  employed  in  other 
embassies  in  1499  and  1501,  and  on  8  Oct. 
1501  was  empowered  to  treat  for  the  mar- 
riage of  James  IV  to  Henry  VII's  daughter 


Forman 


437 


Forman 


Margaret  (RYMER,  pp.  673,  721,  772,  778- 
780 ;  PAUL,  No.  2602). 

Forman  was  rewarded  by  permission  to 
hold  benefice  in  England  (24  May  1498),  and 
with  a  pension  of  a  thousand  merks  l  till  he 
"bepromovit  to  a  bishoprik  orabbasy '  (13 Oct.) 
(DiCKSON,  Pref.  p.  clviii) ;  and  by  the  grant 
of  the  wardship  of  the  Rutherford  heiress 
(12  Nov.  1502),  who  ultimately  married  his 
brother,  Sir  John  Forman  (Reg.  of  Great  Seal, 
Nos.  2677,  3612).  By  8  Oct.  1501  he  was 
postulate  of  Moray,  and  by  12  Nov.  1502  full 
bishop  of  this  see  (ib.  No.  2677 ;  KYMEE, 
p.  778).  In  1502  he  was  also  commendator 
of  Pittenweem  in  Fife  and  of  Cottinghame 
in  England  (Reg.  of  Great  Seal,  No.  2677). 
On  30  July  1509  Forman  was  appointed 
ambassador  to  Henry  VIII.  Early  in  1511 
(January?)  James  IV  commissioned  him  to 
bring  about  a  general  peace  among  Christian 
princes  with  a  view  to  a  great  crusade.  For 
the  next  few  years  he  was  occupied  in  this 
work.  The  pope,  Julius  II,  determined  to 
make  him  a  cardinal  (BEEWEE,  i.  1459, 1461, 
1643,  &c.)  Forman  succeeded  in  making  a 
truce  between  Julius  and  Louis  XII  (id.  ii. 
776),  but  not  in  securing  universal  peace. 
James  IV  made  an  alliance  with  Louis  for 
an  attack  on  England,  and  Louis  made  the 
ambassador  archbishop  of  Bourges,  for  which 
see,  after  a  contested  election,  he  did  homage 
on  12  Sept.  1513  (MICHEL,  i.  318-21 ;  Gallia 
Christiana,  ii.  93-4).  Henry,  suspecting  the 
king  of  France's  intentions,  refused  the  bishop 
a  safe-conduct  through  his  country  (12  Nov. 
1512);  but  Forman  was  abroad  by  April 
1513,  and  sent  news  of  Julius  II's  death  to 
Scotland.  In  these  days  he  was  reckoned 
omnipotent  with  James  (BEEWEE,  No.  3651). 
Leo  X,  who  succeeded  Julius  II  in  the  pa- 
pacy, had  promoted  the  Bishop  of  Moray 
to  St.  Andrews  (by  27  Jan.  1514),  then  va- 
cant by  the  death  of  Alexander  Stewart, 
James  IV's  son,  who  was  slain  at  Flodden 
(No.  4682,  LESLIE,  p.  95).  His  election  to 
this  see  was  contested  by  Gavin  Douglas 
[q.  v.]  and  John  Hepburn.  It  was  generally 
believed  that  Forman  was  supported  by  the 
new  regent,  the  Duke  of  Albany,  whom,  how- 
ever, the  bishop  did  not  accompany  to  Scot- 
land. In  March  1515  the  bishop  was  at 
Lyons,  and  about  3  June  he  left  Bruges  for 
Scotland.  Leo  had  already  appointed  the 
new  archbishop  his  legate  in  Scotland,  but 
promised  to  revoke  the  commission  on  hear- 
ing of  Henry  VIII's  disapproval  (2  March 
1515)  (BEEWEE,  ii.  Nos.  210,  291,  365,  576, 
593). 

The  archbishop  was  so  unpopular  in  Scot- 
land that  in  January  1515  it  was  reported 
that  the  lords  would  league  against  him,  and 


that  '  the  duke  will  be  the  werr  ressavit  if  he 
tak  his  part.'  His  great  offence  seems  to 
have  been  the  accumulation  of  ecclesiastical 
benefices  which  the  lords  thought  would  be 
better  in  the  hands  of  members  of  their  own 
family.  Besides  the  offices  already  noticed  he 
had  held  the  monasteries  of  Dryburgh,  Dun- 
fermline,  Kilwinning,  and  Arbroath,  and 
was  accused  of  aiming  at  the  see  of  Glasgow 
also  (ib.  ii.  Nos.  27,  50, 776 ;  LESLIE,  p.  101). 
He  appears,  however,  to  have  very  soon  re- 
signed everything,  except  St.  Andrews  and 
Dunfermline  (No.  776) ;  and  in  February 
1516  the  three  competitors  for  St.  Andrews 
consented  to  abide  by  Albany's  decision.  Al- 
bany gave  St.  Andrews  to  Forman,  and  pro- 
moted James  Hepburn  to  the  see  of  Moray 
(LESLIE,  p.  106).  In  May  1516  Albany  was 
still  urging  his  claims  to  the  cardinalate  (No. 
1869)  ;  and  it  appears  that,  notwithstanding 
Henry  VIII's  opposition,  he  was  '  legatus 
natus  cum  potestate  legati  a  latere'  (regni 
Scotise)  (  Great  Seal,  ii.  No.  389).  As  bishop 
of  Moray  he  had  procured  for  this  see  an 
exemption  from  the  authority  of  St.  Andrews, 
much  to  the  displeasure  of  James  IV  and  his 
son.  As  archbishop  of  St.  Andrews  he  sought 
to  limit,  though  he  could  not  at  once  annul, 
the  exemption  and  authority  of  Glasgow  (Ro- 
BEETSON,  pp.  ccxxvi-ccxxyiii).  As  primate 
of  Scotland  he  issued  an  important  series  of 
constitutions  in  1515-16,  which  are  printed 
in  the  '  Scotise  Concilia '  (pp.  cclxx,  &c.)  He 
died  in  1522,  and  was  buried  at  Dunferm- 
line (Scotichron.  p.  245). 

Forman  is  praised  for  his  generosity,  his 
politicalcapacity,  and  his  scholarship.  Dem- 
ster  makes  Forman  the  author  of  three  works : 
1.  '  Contra  Lutherum.'  2.  '  De  Stoica  Phi- 
losophia.'  3.  '  Collectanea  Decretalium  ' 
(ib.  p.  243).  Robertson,  in  the  notes  to 
his  '  Scotise  Concilia,'  prints  some  interest- 
ing documents  showing  the  debts  Forman 
incurred  in  his  candidature  for  the  cardinal- 
ate,  and  how  the  bishop  laid  his  ill-success 
to  the  charge  of  Henry  VIII,  who  would 
not  suffer  him  to  pass  through  England  (i. 
p.  cxxvi). 

[Accounts  of  the  Lord  High  Treasurer  of  Scot- 
land, ed.  T.  Dickson ;  Reg.  of  the  Great  Seal  of 
Scotland,  ed.  J.  B.  Paul,  vols.  i.  and  ii.;  Cal.  of 
Doc.  Henry  VIII,  vols.  i.  and  ii.,  ed.  Brewer ; 
Rymer's  Fcedera,  vol.  xii.,  ed.  1 792  ;  Michel,  Les 
Ecossaisen  France,  vol.  i.,  ed.  1862;  Exchequer 
Rolls  of  Scotland,  ed.  Burnet ;  Burton's  The 
Scot  Abroad,  i.  138-40;  Registrum  Moraviense 
(Maitland  Soc.);  Concilia  Scotiae,  ed.  Jos.  Ro- 
bertson; Gordon's  Scotichronicon,  ed.  1867; 
Keith's  List  of  Scotch  Bishops,  ed.  1824  ;  Leslie's 
Hist,  of  Scotland  (sixteenth  cent,  translation).] 

T.  A.  A. 


Forman 


438 


Forman 


FORMAN,  SIMON  (1552-1611),  astro- 
loger and  quack-doctor,  was  fifth  son  of  the 
eight  children  of  William  Forman  and  his 
wife  Mary,  daughter  of  John  Foster,  by 
Marianna  Hallam.  Simon's  grandfather, 
Richard  Forman,  was  governor  of  Wilton 
Abbey  before  the  suppression  of  the  monas- 
teries, and  when  the  abbey  was  made  over 
to  William  Herbert,  earl  of  Pembroke,  held 
some  office  about  the  park.  Dying  in  1556 
Richard  was  buried  at  Foulson,  Devonshire. 
Simon's  father,  William,  born  at  Quidhamp- 
ton,  Wiltshire,  in  1524,  served  as  page  to 
Lady  Willoughby;  married  in  1544  Mary 
Foster,  who  came  from  the  neighbourhood 
of  Andover ;  was  deprived  of  property  which 
he  should  have  inherited  from  his  father,  and 
died  1  Jan.  1564,  being  buried  at  Foulson. 
Simon's  mother  lived  to  the  age  of  ninety- 
seven,  dying  in  1602,  and  being  buried  with 
her  husband.  She  was  vigorous  to  the  last, 
walking  two  miles  within  a  fortnight  of  her 
death.  Simon,  who  paid  much  attention  to 
the  genealogy  of  his  family,  claimed  descent 
from  some  apocryphal  Richard  Forman,  earl 
of  Devonshire  in  the  time  of  William  I,  who 
is  said  to  have  built  the  church  of  St.  James 
at  Exeter.  A  Sir  George  Forman  was  created 
K.B.  in  1485,  and  Sir  William  Forman,  haber- 
dasher, was  lord  mayor  of  London  in  1538-9. 
With  both  of  these  Simon  declared  that  he 
was  connected. 

Simon  was  born  at  Quidhampton,  30  Dec. 
1552.  Lilly's  statement  that  he  was  son  of 
a  chandler,  and  was  born  in  Westminster, 
is  untrue.  He  suffered  as  a  child  from  bad 
dreams,  presaging  '  the  troubles  of  his  riper 
years.'  A  clergyman  of  Salisbury,  named 
Riddout,  who  had  formerly  been  a  cobbler, 
and  who  removed  to  Quidhampton,  when 
the  plague  raged  in  Salisbury,  first  taught 
Simon  his  accidence.  Afterwards  he  went 
for  two  years  to  a  free  school  in  the  Close 
at  Salisbury,  under  a  master  named  Boole  or 
Bowie, '  a  severe  and  furious  man,'  and  was 
thence  removed  to  the  care  of  one  Min- 
terne,  prebendary  of  the  cathedral,  a  person 
of  unpleasantly  frugal  habits.  The  death  of 
Simon's  father  in  January  1563-4  left  him 
destitute.  His  mother  neglected  him,  and 
made  him  do  menial  work.  On  8  Feb.  1567 
he  apprenticed  himself  to  Matthew  Comin, 
a  general  dealer,  of  Salisbury.  His  master 
treated  him  kindly,  but  his  mistress  had  a 
violent  temper,  and  he  left  after  a  serious 
quarrel  with  her  (29  June  1572).  He  had 
Kept  up  his  studies  by  getting  a  schoolboy 
who  lodged  with  his  master  to  teach  him  at 
night  all  he  learnedby  day.  He  went  through 
the  Isle  of  Wight  on  his  way  home  to  Quid- 
hampton. His  mother  still  declined  to  main- 


tain him ;  he  became  a  schoolmaster  near 
his  native  place,  and  received  40s.  for  half  a 
year's  work.  On  20  May  1573  Simon  made 
his  way  to  Oxford  with  a  friend,  Thomas 
Ridear.  He  entered  Magdalen  College  as  a 
poor  scholar,  and  studied  at  the  school  at- 
tached to  the  college.  John  Thornborough, 
a  demy  of  the  college  (afterwards  bishop  of 
Limerick),  and  his  friend  Robert  Pinkney 
of  St.  Mary's  Hall,  two  pleasure-loving  young 
gentlemen,  took  him  into  their  service.  He 
had  to  attend  them  on  hunting  expeditions 
to  Shotover,  and  to  walk  to  Cowley  almost 
every  day  to  assist  them  in  the  courtship  of 
a  young  lady  for  whose  hand  they  were  both 
suitors.  Forman  left  Oxford  12  Sept.  1574, 
and  until  midsummer  1578  found  employ- 
ment as  an  usher  in  several  small  schools  at 
Wilton,  Ashmore,  and  Salisbury.  Early  in 
1579  he  was  lodging  in  the  parsonage  of 
Fisherton,  and  it  was  about  that  date  that 
he  discovered  what  he  claimed  to  be  his  mi- 
raculous powers.  'I  did  prophesy,'  he  re- 
cords in  his  diary,  'the  truth  of  many  things 
which  afterwards  came  to  pass,  and  the  very 
spirits  were  subject  to  me.'  In  June  he  was 
robbed  of  his  goods  and  books,  and,  on  the 
information  of  one  William  Estcourt,  was 
sent  to  gaol  for  sixty  weeks,  apparently  on 
the  ground  of  practising  magic.  This  proved 
the  first  of  a  long  series  of  similar  experi- 
ences. He  was  set  free  14  July  1580,  begged 
his  way  to  London,  and  obtained  work  as 
a  carpenter  at  Greenwich.  On  14  Aug.  he 
first  practised  his  healing  arts,  which  cured 
one  Henry  Jonson  of  London  of  a  pulmonary 
complaint.  In  September  he  accompanied 
his  patient  to  Holland ;  stayed  for  a  fort- 
night at  the  Hague,  and  largely  increased 
his  knowledge  of  astrology  and  medicine. 
He  was  home  again  in  October,  and  went  to 
Quidhampton  for  a  year,  'curing  sick  and 
lame  folk,'  but  the  justices  at  the  Lent  assizes 
bound  him  over  to  abstain  from  his  quackery, 
and  he  had  often  to '  thresh  and  dig  and  hedge ' 
for  his  living.  In  the  autumn  of  1581  he 
hired  a  house  at  Salisbury,  and  renewed  his 
practice  of  physic  and  surgery.  In  August 
1582  he  went  to  sea,  and  landed  in  Studland. 
On  his  return  he  travelled  much,  but  finally 
set  up  in  the  next  year  (1583)  in  London  as 
a  doctor  and  astrologer.  There  he  remained 
till  the  end  of  his  life.  He  lived  at  different 
times  in  New  Street,  St.  Thomas's  Church- 
yard, Philpot  Street,  and  elsewhere.  The  au- 
thorities invariably  condemned  his  methods 
of  gaining  a  livelihood,  and  he  repeatedly 
suffered  imprisonment,  but  gradually  he  ac- 
quired a  lucrative  practice,  although  for  the 
most  part  a  disreputable  one.  The  Bishop 
of  London  summoned  him  in  1583  j  he  was 


Forman 


439 


Forman 


imprisoned  for  nearly  the  whole  of  July  1584, 
and  in  the  summer  of  1585  he  was  robbed, 
assaulted,  and  sent  to  prison.  The  assault 
was  perhaps  due  to  his  personal  immoralities, 
of  which  he  left  an  elaborate  record  in  his 
diaries.  Women  figured  largely  among  his 
patients,  and  his  treatment  of  them  was  very 
unprofessional.  In  1588  he  began  to  publicly 
practise  necromancy,  and  to '  call  angels  and 
spirits.'  In  1589  he  was  impressed  for  the 
Portugal  voyage,  but  he  seems  to  have  been 
released  from  service  within  a  month.  On 
26  July  1590  he  was  threatened  with  pro- 
cess in  the  Star-chamber.  His  fortunes  suf- 
fered eclipse,  and  he  was  near  starvation. 
With  a  view  to  improving  his  position  he 
began  writing  a  treatise  on  mathematics  and 
medicine.  In  1592  the  tide  turned  in  his  fa- 
vour. He  worked  assiduously  and  with  great 
success  among  the  poor  in  plague-stricken 
districts  of  London,  where  few  doctors  ven- 
tured. He  himself  caught  the  infection.  The 
College  of  Physicians  summoned  him  in  May 
1593  for  practising  without  a  license.  He 
confessed  that  he  had  practised  in  England 
for  sixteen  years,  but  in  London  for  two  only ; 
claimed  to"  have  effected  many  cures :  ac- 
knowledged that  the  only  medical  authors 
he  studied  were  '  Cockes  and  Wainefleet ' 
(the  first  is  probably  a  reference  to  Francis 
Coxe  [q.  v.]),  and  boasted  that  he  used  no 
other  help  to  know  diseases  than  the '  Ephe- 
merides.'  He  declared  that  celestial  signs 
and  aspects  gave  him  all  the  information 
about  diseases  that  he  required.  The  phy- 
sicians reported  that  he  was  laughably  igno- 
rant of  medicine  and  astronomy.  He  was 
interdicted  from  the  practice  of  medicine,  and 
was  fined  5/.,  which  he  promised  to  pay. 

Forman  had  no  intention  of  relinquishing 
his  work.  In  1594  he  began  experiments 
with  the  philosopher's  stone  and  wrote  a  book 
on  magic.  Persons  moving  in  high  society, 
especially  ladies,  began  to  employ  him.  In 
1595  he  went  aboard  '  my  Earl  of  Cumber- 
land's ship '  to  attend  Lady  Hawkins,  and  in 
September  1601  he  wrote  that  he  had  made 
the  acquaintance  of  Lord  Hertford.  To  his 
poor  patients  he  always  remained  accessible. 
But  the  physicians  still  refused  to  tolerate 
him.  On  7  Nov.  1595  he  was  re-examined  by 
them  and  was  sent  to  prison  and  fined  10/.  On 
22  Dec.  the  lord  keeper  Egerton  ordered  his 
release  and  demanded  from  the  physicians  an 
explanation  of  their  conduct.  In  Septem- 
ber 1596  he  was  charged  by  the  college  with 
administering  a  water  of  his  own  manufac- 
ture, in  the  success  of  which  he  thoroughly 
believed,  to  a  patient  who  died  after  drink- 
ing it.  The  physicians  again  sent  him  to 
prison,  but  he  was  set  free  in  November. 


In  September  1597  he  was  charged  before 
the  lord  mayor  with  assaulting  a  woman,  and 
was  in  the  Counter  for  a  fortnight.  In  1597 
he  took  a  house  at  Lambeth  so  as  to  be  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury and  free  from  the  attacks  of  the  physi- 
cians. But  he  seems  to  have  suffered  again 
at  their  hands  in  1598,  and  on  25  June  1601 
the  College  of  Physicians  petitioned  Arch- 
bishop Whitgift  to  allow  them  to  proceed 
against  him  once  more. 

Forman  had  now  acquired  many  power- 
ful friends.  On  26  June  1603  the  university 
of  Cambridge  gave  him  a  license  to  practise 
medicine  (Ashmole  MS.  1301,  now  1763, 
f.  44),  and  on  27  June  he  proceeded  M.D. 
from  Jesus  College.  On  30  March  1607  a 
number  of  patients  complained  to  the  College 
of  Physicians  of  Forman's  prophetic  methods 
of  cure,  and  of  the  high  charges  which  he 
demanded  for  his  drugs.  But  until  the  end 
of  his  life  Forman's  connection  among  ladies 
of  the  court  increased.  At  the  trial  of  those 
charged  with  the  murder  of  Sir  Thomas 
Overbury  in  1615,  four  years  after  Forman's 
death,  it  was  shown  that  one  of  the  defen- 
dants, Mrs.  Turner,  had  constantly  consulted 
Forman  in  order  not  only  to  forward  an  in- 
trigue of  her  own  with  Sir  Arthur  Main- 
waring,  but  also  to  assist  her  friend  the  Coun- 
tess of  Essex,  who  was  seeking  a  divorce  from 
the  Earl  of  Essex  (D'EwEs,  Autob.  i.  87).  A 
very  familiar  letter  was  produced  in  court, 
written  by  the  countess  to  Forman,  in  which 
she  asked  him  to  alienate  by  his  magical 
philtres  the  love  of  her  husband  Essex,  and 
to  draw  towards  her  the  love  of  the  Earl  of 
Somerset.  Indecent  images  in  wax  of  the 
persons  concerned  in  these  scandals  were 
brought  into  court  by  Forman's  widow.  A 
book  in  his  handwriting  was  also  produced 
containing  the  names  of  his  female  clients  and 
accounts  of  their  intrigues  with  gentlemen 
about  the  court  of  which  they  had  given  the 
doctor  secret  knowledge.  It  is  stated  that 
Lord-chief-justice  Coke  was  about  to  read  out 
these  notes  when  his  attention  was  attracted 
to  the  name  of  his  own  wife  (State  Trials,  ii. 
931-2 :  WELDO^,  Court  of  James  J,  ed.  Sir 
W.  Scott,  i.  418;  cf.  Ashmole  MS.  411,  f.  179). 
Forman  was  likewise  reported  to  be  especially 
skilful  in  tracking  thieves  and  stolen  treasure 


poem  entitled  'Overbury's 
Vision'  (1616),  Overbury  is  made  to  say  that 
he  often  crossed  the  river  to  Lambeth,  where 

Forman  was,  that  fiend  in  human  shape, 
That  by  his  art  did  act  the  devil's  ape. 

Forman  died  12  Sept.  1611,  and  was  buried 


Forman 


440 


Forman 


the  same  day  in  the  church  of  St.  Mary, 
Lambeth.  His  friend  Lilly  reports  that  on 
the  previous  Sunday  Forman's  wife  had  asked 
him  whether  he  or  she  should  die  first.  He 
answered  that  she  would  bury  him  on  the 
following  Thursday.  On  the  Monday,  Tues- 
day, and  Wednesday  Forman  was  in  his  usual 
health,  and  his  wife  twitted  him  with  the 
falseness  of  his  prophecy.  But  on  Thursday 
after  dinner  he  took  a  boat  at  Southwark  to 
cross  the  Thames  to  Puddle  Dock,  and  hav- 
ing rowed  into  mid  stream  fell  down  dead. 
A  storm  arose  immediately  after  his  death. 
With  this  curious  story  may  be  compared  the 
account  of  the  death  of  Sir  John  Davies  [q.  v.  ] , 
which  his  wife  Eleanor  foretold. 

Forman  seems  to  have   married  twice. 
Weldon  describes  one  of  his  wives  as '  a  very 

Sretty  wench '  who  was  noted  for  her  infi- 
elity.  At  Lambeth  on  29  July  1599,  when 
he  was  forty-seven,  he  married  his  first  wife, 
Anne  Baker,  a  niece  on  her  mother's  side  of  Sir 
Edward  Moninges,  and  a  member  of  a  Canter- 
bury family.  This  lady  was  only  seventeen  at 
the  date  of  the  marriage,  and  the  union  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  a  happy  one.  The  name 
of  Forman's  second  wife,  who  survived  him, 
was  Jane,  and  she  had  a  sister,  Susan  Browne 
of  London.  She  was  her  husband's  executrix, 
and  a  letter  from  her  to  a  friend  referring  to 
her  troubles  since  her  husband's  death,  and 
dated  from  Lambeth  Marsh  26  Feb.  1611- 
1612,  is  in  Ashmole  MS.  240,  f.  107.  By  his 
first  wife  Forman  had  a  son  Clement.  He 
left  1,200/.  in  money  and  a  large  illegitimate 
family. 

The  sole  work  which  Forman  is  known  to 
have  printed  in  his  lifetime  is  '  The  Grounds 
of  the  Longitude,  with  an  admonition  to  all 
those  that  are  incredulous  and  believe  not 
the  trueth  of  the  same.  Written  by  Simon 
Forman,  student  in  astronomie  and  philo- 
sophy,' London,  1591,  by  Thomas  Dawson. 
No  copy  is  in  the  British  Museum.  One  is 
in  the  Ashmolean  collection  at  the  Bodleian. 
Forman  left  a  mass  of  manuscripts  to  Richard 
Napier,  '  who  had  formerly  been  his  scholar.' 
Napier  bequeathed  them  to  Sir  Richard  Na- 
pier his  nephew,  whose  son  Thomas  gave 
them  to  Elias  Ashmole  [q.  v.]  They  are  now 
among  the  Ashmolean  MSS.  at  the  Bodleian. 
The  manuscripts,  which  Wood  remarks  For- 
man did  not  live  to  methodise,  include  much 
autobiographical  material.  One  of  the  most 
interesting  features  is  a  folio  manuscript 
pamphlet  entitled  'The  Bocke  of  Plaies 
and  notes  thereof  per  Formans  for  common 
pollicie.'  The  earliest  extant  accounts  are  here 
supplied  of  the  performances  of  Shakespeare's 
•  Macbeth'  (at  the  Globe  Theatre  on  Saturday, 
20  April  1610),  of  the '  Winter's  Tale '  (at  the 


Globe  on  Wednesday,  15  May  1611),  and  of 
*  Cymbeline.'  A  representation  of  a  play, 
acted  30  April  1611,  by  another  dramatist 
on  the  subject  of  Richard  II  is  also  described. 
The  passages  relating  to  Shakespeare  were 
first  printed  in  J.  P.  Collier's  *  New  Particu- 
lars,' 1836,  pp.  6-26 ;  facsimiles  are  given  in 
Mr.  J.  0.  Halliwell-Phillipps's'  Folio  Shake- 
speare '  (1853-65).  A  diary  from  1564  to 
1602,  with  an  account  of  Forman's  early  life 
(from  Ashmole  MS.  208),  was  printed  by 
Mr.  J.  0.  Halliwell-Phillipps  in  1843  for  the 
Camden  Society,  but  the  astrologer's  frank 
confessions  of  his  immoral  habits  led  the 
committee  to  cancel  the  publication  after  a, 
few  sheets  had  passed  through  the  press. 
Sixteen  copies  were  alone  struck  off.  Mr. 
Halliwell-Phillipps  added  to  this  collection 
some  genealogical  notes  by  Forman,  and 
issued  it  privately  in  an  edition  of  105  copies 
in  1849.  The  transcript  is  not  always  in- 
telligible, but  the  difficulty  of  transcribing 
Forman's  crabbed  handwriting  is  very  great. 
A  diary  for  1607  (Ashmole  MS.  802,  f.  152) 
was  examined  by  Mr.  Halliwell-Phillipps  and 
deemed  unfit  for  publication.  Bliss  has  printed 
in  his  notes  to  Wood's  '  Athenss  Oxon.'  ii. 
101-2,  an  ( Argumente  between  Forman  and 
Deathe  in  his  Sicknes  1585,  Sept.  the  4th/ 
in  verse  from  Ashmole  MS.  208,  f.  13  b.  Six 
books  of  medical  practice,  dated  between 
March  1596  and  December  1600,  give  the 
names  of  Form  an's  patients  and  their  diseases. 
Chemical  and  medical  collections,  astrological 
papers,  alchemical  notes,  verses  on  miscella- 
neous topics,  and  Forman's  letters  to  Napier, 
fill  a  large  number  of  the  remaining  manu- 
script volumes.  There  are  also  separate  trea- 
tises on  the  plague,  on  the  art  of  geomancy, 
on  prayer,  on  the  astrological  judgments  of 
diseases,  on  the  creation  of  the  world,  the  re- 
storation of  the  Jews,  and  the  life  of  Merlin, 
besides  a  poem  on  antichrist,  prayers  in  Latin 
and  English  verse,  and  the  astrologer's  ac- 
counts of  his  dreams.  In  the  printed  diary 
Forman  mentions  that  in  1600  he  wrote  out 
the  two  books  of  '  De  Arte  Memoratus  '  by 
Appolonius  Niger,  and  copied  also  the  four 
books  of  Stegonnographia  and  divers  other 
books  (p.  30).  There  are,  moreover,  manu- 
script verses  on  his  troubles  with  the  doctors 
in  the  Plymouth  Library,  and  these  were 
printed  by  Mr.  J.  O.  Halliwell-Phillipps  in 
his  privately  printed  account  of  that  library 
in  1853.  Sir  S.  E.  Brydges  printed  in  '  Cen- 
suria  Literaria,'  iy.  410,  a  short  account  by 
Forman  'of  Lucifer's  creation  and  of  the 
world's  creation,'  from  a  manuscript  in  St. 
John's  College,  Oxford. 

Forman  states  that  his  portrait  was  painted 
in  1600,  when  he  was  arrayed  in  elaborate 


Forman 


441 


Forman 


raiment.  In  the  'Antiquarian  Repertory' 
(1780),  i.  275,  is  an  engraved  portrait '  from 
the  original  drawing  in  the  collection  of  the 
Right  Hon.  Lord  Mountstuart/  now  the  pro- 
perty of  the  Marquis  of  Bute. 

[Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  ed.  Bliss,  ii.  98; 
William  Lilly's  History  of  his  Life  and  Times 
(1715),  pp.  12-16  (Lilly  obtained  his  informa- 
tion from  Forman's  widow)  ;  the  publications  of 
Forman's  manuscripts  described  above,  edited  by 
Mr.  J.  0.  Halliwell-Phillipps ;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm. 
8th  Eep.  226-8  (archives  of  the  College  of  Phy- 
sicians); Black's  Catalogue  of  the  Ashmolean 


MSS.;  Weldon's  Court  of  King  James,  ed.  Scott, 
1812,  i.  417-18 ;  D'Ewes's  Autobiography,  i.  87- 
89 ;  Halliwell-Phillipps's  Outlines  of  the  Life 
of  Shakespeare,  ed.  1887,  i.  230-1,  ii.  85-7,  258- 
259 ;  Lysons's  Environs,  i.  303  ;  Halliwell's  Ar- 
chseologist,  p.  34  ;  Loseley  MSS.  ed.  Kempe,  p. 
387  ;  Strype's  Whitgift,  ii.  457.  A  manuscript 
completed  in  1615  and  dealing  with  astrology 
and  medicine,  said  to  be  the  work  of  a  pupil  of 
Forman's,  perhaps  Eichard  Napier,  was  sold  at 
Sotheby's  21  May  1857,  and  is  said  to  throw 
light  on  Forman's  life ;  cf.  Notes  and  Queries, 
6th  ser.  ix.  230-1.]  S.  L.  L. 


INDEX 


TO 


THE    NINETEENTH    VOLUME, 


Finch,  Anne.  See  Conway,  Anne,  Viscountess 

(d.  1679). 

Finch,  Anne,  Countess  of  Winchilsea  (d.  1720 )  1 
Finch,  Daniel,  second  Earl  of  Nottingham  and 

sixth  Earl  of  Winchilsea  (1647-1730)  1 

Finch,  Edward  (fl.  1630-1641)  5 

Finch,  Edward  (1664-1738)     .  5 

Finch,  Edward  (1756-1843)     .  5 

Finch,  Francis  Oliver  (1802-1862)  6 

Finch,  Sir  Heneage  (d.  1631)  .  7 
Finch,    Heneage,  first  Earl  of  Nottingham 

(1621-1682) 8 

Finch,  Heneage,  second  Earl  of  Winchilsea 

(d.  1689) 11 

Finch,  Heneage,  first  Earl  of  Aylesford  ( 1647  ?- 

1719) 12 

Finch,  Sir  Henry  (d.  1625)  ....  12 

Finch,  Henry  (1633-1704)   .   .       .  13 
Finch,  Sir  John,  Baron  Finch  of  Fordwich 

(1584-1660) 14 

Finch,  Sir  John  (1626-1682)   ....  18 
Finch,  Peter  (1661-1754).    See  under  Finch, 

Henry. 

Finch,  Robert  (1783-1830)  ....  18 
Finch,  Robert  Poole  (1724-1803)  ...  19 
Finch,  Sir  Thomas  (d.  1563)  ....  19 
Finch,  William  (d.  1613)  ....  20 
Finch,  William  (1747-1810)  ....  20 
Finch-Hatton,  Edward  (d.  1771)  ...  20 
Finch-Hatton,  George  William,  Earl  of  Win- 
chilsea and  Nottingham  (1791-1858)  .  .  20 
Finden,  Edward  Francis  (1791-1857)  .  .  21 
Finden,  William  (1787-1852)  .  ...  21 
Findlater,  Andrew  (1810-1885)  ...  22 
Findlater,  Charles  (1754-1838)  .  .22 
Findlater  and  Seafield,  fourth  Earl  of.  See 

Ogilvy,  James  (1664-1730). 

Findlay,  Alexander  George  (1812-1875)         .  23 

Findlay,  Robert,  D.D.  (1721-1814).        .        .  24 

Finet  or  Finett,  Sir  John  (1571-1641)    .        .  24 
Fineux,  Sir  John  (d.  1525).    See  Fyneux. 
Fingall,  second  Earl  of.    See  Plunket,  Chris- 
topher (d.  1649). 

Finger,  Godfrey  or  Gottfried  (fl.  1685-1717) .  25 

Finglas,  Patrick  (  ft.  1535)       ....  27 

Finglow,  John  (d,  1586) 27 

Finingham,  Robert  de  (d.  1460)      ...  27 


PAGE 

.  27 
.  29 
.  30 
.31 
.  32 
.  32 
.  32 
.  32 
.  33 
.  34 
.  35 
.37 
.38 
39 


Finlaison,  John  (1783-1860)  ... 
Finlay,  Francis  Dalzell  (1793-1857)  . 
Finlay,  George  (1799-1875)  ... 
Finlay,  John  (1782-1810)  .  .  . 
Finlay,  Kirkman  (d.  1828)  ... 
Finlay,  Kirkman  (1773-1842)  .. 
Finlay  son,  George  (1790-1823)  .. 
Finlayson,  James,  D.D.  (1758-1808)  . 
Finlayson  or  Finleyson,  John  (1770-1854) 
Finlayson,  Thomas  (1809-1872)  .. 
Finn  Barr,  Saint  and  Bishop  (d.  623)  . 
Finnchu,  Saint  (fl.  7th  cent.)  .  .  . 
Finnerty,  Peter  (1766  P-1822)  .  .  . 
Finney,  Samuel  (1719-1798)  .  .  . 
Finnian,  Saint  (d.  550)  .....  39 
Fintan,  Saint  (d.  595)  .....  41 
Fintan  or  Munnu,  Saint  (d.  634)  ...  42 
Firbank,  Joseph  (1819-1886)  .  .  .  .48 
Firebrace,  Henry  (1619-1691).  ...  44 
Firmin,  Giles  (1614-1697)  ....  45 
Firrnin,  Giles  (1665-1694).  See  under  Fir- 

min, Thomas. 

Firmin,  Thomas  (1632-1697)  .  ...  46 
Firth,  Mark  (1819-1880)  .....  49 
Fischer,  Johann  Christian  (1733-1800)  .  .  50 
Fischer,  John  George  Paul  (1786-1875).  .  51 
Fish,  Simon  (d.  1531)  .....  51 
Fish,  William  (1775-1866)  .  .  .  .52 
Fishacre,  Fissakre,  Fishakle,  or  Fizacre, 

Richard  de  (d.  1248)  .....  53 
Fisher,  Catherine  Maria  (d.  1767)  .  .  .  53 
Fisher,  Daniel  (1731-1807)  ....  54 
Fisher,  David,  the  elder  (1788  P-1858)  .  .  54 
Fisher,  David,  the  younger  (1816  ?-1887)  .  54 
Fisher,  Edward  (fl.  1581).  See  under  Fisher, 

otherwise  Hawkins,  Thomas. 
Fisher,  Edward  (fl.  1627-1655)  .    55 

Fisher,  Edward  (1730-1785?)  .    56 

Fisher,  George  (1794-1873)  .    56 

Fisher,  James  (1697-1775)  .    57 

Fisher,  Jasper  (fl.  1639)  .  .    58 

Fisher,  John  (1459  P-1535)  .    58 

Fisher,  John  (1569-1641)  .    63 

Fisher,  John,  D.D.  (1748-1825)  .    64 

Fishe.r,  John  Abraham  (1744-1806)  .    66 

Fisher,  Sir  John  William  (1788-1876)  .    67 

Fisher,  Jonathan  (d.  1812)      .  .67 


444 


Index  to  Volume  XIX. 


Fisher,  Joseph  (d.  1705) 67 

Fisher,  Mary  (/.  1652-1697) 

Fisher,  Payne  (1616-1693) 

Fisher,  Samuel  (1605-1665) 

Fisher,  Samuel  (fi.  1692) 

Fisher,  otherwise  Hawkins,  Thomas  (d.  577) 

Fisher,  Thomas  (1781  P-1836). 

Fisher,  William  (1780-1852) 


Fisher,  William  Webster,  M.D.  (1798  ?- 


874) 


Fisk,  William  (  1796-1872) 

Fisk,  William  Henry  (1827-1884) 

Fisken,  William  (d.  1883)       . 

Fitch,  Ralph  (fi.  1583-1606)   . 

Fitch,  Thomas  (d.  1517).    See  Fich. 

Fitch,  William  (1563-1611).    See  Canfield, 

Benedict. 

Fitch,  William  Stevenson  (1793-1859)  . 
Fitchett,  John  (1776-1838)      .... 
Fittler,  James  (1758-1835)      .... 
Fitton,  Sir  Alexander  (d.  1698) 
Fitton,  Sir  Edward,  the  elder  (1527-1579) 
Fitton,  Sir  Edward,  the  younger  (1548P-1606). 

See  under  Fitton,  SirEdward,  the  elder. 
Fitton,  Mary  (fi.  1600)  .....  82 
Fitton,  Michael  (1766-1852)  .  .  .  .83 
Fitton,  William  Henry,  M.D.  (1780-1861)  .  84 
Fitzailwin,  Henry  (d.  1212)  ....  85 
Fitzalan,  Bertram  (d.  1424)  .  .  .  .86 
Fitzalan,  Brian,  Lord  of  Bedale  (d.  1306)  .  86 
Fitzalan,  Edmund,  Earl  of  Arundel  (1285- 

1326)    ........    87 

Fitzalan,  Henry,  twelfth   Earl    of  Arundel 

(1511P-1580)        ......    88 

Fitzalan,  John  II,  Lord  of  Oswestry,  Clun, 

and  Arundel  (1223-1267)  ....  93 
Fitzalan,  John  VI,  Earl  of  Arundel  (1408-1435)  94 
Fitzalan,  Richard  I,  Earl  of  Arundel  (1267- 

1302)     ........    95 

Fitzalan,  Richard  II,   Earl  of  Arundel  and 

Warenne  (1307P-1376)  ....  96 
Fitzalan,  Richard  III,  Earl  of  Arundel  and 

Surrey  (1346-1397)  .....  98 
Fitzalan,  alias  Arundel,  Thomas  (1353-1414), 

archbishop  of  Canterbury.    See  Arundel. 
Fitzalan,    Thomas,    Earl    of    Arundel    and 

Surrey  (1381-1415)       ...  .100 

Fitzalan,  William  (d.  1160)     .        .        .        .103 
Fitzaldhelm,  William  (fi.  1157-1198)     .        .  103 
Fitzalwyn,  Henry.     See  Fitzailwin. 
Fitzcharles,  Charles,  Earl  of  Plymouth  (1657  ?- 

1680)  .  .  .  .  .  *  .  *  .  .106 
Fitzclarence,  Lord  Adolphus  (1802-1856)  .  106 
Fitzclarence,  George  Augustus  Frederick  first 

Earl  of  Munster  (1794-1842)        .  .106 

Fitzcount,  Brian  (fi.  1125-1142)     .  .  108 

Fitzgeffrey,  Charles  (1575  P-1638)  .  .  109 

Fitzgeffrey,  Henry  (fi.  1617)  .  .109 

Fitzgerald,   David  (d.  1176),  bishop  of  St. 

David's.    See  David  the  Second. 
Fitzgerald,  Lord  Edward  (1763-1798) 
Fitzgerald,  Edward  (1770?-1807)  . 
Fitzgerald,  Edward  (1809-1883)     .  . 

Fitzgerald,  Lady  Elizabeth,  called  the  Fair 

Geraldine  (1528  ?-l  589)  .  .  .  .113 
Fitzgerald,  George,  sixteenth  Earl  of  Kildare 

(1611-1660)  .......  114 

Fitzgerald,  George  Robert  (1748  P-1786)  .  114 
Fitzgerald,  Gerald,  Lord  of  Offaly  (d.  1204)  .  115 
Fitzgerald,  Gerald,  fourth  Earl  of  Desmond 

(d.  1398)       .......  116 

Fitzgerald,  Gerald,   eighth  Earl  of  Kildare 

.......  117 


110 
Ill 
111 


Fitzgerald,    Gerald,    ninth  Earl  of   Kildare 

(1487-1534) 118 

Fitzgerald,  Gerald,  fifteenth  Earl  of  Desmond 

(d.  1583) 120 

Fitzgerald,  Gerald,  eleventh  Earl  of  Kildare 

(1525-1585) m 

Fitzgerald,     Gerald     Fitzmaurice      (1265?- 

1287  ?).    See  under  Fitzgerald,  Maurice  II. 
Fitzgerald,    Henry    Vesey    (d.    1860)      See 

under  Fitzgerald,  James  (1742-1835). 
Fitzgerald,  James  Fitzjohn,  fourteenth  Earl 

of  Desmond  (d.  1558) 12& 

Fitzgerald,    James    Fitzmaurice,     thirteenth 

Earl  of  Desmond  (d.  1540)  .  .  .  .125 
Fitzgerald,  James  Fitzmaurice  (d.  1579)  .  125 
Fitzgerald,  James,  commonly  called  the  Tower 

Earl,    or    the    Queen's   Earl    of   Desmond 

(1570P-1601) 127 

Fitzgerald,  James  Fitzthomas,  the  Sugan  Earl 

of  Desmond  (d.  1608)  .  .  .  .  .  129 
Fitzgerald,  James,  first  Duke  of  Leinster 

(1722-1773) 129 

Fitzgerald,  James  (1742-1835)  .  .  .130 
Fitzgerald,  Sir  John,  of  Desmond  (d.  1581). 

See  under  Fitzgerald,  Gerald,  fifteenth  Earl 

of  Desmond. 
Fitzgerald,  John,  first  Earl  of  Kildare.     See 

Fitzthomas,  John  (d.  1316). 

Fitzgerald,  John  Fitzedmund  (d.  1589)  .  .  131 
Fitzgerald,  Sir  John  Fitzedmund  (1528-1612)  132 
Fitzgerald,  Sir  John  Forster  (1784  P-1877)  .  13$ 
Fitzgerald,  Katherine,  the  « old '  Countess  of 

Desmond  (d.  1604) 134 

Fitzgerald,  Maurice  (d.  1176)  .  .  .  .  135 
Fitzgerald,  Maurice  (d.  1268).  See  under 

Fitzgerald,  Maurice  II,  Baron  of  Offaly. 
Fitzgerald,    Maurice    II,   Baron    of    Offaly 

(1194P-1257) 136. 

Fitzgerald,    Maurice    Fitzmaurice     (1238?- 

1277?) 139 

Fitzgerald,  Maurice,   first  Earl  of  Desmond. 

See  Fitzthomas,  Maurice  (d.  1356). 
Fitzgerald,  Maurice,  fourth  Earl  of  Kildare 

(1318-1390) 140 

Fitzgerald,  Maurice  (1774-1849)  .  .  .141 
Fitzgerald,  Pamela  (1776  P-1831)  .  .  .142 
Fitzgerald,  Sir  Peter  George  (1808-1880)  .  144 
Fitzgerald,  Raymond,  surnamed  Le  Gros 

(d.  1182) 144 

Fitzgerald,  Thomas,  second  Earl  of  Kildare 

(d.  1328) 146 

Fitzgerald,  Thomas,  eighth  Earl  of  Desmond 

(1426P-1468) 147 

Fitzgerald,  Thomas,  seventh  Earl  of  Kildare 

(d.  1477) 148 

Fitzgerald,  Thomas,  Lord  Offaly,  tenth  Earl 

of  Kildare  (1513-1537)  .  .  .  .148 
Fitzgerald,  William  (1814-1883)  .  .  .150 
Fitzgerald,  William  Robert,  second  Duke  of 

Leinster  (1749-1804) 151 

Fitzgerald,     Sir    William    Robert    Seymour 

Vesey  (1818-1885) 151 

Fitzgerald,  William  Thomas  (1759  P-1829)  .  152 
Fitzgerald,  William  Vesey,  Lord  Fitzgerald 

and  Vesey  (1783-1843)  .  .  .  .152 
Fitzgibbon,  Edmund  Fitzjohn  (1552  P-1608)  .  15a 
Fitzgibbon,  Edward  (1803-1857)  .  .  .154 
Fitzgibbon,  Gerald  (1793-1882)  .  .  .155 
Fitzgibbon,  John,  Earl  of  Clare  (1749-1802).  15S 
Fitzgilbert,  Richard  (d.  1090?),  founder  of 

the  house  of  Clare.    See  Clare,  Richard  de 

(d.1090?). 


Index  to  Volume  XIX. 


445 


PAGE 

Fitzgilbert,  Richard  (d.  1136  ?).    See  Clare, 

Richard  de  (d.  1136?). 

Fitzhamon,  Robert  (d.  1107)  .  .  .  .159 
Fitzharding.  Robert  (d.  1170)  .  .  .  .162 
Fitzhardinge,  Lord.  See  Berkeley,  Maurice 

Frederick  Fitzhardinge  (1788-1867). 
Fitzharris,  Edward  (1648  P-1681)   .        .        .163 
Fitzhenry,  Meiler  (d.  1220)     .        .        .        .164 
Fitzhenry,  Mrs.  (d.  1790?)      .        .        .        .165 
Fitzherbert,    Alleyne,    Baron     St.     Helens 

(1753-1839) 166 

Fitzherbert,  Sir  Anthony  (1470-1538)  .  .168 
Fitzherbert,  Maria  Anne  (1756-1837)  .  .170 
Fitzherbert,  Nicholas  (1550-1612)  .  .  .171 
F'itzherbert,  Thomas  (1552-1640)  .  .  .172 
Fitzherbert,  William  (d.  1154)  .  .  .173 
Fitzherbert,  Sir  William  (1748-1791).  See 

under  Fitzherbert,  Alleyne. 

Fitzhubert,  Robert  (fl.  1140)  .  .  .  .176 
Fitzhugh,  Robert  (d.  1436)  .  .  .  .177 
Fitzjames,  James,  Duke  of  Berwick  (1670- 

1734) 178 

Titzjames,  Sir  John  (1470  ?-1542  ?)  .  .  179 
Fitzjames,  Richard  (d.  1522)  .  .  .  .180 
Fitzjocelin,  Reginald  (1140  ?-1191)  .  .181 
Fitzjohn,  Eustace  (d.  1157)  .  .  .  .183 

Fitzjohn,  Pain  (d.  1137) 184 

Fitzjohn,  Thomas,    second  Earl  of   Kildare. 

See  Fitzgerald,  Thomas  (d.  1328). 
Fitzmaurice,  Henry  Petty  (1780-1863),  third 

Marquis    of   Lansdowne.    See    Petty-Fitz- 

raaurice. 
Fitzmaurice,  James  ((£.1579),  '  arch  traitor.' 

See  Fitzgerald,  James  Fitzmaurice. 
Fitzmaurice,  Patrick,  seventeenth  Lord  Kerry 

and  Baron  Lixnaw  (1551  ?-1600)  .  .  184 
Fitzmaurice,  Thomas,  sixteenth  Lord  Kerry 

and  Baron  Lixnaw  (1502-1590)  .  .  .185 
Titzmaurice,  Thomas,  eighteenth  Lord  Kerry 

and  Baron  Lixnaw  (1574-1630)  .  .  .185 
Fitzneale  or  Fitznigel,  Richard,  otherwise 

Richard  of  Ely  (d.  1198)  .  .  .  .186 
Fitzosbern,  William,Earl  of  Hereford  (d.  1071)  188 
Fitzosbert,  William  (d.  1196).  .  .  .189 
Fitzpatrick,  Sir  Barnaby,  Lord  of  Upper 

Ossory  (1535  ?-1581) 190 

Fitzpatrick,  Richard,  Lord  Gowran  (d.  1727)  191 
Fitzpatrick,  Richard  (1747-1813)  .  .  .191 
Fitzpeter,  Geoffrey,  Earl  of  Essex  (d.  1213)  .  192 
Fitzralph,  Richard,  in  Latin  Ricardus  filius 

Radulphi,  often  referred  to  simply  as  *  Ar- 

machanus'  or  *  Ardmachanus '  (d.  1360)  .  194 
Fitzrichard,  Gilbert  (d.  1115?).  See  Clare, 

Gilbert  de. 
Titzrobert,   Simon,  bishop  of  Chichester  (d. 

1207).    See  Simon  de  Wells. 
Fitzroy,  Augustus  Henry,  third  Duke  of  Graf- 
ton  (1735-1811) 198 

Fitzroy,  Charles,  first  Duke  of  Southampton 

and  Cleveland  (1662-1730)  .  .  .  .201 
Fitzroy,  Charles,  first  Baron  Southampton 

(1737-1797) .201 

Fitzroy,  Lord  Charles  (1764-1829).  .  .  202 
Fitzroy,  Sir  Charles  Augustus  (1796-1858)  .  202 
Fitzroy,  George,  Duke  of  Northumberland 

(1665-1716) 203 

Fitzroy,  George  Henry,  fourth  Duke  of  Graf- 
ton  (1760-1844) 203 

Fitzroy,  Henry,  Duke   of  Richmond  (1519- 

1536) 204 

Fitzroy,  Henry,  first  Duke  of  Grafton  (1663- 

1690)     . \        .205 


PAGE 

Fitzroy,  Henry  (1807-1859)    .        .        .        .206 
Fitzroy,  James,  otherwise  Crofts,  afterwards 

Scott,  Duke  of  Monmouth  and  Buccleuch 

(1649-1685).    See  Scott. 
Fitzroy,  Mary,    Duchess    of   Richmond    (d. 

1557) 206 

Fitzroy,  Robert  (1805-1865)    .        .  .207 

Fitzsimon,  Henry  (1566-1643)        .  .  209 

Fitzsimons  or  Fitzsymond,  Walter  (d.  1511).  210 
Fitzstephen,  Robert  (d.  1183?)        .  .211 

Fitzstephen,  William  (d.  1190  ?)     .  .212 

Fitzthedmar,  Arnold  ( 1201-1274  ?  ) .  .213 

Fitzthomas,  John,  first  Earl  of  Kildare  and 

sixth  Baron  of  Offaly  (<f.  1316)  .  .  .214 
Fitzthomas  or  Fitzgerald,  Maurice,  first  Earl 

of  Desmond  (d.  1356) 217 

Fitzurse,  Reginald  (fl.  1170)  .        .        .        .218 
Fitzwalter,  Lord    (d.  1495).    See    Ratclifie, 

John. 

Fitzwalter,  Robert  (d.  1235)    ....  219 
Fitzwarine,  Fulk  I  (d.  1170-1)  ;  Fitzwarine, 

Fulk  II  (d.  1197);  Fitzwarine,  Fulk  III  (d. 

1256-7  ?)  ;  Fitzwarine,  Fulk  IV  (d.  1264)  .  223 
Fitzwilliam,  Charles  William  Wentworth, 

third  Earl   Fitzwilliam  in  the  peerage  of 

the  United  Kingdom  (1786-1857)  .  .  224 
Fitzwilliam,  Edward  (1788-1852)  .  .  .225 
Fitzwilliam,  Edward  Francis  (1824-1857)  .  225 
Fitzwilliam,  Ellen  (1822-1880).  See  under 

Fitzwilliam,  Edward  Francis. 
Fitzwilliam,  Fanny  Elizabeth  (1801-1854)      .  226 
Fitzwilliam,  John,  D.D.  (d.  1699)   .        .        .227 
Fitzwilliam,  Ralph  (1256  ?-1316)    .        .        .228 
Fitzwilliam,  Richard,  seventh  Viscount  Fitz- 
william of  Meiyon  (1745-1816)   .        .        .229 
Fitzwilliam,  Roger,  alias  Roger  de  Breteuil, 

Earl  of  Hereford  (fl.  1071-1075)  .  .  .229 
Fitzwilliam,  Sir  William  (1460  ?-1534)  .  .  230 
Fitzwilliam,  William,  Earl  of  Southampton 

(d.  1542) 230 

Fitzwilliam,  Sir  William  (1526-1599)    .        .  232 
Fitwilliam,  William  Wentworth,  second  Earl 

Fitzwilliam  in  the  peerage  of  the  United 

Kingdom  (1748-1833)  .        .  .  235 

Flakefield,  William  (fl.  1700).  .        .  237 

Flambard,  Ranulf  (d.  1128)     .  .  237 

Flammock, Thomas  (d.  1497)  .  .  241 

Flamsteed,  John  (1646-1719)  .  .  241 

Flanagan,  Roderick  (1828-1861)  .        .  248 

Flanagan,  Thomas  (1814-1865)  .        .  249 

Flann  (d.  1056)        ...  .  249 

Flannan,    Saint  and  Bishop  of  C  11-da-Lua, 

now  Killaloe  (fl.  7th  cent.)  .  .  250 

Flatman,  Thomas  (1637-1688)  .        .  251 

Flattisbury,  Philip  (fl.  1500)  .  .  252 

Flavel,  John  (1596-1617)         .  .  253 

Flavel,  John  (1630  ?-1691)       .  .  253 

Flaxman,  John  (1755-1826)     .  .  254 

Flaxman,     Mary    Ann    (1768-1833).      See 

under  Flaxman,  John. 
Flaxman,     William     (1753  ?-1795  ?).      See 

under  Flaxman,  John. 
Fleccius,  Gerbarus  (fl.  1546-1554).    See  Flic- 


Flecknoe,  Richard  (d.  1678  ?) 
Fleet,  Sir  John  (d,  1712) 
Fleetwood,  Charles  (d.  1692)  . 
Fleetwood,  George  (fl.  1650  ?) 
Fleetwood,  George  (1605-1667) 
Fleetwood,  James,  D.D.  (1603-1683) 
Fleetwood,  Sir  Peter  Hesketh  (1801-1866) 
Fleetwood,  Thomas  (1661-1717) 


260 
261 
261 
265 
266 
267 
267 
267 


446 


Index  to  Volume  XIX. 


PAGE 

.  268 


271 
271 
273 
273 
275 
275 
276 

276 

277 

277 


Fleetwood,  William  (1535  P-1594)  . 
Fleetwood,  William  (1656-1723)     .        .        . 
Fleming,    Miss,    afterwards     Mrs.    Stanley 

(1796P-1861) 

Fleming,  Abraham  (1552  P-1607)  . 
Fleming,  Alexander,  M.D.  (1824-1875).  . 
Fleming,  Caleb,  D.D.  (1698-1779)  . 
Fleming,  Christopher  ( 1800-1880)  . 
Fleming,  Sir  Daniel  (1633-1701)  . 
Fleming,  Sir  George  (1667-1747)  . 
Fleming,  James,  fourth  Lord  Fleming  (1534  ?- 

Fleming  or  Flemming,  James  (1682-1751)     . 

Fleming,  John,  fifth  Lord  Fleming  (d.  1572) 

Fleming,  John,  first  Earl  of  Wigtown  or  Wig- 
ton  (d.  1619).  See  under  Fleming,  John, 
fifth  Lord  Fleming. 

Fleming,  John,  second  Earl  of  Wigtown  or 
Wigton  (d.  1650).  See  under  Fleming, 
John,  fifth  Lord  Fleming. 

Fleming,  John  (d.  1815) 279 

Fleming,  John,  D.D.  (1785-1857)   .        .        .279 

Fleming,  Sir  Malcolm,  Earl  of  Wigtown  (d. 
1360?) 280 

Fleming,  Margaret  (1803-1811)      .        .        .281 

Fleming,  Patrick  (1599-1631)          .        .        .281 

Fleming,  Richard  (d.  1431)     .... 

Fleming,  Robert,  the  elder  (1630-1694)  . 

Fleming,  Robert,  the  younger  (1660  P-1716)  . 

Fleming,  Sir  Thomas  (1544-1613)  . 

Fleming,  Thomas  (1593-1666) 

Flemming,  James  (1682-1751).   See  Fleming. 

Flemming,  Richard  (d.  1431).    See  Fleming. 

Flemming,  Robert  (d.  1483)     .... 

Flemyng,  Malcolm,  M.D.  (d.  1764) 

Fleta        

Fletcher,  Abraham  (1714-1 793)      . 

Fletcher,  Alexander  (1787-1860) 


282 
284 
285 
286 


.  289 
.  290 
.  290 
.  291 
Fletcher,  Andrew,  Lord  Innerpeffer  (d.  1650)  292 


Fletcher,  Andrew  (1655-1716)  .  .  .292 
Fletcher,  Andrew,  Lord  Milton  (1692-1766)  .  297 
Fletcher,  Archibald  (1746-1828)  .  .  .298 
Fletcher,  Eliza  (1770-1858)  .  .  .  .298 
Fletcher,  George  (1764-1855)  .  .  .  .299 
Fletcher,  Giles,  LL.D.  (1549  P-1611)  .  .  299 
Fletcher,  Giles,  the  younger  (1588  P-1623)  .  302 
Fletcher,  Henry  (ft.  1710-1750)  .  .  .302 
Fletcher,  Sir  Henry  (1727-1807)  .  .  .303 
Fletcher,  John  (1579-1625)  .  .  .  .303 
Fletcher,  John,  M.D.  (1792-1836)  .  .  .311 
Fletcher,  John,  D.D.  (d.  1848  ?)  .  .  .311 
Fletcher  or  De  la  Flechere,  John  William 

(1729-1785) 312 

Fletcher,  Joseph  (1582  P-1637)  .  .  .314 
Fletcher,  Joseph,  D.D.  (1784-1843)  .  .  315 
Fletcher,  Joseph  (1813-1852)  .  .  .  .315 
Fletcher,  Joseph,  the  younger  (1816-1876). 

See  under  Fletcher,  Joseph,  D.D.    (1784- 

1843). 
Fletcher,  Mrs.  Maria  Jane  (1800-1833).    See 

Jewsbury. 

Fletcher,  Phineas  (1582-1650)         .  316 

Fletcher,  Richard,  D.D.  (d.  1596)   .  31 

Fletcher,  Sir  Richard  (1768-1813)  .  319 

Fletcher,  Robert  ( A.  1586)      .        .  32 

Fletcher,  Thomas  (1664-1718)         .  32 

Flete,  John  (fl.  1421-1465)      .        .  325 

Flexman,  Roger,  D.D.  (1708-1795).  325 

Flexmore,  Richard  (1824-1860)      .  32c 

Fliccius  or   Fliccus,  Gerbarus,  Gerlachus,  or 

Gerbicus  (/.  1546-1554)      .  .32: 

Flight,  Benjamin  (1767  P-1847)      .  324 


PAGE 

Flight,  Walter  (1841-1885)      .        .        .  .324 

Flindell,  Thomas  (1767-1824)          .        .  .325 

Flinders,  Matthew  (1774-1814)       .        .  .325 

'linter,  George  Dawson  (d.  1838)   .        .  .  329 

lintoft,  Luke  (d.  1727)  .....  329 

Flitcroft,  Henry  (1697-1769)  .        .        .  .329 

Flood,  Sir  Frederick  (1741-1824)     .        .  .330 

Flood,  Henry  (1732-1791)       .        .        .  .331 

Flood,  Robert.    See  Fludd. 

Flood,  Valentine,  M.D.  (d.  1847)     .        .  .335 

Florence  of  Worcester  (d.  1118)       .        .  .  335 

Florio,  John  (1553  P-1625)       .        .        .  .336 
Florio,  Michael  Angelo  (fl.  1550).    See  under 

Florio,  John. 

Flower,  Benjamin  (1755-1829)        .        .  .339 

Flower,  Edward  Fordham  (1805-1883)    .  .339 

Flower,  Eliza  (1803-1846)        .        .        .  .340 
Flower,  John  (fl.  1658)   .....  340 

Flower,  Roger  (d.  1428?)         .        .        .  .340 

Flower,  William  (1498  P-1588)        .        .  .341 

Flowerdew,  Edward  (d.  1586)         .        .  .342 

Flowers,  Frederick  (1810-1886)       .        .  .342 

Flowers,  George  French  (1811-1872)      .  .  342 

Floyd,  Floud,  or  Lloyd,  Edward  (d.  1648  ?)  .343 

Floyd,  Henry  (1563-1641)       .        .        .  .344 

Floyd,  John  (1572-1649)          .        .        .  .344 

Floyd,  Sir  John  (1748-1818)    .        .        .  .345 

Floyd,  Thomas  (fl.  1603)          .        .        .  .346 

Flover,  Sir  John  (1649-1734)  .        .        .  .346 

Fludd  or  Flud,  Robert,  M.D.  (1574-1637)  .  348 

Fludyer,  Sir  Samuel  (1705-1768)    .        .  .350 

Fogg,  Laurence  (1623-1718)    .        .        .  .350 

Foggo,  George  (1793-1869)     .        .        .  .351 

Foggo,  James  (1789-1860)      .        .        .  .351 


oggo, 
oillan, 


Saint  and  Bishop  (d.  655)  . 


Folbury,  George  (d.  1540) 
Folcard  or  Foulcard  (fl.  1066) 
Foldsone,  John  (d.  1784?)  . 
Foley,  Daniel  (1815-1874)  . 
Foley,  John  Henry  (1818-1874) 
Foley,  Paul  (1645  P-1699)  . 
Foley,  Samuel  (1655-1695)  . 
Foley,  Thomas  (1617-1677) 


.352 
.352 
.352 
.353 
.353 
.353 
.354 
.355 
.355 


Foley,  Thomas  (d.  1733).    See  under  Foley, 

Thomas. 
Foley,  Sir  Thomas  (1757-1833)       .        .        .356 

Foliot,  Gilbert  (d.  1187) 358 

Foliot,  Robert  (d.  1186) 360 

Folkes,  Lucretia  (fl.  1707-1714).    See  under 

Folkes,  Martin. 

Folkes,  Martin  (1690-1754)  .  .  .  .361 
Follett,  Sir  William  Webb  (1798-1845)  .  .  362 
Follows,  Ruth  (1718-1809)  .  .  .  .363 
Fonblanque,  Albany  (1793-1872)  .  .  .363 
Fonblanque,  John  de  Grenier  (1760-1837)  .  365 
Fonblanque,  John  Samuel  Martin  de  Grenier 

(1787-1865) 365 

Fonnereau,  Thomas  George  (1789-1850).  .  366 
Fontibus  (Fountains),  John  de  (d.  1225)  .  366 

Foot,  Jesse  (1744-1826) 367 

Foot,  Jesse  (1780-1850).  See  under  Foot,  Jesse. 
Foote,  Sir  Edward  James  (1767-1833)     .        .368 
Foote,  Maria,  Countess  of  Harrington  (1797  ?- 

1867) 369 

Foote,  Samuel  (1720-1777)  .  .  .  .370 
Forannan,  Saint  and  Bishop  (d.  982)  .  .  375 
Forbes,  Alexander,  first  Lord  Forbes  (d.  1448)  376 
Forbes,  Alexander,  fourth  Lord  Forbes  (rf. 

1491) 376 

Forbes,  Alexander  (1564-1617)  .  .  .376 
Forbes,  Alexander,  fourth  and  last  Lord  Forbes 

of  Pitsligo  (1678-1762)         .        .        .        .377 


Index  to  Volume  XIX. 


447 


PAGE 

Forbes,  Alexander  Penrose  (1817-1875)  .  .  378 
Forbes,  Sir  Arthur,  first  Earl  of  Granard 

(1623-1696)  ....  .379 

Forbes,  Sir  Charles  (1774-1849)  .  380 

Forbes,  Sir  Charles  Fergusson,  M  D.  (1779- 

1852) .381 

Forbes,  David  (1777?-!  849)  .  382 

Forbes,  David  (1828-1876)  .  382 

Forbes,  Duncan  (1644  P-1704)  .  383 

Forbes,  Duncan  (1685-1747)  -  .  884 

Forbes,  Duncan  (1798-1868)  „  386 

Forbes,  Edward  (1815-1854)  .  388 

Forbes,  Sir  Francis  (1784-1841)  .  392 

Forbes,  George,  third  Earl  of  Granard  (1685- 

1765) 393 

Forbes,  George,  sixth  Earl  of  Granard  in  the 

peerage  of  Ireland,  and  first  Baron  Granard 

in  the  United  Kingdom  (1760-1837)  .  .  395 
Forbes,  Henry  (1804-1859)  .  .  .  .396 
Forbes,  James  (1629  P-1712)  .  .  .  .396 
Forbes,  James  (1749-1819)  .  .  .  .397 
Forbes,  James,  M.D.  (1779-1837)  .  .  .398 
Forbes,  James  David  (1809-1868)  .  .  .398 
Forbes,  Jamea  Ochoncar,  seventeenth  Lord 

Forbes  (1765-1843) 400 

Forbes,  John  (1571-1606)  .  .  .401 

Forbes,  John  (1568  P-1634)  .  .  .401 

Forbes,  John  (1593-1648)  .  .  .402 

Forbes,  John  (1714-1796)  .  .  .404 

Forbes,  John  (1733-1808)  .  .  .405 

Forbes,  John,  M.D.  (1799-1823)  .  .  .405 
Forbes,  Sir  John  (1787-1861)  .  .  .  .405 
Forbes,  John  Hay,  LordMedwyn  (1776-1854)  407 
Forbes,  Patrick  (1564-1635)  ....  407 
Forbes,  Patrick  (1611 P-1680)  .  .  .409 
Forbes,  Robert  (1708-1775)  .  .  .  .409 
Forbes,  Walter,  eighteenth  Lord  Forbes  (1798- 

1868)     .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .410 

Forbes,  William  (1585-1634)   .        .        .        .411 

Forbes,  Sir  William  (1739-1806)  .  .  .412 


Forbes,  William  Alexander  (1855-1883) 
Forby,  Robert  (1759-1825)      . 
Forcer,  Francis,  the  elder  (1650  P-1705  ?) 
Forcer,   Francis,  the  younger   (1675  ?-l 743). 

See  under  Forcer,  Francis. 
Ford.    See  also  Forde. 
Ford,  Anne  (1737-1824).    See  Thicknesse. 
Ford,  David  Everard  (1797-1875)    . 
Ford,  Edward  (ft.  1647)  . 
Ford,  Sir  Edward  (1605-1670) 
Ford,  Edward  (1746-1809)      . 
Ford,  Emanuel  (  ft.  1607)         . 
Ford,  Sir  Henry  (1619  P-1684) 
Ford,  James  (1779-1850)         . 

Ford,  John  (  fl.  1639) 

Ford,  Michael  (d.  1758  ?) 
Ford,  Richard  (1796-1858)       . 
Ford,  Simon  (1619  P-1699)       . 

Ford,  Stephen  (d.  1694) 

Ford,  Thomas  (d.  1648) 

Ford,  Thomas  (1598-1674)       . 
Ford  or  Foord,  William  (A.  1616)  . 
Ford,  William  (1771-1832)      . 

Forde,  Francis  (d.  1770) 

Forde,  Samuel  (1805-1828)      . 
Forde,  Thomas  (d.  1582)  . 
Forde,  Thomas  (fi.  1660) 
Fordham,  George  (1837-1887). 
Fordun,  John  (d.  1384?)         ... 
Fordyce,  Alexander  (d.  1789)  . 
Fordyce,  David  (1711-1751)    . 
Fordyce,  George  (1736-1802)  . 
Fordyce,  James,  D.D.  (1720-1796)  . 
Fordyce,  Sir  William  (1724-1792)  . 
Forest,  John  (1474  P-1538)      . 
Forester,  James  (fl.  1611) 
Forfar,  Earls  of.    See  Douglas,  Archibald. 
Forgaill,  Dalian  (fl.  600).    See  Dalian. 
Forman,  Andrew  (d.  1522)      .        .        . 
Forman,  Simon  (1552-1611)    . 


PAGE 

.  413 
.  414 
.  414 


415 
415 
416 
417 
417 
418 
419 
419 
421 
421 
422 
428 
424 
424 
426 
426 
426 
427 
428 
428 
429 
430 
431 
432 
432 
433 
435 
435 
436 


436 
438 


END    OF    THE    NINETEENTH    VOLUME. 


1 


DA       Dictionary  of  national  biography 

28  v.19 

D4 

1885  \ 

v.19 

For  use  in 
the  I 

o: 


PLEASE  DO  NOT  REMOVE 
CARDS  OR  SLIPS  FROM  THIS  POCKET 


UNIVERSITY  OF  TORONTO  LIBRARY 


I 


DEPT. 


He  was  hearing  confessions  at  the  Grey- 
friars  till  Feb.  1538  (L.  andP.xm.  i.  880).