Part 204 (1/2)
FORSTER, JOHN, a noted English writer, born at Newcastle; was educated for the bar, but took to journalism, and soon made his mark as a political writer in the _Examiner_; he subsequently edited the _Foreign Quarterly Review_, the _Daily News_ (succeeding d.i.c.kens), and the _Examiner_ (1847-56); he was the author of several historical sketches, but his best-known works are the admirable biographies of Goldsmith, Landor, and d.i.c.kens (1812-1876).
FORSTER, WILLIAM EDWARD, statesman, born at Bradpole, Dorset, son of a Quaker; entered upon a commercial career in a worsted manufactory at Bradford, but from the first politics engaged his paramount attention, and in 1861 he became member of Parliament for Bradford; became in succession Under-Secretary for the Colonies, Vice-president of the Council of Education, and a Privy Councillor; his chief legislative measure was the Elementary Education Bill of 1870, which, as a member of Mr. Gladstone's Cabinet, he carried through Parliament, two years after which the Ballot Act was introduced by him; in 1874 he visited the United States, and on his return was elected Lord Rector of Aberdeen University; as Irish Secretary in 1880 he made an earnest effort to grapple with the Irish problem, but losing the support of his colleagues, over the imprisonment of Mr. Parnell and other Land League leaders, he resigned; he was married to Jane, eldest daughter of Dr. Arnold of Rugby; his transparent honesty and rugged independence of character won him universal esteem (1819-1886).
FORT AUGUSTUS, a small village on the Caledonian Ca.n.a.l, 33 m. SW. of Inverness; the fort, built in 1716 and enlarged in 1730, was utilised as a barrack during the disturbances in the Highlands, but after being dismantled and again garrisoned down to 1857, it finally, in 1876, pa.s.sed into the hands of the BENEDICTINES (q. v.), who have converted it into an abbey and college.
FORT GEORGE, a fortress on the Moray Firth, 12 m. NE. of Inverness; was built in 1748, and is now the head-quarters of the Seaforth Highlanders.
FORT WILLIAM, a small police-burgh in Inverness-s.h.i.+re, 66 m. SW. of Inverness, near the southern end of the Caledonian Ca.n.a.l; the railway station stands on the site of the old fort, which in 1655 was built by Monk; a meteorological observatory was erected here in 1889.
FORTESCUE, SIR JOHN, an eminent English lawyer, born in Somersets.h.i.+re; flourished in the 15th century; was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn, and in 1442 became Lord Chief-Justice of the Court of King's Bench; he was a staunch Lancastrian during the Wars of the Roses, and shared the exile of Queen Margaret and her son Edward, for whom he wrote in dialogue form his famous ”De Laudibus Legum,” a treatise still read; the fate of the Lancastrian cause was sealed on the field of Tewkesbury, and he himself was taken prisoner; he died at the advanced age of 90.
FORTH, a river of Scotland, formed by the junction of Duchray Water and the Avondhu, streams which rise one on Ben Lomond and the other on Ben Venue, and which, after 14 and 9 m., unite at Aberfoyle; the river thence flows with many windings, called Links, through some of the fairest country of the eastern lowlands to Alloa (51 m.), where begins the Firth, which stretches 51 m. to the German Ocean, and which at Queensferry is spanned by a ma.s.sive railway bridge known as the Forth Bridge (1882-1890).
FORTUNA, a Roman divinity, the G.o.ddess of luck, and especially good luck, to whom Servius Tullius, in acknowledgment of her favours to him, erected several temples in Rome; is represented in art as standing poised on a globe or a wheel, to express her inconstancy.
FORTUNATUS, a character in a popular German legend, who possessed a _purse_ out of which he was able to provide himself with money as often as he needed it and _cap_, by putting on of which, and wis.h.i.+ng to be anywhere, he was straightway there; these he got, by his own free election and choice, conceded to him by the Upper Powers, and they proved a curse to him rather than a blessing, he finding out when too late that ”the G.o.d Wish is not the true G.o.d.”
FORTY THIEVES, a fraternity in the ”Arabian Nights” who inhabited a secret den in a forest, the gate of which would open only to the magic word ”Sesame.”
FORUM, a public place in Rome and Roman cities where the courts of justice were held, and popular a.s.semblies for civic business.
FORWARDS, MARSHAL, MARSHAL BLuCHER (q. v.).
FOSCARI, a Doge of Venice from 1423 to his death; his reign was distinguished by the glories of conquest, but his life was embittered by the misfortunes of his sons, and the judicial tortures inflicted on one of them which he was compelled to witness; he died at the age of 87, broken-hearted (1370-1457).
FOSCOLO, UGO, an Italian patriot and author, born at Zante; his literary career began in Venice with the successful performance of his tragedy ”Trieste,” but on the Austrian occupation of the town he joined the French army; disappointed in the hope that France would unite with and free Italy, he returned to literary work in Milan, and in 1809 was called to the chair of Eloquenco in Pavia; but the conquering Austrians again forced him to become a refugee, first in Switzerland and finally in England, where he died; he was the author of various essays, poems, etc., and of a translation of Sterne's ”Sentimental Journey” (1778-1827).
FOSTER, BIRKET, a celebrated artist, born at North s.h.i.+elds; his earliest work was done in wood-engraving under the direction of Landells, and many of his sketches appeared in the _Ill.u.s.trated London News_; following this he executed, in collaboration with John Gilbert, a series of ill.u.s.trations for the works of Goldsmith, Cowper, Scott, and other poets, in which he exhibited a rare skill in rural scenes; subsequent work has been in water-colours, and in 1861 he was elected a member of the Water-Colour Society (1825-1899).
FOSTER, JOHN, an English essayist, born in Halifax, Yorks.h.i.+re; was trained for the Baptist ministry, and for 25 years officiated in various congregations, but met with little success; from 1817 he devoted himself solely to literature, and became a contributor to the _Eclectic Review_, for which he wrote no fewer than 184 articles; his best-known work is an ”Essay on the Evils of Popular Ignorance,” in which he advocates a system of national education (1770-1843).
FOTHERINGAY, a village in Northamptons.h.i.+re, on the Nen, 9 m. SW. of Peterborough; the ruined castle there was the scene of the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1587.
FOUCAULT, JOHN BERNARD, a French physicist, born in Paris; distinguished for his studies in optics and problems connected with light; demonstrated the rate of the rotation of the globe by the oscillation of a pendulum (1819-1868).