The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 200

FIESCHI, COUNT, a Genoese of ill.u.s.trious family who conspired against Andrea Doria, but whose plot was frustrated on the eve of its fulfilment by his falling into the sea and being drowned as he stept full-armed from one of his s.h.i.+ps into another (1523-1547).

FIESCHI, JOSEPH MARCO, a Corsican conspirator; served under Murat and in Russia in 1812; obtained a government post in 1830, and in consequence of his discharge from this five years later he, by means of an infernal machine, made an unsuccessful attempt to a.s.sa.s.sinate Louis Philippe, for which, along with his accomplices, he was tried and executed (1790-1836).

FIESOLE, a small town, 3 m. from Florence, where the wealthy Florentines have villas, and near which Fra Angelico lived as a monk.

FIFE (190), a maritime county in the E. of Scotland, which juts out into the German Ocean and is washed by the Firths of Tay and Forth on its N. and S. sh.o.r.es respectively, thus forming a small peninsula; has for the most part a broken and hilly surface, extensively cultivated however, while the "How of Fife," watered by the Eden, is a fertile valley, richly wooded; and valuable coal deposits are worked in the S. and W.; its long coast-line is studded with picturesque towns, many of them of ancient date, a circ.u.mstance which led James VI. to describe the county as "a beggar's mantle fringed with gold"; it is a.s.sociated with much that is memorable in Scottish history.

FIFTH-MONARCHY MEN, a set of fanatics of extreme levelling tendencies, who, towards the close of the Protectorate, maintained that Jesus Christ was about to reappear on the earth to establish a fifth monarchy that would swallow up and forcibly suppress all that was left of the four preceding--the a.s.syrian, the Persian, the Macedonian, and the Roman; their standard exhibited the lion of the tribe of Judah couchant, with the motto, "Who will rouse him up?" some of them conspired to murder the Protector, but were detected and imprisoned till after his death.

FIGARO, a name given by the French dramatist Beaumarchais to a cunning and intriguing barber who figures in his "Barbier de Seville" and his "Mariage de Figaro," and who has since become the type of all such characters. The name has been adopted by various journals in England and in France.

FIGARO, MARIAGE DE, a play by Beaumarchais, "issued on the stage in Paris 1784, ran its hundred nights; a lean and barren thing; succeeded, as it flattered a pruriency of the time and spoke what all were feeling and longing to speak."

FIGUIER, LOUIS, a popular writer on scientific subjects, born at Montpellier, where he became professor of Pharmacy in 1846, and subsequently in Paris; his voluminous writings have done much to popularise science, and they comprise a volume on alchemy and one in defence of immortality; many of these have been received with favour in England (1819-1894).

FIJI (125), a group of islands in the S. Pacific Ocean, known also as the Viti Islands; they lie between 15-22 S. lat. and 176 E.-178 W.

long., and are a dependency of Britain; sighted by Tasman in 1643, though first discovered, properly speaking, by Cook in 1773, came first into prominence in 1858, when the sovereignty was offered to England and declined, but in 1874 were taken over and made a crown colony; they number over 200 islands, of which Viti Leon and Vanua Leon are by far the largest; Suva is the capital; sugar, cotton, vanilla, tea, and coffee are cultivated, besides fruit.

FILDES, S. LUKE, artist, born in Lancas.h.i.+re; made his mark first as a designer of woodcuts; contributed to various magazines and ill.u.s.trated books, notably d.i.c.kens's "Edwin Drood"; his most noted pictures are "Applicants for a Casual Ward," "The Widower," and "The Doctor"; he was made an R.A. in 1887; _b_. 1844.

FILIBUSTER, a name given to buccaneers who infested the Spanish-American coasts or those of the West Indies, but more specially used to designate the followers of Lopez in his Cuban expedition in 1851, and those of Walker in his Nicaraguan in 1855; a name now given to any lawless adventurers who attempt to take forcible possession of a foreign country.

FILIGREE, a name given to a species of goldsmith's ornamental work fas.h.i.+oned out of fine metallic (usually gold or silver) wire into lace-like patterns; the art is of ancient date, and was skilfully practised by the Etruscans and Egyptians, as well as in Central Asia and India.

FILIOQUE CONTROVERSY, a controversy which ended in the disruption of the Western from the Eastern Church on the question whether the Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son or from the Father only, the Western maintaining the former and the Eastern the latter.

FILLAN, ST., a name borne by two Scottish saints: (1) the son of a Munster prince, lived in the 8th century, was first abbot of the monastery on the Holy Loch in Argyll, and afterwards laboured at Strathfillan, Perths.h.i.+re; some of his relics are to be seen in the Edinburgh Antiquarian Museum; (2) or Faolan, known as "the leper," had his church at the end of Loch Earn, Perths.h.i.+re; a healing well and chair are a.s.sociated with his name.

FILLMORE, President of the United States from 1850 to 1853.

FINALITY JOHN, Lord John Russell, from his complacently p.r.o.nouncing the Reform Bill of 1832 a final measure.

FINCH, HENEAGE, first Earl of Nottingham and Lord Chancellor of England, born in Kent, studied at Oxford, and was called to the bar in 1645; at the Restoration he was appointed Solicitor-General, and took an active part in prosecuting the regicides; in 1670 he became Attorney-General, and in 1675 Lord-Chancellor; he presided as Lord-High Steward at the trial of Stafford in 1680, and p.r.o.nounced judgment in a speech of great eloquence (1621-1682).

FINDLATER, ANDREW, encyclopedist, born near Aberdour, in Aberdeens.h.i.+re, of humble parentage; graduated at Aberdeen, and became a schoolmaster at Tillydesk, and afterwards held the post of head-master of Gordon's Hospital in Aberdeen; in 1853 joined the staff of Messrs. W. & R. Chambers, Edinburgh, and became eventually editor of the first edition of their encyclopedia (1861-1868); amongst other work done for the Messrs. Chambers were various manuals on astronomy, geography, &c.; was a man of wide and accurate scholars.h.i.+p (1810-1877).

FINGAL or FIONN, the great hero of Gaelic mythology, represented by OSSIAN (q. v.) to have ruled over the kingdom of Morven, which may be said to have been then co-extensive with Argylls.h.i.+re and the West Highlands; in ballad literature he is represented as belonging also to Ireland.

FINGAL'S CAVE, a remarkable cave of basaltic formation on the coast of the ISLE OF STAFFA (q. v.); entrance to the cave is effected in boats through a natural archway 42 ft. wide and 66 ft. high, and the water fills the floor of this great hall to a distance of 227 ft.

FINISTERRE or FINISTeRE (727), the most westerly department of France, washed on the N. by the English Channel, and on the S. and W. by the Atlantic; has a rugged and broken coast-line, but inland presents a picturesque appearance with tree-clad hills and fertile valleys; the climate is damp, and there is a good deal of marshy land; mines of silver, lead, &c., are wrought, and quarries of marble and granite; fis.h.i.+ng is largely engaged in; and the manufacture of linen, canvas, pottery, &c., are important industries, while large quant.i.ties of grain are raised.

FINLAND (2,431), a grand-duchy forming the NW. corner of Russia; was ceded by the Swedes in 1809, but still retains an independent administration. The coast-line is deeply indented, and fringed with small islands; the interior, chiefly elevated plateau, consists largely of forest land, and is well furnished with lakes, many of which are united by ca.n.a.ls, one 36 m. connecting Lake Saima with the Gulf of Finland.

Various cereals (barley, oats, &c.) are grown, and there is a varied and valuable fauna; fis.h.i.+ng is an extensive industry, and no less than 80 kinds of fish are found in the rivers, lakes, and coast waters. The country is divided into eight counties, and is governed by a Senate and Diet, the reigning Russian emperor holding rank as grand-duke; education is highly advanced; Swedish and Finnish are the two languages of the country, Russian being practically unknown. There is an excellent Saga literature, and the beginnings of a modern literature. The Finns came under the dominion of the Swedes in the 12th and 13th centuries, and were by them Christianised.

FINLAY, GEORGE, a distinguished historian, horn at Faversham, Kent, but of Scotch parents; received a university training at Glasgow and Gottingen, and in 1822 went to Greece, where he met Byron and fought in the War of Independence; henceforth Greece became his home, and there, after an unavailing effort to promote agriculture, he betook himself to a studious life and to writing the history of his adopted country; his valuable history, published in various parts, traces the national life of Greece from 146 B.C. to A.D. 1864 (1799-1875).

FINMARK (29), a province of Norway, lying in the extreme N., with a rocky and indented coast and a barren and mountainous interior; fis.h.i.+ng is the main industry of the inhabitants, who are chiefly Lapps.

FINNS, the native inhabitants of Finland, and originally of the districts in Sweden and Norway as well, are of the Mongolian type, and were settled in Europe before the arrival of the Slavic and Teutonic races.

FIORDS, deep indentations forming inlets of the sea, especially on the coast of Norway, overlooked by high mountains and precipitous cliffs.

FIRDAUSI or FIRDUSI, the pseudonym of Abu-'l Kasim Mansur, the great poet of Persia, born near Tus, in Khora.s.san; flourished in the 10th century B.C.; spent 30 years in writing the "Shah Nama," a national epic, but having been cheated out of the reward promised by Sultan Mahmud, he gave vent to bitter satire against his royal master and fled the court; for some time he led a wandering life, till at length he returned to his birthplace, where he died; a complete translation of his great poem exists in French.

FIRE-WORs.h.i.+P, wors.h.i.+p of fire, especially as embodied in the sun viewed as the most express and emphatic exhibition of beneficent divine power.

FIRMAMENT, a name given to the vault of the sky conceived as a solid substance studded with stars, so applied in the Vulgate.

FIRMAN, a Persian word denoting a mandate or decree; among the Turks the term is applied to such decrees as issue from the Ottoman Porte, and also to pa.s.sports, the right of signing which lies with the Sultan or a Pasha; the word is also used in India to denote a permit to trade.

FIRMIN, ST., bishop of Amiens, who suffered martyrdom in 287.

Festival, Sept. 25.

FIRST GENTLEMAN OF EUROPE, George IV., from his fine style and manners.

FISCHART, JOHANN, a German satirist; an imitator of Rabelais (1545-1589).