Part 3

=Fernando=, son of John of Procĭda, and husband of Isoline (3 _syl._), daughter of the French governor of Messina. The butchery of the Sicilian Vespers occurred the night after their espousals. Fernando was among the slain, and Isoline died of a broken heart.—S. Knowles, _John of Procida_ (1840).

_Fernando_ (_Don_), youngest son of the Duke Ricardo. Gay, handsome, generous, and polite; but faithless to his friend Cardenio, for, contrary to the lady’s inclination, and in violation of every principle of honor, he prevailed on Lucinda’s father to break off the betrothal between his daughter and Cardenio, and to bestow the lady on himself. On the wedding day Lucinda was in a swoon, and a letter informed the bridegroom that she was married already to Cardenio; she then left the house privately, and retired to a convent. Don Fernando, having entered the convent, carries her off, but stopping at an inn, found there Dorothea his wife, with Cardenio the husband of Lucinda, and the two parties paired off with their respective spouses.—Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, I. iv. (1605).

_Fernan´do,_ a Venetian captain, servant to Annophel (daughter of the governor of Candy).—Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Laws of Candy_ (1647).

_Fernan´do_ [FLORESTAN], a State prisoner of Seville, married to Leonora, who (in boy’s attire and under the name of Fidēlio) became the servant of Rocco the jailer. Pizarro, governor of the jail, conceived a hatred to the State prisoner, and resolved to murder him, so Rocco and Leonora were sent to dig his grave. The arrival of the minister of State put an end to the infamous design, and Fernando was set at liberty.—Beethoven, _Fidelio_ (1791).

=Ferney= (_The Patriarch of_), Voltaire; so called because he lived in retirement at Ferney, near Geneva (1694-1778).

=Ferquhard Day=, the absentee from the Clan Chattan at the combat.—Sir W. Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).

=Fer´racute,= a giant who had the strength of forty men, and was thirty-six feet high. He was slain by Orlando, who wounded him in the navel, his only vulnerable part.—Turpin, _Chronicle of Charlemagne_.

⁂ Ferracute is the prototype of Pulci’s “Morgante,” in his serio-comic poem entitled _Morgante Maggiore_ (1494).

=Fer´ragus=, the Portuguese giant, who took Bellisant under his care after her divorce from Alexander, emperor of Constantinople.—_Valentine and Orson_ (fifteenth century).

My sire’s tall form might grace the part Of Ferragus or Ascapart. Sir W. Scott.

=Fer´ramond= (_Sir_), a knight, whose lady-love was Lucĭda.

=Ferrand de Vaudemont= (_Count_), duc de Lorraine, son of René, king of Provence. He first appears disguised as Laurence Neipperg.—Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

=Ferrardo= [GONZAGA], reigning duke of Mantua in the absence of his cousin Leonardo. He was a villain, and tried to prove Mariana (the bride of Leonardo) guilty of adultery. His scheme was this: He made Julian St. Pierre drunk with drugged wine, and in his sleep conveyed him to the duke’s bed, throwing his scarf under the bed of the duchess, which was in an adjoining chamber. He then revealed these proofs of guilt to his cousin Leonardo, but Leonardo refused to believe in his wife’s guilt, and Julian St. Pierre exposed the whole scheme of villainy, amply vindicating the innocence of Mariana, who turned out to be Julian’s sister.—S. Knowles, _The Wife_ (1833).

=Ferrau=, a Saracen, son of Landfu´sa. Having dropped his helmet in a river, he vowed never to wear another till he won that worn by Orlando. Orlando slew him by a wound in the navel, his only vulnerable part.—Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

=Ferraugh= (_Sir_), introduced in bk. iii. 8, but without a name, as carrying off the false Florimel from Braggadoccio. In bk. iv. 2, the name is given. He is there overthrown by Sir Blandamour, who takes away with him the false Florimel, the lady of snow and wax.—Spenser, _Faëry Queen_ (1590, 1596).

=Ferret=, an avaricious, mean-spirited slanderer, who blasts by innuendoes, and blights by hints and cautions. He hates young Heartall, and misinterprets all his generous acts, attributing his benevolence to hush-money. The rascal is at last found out and foiled.—Cherry, _The Soldier’s Daughter_ (1804).

=Ferrex=, eldest son of Gorboduc, a legendary king of Britain. Being driven by his brother Porrex from the kingdom, he returned with a large army, but was defeated and slain by Porrex.—_Gorboduc_, a tragedy by Thom. Norton and Thom. Sackville (1561).

=Ferris= (_Henry_). Artist and American consul at Venice. In love with Florida Vervain, but believes her infatuated by an Italian priest who longs to leave his vocation. He learns the truth at the priest’s death-bed. Finds Florida in New York, explains, receives absolution and is married.—W.D. Howells, _A Foregone Conclusion_ (1874).

=Ferrol=. Northern man of letters who makes “a study” of Louisiana and Louisiana’s father. The honest planter surveys him with curiosity as “‘a littery man. I had an idee that thar was only one on ye now an’ ag’in—jest now an’ ag’in.’ Ferrol did not smile at all. His manner was perfect—so full of interest that Mr. Rogers quite warmed and expanded under it.”—Frances Hodgson Burnett, _Louisiana_ (1880).

=Fetnab= (“_a tormentor of hearts_”), the favorite of the Caliph Haroun-al-Raschid. While the caliph was absent in his wars, Zobeidê (3 _syl._), the caliph’s wife, out of jealousy, ordered Fetnab to be buried alive. Ganem happened accidentally to see the interment, rescued her, and took her home to his own private lodgings in Bagdad. The caliph, on his return, mourned for Fetnab; but receiving from her a letter of explanation, he became jealous of Ganem, and ordered him to be put to death. Ganem, however, contrived to escape. When the fit of jealousy was over, the caliph heard the facts plainly stated, whereupon he released Fetnab, and gave her in marriage to Ganem, and appointed the young man to a very lucrative post about the court.—_Arabian Nights_, (“Ganem, the slave of Love”).

=Fe´zon,= daughter of Savary, duke of Aquitaine. The Green Knight, who was a pagan, demanded her in marriage, but Orson (brother of Valentine), called “The Wild Man of the Forest,” overthrew the pagan and married Fezon.—_Valentine and Orson_ (fifteenth century).

=Fiammetta,= a lady beloved by Boccaccio, supposed to be Maria, daughter of Robert, king of Naples. (Italian, fiammetta, a little flame).

=Fib,= an attendant on Queen Mab.—Drayton, _Nymphidia_.

=Fiction.= _Father of Modern Prose Fiction_, Daniel Defoe (1663-1731).

=Fiddler= (_Oliver’s_). Sir Roger l’Estrange was so called, because at one time he was playing a fiddle or viole in the house of John Hingston, where Cromwell was one of the guests (1616-1704).

=Fiddler Joss,= Mr. Joseph Poole, a reformed drunkard, who subsequently turned preacher in London, but retained his former sobriquet.

=Fide´le= (3 _syl._), the name assumed by Imogen, when, attired in boy’s clothes, she started for Milford Haven to meet her husband Posthŭmus.—Shakespeare, _Cymbeline_ (1605).

⁂ Collins has a beautiful elegy on “Fidele.”

=Fidelia,= “the foundling.” She is in reality Harriet, the daughter of Sir Charles Raymond, but her mother dying in childbirth, she was committed to the charge of a governante. The governante sold the child, at the age of 12, to one Villiard, and then wrote to Sir Charles to say that she was dead. One night, Charles Belmont, passing by, heard cries of distress, and going to the rescue took the girl home as a companion to his sister. He fell in love with her: the governante, on her death-bed, told the story of her birth; and Charles married the foundling.—Ed. Moore, _The Foundling_ (1748).

=Fide´lio,= Leono´ra, wife of Fernando Florestan. She assumed the name of Fidelio, and dressed in male attire when her husband was a state prisoner, that she might enter the service of Rocco the jailer, and hold intercourse with her husband.—Beethoven, _Fidelio_ (1791).

=Fides= (2 _syl._), mother of John of Leyden. Believing that the prophet-ruler of Westphalia had caused her son’s death, she went to Munster to curse him. Seeing the ruler pass, she recognized in him her own son; but the son pretended not to know his mother, and Fidês, to save him annoyance, professed to have made a mistake. She was put into a dungeon, where John visited her, and when he set fire to his palace, Fidês rushed into the flames, and both perished together.—Meyerbeer, _Le Prophete_ (1849).

=Fidessa,= the companion of Sansfoy; but when the Red Cross Knight slew that “faithless Saracen,” Fidessa told him she was the only daughter of an emperor of Italy; that she was betrothed to a rich and wise king; and that her betrothed being slain, she had set forth to find the body, in order that she might decently inter it. She said that in her wanderings Sansfoy had met her and compelled her to be his companion: but she thanked the knight for having come to her rescue. The Red Cross Knight, wholly deluded by this plausible tale, assured Fidessa of his sympathy and protection: but she turned out to be Duessa, the daughter of Falsehood and Shame. The sequel must be sought under the word DUESSA.—Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, i. 2 (1590).

=Fido,= Faith personified, the foster-son of Acŏë (“hearing,” _Rom._ x. 17); his foster-sister is Meditation. Fully described in canto ix. of _The Purple Island_ (1633), by Phineas Fletcher. (Latin, _fidês_, “faith.”)

=Field of the Forty Footsteps,= at the back of the British Museum, once called Southampton Fields. The tradition is that two brothers, in the Monmouth rebellion, took different sides, and engaged each other in fight. Both were killed, and forty impressions of their feet were traceable in the field for years afterwards.

⁂ The Misses Porter wrote a novel called _The Field of the Forty Footsteps_, and the Messrs. Mayhew took the same subject for a melodrama.

=Fielding= (_Mrs._), a little querulous old lady with a peevish face, who, in consequence of having once been better off, or of laboring under the impression that she might have been, if something in the indigo trade had happened differently, was very genteel and patronizing indeed. When she dressed for a party, she wore gloves, and a cap of state “almost as tall, and quite as stiff as a mitre.”

_May Fielding_, her daughter, very pretty and innocent. She was engaged to Edward Plummer, but heard that he had died in South America, and consented to marry Tackleton the toy merchant. A few days before the day fixed for the wedding, Edward Plummer returned, and they were married. Tackleton gave them as a present the cake he had ordered for his own wedding feast.—C. Dickens, _The Cricket on the Hearth_ (1845).

=Fielding of the Drama,= George Farquhar, author of _The Beaux’ Stratagem_, etc. (1678-1707).

=Fielding’s Proverbs.= These were in reality compiled by W. Henry Ireland, the Shakespeare impostor, who published _Miscellaneous Papers and Instruments, under the hand and seal of William Shakespeare, including the tragedy of King Lear and a small fragment of Hamlet, from the original_, 1796, folio, £4 4_s_. The whole was a barefaced forgery.

=Fierabras= (_Sir_) [_Fe.ā´.ra.brah_], a Saracen of Spain, who made himself master of Rome, and carried away the crown of thorns and the balsam with which the Lord had been embalmed. His chief exploit was to slay the giant who guarded the bridge of Mantible, which had thirty arches, all of black marble. Bal´and of Spain assumed the name of Sir Fierabras.

_Balsam of Fierabras_, the balsam used in embalming the body of Christ, stolen by Sir Fierabras. It possessed such virtues that one single drop, taken internally, sufficed to heal the most malignant wound.

=Fierabras of Alexandria,= the greatest giant that ever walked the earth. He possessed all Babylon, even to the Red Sea, was seigneur of Russia, lord of Cologne, master of Jerusalem, and of the Holy Sepulchre. This huge giant ended his days in the odor of sanctity, “meek as a lamb, and humble as he was meek.”

=Fierce= (_The_), Alexander I. of Scotland, so called from the impetuosity of his temper (*, 1107-1124).

=Fiesco,= the chief character of Schiller’s tragedy so called. The poet makes Fiesco to be killed by the hand of Verri´na the republican; but history says his death was the result of a stumble from a plank (1783).

=Fig´aro=, a barber of extraordinary cunning, dexterity, and intrigue.—Beaumarchais, _Barbier de Séville_ (1775).

_Fig´aro_, a valet, who outwits every one by his dexterity and cunning.—Beaumarchais, _Mariage de Figaro_ (1784).

⁂ Several operas have been founded on these two comedies: _e.g._ Mozart’s _Nozze di Figaro_ (1786); Paisiello’s _Il Barbiere di Siviglia_ (1810); Rossini’s _Il Barbiere di Siviglia_ (1816).

_Fig´aro,_ the sweetheart of Susan (favorite waiting-woman of the Countess Almaviva). Figaro is never so happy as when he has two or three plots in hand.—T. Holcroft, _The Follies of a Day_ (1745-1809).

=Fighting Prelate= (_The_), Henry Spencer, bishop of Norwich. He opposed the rebels under Wat Tyler with the temporal sword, absolved them, and then sent them to the gibbet. In 1383 he went to assist the burghers of Ghent in their contest with the count of Flanders.

The bishop of Norwich, the famous “Fighting Prelate,” had led an army into Flanders.—Lord Campbell.

=Filch=, a lad brought up as a pick-pocket. Mrs. Peachum says, “He hath as fine a hand at picking a pocket as a woman, and is as nimble-fingered as a juggler. If an unlucky session does not cut the rope of thy life, I pronounce, boy, thou wilt be a great man in history” (act i. 1).—Gay, _The Beggar’s Opera_ (1727).

=Fi´ler=, a lean, churlish man, who takes poor Toby Veck’s tripe, and delivers him a homily on the sinfulness of luxury and self-indulgence.—C. Dickens, _The Chimes_ (1844).

=Filia Doloro´sa=, the Duchess d’Angoulême, daughter of Louis XVI. Also called “The Modern Antig´onê” (1778-1851).

=Fillan=, son of Fingal and Clatho, the most highly finished character in the poem of _Tem´ora_. Fillan was younger than his nephew Oscar, and does not appear on the scene until after Oscar’s death. He is rash and fiery, eager for military glory, and brave as a lion. When Fingal appointed Gaul to command for the day, Fillan had hoped his father’s choice might have fallen to his own lot. “On his spear stood the son of Clatho ... thrice he raised his eyes to Fingal; his voice thrice failed him as he spoke ... He strode away; bent over a distant stream ... the tear hung in his eye. He struck at times the thistle’s head with his inverted spear.” Yet showed he no jealousy, for when Gaul was in danger, he risked his own life to save him. Next day was Fillan’s turn to lead, and his deeds were unrivalled in dash and brilliancy. He slew Foldath, the general of the opposing army, but when Cathmor, “Lord of Atha,” the commander-in-chief, came against him, Fillan fell. His modesty was then as prominent as his bravery. “Lay me,” he said to Ossian, “in that hollow rock. Raise no stone above me ... I am fallen in the first of my fields, fallen without renown.” Every incident of Fillan’s life is beautiful in the extreme.—Ossian, _Temora_, v.

=Filippo= (_Don_). In love with Camilla, heroine of _Signor Monaldini’s Niece_. His wife is insane, and he suffers himself to become enamored of this young girl, who repels him with holy, heroic words. His conscience comes to his aid when she appeals to him. While he hesitates to speak the words of parting, she springs into a pool beside them, and is to all appearance drowned. While she lies unconscious, a telegram is brought, saying that his wife is dead. Camilla revives, after a long period of insensibility, and all is well.—Mary Agnes Tincker, _Signor Monaldini’s Niece_, (1879).

=Fillpot= (_Toby_), a thirsty old soul, who “among jolly topers bore off the bell.” It chanced as in dog-days he sat boosing in his arbor, that he died “full as big as a Dorchester butt.” His body turned to clay, and out of the clay a brown jug was made, sacred to friendship, mirth, and mild ale.

His body, when long in the ground it had lain, And time into clay had resolved it again, A potter found out in its covert so snug, And with part of fat Toby he formed this brown jug, Now sacred to friendship, to mirth, and mild ale. So here’s to my lovely sweet Nan of the vale. Rev. Francis Fawkes (1721-1777).

⁂ The two best drinking songs in the language were both by clergymen. The other is, _I Cannot Eat but Little Meat_, by John Still, bishop of Bath and Wells (1534-1607).

=Filome´na= (_Santa_). At Pisa the church of San Francisco contains a chapel lately dedicated to Santa Filomena. Over the altar is a picture by Sabatelli, which represents Filomena as a nymph-like figure floating down from heaven, attended by two angels bearing the lily, the palm, and a javelin. In the fore-ground are the sick and maimed, healed by her intercession.

Nor ever shall be wanting here The palm, the lily, and the spear: The symbols that of yore St. Filomena bore Longfellow, _St. Filomena_.

⁂ Longfellow calls Florence Nightingale “St. Filomena” (born at Florence, 1820).

=Finality John,= Lord John Russell (afterwards “Earl Russell”), who maintained that the Reform Bill of 1832 was a _finality_ (1792-1878).

=Finch= (_Margaret_), queen of the gypsies, who died aged 109, a.d. 1740. She was born at Sutton, in Kent, and was buried at Beckenham, in the same county.

_Finch_ (_Lucilla_). Blind girl whose sight is restored for a little while. The man she has loved while blind has received injuries that make him repulsive to the eye. His crafty brother contrives that the girl shall mistake him for her betrothed. A series of complications has a climax in the return of Miss Finch’s blindness, after which matters resume the former course and she marries the right man.—Wilkie Collins, _Poor Miss Finch_.

=Fine-ear,= one of the seven attendants of Fortunio. He could hear the grass grow, and even the wool on the sheep’s back.—Comtesse D’Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_ (“Fortunio,” 1682).

⁂ In Grimm’s _Goblin’s_ is the same fairy tale (“Fortunio”).

=Fin´etor,= a necromancer, father of the Enchantress Damsel.—Vasco de Lobeira, _Amadis de Gaul_ (thirteenth century).

=Finetta,= “the cinder girl,” a fairy tale by the Comtesse D’Aunoy (1682). This is merely the old tale of Cinderella slightly altered. Finetta was the youngest of three princesses, despised by them, and put to all sorts of menial work. The two sisters went to balls, and left Finetta at home in charge of the house. One day she found a gold key, which opened a wardrobe full of most excellent dresses; so arraying herself in one, she followed her sisters to the ball, but she was so fine that they knew her not, and she ran home before them. This occurred two or three times, but at last, in running home, she lost one of her slippers. The young prince resolved to marry her whose foot fitted the slipper, and Finetta became his wife. Finetta was also called Auricula or “Fine-ear.”

=Fingal= (or _Fion na Gael_).

His _father_ was Comhal or Combal, and his _mother_ Morna.

(Comhal was the son of Trathal, king of Morven, and Morna was the daughter of Thaddu.)

His first _wife_ was Roscrana, mother of Ossian. His second was Clatho, mother of Fillan, etc.

(Roscrana was the daughter of Cormac I. third king of Ireland).

His _daughter_ was Bosmi´na, and his _sons_ Ossian, Fillan, Ryno, and Fergus. (The son of Ossian was Oscar.)

(Fillan was younger than his nephew Oscar, and both, together with Ryno, were slain in battle before Fingal died.)

His _bard_ and _herald_ was Ullin. His _sword_ Luno, so called from its maker, Luno of Locklin (_Denmark_).

His _kingdom_ was Morven (_The northwest coast of Scotland_); his _capital_ Semo; his _subjects_ were Caledonians or Gaels.

After the restoration of Ferad-Artho to the throne of Ireland, Fingal “resigned his spear to Ossian,” and died A.D. 283.

_Fingal_, an epic in six books, by Ossian. The subject is the invasion of Ireland by Swaran, king of Lochlin (_Denmark_) during the reign of Cormac II. (a minor), and its deliverance by the aid of Fingal, king of Morven (_northwest coast of Scotland_). The poem opens with the overthrow of Cuthullin, general of the Irish forces, and concludes with the return of Swaran to his own land.

=Finger.= “Little finger tell me true.” When M. Argan wishes to pump his little daughter Louison, respecting a young gentleman who pays attentions to her elder sister, he says to the child, “Prenez-y bien garde au moins; car voilà un petit doigt, qui sait tout, qui me dira si vous mentez.” When the child has told him all she knows, he puts his little finger to his ear and says, “Voilà mon petit doigt pourtant qui gronde quelque chose. Attendez! Hé! Ah, ah! Oui? Oh, oh! voila mon petit doigt, qui me dit quelque chose que vous avez vu et que vous ne m’avez pas dit.” To which the child replies, “Ah! mon papa, votre petit doigt est un menteur.”—Molière, _Le Malade Imaginaire_, ii. 11 (1673).

=Finis Poloniæ.= These words are attributed (but without sufficient authority) to Koscziusko the Pole, when he lay wounded by the balls of Suwaroff’s troops on the field of Maciejowieze (October 10, 1794).

Percé de coups, Koscziusko s’écria en tombant “Finis Poloniæ.”—Michaud, _Biographie Universelle_.

=Finlayson= (_Luckie_), landlady of the lodgings in the Canongate of Edinburgh.—Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).

=Fin´niston= (_Duncan_), a tenant of the laird of Gudgeonford.

_Luckie Finniston_, wife of Duncan.—Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).

=Fion= (son of Comnal), an enormous giant, who could place one foot on Mount Cromleach, in Ulster, and the other on Mount Crommal, close by, and then dip his hand in the river Lubar, which ran between.

With one foot on the Crommal set and one on Mount Cromleach, The waters of the Lubar stream his giant hand could reach. _Translation of the Gaelic._

=Fiona,= a series of traditionary old Irish poems on the subject of Fion M’Comnal and the heroes connected with him.

=Fionnua´la,= daughter of Lir. Being transformed into a swan, she was doomed to wander over the lakes and rivers of Ireland till the Irish became Christians, but the sound of the first mass bell in the island was to be the signal of her release.

Silent, O Moyle, be the roar of thy water [_County Tyrone_] ... While murmuring mournfully Lir’s lonely daughter Tells to the night-star her tale of woes. When shall the “Swan,” her death-note singing, Sleep with wings in darkness furled? When will heaven, its sweet “bell” ringing, Call my spirit from this stormy world? T. Moore, _Irish Melodies_, iv. (“The Song of Fionnuala”).

=Fips= (_Mr_.), a sedate, mysterious personage, living in an office in Austin Friars (London). He is employed by some unknown benefactor (either John Westlock or old Martin Chuzzlewit) to engage Tom Pinch at a weekly salary as librarian to the Temple Library.—C. Dickens, _Martin Chuzzlewit_ (1844).

=Fir-bolg= (_i.e._ _bowmen_, from _bolg_, “a quiver”), a colony of Belgæ from Britain, led by Larthon to Ireland and settled in the southern parts of the island. Their chief was called “lord of Atha” (a country of Connaught), and thence Ireland was called Bolga. Somewhat later a colony of Caledonians from the western coast of Scotland settled in the northern parts of Ireland, and made Ulster their headquarters. When Crotha was “lord of Atha” he carried off Conlama (daughter of the Cael chief) by force, and a general war between the two races ensued. The Cael were reduced to the last extremity, and sent to Trathal (grandfather of Fingal) for aid. Trathal accordingly sent over Conar with an army, and on his reaching Ulster he was made “king of the Cael” by acclamation. He utterly subdued the Fir-bolg, and assumed the title of “king of Ireland;” but the Fir-bolg often rose in insurrection, and made many attempts to expel the race of Conar.—Ossian.

=Fire-Brand of France= (_The_) John duke of Bedford, regent of France (1389-1435).