DICTIONARY
OF
NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY
FORREST GARNER
DICTIONARY
OF
NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY
EDITED BY
LESLIE STEPHEN
VOL. XX. FORREST GARNER
MACMILLAN AND CO.
LONDON : SMITH, ELDER, & CO. 1889
DA
12
f
LIST OF WEITEES
IN THE TWENTIETH VOLUME.
J. G. A. . . A. J. A. . .
T. A. A. . H. W. B. G. F. E. B
J. G-. ALGER.
SIB ALEXANDER J. ARBUTHNOT,
K.C.S.I. . T. A. ARCHER. . H. W. BALL. . G. F. EUSSELL BARKER. THE EEV. EONALD BAYNE. THOMAS BAYNE. . WILLIAM BAYNE.
PROFESSOR CECIL BENDALL. . G. T. BBTTANY. . A. C. BICKLBY. . THE EEV. B. H. BLACKER. . THE EEV. PROFESSOR BLAIKIE, D.D . G. C. BOASE. . G. S. BOULGER. . Miss BRADLEY. . Miss E. M. BRADLEY. . THE EEV. A. E. BUCKLAND. . A. H. BULLEN. . G. W. BURNETT. . JAMES BURNLEY. jk B ..... PROFESSOR MONTAGU BURROWS. E. C-N. . . . EDWIN CANNAN. H. M. C. . . H. MANNERS CHICHESTER. E. M. C. . . Miss E. M. CLERKS. J. C ..... THE EEV. JAMES COOPER. T. C ..... THOMPSON COOPER, F.S.A.
T. B
W, B-E. .
C B
G. T. B. .
A. C. B. .
B. H. B. . W. G. B. . G. C. B. . G. S. B. . E. T. B. . E. M. B. . A. E. B. . A. H. B. . G. W. B. J. B-Y. . .
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.
E. K. D. . . PROFESSOR E. K. DOUGLAS.
J. W. E. . . THE EEV. J. W. BBS-WORTH, F.S.A.
F. E FRANCIS ESPINASSE.
L. F Louis FAGAN.
C. H. F. . . C. H. FIRTH.
W. F THE EEV. WILLIAM FORSYTE.
G. K. F. . . G. K. FORTESCUE.
J. G. F. . . J. G. FOTHERINGHAM.
T. F THE EEV. THOMAS FOWLER, President
of Corpus Christ! College, Oxford.
H. F THE EEV. HENRY FURNEAUX.
J. G JAMES GAIRDNEB.
E. G EICHARD GAHNETT, LL.D.
J. T. G. . . J. T. GILBERT, F.S.A. E. C. K. G. E. C. K. GONNER.
G. G GORDON GOODWIN.
A. G THE EEV. ALEXANDER GORDON.
E. E. G. . . E. E. GRAVES.
W. A. G. . W. A. GREENHILL, M.D.
J. A. H. . . J. A. HAMILTON.
T. H THE EEV. THOMAS HAMILTON, D.D.
R. H EGBERT HARRISON.
W. J. H. . . PROFESSOR W. JEROME HARRISUN.
VI
List of Writers.
T. F. H. . .
R. H-B. . . W. H. . . .
B. D. J. . . R. J. J
C. K
C. L. K. . .
J. K
J. K. L. . . S. L. L. .. H. R. L. . . G. P. M. . . J. A. F. M.
D. S. M. . . C. T. M. . L. M. M.. .
C. M
N. M
J. B. M. . .
A. N
T. 0
H. P. .
T. F. HENDERSON.
THE REV. RICHARD HOOPER.
THE REV. WILLIAM HUNT.
B. D. JACKSON.
THE REV. R. JEXKIN JONES. CHARLES KENT.
C. L. KINOSFORD. JOSEPH KNIGHT. PROFESSOR J. K. LAUGHTON. 8. L. LEE.
THE REV. H. R. LUARD, D.D. G. P. MACDONELL. J. A. FULLER MAITLAND. PROFESSOR D. S. MARGOLIOUTH. C. TRICE MARTIN, F.S.A.
MlSS MlDDLETON.
COSMO MONKHOUSE. NORMAN MOORE, M.D. J. BASS MULLINGEB. ALBERT NICHOLSON. THE REV. THOMAS OLDEN. HENRY PATON.
J. F. P. . . J. F. PAYNE, M.D.
G. G. P. . . THE REV. CANON PERRY.
N. P THE REV. NICHOLAS POCOCK.
S. L.-P. . . STANLEY LANE-POOLK.
E. J. R. . . E. J. RAPSON.
J. M. R. . . J. M. RIGG.
C. J. R. . . THE REV. C. J. ROBINSON.
L. C. S. . . L. C. SANDERS.
G. B. S. . . G. BARNETT SMITH.
L. S LESLIE STEPHEN.
H. M. S. . . H. MORSE STEPHENS. C. W. S. . . C. W. BUTTON.
J. T JAMES TACT.
H. R. T. . . H. R. TEDDER.
T. F. T. . . PROFESSOR T. F. Tour.
E. V THE REV. CANON VENABLES.
A. V. .... ALSAGER VIAN.
T. H. W. . T. HUMPHRY WARD.
M. G. W. . THE REV. M. G. WATKINS.
F. W-T. . . FRANCIS WATT.
H. T. W. . H. THUEMAN WOOD.
W. W. . . . WARWICK WROTH, F.S.A.
DICTIONARY
OF
NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY
Forrest
Forrest
FORREST, ARTHUR (d. 1770), com- modore, served as lieutenant in the expedition against Carthagena in 1741 ; is said to have specially distinguished himself under Bos- cawen in the attack on the Baradera battery ; and on 25 May 1741 was promoted by Ver- non to the command of the Alderney bomb. In November 1742 he was appointed to the Hawk sloop, in which, and afterwards in the Success, he was employed on the home station and in convoy service to America. In 1745 he was posted to the command of the Wager, in which he took out a large convoy to New- foundland. In November he was at Boston, where, by pressing some seamen contrary to colonial custom, he got into a troublesome dispute, ending in a serious fray, in which two men were killed. The boatswain of the Wager was arrested on a charge of murder, was convicted, and sentenced to death ; the sentence, however, does not appear to have been carried out. Forrest afterwards went to the West Indies, where, in the following year, he captured a Spanish privateer of much superior force. In 1755 he commanded the Rye, in which he was again sent to the West Indies, and in 1757 was moved into +he Augusta of 60 guns. In October he was detached, with two other ships — Dread- nought and Edinburgh — under his command, to cruise off Cape Francois ; and on the 21st fell in with a powerful French squadron of four ships of the line and three heavy frigates accompanying the large convoy for which he was on the look-out. After a short confer- ence with his colleagues — said to have lasted just half a minute — Forrest determined on attempting to carry out his orders, and bore down on the enemy. It was gallantly done, but the odds against him were too great to permit him to achieve any success ; and after a sharp combat for upwards of two hours, the two squadrons parted, each disabled. The
VOL. XX.
French returned to the Cape, where they re- fitted and then proceeded on their voyage, while Forrest went back to Jamaica. On 24 Dec., being detached singly offPetit Guave, he cleverly bagged the whole of a fleet of eight merchant ships, capturing in the night the sloop of war which was escorting them, and using her as a tender against her own con- voy. In August 1759 he took the Augusta to England, and on paying her off, in April 1760, commissioned the Centaur, one of the ships taken by Boscawen off Lagos in the preceding year. After a few months with the grand fleet in the Bay of Biscay, he went out to Jamaica, where, by the death of Rear- admiral Holmes in November 1761, he was left senior officer. On this he moved into the Cambridge, hoisted a broad pennant, and took on himself both the duties and privi- leges of commander-in-chief, till Sir James Douglas [q. v.], coming from the Leeward Islands in April 1762, summarily dispossessed him. He returned to England, passenger in a merchant ship, when, on reporting himself to the admiralty, he was told that his con- duct in constituting himself commodore was ' most irregular and unjustifiable ; ' and that the officers whom he had promoted would not be confirmed. This led to a long cor- respondence, in which the admiralty so far yielded as to order him to be reimbursed for the expenses he had incurred, though with- out sanctioning the higher rate of pay. In
1769, however, he was sent out to the same station as commander-in-chief, with his broad pennant in the Dunkirk. He enjoyed the appointment but a short time, dying at Ja- maica within the twelvemonth, on 26 May
1770. He married a daughter of Colonel Lynch of Jamaica, by whom he had a large family. Mrs. Forrest survived her husband many years, and died in 1804 at the age of eighty-two.
Forrest
Forrest
[Naval Chronicle, xxv. 441 (with a portrait) ; Charnock's Biog. Navalis, v. 380 ; Beateon's Nav. and Mil. Memoirs ; official letters and other docu- ments in the Public Kecord Office.] J. K. L.
FOKREST, EBENEZER (/. 1774), at- torney, resided at George Street, York Build- ings, London, and was intimate with Hogarth and John Rich, proprietor of the Lincoln's Inn Theatre. He was the father of Theo- dosius Forrest [q. v.] His opera entitled ' Momus turn'd Fabulist, or Vulcan's Wed- ding,' was performed at the Lincoln's Inn Theatre on 3 Dec. 1729 and some subsequent nights. He also wrote ' An Account of what seemed most remarkable in the five days' peregrination of the five following persons, viz. Messrs. Tothall, Scott, Hogarth, Thorn- hill, and F. Begun on Saturday, 27 May 1732, and finished on the 31st of the same month,' London, 1782 (illustrated with plates by Hogarth) : reprinted with W. Gostling's Hudibrastic version, London, 1872, 4to.
[Gent. Mag. 1824, i. 410, 581-2; Brit. Mus. Cat.] J- M. E.
FORREST or FORRES, HENRY (d. 1533?), Scottish, martyr, is referred to by Knox as ' of Linlithgow,' and Foxe describes him as a ' young man born in Linlithgow.' David Laing, in his edition of Knox's ' Works,' conjectures that he may have been the son of 'Thomas Forrest of Linlithgow' men- tioned in the treasurer's accounts as receiving various sums for the ' bigging of the dyke about the paliss of Linlithgow.' He also states that the name ' Henricus Forrus ' occurs in the list of students who became bachelors of arts at the university of Glasgow in 1518, but supposes with more likelihood that he was identical with the ' Henriccus Forrest ' who was a determinant in St. Leonards Col- lege, St. Andrews, in 1526, which would account for his special interest in the fate of Patrick Hamilton. Forrest was a friar of the order of Benedictines. Knox states that Forrest suffered martyrdom for no other crime than having in his possession a New Testa- ment in English ; but Foxe gives as the chief reason that he had ' affirmed and said that Mr. Patrick Hamilton died a martyr, and that his articles were true.' Before being brought to trial Forrest, according to Knox, underwent ' a long imprisonment in the sea tower of St. Andrews.' Foxe and Spotiswood both state that the evidence against him was insufficient until a friar, Walter Laing, was sent on purpose to confess him, when he un- suspiciously revealed his sentiments in regard to Patrick Hamilton. According to Foxe he was first degraded before the ' clergy in a green place,' described, with apparently a
somewhat mistaken knowledge of localities, as 'being between the castle of St. Andrews and another place called Monimail.' He was then condemned as a heretic and burned at the north church stile of the abbey church of St. Andrews, ' to the intent that all the people of Anguishe ' (Angus or Forfar, on the north side of the Firth of Tay) ' might see the fire, and so might be the more feared from falling into the like doctrine.' When brought to the place of execution he is said to have exclaimed, ' Fie on falsehood ! fie on false friars, revealers of confession ! ' Calderwood supposes the mar- tyrdom to have occurred in 1529 or the year following, but as Foxe places it within five years after Hamilton's martyrdom, and Knox refers to Forrest's ' long imprisonment,' it in all probability took place in 1532 or 1533.
[Foxe's Acts and Monuments ; Calderwood's History of the Church of Scotland, i. 96-7; Knox's Works, ed. Laing, i. 52-3, 516-18 ; Spotiswood's History of the Church of Scotland, i. 129-30.] T. F. H.
FORREST, JOHN (1474 P-1538), martyr. [See FOBEST.]
FORREST, ROBERT (1789 P-1852),
sculptor, was born in 1788 or 1789 at Car- luke, Lanarkshire. He was an entirely self- taught artist, and was brought up as a stone- mason in the quarries of Clydesdale. His first public work was the statue of the ' Wallace wight ' which occupies a niche in the steeple of Lanark parish church, and was erected in 1817. He was subsequently employed to cut the colossal figure of the first Viscount Melville which surmounts the pillar in the centre of St. Andrew Square, Edinburgh, and he was also the sculptor of the statue of John Knox in the necropolis of Glasgow. One of his best works is the statue of Mr. Ferguson of Raith at Haddington ; it was erected in 1843. In 1832 Forrest opened his public exhibition of statuary on the Cal- ton Hill with four equestrian statues, under the patronage of the Royal Association of Contributors to the National Monuments. In progress of time the gallery was extended to about thirty groups, all executed by For- rest. He died at Edinburgh, after an illness of about six weeks' duration, 29 Dec. 1852.
[Eedgrave's Diet, of Artists; Builder, 1853, p. 32.] L. F.
FORREST, THEODOSIUS (1728-1784), author and lawyer, son of Ebenezer Forrest [q. v.l, a solicitor, author of ' Momus turn'd Fabulist,' and a friend of Rich and Hogarth, was born in London in 1728. He studied draw- ing under Lambert, one of the first landscape- painters of his time, and until a year or two
Forrest
before his death annually (1762-81) ex- hibited at the Royal Academy. He then entered his father's business ; and became a steady solicitor, retaining, however, his artis- tic tastes. He had a passion for music, and •could catch and reproduce an air with sur- prising quickness. He was a member of the Beefsteak Club, and his society was prized by Garrick and Colman. As solicitor to Covent Garden Theatre, Forrest was thrown .into close relations with the dramatic pro- fession, and he composed a musical entertain- ment. ' The Weathercock,' produced at Covent Garden 17 Oct. 1775, said by Genest to be ' poor stuff.' As a writer of songs, however, Forrest was more successful. He is said to have been exceedingly generous, a man of strict integrity, a good judge in matters of art, and an agreeable and entertaining companion. He earned considerable reputation for the rendering of his own ballads. Towards the close of his life Forrest was afflicted with a painful nervous disorder, attended with a black jaundice. He was thrown into a con- dition of deep melancholy, and on 5 Nov. 1784 killed himself at his chambers in George Street, York Buildings, London. Forrest had a plentiful income, and was very charitable. A portrait of Forrest, with Francis Grose the antiquary [q. v.] and Hone, was painted by Dance and engraved by Bartolozzi.
[Baker's Biographia Dramatica, 1812 ; Gent. Mag. 1784, p. 877 (article by Thomas Tyers), and 1824, i. 582 ; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. iii. 659 ; Genest's Hist, of the Stage, v. 512 ; Graves's Diet, of Artists.] G. B. S.
FORREST, THOMAS (d. 1540), Scottish martyr. [See FOKKET.]
FORREST, THOMAS (fl. 1580), was author of ' A Perfite Looking Glasse for all Estates : most excellently and eloquently set forth by the famous and learned Oratour Isocrates, as contained in three Orations of Morall Instructions, written in the Greeke tongue, of late yeeres: Translated into Latine by ... Hieronimus Wolfius. And nowe Englished . . . with sundrie examples of pithy sentences, both of Princes and Philo- sophers, gathered and collected out of divers writers, Coted in the margent, approbating the Author's intent. . . . Imprinted in New- gate Market, within the new Rents, at the Signe of the Lucrece, 1580.' The volume is a quarto of forty-six leaves, and is dedicated by the translator, Tho. Forrest, to Sir Thomas Bromley. There are also prefixed ' An Epistle to the Reader;' 'The Author's En- chomion upon Sir Thomas Bromley ; ' ' J. D. in Commendation of the Author ; "In Praise
of the Author, S. Norreis;' 'The Booke to the Reader.' The volume is probably ' cer- ten orations of Isocrates ' found in the Sta- tioners' Register under date 4 Jan. 1580. Ritson puts Forrest among the English poets because of the ' Enchomion ' above mentioned.
[Ames's Typogr. Antiq. (Herbert), p. 997; Kitson's Bibl. Poet. p. 209 ; Arber's Stationers' Registers, ii. 165; Hunter's Chorus Vatum, iii. 296 (Addit. MS. Brit. Mus. 24489).] K. B.
FORREST, THOMAS (1729 P-1802 ?), navigator, appears to have served for some time in the royal navy, and to have been a midshipman in 1745. It was probably after the peace in 1748 that he entered the service of the East India Company, and different passages in his own writings show that he was employed in Indian seas from 1753 almost continuously, though he implies that during part of the seven years' war he was on board the Elizabeth, a 64-gun ship, in the squadron under Admiral Steevens. His name, however, does not appear in the Eliza- beth's pay-book. In 1762 he had command of a company's ship, from which he seems to date his experience when, writing in 1782, he spoke of himself as having above twenty years' practice in 'the country trade;' as having made fifteen voyages from Hindostan to the East, and four voyages from England to India, and thus being permitted to claim some knowledge of the winds, weather, and sailing routes of the station, adding, however, that of the Persian and Red Sea Gulfs he knew little, never having been there. With this accumulation of practical learning he published at Calcutta ' A Treatise on the Mon- soons in East India' (sm. 4to, 1782), a 2nd edition of which was published in London (12mo, 1783), a little book of interesting ex- periences and exploded theories. In 1770 he was engaged in forming the new settlement at Balambangan, which had been recom- mended by Alexander Dalrymple [q. v.], and in 1774, when the council, in accordance with their instructions, and with a view to deve- loping new sources of trade, were desirous of sending an exploring party in the direction of New Guinea, Forrest offered his services, which were readily accepted. He sailed on 9 Dec. in the Tartar, a native boat of about ten tons burden, with two English officers and a crew of eighteen Malays. In this, ac- companied during part of the time by two small boats, he pushed his explorations as far as Geelvink Bay in New Guinea, examin- ing the Sulu Archipelago, the south coast of Mindanao, Mandiolo, Batchian, and more especially Waygiou, which he first laid down
B2
Forrest
Forrest
on the chart with some approach to accuracy, and returned to Achin in March 1776. The voyage was one of examination and inquiry rather than of discovery, and the additions made to geographical knowledge were cor- rections of detail rather than startling no- velties ; but the tact with which Forrest had conducted his intercourse with the natives, and the amount of work done in a crazy boat of ten tons, deservedly won him credit as a navigator. He published a detailed account of the voyage, under the title, 'A Voyage to New Guinea and the Moluccas from Balam- bangan . . . during the years 1774-5-6 '(4to, 1779), with a portrait. In December 1782 Forrest was employed by the governor-ge- neral, Warren Hastings, to gain intelligence of the French fleet, which had left the coast of India, and evaded the observation of Sir Edward Hughes [q.v.], the English com- mander-in-chief. It was believed that it had gone to Mauritius. Forrest found it at Achi n, and bringing back the information to Vizaga- patam, just before the return of the French, saved many country vessels from falling into their hands. In the following June he sailed again to survey the Andaman Islands, but falling to leeward of them, passed through the Preparis Channel to the Tenasserim coast, which he examined southwards as far as Quedah ; the account of the voyage, under the title, 'A Journal of the Esther Brig, Capt. Thomas Forrest, from Bengal to Quedah, in 1783,' was afterwards edited by Dalrymple, and published at the charge of the East India Company (4to, 1789). In 1790 he made a fuller examination of the same coast and of the islands lying off it, in, as he dis- covered, a long row, leaving a sheltered pas- sage 125 miles long between them and the main land, to which he gave the name of Forrest Strait, by which it is still known. The results of this voyage were published as ' A Voyage from Calcutta to the Mergui Ar- chipelago' (4to, 1792), with which were in- cluded some minor essays and descriptive accounts, as well as a reprint of the ' Treatise on the Monsoons.' This volume is dedicated to William Aldersey, president of the board of trade in Bengal, by his ' most affectionate cousin,' with which solitary exception we have no information as to his family. Forrest is said to have died in India about 1802.
[Forrest's own writings, as enumerated above, seem the only foundation of the several memoirs that have been written, the best of which is that in the Biographic Universelle (Supplement). Some letters to Warren Hastings in 1784-5 in Addit. MSS. 29164 f. 171, 29166 f. 135, 29169 f. 118, show that before 1790 he had already examined the Mergui Islands.] J. K. L.
FORREST, WILLIAM (Jl. 1581), catholic priest and poet, is stated by Wood to have been a relative of John Forest [q.v.], the Franciscan friar. He received his edu- cation at Christ Church, Oxford, and he was present at the discussions held at Oxford in 1530, when Henry VIII desired to procure the judgment of the university in the matter of the divorce. He appears to have attended the funeral of Queen Catherine of Arragon at Peterborough in 1536. He was an eye- witness of the erection of Wolsey's college upon the site of the priory of St. Frideswide, and there can be no doubt that he was ap- pointed to some post in the college as re- founded by the King, as his name occurs among the pensioned members after its disso- lution as the recipient of an annual allowance of 6/. in 1553 and 1556. In 1548 he had dedicated his version of the treatise 'De re- gimine Principum' to the Duke of Somerset, as also in 1551 his paraphrase of some of the psalms. This continued choice of patron, coupled with the character of the latter work, affords some ground for Warton's suspicion that Forrest ' could accommodate his faith to the reigning powers.' In 1553, however, he came forward with warm congratulations on the accession of Mary, and, being in priest's orders, he was soon afterwards nominated one of the queen's chaplains. Among Browne Willis's manuscript collections for Bucking- hamshire, preserved in the Bodleian Library, double entries are found of the presentation of William Forest by Anthony Lamson on 1 July 1556 to the vicarage of Bledlow in that county ; but in Lipscomb's 'Bucking- hamshire' the name of the presentee is given as William Fortescue, and the discrepancy has not yet been cleared up. In 1558 Forrest presented to Queen Mary his poem of ' The Second Gresyld.' Of his career after the death of his royal mistress nothing certain is known. He was probably protected by Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk, to whom he dedicated his 'History of Joseph' shortly before the duke's execution in 1572. Forrest remained in the same faith to the last. This is shown by the fact that the two dates '27 Oct. 1572, per me Guil. Forrestum,' and < 1581 ' occur in a volume (Harl. MS. 1703) containing a poem which in a devout tone treats of the life of the Blessed Virgin and of the Immaculate Conception. But, although a Roman catholic, he was not papal, and in one of his poems he speaks strongly of the right of each national branch of the church to enjoy self-government. He was well skilled in music, and had a collection of the choicest compositions then in vogue. These manu- scripts came into the hands of Dr. Heather,
Forrest
Forrester
founder of the musical praxis and professorship at Oxford, and are preserved in the archives belonging to that institution. Forrest was on terms of friendship with Alexander Bar- clay [q. v.], the translator of Brant's ' Ship of Pools, of whom he gives some interesting particulars. There is a portrait of him in the Royal MS. 17 D. iii. He is represented as a young man in a priest's gown, and with long flowing hair not tonsured (NICHOLS, Literary Jlemains of Edward VI, i. p. cccxxxv).
His poetical works are: 1. 'The History of Joseph the Chaiste composed in balladde royall crudely ; largely derived from the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. In two parts.' Dedicated to Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk, and dated as having been finished 11 April 1569, but said by the au- thor to have been originally written twenty- four years before. The first part, written on vellum, is in the library of University Col- lege, Oxford, and the second part is in the Royal Library, British Museum, 18 C. xiii. A copy of both parts in one folio volume of 286 pages, written on paper, is in the posses- sion of the Rev. J. E. A. Fenwick, at Thirle- stane House, Cheltenham, being in the col- lection of Sir Thomas Phillipps, which that gentleman inherited. 2. ' A Notable Warke called the pleasant Poesie of princelie Prac- tise, composed of late by the simple and un- learned sir William Forrest, priest, much part collected out of a booke entitled the " Governance of Noblemen," which booke the wyse philosopher Aristotle wrote to his dis- ciple Alexander the Great,' Royal MS. in British Museum, 17 D. iii. This work, written in 1548, and dedicated to the Duke of Somer- set, was intended, when sanctioned by him, for the use of Edward VI. A long extract from it is printed in ' England in the Reign of Henry VIII. Starkey's Life and Letters ' (Early English Text Society), 1878, pt. i. p. Ixxix seq. The treatise referred to in the title, 'De regimine Principum,' was written, not by Aristotle, but by ^Cgidius Romanus. 3. A metrical version of some of the Psalms, written in 1551, and also dedicated to the Duke of Somerset. In the Royal Library, British Museum, 17 A. xxi. 4. ' A New Bal- lade of the Marigolde. Imprinted at London in Aldersgate Street by Richard Lant ' [1553]. Verses on the accession of Queen Mary. A copy of the original broadside is in the library of the Society of Antiquaries (LEMON, Cata- logue of Broadsides, p. 12). The ballad was reprinted bv Park in the second edition of the < Harleian Miscellany ' (1813), x. 253. 5. Pater Noster and Te Deum, versified as a prayer and a thanksgiving for Queen Mary. In the first edition of Foxe's ' Acts and Monu-
ments ' (1563), pp. 1139-40. 6. ' A true and most notable History of a right noble and famous Lady, produced in Spain, entitled The Second Gresyld, practised not long out of this time, in much part Tragedious, as delectable both to Hearers and Readers,' folio. In the manuscripts of Anthony a "Wood in the Bodleian Library No. 2, being the copy presented by the author to Queen Mary. It was given to Wood by Ralph Sheldon of Weston Park, Warwickshire. The work, which was finished 25 June 1558, is a narrative in verse of the divorce of Queen Catherine of Arragon. Wood extracted some passages for his English 'Annals of the University of Oxford.' These are printed in Gutch's edition of the 'Annals' (1796), ii. 47, 115. The whole of the ninth chapter was contributed by Dr. Bliss in 1814 to Sir S. E. Brydges's ' British Bibliographer,' iv. 200. The entire poem has since been printed by the Roxburghe Club, with the title of ' The History of Grisild the Second,' London, 1875, 4to, under the editorial supervision of the Rev. W. D. Macray, rector of Ducklington, Oxfordshire, who remarks that Forrest's poems, ' however prosaic under the form of verse, are all of them full of interest, alike as illustrations of the history and manners of his times, and as illustrations of language.' 7. 'An Oration consolatorye to Queen Marye.' At the end of the preceding work. 8. Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, being a poem in praise of her and in honour of the Immacu- late Conception, followed by miscellaneous, moral, and religious verses, dated from 1572 to 1581. In Harl. MS. 1703. This appears to be the volume described by Wood as having been in the possession of the Earl of Ayles- bury.
[Memoir by Macray ; Wood's Athense Ox on. (Bliss), i. 297; Warton's English Poetry (1840), iii. 257 ; Dodd's Church Hist. i. 515 ; Tanner's Bibl. Brit. p. 292 ; Addit. MS. 24490, f. 192 b ; Foxe's Acts and Monuments, ed. Townsend, vii. 124; Kitson's Bibl. Poetica, p. 209; Cal. State Papers, Dom. Eliz. 1591-4, p. 297.] T. C.
FORRESTER, ALFRED HENRY, ar- tist, best known under the name of ALFEED CROWQTJILL (1804-1872), younger brother of Charles Robert Forrester [q. v.], was born in London on 10 Sept. 1804, and educated at a private school in Islington. Although connected with his brother in business for many years, he was never a sworn notary, and in 1839 took the earliest opportunity of retiring from his connection with the city. In 1822 he wrote for the ' Hive ' and in 1823 for the ' Mirror,' which was then under the editorship of John Timbs. He next applied
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himself to the study of drawing and model- ling, as well as to wood and steel engraving. The two brothers were always on the most intimate and friendly terms, and the elder's novel, ' Castle Baynard,' published in 1824, bore the following inscription, ' To Alfred, this little volume is dedicated by his affec- tionate brother, the author.' A. H. Forrester furnished the illustrations to his brother's ' Absurdities ' in 1827, and to his contribu- tions to Bentley's ' Miscellany ' in 1840-1, when the pseudonym of Alfred Crowquill was conjointly used by the writer and the artist. The best of A. H. Forrester's illustra- tive work, mostly designs on wood, were exe- cuted for Bentley, and afterwards reappeared in the ' Phantasmagoria of Fun.' He was also the writer of burlesques, drew panto- mimic extravaganzas for the pictorial papers, and exhibited pen-and-ink sketches in the miniature room of the Roval Academy in 184_5 and 1846. About 1843 C. R. Forrester retired from literary life, and from that time onward the other brother used the name Al- fred Crowquill as sole representative of the previous partnership, and owing to his more numerous works and to his much longer life came at last to be considered as the only Alfred Crowquill, his elder brother being almost completely forgotten. For a time he contributed sketches to ' Punch,' where his work will be found in vols. ii. iii. and iv., and then went over to the ' Illustrated Lon- don News ' as a member of the literary and pictorial staff. As a writer and as an illus- trator of his own writings he was very popu- lar ; upwards of twenty works came from his pen, many of them being children's books. For some years the London pantomimes were indebted to him for designs, devices, and effects. He supplied some of the woodcuts to Chambers's ' Book of Days,' he was one of the illustrators of Miss Louisa H. Sheridan's 'Comic Offering,' 1831, &c., and he was the designer in 1839 of the cover for 'Hood's Own.' In 1851 he modelled a statuette of the Duke of Wellington, which he produced a fortnight before the duke's death and pre- sented to Queen Victoria and the allied so- vereigns. At the time when he originally started as an artist there was not much com- petition, and he consequently found constant work. He was inferior in many respects to Kenny Meadows, although a useful and in- genious man, and many of his works have enjoyed a considerable amount of popularity. He died at 3 Portland Place North, Clap- ham Road, London, 26 May 1872, and was buried in Norwood cemetery on 31 May. The works mentioned below were written by Forrester and contain illustrations bv him-
self: 1. A. Crowquill's 'Guide to Watering- Places,' 1839. 2. ' Sketches of Pumps, bandied by R. Cruikshank, with some Tem- perate Spouting by A. Crowquill,' 1846. 3. ' A good Natural Hint about California,' 1849. 4. ' A Missile for Papists, a few Remarks on the Papacy, by the Ghost of Harry the Eighth's Fool,' 1850. 5. ' Gold, a Legendary Rhyme,' 1850. 6. ' A Bundle of Crowquills, dropped by A. Crowquill in his Eccentric Flights over the Fields of Literature,' 1854. 7. ' Fun,' 1854. 8. ' Picture Fables,' 1854. 9. ' Gruf- fel Swillendrinken, or the Reproof of the Brutes,' 1856. 10. 'The Little Pilgrim,' 1856. 11. ' Tales of Magic and Meaning,' 1856. 12. 'Fairy Tales,' 1857. 13. ' A New Story Book, comprising the Good Boy and Simon and his Great Acquaintance,' 1858. 14. 'Honesty and Cunning/1859. 15. 'Kind- ness and Cruelty, or the Grateful Ogre,' 1859. 16. 'The Red Cap,' 1859. 17. 'The Two Sparrows,' 1859. 18. ' What Uncle told us,' 1861. 19. ' Fairy Footsteps, or Lessons from Legends,' 1861 (with Kenny -Meadows). 20. 'Tales for Children,' 1863. 21. 'Sey- mour's Humorous Sketches, illustrated in Prose and Verse,' 1866. 22. ' The Two Pup- pies,' 1870. 23. ' The Boys and the Giants,' 1870. 24. 'The Cunning Fox,' 1870. 25. 'Dick Do-little, the Idle Sparrow,' 1870. 26. 'The Pictorial Grammar,' 1875.
In the following list the works were illus- trated by A. Crowquill, sometimes in con- junction with other artists: 27. 'Ups and Downs,' 1823. 28. ' Der Freischiitz Tra- vestied,' 1824. 29. 'Paternal Pride,' 1825. 30. ' Despondency and Jealousy,' 1825 (with G. Cruikshank and others). 31. ' Eccentric Tales, by Wr. F. von Kosewitz ' (i.e. C. R. Forrester), 1827. 32. ' Absurdities, in Prose and Verse,' by C. R. Forrester, 1827.
33. ' Faust, a Serio-comic Poem,' 1834.
34. ' Leaves from my Memorandum Book,' 1834. 35. 'The Tour of Dr. Syntax,' 1838. 30. ' Comic Latin Grammar,' 1840 (with J. Leech). 37. ' The Vauxhall Papers,' edited by Alfred Bunn," a periodical, 1841, 1 vol.
38. ' The Sea Pie,' a periodical, 1842, 1 vol.
39. ' Phantasmagoria of Fun,' by C. R. For- rester ; edited and illustrated by A. Crow- quill, 1843, 2 vols. 40. 'Beauty and the Beast,' by Albert R. Smith, 1843. 41. ' A Comic Arithmetic,' 1844. 42. 'Woman's Love,' by G. H. Rodwell, 1846. 43. ' The Wanderings of a Pen and Pencil,' by F. P. Palmer, 1840, eight numbers. 44. ' The Fx- citement, a Tale of our Time,' 1 849. 45. ' The Book of Ballads,' by Bon Gaultier, 1849 (with Doyle and Leech). 46. ' The Sisters,' by H. Cockton, 1851. 47. ' Little Plays for Little Actors,' by Miss J. Corner, 1856.
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48. 'Aunt Mayor's Nursery Tales,' 1856.
49. ' Merry Pictures/ by the comic hands of H. K. Browne, Crowquill, and others, 1857.
50. ' Fairy Tales,' by Cuthbert Bede, 1858.
51. 'Paul Prendergast'(i.e. P. Lee), 1859.
52. 'The Travels of Baron Munchausen,'
1859. 53. ' The Marvellous Adventures of Master Tyll Owlglass,' by T. Eulenspiegel,
1860. 54. ' Strange surprising Adventures of Gooroo Simple,' by C. J. Beschius, 1861. 55. ' Pickwick Abroad,' by G. W. McArthur Reynolds, 1864 (with K. Meadows and On- whyn). 56. ' Little Tiny's Picture Book,' 1871. 57. ' Nelson's Picture Books for the Nursery,' 1873, &c. 58. ' Illustrated Musical Annual ' (with H. K. Browne and K. Mea- dows). 59. ' Six Plates of Pickwickian Sketches.' 60. There are many plates by A. Crowquill in ' A Collection of Caricatures,' 1734-1844, press mark Tab. 524 in the Bri- tish Museum.
[Illustrated Keview, 15 June 1872, pp. 737- 742, with portrait; Men of the Time, 1872, p. 376; Bentley's Miscellany, 1846, xix. 87, 99, •with portrait ; Gent. Mag. May 1850, p. 545 ; Everitt's English Caricaturists, 1886, pp. 194, 368-71, 410; Allibone, i. 455.] G. C. B.
FORRESTER, CHARLES ROBERT (1803-1850), miscellaneous writer, son of Robert Forrester of 5 North Gate, Royal Ex- change, London, public notary, was born in London in 1803, and succeeded his father as a notary, having his place of business at 5 North Piazza, Royal Exchange ; he after- wards removed to 28 Royal Exchange, where he remained till his death. His profession af- forded him abundant means, and he employed his money and his leisure in the pursuit of literature. Adopting the pseudonym of ' Hal Willis, student at law,' he brought out in 1824 ' Castle Baynard, or the Days of John,' and in 1827 a second novel entitled ' Sir Ro- land, a Romance of the Twelfth Century,' 4 vols. In 1826-7 he contributed to ' The Stanley Tales, Original and Select, chiefly Col- lected by Ambrose Marten,' 5 vols. ' Absur- dities in Prose and Verse, written and illus- trated by Alfred Crowquill,' appeared in 1827, the illustrations being by Alfred Henry For- rester [q. v.], so that in this instance, as well as on succeeding occasions, the two brothers were conjointly using the same name. C. R. Forrester also wrote for ' The Ladies' Mu- seum,' his first article in it being ' The Ladye of the Sun,' in the issue for April 1830, pp. 187-92. ' The Old Man's Plaint, by the author of " Absurdities," ' in Miss L. H. Sheridan's ' Comic Offering,' 1832, p. 70, was his first appearance in that annual. Under the editor- ship of Theodore Hook he was on the staff
of the ' New Monthly Magazine ' in 1837 and 1838, where he used the name of Alfred Crowquill, and inserted his first contribu- tion, ' Achates Digby/ in xlix. 93-8. At the close of 1839 he became connected with ' Bentley's Miscellany/ in which magazine his writings are sometimes signed A. Crowquill and at other times Hal Willis, the former being illustrated by his brother. ' Mr. Cro- codile/ in viii. 49-53 (1840), was the first of his long series of papers. In 1843 a selection of his articles in those two magazines was brought out in 2 vols. under the title of ' Phantasmagoria of Fun.' He was also the author of 'Eccentric Tales, by W. F. von Kosewitz/ 1827, ' The Battle of the Annuals, a Fragment/ 1835, and ' The Lord Mayor's Fool/ 1840, the last two of which were anony- mous. He no doubt wrote other works, but his name is not found in the ' British Museum Catalogue ' nor in any of the ordinary books on English bibliography. He was a good English classic and well acquainted with the Latin, French, German, and Dutch languages. His writings, like his conversation, have a spontaneous flow of wit. He died from heart disease, at his residence, Beaumont Square, Mile End, London, 15 Jan. 1850, and left a widow and four children.
[Gent. Mag. May 1850, p. 545; collected in- formation.] G. C. B.
FORRESTER, DAVID (1588-1633), Scotch divine, appears to have been descended from a Stirlingshire family. His grandfather, William Forrester, was a burgess of Stirling, and he himself possessed the lands of Blair- fachane and Wester Mye in that county. Born in 1588, he studied at the university of St. Andrews, where he graduated as M.A. on 22 July 1608. Alexander, earl of Lin- lithgow, presented him to the church of Denny, and he was ordained to the pastorate of that parish on 3 April 1610. Three years afterwards he was translated to North Leith, his induction taking place on 16 Dec. 1613. He strenuously opposed the imposition of the five articles of Perth, and so rendered himself obnoxious to King James VI and some of the bishops. The Archbishop of St. Andrews, in whose diocese he served, ob- tained an order from court to have Forrester cited before the high court of commission, and deposed if he refused compliance ; but the Bishop of Glasgow, on whom the archbishop threw the execution of the order, declined the business, and Forrester gained a short respite. Shortly afterwards a conference took place between the bishops and a number of the nonconforming ministers, at the conclu- sion of which the case of Forrester was
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resumed. The archbishop informed him that the king desired to know if he would conform, but he declined to give a promise. Hereupon the archbishop told him he had a charge to depose him. But Patrick Forbes [q. v.], bisnop of Aberdeen, interposed, offering to take Forrester's deposition into his own hands. ' For this,' said he, ' I must needs say that though he be not yet fully resolved, yet he is somewhat more tractable than when he came to us, and though he stand on his own conscience, as every good Christian should do, yet is he as modest, and subject to hear reason, as the youngest scholar in Scot- land.'
Forrester was thus obliged to betake him- self north to Aberdeen, where Bishop Forbes placed him in the church of Rathven, to which he was admitted on 20 April 1620. Here, however, he signalised himself by his energetic measures against the papists, and James VI again gave orders for a process being laid against him. Through the influ- ence of his wife's cousin, Sir William Alex- ander [q. v.] of Menstrie, afterwards first earl of Stirling, this was averted, and he was re- stored to his former charge as ' minister of the word of God at the north side of the bridge of the town of Leith,' on 20 Sept. 1627. He died there in June 1633, in the forty-fifth year of his age and twenty-fourth of his ministry. He was twice married : first, on 30 Jan. 1614, to Margaret Paterson of Stirling, by whom he had three sons, Duncan, John, and George ; secondly, to Margaret, daughter of Robert Hamilton, brother of the Laird of Preston. Duncan, Forrester's eldest son, was one of the regents in the university of Edinburgh, and was served heir to his father on 13 Nov. 1633.
[Caldervrood's Hist. vii. 379, 380, 407, 627 ; Row's Hist, pp 323, 350; Scott's Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae, i. 93, 94, iv. 698 ; Abbreviate of the Retours of Stirling, Nos. 125, 138, 145, &c ]
H.P.
FORRESTER, JOSEPH JAMES, BARON DE FORRESTER in Portugal (1809-1861), merchant and wine shipper, born at Hull 27 May 1809 of Scotch parentage, went to Oporto in 1831 to join his uncle, James For- rester, partner in the house of Offley, For- rester, & Webber. He early devoted himself to the interests of his adopted country, and a laborious survey of the Douro, with a view to the improvement of its navigation, was one of the principal occupations of the first twelve years of his residence. The result was the publication in 1848 of a remarkable map of the river from Vilvestre on the Spanish frontier to its mouth at St. Joao da Foz on
a scale of 4£ inches to the Portuguese league. Its merit was universally recognised, com- mendatory resolutions were voted by the Municipal Chamber of Oporto, the Agricul- tural Society of the Douro, and other public bodies, while its adoption as a national work by the Portuguese government gave it the stamp of official approbation. It was supple- mented by a geological survey and by a separate map of the port wine districts, re- printed in England in 1852 by order of a select committee of the House of Commons.
In 1844 Forrester published anonymously a pamphlet on the wine trade, entitled ' A Word or two on Port Wine,' of which eight editions were rapidly exhausted. This was the first step in his endeavours to obtain a reform of the abuses practised in Portugal in the making and treatment of port wine, and the remodelling of the peculiar legislation by which the trade was regulated. To these abuses and to the restrictions enforced by the Douro Wine Company in right of a mono- poly created in 1756 he attributed the de- pression in the port wine trade. The taxation on export imposed by this body was exceed- ingly heavy, while an artificial scarcity was created by the arbitrary limitation of both the quantity and quality allowed to be ex- ported. The author of the pamphlet -was easily identified and bitterly attacked by the persons interested. The inhabitants of the wine country, however, supported him warmly, and he received addresses of thanks from 102 parishes of the Upper Douro.
The prize of 50/. offered by Mr. Oliveira, M.P.,in 1851 for the best essay on Portugal and its commercial capabilities was awarded to Baron de Forrester for an admirable trea- tise, which went through several editions and is still a standard work. In 1852 he gave valuable evidence before the select committee of the House of Commons on the wine duties, detailing at greater length all the abuses summarised in his pamphlet. He continued to write on this and other practical subjects, publishing tracts on the vine disease, improved manufacture of olive oil, &c., and was awarded by the commis- sioners of the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1855 the silver medal of the first class and five diplomas of honourable mention for the collection of publications and products he there exhibited.
On 12 May 1861 the boat in which he was descending the Douro was swamped in one of the rapids, and he was drowned. The body was never found. The ships in Lisbon and Oporto hoisted their colours half-mast high on receipt of the news, and all public build- ings showed similar signs of mourning. In
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the wine country he is still remembered as the ' protector of the Douro.'
An interesting sketch of his home in Oporto is contained in ' Les Arts en Portugal,' by Count Raczynski, who records a visit paid to him in August 1844. He left six children, but had been a widower for many years be- fore his death. There is an excellent por- trait of him, a large print in lithography, by Baugniet of London, 1848.
He was created Baron de Forrester for life by the crown of Portugal, made knight com- mander of the orders of Christ and Isabella la Catolica, and received the cross of cheva- lier of various orders of his adopted country. He was member of the Royal Academies of Lisbon and Oporto, of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Turin, of the English Society of Antiquaries, of the Royal Geographical Societies of London, Paris, and Berlin, and received the highest gold medals reserved for learned foreigners by the pope and by the emperors of Russia, Austria, and France. Charles Albert, king of Piedmont, during his residence in Oporto, not long before his death, detached from his own breast the cross of SS. Maurice and Lazarus, worn by him throughout his campaigns, in order to affix it to the coat of Baron de Forrester.
[Annual Kegister, 1861, ciii. 438; Gent. Mag. 3rd ser. July 1861, ii. 88 ; private information from W. Offley Forrester, esq.] E. M. C.
FORRESTER, THOMAS (1588 P-1642), satirist and divine, graduated A.M. at St. An- drews University 22 July 1608. On 10 March 1623 the Archbishop of Glasgow recom- mended him for the ministry of Ayr, but the session reported ' that he was not a meet man.' Thereupon James I presented him to the post (10 April). About 1632 he gave 201. to the fund for building the library at Glasgow University. He succeeded John Knox, a nephew of the reformer, as minister of Melrose in 1627. As an enthusiastic epi- scopalian, he took delight in uttering words and performing acts fitted to shock the feel- ings of presbyterians. At the assembly of 1638 he was accused of popery, Arminianism, &c., and was deposed 11 Dec. 1638. He took his revenge in satire. A mock litany threw ridicule on the leading covenanters and the most solemn of their doings. This was pub- lished as ' A Satire in two parts, relating to public affairs, 1638-9,' in Maidment's ' Book of Scottish Pasquils,' 1828. An epitaph on Strafford, attributed to Forrester, is printed in Cleveland's poems. Forrester died in 1642, aged 54. He married Margaret Kennitie, who died 19 Jan. 1665-6, and had a daugh- ter, Marjory, who married a tailor of Canon-
gate, Edinburgh, named James Alison. She obtained a pension of 201. from Charles II 14 March 1678-9.
[Scott's Fasti, pt. ii. p. 559 ; Chambers's Emi- nent Scotsmen ; A Book of Scottish Pasquils, 1828.] W. G. B.
FORRESTER, THOMAS (1635 P-1706), Scotch theologian, brother of David Forres- ter, a merchant and burgess of Stirling, was born at Stirling about 1635, and admitted minister of Alva in Stirling under the bishop in 1664. The perusal of John Brown's (1610 ?- 1679) [q. v.] ' Apologetical Relation' led him to renounce episcopacy, and he became a field preacher. He was imprisoned in Edinburgh, but liberated by the indemnity of March 1674, and was deposed on the 29th of the j same month. He was proclaimed a fugitive 5 May 1684, and settled at Killearn. After the revolution he became in succession minis- ter of Killearn (1688) and of St. Andrews (May 1692). He refused calls to Glasgow and other places, and was appointed princi- pal of the new college at St. Andrews on 26 Jan. 1698 (St. Mary's), in which office he died in November 1706. He is well known as one of the ablest advocates of pres- byterianism of his day. His principal work is ' The Hierarchical Bishop's Claim to a Divine Right tried at the Scripture Bar,' 1699. Here he controverts Dr. Scott, in the second part of his ' Christian Life,' Principal Monro's ' Inquiry,' and Mr. Honey man's' Sur- vey of Naphtali.' Other works bore the titles of ' Rectius Instruendum,' 1684; 'A Vindication and Assertion of Calvin and Beza's Presbyterian Judgment and Prin- ciples,'1692; ' Causa Episcopatus Hierarchici Lucifuga,' 1706.
[Scott's Fasti, ii. 356, 391, 691 ; Wodrow's Hist. ; Wodrow's Analecta.] W. G. B.
FORRET, THOMAS (d. 1540), vicar of Dollar, Clackmannanshire, and Scottish martyr, was descended from an old family which possessed the estate of Forret in the parish of Logic, Fifeshire, from the reign of William the Lion till the seventeenth cen- tury. The name is sometimes erroneously given as Forrest. His father had been master stabler to James IV. The catholic priest, Sir John Forret, for permitting whom to adminis- ter the sacrament of baptism at Swinton in 1573 the Bishop of St. Andrews was com- plained against (CALDERWOOD, History, iii. 272), was probably a near relative. After ob- taining a good preliminary education, Forret was, through the ' help of a rich lady/ sent to study at Cologne. On his return he became a canon regular in the monastery of ' Sanct
Forret
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Colmes Inche' (Inchcolm in the Firth of Forth). The canons having, it is said, begun to manifest their discontent at their daily allowance, the abbot, in order to divert their attention from their personal grievances, gave them the works of Augustine to study in- stead of the book of their foundation. Its pe- rusal effected a radical change in the thoughts of many of the recluses. ' 0 happy and blessed,' afterwards said Forret, ' was that book by which I came to the knowledge of the truth!' The abbot to whom he made known his change of opinions advised him to keep his mind to himself; but Forret con- verted the younger canons, although 'the old bottels,' he said, ' would not receive the new wine.' Afterwards he became vicar of Dollar, Clackmannanshire, where he preached every Sunday to his parishioners on the Epis- tles and Gospels. As at that time in Scot- land no one except a black friar or grey friar was in the habit of preaching, the friars, offended at the innovation, denounced him to the Bishop of Dunkeld as a heretic, and one that ' shewed the mysteries of the Scriptures to the vulgar people in English.' The bishop, who had no interest whatever in ecclesias- tical controversies, remonstrated with Forret not only for preaching ' every Sunday,' but for the more serious offence of not taking the usual due from the parishioners when any one died, of ' the cow and the uppermost cloth,' remarking that the people would ex- pect others to do as he did. He advised Forret, therefore, if he was determined to preach, to preach only on ' one good Epistle or one good Gospell that setteth forth the libertie of the holie church.' On Forret ex- plaining that he had never found any evil epistle or gospel in the New or Old Testa- ment, then ' spake my lord stoutlie and said, " I thank God that I never knew what the Old and the New Testament was."' This innocent instance of devout gratitude on the part of the bishop gave rise to a proverb in Scotland : ' Ye are like the Bishop of Dun- keld that knew neither the new law nor the old law.' Forret systematically warned his parishioners against the sellers of indul- gences. He also took care specially to teach them the ten commandments, and composed a short catechism for their instruction on points of prime importance in Christian be- lief. He was in the habit of carrying bread and cheese in his gown sleeve to any poor person who was ill. He studied from six in the morning till twelve, and again from dinner till supper ; and, in order the better to hold his own against disputants, committed three chapters in Latin of the New Testament to memory every day, making his servant, An-
drew Kirkie, hear him repeat them at night. Though several times summoned before the Bishop of Dunkeld to answer for his novel methods of discharging the duties of vicar, he succeeded always in giving such expla- nations as to escapelfurther interference until David Beaton succeeded to the archbishopric of St. Andrews in 1539. In February 1539- 1540 he and four others were summoned be- fore Beaton, the bishop of Glasgow, and the Bishop of Dunblane as ' chief heretics and teachers of heresy,' and especially for being present at the marriage of the vicar of Tul- libodie, and for eating flesh in Lent at the marriage. For this they were on the last day of February burned on the Castle Hill of Edinburgh.
[Foxe's Acts and Monuments ; Calderwood's History of the Church of Scotland, i. 124-8, containing the substance of the account in John Davidson's Catalogue of Scottish Martyrs, which has been lost; Lindsay's (of Pitscottie) Chro- nicles of Scotland.] T. F. H.
FORSETT, EDWARD (d. 1630 ?), poli- tical writer, obtained from Elizabeth in 1583 a twenty-one years' lease of the manor of Tyburn, Middlesex, at the annual rent of 16/. 11s. 8d. As ajustice of peace he showed himself very active in the examination of those concerned in the Gunpowder plot, and he occasionally took charge of the Tower during the absence of the lieutenant, Sir William Waad. He also held a surveyor's place in the office of works, and in May 1609 was commissioned to repair Oatlands Park (Cal. State Papers, Dom. Ser. Addenda, 1580-1625, p. 516). On 8 June 1611 James I granted him the manor of Tyburn, with all its appurtenances, excepting the park, for the sum of 829/. 3s. 4cZ. (ib. 1611-18, p. 40). It continued in his family for several years, and then passed into that of Austen by the inter- marriage of Arabella Forsett, a grand-daugh- ter, with Thomas Austen (LTSOUS, Environs, iii. 244-5). Forsett died in 1629 or 1630, probably at his chamber in Charing Cross House. His will (P. C. C. 46, Scroope), dated 13 Oct. 1629, was proved 25 May 1630 by his son, Robert Forsett, and his daughter Frances (d. 1668), wife of Mr. (afterwards Sir) Matthew Howland of Holborn and Streatham, Surrey, one of the king's gentle- men pensioners. Therein he describes him- self as ' of Maribone in the countie of Mid- dlesex esquier,' and desires to be buried in Marylebone Church ' in the valt there which I made in the chauncell for the buryinge of myselfe, my wife, and other such as I may terme or reckon to be mine.' He is the au- thor of two ably written pamphlets: 1. 'A
Forshall
Forster
Comparative Discovrse of the Bodies Natvral and Politiqve. Wherein ... is set forth the true forme of a Commonweale, with the dutie of Subiects, and the right of the Soueraigne,' 4to, London, 1606. At page 51 he makes interesting allusion to the Gunpowder plot ; he also argues strongly for union with Scot- land (p. 58). 2. « A Defence of the Right of Kings ; wherein the power of the papacie ouer princes is refuted, and the oath of allegeance iustified. (An examination of a position pub- lished by P. R. [i.e. Robert Parsons] in the preface of his treatise . . . concerning the law- fullnesse of the Popes power ouer princes),' 4to, London, 1624, dedicated to James I. It had been written ten or twelve years pre- viously, and was at length published by a friend who signs himself ' F. B.' Wood confounds the above Edward Forsett with another of the same names, whom he de- scribes as ' a gentleman's son of Lincolnshire, and of the same family with the Forsets of Billesby in that county ' (Athencs Oxon. ed. Bliss, ii. 5). In 1590, ' or thereabouts, he be- came a commoner of Lincoln College, Oxford, aged eighteen ; but leaving that house with- out the honour of a degree, retired at length to his patrimony.' An Edward Forsett ' of Billesby, co. Lincoln, gent.,' was examined before Popham and Coke in April and May
1600, when he was charged with being a papist and with denying the queen's title to the crown (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1598-
1601, pp. 423-5, 430, 434).
j'Lysons's Environs, iii. 219, 254; Lysons's Middlesex Parishes, p. 2 ; Neweourt's Reper- torium, i. 695 ; Cal. State Papers, Dom. Ser. ; Overall's Remembrancia, pp. 555-6 ; Chester's London Marriage Licenses (Foster), col. 501 ; Administration Act re Ann Forsett, granted May 1 645 (P. C. C.) ; Will of Robert Forsett, proved by decree, January 1 688 (P. C. C. 1 25, Exton) ; Admi- nistration Act re Edward Forsett. granted April 1674 (P. C. C.) ; Will of Anne Forsett, proved May 1690 (P. C. C. 69, Dyke); Administration Act re Edward Forsett, granted October 1693 (P. C. C.)] G. G.
FORSHALL, JOSIAH (1795-1863), librarian, born at Witney in Oxfordshire on 29 March 1795, was the eldest son of Samuel Forshall. He received some of his education at the grammar schools of Exeter and Chester, and in 1814 entered Exeter College, Oxford. He graduated B.A. in 1818, taking a first class in mathematics and a second in litt. hum. He became M.A. in 1821, and was elected fellow and tutor of his college. He was appointed an assistant librarian in the manuscript department of the British Museum in 1824, and became keeper of that department in 1827. In 1828
he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. He edited the catalogue of the manuscripts in the British Museum (new series) : pt. i. the Arundel MSS. ; pt. ii. the Burney MSS.; pt. iii. index, 1834, &c. fol., and also the ' Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum Ori- entalium [in the Brit. Mus.] : Pars Prima Codices Syriacos et Carshunicos amplectens,' 1838, &c. fol. He also edited the ' Descrip- tion of the Greek Papyri ' in the Brit. Mus., pt. i. 1839, 8vo. In 1828 he had been ap- pointed secretary to the museum, and in 1837 resigned his keepership in order to de- vote himself exclusively to his secretarial duties. He was examined before the select committee appointed to inquire into the museum in 1835-6, and made some curious revelations on the subject of patronage. As secretary he had much influence with the trustees. He was greatly opposed to any attempts to ' popularise ' the museum. In 1850 he published a pamphlet entitled ' Mis- representations of H.M. Commissioners [who inquired into the British Museum in 1848-9] exposed,' and about that time retired from the museum on account of ill-health. After his resignation Forshall lived in retirement, spending much of his time, till his death, at the Foundling Hospital, of which he had been appointed chaplain in 1829. He died at his house in Woburn Place, London, on 18 Dec. 1863, after undergoing a surgical operation. Forshall was a man of ability, and of a kindly disposition. Besides the catalogues already mentioned he published, in conjunction with Sir F. Madden, the well- known edition of ' The Holy Bible ... in the earliest English Versions made by John Wycliffe and his followers,' 1850, 4 vols. 4to. To this work he had given up much time during twenty-two years. He also published editions of the Gospels of St. Mark (1862, 8vo), St. Luke (1860, 8vo), and St. John (1859, 8vo), arranged in parts and sections, and some sermons. His works ' The Lord's Prayer with various readings and critical notes ' (1864), 8vo, and ' The First Twelve Chapters of ... St. Matthew' in the re- ceived Greek text, with various readings and notes, 1864, 8vo, were published pos- thumously.
[Gent. Mag. 1864, 3rd ser. xvi. 128 ; Statutes and Rules of the Brit. Mus. (1871); CowtanV Memories of the Brit. Mus. 6, 66, 69, 365-76; Brit. Mus. Cat.] W. W.
FORSTER, BENJAMIN (1736-1805), antiquary, was born in Walbrook, London, 7 Aug. 1736, being the third son of Thomas Forster, a descendant of the Forsters of Etherston and Bamborough, and his wife
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Dorothy, granddaughter of Benjamin Furly [q.v.],the friend and correspondent of Locke. He was educated at Hertford school and at Corpus Christ i College, Cambridge, where he had as friends and fellow-students the antiquarians Richard Gough and Michael Tyson. He graduated as B.A. in 1757, be- coming M.A. and fellow of his college in 1760, and B.D. 1768. Having taken orders, * though he was never very orthodox,' he be- came in succession curate of Wanstead and of Broomfield and Chignal Smeely in Essex (1760), Lady Camden lecturer at Wakefield (1766), and rector of Boconnoc, Broadoak, and Cherichayes in Cornwall (1770). He died at Boconnoc parsonage on 2 Dec. 1805, his tomb being, by his orders, merely in- scribed ' Fui.' He was somewhat eccentric, surrounding himself with multifarious pet animals, to whom he was much attached; but his letters show him to have been a man of taste and learning, and a skilful antiquary. , These letters are preserved in Nichols's ' Lite- ; rary Anecdotes,' ix. 648-50, and ' Literary j Illustrations,' v. 280-90, while many of ; Gough's letters to him are in a volume pri- vately printed at Bruges (1845-50) by his j great-nephew, Thomas Ignatius Maria | Forster [q. v.], entitled ' Epistolarium Fors- I terianum. Among his other friends were the poets Mason and Gray.
[Gent. Mag. 1849, xxxii. 431 ; Nichols's Il- lustrations, viii. 554 ; Boase and Courtney's Bibl. , Cornub.] G. S. B.
FORSTER, BENJAMIN MEGGOT ! (1764-1829), man of science, second son of Edward Forster the elder [q. v.] and his wife Susanna, was born in Walbrook, London, 16 Jan. 1764. He was educated with his brothers at Walthamstow, and became a member of the firm of Edward Forster & Sons, Russia merchants, but attended very little to business. During his whole life he was attached to the study of science, especi- ally botany and electricity. He executed many fine drawings of fungi, communicated various species to Sowerby, and in 1820 pub- lished, with initials only, ' An Introduction to the Knowledge of Fungusses,' 12mo, pp. 20, with two plates. He contributed numer- ous articles to the ' Gentleman's Magazine ' under various signatures and on various sub- jects, and is credited with eight scientific con- tributions to the 'Philosophical Magazine ' in the Royal Society's Catalogue. They deal with fungi, the electric column, and atmo- spheric phenomena. He invented the sliding portfolio, the atmospherical electroscope, and an orrery of perpetual motion, the last being a failure. Ceaseless in his exertions in the
cause of humanity, he was one of the earliest advocates of emancipation, and one of the first members of the committee of 1788 against the slave trade. He also joined the societies for the suppression of climbing chimney- sweepers, for diffusing knowledge respecting capital punishments, for affording refuge to the destitute, and for repressing cruelty to animals, he being conscientiously opposed to field sports. He also framed the child-steal- ing act. He never married, living with his father and mother till their death, when he took a cottage called Scotts, at Hale End, Walthamstow, where he died 8 March 1829.
[Gent. Mag. (1829), xcix. 279 ; Nichols's Il- lustrations, viii. 553 ; Epistolarium Forsteria- num, vol. ii. pp. xiii-xv.] G. S. B.
FORSTER, ED WARD, the elder (1730- 1812), banker and antiquary, the son of Tho- mas and brother of Benjamin Forster [q. v.], was born 11 Feb. 1730, and was educated at Felstead school. He then went to Holland to his relative Benjamin Furly, from whom he received the original letters of Locke, after- wards published by his grandson. He married Susanna Furney, a member of an old Somerset family, by whom he left three sons, Thomas Furly [q. v.], Benjamin Meggot [q. v.], and Ed- ward (1765-1 849) [q. v.], and a daughter Su- sanna Dorothy (1757-1822), who married the Rev. J. Dixon, rector of Bincombe, Dorset- shire. In 1764 he settled at Walthamstow, where his leisure was employed in riding in search of scenery and antiquities, in sketch- ing, etching, and writing of occasional verses. In 1774 he published the speeches made by him at the bar of the House of Commons on the linen and Russia trades, his only other publication being ' Occasional Amusements,' 12mo, 1809, pp. 87, a volume of verse. He was a member of the Mercers' Company, a director of the London Docks, governor of the Royal Exchange, and, for nearly thirty years, of the Russia Company, in which ca- pacity he gave an annual ministerial dinner. When consulted by Pitt as to a forced paper currency he was offered a baronetcy. He died at Hoe Street, Walthamstow, 20 April 1812. Though neither a sportsman nor a practical naturalist, he was very fond of horses and dogs, and was an ardent lover of nature. Addison, Swift, and Rousseau were his favourite authors, and Gray, Gough, and Tyson were among his personal friends. One of his letters (Epistolarium Forsterianum, i. 205-26) contains a reference to Gray's ' Elegy' as early as 1751. Edward Forster is stated (NICHOLS, Anecdotes, viii. 596) to have been the introducer of bearded wheat from Smyrna. His portrait was painted
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by Shee for the Mercers' Company in 1812, and by Hoppner for the Royal Exchange, the latter having been privately engraved in mezzotint.
[Nichols's Anecdotes, vi. 331-3, 616, viii. 1, 596, ix. 720; Gent. Mag. 1849, xxxii. 431; Epistolarium Forsterianum, 1845, i. 205-26, Bruges, privately printed.] G. S. B.
FORSTER, EDWARD (1769-1828), mis- cellaneous writer, born at Colchester, Essex, on 11 June 1769, was the only son of Na- thaniel Forster, D.D. (1726P-1790) [q. v.], rector of All Saints in that town. After re- ceiving some instruction at home, he was placed at Norwich grammar school, then presided over by his father's intimate friend, Samuel Parr. On 5 May 1788 he matricu- lated at Balliol College, Oxford, where he divided his time in desultory study of medicine and law. Towards the end of 1790 he married Elizabeth, widow of Captain Addison, and youngest daughter of Philip Bedingfeld of Ditchingham Hall, Norfolk (BURKE, Landed Gentry, 4th edit. p. 80). In order to renew his acquaintanceship with Parr, Forster took a house at Hatton, Warwickshire, where he resided for some time ; but his wife, by whom he had no children, lived only four years after their union. He ultimately became a member of St. Mary Hall, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. on 21 Feb. 1792, and entered himself at Lincoln's Inn on 15 June of the same year (FOSTER, Alumni Oxon. p. 478). Deciding, however, to become a clergyman, he was or- dained priest by Porteus, bishop of London, in 1796. He proceeded M.A. on 16 Feb. 1797 ( Oxford Graduates, 1851, p. 237). On 3 Aug. 1799, being then resident at Weston, Oxford- shire, he married as his second wife Lavinia, only daughter of Thomas Banks, R.A. [q. v.], the sculptor ( Gent. Mag. Ixix. pt. ii. 716). He now entered into an engagement with a book- seller, William Miller of Old Bond Street, subsequently of Albemarle Street, to issue tastefully printed editions of the works of standard authors, illustrated by the best artists of the day. His first venture was an edition of Jarvis's translation of ' Don Quix- ote,' 4 vols. 8vo, 1801, ' with a new transla- tion of the Spanish poetry, a new life of Cer- vantes, and new engravings.' Having been successful in this, he published some works of less importance, while he was preparing for the press a new translation, from the French of Antoine Galland, of the ' Arabian Nights,' 5 vols. 4to, London, 1802, with twenty-four engravings from pictures by R. Smirke, R.A. During the same year he brought out in quarto an edition of ' Anacreon,' for which Bulmer furnished a peculiarly fine Greek type ; the
title-plates and vignettes were from the pencil of Mrs. Forster. Various editions of dramatic authors, under the titles of ' British Drama/ ' New British Theatre,' ' English Drama,' some of them illustrated with engravings from de- signs by the first artists, successively employed his time.
In 1803 he was presented to the rectory of Somerville Aston, Gloucestershire, by an old friend, Lord Somerville, who had procured for him the appointment of chaplain to the Duke of Newcastle in 1796 ; but there being no parsonage-house on the living residence was dispensed with, and he settled in London, where his pulpit oratory was in demand. He was from 1800 to 1814 successively morning preacher at Berkeley and Grosvenor chapels ; and at Park Street and King Street chapels, in which he divided the duty alternately with Sydney Smith, Stanier Clarke, T. F. Dibdin, and other admired preachers. In 1805 Forster entered into a correspondence with Scott on the subject of a projected edition of Dryden, subsequently abandoned. Forster had at a later period intended publishing an ' Essay on Punctuation,' which he had made his espe- cial study, and on which his views were ap- proved by Scott. An elegant quarto edition of ' Rasselas,' with engravings by A. Raim- bach, from pictures painted for the purpose by Smirke, was issued by Forster in 1805 ; it was followed in 1809 by a small privately printed volume of verse, entitled ' Occasional Amusements,' which appeared without his name. But his chief publication was the splendid work in folio entitled ' The British Gallery of Engravings,' consisting of highly finished prints in the line manner from paint- ings by the old masters ' in the possession of the king and several noblemen and gentle- men of the United Kingdom.' Descriptions in English and French accompany each en- graving. The first number of this work ap- peared in 1807, and in 1813 the first volume only was completed, when, the expenses con- siderably exceeding the profits, it was found necessary to abandon its further publication altogether. After the peace of 1815 Forster removed with his family to Paris, his finances having suffered by his publications. He was then engaged in publishing a ' Plautus,' and three volumes were already completed, when it was stopped by the sudden death of the printer. About a year after he had settled in Paris Forster began to preach in the French protestant church of the Oratoire, and even- tually obtained a grant from the consistory for the use of the church when it was not re- quired for French service. Here he officiated until the autumn of 1827, when ill-health compelled him to resign. In 1818 he was
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appointed to the post, founded at his sug- gestion, of chaplain to the British embassy, which he continued to hold until his death. In 1824 the Earl of Bridgewater made him his chaplain. Forster died at Paris on 18 Feb. 1828, after a lingering illness, and was buried in the cemetery of Pere la Chaise in that city. He left a widow and three daughters, for whose benefit were published ' Sermons preached at the Chapel of the British Embassy, and at the Protestant Church of the Oratoire, in Paris, by Edward Forster, with a short Ac- count of his Life ' [edited by Lavinia Forster], 2 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1828. Forster had been elected F.R.S. on 10 Dec. 1801, and F.S.A. previously. He was also an active supporter of the Royal Institution from its commence- ment, was appointed honorary librarian by the directors, and was engaged to deliver lec- tures there during three following seasons. [Gent. Mag. xcviii.pt. i. 566.] G. G.
FORSTER, EDWARD, the younger (1765-1849), botanist, was born at "Wood Street, Walthamstow, 12 Oct. 1765, being the third and youngest son of Edward the elder [q. v.] and Susanna Forster. He re- ceived his commercial education in Holland, and entered the banking-house of Forster, Lubbocks, Forster, & Clarke. He began the study of botany in Epping Forest at fifteen, and in conjunction with his two brothers he afterwards cultivated in his father's garden almost all the herbaceous plants then grown, and contributed the county lists of plants to Gough's edition of Camden (1789). In 1796 he married Mary Jane, only daughter of Abraham Greenwood, who died in 1846 with- out surviving issue. Forster was one of the early fellows of theLinnean Society, founded in 1788, was elected treasurer in 1816, and vice-president in 1828. With his brothers he was one of the chief founders of the Re- fuge for the Destitute in Hackney Road. He died of cholera, 23 Feb. 1849, two days after inspecting the refuge on the occasion of an outbreak of that disease. He was buried in the family vault at Walthamstow. He was exceedingly temperate and methodi- cal, shy, taciturn, and exclusive, rising early to work among his extensive collections of obscure British plants before banking hours, and devoting his evenings to reading and to his large herbarium, collected in many parts of England. He resided chiefly at Hale End, Walthamstow, but at the time of his death at the Ivy House, Woodford, Essex. In 817 he had printed a catalogue of British birds (Catalogue avium in insulis Britannicis habitantium euro, et studio Eduardi Forsteri jun., London, 1817, 8vo, pp. 48), but seems
subsequently to have devoted his attention to plants exclusively. He printed various papers on critical species of British plants in the 'Transactions' of the Linnean Society, the ' Annals and Magazine of Natural His- tory,' and the ' Phytologist,' and collected material towards a flora of Essex. His know- ledge of British plants was critically exact, several species being described by him in the ' Supplement to English Botany ' (1834). At his death his library and herbarium were sold, the latter being purchased by Robert Brown and presented to the British Museum. There is an oil painting of Forster by Eddis at the Linnean Society, and a lithograph by T. H. Maguire, published in the year of his death.
[Gent. Mag. 1849, xxxii. 432 ; Nichols's Illus- trations, viii. 554; Proc.Linn. Soc. ii.39; Episto- larium Forsterianum, 1850, vol. ii. p. xv, Bruges, privately printed; Gibson's Flora of Essex, 1862, p. 448.] G. S. B.
FORSTER, GEORGE (d. 1792), traveller, a civil servant of the East India Company on the Madras establishment, undertook and safely accomplished in 1782 the then remark- able feat of travelling from Calcutta overland into Russia. His journey took him through Cashmere, Afghanistan, Herat, Khorassan, and Mazanderan to the Caspian Sea, which he crossed. While in England he prepared for the press ' Sketches of the Mythology and Customs of the Hindoos ' (8vo, 84 pp., 1785), and on his return to India he wrote an ac- count of his journey, the first volume of which was published at Calcutta in 1790. In 1792 he was sent on an embassy to the Mahrattas, and died at Nagpore. The narra- tive of his journey was completed from his papers, and published in London by an un- known editor as ' A Journey from Bengal to England through the Northern part of India, Kashmire, Afghanistan, and Persia, and into Russia by the Caspian Sea ' (2 vols. 4to, 1798). He is often confused with Johann Georg Adam Forster [q. v.], as, for example, in ' Monthly Review/December 1798 (xxvii.361n. ), where, in a review of the journey, he is described as the son of Johann Reinhold Forster.
[Authorities in text.]
J. K. L.
FORSTER, HENRY PITTS (1766?- 1815), orientalist, entered the Bengal service of the East India Company 7 Aug. 1783 (we may thus place his birth in or about 1766), became collector of Tipperah in 1793, and registrar of Diwani Adalat of the twenty- four Pargannas in 1794. To Forster belongs the credit of publishing the first English work of lexicography for the Bengali language. The first part of this book, the ' English and
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Bengalee Vocabulary,' appeared at Calcutta in 1799. It is evident, from the lengthy preface to this work, that it was undertaken on political and practical, as well as on literary, grounds. Bengali at this time was, officially at least, an unrecognised vernacu- lar, and Forster rightly insists on the ab- surdity and inconvenience of continuing to use Persian in courts of law. It was thus due to the efforts of Forster, seconded among Europeans by Carey, Marshman, and the other Serampur missionaries, and among the natives by Ramamohan Ray and his friends, that Ben- gali not only has become the official language of the presidency, but now ranks as the most prolific literary language of India. The second volume appeared in 1802. Mean while Forster was also directing his attention to Sanskrit. We find from the advertisement of the 'Ben- gali Vocabulary,' appearing in the ' Calcutta Gazette' 26 Aug. 1802, that he had then finished, and proposed to publish by subscrip- tion, an ' Essay on the Principles of Sanskrit Grammar,' and as a sequel the text and translation of a native grammar, the ' Mug- dhabodha' of Vopadeva. The latter work seems not to have been published ; no trace of it, at all events, is to be found in the ordinary bibliographical works on the subject. The essay finally appeared in 1810, and from its preface we learn that it was submitted in manuscript to the ' College Council ' in 1804, at which time ' none of the elaborate works on Sanskrit by Mr. Colebrooke, Mr. Carey, or Mr. Wilkins had made their appearance.' It is a laborious work, not, indeed, calculated to attract students to the pursuit of oriental learning, but abounding in tabular and statis- tical information, founded on the intricate and often merely theoretical lucubrations of the ancient native schools of grammar. Inl803-4 Forster was employed at the Calcutta Mint, of which he rose to be master. In 1815 he was ' nominated to sign stamp paper.' He died in India 10 Sept. of the same year.
[Dodwell and Miles's Bengal Civil Servants ; Calcutta Gazette, as above.] C. B.
FORSTER, JOHANN GEORG ADAM
(1754-1794), commonly known as GEORGE, naturalist, descended from a Yorkshire family which left England on the death of Charles I and settled in Polish Prussia, eldest son of Johann Reinhold Forster, also known as a traveller, naturalist, and writer, and a minis- ter of the reformed church, was born in his father's parish of Nassenhuben, near Dan- zig, on 27 Nov. 1754. Reinhold Forster, who had become a minister at the desire of his father, was by inclination a student and a naturalist, and under his teaching George's
talents were early developed in the same direction. In 1765 Reinhold accepted an in- vitation to Russia, and from that time, throw- ing off his clerical capacity, devoted himself entirely to scientific and literary pursuits. George was placed at a school in St. Peters- burg, where he acquired a knowledge of Rus- sian, and again accompanied his father when he went to England towards the end of 1766. Here Reinhold was for some years teacher of French, German, and natural history in a school in Warrington, and George, pursuing his general studies, was also acquiring a re- markable mastery of English. In 1770 the family removed to London, on a proposal from Alexander Dalrymple [q. v.J to employ Reinhold in the service of the East India Company. The plan fell through, and for the next two years the father supported his family by translating, in which work he was assisted by George, and especially, it is said, in the translation into English of Bou- gainville's voyage, published under the father's name in 1772. Reinhold Forster accompanied Cook in his second voyage as naturalist [see COOK, JAMES], taking George with him as his assistant. On their return in 1775 the two in concert published ' Characteres Gene- rum Plantarum quas in Itinere ad Insulas Maris Australis collegerunt, descripserunt, delinearunt, annis MDCCLXXH-MDCCLXXV, Jo- hannes Reinhold Forster et Georgius For- ster ' (fol. 1775). A second edition, really the same with a new title-page, was issued in 1776. The publication obtained for George his election as fellow of the Royal Society, an honour which had been conferred on the father before the voyage. The Forsters, however, were in want of money ; Reinhold was always in difficulties, and of the 4,000^. which had been paid him for the services of himself and son during the three years' voyage, much had been swallowed up in ne- cessary expenses. He had expected to have to write the narrative of the voyage, and to reap a large profit ; but Cook determined to write it himself, and as Reinhold would not submit to any compromise he was ordered by the admiralty not to write at all. He complied with the letter of the order, but set George to do it instead, and a few weeks before the publica- tion of Cook's narrative George Forster's was published under the title, ' A Voyage round the World in his Britannic Majesty's sloop Resolution, commanded by Captain James Cook, during the years 1772-5 ' (2 vols. 4to, 1777). A translation into German was pub- lished in 1779. The circumstances of this publication naturally drew down on the For- sters the ill-will of the admiralty on the one hand and of Cook's friends on the other ;
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and Wales, the astronomer of the expedition published as a pamphlet, ' Remarks on Mr. Forster's Account of Captain Cook's last Voyage . . .' (8vo, 1778), in which Forster and his father and his book were criticised with more ill-nature than good judgment. Forster answered in much better taste with a « Reply to Mr. Wales's Remarks ' (4to, 1778), and a few months later published ' A Letter to the Right Honourable the Earl of Sand- wich, First Lord Commissioner of the Ad- miralty ' (4to, 1778), in which he accused his lordship of going back from his agree- ment, of forfeiting his plighted word, and of persecuting his father in order to gratify the spite and malice of Miss Ray [see MONTAGU, EDWARD, fifth EABL OF SANDWICH]. The statement, however, was unsupported by proof, and Sandwich was too well accustomed to such charges to take them to heart. Rein- hold Forster had meantime been imprisoned for debt, and George, who in October 1777 had gone to Paris for a short time, apparently in the hope of getting some assistance, now, in October 1778, crossed over to Germany, where he found influential friends. This was the end of his connection with England. He obtained a post as teacher in the gymnasium of Cassel, and was afterwards professor of natural history in the university of Wilna, an appointment which he relinquished on the invitation of the empress of Russia to take part in a Russian voyage of discovery. The outbreak of the war with Turkey put an end to the plan, and Forster became librarian at Mainz, where he continued from 1788 to 1792. During this time, in 1790, he accompanied Alexander von Humboldt on a three months' tour down the Rhine, and through Belgium and Holland, the account of which he after- wards published as ' Ansichten vom Nieder- rhein u. s. w.,' perhaps the most popular of his many writings. Forster had married in 1783 Therese, the daughter of Heyne, the cele- brated critic and philologist. The marriage seems to have been one of mutual attach- ment ; but in the course of years love grew cold, and Therese, who is described as having imbibed the communistic views of the mar- riage tie, did not feel herself bound to a husband for whom she no longer felt a pas- sion. Forster, though he still loved her ar- dently, seems to have been willing to take measures for a divorce. He entered with enthusiasm into the schemes for a democracy and a republic, and early in March 1793 was sent by the citizens of Mainz as their repre- sentative and deputy to the national conven- tion of Paris. He was still there when, on 10 Jan. 1794, he died of a scorbutic fever. He left one child, a daughter, who in 1843 |
published a collected edition of his works in nine volumes. These, however, are but a small part of what he wrote, for his transla- tions, on which he laboured almost inces- santly, have no place among them, except, indeed, the German version of the ' Voyage round the World.' The style of his English writings, which have been already named, is uncommonly pure and good, and Germans speak most highly of the charm and polish of his writings in his mother-tongue (KNIGGE, Briefe auf einer Reise . . . ffeschrieben,1793, p. 58). He is. spoken, of as a man capable of inspiring feelings of warm affection, and loved by all who knew him (Monthly Review, 1794, xiii. 544). But his life was a continual hard struggle with penury, and the breakdown of his domestic happiness seems to have unhinged his mind during the last two years of his life. His English works bear on the title-page the name of George Forster, as, indeed, do most of his German publications. In conse- quence of this he is frequently confused with his namesake, George Forster [q. v.], who died in 1792, the confusion being sometimes most insidious and puzzling ; as, for instance, in Chalmers's ' Biographical Dictionary,' where he is said to have been, about 1790, studying the oriental languages with a view to travel- ling in Thibet and India. His linguistic at- tainments were remarkable, but it does not appear that they included any of the languages of Asia.
[Allgemeine deutsche Biographic, art. by Alfred Dore.] J. K. L.
FORSTER, JOHN (1812-1876), his- torian and biographer, was born at Newcastle on 2 April 1812. He was the eldest of the four children of Robert Forster and Mary his wife, daughter of the keeper of a dairy- farm in Gallowgate. Robert Forster and his elder brother, John, were grandsons by a younger son of John Forster, landowner, of Corsenside in Northumberland. Having nothing to inherit from the family property, the brothers became cattle-dealers in New- castle ; and Robert's children were chiefly indebted for their education to their uncle John, whose especial favourite from the first was his nephew and namesake. John Forster was placed by him at an early age in the grammar school of Newcastle. There he became the favourite pupil of the head- master, the Rev. Edward Moises. Eventu- ally he became captain of the school, as Lord Eldon and Lord Collingwood had been before him. A tale written by him when be was fresh from the nursery appeared in print. While yet a mere child he took de- light in going to the theatre. In answer to
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remonstrances he wrote a singularly clever and elaborate paper, in June 1827, entitled 'A Few Thoughts in Vindication of the Stage.' On 2 May 1828 a play of his in two acts, called ' Charles at Tunbridge, or the Cavalier of Wildinghurst,' was performed at the Newcastle Theatre, written ' expressly,' as 'by a gentleman of Newcastle,' for the bene- fit of Mr. Thomas Stuart. Forster's success at school induced his uncle John to send him to Cambridge in October 1828, but within a month he decided to move on to London. By his uncle's help he was at once sent to the newly founded University College, and entered as a law student at the Inner Temple on 10 Nov. 1828. His instructor in English law at University College was Pro- fessor Andrew Amos [q. v.] Among his fel- low-students and fast friends for life were James Emerson Tennent [q. v.] and James Whiteside [q. v.] In the January number of the ' Newcastle Magazine ' for 1829 a paper of Forster's appeared (his earliest contribu- tion to the periodicals) entitled ' Remarks on two of the Annuals.' In that year he first made the acquaintance of Leigh Hunt, of whom he afterwards wrote : ' He influenced *11 my modes of thought at the outset of my life.' As early as March 1830 he projected a life of Cromwell. He was already studying in the chambers of Thomas Chitty [q. v.] In 1832 Forster became the dramatic critic on the ' True Sun.' In the December of that year Charles Lamb died ; in 1831 Lamb had written to him : ' If you have lost a little portion of my good will, it is that you do not come and see me oftener.' In December 1832 hoth Lamb and Leigh Hunt were contribut- ing to a series of weekly essays which Moxon had just then commenced under Forster's direction, called ' The Reflector,' of which a few numbers only were published. In 1833 Forster was writing busily on the ' True Sun,' the ' Courier,' the ' Athenaeum,' and the ' Ex- aminer.' Albany Fonblanque [q. v.], who had just become editor, appointed Forster the chief critic on the ' Examiner,' both of literature and the drama. In 1834, being then twenty- two years of age, he moved into his thence- forth well-known chambers at 58 Lincoln's Inn Fields. In 1836 he published in ' Lardner's Cyclopaedia ' the first of the five volumes of his ' Lives of the Statesmen of the Common- wealth,' including those of Sir John Eliot and Thomas Wentworth, earl of Strafford. Vol. ii., containing those of Pym and Hamp- <len, appeared in 1837 ; vol. iii., giving those of Vane and Marten, in 1838 ; vols. iv. and v., completing the work in 1839, being devoted to the life of Oliver Cromwell. While en- gaged in the composition of this work he
VOL. XX.
was betrothed to the then popular poetess, L. E. L[andon]. An estrangement, however, took place between them, and in 1838 Miss Landon married George Maclean. Forster for two years, 1842 and 1843, edited the 'Foreign Quarterly Review,' where his papers on the Greek philosophers bore evidence of scholar- ship. On 27 Jan. 1843 he was called to the bar at the Inner Temple. Besides writing in Douglas Jerrold's ' Shilling Magazine ' ' A History for Young England,' Forster in 1845 contributed to the ' Edinburgh Review ' two masterly articles on ' Charles Churchill ' and ' Daniel Defoe.' His intimate personal friends by that time included some of the most intel- lectually distinguished of his contemporaries, and on 20 Sept. 1845 Forster, in association with several of these, began to take part in a series of amateur theatricals, which for ten years enjoyed a certain celebrity. As Ford in the ' Merry Wives of Windsor,' as Kitely in ' Every Man in his Humour,' as Ernani in Victor Hugo's drama so entitled, he took part in the ' splendid strolling ' which, under the lead of Dickens and Lytton, was in- tended to promote, among other objects, the establishment of the Guild of Literature and Art. On 9 Feb. 1846 Forster was installed editor of the ' Daily News,' in succession to Dickens, but resigned the post in October. In 1847 he assumed the editorship of the ' Examiner,' succeeding Albany Fonblanque, and held the post for nine years. He was now rewriting, for the twelfth time, his unpub- lished life of Goldsmith. In 1848 it appeared in one volume, as ' The Life and Adventures of Oliver Goldsmith.' Daintily illustrated by his friends Maclise, Stanfield, Leech, Doyle, and Hamerton, it won instant popularity. Six years afterwards Forster expanded the work into two volumes, with the enlarged title of the ' Life and Times ' of Goldsmith. In this, as in more than one later instance, he marred the original outline by his greater elaboration, overcrowding his canvas with Goldsmith's contemporaries. When the first draft of the work was in preparation, Dickens humor- ously said of him that ' nobody could bribe Forster ' unless it was with a ' new fact ' for his life of Goldsmith. He contributed to the ' Quarterly Review,' in September 1854, a brilliant paper on Samuel Foote, and in March 1855 a sympathetic monograph on Sir Richard Steele. At the end of 1855 he was appointed secretary to the commissioners of lunacy, with an income of 800/. a year. He withdrew at once from the editorial chair of the ' Examiner,' for which he never after- wards wrote a line, devoting his leisure from that time forward exclusively to literature. On the appearance of Guizot's ' History of the
Forster
English Commonwealth,' Forster, in January 1856, wrote a criticism of it in the ' Edin- burgh Review,' entitled 'The Civil Wars and Oliver Cromwell.' On 24 Sept, 1856 he married Eliza Ann, daughter of Captain Robert Crosbie, R.N., and widow of Henry Colburn, the well-known publisher. He began his happy home life at 46 Montagu Square, where he remained until his removal to Palace Gate House, which in 1862 he built for himself at Kensington. In 1858 he col- lected his 'Historical and Biographical Es- says ' in two volumes, among which there ap- peared for the first time his two important papers headed respectively ' The Debates on the Grand Remonstrance ' and ' The Plan- tagenets and Tudors, a Sketch of Constitu- tional History.' In 1860 he published his next work, ' The Arrest of the Five Members by Charles I, a chapter of History Rewritten,' and in the same year he brought out, in a greatly enlarged form, ' The Debates on the Grand Remonstrance, November and Decem- ber 1641, with an Introductory Essay on Eng- lish Freedom under Plantagenet and Tudor Sovereigns.' In November 1861 Forster re- signed his secretaryship to the lunacy com- mission on his appointment as a commis- sioner of lunacy, with a salary of 1,5001. a year. In 1864 he expanded his ' Life of Sir John Eliot ' into two large volumes, and ap- parently intended to elaborate in the same way his other memoirs of the statesmen of the Commonwealth. The deaths, within six years of each other, of three of his intimate friends gave him, however, other occupation. Landor dying on 17 Sept. 1864, Forster saw through the press a complete edition of his 'Imaginary Conversations,' and in 1869 pub- lished his ' Life of Landor ' in 2 vols. Upon the. death of Alexander Dyce in 1869, Forster corrected and published his friend's third edition of Shakespeare, and prefixed a me- moir to the official catalogue of the library bequeathed by Dyce to the nation. Dickens's death, on 9 June 1870, led to his last finished biography. His ' Life of Dickens ' was pub- lished, the first volume in 1872, the second in 1873, and the third in 1874. His failing health had induced him, in 1872, to resign his office of lunacy commissioner. He sur- vived all his relations, and felt deeply each successive death. His father died in 1836 ; his younger brother, Christopher, in 1844 ; his mother, who is described as ' a gem of a •woman,' in 1852 ; his sister Jane in 1853 ; and his sister Elizabeth in 1868. Forster had long meditated another work, for which he had collected abundant materials. This was the ' Life of Jonathan Swift.' The pre- face to it was dated June 1875, but the first
8 Forster
and only finished volume was not published until the beginning of 1876. The hand of death was already upon him while he was correcting the last sheets of vol. i. for the press. He died on 2 Feb. 1876, almost upon the morrow of the book's publication. He \vas followed to his grave at Kensal Green, on 6 Feb., by a group of attached friends, his remains being buried there beside those of his favourite sister Elizabeth.
Those who knew Forster intimately were alone qualified to appreciate at their true worth his many noble and generous pecu- liarities. Regarded by strangers, his loud voice, his decisive manner, his features, which in any serious mood were rather stern and authoritative, would probably have appeared anything but prepossessing. Beneath his unflinching firmness and honesty of purpose were, however, the truest gentleness and sym- pathy. Outsiders might think him obstinate and overbearing, but in reality he was one of the tenderest and most generous of men. A. staunch and faithful friend, he was always actively zealous as the peacemaker. While he had the heartiest enjoyment of society he had a curious impatience of little troubles, and yet the largest indulgence for the weakness of others. It was regarded as significant that Dickens allotted to him, in Lord Lytton's comedy of 'Not so bad as we seem,' the charac- ter of Mr. Hardman, who, with a severe and peremptory manner, is the readiest to say a kindly word for the small poet and hack pam- phleteer. By his will, dated 26 Feb. 1874, he bequeathed to the nation ' The Forster Col- lection,' now at South Kensington. The li- brary of eighteen thousand books includes the first folio of Shakespeare, the first edition of ' Gulliver's Travels,' 1726, with Swift's cor- rections in his own handwriting, and other interesting books. The manuscripts in the collection embrace nearly the whole of the original manuscripts of the world-famous novels of Charles Dickens. These, with forty- eight oil-paintings and an immense number of the choicest drawings, engravings, and curiosities, were left by Forster to his widow during her life, and afterwards, for the use of the public, to the Department of Science and Art at South Kensington. Mrs. Forster at once, however, surrendered her own right, to secure without delay the complete fulfil- ment of her husband's intention.
[The two principal sources of information in regard to the subject of this memoir, apart from the writer's own personal knowledge, are Pro- fessor Henry Morley's Sketch of John Forster, prefixed to the Handbook of the Forster and Dyce Collections, pp. 1-21, 1877, and the Rev. Whttwell El win's Monograph on John Forster,
Forster i
prefixed to the Catalogue of the Forster Library, pp. i-xxii, 1888. Reference may also be made to the Times of 2 and 7 Feb. 1876 ; Athenaeum, 5 Feb. 1876 ; Alderman Harle's sketch of John Forster in Newcastle Daily Chronicle of 15 Feb. 1876, reprinted, in February 1888, in Monthly- Chronicle of North-Country Lore and Legend, ii. 49-54; Men of the Time, 9th edit. p. 41 3; Annual Register for 1876, p. 134.] C. K.
FORSTER, JOHN COOPER (1823- 1886), surgeon, was born on 13 Nov. 1823 in Mount Street, Lambeth, his father and grand- father having been medical practitioners there. After being at King's College School Forster entered at Guy's Hospital in 1841, became M.R.C.S. in 1844, M.B. London in 1847, gaining a gold medal in surgery, and F.R.C.S. in 1849. In 1850 he was appointed demonstrator of anatomy at Guy's, in 1855 assistant surgeon, and in 1870 full surgeon. In 1880, when senior surgeon, he resigned his appointment, at the same time that Dr. Ha- bershon resigned the senior physiciancy, as a mark of disapproval of the conduct of the governors and treasurer of the hospital in dis- regarding the opinions of the medical staff on questions relating to the nursing staff. After their resignation over four hundred Guy's men subscribed to a testimonial and presen- tation of silver plate to both. After being long a member of the council of the College of Surgeons and examiner in surgery he was in 1884-5 president of the college, and did much to facilitate the starting of the combined ex- amination scheme of the colleges of physicians and surgeons. On the termination of his year of office he retired from practice, having long ceased to extend it owing to his large private means. After a stay at Cannes and Nice in January and February following he returned home prostrated by the cold of travelling, and died of an obscure disease on 2 March 1886 (see Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson's remarks on the case, British Medical Journal, 13 March 1886).
Forster was a good practical surgeon, prompt and decisive in the wards, and by no means lacking in boldness as an operator. He was the first to perform gastrostomy in Eng- land in 1858, and went to Aberdeen to study Pirrie's procedure of acupressure in 1867, and in various papers in the Pathological and Clinical Society's ' Transactions,' and by his reports of surgical cases in ' Guy's Hospital Reports,' showed enlarged views and keen observation. His clinical lectures were terse, emphatic, and full of common sense. His only published volume was on ' The Surgical Diseases of Children,' 1860. There is no doubt that Forster would have done more as a surgeon but for his easy circumstances. He
9 Forster
was a good practical horticulturist, a very skilful oarsman, having a very wide and com- plete knowledge of English waterways, and a devoted fly-fisher ; he was also noted for his cheery and well-planned hospitality.
[Guy's Hospital Reports, vol. xliv. 1887, Me- morial Notice by W. H. A. Jacobson.] G. T. B.
FORSTER, NATHANIEL, D.D. (1718- 1757), classical and biblical scholar, was born on 3 Feb. 1717-18 at Stadscombe, in the parish of Plymstock, Devonshire, of which his father, Robert Forster, was then minister. His mother was Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. John Tindal, vicar of Cornwood in the same county. She was sister of the Rev. Nicholas Tindal, translator of Rapin's ' His- tory of England,' and niece of Dr. Matthew Tindal, author of ' Christianity as Old as the Creation ' (see Tindal pedigree in NICHOLS, Lit. Anecd. ix. 303). He received the rudi- ments of education at Plymouth, where his father had removed on being appointed lec- turer of St. Andrew's Church. After a course of instruction in the grammar school of that town under the Rev. John Bedford, he was removed in 1731-2 to Eton, being at the same time entered at Pembroke College, Ox- ford, in order to entitle him to the benefit of an exhibition of 401. a year. He spent about sixteen months at Eton, and then repaired to his college at Oxford, where he became a pupil of Dr. Radcliff. On 13 June 1733 he was admitted scholar of Corpus Christi Col- lege, Oxford. He proceeded B.A. in 1735, and M.A. 10 Feb. 1738-9, was elected a fellow of Corpus in 1739, and graduated B.D. in 1746 and D.D. in 1750 (FOSTER, Alumni Oxon. ii. 479).
In 1749 he was presented by the Lord- chancellor Hardwicke, on the recommenda- tion of Bishop Seeker, to the small rectory of Hethe, Oxfordshire. In 1750 he became do- mestic chaplain to Dr. Butler, on that prelate being translated from Bristol to Durham. The bishop bequeathed to him a legacy of 2001., appointed him executor of his will, and died in his arms at Bath [see BUTLER, JOSE PH] . Forster, overwhelmed with grief at the loss of his friend, returned to his college for a short time, and in July 1752 was appointed one of the chaplains to Dr. Herring, archbishop of Canterbury. In the autumn of 1754 the archbishop gave him the valuable vicarage of Rochdale, Lancashire. Although a scholar and a preacher of the highest order, he was little understood and not very popular at Rochdale, where he did not long reside. The many letters addressed to him by Dr. Herring show that the primate's regard for him was most cordial and sincere. The lord
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chancellor promoted him on 1 Feb. 1754-5 to a prebendal stall in the church of Bristol (LE NEVE, Fasti, ed. Hardy, i. 231).
On 1 May 1755 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society (THOMSON, List of the Fel- lows, p. xlviii), and on 12 May 1756 lie was sworn one of the chaplains to George II. In the summer of 1757 he was, through the interest of Lord Royston, appointed by Sir Thomas Clarke to succeed Dr. Terrick as preacher at the Rolls Chapel. In August the same year he married Susan, widow of John Balls of Norwich, a lady possessed of con- siderable fortune. Forster took a house in Craig's Court, Charing Cross, about two months before his death, which took place on 20 Oct. 1757, in consequence of excessive study. He was buried in St. Martin's Church, Westminster. His widow (who afterwards married Philip Bedingfeld, esq., of Ditching- ham, Norfolk) erected a monument to his memory in Bristol Cathedral. It is inscribed with an elegant Latin epitaph, composed by Dr. Hayter, then bishop of Norwich.
Forster, who was an accomplished scholar, and thoroughly conversant with the Greek, Latin, and Hebrew languages, published : 1. 'Reflections on the Natural Foundation of the high Antiquity of Government, Arts, and Sciences in Egypt,' Oxford, 1743, 8vo. 2. ' Pla- tonis Dialogi quinque. Recensuit, notisque il- lustravit Nathan. Forster,' Oxford, 1745, 8vo, reprinted 1765. 3. ' Appendix Liviana ; conti- nens, (I.) Selectas codicum MSS. et editionum antiquarum lectiones, praecipuas variorum Emendationes, et supplementa lacunarum in iisT.Livii, quisupersuntlibris. (II.)LFreins- hemii supplementorum libros X in locum decadis secundse Livianae deperditae,' Oxford, 1746. 4. ' Popery destructive of the Evidence of Christianity,' a sermon on Mark vii. 13, preached before the university of Oxford on 6 Nov. 1746, Oxford, 8vo ; reprinted in 'The Churchman Armed,' vol. ii. (1814). 5. 'A Dissertation upon the Account supposed to have been given of Jesus Christ by Jose- phus. Being an attempt to show that this celebrated passage, some slight corruptions only excepted, may be esteemed genuine,' 1749, 8vo. 6. ' Biblia Hebraica sine punc- tis,' Oxford, 1750, 4to. 7. 'Remarks on the Rev. Dr. Stebbing's "Dissertation on the Power of States to deny Civil Protection to the Marriages of Minors," &c.,' London, 1755.
[Nichols's Lit. Anecd. ix. 289 ; Gent. Mag. ttxxvi. (i.) 537; Darling's Cyclopaedia Biblio^ graphica, p. 1166; Cat of Oxford Graduates 1851, p. 238; Watt's Bibl. Brit ; Lowndes's Bibliographer's Manual (Bohn), p. 82 1 ; Bodleian Cat-] T. C.
FORSTER, NATHANIEL, D.D. (1726?- 1790), writer on political economy, son of the Rev. Nathaniel Forster of Crewkerne, So- merset, and cousin of Nathaniel Forster, D.D., the editor of Plato [q. v.], was born in 1726 or 1727. He matriculated at Oxford, as a mem- ber of Balliol College, 12 Feb. 1741-2, but mi- grated to Magdalen College (where he was elected a demy in 1744), and graduated B.A. in 1745, and M.A. in 1748. He resigned his demyship in 1754 (BLOXAM, Magdalen College Register, vi. 264). Returning to Balliol Col- lege on being elected a fellow of that society, he took the degrees of B.D. and D.D. by cu- mulation in 1778. He became rector of All Saints Church, Colchester, and chaplain to the Countess Dowager of Northington. When Dr. Samuel Parr left Stanmore in 1777 to become master of the school at Colchester, he was received by Forster with open arms, and was offered by him the curacies of Trinity Church and St. Leonard's in addition to the school. The conversation of Forster was pecu- liarly interesting to Parr, who never mentions him in his correspondence without some term of admiration. Forster was instituted to the rectorv of Tolleshunt Knights, Essex, in 1 764. He died on 12 April 1790,aged 63. He left an only son, Edward (1769-1828) [q. v.]
Besides four single sermons, which are cha- racterised by Parr as very excellent, he pub- lished the following political treatises: 1. 'An Answer to a pamphlet entitled " The Ques- tion Stated, whether the Freeholders of Mid- dlesex forfeited their right by voting for Mr. Wilkes at the last Election." ' London, 1749, 4to (anon.) 2. ' An Enquiry into the Causes of the present High Price of Provisions,' London, 1767, 8vo (anon.) M'Culloch re- marks that ' this is perhaps the ablest of the many treatises published about this period on the rise of prices. It contains, indeed, not a few principles and conclusions that are quite untenable ; but the comprehensiveness of the author's views and the liberal and philoso- phical spirit by which the work is pervaded make it both valuable and interesting' (Lite- rature of Political Economy, p. 193). 3. ' A Letter to Junius, by the author of the Answer to "The Question Stated,"' London, 1769, 4to. 4. ' An Answer to Sir John Dalrymple's pamphlet on the Exportation of Wool,' Col- chester, 1782, 8vo. He also compiled the ' General Index to the twelfth-seventeenth volumes of the Journals of the House of Commons,' printed by order of the house, London, 1778, fol.
[Foster's Alumni Oxon. ii. 479 ; Darling's Cy- , clop. Bibl. i. 1167; Gent. Mag. lx.376, 473, 1145; Cat. of Oxford Graduates, 1851, p. 238; Parr's Works, ed. Johnstone, i. 94.] T. C.
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FORSTER, RICHARD, M.D. (1546?- 1616), physician, son of Laurence Forster, was born at Coventry about 1546, and was educated at All Souls' College, Oxford. He graduated at Oxford, M.B. and M.D., both in 1573. He became a fellow of the College of Physicians of London about 1575, but his admission is not mentioned in the ' Annals.' In 1583 he was elected one of the censors, in 1600 treasurer, andLumleian lecturer in 1602. He was president of the college from 1601 to 1604, and was again elected in 1615 and held office till his death on 27 March 1616. He had considerable medical practice, and was also esteemed as a mathematician. Camden, when recording his death, describes him as 1 Medicines doctor et nobilis Mathematicus.' Clowes, the surgeon, praises him, and in 1591 (Prooved Practice, p. 46) speaks of him as 'a worthie reader of the surgerie lector in the Phisition's college,' showing that he gave lec- tures before the Lumleian lectures were form- ally instituted in 1602. Forster had been in- troduced to Robert, earl of Leicester, by Sir Henry Sidney, and dedicated to the earl in 1575 his only published work, a thin oblong quarto, entitled 'Ephemerides Meteorologicse Richardi Fosteri artium ac medicinae doctoris ad annum 1575 et positum finitoris Londini emporii totius Anglise nobilissimi diligenter examinatae.' Besides the prose dedication, in which astronomy is said to be the hand- maid of medicine, twenty lines of Latin verse on Leicester's cognisance, the bear, precede the tables of which the book is made up.
[Munk's Coll. of Phys. i. 74 ; Wood's Fasti Oxon. vol. i. ; Preface to Forster's Ephemericles ; Clowes's Surgical Works.] N. M.
FORSTER, SIR ROBERT (1589-1663), lord chief justice. [See FOSTER.]
FORSTER, THOMAS (fl. 1695-1712), limner, is known from a number of small por- traits, drawn with exquisite care and feeling, in pencil on vellum. The majority of these were no doubt intended for engraving as frontispieces to books, and the following were so engraved by Michael Vander Gucht and others : J. Savage, Sir Thomas Littleton, the speaker, William Lloyd, bishop of St. Asaph, Dr. Humphry Hody, Rev. John Newte, and others. Unlike David Loggan [q. v.], Robert "White [q. v.], and John Faber, sen. [q. v.], who drew portraits ' ad vivum ' in the same style, Forster does not appear to have been an engraver himself. A number of his drawings were exhibited at the special Exhibition of Portrait Miniatures at the South Kensington Museum in 1865; they included Robert, lord Lucas, Archbishop Ussher, Sir Thomas Pope
Blount, bart., LadyBlount, John, lord Somers, and Admiral Sir George Rooke. A drawing of Margaret Harcourt is in the print room at the British Museum. His portraits are highly valued.
[Kedgrave's Diet, of Artists; Cat. of Special Exhibition of Miniatures, South Kensington Museum, 1865; Bromley's Cat. of Engraved British Portraits.] L. C.
FORSTER, THOMAS (1675 P-1738), the Pretender's general, was a high-church tory squire of Ederstone or Etherston, North- umberland, who at the outbreak of the re- bellion in Scotland in 1715 represented his county in parliament (first elected 27 May 1708, expelled 10 Jan. 1715-16). He was a man of influence, and was mentioned as one of the disaffected to parliament in 1715, when an order for his arrest was issued with the consent of the house. Timely notice was given him, and at the head of a body of servants and a few friends he at once joined some of the north-country gentry. They failed in an attempt to seize Newcastle, and after pro- claiming James III at various places in Northumberland and Durham, and avoiding an encounter with General Carpenter, they succeeded in joining the south-country Scots on 19 Oct. at Rothbury, and the following day a body of highlanders under Mackintosh at Kelso. On account of his social position, and to propitiate the protest ants, the Pre- tender appointed Forster to the command of this little army. He had no experience or capacity. When once face to face with the king's forces at Preston he seems to have lost heart. He at once surrendered at discretion, in spite of the entreaties of his officers. He was among the prisoners of the better class who were sent to be tried in London, and was led with a halter on his horse's head. At Barnet he and others were pinioned, to add to their abject appearance rather than for se- curity, and from Highgate they were escorted into the city by a strong detachment of the guards, horse and foot, amidst the enthusi- astic cheers of a vast concourse of people. He was lying in Newgate 10 April 1716, three days before his intended trial. His servant had, by a cunning device, got the head-keeper's servant locked in the cellar, and Forster, who had induced Pitts the governor and another friend to have wine with him, left the room. A few minutes later Pitts tried to follow, and found that he was locked in. Forster and his servant had been pro- vided with keys, by which they not only se- cured their liberty, but delayed pursuit ; and notwithstanding the offer of l.OOO/. reward, they made good their escape by a small
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vessel from Rocliford in Essex, and landed in France. lie is said to have spent some time in Rome. He died, however, at Boulogne, France, ' of an asthma,' on 3 Nov. 1738 ( Gent. Mag. 1738, p. 604). There is a small en- graved portrait of Forster hy Wedgwood after a miniature by Rosalba.
[R. Patten's Hist. Rebellion in 1715, 3rd ed. 1745 ; A Full and Authentick Narrative of the Intended and Horrid Conspiracy, &c., 1715; Penrice's Account of Charles Ratcliffe, 1747; Hibbert-Ware's Lancashire during Rebellion of 1715 (Chetham Soc.), 1845; Commons' Journals, xviii. 325, 336, 449; Hist. MSS. Cornm. llth Rep. App. pt. iv. pp. 168-71; Evans's Cat. of Portraits, i. 127-] A. N.
FORSTER, THOMAS FURLY (1761- 1825), botanist, was born in Bond Street, Wai- brook, 5 Sept. .1761, being the eldest son of Edward Forster the elder [q. v.l and Susanna his wife. His father retired to Walthamstow in 1764, and, being a great admirer of Rous- seau, brought up his son on his principles. From his uncle Benjamin [q. v.] Forster early acquired a taste for antiquities, coins, prints, and plants. He was introduced to the Linnean system of classification, to which he always remained a firm adherent, by the Rev. John Dixon, and was further .encouraged in his studies by Joseph Cockfield of Upton, Michael Tyson, Sir John Cullum, and Richard Warner, author of the ' PlantseWoodfordienses '(1771). Between 1775 and 1782 he made many draw- ings of plants, studying exotic species in the garden of Mr. Thomas Sikes at Tryon's Place, Hackney. In 1784 was printed a list of ad- ditions to Warner's ' Plantse Woodfordienses,' attributed by Dryander to Thomas Forster. In 1788 Forster married Susanna, daughter of Thomas Williams of West Ham, and niece of Mr. Sikes. He was one of the first fellows of the Linnean Society, founded in that year, and he visited Tunbridge Wells in that and almost every succeeding year of his life. In conjunction with his brothers he drew up the county lists of plants in Gough's 'Camden' (1789), and communicated various plants to the ' Botanical Magazine ' and to ' English Botany.' From 1796 to 1823 he mainly re- sided at Clapton, and, as he had grown hardy plants in his home at Walthamstow, then de- voted himself to greenhouse exotics, giving much assistance to the Messrs. Loddiges in establishing their nursery at Hackney. A list of the rare plants of Tunbridge Wells, pp. 14, 12mo, belonging probably to 1800, is attributed to him by Dryander; and in 1816 he published a 'Flora Tonbrigensis,' pp. 216, 8vo, dedicated to Sir J. E. Smith, which was reissued by his son in 1842. His fond- ness for animals made him refuse to prepare
an account of the fauna. In 1823 he moved to Walthamstow on the death of his mother, and died there 28 Oct. 1825, leaving two sons and three daughters. He contributed two papers to the Linnean Society's ' Transac- tions,' and left an extensive hortus siccus of algae, as well as of flowering plants, together with collections of fossils, music, &c., and more than a thousand drawings of churches and other ancient buildings, executed by him- self. His natural history journals of weather prognostics, &c., were published by his son in 1827 as ' The Pocket Encyclopaedia of Natural Phenomena,' pp. xlviii and440,12mo. He was a member of many scientific and phi- lanthropic societies, and among his friends were Porson and Gough, as well as the bo- tanists, Sir J. E. Smith, Sir Joseph Banks, Dryander, Dickson, Robert Brown, and Afzelius of TJpsala.
[Gent. Mag. 1849, xxxii. 431 ; Nichols's Illustrations of Literary History, viii. 553 ; Flora Tonbrigensis, 2nd ed. 1842 ; Epistolarium Fors- terianum, i. 33-41.] G. S. B.
FORSTER, THOMAS IGNATIUS MARIA, M.D. (1789-1860), naturalist and astronomer, eldest son of Thomas Furly For- ster [q.v.], was born in London on 9 Nov. 1789. He was brought up mainly at Walthamstow, and, both his father and grandfather being followers of Rousseau, his literary education was neglected. During his life, however, he acquired familiarity with the Latin, Greek, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Welsh languages, while from his uncle Benjamin Meggot [q. v.] he obtained his first notions of astronomy, mechanics, and aerostatics. In 1805 he compiled a 'Journal of the Weather' and a ' Liber Rerum Naturalium,' and in the following year, being attracted by the writings of Gall, he began to study that branch of psy- chology to which he afterwards gave the name of ' phrenology.' In 1808, under the signature ' Philochelidon,' he published ' Observations on the Brumal Retreat of the Swallow,' of which the sixth edition appeared, with a cata- logue of British birds annexed, in 1817. In 1809 he took up for a time the study of the violin, to which he returned forty years later ; and in 1810, having been ill, his attention was first directed to the influence of air upon health, upon which subject he wrote in the ' Philosophical Magazine.' The great comet of 1811 directed his attention to astro- nomy; and in 1812, having been, from his study of Pythagorean and Hindu philosophy and an inherited dislike of cruelty to ani- mals, for some years a vegetarian, he pub- lished ' Reflections on Spirituous Liquors,' denying man to be by birth a carnivor. This
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work made him acquainted with Abernethy. In the same year appeared his ' Researches about Atmospheric Phenomena/ of which a third edition was published in 1823 ; and, having been already elected a fellow of the Linnean Society, his father permitted him to enter Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, to study law. This study, however, he soon aban- doned, graduating as M.B. in 1819. In 1815 he issued an annotated edition of the ' Dio- semeia ' of Aratus, which he partially sup-
settling at Bruges ; but he reissued his father's ' Flora Tonbrigensis,' with a memoir of the author, at Tunbridge "Wells in 1842, and his works were issued at Frankfort, Aix, or Brus- sels as often as at Bruges. Many of his later writings are poetical, and he composed various pieces for the violin, having formed a valuable collection of specimens of that instrument. In 1836 he was engaged in a controversy with Arago as to the influence of comets, and he also had some difficulty in demonstrating
pressed, and a volume of songs in German, j the orthodoxy of his Pythagorean doctrine 'Lieder der Deutschen.' Making the per- of ' Sati,' or universal immortality, including sonal acquaintance of Spurzheim, he studied il"i ~* ~ with him the anatomy and physiology of the brain, and accompanied him to Edinburgh, where he communicated a paper on the com- parative anatomy of the brain to the Wer- nerian Society. On his return to London he published a sketch of Gall and Spurzheim's
system, which, like many of his writings, ap- peared in the ' Pamphleteer,' together with an essay on the application of the organology of the brain to education. He became a fre- quenter of Sir Joseph Banks's Sunday gather- ings in Soho Square. He declined the fellow- ship of the Royal Society from dislike of some of itsrules. In 1817 he married Julia, daughter of Colonel Beaufoy,F.R.S., and settled at Spa Lodge, Tunbridge Wells, where in the same year he wrote his ' Observations on the . . . In- fluence of . . . the Atmosphere on . . . Diseases, particularly Insanity.' In the following year Ids only daughter, Selena, was born, and he moved to Hartwell in Sussex. This year he published an edition of Catullus, and on 3 July 1819 he discovered a comet. The next three years he spent mainly abroad, and in 1824 issued his ' Perennial Calendar,' containing numerous essays by himself, though variously signed, during the preparation of which work he seems to have been converted to Roman Catholicism. Having become a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, he, in conjunc- tion with Sir Richard Phillips, founded a short-lived Meteorological Society. After his father's death he took (1827) a house at Boreham, near Chelmsford, so as to be near New Hall Convent, where his daughter was at school, and while there published various essays on the atmospheric origin of diseases and especially of cholera, in connection with •which subject he made a balloon ascent in April 1831, with Green, ascending six thou- sand feet. In 1830 he published the original letters of Locke, Shaftesbury, and Algernon Sydney, which he had inherited from his an- cestor Benjamin Furly, with a metaphysical preface, partly inspired by his recent acquaint- ance with Lady Mary Shepherd. After 1833 he appears to have lived mainly abroad, finally
that of animals. In conjunction with his friend Gompertz he founded the Animals' Friend Society. The autobiographical ' Re- cueil de ma Yie ' (Frankfort-on-Main, 1835), and still more the two volumes, ' Epistola- rium Forsterianum,' which he printed pri- vately at Bruges in 1845 and 1850, contain much information about himself and other members of his family. Besides the works already mentioned and those enumerated below, he contributed largely to the ' Gentle- man's Magazine,' and is credited with thirty- five scientific papers in the Royal Society's ' Catalogue,' several dealing with colours, their names, and classification. He died at Brussels on 2 Feb. 1860, though Hoefer had killed him (Biographic Universelle,vol. xviii.) ten years previously. Among his personal friends this remarkable man numbered, be- sides those already mentioned, Gray, Porson, Shelley, Peacock, Herschel, and Whewell.
He published: 1. ' Observations sur la variete dans le pouvoir dispersif de 1' Atmos- phere/ in 'Phil. Mag.,' 1824. 2. 'On the Colours of the Stars ' (#.) 3. ' Pocket En- cyclopaedia of Natural Phenomena,' 1826. 4. ' Memoir of George Canning,' 1827. 5. ' The Circle of the Seasons,' 1828. 6. ' Medicina Simplex,' 1829. 7. ' Beobachtungen iiber den Einfluss des Luftdruckes auf das Gehor/ 1835. 8. ' Onthophilos/ 1836. 9. ' Florile- gium, Poeticse Aspirationes, or Cambridge Nugae/ 1836. 10. ' Observations sur 1'influ- ence des Cometes/ 1836. 11. 'Philozoia/ 1839. 12. ' Elogio e Vita di Boecce,' 1839. 13. ' Pan, a Pastoral,' 1840. 14. 'Essay on Abnormal Affections of the Organs of Sense,' 1842. 15. 'Philosophia Musarum,' 1842. 16. ' Discours preliminaire a 1'etude de 1'His- toire Naturelle,' 1843. 17. 'Harmonia Mu- sarum,' 1843. 18. ' Sati,' 1843. 19. ' 'H rS>v TraiSwi/ 0700777,' 1844. 20. 'Piper's Wallet/ 1845. 21. ' Annales d'un Physicien Voya- geur/ 1848. 22. ' L'Age d'Or/ 1848.
[Hoefer, xviii. cols. 206-8; Annual Keg. cii. 440 ; Eoy. Soe. Cat. ii. 670-1 ; GilloVsBibl.Dict. of Engl. Catholics; Eecueildema Vie, 1835; Epi- stolarium Forsterianum, 1845-50.] G. S. B.
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FORSTER, WILLIAM (/. 1632), ma- thematician, was a pupil of William Ough- tred [q. v.], and afterwards taught mathe- matics 'at the Red bull over against St. Clements churchyard with out Temple bar.' While staying with Oughtred at Albury, Surrey, during the long vacation of 1630, the latter showed him a horizontal instrument for delineating dials upon any kind of plane, and for working most questions which could be performed by the globe. This invention Oughtred had contrived for his private use thirty years before. Forster persuaded him to make it public, and was ultimately allowed to translate and publish his master's treatise on the subject as ' The Circles of Proportion and the Horizontal! Instrvment. Both in- vented, and the vses of both written in Latine by Mr. William] O[ughtred]. Translated into Englisli and set forth for the publique benefit by William Forster,' 4to, London, 1632 (another edition, 1639), which he dedi- cated to Sir Kenelm Digby. A revised edition of this book was published by Arthur Haughton, another disciple of Oughtred, 8vo, Oxford, 1660. Forster had his name affixed to an ' Arithmetick, explaining the grounds and principles of that Art, both in whole numbers and fractions,' 12mo, London, 1673 (new edition, by Henry Coley, 12mo, Lon- don, 1686). The former edition is adorned by a supposed portrait of Forster, which is really that of John Weever, the antiquary.
[Ward's Lives of the Gresham Professors, i. 88 ; Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary, xxiii. 428 ; Granger's Biographical History of England (2nd edit), ii. 328.] G. G.
FORSTER, WILLIAM (1739-1808), the founder of a family of eminent musical in- strument makers and publishers, known in the trade as ' Old Forster,' was the son of a maker of spinning-wheels and repairer and maker of violins in Cumberland. William made his way southwards as a cattle-drover, and reached London in 1759. At home he had been carefully taught music and the making of instruments, and the violins with •which he supplied the shops were accepted and sold without difficulty. His talent ob- tained him permanent employment from Beck, a music- seller of Tower Hill, until Forster started a business of his own in Duke's Court, St. Martin's Lane, whence he removed about 1785 to No. 348 Strand. The tone of his violins is penetrating; great attention was paid to their varnish and finish, and even now the earlier ' Forsters,' especially the violon- cellos and double basses, are considered oJ some value. As a publisher Forster became honourably known through his connection
with Haydn. Orchestral and chamber music was not at that time popular in England, and the enterprise which introduced more than one hundred of Haydn's important works to this country deserved the success, it ultimately gained. Among letters pub- lished in 'The History of the Violin' are- several of interest from Haydn, referring to the purchase of his compositions by the Forsters between 1781 and 1788. WILLIAM FOESTER (1764-1824), son of the above Wil- liam Forster, made instruments of a fair quality. Music-seller to the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cumberland, he was dis- tinguished as 'Royal' Forster, although his father had enjoyed similar court, favours. WILLIAM FORSTER (1788-1824), eldest son of the second William Forster, made no more than twelve or fifteen violins, &c., but occu- pied himself as violoncellist in theatre or- chestras. SIMON ANDREW FORSTER (1801- 1870), the fourth son of the second William Forster, carried out the instructions of his father and his brother in Frith Street, and later in Macclesfield Street, Soho. He was part author of the ' History of the Violin r (1864), from which some of the details in this article have been taken.
[Grove's Diet, of Music, i. 555 ; Brown's Biog. Diet. p. 252 ; Sandys and Forster's Hist, of the Violin, 1864, p. 290, &c.] L. M. M.
FORSTER, WILLIAM (1784-1854), minister of theSociety of Friends, was born at Tottenham, near London, 23 March 1784. His father, who was a land agent and surveyor, and his mother were pious members of the So- ciety of Friends, and they took much pains in bringing up their children. From his earliest years William, their second son, manifested a profoundly spiritual disposition, and in after years would say that ' in looking back on his earliest religious experience he could not re- member a time when he was not sensible of the work of the Holy Spirit in his heart.' After his education was completed he de- clined to follow his father's profession, and, having taken part in quaker meetings for two years, was recognised as a minister in 1805, in his twenty-second year. For several years he was an itinerant minister, and visited many parts of England and Scotland. For a time he settled at Tottenham. In October 1816 he married, at Shaftesbury, Anna Buxton, a daughter of Mr. Buxton of Earlham, Norfolk, and sister of Elizabeth Fry [q. v.] and Joseph John Gurney [q. v.] Anna Buxton, whose family were residing at Weymouth, was a handsome girl of fascinating manners. She had attracted the interest of George III, to whom Weymouth was a favourite resort, and
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was on intimate terms with the royal family. Shortly before her marriage she had come under deep religious impressions. Forster had been a helper of Mrs. Fry in her philan- thropical efforts.
After his marriage Forster resided at Brad- pole, Dorsetshire, where their only son, Wil- liam Edward Forster [q. v.], was born in 1818. He afterwards removed to Norwich. In 1820 Forster was induced to undertake a mission to the United States on behalf of the society there. This visit was unexpectedly protracted to five years. A tendency had appeared towards unitarianism, which ulti- mately caused a great separation in the body, much to Forster's distress. Though unable to avert the separation, his friends believed that he did good service in preventing the spread of Unitarian views. His eminently calm and peaceful tone suited him for conciliatory work. In the course of his life he paid two other visits to America. One was occasioned by a threatened secession among the Friends in the state of Indiana, arising from a difference of view on the slavery question. The efforts of the deputation of which Forster was a member (in 1845) were highly successful, and furnished an illustration of the right method of dealing with brethren in reference to such differences. On another occasion Forster undertook a mission to Normandy for the purpose of fostering religious earnestness. A longer series of visits to the continent was paid in 1849-52, at the instance of the society, whose deputies sought interviews with all persons of influence to whom they could find access, for the purpose of promoting the anti- slavery movement. Still another continental visit was paid by him to the Vaudois churches in Piedmont. The reception he met with from the Vaudois pastors was most satisfactory. Dr. Lantaret, as moderator of the 'Table,' assured them that the sight of such an aged, venerable ambassador of Christ among them brought to their minds the passage ' How beautiful upon the mountains.'
Before the last two of these continental missions Forster had performed an important service in Ireland. With the Society of Friends generally he was deeply concerned for the famine caused by the failure of the potato crop in 1846. Before any general committee of relief was formed he conferred with his friends on the subject, and at their request he set out on a journey to the distressed dis- tricts. In this journey he was accompanied by his son. He spent the time from 30 Nov. 1846 to 14 April 1847 investigating the con- dition of the people.
These public labours were added to those of the ministry which he continued to carry
on. His health failed in his later years. Nevertheless he was induced, at the request of his brethren and at the impulse of his own heart, to engage in an additional enter- prise. This was to present an anti-slavery address to the president of the United States, and to the governors of the states and other persons of influence to whom they might find access. He left home in considerable bodily weakness in 1853. On 1 Oct. he and his fellow-deputies had an interview with Presi- dent Pierce. He gave them little encourage- ment to believe that slavery would soon come to an end. The prosecution of their mission among other men of mark occupied the rest of the year. In January 1854 he was seized with severe illness while stay ing with Samuel Low near the Holston River, East Tennessee, North America, and after a few weeks of suffering he died on the morning of the 27th, aged 70. He was buried in the Friends' bury- ing-ground at Friendsville. One is reminded of Howard dying at his post in the far east, as Forster now did in the west. His son said with much truth: 'It is impossible not to feel that he was allowed to fall a martyr to his devotion to that great and holy cause of the abolition of negro slavery, in the earnest and untiring advocacy of which so large a portion of his life had from time to time been spent.' All through his life Forster bore a most consistent and devoted testimony to his creed. His ministry was emphatically evangelical. The news of his death caused an extraordinary sensation both in America and Great Britain. Warm testimonies to his worth appeared in the newspapers, and tokens of love and esteem were issued both by his own monthly and quarterly meetings and by the monthly meet- ing of the Friends in Tennessee. He pub- lished ' A Christian Exhortation to Sailors,' 1813, often reprinted, and translated into French ; ' Recent Intelligence from Van Die- men's Land,' 1831 ; ' A Salutation of Chris- tian Love,' issued by Forster's brother Josiah in 1860. Joseph Crosfield, James H. Tuke, and William Dillwyn published accounts of Forster's visit to Ireland in 1846.
[Memoirs of the Life of William Forster, ed. Benjamin Seebohm, 2 vols. 1865 ; Brief Memoir by Robert Charleton, 1867 ; Smith's Friends' Books.] W. G. B.
FORSTER, WILLIAM EDWARD
(1818-1886), statesman, born at Bradpole, Dorsetshire, on 11 July 1818, was the only son of William Forster (1784-1854) [q.v.] and of Anna, sister of the first Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton [q. v.] He was thus not a Yorkshire- man by descent, though often taken for a typi- cal Yorkshireman. He was brought up in the
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discipline of the quaker body, and being the only child of parents who had passed their first youth, he early showed signs of a serious habit of mind. ' The simplicity of the quaker style of living,' says his biographer, 'was at all times characteristic of the ways of the little household,' and the boy acquired a ' certain quaint formalism of manner and speech,' and talked politics with his parents before he had learnt to play with children of his own age. His father's long absences on missionary ex- peditions threw him very much into the society of his mother, whose ' bright and vi- vacious temperament' acted as some correc- tive to the severity of a quaker education. In August 1831 he was sent to school at Fishponds House, Bristol, and after a year to Mr. Binns's school, at Grove House, Tot- tenham, both kept by Friends. Here he re- mained until the close of 1835, receiving what must be considered a very fair educa- tion, and not only studying English and other history independently, but ' setting himself for his leisure time in the evening, two even- ings for themes, two for mathematics, one for Latin verse, and one for Greek Testament and sundries' (letter to his father dated 8th month, 31 day, 1834). Other letters written about the same time show his interest in poli- tical movements, especially those with which his uncle Buxton was associated.
While capable of quick and firm resolution in matters of religious duty, the elder William Forster was curiously unsettled about his son's career. He was oppressed by ' a leaden- weighted lethargy.' Aloreover, when the de- cision had been given in favour of a business career, as that which would most certainly tend to worldly prosperity, he discouraged by every means in his power his son's attempts to change this for an opening offered into public life. Finally, through his Norfolk connections, a place was found for Forster in the manu- factory of Mr. Robberds at Norwich, where handloom camlets were made for export to China. Here he remained for two years, and in July 1838 he left Norwich for Darlington to learn other branches of the wool business with the Peases of that town. He worked for twelve hours a day in the woollen mill, and for several hours in the evening he studied mathematics and politics. At the same time he began to take some part in public life. His uncle offered to take him as private secretary, and after his father had put a veto on this plan, he himself offered to join the Niger expedition. But neither project came to anything, and in 1841 he entered the woollen business at Bradford. In 1842 he became the partner of Mr. William Fison, woollen manufacturer, and this partnership
continued to the end of Forster's life. They began on borrowed capital, and had to meet, during many years, innumerable difficulties, but in due time took a place among the most prosperous houses of the district. Forster joined various committees, took a share in the battle of free trade, and formed a number of acquaintances of all sorts, not excluding such extreme men as Robert Owen, the socialist, and Thomas Cooper, the chartist. He also became acquainted with Frederick Denison Maurice, John Sterling, and, above all, with the Carlyles, with whom for several years he kept up an intimate acquaintance.
Forster paid two visits to the famine- stricken districts of Connemara in 1846 and
1847. He, with his father, was distributor of the relief fund collected by the Friends, and of the second of these visits he wrote an account, which was printed at the time. His descriptions, besides being vivid and truthful pictures of terrible scenes, show that extra- ordinary kindliness which in him always underlay the somewhat rough exterior. He was much occupied by the revolutions of
1848, especially that in France, with its echoes among the chartists of this country. A strong liberal, he was for meeting the chartists halfway, and his efforts in Brad- ford are believed to have had no little effect in preventing the extreme men among the chartists of that town from resorting to vio- lence. He even attended a great meeting of chartists at Bradford, and, in his own words, 'roared from the top of a wagon to six or eight thousand people for nearly three quar- ters of an hour, and pushed a strong moral force resolution down their throats, at the cost of much physical force exertion' on his own part. In May 1848 he visited Paris. In the autumn of the same year he made a great impression in Bradford by a course of lectures on ' Pauperism and its proposed Remedies.' Next year his quakerism was roused by Macaulay's attacks on the character of Wil- liam Penn, and he published a new edition of Clarkson's ' Life of Penn,' prefacing it by a long and able defence against the historian's charges. In the next year (1850) he left the Society of Friends, on his marriage with Jane Martha, eldest daughter of Dr. Arnold. For eighteen months they lived at Rawdon, and after that time moved to Burley-in-Wharfe-
| dale, where he and his partner had bought
! an old cotton mill, which they intended to
convert into a worsted manufactory. Here,
I overlooking the beautiful river, he built a
house, Wharfeside, which he always regarded
as his home till the end of his life. In the ten
following years Forster frequently appeared
on platforms at Leeds and Bradford, discuss-
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ing the interests of the working classes, parliamentary reform, or American slavery. After the dissolution in 1859 he was invited by the liberals of Leeds to come forward with Mr. Baines. Forster, though afterwards re- garded as par excellence the conservative type of liberal, was chosen as the candidate of the advanced party. The numbers at the poll were: Baines, 2,343; Beecroft (conservative), 2,303 ; Forster, 2,280. A little later a va- cancy occurred in the representation of Brad- ford, and, in spite of the distrust of moderate liberals and the leading dissenters, he was chosen by a large majority of liberal electors as their candidate, and was returned with- out opposition (Monday, 11 Feb. 1861). He continued to represent Bradford until the end of his life. He was returned without opposition at the general election of 1865. In 1868 he was at the head of the poll, after a contest in which all the three candidates, himself, Mr. Ripley, and Edward Miall, were liberals. In 1874 he was again returned at the head of the poll, although the dissenters, who felt bitterly towards him on account of the Education Act, strongly opposed him. Again in 1880 he was returned, also at the head of the poll, and finally, in the election of November 1885, he was returned for the central division of Bradford by a majority of over fifteen hundred.
Forster at once made his mark in the house, and quickly came to be recognised as one of the chief representatives of the advanced liberal party. He took every opportunity of speaking upon reform, which was then ex- citing little interest, and made effective utter- ances upon the American civil war. During its course he may be said to have been se- cond only to Bright and Cobden in opposing all attempts to recognise the south or to put obstacles in the way of the union. Espe- cially did he in 1863 denounce the impru- dence of permitting Alabamas to be built in English dockyards ; but at the same time he was ready enough to defend England against such attacks as the celebrated one delivered by Mr. Charles Sumner. When in 1865 Lord Palmerston died, the government was reconstructed under Lord Russell, and Forster was invited to take office as under- secretary for the colonies. He was at the colonial office eight months under Mr. Card- well, and among the difficult problems in the solution of which he had to take part was the Jamaica question. Two days after his entry into the colonial office (27 Nov.) he noted in his diary, ' Very bad news from Jamaica of slaughter by the troops, and under martial law.' Had he been out of office he would have been one of the most active mem-
bers of Mr. Mill's and Mr. Charles Buxton's Jamaica committee ; but he probably did still more effective work by urging the despatch of a commission of inquiry to the island, and by influencing the action of the govern- ment. To the varied experience gained during these eight months Forster used to attribute much of his deep and lifelong interest in all colonial questions. In the session of 1866 he took an effective part in the great debates on reform. He had made it a condition of his entry into the government that the question should be dealt with immediately. His speech in the great eight nights' debate on the second reading of the bill was of great weight, for the house recognised in him a man who had lived in the midst of a great working popula- tion, and who was entitled from his own ex- perience to give utterance to the wishes of the north of England. In the session of 1867 he contributed not a little to the liberalising of Mr. Disraeli's Reform Bill, and he rejoiced as much as any one when that measure passed into law as an act for conferring household suffrage in the boroughs.
In 1867 he made his first visit to the East ; he saw Constantinople, Smyrna, Athens, and Corfu, and formed opinions to which he gave utterance when the Eastern question once more became acute. After the general elec- tion of November 1868 Mr. Gladstone became prime minister, and Forster was appointed a privy councillor and vice-president of the council. This imposed upon him the main responsibility for carrying the measure for establishing a national system of education, which formed a principal part of the govern- ment programme. Before parliament met he successfully defended his seat against a peti- tion, to the great satisfaction of his consti- tuents. In the session of 1869 he took no great part in the debates on the disestablish- ment of the Irish church, but he gave much time and attention to the successful conduct of the Endowed Schools Bill through the House of Commons. This was a bill which raised no great parliamentary issues, but its importance may be shown from the fact that it dealt with three thousand schools with a gross income of 592,000/. He had also to conduct the preparation of measures against the cattle plague. He was meanwhile care- fully considering the measure for providing a national system of elementary education. Various bodies throughout the country con- centrated themselves .into two, the National Education Union and the League, which met at Birmingham. The Union ostensibly ad- vocated the spread of the voluntary school system, and the League the provision of schools at the cost and under the control of
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the public authorities. In reality, however, the desire of the Union was to guard the interests of certain dominant religious bodies, especially that of the church of England, and the desire of the League was to secure a fair field for the dissenters. Forster en- deavoured to steer an even course between these two opposing theories, adopting a plan which he traced originally to Mr. Lowe. Places where additional school accommoda- tion was required were to be discovered and the accommodation supplied through the agency of a newly constituted public au- thority.
In the third week of February 1870 Forster introduced his Elementary Education Bill. His speech, long and full of detail, was at the same time very careful in form, well ar- ranged, abounding in evidence of a thorough study of the question, conciliatory, and warmed by enthusiasm for the cause of edu- cation. He pointed out the great deficiencies of the existing schools, and declined to adopt either the continental method of state educa- tion or the opposite policy of increasing the bonus upon voluntary schools. He therefore proposed to create an entirely new local au- thority called the School Board. The board •was to have the power of providing necessary school accommodation, and of directing its own schools, subject to the ultimate control of the education department. At first Forster proposed that school boards should be chosen by popular election in London, and elsewhere by town councils and vestries, but he soon adopted direct popular election in all cases. Thus far all parties were ready to accept Forster's proposals ; but the jealousy between the church and dissenters soon produced dis- cord. The Birmingham League settled down upon the religious shortcomings of the mea- sure, and around these there speedily arose a controversy which, by the time of the debate on the second reading, 14 March, had assumec the most threateningproportions. An amend- ment was moved to the second reading by Mr. George Dixon, liberal member for Bir- mingham and chairman of the Education League, to the effect ' that no measure fo the education of the people could afford i permanent satisfactory settlement which lef the important question of religious instruc tion to be determined by the local author! ties.' In the end the amendment was with drawn, and three months later the governmen accepted the amendment of Mr. Cowper Temple, the effect of which would be ' to ex elude from all rate-aided schools every cate chism and formulary distinctive of denomi national creed, and to sever altogether th connection between the local school board
nd the denominational schools, leaving the atter to look wholly to the central grant for elp.' As a consequence of this, the share f the total cost of education payable by the entral department — the grant as distinct rom the education rate — which had been riginally fixed at one third, was raised to ne half, and on this basis the question was ettled. The bill passed without much further ifficulty, although not without having to indergo much invective both from extreme hurchmen and from the nonconformists and heir allies. The principle of compulsion was not as yet admitted. Forster struggled hard n 1873 to carry a compulsory act, sufficient chool accommodation having in his opinion )een provided for an effectual application of the principle ; but though he at first won the struggle within the cabinet, the compulsory :lauses of the amending bill had afterwards o be withdrawn. For some years after 1870 a fierce controversy raged round the twenty- ifth clause, which enabled the local authori- ;ies to pay the fees of needy children at denominational schools. This clause was ;hought by the nonconformists to give an unfair advantage to the church schools in places where board schools did not exist, and especially in the rural districts. It was se- riously maintained that Forster, instead of Pounding a national system of education, had really hindered its establishment.
Forster, while president of the council, had the conduct of the Ballot Bill, which passed the House of Commons in 1871, was lost inc the House of Lords, and finally carried in the session of 1872. In 1872 Forster took the keenest interest in the Geneva arbitration, as tending to remove the estrangement between this country and the United States.
After the dissolution of 1874, and the accession of Mr. Disraeli to power, Forster carried out his long-cherished wish of visit- ing the United States, and immediately on his return he was proposed as the successor to Mr. Gladstone, who had resigned the leadership of the liberal party. The proposal shows how little he had been injured by the denunciation of his educational policy. It is a curious fact that at the preliminary meet- ing of the prominent liberal members all the aristocratic whigs present voted for Forster, and all the radical manufacturers and men of business voted for Lord Hartington. Forster, in a letter which was universally thought to have done him great honour, withdrew in Lord Hartington's favour. On 5 Nov. 1875 he delivered an address on ' Our Colonial Empire ' at the Philosophical Institution at Edinburgh, which is interesting as contain- ing the views which afterwards took shape
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in the programme of the Imperial Federation League ; and about the same time he was elected lord rector of Aberdeen University.
During the bitter party disputes which marked the years 1876-8, between the out- break of the revolt in Herzegovina and the signature of the Berlin treaty, Forster held a somewhat middle position, and was blamed by both extremes. In the autumn of 1876 he paid a visit to Servia and Turkey, and on his return he made an important speech to his constituents. While denouncing Turkish maladministration, he insisted upon the ob- jections to English interference. His positive proposal was that the concert of Europe should be used to obtain from the sultan a consti- tution similar to that of Crete for the Chris- tian provinces of Turkey. Then the Russo- Turkish war broke out, and from that time to the conclusion of the Berlin treaty Forster's unceasing efforts were devoted to keeping England from any part in such a war.
At this time the extreme liberals were beginning to organise the so-called Caucus. The old dispute between Forster and Bir- mingham broke out again. He declined to submit his political destiny to the judgment of a committee of the party in Bradford, and declared that he should offer himself to the constituency at the next election whether the association chose him or not. After some display of feeling the association accepted him. On the formation of Mr. Gladstone's ministry in 1880 he would have preferred to be secretary of state for the colonies, but, in the extremely threatening state of the Irish question, felt bound to consent to the prime minister's request that he should become chief secretary, with Lord Cowper as lord- lieutenant. The winter had been marked by something approaching to a famine in the west of Ireland, and the Land League agita- tion, headed by Mr. Parnell, had grown to formidable dimensions. The question imme- diately arose whether the government should attempt to prolong the existing Coercion Act, which was to expire in a very few weeks. The cabinet, however, determined to attempt the government of the country under the ordinary law. In June Forster persuaded Mr. Gladstone to allow the intro- duction of a temporary bill providing com- pensation for evicted tenants, and to appoint a strong commission to inquire into the work- ing of the Land Act of 1870. The new bill, known as the Compensation for Disturbance Bill, was carried in the House of Commons in spite of the vigorous opposition of the con- servatives, but on 2 Aug. 1880 it was rejected in theHouse of Lords by an immense majority. Forster was indignant and dismayed by this,
as he thought, desperate act of the landlord party, which immensely increased the diffi- culty of his task in governing Ireland. The Irish party instantly proceeded to identify the lords who had rejected the Compensa- tion for Disturbance Bill with the govern- ment which had brought it in, and to stir up popular feeling throughout Ireland against the whole English connection. The autumn and winter were marked by one continuous struggle between Forster and the Land League on the one hand, and Forster and the more ' advanced ' section of his colleagues in the government on the other. The ma- chinery of the ordinary law was strained to the uttermost, and to no purpose, as was shown by a number of abortive trials of per- sons believed to be guilty of outrages, and, above all, by the equally abortive state trial in Dublin, in which fourteen leading mem- bers of the league, Mr. Parnell, Mr. Dillon, Mr. P. J. Sheridan, and others, were prose- cuted for conspiracy to prevent the payment of rent and other illegal acts. Forster wished to summon parliament in the autumn, but this was refused, and only when it met on 7 Jan. 1881 was it announced that the government had decided to ask for fresh powers. Long and angry debates followed, and, after un- precedented scenes, caused by the obstructive action of the Irish members, the bill was passed. Forster said in introducing it : ' I never expected it, and if I had thought that this duty would have devolved on me, I cer- tainly should not have been Irish secretary. Indeed, I think I may go further, and say that if I had foreseen that this would have been the result of twenty years of parlia- mentary life, I think I should have left par- liamentary life alone. But I never was more clear in my life as to the necessity of a duty.' The essence of the bill was the clause which enabled the Irish government to imprison men without trial ' on reasonable suspicion ' of crime, outrage, or conspiracy. In conse- quence of this clause within a short time some nine hundred men were imprisoned, most of them of the class whom Forster had described as ' village ruffians,' who were really well known to be guilty of crime or planning crime, but whom no jury of their neighbours dared to convict. With them were imprisoned a certain number of men of a superior class, who were believed, on evi- dence sufficient to convince the government, to be guilty of incitement to murder and of organising intimidation. In Ireland Forster had to face the performance of what he be- lieved to be a duty, but of the most distressing kind. He had to hurry backwards and for- wards between London and Dublin, and
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•within a few hours of giving his instructions in Dublin Castle to face the fire of hostile ' questions' in the House of Commons. His health suffered under the strain. Moreover he had to follow and take part in the intricate debates on Mr. Gladstone's Land Bill of 1881, and especially to -watch the interests of the labourers. AVhen parliament rose there was no rest for him, for the headquarters of the agitation -were transferred from Westminster to the rural districts of Ireland, and incen- diary speeches followed by outrages came in constant succession. On 13 Oct. 1881, at the Guildhall, Mr. Gladstone announced the ar- rest of Mr. Parnell, and this was followed by the suppression of the Land League as an illegal and treasonable association. Mean- time plots began to be formed against Forster's life, and during the winter of 1881-2 several attempts were made upon him, his escape under the circumstances, subsequently made public, appearing little less than miraculous. In March 1882 he took the bold step of per- sonally visiting some of the worst districts, and at Tullamore he addressed a crowd from a window of the hotel, impressing even the hostile peasantry who heard him with ad- miration for his pluck and character. Two months later he and Lord Cowper had re- signed, the occasion being his refusal to coun- tenance the celebrated Kilmainham 'treaty' by which Mr. Parnell and his colleagues were to be released from prison after they had pri- vately and, as Forster thought, far too vaguely promised to support the government. On Thursday, 4 May, Forster made a memorable speech in the House of Commons, explaining the reasons of his resignation. Stated shortly they were to the effect that one of the following three conditions was, in his view, indispens- able to the release of the prisoners : ' A public promise on their part, Ireland quiet, or the acquisition of fresh powers by the govern- ment.' As none of these three conditions was, in his opinion, satisfied, Forster resigned with Lord Cowper, and their places were taken by Lord Spencer as lord-lieutenant, and Lord Frederick Cavendish as chief secretary. On the following Saturday (6 May 1882) Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke were murdered in Phoenix Park. Forster at once offered to take up his old post, and 'temporarily to fill the vacancy which had been caused by the loss of Mr. Burke, the man who, next to himself, was the most intimately acquainted •with the existing condition of things in Ire- land.' The offer was not accepted, and he did not again return to Ireland. It was not till the following winter, when the informer, James Carey [q.v.] gave evidence at the trial of the Phrenix Park assassins, that the
country learned how imminent had been the personal danger to which for many months Forster had been exposed. But he himself knew it well, though he never allowed him- self to be influenced by it.
Forster took comparatively little part in Irish debates during the remaining years of his life, but one notable exception to this was during the debate on the address at the beginning of 1883, when he charged Mr. Parnell and other members of parliament connected with the league with conniving at crime. Meantime he devoted his public efforts to the furthering of other causes, espe- cially to the interests of the colonies and to the settlement of Egyptian difficulties. He was the chairman of the newly formed Im- perial Federation League, which hoped to carry out his old idea of bringing the colonies into closer and more formal connection with the mother-country. He followed with pro- found interest the course of events in South Africa, and strongly supported such measures as the appointment of Mr. Mackenzie as resi- dent in Bechuanaland and the despatch of Sir Charles Warren's expedition. He was a severe and unsparing critic of the blunders of the government in relation to Egypt up to the time of the fall of Khartoum, declar- ing that the battle of Tel-el-Kebir ought not to have been fought unless we were prepared to accept its logical consequences. | Only once, however, did he actually vote j against the government, on 27 Feb. 1885 in ! the debate on Sir Stafford Northcote's mo- j tion censuring the government for the death of General Gordon, when the ministry was only saved by fourteen votes. He cordially supported the County Franchise Bill, and was present at the great open-air meeting at Leeds on 6 Oct. 1884, called to condemn the action of the House of Lords in rejecting the bill. During the last half of the session of 1885 a very arduous piece of work was imposed upon him when he was asked to be chairman of the small committee that had to decide the fate of the Manchester Ship Canal Bill. This was the determining cause of his last illness. The session over, feeling weary and ill, he went to Baden-Baden, but even there he could not rest, and some imprudent over- exertion brought on the illness from which, on 5 April 1886, at 80 Eccleston Square, London, he died. His death was greatly mourned, and even at a time of bitter poli- tical antagonism, when old ties were being broken in all directions, and when many of those who had once worked with him re- garded him as their most formidable political opponent, it was admitted on all sides that a man of lofty character had passed away.
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The funeral service was read over his remains in Westminster Abbey, and the body was then transported to Burley-in-Wharfedale, and buried there.
[Life of the Right Hon. William Edward For- ster, by T. Wemyss Reid, 1888 ; personal recol- lections; Hansard's Debates ; obituary notice in the Times, 6 April 1886.] T. H. W.
FORSYTH, ALEXANDER JOHN, LL.D. (1769-1843), inventor, son of James Forsyth, minister of Belhelvie in Aberdeen- shire, by Isabella, youngest daughter of Wal- ter Syme, minister of Tullynessle, was born on 28 Dec. 1769 in his father's manse. He graduated at King's College, Aberdeen, in 1786, and in 1791 was licensed as a preacher. His father died suddenly (1 Dec. 1790) at the presbytery meeting which granted the son's license, and John Alexander was chosen his successor. He devoted to chemistry and me- chanics the time which he could spare from his duties as minister. One of his favourite amusements was to make knives from iron- stone. He was fond of wild-fowl shooting, and as the birds often escaped by diving at the flash of his flint-locked fowling-piece, he constructed a hood over the lock of his gun, with a sight along the barrel. He took an interest in inventions, especially those con- nected with steam and electricity. His want of thorough training was shown in some crude notions about galvanism and magne- tism, which he believed to be capable of gene- rating a new sense. His ingenuity found a more appropriate sphere in developing fire- arms. The French were unsuccessfully at- tempting to substitute chloride of potash for nitrate in gunpowder ; Forsyth began experi- ments on the known detonating compounds. He hit upon various methods of obtaining increased inflammability and strength, but the mixtures were too dangerous for use. His next attempt was to improve the inflam- mability of the priming in flint-locks, and he found that the least spark of a flint ignited detonating mercury or powder made in chlo- ride of potash. But it frequently happened that the inflammation from the pan was not carried through the touchhole to the charge of gunpowder in the barrel, and that, even when gunpowder was mixed in the pan with detonating powder, this compound was in- flamed without acting on the gunpowder. He at last hit upon the employment of a cylindrical piece of iron with a touchhole just able to admit a cambric needle struck by a small hammer, and a pan to hold deto- nating powder on the outer end of the touch- hole. The loose gunpowder placed in the tube was not regularly ignited, but this dif-
| ficulty was surmounted by wadding. He | then constructed a suitable lock, and during i the season of 1805 shot with a fowling-piece | made on his plan. In the spring of 1806 he took it to London and showed it to some | sporting friends. Lord Moira, then master- general of ordnance, saw the gun and in- vited Forsyth to make some experiments at the Tower. Here he remained for some time, Moira providing for the discharge of j his pastoral duties meanwhile, and after ; patient effort a lock that answered all re- quirements was produced. He had to under- take the dangerous task of preparing the detonating powder for himself, the workmen being ignorant and unwilling. The new principle was then applied to a carbine, and to a 3-pounder, which were approved by the master-general of ordnance. Forsyth then returned home, Moira proposing that he should receive as remuneration an amount equivalent to the saving of gunpowder ef- fected. When Lord Chatham soon afterwards succeeded Lord Moira as master-general of ordnance, he intimated to Forsyth that ' his services were no longer required,' and asked him to send in an account of expenses in- curred. The board of ordnance ordered him to deliver up all possessions of the depart- ment then in his use and to remove from the Tower the ' rubbish ' he had left. The ' rubbish ' consisted of ingenious applications of the percussion principle afterwards gene- rally adopted. Forsyth lived on quietly and cheerfully, apportioning his time, as before, among his various pursuits. After many years, some of his friends, learning that the government were actually introducing the percussion lock into the army, persuaded him to draw up a statement of claim for recom- pense. Lord Brougham, to whom he was re- lated, took up the case, and a small pension was ultimately awarded him. On the morn- ing that the first instalment of the long-de- layed pension arrived (11 June 1843), Forsyth was found dead in his study chair. Napoleon offered the inventor 20,000^. to divulge the se- cret of his discovery, but the offer was patrio- tically declined. Forsyth was unmarried. Glasgow University created him LL.D.
[Dr. Forsyth's Statement, hitherto unpub- lished ; Hew Scott's Fasti Eccles. Scoticanae, pt. vi. pp. 495-6 ; local newspapers.] J. B-T.
FORSYTH, JAMES (1838-1871), In- dian traveller, was born in 1838. After re- ceiving a university education in England, and taking his degree of M.A., he entered the civil service, and went out to India as assis- tant conservator and acting conservator of forests. In a short time he was appointed
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settlement officer and deputy-commissioner of Nimar, and served with distinction un- der Sir Richard Temple, chief commissioner of the Central Provinces. Forsyth acquired wide reputation as a hunter. He was a true sportsman, and spoke severely of ' poaching proclivities ' and ' unsportsmanlike conduct.' In 1862 he published a comprehensive trea- tise on the ' Sporting Rifle and its Projec- tiles.' Forsyth, who was attached to the Bengal staff corps, made a complete tour of the Central Provinces of India in 1862-4, penetrating to Ar mar-Kant ak, near the sources of the Nerbudda, the Mahanuddy, and the Sone. He thence proceeded across the rich plain of Chutteesgurh to the sal forests in the far east. In 1870 he prepared an ac- count of his explorations, with which he pro- ceeded to England towards the close of that year. Arrangements were made for the pub- lication of the work, but the author died while the sheets were passing through the press. The work appeared posthumously (November 1871), under the title of ' The Highlands of Central India ; Notes on their Forests and Wild Tribes, Natural History, and Sports.' This narrative contained much valuable information respecting the wild hill tribes, some graphic descriptions of scenery, an interesting account of the forests and the system of conservancy, and full de- tails of the sporting capabilities of the Cen- tral Provinces. It was a complete guide and exposition of the central highlands of India. Forsyth died in London 1 May 1871.
[Athenaeum, 25 Nov. 1871 ; Forsyth's Works.]
G. B. S.
FORSYTH, JOSEPH (1763-1815), wri- ter on Italy, born at Elgin, Scotland, on 18 Feb. 1763, was the son, by his second marriage, of Alexander Forsyth, merchant in Elgin, a man of intelligence and piety, and a friend of Isaac Watts. His mother, Ann Harrold, was the daughter of a farmer who fought for Prince Charles at Culloden, was taken prisoner, and died on board ship while "being carried for trial to England. From the grammar school of his native town For- syth passed at the age of twelve to King's College, Aberdeen, where he graduated M. A. In 1779. His parents intended him for the church, but his diffidence induced him to de- cline. He went to London and became as- sistant to the master of an academy at New- ington Butts ; was soon able to purchase the establishment, and carried it on success- fully for thirteen years. Then, his health failing, he gave up the school and returned to Elgin. He had now the leisure and the means to give effect to what had been the
great desire of his life, a visit to Italy. The peace of Amiens was known in Elgin on 7 Oct. 1801. On the 12th Forsyth was already on his way south, and on Christmas day he arrived at Nice. The next eighteen months he spent in the more famous cities of Italy, where he had access to the literary circles, and saw everything with the eyes of a man well read in the poets and historians of the country, both ancient and modern, a con- noisseur in architecture and a keen observer of thought and life. He was at Turin on his way home when the war was renewed, and on 25 May 1803 he was seized by the police and carried prisoner to Nismes. The restraint there was not severe, but Forsyth was caught in an attempt to escape, and was thereupon marched in midwinter six hundred miles to Fort de Bitche, where his confinement was at first intolerably strict. It was, however, gradu- ally relaxed ; after two years he was removed to Verdun, where he remained five years. Through the influence of a lady in the suite of the king of Holland he was in 1811 per- mitted to reside in Paris ; but four months after the English in the capital were ordered back to their places of detention, and the utmost relaxation Forsyth's literary friends could obtain for him was the permission to go to Valenciennes instead of to Verdun. Forsyth had solaced his captivity by further study of Italian literature and art. Napoleon at that time affected the part of a patron of both ; and Forsyth was induced by the hope of ob- taining his release to appear in the character of an author. His ' Remarks on Antiqui- ties, Arts, and Letters, during an Excursion in Italy in the years 1802 and 1803,' were published in London in 1813, and copies were forwarded to Paris with many solicita- tions in his favour ; but the effort failed, and it was not till the allies entered Paris in March 1814 that he regained his liberty. After a year in London he returned to Elgin, intending to settle there ; but his constitu- tion, never robust, had been undermined by his thirteen years of exile. He died on 20 S 3pt. 1815, and was buried in his parents' tomb in the Elgin Cathedral churchyard, where his epitaph may still be read. A second edition of his ' Italy ' appeared in 1816, with a me- moir of the author by his brother Isaac, who survived till 1859, and it has gone through several later editions, one (1820) issued at Geneva. Forsyth himself says in his ' ad- vertisement ' that when he went to Italy he had no intention of writing a book. He wrote nothing else, and his brother informs us that he never to his dying day ceased to regret the publication ; but the work, notwithstand- ing its limits, has proved of permanent value,
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and both for style and matter it is still one of the best books on Italy in our language.
[Memoir prefixed to second edition of Re- marks ; Young's Annals of Elgin ; local infor- mation.] J. C.
FORSYTH, ROBERT (1706-1846), mis- cellaneous writer, son of Robert Forsyth and Marion Pairman of Biggar, Lanarkshire, was born in 1766. His parents were poor, but gave him a good education, with a view to ' making him a minister.' When only four- teen he entered G lasgo w College. He says of himself that he ' had slow talents, but great fits of application.' After the usual course of study he obtained license as a probationer of the church of Scotland. As he spoke without notes ('the paper'), and was some- what vehement and rhetorical in his style, he gained considerable popularity. But having no influence he grew tired of waiting for a parish. He then turned his attention to the law, but the fact that he was a licen- tiate of the church was held as an objection to his being admitted to the bar. Refused by the Faculty of Advocates, he petitioned the court of session for redress. The court ruled that he must resign his office of licen- tiate. This he did. Still the faculty resisted. There were vexatious delays, but at last, in consequence of a judgment of Lord-president Campbell, the faculty gave way, and in 1792 Forsyth was admitted an advocate. Dis- appointment again awaited him. He had fraternised with the ' friends of the people,' and was looked on with suspicion as a ' re- volutionist,' and this marred his prospects. He turned to literature, and managed to make a living by writing for the booksellers. He contributed to the ' Encyclopaedia Bri- tannica ' ' Agriculture,' 'Asia,' ' Britain,' and other articles ( 1 802-3) . He al so tried poetry, politics, and philosophy, but with little suc- cess. Eventually he obtained a fair practice at the bar, where he was noted for his dogged industry, blunt honesty, and pawky humour. His chief works are ' Principles and Practice of Agriculture' (2 vols. 1804), 'The Princi- ples of Moral Science ' (vol. i. 1805), ' Poli- tical Fragments' (1830), 'Observations on the Book of Genesis ' (1846). But the work by which he is best known is ' The Beauties of Scotland' (5 vols. 1805-8), which is still held in some repute, not only for its valu- able information, but for the many engrav- ings which it contains of towns and places of interest. Forsyth, who had always ad- hered loyally to his church, published in 1843, when seventy-six years old, 'Remarks on the Church of Scotland,' &c. This brought him under the lash of Hugh Miller, then editor
VOL. XX.
of the ' Witness,' who not only reviewed the pamphlet (14 Jan. 1843) with merciless se- verity, but also recalled some of Forsyth's speculations in philosophy, which he covered with ridicule and scorn. It is curious that in two of these speculations he seems to have had an inkling of opinions largely cur- rent in the present time. ' Whatever has no tendency to improvement will gradually pass away and disappear for ever.' This hints at the ' survival of the fittest.' ' Let it never be forgotten then for whom immor- tality is reserved. It is appointed as the portion of those who are worthy of it, and they shall enjoy it as a natural consequence of their worth.' This seems the doctrine of ' conditional immortality ' now held by many Christians. Hugh Miller says ironi- cally of these views : ' It was reserved for this man of high philosophic intellect to discover, early in the present century, that, though there are some souls that live for ever, the great bulk of souls are as mortal as the bodies to which they are united, and perish immediately after, like the souls of brutes.' He died in 1846.
[Autobiographical Sketch, 1846.] W. F.
FORSYTH, SIB THOMAS DOUGLAS
(1827-1886), Anglo-Indian, born at Birken- head on 7 Oct. 1827, was the tenth child of Thomas Forsyth, a Liverpool merchant. He was educated at Sherborne and Rugby, and under private tuition until he entered the East India Company's College at Haileybury, where he remained until December 1847. After a distinguished course he embarked for India in January 1848, and arrived at Cal- cutta in the following March. Here he gained honours in Persian, Hindustani, and Hindi at the company's college, and in September of the same year was appointed to a post under Edward Thornton at Saharunpore. On the annexation of the Punjaub after the second Sikh war in March 1849, he was appointed to take part in the administration of the new province, and was sent by Sir Henry Law- rence, together with Colonel Marsden, as deputy-commissioner over him, to Pakput- tun. He was shortly afterwards appointed by Lord Dalhousie to the post of assistant- commissioner at Simla. While holding this post he married in 1850 Alice Mary, daugh- ter of Thomas Plumer, esq., of Canons Park, Edgware. He was next stationed at Kangra, where he remained till 1854, when an attack of brain fever obliged him to return for a time to England. On going back to India he spent a short time as deputy-commissioner, first at Gurdaspur and subsequently at Rawal Pindee, whence he was transferred in 1855
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to Umballa. He was here at the outbreak of the mutiny of 1857, and did good service by his vigilance in detecting the first signs of disaffection, and his promptitude in re- porting them. After the capture of Delhi he was one of the special commissioners ap- pointed to hunt up the rebels, and in this capacity was principally engaged in exa- mining the papers of the nana of Cawnpore. He arrived at Lucknow in time to see the city evacuated by the rebels, and after this event acted as secretary successively to Outram, Montgomery, and Wingfield, until> in 1860, he was appointed commissioner to the Punjaub. For his services during the mutiny he received the order of companion of the Bath. In 1867 he visited Leh, the capital of Ladakh, with the object of obtain- ing from the Cashmere officials a removal of the restrictions which prevented the trade between Eastern Turkestan and the Pun- jaub. On his return he instituted an annual fair at Palumpore, in the Kangra valley, to which he invited traders from Turkestan. The experiences which he gained in this way encouraged him in the idea of promoting amicable relations between the Indian govern- ment and the Central Asiatics and Russians. Lord Mayo approved and authorised him to proceed to England, and thence, if possible, to St. Petersburg, with the object of arranging with the Russian government a definition of the territories of the amir of Cabul. In this mission he succeeded in proving that the disputed districts belonged to the amir, and obtained from the Russian government an acknowledgment to that effect. Forsyth returned to India in 1869. At this time the amir of Yarkand and Kashgar, being desirous of establishing relations between his country and India, had sent an envoy to the viceroy with the request that a British officer might be deputed to visit him. For- syth was accordingly instructed to return with the envoy, without political capacity, for the purpose of acquiring information about the people and country. The journey from Lahore to Yarkand and back, a distance of two thousand miles, was accomplished in six months, but the expedition failed to pro- duce all the results expected from it, owing to the absence of the amir from his capital on its arrival.
In 1872 a serious outbreak of the Kooka sect, the leader of which was a religious en- thusiast named Ram Singh, occurred at Ma- lair Kotla. Troops were at once ordered to the disaffected districts, and Forsyth was entrusted with the duty of suppressing the insurrection. His powers on this occasion seem not to have been sufficiently defined,
and Cowan, the then commissioner of Loo- diana, had anticipated his arrival by executing many of the rebels, a course of action which, though contrary to instructions, Forsyth felt himself bound to support. When the in- surrection was put down, an inquiry in- stituted into the conduct of Forsyth and Cowan resulted in the removal of both from their appointments. Forsyth appealed against this decision to Lord Northbrook, who had recently come out as viceroy, and, though no reversal of the verdict was possible, he was compensated by being appointed in 1873 envoy on a mission to Kashgar. The object of this mission was to conclude a commer- cial treaty with the amir, and it resulted in the removal of all hindrances to trade between the two countries, and gave reason for the hope that, in spite of physical difficulties, such a trade would eventually be of con- siderable importance. On his return Forsyth received the order of knight commander of the Star of India.
In 1875 Forsyth was sent as envoy to the king of Burma to obtain a settlement of the question which had arisen between the British and Burmese governments as to the relation of the Karenee States, a question which was settled by an agreement, proposed by the king of Burma, that these states should be acknowledged as independent.
Forsyth left India on furlough in 1876. In the following year he resigned, and occu- pied himself during the remaining years of his life in the direction of Indian railway companies. In 1879 he formed a company for the purpose of connecting Marmagao, in Portuguese India, with the Southern Mah- ratta and Deccan countries ; and in 1883 he was deputed by the board of directors to visit India and report upon the progress of the works. He died on 17 Dec. 1886 at Eastbourne.
[Autobiography and Eeminiscences of Sir Douglas Forsyth, edited by his daughter, Ethel Forsyth, London, 1887.] E. J. K.
FORSYTH, WILLIAM (1722-1800), merchant, was born in 1722 at Cromarty, where his father, a native of Morayshire, had settled as a shopkeeper. He made good progress at the town school, then taught by David Macculloch, not only in the ordinary branches, but in the classics. Forsyth spent some time in a London counting-house, but, his father dying suddenly, he was called home, and had to take the place of head of the family at the early age of seventeen. Cromarty was then in a low state. The herring had deserted the coast, and there was no trade. Forsyth, however, saw that
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the old town had some special advantages. There was a fine harbour, and ready access to the surrounding districts, not only by the roads, but by the firths of Dornoch, Ding- wall, and Inverness. He therefore formed the bold and original idea of making it a depot of supplies for all the country round, and this plan he carried out with energy and success for many years. He brought flax and other commodities from Holland. He traded with Leith and London, and was the first to introduce coal (about 1770), called by the country people 'black stones.' On the suggestion of his old schoolfellow, Dr. Hossack of Greenwich, he started the manu- facture of kelp. He also employed many of the people in their own homes in spinning and weaving in connection with the British Linen Company, of which he was the first agent in the north, and encouraged fishing and farming industries. For more than thirty years he was the only magistrate in the place, and such was the confidence in his judgment and integrity that during all that time no appeal was taken against any of his decisions. The general respect of the neighbourhood was shown by his popular title as ' the maister.' Forsyth not only did much to revive the old glory of the town, but helped many young men to make their way in the world ; one of these was the well-known Charles Grant, chairman of the East India Company, and M.P. for In- verness. Forsyth died at Cromarty 30 Jan. 1800. He was twice married, first to Mar- garet Russell, who died within a year in child- bed, and next, after eleven years, to Elizabeth Grant, daughter of the Rev. Patrick Grant of Nigg, Ross-shire. He had nine children, three only surviving him. He and his family were large benefactors to Cromarty. Hugh Miller, himself a native of Cromarty, says: f He was one of nature's noblemen ; and the sincere homage of the better feelings is an honour reserved exclusively to the order to which he belonged.' He also says of the inscription on his gravestone in Cromarty churchyard, that its ' rare merit is to be at once highly eulogistic and strictly true.'
[Memoir by Hugh Miller, 1839.] W. F.
FORSYTH, WILLIAM (1737-1804), gardener, was born at Old Meldrum, Aber- deenshire, in 1737. In 1763 he came to Lon- don, and was employed in the Apothecaries' Garden at Chelsea under Philip Miller, whom he succeeded in 1771. Thirteen years later lie was appointed superintendent of the royal gardens of St. James and Kensington. Soon after coming to London he gave much atten- tion to the growth of trees, and brought out a
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plaister, the application of which he asserted would cause new growth in place of previ- ously diseased or perished wood. For this he was accorded a vote of thanks in both houses of parliament and a pecuniary reward ; but the efficacy of the plaister was disputed by Thomas Andrew Knight and others, its composition differing but slightly from simi- lar preparations commonly in use in nurseries and plantations. Several letters on this topic will be found in the volumes of the ' Gentle- man's Magazine ' cited below.
In 1791 he published his ' Observations on the Diseases, Defects, and Injuries of Fruit and Forest Trees,' and in 1802 his ' Treatise on the Culture and Management of Fruit Trees,' which reached a seventh edition in 1824. He also contributed a paper on gather- ing apples and pears to Hunter's ' Georgical Essays,' and a ' Botanical Nomenclature ' in 1794, 8vo. He was a fellow of the Linnean and Antiquaries Societies. He died 25 July
1804, at his official residence, Kensington. The plant named Forsythia after Forsyth in Thomas Walter's ' Flora Caroliniana,' 1788, p. 153, is now designated Decumaria (cf. BEXTHAM and HOOKER, Genera Plantarum, i. 642).
[Gent. Mag. 1804, vol. Ixxiv. pt. ii. p. 787,
1805, vol. Ixv. pt. i. pp.431 (typ. err. 341), 432; Nouv. Biog. Gen. xviii. 210 ; Field's Mem. Bot. Gard. Chelsea, 58-90 (not continuous) ; John- son's Hist. Eng. Gard. 250.] B. D. J.
FORSYTH, WILLIAM (1818-1879), Scottish poet and journalist, son of Morris Forsyth and Jane Brands, was born at Turriff, Aberdeenshire, 24 Oct. 1818. He was edu- cated at Fordyce Academy and the uni- versities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh. For some years he studied medicine, becoming assistant to a country doctor, and twice acting as surgeon to a Greenland whaler, but he never took a medical degree, and ulti- mately abandoned medicine forliterature. His first engagement was as sub-editor of the ' In- verness Courier ' (1842) under Dr. Robert Car- ruthers [q. v.], and while with him he largely assisted in the preparation of ' Chambers's En- cyclopaedia of English Literature,' a work of high value. In 1843 he became sub-editor of the ' Aberdeen Herald,' then conducted by Mr. Adam, and he contributed in prose and verse for several years. In 1848 he joined the staff of the ' Aberdeen Journal,' one of the oldest and most influential of Scottish newspapers, and eventually was appointed editor, an office which he held with much honour for about thirty years. Forsyth was in politics a liberal- conservative. He gave his ardent support to all measures tending to the elevation of the
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Fortescue
people. He was much trusted by his political friends, but he always asserted a certain in- dependence in his action. During the Ameri- can civil war he stood almost alone among Scottish journalists in advocating the cause of the north. In the famous controversy of Kingsley v. Newman he wrote with much force in support of the former, and received from him a special letter of thanks. In church questions his articles were held in high repute, and Bishop Wordsworth of St. Andrews and Alexander Ewing[q. v.], bishop of Argyle, corresponded with him privately. Forsyth also wrote two pamphlets on Scot- tish church questions, entitled ' A Letter on Lay Patronage in the Church of Scotland ' (1867) and 'The Day of Open Questions' (1868). In the first of these he indicated the lines on which a true reform of the church might be carried out, and may be said to have paved the way for the legislation which followed soon after in the Act for the Aboli- tion of Church Patronage (1874).
Forsyth rendered valuable services to Aberdeen. The establishment of the As- sociation for Improving the Condition of the Poor was mainly due to him, and he not only laboured hard as an active member of the managing committee, but for six years gratuitously discharged the duties of secre- tary. Much of the results of his obser- vation and experience may be found in a paper read by him to the Social Science Con- gress in 1877, on ' The Province and "Work of Voluntary Charitable Agencies in the Man- agement of the Poor.' Forsyth was elected a member of the first Aberdeen school board, and did much good work of a general kind, besides serving as convener of a committee that had to deal with certain delicate and difficult questions affecting the grammar school and town council. From the first Forsyth took a warm interest in the volun- teer movement, and was chosen captain of the citizens' battery. This appointment he held for eighteen years, retiring with the rank of major. Some of his martial songs obtained a wide popularity. He also took much interest in everything connected with the service, and made some valuable sugges- tions to the war office as to practical gun- nery and the use of armed railway carriages in warfare, a device which was turned to good account in the operations in Egypt. Forsyth's principal literary works were ' The Martyrdom of Kelavane' (1861) and 'Idylls and Lyrics' (1872). The latter volume con- tains a thoughtful poem entitled ' The Old Kirk Bell,' and several other pieces published for the first time, but it is mainly made up of reprints from magazines. The most finished
of these is ' The River,' which came out in the ' Cornhill Magazine ' in Thackeray's time. The most moving is that entitled ' The Piobrach o' Kinreen,' the old piper's lament for the clearance of Glentannar, which first appeared in 'Punch.' During the last ten years of his life Forsyth suffered from an affection of the tongue, which ultimately took the form of ma- lignant cancer. After a long illness, borne- with characteristic quietness and fortitude, h& died on 21 June 1879. Forsyth was married in 1854 to Miss Eliza Fyfe, who survived him. Since his death certain ' Selections 'from his unpublished writings, with a ' Memoir/ have been edited by his friend Mr. Alexander Walker, Aberdeen. This volume is chiefly remarkable as reproducing ' The Midnicht Meetin',' a vigorous satire on the promoters of the union of the Aberdeen and Marischal colleges, originally printed for private cir^ culation. The book shows Forsyth's love- of animals and his devoted attachment to- Aberdeen, where, at Bonnymuir, Maryville, Friendville, Gordondale, and Richmondhillr his successive homes, he had spent more- than thirty years of his life. He was buried in the beautiful cemetery of Allenvale on the Dee.
[Memoir by Alex. Walker, 1882.] W. F.
FORTESCUE, SIR ADRIAN (1476 P-
1539), knight of St. John, was the second1 son of Sir John Fortescue of Punsborner Hertfordshire, and grandson of Sir Richard, younger brother of Sir John, the famous chief justice [q. v.] His mother was the daughter of Sir Geoffrey Boleyn, and was great-aunt to Queen Anne Boleyn. Sir Adrian served in 1513 in the campaign against the French which ended in the battle of the Spurs. He attended on Queen Catherine at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520 (RTMER, Fcedera, xiii. 712), served in the short and uneventful French war of 1522, and was knighted ia February 1528 (METCA.LFE, Book of Knights r p. 40). His connection with Anne Boleyn probably brought him for a time into con- siderable favour at the court of Henry VIII. His name appears in the list of those wh* received grants of lands from Wolsey's pos- sessions after the cardinal's fall in July 1530. He was present at all the festivities which took place on the king's second marriage, and1 received the exceptional honour of being- informed by a special messenger of the birth of the Princess Elizabeth.
In 1532, two years before the dissolution of the order, he was admitted as a knight of St. John, though, as he was a married man, he could only have held the more or less honorary rank of a ' knight of devotion ' (M?.
Fortescue
37
Winthrop, in Notes and Queries, 27 Aug. 1853). Nor does it appear from his diaries and note-books, published in Lord Clermont's ' History,' that he ever resided in any of the houses, or took any active part in the business of the order. In February 1 539 Fortescue was arrested and sent to the Tower {Calendars, Henry VIII, viii. 91). In May of the same year he was included in the act of attainder which condemned the Marchioness of Exeter, the Countess of Salisbury, Cardinal Pole, Sir Thomas Pole, Sir Thomas Dingley, and others. The story of this memorable act of attainder remains to a great extent a mys- tery. No historian has been able to explain its apparent want of motive, or the hurried manner in which it was pressed through both houses. The clause of the act relating to Fortescue states that he had 'not onelie most trayterouslie refused his duety of alle-
fiance which he ought to beare unto your ighnesse, but also hathe comytted diverse and sundrie detestable and abhomynable treasons, and to put sedition in your realme ' (Roll of Parl. Henry VIII, 147, m. 15). It is difficult to conjecture what were the * sundry treasons.' His crime may have con- sisted of his near relationship to Queen Anne Boleyn ; or he may have been on too intimate terms with the Countess of Salisbury, whose granddaughter his son Sir Anthony [q. v.] married eighteen years later; and his con- nection with the Poles may have led to his inclusion in an act aimed to a great extent against that family ; or his execution may have been due to the marriage of his daugh- ter Frances to the tenth Earl of Kildare, be- headed for high treason in February 1537. This is, however, the less likely to have been the case, since Lady Kildare had returned to her father's roof before her husband broke into open rebellion (MA.KQTJTS OF KILDARE, Earls of Kildare, i. 170).
The exact date of Fortescue's execution is uncertain. The ' English Martyrology ' gives it as 8 July 1539; Dodd (Church History, p. 200), Stow (Chronicle, ed. 1615, p. 576), and a manuscript list of persons executed in the reign of Henry VIII (Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 27402, fol. 47),concur in naming 10 July, while the ' Chronicle of the Grey Friars ' (p. 43) reads : ' The ninth day of July was be-heddyd at Toure-Hyll Master Foskeu and Master Dyngle, knyghttes.' His fellow-suf- ferer was Sir Thomas Dingley, knight of St. John, who was condemned by the same act of attainder, on the more definite charge of travelling to foreign courts in the interests of the king's enemies.
Fortescue has long been regarded by the order to which he belonged as a martyr,
and according to Mr. Winthrop (Notes and Queries, viii. 191) his death was commemo- rated on 8 July. The first step towards his canonisation has been recently taken by his inclusion in the list of 261 persons executed during the reigns of Henry VIII, Elizabeth, and James I, on whom the title of venerable has been bestowed by the pope. He was twice married : first to Anne, daughter of Sir "Wil- liam Stonor, who died in 1518 ; and secondly to Anne, daughter of Sir William Rede, who survived her husband, and afterwards mar- ried Sir Thomas Parry, comptroller of Queen Elizabeth's household. By his first wife Fortescue had two daughters, Margaret, mar- ried to Thomas, first lord Wentworth, and Frances, married to Thomas, tenth earl of Kildare ; by his second wife he had three sons, Sir John, chancellor of the exchequer [q. v.], Thomas, and Sir Anthony [q. v.J, and two daughters, Elizabeth, married to Sir Thomas Bromley [q. v.], lord chancellor of England, and Mary. There are three known pictures of Fortescue — two in the church of St. John at Valetta, and a third, which is probably a portrait, in the Collegio di San Paolo at Rabato, Malta. There is an engraving of the last of these in Lord Clermont's ' History.'
[Lord Clermont's History of the Family of For- tescue, 1880 ; two articles by the Rev. J. Morris in the Month, June and July 1887.] G. K. F.
FORTESCUE, SIR ANTHONY (b. 1535 ?), conspirator, third and youngest son of Sir Adrian Fortescue [q. v.], was educated at Winchester. Unlike his elder brother Sir John, chancellor of the exchequer [q. v.], Sir Anthony adhered to the Roman catholic church. During the reign of Queen Mary he married Katharine Pole, granddaughter of Margaret, countess of Salisbury, and received the appointment of comptroller of the house- hold of his wife's uncle, Cardinal Pole. After the accession of Elizabeth, Sir Anthony and his brothers-in-law Arthur and Edward Pole plotted against the new sovereign.
In November 1558 Fortescue was taken into custody along with several persons whom he was accused of causing to cast the horo- scope of Elizabeth and to calculate the length of her life and the chances of the duration of her government ; he was, however, released on bail on 25 Nov., and no further action seems to have been taken in the matter (SiRYPE, Annals, ed. 1825, vol. i. pt. i. pp. 9-10). Three years later, in October 1561, Arthur and Ed- ward Pole and Fortescue were arrested as they were on the point of sailing to Flanders ; they were kept in prison until February of the next year, when they were tried upon a charge of high treason at Westminster Hall.
Fortescue
Fortescue
There is unfortunately no complete record of
Wright' ...
their design seems to have been singularly wild and foolish. They proposed as soon as they arrived in Flanders to proclaim Arthur Pole, the elder of the brothers, Duke of Cla- rence ; to persuade Mary Queen of Scots to marry Edmund Pole the younger brother, Arthur being already married to a daughter of the Earl of Northumberland ; to obtain from the Due de Guise a force of five or six thousand men, with whom they hoped to re- turn to Wales, proclaim Queen Mary, over- throw the existing government, and restore the ancient religion.
Before setting out on this remarkable ex- pedition they had consulted two conjurers, by name John Prestall and Edward Cosyn, who, with two servants of Lord Hastings and a person named Barwick, were arrested and included in the indictment. These con- jurers had succeeded in raising a ' wicked spryte' who prophesied that all would go well with their designs, and that Queen Eliza- beth would die a natural death before the next summer. A more serious clause of the accusation charged Fortescue with obtaining countenance and help from the French and Spanish ambassadors. All the accused were convicted and condemned to death, but their lives were spared by the queen, and their sentences commuted to imprisonment in the Tower. There, between 1565 and 1578, both the Poles died, while Fortescue, at what date is unknown, was released or allowed to escape. He probably owed his freedom to the influence of his brother Sir John, who was highly esteemed by Elizabeth. Of the remainder of his career nothing is known ; he is spoken of as living, probably abroad, in his brother Thomas Fortescue's will, dated Mav 1608.
Sir Anthony left three sons, Anthony, John, and George ; his grandson Anthony, son of his eldest son, was appointed by Charles, duke of Lorraine, his resident at the English court, and was expelled from the countrv by a resolution of the House of Commons, 16 Oct. 1644 (Commons' Journals, iii. 667).
[Lord Clermont's Hist, of the Family of Fortescue.] G_ j£ j?
FORTESCUE, SIR EDMUND (1610- 1647), royalist commander, was born in 1610 at his father's seat of Fallapit, South Devon. In 1642 he was appointed high sheriff of the county of Devon. It was an object of con- siderable importance to the king to secure as sheriffs trustworthy men of local influ-
ence, and the selection of so young a man as Fortescue, whose father was still living, implies that he had already secured himself a reputation for courage or ability.
In the beginning of December 1642 For- tescue summoned the posse comitatus of the county to meet him at Modbury, in order to join Sir Ralph Hopton, who was then marching from Cornwall to besiege Plymouth. About two thousand men answered the sum- mons and assembled on 6 Dec., intending on the next day to join the main army, whose headquarters were at Plympton, only three miles distant. During the night Colonel Ruthven, commanding the parliamentary forces at Plymouth, organised a sortie from that town of some five hundred dragoons, who, avoiding the village of Plympton, fell upon Fortescue's train-bands at Modbury. These raw recruits dispersed at the first alarm, and the troopers at once occupied the village. They then proceeded to Modbury Castle, a seat of the Champernoune family, fired the house, broke in and took prisoners Fortescue himself and his brother Peter, Sir Edward Seymour and his eldest son, M.P. for Devon- shire, Arthur Basset, ' a notable malignant/ and a number of other gentlemen. The vic- torious cavalry then marched to Dartmouth, whence they despatched their prisoners by sea to London (Remarkable Passages newly re- ceived of the great Overthrow of Sir Ralph Hopton, at Mudburie. With the taking of the High Sheriffe, &c. 1642). On his arrival in London, Fortescue was sent to Windsor Castle : an inscription on the wall of a small chamber, close to the Round Tower, consist- ing of his name with a rude cut of his coat of arms and the words ' Pour le Roy C./ serves to identify the room in which he was imprisoned. He was afterwards trans- ferred to Winchester House, and before the end of 1643 was exchanged or released. On 9 Dec. 1643 Fortescue received a commis- sion from Prince Maurice to repair ' the Old Bull-worke near Salcombe, now utterly ruined and decayed,' and to hold it for the king. The fort of Salcombe or Fort Charles, as it was renamed by Fortescue, stands on a rock at the entrance of Salcombe harbour near Kingsbridge, approachable from the land at low tide, but completely surrounded by the sea at high water. An interesting manuscript account of the details of the rebuilding, forti- fying, and victualling the place is printed in Lord Clermont's ' History.' The inventories of provisions given in this account show that nothing necessary for the support of the gar- rison during a prolonged siege was neglected : more than thirty hogsheads of meat, ten hogs- heads of punch, ten tuns of cider, two thou-
Fortescue
39
Fortescue
sand 'poor jacks,' six thousand dried whiting, and six hundredweight of tobacco, are among the items of the provisions supplied, while such entries as ' twenty pots with sweet- meats, and a good box of all sorts of especi- ally good dry preserves/ one butt of sack, and 'two cases of bottles filled with rare and good strong waters,' show that Fortescue did not forget to provide for the table of the officers' mess. The garrison consisted of eleven officers, Sir Charles Luckner being second in command, and two of Fortescue's brothers serving under him, a chaplain, a surgeon, two laundresses, and forty-three non-commis- sioned officers and men. Of these one was killed during the siege, three were wounded, and two deserted. The fort was occupied in November or December 1644, and in January 1645-6 a force was sent from Plymouth who erected a battery of three guns in a command- ing position on the mainland, exactly oppo- site and slightly above the small promontory on which the fort is situated. The siege lasted until May 1646, when Fortescue capitulated to Colonel Ralph Weldon, then in command of Plymouth. He obtained very favourable terms for the garrison, the articles of sur- render stipulating that the whole force should be allowed to march out with all the honours of war and proceed in safety to their own homes ; Fortescue himself and the other officers obtaining permission to remain at home unmolested for three months, at the end of which time they were free either to make their peace with the parliament or to go abroad from any port they should select (Articles agreed one betweene Sir Edmond Fortescue, Governor off Fort Charles and Major Pearce, &c. 7 May 1646). Fortescue carried away with him the key of Fort Charles, which still remains in the possession of his descendant. Unwilling or unable to come to terms with the parliament, Fortescue made his way to Delft, where he lived during the brief remainder of his life.
In the ' Propositions of the Lords and Commons for a peace sent to His Majesty at Newcastle ' in July 1646, he is included in a list of persons who are to be removed from ' his majesty's councils and to be restrained from coming within the verge of the court, bearing any public office or having any em- ployment concerning the state ' (RTTSHWORTH, Collections, pt. iv. vol. i. p. 309). Fortescue died in January or February 1647, at the early age of thirty-seven, and was buried in the 'New Church' of Delft. He married Jane Southcott of Mohun's Ottery, and had a son Edmund, created a baronet in 1664, and three daughters. There is a portrait of Fortescue at Fallapit House, and a Dutch en-
graving, a facsimile of which is given by Lord Clermont.
[Lord Clermont's Hist, of the Family of For- tescue ; Kingsbridge and Salcombe historically and topographically described.] G. K. F.
FORTESCUE, SIR FAITHFUL (1581 P- 1666), royalist commander, was second son of William Fortescue of Buckland Filleigh, Devon, and the descendant in the fifth gene- ration of Sir John Fortescue, lord chief jus- tice [q. v.]
In 1598 Fortescue's maternal uncle, Sir Arthur (afterwards Lord) Chichester [q. v.], went to Ireland in command of a regiment of infantry, and took with him Faithful For- tescue. In a brief memoir of his uncle, com- piled after his death, printed by Lord Cler- mont, Fortescue says : ' With the first Lord Chichester I had, from coming young from school, my education, and by him the foun- dation of my advancement and fortune I acquired in Ireland.' In 1604 Sir Arthur Chichester was appointed lord deputy, an office which he held until 1616. During these memorable years the settlement of Ulster was carried through, and Fortescue acquired his share both of offices and of lands in the north of Ireland. In 1606 he received a patent for life of the post of constable of Carrickfergus, otherwise known as Knock- fergus Castle, one of the most important forti- fied places in the north of Ireland (M'SsjM- MIN, History of Carrickfergus, p. 56).
A few years later he obtained a grant from the crown erecting into the manor of Fortes- cue an extensive range of territory in Antrim, which had formerly belonged to an Irish