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11-7-52

LONDON

THE

ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

F. The letter (Saxon F) is evidently derived from the Greek digamma, through the medium of the Latin language. Some contend that this is derived from the phi, by first making the per& pendicular stroke, and, in adding the circle at two strokes, carelessly omitting to make them join. This, however, the learned bishop of Salisbury disputes. He says it was anciently called vau, or wau, and is in fact a double vau of the Hebrew and Syriac, and corresponding in shape with the vau of the Arabic and Ethiopic. Ainsworth, however, derives it from the Hebrew phe, or , pe final, which, if turned, nearly gives the figure; and he observes, that in changing Hebrew words into Latin, is converted into F. Its sound, in English, is very uniform, being formed by compression of the lips, or a junction of the upper teeth with the under lip, and a forcible breath. In the preposition of, indeed, and ɔn some few other occasions, it is pronounced

softer, or like v.

As an abbreviation, F, in physical prescriptions, stands for fiat, i. e. Let it be done, or made up. Thus f. s. a. signifies fiat secundum artem. F, in the civil law, doubled thus, ff, signifies the pandects. See PANDECTS. F, in the criminal law, was a stigma put upon felons with a hot iron, on their being admitted to the benefit of clergy; by stat. 4 Hen. VII. c. 13. F, as a numeral, anciently signified 40, and when a dash was added at top (thus F), it stood for

40,000.

FAABORG, a sea-port town of Denmark, on the south coast of the island of Funen. It has but an insecure harbour; and its trade, which is in provisions, is not considerable. Population about 1100. It is seventeen miles south of

Oldensee.

FABBRONI (Giovanni), a modern Italian philosopher of considerable eminence. We find him filling the various posts of secretary to the

ment of Custom-houses; on the Effects of the Free Traffic of Raw Material; on Rewards for the Encouragement of Trade; on the Chemical Action of Metals; on the Value and Reciprocal Proportion of Coins; on the Scales and Steelyards of the Chinese; on the Palaces of Spain; and on the ancient Hebrew People. He left behind him many unpublished memoirs. He died at Florence in 1823, aged upwards of seventy.

FABELL (Peter), a reputed magician, and native of Edmonton, lived and died there in the reign of Henry VII. In Norden's account of Edmonton, we read, "There is a fable of one said to have beguiled the devell by policie for Peter Fabell, that lieth in this church, who is money; but the devell is deceit itself. Weever supposes Fabell to have been an ingenious man, who amused himself and astonished his neighbours by sleight-of-hand tricks, or chemical experiments. There is a very scarce pamphlet, entitled The Life and Death of the Merry Devil of Edmonton; with the pleasant Pranks of Smug the Smith, &c. In this book Fabell is styled an excellent scholar, and well seene in the arte of magicke.'

FABER (Basil), a protestant German critic of the sixteenth century, was born at Sorau in Lusatia, and, after studying at Wittemberg and other universities, was about 1550 appointed rector of the seminary of Nordhausen. He died rector of the Augustinian College at Erfurth in 1576. He was one of the protestant ecclesiastical historians, termed the Centuriators of Magdeburgh. Faber's literary reputation is founded on his Thesaurus Eruditionis Scholasticæ, 1571, folio, of which improved editions were published in 1735 and 1749.

FABER (John), a German divine, born at Heilbron in 1500. He was created doctor at Cologne, and in 1526 was appointed confessor to Ferdinand king of the Romans, who, when

he became emperor, gave him the see of Vienna.

and Cabinet of Natural History at Florence, one delle Scienze, Tuscan deputy for the new system opposition to Luther. He died in 1562. His of the forty members of the Societa Italiana tation of finance under the government of the weights and measures, member of the depu- works were printed at Cologne, in 3 vols. folio. queen regent of Etruria, a deputy to the corps FABER, in ichthyology. See ZEUS. FABIAN, or FABYAN (Robert), an alderman

He was called the mallet of heretics, and owed

his preferment to the zeal which he displayed in

of

legislative in France, director, under the Impe- and sheriff of London at the close of the fifteenth department beyond the Alps, director of the Chronicle of England and France, entitled the mint at Florence, royal commissary of the iron Concordance of Histories, in 2 vols. folio, beworks and mines, and one of the commissioners ginning with Brute, and ending with the 20th of best known are-Provedimenti Annonarj; his company of drapers, and resigned his gown in Discourses on National Prosperity; on the 1502 to avoid serving the office of lord mayor, Equilibrium of Commerce, and the Establish- Dying in 1511, or 1512, he was interred in the

VOL. IX-PART 1

B

church of St. Michael, Cornhill. His Chronicle is a mere compilation, but it contains several curious particulars relative to the city of London, not elsewhere to be found. Stowe calls it 'a painful labor, to the great honor of the city and of the whole realm.' Cardinal Wolsey caused as many copies of it as he could procure to be burned, because the author had made too clear a discovery of the large revenues of the clergy. It is Fabian's general practice at the division of the books to insert metrical prologues and other pieces, in verse. The best of his metres is the complaint of King Edward the Second, who is introduced reciting his misfortunes; but this, in fact, is only a translation of an indifferent Latin poem ascribed to that monarch, and probably written by William of Worcester. In the first edition of Fabian's Chronicle (printed in 1516) he has given, as epilogues to his seven books, The Seven Joys of the Blessed Virgin, in English Rime: and under the year 1325 there is a poem to the Virgin; and another on one Badby, a Lollard, under the year 1409. These are suppressed in the later editions. In his panegyric upon London, he despairs of doing justice to his theme, 'even if he had the eloquence of Tully, the morality of Seneca, and the harmony of that faire ladie, Calliope.' Fabian's History was reprinted in 1811, 4to.

FABIUS, the surname of a powerful patrician family at Rome, said to have derived their name from faba, a bean, because some of their ancestors cultivated this pulse. They were once so numerous that they took upon themselves to wage a war against the Veientes. They came to a general engagement near the Cremera, in which all the family, consisting of 306 men, were slain, A. U. C. 277. There only remained one boy, whose tender age had detained him at Rome, and from him descended the noble Fabii of the following ages. Ovid celebrates the above transaction in those lines beginning,

Una domus vires et onus susceperat urbis,
Sumunt gentiles arma professa manus.
Fasti. lib. ii. 197.

In

FABIUS MAXIMUS (Quintus), a celebrated Roman, who from a dull and inactive childhood was raised to the highest offices of the state. his first consulship he obtained a victory over Liguria, and the fatal battle of Thrasymenes occasioned his election to the dictatorship. In this important office he began to oppose Hannibal, not by fighting him in the open field, like his predecessors, but by continually harassing his army by countermarches and ambuscades, from which he received the surname of Cunctator, or the Delayer. Hannibal sent him word, that If he was as great a captain as he would be thought, he ought to come into the plain and give him battle.' But Fabius coldly replied, "That if he (Hannibal) was as great a captain as he would be thought, he would do well to force him to battle.' Such operations in the commander of the Roman armies gave offence to several; and Fabius was even accused of cowardice. He, however, continued firm in his resolution; and patiently bore to see his master of horse raised,

by his enemies at home, to share the dictatorial dignity. When he had laid down his office of dictator, his successors, for a while, followed his plan; but the rashness of Varro, and his contempt for the operations of Fabius, occasioned the fatal battle of Canna. Tarentum was obliged to surrender to him after the battle of Cannæ ; and on that occasion the Carthaginians observed, that Fabius was the Hannibal of Rome. When he had made an agreement with Hannibal for the ransom of the captives, which was totally disapproved by the Roman senate, he sold all his estates to pay the money, rather than forfeit his word to the enemy. The bold proposals of young Scipio, to carry the war from Italy to Africa, were rejected by Fabius as chimerical and dangerous. He did not, however, live to see the success of the Roman arms under Scipio, and the conquest of Carthage by measures which he treated with contempt, and heard with indignation. He died in the 100th year of his age, after he had been five times consul, and twice honored with a triumph. The Romans were so sensible of his great merit and services, that the expenses of his funeral were defrayed from the public treasury.

FABIUS MAXIMUS (Quintus), son of the preceding, showed himself worthy of his father's virtues. During his consulship he received a visit from his father on horseback in the camp. The son ordered the father to dismount; and the old man cheerfully obeyed, embracing his son, and saying, 'I wished to convince myself whether you knew what it is to be consul.' He died before his father, who, with the moderation of a philosopher, delivered a funeral oration over his son's body.

He

FABIUS MAXIMUS RULLIANUS was the first of the Fabii who obtained the surname of Maximus, for lessening the power of the populace at elections. He was master of horse, and his victory over the Samnites in that capacity nearly cost him his life, as he engaged the enemy without the command of the dictator. He was five times consul, twice dictator, and once censor. triumphed over seven different nations. FA'BLE, n. s., v. a. & v. n. FA BLED, part. adj. FA'BLER, n. s. FAB'ULIST, FABULOʻSITY, FABULOUS, adj. FABULOUSLY, adv. FABULOUSNESS, n. s.

Fr. fable; Ital. favola; Span. and Lat. fabula, from for, fari, to speak; ( Gr. φαω. The Hebrew an signifies vanity, and is considered, by Minsheu, as the root of the Latin. A fictitious story: fiction, generally, see below: a lie. The verb neuter (derived from the noun) signifies to feign; write, or tell falsehoods: as an active verb, to tell a thing falsely: fabled is feigned; and a fabulist is one celebrated in fables: a fabler, he who composes the specific fictions called fables, or who deals in fiction or falsehood generally. Fabulosity means abundance of fiction; fabulous invention, or faculty; in which latter sense it is synonymous with fabulousness: fabulous is full of fables; feigned; invented.

But refuse profane and old wives' fables.

1 Tim. iv. 7.

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There are many things fabulously delivered, and are not to be accepted as truths.

Browne's Vulgar Errours.
Triptolemus, so sung the nine,
Strewed plenty from his cart divine;
But, spite of all those fable-makers,

He never sowed on Almaign acres. Dryden.

The moral is the first business of the poet: this being formed, he contrives such a design or fable as may be most suitable to the moral. Id. Dufresnoy. It would look like a fable to report that this gentleman gives away a great fortune by secret methods.

Addison.

A person terrified with the imagination of spectres, is more reasonable than one who thinks the appearance of spirits fabulous and groundless. Id. Jotham's fable of the trees is the oldest extant, and as beautiful as any made since. Id. Spectator.

The first thing to be considered in an epick poem is the fable, which is perfect or imperfect, according as the action, which it relates, is more or less so. Id. That Saturn's sons received the three-fold reign Of heaven, of ocean, and deep hell beneath, Old poets mention, fabling. Quitting Esop and the fabulists, he copies Boccace.

Prior.

Croxal.

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The first ages of the Scottish History are dark and fabulous. Robertson's History of Scotland. Fabulous narrative has accordingly been common in all ages of the world, and practised by teachers of

It is owing, no

the most respectable character. doubt, to the weakness of human nature, that fable

should ever have been found a necessary, or a convenient, vehicle for truth. Beattie.

Believing every hillock green

Contains no fabled hero's ashes,
And that around the undoubted scene
Thine own 'broad Hellespont' still dashes,
Be long my lot! and cold were he

Who there could gaze denying thee! Byron. FABLE is generally esteemed the most ancient species of wit; and has continued to be highly valued, not only in times of the greatest simplicity, but in the most polite ages of the world. Nathan's fable of the poor man (2 Sam. xi. 6) is next in antiquity to Jotham's, and which, as Addison (see the foregoing extracts) observes, is

the oldest extant: perhaps that of Nathan is superior to it in close painting and affecting representation. We find Esop delivering fables in the most distant ages of Greece; and, in the early days of the Roman commonwealth, we read of a mutiny appeased by the timely delivery of the fable of the belly and the members.

The earliest collection of fables extant is of eastern origin, and preserved in the Sanscrit language. It is called Hitopadesa, and the author Veshnoo Sarma; but they are known in Europe by The Tales and Fables of Bidpay, or Pilpay, an ancient Indian philosopher. Of this collection Sir William Jones takes the following notice: The Fables of Veshnoo Sarma, whom we ridiculously call Pilpay, are the most beautiful, if not the most ancient, collection of apologues in the world. They were first translated from the Sanscreet, in the sixth century, by Buzerchumihi, or bright as the sun, the chief physician, and afterwards the vizier of the great Anushirwan; and are extant under various names, in more than twenty languages. But their original title is Hitopadesa, or amicable instruction: and as the very existence of Esop, whom the Arabs believe to have been an Abyssinian, appears rather doubtful, I am not disinclined to suppose that the first moral fables which appeared in Europe were of Indian or Ethiopian origin.'

Mr. Frazer, at the end of his History of Nadir Shah, gives us the following account of this curious work:-The ancient Brahmins of India, after a good deal of time and labor, compiled a treatise (which they called Kurtuk Dumnik), in which were inserted the choicest treasures of wisdom, and the most perfect rules for governing a people. This book they presented to their rajahs, who kept it with the greatest secrecy and care. About the time of Mahomet's birth, or the latter end of the sixth century, Noishervan the Just, who then reigned in Persia, discovered a great inclination to see that book; for which purpose Burzuvia, a physician, who had a surprising talent in learning several languages, particularly Sanskerritt, was introduced to him as the most proper person to be employed to get a copy of it. He went to India, where, after some years' stay, and great trouble, he procured it. It was translated into the Pehluvi (the ancient Persian language) by him and Buzrjumehr, the vizier. Noishervan, ever after, and all his successors, the Persian kings, had this book in high esteem, and took the greatest care to keep it secret. Nikky, who was the second caliph of the Abassi reign, by great search, got a copy of it in the Pehluvi language, and ordered Imam Hassan Abdal Mokaffa, who was the most learned of the age, to translate it into Arabic. This prince ever after made it his guide, not only in affairs relating to the government, but also in private life. In the year 380 of the Hegira, sultan Mahmud Ghazi put it into verse: and afterwards, in the year 515, by order of Bheram Shah ben Massaud, that which Abdal Mokaffa had translated, was re-translated into Persic by Abdul Mala Nasser Allah Mustofi; and this is that Kulila Dumna, which is now extant. As this latter had too many Arabic verses and obsolete phrases in it, Molana Ali ben Hassein Vaes, at the request of

At last Abu Jaffer Munsour zu

Emîr Sohèli, keeper of the seals to sultan Hossein Mirza, put it into a more modern style, and gave it the title of Anuar Sohèli. In the year 1002 the great moghul, Jalal ô Dîn Mohommed Akbar, ordered his own secretary and vizier, the learned Abul Fazl, to illustrate the obscure passages, abridge the long digressions, and put it into such a style as would be most familiar to all capacities; which he accordingly did, and gave it the name of Ayar Danish, or the Criterion of Wisdom.' Thus far Mr. Frazer, under the word Ayar Danish. In the year 1709,' says Dr. Wilkins, the Kulila Dumna, the Persian version of Abul Mala Nasser Allah Mustofi, made in the 515th year of the Hegira, was translated into French, with the title of Les Conseils et les Maximes de Pilpay, Philosophe Indien, sur les divers Etats de la Vie. This edition resembles the Hitopadesa more than any other then seen; and is evidently the immediate original of the English Instructive and entertaining Fables of Pilpay, an ancient Indian Philosopher,' which, in 1775, had gone through five editions. The Anuar Sohèli, above mentioned, about the year 1540, was rendered into the Turkish language; and the translator is said to have bestowed twenty years' labor upon it. In the year 1724 this edition M. Galland began to translate into French, and the first four chapters were then published; but, in the year 1778, M. Cardonne completed the work, in three volumes, giving it the name of Contes et Fables Indiennes de Bidpai et de Lokman; traduites d'Ali Tcheleby ben Saleh, auteur Turc: Indian Tales and Fables of Bidpay and Lockman, translated from Aly Tcheleby ben Saleh, a Turkish

author.'

The Fables of Lockman were published in Arabic and Latin, with notes, by Erpenius, 4to., Amstel. 1636; and by the celebrated Golius, at the end of his edition of Erpen's Arabic Grammar, Lugd. Bat. 1656, with additional Notes; and also in the edition of the same Grammar, by Albert Schultens, Lugd. Bat. 1748, 4to. They are only thirty-seven in number.

Of the Hitopadesa, or Fables of Vishnoo Sarma, we have two very elegant English translations from the original Sanscrit: one by Sir William Jones, printed in his works, 4to. vol. VI, Lond. 1799; the other by the father of Sanscrit literature in Europe, Dr. Charles Wilkins, of the India House, 8vo., Bath, 1787, with a collection of very important notes.

Fable, as a mode of conveying moral instruction, is allied both to all other kinds of similitude and to parable: but, in the strict use of it, at least, it differs widely from both. Every subject of the inanimate creation may be employed in similitude and parable; but the grand objects in fable are borrowed from the animate and rational creation only and the best fables consist of human actions, spirit, and intelligence, attributed to brute and irrational creatures.

FABRETTI (Raphael), LL. D. a learned Italian author and antiquary, born at Urbino, in 1619. He studied at Cagli, and took his degree at Urbino in his eighteenth year. Cardinal Imperiali sent him into Spain, where he continued thirteen years, and was for some time auditor general of the Nunciature. On his return to

Rome he was appointed judge of appeals, and afterwards inspector of reliques. Pope Alexander VIII. appointed him Secretary of memorials, and Innocent XII made him keeper of the archives of St. Angelo. In the midst of this business, however, he found time to cultivate his favorite study of antiquities, upon which he wrote several tracts in Latin, particularly, 1. De Aquis et Aquæductibus Veteris Roma; 2. De Columna Trajana; 3. Inscriptionum Antiquarum Explicatio, &c. He was admitted a member of the academy of Assorditi at Urbino, and of the Arcadi at Rome; and died 7th January, 1700.

FABRIANO (Gentile Da), a celebrated historical painter, was born at Verona, in 1332, and became a disciple of Giovanni Da Fiesole. He was employed to adorn a great number of churches and palaces at Florence, Urbino, Siena, Perusia, and Rome, but particularly the Vatican; and one picture of his, representing the Virgin and Child, attended by Joseph, which is preserved in the church of St. Maria Maggiore, was highly commended by Michael Angelo. By order of the doge and senate of Venice he painted a picture in the great council-chamber, which was considered as so extraordinary a performance that his employers granted him a pension for life, and conferred upon him the privilege of wearing the habit of a noble of Venice, the highest honor the state could bestow. He died in 1412.

FABRIANO, a town of the Papal states, at the foot of the Appennines in the Marca d'Ancona. The inhabitants trade chiefly in wool and its manufactures; also in paper. Population 4000. Thirty-three miles south-west of Ancona.

FABRIC, n. s. & v. a.` French, fabrique; FABRICATE, v. a. Belg. fabryke; Ital. FABRICATION, n. s. Span. and Lat. fabrica, from faber (i. e. faciber à facio, to do), a workman. A building or edifice: hence any system or combination of things: the verb, formed after the noun, signifies to build, construct, or frame, as does the more common verb to fabricate: the latter is also used, figuratively, for to invent, construct, or frame a fictitious, as distinguished from a true account of any thing.

Like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherits shall dissolve; And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a wreck behind. Shakspeare.

There must be an exquisite care to place the columns, set in several stories, most precisely one over another, that so the solid may answer to the solid, and the vacuities to the vacuities, as well for beauty as strength of the fabrick.

Wotton.

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