Page:A biographical dictionary of modern rationalists.djvu/160

 FAWKENEB

FEREAEI

elected member for Hackney, and he was appointed Postmaster-General. His character and public work were so much esteemed that a monument was erected to him in Westminster Abbey by public sub scription. Sir L. Stephen shows in his Life of H. Fawcett (1885) that he agreed with J. S. Mill in regard to religion (p. 103). He speaks in his letters of theological controversy as &quot; miserable squabbles.&quot; D. Nov. 6, 1884.

FAWKENER, Sir Everard, merchant. B. 1684. Fawkener is the London silk merchant with whom Voltaire lived at Wandsworth in 1726. He was knighted in 1735, and appointed ambassador to Constantinople. In 1745 he became joint Postmaster-General. Voltaire (Lettres inedites, 1856), who wrote him many amusing letters, pictures him in one (dated Feb. 22, 1736) &quot; smiling with his humane philosophy at the superstitious follies &quot; of both Mohammedans and Christians. D. Nov. 16, 1758.

FECHNER, Gustav Theodor, German psychologist. B. Apr. 19, 1801, Ed. Leipzig University. He was professor of physics at Leipzig, but an ailment of the eyes compelled him to turn to philosophy, and he established the psycho-physical theory of mind (especially in his Elemente der Psychophysik, 1860). His scientific and philosophic works, fifty in number, are of great value. In religion he was mystical, and is often regarded as a liberal Christian, but in his psychology he &quot; ad mitted no difference between body and soul &quot; (Villa, Contemporary Psychology, 1903, p. 137), so that the orthodox dis owned him. Many of his curious religious works were published under the pseudonym of &quot; Dr. Mises.&quot; D. Nov. 18, 1887.

FELLOWES, Robert, M.A., LL.D., philanthropist. B. 1771. Ed. Oxford (St. Mary s Hall). He took orders in the Church, but never held preferment, and he

247

presently abandoned the creed. He edited The Critical Eeview, 1804-1811, and in his later works (especially The Religion of the Universe, 1836) he professed Deism. Sometimes he adopted the pseudonym &quot; Philalethes.&quot; Fellowes was an active reformer and a generous philanthropist. He was one of the founders of London University, and he partially endowed Edinburgh University. D. Feb. 6, 1847.

FELS, Joseph, reformer. B. 1854. Ed. Yanceyville and Baltimore. At the age of fifteen he took employment in his father s business, which failed, and after a few years as a travelling salesman he, in 1875, began to manufacture soap at Balti more. The firm removed later to Phila delphia. He made a large fortune, and used it generously in support of reform. His chief interest was the single-tax, of which he was an indefatigable apostle. He gave 25,000 to a Joseph Fels Fund for advocating it in America, and large sums to the cause in other countries. He also introduced profit-sharing into his factories and established a labour colony at Hollesley Bay. Personal exertion, by lectures and writings, was given as freely as financial help. He strongly supported social reforms of all kinds, both in England and America ; but he repudiated the name of philanthropist. Mr. Fels was a Theist, but entirely rejected Christian doctrines (Joseph Fels, by Mary Fels, 1920, pp. 177-84). D. Feb. 21, 1914.

FERRARI, Professor Guiseppe,

D. es L., Italian historian. B. Mar. 7, 1812. Ed. Pavia University. He took up the career of letters, published a life of Eomagnosi, and edited the works of Vico (1836). In 1840 he became professor of literature at Eochefort, but he lost the position by his outspoken Eationalism. Cousin got him a chair at Strassburg University, from which the Clericals again ejected him. After the Italian victory he taught at Turin and Milan, and was made Senator (1876). He was an Agnostic, or 248