Page:A biographical dictionary of modern rationalists.djvu/164

 FITZGERALD

FLOURENS

Fiske s Myths and Myth Makers (1872), Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy (1874), and The Idea of God (1885). D. July 4, 1901.

FITZGERALD, Edward, poet. B. Mar. 31, 1809. Ed. Bury St. Edmunds and Cambridge (Trinity College). Fitzgerald led a retired life in the country, and attracted little or no attention by his earlier publica tions (Euphranor, 1851 ; Six Dramas of Calderon, 1853, etc.). In 1859 he published his free rendering of Omar Khayyam, which had for many years few readers. T. Wright, in his Life of E. Fitzgerald (2 vols., 1904, ii, 14-5), shows that the poem really reflects Fitzgerald s own Agnosticism in the later part of his life. Mr. Benn points out that some of the most heterodox passages are not found in the Persian original. F. H. Groome (Two Suffolk Friends, 1895) gives the same testimony, and corrects the common notion that Fitzgerald was an epicure. He was a man of the simplest diet, and of a high and generous character. D. June 14, 1883.

FLAMMARION, Nicholas Camille,

French astronomer. B. Feb. 25, 1842. Ed. Paris. He went as pupil in 1858 to the Paris Observatory, and in 1862 joined the Bureau des Longitudes. His Plurality des Mondes (1861) at once made him the most popular exponent of astronomy in Europe, and has passed through thirty- three editions. Some of his later works have had forty to fifty editions. He has, meantime, made important contributions to his science in some hundreds of memoirs. Flammarion is a Theist and admits immor tality, but he rejects Christianity. &quot;The supernatural does not exist,&quot; he says (Les forces naturelles inconnues, 1907). He is not a Spiritualist (pp. 586, 592, etc.), but attributes abnormal phenomena to abnor mal powers of the medium.

FLAUBERT, Gustaye, French novelist. B. Dec. 12, 1821. He turned from medi cine, for which he was trained, to letters, and made a severe study of poetry on the 255

models of V. Hugo and Byron. From this he passed to minute and artistic realism in fiction, and in 1857 he published Madame Bovary, a satire on romanticism and a pioneer work of the naturalist school. Salammbo (1862), for the preparation of which he had gone to Tunis, pleased the public less. His Tentation de Saint Antoine (1874) expresses his scepticism, which appears more fully in his letters. He wrote only two further novels, a volume of short stories, and a political play. His life was virtually dedicated to the superb art of five stories. D. May 7, 1880.

FLOQUET, Charles Thomas, French statesman. B. Oct. 5, 1828. Ed. St. Jean de Luz and Bayonne. He was admitted to the Paris Bar in 1851, and, like his friend Gambetta, he distinguished himself by lending his fine powers to the defence of radicals. He edited the Temps and the Siecle. In 1871 he was sent by a Paris constituency to the National Assem bly, and was one of the most ardent oppo nents of the temporary clerical reaction. Elected to the Chambre in 1877, he con tinued his anti-clerical work. Through the influence of Gambetta he had two terms as President of the Chambre (1885-93). He was one of the chief opponents of Boulang- ism, and fought a duel with Boulanger himself. Floquet was one of the fine workers of the Gambetta group who pre pared the way for the disestablishment and destruction of the Church in France. See Discours et opinions de M. C. Floquet (2 vols., 1885). D. Jan. 18, 1896.

FLOURENS, Gustave, French writer, son of the following. B. Aug. 4, 1838. Ed. College Louis le Grand. He took diplomas in both science and letters, and in 1863 became deputy-professor (for his father) of natural history at the College de France. Owing to the drastic Eationalism of his lectures, his articles in La Pensee Notivelle, and his Science de I homme (1865), the clergy secured his dismissal, 256