Page:Cousins's Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.djvu/146

134 followed the first were not entirely successful. The work gained for him the patronage of the Duke of York, through whose influence he obtained the position of purser on various warships. Strangely enough, his own death occurred by shipwreck. F. wrote other poems, now forgotten, besides a useful Nautical Dictionary.

 Author:Catherine Maria Fanshawe (1765-1834).—Poetess, dau. of a Surrey squire, wrote clever occasional verse. Her best known production is the famous Riddle on the Letter H, beginning Twas whispered in heaven, 'twas muttered in hell" often attributed to.

 Author:Richard Fanshawe (1608-1666).—Diplomatist, translator, and poet, b. at Ware Park. Herts, and ed. at Camb., travelled on the Continent, and when the Civil War broke out sided with the King and was sent to Spain to obtain money for the cause. He acted as Latin Sec. to Charles II. when in Holland. After the Restoration he held various appointments, and was Ambassador to Portugal and Spain successively. He translated Guarini's Pastor Fido, Selected Parts of Horace, and The Lusiad of Camoens. His wife, née Anne Harrison, wrote memoirs of her own life.

 Author:Michael Faraday (1791-1867).—Natural philosopher, s. of a blacksmith, was b. in London, and apprenticed to a book binder. He early showed a taste for chemistry, and attended the lectures of (q.v.), by whom he was, in 1813, appointed his chemical assistant in the Royal Institution. He became one of the greatest of British discoverers and popularisers of science, his discoveries being chiefly in the department of electro-magnetism. He had an unusual power of making difficult subjects clearly understood. Among his writings are History of the Progress of Electro-Magnetism (1821), The Non-metallic Elements, The Chemical History of a Candle, and The Various Forces in Nature. F. was a man of remarkable simplicity and benevolence of character, and deeply religious.

 Author:Richard Farmer (1735-1797).—Shakespearian scholar, b. at Leicester, and ed. at Camb., where he ultimately became Master of Emanuel Coll. He wrote an Essay on the Learning of Shakespeare (1767), in which he maintained that knowledge of the classics was through translations, the errors of which he reproduced. It is a production of great ability. F. was a clergyman, and held a prebend in St. Paul's.

 Author:George Farquhar (1678-1707).—Dramatist, b. at Londonderry, s. of a clergyman, and ed. at Trinity Coll., Dublin, on leaving which he took to the stage, but had no great success as an actor. This, together with an accident in which he wounded a fellow-actor with a sword, led to his relinquishing it, and giving himself to writing plays instead of acting them. Thereafter he joined the army. Love and a Bottle (1698) was his first venture, and others were The Constant Couple (1700), Sir Harry Wildair (1701), The Inconstant (1703), The Recruiting Officer (1706), and The Beau's Stratagem (1707). F.'s plays are full of wit and sparkle and, though often coarse, have not the malignant pruriency of some of