Page:Cousins's Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.djvu/155

Rh  and in The Witch of Edmonton (1624). F. has a high position as a dramatist, though rather for general intellectual power and austere beauty of thought than for strictly dramatic qualities. says, "F. was of the first order of poets." He had little humour; his plays, though the subjects are painful, and sometimes horrible, are full of pensive tenderness expressed in gently flowing verse. The date of his death is uncertain.

 Author:Paul Leicester Ford (1865-1902).—Novelist and biographer, was b. in Brooklyn. He wrote Lives of Washington, Franklin, and others, ed. the works of Jefferson, and wrote a number of novels, which had considerable success, including Peter Sterling (1894), Story of an Untold Love, Janice Meredith, Wanted a Matchmaker, and Wanted a Chaperone. He d. by violence.

 Author:Richard Ford (1796-1858).—Writer on art and travel, ed. at Winchester and Camb., and travelled for several years in Spain, becoming intimately acquainted with the country and people. He wrote a Handbook for Travellers in Spain (1845), which is much more than a mere guide-book, and Gatherings from Spain (1846). An accomplished artist and art critic, he was the first to make the great Spanish painter, Velasquez, generally known in England.

 Author:John Fordun (d. 1384?).—Chronicler, said to have been a chantry priest and Canon of Aberdeen. He began the Scotichronicon, for which he prepared himself, it is said, by travelling on foot through Britain and Ireland in search of materials. He also compiled Gesta Annalia, a continuation. He brought the history down to 1153, leaving, however, material to the time of his own death, which was subsequently worked up by (q.v.).

 Author:John Forster (1812-1876) (1812-1876).—Historian and biographer, b. at Newcastle, ed. at the Grammar School there, and at Univ. Coll., London, became a barrister of the Inner Temple, but soon relinquished law for literature. In 1834 he accepted the post of assistant ed. of the Examiner, and was ed. 1847-55. In this position F. exercised a marked influence on public opinion. He also ed. the Foreign Quarterly Review 1842-3, the Daily News in 1846, and was Sec. to the Lunacy Commission and a Commissioner 1861-72. His historical writings were chiefly biographies, among which are Statesmen of the Commonwealth of England (1836-9), Life of Goldsmith (1854), Biographical and Historical Essays (1859), Sir John Eliot (1864), Lives of Walter S. Landor (1868), and Charles Dickens (1871-4). He also left the first vol. of a Life of Swift. F., who was a man of great decision and force of character, concealed an unusually tender heart under a somewhat overbearing manner.

 Author:John Fortescue (1394?-1476?).—Political writer, was descended from a Devonshire family. He was an eminent lawyer, and held the office of Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench (1442). During the Wars of the Roses he was a staunch Lancastrian. On the triumph of Edward IV. at Towton he was attainted, and followed the fortunes of the fallen Lancastrians, accompanying Queen Margaret to Scotland and Flanders. He fought at Tewkesbury, was captured, but pardoned on condition of writing in support