Page:Cousins's Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.djvu/157

Rh doctrines was undertaken by the far more competent hand of his follower, Barclay (q.v.). The Journal, however, is full of interest as a sincere transcript of the singular experiences, religious and others, of a spiritual enthusiast and mystic.

The best Life is that by Hodgkin, 1896. Journal (reprint, 1885).

  (1516-1587).—Martyrologist, was b. at Boston, Lincolnshire, and ed. at Oxf., where he became a Fellow of Magdalen Coll. While there he gave himself to the study of the theological questions then in debate, and ended by becoming a Protestant, in consequence of which he in 1545 left his coll. He then became tutor in the family of Sir T. Lucy of Charlecote, and afterwards to the children of the recently executed Earl of Surrey. During the reign of Mary he retired to the Continent, and pub., at Strasburg, his Commentarii (the first draft of the Acts and Monuments). Removing to Basel he was employed as a reader for the press by the famous printer Oporinus, who pub. some of his writings. On the accession of Elizabeth, F. returned to England, was received with kindness by the Duke of Norfolk, one of his former pupils, and soon afterwards (1563) pub. the work on which his fame rests, the English version of the Acts and Monuments, better known as The Book of Martyrs. Received with great favour by the Protestants, it was, and has always been, charged by the Roman Catholics with gross and wilful perversion of facts. The truth of the matter appears to be that while Foxe was not, as in the circumstances he could hardly have been, free from party spirit or from some degree of error as to facts, he did not intentionally try to mislead; and comparison of his citations from authorities with the originals has shown him to have been careful and accurate in that matter. F., who had been ordained a priest in 1560, became Canon of Salisbury in 1563. He wrote sundry other theological works, and d. in 1587. There is a memoir of him attributed to his s., but of doubtful authenticity. Some of his papers, used by (q.v.), are now in the British Museum.

  (1740-1818).—Reputed author of The Letters of Junius, s. of the Rev. Philip F., a scholar of some note, was b. in Dublin. On the recommendation of Lord Holland he received an appointment in the office of the Sec. of State, and was thereafter private sec. to Lord Kinnoull in Portugal, and to Pitt in 1761-2. He was then transferred to the War Office, where he remained from 1762-72, during which period he contributed to the press under various pseudonyms. His next appointment was that of a member of Council of Bengal, which he held from 1773-80. While in India he was in continual conflict with the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, by whom he was wounded in a duel in 1779. He returned to England in 1780 with a large fortune, and entered Parliament as a Whig. In 1787 he was associated with Burke in the impeachment of Hastings, against whom he showed extraordinary vindictiveness. Later he was a sympathiser with the French Revolution, and a member of the association of the Friends of the People. He retired from public life in 1807, and d. in 1818. He was the author of about 20 political pamphlets, but the great interest attaching to him is his reputed authorship of the Letters of