Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 20.djvu/9

 before his death annually (1762-81) exhibited at the Royal Academy. He then entered his father's business; and became a steady solicitor, retaining, however, his artistic tastes. He had a passion for music, and could catch and reproduce an air with surprising quickness. He was a member of the Beefsteak Club, and his society was prized by Garrick and Colman. As solicitor to Covent Garden Theatre, Forrest was thrown into close relations with the dramatic profession, and he composed a musical entertainment. 'The Weathercock,' produced at Covent Garden 17 Oct. 1775, said by Genest to be ‘poor stuff.’ As a writer of songs, however, Forrest was more successful. He is said to have been exceedingly generous, a man of strict integrity, a good judge in matters of art, and an agreeable and entertaining companion. He earned considerable reputation for the rendering of his own ballads. Towards the close of his life Forrest was afflicted with a painful nervous disorder, attended with a black jaundice. He was thrown into a condition of deep melancholy, and on 5 Nov. 1784 killed himself at his chambers in George Street, York Buildings, London. Forrest had a plentiful income, and was very charitable. A portrait of Forrest, with Francis Grose the antiquary [q. v.] and Hone, was painted by Dance and engraved by Bartolozzi.

 FORREST, THOMAS (d. 1540), Scottish martyr. [See ]

 FORREST, THOMAS (fl. 1580), was author of 'A Perfite Looking Glasse for all Estates: most excellently and eloquently set forth by the famous and learned Oratour Isocrates, as contained in three Orations of Morall Instructions, written in the Greeke tongue, of late yeeres: Translated into Latine by … Hieronimus Wolfius. And nowe Englished … with sundrie examples of pithy sentences, both of Princes and Philosophers, gathered and collected out of divers writers, Coted in the margent, approbating the Author's intent. … Imprinted in Newgate Market, within the new Rents, at the Signe of the Lucrece, 1580.' The volume is a quarto of forty-six leaves, and is dedicated by the translator, Tho. Forrest, to Sir Thomas Bromley. There are also prefixed 'An Epistle to the Reader;' 'The Author's Enchomion upon Sir Thomas Bromley;' 'J. D. in Commendation of the Author;’ ‘In Praise of the Author, S. Norreis;' 'The Booke to the Reader.' The volume is probably 'certen orations of Isocrates' found in the Stationers' Register under date 4 Jan. 1580. Ritson puts Forrest among the English poets because of the 'Enchomion' above mentioned.

 FORREST, THOMAS (1729?–1802?), navigator, appears to have served for some time in the royal navy, and to have been a midshipman in 1745. It was probably after the peace in 1748 that he entered the service of the East India Company, and different passages in his own writings show that he was employed in Indian seas from 1753 almost continuously, though he implies that during part of the seven years' war he was on board the Elizabeth, a 64-gun ship, in the squadron under Admiral Steevens. His name, however, does not appear in the Elizabeth's pay-book. In 1762 he had command of a company's ship, from which he seems to date his experience when, writing in 1782, he spoke of himself as having above twenty years' practice in 'the country trade;' as having made fifteen voyages from Hindostan to the East, and four voyages from England to India, and thus being permitted to claim some knowledge of the winds, weather, and sailing routes of the station, adding, however, that of the Persian and Red Sea Gulfs he knew little, never having been there. With this accumulation of practical learning he published at Calcutta 'A Treatise on the Monsoons in East India' (sm. 4to, 1782), a 2nd edition of which was published in London (12mo, 1783), a little book of interesting experiences and exploded theories. In 1770 he was engaged in forming the new settlement at Balambangan, which had been recommended by Alexander Dalrymple [q. v.], and in 1774, when the council, in accordance with their instructions, and with a view to developing new sources of trade, were desirous of sending an exploring party in the direction of New Guinea, Forrest offered his services, which were readily accepted. He sailed on 9 Dec. in the Tartar, a native boat of about ten tons burden, with two English officers and a crew of eighteen Malays. In this, accompanied during part of the time by two small boats, he pushed his explorations as far as Geelvink Bay in New Guinea, examining the Sulu Archipelago, the south coast of Mindanao, Mandiolo, Batchian, and more especially Waygiou, which he first laid down