Page:Imperialdictiona02eadi Brandeis.pdf/473

FOS and Pier della Vigne; one on Guido Cavalcante; and one on Sordello. We may add to these, two articles on the "Democratic Constitution of Venice," in the Edinburgh and Westminster respectively; one on Italian women, one on the Italian drama, and one entitled "Jerusalem." A novel, "La Fidanzata Italiana," also occupied his thoughts, but was never completed. The remainder of his life was devoted to a series of works illustrative of Homer, Tasso, Boccaccio, Petrarch, and Dante. For the first he wrote a political address to the Greeks, concerning their "holy and unhappy country;" for the second, a preface; for the third he gave an essay, already written, on Italian literature; for the fourth, that already published by Murray; and together with the last, his famous "Lettera Apologetica." Only the "Boccaccio" was published entire. The "Dante," which will be henceforth the one standard edition of the poet, was rescued from oblivion by the pious care of Mazzini, and published by Rolandi in 1841, with additional notes and preface, which must be read by every one who would comprehend either Dante or Foscolo. The edition of Foscolo's works which can be recommended to all readers (Florence, Le Monnier, 11 vols. in 8vo), is also based on a classified and chronological list, furnished by Mazzini. It is divided into five parts—Literary prose, 4 vols.; Poetry, 1 vol.; Political prose, 1 vol.; Correspondence, 3 vols. Literary articles, translated from English reviews and magazines. It was in the spring of 1827 that the MS. of Dante was consigned to Pickering; and in the same month Foscolo was attacked by the disease (dropsy) which carried him off on the 14th September. His last days were soothed by the affectionate care of his daughter, who survived him but a few years, and left all his papers to her friend and guardian, the Canonico Riego, to whom the nation is indebted for their present publication. A modest tomb in Chiswick churchyard, erected by the kindness of Mr. Hudson Gurney, covers Foscolo's ashes. "Whoever," said Nicolini, on reading the "Lettera Apologetica," "does not imitate Foscolo, ready to die on a bed of straw, rather than deny his principles, will not live blessed in the memory of man."—[M.]  * FOSS,, an eminent contributor to the biography of English law, was born on the 16th of October, 1787, the son of a respectable metropolitan solicitor. Mr. Foss received his education at the well-known establishment of Dr. Charles Burney at Greenwich, and on leaving school was articled to his father, by whom he was subsequently taken into partnership. He retired from practice in 1840. From an early period Mr. Foss combined literature with his legal pursuits, contributing to the Monthly Review, Aitken's Athenæum, the London and the Gentleman's Magazines, the Morning Chronicle—under Perry's editorship—the Standard, the Morning Herald, &c., &c. His first separate publication was "The Beauties of Massinger," 1817. His second was an abridgment of Blackstone's Commentaries, published under the name of John Gifford, its original compiler, who died at the threshold of his task; this work had a large sale, and was translated into German. In 1843 appeared "The Grandeur of the Law, or the Legal Peers of England;" and in 1848, volume i. of Mr. Foss's magnum opus, "The Judges of England;" the fifth and sixth volumes were published in 1857. The accuracy, industry, and originality of research displayed in this series of judicial biographies, make it a standard work of reference that will not easily be superseded. Mr. Foss has also contributed articles to Notes and Queries, and valuable papers to the Archæologia. He is a member of the Camden and other learned societies, and a deputy-lieutenant of Kent, in which county, at Dover, he resides.—F. E.  FOSSANO,, or , a celebrated painter and architect, born at Fossano in Piedmont about the year 1455. He was employed probably as early as 1475 in the completion of the façade of the Certosa or charterhouse near Pavia. He appears to have been engaged at Pavia till about 1493, and latterly as a painter. Ambrogio is more distinguished now as a painter than as an architect. His earliest picture is dated 1490, this is the "Crucifixion," an altarpiece in the Certosa, and signed, Maij 14, 1490. His latest picture known is the "Assumption of the Virgin," in the gallery of the Brera at Milan, signed and dated 1522. In the church of Melegnano in the Milanese, is a "Baptism of Christ," signed. There is a noble picture of the "Marriage of St. Catherine," formerly in the chapel of Rebecchino, near Pavia, now in the national gallery, by Borgognone. His pictures are scarce out of the Milanese; they are in fresco and in tempera, are very refined in their forms and expression, and delicate and pallid in their colouring. There is no satisfactory account of Borgognone by any old writer.—(See the Catalogue of the National Gallery, 1860.)—R. N. W.  FOSSATI,, an Italian physician and phrenologist, was born at Novara in 1786. He studied at Milan under Rasori, and was his assistant till 1820, when, in consequence of the political proscriptions of Austria, he was obliged to leave Italy. He settled at Paris, and endeavoured to spread in France the new therapeutic practices of his teacher. He became an ardent follower of the opinions of Gall, and, on his visit to his native country in 1826, undertook to make them popular among his fellow-citizens. On his return to Paris, he founded the Phrenological Society, took an active part in politics, especially with respect to Italy, and was universally admired for his scientific acquirements, as well as for his personal worth and high moral character. He is also an author of some note. Besides many occasional articles and reviews, he wrote the following works—"On the influence of intellectual physiology on science, literature, and art;" "On the mission of the philosopher in the nineteenth century;" "A practical manual of phrenology and the physiology of the brain."—A. S., O.  FOSSOMBRONI,, a celebrated mathematician and statesman of Tuscany, born at Arezzo in 1754. His noble birth and his early progress in both mathematics and social science opened for him the way to the highest dignities in the state. He made himself useful to his country, when yet a young man, in different public offices, and particularly as hydraulic superintendent of the Val di Chiana, which was drained and converted, through his exertions, from a marshy and pestilential wilderness into one of the most fertile and healthy districts of Tuscany. He was raised by the Grand-duke Ferdinand III. to the office of his prime minister in 1795. When the French invaded the duchy in 1799, he followed his master to Vienna; but soon afterwards returned to his native country, and continued privately to co-operate in its welfare. After the Restoration of 1814, he became again the leading member of the grand-ducal government; and during his long administration as minister of foreign affairs, he resisted Austrian interference, and successfully struggled to protect Tuscany against that reactionary influence through which Metternich had managed to enslave all other Italian states. Thus Tuscany, though not blessed with free institutions, enjoyed a degree of intellectual and moral liberty, which made her a comparatively happy spot in the Italian desert. As regards material prosperity, the rale of Fossombroni proved equally beneficial. He applied his skill in hydraulic contrivances to the amelioration of the Tuscan territory; and, being a follower of the principles of free-trade, he modified the laws of the state, greatly to the advantage of his industrious fellow-countrymen. His internal policy, however, was not exempt from error. He seemed to be intent on making the Tuscans wealthy and effeminate, rather than generous and manly. He was a disciple of the sceptical school of the eighteenth century, and, as such, had no belief in man's higher aspirations, no love of freedom, no admiration of the moral side of human nature. Fossombroni died at the age of ninety, in 1844, in full possession of his mental faculties. He had married a noble lady of his native town in 1832, when he was seventy-eight years old. He published many essays on hydraulic and mathematical subjects, all of them intended for practical purposes. Some of his treatises on mathematics and mechanics were highly thought of by men like Lagrange, Lacroix, and Laplace.—A. S., O.  * FOSTER,, a distinguished English artist, whose drawings on wood have brought that branch of art to a higher degree of perfection than it had ever before reached, was born of a respectable family at North Shields, on the 4th of February, 1825, and was educated at Hitchin in a school conducted upon the principles of the Society of Friends. A born artist, the pencil was his amusement and delight from his earliest years; and at sixteen he was apprenticed in London to Mr. Landells, the well-known wood-engraver, and a pupil of the celebrated Newcastle artist, Thomas Bewick. Mr. Foster, therefore, both by birth and training, belongs to the Newcastle school of art, though for many years he has been a resident in London. His intention was to learn wood-engraving under Mr. Landells, but he immediately developed so much talent in drawing on the wood, that Mr. Landells advised him to give 