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* FABLE. 'Ill FABRE D'EGLANTINE. Leaving tlie classical period, and before enter- ing cm the Dark Ages, we encounter the name of Aphthonius, who flourished in the early part cii the fourth century, and who wrote indifferent fables in Greek prose; and still later, the name of Flavius Avianus, who composed forty-two, no better, in Latin elegiacs. During the Dark Ages the fable in various forms appears to have been cultivated in the monasteries, although nothing meritorious bas survived; but later in the Middle Ages it acquired fresh life and vigor. The oldest known German fabulist is Strieker, who lived about the middle of the thirteenth century; but the famous mediaeval falde of Reineke Fucha, or the History of Reynard the Fox (q.v.), stretches in some of its numerous primitive forms much further back. In later times most nations have cultivated the fable with more or less success. We may mention among the English, Gay; among the Germans, Hagedorn, Gellert, and Les- sing; among the Italians, Pignotti; among the Russians, Kryloff; and above all among the French, La Fontaine (q.v.). Many of Andersen's wonder stories are fables, in which the weak- nesses of human nature are treated with an ex- quisite humor and sarcasm, not inferior to those of La Fontaine. The stories of Brer Rabbit and the other ani- mals by Joel Chandler Harris (q.v.) do not be- long under the fable proper, as they are not the invention of the writer, but are valuable records of the folk-lore (q.v.) of the African-Americans. The same is true of similar stories gathered from the Indian tribes. Consult; Lessing, XJeber das Wesen der Fabel (1700); Robert, Fables ine'dites des douxieme, treizieme, ei quatorzieme siecles, et fables de La Fontaine rapprochces de celles de tons les auteurs (Paris, 1825) ; Loiseleur Deslongchamps, Essai sur les fables indiennes ct sur lew introduction en Europe ( Paris, 1838) ; Bechstein, My the, Sage, Mitre und Fabel im Leben und Iiewusstsein des deutschen Volkes, 3 vols. (Leipzig, 1854-55); Benfey, Pantschatantra (Leipzig, 1859) ; Schlenk- er. Collection of Temne Traditions, Fables, and Proverbs (London, 1861): Bleek, Reynard the Fox in South Africa (London, 1864) ; Hervieux. Les fabulist es latins depuis la sieele d'Angustc jusqu'a la fin du moyen age, 5 vols. (Paris, 1884- 99) ; Weddigen, Das Wesen und die Theorie der Fabel (Leipzig, 1893). FABLE FOB CRITICS, A. A satirical poem by James Russell Lowell (1848), reviewing American writers and critics. FABLIAUX, fa'bly.V ( Fr., from OF. fabliaus, fablel, Prov. fablel, short story; connected with Lat. fabrlla. diminutive of fabula, story). Short stories in French verse', chiefly of the thirteenth century, adapted in part from Oriental and Latin sources, frankly coarse, often brutal, usual- ly comic and satirical, often cynically skeptical and bitter in their treatment of women. They are realistic stories of every-day life, and give a melancholy, possibly too dark, picture of national morals. They appealed especially to the middle and lower classes, and have proved a storehouse to the novelists and dramatists of later times. From them Boccaccio. La Salle. Chaucer. Shake- speare, and Moliere drew some of their best ma- terial. The best collection of them is the Recueil general et complet des fabliaux des Xllleme et XlVeme siecles, by Montaiglon and Raynaud (G Vol. VII. — 27. . vols, Paris, 1872-90). Consul! Gaston Pari-. Les Cmiii.s orientaux dans la littdraturi frai I Paris, 1877), and IVdier. Les fabliaux (Paris, 1893) . as well .i his chaptei in Petit de Julie- ville, Bistoire de la langut ei de la Uttirature francaise, vol. ii. I Paris, 1896), in which is a good bibliography. FABRE, fa'br', FEBDINAHD (1830-98). A French novelist, distinguished for his psychologic
 * lysis of priestlj character. Be was born at

Bgdarieux, studied thcolofjj and law, but failed in health, and alter a prolonged residence in southern France tinned his observations to liter- ary account in Les Courbezon, scenes de la vie elericale (1862), whose minute analysis made liim -rem to Sainte Beuve 'a strong pupil of Bal- zac.' Rustic sketches as minute in their oh tion followed. His must, noteworthy novel- are Won oncle Cilestin: mceurs cl£rieales (1881), and L'abbe Tigrane, candidal ii la papautd (1873), both clerical in subject and both translated into English. All his novels are directed, in one way or another, against ascetic pride and self-decep- tion. They show a robust, healthy sympathy with life, a rather heavy playfulness, and a div- ination of the celibate clerical mind that is unique in this generation. His mountaineer peasants, too, are striking types of intense and violent simplicity, whether of Rabelaisian ani- malism or of half-mystic saintliness. His stories of Parisian life are negligible. FABRE, Francois Xavier Pascal (1766- 1837). A French painter, born at Montpellier. lb- was a pupil of David, and won the Prix de Rome in 1787. Afterwards he lived in Florence, where he principally painted portraits, and be- came professor at the Academy. It is supposed that he privately married the Duchess of Albany, the widow of the 'Young Pretender.' who at her death made him her sole heir. The collection of works of art she left him he added to consid- erably, and bequeathed to the city of Montpellier to form the nucleus of the Musc'e Fabre. He also established a school of design at Montpellier in connection with the museum, and was himself its first director. Most of his works are at Mont- pellier. They include "Death of Abel," "Saul's Remorse," and a portrait of Canova. His "Neoptolemus and Ulysses" is in the Louvre. The paintings of Fabre are highly finished and rich in color. FABRE, Marie Joseph Victoria ( 1785-1831 ). A French poet, born at Jaujac (Ardiche). The brilliant success he achieved in his youth, with his Eloge de Boileau (1805), which was crowned by the Academy, did not continue beyond a few years. He died, it is said, practically forgotten. His winks were collected by one of his pupils. J. Sabbatier (1844-45). Thej include the best poems, Discours en vers sur les voyages (1807), Eloge sur Pierre Gorneille (1808), La mort de Henri IV. (1808), and Opuscules en vers et en prose (1806). FABRE D'EGLANTINE, fa'br' da'glaN'ten'. Philippe Francois Xazaihe (1755-94). A French dramatist born at Carcassonne. He was an actor in hi^ youth, and did not establish him- self in Paris until 1787. During the next seven years he produced 27 play-, the best known of which are l.e Philinte de Moliere, or La suite du Misanthrope (1790) ; Le convalescent de qualiti