Greek, Mavrocordatos, was appointed to succeed him. A Greek physician, Marco Zalloui, who was chief physician to the grand vizier, Yussuf Pacha, and was after wards in Bucharest with the last Greek hospodar, discloses, in his Essai sur les Fanariotes (Marseilles, 1824), the intrigues of those Fanariot upstarts, their exactions, which they shared with the Boyards, and the artifices and bribery by which they contrived to keep their station so long, imposing on the ignorant Turks for their own private interest. In the insurrection of the Greeks in 1821, the Fanariots used no influence, or, if they did, it was an influence injurious to their countrymen. Von Hammer, in his work on Constantinople and the Bosphorus, mentions the degeneracy of the Fanariots. fandango is danced by two persons only, who never touch so much as each other's hands; but their reciprocal allurements, retreats, approaches and varied movements, by turns pursuing and pursued, their looks, attitudes and whole expression are indicative of voluptuousness.-The etymology of the word fandango is not known, though many plausible derivations have been suggested.-The seguidillas is another kind of dance peculiar to the Spaniards. The seguidillas manchegas is the name by which this dance is generally known. It is danced by two or four couples, and in some respects resembles the fandango, though it is a perfectly decent dance. The bolero is another species of fandango; its motions and steps very slow and sedate, but growing rather more lively towards the end. In all these dances, the time is beat by castanets (castañuelas). FANDANGO, EL; an old Spanish dance, which originated most probably in Andalusia, a province of the south of Spain. Foreigners are very much astonished and FANEUIL HALL; an old building in the not less offended, when they see this northern part of Boston. The Tennis-court dance for the first time; however, few fail in Paris; the Tellsplatte in Switzerland, to become reconciled to it. It proceeds where Tell landed, and pushed back the gradually from a slow and uniform to the boat with Gessler; the height of Rütli, most lively, but never violent motion. It where the Swiss confederates swore to is said, that the court of Rome, scandal- deliver their country; the hall in the townized that a country renowned for its faith house of Prague, where the imperial counshould not have long before proscribed sellors were thrown from the window by such a profane dance, resolved to pro- the deputies of the oppressed Boheminounce a formal condemnation of it. A ans; Faneuil hall, and the state house in commission was appointed to examine Philadelphia, where the declaration of ininto the matter, and the fandango was dependence was signed-are spots dear to prosecuted in forma. The sentence was the descendants of those whose efforts about to be pronounced, when one of the and exposure in the cause of liberty are judges observed, that a criminal could not therewith connected. Faneuil Hall is be condemned without being heard. A often called the cradle of American liberty, couple of Spaniards were brought before as the scene of many of the earliest debates the assembly, and, at the sound of proper and resolves in opposition to the oppresinstruments, displayed all the graces of sions of England. The original building, the fandango. The judges were so much commenced in 1740, was given to the excited that their severity abandoned them; town of Boston by Peter Faneuil for a their austere countenances began to relax; town-hall and market-place. It has been they rose,and their arms and legs found their materially changed since that time. At former suppleness. The hall of the grave present, the great hall is 76 feet square and fathers was thus changed into a dancing- 28 feet high, with galleries. A full length room, and the fandango was acquitted. picture of Washington, by Stuart, ornaThe fandango is seldom danced but at ments the west end of the hall. The the theatre, and in the parties of the lower neighboring market-house, the most classes. In these cases, as well as when splendid in the United States, received this dance is performed in private balls its name from this hall. It is 585 feet of the higher classes, which seldom oc- 9 inches long, 50 wide, wholly built of curs, the intention is no more than lightly white granite, with a fine cupola, and marked; but sometimes a few persons porticoes with columns of the Doric assemble in a private house, and dance order. The corner stone was laid April the fandango in all its genuine indelicacy. 27, 1825. All scruples are shaken off. As soon as the dance commences, the meaning is so marked, that nobody can doubt of the tendency of the motions of the dancers. The FANFARE (French); a short, lively, loud and warlike piece of music, composed for trumpets and kettle-drums. Also small, lively pieces, performed on hunting horns, in the chase. From its first meaning is derived fanfaron, a boaster, and fanfaronade, boasting. FAN-PALM; the talipot tree or great fan-palm (corypha umbraculifera), is a native of Ceylon, Malabar and the East Indies. It attains the height of sixty or seventy feet, with a straight, cylindrical trunk, crowned at the summit by a tuft of enormous leaves, and is one of the most magnificent of the whole tribe of palms. These leaves are pinnate-palmate and plaited, separating near the outer margin into numerous leaflets, and united to the trunk by ciliate-spinous leaf-stalks; they are usually eighteen feet long, exclusive of the leaf-stalk, and fourteen broad; a single one being sufficient to protect fifteen or twenty men from the rain. When this palm has reached the age of thirty-five or forty years, it flowers, a long, conical, scaly spadix rising to the height of thirty feet from the midst of the crown of leaves, and separating into simple alternate branches, which, at the base, extend laterally sometimes twenty feet, the whole covered with whitish flowers, and presenting a most beautiful appearance. The fruit is very abundant, globose, about an inch and a half in diameter, and requires fourteen months to ripen, after which the tree soon perishes, flowering but once in the whole course of its existence. The inhabitants of those countries where it grows make use of the leaves for umbrellas, tents, or for covering their houses; and the Malabar books are formed of the same material, on which lasting characters are traced by means of a sharp-pointed iron style, which penetrates the superior epidermis. The pith, after being pounded, is made into a kind of bread, which is of great use in times of scarcity. Several other palms, whose leaves, when they first appear, are folded together like a fan, and afterwards spread open in a similar manner, are commonly called fan-palms, particularly the chamaerops humilis, a species destitute of a stem, and inhabiting the south of Europe and north of Africa. FANS. The Greeks were well acquainted with fans, as an article of luxury. From a passage in the Orestes of Euripides, it appears that the Grecian fans were introduced from the East, that they were of a circular form, and were mounted plumes of feathers. Dionysius of Halicarnassus describes the courtiers of Aristodemus, at Cuma, as attended by females, bearing parasols and fans (oxíadia Kaì pidas). Plautus mentions flabellifera as forming part of a Roman fine lady's ret inue, and Suetonius describes Augustus as lying, during the heat of summer, in the shade, and fanned by an attendant (ventilante aliquo). In the middle ages, fans were used in the churches, sometimes of great size, and richly decorated, to chase away the flies from the holy elements of the eucharist. They are said to have been introduced into England, from Italy, in the reign of Henry VIII; and, in the reign of Elizabeth, they were framed of very costly materials, the body of ostrich feathers, the handle of gold, silver or ivory, of curious workmanship. FANSHAWE, Sir Richard, an eminent diplomatist and poet, born in 1607. Having studied at Cambridge, he made the grand tour, and, on his return, entered himself of the Inner Temple. He was despatched in 1635, by Charles I, in the capacity of resident minister, to Madrid. On the breaking out of the civil wars in 1641, he was recalled, and engaged actively in the royal cause, and soon after, being appointed secretary to the prince of Wales, followed the fortunes of his master till the battle of Worcester, when he was taken prisoner. A severe illness shortened the term of his imprisonment, and he was permitted to go at large on bail. On the death of Cromwell, he passed over the channel, in 1659, to the king at Breda, by whom he was knighted. After the restoration, he obtained the mastership of the requests, and was made Latin secretary. In 1661 and 1662, he was employed on two several missions to the court of Lisbon, and, on his return the year following, he was advanced to a seat in the privy council. In 1664, he was sent ambassador to Madrid, and negotiated a peace between England, Spain and Portugal. Falling suddenly ill of a fever, he died at Madrid, June 16, 1666. His poetical abilities were above mediocrity, as is evinced by his translations of the Lusiad of Camoens, the Pastor Fido of Guarini, the Odes of Horace, and the fourth book of the Æneid into English verse, and Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess into Latin. Among his posthumous writings, printed in 1701, is his correspondence during his embassies to the courts of Lisbon and Madrid, and some occasional poems, with a life of the author prefixed. FANTASIA (Italian); the name generally given to a species of composition, supposed to be struck off in the heat of imagination, and in which the composer is allowed to give free range to his ideas, and to disregard those restrictions by which other productions are confined. Some writers limit the application of this term to certain extemporaneous flights of fancy; and say, that the moment they are written, or repeated, they cease to be fantasias. This, they add, forms the only distinction between the fantasia and the capricio. The capricio, though wild, is the result of premeditation, committed to paper, and becomes permanent; but the fantasia is an impromptu, transitive and evanescent, exists but while it is executing, and, when finished, is no more. FANTIN, OF FANTEE; a country of Africa, on the Gold coast, which extends about 90 miles along the shore of the Atlantic, and 70 inland. The inhabitants are called Fantees, and are the most numerous and powerful people situated immediately on the Gold coast; but their power has been almost entirely broken since 1811, by repeated invasions of the Ashantees. Population estimated at 40,000. The soil is fertile, producing fruits, maize and palmwine. European nations trade here for gold and slaves. The Fantees are bold, cunning and deceitful. Their govern ment is aristocratic. Their chief is a supreme judge or governor, attended by a council of old men. Each town has a chief. The small towns are very numerous, and they reckon about 4000 fishermen on the coast. The capital is of the same name, and is situated about 12 miles up the country. Lat. 5° 10 N. edition of the diplomatic papers of the abbé Gaetano Marini. FARCE (from the French); a dramatic piece of low comic character. Many nations have a standing character for their farces, which is always, therefore, very characteristic; the Spaniards have the gracioso, gallego; the Italians the arlecchino, scaramuccio, &c.; the Germans their Hanswurst, Kasperle, &c. The French farce is derived from the Italian farsa, this from the Latin farsum, stuffed, signifying, therefore, a mixture of different things. Adelung says, that, in the middle ages, farce signified, in German, certain songs, which were sung between the prayers on occasions of religious worship; so that furce, in respect to comedy would originally signify an interlude (intermezzo). According to the abbé Paolo Bernardi, a Provençal, it is derived from farsum, a Provençal dish. FARIA Y SOUSA, Manuel; a Castilian historian and lyric poet, born 1590, at Suto, in Portugal, of an ancient and illustrious family. In his 9th year, he was sent to the university at Braga, where he made great progress in the languages and in philosophy. In his 14th year, he entered the service of the bishop of Oporto, and under his direction made further improvement in the sciences. A passion for a beautiful girl first awakened his poetical genius. He celebrated her under the FANTUCCI, Count, an Italian author, and name of Albania in his sonnets, married the first magistrate of Ravenna, was born her in 1613, and went to Madrid. But he there in 1745, of one of the most respecta- did not succeed there,' and returned to ble families. The memory of the former Portugal. He also visited Rome, and splendor of his native place, and the sight gained the notice of Urban VIII, and the of its decay, excited his attention to the learned men at his court, by his extensive causes of such a change, and he addressed knowledge. He returned again to Madrid, a memorial on the subject to pope Clem- and devoted himself entirely to literaent XIV, which was afterwards printed. ture, with such ardor as to hasten his end. Ravenna owes to him also the completion He died at the age of 59. Of his writof a navigable canal. He invented also, ings the best are-Discursos morales y in 1780, a hydraulic machine, from politicos (Madrid, 1623-26, 2 vols.); Cowhich the country people about Ravenna mentarios sobre la Lusiada (Madrid, 1639, have derived the greatest benefit. An ep- 2 vols. fol.); Epitome de las Historias Poridemic, which prevailed in the neighbor- tuguesas; and afterwards El Asia, El hood of Ravenna, afforded an opportuni- Europa, El Africa and El America Porty for the display of his sagacity and his tuguesa, each a separate work, the last benevolence to the fullest extent. After never printed. We have also a collection he had done every thing in his power to of his poems called Fountain of Aganippe mitigate the sufferings of his fellow-citi-Fuente de Aganipe, Rimas varias, 1644— zens, he demonstrated, in an excellent work, the necessity of draining the marshes, here exposed to a southern sun. Among his writings should be mentioned his Monumenti Ravennati. After his death appeared at Venice, in 1804, some interesting memoirs, which he had left. We are also indebted to him for a fine 46). His style is pure and strong, and his descriptions full of vigor. FARINA. (See Starch.) FARINELLI, one of the greatest singers of the last century, was born at Naples, in 1705. His true name was Carlo Broschi. He received his first instruction in music from his father, and afterwards studied under Porpora, whom he accompanied on several journeys. At the age of 17 years, he went to Rome, and displayed his clear and full-toned voice in a contest with a celebrated performer on the trumpet, whom he overcame by his strength and perseverance. From thence he went to Bologna, to hear Bernacchi, then the first singer in Italy, and to enjoy the advantage of his instructions. In 1728, he went to Vienna, where the emperor, Charles VI, loaded him with rich presents. That emperor, after hearing him sing, said to him, that he excited astonishment indeed by the compass and beauty of his tones, but that it was not less in his power to affect and charm, if he would study nature. Farinelli took this hint, and delighted his hearers as much as he had before astonished them. In 1734, he went to London, and, by the magic of his singing, so delighted the public, that, according to Laborde, Handel, who was at the head of another company, was obliged to dismiss it, in spite of all his powers. Senesino and Farinelli were both in England at the same time; but, as they sung on the same nights at different theatres, they had no opportunity of hearing each other. Accident once brought them together: Senesino performed the part of a bloody tyrant; Farinelli, that of a hero languishing in chains. Farinelli's first air melted the hard heart of the cruel tyrant. Senesino, forgetting his character, ran up to his prisoner, and affectionately embraced him. In 1737, Farinelli went to Paris, where he sung before the king, who rewarded him richly; and, after a short residence in France, he went to Madrid. For ten years, he sung every evening before Philip V and his queen, Elizabeth. This prince, having sunk into a profound melancholy, and neglected public affairs, the queen had recourse to the power of music to restore him. She contrived that there should be a concert in a room adjoining the apartment of the king, and Farinelli sang one of his most beautiful airs. The king was, at first, surprised, then deeply moved. At the conclusion of the second air, the king sent for the performer, loaded him with caresses, asked him how he could reward him, and assured him that he would refuse him nothing. Farinelli begged the king to suffer himself to be shaved, and to appear in the council. From this moment the disease of the king yielded to medicine, and Farinelli had all the honor of his cure. This was the foundation of his unlimited favor. He became first minister, and was created knight of the order of Calatrava; but he never forgot that he was a singer. He never used his influence over the king except to do good. Hence it happened that three kings of Spain--Philip V, Ferdinand VI and Charles III-successively honored him with their favor. After enjoying the highest honors in Spain for 20 years, he was obliged to return to Italy. He built a country house in the neighborhood of Bologna, with the inscription Amphim Thebas, ego domum. Here he collected the most extensive musical library ever yet seen, and induced P. Martini to undertake his History of Music. He died 1782, having enjoyed, in a happy old age, the love of his fellow citizens, and received many marks of respect from foreign connoisseurs. "He possessed,” says doctor Burney, "every excellence of every great singer united-in his voice, strength, sweetness and compass; in his style, the tender, the graceful and the rapid. He had, indeed, such powers as never met, before or since, in any one human being; powers that were irresistible, and which subdued every hearer, the learned and the ignorant, the friend and the foe.” FARMER, Richard, a celebrated scholar and critic, was born at Leicester, May 4, 1735. His father was a hosier in that town, and after receiving the rudiments of education there, he became a student at Emanuel college, Cambridge, where, in 1760, he was appointed classical tutor. He applied himself particularly to old English literature. In 1766, he published a well-written and well-received Essay on the Learning of Shakspeare, in which he maintains that the bard obtained his knowledge of ancient history and mythology from translations, and not from original classical authors. This essay obtained a flattering notice from doctor Johnson. In 1767, he was appointed a preacher at Whitehall, which gave him frequent opportunities of residence in London, where he became a distinguished book collector. He was soon appointed to the chancellorship and prebendal stall in the cathedral of Litchfield; and, in 1775, he was chosen master of Emanuel college. He was afterwards made principal librarian to the university of Cambridge, and filled, in his turn, the office of vicechancellor. Lord North conferred upon him a prebend, and he was twice offered a bishopric by the late Mr. Pitt, but he preferred a residentiaryship of St. Paul's, which he exchanged for his prebend. He published but little. He assisted many authors, in various works, for which he received their public acknowledgements and thanks. Doctor Farmer died at Cambridge, after a long protracted illness, Sept. 8, 1797, aged 62 years, much respected for his liberality to the poor, and the various plans by him suggested for the improvement of the town of Cambridge. FARMERS-GENERAL, in France; a company which, on condition of paying a certain annual sum into the treasury, was permitted to levy certain taxes, particularly the monopolies of salt and tobacco, the inland tolls (traites), the import duties at Paris, those on the stamping of gold and silver, &c., on its own account. The duties on salt were first raised by farming the monopoly of salt in each city, in the reign of Francis I, in 1546. In 1599, the farmers-general were obliged, by Sully, to lay their engagements with the sub-contractors before the government, and in this way their profits first became known. Sully, therefore, farmed the monopoly of salt to the highest bidder, and thus nearly doubled the revenue; and, by disposing, in the same manner, the other branches of the public revenue, of which the nobles or favorites of former kings had obtained possession by purchase, donation, or other means, he made large additions to the royal revenues. In 1728, the government united several individual leases into the ferme générale, which, after the lapse of six years, was renewed by public auction, with a company consisting of 60 members. In 1789, the number of farmers-general was 44, who paid a rent of 186 millions. They composed a kind of court of finances, which, in 11 different deputations, administered the various objects of their contract, the appointment of officers, the system of accounts, the procuring of the salt and tobacco, the collection of the revenues, and presided over a host of inferior officers. This mode of managing the public revenues cost the subjects far more than it produced to the king. The government, therefore, from the time of Henry IV, endeavored to reduce the profit of the farmers-general, which was estimated by Necker, but evidently too low, at two millions annually. This loss to the state treasury would have been very moderate in comparison to that which took place under the old system, of which Sully asserts, that when the management of the finances came into his hands, the nation had to pay 150 millions, while the treasury received only 30 millions. And, indeed, if Necker's estimate, according to which every farmer-general would have received only an annual profit of 45,000 livres, was correct, it would not afford a sufficient reason to explain the hatred which was generally entertained against this class. It is true, however, that this national feeling, which contributed so much to the eruption of the revolution, must be ascribed, in part, to the nature of the taxes that were raised in this manner, as will appear in the article France. Every system of customs and tolls is more or less odious to the people, on account of the difficulties which it throws in the way of commerce; and this odium was peculiarly great in the case of the salt and tobacco monopolies in France, because of the unequal distribution and great amount of the duties paid on these articles. Necker observes, in the chapter on the wealth accumulated by the financiers (De l'Administration des Finances, III, ch. 12), that the indignation of the people at such duties is founded upon a just moral feeling, though he expresses himself with great lenity and precaution on this head. The people saw clearly that the wealth of the financiers (among whom must be reckoned, besides the collectors-general, the directors of the finances, which were administered by the government itself, the treasurers and bankers of the court, but particularly the farmers-general) was amassed without any merit on the part of the principal persons. The greater portion of them did not even know how to enjoy their treasures with dignity, but squandered them in a tasteless as well as offensive luxury. A man destitute of all talent, ignorant and stupid, might obtain, by the favor of a person of influence at court, a place in the administration of the finances, and he was raised to a state of affluence. The hatred of the people was increased by the rigor and rudeness with which the French farmers-general exacted the duties from the inferior classes of the people. Without the least regard to humanity, they commonly chose the season the most inconvenient to the country people, and then proceeded against them, confiscating and selling their property by public auctions. This system of violence was adopted to compel the more speedy payment of the taxes. The merciless seizure of the property of the subjects, the numerous military occupations, the odious distrainings, presented daily to the eyes of the people the image of a country occupied by hostile troops. These causes produced a hatred of the government deep and general and contributed principally to the breaking out of the revolution. |