remainder of his life, with great reputation for his legal knowledge and his integrity. It is mentioned to his honour, that he ventured to oppose the arbitrary proceedings of Wolsey, in the height of his favour. Either through a prudential foresight of changes, or from a conscientious motive, he exacted a promise from his children on his death-bed that they would neither accept grants, nor make purchases, of lands of the dissolved religious foundations; to which, it is said, they constantly adhered. Sir Anthony died at an advanced age in 1538, leaving a numerous posterity, who became the founders of several considerable families in Derbyshire, and the adjacent counties, and who, in general, adhered to the Roman-catholic religion. This judge is principally known by his works on the laws of England, which have been much valued for their learning and method. These are: "The Grand Abridgment," 1519; a collection of cases abridged: "The Office and Authority of Justices of Peace," 1538; "The Office of Sheriffs, Bailiffs of Liberties, Escheaters, Constables, Coroners, &c." 1538; "Of the Diversity of Courts ;" "Natura Brevium novel," 1534: the above, are mostly written in law French, but have been translated into English. He is also supposed to have been the author of a work, "Of the Surveying of Lands;" and of "The Book of Husbandry." Biog. Britan.-A.

FITZHERBERT, THOMAS, an ingenious and learned English Jesuit, was the grandson of the preceding, and born in the county of Stafford, probably at Swinnerton, of which his mother was one of the heirs, in the year 1552. After receiving his grammatical education in that county, he was sent either to Exeter or Lincoln college, in the university of Oxford, in 1568. As he had been bred a Catholic, his principles rendered him averse to the regulations of the college; and though by the permission of an old Romish priest, who lived privately in Oxford, he occasionally heard protestant preachers, yet he seldom would attend at prayers. By this non-conformity he exposed himself to the frequent reproofs of the sub-rector of his house, till at length, tired of the restraints of his situation, and disgusted at what he called the heresy of the times, he returned home without taking any degree. As his principles would not permit him to attend his parish church, he became an object of prosecution under the severe laws which were enacted against the Catholics, and was committed to prison about the year 1572. Soon afterwards, however, obtaining his liberty, he

shewed more zeal than before on behalf of his religion, defending it against the protestant ministers, and confirming many wavering Catholics in the tenets of their church, by publishing "Several Reasons for Catholics not going to Protestant Churches." Finding that for his activity in the catholic cause he was again likely to feel the vengeance of the laws, he thought it prudent to consult his safety by withdrawing into concealment. When in the year 1580 the Jesuits Campian and Parsons were sent missionaries into. England, he got introduced to them at London, where he entered into great intimacy with them, and liberally supplied them with money to assist them in their plans and proceedings. As by his connection with them he had incurred a premunire, and was apprehensive of danger, he determined to relinquish his native country, and went a voluntary exile to France in the year 1582. In that country he zealously solicited the cause of Mary queen of Scots, with the king of France and the duke of Guise, but without success; and after her death went to Madrid, to implore the protection of Philip II. on behalf of the Catholics, and their religion in England. He continued there till the year 1589, when finding that the hopes which he had entertained from that monarch's promises and undertakings were all fallacious, he accompanied the duke of Feria to Milan, and soon afterwards removed to Rome. In that city he took a lodging near the English college, and observed the same hours of prayer with the inmates of that house. The rest of his time he spent in writing books in defence of the catholic religion, and on other subjects. In the year 1614 he became a member of the society of Jesus, and about the same time was admitted to priest's orders. Soon after he removed to Flanders, to preside over the English mission there, and continued at Brussels about two years, during which he wrote many controversial pieces, which at the time when they appeared were highly recommended and much esteemed by the Catholics, but are now chiefly sunk into oblivion. The abilities and learning which he displayed, and the esteem which he acquired by his prudent behaviour and polite manners at Brussels, occasioned his appointment to a station which was considered to be not a little honourable, but which he accepted with reluctance. That was the rectorship of the English college at Rome, the dutics of which he discharged with unblemished reputation for twenty-two years. During that time he was often named for a cardinal's hat; which honour, it is said.

might have obtained, if it had been really an object of his ambition. But he is reported to have been so moderate in his views, particularly during the latter part of his life, that he was more likely to decline, than to aspire to such an envied dignity. He died at Rome, in 1640, in the eighty-eighth year of his age. In the authorities to which we refer, our readers may find an enumeration of his different productions, which are chiefly on points of controversy between Catholics and Protestants. Two of them, one entitled "Treatise concerning Polity and Religion," published at Douay, 1606, quarto, and the other entitled "An sit Utilitas in Scelere, vel de Infelicitate Principis Machiavellani," published at Rome, 1610, octavo, were favourably received by Protestants as well as Papists, on account of their tendency to expose some of the dangerous principles laid down in Machiavel's writings. But notwithstanding that they contain much excellent matter, their style is so perplexed and obscure, and their method so embarrassed and pedantic, that they are not likely to engage much attention from modern readers. Biog. Britan. Wood's Athen. Oxon. vol. I.-M.

FITZJAMES, JAMES, duke of Berwick, a general of great worth and ability, was the natural son of king James II., by Arabella Churchill, sister to the great duke of Marlborough. He was born in 1671, at Moulins in France, where his mother stopt on returning from a journey to the baths of Bourbon. He was early initiated in arms, and was present at the siege of Buda and battle of Mohatz in 1686 and 1687. On his return, his father conferred upon him the title of baron Bosworth, earl of Tinmouth, and duke of Berwick, with the order of the Garter. He accompanied James in his retreat to France at the Revolution, and afterwards went over to Ireland to command in the absence of lord Tyrconnel. He was at the siege of Londonderry, and battle of the Boyne; and when all was lost in that country, he returned, and served in the armies of Lewis XIV. That king made him a lieutenant-general in his service in 1693; and he distinguished himself in various actions in Flanders during many subsequent campaigns. At the battle of Nerwinden he was taken prisoner, and exhanged against the duke of Ormond. In 1703 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the troops sent into Spain to the assistance of Philip V. That court was the seat of intrigues of different parties, which all attempted to gain him. He united with none of them, but attended solely to the interests of the

monarchy; and in a single campaign he reduced a number of important places. Recalled to France for reasons of state, he was employed in 1705 to quell the fanatical revolters in the Cevennes. By vigorous and severe measures he restored tranquillity in that district within six months, and then marched to the siege of Nice, which he took. The staff of marshal of France, conferred in 1706, was the reward of his success. He returned to the command in Spain during that year, and signalised his military skill by a campaign in which, without fighting a battle, he obliged the enemy to evacuate Castille, conducting them from post to post as a shepherd leads his flock. The campaign of 1707 was rendered more brilliant by the victory of Almanza, in which the English and their allies, commanded by lord Galloway, met with a total defeat. On this occasion the duke of Berwick was rewarded with the dukedoms of Liria and Xerica in Valentia, the rank of a grandee of Spain of the first class, and the order of the Golden Fleece. He afterwards assisted in the reduction of Valentia and Arragon; and being then recalled by Lewis XIV., he was intrusted with the army on the Rhine, opposed to that of the empire. He commanded in Dauphiné in 1710, 11, and 12; where, with admirable skill, he foiled all the attempts of the duke of Savoy with a superior army to break into France. In the first of these years he was created a duke and peer of France, by the title of Fitz-James. He was next sent into Catalonia, and in 1714 he put an end to the resistance to king Philip by the capture of Barcelona. When the fluctuating politics of the time had made France the enemy of Spain, in 1719 he obeyed his military duty in taking the command of an army destined to invade the latter country, though attached to it by the highest honours, and he made himself master of Fontarabia and St. Sebastian. He was afterwards commander-in-chief of the troops in the south-western provinces of France, and was decorated with the order of the Holy Ghost. In 1730 he was made governor of Strasburg. When the war was renewed between the empire and France, he was appointed general of the French army in Germany; and in 1734 undertook the siege of Philipsburgh. Before that place he was killed by a cannon-shot on June 12th, at the age of sixty-three. He left one son by his first wife, who became duke of Liria in Spain; and a large family by the second, the eldest of whom was duke of Fitz-James in France. The peculiar talent of this great general was defensive war, and he was accustomed to say that there

quired great reputation in that branch of study at the university, he was appointed to the of fice, which he afterwards discharged for forty years, having resigned it only a few days before his death. Nearly about the same time he was made dean of the higher schools, and soon' after regent of the young nobility, both which places he retained during the remainder of his life. Being well acquainted with the fathers of the church, the history of the different councils, and the literature of ecclesiastical law, in general, he was often consulted in regard to lawsuits, and obliged to conduct the business of the monastery, as he was appointed also Notarius Apostolicus in Curia Romana. Besides these labours, the academic orations he had to deliver on certain public occasions, and an extensive epistolary correspondence which he was under the necessity of carrying on, he wrote a commentary on the "Jus Canonicum" of Arnold Corvinus, for the use of his pupils; and added to it an "Epitome prænotionum Canonicarum," together with animadversions, in which he in particular opposed Bohmern; but this work was never printed. At the request of his friends he permitted the publication of another work on the divine origin of the church, entitled "Reipublicæ sacræ origines divinæ, seu Ecclesiæ Christi exterior junctura, imperium & hierarchia, ex primigenia ejus institutione eruta & demonstrata." As the high reputation he had acquired brought a great many students to Kremsmunster, he did not confine himself to the public hours of teaching; but repeated his lectures privately, and was always ready to assist his hearers, and to give them every explanation in his power. But however much esteem and respect he acquired by this meritorious diligence, it was by his attachment to astronomy that he rendered himself most conspicuous and best known in foreign countries. His uncle, the abbot Alexander, a friend to the sciences in general, but particularly to the mathematics, though not deeply versed in the latter, resolved, in the year 1747, to found an establishment in his monastery for the purpose of disseminating mathematical knowledge; and for the better carrying this design into execution, he fitted up an apartment to contain the necessary instruments, and for making experiments of every kind. This commencement carried him still farther: he proposed also to build an observatory, that he might give constant employment to the talents of his ecclesiastics, and to devote the lower part of it to the practical mathematics. One object also which he had in view was, to af

ford an opportunity to workmen of different talents and capacities to improve themselves in their respective arts. As the abbot Alexander himself had no knowledge of astronomy or architecture, he sent for Anselm Desing, a learned Benedictine of Emsdorf, and afterwards abbot of that establishment, who drew the plan of a complete observatory to be constructed at the end of a garden detached from all the other edifices. This work was begun in 1748, and finished in 1758. Fortunately there was among the workmen a carpenter named John Illinger, born in a village belonging to the abbey, a man of great mechanical genius, though he could neither read nor write, but who, under the direction of Fixlmillner, improved himself so much as to be able to construct very elegant and accurate astronomical instruments, such as large mural quadrants, with which he made very exact observations. During the ten years in which the observatory was building, Fixlmillner lived entirely recluse, and devoted himself to astronomy. When it was finished, Dobler, a Benedictine, who possessed an extensive knowledge of the mathematics, and who, during his residence in France, had lived in the closest intimacy with Lacaille and Reaumur, was appointed the first astronomer; but the abbot Berthold Vogel, who succeeded the abbot Alexander, having discovered Fixlmillner's great mathematical knowledge, and his dexterity in making observations, by seeing him observe an eclipse of the sun, soon after offered him the astronomical department, and the direction of the observatory. Fixlmillner, who had never exercised himself in practical astronomy, was well aware of the difficulties he should have to encounter in this employment, which he was about to add to his other occupations; but respect for his superior, a desire of being useful to his monastery and to mankind, and a love of science, prevailed over every other consideration. He therefore accepted the place, and in the year 1762 was appointed astronomer, retaining at the same time his office as professor of ecclesiastical law. Though now in the meridian of life, he applied with great diligence to those branches of study necessary to fit him for the duties of his new office. He had not yet obtained a thorough knowledge of the literature of practical astronomy, and of the books proper to be consulted on that subject. The first that fell into his hands was the "Exposition du Calcul Astronomique," by Lalande: with this alone, without any oral assistance, he began to make observations; and this work, together with Vlacq's logarithmic tables, were his only

Helps till he at last obtained Lalande's large treatise on astronomy. In the mean time he bestowed great pains in furnishing the observatory. His first astronomical work was entitled "Meridianus speculæ Astronomicae Cremifanensis," 1766. Fixlmillner now obtained a considerable rank among the astronomical writers. In the year 1776 he published his "Decennium Astronomicum," which contains observations made at Kremsmunster from 1765 to 1775, and many curious particulars of great importance both to the theory and the practice of astronomy. His third work, "Acta Astronomica Cremifanensia," one of his last labours, which was not printed till after his death, tended still farther to confirm his cele brity as an astronomer. Besides these, works, he sent many valuable contributions to the authors of various periodical publications, some of which may be found in the Journal des Savans, Bernoulli's Lettres sur differens Sujets, Bode's Astronomical Almanack, Hell's Ephemerides of Vienna, and the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris. But the service which Fixmillner rendered to astronomy will better appear from the following account of Baron von Zach of Gotha, an excellent judge of every thing that relates to the department of astronomy: "Fixlmillner's service to astronomy in a practical view consists chiefly," says he, " in his having made and collected, at the desire of Lalande, a great many observations of Mercury, which at that time were very scarce and difficult; and thereby enabled the French astronomer to construct his tables of that planet. This service Lalande publicly acknowledged, and such of these observations as he could employ he inserted in the supplemental volume to his astronomy, in his Fphemerides des Mouvemens Celestes, vol. viii., 1785-1792, and in the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences. He was also one of the first astronomers who calculated the orbit of the new planet Uranus; and he constructed tables of it, which may be found in the Berlin almanack for 1789. He was the first who proved the truth of professor Bode's conjecture, that the thirty-fourth star of Taurus, observed by Flamstead in 1690, was the new planet; and by applying Flamstead's observations to calculation, he produced a theory which fully agreed with the phenomena of it. His tables corresponded to the end of the year 1786 with the observations made; but the continued observations, and, in particular, the application of the general theory of perturbation rendered other tables necessary. Fixmillner's useful labour in regard to the sun's

parallax, which he calculated with great assiduity from observations of the transit of Venus in 1769, made in almoft every part of the world, deserves also to be particularly mentioned. Onè evident proof of his indefatigable diligence was, that he calculated all his own observations; compared them with the best tables, the faults of which he detected, and pointed out how they might be improved. Many astronomers observe a great deal, and calculate little; the case with this industrious. astronomer was different. All eclipses of the sun, all occultations of the planets by the moon, which, on account of the great labour they require, are seldom calculated, Fixlmiliner calculated himself on the spot, and, in order to avoid errors, always double; all oppositions of the planets, which are of so much importance in astronomy, as they are of the same value as if they were made in the centre of the sun, and consequently in the centre of the solar system, he observed and calculated with the same care and attention. He turned his thoughts likewise, more than any other astronomer, to observations of the solar spots, so much neglected: he not only observed them in the years 1767, 1776, 1777, 1778, and: 1782, but he employed them with great advantage to deduce from them important results in regard to the sun's rotation on his axis: he determined, at the same time, the place of the nodes of the solar equator, and its inclination. Amidst this uncommon activity, never interrupted by external circumstances, he displayed his ingenuity and inventive talents by the simple and easy methods of managing the longest and most tedious calculations. This is proved by several excellent propositions in his works, in regard to the accurate calculation of the moon's phases, and the inclination of her horns; of the earth's shadow during lunar eclipses, of the heliocentric elongation of the solar spots, and by his acute observations on the aberration of light, and on the celebrated Keplerian problem of converting the mean into the true anomaly, &c. He had also a very uncommon genius for mechanics, and invented many practical helps to observation, such as a new micrometer, and a machine for grinding concentric circles on glasses with great accuracy. It must not here be omitted to mention that this able astronomer lived in the coun-try, at a distance from any large city, from all literary assistance, and from the society of those versed in astronomy, that is, from every thing that could encourage and excite his zeal; and yet, till the last moment of his life, he was a singular instance of indefatigable exertion and