His work on Russia is inserted, with some small omissions, in Hakluyt's Collection of Voyages, &c. Biog. Britan.-A.

FLETCHER, JOHN, an eminent English dramatic writer, was the son of Richard Fletcher, bishop of London: he was born in Northamptonshire in 1576, and received his education at Cambridge. It is not known that he followed any profession, except that of a poet, in which capacity he was the inseparable partner of Francis Beaumont (see his article), insomuch that their names are rarely mentioned but in conjunction. He is also said to have written a comedy in partnership with B. JonAfter the death of Beaumont, Fletcher is supposed to have consulted James Shirley on the plots of several of his plays. He died of the plague in 1625, and was buried in the church of St. Mary Overy. Different accounts are given both of the joint and separate title of each author, to the plays under the name of Beaumont and Fletcher, and of the share each took in the plays written by them in common; but it is generally agreed that Beaumont excelled in that judgment which is requisite for forming the plots, and Fletcher in the fancy and vivacity, which characterise the poet. Their plays are numerous, and consist of tragedies, comedies, and mixed pieces. They were so popular, that for a long time they almost engrossed the stage; and Dryden aflirms, that in his time two of theirs were acted for one of Shakespear's or Jonson's. In general, their plots are more regular than Shakespear's, their comedies are gay, and imitate the language of genteel life better than Jonson's, and their tragedies, have many poetical beauties and striking incidents and characters. But their display of passion is rather the product of study than of real observation; and in knowledge of the human heart they fall many degrees short of Shakespear, who, principally from that excellence, has eclipsed all his rivals, and thrown them almost into obscurity. The plays of this dramatic pair are now seldom acted, though attempts have occasionally been made to revive some of the best, which have been improved by judicious lopping. Most of them, indeed, run into luxuriance, and abound in grossnesses of language which no decent audience could tole

rate.

Several of our later dramatic writers have made free use of hints taken from these authors. The poetical powers of Fletcher are advantageously displayed in a piece certainly of his sole composition, "The Faithful Shepherdess," a dramatic pastoral on the model of

the Italian. It possesses many beauties, and has been honoured with a close imitation of some of its passages by Milton in his Comus. Its plot, however, is defective and unpleasant, to which may be attributed its unfavourable reception on the stage. Several of the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher were published during their lives, and editions of them have since been given in a collective form. Of these, one in ten volumes octavo, corrected by the united. labours of Theobald, Sympson, and Seward, appeared in 1751; and a much more correct one, by Colman, also in ten volumes, in 1778. Biog. Britan.-A.

FLETCHER, PHINEAS, son of Giles Fletcher above mentioned, was educated at Eton school, whence he was elected to King'scollege, Cambridge, in 160c. After a due progress through academical honours, he took orders; but it was not till 1621 that he obtained the living of Helgay in Norfolk, on which he appears to have passed the greater part of his mature life. Blomefield (Hist. of Norfolk) says, that he occupied it twenty-nine years, and he probably died there. This is all that we know of the humble annals of a person whose talents might have decorated a much superior station. From early youth he addicted himself to poetical composition; and probably all that we possess of his productions was written before he left college. He had composed in 1614 a piscatory drama, entitled "Sicelides," intended for the amusement of king James I. on his visit to Cambridge, but which was unable to find a place amid the variety of academical divcrtisements exhibited before his majesty during his stay. It was printed anonymously in 1631. His other poetical works are, "The Purple Island," " Piscatory Eclogues," and "Miscellanies," all printed together at Cambridge in 1633. Of these the principal is "The Purple Island," an allegorical description of man, founded upon an allegory in the ninth canto of the second book of Spenser's Fairy Queen. It is composed in Spenser's manner, and is not without passages of strong fancy and lively description, clothed in smooth and elegant verse. But the anatomical part, which is extended through the first five cantos, has little to relieve its tediousness: and the remainder, though more interesting and poetical, will scarcely invite a modern reader to a per-usal. The recommendation of Quarles and Hervey will probably weigh little in his favour. In fact, if the taste for allegory is capable of being recalled (which is much to be doubted), it

must be by means of productions more partaking of the refinement and correctness now expected in poetry. His "Piscatory Eclogues" are an imitation of the allegorical pastorals once so much in vogue; and they do not derive novelty enough from the change of element in the scene, to overcome the languor attached to that artificial species of composition. Yet they possess much sweetness of versification, and considerable descriptive elegance. An edition of them, with some of his miscellanies, was given by a person of taste at Edinburgh in 1781; and all his poems have been received into Dr. Anderson's Collection. Phineas also wrote a work in prose, "De Literatis Antique Britanniæ."

GILES FLETCHER, younger brother of the preceding, also a divine and poet, who died in 1623, made himself known by his poems of "Christ's Victory and Triumph." He was also of the Spenser school. Biog. Brit. Anderson's Prefaces to the British Poets.-A.

FLETCHER, ANDREW, an eminent patriot and political writer, son of sir Robert Fletcher, of Saltoun and Innerpeffer in Scotland, was born in 1653. His father, who died while he was a child, directed that he should be placed under the tuition of Dr. Gilbert Burnet, then rector of Saltoun, from whom he imbibed the learning, piety, and attachment to free principles in government, which distinguished that eminent prelate. He spent some years of his youth in foreign travel; and first appeared as a public character in the station of a commissioner for East Lothian in the Scotch parliament, when the duke of York was lord-commissioner. He distinguised himself in such a manner by his spirited opposition to the arbitrary measures of the court, that he thought it advisable to withdraw to Holland; and upon his nonappearance to a summons from the lords of the council, he was outlawed, and his estate confiscated. In 1683 he came over to England to assist, with his friend Mr. Baillie of Jerviswood, in the consultations held among the friends of liberty in England and Scotland, in order to concert measures for the common security; and by his prudence and address he avoided giving any pretext to the ministry for his apprehension. He returned to the continent; and in 1685 engaged in the enterprise of the duke of Monmouth, though, it is said, he had little expectation of its success. He landed in the west of England with the duke, and had a command in his cavalry; but an unfortunate accident prevented his services to the party. Having, upon a sudden emergency, taken the horse of a country gentleman engaged in the

same cause, upon his return he was assaulted by the owner, a rude and vulgar man, with a torrent of abusive language, aggravated by the action of shaking a cane over his head. Fletcher, who was a man of breeding and nice honour, and in whose constitution anger was extremely predominant, provoked at length beyond endurance, drew a pistol and shot the man dead. This action excited such resentment against him among the friends and countrymen of the deceased, that it became necessary for the duke to dismiss him from the army. Fletcher was probably the less unwilling to quit the enterprise, as he was greatly disgusted at the act of proclaiming Monmouth king by his party; since his republican principles led him to think, that if monarchy was at all to be settled, it should be by a general congress of delegates freely assembled to deliberate on a constitution, and framing such securities for liberty as wisdom and experience might dictate. He took his passage in a vessel for Spain, in which country he underwent several hazards, which have been narrated not without a mixture of the marvellous. At length he got to Hungary, where he engaged in the war against the Turks, and distinguished himself by his valour and military skill. His interest in the fate of his country, however, soon brought him back to join in the conferences which were held among the Scottish refugees in Holland for the purpose of effecting a revolution. When that event took place, he returned to Scotland, and resumed the possession of his estate, but, characteristically, "he would not do it by any law but his own, and that without asking leave of kings or parliaments." (Cunningham's Hist. Gr. Brit.) He was a member of the convention for the settlement of the new government in Scotland; and in all his political conduct he shewed himself the zealous assertor of the liberties of the people, without regard to party distinctions, and free from all views to his own interest. In 1698 he printed " A Discourse of Government with relation to Militias," and also "Two Discourses concerning the Affairs of Scotland," all published together at Edinburgh. The first of these is an excellent piece, containing many forcible observations to prove how essential it is towards the limitation of a monarchy, for the people to keep the power of the sword in their own hands. Jealousy of kings, indeed, seems to have been inwrought into his very nature, and he thought it was scarcely possible to provide too many securities against their love of absolute sway. The second of his discourses. on Scotland contains a proposal which appears

highly inconsistent from a lover of liberty-that of providing for the poor by domestic slavery. Probably, a familiarity with the history of the ancient republics, in which a majority of the people were without remorse condemned to this degraded condition, occasioned his insensibility in this respect. In 1703, when a bill was brought into the Scotch parliament for a supply to the crown, he moved, that previously to this or any other business, the house should consider what acts were necessary to secure their religion and liberties in case of the queen's death; and he proposed various limitations of the prerogative, which were received into the "Act of Security," passed through his exertions into a law, but rendered ineffectual by the subsequent union. Of this last measure he was a zealous opposer, upon the ground of the probable ruin which Scotland, as the weaker country, would undergo, by submitting all her interests to the decision of a common parliament. He made several spirited speeches on the subject, and published, in 1706, "A State of the Controversy between united and separate Parliaments, &c." This was not a matter to be decided by eloquence; otherwise that of Fletcher, which was more nervous and correct than that of any other speaker in the Scotch parliament, enforced by his known patriotism and independence, would have carried much weight. As a writer he likewise possessed great power. His style was perspicuous, elegant, and energetic; and his mind was enlarged by acquaintance with the best authors, ancient and modern, and by all the branches of knowledge which form the politician. Andrew Fletcher died at London in 1716. All writers, who mention him, concur in attesting the firmness, vigour, and integrity of his character. Macky, in his Memoirs, drew the following spirited sketch of him while living: "He is a gentleman, steady in his principles, of nice honour, with abundance of learning; brave as the sword he wears, and bold as a lion. A sure friend, but an irreconcileable enemy: would lose his life readily to serve his country; and would not do a base thing to save it. His thoughts are large as to religion, and could never be brought within the bounds of any particular sect; nor will he be under the distinction of whig or tory, saying, these names are only used to cloak the knavery of both parties." His publications, and some of his speeches, were collected in one volume octavo, entitled "The Political Works of Andrew Fletcher esquire," printed at London in 1732. Lord Buchan's Life of Andrew Fletcher. Blog. Britan.-A.

VOL. IV.

FLEURY, ANDREW-HERCULES DE, cardinal and prime-minister, was born at Lodeve, in 1653. He was educated at Paris in the Jesuits' college, and entering into the ecclesiastical state, became canon of Montpellier and doctor of the Sorbonne. Possessing an agreeable person, and the qualifications proper to succeed at court, he obtained the post of almoner to the queen, and afterwards to the king. In 1698 he was nominated to the bishopric of Frejus, and on this occasion received a very handsome compliment from the king. "I have made you wait a long while" (said Lewis XIV.); "but you have so many friends, that I was desirous you should be obliged for your advancement to no one but myself." He was in his diocese when the allies, under the duke of Savoy and prince Eugene, made an irruption into Provence. By his prudent conduct and engaging manners he saved his city and its environs from pillage, and persuaded the generals to be contented with a moderate contribution. His interest with madame Maintenon and other persons at court caused him to be nominated in the testament of Lewis XIV. preceptor to his successor, the young king Lewis XV. He ingratiated himself with his pupil so as to inspire him with a profound esteem and attachment; at the same time he paid his court to the marshal de Villeroy, the king's governor, and to the regent duke of Orleans, by the most respectful demeanour. The regent would have conferred upon him the archbishopric of Rheims, but he refused that splendid promotion, probably through the apprehension that it might be made a pretext forremoving him from the person of the king. At the death of the regent, it was through his recommendation that the duke of Bourbon was appointed prime-minister; but in fact it was himself who governed, by means of the influence which he possessed over the king's mind.' This was put to the trial when the duke, urged by his mistress, attempted to exclude the bishop from his private consultations with the king. Fleury immediately retired to the house of a religious fraternity, and wrote to his majesty a letter filled with expressions of tenderness and regret, the effect of which was such, that it was impossible to pacify the king till he was recalled and restored to his presence. It was during this period that Horace Walpole, then embassador from England, foreseeing how the matter was likely to terminate, paid Fleury a visit in his retreat; which well-timed mark of respect he took so kindly, that it was the foundation of the constant friendship which he maintained with sir Robert Walpole during his administra-. tion. From this time Fleury became chief

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minister, but without assuming the title and apparent functions which had marked out the premier. He was created a cardinal in 1726; and, though now turned of seventy, did not hesitate to undertake the burthen of governing a vast kingdom. The spirit of his administration was economy in the public revenue, and the preservation of peace. The latter object he was not able to attain, but he terminated in three years the war of 1733 with the emperor Charles VI., and obtained for France the important acquisition of Lorraine. His policy is chiefly blamed, in confiding so much in the pacific intentions of Walpole, as to hope for uninterrupted friendship with England; whence he was led to exercise his economy towards the navy so as to suffer it to fall to ruin. His tranquil and unenterprising disposition was not calculated to gain the respect of a nation like the French, which profited by his good qualities in the extension of its commerce and manufactures, without greatly esteeming him. He was also thought to give ear too readily to the projects of financiers; and he shewed himself too much the ecclesiastic in the attention he paid to the quarrels of jansenism. In private life he was simple and modest, content with a very moderate income, derived from two or three abbacies, and remote equally from avarice and ostentation. He was a member of the French Academy, and of the other literary societies, but is charged with neglecting men of genius. The war of 1740, which began with disasters for which his administration was blamed, embittered the close of his life; which however, by the aid of temperance and natural cheerfulness, he protracted to his ninetieth year. He died in January, 1743, and was buried under a magnificent tomb, at the king's expence, in the church of the Louvre. Moreri. Nouv. Dict. Hist. Millot. Duclos Mém. Secr.-A.

FLEURY, CLAUDE, a learned French priest and celebrated ecclesiastical historian, who flourished in the seventeenth century, was born at Paris, in the year 1640. His father was an esteemed advocate, originally of Rouen; and the subject of this article was bred up to the same profession, and admitted an advocate of the parliament of Paris in the year 1658. For nine years he attended the bar, diligently applying himself to the study of jurisprudence and the belles lettres, and had flattering prospects of success in that carcer; but finding his inclination stronger for studious retirement than the profession of the law, he determined to embrace the ecclesiastical state. He was admitted to the conferences which the celebrated Bossuet held at his own house, on the Scrip

tures, and on subjects of religion and literature; and was made secretary to those meetings. About this time he translated into Latin the well-known work of that bishop, entitled "Exposition of the Catholic Doctrine." He soon acquired a high character for abilities and literature, while he was equally the object of respect for his piety and virtues. In the year 1672 he was chosen preceptor to the princes of Conti, and discharged the duties of that appointment with such credit to himself and pupils, that in the year 1680 Lewis XIV. named him preceptor to his favourite natural son the count of Vermandois. After the death of that young prince in 1683, the king, by way of recompence for Fleury's services, presented him: to the abbey of Loc-Dieu, belonging to the cistercian order, and in the diocese of Rhodez. In the year 1689 the king fixed upon him as the fittest person to be associated with Fenelon in the education of his legitimate offspring, and made him sub-preceptor to his grandsons, the dukes of Burgundy, Anjou, and Berry. In the year 1696 he was admitted a member of the French academy, at the meetings of which he afterwards assisted as often as his duties and his fondness for retirement would permit. While the abbé Fleury lived at court, "he breathed the dangerous atmosphere of the place without inhaling its contagion; dividing his time between study and the duties of his office, and ignorant of the intrigues, and almost of the events, of that stormy residence." When, therefore, he had completed the education of the duke of Burgundy, in the year 1706, "wearied with the court, though he was neither an actor, nor even an observer, but a mere spectator in it, he longed for the period of quitting it." At that time the priory of Argenteuil became vacant, which, from its proximity to Paris, offered a commodious retreat for study, within reach of desirable sources of assistance and information. This benefice the abbé Fleury obtained from the king without difficulty; but, as a strict observer of the canons, resigned on that occasion his abbacy into the king's hands. If he had been covetous of wealth, he might have found pretexts for retaining the latter, which would easily have been admitted; and, indeed, if he had been ambitious of accumulating the most valuable preferments, and the highest dignities, such was the degree of favour in which he stood with the king, that he would, doubtless, have been fully gratified. But his disinterestedness was equal to his other virtues; and his conscience would not permit him, under any pretences, to break those regulations to which he had sworn submission,

"His example," says D'Alembert, " may teach those ecclesiastics of high repute who have the interests of religion so often in their mouths, that the most efficacious mean of impressing it on others, is to practise its laws and maxims, by beginning with exercising on themselves the strictness which they profess in their principles, and proving the sincerity of their faith and zeal by the sanctity of their lives." In his studioùs retreat at Argenteuil the abbé Fleury continued till the year 1716, when he was drawn out of it by the duke of Orleans, the regent of the kingdom after the death of Lewis XIV. to fill the place of confessor to the young successor to the crown. His infirmities, however, and the intrigues of the Jesuits to obtain the direction of the king's conscience for a member of their society, obliged him to resign his office in the year 1722. He died in 1723, in the eighty-third year of his age, leaving behind him a character estimable for extensive learning, firm and nice integrity, true modesty and candour, great purity and simplicity of manners, and unaffected ardent piety. He was the author of numerous works of merit, which we shall enumerate in the order in which they are noticed by D'Alembert. His most considerable work, the fruit of thirty years' study, was his "Ecclesiastical History," in twenty volumes twelves, of which the first was published in the year 1691, and the last in the year 1722. It has also been published in thirteen volumes quarto. It contains the history of the christian church from the earliest times to the council of Constance, in 1414, and was received with great and deserved applause. His facts the author has collected with great industry and impartiality from the best authorities, and has combined them in a simple unornamented style, which, though sometimes negligent and monotonous, and disfigured by Greek and Latin idioms, is marked throughout by an air of frankness and veracity that strongly recommends it to the reader. Allowances, indeed, must be made for the tinge which some of his representations have derived from his views of things as a zealous Catholic; and by Protestants he will not be acquitted of too much credulity with regard to legends and miracles. He is, however, highly to be commended for the superiority with which he has frequently risen above, what we may be allowed without any invidiousness to call, the prejudices of a catholic churchman, and for the freedom and boldness with which he has attacked many of the corruptions and scandalous measures practised or sanctioned by the holy see. This spirit

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he has chiefly displayed in his "Discourses on Ecclesiastical History." Eight of them appeared in the author's life-time, prefixed to different volumes of his "History," and afterwards collected together in one volume twelves. After his death, a ninth was published in the year 1724, with notes. They are written with more elegance, purity, precision, and force, than the author's" History," and discover proofs of profound enquiry, a calm and sound judgment, and an enlightened and liberal mind. abuses and usurpations of the Roman see; the spirit of faction and intrigue which reigned in various councils; the infamous crusades, which he calls "holy robberies beyond sea ;" the multiplication of the pernicious monastic orders; the corruption of morals among the clergy; the violent persecutions so often exercised against heretics; and other collateral topics, are the subjects which he has discussed in them, in a manner that will reflect lasting honour on his memory. The author's "Manners of the Israelites," published in 1681, and his "Manners of the Christians," published in the following year, and afterwards united with the former in one volume twelves, form an useful and interesting introduction to sacred and ecclesiastical history, written in an artless, and sometimes negligent style, but sufficiently perspicuous and precise, with a turn of sentiment and reflection that will generally accord with the feelings of most pious Christians, and always with those of pious Catholics. His "Historical Catechism," published in 1679, and the abridgment of it, intended for the instruction of children, is drawn up with a method and clearness that render it a proper model for works of a similar kind. The author's design in it is to instruct Christians, in a simple and familiar manner, in the history and princi ples of their religion. In the year 1686 the abbé Fleury published " A Treatise on the Choice and Conduct of Studies," in which he has displayed the same logical precision and the same fund of good sense which appear in his Discourses on Ecclesiastical History. He considered it, however, only as a sketch, which he purposed to cast anew, with considerable additions. At the conclusion are two Latin epistles, in which he seems to have intended an imitation of the manner of Horace, and with tolerable success. In the year 1688 he published "A Treatise on the Duty of Masters and Servants," twelves, which contains many striking observations, and much excellent advice, which merit the attention both of the higher and lower orders of society. In 1687 he