OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Featley, John

​FEATLEY or FAIRCLOUGH, JOHN (1605?–1666), divine, son of John Fairclough, the elder brother of Daniel Featley [q. v.], was born in Northamptonshire in or about 1605. He was admitted either clerk or chorister at All Souls' College, Oxford, and took his B.A. degree on 25 Feb. 1624 (Wood, Fasti Oxon. ed. Bliss, i. 414). After being ordained he proceeded, as he tells us, to ‘Saint Christophers in the Western Indies, where I had the honor to be the first preacher of the Gospel in the infancy of that Mother-Colony in the year 1626’ (Featlæi Παλιγγενεσία, pt. ii. p. 38). During 1635 and 1636 he was curate to his uncle at Lambeth, and probably at Acton. In 1639 he was made chaplain to Charles I, ‘at Hurtly Fields in the first Scottish expedition’ (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1660–1, p. 226). When the king's cause had declined he was persuaded by his uncle to again withdraw to St. Christopher's, for which he sailed with his wife, children, and servants from Tilbury Hope on 24 June 1643 (Featlæi Παλιγγενεσία, pt. ii. p. 39). On 17 April 1646 he writes from his house at Flushing, Holland. After the Restoration he was appointed on 29 June 1660 chaplain extraordinary to the king, who presented him on 13 Aug. to the precentorship of Lincoln (Le Neve, Fasti, ed. Hardy, ii. 86), and in September following to the prebend of Melton Ross with Scamlesby in the same cathedral (ib. ii. 204). In 1661 he appears as rector of Langar, Nottinghamshire, having in the previous year petitioned for the rectory of Beckingham, Lincolnshire (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1660–1, pp. 226, 601). By the dean and chapter of Lincoln he was afterwards instituted to the vicarage of Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire. On 7 June 1661 he was created by royal mandamus D.D. at Oxford (Wood, Fasti Oxon. ed. Bliss, ii. 256). He died at Lincoln in 1666, and was buried in a chapel in the cathedral. He published two if not more of his uncle's tracts, together with his life, and was himself author of: 1. ‘Sermon to the West India Company [on Joshua i. 9],’ 4to, London, 1629. 2. ‘Obedience and Submission. A Sermon [on Heb. xiii. 17] preached … 8 Dec. 1635,’ 4to, London, 1636. 3. ‘A Fountain of Teares emptying itselfe into three rivelets, viz., of (1) Compunction. (2) Compassion. (3) Devotion,’ 12mo, Amsterdam, 1646; another edition, 12mo, London, 1683. His portrait, a small head, appears on the engraved title of the first edition of this manual.
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fearn, John

​FEARN, JOHN (1768–1837), philosopher, served for some years in the royal navy, retired, and devoted himself to philosophy. He was equally opposed to the English and the Scottish schools, but was no transcendentalist, and professed to base his philosophy on induction. In a series of works, of which a list is appended, he discussed most of the more important questions of metaphysics, but without showing any clear apprehension of the points in dispute. He was a friend of Dr. Parr and of Basil Montagu. He died in Sloane Street, Chelsea, on 3 Dec. 1837. His works are the following: 1. ‘An Essay on Consciousness, or a Series of Evidences of a Distinct Mind,’ London, 1810, 2nd edit. 1812, 4to. 2. ‘A Review of First Principles of Bishop Berkeley, Dr. Reid, and Professor Stewart, with an indication of other principles,’ London, 1813, 4to (also printed in the ‘Pamphleteer,’ No. vi.). 3. ‘An Essay on Immortality,’ London, 1814, 8vo. 4. ‘A Demonstration of the Principles of Primary Vision, with the consequent state of Philo​sophy in Great Britain,’ London, 1815, 4to. 5. ‘A Demonstration of Necessary Connection,’ London, 1815, 4to. 6. ‘A Letter to Professor Stewart on the Objects of General Terms, and on the Axiomatical Laws of Vision,’ London, 1817, 4to. 7. ‘First Lines of the Human Mind,’ London, 1820, 8vo. 8. ‘Anti-Tooke; or an Analysis of the Principles and Structure of Language exemplified in the English Tongue,’ London, 1824, 8vo. 9. ‘A Manual of the Physiology of Mind, comprehending the First Principles of Physical Theology, with which are laid out the crucial objections to the Reideian Theory. To which is suffixed a paper on the Logic of Relation considered as a machine for Ratiocinative Science,’ London, 1829, 8vo. 10. ‘A Rationale of the Laws of Cerebral Vision, comprising the Laws of Single and of Erect Vision, deduced upon the Principles of Dioptrics,’ London, 1830, 8vo. 11. ‘The Human Sensorium investigated as to figure,’ London, 1832, 8vo. 12. ‘An Appeal to Philosophers by name on the Demonstration of Vision on the Brain, and against the attack of Sir David Brewster on the Rationale of Cerebral Vision,’ London, 1837, 8vo.
J. M. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Feary, John

​FEARY, JOHN (fl. 1770–1788), landscape-painter, obtained a premium from the Society of Arts in 1766 for a drawing from the Duke of Richmond's gallery (for artists under twenty-one), and in 1776 was awarded a large silver pallet for a landscape. He first appears as an exhibitor with the Free Society of Artists in 1770, sending ‘A View from Maise [Maze] Hill in Greenwich Park,’ and ‘A View of a Storm breaking from the Surrey side of Westminster Bridge;’ in 1771 he sent to the same exhibition ‘A View taken from Highgate Hill.’ In 1772 he appears as an exhibitor at the Royal Academy with ‘A View of Clapham Common, taken from the North Side,’ and he was a frequent contributor up to 1788, in which year he exhibited ‘A View of Castle Hill, Devonshire,’ after which he disappears. Feary, who was of deformed stature, is stated to have been a pupil of Richard Wilson, R.A. [q. v.], and his landscapes were very neatly finished. He was employed to paint views of the parks and mansions of the nobility and gentry, some of which have been engraved.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Featherston, Isaac Earl

​FEATHERSTON, ISAAC EARL (1813–1876), New Zealand statesman, fourth son of Thomas Featherston of Blackdean, Weardale, and Cotfield House, Durham, was born 21 March 1813, and educated at a private school in Tamworth. After spending some time abroad, he entered as a student at the Edinburgh University, studied medicine, and graduated M.D. in 1836. In 1839 he married, and the next year ill-health led him to migrate to New Zealand. He settled at Wellington, and soon became conspicuous by advocating the cause of the settlers who had purchased land under the New Zealand Company. In 1852, when their claims were admitted, his services were recognised by the presentation of an address and a piece of plate. The governor, Sir George Grey, opposing a scheme of constitution offered by Lord Grey, on the ground of probable difficulty with the Maoris, the Settlers' Constitutional Association, in which Featherston was prominent, was formed in 1849 to promote the measure. An act for this purpose was finally passed in 1852 by the imperial parliament, and in 1853 the New Zealand Constitution Act came into force. Featherston was elected superintendent of the province of Wellington, which office he retained ​by constant re-election until his appointment as agent-general in 1871. Under the new act he was also elected to the general assembly as a representative, at first for Wanganui, and afterwards for the city of Wellington. In the general assembly he became known as one of the most determined supporters of ‘provincialism.’ His desire to retain the office of superintendent of the province of Wellington led him to reject office, except during a particular crisis. Featherston was strongly opposed to the disregard of the tribal forms of tenure among the Maoris, and held that the attempt to dispossess a tribe of its property was in direct defiance of the treaty of Waitangi (1842). He denounced (1860) the war which ensued as ‘unjust and unholy,’ and gained the regard of the natives. In 1861 he warned the governor of the growing distrust among the native tribes, and his temporary acceptance of office in July 1861 marked the accession to power of the peace party. On the renewal of the war in 1863 his influence decided the Maoris of the province of Wellington not to join the insurrection, and in 1865 he induced a native contingent to follow General Chute in his celebrated march to Taranaki.
Featherston assisted in establishing and developing the lines of steam communication between Australia and New Zealand. In 1869 he was sent as representative of the colony to Australia to urge the necessity of retaining troops in New Zealand, and for the same purpose was nominated as one of two special commissioners to England in the following year. In 1871 he became agent-general for New Zealand, and held the office till his death, 19 June 1876.
E. C. K. G.
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/Sophanes

​SOPHANES (Σωφάνης), an Athenian, of the demus of Deceleia. In the war between Athens and Aegina, just before the Persian invasion of B. c. 490, he slew in single combat Eury bates the Argive, before whose prowess three Athenians had already fallen. At the battle of Plataea, in b. c. 479, Sophanes distinguished himself by his valour above all his countrymen. One account described him as wearing during the engagement an iron anchor, which he had fastened by a chain to the belt of his cuirass, and fixed in the ground to steady himself against the charge of the enemy. According to another statement, he merely bore the device of an anchor on his shield, which he kept perpetually whirling round. In B. c. 465, Sophanes was joined with Leagrus in the command of the 10,000 Athenians who unsuccessfully at- tempted to colonize Amphipolis, and was slain in battle by the natives. (Herod vi. 92, ix. 73 — 75 ; Thuc. i. 100, iv. 102 ; Pans. i. 29.) [E. E.]
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/Sohaemias

SOHAEMIAS. [Soemis.]
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/Soidas

SOIDAS, artist. [Menaechmus.]
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/Sol

SOL. [Helios.]
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/Sophia

​SOPHIA, the widow of Justin II. [Justinus II.; Tiberius II.]
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/Sophilus

​SO′PHILUS (Σώφιλος), a comic poet of the middle comedy, was a native of Sicyon or of Thebes, and composed the following dramas (Suid. s. v.): Κιθαρῳδός, Φίλαρχος, Τυνδάρεως ἢ Λήδα, Δηλία. Ἐγχειρίδιον (or Χοιρίδιον, but the other reading is more probably correct), and παρακαταθήκη, to which must be added, from Athenaeus, Συντρέχοντες, and Ἀνδροκλῆς. Diogenes Laërtius (ii. 120) refers to a play of Sophilus, entitled Γάμοι, in which Stilpo was attacked; but the reading of the passage is very doubtful, and Meineke has shown reasons for supposing that the play referred to is the Γάμος of Diphilus or of Philemon. Meineke also remarks that Σώφιλος must not be confounded with Σόφιλος or Σόφιλλος, which was a different name: the father of the poet Sophocles was named Σόφιλος. There are very few fragments of Sophilus remaining. The time at which he flourished is supposed by Meineke to have been about Ol. 108, B. C. 348. (Meineke, Frag. Com. Graec. vol. i. pp. 424—426, vol. iii. pp. 581—584; Ed. Min., p. 794, &c.) [P. S.]
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/Sophonias

​SOPHO′NIAS (Σοφονίας), a Greek monk who wrote commentaries on Aristotle. Fabricius conjectures that he was the same Sophonias to whom one of the epistles of Simon of Constantinople, probably the same with Simon of Thebes [Simon, No. 22), is addressed. If this conjecture be admitted he must be placed about the end of the fourteenth century. The following works of his are extant in MS.: —1. In Aristotelis Categorias de Homonymis, Synonymis, Paronymis, Heteronymis, Polyonymis, &c. (Labbe, Nova Biblioth. MStorum Librorum, p. 115.) 2. Παράφρασις εἰς τὸ περὶ ψυχῆς τοῦ σοφωτάτου κυρίου Σοφονίου, Paraphrasis sapientissimi Sophoniae in Aristotelis Libros tres de Anima (Lambec. Commentar. de Biblioth. Caesaraea, vol. vii. col. 208, ed. Kollar, fol. Vienna, 1766, &c.; Bandini, Catal. Codd. Graec. Laurent. Medic. vol. i. p. 297, vol. iii. coll. 19, 278; Hardt. Catalog. Codd. MStorum Graec. Biblioth. Reg. Bavar. vol. iv. p. 242). Morelli (Biblioth. MSta Graeca et Latina, vol. i. p. 128, comp, Graec. D. Marci Biblioth. p. 116, fol. Venet. 1740) speaks of a MS., Aristotelis Praedicamentorum Paraphrasis, in the Library of St. Mark at Venice, which is anonymous, but is, he says, commonly attributed to the monk Sophonias: it is apparently only another MS. of the work No. 1. No. 2 is in a Florentine MS. ascribed, but erroneously, to Simplicius. Beside these works, there is a MS. in the Library of St. Mark, containing,—3. Τοῦ σοφωτάτου μοναχοῦ κυρίου Σοφονίου μελέτη, Παῦλος ἐν Ἀθήναις δημηγορῶν, Sophoniae sapientissimi Monachi Declamatio: Paulus in Athenis Concionem habens ad Populum (Graeca D. Marci Biblioth. p. 131). This last work is not mentioned by Fabricius. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iii. pp. 209, 236, vol. xi. pp. 334, 714) [J.C. M.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Henryson, Thomas

​HENRYSON or HENDERSON, Sir THOMAS, Lord Chesters (d. 1638), judge, was son of Edward Henryson [q. v.] Before 1600 he was one of the commissioners of Edinburgh, and was advocate-depute in certain processes of forfeiture before parliament in 1606. On 6 June 1622 he succeeded Sir Lewis Craig of Wrightslands as an ordinary lord of session, with the title of Lord Chesters, and was knighted, promotion which he owed to his staunch episcopalianism and the favour of the primate Spotiswood. This office he held till 1637, when he resigned owing to infirmities, retaining his title and privileges. In 1633 he had been a commissioner for revising the laws and collecting local customs. He died 3 Feb. 1638.
[Brunton and Haig's Senators of the Royal College of Justice; Books of Sederunt; Monteith's Theatre, p. 35; Acts Scots Parl. iv. 193, 277.]
J. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hensey, Florence

​HENSEY, FLORENCE (fl. 1758), French spy, born at Kildare about 1714. When very young he came to England, and on 18 Oct. 1748 entered as a student of medicine at Leyden, where he graduated M.D. (Leyden Students, p. 48, Index Society). He afterwards travelled in, and studied the languages of, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, and became proficient in the languages of the countries he visited. He then settled at Paris, where for some years he practised as a physician, and learnt French. Finally he removed to England, and commenced practice in London. On the outbreak of the seven years' war in 1756, Hensey opened a correspondence with an old fellow-student who was then engaged ​in the French foreign office. As a result he entered the French service as a spy, and in return for a salary of a hundred guineas a year supplied information as to the movements and equipment of the English fleet. He warned the French of the intended expedition to Rochefort in 1757, and his warning seems to have contributed to the failure of that enterprise. Hensey conducted his correspondence through a brother who was chaplain to the Spanish ambassador at the Hague. A postman, who knew that Hensey was a Roman catholic, and had observed his frequent foreign correspondence, called the attention of his superiors to the matter, and on opening Hensey's letters evidence was obtained which led to his arrest, on 21 Aug. 1757, as he was leaving the catholic church in Soho Square. After many examinations before the secretary of state, Hensey was committed to Newgate 9 March 1758, and on 8 May was brought before the king's bench and ordered to prepare for his trial. The trial took place before Earl Mansfield on 12 June, occupying all day. The evidence of guilt was overpowering; further letters were found at Hensey's lodgings in Arundel Street, Strand, in a bureau of which he alone had the key, and were conclusively shown to be in his handwriting. There was practically no defence, and such technical objections as were raised were overruled. On the 14th Hensey was condemned to death as a traitor; but on 12 July, the very day appointed for his execution, he received a respite for a fortnight, and this period was afterwards extended, till on 7 Sept. 1759 he was admitted to bail in order to plead his pardon next term. After this Hensey disappears. There is a medallion portrait of him in the ‘Genuine Account,’ and a full-length one of him in fetters in the ‘Genuine Memoirs.’
[A Genuine Account of the Proceedings on the Trial of Florence Hensey, M.D., London, 1758; Genuine Memoirs of the Life and Treasonable Practices of Dr. Florence Hensey, London, 1758 (written between sentence and the day appointed for his execution); Ann. Reg. 1758, pp. 97–9; Gent. Mag. 1758 pp. 240, 287–8, 337–8, 1759 p. 438.]
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Henshaw, Nathaniel

​HENSHAW, NATHANIEL, M.D. (d. 1673), physician, younger son of Benjamin Henshaw, ‘one of the captains of the city of London,’ who died 4 Dec. 1631, by his wife Anne, daughter of William Bonham, citizen of London, was entered on the physic line at Leyden on 4 Nov. 1653 (Leyden Students, Index Soc., p. 48), proceeded M.D. there, and was admitted to the same degree at Dublin in the summer term 1664 (Cat. of Graduates in Univ. of Dublin, 1591–1868, p. 267). On 20 May 1663 he was elected F.R.S. (Thomson, Hist. of Roy. Soc. Append. iv.). He practised in Dublin, but died in London in September 1673, and was buried on the 13th of that month in Kensington Church (parish register). His will, dated 6 Aug. 1673, was proved at London on the following 11 Sept. by his sister, Anne Grevys (registered in P. C. C. 113, Pye). He is author of a curious little treatise entitled ‘Aero-Chalinos: or a Register for the Air; in five Chapters. 1. Of Fermentation. 2. Of Chylification. 3. Of Respiration. 4. Of Sanguification. 5. That often changing the Air is a friend to health. Also a discovery of a new method of doing it, without removing from one place to another, by means of a Domicil, or Air-Chamber, fitted to that purpose. For the better preservation of Health, and cure of Diseases, after a new Method,’ 8vo, Dublin, 1664. The second edition (12mo, London, 1677) was printed by order of the Royal Society, at a meeting held on 1 March 1676–1677, having been prepared for the press by the author's elder brother, Thomas Henshaw [q. v.] (Wood, Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iv. 446). It was reviewed in the ‘Philosophical Transactions’ (xii. 834–5) by Henry Oldenburg.
[Authorities as above.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Henryson, Edward

​HENRYSON, EDWARD (1510?–1590?), Scottish judge, was born about 1510. He studied Roman law at the university of Bourges, where he graduated. His professor was Equinar Baron, a well-known jurist, to whom he became much attached, and by whom he was introduced to Ulric Fugger of Kirchberg and Weissenhome in the Tyrol, an ardent collector of books and ancient manuscripts, who gave him a pension, and in whose house he found a home and a congenial occupation in collecting and translating classical texts. He there translated into Latin the commentary of Plutarch on the stoic philosophy, which was published at Leyden in 1555. It is a small duodecimo volume with an appendix containing emendations of doubtful readings in the original Greek text. He is also said to have translated the ‘Enchiridion’ of Epictetus and the ‘Commentaries’ of Arrian, ​neither of which was published. In 1552 he returned to Scotland, and appears to have practised for a short time as an advocate in Edinburgh. Having again returned to the continent, he was in 1554 elected professor of Roman law in the university of Bourges. About this time a treatise published by Baron on the law of jurisdiction was attacked by the jurist Govea. Henryson wrote a Latin reply in defence of Baron, dedicated to Fugger. In 1555 he published another work on Roman law, ‘Commentatio in Tit. x. Libri Secundi Institutionum de Testamentis Ordinandis,’ which was dedicated to Michael de l'Hôpital, chancellor of France. Both these works are included in Meerman's ‘Thesaurus.’ Henryson received high praise from writers on Roman law on the continent. Dempster calls him ‘Solis Papinanis in juris cognitione inferior,’ and adds that Henryson was remembered fifty years after in the university of Bourges as a man in the highest degree versed in classical literature.
Having resigned his professorship at Bourges he returned to Scotland, where in 1557 he was appointed counsel for the poor. In 1563 he was named to the office of commissary, and three years after he became an extraordinary lord of session. In 1566 he was named one of a commission to revise, correct, and print the laws and acts of parliament from 1424 to 1564. The work was completed in about six months. Henryson was the ostensible editor, and wrote the preface to it. He obtained an exclusive privilege to print and dispose of the work for a period of ten years from the date of publication. In 1573 he was one of the procurators for the church. In 1579 Lord Forbes petitioned parliament that Henryson might be appointed one of the commissioners for settling the disputes between the Forbes and the Gordons. He married Helen Swinton, eldest daughter of John Swinton of Swinton, and had two sons and a daughter. He died about 1590. His son Thomas is separately noticed.
[Dempster's Hist. Eccles. Gent. Scot.; Meerman's Thesaurus Juris Civilis et Canonici, vol. iii.; Henryson's Plutarchi Commentarium Stoicorum Contrariorum, Leyden, 1555; Brunton and Haig's Hist. of Coll. of Justice.
J. G. F.