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

​FURSDON, JOHN, in religion Cuthbert (d. 1638), Benedictine monk, the eldest son of Philip Fursdon of Fursdon in the parish of Cadbury, Devonshire, was born at Thorverton in that county. He became an enthusiastic disciple of Father Augustine Baker [see Baker, David], his father's chaplain, and proceeded to the Benedictine convent of St. Gregory at Douay, where, after completing the year of probation, he took the solemn vows as a professed father of the order, 25 Nov. 1620 (Weldon, Chronicle, Append. p. 8). Returning to the English mission, he laboured chiefly in the southern counties, and he appears to have often resided in the families of Viscount Montagu and Lady Elizabeth Falkland. He was an instrument in the conversion of Lady Falkland's four daughters, and of Hugh Paulinus, or Serenus, Cressy [q. v.] Fursdon, who frequently passed under the assumed name of Breton, died in Lady Falkland's house in London on 2 Feb. 1637–8.
His works are:
* ‘The Life of the … Lady Magdalen, Viscountesse Montague, written in Latin … by Richard Smith [bishop of Chalcedon], and now translated into English by C. F.,’ 1627, 4to, dedicated to Antony Maria, viscount Montague.
* ‘The Life and Miracles of St. Benedict,’ 1638, 12mo, with plates.
* ‘The Rule of St. Bennet, by C. F.,’ Douay, 1638, 4to, dedicated to ‘Mrs. Anne Carie, daughter of the Lord Viscount Faulkland.’ A new edition by ‘one of the Benedictine Fathers of St. Michael's, near Hereford [i.e. Francis Cuthbert Doyle], was published at London, 1875, 8vo.
[Oliver's Catholic Religion in Cornwall, pp. 9 n., 310–11; Snow's Necrology, p. 44; Weldon's Chronicle, pp. 178, 210; Sweeney's Life of Augustine Baker, p. 40; Gillow's Bibl. Dict.; Fullerton's Life of Lady Falkland, p. 148 seq.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gabell, Henry Dison

​GABELL, HENRY DISON, D.D. (1764–1831), head-master of Winchester, was son of the Rev. Timothy Gabell of Winchester. Gabell was born at Winchester in 1764, and was elected a scholar of Winchester College in 1779, and subsequently of New College, Oxford, where he matriculated on 11 Oct. 1782; graduated B.A. on 8 July 1786; and held a fellowship from 1782 to 1790. Soon afterwards he was appointed master of Warminster school, where he had twenty boys to teach, with a salary of 30l., and liberty to take private pupils. He was presented to the rectory of St. Lawrence, Winchester, in 1788, and was appointed second master of Winchester College in 1793. He graduated M.A. at Cambridge in 1807; succeeded Dr. Goddard as head-master of Winchester College in 1810; was presented to the rectory of Ashow, Warwickshire, in 1812, and that of Binfield, Berkshire, in 1820; resigned the head-mastership of Winchester College in December 1823, receiving a present of plate richly engraved from the scholars. He continued to hold the three livings of Binfield, Ashow, and St. Lawrence until his death, which took place at Binfield on 18 April 1831. Gabell married, on 11 Jan. 1790, Miss Gage, the daughter of a clergyman of Holton, Oxfordshire. Their third daughter, Maria, married, on 18 July 1818, Sir Joseph Scott, bart., of Great Barr Hall, Staffordshire. Gabell was a friend and correspondent of Dr. Parr, in the seventh volume of whose works some letters of his on points of classical scholarship will be found. He published: 1. A pamphlet entitled ‘On the Expediency of Altering and Amending the Regulations recommended by Parliament for Reducing the High Price of Corn: and of Extending the Bounty on the Importation of Wheat and other Articles of Provision,’ London, 1796, 8vo. 2. A discourse delivered on the fast-day in February 1799, London, 1799, 8vo.
J. M. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fyfe, William Baxter Collier

​FYFE, WILLIAM BAXTER COLLIER (1836?–1882), painter, was born at Dundee about 1836, and brought up in the neighbouring village of Carnoustie. Although the Scottish prejudices of his father's household were unpropitious to art, friends enabled him to become a student of the Royal Scottish Academy when only fifteen. Here his crayon portraits won prizes, and were highly praised. He afterwards studied at Paris during parts of 1857 and 1858. His first picture of importance, ‘Queen Mary resigning her Crown at Loch Leven Castle,’ appeared at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1861. In 1863, after having passed a year among the art treasures of France, Italy, and Belgium, he settled in London and devoted much of his time to portraiture, which he varied with landscapes and fancy subjects, but his summers were often spent in Scotland. His pictures of ‘The Death of John Brown of Priesthill’ and ‘Jeanie Deans and the Laird o' Dumbiedykes’ attracted much notice, and in 1866 he began to exhibit at the Royal Academy. In 1868 and 1869 he painted ‘The Wood Merchant,’ ‘The “Scotsman,” Sir?’ ‘The Flower Girl,’ ‘The Orange Girl,’ ‘Marketing,’ and ‘A Girl of the Period,’ the last of which became very popular. These were followed during the next four years by ‘The Young Cavalier,’ ‘The Page,’ ‘On Household Cares intent,’ ‘The Maid of Honour,’ ‘Bide a wee,’ and ‘What can a young Lassie dae wi' an auld Man?’ several of which were engraved in the illustrated newspapers of Europe and America, and even of Asia. About 1874 Fyfe again visited Italy, and painted several Italian subjects. His best-known works of later date were ‘A Good Catholic,’ ‘Wandering Minstrels,’ ‘The Love Letter,’ ‘A Quiet Christmas,’ ‘The Fisherman's Daughter,’ ‘A Chelsea Pensioner,’ and ‘The Raid of Ruthven,’ his most important historical picture, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1878, and afterwards at the Royal Scottish Academy. His last works were ‘Hide and Seek,’ ‘A Fisher Girl,’ and ‘Nellie.’ Among his portraits some of the most important were those of the Earl and Countess of Dufferin, Lord Houghton, Sir David and Lady Baxter, Alderman Sir William m'Arthur, and Dr. Lorimer, first principal of the London Presbyterian College. His own portrait was one of his latest works.
Fyfe died suddenly at Abbey Road, St. John's Wood, London, on 15 Sept. 1882, in the forty-seventh year of his age, and was buried in Willesden cemetery.
[Times, 18 Sept. 1882; Architect, 23 Sept. 1882; Illustrated London News, 30 Sept. 1882, with portrait; Royal Academy Exhibition Catalogues, 1866–82.]
R. E. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fynch, Martin

​FYNCH or FINCH, MARTIN (1628?–1698), ejected minister, was born about 1628, and entered the ministry about 1648. His maiden effort as an author was a criticism (1656) of the mystical theology of Sir Henry Vane. He was ejected from the vicarage of Tetney, Lincolnshire, by the uniformity act of 1662. In 1668 we find him in Norwich, where he acted as one of three ‘heads and teachers’ of a congregation of three hundred independents, who met for worship in the house of John Tofts, a grocer, in St. Clement's parish. On the issuing of the indulgence of 1672, Fynch took out a license to preach in the house of Nicholas Withers, in St. Clement's. He became pastor of the independent congregation in succession to John Cromwell (d. April 1685). Their meeting-place was the west granary in St. Andrew's parish. Fynch removed his flock to a brewhouse in St. Edmund's parish, which he fitted up as a meeting-house; and after the passing of the Toleration Act (1689) he secured a site in St. Clement's parish, being ‘part of the Friars' great garden,’ on which a handsome building was erected (finished 1693), originally known as the ‘New Meeting,’ but since 1756 called the ‘Old Meeting.’ John Stackhouse was Fynch's colleague from about 1691.
With the presbyterian minister at Norwich, John Collinges, D.D. [q. v.], who died 18 Jan. 1691, Fynch was in close relations, both personal and ecclesiastical. In accordance with the terms of the ‘happy union’ (mooted in 1690), these divines agreed to discard the dividing names ‘presbyterian’ and ‘independent’ and co-operate simply as dissenters. Fynch preached Collinges's funeral sermon, and defended his memory in reply to a pamphlet by Thomas Grantham (1634–1692) [q. v.]
Fynch suffered from failing eyesight, and was a victim to calculus, a malady prevalent in Norfolk. He died on 13 Feb. 1697 (i.e. 1698), and was buried in the graveyard on the north side of his meeting-house, ​immediately behind the pulpit. The epitaph on his flat tombstone is the main authority for the dates of his biography. After his death there was a rupture in his congregation, which lasted for twenty years.
He published: 1. ‘Animadversions upon Sir Henry Vane's … The Retired Man's Meditations,’ &c., 1656, 12mo. 2. ‘A Manual of Practical Divinity,’ &c., 1658, 8vo. 3. ‘A Treatise of the Conversion of Sinners,’ &c., 1680, 8vo. 4. ‘An Answer to Mr. Thomas Grantham's … Dialogue between the Baptist and the Presbyterian,’ &c., 1691, 8vo. 5. ‘A Funeral Sermon for … John Collinges, D.D.,’ &c., 1695, 4to.
[Calamy's Account, 1713, p. 448; Continuation, 1727, ii. 601; Palmer's Nonconf. Memorial, 1802, ii. 434 (a note by J. O., i.e. Job Orton, erroneously connects him with Peter, son of Henry Finch (1633–1704) [q. v.]); Browne's Hist. Congr. Norf. and Suff. 1877, pp. 260, 265 sq., 557 sq.; Fynch's Answer to Grantham.]
A. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fynes-Clinton

​FYNES-CLINTON. [See Clinton.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fych, Thomas

​FYCH or FYCHE, THOMAS (d. 1517), ecclesiastic. [See Fich.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lane, Samuel

​LANE, SAMUEL (1780–1859), portrait-painter, son of Samuel and Elizabeth Lane, was born at King's Lynn on 26 July 1780. In consequence of an accident which he met with in childhood he became deaf and partially dumb. He studied under Joseph Farington [q.v.], R.A., and afterwards under Sir Thomas Lawrence, who employed him as one of his chief assistants. Lane first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1804, and, securing a large practice, was a constant contributor or more than fifty years, sending in all 217 works; these included portraits of Lord George Bentinck (for the Lynn guildhall); Lord de Saumarez (for the United Service Club); Sir ​George Pollock and Sir John Malcolm (for the Oriental Club); Charles, fifth duke of Richmond; C. J. Blomfield, bishop of London; Thomas Clarkson (for the Wisbech town-hall); Sir Philip P. V. Broke, bart. (for the East Suffolk Hospital); T. W. Coke, M.P., afterwards Earl of Leicester (for the Norwich Corn Exchange); Luke Hansard (for the Stationers’ Company); Thomas Telford. Edmond Wodehouse, M.P., and other prominent persons. Lane owed his success to the matter-of-fact truthfulness of his likenesses, which in other respects have little merit; many of them have been well engraved by C. Turner, S. W. Reynolds, W. Ward, and others. Lane resided in London (at 60 Greek Street, Soho) until 1853, and then retired to Ipswich, whence he sent his last contribution to the Academy in 1857. He died at Ipswich on 29 July 1859.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Grave's Dict. of Artist's, 1750-1880; Segier's Dict. of Painters; Royal Academy, Catalogues.]
F. M. O'D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lane, Thomas

​LANE, THOMAS (fl. 1695), civilian, third son of Francis Lane of Glendon, Northamptonshire, by his wife Mary, born Bernard, was admitted at St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1674, graduated B.A. 1677, entered Christ Church as a commoner in the same year, and was incorporated B.A. at Oxford 10 Oct. 1678. Through ‘the endeavours of Mr. William Bernard; of Merton Coll.’ he was, after a wearisome dispute between the fellows and the warden, who claimed an absolute veto, elected and admitted probationer-fellow of that house in 1680, and graduated M.A. December 1683 and LL.D. 8 July 1688. In March 1684 his name occurs as one of the signatories of a report drawn up with a view to the better management of this Ashmolean Museum (Wood, Athenæ, ed. Bliss, xcviii n.) In January 1687 he was reported to have turned papist, and went out with Francis Taafe, third earl of Carlingford [q. v.], in the embassy despatched to Hungary to present at the coronation of Joseph I. In the following year during his tenure of office as bursar, he suddenly left Merton, with its intention of travelling and without rendering his account, carrying with him a considerable sum belonging to the college. The ​sub-warden followed him, and seems to have recovered the money (Broderick, Mems. of Merton, p. 296). In 1689 he commanded a troop in James II’s army in Ireland, was wounded and taken prisoner at the Boyne, and remained in confinement at Dublin until 1690. About Easter in either that or the following year he returned to Merton, and ‘esteemed that place a comfortable harbour of which before, by wo much ease sndglenty, he was weary and sick.' In 1895 he was practising as an advocate in Doctors' Comms, (com, mm ewan", p. 102), but no further mention of him can be traced.
Lane is said by Wood to have had a hand in the ‘English Atlas printed at the Theater, Oxford, for Moses Pitt,’ 1680-4 5 vols. fol. William Nicolson [q. v], afterwards archbishop of Cashel, was the chief literary director of this colossal work. Lane's name does not ages: in connection with it, but he may well have been ons of the numerous minor collaborators. He is also said to have translated into English Nepos’s ‘Life of Epaminonadas' Oxford, 1684, 8vo, in addition to which, remarks Wood, 'he hath written certain matters, but whether he’ll own them you may enquire of him.'
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iv. 480; Wood's Fasti Oxon. ii, 368; Bridge's Northamtonshire, ed. Whalley, ii. 65; Graduati Cantabr.]
T. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lane, Theodore

​LANE, THEODORE (1800–1828), painter, is said to have been born at Isleworth, Middlesex, in 1800, but the statement is not confirmed by the parish register. His father, a native of Worcester, was a drawing-master in straitened circumstances, and he received very little education. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to J. Barrow of Weston Place, St. Pancras, an artist and colourer of prints, who assisted him in his studies. Lane first came into notice as a painter of water-colour portraits and miniatures, and he exhibited works of that class at the Royal Academy in 1819, 1820, and 1826. But his talent was for humorous subjects, and a series of thirty-six designs by him, entitled ‘The Life of an Actor,’ with letterpress by Pierce Egan, was published in 1825. Lane etched some clever prints of sporting and social life, such as ‘Masquerade at the Argyll Rooms,’ ‘Scientific Pursuits, or Hobby Horse Races to the Temple of Fame,’ and ‘A Trip to Ascot Races,’ a series of scenes on the road from Hyde Park Corner to the heath, which he dedicated to the king, 1827. He also illustrated with etchings and woodcuts ‘A Complete Panorama of the Sporting World,’ and Egan's ‘Anecdotes of the Turf,’ 1827. About 1825 Lane took up oil-painting, and, though left-handed, with the help of Alexander Fraser, R.S.A., rapidly attained to great proficiency. In 1827 he sent to the Academy ‘The Christmas Present,’ and to the British Institution ‘An Hour before the Duel.’ In 1828 his ‘Disturbed by the Nightmare’ was exhibited at the Academy, ‘Reading the Fifth Act of the Manuscript’ at the British Institution, and ‘The Enthusiast’ at the Suffolk Street Gallery. These attracted much attention by their humorous treatment and delicate finish, and Lane had apparently a very successful career before him, when his life was terminated by an accident. While waiting for a friend at the horse repository in Gray's Inn Road he by mistake stepped upon a skylight, and, falling on the pavement below, was killed on the spot, 21 May 1828. He was buried in Old St. Pancras church-yard. Lane left a widow and three children, for whose benefit his best-known work, ‘The Enthusiast,’ representing a gouty angler fishing in a tub of water, was engraved by R. Graves; it was subsequently purchased by Mr. Vernon, and engraved by H. Beckwith for the ‘Art Journal,’ 1850; it is now in the National Gallery. His picture entitled ‘Mathematical Abstraction,’ which he left unfinished, was completed by his friend Fraser, and purchased by Lord Northwick; it has been engraved by R. Graves. In 1831 Pierce Egan published ‘The Show Folks,’ illustrated with woodcuts designed by Lane, and accompanied by a memoir of him, which was dedicated to the president of the Royal Academy.
[P. Egan's Show Folks. 1831; Redgrave's Dict. of Artist's; Graves's Dict. of Artists, 1760-1880; Gent. Mag. 1828, i. 572; Art Journal. 1850.]
F. M. O'D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lane, William

​LANE, WILLIAM (1746–1819), portrait draughtsman, was born in 1746, and commenced his career as an engraver of gems in the manner of the antique, exhibiting works of that class at the Royal Academy from 1778 to 1789. Between 1788 and 1792 he engraved a few small copperplates, including portraits of Mrs. Abington and the Duke and Duchess of Rutland after Cosway, and Charles James Fox after Reynolds. 1785 lane exhibited some crayon portraits, and later became a fashionable artist in that style; his drawings were slightly executed in hard coloured chalks, and admired for their accuracy as likenesses. He was patronised bu the prince regent and many of the nobility, and from 1797 to 1815 was a large contributor to the exhibitions. A few of Lane’s works have been engraved; in 1816 was engraved his portrait Sir James Edward smith, M.D. F.R.S., by Frederick Christian Lewis [q. v.] He died at his house in the Hammersmith Road, London, 4 Jan. 1819.
Anna Louisa Lane, who was Lane's wife or sister, sent miniatures to the Academy in 1775, 1781, and 1782.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Gent. Mag. 1819, i. 181; Royal Acad. Catalogues.]
F. M. O'D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Balfour, Robert (1550?-1625?)

​BALFOUR, ROBERT (1550?–1625?), Scotch philosopher and philologist, is believed to have been born about 1550. According to the statement of David Buchanan, he derived his lineage from a distinguished family in Fifeshire, but he has himself informed us (Commentarius in Cleomedem, 196) that he was born in Forfarshire, probably near Dundee. From a school in his native district he was sent to the university of St. Andrews, and thence he proceeded to the university of Paris, where he attracted much attention by the ability with which he publicly maintained certain philosophical theses against all oppugners. Afterwards he was invited to Bordeaux by the archbishop of that see, and there he became a member of the college of Guienne. He was elected professor of Greek, and at length, probably in 1586, was appointed principal of the college, which he continued to govern for many years. It appears that he was alive in 1625, but the date of his death is not recorded. Balfour left behind him the character of a learned and worthy man, the only fault attributed to him by one biographer being his zealous ​adherence to the Roman catholic faith. His contemporary, Dempster, says he was 'the phœnix of his age; a philosopher profoundly skilled in the Greek and Latin languages; a mathematician worthy of being compared with the ancients; and to those qualifications he joined a wonderful suavity of manner, and the utmost warmth of affection towards his countrymen.' His reputation as a scholar rests mainly on his commentary on Aristotle. The titles of his works are:
* 'Gelasius, Σύνταγμα τών κατα τήν έν Νικαία δγίαν Σύνοδον πραχθέντων' Paris, 1599, 8vo; Heidelberg, 1604, fol. An edition of the Greek text, accompanied by a Latin translation. Gelasius, with Balfour's translation, has been reprinted in several editions of the Concilia.
* 'Cleomedis Meteora Graece et Latine. A Roberto Balforeo ex MS. codice Bibliothecæ Illustrissimi Cardinalis Ioyosii multis mendis repurgata, Latine versa, et perpetuo commentario illustrata.' Bordeaux, 1605, 4to. This work was commended by Barthius and other learned men, and even in the present century it was held in such estimation that it was republished by Professor James Bake at Leyden in 1820, 8vo.
* . 'Prolegomena in libros Topicorum Aristotelis,' 1615, 4to.
* 'Commentarii in Organum Logicum Aristotelis,' Bordeaux, 1618, 4to.
* 'Commentarii in lib. Arist. de Philosophia tomus secundus, quo post Organum Logicum, quacumque in libros Ethicorum occurrunt difficilia, dilucide explicantur,' Bordeaux, 1620, 4to.
[Buchanan, De Scriptoribis Scotis, 129; Dempster, Hist. Ecclesiastica Gentis Scotorum, 119; Irving's Lives of Scottish Writers (1839), i. 234-46; Anderson's Scottish Nation, i. 217; Chambers's Biog. Dict. of Eminent Scotsmen, ed. Thomson, i. 68; Cat. of Printed Books in Brit. Mus.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Balfour, Robert (d.1663)

​BALFOUR, ROBERT (d. 1663), second Lord Balfour of Burleigh, military commander, was son of Sir Robert Arnot of Fernie, chamberlain of Fife. He married Margaret, daughter of Michael Balfour of Burleigh and Margaret, daughter of Lundie of Lundie, and his wife succeeded her father (who was created 7 Aug. 1606 Lord Balfour of Burleigh) as Baroness Balfour of Burleigh. Thereupon, by a letter from the king (James I) Arnot became Lord Balfour of Burleigh, the second holder of the title. At the assembly of the Scottish parliament in 1640 (11 June) the 'estates' appointed him their president. He was continued in the office in 1641, and was one of the commissioners for a treaty of peace with England in 1640-1. He was also constituted of the privy council 'ad vitam aut culpam' by the parliament of Scotland 11 Nov. 1641. During the wars of Montrose he was energetic on the side of the government. He assumed military command, but was not successful. Montrose defeated him 12 Sept. 1644 near Aberdeen, and again (with General Baillie) at Kilsyth, 15 Aug. 1645. He was opposed to the celebrated and unfortunate 'engagement' to march into England for the rescue of the king. He had weight enough to dissuade Cromwell then from the invasion of Scotland. In 1649, under the act for putting 'the kingdom in a posture of defence,' he was one of the colonels for Fife. He was further nominated in the same year one of the commissioners of the treasury and exchequer. He died at Burleigh, near Kinross, 10 Aug. 1663. His wife died before him (in 1639). They had one son [see Balfour, John, third Lord Balfour of Burleigh] and four daughters.
[Lamont's Annals, MS.; Balfour's Annals, MS.; Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, by Wood, 2 vols, folio, 1813; George Crawfurd's Peerage of Sootland, 1716, folio, pp. 53-4; Sibbald's Kinross and Fife; Anderson's Scottish Nation.]
A. B. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Balguy, Charles

​BALGUY, CHARLES, M.D. (1708–1767), physician, was born at Derwent Hall, Derbyshire, in 1708, and was educated at Chesterfield grammar school and St. John's College, Cambridge, where he took the degree of M.B. in 1731, and M.D. in 1750. He practised at Peterborough, and was secretary of the literary club there. He contributed to the ‘Philosophical Transactions’ (No. 434, p. 1413), and in 1741 he published, anonymously, a translation of Boccacio's ‘Decameron.’ This has been several times reprinted, and is the only good translation in English. He wrote some medical essays, and particularly a treatise ‘De Morbo Miliari’ (Lond. 1758). He died at Peterborough 28 Feb. 1767, and was buried in the chancel of St. John's Church, where is a marble monument to his memory, describing him as ‘a man of various and great learning.’ The statement that he translated the ‘Decameron’ is evidenced by the notes of his school friend, Dr. Samuel Pegge, in the College of Arms, who expressly mentions the fact.
[Pegge's Collections in the College of Arms, vol. vi.; Derbyshire Archæological Journal, vi. 11; Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vi. 4, 74, 122.]
S. O. A.