FAHQUHAH, GEOIldK. 



FATIMIDF.S. 



which comprised nearly on* half of the province called Patrimonio 

 di San Pietro, he bestowed on Tier Luigi and his descendant*, with 

 the title of Duke of Castro, u a gnat fief of the Holy See. He also 

 obtained for him from Charles V. the investiture of the Marquisate of 

 Koran u an imperial fief, and from the Venetian Senate permUsion 

 to be inacribed on the golden book of the patricians of Venice, an 

 honour considered as equal, if not superior, to that of a feudal title. 

 The pope aUo made hu ion Oonfaloniere, or Captain General of the 

 Holy See, an office which Pier Luigi dishonoured by the most 

 dcpnvcd conduct. Lastly, Paul III. in 1545 gave his son the investi- 

 ture of Parma and Piaoenxa, which Pope Julius IL had conquered, 

 with the title of sovereign duke of those states, on condition that 

 the duke and hii foeccwon thould pay an annual sum of 8000 ducats 

 to the Roman See. The emperor Charles V. however, who, as Duke 

 of Milan, bad claims on Parma and Piacenz*, would not bestow the 

 investiture upon Pier Luigi The new Duke of Parma and Piacenza 

 soon became hateful to his subjects for his vices and oppression, and 

 conspiracy was formed by Count Anguiisola and other noblemen, 

 aecn-tly countenanced by Don Ferrante Qonzago, imperial governor 

 of Milan, who hated Pier Luigi. On the morning of the 10th of 

 Sej t-mbir 1547, Anguiseola stabbed the duke while at dinner in the 

 ducal palace of Piacenza, and throw his body out of the window, 

 when it was mutilated and dragged about by the mob. Piacenza 

 was taken possession of by the imperial troops, but Parma remained 

 in possession of Uttavio Farnese, son of the murdered duke. In 

 1550, Philip II., as sovereign of the Milanese, restored Piacenza to 

 the Duke OtUvio, but the citadel continued to be garrisoned by 

 Spanish soldiers. OtUvio dying in 1587, was succeeded as Duke of 

 Parma and Piacenza by bis son Aleasandro Farnese, who distinguished 

 Mm. .if u general of the Spanish armies in the wars against France. 

 He was made governor of the Spanish Netherlands by Philip II., and 

 carried on the war against the Prince of Orange. He is known in 

 history by the name of the Duke of Parma, Aleasandro died in 

 1592, and was succeeded by Ranuccio Farnese, a suspicious and cruel 

 prince. A conspiracy was hatched againit him at Home, but it being 

 discovered, a number of people were put to death in 1612. His 

 ir, Odoardo Farnese, quarrelled with Pope Urban VIII. about 



the Duchy of Castro, which that pope wished to take away from him 

 to give it to hu own nephews, the Barberini. This gave rise to on 

 absurd and tedious warfare between the papal troops and those of 

 Parma. Ultimately, through the mediation of other princes, the 

 Farnete were left in possession of Castro, but under the following 

 pontificate of Innocent X. they were finally deprived of that territory 

 in 1 650, and the pope razed the town of Castro to the ground, under 

 the pretence of iU bishop having been murdered by some assassins. 

 This occurred under Ranuccio II, Farnese, duke of Parma, who hod 

 succeeded Odoardo. The Farnese continued to rule over I'anaa and 

 Piacenza till 1781, when the last duke, Antonio Farnese, having died 

 without Usue, the male line of the Famese became extinct But 

 Elizabeth Farnese, wife of Philip V. of Spain, claiming the duchy for 

 her children, it was ultimately given, by tbe peace of Aix-la Chapellc, 

 to her younger son Don Filippo. The other fiefs however, and the 

 personal property of the Farnese, including the rich museum and the 

 splendid palaces at Rome, were given to hU brother, Don Carlos, 

 king of the two Sicilies, and some of the finest statues and paintings 

 in the museum of Naples are derived from that inheritance. The 

 Famese palace at Rome, which belongs to the King of Naples, U 

 considered the finest among the numerous palaces of that city. The 

 Fame>ina or smaller mansion on the opposite or right bank of the 

 Tiber is known for the beautiful frescoes of Kaflacle. The Orti 

 Farneauni occupy a great part of the Palatine, and include some 

 remains of the palace of the Cassan. 



Among the various families which have owed their aggrandisement 

 entirely to a papal ancestor, the Farnese attained the highest rank 

 among Italian princes, and retained it the longest. It has produced 

 several cardinals, dutingnished for their learning. 



(Ciaccouius, Vtta et Gttta ntmMorum Pontijicum et Cardinalium ; 

 Moreri, Dictionary, article 'Farnese;' Affo, Vita di Pier Luigi 

 Pmmat, and the Italian historians of the 16th century.) 



FAKO.UHAR, OKOUUK, was born at Londonderry in 1678, and 

 received his education at tbe University of Dublin. Though he 

 displayed talent* at an early age he did not take any degree, but 

 forsook his severer studies for the stage, and appeared at the Dublin 

 theatre. He never however made any great figure as an actor, and 

 having bad the misfortune to wound a brother comedian with a real 

 sword, which be mistook for a foil, he forsook the stage, being at 

 that time only seventeen yean of age. He accompanied the actor 

 Wilks to London, and attracted tbe notice of the Earl of Orrery, who 

 gave him a commission in hU own regiment, which was then in 



Wilks exhorted him to try bis powers as a dramatist. Accordingly 

 IB IMS he produced bis comedy of ' Love and a Bottle,' which was 

 so successful as to encourage him to another effort. HU ' Constant 

 Couple,' which appeared two yean afterwards, was played fifty-three 

 ights hi the Ant season, and was the cause of the favourable 

 reorptloa of a venr indifferent sequel which be wrote under tbe title 

 of 'Sir Harry WlWtV In 1703 he produced a venion of Beaumont 

 sod Fletcher's 'Wild-goose Chase,' under the name of the 'Incon- 



stant,' which long continued to be occasionally played ut the London 

 theatres. He was married in the same year, and getting 

 difficulties was forced to sell his commission; other mortifications 

 and disappointments ensued, and he became so deeply affected that 

 lie fell into a decline, and died in 1707. During his last illness be 

 wrote his celebrated ' Beaux Stratagem.' 



The appearance of Farquhar's comedies may be regarded as au 

 important epoch in tbe history of the Kngliah drama. He wax the 

 first of his period to write in on easy flowing style, equally removed 

 from the pedantic stiffness of Congrevc and the formal viciobsurps of 

 the Etherege school, and he also attended more to character than 

 most writers of the day. Immoral and licentious as his plays may 

 appear to readers of the present day, those who arc conversant with 

 writings of that time must acknowledge them to be considerably 

 more pure than those of his contemporaries, if we except his fir.it 

 piece ' Love and a Bottle.' It is singular enough that the critics 

 regarded as Farquhar's chef d'ceuvre a serious comedy called the 

 ' Twin Rivals,' which bos now sunk entirely into oblivion, or at best 

 is only remembered by readers of the old English drama as containing 

 a masterly though disgusting portrait under tho name of 'Mother 

 Midnight. A neat edition of hia works was published in 1736. 



FARRANT, RICHARD, one of the fathers of English chtir.-h. 

 mnsic, was born in the early port of the lth century. He was a 

 gentleman of tbe chapel-royal in 1564, and subsequently organist and 

 master of the choristers of St George's chapel, Windsor. He is sup- 

 posed to have died about 15S5. So long as solemn harmony of thu 

 purest and finest kind shall find admirers, BO long will his service in 

 G minor, and more especially his two anthems, " Hide not thou thy 

 face," and "Call to remembrance," be productive of the moist 

 delightful emotions that can arise out of a love of art combined with 

 religious feeling. 



FATIMIDES, the name of a race of kings, who assumed tho title 

 of kalifs, and reigned for many years over the north of Africa and 

 Egypt. They obtained the name from the pretensions of tho founder 

 of the dynasty, Abu Mohammed Obeidallah, who asserted that ho 

 was descended from Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed and wife 

 of AIL The Arabic historians however generally deny the truth of 

 this assertion ; and many of them say that bis grandfather was a Jew 

 or of tbe Magian religion. The princes of this family were also 

 the Aliades, in consequence of their descent, real or pretended, from 

 All. 



1. OBEIDALLAH, tho first Fatimide kalif, was born A.D. 8S2. Having 

 incurred the displeasure of Moktafi, the reigning Abaaside kalif, he was 

 obliged to wander through various parts of Africa, till through fortunate 

 circumstances ho was raised in 910 from a dungeou in Segelmcssa to 

 sovereign power. Ho assumed the title of Mahadi, or " director of thu 

 faithful," according to a prophecy of Mohammed's that in tbe space 

 of 300 years such an individual would arise in the west. He subdued 

 the princes in the north of Africa, who had become independent of 

 tho Abassides, and established his authority from the Atlantic to the 

 borders of Egypt He founded Mahadi on the sito of tho ancient 

 Aphrodisium, a town on the coast of Africa, about a hundred miles 

 south of Tunis, and made it his capital. Ho became tbe author of a 

 great schism among the Mohammedans by disowning the authority 

 of the Abassides, and assuming the title of Emir al Munienin, 

 " prince of the faithful," which belonged exclusively to the kalifs. 

 HU fleets ravaged the coasts of Italy and Sicily, and his armies 

 frequently invaded Egypt, but without any permanent success. 



2. CAIEII succeeded bis father in '.'. During bis reign an 

 impostor, Abu Yezid, originally an Ethiopian slave, advanced certain 

 peculiar doctrines in religion, which he was enabled to propagate ov< r 

 the wh'jle of the north of Africa, and was so successful in his military 

 expeditions as to deprive Caiem of all hu dominions, and confine him 

 to his capital, Mahadi, which he was besieging when Caiem died. 



3. MANSOL-B succeeded his father in 916, when tbe kingdom was in 

 a state of the greatest confusion. By his valour and prudence he 

 regained the greater port of tbe dominions of his grandfather 

 dallah, defeated the usurper Yezid, and laid the foundation of that 

 power which enabled hu son Moez to conquer l-^-ypt. 



4. MOKZ (955) was the most powerful of the Fatimido kalif*. !' 

 was successful in a naval war with Spain, and took the island of 

 .Sicily ; but his uiost celebrated conquest was that of Egypt, which 

 was subdued by his lieutenant in 972. Two yean afterwards he 

 removed hu court to Egypt, and founded Cairo. Tho name of the 

 Abatside kalif was omitted in the public prayers, and his own substi- 

 tuted in its place; from which time the grout schism of the 

 Fatimide and Abaoside kalifs is more frequently dated than from tbo 

 assumption of the title by Obeidallah. The armies of Moez conquered 

 tho whole of Palestine and Syria as Car as Damascus. Hia virtues are 

 highly extolled by the Arabic historians. 



6. Aziz (978). The dominions recently acquired by Moez were 

 secured to the Fatimide kalif* by tbe wise government of his son 

 Axis, who took several towns in Syria, He married a Christian woman, 

 whose brothers he made patriarchs of Alexandria and Jerusalem. 



6. HAKKU was only eleven yean of age when he succeeded hi> 

 father in 996. He is distinguished even among oriental despots by 

 his cruelty and folly. HU tyranny caused frequent insurrections in 

 Cairo. He persecuted the Jews and Christians, and burnt their 



