C6) 



FOSCARINI, MARCO. 



FOSCOLO, UGO. 



' British Monachism.' That work, the full title of which ia ' British 

 Monachism, or Manners and Customs of the Monks and Nuns of 

 England,' first appeared in 2 vola. 8vo in 1802 ; a second edition, much 

 enlarged, was published in 1 vol. 4to in 1817 ; and after the author's 

 death a third edition in 1 vol. 8vo, was brought out under the care of 

 his son, the Rev. Tate Fosbroke, vicar of St. Ives; London, 1843. In 

 1807 Mr. Fosbroke published by subscription two volumes 4to of 

 ' Abstracts of Records and MSS. respecting the County of Gloucester," 

 forming a contribution of raw materials for a county history. Soon 

 after his removal to Walford, in 1810, he is said, in the ' Memoir" 

 published by his family, to have illustrated the unpublished statues in 

 Mr. Hope's collection ; but what may be the precise meaning of that 

 we do not know. About this time he was much incommoded by the 

 bankruptcy of Sir Richard Phillips, the publisher, for whom he had 

 made considerable progress in compiling a work to be entitled an 

 Archaeological Dictionary. In 1814 he published ' A Key to the New 

 Testament, or Whitby's Commentary abridged; ' in 1819, 'An Original 

 History of the City of Gloucester,' 8vo ; in 1820, ' The Wye Tour," 

 8vo, several times reprinted; in 1821, ' Arieonensia, or Archaeological 

 Sketches of Ross and Archenfield,' 8vo; and in 1821, 'Abstracts and 

 Extract* of Smyth's (MS.) Lives of the Berkeleys." His principal 

 work, ' The Encyclopaedia of Antiquities, and Elements of Archaeology," 

 came out by subscription, in 2 vols. 4 to in 1824 ; and a second edition, 

 in 1 voL K vo, appeared ia 1840. It was followed by a 'Picturesque 

 and Topographical Account of Cheltenham and its Vicinity," 8vo, 182ti ; 

 ' The Tourist's Grammar,' 12mo, the same year; and 'Foreign Topo- 

 graphy, or an Encyclopaediac Account, alphabetically arranged, of the 

 Ancient Remains i-i Asia, Africa, and Europe, forming a sequel to the 

 Encyclopaedia of Antiquities," 4to, 1828. His narrow circumstances 

 were somewhat relieved by his being elected, in 1827, an honorary 

 associate of the Royal Society of Literature, which brought him an 

 allowance of 1002. a year till the royal bounty was withdrawn from 

 the society in 1831. Besides the above works he contributed some 

 papers on English history to the volumes of the ' Transactions of the 

 Society of Literature ; ' was a regular correspondent of the ' Gentle- 

 man's Magazine ' for several years previous to the termination of the 

 original series of that work in 1834 ; and wrote three or four minor 

 works. 



Mr. Fosbroke possessed a considerable knowledge of English anti- 

 quities, and also of general archaeology, in the study of which 

 departments of inquiry he had spent his life ; and his ' Encyclopaedia 

 of Antiquities ' and 'British Monachism' are convenient books, though 

 rather of reference than of authority. He had no accurate learning, 

 and his judgment and acuteness were about on a level with his 

 scholarship. All his books are rather popular compilations than 

 anything higher. 



Mr. Fosbroke married in 1796 Miss Howel of Horsley, by whom 

 he had four sons and six daughters. Seven of his ten children 

 survived him. 



(Autobiographical sketch prefixed to 4 to ed. of his Enc. of Antiquities, 

 1824; memoir prefixed to Brit. Monachixm, ed. 1843; and Gentleman' t 

 Hag., Feb. 1842.) 



FOSCARI'NI, MARCO, was born in 1698, of an old patrician family 

 of Venice, which has produced many distinguished men. He studied 

 at Bologna, after which he was employed in various official situations 

 in the service of his country. In 1733 he was sent ambassador to the 

 Emperor Charles VI. He remained at Vienna for several years, and 

 he had the arduous task of maintaining the neutrality of Venice during 

 the war of 1733-35 between the French and the Austrians, on the 

 occasion of the Polish succession. He there wrote an interesting 

 account of tho court of Vienna, its politics, and its administration, 

 especially of its Italian dominions, in which he pointed out the latent 

 causes of the sudden reverses which the Austrians experienced in that 

 campaign, and by which they lost the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily. 

 This work remained inedited until 1843, when it was published by 

 J. P. Vieusseux at Florence, ' Storia Arcana ed altri Scritti inediti di 

 Marco Foscarini,' 1 vol. 8vo, forming part of a series of inedited or 

 rare Italian historical works, entitled ' Archivio Storico Italiano,' 

 published under the superintendence of a society of learned men in 

 Tuscany. One of the merits of Foscarini as an historian ia his 

 conscientiousness and love of truth. 



After Ins return from Vienna, Foscarini was sent ambassador to 

 Rome, and afterwards to Turin, where he supported the principle of 

 neutrality adopted by the Venetian senate during the war of the 

 Austrian succession. In his various embassies he compiled, according 

 to the custom of the Venetian diplomatists, well-digested ' relazioni," 

 or report*, not only of his personal transactions with foreign statesmen, 

 but also what he had observed and learnt concerning the political 

 principles and views of the various courts of Europe. And whilst he 

 adhered, according to his instructions, to the system of strict neutrality 

 cherished by the Venetian senate, he warned his employers of the 

 necessity of being prepared for all contingencies amidst the change 

 that was taking place in the relative position of the great powers of 

 Europe a warning which, had it been attended to, might have saved 

 Venice half a century later. 



On hi* return from his Turin embassy he was appointed Riformatore 

 dello Studio di Padova, or superintendent of that university, in which 

 he effected useful reforms and improvements. About this time ho 



delivered in the Great Council of Venice au oration, in recommendation 

 of the revival of an ancient custom of sending from time to time extra- 

 ordinary inspectors into the province of Dalmatia for the purpose of 

 discovering and correcting the abuses that had crept into the adminis- 

 tration of that important but long-neglected country : and this motion 

 was carried. His oration was published long after his death at Venice 

 in 1831, with illustrations by Cicogna, 'Delia Neeessith, di spedire 

 Inquisitor! di Stato in Dalmazia, Orazione inedita di Marco Foscarini.' 

 In 1752 he published the first volume of his history of Venetian 

 literature, ' Delia Litteratura Veueziana libri otto, di Marco Foscarini, 

 Cavaliere e Procuratore, volume prirno,' fol., Padova, 1752. This work, 

 which was considered to be a model of literary history, established tho 

 reputation of Foseariui as an author. The style of the work is concise 

 and dignified, and the authorities are carefully quoted and discussed 

 in copious notes. Moschini published a sort of continuation of the 

 work in his ' Delia Litteratura Veneziana del Secolo XVIII.' 



In May 1762 Foscarini was elected doge, but his tenure of that 

 dignity was short, for he died in the following March, 1763, generally 

 regretted. He was one of the last distinguished statesmen of Venice. 

 He left a rich and very select library of books and manuscripts, which 

 was sold after the fall of Venice in 1799. The Emperor of Austria 

 purchased the collection of manuscripts for 10,800 livres, and they are 

 now in the imperial library at Vienna. A catalogue of the historical 

 part of the collection, consisting of nearly 400 manuscripts, which 

 were among the materials by the aid of which Foscarini compiled his 

 history of Venetian literature, is given at tho end of the ' Storia 

 Arcana' noticed above, together with two letters of Foscarini, ' On the 

 Manner of Writing History.' 



Besides the works mentioned in the course of this article, several 

 minor productions of Foscarini have been printed, such as an oration 

 delivered in the Great Council in support of the institution of the 

 Council of Ten ; bis report of his Turin embassy, which gives much 

 valuable information concerning the Sardinian monarchy, and which 

 was published in the first volume of the ' Mercurio Italioo ' in London, 

 and was republished with comments by Cibrario in 1830; a 'Discorso 

 sulla Necessita della Storia e della Facolta del ben Dire per gli Uomini 

 di Republica,' published at Venice in 1819; and another, 'Intorno ai 

 metodi e alia forma della Veneta Republica.' A number of Foscarini's 

 writings remain iuedited in the library Del Seminario at Venice, in 

 the library of St. Mark, and in his own collection now at Vienna. 

 Ludovico Arnaldi and others wrote biographical notices of Foscarini 

 at the time of his death ; and Professor Sibiliato, of Padua, wrote an 

 oration, ' Intorno all' Eloquenza del Foscarini.' 



(Tipaldo, Bioyrafia degU Italiani Illustri del Secolo XVIII.; Preface 

 to the Storia A rcana of Foscarini.) 



FOSCHI'NI, ANTONIO, born June 16, 1741, at Corfu, was the 

 son of Ferrarese parents, and always called himself a native of Ferrara, 

 because he had been brought up from his infancy in that city. Hia 

 first professional studies was directed by his father chiefly towards 

 engineering and hydraulics, but his own taste pointed out archi- 

 tecture as a more congenial pursuit, and to that he applied himself 

 with the utmost diligence. Appointed to the professorship of archi- 

 tecture when Clement XIV. endeavoured to restore the University of 

 Ferrara to its former splendour, Foschini laboured to impress upon 

 the students the importance of attending to those fundamental princi- 

 ples which had been more or less disregarded or lost sight of, through 

 aiming at superficial novelty without any freshness of invention for 

 its basis. Yet greatly as his reputation increased, it did not shield 

 him from the intrigues of enemies, who succeeded in at length dis- 

 possessing him of his office. He was afterwards nominated, in 1804, 

 to a similar professorship in the university of Pavia, but declined to 

 accept it. In like manner he refused the overtures made to him both 

 from Vienna and Home : his attachment to Ferrara, joined to his 

 indifference for wealth, prevailing over all other considerations. He 

 remained at Ferrara till his death, December 14, 1803. 



The principal building executed by him was the theatre at Ferrara, 

 reputed one of the most spacious, well-arranged, and elegant structures 

 of its kind in Italy. It should be observed however that it is said 

 to have been originally begun by Cosimo Morelli [MOBELLI], Foschini 

 afterwards improving upon his designs. What would have added both 

 to his own renown and that of Ferrara, was Foschini's design for com- 

 pleting the great tower of the Duomo, which, had it been executed, 

 would have rendered the tower one of the loftiest in Europe, but the 

 want of adequate funds caused the project to be laid aside. Unfor- 

 tunately, too, neither that nor any other of the numerous designs or 

 manuscript treatises on architecture which he left at his death, has 

 been published. The fame of the theatre of Ferrara is said to have 

 brought him commissions for designs for others from Vienna, Verona, 

 and Ancona ; the only other theatre known to have been executed 

 from his designs, is one at Lendinara. The great hospital at Com- 

 machio is another edifice by him ; and shortly before his death he 

 was engaged in preparing designs for a basilica at Bandeuo, in the 

 territory of Ferrara. 



FO'SCOLO, UGO, was born at Zante about the year 1777, of a 

 Venetian family settled in the Ionian Islands. When yet a boy he 

 lost his father, who was a physician and inspector of the hospitals at 

 Spalatro in Dalmatia, and he returned with his mother to Venice, 

 from whence he was sent to study at Padua. Having left that uni- 



