F Sixth letter of the English 

 and Latin alphabets. Its 

 form is that of the old 

 Greek digamma, the double Gam- 

 ma, one f being superposed on 

 the other. It is a hard labial 

 (lip-sound), the corresponding soft 

 letter being V. Its ordinary sound 

 is as in fat. In the single word 

 of it is pronounced as v, but in 

 its compounds as hereof, thereof, it 

 commonly retains the hard sound. 

 In halfpenny both /and I are mute 

 (ha-peny ). In the plural, / is often 

 softened, as in loaf, loaves. The 

 sound of / is also represented by 

 ph in words derived from the 

 Greek, as in philosophy, phrase. 

 See Alphabet ; Phonetics. 



F. In music, the fourth note of 

 the natural scale of C. F is only a 

 semitone above E, instead of a 

 whole tone. F sharp is the first 

 sharp to appear in a key signature 

 key of G. See Key Signature ; 

 Pitch. 



F.A. Abbrev. for Football Asso- 

 ciation (q.v.). 



Faber, FREDERICK WILLIAM 

 (1814-63). British divine. Bora at 

 Calverley, Yorks, June 28, 1814, he 

 was educated 

 at Balliol Col- 

 lege, Oxford, 

 and became 

 rectorof Elton, 

 Huntingdon- 

 shire. In 1845 

 he seceded to 

 the Roman 

 Church, and 

 four years later 

 became su- 

 perior of the Oratory of S. Philip 

 Neri, now at Brompton. A popular 

 preacher, he is best known by his 



hymns, which include Sweet 

 Saviour, bless us ere we go, Hark, 

 Hark, my soul, and Souls of Men, 

 why will ye scatter ? He died at 

 Brompton, Sept. 26, 1863. 



Fabia. One of the oldest Roman 

 gentes or clans, probably of Sabine 

 origin. They appear to have been 

 originally priests, who took part 

 in the supervision of the festival 

 Lupercalia (q.v.). They were a 

 patrician clan, whose chief families 

 were those of Ambustus, Labeo, 

 Maximus, and Pictor. 



Fabian Society. English poli- 

 tical organization. Founded in 1884 

 to promote the principles of social- 

 ism, it was so called because its pro- 

 moters preferred the slow and sure 

 methods of the Roman general, 

 Fabius Maximus, to violence. It 

 has attracted the most intellectual 

 socialists, such as G. B. Shaw and 

 Sidney Webb, and exercised an in- 

 fluence greater than its numbers 

 alone would merit. It has sought to 

 influence public opinion by lectures 

 and writings, directed especially to 

 the more thoughtful part of the 

 population, and by taking an 

 active part in elections, especially 

 thosef or the government of London. 

 The society, which is officially con- 

 nected with the Labour Party, has 

 offices at 25, Tothill Street, West- 

 minster, S.W. Since 1912 it has 

 had a labour research depart- 

 ment, and the weekly New States- 

 man is closely connected with the 

 society. See Socialism. 



Fabius Maximus, QUINTUS (d. 

 203 B.C.). Roman general. He was 

 appointed, with dictatorial powers, 

 to the command of the Roman 

 forces after the defeat by the Carth- 

 aginians at Lake Trasimenus, 217 



B.C. By a series of delaying tactics 

 whence his surname, Cunctator 

 (the delayer) Fabius avoided 

 pitched battles with Hannibal, 

 wore down the offensive power of 

 the Carthaginians, and gave the 

 Romans time to reconsolidate 

 their forces. He thus paved the 

 way for Scipio's victories, which 

 ended the Second Punic War. 

 Fabian tactics have become pro- 

 verbial for a waiting and cautious 

 policy. 



Fabius Pictor, GAITTS. Painter 

 of a battle scene, the first recorded 

 Roman painting, on the walls of 

 the temple of Salus (Safety) in 

 ancient Rome (c. 302 B.C.). In the 

 reign of Claudius both temple and 

 picture were destroyed by fire. 



Fabius Pictor, QUINTUS (c. 225 

 B.C.). Earliest Roman historian. 

 His writings, which were in Greek, 

 are lost, with the exception of some 

 fragments, but he was one of the 

 authorities used by Livy, Diodorus 

 Siculus, and Polybius. A Latin 

 version was also in existence, 

 whether by himself or a later 

 writer is doubtful. 



Fable (Lat. fabula, story, nar- 

 rative). Short allegorical story in 

 which generally animals, trees, 

 etc., are endowed with speech and 

 human qualities, and by their 

 words and deeds are made to con- 

 vey moral lessons. Its invention is 

 frequently ascribed to Aesop (q.v.), 

 but many fables associated with 

 his name probably originated at a 

 much earlier date in India, where 

 they are known sometimes as the 

 fables of Bidpai or Pilpay, a tra- 

 ditional ancient Indian philoso- 

 pher, and sometimes as the work 

 of Buddha. Some of the fables 



