FIRST OF JUNE 



FISCHER 



First of June, BATTLE OF. 

 Fought on June 1, 1794, it was 



the first great naval action in the 



.*, -^-w-l War of the 



French Revo- 



"'" lution. France, 



though victori- 

 ous on land, 

 was in a situa- 

 tion little short 

 of desperate. It 

 was the epoch 

 of the Terror, 

 the harvest of 

 the previous 

 year had been 

 poor, and fam- 

 ine was threat- 



First of June 

 medal and ribbon 



ened. The British blockade was 

 crippling the avenues of supply. 

 The Committee of Public Safety had 

 endeavoured to relieve the situa- 

 tion by purchasing large supplies 

 of grain in the U.S.A., and a convoy 

 of 116 vessels was dispatched, 

 which approached the French coast 

 towards the end of May. Rear- 

 Admiral Nielly was sent out to 

 meet the convoy, which Lord Howe 

 was instructed to intercept. 



The main French fleet, under 

 command of Admiral Villaret- 

 Joyeuse, left Brest on May 16 to 

 cover the arrival of the great grain 

 convoy, and it was not until the 

 28th that Howe sighted his adver- 

 sary. A good deal of fighting pre- 

 ceded the great action, in which 

 Howe's fleet was shown to be the 

 superior fighting force. His plan 

 was to attack the enemy in line, 

 van to van, centre to centre, and 

 rear to rear, to break through the 

 opposing line, prevent retreat, and 

 fight to a finish on the lee side. 

 His ships were to pass through the 

 intervals in the French line, but the 

 approach was slow, and the order 

 could not be completely executed. 



The Bellerophon, Russell, Royal 

 Sovereign, and other ships attacked 

 to windward, and "several French 

 ships thus slipped or were driven 

 away. The Marlborough and 

 Queen Charlotte, the latter Howe's 

 flagship, broke through the line, 

 and delivered their broadsides with 

 shattering fire. Captain John 

 Harvey, in the Brunswick, en- 

 deavoured to drive through the 

 French line, but brave Captain 

 Renaudin, in the Vengeur, stopped 

 his way and the two ships were 

 locked together in a furious struggle 

 which has become famous, until the 

 Vengeur, swept and broken by fire, 

 went down with all her company. 



At every point the action was 

 fought with the utmost gallantry 

 and resolution on both sides. Six 

 prizes remained in English hands, 

 and the success, if not decisive, was 

 enough. For two years to follow 

 there was no great action at sea. 



The French, too, claimed a victory, 

 for their fleet, damaged as it was, 

 had not been destroyed, and their 

 convoy reached Brest in safety. 



John Leylancl 



First Republic. Name given in 

 France to the period from 1792 to 

 1804. On Sept. 21, 1792, the con- 

 vention declared the monarchy at 

 an end and the country a republic. 

 This lasted until May, 1804, when 

 Bonaparte was declared emperor. 

 See French Revolution ; Napoleon. 



Firth. Name given to the 

 narrow inlets or arms of the sea 

 found on the coasts of Scotland. 

 Most of them are estuaries or gulfs 

 into which rivers discharge them- 

 selves, e.g. firths of Clyde, Tay, 

 and Forth, but Pentland Firth is a 

 broad strait or channel. Firths are, 

 as a rule, valleys which have been 

 flooded by the sea owing to the 

 subsidence of the land. 



Firth, SIR ALGERNON FREEMAN 

 (b. 1856). British manufacturer. 

 Born Sept. 15, 1856, the eldest son 

 of Sir Thomas Freeman Firth, 

 Bart., he entered his father's busi- 

 ness, T. F. Firth & Sons, of Heck- 

 mondwike. In 1909 he became its 

 head, succeeding in the same year 

 to the baronetcy. Sir Algernon be- 

 came known as a spokesman of 

 business interests, specially during 

 1912-13, as president of the asso- 

 ciation of chambers of commerce. 



Firth, SIR CHARLES HARDING (b. 

 1857). British historian. Born in 

 Sheffield, March 16, 1857, he was 

 educated at Clifton and Balliol 

 College, Oxford. He devoted him- 

 self to historical work, became 

 fellow of All Souls College, 1901, 

 and was chosen in 1904 to succeed 

 York Powell as regius professor of 

 modern history at Oxford. He 

 edited Ludlow's Memoirs, 1894, The 

 Clarke Papers and The Memoirs of 

 Colonel Hutchinson ; wrote mono- 

 graphs on Cromwell, 1900 ; and 

 Cromwell's Army, 1902 ; and con- 

 tinued S. R. Gardiner's unfinished 

 history of the Commonwealth and 

 Protectorate. This work and his 

 contributions to The Dictionary of 

 National Biography have thrown 

 much light on the middle decades of 

 the 17th century. His other works 

 include Scotland and the Common- 

 wealth, 1895. He was knighted, 

 1922. 



Firth, MARK (1819-80). Brit 

 ish manufacturer. Born at Shef> 

 field, April 25, 1819, he was the son 

 cf an artisan in the steel industry. 

 In 1833 he began to follow the same 

 calling, and in 1843 his father, 

 brother, and himself together 

 opened a steel furnace. Mark was 

 the moving spirit of this enter- 

 prise, and soon made it one of the 

 largest concerns in Sheffield. The 

 Norfolk Works were built to cope 



with the increasing business, while 

 others were erected outside the city. 

 Firth died Nov. 28, 1880. Known 

 as a philanthropist, he built alms- 

 houses at Ranmoor, and founded 

 Firth College, the nucleus of the 

 university of Sheffield. 



Firuzkuh. Province of Persia. 

 It lies in the Elburz Mts., and i%s 

 chief town, of the same name, 

 is situated about 90 m. E. of 

 Teheran. Pop. 5,000. 



Fisc (Lat. fiscus, treasure chest). 

 Term used in England in the 

 Middle Ages for what is now the 

 treasury, the account into which 

 the public revenues are paid. 

 From it comes the more familiar 

 word fiscal. See Fiscus. 



Fischart, JOHANN (c. 1545-90). 

 German satirist. He was born in 

 Alsace, and studied at Worms. He 

 travelled in Holland, England, 

 France, and Italy, and studied law 

 in Strasbourg ; he had already pub- 

 lished some of his lampoons and 

 satires against the Jesuits and 

 others, and a free rendering of 

 Gargantua into German, 1575, 

 when he was appointed magistrate 

 at Forbach, near Saarbriicken, 

 1583. Under various pen names, 

 Fischart did good service to the 

 Lutheran movement. The best 

 known of his reprinted works is 

 the simple verse narrative Das 

 Gliickhafft Schiff von Zurich (The 

 Lucky Boat of Zurich), 1576. 



Fischer, JOHANN GEORG, VON 

 (1816-97). German poet and 

 dramatist. He was born, Oct. 25, 

 1816, at Gross-Svissen, Wiirttem- 

 berg. Having studied botany and 

 literature at Tubingen, he was in 

 1846 appointed professor at the 

 Stuttgart Oberrealschule. In 1854 

 he published his first volume of 

 poems, and in 1896 his last, Mit 

 Achtzig Jahren (In my eightieth 

 Year). He also published some 

 dramas, notably Saul, 1862 ; and 

 Kaiser Maximilian von Mexiko, 

 1868. His lyric poetry is charac- 

 terised by natural beauty and 

 exalted tone. He died at Stuttgart, 

 May 4, 1897. 



Fischer, KUNO (1824-1907). 

 German philosophical writer. Born 

 at Sandewalde, in Silesia, after 

 studying at Leipzig and Halle, 

 he became a tutor at Heidel- 

 berg, but owing to his advanced 

 ideas was compelled to discontinue 

 his lectures. For 16 years he was 

 professor at Jena, and in 1872 

 succeeded Zeller as professor of 

 philosophy at Heidelberg, where 

 he died. A modified Hegelian in 

 his views, he did much to popu- 

 larise Kant. His greatest work, 

 History of Modern Philosophy 

 (latest ed. 1897-1904), is distin- 

 guished by lucidity and brilliancy 

 of style and by wide knowledge. 



