FORTROSE 



3267 



FORTUNE-TELLING 



should be sufficiently distant to 



Kre vent the enemy from bom- 

 arding the defensive point, 

 which becomes essentially a mili- 

 tary camp. The forts themselves 

 should be constructed of reinforced 

 concrete not less than 12 ft. thick, 

 and the surrounding ground con- 

 structed as glacis so that an 

 infantry attack will find no cover in 

 the immediate vicinity. Search- 

 lights form an essential part of 

 the equipment, and only light 

 guns are mounted in the forts, the 

 heavier armament being in masked 

 batteries some distance away. The 

 general arrangement should be 

 such that if one fort in the girdle 

 is taken the neighbouring ones 

 can sweep the intervening ground, 

 and prepared infantry positions 

 should be arranged between the 

 forts. An enceinte nearer the 

 central position is desirable, but it 

 cannot be regarded as a line of 

 resistance, but in the event of a 

 break through may delay the 

 enemy whilst the centre is evacu 

 ated. See Castle. 



Fortrose. Royal, mun. and sea 

 port town of Ross and Cromarty, 

 Scotland. It stands on the Moray 

 Firth, 9 m. N.E. of Inverness, on 

 a branch of the Highland Rly. 

 There is a good harbour, and the 

 fine scenery, bathing facilities, and 

 golf links attract many visitors. 

 Fortrosewasf onnerly the seat of the 

 bishops of Ross, but the episcopal 

 palace and cathedral were de- 

 stroyed by Cromwell, who built his 

 fort at Inverness with the stones. 

 There is ferry communication across 

 the firth with Fort George. Market 

 day, Friday. Pop. 976. 



Fort Rosebery. Settlement of 

 N. Rhodesia. It is situated about 

 45 m. W. of Lake Bangweulu. A 

 former settlement of this name was 

 on the Luapula river, about 60 m. 

 N.W. of the new township and 

 50 m. N. of the Johnston Falls, in 

 the S.E. of the Belgian Congo. 



Fort Royal. Former name of 

 the town of Martinique, French W. 

 Indies, now known as Fort-de- 

 France (q.v.). 



Fort St. David. Ruined fort of 

 Madras, India, in the S. Arcot 

 district. It is on the Coromandel 

 coast, less than 2 m. E. of Cudda- 

 lore New Town. At one time the 

 site of Dutch and French settle- 

 ments, the fort was bought by the 

 English in 1690, together with the 

 land within the radius of a " ran- 

 dome shott of a great gun." The 

 gun was actually fired, the shot 

 indicating the extent of the 

 boundaries. The name is supposed 

 to have been given to the fort by a 

 Welsh governor. The fort was 

 captured by the French in 1758, 

 who demolished the fortifications, 



but, after changing hands again 

 twice, it was finally restored to the 

 English in 1785. 



Fort Smith. City of Arkansas, 

 U.S.A., one of the co. seats of 

 Sebastian co. It stands on a great 

 bend of the Arkansas river where 

 it forms the W. frontier of the 

 state, and is served by the St. 

 Louis and San Francisco and other 

 rlys. It contains a fine court house, 

 a public school and other educa- 

 tional establishments, and a public 

 library. Standing in an agricul- 

 tural, coal, and natural gas region, 

 it is a trading centre for coal, 

 cotton, livestock, and corn, and 

 manufactures furniture, cotton 

 goods, bricks, refrigerators, and 

 lumber products. Settled in 1838, 

 it was incorporated in 1842 and 

 became a city in 1 886. Pop. 29,390. 



Fort Sumter. Fort in S. Caro- 

 lina. U.S. A It stands on an island 



print in a German form in 1509. 

 Fortunatus is possessor of an inex- 

 haustible purse, a wishing cap, and 

 other marvels in different variants 

 of the tale. The moral goes to 

 show the little value to be put upon 

 material treasures. The story was 

 dramatised in Germany by Hans 

 Sachs, 1553, and in England by 

 T. Dekker, 1600. One named For- 

 tunatua succoured the Apostle Paul. 

 Fortunes of Nigel, THE. Fif- 

 teenth of the Waverley novels, 

 published in May, 1822. In it Sir 

 Walter Scott followed his masterly 

 portraits of Mary Stuart and Eliza- 

 beth Tudor with an equally bril- 

 liant character- study of James I, 

 and supplied vivid pictures of early 

 17th century London, from Alsatia 

 to the Court. Nigel Olifaunt, Lord 

 Glenvarloch, the young Scottish 

 nobleman who comes south to 

 petition the king ; his devoted ser- 



Fort Sumter. 



The island fortress at the entrance to Charleston Harbour, the 

 scene of fighting in the American Civil War 



at the entrance to Charleston 

 harbour, 3 m. S.E. of Charleston. 

 It was bombarded by the Con- 

 federates, April 12, 1861, and sur- 

 rendered the following day, the 

 action immediately leading to the 

 opening of the Civil War. In April, 

 1863, it was violently bombarded 

 by the Federal fleet and rendered 

 practically untenable. 



Fortuna. In Roman mythology, 

 the goddess of chance or good luck. 

 There were several temples in 

 Rome erected in her honour, but 

 the most famous seats of her 

 worship were Antium and Praen- 

 este. She is sometimes called Fors 

 Fortuna. In art she is represented 

 with a rudder as symbol of her guid- 

 ance of things, also with a cornu- 

 copia as a symbol of the prosperity 

 she brought to mankind. 



Fortunate Isles. Alternative 

 name for the Islands of the Blessed, 

 or the Elysian Fields, of early Greek 

 mythology. They were supposed 

 to be at the edge of the earth, and 

 were vaguely spoken of as beyond 

 the Pillars of Hercules, i.e. the 

 Straits of Gibraltar. It has been 

 generally accepted that the Canary 

 Isles are the Fortunate Isles of the 

 ancients. Ben Jonson produced a 

 masque entitled The Fortunate 

 Isles in 1626. See Elysium. 



Fortunatus. Character of a 

 folk-tale found among many differ- 

 ent races. It first appeared in 



vitor, Richie Moniplies ; the pro- 

 fligate Lord Delgarno ; the crabbed 

 old courtier Sir Mungo Malagrow- 

 ther ; " Jingling Geordie " Heriot, 

 the wealthy goldsmith ; Margaret 

 Ramsay, the modest but coura- 

 geous heroine, and the unhappy 

 ship-chandler, John Christie, are 

 memorable characters in the work. 



Fortune-telling. Revelation 

 by non-rational processes of what is 

 to befall a person in the future. As 

 one of the principal aims of divina- 

 tion it is traceable from its first 

 recorded manifestations in ancient 

 Babylonia into early China and 

 India. Thence it was brought 

 across medieval Europe by the 

 gypsies, who are recorded by Pepys 

 to have practised the art at Lam- 

 beth under society patronage in 

 1688. As a modern superstitious 

 survival it is associated with 

 palmistry, astrology, crystal-gaz- 

 ing, lot- casting by cards or other- 

 wise, and subjective processes. 



The alien origin of fortune- 

 telling in Britain is confirmed by 

 the fact that it is not a common- 

 law offence. Its punishment as a 

 form of witchcraft by death, under 

 a statute of 1563, was reduced by 

 the Witchcraft Act, 1735 ? to im- 

 prisonment for one year and the 

 pillory. Under the Vagrancy Act, 

 1824, any person who undertakes 

 to tell fortunes, or uses any subtle 

 craft, means or device, by palmistry 



