FALSTER FANDANGO. 



141 



lists, but overflowing with wit and good humour. He 

 is a soldier, but a cowardly boaster ; grown old in 

 sensual indulgences, which have made his body a 

 shapeless mass of obesity. Under this sluggish ex- 

 terior lurks a ready wit, dexterous in provoking and 

 full of resources for allaying the storm which it has 

 excited. The dramatic woriu cannot furnish his equal. 

 He is universally entertaining. His impudence and 

 selfish, sensual philosophy are allayed with such 

 exuberance of wit, that they make us laugh in spite of 

 the contempt and disgust which they excite. Falstaft* 

 is a bold personification of qualities and dispositions 

 which the world is continually presenting to us in 

 more or less breadth of relief, but yet requires a 

 good knowledge of English character to be fully re- 

 lished. 



FALSTER ; an island belonging to Denmark, 

 situated at the entrance of the Baltic, south of Zea- 

 land, from which it is separated only by a narrow 

 sea ; about sixty miles in circumference, elevated, 

 but flat, well watered and wooded, productive in 

 grain, pulse, potatoes, and, above all, fruit, so that 

 it is styled the orchard of Denmark. The principal 

 towns are Nyekioping and Stubbekioping. Lon. 12 

 E. ; lat. 54" 50' N. Population, 16,500; square 

 miles, 178. 



FALVA ; a word which accompanies several Hun- 

 garian geographical names, meaning village. 



FAMA ; the goddess of report or rumour. She 

 was the youngest daughter of the Earth, who re- 

 venged herself on the gods for the destruction of her 

 sons, the giants, by bringing forth this mischievous 

 goddess. Loquacious Fame divulges the deeds of 

 the gods, and spreads reports among men. She is 

 represented with wings ; with as many ears, eyes, 

 and tongues as feathers. She is said to fly through 

 the world in the night, and in the daytime, to look 

 tlown from high towers and roofs ; small at first, and 

 gradually increasing in her progress, &c. These are 

 the fictions of Virgil and Ovid. 



FAMAGUSTA ; a ruined seaport of Cyprus, on 

 the east coast, built on a rock. It is about two miles 

 in circumference, and is surrounded by strong walls, 

 in good condition, and of great thickness ; aJso by a 

 deep ditch. The number of citizens is said not to 

 exceed 200. 



FAMILIAR SPIRITS ; demons, or evil spirits 

 supposed to be continually within call, and at the 

 service of 'their masters, sometimes under an assumed 

 shape, sometimes attached to a magical ring, or 

 the like ; sometimes compelled by magic skill, and 

 sometimes doing voluntary service. We find traces 

 of this belief in all ages and countries, under various 

 forms. In Eastern stories, nothing is more common 

 than the mention of magic gems, rings, &c., to which 

 are attached genii, sometimes good, sometimes bad. 

 The fawn of Sertorius is a well known instance in 

 Roman history. But in modern Christian Europe, 

 the notion of familiar has been restricted to evil 

 spirits. Cornelius Agrippa is said, by Jovius, to 

 have been always accompanied by a devil, in the 

 shape of a black dog, which, on the death of his 

 master, plunged into the Saone, and was never seen 

 afterwards. Paracelsus was believed to carry about 

 a familiar in the hilt of his sword. 



FAN AR. See the next article. 



FANARIOTS or PHANARIOTS ; the inhabi- 

 tants of the Greek quarter, or Phanar (n pavaj/), in 

 Constantinople ; particularly the noble Greek families 

 resident there since the times of the Byzantine em- 

 perors. The dragoman, or interpreter of the Porte, 

 is taken from their number. From 1731 to 1822, 

 the Porte also chose from their number the hospod- 

 ars of Moldavia and Walachia. Till 1669, the oflfice 

 of dragoman had been filled by Jews and renegades. 



In that year, Mahomet IV., for the first time, em- 

 ployed & Greek, Panayotoki, as grand interpreter. 

 (See Ranke's Fursten und Folker, &c., vol. i., under 

 the division Diversion uber die Griechen.) The power 

 of the influential Fanariots, soon increased so much 

 that, after the cruel death of the last native hospodar 

 of Walachia, Bassaraba Brancareo, in 1731, a Greek, 

 Mayrocordatos, was appointed to succeed him. A 

 Greek physician, Marco Zalloni, who was chief phy- 

 sician to the grand vizier, Yussuf Pacha, and was 

 afterwards in 'Bucharest with the last Greek hos- 

 podar, discloses, in his Essai sur lea Fanariotes (Mar- 

 seilles, 1824), the intrigues of those Fanariot upstarts, 

 their exactions, which they shared with the Boyards, 

 and the artifices and bribery by which they contrived 

 to keep their station so long, imposing on the ignor- 

 ant Turks for their own private interest. In the in- 

 surrection of the Greeks in 1821, the Fanariots used 

 no influence, or, if they did, it was an influence in- 

 jurious to their countrymen. Von Hammer, in his 

 work on Constantinople and the Bosphorus, mention a 

 the degeneracy of the Fanariots. 



FANDANGO, EL ; an old Spanish dance, which 

 originated most probably in Andalusia, a province of 

 the south of Spain. Foreigners are very much as- 

 tonished and not less offended, when they see this 

 dance for the first time ; however, few fail to become 

 reconciled to it. It proceeds gradually from a slow 

 and uniform to the most lively, but never violent 

 motion. It is said, that the court of Rome, scandal- 

 ized that a country renowned for its faith should not 

 have long before proscribed such a profane dance, 

 resolved to pronounce a formal condemnation of it. 

 A commission was appointed to examine into the 

 matter, and the fandango was prosecuted in forma. 

 The sentence was about to be pronounced, when one 

 of the judges observed, that a criminal could not be 

 condemned without being heard. A couple of Span- 

 iards were brought before the assembly, and, at the 

 sound of proper instruments, displayed all the graces 

 of the fandango. The judges were so much excited 

 that their severity abandoned them ; their austere 

 countenances began to relax ; they rose, and their 

 arms and legs found their former suppleness. The 

 hall of the grave fathers was thus changed into a 

 dancing-room, and the fandango was acquitted. 



The fandango is seldom danced but at the theatre, 

 and in the parties of the lower classes. In these 

 cases, as well as when this dance is performed in 

 private balls of the higher classes, which seldom 

 occurs, the intention is no more than lightly marked; 

 but sometimes a few persons assemble in a private 

 house, and dance the fandango in all its genuine in- 

 delicacy. All scruples are shaken off. As soon as 

 the dance commences, the meaning is so marked, 

 that nobody can doubt of the tendency of the motions 

 of the dancers. The fandango is danced by two 

 persons only, who never touch so much as each other's 

 hands; by their reciprocal allurements, retreats, 

 approaches, and varied movements, by turns pursuing 

 and pursued, their looks, attitudes, and whole expres- 

 sion are indicative of voluptuousness. 



The etymology of the word fandango is not kno - n, 

 though many plausible derivations have been sug- 

 gested. 



The seguidillas is another kind of dance peculiar 

 to the Spaniards. The seguidillas manchegas is the 

 name by which this dance is generally known. It is 

 danced by two or four couples, and in some respects 

 resembles the fandango, though it is a perfectly 

 decent dance. 



The bolero is another species of fandango; its 

 motions and steps very slow and sedate, but growing 

 rather more lively towards the end. In all these 

 dances, the time is beat by castanets, (castanuelas). 



