FORT-ROYAL FOSCOLO. 



239 



basis for various operations ; as a support for military 

 positions ; as a resting place for pursued or beaten 

 forces, or a rallying point for such as would recover 

 breath, or gather, reinforce, and rest, preparatory to 

 fresh enterprises ; consequently as an arsenal, maga- 

 zine, &c. A fortress which lies out of the way of 

 invasion, and, consequently, can be passed by with 

 ease, and which, moreover, is small, and an object of 

 little consideration with any enemy, answers no good 

 end, can delay an invasion but very little, and does 

 more harm than good, be it ever so strong, since, 

 without rendering any essential service, it keeps a 

 detachment of troops, as its garrison, in a state of 

 inactivity, and is very expensive. Considerable bene- 

 fit has been expected from a chain of fortresses, the 

 constituent parts of which should mutually assist each 

 other, and bring an enemy, attempting to pass them, 

 between two fires. But to make this scheme feasible, 

 the forts must have active commanders, able to con- 

 duct sallies with skill, and indefatigable troops; and 

 the enemy must be imprudent enough not to concen- 

 trate all his forces in an attempt to burst through the 

 chain at some one point. The experience of the 

 years 1814 and 1815 has shown that these expected 

 advantages did not exist, although several remarkable 

 instances proved that the event might have been in 

 favour of the scheme, under other circumstances. 

 Scientifically considered, the site of the place is of 

 especial importance in the construction of a fortress. 

 It should be such as to afford facilities of obstructing 

 an enemy's approach ; such as will admit of suitable 

 and scientific works without too great expense ; such 

 as will command a complete view of every point 

 within gun-shot, and, at the same time, be commanded 

 by no point within that compass. Lastly, a fortress 

 must be so situated as not to be unhealthy, and to be 

 as little as possible liable to be cut off; that is, its 

 position near the sea or some river should be such as 

 to render it practicable and convenient at any time 

 to receive supplies, and maintain a connexion with 

 troops in the field. The strength of a fortress does 

 not consist in its magnitude. On the contrary, exten- 

 sive, populous places are difficult to maintain, as they 

 require numerous garrisons, and large quantities of 

 ammunition and provisions, and uncommon watchful- 

 ness and activity in the commander. The accuracy 

 and ingenuity of contrivance of numerous and scien- 

 tific works do not necessarily contribute to make a 

 fortress the more tenable. They are even, in many 

 cases, injurious. It is not the numbers of a garrison 

 that gives strength to a fortress. It is much better 

 to have a well proportioned force ; otherwise the 

 defenders are in each other's way, consume the stores, 

 and are deprived of their proper efficiency and use- 

 fulness in action. 



FORT-ROYAL ; the capital of Martinique, and 

 the residence of the governor, situated on the northern 

 shore of the bay of Cul- de-Sac-Royal ; lat. 14 35' 

 49" N. ; Ion. 61 5' 37" W. The town, including the 

 whole parish, contains 9200 inhabitants, of whom 1127 

 are white, 1642 free coloured persons, and 6431 

 slaves. The parish contains nineteen sugar works, 

 which produce about 800 tons of raw sugar. The 

 arrondissement of Fort-Royal contains eight parishes, 

 with 29,504 inhabitants, of whom 2788 are white, 

 3828 free blacks, and 22,888 slaves. 



FORTUNA ; called, by the Greeks, T^, the 

 arbitress of success. According to Hesiod, she was 

 a daughter of Oceanus ; according to Pindar, a sister 

 of the Fates. She had temples at Corinth, Elis and 

 Smyrna, was worshipped in Italy before the building 

 of Rome, and had a celebrated temple at Antium, in 

 which were two statues, which were consulted as 

 oracles, and gave responses either by signs or by lot. 

 She had also a temple at Pneneste, whence she was 



called dea Preenestina. Many temples were erected 

 to her at Rome. She is generally delineated with 

 two rudders, with one of which she guides the ship of 

 prosperity, with the other that of misfortune. At a 

 later period, she was represented with a bandage over 

 her eyes, and a sceptre in her hand, and sitting or 

 standing on a wheel or globe. She is usually dressed 

 as a matron. Different symbols of Fortuna are found 

 in different gems ; e. g., a circle drawn over a globe, 

 a globe between a rudder and an ear of corn, and 

 having a wheel standing on it. On a coin of the 

 emperor Geta, she is represented sitting on the earth, 

 with her bosom bare, her right hand resting on a 

 wheel, and holding in her left hand, resting on her 

 lap, a horn of plenty. Her rudder is supported 

 sometimes on a globe, at others, on a wheel, and at 

 others on the beak of a ship. She was often repre- 

 sented with wings, but never so by the Romans ; for 

 they said, that, having flown over the whole earth, 

 without resting any where, she at length alighted 

 on the Palatine mount, laid aside her wings, and 

 descended from her globe, to remain for ever in Rome. 



FORTUNATE ISLANDS. See Canaries. 



FORUM, among the Romans ; any open place 

 where the market and courts of justice were held. 

 The forum Romanum was a splendid place, which 

 served for a public walk, and was called, on account 

 of its size, forum magnum. As the population of 

 Rome increased, various spots were selected for the 

 markets and the courts of justice. The number of 

 these places was finally increased to seventeen. The 

 great Roman forum, which was bounded on the south 

 by mount Palatine, and on the north-west by the 

 Capitoline hill, and which was called the forum by 

 way of eminence, was destined, by Romulus, for the 

 assemblies of the people. Tarquinius Priscus sur- 

 rounded it with porticoes, by which means the people 

 were protected against the weather. In these build- 

 ings, stagings were raised, from which the plays 

 represented in the market-place were seen, before 

 the erection of theatres. The forum was afterwards 

 adorned with such an immense number of statues, 

 taken thither from Greece, that it became necessary 

 to remove many of them. The gilt statues of the 

 twelve great gods were particularly remarkable. 

 This place, once adorned with the most beautiful 

 palaces and the most splendid buildings, is now called 

 campa vaccino (field of cattle), and is almost a waste, 

 but is covered with numerous relics of its former 

 majesty. In the law, forum signifies a court of jus- 

 tice, the place where disputed rights are settled ; 

 hence forum competens, a competent jurisdiction, 

 under which the cause regularly falls. Forum incom- 

 pelens, on the contrary, is a court not authorized to 

 try the case. Forum contractus is the jurisdiction of 

 the place where the contract is made ; forum delicti 

 (commissi) is the jurisdiction of the place where the 

 crime is committed ; forum domicilii and forum habi- 

 tationis (see Domicile) ; forum apprehensionis, where 

 the criminal is seized ; forum originis, where the per- 

 son is born ; forum rei sites is the jurisdiction of the 

 place where the thing in dispute is situated ; forum 

 privilegiatum is a tribunal under the jurisdiction of 

 which any one comes on account of his personal or 

 official character. The clergy, for example (in some 

 countries), have a forum privilegiatum, as they do not 

 come under the jurisdiction of common courts, but 

 under that of a consistorium. In the same manner, 

 students in the German universities are under the 

 .jurisdiction of an academical court. 



FOSCOLO, UGO, an Italian poet and prose writer, 

 was born on board a Venetian frigate, near the island 

 of Zante, about 1776, and educated at the university 

 of Padua. He made his appearance as a dramatic 

 poet, at Venice, 1 a year before the fall of that repub- 



