Fortuna
in mythology, daughter of Oceanus according to Homer, or one of the Parcæ according to Pindar, was the goddess of fortune, and from her hand were derived riches and poverty, pleasures and pains, blessings and misfortunes. She was worshipped in different parts of Greece. Bupalus was the first who modeled a statue of Fortuna for the people of Smyrna, and he represented her with the polar star upon her head, and the horn of plenty in her hand. The Romans held her in high esteem, and had no less than eight different temples erected to her honor in their city. She is generally represented blindfolded, and holding a wheel in her hand, as an emblem of her inconstancy. Sometimes she appears with wings.
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Forty Immortals
THE, the members of the French Academy. See ACADEMY, FRENCH.
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Forty Thieves, The
The. See Ali Baba
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Foscari
FRANCESCO, a doge of Venice; born in 1372, in in 1416 was named procurator of St. Mark's and in 1423 was elected doge. His son, Giacopo, being accused of ordering the assassination of a senator Donati, the enemies of the family created such commotion in the state, that he was banished from the city, the father having to ratify the sentence. Love of his country, and devotion of his wife, compelled the banished Foscari to revisit Venice, where he was again made prisoner, put to the question of the rack, and a second time banished, dying soon after of his wounds. The bereaved father went mad, in which state the enemies of his family compelled him to abdicate. He died three days after a spasm, upon hearing the bells of St. Mark's announce to Venice the election of a new ruler. Byron wrote on the subject a tragedy entitled "The Two Foscari." He died in Venice, Nov. 1, 1457.
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Foscolo
UGO (fos'kō-lō), an Italian poet and patriot; born on the island of Zante, Jan. 26, 1778. His tragedy "Thyeste" was received with great favor at Venice in 1797. "The True Story of Two Luckless Lovers, or Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis" (1799), afterward rewritten and renamed "Italy" (1802), voices his disappointment that the French armies did not liberate Italy; as did an outspoken apostrophe to Bonaparte. In 1807 was published his finest poem, "The Graves." His second tragedy, "Ajax," brought out at Milan in 1809, caused his expulsion from Lombardy bardy; he went to Florence and there produced the tragedy "Ricciarda" (1813); compelled to flee from Italy, he composed in Switzerland the bitter satire against his enemies, "The One-Volume Book of the Super-Revelations of the Cleric Didumus, Least of the Prophets." He wrote many critical and literary essays. He died in London, in 1827.
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Fossa
in zoölogy, a term applied to the ext certain depressions on external surface, generally the seat of cutaneous glands, as the lachrymal fossæ in deer and antelopes. In anatomy (1) In the singular, a groove. There are in the ear a fossa of the helix, which is a groove called also fossa innominata or scaphoidea, and a fossa of the antihelix, which is a somewhat triangular depression, called also fossa triangularis or ovalis. There are also a fossa of the heart, one of the gall bladder, etc. There are also a canine, a corodoid, a digastric, a digital and many other fossa. (2) In the plural, grooves. There are nasal fossæ, superior and inferior occipital, etc.
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Fossores
or FOSSORIA, in entomology, burrowing Hymenoptera, a sub-tribe of the hymenopterous tribe Aculeata. Sexes two, the individuals in both of which are furnished with wings, legs formed for burrowing or for running, tongue not elongated, but widened at the extremity. Habits not social. The females of the fossores construct holes in the ground, where they form their nests. Depositing their eggs, they next lay up for the future larvæ a supply of food consisting of spiders and caterpillars rendered half dead by being stung. Many of the fossores are called sandwasps. The sub-tribe is divided into eight families: (1) Scoliadæ, (2) Sapygidæ, (3) Pompilidæ, (4) Sphecidæ, (5) Bembicidæ, (6) Larridæ, (7) Nyssonidæ, and (8) Crabonidæ.
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Foster
JOHN WATSON, an American statesman and diplomat. He was born in Pike co., Ind., March 2, 1836. He graduated in 1855 from Indiana State University and for a time attended the Harvard Law School. When the Civil War broke out he enlisted as a major in the United States Volunteers, rising to the rank of Brigadier-General by the time the contest closed. After taking a prominent part in the councils of the Republican party he began his diplomatic career as minister to Mexico. After serving seven years at this post and one as minister to Russia he practiced international law at Washington and thus in 1883 became Minister to Spain. From 1885 to 1891 he negotiated for the United States a series of reciprocity treaties with Germany and Brazil. President Harrison in 1892 appointed him Secretary of State, a post he held until Cleveland was inaugurated the following year. The closing years of his life saw him engaged on many important diplomatic missions for the United States, and for a few years he acted as adviser to the Emperor of China. He died Nov. 15, 1917. He wrote several important works, among them being: "A Century of American Diplomacy omacy" (1900) and "American Diplomacy on the Orient" (1903).
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Fostoria
a city of Ohio in Seneca and Hancock counties, and near the boundary line of Wood county. It is on the Baltimore and Ohio, the Lake Erie and Western, the Hocking Valley, the Lake Shore Electric, the New York, Chicago, and St. Louis, and the Toledo and Ohio Central railroads. It is an important industrial community and has lime kilns, manufactures of glass, automobiles, lumber, etc. In the neigh neighbor- rhood are extensive oil fields. The city was founded by the father of Charles Foster, Governor of Ohio and Secretary of the United States Treasury in 1891- 1893. Pop. (1910) 9,597; (1920) 9,987.
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Fothergill
JESSIE, an English author; born in Manchester, England, June 7, 1856. Her stories show a keen faculty of observation: among them are: "Healey, a Romance" (1875); "The First Violin" (1878), in which German life is faithfully portrayed; "Probation" (1879); "Kith and Kin" (1881); "The Lass of Laverhouse" (1888); "Oriole's Daughter" (1893). She died in London, July 30, 1891. FOUGÉRES, a town and capital of an arrondissement, in the department of Ille-et-Vilaine, France, situated on the Nançon river, 25 miles N. E. of Rennes. It is the center of a considerable industry in leather goods, boots and shoes, sail cloth, dairy products and timber, being surrounded by extensive forests. The population is about 14,000.
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