vocation and the physical demands of nature. Although never a priest, he preserved a comprehension of and a sympathy with the clerical character, and he always indignantly denied that he was hostile to the Church, although he stood just outside her borders. Fabre possessed a limited and a monotonous talent, but within his own field he was as original as he was wholesome and charming.
See also J. Lemaître, Les Contemporains, vol. ii.; G. Pellissier, Études de littérature contemporaine (1898); E. W. Gosse, French Profiles (1905). (E. G.)
FABRE D’ÉGLANTINE, PHILIPPE FRANÇOIS NAZAIRE
(1750–1794), French dramatist and revolutionist, was born at Carcassonne on the 28th of July 1750. His real name was simple Fabre, the “d’Églantine” being added in commemoration
of his receiving the golden eglantine of Clémence Isaure from
the academy of the floral games at Toulouse. After travelling
through the provinces as an actor, he came to Paris, and produced
an unsuccessful comedy entitled Les Gens de lettres, ou le provincial
à Paris (1787). A tragedy, Augusta, produced at the
Théâtre Français, was also a failure. One only of his plays,
Philinte, ou la suite du Misanthrope (1790), still preserves its
reputation. It professes to be a continuation of Molière’s
Misanthrope, but the hero of the piece is of a different character
from the nominal prototype—an impersonation, indeed, of
pure and simple egotism. On its publication the play was
introduced by a preface, in which the author mercilessly satirizes
the Optimiste of his rival J. F. Collin d’Harleville, whose Châteaux
en Espagne had gained the applause which Fabre’s Présomptueux
(1789) had failed to win. The character of Philinte had much
political significance. Alceste received the highest praise, and
evidently represents the citizen patriot, while Philinte is a
dangerous aristocrat in disguise. Fabre was president and
secretary of the club of the Cordeliers, and belonged also to the
Jacobin club. He was chosen by Danton as his private secretary,
and sat in the National Convention. He voted for the king’s
death, supporting the maximum and the law of the suspected,
and he was a bitter enemy of the Girondins. After the death of
Marat he published a Portrait de l’Ami du Peuple. On the
abolition of the Gregorian calendar he sat on the committee
entrusted with the formation of the republican substitute,
and to him was due a large part of the new nomenclature, with
its poetic Prairial and Floréal, its prosaic Primidi and Duodi.
The report which he made on the subject, on the 24th of October,
has some scientific value. On the 12th of January 1794 he was
arrested by order of the committee of public safety on a charge
of malversation and forgery in connexion with the affairs of the
Compagnie des Indes. Documents still existing prove that the
charge was altogether groundless. During his trial Fabre showed
the greatest calmness and sang his own well-known song of
Il pleut, il pleut, bergère, rentre tes blancs moutons. He was
guillotined on the 5th of April 1794. On his way to the scaffold
he distributed his manuscript poems to the people.
A posthumous play, Les Précepteurs, steeped with the doctrines of Rousseau’s Émile, was performed on the 17th of September 1794, and met with an enthusiastic reception. Among Fabre’s other plays are the gay and successful Convalescent de qualité (1791), and L’Intrigue épistolaire (1791). In the latter play Fabre is supposed to have drawn a portrait of the painter Jean Baptiste Greuze.
The author’s Œuvres mêlées et posthumes were published at Paris 1802, 2 vols. See Albert Maurin, Galerie hist. de la Révolution française, tome 11; Jules Janin, Hist. de la litt. dram.; Chénier, Tableau de la litt. française; F. A. Aulard in the Nouvelle Revue (July 1885).
FABRETTI, RAPHAEL (1618–1700), Italian antiquary, was born in 1618 at Urbino in Umbria. He studied law at Cagli and
Urbino, where he took the degree of doctor at the age of eighteen.
While in Rome he attracted the notice of Cardinal Lorenzo
Imperiali, who employed him successively as treasurer and
auditor of the papal legation in Spain, where he remained
thirteen years. Meanwhile, his favourite classical and antiquarian
studies were not neglected; and on his return journey
he made important observations of the relics and monuments of
Spain, France and Italy. At Rome he was appointed judge of
appellation of the Capitol, which post he left to be auditor of the
legation at Urbino. After three years he returned to Rome, on
the invitation of Cardinal Carpegna, vicar of Innocent XI.,
and devoted himself to antiquarian research, examining with
minute care the monuments and inscriptions of the Campagna.
He always rode a horse which his friends nicknamed “Marco
Polo,” after the Venetian traveller. By Innocent XII. he was
made keeper of the archives of the castle St Angelo, a charge
which he retained till his death. He died at Rome on the 7th of
January 1700. His collection of inscriptions and monuments
was purchased by Cardinal Stoppani, and placed in the ducal
palace at Urbino, where they may still be seen.
His work De Aquis et Aquae-ductibus veteris Romae (1680), three dissertations on the topography of ancient Latium, is inserted in Graevius’s Thesaurus, iv. (1677). His interpretation of certain passages in Livy and other classical authors involved him in a dispute with Gronovius, which bore a strong resemblance to that between Milton and Salmasius, Gronovius addressing Fabretti as Faber Rusticus, and the latter, in reply, speaking of Grunnovius and his titivilitia. In this controversy Fabretti used the pseudonym Iasitheus, which he afterwards took as his pastoral name in the Academy of the Arcadians. His other works, De Columna Trajani Syntagma (Rome, 1683), and Inscriptionum Antiquarum Explicatio (Rome, 1699), throw much light on Roman antiquity. In the former is to be found his explication of a bas-relief, with inscriptions, now in the Capitol at Rome, representing the war and taking of Troy, known as the Iliac table. Letters and other shorter works of Fabretti are to be found in publications of the time, as the Journal des Savants.
See Crescimbeni, Le Vite degli Arcadi illustri; Fabroni, Vitae Italorum, vi. 174; Niceron, iv. 372; J. Lamius, Memorabilia Italorum eruditione praestantium (Florence, 1742–1748).
FABRIANI, SEVERINO (1792–1849), Italian author and
teacher, was born at Spilamberto, Italy, on the 7th of January
1792. Entering the Church, he took up educational work, but
in consequence of complete loss of voice he resolved to devote
himself to teaching deaf mutes, and founded a small school
specially for them. This school the duke of Modena made into
an institute, and by a special authority from the pope a teaching
staff of nuns was appointed. Fabriani’s method of instruction
is summed up in his Logical Letters on Italian Grammar (1847).
He died on the 27th of April 1849.
FABRIANO, a town of the Marches, Italy, in the province
of Ancona, from which it is 44 m. S.W. by rail, 1066 ft. above
sea-level. Pop. (1901) town 9586, commune 22,996. It has
been noted since the 13th century for its paper mills, which still
produce the best paper in Italy. A school of painting arose here,
one of the early masters of which is Allegretto Nuzi (1308–1385);
and several of the churches contain works by him and other local
masters. His pupil, Gentile da Fabriano (1370–1428), was a
painter of considerably greater skill and wider knowledge; but
there are no important works of his at Fabriano. The sacristy
of S. Agostino also contains some good frescoes by Ottaviano
Nelli of Gubbio. The municipal picture gallery contains a
collection of pictures, and among them are some primitive
frescoes, attributable to the 12th century, which still retain
traces of Byzantine influence. The Archivio Comunale contains
documents on watermarked paper of local manufacture going
back to the 13th century. The Ponte dell’ Acra, a bridge of the
15th century, is noticeable for the ingenuity and strength of its
construction. The hospital of S. Maria Buon Gesu is a fine work
of 1456, attributed to Rossellino.
See A. Zonghi, Antiche Carte Fabrianesi. (T. As.)
FABRICIUS, GAIUS LUSCINUS (i.e. “the one-eyed”), Roman general, was the first member of the Fabrician gens who settled in
Rome. He migrated to Rome from Aletrium (Livy ix. 43),
one of the Hernican towns which was allowed to retain its
independence as a reward for not having revolted. In 285 he
was one of the ambassadors sent to the Tarentines to dissuade
them from making war on the Romans. In 282 (when consul)
he defeated the Bruttians and Lucanians, who had besieged
