ended with their son. There are doubtless male descendants of this great Norman house still in existence.
Higham Ferrers, Northants, and Woodham Ferrers, Essex, take their names from this family. It has been alleged that they bore horseshoes for their arms in allusion to Ferrières (i.e. ironworks); but when and why they were added to their coat is a moot point.
See Dugdale’s Baronage; J. R. Planché’s The Conqueror and his Companions; G. E. C(okayne)’s Complete Peerage; Chronicles and Memorials (Rolls Series); T. Stapleton’s Rotuli Scaccarii Normannie. (J. H. R.)
FERRERS, LAURENCE SHIRLEY, 4th Earl (1720–1760),
the last nobleman in England to suffer a felon’s death, was born
on the 18th of August 1720. There was insanity in his family,
and from an early age his behaviour seems to have been eccentric,
and his temper violent, though he was quite capable of managing
his business affairs. In 1758 his wife obtained a separation
from him for cruelty. The Ferrers estates were then vested
in trustees, the Earl Ferrers secured the appointment of an old
family steward, Johnson, as receiver of rents. This man faithfully
performed his duty as a servant to the trustees, and did
not prove amenable to Ferrer’s personal wishes. On the 18th
of January 1760, Johnson called at the earl’s mansion at Staunton
Harold, Leicestershire, by appointment, and was directed to his
lordship’s study. Here, after some business conversation, Lord
Ferrers shot him. In the following April Ferrers was tried for
murder by his peers in Westminster Hall. His defence, which
he conducted in person with great ability, was a plea of insanity,
and it was supported by considerable evidence, but he was found
guilty. He subsequently said that he had only pleaded insanity
to oblige his family, and that he had himself always been ashamed
of such a defence. On the 5th of May 1760, dressed in a light-coloured
suit, embroidered with silver, he was taken in his own
carriage from the Tower of London to Tyburn and there hanged.
It has been said that as a concession to his order the rope used
was of silk.
See Peter Burke, Celebrated Trials connected with the Aristocracy in the Relations of Private Life (London, 1849); Edward Walford, Tales of our Great Families (London, 1877); Howell’s State Trials (1816), xix. 885-980.
FERRET, a domesticated, and frequently albino breed of
quadruped, derived from the wild polecat (Putorius foetidus,
or P. putorius), which it closely resembles in size, form, and
habits, and with which it interbreeds. It differs in the colour of
its fur, which is usually yellowish-white, and of its eyes, which
are pinky-red. The “polecat-ferret” is a brown breed, apparently
the product of the above-mentioned cross. The ferret
attains a length of about 14 in., exclusive of the tail, which
measures 5 in. Although exhibiting considerable tameness, it
seems incapable of attachment, and when not properly fed, or
when irritated, is apt to give painful evidence of its ferocity.
It is chiefly employed in destroying rats and other vermin, and
in driving rabbits from their burrows. The ferret is remarkably
prolific, the female bringing forth two broods annually, each
numbering from six to nine young. It is said to occasionally
devour its young immediately after birth, and in this case
produces another brood soon after. The ferret was well known
to the Romans, Strabo stating that it was brought from Africa
into Spain, and Pliny that it was employed in his time in rabbit-hunting,
under the name Viverra; the English name is not
derived from this, but from Fr. furet, Late Lat. furo, robber.
The date of its introduction into Great Britain is uncertain,
but it has been known in England for at least 600 years.
The ferret should be kept in dry, clean, well-ventilated hutches, and fed twice daily on bread, milk, and meat, such as rabbits’ and fowls’ livers. When used to hunt rabbits it is provided with a muzzle, or, better and more usual, a cope, made by looping and knotting twine about the head and snout, in order to prevent it killing its quarry, in which case it would gorge itself and go to sleep in the hole. As the ferret enters the hole the rabbits flee before it, and are shot or caught by dogs as they break ground. A ferret’s hold on its quarry is as obstinate as that of a bulldog, but can easily be broken by a strong pressure of the thumb just above the eyes. Only full-grown ferrets are “worked to” rats. Several are generally used at a time and without copes, as rats are fierce fighters.
See Ferrets, by Nicholas Everitt (London, 1897).
FERRI, CIRO (1634–1689), Roman painter, the chief disciple
and successor of Pietro da Cortona. He was born in the Roman
territory, studied under Pietro, to whom he became warmly
attached, and, at an age a little past thirty, completed the painting
of the ceilings and other internal decorations begun by his
instructor in the Pitti palace, Florence. He also co-operated
in or finished several other works by Pietro, both in Florence
and in Rome, approaching near to his style and his particular
merits, but with less grace of design and native vigour, and in
especial falling short of him in colour. Of his own independent
productions, the chief is an extensive series of scriptural frescoes
in the church of S. Maria Maggiore in Bergamo; also a painting
(rated as Ferri’s best work) of St Ambrose healing a sick person,
the principal altarpiece in the church of S. Ambrogio della Massima
in Rome. The paintings of the cupola of S. Agnese in the same
capital might rank even higher than these; but this labour
remained uncompleted at the death of Ferri, and was marred by
the performances of his successor Corbellini. He executed also
a large amount of miscellaneous designs, such as etchings and
frontispieces for books; and he was an architect besides. Ferri
was appointed to direct the Florentine students in Rome, and
Gabbiani was one of his leading pupils. As regards style, Ferri
ranks as chief of the so-called Machinists, as opposed to the
school founded by Sacchi, and continued by Carlo Maratta.
He died in Rome—his end being hastened, as it is said, by
mortification at his recognized inferiority to Bacciccia in colour.
FERRI, LUIGI (1826–1895), Italian philosopher, was born at
Bologna on the 15th of June 1826. His education was obtained
mainly at the École Normale in Paris, where his father, a painter
and architect, was engaged in the construction of the Théâtre
Italien. From his twenty-fifth year he began to lecture in the
colleges of Evreux, Dieppe, Blois and Toulouse. Later, he was
lecturer at Annecy and Casal-Montferrat, and became head of
the education department under Mamiani in 1860. Three years
later he was appointed to the chair of philosophy at the Istituto
di Perfezionamento at Florence, and, in 1871, was made professor
of philosophy in the university of Rome. On the death of
Mamiani in 1885 he became editor of the Filosofia delle scuole
italiane, the title of which he changed to Rivista italiana di
filosofia. He wrote both on psychology and on metaphysics, but
is known especially as a historian of philosophy. His original
work is eclectic, combining the psychology of his teachers, Jules
Simon, Saisset and Mamiani, with the idealism of Rosmini and
Gioberti. Among his works may be mentioned Studii sulla
coscienza; Il Fenomeno nelle sue relazioni con la sensazione;
Della idea del vero; Della filosofia del diritto presso Aristotile
(1885); Il Genio di Aristotile; La Psicologia di Pietro Pomponazzi
(1877), and, most important, Essai sur l’histoire de la philosophie
en Italie au XIXᵉ siècle (Paris, 1869), and La Psychologie de
l’association depuis Hobbes jusqu’à nos jours.
FERRIER, ARNAUD DU (c. 1508–1585), French jurisconsult
and diplomatist, was born at Toulouse about 1508, and practised
as a lawyer first at Bourges, afterwards at Toulouse. Councillor
to the parlement of the latter town, and then to that of Rennes,
he later became president of the parlement of Paris. He represented
Charles IX., king of France, at the council of Trent in
1562, but had to retire in consequence of the attitude he had
adopted, and was sent as ambassador to Venice, where he
remained till 1567, returning again in 1570. On his return to
France he came into touch with the Calvinists whose tenets
he probably embraced, and consequently lost his place in the
privy council and part of his fortune. As compensation, Henry,
king of Navarre, appointed him his chancellor. He died in the
end of October 1585.
See also E. Frémy, Un Ambassadeur libéral sous Charles IX et Henri III, Arnaud du Ferrier (Paris, 1880).
FERRIER, JAMES FREDERICK (1808–1864), Scottish
metaphysical writer, was born in Edinburgh on the 16th of
