the duke of Gloucester and King William. The preface to this last was condemned to public burning by parliament, but, as No. 384 of The Spectator, circulated more widely than ever. A collected edition of his works, with a biographical preface, was published in 1737.
FLEETWOOD, a seaport and watering-place in the Blackpool
parliamentary division of Lancashire, England, at the mouth of
the Wyre, 230 m. N.W. by N. from London, the terminus of a
joint branch of the London & North-Western and Lancashire
& Yorkshire railways. Pop. (1891) 9274; (1901) 12,082. It
dates its rise from 1836, and takes its name from Sir Peter
Hesketh Fleetwood, by whom it was laid out. The seaward
views, especially northward over Morecambe Bay, are fine,
but the neighbouring country is flat and of little interest. The
two railways jointly are the harbour authority. The dock is
provided with railways and machinery for facilitating traffic,
including a large grain elevator. The shipping traffic is chiefly
in the coasting and Irish trade. Passenger steamers serve
Belfast and Londonderry regularly, and the Isle of Man and other
ports during the season. The fisheries are important, and there
are salt-works in the neighbourhood. There is a pleasant
promenade, with other appointments of a watering-place.
There are also barracks with a military hospital and a rifle
range. Rossall school, to the S.W., is one of the principal public
schools in the north of England. Rossall Hall was the seat of Sir
Peter Fleetwood, but was converted to the uses of the school
on its foundation in 1844. The school is primarily divided
into classical and modern sides, with a special department for
preparation for army, navy or professional examinations. A
number of entrance scholarships and leaving scholarships
tenable at the universities are offered annually. The number
of boys is about 350.
FLEGEL, EDWARD ROBERT (1855–1886), German traveller
in West Africa, was born on the 1st of October 1855 at Wilna,
Russia. After receiving a commercial education he obtained in
1875 a position in Lagos, West Africa. In 1879 he ascended
the Benue river some 125 m. above the farthest point hitherto
reached. His careful survey of the channel secured him a
commission from the German African Society to explore the
whole Benue district. In 1880 he went up the Niger to Gomba,
and then visited Sokoto, where he obtained a safe-conduct
from the sultan for his intended expedition to Adamawa. This
expedition was undertaken in 1882, and on the 18th of August
in that year Flegel discovered the source of the Benue at
Ngaundere. In 1883–1884 he made another journey up the
Benue, crossing for the second time the Benue-Congo watershed.
After a short absence in Europe Flegel returned to Africa in
April 1885 with a commission from the German African Company
and the Colonial Society to open up the Niger-Benue district
to German trade. This expedition had the support of Prince
Bismarck, who endeavoured, unsuccessfully, to obtain for
Germany this region, already secured as a British sphere of
influence by the National African Company (the Royal Niger
Company). Flegel, despite a severe illness, ascended the Benue
to Yola, but was unable to accomplish his mission. He returned
to the coast and died at Brass, at the mouth of the Niger, on the
11th of September 1886. (See further Goldie, Sir George.)
Flegel wrote Lose Blatter aus dem Tagebuche meiner Haussaafreunde (Hamburg, 1885), and Vom Niger-Benue. Briefe aus Afrika (edited by K. Flegel, Leipzig, 1890).
FLEISCHER, HEINRICH LEBERECHT (1801–1888), German
Orientalist, was born at Schandau, Saxony, on the 21st of
February 1801. From 1819 to 1824 he studied theology and
oriental languages at Leipzig, subsequently continuing his
studies in Paris. In 1836 he was appointed professor of oriental
languages at Leipzig University, and retained this post till his
death. His most important works were editions of Abulfeda’s
Historia ante-Islamica (1831–1834), and of Beidhawi’s Commentary
on the Koran (1846–1848). He compiled a catalogue
of the oriental MSS, in the royal library at Dresden (1831);
published an edition and German translation of Ali’s Hundred
Sayings (1837); the continuation of Babicht’s edition of The
Thousand and One Nights (vols. ix.-xii., 1842–1843); and an
edition of Mahommed Ibrihim’s Persian Grammar (1847). He
also wrote an account of the Arabic, Turkish and Persian MSS.
at the town library in Leipzig. He died there on the 10th of
February 1888. Fleischer was one of the eight foreign members
of the French Academy of Inscriptions and a knight of the
German Ordre pour le mérite.
FLEMING, PAUL (1609–1640), German poet, was born at Hartenstein in the Saxon Erzgebirge, on the 5th of October
1609, the son of the village pastor. At the age of fourteen he was
sent to school at Leipzig and subsequently studied medicine
at the university. Driven away by the troubles of the Thirty
Years’ War, he was fortunate enough to become attached to an
embassy despatched in 1634 by Duke Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp
to Russia and Persia, and to which the famous traveller
Adam Olearius was secretary. In 1639 the mission returned
to Reval, and here Fleming, having become betrothed, determined
to settle as a physician. He proceeded to Leiden to procure a
doctor’s diploma, but died suddenly at Hamburg on his way
home on the 2nd of April 1640.
Though belonging to the school of Martin Opitz, Fleming is distinguished from most of his contemporaries by the ring of genuine feeling and religious fervour that pervades his lyric poems, even his occasional pieces. In the sonnet, his favourite form of verse, he was particularly happy. Among his religious poems the hymn beginning “In allen meinen Taten lass ich den Höchsten raten” is well known and widely sung.
Fleming’s Teutsche Poëmata appeared posthumously in 1642; they are edited by J. M. Lappenberg, in the Bibliothek des litterarischen Vereins (2 vols., 1863; a third volume, 1866, contains Fleming’s Latin poems). Selections have been edited by J. Tittmann in the second volume of the series entitled Deutsche Dichter des siebzehnten Jahrhunderts (Leipzig, 1870), and by H. Österley (Stuttgart, 1885). A life of the poet will be found in Varnhagen von Ense’s Biographische Denkmale, Bd. iv. (Berlin, 1826). See also J. Straumer, Paul Flemings Leben und Orientreise (1892); L. G. Wysocky, De Pauli Flemingi Germanice scriptis et ingenio (Paris, 1892).
FLEMING, RICHARD (d. 1431), bishop of Lincoln, and founder of Lincoln College, Oxford, was born at Crofton in Yorkshire. He was descended from a good family, and was
educated at University College, Oxford. Having taken his
degrees, he was made prebendary of York in 1406, and the next
year was junior proctor of the university. About this time he
became an ardent Wycliffite, winning over many persons, some
of high rank, to the side of the reformer, and incurring the
censure of Archbishop Arundel. He afterwards became one of
Wycliffe’s most determined opponents. Before 1415 he was
instituted to the rectory of Boston in Lincolnshire, and in 1420
he was consecrated bishop of Lincoln. In 1428–1429 he attended
the councils of Pavia and Siena, and in the presence of the pope,
Martin V., made an eloquent speech in vindication of his native
country, and in eulogy of the papacy. It was probably on this
occasion that he was named chamberlain to the pope. To
Bishop Fleming was entrusted the execution of the decree of
the council for the exhumation and burning of Wycliffe’s
remains. The see of York being vacant, the pope conferred it on
Fleming; but the king (Henry V.) refused to confirm the
appointment. In 1427 Fleming obtained the royal licence empowering him to found a college at Oxford for the special purpose of training up disputants against Wycliffe’s heresy. He died at Sleaford, on the 26th of January 1431. Lincoln College was, however, completed by his trustees, and its endowments were afterwards augmented by various benefactors.
FLEMING, SIR SANDFORD (1827– ), Canadian engineer
and publicist, was born at Kirkcaldy, Scotland, on the 7th of January 1827, but emigrated to Canada in 1845. Great powers of work and thoroughness in detail brought him to the front, and he was from 1867 to 1880 chief engineer of the Dominion government. Under his control was constructed the Intercolonial railway, and much of the Canadian Pacific. After his retirement in 1880 he devoted himself to the study of Canadian and Imperial problems, such as the unification of time reckoning throughout the world, and the construction of a state-owned system of telegraphs throughout the British empire. After
