Criticisms (1875, 1888). In the year 1881, at the death of the historian Anders Fryxell, Forssell was elected to the vacant seat on the Swedish Academy. The energy of Forssell was so great, and he understood so little the economy of strength, that he unquestionably overtaxed his vital force. His death, however, which occurred with great suddenness on the 2nd of August 1901 while he was staying at San Bernardino in Switzerland, was wholly unexpected. There was little of the typical Swedish urbanity in Forssell’s exterior manner, which was somewhat dry and abrupt. Like many able men who have from early life administered responsible public posts, there appeared a certain want of sympathy in his demands upon others. His views were distinct, and held with great firmness; for example, he was a free-trader, and his consistent opposition to what he called “the new system” had a considerable effect on Swedish policy. He was not exactly an attractive man, but he was a capable, upright and efficient public servant. In 1867 he married Miss Zulamith Eneroth, a daughter of the well-known pomologist of Upsala; she survived him, with two sons and two daughters. (E. G.)
FORST (originally Forsta or Forste), a town of Germany,
in the Prussian province of Brandenburg, on the Neisse, 44 m.
S.E. of Frankfort-on-Oder. Pop. (1905) 33,757. It has two
Evangelical, a Roman Catholic and an Old Lutheran church;
there are two schools and two hospitals in the town. The chief
industry of Forst is the manufacture of cloth, but spinning,
dyeing and the making of artificial flowers are also carried on.
Founded in the 13th century, Forst passed in 1667 to the duke
of Saxe-Merseburg, becoming part of electoral Saxony in 1740.
It was ceded to Prussia in 1815.
FORSTER, FRANÇOIS (1790–1872), French engraver, was
born at Locle in Neufchâtel, on the 22nd of August 1790. In
1805 he was apprenticed to an engraver in Paris, and he also
studied painting and engraving simultaneously in the École des
Beaux-Arts. His preference was ultimately fixed on the latter
art, and on his obtaining in 1814 the first “grand prix de gravure,”
the king of Prussia, who was then with the allies in Paris,
bestowed on him a gold medal, and a pension of 1500 francs for
two years. With the aid of this sum he pursued his studies in
Rome, where his attention was devoted chiefly to the works
of Raphael. In 1844 he succeeded Tardieu in the Academy.
He died at Paris on the 27th of June 1872. Forster occupied
the first position among the French engravers of his time, and
was equally successful in historical pieces and in portraits.
Among his works may be mentioned—The Three Graces, and
La Vierge de la légende, after Raphael; La Vierge au bas-relief,
after Leonardo da Vinci; Francis I. and Charles V., after Gros;
St Cecilia, after Paul Delaroche; Albert Dürer and Henry IV.,
after Porbus; Wellington, after Gérard; and Queen Victoria,
after Winterhalter.
FÖRSTER, FRIEDRICH CHRISTOPH (1791–1868), German
historian and poet, was the second son of Karl Christoph Förster
(1751–1811), and consequently a brother of the painter, Ernest
Joachim Förster (1800–1885). Born at Münchengosserstadt on
the Saale on the 24th of September 1791, he received his early
education at Altenburg, and after a course of theology at Jena,
devoted some time to archaeology and the history of art. At
the outbreak of the War of Liberation in 1813, he joined the army,
quickly attaining the rank of captain; and by his war-songs
added to the national enthusiasm. On the conclusion of the
war he was appointed professor at the school of engineering and
artillery in Berlin, but on account of some democratic writings
he was dismissed from this office in 1817. He then became
connected with various journals until about 1829, when he
received an appointment at the royal museum in Berlin, with
the title of court councillor (Hofrat). He was the founder and
secretary of the Wissenschaftlicher Kunstverein in Berlin, and
died in Berlin on the 8th of November 1868. Förster’s principal
works are: Beiträge zur neueren Kriegsgeschichte (Berlin, 1816);
Grundzüge der Geschichte des preussischen Staates (Berlin, 1818);
Der Feldmarschall Blücher und seine Umgebungen (Leipzig,
1820); Friedrich der Grosse, Jugendjahre, Bildung und Geist
(Berlin, 1822); Albrecht von Wallenstein (Potsdam, 1834);
Friedrich Wilhelm I., König von Preussen (Potsdam, 1834–1835);
Die Höfe und Kabinette Europas im 18. Jahrhundert (Potsdam,
1836–1839); Leben und Taten Friedrichs des Grossen (Meissen,
1840–1841); Wallensteins Prozess (Leipzig, 1844); and Preussens
Helden in Krieg und Frieden, neuere und neueste preussische
Geschichte, 7 volumes (Berlin, 1849–1860). The three concluding
volumes of this work contain the history of the war of liberation
of 1813–14–15. He brought out an edition of Hegel’s works,
adapted several of Shakespeare’s plays for the theatre, wrote a
number of poems and an historical drama, Gustav Adolf (Berlin, 1832).
Many of his lesser writings were collected and published as Kriegslieder, Romanzen, Erzählungen und Legenden (Berlin, 1838). The beginning of an autobiography of Förster, edited by H. Kletke, has been published under the title, Kunst und Leben (Berlin, 1873).
FORSTER, JOHANN GEORG ADAM (1754–1794), German
traveller and author, was born at Nassenhuben, a small village
near Danzig, on the 27th of November 1754. His father, Johann
Reinhold Forster, a man of great scientific attainments but an
intractable temper, was at that time pastor of the place; the
family are said to have been of Scottish extraction. In 1765 the
elder Forster was commissioned by the empress Catherine
to inspect the Russian colonies in the province of Saratov,
which gave his son an opportunity of acquiring the Russian
language and the elements of a scientific education. After a
few years the father quarrelled with the Russian government,
and went to England, where he obtained a professorship of
natural history and the modern languages at the famous nonconformist
academy at Warrington. His violent temper soon
compelled him to resign this appointment, and for two years
he and his son earned a precarious livelihood by translations in
London—a practical education, however, exceedingly useful
to the younger Forster, who became a thorough master of
English, and acquired many of the ideas which chiefly influenced
his subsequent life. At length the turning point in his career
came in the shape of an invitation for him and his father to
accompany Captain Cook in his third voyage round the world.
Such an expedition was admirably calculated to call forth
Forster’s peculiar powers. His account of Cook’s voyage
(A Voyage round the World, London, 1777; in German, Berlin,
1778–1780), is almost the first example of the glowing yet
faithful description of natural phenomena which has since
made a knowledge of them the common property of the educated
world. The publication of this work was, however, impeded for
some time by differences with the admiralty, during which
Forster proceeded to the continent to obtain an appointment
for his father as professor at Cassel, and found to his surprise
that it was conferred upon himself. The elder Forster, however,
was soon provided for elsewhere, being appointed professor
of natural history at Halle. At Cassel Forster formed an intimate
friendship with the great anatomist Sömmerring, and about
the same time made the acquaintance of Jacobi, who gave him
a leaning towards mysticism from which he subsequently
emancipated himself. The want of books and scientific apparatus
at Cassel induced him to resort frequently to Göttingen, where
he became betrothed to Therese Heyne, the daughter of the
illustrious philologist, a clever and cultivated woman, but ill-suited
to be Forster’s wife. To be able to marry he accepted
(1784) a professorship at the university of Wilna, which he did
not find to his taste. The penury and barbarism of Polish
circumstances are graphically described in his and his wife’s
letters of this period. After a few years’ residence at Wilna he
resigned his appointment to participate in a scientific expedition
projected by the Russian government, and upon the relinquishment
of this undertaking became librarian to the elector of
Mainz. He actively promoted the incorporation of the left
bank of the Rhine with France and in 1793 went to Paris to
carry on the negotiations. Meanwhile, however, the Germans
seized Mainz, and Forster—already disheartened by the turn
of events in France—was cut off from all return. Domestic
sorrows were added to his political troubles and he died suddenly
at Paris on the 10th of January 1794.
