FAIRCLOUGH. See Featley, Daniel.
FAIRFAX, Edward, an English poet, was born at Denton in Yorkshire, towards the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, but when precisely is not known. His father, Sir Thomas Fairfax, was a member of a family distinguished as brave soldiers, and actively engaged in the wars of their times. He was present at the sack of Rome under the duke of Bourbon in 1527, and in 1579 received the honour of knighthood from the hand of Elizabeth. The military genius of his ancestors was not transmitted to Edward, who appears to have been of a quiet and studious nature, loving the retirement of the country, and the society of his books. There are therefore, as might be expected, but scant materials for the biographer of the life of so secluded a scholar. We know that he married and settled down at Newhall in the parish of Fayestone, between Denton and Knaresboro', devoting himself to the duties of a private gentleman and the cultivation of his literary tastes. He had a love for metaphysical and religious speculations, as well as for poetry, and wrote some polemical treatises in defence of the Church of England, and a discourse upon witchcraft, neither of which have ever been published. Indeed it is possible he would have passed away from the memory of man, when in 1632 his bones were laid in the parish churchyard, but that he turned his attention to the great epic of Tasso, and gave to the world as the fruits of his learned leisure a translation of the Gerusalemme Liberata, under the title of "Godfrey of Bullogne." This work was published in 1600, and established the fame of the author. It is composed in the metre of the original (the ottava rima) and is commonly supposed to have been the first translation into English of the Italian original. This is, however, a mistake, as Richard Carew in 1593 published in the same measure "A boke called Godfrai of Bolloign, an heroicale poem of S. Torquato Tasso, Englished by R. C." The fate of Fairfax's translation of Tasso has been somewhat singular. In its own times and by the great men who succeeded him, the merit of the work was fully appreciated. "Many besides myself," says Dryden, in the preface to his fables, "have heard our famous Waller own that he derived the harmony of his numbers from Godfrey of Bulloigne, which was turned into English by Mr. Fairfax." It was reserved for Hoole, with the aid of Dr. Johnson (who wrote the dedication to Hoole's translation), to decry Fairfax and question the judgment of such a man as Dryden. Hoole apologizes for attempting a new translation, by alleging that Fairfax wrote "in stanzas that cannot be read with pleasure by the generality of those who have a taste for English poetry, of which no other proof is necessary than that it appears scarcely to have been read at all. It is not only unpleasant, but irksome in such a degree, as to surmount curiosity and counterbalance all the beauty of expression and sentiment which is to be found in that work." And Johnson says of it—"After Mr. Hoole's translation it will not be soon reprinted;" thus adding one more instance of his fallibility as a poetical critic. One who, now-a-days, is familiar with the measure of Don Juan and Beppo, can only smile and wonder at the delusions of the versifier that calls "irksome and unpleasant," a measure the most harmonious, fluent, and agreeable, that can be conceived, and which is now so thoroughly naturalized into our language. The great doctor was not more happy in his vaticination; for since his prophecy, three editions of Fairfax have been published in England and one recently in America, making nine editions altogether. Thus the translation of Fairfax has again recovered its rightful place in our literature. That place we consider a high one, and though more than one translation has appeared since, besides Hoole's, none superior to that of Fairfax yet exists. "We do not know," justly observes of it a writer in the London Quarterly, "a translation in any language that is to be preferred to this in all the essentials of poetry." In harmonious versification and elegance of diction it may be compared with any production of its own time, and will maintain its ground as a classic in our language.—J. F. W.
FAIRFAX, Robert, a learned English musician of the early part of the sixteenth century. He was of an ancient family in Yorkshire, took the degree of Mus. Doc. in the University of Cambridge, 1504, and was incorporated at Oxford, 1511. He was of Bayford in the county of Hertford, and is supposed to have been either organist or sacrist of the abbey church of St. Alban's, wherein he was buried under a stone subsequently covered by the mayor's seat. The date of his death does not appear. Many of his compositions are still preserved in MS. in the music school, Oxford, and in the British museum; the most important of which are contained in the celebrated "Fairfax MS." (add MSS., No. 5465), in the last-named repository. Stafford Smith has printed several specimens of Fairfax's music in his Collection of ancient English Songs; and Dr. Burney has scored several masses, but they are all miserably uninteresting to modern ears.—E. F. R.
FAIRFAX, Thomas, third baron, was born in 1611, and was descended from an ancient and renowned family long settled at Denton in the parish of Otley in Yorkshire, several members of which had served with great distinction in the French and German wars. He studied at St. John's college, Cambridge, where he became an excellent scholar, and is said to have been deeply versed in the history and antiquities of England. Inheriting the warlike spirit of his ancestors, he sought military experience and reputation in Holland along with the earl of Essex and other young Englishmen of noble birth. Their commander was Horatio Lord Vere, one of the famous fighting Veres, who long served in Holland with great valour and renown. Fairfax married Anne, fourth daughter of this nobleman, who was strongly attached to the presbyterian form of church government, and who is supposed to have had great influence in drawing her husband over to the same views. He returned to England in 1634 or 1635, and lived in retirement at his father's seat in Yorkshire till the breaking out of the civil war in 1642. When Charles quitted London, and set about raising a guard for his person at York, Fairfax, at the head of an immense multitude amounting to about one hundred thousand persons, presented a petition to him on Heyworth Moor, praying him to hearken to the parliament, and to desist from raising an army against his people. Upon the announcement of hostilities, the elder Fairfax received from the parliament a commission to be general of the forces in the north, and his son was appointed general of horse under him. His first exploit was compelling a party of royalists to quit Bradford, and retire to Leeds, and thence to York. He was soon after defeated at Tadcaster, after six hours' hard fighting, by Cavendish, earl of Newcastle, and Clifford earl of Cumberland; but by a skilful night march he succeeded in gaining Bradford, and there entrenched himself. On the 23rd of January, 1643, he made himself master of Leeds after a fierce struggle, and then defeated Colonel Slingsby, and took possession of Wakefield and Doncaster. He was, however, twice worsted by Goring, whom in turn he defeated at Wakefield, and captured eighty officers and fourteen hundred men, along with a large store of ammunition. But having rashly ventured with only three thousand men to encounter the earl of Newcastle with ten thousand, the two Fairfaxes were overthrown at Atherton Moor, with the loss of two thousand men killed, and the same number taken prisoners. The elder Fairfax withdrew to Leeds, and Sir Thomas took up his position in Bradford, from which he had to cut his way through a vastly superior force of the enemy. His wife was taken prisoner in the retreat, but was generously set at liberty by the earl of Newcastle. The royalists now laid siege to Hull on 2nd September, but without effect. The horse, which were useless in the defence of the town, were sent under Fairfax to join the parliamentary forces in Lincolnshire, commanded by the earl of Manchester; and after their junction they attacked and defeated a body of five thousand royalists at Horncastle. Shortly after this success, on 29th December, Sir Thomas marched to the relief of Nantwich, which was besieged by Lord Byron, and, in conjunction with Sir William Brereton, routed the royalists with great loss. In the middle of March Fairfax marched back into Yorkshire, and having united his forces to those of his father, defeated on the 11th of April, 1644, after an obstinate contest. Colonel Bellasis, the royalist governor of York. On the 20th April the Fairfaxes effected a junction at Wetherby with the Scotch army, which, under the command of Lord Leven, was marching to the assistance of the parliament, and proceeded to besiege York. The approach of Prince Rupert to relieve the city brought on a battle, which was fought (2nd July) on Marston Moor, eight miles from York. The conflict was long and bloody. Fairfax commanded the right wing of the parliamentary army, which was completely swept off the field by the impetuous attack of Prince Rupert; but the irresistible charge of Cromwell's Ironsides, who were stationed on the left, retrieved the fortunes of the day, which terminated in the total defeat of the royalists.
