FINÆUS, Orontius, a famous French mathematician, was born at Briançon in Dauphiné in the year 1494. His father, who was a physician of some eminence, died when Orontius was very young, and the youth having been brought to Paris, a place was obtained for him through the influence of friends in the college of Navarre. Here he attended lectures on rhetoric and philosophy, but the bent of his genius was towards mathematics, and he made great progress in the knowledge and application of the science. Being inventive and practically skilful, he constructed various machines and models, which attracted attention by the ingenuity of their contrivance and the excellence of the workmanship, and he became known to a wide circle by an edition which he published, corrected and carefully annotated, of Siliceus' Arithmetic. For some time he was employed in teaching privately, and was afterwards appointed professor of mathematics in the college of Gervais, in which position he acquired so high a reputation that he was chosen by Francis I. professor of mathematics in the new college which was founded in Paris by that illustrious prince. Like other mathematicians prior to the time of Bacon, Finæus was much given to the study of judicial astrology; and, having given offence to the court on one occasion by some of his vaticinations, he was imprisoned for a considerable time. He died in October, 1555. His works, which were numerous and varied, have been greatly superseded by recent publications.—J. B. J.
FINBAR, Saint, first bishop of Cork and founder of that city, is said to have been born under somewhat singular circumstances in 570. Tegematus having ordered the saint's father and mother to be cast into a hot furnace, in expiation of the sin of illicit intercourse, the woman was safely delivered in the flames of a fine male child. He was baptized by the name of Lochan, and was brought, up by three holy men and one Torperens, who at length ordained him. As a preacher, St. Finbar was greatly distinguished for his zeal and learning. Having received from the chief of Edo a grant of land near the river Lee, he built a handsome cathedral, and founded the city of Cork. The antique and picturesque hermitage of St. Finbar occupies a small island in a lake, within a beautiful valley, shut in by the wild and precipitous mountains of Kerry. St. Finbar died in 630.—W. J. F.
FINCH, Anne, Countess of Winchelsea, daughter of Sir William Kingsmill of Sidmonton in the county of Southampton. Date of her birth not known; died in 1720. She had been maid of honour to the duchess of York, second wife of James II. She married Heneage, second son of Heneage, earl of Winchelsea, and who eventually succeeded to the title. A collection of her poems and a tragedy, "Aristomenes," were published in 1713. Wordsworth speaks of the poems as containing some "delightful pictures from external nature."—J. A., D.
FINCH, Daniel, son of Heneage, and second earl of Nottingham, was born in 1647, and was educated at Christ church, Oxford. He was repeatedly elected a member of parliament during the reign of Charles II., and in 1679 was appointed first lord of the admiralty and a member of the privy council. He was for the most part a supporter of the government, and gave an energetic opposition to the bill for the exclusion of the duke of York from the throne. He was hostile, however, to the abrogation of the test, and to other measures of the government, and never appeared at court during the reign of James II. At the Revolution he supported the proposal to appoint a regent, but when the crown was conferred upon William and Mary, he at once took the oath of allegiance to the new sovereign. He refused the great seal which was offered to-him by William, but accepted the office of one of the principal secretaries of state, and discharged its duties with great diligence and fidelity. In 1690 he accompanied William to the congress held at the Hague, for the purpose of forming a coalition against Louis XIV.; and his zealous services to his new sovereign so enraged James, that he excepted Nottingham by name from the general amnesty which he proclaimed in 1692. Two years later he retired from office on the appointment of Russell, his personal and political enemy, to be first lord of the admiralty; but on the accession of Queen Anne, he was again appointed secretary of state. He was one of the lords to whom the administration of affairs was intrusted at the accession of George I., and was nominated president of the council; and, finally, he retired from public life in 1714, and died in 1730. Lord Nottingham was both an able and an honest man, though bigoted and prejudiced; he was well versed in public business, and an eloquent though somewhat prolix speaker. His dark complexion—characteristic of the "funereal Finches"—stiff manners, and solemn delivery, procured for him the nicknames of Don Dismallo and Don Diego. He was a staunch supporter of the church, and the orthodoxy of his creed and the purity of his life obtained for him a larger share of the confidence of the clergy, than was possessed by any statesman of his day. He wrote an elaborate treatise in reply to Winston's letter to him on the Trinity, for which he was thanked by the university of Oxford.—J. T.
FINCH, Heneage, subsequently earl of Nottingham, and lord-chancellor of England, born at Eastwell in Kent on the 23rd December, 1621. His father. Sir Heneage Finch, the representative of an ancient family, was recorder of London, member for the city-, and speaker of the house of commons in the second parliament of Charles I. Heneage was educated at Westminster, and went to Christ church, Oxford, in 1635. Upon the sudden death of his father, two years after, he left the university without taking a degree, and entered himself at the Inner Temple. Here he appears to have early acquired great proficiency in speaking by attending the readings and "moots"—then the recognized means to a legal education. He was called to the bar on 30th January, 1645, and married the daughter of Mr. William Hervey, a London merchant, about the same period. During the Protectorate he quietly pursued his profession, and did not embark in public life till the meeting of the first convention parliament in March, 1660, when he was returned for Canterbury. On the 6th of June, 1660, he was made solicitor-general, received the honour of knighthood on his appointment, and very soon after was created a baronet. It is said that many cavalier lawyers, who had made great sacrifices to royalist principles, felt aggrieved at his elevation, but none questioned Finch's legal eminence or ability. The task of conducting the business of government in the house of commons, was thrown upon him by the age and infirmity of the attorney-general, Sir Jeffrey Palmer; and it would seem that he acquitted himself on most occasions with moderation and firmness, although posterity can hardly acquit him of harshness and disregard for suffering genius, when they recollect his last appearance in the convention parliament. Milton had been in custody of the sergeant-at-arms; and, upon the house ordering his release, £150 for fees were required by the sergeant. The sum was raised amongst Milton's friends; but Andrew Marvel moved that it should be refunded. Finch opposed the motion, saying that "Mr. Milton had been Latin secretary to Cromwell, and, instead of paying £150, well deserved hanging." On the trial of the regicides he appears to have acted with fairness and ability. In 1661 he was chosen autumn reader of the Inner Temple, and on this occasion was honoured by a royal visit. His majesty came in his state barge, and was received at the Temple stairs by the reader and the chief-justice of the common pleas. In the same year Sir Heneage was returned for the university of Oxford, and in 1665 received from that body the degree of D.C.L. in recognition of his support of the five mile act, although he was twitted upon this occasion by the vice-chancellor for not obtaining the abolition of the hearth-money tax. In 1670, on the death of Sir Jeffrey Palmer, he was made attorney-general, and in that capacity managed on the part of the commons their celebrated dispute with the lords respecting their right to alter money bills. He appeared in the house of commons on the 31st of October, 1673, for the last time, when he supported the court in its contests with the commons as to the priority of a grant of supply over a redress of grievances. Upon the fall of Shaftesbury, a few days afterwards, he was made lord-keeper. On the 10th of January, 1674, he was created Baron Finch of Daventry, and on the 19th of December, 1675, was declared lord-chancellor, his majesty taking the seal into his own hands, and delivering it back to him again by the title of lord-chancellor. It is said he was in the habit of sleeping with it under his pillow. On the 12th of May, 1681, he was made earl of Nottingham. Although he endeavoured to perform his duties in the court of chancery to the last, he had for a long time suffered severely from the gout, and was frequently prevented from appearing in court. This complaint at last completely broke down his constitution, and he died on the 18th of December, 1682, at his house in Great Queen Street, Lincoln's-inn-Fields. As an orator Nottingham occupied the first rank amongst his contemporaries. Pepys speaks of him "as a man of as great eloquence as ever I heard,
