FOREEST. See Forestus.
FOREIRO, Francisco, a Portuguese theologian and philologist, born early in the sixteenth century; died in 1587. King John III. sent him to Paris to finish his education. He was afterwards intrusted with the education of the Infante Don Antonio, and sent to represent the king at the council of Trent. By his learning and eloquence he acquired great weight in the deliberations of the council. On his return he devoted himself to preaching, and was esteemed the first pulpit orator of his day. In 1565 he was chosen prior of the dominican convent in Lisbon, and the following year provincial. He spent his last years in a convent of this order, which he founded at Almeida. He wrote a translation and commentary on Isaiah, Venice, 1553; London, 1660; and the preface to the index of prohibited books, published in 1564.—F. M. W.
FORESTI, Giacomo Filippo, better known by the name of Giacomo Filippo da Bergamo; a historian born at Soldio, near Bergamo, in 1434. He entered the order of St. Augustine, and left many Latin works. He formed in his convent at Bergamo the most extensive library then extant, and after having attained to the highest dignity of his order, he died on the 15th of June, 1520.—A. C. M.
FORESTIER, Henri, surnamed the Achilles of La Vendée, a Vendean general, was born at La Pommeraye in Anjou in 1775, and died at London in 1806. He distinguished himself greatly at Beaupréau, Saint-Florent, and in most of the other sanguinary fights in La Vendée. He was made general-in-chief of the insurgent cavalry, and for a while served under Cadoudal in the Morbihan. During the war he was twice forced to take refuge in England from the vengeance of his enemies, and having been implicated in Cadoudal's last attempt against the authority of the consulate, he was for the third time an exile in London at the time of his death.—R. M., A.
FORESTUS, Petrus, the Latinized name of Peter Van Foreest, an eminent physician, born at Alkmaer in Holland in 1522. After having studied at various universities, he took his medical degree at Bologna, and having spent some years in Paris, returned to his native place, where he commenced practice as a physician; but upon being invited to remove to Delft, he settled there. He was one of the first medical professors of the university of Leyden, and published several works, the most remarkable of which was his "Observationum et Curationum Medicinalium Libri XXVIII." At the close of life he retired to his native place, and died there in 1597. Many writers, of whom Boerhaave may be mentioned, speak of Forestus in terms of high commendation.—J. B. J.
* FOREY, Elie Frederic, a French general, born at Paris in 1804. He studied at St. Cyr, and took part in the first expedition to Algeria in 1830. In 1835 he obtained the rank of captain; in 1840 was promoted to the command of a battalion, and after some further service in Africa, was gazetted colonel, 1844. In 1851, then a general of three years' standing, he took an active part in the coup d'etat of the 2nd December. In 1852 he became general of division; and in 1854, commanding the reserve of the French army in the Crimea, he was for a brief period at the head of the forces employed in the siege of Sebastopol. His exploits at the head of his division in the Italian war of 1859 were among the most remarkable of that campaign. He was the hero of Montebello, May 20, 1859.—J. S., G.
FORFAIT, Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent, a French naval engineer and politician, was born at Rouen in 1752, and died there in 1807. His scientific skill proved of the highest value in the naval enterprises of the republic. He was at one time president of a commission charged with making preparations for a descent on England. Forfait built La Seine, Le Spartiate, and many more of those gallant ships, whose names are so well known in this country, from having been forced, in spite of their admirable bravery, to strike to the terrible thunder of our English broadsides. Bonaparte made him minister of marine, but he was enviously thwarted in the exercise of his functions, and at length sent in his demission. It was after some delay accepted, and though he afterwards held high place in the government, he was dissatisfied, and at last withdrew from public life.—R. M., A.
* FORGUES, Paul Emile Daurand, born at Paris in 1813. He was educated at Toulouse, practised at the bar at Paris for a few years, but left it for literature in 1837. He wrote chiefly on English literature in the journals of the day—signed his first articles "Old Nick," and is known more by that name than any other. He has translated Jane Eyre, Uncle Tom's Cabin; Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter; and Cooley's History of Voyages and Travels.—J. A., D.
FORKEL, Johann Nicolaus, a musical historian, essayist, and composer, was born at Meeder, near Coburg, on the 22nd of February, 1749, and died at Göttingen on the 17th of March, 1818. He had considerable practical skill on the organ, and was appointed, very early in his career, organist to the university of Göttingen; not, however, till he had gained the degree of doctor of philosophy in that learned seminary, where he had been a student of languages and jurisprudence. In 1778 he was made music director of the university; and from about this time he had the superintendence of a periodical series of concerts, and of a singing society connected with the university, which he resigned, the former in 1815, and the latter in 1816. He accumulated a very extensive collection of rare musical compositions, of works on the theory and history of music, and of portraits of musicians, from which chiefly he derived the data for his voluminous writings. On Forkel's death, his son endeavoured to find a purchaser for this valuable store; failing in which attempt he sold the collection by auction. As a composer Forkel is more to be noticed for his industry than his excellence. He published several sets of sonatas for the pianoforte, many minor pieces for the same instrument, some sonatas for pianoforte and violin, and a collection of songs; besides which he wrote an oratorio called "Hiskias," two cantatas, and some pieces of church music. His first literary publications were two pamphlets addressed to the students of Göttingen, on the necessity of theoretical knowledge for the enjoyment of music, and on the arrangement of public concerts. The first two volumes of his "Musikalisch-Kritische Bibliothek" (Musical Critical Library) appeared in 1778, and the third volume in 1779. His "Musikalischer Almanach für Deutschland" (Musical Almanac for Germany), a valuable work of reference, containing interesting particulars of the musical institutions of the time, and the persons engaged in them, was issued in 1782, 1783, 1784, and 1789. The first volume of his "Allgemeine Geschichte der Musik" (General History of Music) was printed in 1788, and the second in 1801. It was the favourite object of his life to gather materials for the completion of this work, which should have extended to five or six volumes; but only two were printed. The histories of Burney and Hawkins were already published, when the first volume of this work of Forkel appeared; and there is little doubt that he took advantage of these, and of other less comprehensive works, in the compilation of his book, which has still a merit of its own in the method of its arrangement. It has the great fault, however, of devoting a large space to speculations on the music of the Hebrews and the Egyptians, which have been all refuted by the discoveries of travellers in Egypt since the work appeared. At the sale of Forkel's library the materials for the continuation of this history were purchased by Schweikert of Leipsic, the publisher of the first two volumes; and he proposed to M. Choran and M. Fétis to undertake the completion of the work, which at present carries the narrative only to the middle of the sixteenth century; but these esteemed writers declined the task, alleging the difficulties of a foreign language as their chief ground of objection to it. Forkel's translation of Arteaga's History of the Opera is esteemed of even greater value than the original, on account of its very extensive annotations; and his "Allgemeine Literatur der Musik" (General Literature of Music), which gives a concise account of all the writings on the art, is a work constantly quoted. "Sebastian Bach's Leben, Kunst und Kunstwerke," known here in its English form as the "Life of John Sebastian Bach, with a critical review of his compositions," is the only book of Forkel that has been translated entire. It was published in 1803 by Külmel of Leipsic, who printed also the greater number of Bach's instrumental works, of which Forkel was the editor. This brief account of the great master, with its hearty panegyric on his genius, may be regarded as the most important service its industrious author rendered to music, since it was the means of first making the world at large acquainted with the merits of one of the greatest men that have adorned the art; and, illustrated as it was by the compositions which Forkel brought to light, it laid the foundation of the profound respect in which the organist of the Thomaskirche is now held, and which is increasing every day. The scantiness of the biographical particulars this little book contains, is to be
