FOKSTER FORSYTE 325 tory, and Ethic Philosophy" (London, 1778). In 1780 he was appointed professor of natural history at Halle, an office which he retained till his death. He spoke and wrote 17 lan- guages, and was familiar with general and especially with classical literature. Among his works, besides those above mentioned, are : Liber Singularis de Bysso Antiquorum (Lon- don, 1776); Zoologia Indica (Halle, 1781); Beobachtungen und Wahrheiten (Berlin, 1798) ; and Geschichte der Entdeclcungen und ScJiiff- fahrten im Norden (Frankfort, 1784). The last was translated into English (London, 1786), and contains much useful information and in- genious conjecture, together with many ill- natured reflections, particularly on the Eng- lish. II. Johann Georg Adam, eldest son of the preceding, a German traveller and natural- ist, born at Nassenhuben, Nov. 26, 1754, died in Paris, Jan. 12, 1794. After accompanying his father to Saratov, he studied nearly a year in St. Petersburg, and went thence to England, where he gave instruction in French and Ger- man, and translated several works into Eng- lish. He went with Cook on his second voyage round the world, a narrative of which he pub- lished after his return, receiving scientific notes for it from his father, and thus eluding the agreement by which the elder Forster was vir- tually prohibited from publishing a narrative. After residing in Paris and Holland, he was for six years professor of natural history in Oassel, whence in 1784 he passed to the same profes- sorship in "Wilna. He was appointed histo- riographer to an expedition round the world under the patronage of Catharine II. of Russia, but the project was thwarted by the Turkish war. He became in 1788 librarian to the elec- tor of Mentz. In 1790 he accompanied Alex- ander von Humboldt to England, France, and the Netherlands; and Humboldt calls him his " celebrated teacher and friend, who has most vigorously and successfully opened the path in German literature of the scientific study of nature." In 1792, on the occupation of Mentz by the French, he engaged actively in sup- port of republican principles, and in 1793 was sent to Paris as agent of the city to solicit its incorporation with France. After its re- capture by the Prussians, Forster lost all his property, his books, and his manuscripts, and resolved to go to India, but died while study- ing the oriental languages in Paris. Besides nu- merous translations, his most important works are on subjects of natural history and ethnol- ogy, as Kleine Schriften, ein Beitrag zur Lan- der- und VoUcerkunde^ NaturgeschicJite und Philosophic des Lebem (6 vols., Berlin, 1789- '97), and Ansichten vom Niederrhein, von Bra- lant, Flandern, Holland, England und Frank- reich (3 vols., Berlin, 1791-'4). Pie was the first to translate into German the Sakuntala of Kalidasa. His widow, the daughter of Heyne, afterward known as Therese Huber, published a collection of his letters (2 vols., Leipsic, 1828- '9). His complete works were edited by his daughter, with a critical notice by Gervinus (9 vols., Leipsic, 1843-'4). FORSTER, John, an English journalist and author, born in Newcastle in 1812. He was educated at the university of London, and was a member of its first law class. With his class- mates he established the " London University Magazine," out of which grew the "English- man's Magazine," among his contributions to which was a series of biographical articles on the "Early Patriots of England," which were subsequently enlarged into his " Lives of the Statesmen of the Commonwealth." He pursued the study of law under Chitty, and was called to the bar, but soon became a valued contrib- utor to periodicals. In 1834 he connected him- self with the " Examiner," of which he became the sole editor in 1846 ; and from the time of his first connection he contributed largely to every number of it, in both the departments of politics and literary criticism. He was also for four years the editor of the " Foreign Quar- terly Review," and for about a year of the "Daily News" after the retirement of Mr. Dickens. He has been a frequent contributor to the " Edinburgh Review " and the "Quar- terly Review." A collection of his " Historical and Biographical Essays" was published in 1858. His other principal works are : " The Life and Adventures of' Oliver Goldsmith" (1848), enlarged into " The Life and Times of Oliver Goldsmith" (1854); "The Arrest of the Five Members by Charles I." (1860) ; " De- bates on the Great Remonstrance " (1860) ; " Sir John Eliot, a Biography " (1864) ; '"Wal- ter Savage Landor, a Biography " (1868) ; and " The Life of Charles Dickens " (1871-'4). In 1855 he married the wealthy widow of Henry Colburn, the publisher. In 1856 he was ap- pointed secretary to the lunatic commission, and was made commissioner of lunacy in 1861. FORSTER, William Edward, an English states- man, born at Bradpole, Dorsetshire, July 11, 1818. His father was a minister of the society of Friends, who died during an anti-slavery mission to Tennessee. He married in 1850 a daughter of Dr. Arnold of Rugby, became prominent as a Bradford manufacturer and an ultra-liberal politician, and has represented that borough in parliament since 1861. He was under-secretary for the colonies from No- vember, 1865, to July, 1866 ; and in December, 1868, he was appointed one of the charity com- missioners and vice president of the committee of council on education, on which occasion he was made privy councillor. In 1870 he was the chief promoter of the new education law, and in 1871 of the ballot law. FORSYTE. I. A N. W. county of North Caro- lina, bounded W. by Yadkin river, and drained by its affluents ; area about 250 sq. m. ; pop. "in 1870, 13,050 of whom 2,334 were colored. The surface is much diversified, and the soil is generally fertile. The chief productions in 1870 were 66,678 bushels of wheat, 173,146 of Indian corn, 76,569 of oats, 13,083 of Irish and
