FATIMIDES 106 FAURE 6ry I., surnamed the Great, Bishop of Rome. The last of the fathers is Ber- nard of Clairvaux, who died about the middle of the 12th century. Learned men and theologians differ very much in opinion as to the value that is to be attached to the writings of the fathers. By some they are looked on as nearly of equal authority with the sacred Scriptures themselves, and as the most excellent guides in the paths of piety and virtue. Others regard them as un- worthy of the least attention. The right we believe lies between these two ex- tremes; and while the Roman Catholics exalt too highly the opinions of the fathers, yet by Protestants generally they are too much disregarded. Their writings contain many sublime senti- ments, judicious thoughts, and things naturally adapted to form a religious temper, and to excite pious and virtuous affections; on the other hand, they abound still more with precepts of an excessive and unreasonable austerity, with stoical and academical dictates, with vague and indeterminate notions, and, what is still worse, with decisions absolutely false and in manifest opposition to the char- acter and commands of Christ. Of the character and doctrines of the primitive Church they are competent witnesses, and, living within a comparatively short period of the apostles, there are many things which they relate regarding apos- tolic times, which had come down to them by tradition, and which are therefore not to be altogether rejected. FATIMIDES, or FATIMITES (named from Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed and wife of Ali, from whom the founder of the dynasty described in the definition professed to have sprung), a race of Mohammedan kings, whose founder, Abu Obeidallah (El Madhi),was born in A. D. 882, and began to reign in 910, making Mahadi, the ancient Aphrodisium, about 100 miles S. of Tunis, his capital. The place was called from the name Mahadi, or Director of the Faithful, which he had assumed. The dynasty there founded continued to reign till 1171, and produced in all 14 kings. FAUCIT, HELEN (LADY MARTIN), an English actress; born in London, England, Oct. 11, 1819. She made her professional debut as Julia in the "Hunchback" at Covent Garden in Janu- ary, 1836. She was at once successful, took a leading part in Macready's Shake- spearean revivals, in the first represen- tation of Lytton's plays, and in Brown- ing's "Blot in the Scutcheon" and "Strafford." As an interpreter of Shake- speare's heroines, Juliet, Rosalind. Por- tia, Beatrice, Imogen, Cordelia, and Lady Macbeth, she stood first among the actresses of her time. After her mar- riage to Theodore Martin, in 1851, she left the stage. In 1885 she published a volume of delightful studies, entitled "On Some of Shakespeare's Female Characters." She died in Wales, Oct. 31, 1898. FATLT, in mining and geology, the sudden interruption of the continuity of strata till then on the same plane, this being accompanied by a crack or fissure varying in width from a mere line to several feet, generally filled with broken stones, clay, or similar material. There are faults in some sections, of which the horizontal extent is 30 miles or more, the vertical displacement varying from 600 to 3,000 feet, and the width of the fissures filled up ranging from 10 to 50 feet. In hunting, a check, the losing of the scent, In tennis, an improper service. At fault, at a loss; in a difficulty; puzzled; em- barrassed. FAUN, in Roman mythology, a Latin rural deity who presided over woods and wilds, and whose attributes bear a strong analogy to those of the Grecian Pan. He was an object of peculiar adoration of the shepherd and husbandman, and at a later period he is said to have peopled the earth with a host of imaginary beings identical with himself. They are repre- sented as men with the tail and hind legs of a goat, pointed ears, and project- ing horns. FAUNCE, WILLIAM HERBERT PERRY, an American educator; born in Worcester, Mass., Jan. 15, 1859; was graduated at Brown University in 1880, and at the Newton Theological Seminary in 1884; held pastorates in Spring- field, Mass., and New York City; was long a trustee of Brown and Rochester Universities: lecturer at the University of Chicago and at Yale. He was made president of Brown University in June, 1899. He wrote "The Educational Ideals in the Ministry" (1908); "What Does Christianity Mean?" (1912); "Social Aspects of Foreign Missions" (1914); "Religion and War" (1918). He has fre- quently contributed to various periodicals. FAURE, FRANCOIS FELIX, Presi- dent of the Frencli Republic; born in Paris, Jan. 30, 1841; was for a time a tanner in Touraine, but became _ a wealthy shipowner in Havre. During the Franco-Prussian war he commanded a body of volunteers, and gained the rib bon of the Legion of Honor. He enterea the Assembly in 1881: served as colonial and commercial minister in the Cabinets
