at ease; and therefore phrases must be packed upon phrases, and similitudes added one to another, until that which was conspicuous in the writer's view, might seem to be fully set out in the reader's view. Foster possessed in an eminent degree the power of presenting the most trite themes in a manner so novel, and which yet was neither quaint nor affected, as actually to startle the reader. It is in this way that his religious and ethical writings commanded so much attention at the moment of their first appearance. Moreover, in treating subjects of this class, he displayed a surprising intuition of the morbid affections of human nature; and with it a fixed purpose to lay bare, if he could not cure, the malady he took in hand. It was his distinction also, and it was his mood, to converse with and to fathom, if it might be fathomed, whatever is the most profound, and vast, and perplexing in that system of things within which human destinies are revolving. This tendency and this mood were not, in a proper sense, as we have said, of the philosophic order; nor were they in alliance with the modern practice in the pursuit of truth by the method of induction; but it was an excursus of unshackled thought, to which the christian revelation has given so powerful an impulse, but in following which it affords neither aid nor encouragement. Foster's self-prompted mind was ruled at once by a stern resolution to break away from the trammels of religious system and the formulæ of creeds, and a most docile and a deeply-reverential submission to whatever seemed to him undoubtedly scriptural, whether it might be acceptable to his tastes or opposed to them. Instances might be cited in which, while, with the vigour of his right arm, he thrusts from him what he thinks man has taught or has invented, he clasps to his bosom with the left, devoutly and meekly, the same doctrine nearly, in its purely scriptural form. A mind so massive, so ponderous, as was Foster's, whatsoever surface it was that he moved, worked itself down to the very ground or hard bottom; never did he continue to glide hither and thither upon the surface; never sport himself among the rippled waves. So it was that this same mind descends into the awful abyss of religious speculation, where an abyss was beneath it; and in other places, where there is no depth to be fathomed, drags itself over shingles, and seems trite or jejune. Passages there are in which the profound and the trite are strangely commingled, and may perplex the reader by their apparent incongruity. Rich and beautiful, and very often sublime, as are his illustrations, there attaches to them sometimes a chance-like unfitness to the occasion; his images and his comparisons might themselves be compared to what is brought to the surface by a diver who, in as few seconds as possible, snatches at things precious or worthless, that strew the bottom of a deep water. Often, most often, is his imagery of a sombre cast. The splendours of an upper world, a world of immortal blessedness and beauty, did not frequently brighten this eminent man's hours of meditation,; he was wont to look mournfully, or even despondingly, upon "the evil that is in the world," and the sad spectacle fixed his eye in a direction downward. In simplicity of diction, in majesty of conception, and in that species of eloquence which produces its effect by its density and by its brevity, if we compare it with what is the largeness of the writer's own idea, Foster stands unrivalled in his department of English literature. His opinions, whether political or ecclesiastical, may now appear to be of small value; but his influence as a meditative writer has been extensive, and it will, in its sphere, be permanent; his works will continue to cherish and to evolve thought among the thoughtful. As a writer, Foster has given very effective aid in bringing about that revolution in style which has marked this century. Discarding or disdainfully cutting his way through the network of conventional and rotund phraseology, he took a hold of the English language with an energetic grasp; he wielded it as an implement of mind; he bent it this way or that way, at his pleasure, and compelled it to convey, if indeed any symbols can convey, the mind of a writer to the mind of a reader. Just what he was thinking—pen in hand—that, and nothing more, nothing less, did he constrain words and phrases to carry with them, as he sent them forth to the world. He is one of the few who, in these last times, have brought the English tongue back from a sapless and spent condition, to a condition of vital force.
The incidents of Foster's life, along with a very copious collection of his letters have been given to the public by his friend and biographer. Dr. Ryland, in his Life and Correspondence of John Foster, in two volumes.—I. T.
FOSTER, Sir Michael, a virtuous English judge, was born at Marlborough, Wilts, 1689. His family were dissenters, and his father and grandfather attorneys. In 1706 he went from Marlborough school to Exeter college, Oxford, and in 1707 entered of the middle temple. After essaying practice with little success in London, he returned to Marlborough, whence, on his marriage with a Somersetshire lady, he removed to Bristol. Of this city he became recorder, and his ability in that office brought him into public notice, the result of which was, that in 1745 he was appointed a judge of the king's bench. In this post he continued till removed by death in 1763. He was on the special commission before which the prisoners taken in the Scotch rebellion were tried. He published a report of these and some other trials, and a discourse "On Crown Law." On this work his fame as a master of crown law now mainly rests. Besides this, he had published in 1735 an examination of the scheme of church power in Bishop Gibson's Codex. Of his judicial uprightness a remarkable instance occurred on his trying, in 1758, the indictment for stopping up the footway through Richmond Park, defended by the Princess Amelia, daughter of George II. Churchill, a contemporary, in his "Rosciad" speaks of Foster's justice as proverbial; and a modern writer, Phillimore, in his work on Evidence, calls him "a judge remarkable in a period of almost unmixed corruption, coarseness, and ignorance, for masculine sense, deep knowledge, and spotless purity."—S. H. G.
FOSTER, Samuel, an English mathematician of the seventeenth century, was born in Northamptonshire, and died at Gresham college in 1652. Foster studied at Cambridge. In 1624 he published a treatise on the "Use of the Quadrant, &c," and in 1636 obtained the astronomical chair in Gresham college, London. This chair, however, for some unascertained reason, he resigned a few months afterwards; but, re-elected in 1641, he discharged its duties till his death. Foster was one of those learned and scientific men whose friendly conferences, during the tumults and troubles of the civil war, gave rise to the Royal Society. He wrote some curious astronomical observations, and was famous as an inventor and improver of mathematical instruments. He left many MSS, afterwards published.—R. M., A.
FOSTER, Thomas, born about 1569 of a distinguished Northumberland family, was called to the bar previous to 1587, and to the bench as a judge of the common pleas in 1607. He had the reputation of being "a grave and reverend judge, and of great judgment, constancy, and integrity." He died, 18th May, 1612. His son Robert, became a judge of the king's bench in the reign of Charles II. (Foss.)—J. F. W.
FOTHERBY, Martin, was born at Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, in 1559, and was educated at Trinity college, Cambridge. He was presented by Queen Elizabeth to several valuable livings, and subsequently became chaplain to James I., who made him bishop of Salisbury in 1618. He died in March, 1619. Fotherby was a man of considerable ability, but his published works, a few sermons, and a treatise entitled "Atheomastix," are not of much value.—J. B. J.
FOTHERGILL, John, an eminent physician was born at Carr End, Wensleydale, Yorkshire, in March, 1712. He received his early education at Sedbergh, and was afterwards apprenticed to an apothecary at Bradford. On the termination of his apprenticeship he proceeded to Edinburgh, where he took his degree as M.D. in 1736, and soon afterwards removed to London, where he entered St. Thomas' hospital. In 1740 he visited the continent, travelling through Holland, France, and Germany, and on his return he commenced practice in London. In the year 1748, Dr. Fothergill published an "Account of the sore throat attended with ulcers." He appears to have been the first who discovered the connection between ulcerated sore throat and scarlet fever, and his successful mode of treating this formidable malady, largely extended his reputation; his essay was translated into nearly every European language. Dr. Fothergill continued to practise during the remainder of his life, taking a deep interest in his profession, apart from all pecuniary considerations. He was a member of the society of Friends, and interested himself greatly in its concerns; the admirable seminary at Ackworth belonging to this society, owes its establishment mainly to his enterprise and liberality. His philanthropy and benevolence were no less remarkable than his ability in his profession, and it is understood that in the course of his life he gave away no less a sum than £200,000, besides the professional
